LESYA UKRAINKA AND THE 1920s: MODERNIST LITERARY-CRITICAL DISCOURSE

Abstract

The article analyzes the literary and critical work of representatives of the neoclassical wing of Ukrainian modernists of the 1920s, dedicated to the life and work of Lesia Ukrainka The relevance of scientific research lies in taking into account the circumstances of the then literary process, their opposition to the vulgar-sociological, populist or proletarian discourses that were popular in the post-revolutionary period and were understandable to the general public. A specific examination of monographs, articles, and reviews by M. Zerov, P. Filipovych, M. Drai-Khmara, and others attests to the development of the research trends of “forestry” (I. Franko, M. Yevshan) initiated at the beginning of the 20th century, associated with modernist aesthetics, and also indicates the main future vectors of interpretation of the writer’s work, including in the 21st century. Focusing attention on the modernist reception of the writer’s legacy in the 1920s, that is, according to M. Zerov, on determining her place in the consciousness of the intellectual “generation of 1920–1928,” is the aim of this article. The objective of the article is to study the modernist literary and critical discourse through the prism of outlining the main future vectors of interpretation of Lesia Ukrainka’s work in the 21st century. Results. The works of the “Kyiv neoclassicists” are distinguished by their scientific orientation, impartiality of interpretations and conclusions, exceptional attention to the artistic text, the history of the origin of the idea and its implementation, moderate, correct involvement of biographical, historical, typological or comparative contexts, the use of archival materials, epistolary works, memoirs. This gave a new impetus to the development of Ukrainian comparability, source studies and textology. In general, they manifested modernist views on the essence and specificity of art, its functional role in society, in the life of the writer, on the problems of the psychology of creativity, the subjective expression of the creative personality in the artistic text. Conclusions. Individualism, Europeanism, symbolism, neo-romanticism, the decisive role of the personal principle, drama, the combination of the universal and the national, freedom of expression in the field of modernist literary and critical discourse are the features that define the phenomenon of Lesia Ukrainka as a Ukrainian classic.