Information on the thesis

In the Ukrainian literary studies, the thesis is the first comprehensive research of the concept of «identity» in the MUR (Artistic Ukrainian Movement [Mystetskyi Ukrainskyi Rukh]) artistic prose, which also proposed a theoretical model for understanding «identity» in literature studies.

Genesis of identity have been systematized and analyzed not only in chronological order, but above all in the thematic-conceptual aspect. In view of this, two main prisms (ontological and anthropological), and, accordingly, two vectors of understanding identity were distinguished: through sameness and through difference. A comparative analysis of the interdisciplinary tradition and the evolution of the understanding identity was conducted. The intersection points of identity as an object of humanitarian theoretical discourse with its interpretation in the area of literary criticism were indicated.

The paper explores the defining meaning of the concept of «identity». Considering the etymological bipolarity of an object, the variety of facets of expression and the devaluation of its meaning, the mechanism of determining parameters of identity was analyzed by way of the antithesis of «dynamic/static». Correlative dependence and essential differentiations of the categories «identity» and «identification» were proved. The main components of the identification process – I and the Other – were singled out, the necessity of the narrative-communicative act as the main method of formation and comprehension of identity is emphasized. A feature that outlined the trajectory of research was a modus-orientation, which allowed to analyze the multilevelness of forms and essence as well as to carry out a systematic and structured analysis of the manifestations of identity in the MUR artistic prose.

Personal identity was analyzed through implementation of a new term «identype» – an identification strategy aimed at the formation, achievement or preservation of identity by self-identification with a certain -idem. The projection of the transactional model by the American psychologist E. Bern to the correlative chain of identities «Parent» – «Child» – «Orphan» has allowed systematizing and analyzing the main problems of self-identification of MUR characters.

Particular attention is paid to manifestations of the identity crisis in the artistic prose of Mystetskyi Ukrainskyi Rukh. The following types of splitting of the «I» were investigated: doubling (even pairwise) (Yu. Kosach «Voice from afar»), splitting (I. Kosteckiy «Price of the human name»), reflection (V. Domontovych «The Tamed Haydamaka») and «I» among masks (D. Humenna «Children of the Milky Way»). All of them, having specific characteristics, simultaneously show a common way out of a crisis due to the death of one of «I».

The scale of various manifestations of the national identity has been researched through the adaptation using M. Gibernau’s approach. Five major dimensions: territorial, political, cultural, historical and psychological – allowed to analyze the national modus in a comprehensive way and demonstrated specific MUR accents.

It was shown that the main accents for MUR were the problems of interchange of the topos of the great Fatherland with the small locus, the indistinguishability of the nation and the state, the identification of historical memory and historical consciousness. Particular attention is paid to the psychological dimension, which is presented as a dominant and determining dimension of national modus of identity.

By investigating the temporal and spatial coordinates of the MUR, we focused on the fact and consequences of the DP environment, the appearance and naturalness of both the rise and the collapse of the organization. The literary and cultural-philosophical views of the MUR, in particular the discussions on «Great Literature» and the nature of contemporary art, have been interpreted as an important prerequisite for the formation of the narrative modus of identity.

The autobiographical narrative of the Mystetskyi Ukrainskyi Rukh was interpreted as a direct way of creating the narrative modus of identity in the artistic prose of the MUR via emphasizing on specific parallels of artistic and memoir texts. It was also found that the narrative activity of the MUR performed primarily the (auto)therapeutic function, the function of self-discharge, and the function of «exit» from oneself.

Another aspect that broadens the understanding of the narrative modus of identity is the appeal to the correlation between the form of narration and its subjective/objective orientation. In the artistic prose of MUR the need and implementation of objective fixation, often represented by a third-person narrator, dominate. Since the narrative of the MUR is primarily an auto-narrative, the most commonly used addressees are the MUR-writers themselves.

This work represents the proposal to consider the theoretical and artistic discourse of the Mystetskyi Ukrainskyi Rukh as unison components of a united phenomenon. In support of this consonance, a number of common characteristics were presented. By appealing to the manifestations of various identity modi, we have demonstrated that bipolarity, duality, plurality, antagonism, etc. depict a whole MUR, not just its theory or artistic interpretation.

The practical significance of the dissertation is that its results can be used for research on identity, in particular, the manifestation of the identity modi in fiction. The special value of the work is studying the process of self-identification in conditions of statelessness, political and cultural emigration. The obtained results can be used for the preparation of theoretical and historical literary courses, seminars devoted to the studying of Ukrainian emigration literature, as well as in anthropological, cultural and psychoanalytic studies. The research may serve as an additional material for writing historiographical, historical-literary, theoretical-literary and literary-critical works devoted to the integrity and diversity of Ukrainian literature.

Key words: MUR (Mystetskyi Ukrainskyi Rukh [Artistic Ukrainian Movement]), identity, identype, personal identity, national identity, narrative identity, modus, dimension, narrative therapy, I, Other, identity crisis, «Great literature», «displaced persons».