Voices of Memory by Women Authors: The Narration of the Traumatic Past in Ukrainian Literature at the Turn of the 20th and 21st Centuries

The article deals with the study of the representation of the traumatic past in German and Ukrainian literature. The research demonstrates the role of the “culture of memories” and its impact on the process of “overcoming the past” in the political and cultural life of the Ukrainian people. Besides, the research results show the characteristic of understanding the traumas of the past in German-speaking society. There are a lot of works of modern German literature, which are devoted to the crimes of the Nazi regime and their impact on German culture and identity. Many modern literary-critical articles explore individual and collective memory, the problem of guilt, and the difficulties of literary interpretation of the unspeakable. The work is based on research of the important works of famous scientists (T. Hundorova, Y. Polishchuk, M. Riabchuk, O. Pukhonska, M. Barabash, L. Lavrynovych, O. Yavorska, R. Holyk, K. Rutar). Ukrainian literature is analyzed as a space where post-colonial discourse manifests itself, and literary texts are an important tool for reflecting and transmitting historical events and personal and collective memories. Based on the analysis of the novels of V. Amelina “Home for Dom”, O. Zabuzhko “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” and S. Andrukhovych “Amadoka”, the authors demonstrate the traumatic past of Ukrainian individual and collective destinies. Studying such tragedies as the Holodomor, Stalinist repressions, deportations, and wars is important for the formation of national identity. These are not simple stories of Ukrainian families, but serious studies by the authors of the problem of memory. These works are an important contribution to modern Ukrainian literature, and therefore this topic is a relevant research material. In this article, the culture-historical and comparative methods are used.