Phenomenon of “Groundlessness” in Works by Viktor Petrov-Domontovych in Philosophical Contexts of the Second Half of the 20th Century

The article analyzes the phenomenon of “groundlessness” in the artistic works and scientific investigations of Viktor Petrov-Domontovych. The constructive aspects of the phenomenon in the philosophical context of the second half of the 20th century are singled out: detachment from the usual ways of life, its cultural marking, the irreversible following of desire in a psychoanalytical perspective, and the production of writing as an assertion of groundlessness. The tenacity of “groundlessness” is revealed as a constructive beginning in the literature of Ukrainian modernism (“pastel romance” by M. Kotsyubynskyi, early works of V. Domontovych) and as a certain precedent of existentialism in the literature of post-war Europe in the 1940s. Involved concept of writing reduces the distance between the philosophical intentions of “groundlessness” and the literary studies. Such features of writing as thoughtfulness, intellectualism, and social reticence are essential for the article. Constructive aspects of “groundlessness” and their functioning in V. Domontovych’s text are fully analyzed on the example of the novels “The Girl with the Bear” and “Doctor Seraphicus”.