THE IMAGE OF HRYHORII CHESTAKHIVSKYI IN MODERN WORKS OF SHEVCHENKIANA

The paper analyzes evaluative judgments about Hryhorii Chestakhivskyi in various documentary and memoir sources, as well as the semantics of his image in recent biographical works on Taras Shevchenko. H. Chestakhivskyi’s decisive role in selecting a unique site for the reburial of T. Shevchenko’s ashes not only contributed to the glorification of Chestakhivskyi’s name but also, to some extent, obscured a more objective view of his persona offered in certain publications (e.g., by Hryhorii Zlenko, Zinaida Tarakhan-Bereza, et al.). One of the old stories, recently revived, encourages a more objective and critical look at H. Chestakhivskyi as both a person and a citizen, who faced moral obstruction from the Ukrainian community of St. Petersburg in the 1860s. He was described with highly unflattering epithets by Mykola Kostomarov and other notable people. In this connection, special attention is given to Yevhen Nakhlik’s thorough investigation of Chestakhivskyi’s relationship with Marusia Denysenko. It is emphasized that all vicissitudes of the analyzed events were, in one way or another, linked to the name and works of T. Shevchenko. Most of the study focuses on the analysis of two recent works of Shevchenkiana—the drama “Oksana” by Oleksandr Denysenko and the novel “Shevchenko between Worlds” by Stanislav Rosovetskyi, in which the figure of Chestakhivskyi is introduced among other characters from Shevchenko’s circle. Both works have specific genre features, largely shaped by the authors’ extensive use of fictional elements in characterization and plot development. Chestakhivskyi’s portrayal and behavior in these works show no exception to the general approach. In both the drama and the novel, his character is entirely negative. When creating this image, the authors—especially O. Denysenko—clearly took into account all available information about Shevchenko’s questionable friend of his last years and days. At the same time, the resulting depiction of Chestakhivskyi remains controversial.