THE MOROCCAN WORLD IN WOMEN'S TRAVEL WRITING

The article explores the interest in travel narratives, various forms of visualizing the Other, and documenting observations in Western Ukrainian literature of the interwar period. Women’s travel writing of this time is represented by the works of Sofiia Yablonska and Olena Kysilevska, who combined the verbalization of the Other and its world with the potential of photography in the travel descriptions. It has been established that both writers shared an experience of traveling through French Morocco. However, their travel narratives reflect distinct interpretations of the Moroccan world. For Sofiia Yablonska, her months-long journey was an existential project. She explored the East through her own "experience of the world," focusing primarily on the authentic elements of Moroccan culture. From the first day of her journey, she describes her "intoxication" with Marrakesh, where the central square daily offered crowds a multitude of spectacles, performances, and joys. Beneath the apparent poverty of the Arab world, Yablonska discerned its richness, passion for life, colorful vibrancy, and hospitality. It is argued that her depiction of the East is revealed through the lens of female sexuality, making her writing "a kind of authorial 'poetic cinema' non-stop" (O. Zabuzhko), presenting an assemblage of female images. Her narration is dominated by "vivid observation" (M. Rudnytskyi) and a "palatable style" (O. Dniprovskyi). Encouraged by her predecessor’s storytelling, Olena Kysilevska also wished to experience the "charm" of an exotic country but chose a different travel strategy. Seeking the comfort of a short trip, she opted for a tourist package and simultaneously fell into the trap of the guide’s "restrictive instructions" and Orientalist clichés. Her portrayal of the East emphasizes poverty, filth, the "ant-like swarm" of the masses, the oppression of Arab women, and the realization that something remained unknown, mysterious, and enigmatic. The travel writings of both authors interpret Yablonska’s "transparent azure sky" and Kysilevska’s "sapphire sky" as metaphors for the Moroccan world.