HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL PROSE OF V. DOMONTOVYCH FROM THE 1940S. ARTICLE ONE: THE CONFLICT OF WORLDVIEWS

The paper examines the genre and stylistic innovations, as well as ideological, aesthetic, and symbolic dimensions of V. Domontovych’s historical-biographical prose created during the Ukrainian Artistic Movement (MUR) period. Antithesis serves as a key structural principle of narration, shaping the plot and composition of V. Domontovych’s fictionalized biographies and works with distinct biographical elements, as well as contributing to the originality of his imagery and characters. Particular emphasis is placed on the conflict of worldviews, which functions not only as a driving force of plot development but also as a means of artistic reflection on the internal contradictions of the era, along with the moral, ethical, and philosophical dilemmas embodied by the characters as carriers of contemporary ideas and meanings. The paper highlights the link between V. Domontovych’s literary and biographical inquiries and his historiosophical and cultural reflections, as well as the interplay between his thematic concerns, his own biography, and the sociocultural realities of the postwar period. The study is based on works of diverse genre and stylistic nature, thematic scope, and conceptual complexity, including the parable-like story “Apostles”; the short stories “Eckehart’s Conversation with Carlo Gozzi,” “The Writer and the General,” “The Tamed Haidamak,” and “Vengeance”; the unfinished essay “A Conversation on Freedom”; and the novella “Gracchus Babeuf.” The primary subject of analysis is the literary representation of the ideological and worldview conflicts, conveyed in these works through such forms as dialogue, debates on philosophical, political, historical, and aesthetic issues, the dilemma of duality, and acts of vengeance—whether individual or collective.