CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF UKRAINIAN LITERARY CRITIQUE (“RUBBING THE MIRROR” BY MYKHAILO SLABOSHPHYTSKYI)

The paper examines the work of prominent figures in 20th-century Ukrainian literary reviewing—V. Briukhovetskyi, Yu. Shevelov, and I. Kachurovskyi. Using “Rubbing the Mirror” by Mykhailo Slaboshpytsky, it traces the vicissitudes and controversies of modern literature, the sympathies and antipathies between critics and writers, the dynamics of literary hierarchy, and the role of state policy in enforcing supervision and censorship of artistic activity. Slaboshpytskyi presents the development of literature in a non-canonical way, through the lens of his critical reflections as a witness to the turbulent artistic and aesthetic life of the second half of the 20th century. There are distinct typological differences between subjective critical evaluation and scholarly interpretation of literary phenomena, including the specific genre characteristics of both analytical and review-based forms of literary criticism. Applying the metaphor of a mirror, Slaboshpytskyi resorts to the palimpsest technique of erasing the original text (‘rubbing’ it). He focuses on its most significant elements, which are recorded in the book of life like in a flowing turbulent river that remembers all its currents and unites them in a single stream. The typological comparison of criticism and literature in emigration and in mainland Ukraine highlights those controversial tendencies and bold artistic experiments that, despite all obstacles, managed to emerge. In Slaboshpytskyi’s interpretation, the historical model of Ukrainian literature appears uniquely constructed— not according to a rigid template or academic prescriptions, but based on a significantly modified approach to assessing the personalities of writers, the psychology of creative work, and the historical and literary situation in the broadest possible sense of perception and sensibility