HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL PROSE OF V. DOMONTOVYCH FROM THE 1940s: INTELLECTUAL INTERTEXTUALITY (ARTICLE TWO)

The paper analyzes the genre innovations and specific literary devices in V. Domontovych’s historical and biographical prose from the second half of the 1940s. Intertextuality is examined as a key principle in shaping literary reality that manifests through a sophisticated system of borrowings, interpretations and reinterpretations of historical, literary, journalistic, and epistolary sources, as well as poetic and visual imagery. The study traces the connection between V. Domontovych’s literary works and his historiosophical and cultural perspectives during the Ukrainian Artistic Movement (MUR) period, particularly in relation to his conceptualization of cultural epochs. Attention is paid to the role of historical reminiscence and philosophical reflection in shaping the author’s concept of biographism. The paper highlights V. Domontovych’s experimental narrative approaches across various forms, including the novella, essay, short story, and epistolary writing, as well as his engagement with stylistic models such as hagiographic discourse. The author’s choice of genre, characters, and narrative strategies reflects the broader authorial intent to comprehend the postwar era as a liminal moment in European civilization. V. Domontovych’s fictionalized biographies reveal not only the inner worlds of his characters—saints, military and political figures, writers, artists, and scholars—but also function as a reflection of the writer’s own intellectual and existential search. The analysis covers works of diverse genres and thematic orientations, including the short story “Saint Francis of Assisi,” “The Thirst for Music,” “Van Gogh’s Christmas Letters,” a fragment from the unfinished novella “François Villon,” and the novella A “Lonely Wanderer Walks a Lonely Road.” The study focuses on the role and function of intertextuality as a means of shaping the biographical narrative.