“EMERGENCY GRAB BAG” IN UKRAINIANS MEMORIES ABOUT THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR

The article is devoted to the study of the tonality of memories through the analysis of the associative field of the phrase “emergency grab bag” and synonyms for the word “suitcase” primarily as metaphors of memories in the discourse of Ukrainians about their war experience. If the image of a suitcase itself is often associated with travel and does not necessarily mean danger, and the suitcase as a metaphor reflects the situation "in-between" with its hidden anxiety, then the phrase "emergency grab bag" semantically highlights anxiety, the context of a certain danger. Therefore, "emergency grab bag" as a metaphor means the preservation and salvation of memories from the chaos caused by war. It is about unhidden anxious temporal-spatial "in-between-ness" with its endangered or saved as well as healing memories. The research material was the archive of 104 semi-structured anonymous interviews recorded by 6 researchers from the group “Prisma Ukraїnа: War, Migration, Memory” from the end of 2022 and throughout 2023. Despite the differences in the questionnaires for each of the six archive collections, all the interviews have some common questions about memories and history. A general description of the theme of each collection, as well as an overview of the fieldwork, are presented in the tables. The examples of literal, figurative, and metaphorical use of words with the semantics of suitcase found in the archive are classified into six varieties, namely: 1) one’s own “emergency grab bag”, 2) “emergency grab bag” mentioned in the media, 3) the catchphrase “sitting on suitcases”, 4) the image of “life packed in a suitcase”, 5) othering / distancing from strangers’ suitcases, 6) “interference in intimate space” / robbery. The tonal peculiarities and nuances of each variety are analyzed using selected examples from interviews with various collections. A generalized classification is presented in two other author's tables, namely: statistics of the corresponding cases of use of each of the meanings in each of the archive collections, as well as examples with quotes for each of the six varieties of meanings. Finally, detailed comments are also provided on additional examples. In the future, the author is going to explore the (un)secure foundations of the tonality of the memories of this archive, in order to thereby reveal the hierarchy of accessible, silenced, or repressed memories.