The archetype of „God-mother” in V. Stus’s lyrics.

Abstract

The central syncretic archetype in V. Stus’s lyrics, the archetype of „God-mother”, is analized in the article. The general themes of his texts such as theodicy, maternal complex, connections between Christian and pagan worldviews are also studied. The features of the ideological and structural difusion of boundaries between images God, mother and Ukraine are defined. The author’s purpose of resorting to these images in the context of counter-culture of the sixties and postmodernism is also explained. V. Stus thinking and rethinking image of God in his lyrics especially in the context of the opposition of self/other builds his own ontology of divine and profane. V. Stus structures his poetic world (and even more – his own destiny) within the prevailing binary opposition self/other. Human in the poetry by Stus is always an unfinished “human project” (J.-P. Sartre), which is in perpetual formation and search. V. Stus asserts the ambivalence, outlining the image of „God-mother”: God who loves as a mother and who is terrifying as an omnipotent and all-powerful creator. Lyrical hero in V. Stus’s poetry is always in perpetual formation and search; it is a kind of „God-mother”, which contains the author’s ambiguous attitude towards Ukraine. And the role of the poet, according to V. Stus, is to clearly indicate his own ones and others, to describe a kind of semantic circle for strong spirits, which would protect them from alien temptations and dangers.