Poetics of Notes: Observations on the Works at the Beginning of the 21st Century.

Abstract

The article focuses on the selected works of art, written in the early 21st century by the Ukrainian writers and called ‘notes’. These are “Zapysky Proidysvita” (2000) by Yuri Vinnychuk, which are included in his later edition of “Hrushi v Tisti”, “Zapysky Ukrayins’koi Samoyidnosti” (2010) by Lina Kostenko, “Zaruch-nyk Spokusy, abo Zapysky Hlamurnoho Kokhantsia” (2010) by Alexander Horobets, “Zapysky na Zap’yastiakh” (2010) by Lesia Voronyuk, “Iz vohnevykh rubezhiv (zapysky bizhentsya)” (2016) by Mykola Tyutyunnyk. Due to the narrative taking of the notes, the authors freely realized their creative plan, masked (if necessary) their I by the person of the narrator, revealed a personal vision of events in the country and the world. It is remarkable that these works are written under the impact of experience. The small time distance between the depictions in the notes and the time of their writing led to emotionality, excitement of presentation, and autonomy of individual records made at different times.

The notes of Ukrainian authors of the beginning of the new millennium are distnguished by the absence of the canonical form, the free manner of presentation, the authenticity of the depicted, as by Mykola Tyutyunnyk, or the playful character, as in “Zapysky Proidysvita” by Yuri Vinnychuk. The notes are characterized by the reproduction of personal impressions and experiences, the peculiarities of the characters’ spoken language, the presence of a timeline when it comes to socially significant events, or its absence when it comes to conflicts of the private life mostly. It is established that the intertextual marker “notes” helped the Ukrainian writers emphasize the free form of presentation, fragmentation, and sometimes chaos of records, the personal view of events and the world, as well as the authenticity of the image.