The philological approach as a methodological strategy: I. Denysiuk's research on Lesya Ukrainka

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to trace the use of the philological approach to literary research on the materials of I. Denysiuk's scientific papers about Lesya Ukrainka. The methodological and generalizing works by R. Gromyak, M. Naienko, M. Hnatiuk, and P. Ivanyshyn, as well as topical investigations that illustrate its functioning (articles by T. Pastukh and S. Pylypchuk), outlined the theoretical framework of this study.

Results. Proponents of the philological approach defined its main goal as an in-depth study of the text, which later gave reasons for researchers of this phenomenon to focus attention on the concept of form, thus bringing it closer to the formalism blocked in the Soviet period. Scientific research in this direction was conducted mainly in emigration and Western Ukraine. In post-Soviet Ukraine, in the conditions of the socialist realist dictates dominating in the artistic domain and vulgar sociological dictates in science, supporters of the structural-formalist approach sought a compromise, for example, in the use of holistic-systemic analysis. The range of I. Denysiuk's scientific interests involve numerous studies on the history and theory of literature, folkloristics and methodology, local history, and literary criticism. His research searches are characterized by scrupulousness, profound analysis, and well-balanced generalizations, which are determined primarily by a philological approach.

Scientific works about Lesya Ukrainka are represented by the study of the sources and poetics of the drama "Forest Song" (co-authored with L. Mishchenko), the study of creative biography in the context of the "noble nest of Kosachy" (together with T. Skrypka), and other thematic publications. I. Denysiuk utilized the analysis of Lesya Ukrainka's texts and her critical thoughts in the development of his own genre-logical concepts.

Conclusions. The notion of the philological approach is very broad and at the same time too generalizing to become a separate method of literary studies. It rather serves as the core of the methodology or defines the strategy of scientific research. The philological approach in the conditions of totalitarian systems made it possible to carry out professional research in taboo areas, such as formalism and structuralism. I. Denysiuk's scientific research is mostly determined by the text-centric principles of the philological approach in investigations of poetics, in general, and genre analysis, in particular.