Dialogue after Half a Century: On the Role and Purpose of Women in the “Spirit of the Time” by Natalia Kobrynska and Iryna Vildе

Abstract

The article deals with two stories with the same title, “The Spirit of Time”, by Natalia Kobrynska and Iryna Vilde, in order to establish: a) whether Iryna Vilde chose the title accidentally or deliberately, having published her text almost 50 years after the publication of the eponymous work by N. Kobrynska; b) the presence and types of intertextual interaction between the stories; c) the differences between the ‘spirits of time’ of the two writers and the understanding of this concept in their texts. The theoretical basis of the study is the comparative methodology, in particular, typological and comparative, comparative historical, and biographical methods, as well as elements of intertextual and anthropological methodologies.

The novelty of the results obtained during the study is expressed in a detailed comparison of the texts and contexts of the eponymous works by two Ukrainian writers – Natalia Kobrynska and Iryna Vilde, whose works focus on the psychology and social role of women. In order to establish the connections between the two “Spirits of the Time”, it was important to dive into the historical context in which they appeared, in particular, to identify the views on the feminist movement and the social role of women that both writers expressed in their fiction and essays, and to compare their ideas with the feminist issues articulated by other writers and activists at the time. Although the two works are based on a generational conflict in the views on the life and purpose of women between the generations of grandmothers, mothers and granddaughters, it unfolds in different ways. The main plot difference is that Kobrynska leaves her protagonist, Mrs Shuminska, completely alone, because neither her daughter nor her granddaughter support her patriarchal views on life; Vilde shows that the generations are cyclical, and the generation of granddaughters, due to historical and social circumstances, becomes closer to their grandmothers than to their mothers.

The conclusions of the study can be summarised in several theses: Iryna Vilde's short story “The Spirit of the Time” is a response, an allusion to the story of the same name by her predecessor Natalia Kobrynska; Vilde, using light irony, highlights the spirit of the interwar period, when young women, who had been granted the right to enter universities and work by their predecessors, deliberately refused these achievements in favour of the traditional roles of mother and wife. Iryna Vilde's essays make it clear that this change was partly due to the economic situation (it was still difficult for women to find decent work, so it was easier to return to traditional roles and rely on men to provide for them), and partly due to the interwar atmosphere, in which there was uncertainty and variability in human life, so the family gave a slight illusion of peace and stability.