“Lonely man” near the “Bukovinian and Pokut peasants”. Something about the Peculiarities of the Formation of the Ukrainian Literary Canon

Abstract

The article considers the formation of the Ukrainian literary canon. The article
focuses on the figure of Lesya Ukrainka – the third figure of the classical Ukrainian triad
(along with the romantic Taras Shevchenko and the realist Ivan Franko). The purpose of
this article is determined by the process and circumstances of the appearance and
consolidation of the writer in the national canon. The realization of this goal was carried
out in the context of the interaction of the leading author of the era with contemporary
artists, as well as contenders for a prominent place in literature. The theoretical basis for
scientific research are the concepts of modern American researchers G. Bloom and E.
Said. It is these scholars who have developed two leading models of understanding and
interpretation of the literary canon today – “elitist” and “democratic”. Reinforced by the
considerations of Ukrainian researchers, the theoretical foundations of this article made
it possible to structure the era of early Ukrainian modernism in the perspectives
indicated. As a result, socio-cultural and gender factors of functioning and building of
the canon were outlined; the phenomenon of female presence in patriarchal culture is
analyzed; the specifics of the nomination and self-presentation of three original artists of
the frontier period are described (along with Lesya Ukrainka, it is also Vasyl Stefanyk
and Olga Kobylyanska); the influence and significance of the mechanisms of selection
and approval of candidates for the top of the literary canon are revealed. The conclusions
of this article emphasize the outlined results, in particular in the field of comparing the
understanding of the canon with the populist, Soviet and modern traditions. This
perspective also took into account the interaction of masculine and feminine codes,
which in different ways were “eroded” in each of the eras. However, the intellectual and
aesthetic value of the literary work still confirmed the female presence in the canon.