Vectors of the evolution of the Ukrainian fantasy novel of 2000-2020s. and creativity of Dara Kornii

Abstract

Ukrainian fantasy prose of the first decades of the XXI century quickly develops and is generally organic to the trends of the global metagenre. Most of the basic vectors of evolution of the Ukrainian fantasy novel can be found in the works by Dara Kornii, the national “golden writer” whose prose constitutes a complete metaprose and testify to the logic of the evolution of the Ukrainian fantasy in 2000-2020s in genre, poetic, intertextual, sociocultural and historical planes. The actual problem of the evolution of the Ukrainian fantasy novel of the XXI century was not violated and could not be considered due to the lack of his comprehensive studies. Along with this, the need for such a study has matured in connection with the emergence of national fantasy on the world level, the transition in it from the active frontal reception of foreign experience to the formation of its own self-sufficient semantic core and facts of reverse reception, and in connection with the strengthening of its role in the world literary process. The identification and characterization of the main vectors of the evolution of the modern fantasy novel in Ukraine should be qualified as urgent tasks.

So, the purpose of this article is to define and characterize for the first time the key vectors of the evolution of the Ukrainian fantasy novel of the first decades of the XXI century and the degree of their expression in the artistic work by Dara Kornii as a representative national writer who creates within the metagenre. At the same time, we see our main tasks as the finding of significant progressive transformations in the planes of a) genre, b) poetics and intertextuality, as well as c) studying cultural narratives, in particular gender, in fantasy prose.

The main changes in the Ukrainian metagenre of the first decades of the XXI century concerns the transformation of the fantasy conflict from binary to the ternary principle of the interaction of good, evil and their compromise combination. Such a modification causes a metamorphosis of the image of the main character, who often becomes a woman. The new transitional state in the struggle between good and evil includes a different logic of the relationship between these principles and is ethically contradictory, manifested, above all, in urban fantasy. The close dialogue of Ukrainian and foreign artistic experience makes it difficult to determine the degree of traditional and innovative in the work, although in the plot plane it is closer to the criteria of mass culture. The leading vector of small and later large prose by D. Kornii is gender, which reveals regularities in its development and realization. Since the writer’s works constitute a complete metatext, the accentuated female dominance acquires conceptuality in her prose, which is expressed in the plot, in the system of images, and on the metaphorical level. The figure of the main heroine is interpreted as the image of a metaheroine, and it is the first image of this level in Ukrainian fantasy prose. The consistent actualization of segments of ancient Slavic mythology is reinforced in D. Kornii by the reception of modern plot schemes from fantasy prose of Western samples. Although the author’s myth of the writer is formed in a combination of Ukrainian (traditions of mythology and classical literature) and foreign fantasy experience, during her professional growth the author borrows much less formulas of mass Western European and North American culture. Similar interest in samples of Western fantasy can be found in other authors of Ukrainian metagenre of the XXI century, however, after the mid-2010s in Ukrainian fantasy, the processes of westernization are often replaced by the tendency of orientalization or are significantly leveled as such. Corresponding phenomena can be seen in the works by D. Kornii too.

A systematic approach to the study of the latest phenomena of Ukrainian fantasy of the XXI century allows us to objectively evaluate the progress of the national version of the metagenre and the reflection of the corresponding qualities in the work of its key writers. The principle of our research is perspective and opens up new opportunities in the study of Ukrainian fantasy of the XXI century as a part of the world.