PERCEPTION OF WAR AND POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS IN MODERN PROSE

Abstract

The consideration of post traumatic stress in the context of modern Ukrainian literature and culture is interesting and important because of real closeness to the general stressing situation in Ukraine. Modern literature tries to react to actual war on the East of the country, to reflect on its reasons and try to find different ways to change it. In the context of Ukrainian culture it is also important to consider books of foreign writers that describe a war in different countries. This type of writings makes special cultural background enlightening Ukrainian authors other traumatic experiences of coping with a war. It is also important to stress that the war theme became actualized during the last years in the worldwide context by the authors of the intellectual prose and in writings for mass reader as well. But its not only
the theme of war is interesting — though it’s the best historical background to make drama, — but mainly it is the theme of post war mental recovering. In the worldwide cultural context it was caused without shadow of a doubt by constant threat of terroristic attacks and multiple armed conflicts and local wars in different countries. Most of contemporary texts about war were written by the eye viewers, who tried to cope with the post war mental stress and writing seemed to be the best way to make it. Those writings were supposed to show all the difficulty of the bygone war experience. Taking into consideration the fact that the amount of new writings in different genres about war upraises almost every year it’s much better to analyze texts that are in Ukrainian cultural space as translated ones and in some way adopted to another culture. The thematic range of works translated into Ukrainian during the last decade clearly indicates a special focus on the subject of living in a war and the experience of this experience, that is, the actual issue of posttraumatic
stress. During the first twenty years of Ukrainian independence, works of this nature were seen as an attempt to deeper understanding of historical military experience, a true history, devoid of ideological layers. However, in light of the events of the past three years, the interest of the Ukrainian reader in military matters can be regarded as finding answers to painful questions through the prism of similar experiences.