(Not) woman’s autobiography: Olena Pchilka about herself

Abstract

The subject of the proposed study is the gender peculiarities of creating an autobiographical presentation, the attention to which is paid to demonstrate the author’s strategies for shaping own identity by the outstanding Ukrainian folk writer Olena Pchilka (Olga Kosach). Achieving this aim required the use of feminist studies as a research methodology. The theoretical basis of the study is the works by M. Mason, E. Yelinek, L. Gilmore, A. Pekanets. As a result, it is found out that Olena Pchilka’s autobiography was created according to the “man’s” model. The main strategies of similarity are1) development of text about yourself through the story of distinguished relatives and listing personal achievements as a cultural editor; 2) her orientation towards men and ignoring of her own woman’s experience. An important character of the text is Olga Kosach’s brother, Mykhailo Dragomanov, the text about whom emphasizes the author’s different attitude to the biography of a man and a woman. Such identity-creating strategies were driven both by subjugation to men’s authorities and by the official nature of the autobiography. The novelty of the research lies in reading the autobiographical text of the Ukrainian author-narodnik in the light of feminist studies. The practical importance of the work is due to the need to comprehend a common and distinctive in fixing the women’s experience by means of artistic and documentary texts.