The Originality of Images and Functions of Female Characters in Ukrainian Historical Prose of the 1920s (Based on the Works «Ghouls» by Julian Opilsky and «Sotnykivna» by Bohdan Lepky)

Abstract

The article offers a comparative analysis of the images and functions of female characters in the works of Ukrainian writers of the first half of the twentieth century: the historical novel “Ghouls” by Y. Rudnytsky (Julian Opilsky, 1884–1937) and the historical novel “Sotnykivna” by Bohdan Lepky (1872–1941). The research focuses on the peculiarities of the formation of female characters and on the definition of their functions in the plot and in the structure of the works, the interaction of female characters with male characters, their evolution, etc.
Attention is drawn to the artistic means of creating female characters (portrait, dialogue, monologue, etc), to the variety of their functions, because they are not only vivid representatives of certain strata of society (Polish gentry, Ukrainian landowners of the first half of the sixteenth century in the novel “Ghouls”; Cossack officers of the second half of the sixteenth century), but also play a central role in the development of the plot.
The author offers a comparative analysis of the central female characters who create a kind of binomial: Polish ladies Beata and Agnieszka Bialokurski, Olesia, the daughter of the Ukrainian centurion Shelest, and her aunt Magdalena. The author emphasizes the important ideological role of these characters not only in the works studied, but also in the works of Julian Opilski and Bohdan Lepky. Other female characters who play additional roles are also considered.
The article attempts to examine the evolution of female characters in Ukrainian historical prose of the first half of the twentieth century. The author emphasizes the importance of the works of the studied writers’ predecessors Andrii Tchaikovsky (1857–1935) and Adrian Kashchenko (1858–1921) and their followers, which testifies to the continuity of the literary process of Ukrainian literature of the twentieth century.
The article emphasizes the possible prospects for further research of this evolution in terms of comparative analysis in the works of Ukrainian women and men writers, which is relevant in terms of the masculinity/femininity discourse in contemporary Ukrainian literary studies.