Abstract
The ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war is effecting profound shifts in the structure of Ukraine’s literary production, which is increasingly focusing on the central theme of negotiating Ukrainian national identity through processing of the nation’s war-time experiences. This paper centres on the emerging genre of Ukrainian war-themed literature (often termed “veterans’ writing”) to explore how this relatively new literary phenomenon is redefining contemporary Ukrainian literature and its representation of national self-awareness. “Veterans’ writing,” which addresses the events of the Russia-Ukraine war following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and invasion of the Eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, is currently an extremely productive literary model, comprising over 500 fictional and non-fictional texts, including memoirs, diaries, documentary chronicles, thrillers, melodramas, realistic historical novels, poetry, humorous sketches, etc. typically authored by former combatants, volunteers, activists, or war zone survivors. In my analysis, I examine the main thematic patterns of these texts, as well as their specific literary qualities pertaining to the factors of authorship and circumstances of textual production, with primary emphasis on such works as Stanislav Aseyev’s collection of documentary essays In Isolation, Serhiy Zhadan’s novel Orphanage, and Tamara Duda’s novel Daughter. My approach intends to highlight how contemporary Ukrainian war-themed narratives navigate the themes of identity, belonging, and the dialectics of local, national, and universal against the backdrop of the raging military conflict, reimagining the idea of Ukrainianness and contributing to the construction of a new patriotic literary discourse.
Presenters
Anna AntonovaAssistant Lecturer, Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, University of Alberta, Alberta, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Ukrainian Literature, National Literary Discourse, War-Themed Writing, National Identity
