The relationship between publicism and artistry in the novel 'The King’s Gambit. A Novel about the Resilience of Energodar' by Petro Kraliuk and Oleksandr Krasovytskyy

On the question of the metadiscursive nature of modern military literature

Abstract

The subject of this article is a novel by contemporary Ukrainian authors based on real events: the defence of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant against Russian aggression. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that it considers a topical theoretical problem based on the material of the novel — the relationship or coexistence of two discourses: artistic and journalistic. The main research method used in the article is systematic. The author identifies several levels in the structure of the novel (plot, composition, imagery, as well as the level of subtext) and solves the question of how conceptuality, which is mandatory if the work, as an artistic system, is manifested on each of them, so all levels of the novel are interconnected and conditioned by the artistic tasks of the writer. The author concludes that The King’s Gambit by Petro Kraliuk and Oleksandr Krasovytskyy is a novel with a pronounced publicistic nature, meaning that it is focused on the declaration by the writers of their understanding of the situation that has developed in Ukraine with the beginning of full-scale invasion, as well as on the impact on the consciousness of readers, on the formation of their civic position. The novel’s publicistic nature is traced at the levels of paratext (the title complex, dedication), metatext (the writers accompany the most significant names, events, and titles mentioned in the text with comments), allusions to the speeches of the President of Ukraine in connection with the invasion of Russian troops into the territory of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant. The introductory part of the work, which, given its genre characteristics, is an essay (elements of travel, historical, and portrait essays are highlighted), is studied in detail. At the same time, the study of the novel gave grounds for the conclusion that this is a work of fiction. Artistry is proven by the individualization of characters, the use of artistic compositional techniques, and psychologism in revealing the path that the heroes take. The author of the article focuses in greatest detail on the study of the plot of the novel. The initial understanding is that in works of the artistic group of epic genres, the hero is always in an extremely contradictory situation, not only confronting circumstances (the external side of the conflict), but also experiencing an internal conflict (the internal side of the conflict), which, in turn, determines the further development of his personality and his fate. Publicism does not contradict artistry in this work. On the contrary, it is entirely due to conceptuality — the main feature of the novel as a genre, in which the author always moves from the analysis of individual aspects of reality to synthesis, based on which he identifies patterns. The current situation in the country requires publicistic pathos from writers, which contributes to the completeness and persuasiveness of the artistic study of reality.