Decadent sensuality as an important component of the short prose by Ahatanhel Krymsky and Oleksii Plyushch

Abstract

The article analyzes several stories by A. Krymsky and O. Plyushch, which reveal the leading signs of decadent sensuality, which became an important part of the literature of the fin de siècle period. During this period, the conflict between positivist and modern consciousness arises: the man of the new century rebels against old traditions, values, and views, trying to find new aesthetic horizons for self-expression. The article aims to study the features of the manifestation and functioning of the elements of decadence in the short prose of the mentioned writers, and analyse their interaction with elements of other stylistic trends of the early 20th century, in particular, the realistic guidelines of the Narodnyks. The research is relevant because we need to deepen our study of A. Krymsky and O. Plyushch’s short prose as a bright and original phenomenon of its literary era. The study used a comprehensive methodological approach: elements of cultural-historical, biographical, comparative, and receptive-aesthetic methods. The results of the study highlight that the short prose of A. Krymsky and O. Plyushch is quite illustrative of their era. On the one hand, they did not pretend to and did not specifically write decadent texts, and on the other hand, they provided vivid examples of decadent sensuality in a work of art. Their prose combines elements of traditional populist aesthetics (while simultaneously denying and even ridiculing it) with features of decadent sensuality. Such a specific combination of diverse stylistic features presents the subjective energy and typical image of a person in the crisis era of the turn of the century, testifying to the search for new forms of aesthetic expression. These texts also testify to the desire to build a new artistic and aesthetic paradigm, in which rationality increasingly gives way to emotionality and psychological immersion in human character, indicating a new stage in the development of Ukrainian literature. The development of European art causes these new features of domestic writing, but at the same time, they have their own national roots.