FRONTLINE TOPOS IN MAKSYM KRYVTSOV’S POETIC CREATIVITY

Abstract

Contemporary Ukrainian poetry interprets the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war, recreating not only the realities of frontline life but also the psychological and traumatic experience of a person in wartime. One means of artistic representation of armed confrontation is the frontline topos, which is especially evident in Maksym Kryvtsov's work, where the frontline space acquires symbolic and emotional content. Despite the attention of literary critics to the poet's lyrics, the frontline topos has not yet been the subject of a separate study, which underscores the relevance of this investigation.

The purpose of the article is to investigate the features of the artistic reproduction of the frontline topos in the poetic work of Maksym Kryvtsov, analysing its motive complex, figurative content and functions in the reproduction of the realities and traumatic experience of war. The methodological basis of the study is a comprehensive approach that combines structural-semantic, hermeneutic, cultural-historical and biographical methods.

The results. An analysis of Maksym Kryvtsov’s poetry has revealed that the topos of the front line is depicted through a series of spatial markers – trenches, roads, slag heaps, combat positions, ruined towns and natural landscapes – which combine a realistic portrayal of the reality of war with the psychological states of the lyrical subject. It has been proven that the frontline space in the lyrics of the combatant poet acquires existential significance, representing motifs of fear, loneliness, inner emptiness, the constant presence of death, and the loss of the pre-war life. At the same time, important components of this topos are images of memory, humanity, the need for closeness and the desire to preserve internal integrity in the borderline conditions of war. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the attempt to comprehensively understand the frontline topos in the poetic work of Maksym Kryvtsov in literary terms, clarifying the theoretical aspects of this concept and systematically analysing spatial markers, motifs and images of the collection Virshi z biinytsi in connection with the psychological and existential experience of the lyrical subject.