THE ARTISTIC REPRESENTATION OF SPACE IN SERHIY ZHADAN’S COLLECTION “ARABESQUES”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2026.3.6Keywords:
artistic space, text of memory, individual and collective memory, places of memory, memorialisation, Serhiy ZhadanAbstract
This article focuses on the features of the artistic representation of space through the lens of memory studies in Serhiy Zhadan’s collection of novellas and short stories “Arabesques”. The relevance of this work stems, on the one hand, from the active development of memory studies within literary branch and, on the other, from the need for a deeper understanding than hitherto of space in literary works dealing with the russian aggression. The aim of this study is to identify the characteristics of how artistic space functions in the collection of novellas and short stories “Arabesques”, to reveal its role in the representation of individual and collective memory, and to define the main spatial images as carriers of cultural and historical meanings. To achieve the aim, a combination of methods was employed: spatial analysis to identify the structural and semantic features of artistic space in the collection’s works; topoanalytical analysis to interpret key loci and establish their semantics; structural and compositional analysis to determine the fragmentary nature of spatial representations and the recurrence of motifs; and the hermeneutic method to reveal the multiplicity of meanings of spatial images within the context of each work.
In conclusion, the artistic space in the collection “Arabesques” serves as an active vehicle and witness to traumatic memory. Damaged buildings, windows boarded up with plywood, the charred shells of educational institutions – these are symbols of collective memory that transform the city into a kind of archive of war. These visual images complement the verbal narrative and lend the collection the characteristics of a polysemiotic text, in which verbal and visual codes jointly construct a space of memory that takes on the features of a multi-layered palimpsest. In the context of war, a transformation of the topos of home has been identified; as a result of the Russian aggression, it has lost its significance as a safe private space and has become a site of traumatic memory. It is found that the locus of the cemetery has shifted from a peripheral to a central status within the collection and has become an indicator of performative memory. The paper specifies that the spatial organisation of the collection is one of the primary means of representing the traumatic experience of war and constructing the Ukrainian cultural memory in the context of the Russian aggression. The academic novelty of this study involves a comprehensive analysis of the spatial organisation of Serhiy Zhadan’s collection “Arabesques” as a unique text of memory.
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