Peculiarities of Mykhailo Ivchenko’s autobiographical legacy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.28925/2311-259x.2025.1.7Keywords:
Mykhailo Ivchenko, autobiography, textual criticism, identity, SVU (so called Union for the Liberation of Ukraine)Abstract
The object of the study is five autobiographies by Mykhailo Ivchenko, which are of key importance for understanding the formation of the writer's artistic and national identity. The study aims to clarify the peculiarities of the transformation of the “autobiographical pact” under the influence of the socio-political circumstances of the time. The author examines the correlation between factuality and artistry in Ivchenko’s texts, tracing the evolution of his self-positioning and the formation of his authorial stance and artistic aesthetics. Particular attention is given to the textual-critical analysis of several manuscript and typescript copies, which enabled the reconstruction of the writing process and the investigation of self-editing principles. Notably, instances of self-censorship were discovered, pointing to the deliberate construction of the writer’s image.
The methodology combines source-based, biographical, textual-critical, and comparative-historical approaches, which together allow for an in-depth understanding of the multifaceted nature of autobiographical writing. The study’s scholarly novelty lies in the first comprehensive analysis of all of M. Ivchenko’s autobiographies, their systematization according to the proposed chronology, and the examination of historical and political influences on the specifics of the autobiographical text.
The study concludes that M. Ivchenko’s creative method varied depending on the communicative goal, historical circumstances, and personal intentions. The corpus of his autobiographies allows to deepen the understanding of the complex creative personality of the writer and highlights a characteristic trend in the development of Ukrainian prose in the first third of the twentieth century: from the freedom of romantic and lyrical self-disclosure to forced factuality caused by the growth of repression and totalitarian pressure. Future research prospects include comparative analyses of M. Ivchenko’s autobiographical works with those of other authors, as well as the incorporation of new theoretical and methodological tools for a more thorough exploration of this autobiographical discourse.
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References
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