Пам’ять не може помирати: осмислення каральної психіатрії в СРСР у романі С. Процюка «Травам не можна помирати»

Abstract

Reconstruction of the USSR`s life memory is extremely relevant, as it awakens awareness of the past traumas: the realities of the Soviet everyday life (standardization, patience, adaptation) and the cruel destruction of any attempt to uphold national identity. The interest in this topic is caused by the understanding of the modern problems in the development of the Ukrainian independence, especially in times of Russian military and ideological aggression. The works about the Soviet past appear in the Ukrainian literature one by one. Writers are driven not by the desire to immerse themselves in nostalgic memories of childhood or adolescence, but by the need to expose the destructive impact on the worldview, culture, language of the Ukrainians, and ultimately on our statehood. The article is devoted to a topic of memory about the struggle for the national freedom of the Ukrainians in the 1970's, which is represented in S. Protsiuk's novel “The grass cannot die”. The main focus of the analysis is the reconstruction of the Soviet past, the horrific systematic methods of the authorities against citizens who asserted their national identity in particular. Special attention is paid to the artistic comprehension of such phenomenon as punishment of «dissenters» by treatment in psychiatric medical institutions. The representation peculiarity of «punitive psychiatry» which is little known for the general public is traced. The author shows how real events of the past are reflected in the artistic text. She briefly analyzes the work of former Soviet political prisoners, including L. Pliushch’s memoir “At the Carnival of History”. At the center of the study is the image of a psychiatric hospital in Dnepropetrovsk. It is a contrast to the figure of the Ukrainian poet Maksym Tomylenko, a victim of punitive psychiatry. The author's ability to show the authenticity of events, the inner state of the characters and the surrounding circumstances are analyzed. Ideological and semantic role of the work is specified as a reminder of the past heroes, of the difficult way to fight for Ukraine, of its spiritual heritage. The author of the article proves that S. Protsiuk's novel opens the tragic pages of the past and dispels myths about the well-being of the Ukrainian nation in the USSR. Problematic issues of the work, its ideas and appropriate stylistics are essential in the complex study of the artistic vision of the Soviet past in contemporary prose.