«Про що не мовчать дитячі голоси?»: проблематика «небезпечного» в українській еміграційній літературі для дітей та юнацтва

Abstract

The article deals with works for / about children written by Ukrainian emigres writers in the 20th century. Through comprehension of the issues of “dangerous” in the collection of stories by V. Vynnychenko “Necklace”, the story by B.-B. Fedchuk “Gania”, Olga Mak’s “Stones under the curve” and L. Brizgun-Shanti’s “Black clouds over the golden field”, etc., two types of children’s voices are analyzed. Voice as expressing passive contemplation, as presented, e.g. in the stories of the cycle “The Necklace” by V. Vynnychenko. Here, children rebel against social reality with its poverty, exploitation of child labor, social inequality and child abuse, which occurred in Ukrainian life, in the time of being a colony of the Russian Empire. Vynnychenko gives voice to his small child heroes both to identify the child’s individuality, and to draw attention to the necessary changes needed in the society at that time. This idea makes the cycle close to writings by Ch. Dickens, and A. Lindgren. Voice as a resistance against a silent majority, is related to the “terrible” themes devoted to the tragic pages of the world and national history suppressed in the Soviet Union, and still largely unknown to the world community. In particular, this refers to the occupation of Ukraine in the Second World War and the genocide of Ukrainians by the Stalin’s regime (named “Holodomor-33”). The children’s narratives in the literature of Ukrainian Diaspora (Olha Mak, L. Bryzghun-Shanta, B.-B. Fedchuk, O. Tsehelska, etc.) had become the opposition to the silent majority. The authors promote ideas of the responsibility in “the face of the other” (E.Levinas) and of tolerance to the culture of the other. Similar senses are actualized by the modern writers like J. Boyne, J. Elvgren, etc.