A poet on the other bank: processual writing in the prose by Bohdan Ihor Antonych

Abstract

The study examines the ‘unwritten novel’ “On the Other Bank” by Bohdan Ihor Antonych, a notable Western Ukrainian writer of the interwar period. Known primarily for his poetry, Antonych did not finish this novel-in-progress, leaving behind only draft notes, which offer a glimpse into the very process of his writing. Analyzed from the perspective of genetic criticism, Antonych’s manuscripts are treated as an avant-text, demonstrating a ‘scenario of writing’ in the transition from the novel of action to the novel of state.
 In contrast to his image-based poetry, Antonych’s prose is based on the technique of description. Depicting nature or the urban environment, the author conveys a certain emotional and psychological condition; and paying special attention to qualitative adjectives, he appeals to the sensory experience of the reader. Despite the fact that the plan of the novel indicates the main events of the plot, the author mainly captures the emotions of the characters. Dialogues also play an unusual role in the text as their function is an expressive rather than a communicative one.
 Since the dynamics of the text are based on emotional and psychological movement, and not on the succession of events or judgments, it is considered to be an example of affective poetics in Ukrainian modern literature. The affect appears in Antonych’s text as a force and tension. It shapes the human personality and at the same time challenges it. The affect goes beyond discursiveness and captures the body while its intensity is expressed through the voice and speed. Antonych’s characters share a common transpersonal experience in their childhood and a common object of desire after becoming adults. Moreover, the transfer of emotions into the sphere of interpersonal relations gives to the affect not only a psychological but also an ethical dimension.
 The researcher analyzes Antonych’s manuscript focusing on the dynamics of writing and not on the dynamics of the plot, and this approach gives reason for the conclusion about the affective nature of Antonych’s prose. It is evident that in the ‘unwritten novel’ “On the Other Bank” Antonych depicts the modernist type of literary character as ‘homo sentiens’, who perceives the world in a subtle way and experiences it deeply.