ARTISTIC PRINCIPLES OF MATERNITY RECEPTION IN THE NOVEL BY V. LYS «LAND OF BITTER TENDERNESS»

Abstract

The article analyzes the artistic principles of the representation of motherhood in the prose of V. Lys on the example of his novel «The Land of Bitter Tenderness» by studying the female images of this work. The writer uses the motif of depicting several generations of mothers of the same family. The maternal images of the work acquire an experimental character, because he presents them through a combination of his own vision and real historical and biographical materials. In the novel «The Land of Bitter Tenderness», the reception of a woman-mother is realized as a social function. In order to show the power of motherhood of the women of the depicted family, V. Lys focuses on the relationship between Sofia the Elder and her biological daughter Sofia the Younger against the background of historical changes that affected both the worldview of women and the awareness of their maternal role. Motherhood in the novel is realized in the context of memories of the past of grandmother Dazdraperma and mother Vitaliya, which certainly affects current and future events in Olesya’s life. V. Lys proves that motherhood is a sacrifice for the sake of children, their happiness, well-being and a decent future. We believe that the manifestation of motherhood in the image of Daza is a desire to care, to love someone close, to avoid future loneliness, and at the same time it is a sacrifice of one’s personal life. In Vitaliya’s life, a kind of transformation of goals took place: from self-affirmation as a woman to self-affirmation through motherhood, with which she fills her own lacunae of loneliness. The main female characters in the novel are connected not biologically, but socially. The women in V. Lys’s novel strive to realize their motherly love for other people’s children. Daza and Vita realize the brightest feelings of motherhood while raising their daughters in love. It was these two women who achieved motherhood despite giving up their personal life. They assert themselves through the vocation of preserving and multiplying life. The image of Sofiaelder is the opposite, she sees her role as a mother in total control, which does not give her children the opportunity to spread their wings and build their own lives. So the author proves that the main goal of a woman is to preserve the family, but the heroine must independently choose her own path to realize this goal. Daza and Vita realize their maternal desire in love for other people’s children. Women passed their lives with a series of trials, but managed to keep the light within themselves, which they will be able to pass on to the next generation, so that the conscious nation of Ukrainians will develop and strengthen in the future.