Childhood in context of history

Abstract

The paper focuses on the problem of a childhood immersed in history based on Serhiy Zhadan’s “Boarding School” (“Internat”) and V. Rafeienko’s “Long Days” (“Dovhi dni”), with references to the memories of those who took part in the revolution of dignity collected by Natalia Huk. In traditional literary texts, the image of childhood was typically utopian. In the analyzed works, the presented world of a child is often not perfect. We rather deal with the category of exile from paradise, and often from the area of child naivety. The young protagonist is forced to confront an alien, brutal world. According to Foucault, “his-tory is a discourse of power”. In these works, the political games and temptation to dominate the world are the phenomena that cause consequences having an impact on the youngest ones. So what is childhood like in the texts covering war and revolution? The authors use child memories as a kind of background against which they can show the present day of their protagonists. It may be an important point of reference, something that accompanies the person until the old age. Childhood narratives are the element that writers use for constructing images of the future, they are a component of internal metanarration guiding the protagonists in the world. In retrospect, the characters begin to perceive childhood as accumulated experiences of various interaction types, the knowledge that even years later shapes their perception of the world. Besides, it brings them closer to the people with whom some kind of memories may be shared. It creates a community. The experience of childhood is shaped by a narrative common to the group regarding it as a norm. In opposition to the oficial history, the authors put the protagonists’ memory first, which is a kind of compass helping them to orient themselves in the ever-changing and not always understandable reality.