“HOROSHI HLOPTSI FINISHUYUT PERSHYMY”: INTERTEXTUAL AND INTERMEDIAL PECULIARITIES OF NARRATIVE POETRY OF LYUBOMYR SERNYAK

Abstract

The article – in fact – is an attempt to analyze intertextual and intermedialpeculiarities of the edition “Horoshi Hloptsi Finishuyut Pershymy” by Lyubomyr Sernyak (2018). The edition is considered to be a unique example of contemporary artistic artefact, which consists of narrative poetry (verbal component) and illustrations / cover (graphic component) by means of which the textual field is extended, as graphic decoration of the edition, obviously, repeats, strengthens and broadens the margins of senses and artistic world of the poems. By the way, the research focuses on the fact that the urban space plays an important role (especially – subway topos) as it deals not only with the setting of the book but it influences its architectonics, even more profoundly – it creates a cultural context of the edition as a whole artistic artefact. It is stressed that the study deals with a contemporary narrative poetry, plainly, story as a “trip” with its own system of characters and plot on the pages of a fore-mentioned poetry edition. It is highlighted that intertextual and intemedial dimensions of the edition are so closely connected that it can be stated that it may be called the diffusion of intertextual and intermedial features and connections of the edition. The intertext is represented both in verbal and graphical layers of the texts: personality-references or graphic artefacts sometimes become quasi-characters of the edition with their unique “voice” and features in imaginary and expressive levels of the text. As for literary intertext, it is broad: mostly it deals with Ukrainian futurism, the writers of the period of the Lost Generation, Franz Kafka and the others. In spite of just literary references the poems of the edition “Horoshi Hloptsi Finishuyut Pershymy” are filled with the allusions to fine art (“Lovers” Rene Magritt, “Guernica” Pablo Picasso), poster art (American poster art of the mid-XXth century), music (jazz and John Cage), games (Super Mario), performances (sport shows, John Cage) etc. Actually, all of these peculiarities create a cultural context of the narrative poetry of Lyubomyr Sernyak, that is the mixture of mass and elite culture, blurring their borders. It is remarkable that frequently the references are duplicated, or the allusion is double, not only referring to an exact text or to the author, but both of them. Some of the artistic artefacts are stressed and pointed out several times in the texts of different poems throughout the book. The specific of these intertextual-intermedial connections is the central problem of this short research.