Nonselection and Constellation: the Principles of Acentricism in Prose by Dubravka Ugrešić, Olga Tokarchuk, and Oksana Zabuzhko (in the novels «Museum of Unconditional Surrender» by Dubravka Ugrešić, «Flights» by Olga Tokarchuk, and «Museum of Abandoned Secrets» by Oksana Zabuzhko

Abstract

The subject of the article is the artistic embodiment of the postmodern principles of constellation (Walter Benjamin, Theodor Adorno) and nonselection (Douwe Fokkema) in the works of prose by Slavic writers. The novels by Croatian, Polish, and Ukrainian authors — Dubravka Ugrešić’s “Museum of Unconditional Surrender”, Olga Tokarchuk’s “Flights”, and Oksana Zabuzhko’s “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” — are analyzed within comparative approach. The novelty of the study is determined by the fact that it is the first attempt to compare samples of Ukrainian, Polish, and Croatian literature in the light of the embodiment of postmodern principles of constellation and nonselection in them. The study revealed a number of formal features inherent in all three novels selected for the analysis, i.e. fragmented composition, narrative heterogeneity, multiple plotlines, and intertwining of chronotopes. At the level of content, acentric tendencies define the common for all three works emphasis on the search for meaning-making connections between random elements, attention to trifles and details as elements of the constellation structure. The motif of crossing and disappearing borders, which is realized in a specific way in the novels by Olga Tokarchuk and Dubravka Ugrešić, is eloquently acentric. The motif of crossing and disappearing borders, which is expressed in particular ways in the novels by Olga Tokarchuk and Dubravka Ugrešić, is eloquently centric. All of the works selected for analysis are distinguished by their thematic inclusiveness, which manifests itself in the actualization of the marginal, imperfect, and irrelevant: rubbish, garbage, trifles, “mistakes and dead ends of creation,” “things no one needs.” A striking manifestation of nonselection is the philosophical interpretation of rubbish presented in a postmodernist tone in the novels “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by Oksana Zabuzhko and “Museum of Unconditional Surrender” by Dubravka Ugrešić. While Oksana Zabuzhko perceives rubbish as a trace of a person’s private life, Dubravka Ugrešić sees it as a symbol of a bygone era and a vanished country, Yugoslavia. Highlighting specific features in the realization of the universal principles of postmodernism in the works of related literatures emphasizes the peculiarity and historical background of each of them. The evidence of common philosophical tendencies and similar motifs in the analysed novels gives grounds to speak of the existence of structural and typological ties between Ukrainian, Polish and Croatian literature.