Role of memory in forming national identity. “The land of bitter tenderness” by Volodymyr Lys

Abstract

Role of memory in forming national identity. “The land of bitter tenderness” by Volodymyr Lys
 The paper offers an attempt to look at the “The Land of Bitter Tenderness” by contemporary Ukrainian writer Volodymyr Lys in the context of the search for individual and national identity, national memory, as well as the history of the 20th century Ukraine. In the analyzed work, the writer uses the image of a child, which, in the researcher’s opinion, is a quite rare phenomenon in Ukrainian literature. The is technique was used by the writer in order to capture the reader’s attention and make him penetrate the text of the novel deeper. The us, the author informs the reader that the main idea of the work is extremely important because the average person is accustomed to paying more attention to children. On occasion, the writer points out that manipulating a child’s memory was the easiest way for the Bolsheviks in their criminal social experiment. The writer emphasizes that the effects of ‘brainwashing’ may be prevented, but it is impossible to cure the trauma left by this process in the soul of a person. Analyzing the mentioned novel, the author of the paper refers to the works in the fields of literary studies, pedagogy, sociology, and psychology, written by Philip Aries, Rudolf Schaffer, Ellen Kay, Pierre Nora, Katarzyna Segiet, and others. The Ukrainian writer, describing the fate of three women (grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter), presented against the backdrop of the tumultuous Ukrainian history of the last century, is trying to restore the lost memory, both individual and collective, in order to secure the process of building Ukrainian national identity. The writer draws attention to the fact that during almost all the 20th century not only the Ukrainian nation but also Ukrainian history has been the subject of constant Bolshevik manipulation and fraud. He emphasizes that the prerequisite for building a unified Ukrainian identity is the attempt to restore individual and collective memory in Ukrainians, including the memory of history.