SACRED SPACE OF THE NOVEL BY L. KONONOVYCH “CENTURION FROM CHYGYRYN”

Abstract

Issues of identity crisis have been raised by Ukrainian and foreign scientists since the late twentieth century. In this context, the issue of identity for Ukraine is particularly painful. A complex set of political and cultural identities, which are the basis for individual self-identification (language, culture, the vision of history, national idea, etc.) on the territory of Ukraine were formed chaotically, under the influence of state entities, which included Ukrainian lands. That is why today they need an independent rethinking. One of the significant identities are ‘symbolic loci’ and their ‘secular doubles’, able to activate national codes in the public consciousness (Maidan, Cold Ravine, Baturyn City, Monk’s Hill, etc.). The use of these identities is a powerful tool for national myths creation, which is important for coherent nation formation. Such symbolic loci form the sacred space of the novel by L. Kononovych “Centurion from Chygyryn”. According to the results of the research of the artistic chronotope peculiarities, it was found that the central symbolic locus in the novel is the Mykytyn Sich, from which the protagonist’s travels begin and end. In the work, it serves as a sacred center, a kind of reference point, around which are located peripheral loci (the nameless settlement near the Sich, the Stone Tomb, the Black Rock, Kyiv, Chygyryn City, Zaruba mountain, the Golun City). Each of them is connected with important milestones in the history of the Ukrainian people: Cossack times, Kyivan Rus, the Scythian era. All these locations should be visited by a young Cossack Mykhas to free sinful souls chained to them and release these souls to the realm of the dead, symbolically forgiving intentional or involuntary sins before the homeland: this is how the guilt and redemption concept is actualized in the novel. Significant in the work is the image of the Dnieper – a sacred river created by Dazhbog for ‘his people’. It separates the independent Left Bank and the Polesconquered Right Bank, connects the peripheral loci located along it, and serves as a border between the worlds. Symbolic loci in the «Centurion from Chygyryn» are important tools that allow to delve into the past, recall important milestones in national history, trace the origins of the Ukrainian people from Scythian to the times of Khmelnytsky and thus legitimize the right to their native land, which is one of the leading ideas of the novel.