The concept of “freedom” in the Ukrainian diaspora prose

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyze the mechanisms of realization of the concept of “freedom” in the Ukrainian diaspora prose. The object of the study is the literary texts by I. Bahrianyi, V. Bender, I. Kachurovskyi, Yu. Kosach, I. Kostetskyi, S. Liubomyrskyi, M. Prykhodko, I. Smoliy, and S. Fedorivskyi. Contextual analysis, descriptive, historical and literary, and biographical methods were used to achieve the goal. The article’s relevance is due to the need to comprehend the problem of freedom during the Russian-Ukrainian war, which prompts a new reading of the diaspora’s literary texts, which in many ways proved to be prophetic and instructive. The experience of colonial Ukraine during the liberation struggle and the Second World War provides an opportunity to better understand current military events and the tactics of the occupiers. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the concept of “freedom” is studied in depth in the works of prose by diaspora writers. The analysis includes little-known texts by diaspora authors. The results of the study have shown that the analyzed concept is realized in the texts of the Ukrainian diaspora on the issues of existential and national freedom, which aroused the interest of both Ukrainian and foreign readers. The concept of “freedom” is presented both in fiction and in critical and journalistic discourse. In prose texts, this concept is realized at different levels of the text: at the level of problematics, figurative system, and textual strategies. The author emphasizes that for diaspora writers, personal freedom was inseparable from national freedom, so a recurring theme is the national liberation struggle, the discourse of which shapes the understanding of freedom as a necessary value. The results of the research can be used in the study of Ukrainian diaspora literature. The next stage in the realization of this topic will be the study of the concept of personal “freedom” in the works of the younger generation of the diaspora, in particular, members of the New York group.