The mode of theatricality in the work of representatives of “Bu-Ba-Bu” group

Abstract

The article deals with the phenomenon of theatricalization of the artistic picture of the world in the works of authors-representatives of the group “Bu-Ba-Bu”, (Yuriy Andrukhovych, Viktor Neborak, Oleksandr Irvanets) who carry out a large-scale renewal of Ukrainian literature by dramatizing reality. That is why the mode of theatricality best shows the basic artistic principles of the group (burlesque-balagan-buffoonery). The relevance of the study is due to the need to analyze the work of representatives of Bu-Ba-Bu in the mode of theatricality. The subject of research is the poetic features, the system of characters and the principles of characterization of the group. The purpose of this article is to identify the ideological identity of the literary work of the group “Bu-Ba-Bu” in terms of revealing the theatrical discourse, which provides the research novelty. Research methods: comparative, comparative-historical and descriptive were used. Results of the research. Yu. Andrukhovych’s great prose and O. Irvanets’ drama are considered in the context of the postmodern concept of “theater society”, which treats various forms of social and cultural life as a kind of performance, as well as in connection with the concept of camp, which is characterized by ironic reflection on mass culture and aestheticization of everyday life. Dimensions of theatricality are realized by groups primarily in the form of carnival, which is a means of overcoming postcolonial trauma and a special space of existence (active involvement of the public in theatrical action, blurring the line between “theater” and real life). Addressing the main tenets of Bakhtin’s theory of carnival revealed the peculiarities of the aesthetics of “crisis periods” in prose and drama of modern authors (opposition to official discourses, total freedom and familiarity, accentuation of the bodily “bottom”). Particular attention is paid to corporeality, which reveals carnival features (grotesqueness, fluidity, dynamism) and at the same time becomes a means of rehabilitating human freedom and vitalistic energy, correlating with postcolonial social context. It is proved that the national originality of artists’ creativity is manifested primarily in the constructive nature of the carnival, which, formally correlated with the rhizome, implicitly affirms the value vertical.