Transformation of Folklore Images and Motifs in Dara Korniy’s Novel “Honykhmarnyk”

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The article examines folklore motifs and images of Dara Kornyi's novel "Honykhmarnyk", which is offered to be analyzed in the Ukrainian literature class in the 11th grade in the context of studying modern literature. It is indicated that the writer contributed to the development of the urban fantasy genre, and her work is rooted in folklore and mythology, which will allow students to deepen their knowledge of oral folk art, to draw parallels with the works they studied in high school, in particular Lesia Ukrainka's "Forest Song" and "Shadows of forgotten ancestors" by Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi. It is proven that the synthesis of arts as a characteristic feature of the style, folklore echoes, poetic epigraphs, and mentions of the names of famous artists significantly expand the context of the work and generate allusions that should be analyzed in class. The title of the novel and the names of individual sections indicate its connection with mythology and folklore. The work contains many legends, tales, and folk songs, and artistically interprets the image of a duplicitous man who belongs to the corpus of Ukrainian "lower mythology". The article analyzes the main signs of a two-headed person and also focuses on rituals that can reduce the power of Gradobur. In parallel with the image of Honykhmarnyk, the history of the herbalist family, to which Alina belongs, is described. A whole series of legends, tales, and superstitions are woven into the artistic fabric of the work, in particular, about the power of charms that protect against evil spirits. One of the aspects of the research was the legend of the family curse and Alina's efforts to break the closed circle. The struggle between good and evil in the work is marked as a confrontation between black and white magic.
 It has been proven that the Carpathian and Lviv topos play an important role in the novel, in the coordinates at which the main characters interact. It is revealed that nature reveals the true nature of the heroes, and the patron of the city guards the secrets of its inhabitants. It is illustrated that Dara Korniy resorts to erasing the boundaries between reality, memories, dreams, and real and parallel worlds, and paintings serve as a kind of portals to the afterlife. The main character tries to separate two beings and save the soul of her beloved. It is indicated that the journeys to the afterlife are filled with horror, so they resemble fragments of Gothic works, but the power of her love can overcome all obstacles.