The article outlines the significance of the image of the enemy in the development of civilization and literature. The aim is to analyze the features of the author's disclosure of the concept of «enemy» in A. Kurkov᾽s novel «Grey Bees», dedicated to the life of two former classmates in the «gray zone» in Donetsk region and the Crimean Tatars in the annexed Crimea. In the work the concept of «enemy» becomes one of the plot-creating ones and is constructed not only by a couple of childhood enemies – Serhii Serhiyovych, a beekeeper, and Pashka Khmelenko – but also by the episodic characters of «separs», Russian mercenaries, FSB agent, as well as Serhii Serhiyevich himself and the Crimean Tatars are already perceived by the occupation authorities of Crimea. This concept also performs an illustrative function, in particular, it helps the author define the national identity, civic position and value system of the central character. It was observed that the existential situation of survival in the conditions of war and occupation contributes to rethinking the previous life, attitudes towards others (in particular, representatives of other nationalities), ideas about enemies and oneʼs own/strangers; it also removes from the zone of the subconscious and manifests a sense of patriotism and a sense of belonging to a certain nationality, country, culture, regardless of the territory of residence.
Based on the analysis of the relationships of the central characters, it was concluded that despite the difference in their views on «their own» (for the apolitical Serhiy Serhiyevich, they are bees, while Pashka identifies himself with local militants and Russian mercenaries), they do not become enemies in the military sense of the word, because to each other they are «theirs» and have a common goal – to preserve the village so that one day the residents will return to it.
The article notes that in his novel A. Kurkov for the first time raised the problem of the perception of residents of the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions in other parts of Ukraine not only as foreigners, but as perpetrators of war and enemies.
Accordingly, in the novel by A. Kurkova᾽s «Grey Bees» the concept of «enemy» is modeled through the image of a «stranger», while not every «stranger» becomes an enemy for the narrator, just as not every «friend» is a friend.
