«ЛІТОПИСНЕ СЛОВО» У РОМАНІ «МАНУСКРИПТ З ВУЛИЦІ РУСЬКОЇ» РОМАНА ІВАНИЧУКА: НАРАТИВНА СТРАТЕГІЯ І ФІЛОСОФІЯ ІСТОРІЇ
The article deals with Roman Ivanychuk’s novel «The Manuscript from
Rus’ka Street», which is one of the samples of the «intellectual historical
novel» in the Ukrainian fiction of the 1960s–1980s. In particular, the peculiarities of the functioning
of «chronicle word» as an authorial narrative strategy, which enables, on the
one hand, to convey the flavor of the epoch through the inset
text-mystification and, on the other hand, to reproduce Lviv intellectual
atmosphere of that time, are highlighted. The coexistence of two narrators in
the novel, namely, innkeeper-chronicler and the «author» that endeavors to
reconstruct the historical document and write his own work similar to the
medieval one is observed. It is clarified how the «author’s» voice offers his
own interpretation of historical events and reflects on philosophical issues;
how the dialogue among various points of view (narrative perspectives) as well
as between the «author» and historical texts along with the literary ones
(primarily the Bible) takes place. It is demonstrated how the narrators of the novel
draw attention to the various aspects of life in Lviv of that time, while
encouraging to read the city as a text (spatial coordinates of Lviv, private
stories of its celebrities and average residents). It is revealed how the
specifics of the narrative arrangement of the novel provide the narrative
balancing on the edge of historicism and mythologism (semi-mystical visions of
the characters, motifs of «false angel» and «the agreement with the devil»).
The peculiarities of representing the confrontations on the national and
religious basis in the novel as well as the authorial emphasis on the problems
faced by the intellectual milieu of that time (individual and national
identity, referring to their own origins and the heritage of world culture, the
paths of the intellectuals in difficult historical circumstances
(self-improvement, public education or armed resistance), spiritual succession
among the intellectuals of different generations) are outlined.