THE FEMININE SPACE OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR IN THE EXPERIENCE OF UKRAINIAN AND POLISH LITERATURE OF THE EARLY 20th CENTURY

Abstract

The article focuses on a comparative study of the spatial representation of the First World War in Ukrainian and Polish literature, drawing on the works of Nataliia Kobrynska, Kateryna Hrynevycheva, Zofia Starowieyska-Morstinowa, and Maria Dąbrowska. This approach contributes to the development of a model for reconciling conflicting political memories and foregrounds the therapeutic function of art. The interpretation of wartime realities from a feminine perspective advances not a heroic but a traumatic vector of meaning. Female narrative is distinguished by a shift in spatial construction from the front line to the realities of the rear; however, both topoi function in these works as transformed territories, marked by conceptual indicators of chaos, alienation, danger, fear, destruction, and death. Accordingly, the gendered configuration of space undergoes a radical transformation: women’s space loses its normative enclosure and predictability, instead acquiring the ideological and semantic dominance of homelessness. The traditional private locus of the home is depicted in an eschatological projection; devastation characterizes not only the external dynamics of events but also reflects the psychological states of the characters: both men at the front and civilians in the rear. In literary representation, the image of home loses its concrete physical dimension and evolves into a symbol. The general plot patterns of the analyzed works may be outlined as follows: the protagonist is a woman whose husband is at the front; she loses her home and finds herself in an alien, hostile space, ultimately leading to the disintegration of the family. Authorial emphases diverge in the portrayal of female behavioral types: Ukrainian literature tends to model the figure of the woman-victim, whereas Polish writing predominantly foregrounds the figure of the female betrayer.