THE ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GROUNDLESSNESS COMPLEX IN THE NOVEL “ON THE EDGE OF TIME” BY ULAS SAMCHUK

Abstract

The article deals with the existential problem of groundlessness, intensively addressed by Ukrainian writers, especially in the 20th-century diaspora literature. Ulas Samchuk has established himself as an author for whom the theme of groundlessness is organic, considering his life experience described in “Planet D. P.”, Five Past Twelve: Notes on the Run”, “On a White Horse”, “On a Raven Horse”). The article aims to study the problem of groundlessness on the material of Ulas Samchuk’s novel “On the Edge of Time” examining it as a psychological challenge for the characters of the work who were forced to leave their homeland that suffered from colonization after the First World War and revolutionary events. The research uses a cultural-historical approach, the method of existential analysis, and the techniques of biographical, structuralist, psychological, and intertextual interpretation of a literary text.
The concept of groundlessness is closely related to the philosophical theory of rootedness (M. Heidegger, S. Weil). In the article, the complex of groundlessness is comprehended in the light of the works of Ukrainian scholars (M. Shlemkevych, Y. Sherekh, L. Tarnashynska, O. Sinchenko). Ulas Samchuk’s novel “On the Edge of Time” (1963), first published 60 years later, reveals a previously unknown layer of the writer’s oeuvre. It explores three types of assertion of national identity resorted to by refugees: organized protests (the Viche in Prague), interpersonal communication, and literary creativity. The protagonist of the novel, a young writer Yarema Boychyn, overcomes the symptoms of groundlessness despite adverse historical circumstances. The protagonist’s inner conflict is intensified by his opponent, Petrytskyi, who embodies despair and renunciation of the idea of self-realisation in writing.
The autobiographical novel “On the Edge of Time” convincingly illustrates the phenomenon of the “lost Ukrainian man”, the complex of emigrants’ spiritual orphanhood, while at the same time affirming the value of the artistic word for national life, proving the strength of writer’s spirit, conscious of his mission in a foreign land.