THE TOPOS OF MOUNTAINS IN BIOGRAPHICAL SHORT STORIES ABOUT THE ARTIST OLEKSA NOVAKIVSKYI

Abstract

The paper looks into the topos of mountains in fiction written about Oleksa Novakivskyi – a short story essay “By the Stroke of Powerful Wings” (“Rozmakhom Mohutnikh Kryl”) by Ivan Holubovskyi and Larysa Kolesnyk’s biographical short novel “Open Gates” (“Vidkyta Voritnia”). Research has been conducted into how the artist’s work was influenced by his first encounters with the Tatra Mountains and the plein airs in the Carpathians and ways in which it was reflected in fictionalized biographies. The study relies on intermedial studies methodology and a biographical method. Attention is focused on typical mountainous motifs and images painted under the influence of the Hutsul culture; the sacred meaning of mountains and the initiation rituals is explored along with the opposition of mountains and plains in artists’ perception. Intermedial links between fictionalized biographies and Novakivksyi’s paintings have been analyzed. Specific consideration is given to the mythopoetics of mountains in the artist’s works and the short novels analyzed. Mircea Eliade’s theory has been used to study Novakivskyi’s mountains as a symbol of cosmic world-building. The sacred image of mountains in the series of paintings depicting St. George’s Cathedral is highlighted, and parallels are drawn between the depiction of the motif of mountains in the creativity of Paul Sesan and Katsushika Hokusai.