Vovk M. Mythic and Symbolic Origins of Vasyl Barka's Prose Heritage.

The dissertation presents an integrated reconstruction of the author's model of world perception embodied in the mythic and symbolic image structure of V.Barka's. Both well-known and less-known facts from the writer-philosopher's biography are analyzed in the light of the concepts 'folk religious moral' and 'ethnic model of the world'. The conceptual representations of the novel titles - 'Yellow Prince' and 'Eden' based on the folk-etymologic backgrounds and revealing re-mythologized features - are decoded. The mythic-symbolic image structure of V.Barka's prose is analyzed as modified model of the World Tree in two aspects: in arts-symbolic implicit context (mythic symbols represented in 'Eden', 'Yellow Prince', 'Expiater and Earth's Keys') as well as in explicit context ('world outlook scheme' kept in the writer's archives). The writer's individual style features folklore elements in vocabulary, phraseology, and syntax where they represent writer's world outlook ideas relevant to ethnic ethic religious conceptions - 'philosophy of heart'. The research focuses on the universal feminine ethnic archetype, and the ritual sphere of family's life as static and dynamic representation of Ukrainian family life being.