Novohatskiy D. Novel trilogy "The Ice", "Bro's Way", "23 000" by Vladimir Sorokin: problems and peculiarities of genre and composition

For the first time in Ukrainian studies of literature novel trilogy "The Ice", "Bro's Way", "23 000" by Vladimir Sorokin is investigated in a broad context of the writer's works and changes of aesthetical paradigm of Russian literature postmodernism of the border of centuries. The essence of the trilogy's range of problems and peculiarities of its genre and composition are exposed. Special attention is paid to the reasons of Vladimir Sorokin's individual artistic style recent diversification and his break with the traditions of soc-art. The place of the trilogy among other Sorokin's works is defined, main trends in critical essays and scientific papers on the cycle are marked out, specific "author's" nature of the trilogy's mythology is proved, ways of this mythology creation and development are investigated. Special attention is also paid to a fantastic "Universal of Harmony" description, with the help of which image the author shows typical problems of the present-day society, mainly social solitude, frustration of ideals, social disorientation, threat of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. Varieties of time and space in the novels (real and fantastic chronotopes) are investigated, connection between the trilogy's problems and genre and composition peculiarities is traced down. A new genre definition ("apocalyptical utopia") is proposed for the cycle as it combines typical features of both utopia and dystopia. The influence of Russian and world literature traditions on Sorokin's trilogy alongside with the author's innovations within aesthetics of postmodernism are analyzed.