The dissertation is devoted to the research of the interpretation of the myth of Orpheus in the European literature of the twentieth century on the example of prose texts of Ukrainian (Halyna Pahutiak’s «Vision of Orpheus»), English (John Fowles’s «The Magus»), German (Thomas Mann’s «Death in Venice», Hans Erich Nossack’s «Orpheus and…»), and Bulgarian literature (Ivan Davidkov’s «Charon's Boat»).
The object of research – the story by Halyna Pahutiak «Vision of Orpheus», Hans Erich Nossack’s «Orpheus and …», the story by Thomas Mann «Death in Venice» and the novels by Ivan Davidkov «Charon's Boat», John Fowles’s «The Magus». The subject of research – the interpretation of the myth about Orpheus at the level of typology and poetics of the image in these prose works. The choice of material for the research is made according to the following criteria: representativeness of artistic modeling of the Orpheus image in the works; chronological correlation; genre and style modality; geocultural variability; scientific perspective.
The purpose of scientific work is to compare the interpretation of the myth about Orpheus in the prose of various literatures at the level of typology and poetics of the motive complex.
The following tasks were performed: the myth of Orpheus and his literary interpretation were characterized; the interpretation of the orpheic image in the European prose of the XX century is studied; typological coincidences of the orpheic image and features of its rethinking in the works by Halyna Pahutiak «Vision of Orpheus», Hans Erich Nossack’s «Orpheus and …», Thomas Manns’s «Death in Venice», Ivan Davidkov’s«Charon's Boat», John Fowles’s «The Magus» were found.
The scientific novelty of the study is that for the first time: a comparative analysis of the interpretation of the image of Orpheus in the works of Ukrainian, Bulgarian, English, German literature was done; the myth about Orpheus in the works by Halyna Pahutiak «Vision of Orpheus», Hans Erich Nossack’s «Orpheus and …», Thomas Mann’s «Death in Venice», Ivan Davidkov’s «Charon's Boat», John Fowles’s «The Magus» is analysed; common and distinctive features in the interpretation of ancient myth are found in these texts; the connection between Orpheus and other ancient images and plots (Pygmalion, Eurydice, Narcissus, Hades) is revealed.
A number of works of literary criticism are devoted to the research of the interpretation of the image of Orpheus in lyrical and dramatic works, where the Orphic image was widely used, while prose works of the twentieth century, in which the image of Orpheus occurs, are less studied.
Today the reception of the orpheic motif, in particular as a mythologeme, is presented in the works of O. Halchuk, O. Hniezdilova, A. Karelskyi, Yu. Lilieiev, N. Koloshuk, S. Maksimova, M. Moklytsia and other Ukrainian and foreign scientists. The specifics of the traditional plots and images functioning were studied in the works of A. Volkov, A. Niamtsu and others; theory of interpretation - in the works of M. Bakhtin, M. Haidegger, Yu. Kovaliv, V. Kukharenko, P. Riker and others. The theoretical basis of the dissertation is built on works devoted to the research of the myth by R. Bart, E. Kassirer, K. Levi-Stross, O. Losiev, O. Potebnia and other scientists; comparative literature research by V. Budnyi, M. Ilnytskyi, D. Nalyvaiko and others.
The methodological basis of the study consists of general scientific empirical-theoretical methods, system-functional approach to the literary phenomena research, comparative method, cultural-historical method, comparative-historical method, genetic method, mythological method, descriptive method, as well as the method of analysis of critical literature of the topic of our work.
The following types of methods were chosen for scientific research: general scientific empirical-theoretical methods - analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, descriptive, system methods; genetic - allows the study of the transformation of the image of the ancient hero from myth to prose of the XX century; mythological is used to determine the content and functions of mythological elements, which were used by the authors in creating their new mythological world of, their relationship with the meaning of the original myth; comparative-typological - for correlation of author's interpretations of the image of Orpheus and determination of differences and similarities on thematic, morphological, stylistic levels, which allowed to systematize literary projections and invariants of the studied myth.
Interpretations of the Orpheus’s image in the analyzed works are not monotonous and the neomyth does not have a single plot. Orpheus and Pygmalion, Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus and Narcissus, Orpheus and Hades are interpretations of the new image of the singer and the reflection of the faces of Orpheus in the prose works of European writers.
Key words: myth, Orpheus, interpretation, prose, image.
