The dissertation analyzes the prose of Mykhailo Hafiia Traista, a modern Ukrainian writer from Romania, through the prism of the literary concept of the "artistic world." The article centres on the historical and cultural circumstances that influenced the development of Ukrainian literature as a factor of national self-awareness of Ukrainians abroad; the ideological foundations of Mykhailo Hafiia Traista's work are clarified, the genre and thematic, poetic and stylistic, narrative originality of his Ukrainian-language prose is highlighted.
The first chapter of this work examines Myhailo Hafiia Traista’s role as a writer within the context of Ukrainian literature in Romania. It presents important facts about the author's life and highlights the various aspects of his artistic activity. The chapter also discusses the stages of the artist's literary evolution, as well as the reception of his work by scholars and critics.
The second chapter analyses Mykhailo Hafiia Traista's prose, outlines its genre and thematic range, and summarises the main directions of the artist's artistic search. A recurring criminal theme is evident in the author's work, providing insight into the psychology of the individual and tackling timeless existential issues ("Horse Thief's Honour", "Hatred of Neighbour", "Revenge for Father", “Styzherety”); the author's active appeal to the theme of the supernatural and irrational is traced, and thus the elements of Gothic and mysticism in the novels of Mykhailo Hafiya Traista are revealed ("During St. Andrew’s Night", "Man from the other world") and a psychoanalytic analysis was conducted on the story "The Stranger in a Violet Dress"; the artistic originality of the writer's humorous and satirical prose is clarified (collections "Do not believe your eyes", "Masonry", "Honest Wives"); It has been found that the author has a distinct focus on writing fiction for children, with a poetic evolution that is demonstrated through five collections intended for children's reading ("Viburnum Mornings", "Raspberry Paths", "Stepanko’s Reader", "Viburnum Dawns of Childhood", "Letter from Africa. Nomadic Land").
The third chapter of the thesis examines the narrative structure of Mykhailo Hafiya Traista's prose and reveals the author's skilful use of different types of narration. The author also focuses on the autobiographical nature of his works (the collection "Stories from Verkhnia Rivnia" etc.) and analyses the function of narrative polyphony in the artistic structure of the story "Between Love and Death" and the novel "Tin Christ".
The study has found that Mykhailo Hafiyia Traista's prose is characterised by the artist's national self-awareness, involvement in the spiritual continuum of the Ukrainian ethnos, a conscious civic nation-centric position, and an aesthetic values shaped by world and national literature, the inseparability of the mental connection with the topos of the small homeland, which, embodying the model of the Ukrainian world, became the generating center for the ideological and poetic features within the artist's artistic space characterized by short prose genres.
The dissertation is unique in Ukrainian literary criticism as it presents the first conceptual analysis of the prose works of a notable representative of modern Ukrainian literature abroad Mykhailo Hafiia Traista. The study systematically analyses the genre and thematic directions in the artist's prose works. The analysis traces the poetic and stylistic features of the author's epic works and typologizes the narrative structures of their prose. Additionally, it clarifies the specifics of the artistic world portrayed in the writer's short stories, novellas, and novels, as well as the factors that determined it. For the first time, this work conducts a comprehensive analysis of Mykhailo HafIia Traista's original work in the context of the development of Ukrainian literature in Romania. It also outlines his position in the literary space.
Key words: Mykhailo Hafiia Traista, contemporary Ukrainian literature, Ukrainian literature of Romania, prose, artistic world, idiostyle, issues, poetics, composition, narrative models, intertextuality, autobiography, mythology, humour, children’s literature.
