A comprehensive analysis of the genre and content features of the “Volyn text” in the poetry of the Ukrainian-Polish borderland of the Interwar twenty years is carried out. The development of its geopoetic features in the Volyn literary space which contains both geographical markers expressed in geotypes and artistic attributes of the imaginary world that goes beyond everyday reality and embraces mythological and cosmological motifs is traced. In this context, the poetic expression of the culturologeme Volyn is considered in detail.
The geopoetic dimension of Volyn poetry of the Interwar twenty years is comprehended for the first time on the basis of the factual material of the Poetry Group “Volyn”. The terminological base of the study is established to express the phenomena of cultural borderland, “small homeland”, culturologeme, “Volyn text”, etc. The theoretical and methodological approaches of domestic and foreign scholars are used and systematised in order to identify the peculiarities of the Ukrainian-Polish borderland of the interwar period. The difference between the frontier, “kresy” and borderland is outlined and their common characteristics are pointed out. The position of contemporary literary critics on the methods of researching the Volyn space in Ukrainian and Polish literary studies is assessed. The interdisciplinary nature of such studies is pointed out. The development of the concept of “Volyn text” is traced and its complex characterisation within the literary phenomenon of the borderland is carried out.
On the example of the works of Volyn poets, the features of catastrophism as the main literary trend in the poetry of the Interwar twenty years and its modifications, depending on the individual style of each of the authors under study, are outlined. The author points out the extent of this problematic in the temporal and thematic dimensions - from local to universal modes.
The study found that Volyn poetry of the interwar period resonated with the creative achievements of the Lublin and Vilnius avant-garde which rejected the principles of the Krakow avant-garde and rejected the vitalism of the Scamander.
The studied literary texts reveal a connection between poetic and prose catastrophic codes based on apocalyptic and extraterrestrial visions of “black romanticism”. The poems of S. Szajdak, W. Iwaniuk, J. Śpiewak, J. Łobodowski, etc. are analysed in detail from this perspective. The social motives that deepened this catastrophic thinking and worldview are pointed out. In addition to the anticipation of the approaching the Second World War, the recent past played a significant role as it showed through military actions that peaceful existence and human values were threatened. We see this as an individual style of catastrophism.
A similar individual approach can be traced in the implementation of the principles of authentism by Volyn artists. The theoretical and literary work of Stanisław Czernik, the founder of the authenticist literary movement, and the main milestones in the development of this trend are analyzed. The most prominent representative of the Volyn authenticists was Stefan Szajdak, who realised all the necessary requirements for authentic poetry on the mythological material of the geopoetics of Volyn and Polissya.
For the first time, the creative works of the representatives of the Poetry Group “Volyn” are analyzed in the cultural multinational context of the borderland.
The method of Volyn myth-making, introduced to the literary space by Lesya Ukrainka, the historical basis of the works of J.-I. Kraszewski, nation-building elements in the poetry and prose of such Ukrainian artists as Y. Malaniuk, O. Olzhych, as well as folklore materials, the role of the interwar village in the formation of thought images – these are the aspects that made the cultural epithet Volyn acquire the character of intercultural semantic unity.
The study traces the author's Volyn projects by Cz. Janczarski, Z. Ganczanka, Z.-J. Rumel, S. Bardczak, S. Szajdak, J. Łobodowski, W. Iwaniuk, J. Śpiewak, Z. Wierzbicka, W. Milczarek, and W. Podmajstrowicz. The differences and common features of their creative concepts are pointed out.
The Conclusions summarize the cultural factors of the development of interwar poetry in Volyn which constitute the specificity of the culturologeme Volyn. Attention is drawn to the geopoetic dimension of the creative manners of the artists who constituted the poetic paradigm of the “Volyn text” of the interwar period and influenced the further development of the literary frontier in this area. The results obtained will contribute to the further development of theoretical and methodological tools for analysing the authentic and catastrophic trends in interwar literature against the background of the peculiarities of the Ukrainian-Polish cultural borderland.
