THE PROBLEM OF CONFLICT AS A STYLE-CREATING FACTOR IN THE ESSAY OF YE. MALANIUK, DEDICATED TO M. GOGOL

Abstract

The article discusses the issue of the uniqueness of the methodological system of Ye. Malaniuk, a literary scholar, which he applied to assess the creative figures of Ukrainian and non-Ukrainian artists. The focus is on the approach that was based on the analysis of the factors shaping style. The article examines one of the key factors that influenced the development and expression of the writer’s unique handwriting. It discusses the conflicts, both internal and external, experienced by artists. The texts, or rather the poetics of the works, represented the essence of these conflicts. The study provides a detailed analysis of Ye. Malaniuk’s studies dedicated to M. Gogol. It formulates and describes an important methodological approach of the essayist to analyze the creative figures – the conflict of the artist and the era. It is established that this conflict had a testing character, allowing an assessment of the spiritual strength (spiritual act) of the artist. Ye. Malaniuk analyzed the works of M. Gogol in comparison with T. Shevchenko. He used emblems to determine the aesthetic nature of the talent of both artists. He called T. Shevchenko the sun of our literature and M. Gogol the moon, emphasizing the dark, mystical character of his style. Ye. Malaniuk examines the figure of M. Gogol in the context of two conflicts that defined the fantastic nature of his style. The first conflict was with Ukraine, more precisely with his Ukrainian self, and the second was with the imperial Russia. These conflicts determined the tragedy of the artist’s worldview, which was embodied in a series of specific stylistic markers: the mysticism of images, the motive of spiritual decay, the flatness of images (shadowy figures), the type of the superfluous person, the fanaticism of laughter, grotesque and phantasmagoria. It is established that Ye. Malaniuk applied an original approach to understanding the writer’s style and the factors influencing its formation. He considered the mental reality of the artist, which changed under the influence of external and internal conflicts. These changes were manifested in the artistic form and in the content of the works. The magic of evil in M. Gogol’s poetics emerged as a reaction to the conflict with the imperial cultural and spiritual discourse, and the spontaneity manifested in the tragic pathos and laughter, grotesque, was a manifestation of M. Gogol’s national essence, a rebellious, anarchic nature.