TRAGIC COMEDY IN THE WORK OF IVAN TOBILEVYCH (I. KARPENKO-KAROGY)

Abstract

The article contains a brief overview of some theoretical ideas regarding the interaction of comedic and tragic principles in literary works (E. Malanyuk, E. Bentley). This is followed by a detailed, episode-by- episode analysis of I. Tobilevich's play ‘Chumaky’. The playwright designated the genre of the work as ‘comedy.’ The author of the article argues that it is a ‘tragicomedy,’ noting moments of psychological artistic exploration and tracing the accumulation of characteristics of this particular genre. She discusses the dual nature of the artistic conflict in the work: external – moral and social, and internal – moral and existential, as a problem of a certain threat to the ancestral characteristics of the nation's existence as a result of the moral degradation of some of its representatives, who are capable of undermining the harmony between the male and female principles, which traditionally supported the inviolability of ‘the family as the axis of culture,’ according to Y. Lypa's theory. Scientific information (from the works of P. Odarchenko and Y. Lypa) is presented about the original Ukrainian way of economic activity – chumakstvo. Here is the researcher's own original version of the uniqueness of the Ukrainian name for the cosmic phenomenon – the Milky Way constellation.The philosophy of the work is seen within the framework of a system of national ethics based on Christian values.The development of the conflict in the play, constructed by the playwright, is traced in accordance with his understanding that the morality of the entire community, and further, of the whole society, depends on the morality of each individual. The grounds for discussing the dual nature of the artistic conflict in the play ‘Chumaky’ have been established: moral and social, so to speak, on the surface (according to external signs) and, according to internal dimensions, moral and existential. Since we are talking about the ancestral characteristics of a nation's existence, the conflict unfolds mainly within one family: brothers Khoma and Vitaliy are representatives of one clan, while their wives Nastya and Solomiya are from other clans, thus starting new clans.Nastya initiates the conflicts, thereby threatening the harmony between the male and female principles as a traditional guarantee of the inviolability of ‘the family as the axis of culture’ (Yuri Lypa's theory). Solomiya appears as a symbol of the Woman-Mother, thanks to whom Life continues.