Information on the thesis

Thesis for a scientific degree of Candidate of Philology. Speciality 10.01.06 – Theory of Literature. Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. Lviv, 2016.

The thesis is devoted to the research of socialist realism canon in Ukrainian literature. This canon is considered as artificially modeled power project in the sphere of culture and literature which aimed to creation of monostylistic system with clearly defined rules, recommended schemes, especially thought-out characters understandable for the mass Soviet reader in order to monopolize power at all levels and to establish new Soviet identity(«homo sovieticus»).

For the first time the research of socialist realism deals with varied approaches to understanding of the nature of literary canon, being interpreted as «an instrument of social domination», as «cultural grammar» and as «a result of literary communication». The revision of creative works by individual authors and reinterpretation of texts of socialist realism literature are proposed without appealing to dissident and emigration literature as direct opposition to socialist realism canon, and it gives possibility to demonstrate mobility and changeability of both text-making and form-making canons. The main attention is paid to the works of different periods of establishment and decay of socialist realism canon in Ukrainian literature which illustrate theoretical theses of the research and help to solve the research problems. The anthropological concept of «new man» has become the priority one in the thesis since it determined dominants of socialist realism canon on different (problem-thematic, figurative, genre etc.) levels. According to this approach the typological analysis of different types of «heroes» and «enemies» as modeling components of socialist realism canon is proposed. The opinion about socialist realism canon of Ukrainian literature as dependent but complete project is proved. Idea of creating new Soviet world as «God-building» and describing leader as Saviour, approval of «homo sovieticus» idea by means of marginalization of national cultural markers, important role of poetic genres in the Ukrainian socialist realism canon, frequent departure from the «master plot» in «large narratives» are proposed to be considered as peculiar Ukrainian features of socialist realism. National peculiarities of Ukrainian literature also come to light on the stage of transformation and further decay of socialist realism canon by the development of such genre-thematic forms as whimsical prose, works with ecological and historical subject and autobiographical forms of narrative.

Four chapters of the thesis deal with the analysis of peculiarities of socialist realism canon forming in Ukrainian literature as well as with studying main factors of canon-making process. The special attention is paid to mechanisms of modification and transformation of the canon, to text-making dominants of the Ukrainian variant of socialist realism on problem-thematic, genre, poetics, figurative and typological levels.

The socialist canon research is represented as the way to re-recognizing of all totalitarian experience in frames of Ukrainian Soviet literature, as the way of new reading of state field of the literature of XX century.

Key words: canon, socialist realism, socialist realism canon, canonization, decanonization, ideology, cultural memory, «new man».