ANTHROPOCENTRISM AND ARTISTIC PECULIARITIES OF VASYL ZAKHARCHENKO'S EARLY SHORT STORIES AND NOVELS

Abstract

Introduction. The evolution of Zakharchenko as a novelist is realized under the sign of the expansion of his life experience, that’s why the writer enriches the lyrical and psychological narrative with a complex social problem, which is typical for novels. The anthropocentrism and humanism are the intersecting features of the first novels and stories. Vasyl Zakharchenko shows skillfully how one can remain a person and cultivate high moral principles even in difficult historical conditions, or can be degraded spiritually. Purpose. To analyze the specificity of anthropocentrism and artistic peculiarities of Vasyl Zakharchenko's first short novels and novels (based on the material of the novels "Measure of Mercy", "The Crying of an Old Stork", «Wagons were Rolling down from the Mountain", "Mozar"). Artistic peculiarities of the early large-format prose illustrated on the example of Vasyl Zaharchenko's novel "Fair". Originality. Vasyl Zakharchenko's creative work is still not properly appreciated by literary critics. Our investigation is the first attempt to outline the artistic peculiarities of the early short novels and novels written by Vasyl Zaharchenko, in particular forming of anthropocentrism as the most striking feature of the creative work of the writer. Results. Anthopocentrism is certainly the mainline feature of Vasyl Zakharchenko's first novels. The writer is primarily interested in a person with a wide range of his/her feelings and experiences. The characters of Vasyl Zakharchenko’s novels are people who are already aware of their personality, their purpose on the earth. They are endowed with high moral virtues and an understanding of the beauty. At the same time, in the anthropocentric concept of prose by Vasyl Zakharchenko, the notion of beauty is closely intertwined with folk pedagogy, philosophy and religion. Therefore, the language of the first novels of the writer, in particular the novel "Fair", is rich in proverbs, sayings, phraseological units, metaphors, and psychological parallels. Such means make the narrative more lyrical, create the necessary artistic volume. The beginning of Vasyl Zakharchenko's affiliation to neo-realism canons starts in his novel «Fair», productive artistic techniques for the author are formed here, anthropocentrism of ideological positions is done. In the center of this work, as well as in many others, is a man-worker. Conclusion. The article shows the peculiarities of the formation of anthropocentrism as the main feature of Vasyl Zakharchenko’s early works. Beginning with the novel "Fair", the image of human life, the perception of beauty becomes a leading value in the author's ideological orientations. All the prose by Vasyl Zaharchenko, his diaries are still on the margin of Ukrainian literary studies, that’s why they should be of a great interest both to researchers of the works of the writers of the sixties and in the context of the modern literary process.