Образи та мотиви повісті М. Трайсти «У ніч на святого Андрія» та оповідання М. Рошка «Кривавий місяць над Минчелом» у світлі європейської міфології.

Abstract

The article analyzes the artistic reinterpretation of the folklore image of the werewolf in M. Traista’s story “On the Night of St. Andrew” and in M. Roshko’s story “Bloody Moon over Mynchel”. The specifcs of the mystical events modeled in the works, which is based on the folk beliefs of European peoples about werewolves, vampires, two-soul men and ghouls, are considered. The article highlights the mythological aspect of the motifs of unrequited love, revenge of the werewolf, themes of death, crime and punishment, and outlines the mysticism of the problem of choice in both works. In the article, M. Traista’s artistic interpretation of folk beliefs about a werewolf, time boundary, symbolism of the number thirteen, and mythical conception of Andrew’s holiday was studied. Typological parallels between mythological motives and images of the novel and myths and beliefs of Ukrainians and Europeans were drawn; the psychological basis of demonic images was considered. The stress was made on the author’s specifcs of modeling of images, motives, storylines, and the role of composition for artistic thought realization. The novel “On the night of St. Andrew” and the story “Bloody Moon over Mynchel” metaphorically reflect the idea of the duality of human nature, its doomed eternal stay on the border between good and evil and the inability to stop when instinctive evil (the personifcation of the negative Shadow archetype) gains power above consciousness (“I”). The article states that the image of the werewolf in the works of M. Traista and M. Roshko differs in several features. Andrzej Jankowik is an aristocrat, an artist, and at the same time, a cold-blooded killer who always has an alternative plan and repeatedly punishes people who destroy his model of the future. Andrzej, who is a werewolf from birth, is satisfed with his fate as it grants him immortality. Oleksa, on the contrary, is a simple peasant, far from philosophy and art, who wants the usual family happiness. He does not dream about immortality but is doomed to the torment of jealousy. Oleksa’s transformation into a wolf is due to the mystical influence of the moon and a psychological factor – obsession with hatred for his wife Oksana and former friend Vasyl. Thus, in M. Roshko’s story, we see the metaphorical transformation of a man into a wolf, the author’s free interpretation of a mythological image. Oleksa, being in a state of affect, commits murder (not on purpose, like Andrzej). M. Roshko skillfully modeled the psychological prerequisites of the hero’s crime in the picture of a dream, which reflects the desire for bloody revenge and control over the object of his love.