POSTMODERNIST VISION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND THE HERO AS AN ACT OF TRANSGRESSION

Abstract

The focus of the author of the article is the solution of the problem of reality in the literature of postmodernism. We are talking about the subjective nature of the perception of space by the characters of two stories. The author of the first of them, “Podmiot”, is the Polish writer and psychologist Olga Tokarczuk. The author of the second, “The Incredible Story of the «Pocket Oracle»”, is Ukrainian writer and literary critic Oleksandr Mikhed. The key event in each of the stories is the destruction of the boundary between literature and reality, between the author and his hero. In the story by Olga Tokarchuk, the character of the autobiographical novel, like a shadow from H. K. Andersen’s fairy tale, tries to capture the living space of his creator, to replace him. In Alexander Mikhed’s story, the real person – the reader – identified himself so much with the hero of the young writer’s novel that he even went to commit the murder of the author in order to save a fictional character, believing that in this way he can protect his own life from the arbitrariness of the one who invented this character. Various motivations for what happens in the stories are offered. The destruction of the boundary between the fictional and real worlds in both stories may be a result of reflection of how the authors see the process of artistic creation; it may be connected with artistic study of the mental state of the characters; the inclusion of fantastic motifs may be an allusion to the famous works of romantic writers. Mainly the author of the article connects this process in both stories with the actual problem of modern philosophy – transgression. It, in turn, is directly related to many questions that we are trying to find an answer to. In particular, are the boundaries between fiction and reality so strong, and is there really such a different space (dimension) in which literary characters are no less real than ourselves.