THE INFLUENCE OF THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917–1921 AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR ON THE DRAMATURGY OF YURI YANOVSKY

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of works that consider the impact of war and revolution on the dramaturgy of Yuri Yanovsky. The purpose of the investigation is to analyze the impact of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 and the Second World War on the writer's plays. This goal involves the performance of such tasks as the comparison of Yanovsky's biography and dramaturgical works, analysis of draft materials for plays, and consideration of final editions of works. The tasks set require the involvement of not only methods of philological analysis, but also textual criticism and source criticism methodology. Yanovsky's dramaturgy can be divided into pre-war and post-war. In the pre-war plays, which include "The Conquerors", "Duma about Britanka" and "Descendants", there is a clear influence of the revolution of 1917–1921. " Duma about Britanka" directly shows the revolutionary events, for the depiction of which Yanovsky turned to periodicals and communicated with eyewitnesses. In the other two plays, there are frequent references to the revolutionary past from various characters. The Second World War clearly influenced the development of two post-war plays, "Son of the Dynasty" and "The Prosecutor's Daughter". Yanovsky planned the first play with civilian issues, but revised it, showing how the characters face the realities of war. The writer changed the text of "Prosecutor's Daughter" several times. In the pre-war version, some characters mentioned their revolutionary past, but in the post-war versions, this changed to mentions of wartime. In the first post-war edition, the impact of the war on the lives of the characters was more pronounced, but in the second, the writer reduced it, in particular by removing the antagonism between the former front-line soldier and the fascist regime's guide. It can also be assumed that it was his own experience related to the war that made Yanovsky sensitive to this topic and prompted him to write the play "Paradise Camp" inspired by just one newspaper note. War and revolution had a powerful influence on the writer's dramaturgy, both as realities reflected in the text and, in the case of war, as a factor that prompted Yanovsky to make the current changes to the plays.