THE MYTH OF THE FAIRY LOVER IN THE NOVELS “THE UNICORN” BY IRIS MURDOCH, “THE ENCHANTED MUSICIANS” BY HALYNA PAHUTIAK AND “LIUTETSIIA” BY YURII VYNNYCHUK

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The mysterious figures and motifs of the Celtic mythology have inspired writers to create numerous characters and construct multiple plots of the world literature. The Celtic myths are an inexhaustible source of the poetics of fantasy books. It seems quite natural when they are adopted and incorporated by the authors whose biography is geographically or ethnically related to Ireland. For instance, in Iris Murdoch’s fiction, namely in her novel “The Unicorn”, the reception of the Celtic mythology is obvious, since the writer was born in Ireland. We share J. Jarząb’s opinion who underlines that “throughout her life, Murdoch always took pride in her Irish roots” 1 . However, there are some Ukrainian authors, whose literary works manifest an overwhelming interest in the Celtic folkloric stories on the level of their mythopoetics. The renowned Ukrainian writer, the Shevchenko prize winner of 2010, Halyna Pahutiak finds a striking similarity of the Carpathian landscapes and the Irish sceneries, and also feels “the Celtic magic” in the lands of boikos, one of the Western Ukrainian ethnic groups, therefore she “sought the decoration for her future novel about Those flying in the air” 2 in her native Drohobych region. The writer’s essays contain the stories about the supernatural beings, in particular, elves, dancing on the valleys near the cave Pryima at night 3 . The author also relates the recurring character of her novels – The Gentleman in a black suit with lustrous buttons – to the figures of the Celtic folklore, “called fairies by the British