Dyskurs historyczny powieści-kroniki Wałerija Szewczuka Znikające cienie

The article presents a study of the historical foundations of the chronicle novel ”The Vanishing Shadows. A Family Chronicle” by Valeriy Shevchuk. The attention is focused on the writer’s interpretation of historical events in the late 18th century. The social and ideological, discursive processes of the reproduced historical period are analyzed. An integral perception of the history of our country is presented in an inseparable connection between the past and the present. The critical moments in Ukrainian history were outlined as the background against which some urgent, vital problems of either a single individual or the whole ethnic group were shown. Particular characters are correlated with the historical figures, with historical truth being confirmed both indetails and in the general picture of represented reality. Special stress is placed on the artistic depiction of intrinsic motives of the members of the ancient noble family of Temnytskyi. The article discusses the issues of nation-building in the context of social destruction and imperial enslavement. We also propose a new paradigm of human spiritual existence that was inspired by Schevchuk’s work, and explore the ideas of national self-identification as a spiritual rather than caste community, and of the quest for national unity embarked on by intelligentsia as the leader of the nation.