Children's Literature in Volyn Region as a Creative Phenomenon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15330/clid.3.1.80-103Keywords:
children’s literature, literary process, creative phenomenon, writer, literary language, anthology, artistic skill, genre and thematic range, Volyn, native land, readershipAbstract
The present review article offers, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of the distinctive features and dynamics underlying the formation and development of Volyn children’s literature as a creative phenomenon, examined through the prism of both the collective body of its authors and the individual artistic characteristics of selected representatives. The study substantiates the principal approaches to defining and conceptually framing the notion of a “writer of the Volyn region”. It further proposes a typology of authorial differentiation based on the degree and nature of writers’ affiliation with Volyn as a region, conceived as an integral and organic component of the broader national literary system while taking into account the multidimensionality of the literary process and the interregional connections manifested in the work of these authors.
The article outlines the evolution of scholarly reflection and systematization of the region’s children’s literature, tracing its trajectory from isolated authorial attempts at the end of the twentieth century to contemporary conceptual publications, including the anthology Read about Your Native Land. The development of Volyn children’s literature is examined within a three-tier paradigm (“classics” – “pioneers” – “contemporaries”), which reflects the historical dynamics of the literary process. Particular attention is devoted to the contemporary stage of literary production for children, characterized by an expansion of the authorial corpus, genre and stylistic diversity, and an active engagement with and reinterpretation of folklore traditions and sources.
The article analyzes the works of leading representatives of regional children’s literature, including Nadiya Humeniuk, Yosyp Struciuk, Nina Goryk, Vasyl Slapchuk, Mykhailo Pronko, Ivan Chernetskyi, and others. Their writings exemplify a high level of artistic excellence, genre richness, and an organic synthesis of folk-poetic traditions with original authorial elements. The study concludes that Volyn writers have made a significant contribution to the national Ukrainian literary process and to the formation of the contemporary canon of children’s reading.
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