An Opposition «One’s Own / Alien» as the Space Dominant of O. Derkachova’s Small Prose

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of time and space opposition «one’s own / alien» as the poetic dominant of O. Derkachova’s author's style from the point of view of functioning at the writer's small prose. Novels and stories by O. Derkachova are organically fit into the canon of modern literature of small prose forms, especially into the context of «feminine» prose. And its analysis gives a way for understanding the trends of the development of literature at the beginning of the XXI century, in particular its philosophical aspects. Therefore, it was expedient to use in combination, first of all, interdisciplinary and cultural-historical methods.

It is determined that O. Derkacheva depicts opposite ideological positions (male / female, children / adults, lovers / disappointed, happy / betrayed, etc.), principles of being and ways of life. The marking of the chronotope implies an understanding of some of its aspects, such as range of colors, sound filling and taste characteristics.

It is proved that the starting point of the development of the chronotope is its «one’s own» sphere of being, formed with heroesʼ value orientations, toposes of the country, city, home or workplace, that are spiritually similar to them and where they feel themselves happy. Symbolically marked «alien» space often correlates with the concept of masculinity or is marked by the absence of a loved one.

It is concluded that O. Derkachova frequently refers to the author's variations in the semantic paradigm of opposition «one’s own / alien». The key characters of the writer’s art works are women, so the sphere that surrounds each of them is typically «their», whereas the definition «alien» is used to acquire the space in which there are men.

The works by O. Derkachova implements the main trends in the development of Ukrainian female prose of the XXI century and the author, because of her formal-content experiments, takes a worthy place in the modern literary process.