«Голлівуд на березі чорного моря» в інтерпретації митців епохи Розстріляного Відродження

Abstract

The saying about Odessa being «Hollywood on the Black sea shore» is not only stylistic devise and metaphor, but the real image of an outstanding cultural centre, which in 1920’s was known throughout Ukraine for its creative might. Among the three of cultural capitals – Harkiv, Kiev and Odessa – the Southern Palmyre was unusual for being, as it was popular to say, the cinema capital, in which were assembled young and energetic representatives of creative professions − writers, play writers, painters, actors of different generations that wanted to share their knowledge with those who tried to master cinematography. The article studies the role of Odessa as the film making capital in the twenties of the XX century, the image of which was artistically interpreted by Rozstilyane Vidrodzhennya writers and artists. And this professional team urged to symbiotic reform of a new type of creativity, that having taken the best from different esthetical forms – literature, painting, architecture, theatre, ballet, music, photography – created cinematography. Owing blending of professional matters, which was carried on in Odessa mainly by Ukrainian cultural workers wasn’t separated from international influences of multicultural reality of Southern Palmyre. The main in the interpretation of the image of Odessa are the samples of Ukrainian prose and drama, among which the most illustrative are the novel «Master of the ship» by Yyrij Janowski and the lyric drama «Pathetic sonata» and plays “Zoná” and “Patetychna Sonata” by the prominent Ukrainian playwright of the XX century Mykola Kulish. The aesthetic discoveries by Olexander Dovzhenko are also subject to analysis, due to the fact that he started his creative searches in Odessa becoming the founder of poetic cinematography renown all over the world. The central book for the analysis in this article is the novel by Yuriy Yanovskyy in which the Sea and the City become rightful characters. In the novel the place and time of the events described are not mentioned. Odessa film factory in Franzuzkyy Boulevard, hotel “Londonskaya”, described in details downtown streets are depicted in a romantic rather than realistic manner as a city with the capital “C”, a fantastic and mysterious city which is at the same time well-known. The readers face an intricate phenomenon: characters mention real places (island Java and Pao, Genoa, Milan, Berlin), but while speaking and reminiscing are placed beyond the topos, in an abstract City, which has its geographical prototype, but seems to “forget” its name. As analysis and comparison show Ukrainian creative personalities of the twenties were bound by specific atmosphere of friendship and mutual understanding – the friendship of young Mykola Bazhan and Yuriy Yanovskyy, Olexander Dovzhenko and Mykola Kulish, Amvrosiy Buchma and Gnat Yura, Mayk Yogansen and Kostyantyn Paustovkyy, filled with books by Gogol and great expectations. One of the components of Odessa atmosphere was the romance of the sea, which was especially attractive for the inhabitants of the steppe regions, coupled with the youth as the period of love. That is why the article studies differences in the romance of the sea and Odessa atmosphere interpretation in works by the authors mentioned. As it turns out the terminological metaphor of “Hollywood on the Black Sea shore” is justified to the full extent for the understanding of golden age of Ukrainian culture in multicultural surroundings of Odessa and, broader, Ukraine. This metaphor is the symbol of spiritual uplift experienced by Ukrainian culture when exploring the new art – film making in Odessa in the twenties of the XX century.