Ідея чистої форми і жанр пророчої п’єси в драматургії Станіслава Ігнація Віткевича Та Володимира Винниченка і Миколи Куліша

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of typical features of the prophetic drama genre in light of the “pure form” concept proposed by the Polish playwright Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz and Ukrainian playwrights Mykola Kulish and Volodymyr Vynnychenko. To compare the contents and form of this type of drama, a play by Witkiewicz titled “Jan Maciej Karol Hellcat” and plays by the Ukrainian playwrights “Narodny Malakhiy” and “The Prophet” were analysed. It was demonstrated that the above plays are correlated not only by their aesthetics and poetics of expressionism and surrealist components, but also in the aspect of genre syncretism, grotesque, parody, absurd, play of masks, complex linguistic structures and names of personae. While achieving considerable complexity of their protagonists – Jan Maciej Karol Hellcat, Malakhiy Stakanchyk and Amar – the Polish and Ukrainian playwrights found their individual ways to “deform” the images of the personae following the guidelines of “pure form” theory. The author of this paper also indicates not only the relatively close dates of creation of the plays (1920s-1930s), but also the almost identical social and historical conditions of their origin, and the real figures that provided prototypes for most of the personae, viz. representatives of Polish and Ukrainian societies. Considering the subjects and problems addressed, the plays are influenced not only by literary reminiscences – they are also deeply rooted in medieval morality, although direct sources of this type of subject and problems can be traced to liturgical drama, with its attempts to depict the acts and journeys of prophets. Finally, the common characteristics of the above Polish and Ukrainian dramatic works result from the fact that they were created by Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Mykola Kulish and Volodymyr Vynnychenko in the time of emerging various versions of Polish and Ukrainian Modernism.