TYPOLOGY OF MASCULINITY IN THE YEVHEN MALANYUK POEMS

Abstract

Purpose. The task of this article is to analyze the manifestations of masculinity in E. Malaniuk’s poems of the interwar period by identifying different types of masculinity, studying their connection with biographical realities, ideological guidelines and historiosophical views of the poet, studying the evolution of some images.

Methods. The research uses the following methods: descriptive, historical-biographical, comparative-historical (to compare different types of masculinity and track the dynamics of individual images), archetypal and textual analysis (determination of the symbolic meaning of artistic images) and elements of masculine studies (study of masculinity as gender, compliance of its manifestations with gender stereotypes in society), stylistic, mythoanalysis, etc.

Results. During the research it was revealed that in E. Malaniuk’s poetic work there are different types of masculinity: a “man in crisis”, a stranger, hegemonic masculinity, female masculinity, etc. At the same time, the masculinity of a “man in crisis” is heterogeneous and should be considered in two aspects: individual and national. The masculinity of a stranger is also heterogeneous: he can act as an aggressor, an enemy, but can act as a carrier of state-building potential (“Vikings”). In many works E. Malaniuk connects his hope for the revival of statehood with the “Vikings”. The cultivation of hegemonic masculinity as the basis for the revival of the nation and statehood is the poet’s ideological guideline, which he consistently tries to implement in his works, despite some doubts caused by historical and modern realities. Examples of female masculinity, that available in the author’s texts, do not play a significant role in his work. The study also traced the dynamics of the opposition “stiletto” and “stylus”, which is pervasive in the work of E. Malaniuk, in the context of the masculine component of these symbols.

Conclusions. Studies of gender issues in the works of a prominent representative of the “Prague School” E. Malaniuk allow us to form a more complete picture of this phenomenon and the Ukrainian national myth, an important aspect of which is gender.