THE MULTIDIMENSIONAL IMAGE OF CHINA IN SOFIIA YABLONSKA’S TRAVELOGUES

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the multidimensional image of China in S. Yablonska’s travelogues, reveal the specificity of its visualizations in her book «From the Country of Rice and Opium», and also outline the characteristic features of the writer’s individual style. Methods. The biographical method applied in the research allowed us to establish relationships between the author’s works and her life story. Using the cultural-historical method made it possible to examine S. Yablonska’s travelogues in the context of the realities of that historical period. The book «From the Country of Rice and Opium» was also analyzed using the toolkit of literary ethno-imagology (for studying the ethno-image of China), postcolonial studies (for identifying anticolonial accents in the author’s narration), and intermedial studies (for finding inter-artistic interactions and establishing the impact of cinematography on S. Yablonska’s individual style). Results. The study identifies the intermedial nature of S. Yablonska’s works, which consists not only in the use of pictures for illustrating her books but also in the application of cinematic techniques for visualizing the visited territories since the author supported this interaction between cinematography and literature by virtue of her profession. The focus of the author’s attention on foreign exoticism is an integral element of the ethnoimage and a characteristic feature of S. Yablonska’s travel essays. The author of the travelogues perceived the meeting with the Other as a dialogue of cultures, and her narration manifests the rejection of cultural imperialism that denies the displacement of oriental culture by European civilization. Conclusions. The multidimensional ethno-image of China represented in S. Yablonska’s book of travelogues, «From the Country of Rice and Opium», allows us to emphasize the consistent and systematic approach of the author to the study of various manifestations of the life of the country’s residents, which are shown in the thorough description of agriculture, everyday life, culture, and politics, in the panoramic worldview and attention to details depicted using cinematic techniques. The traveler not only documents the details of Chinese life, which are important for orientalists but also accompanies them with comments that reflect the philosophical interpretation of the realities she saw. The travelogues vividly visualize the image of the author, who appears as a brave, risky, determined, and ambitious woman with clear political beliefs and worldview who managed to realize grandiose plans and projects of that time.