Україна в період Першої світової війни: своєрідність відображення в історичній повісті-хроніки Олександра Лугового „кігтях двоголового орла”

Abstract

In the article there have been analyzed the theme of Ukraine during the period of the First World War, the specificity of the problem of man and war and also the image of the main hero in the work of Oleksandr Lugovoi „In the claws of a double-headed eagle” (1955). In the story-chronicle the author has depicted the Battle of Galicia and Brusilov breakthrough which were successful for the Russian army and also consequences of the Galician-Tarnuvsky breakthrough by the troops of the Fourth army. The artistic skill of the author is mainly directed to uncovering the problem of man and war. Naturalistic, Oleksandr Lugovoir depicts pictures of human losses on the battlefield, reveals the psychological soldiers’ metamorphoses during the war, skillfully using historically credible facts of Galician’s evacuation. He describes using of “burned land tactics” by the Russian army during the retreat and also exposes the terrible truth about the Great War. The central theme is connected with the plot that is the way of its disclosure. The plot of the work is connected with life of the main character V. Povolotsky. In thoughts the main hero comprehends the events of the war, philosophically generalizes their consequences. Through the image of the main hero Oleksandr Lugovoi reveals the internal motivations of ideological and moral sources of human behavior in the war. The author reveals the theme of the war on ontological and anthropological levels. The character of the main hero is revealed by the author through the characteristics of the narrator, internal monologues of the main hero, during dialogues of V. Povolotsky with other characters, description their attitude to him, the behavior of the hero both in peaceful life and on the battlefield. The problem of man and guilty is depicted by the author with the help of the motive of pain and hopelessness. The motive of pain stands out during the descriptions of war victims. The depiction of the totality of war in the work is achieved through the landscapes. The problem of man and war reveals by the author by means of the descriptions of life of a simple soldier in the war. The motive of humanism and antimilitarism appears from the author’s retreats and thoughts of V. Povolotsky. The author of the article appeals to scientific research about Oleksandr Lugovoi. The central theme of the work is revealed at the level of the phenomenon of individual, author’s life. So, in the historical story-chronicle “In the claws of a double-headed eagle” Oleksandr Lugovoi through the prism of the world perception of the officer of the Russian army V. Povolotsky highlights the central theme of the work – Ukraine during the First World War. With the help of depicting the image of the main hero, forming his character, critical attitude to world political reality reveals the problem of man and war. Motives of pain, despair, humanism and antimilitarism sound in skillfully drawn landscapes, author’s retreats, bloody military tops.

Keywords

• historical story-chronicle
• the first world war
• theme
• motive
• problem
• main hero