Упіймати жар-птицю: мотив посвячення у світ творчості (на матеріалі художньої біографістики про митців)

The article is dedicated to studying the image of a totem firebird and its magical impact on an artist’s initiation. Ukrainian biographical fiction about artists often uses the polysemantic image of a bird as a symbol, sign, trope, or metaphor, which performs the function of plot creation and adds a fantastic element. The image, popular in folk works, has an established interpretation in academic research and encyclopedic publications. However, it has never been a topic for analysis within fictionalised biographies of artists where it has acquired a special symbolic meaning, particularly within the initiation act and transitioning to the world of chosen ones. The article uses comparative methods to analyse biographical fiction about artists and the images and motifs of their works. The methodological foundation of the study is intermedial studies, which help highlight the functions of image-symbols via the artistic dialogue between fictionalised biographies and paintings. Ukrainian fictionalised biographical texts, including fairy tales, short stories, biographical novellas and novels about artists, help trace the magical rite of transition into the state of creative manifestation, with a fantastic bird as the key image. This image symbolises a creative spark and has a particular magical influence on a person, promoting the act of transition of an individual to a different state that is part of a rite which transforms identity or helps self-discovery and is made apparent on social, gender and spiritual levels. Artists in biographical fiction go through initiations of sorts when challenged by demonic powers. These initiations are an important aspect of understanding the gender and social roles of female artists primarily. Zoomorphic images in biographical prose often bear intermedial echoes of paintings and may clearly be traced in works about naïve art female artists — Kateryna Bilokur and Mariia Pryimachenko. These images are common in biographical works for children. The analysis of fairy tale and magical elements and their symbolisation and metaphorisation is impossible without the use of paintings and a broader literary and artistic context. The research has been conducted on the basis of fictionalised biographical texts about Mariya Pryimachenko, Alla Horska, Kateryna Bilokur and other artists written by contemporary Ukrainian female writers Liudmyla Lysenko, Anna Bahriana, Iren Rozdobudko, Valentyna Vzdulska and others. The analysed corpus of Ukrainian fictionalised biographies reveals another landmark folklore symbol important for an artist’s initiation — the fern flower, which will become the subject of a separate publication in the future.fictionalised biographies of artists where it has acquired a special symbolic meaning, particularly within the initiation act and transitioning to the world of chosen ones. The article uses comparative methods to analyse biographical fiction about artists and the images and motifs of their works. The methodological foundation of the study is intermedial studies, which help highlight the functions of image-symbols via the artistic dialogue between fictionalised biographies and paintings. Ukrainian fictionalised biographical texts, including fairy tales, short stories, biographical novellas and novels about artists, help trace the magical rite of transition into the state of creative manifestation, with a fantastic bird as the key image. This image symbolises a creative spark and has a particular magical influence on a person, promoting the act of transition of an individual to a different state that is part of a rite which transforms identity or helps self-discovery and is made apparent on social, gender and spiritual levels. Artists in biographical fiction go through initiations of sorts when challenged by demonic powers. These initiations are an important aspect of understanding the gender and social roles of female artists primarily. Zoomorphic images in biographical prose often bear intermedial echoes of paintings and may clearly be traced in works about naïve art female artists — Kateryna Bilokur and Mariia Pryimachenko. These images are common in biographical works for children. The analysis of fairy tale and magical elements and their symbolisation and metaphorisation is impossible without the use of paintings and a broader literary and artistic context. The research has been conducted on the basis of fictionalised biographical texts about Mariya Pryimachenko, Alla Horska, Kateryna Bilokur and other artists written by contemporary Ukrainian female writers Liudmyla Lysenko, Anna Bahriana, Iren Rozdobudko, Valentyna Vzdulska and others. The analysed corpus of Ukrainian fictionalised biographies reveals another landmark folklore symbol important for an artist’s initiation — the fern flower, which will become the subject of a separate publication in the future.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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