The existential essence of Myroslav Dochynets’s novel “The Prisoner of the Black Forest”

Abstract

The article focuses on the existential essence of the novel “The Prisoner of the Back Forest” (a version of the novel “Vechnik” for young people) by the contemporary Transcarpathian writer, laureate of the Taras Shevchenko National Award, Myroslav Dochynets. The genre, plot, composition, linguistic and stylistic features of the text have been analysed. It is determined that the genre is a synthesis of an adventure novel, a novel of education, and a parable novel: the adventure line is the external, eventual plot line – the birth of the hero in the Silver Land, in Transcarpathia, his participation in the struggle of the region for its independence; survival in the wilds of the Carpathians, travelling in Romania, exile in Siberia, Kolyma, a trip to Greece, the island of Crete, Mount Athos, taiga crafts in Vladivostok, planting gardens in Colchis, and, finally, returning to his native land; the internal, ideological dominant line is revealed both at the level of metaphorical language and in certain philosophical passages in italics. The narrative is told in the form of a life story-confession, and the protagonist himself is a spokesperson for existential truths.

The article provides an interpretation of the moral and ethical issue which is the key concept in the novel; focuses on the main existential issues covered in the novel – the fate of a person in an absurd, indifferent, often hostile world; his/her choice in crisis situations, which are often caused by political events; stoicism, responsibility and “self-sufficiency”; humanity and altruism; kindred labour and unity with nature; the need for constant self-improvement, which is possible through study and work.

The study has established the closeness of the author’s worldview to the philosophy of existentialism, stoicism and transcendentalism.

The key ideas of the novel are the establishment of a life-affirming philosophy of human existence, that should be based on Christian and universal values. Another fundamental truth of Myroslav Dochynets’s work is the sense of integrity with his land, his motherland and its traditions. The use of Transcarpathian dialectisms, exoticisms, ethnographic sketches and historical facts is not just a tribute to fashion in literature, but an internal necessity, an opportunity to truthfully build his artistic world, rooting it in the land where he was born and raising it to higher levels of awareness of himself and the world in the continuous movement of history. The purpose of the artist is to share God’s revelation, which his heart has known; to glorify his native land, which gave him a soul; and to lead the reader to the light, showing him the main ways of spiritual and intellectual growth.