Alternative narratives in contemporary prose: from mystification to identity

Бровко, Олена Олександрівна and Віннікова, Наталія Миколаївна (2025) Alternative narratives in contemporary prose: from mystification to identity Вісник науки та освіти, 40 (10). pp. 336-346. ISSN 2786-6165

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Abstract

The reinterpretation of historical events, the mythologization of the past in collective consciousness, as well as attempts to rewrite or create alternative histories, remain subjects of active discussion among historians worldwide. Efforts to comprehend the formation of new cultural models within the humanities are methodologically grounded in the theoretical concepts of R. Barthes, G. Bataille, U. Eco, A. Mol, M. Foucault, and other thinkers whose ideas contributed to the development of poststructuralist and semiotic paradigms of cultural analysis. These processes reflect current trends in the humanities, within which the reinterpretation of historical experience emerges as an important tool for cultural self-identification. In this context, the analysis of mechanisms for creating historical myths is particularly significant, as they perform not only explanatory or legitimizing functions but also play a key role in shaping collective memory and societal identity. The purpose of this article is to identify artistic strategies for constructing alternative historical narratives in contemporary Ukrainian prose and to outline their influence on shaping collective identity, local memory, and the cultural comprehension of historical experience. The analysis of texts reveals the artistic specificity of alternative historical modeling in the works of V. Kozhelyanka, V. Yeshkilev and O. Hutsulyak, and O. Chupa. In V. Kozhelyanka’s novel Defilada in Moscow, a scenario is modeled in which the German-Soviet war ends with the victory of the Ukrainian state. The author constructs a parodic dimension of history, where absurd situations and fictitious documents expose the contradictions of Soviet and post-Soviet historical thought. In the novel Adept, V. Yeshkilev and O. Hutsulyak create an alternative history through intertextual layering, citation, and play with cultural codes. The motif of the “invented manuscript” is structurally central, and the boundary between document and fiction is intentionally blurred, creating an effect of authenticity while challenging the possibility of objective knowledge about the past. In O. Chupa’s novel The Homeless of Donbas, the author reinterprets the local identity of Donbas by combining an alternative history of the “real” Ukraine with actual historical events.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	alternative history; narrative; mystification; game; identity; contemporary Ukrainian literature
Subjects:	Статті у періодичних виданнях > Фахові (входять до переліку фахових, затверджений МОН)
Divisions:	Факультет української філології, культури і мистецтва > Кафедра української літератури, компаративістики і грінченкознавства
Depositing User:	професор Олена Бровко
Date Deposited:	26 Nov 2025 13:19
Last Modified:	26 Nov 2025 13:19
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/53883

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