From individual trauma to collective memory: an ecocritical reflection on the postchornobyl narrative in the chornobyl chronicle: people by Olha Kupriienko and Alla Bahirova

Розінкевич, Наталія Василівна (2025) From individual trauma to collective memory: an ecocritical reflection on the postchornobyl narrative in the chornobyl chronicle: people by Olha Kupriienko and Alla Bahirova Синопсис: текст, контекст, медіа, 4 (31). pp. 280-286. ISSN 2311-259X

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Abstract

The subject of the study is the post Chоrnobyl literary narrative as a form of representation of technogenic trauma, collective memory, and ethical reflection in contemporary Ukrainian culture based on the book The Chоrnobyl Chronicle. People (2021) by Olha Kupriienko and Alla Bahirova, which brings together the memoirs of sixteen direct participants in the liquidation of the accident at the Chоrnobyl Nuclear Power Plant. The need for a new understanding of the Chоrnobyl experience in the context of the anthropocene, environmental threats, and the reactivation of memory about the disaster in the face of contemporary challenges determines the relevance of the article. The Chоrnobyl tragedy of 1986 became one of the largest manmade disasters of the 20th century, radically changing human relations with the environment and causing deep social, moral, and cultural trauma. The purpose of this article is to analyze the mechanisms of forming collective memory, post memory, and slow ecological memory in the documentary and memoir narrative about Chоrnobyl. The research methods are based on an interdisciplinary combination of ecocriticism and memory studies, in particular the concepts of functional memory, storage memory, post memory, and slow memory, which make it possible to conduct a textual and interpretive analysis of the Chоrnobyl narrative as a process of prolonged reflection on traumatic human experience and the consequences of technogenic intervention in the environment. The novelty of the study lies in its ecocritical and memorial reading of the documentary and memoir collection as a holistic narrative formation that functions simultaneously as an archive of memory, a polyphonic dis-course of trauma, and an instrument of transition from individual testimonies to collective cultural memory. The results of the study show that the book functions as a polyphonic “place of memory” in which the private testimonies of the liquidators are transformed into a collective narrative, actualizing Chоrnobyl as a long term ecological and moral ethical process. The text performs an important mnemonic function, transforming the individual traumas of the liquidators of the accident into a collective experience and forming a “living” social memory, as well as acting as a medium of post memory that provides an emotional connection between generations.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ecocriticism; ecological memory; Chоrnobyl; trauma; memory studies; slow memory; post memory; functional memory; memory storage; anthropocene
Subjects:	Статті у базах даних > Index Copernicus Статті у періодичних виданнях > Фахові (входять до переліку фахових, затверджений МОН)
Divisions:	Інститут післядипломної освіти > Кафедра мовно-літературної освіти
Depositing User:	Наталія Василівна Розінкевич
Date Deposited:	25 Dec 2025 14:41
Last Modified:	25 Dec 2025 14:41
URI:	https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/55647

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