ARTISTIC IMAGE OF OLEKSA SLISARENKO'S NOVEL «BLACK ANGEL»

Abstract

The article deals with the artistic features of Oleksa Slisarenko's novel «Black Angel». The originality of the imagery of this work is manifested in the individual aesthetics, genre, style, artistic language of the writer. In the novel’s space-time, the Western European Faustian paradigm is actualized, which emphasizes the denial of the old, and captures the process of doubt, and the search for the new. The image of Faust in the Ukrainian artistic version has a paradigmatic character, which reflects the depths of human character, the main direction of spiritual life, as well as the stages of formation of a new civilization. Oleksa Slisarenko is primarily interested in the idea of being as becoming. It is no coincidence that Spengler's interpretation of modernity as an epoch of Faustian civilization prevails in the author's reception, which led to the Faustian issues of the work. This is a change in the universe, the formation of a real man of modern times, existential human choice and etc. The theme of the novel «Black Angel» is an artistic reproduction of the classical idea of the harmony of universal existence, which can be achieved through active and purposeful action of people. The literary character of the work, the scientist Artem Haiduchenko, appears as the newest Ukrainian Faust, whose features are most vividly revealed in the technical, intellectual, spiritual plane of social progress. His fascination with science makes him a non-standard person in the commune (ie in society) and causes astonishment and misunderstanding in the environment. After all, life is much more complicated than all scientific theories, moreover, those that may become obsolete tomorrow. Instead, Artem believes that his invention will help humanity, while he is becoming a slave and a victim of his discovery, endangering the lives of Communards. He is opposed by the Black Angel, Peter's brother, who embodies the Mephistophelean spirit of denial, anarchic arbitrariness, and at the same time a powerful vitalist force. Ukrainian Faust in the interpretation of O. Slisarenko chooses the path of searching for truth; he hopes for a scientific and technical invention that will become an inexhaustible source of energy and make people's lives easier, increase relations between them, and prove man's dominion over all things. The work «Black Angel» tends to the genre of adventure novel with organic touches of utopia and anti-utopia.