У статті аналізується історичний роман у віршах Ліни Костенко “Маруся Чурай”, який утілює
індивідуальне міфологізоване бачення легенди про поетесу-менестреля XVII ст. Марусю Чурай.
Перипетії роману розглядаються через їх морально-етичне заломлення у свідомості творця-поета
в контексті взаємин героїні із собою, із зовнішнім світом та історичною реальністю. Увесь розвиток
дійства – розкриття особистості через історію – знаходить пряму аналогію у творчому акті.
The paper analyzes Lina Kostenko’s historical novel in verse portraying the life of the 17th century
Ukrainian minstrel poet Marusia Churai, condemned to death for poisoning her faithless lover. This
work, which grows out of Kostenko’s individualized mythical perception of Marusia Churai legend,
represents a unique individual construct in which the heroines’ quest for self-realization is kept in tune
with the same yearning of the poetess herself; the author’s attitude towards the myth resembles the
heroine’s relations with history.
The narrative mode of the novel functions mainly in three aspects; these are the heroine’s
confrontation with the carnivalized reality of her trial; her subjective journey inward, into the ruined
self, when her execution was pending; and her objective pilgrimage outward, into the history of her
ruined land, after getting pardon.
The paper touches upon various aspects of the heroine’s perception of history. The main character
is depicted as a witness of contemporary events and a bearer of the Word who keeps harmony with
the sacred truth of the past. The Hetman’s ‘pardon’ allows Marusia to move freely through history
in order to achieve a deeper understanding of her ruined land and seize its spirit. In the experience
of the heroine the historical reality appears as versatile and polyphonic, at the same time remaining
integral and inseparable from her personality. Kostenko asserts the rights of poets to create their own
epochs, to recreate the past or present from within their own mythical experience, becoming thus not
only myth-bearers but also mythmakers.
