The Issues of “Europe” or “West” in the Discourse of the Artistic Ukrainian Movement

Abstract

The article raises the issue of European principles in both Ukrainian literature and culture. Particular attention is paid to criticism of the interwar period and Dmitry Dontsov, the editor of The Bulletin and the
ideologist of volitional nationalism. It analyses in detail critical remarks and theses by Y. Kosach concerning the “separation” of Ukrainian literature from Europe and the “gap” between humanism and the Ukrainian literary tradition caused by D. Dontsov and The Bulletin.
The influence of D. Dontsov’s Eurocentric ideas on Y. Kosach’s critical literary essay “On Guard of the Nation” is identified and interpreted. It is proved that D. Dontsov’s essential principles: nationalism, idealism, voluntarism, and heroism became the basis for Y. Kosach’s essay. Based on the matching nature of the fundamental concepts of D. Dontsov and Y. Kosach in the essay “On Guard of the Nation”, it was discovered that the views of both thinkers on the specific Ukrainian quality of being European, and on the problem of Europeanism were generally identical. In the essay “On Guard of the Nation”, Y. Kosach distinguished heroism, activist psychology, and chivalry as the primordial and leading motives of Ukrainian literary works. In the report “The Crisis of Contemporary Ukrainian Literature”, the words that used to be almost sacred for Y. Kosach of Dontsov’s era – “Gothic”, “literary imperialism”, “heroic, dynamic literature”, “true Occidentalism”, “traditional Europeanism” – sounded with a great deal of sarcasm and negation.