The Slovaks and Slovak Lands in Ukrainian Literature of the 13th–19th Centuries

Background. Images of Slovakia and the Slovaks constitute an important subject of Ukrainian literary imagology. These images are examined almost comprehensively in one of the chapters of Nataliia Kobets’s thesis “Slovak-Ukrainian Dialogue: The Literary Dimension” (2020), however, not all works from the 13th to the 19th centuries have been analysed, whereas one should strive for the greatest possible comprehensiveness so that conclusions and generalisations are based on representative samples. Therefore, the topicality of this study therefore lies in its inclusion of all the works of Ukrainian literature from the 13th to the 19th centuries that feature depictions of Slovaks or references to Slovak lands, whilst its aim is to identify the variations in these depictions. Methods. The study employs the combination of philological and descriptive methods, as well as a comparative approach, to trace changes in Slovaks’ perceptions across different literary periods. Results. It was found that the origins of the image of Slovakia and the Slovak ethnotype in Ukrainian literature date back to the Middle Ages (the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle) and the Baroque era (the chronicle of Samiilo Velychko, the poem by Yosyf Shumlyansky). Thanks to accurate and detailed descriptions, pilgrimage prose remains of significant value, in particular Vasyl Hryhorovych-Barsky's ‘Mandry...’ (Travels...). Various works of ‘literature of fact’ tend to adhere to pilgrimage prose: Yakov Golovatsky's travel notes, Mykhailo Dragomanov's memoirs, and Ivan Nechuy-Levytsky's essay. In this sense, the extensive episode in Shevchenko's story ‘The Servant Girl’ seems underestimated, but rereading it illustrates the evolution of the image of the Slovak in Ukrainian prose. The next stage in this development is the idealised image of the Slovak in Yuriy Fedkovych's short story. The appeal to the generalised image of the Slovak among other Slavic peoples in Mykhailo Starytsky's poem ‘To the Slavs’ embodies the idea of equality of nations, the right of each of them to freedom and cultural development. Сonclusions. What has been said, however, does not give grounds to speak of the emergence of a coherent, multifaceted image of Slovakia in Ukrainian literature at the end of the 19th century, it rather refers to a significant stage in his development. The study traces the evolution from casual toponymic references to attempts of a literary interpretation of the ethnic and cultural distinctiveness of the Slovaks, and subsequently to a significant idealisation of the Slovak people, although a conventional objectivity generally prevailed

Central European and Russian historical studies · Central European national history · Linguistics, Language Diversity, and Identity