CRIMPLEN HAPPINESS: SOVIET CLOTHES – THE IMAGE OF TIME IN MODERN PROSE

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the artistic reconstruction of everyday life of a Soviet man in modern prose (M. Hrymych “Yura”, O. Zabuzhko “Museum of Abandoned Secrets”, I. Karpa “From dew, from water and from calabash”, M. Layuk “Babornya”). The image of clothes as a marker of the past is considered. The article uses hermeneutic, problem-thematic, comparativehistorical, biographical research methods. It has been found that in texts about the Soviet past, modern writers fill the artistic space with authenticity and appropriate color, restoring lost or distorted postcolonial memory. This is important for a thoughtful comprehension of the past. The semantic details in the works about the Soviet past are the images of clothes of people of different social groups, gender and age. In the novel “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” O. Zabuzhko revealed the symbolism and recognizability of images that illustrate everyday life. Describing clothes, the author explains human relations against the background of established norms of Soviet society, which is doomed to irreversible destruction. In his work "From Dew, Water, and Calaban", I. Karpa exposes the absurdity of Soviet norms of life, adjusting to a critical perception of the truth. The depiction of the Soviet child’s everyday clothes, and especially the school uniform in this book, is ironic and caricatured. In M. Layuk’s novel, the image of the Soviet teacher’s clothes complements the entourage of the retro space, demonstrates the social status and temperament of a person. Emphasis on the school uniform speaks of the totalitarianism of the Soviet system of education, the uniformity of young citizens, the stamping of their aspirations. M. Hrymych in the novel “Yura” clearly showed the tastes in the clothes of the main character Klavka – a person from the capital’s elite. This made it possible to identify the contrast of social strata in the Soviet Union. Thus, the artistic expression of clothing in the modern Ukrainian novel about the Soviet era creates the entourage of the past, reveals the typical features of people’s appearance. Using irony, sarcasm, caricature, writers show authentic pictures of the past life, destroy the myths about the “happiness” of the Soviet citizen.