BORDER AS CONSTRUCT OF IDENTITY OF INHABITANTS OF BORDERLINE IN THE NOVEL «THE LAST STORIES» BY OLGA TOKARCZUK

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the functioning of the concepts of “border” and “borderline” in humanitarian studies, examples of definitions of these concepts in various fields of humanities have been provided. It has been revealed that the concepts of “border” and “borderline” belong to the foundations of the concept sphere of human, which serve to comprehend external (selfawareness in physical space), internal (understanding of “self-hood”), and social (interaction “I” – “Other ») opportunities and are one of the most important factors of the existence of an individual and constructs of the phenomenon of identity. The role of the “border” in the construction of the national, cultural, ethnic and mental identity of women’s images in the novel “The Last Stories” by Olga Tokarczuk has been determined; the correlation between space and identity in the novel has been highlighted; it has been proven that spatial identity is a core structural component of ethnic, cultural and national identity due to its pervasiveness in geocultural spatial images such as home, language, church, scenery, customs and rites, etc. An identity crisis arises as a result of a change in spatial or mental boundaries, when a person has to make a clear choice. After analyzing the images of the main characters of the novel, it has been concluded that the female characters of “The Last Stories” are separated by the border from their native county due to various circumstances. None of them in the new space has a clear vision of themselves and their future, pendency extends over years, permanent residence “on the edge” leads to the feelings of isolation. Paraska, Ida and Maya feel uncomfortable in relationships with “others”, they live in an idle state for changes, but at the same time they rarely change anything themselves. The change of the border had the greatest impact on the identity of Paraska, who, finding herself in a foreign land, constantly compares the new space for her with the previous, forever lost one. She constructs her identity through living memory of her home environments and denial of “foreign” elements. Using the example of Ida and Maya, it has been brought to light that, unlike prior generations, who built their identity on setting off contrasts between “I” and “Other”, a modern young person is less rooted in an authentic national, cultural or ethnic space and more easily overcomes physical and mental boundaries, which contributes to the construction of a more adaptable identity, which is built rather on combinations of “I” + “Other”.