« 2022. # 2 (164)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2022. № 2 (164), 327—336

UDK 801.81:179.8:335.48(477.86)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2022.02.327

THE MOTIVE OF BETRAYAL IN FOLKLORE NARRATIVES FROM INSURGENT IVANO-FRANKIVSK REGION: INDIVIDUAL CHOICE OR COLLECTIVE PATHOLOGY?

KACHMAR Maria

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7811-9576
  • Candidate of Sciences in Philology,
  • Research Fellow at the Institute
  • of Ethnology of the National Academy
  • of Sciences of Ukraine,
  • 15, Svobody Avenue, 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail:mariakachmar@ukr.net

Abstract. The national liberation struggle of the Ukrainian people in the 1940s and 1960s highlighted both positive (consolidation of all vital forces in the most difficult period, desire for individual freedom, desire to live in their own state, heroism and sacrifice) and negative traits of national character, namely betrayal. Ethnopsychologists have devoted a considerable amount of research to this topic (O. Kulchytsky, G. Vashchenko, A. Furman, etc.). Folklorists also turned to betrayal in their works, tracing various aspects of its accumulation in insurgent poetry and prose (O. Kuzmenko, J. Zakalska).

The relevance of the article is to study the motive of betrayal in the narratives of national liberation themes of the mid-twentieth century in anthropological (individual choice of each, related to personal circumstances) and ethnopsychological (collective orientation due to national characteristics) contexts actualized through folklore memory.

The object and source base of the work are the texts of folk insurgent prose, recorded in the villages of Halych and Bohorodchany districts of Ivano-Frankivsk region in 2019 and introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.

The purpose of the article is to trace the accumulation of the motif of betrayal on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of insurgent narratives, to single out its varieties, in particular to find out the reasons (difficult circumstances, appearances, confessions, personal gain, money), pay attention to the formation of the image of the traitor with the help of typical and individual traits, to reveal the popular interpretation of such acts through the position of the narrator.

 Structural-typological, textual, interdisciplinary method, field research method were used to fulfill the set goals and tasks.

The analysis revealed that the appearance of the motive of betrayal in the texts of insurgent folklore is due to the historical realities of the time (ruthless struggle of Bolshevik totalitarianism against the underground movement, amnesty, propaganda work with the local population), although undoubtedly related to the typical behavior of Ukrainians in similar situations of the past during the long foreign rule.

Keywords: insurgent narrative, betrayal, ethnic mentality, folk narrator.

Received 2.05.2022

REFERENCES

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  • Vashchenko, H. (1976). Educational ideal: a textbook for educators, teachers and Ukrainian families. Brussels; Toronto; New York [in Ukrainian].
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