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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 1 (187), 258—

UDK 821.161.2.09:398:7.01

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

The date the article was first submitted to the publication 13.01.2026

The date the article was accepted for publication after review 28.01.2026

The date of publication (publication)

IMAGE-AS-INTERMEDIUM: THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE COSSACK MAMAI ARCHETYPE IN FICTIONALIZED BIOGRAPHIES OF ARTISTS

LEVYTSKA Oksana

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5033-4661
  • PhD, docent, Department of Philology at the Ukrainian
  • Catholic University and Department of Applied Linguistics
  • at the Lviv Polytechnic National University,
  • 17, Il. Sventsitskogo Str., 79011, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: oksana_levytska@ukr.net

Abstract. The legendary Cossack Mamai, as depicted in old folk paintings and folklore, has acquired the attributes of a mythologeme as a stable construct in contemporary literature and other forms of art. Mamai’s image has been actively used in contemporary culture, particularly over the past several decades. This paper aims to study the representation of Cossack Mamai in contemporary fictionalized biographies of artists, identify references to this image in literary works, and analyze the functions of the image in each of the biographical texts. The research is based on biographical novels and fictionalized biographies of Taras Shevchenko, Kornylo Ustyianovych, Antin Losenko, Serhii Vasylkivskyi, Heorhii Narbut, Kateryna Bilokur and others.

The study employs the methodology of intermedial studies, analyzing various types of inter-art links, including quotations of folk painting, ekphrasis, the introduction of Mamai as a character, and the use of props featuring images from folk painting.

Mamai’s archetype has been considered in the context of collective memory, as a visual code of our history, and as an intermedium that conveys profound ancient senses of Ukrainian history, serving as an intermedial connection with early modern history. It is noted that Mamai’s image is reflected in the literature of the second half of the 20th century, particularly in fiction about artists. The paper analyses how fictionalized biographies of artists resort to Mamai’s archetype and traces how the image of Cossack Mamai functions in contemporary stage adaptations.

Keywords: Cossack Mamai, archetype, mythologeme, folk-lore image, intermediality, Ukrainian literature, folklore, com-parative studies, painting.

REFERENCES

  • Marchenko, T. (1991). Cossack Mamai. Kyiv; Opishne: National Museum-Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishne [in Ukrainian].
  • Shkandrii, M. (2004). In the Embrace of Empire: Russian and Ukrainian Literatures of the Modern Era. Kyiv: Fakt [in Ukrainian].
  • Shcherbakivskyi, D. (2008). Cossack Mamai: Artistic and Ethnographic Studies. Kharkiv: Fakt [in Ukrainian].
  • Biletskyi, P. (1997). Folk Paintings «Cossacks Mamai». In: Rodovid, 2 (16), 28—35 [in Ukrainian].
  • Naiden, O.S. (2005). Voin v ukrainskomu folklori: Semantychni ta obrazni aspekty. Kyiv: Stylos [in Ukrainian].
  • Ilchenko, O. (1958). There Is No End to the Cossack Lineage, or Mamai and the Strange Young Woman: A Whimsical Novel from Folk Oral Tradition. Kyiv: Radianskyi Pysmennyk [in Ukrainian].
  • Boron, O. (Ed.). (2023). Shevchenkivska Entsyklopediia: Visual Arts Heritage. Kyiv: National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine; Lira-K Publishing House [in Ukrainian].
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  • Jкdrzejewicz, J., & Ivanysenko, V. (1997). Ukrainian Nights, or The Lineage of a Genius. Lviv: Atlas [in Ukrainian].
  • Fedoruk, O. (1992). Kornylo Ustyianovych. Kyiv: Veselka [in Ukrainian].
  • Kosach, Yu. (1939). Losenco, a Free Artist (Chapter from a Novel). In: Natsiia v Pokhodi, 14/15, 13—16 [in Ukrainian].
  • Kosach, Yu. (1946). Invitation to Cythera. In: Zahrava, 1, 11—32 [in Ukrainian].
  • Bezhutryi, M. (1987). Serhii Vasylkivskyi: Album. Kyiv: Mystetstvo [in Ukrainian].
  • Yavorivskyi, V. (2018). An Imagined Self-Portrait: A Novel about the Tragic and Extraordinary Fate of Kateryna Bilokur. Kyiv: Bright Star Publishing [in Ukrainian].
  • Lebedeva, K. (2020). The Mystical Incident on Voznesenskyi Descent in Kyiv. Kharkiv; Kyiv: Publisher O. Savchuk [in Ukrainian].
  • Bilokin. S. (Ed.). (2020). Narbut: Studies. Memoirs. Letters. Reconstruction of the 1933 Destroyed Narbut Collection. Kyiv: Rodovid [in Ukrainian].
  • Mudrak, M. (2021). The Imagery of Heorhii Narbut and the Creation of a Ukrainian Brand. Kyiv: Rodovid [in Ukrainian].
  • Kaliandruk, T. (2016). Cossacks for children. Lviv: Apriori [in Ukrainian].
  • Vzdulska, V. (2023). Alla Horska — The Daughter of the Firebird. Kyiv: Storiia [in Ukrainian].
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