Vasyl Stafanyk entered into Ukrainian literature XIX – XX century as a master of the short story, where he emotionally passionately violates the existential problems of an individual person, lost in a world indifferent to him, of which he is forced to make certain decisions and take responsibility for his choices. The artist’s special attention is drawn to the loneliness of man, which often causes him despair and confusion. In particular, this is reflected in Stefanyk’s short stories on the lives of rural workers.
The writer knew well the Ukrainian village, the problems of the peasants. There was already a gradual departure of the rural community from the collective responsibility for the fate of each of its members, which deepened the alienation, created a sense of abandonment, in his time. For example, the village and the community are calmly watching the decline of Anton’s farm – the hero of Stefanyk’s short story «Blue Book». In this short story, the cry of the soul of a once wealthy owner, who was unlucky, who in despair drinks the whole farm. In his drunken bravado there is sadness, rage and hopelessness, deep despair – Anton feels that everyone is indifferent to his grief, there is no compassion in his home community.
Such loneliness, alienation and despair of man, indifference of others permeate the pages and short stories «Paliy». Its protagonist, old Fedor, worked all his life for the rich Andriy Kurochka, lost his strength and health on his farm, and is now forced to beg from strangers. The thought of this hurts Fedor’s aching soul, he goes mad with loneliness, deeply offends his human indifference. In despair, deeply offended, lonely in his grief, Fedor sets fire to the hen’s barn, taking revenge on him for his mutilated life. The lyrical hero of V. Stefanyk’s short story «My Word» chooses a different way of reacting to unfavorable life circumstances from the previous character. It is the confession of a lonely, abandoned man in a world indifferent to the fate of everyone.
Detached from his native land, the hero of the novel doesn’t find peace and joy in the new world. His longing comrades, who agreed with this new world, don’t understand him. So, abandoned by them, he builds himself a world of his own imagination, in which he is comfortable and where he truly lives, hoping to find happiness. Accordingly, the author of the short story convinces that everyone is lonely and doomed to fight for their happiness, and therefore responsible for their choices. Very often Vasyl Stefanyk addresses the topic of lonely old age, when adult children become busy with their worries and do not need their parents, as, for example, in the short story «Angel», where old Tymchykha, feeling unnecessary for children, prepares for death as a salvation from loneliness. The writer raises a similar theme of loneliness of old parents with living children in such short stories as, in particular, «Sama samisinka», which depicts a gruesome picture of the death of a helpless mother left to fend for her children who went to work.
The other side of lonely old age depicts the image of old Maxim, who can’t forget his dead sons. A lone widower who sent two sons to fight for Ukraine, he complains about his fate, rages in the field at work, shouts at the horses. At the same time, in despair, Maxim doesn’t accept any sympathy from neighbors, proudly carries his loneliness and despair, lamenting the whole world. He is disgusted by everything around him, he lives only by memories of the past, when his sons and wife were alive, when life was raging in his house.
Thus, as we can see, many of Vasyl Stefanyk’s short stories are imbued with existential problems of man concerning the negative nature of human existence.
Among them the loneliness and despair of the person in difficult life situations are especially penetratingly considered by the writer.
MOTIF/ARCHETYPE THE OLD MAN IN THREE SHORT STORIES OF ANTON CHEKHOV, ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND NAM CAO
