THE IMAGE OF THE DEAD LOVER IN THE WORKS OF FEDIR POTUSHNIAK (ARTICLE “DEAD LOVE”, SHOT STORIES “THE PIT”, “THE HAT WITH A GREEN FEATHER”) AND IN UKRAINIAN FAIRY TALES

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to comprehend the folklore and ethnographic research by Fedir Potushniak entitled "Dead Love" in Folk Beliefs" (1944), as well as the writer's short stories "The Pit" and "The Hat with the Green Feather", to study from the point of view of psychoanalysis the beliefs and legends about demonic lovers recorded by the researcher, the mystical prerequisites for their appearance in the lives of abandoned or lonely women. F. Potushniak focused on the magical rituals widespread in Transcarpathia, which aim to stop the visits of a dead lover. For this purpose, the peasants would bless the house, put holy water, poppies, and a knife in the bed of the possessed person, put an axe with the blade up on the threshold, and dress the person in old church clothes (stychar and epitraphil). In Transcarpathia, there are fairy tales, legends, and stories about a dead lover who comes to a girl/woman. In the tales, the heroine can die and thus avoid a relationship with a devil, and then be born again and marry successfully (the tale "Pryadky"). However, if a girl/woman resorts to a magical ritual to summon a dead lover, she usually faces death. In particular, the tales "Popadia and Her Dead Lover" and "The Dead Lover" recorded by V. Hnatiuk reflect an impressive magical act aimed at resurrecting a dead lover: at midnight, the heroines boil the heads of the dead (twelve or one) dug up in the cemetery. When the heads float up, the dead lover appears, but to kill the woman, not to remain among the people. These stories have a distinct didactic connotation: they strongly condemn magical rituals that violate the established laws of lifedeath- life. According to the folk worldview, encounter with the dead is a sin that destroys the soul of a person who is unable to perceive reality and models an imaginary comfortable world for himself, avoiding pain and loneliness. F. Potushniak artistically reinterpreted this folklore motif in his novel "The Pit". He vividly modeled the image of a lonely woman abandoned by everyone, who, due to severe psychological trauma, communicates with her long-dead husband in her delusions, which she perceives as reality. The writer shows how the peasants' deep belief in demon-perelesnyk can cause the situation when a brother murders his sister. F. Potushniak's short story "The Hat with the Green Feather" models a situation of obsession with fear of a demonic dead lover who appears in the village when people dug his grave out. The writer covers the story in mysticism, and the reader does not receive an answer to the question of whether the dead man came back to life.