Modernist Psychologism in Prose Poetry: Stanisław Przybyszewski and Mykhailo Yatskiv
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17721/Keywords:
Ukrainian and Polish Modernism, prose poetry, artistic world, psychologism, modernist poetics, symbolism and symbol, perception, plot-and-compositional organization, “Young Muse” and “Young Poland”Abstract
The article explores the specificity of modernist psychologism in the prose poems of Stanisław Przybyszewski and Mykhailo Yatskiv. The relevance of the study stems from the need to rethink the creative dialogue between Polish and Ukrainian modernism and to clarify the reception mechanisms of Przybyszewski’s aesthetic ideas by Ukrainian modernists of the early 20th century. The specificity of psychologization in the artistic world of both artists' works is compared in order to elucidate common and distinct mechanisms in the interaction between the external world, corporeality, perception, and the subject’s psyche, as well as to trace the significance of Edgar Allan Poe’s and Charles Baudelaire’s aesthetic principles in shaping the modernist poetics of the short prose form.
The study traces the genesis of the prose poem from Edgar Allan Poe’s concept of the single artistic effect and its transformation in the works of Charles Baudelaire to Polish and Ukrainian modernism. A comparative analysis of Przybyszewski's and Yatskiv's texts reveals their typological affinity in visionary nature, symbolism, corporeal-sensory imagery, and the blurring of boundaries between the external and internal worlds. At the same time, differences in psychological mechanisms are identified: in Przybyszewski's works, the subject’s mental state is projected onto the external world, creating affective landscapes, whereas in Yatskiv’s, the process of perception itself is psychologized, with sensory impressions expanding to a cosmic scale. Special attention is paid to Yatskiv’s reception of the concepts of the "naked soul" (naga dusza) and the androgyne. It is shown that the Ukrainian artist does not mechanically reproduce Przybyszewski’s philosophical tenets, but rather transforms them according to his own symbolist poetics, linking them with the themes of artistic creativity, mystical cognition, and spiritual transfiguration. The study concludes with the variability of modernist psychologism and the productivity of the Polish-Ukrainian artistic dialogue in shaping the poetics of short prose forms.
References
1. Matusiak, A. (2010). Khymernyi Yatskiv: Modernistskyi dyskurs u prozi M. Yatskova Piramida. [in Ukrainian]
2. Melnyk, O. (2011). Modernistskyi fenomen Mykhaila Yatskova: Kanon ta interpretatsiia Naukova Dumka. [in Ukrainian]
3. Polishchuk, Ya. (1998). Mifolohichnyi horyzont ukrainskoho modernizmu: Literaturoznavchi studii. Lileia-NV. [in Ukrainian]
4. Rubchak, B. (1991). Probnyi let. In Rozsypani perly: Poety “Molodoi Muzy” [Scattered pearls: Poets of “Young Muse”] (p. 18-41). Dnipro. [in Ukrainian]
5. Tkachuk, T. (2015). Tvorchi vzaiemyny Vasylia Stefanyka iz Stanislavom Prybyshеvskym [Studia Methodologica, (40), 228-234. [in Ukrainian]
6. Yakovenko, R. (2006). Romantyky, estety, nitssheantsi: Ukrainska ta polska literaturna krytyka rannoho modernizmu Krytyka. [in Ukrainian]
7. Yatskiv, M. (1989). Muza na chornomu koni: Opovidannia i novely. Povisti. Spohady i statti [The muse on a black horse: Stories and novellas. Novels. Memoirs and articles]. Dnipro. [in Ukrainian]
8. Bernacki, M., & Pawlus, M. (1999). Słownik gatunków literackich. Park. [in Polish]
9. Goławska, K. (2007). Androgyniczna hybryda – „W godzinie cudu” Stanisława Przybyszewskiego. Prace Polonistyczne, 62, 81–92. [in Polish]
10. Kamińska, L. (2024). „I nie wiem – czy to we mnie, czy poza mną ten straszny głos burzy?”. Afektywne pejzaże w poematach prozą Stanisława Przybyszewskiego. Ruch Literacki, 62(2), 255–270. [in Polish]
11. Kluba, A. (2010). Poemat prozą. Rozważania genologiczne. Pamiętnik Literacki, 101(2), 5–29. [in Polish]
12. Matuszek-Stec, G. (2021). O Wigiliach Stanisława Przybyszewskiego. Ruch Literacki, 62(2), 159–174. [in Polish]
13. Mrówka, K. (2012). Androgyniczny model „nagiej duszy” w twórczości Stanisława Przybyszewskiego. Pamiętnik Literacki, 103(4), 45–55. [in Polish]
14. Poe, E. A. (1895). The works of Edgar Allan Poe (Vol. 6, Literary criticism). Stone & Kimball. [in English]
15. Przybyszewski, S. (1900). Androgyne. Towarzystwo Wydawnicze; Druk. W. L. Anczyca i Spółki. [in Polish]
16. Stasiewicz, P. (2001). Metafizyczny i antropologiczny kształt walki o niepodległość w “Powrocie” Stanisława Przybyszewskiego. In Cykl literacki w Polsce (pp. 271–279). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu w Białymstoku. [in Polish]
17. Włast, M. (Komornicka). (1902). Powieść. Chimera, (14), 346–350. [in Polish]
