The 18th ceremony of awarding the prizewinners of the annual city V. G. Korolenko Literary Prize – honoring the name of the famous writer, public figure and philanthropist was hosted in the cozy yard of the Poltava Literary Memorial Museum of V. G. Korolenko on the City Day. Creative achievements of young and adult talents of our city were solemnly celebrated with the participation of city leaders, pupils and students, and the public.
The head of the Poltava city territorial community Oleksandr Mamai noted the all-round cleverness, high erudition and positive motivation of modern youth to actively promote the biographical pages and creative heritage of the outstanding writer.
This year the winners in various nominations were 16 pupils, students, educators and city public activists; winners of the Prize were awarded with honorary diplomas and cash prizes.
Iryna Lobko, a fifth-year student of the Faculty of Humanities of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, has won the nomination “For active participation in the public and cultural life of the city”. The prizewinner was awarded with a diploma of the first degree and a cash prize for literary research of the story “Bez Yazyka” (“Without Language”) by Volodymyr Korolenko. Anna Pavelieva, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of German Philology and Translation of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, inspired her to participate in this competition.
“City V. G. Korolenko Literary Prize is a great opportunity for pupils, students, and talented Poltava youth to be more actively engaged in scientific activities, to join the social and cultural life of their hometown and to receive a worthy reward for their own work. In my article I researched Volodymyr Korolenko's novel “Bez Yazyka”, which became, undoubtedly, the defining page of the writer's work. With my supervisor Anna Pavelieva we researched and analyzed in detail the spatio-temporal picture of the work; the research process was extremely interesting and exciting. I advise Poltava residents to flip the pages of the story, and you will definitely find something for yourself,” – said the prizewinner.
Iryna already has a lot of new plans and scientific ideas, is deeply interested in literature, reads a lot and is inspired by the works of famous predecessors. “I am sincerely glad that I won, and my research will replenish the treasury of scientific papers about the life and work of Volodymyr Korolenko. I am currently actively studying, generating new ideas and collecting material for new research,” – student shares her plans.
“The research of Iryna Lobko, a master’s student of the Faculty of Humanities, is devoted to a topical literary problem,” – added the prizewinner’s supervisor, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor of German Philology and Translation at Poltava Polytechnic Anna Pavelieva. – In her research, she argues that the artistic space in this story not only organizes the composition of the work, but also closely related to the images of characters, and in the image of artistic space the author uses techniques of contrast, “point of view”, spatial metaphor. The spatial opposition homeland-foreign (Ukraine-America = one’s own-foreign space) is considered key in this work, because in Korolenko’s story “Bez Yazyka”, perhaps for the first time in Russian literature, Ukrainian reality is opposed to American, and the opposition “Ukraine-America” is a notable feature of the artistic structure of the work, in contrast to the works of Mykola Gogol and many other writers who sought to cover the so-called “Little Russia” plots and images, for which the antithesis was Dykanka-Petersburg, village feasts-balls and more broadly – Ukraine-Russia.
In the study, we proved that the plot of V. G. Korolenko’s story “Bez Yazyka” is based on the spatio-temporal opposition of Ukrainian land to American, as well as on the opposition of the past (at homeland) to the future (in the States), considers historical (“archaic”), mythological and chronico-domestic artistic time in the story and the key temporal opposition of the work – past/present/future. In addition, the author pays special attention to the functions of the chronotope of the tavern, the motif of the window, the “corrupt space” of Tamani Hall, etc. In our opinion, the presented scientific research is novel and relevant.”
Scientific work of the prizewinner will be available in the collection of abstracts, articles and research papers published as a result of the creative competition.
According to Iryna Lobko, development of her as a literary critic began with work in the students’ philological club and speeches at scientific and practical conferences, round tables: “At the meetings of the students’ scientific club “Philology” we consider various linguistic, literary and translation topics, and the head of the club Anna Pavelieva repeatedly told us about the categories of “artistic time”, “artistic space” and “chronotope” in terms of literary theory and on the example of the first collections of Mykola Gogol. Therefore, it was easy to choose a topic for future research, and in the process of writing the article everything planned turned successful”.
Annual V. G. Korolenko Literary Prize is awarded in the following nominations:
First nomination: “For deep knowledge of the life journey and creative heritage of V. G. Korolenko” – for pupils of general secondary education institutions;
Second nomination: “For active participation in public and cultural life of the city” – for students and creative youth;
Third nomination: “For the popularization of pedagogical ideas of the Great Humanist” – for teachers of general secondary education institutions, lecturers of vocational education institutions, and lecturers of higher education institutions;
Fourth nomination: “For active popularization of the life journey and literary heritage of V. G. Korolenko” – for writers and mass media workers, creative and scientific workers;
Fifth nomination: “For the promotion of the writer V. G. Korolenko’s creative heritage, the ideas of democracy and humanism, respect for the rights and freedoms of Ukraine” – for public and political figures, artists, workers in the field of law;
Sixth nomination: “For promoting the development of the Poltava Literary Memorial Museum of V. G. Korolenko, significant charitable work in the development of sponsorship and patronage” – for sponsors and patrons.
“Our city and university have created encouraging conditions for successful research, harmonious development of the researcher’s personality. I sincerely wish young Poltava scientists not to rest on their laurels, constantly work for their own development and win! Write, create, be inspired, and let your ideas become a worthy example for younger successors!” – commented Iryna Lobko.
Congratulations to the prizewinner and her supervisor, we wish them new scientific victories!
Last year, Sofiia Dmytriuk, a student of the Faculty of Humanities, won the V. G. Korolenko Literary Prize for researching the story “Chudnaya” (“Weird Girl”) by Volodymyr Korolenko and active participation in the social and cultural life of the city.
Media Center of
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
