“Words on a Timeline”

11.4.2024

Teachers and students of the Educational and Research Institute of Philology and Journalism took part in the event “Words on a Timeline: a Literary Dialogue About the War,” which took place on the basis of the Poltava Regional Universal Library named after I. P. Kotliarevskii.

During the conversation, there were many reflections on the implementation of the theme of war in modern Ukrainian literature, on the importance of the artistic word during the war. Life in a military conflict adjusted the self-awareness and self-identification of many Ukrainians, regardless of material wealth or level of education. This affected the subject and problems of modern literature. Fiction is a sensitive nerve of changes in society, it is very firmly integrated into the modern information flow, develops its own ways of filtering and reformatting it.

During the conversation, the director of the institute, doctor of philological sciences, professor Viktoria Dmytrenko spoke about the role of some works of modern writers for her adaptation to the life of the immigrant, that “the best doctors sleep inside us” (quoted by Natalka Marinchak).

Among the books recommended for reading to students of Poltava schools who attended the event, – poems by Victoria Amelina, Tatyana Dolenko, Natalka Marinchak, Lyubov Yakimchuk, prose works “Internate” by Sergii Zhadan, “Long Times” by Vladimir Rafeyenko, “Summer-ATO” by Olaf Clemensen, works by Ilya Kyva, Natalka Marinchak, Pavel Kazarin and others. Special attention was paid to the novel by Galina Vdovichenko “Mariupol Process,” in which the author predicted back in 2015 that the trial for crimes in this war would take place in Mariupol.

Students of 1-4 courses read poems by Victoria Amelina, Maxim Krivtsov, Lyudmila Murina, Lyubov Yakimchuk. Ruslana Gladkevych, a 1-year student, read her own poetry about the war. There was also an excerpt from the work of Andrei Meronik “24.02” – “Now 13.49.”

These works are not about fascination with war, not about cruelty and dirt, they are about people in war, their stories and pain, their joys and sorrows, their reflections and the whole palette of feelings that can not always be expressed, but can always be fixed on paper. These are also the stories of modern heroes, thanks to whom we did not lose Ukraine after a full-scale invasion until February 24.

At the end there were optimistic words about the victory and happy future of Ukraine!

Educational and Research Institute of Philology and Journalism