Kaleidoscope of death in the works of Volodymyr Łys

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the motives of death in works by the contemporary Ukrainian prose writer Volodymyr Łys. The analysis demonstrates that the author willingly and abundantly uses tanatic motives in his works. Very often they appear as suicidal threads pre-sented as a protest against the agony of life, although the writer also frequently uses the motives of death as a result of murder. Sometimes, however, the author tries to relativise murder when com-mitted to protect one’s nearest and dearest, as is the case in Jacob’s Century. It is worth noting that the author addresses the issue of tragic and undeserved death, reflecting on the fate of hundreds of nameless victims — regardless of their ethnicity — who lost their lives in the tragic events of the last century.