Archetype of the Christmas tale in Ukrainian and Croatian interpretations

Abstract

The article is devoted to studies in the genre of the Christmas fairy tale, the «holiday story» as exemplified by a comparative analysis of individual works by the Ukrainian writers Zoya Vyshhorodska, Ivan Kernytsky and the classic of Croatian children’s literature Nada Ivelić. The study is aimed at analyzing the works of the Christmas cycle by the three original authors, viz. two writers of the Ukrainian diaspora – Zoya Vyshhorodska and Ivan Kernytsky – as well as the Croatian children’s author Nada Ivelić. The authors have in their oeuvre the same-titled works called «A Christmas Tale», differing much as to the contents, but, simultaneously, very close thematically. The research methodology is based on the involvement of comparative, intertextual, descriptive methods and that of analysis. Results. Based on the comparative analysis of works by the Ukrainian writers Zoya Vyshhorodska and Ivan Kernytsky, as well as the Croatian writer Nada Ivelić, the development of the genre of the Christmas fairy tale (holiday story) in Ukrainian and Croatian literature of the past century is studied and traced. Novelty of the research. The authoress offers a comparative literary research to study the genre of the Christmas fairy tale (holiday story) in Ukrainian and Croatian literature. Practical value. The works of the Ukrainian writers and the Croatian author, the classic of children’s literature, can be of interest to studies in university courses, viz. History of Literature, Children’s Literature. The comparative aspect of studying this problem can be used as illustrative material for different elective courses.