Genre as a Musical Sign of the Era in the Novel “Tango of Death” by Yurii Vynnychuk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31318/2522-4190.2022.133.257301Keywords:
intermediality, urban musical culture, music in literature, tango genre, novel “Tango of Death” by Yurii Vynnychuk, history of LvivAbstract
Relevance of the study. The Ukrainian urban space and the stages of its formation is a promising and one of the most relevant vectors for the study of Ukrainian history. Nevertheless, Ukrainian cities, as centers of the formation of professional art and major cultural trends, still rarely become the subject of scientific research necessary for a holistic understanding of our history. The article deals with the novel by Yurii Vynnychuk, which is dedicated to the history, culture and musical life of the city of Lviv. Insufficient knowledge in the scientific literature of the place and significance of the musical sphere in the heritage of Ukrainian writers, in particular, Yurii Vynnychuk, forms the relevance of this article.
Main objective of the study is to determine the role of musical art in the creativity of Yurii Vynnychuk using the example of the novel “Tango of Death”, to explore the semantics of the tango genre for the author of the novel, and to study and characterize the musical source, which became the central artistic object of the novel “Tango of Death”.
Research methodology. The research methodology includes the use of historical, contextual, sociological, etymological, comparative typological methods, as well as the method of intertextual research.
The results of directorial artifacts. The musical experience of Yurii Vynnychuk and knowledge of the history of Lviv contributed to the diversity of the musical and artistic layers involved in the novel “Tango of Death”. The main place in the novel belongs to the musical composition of the same name “Tango of Death”. Its music becomes an instrument that has the functions of a conductor of the soul with the possibility of its rebirth in the next life. Also, the music of “Tango of Death” appeals to the era itself, for which tango is the leading genre that keeps the memory of the lost generation. The musical prototype of tango in Yurii Vynnychuk's novel is the pre-war Polish hit “To ostatnia niedziela”, created in 1935 by Jerzy Petersburski and Zenon Friedwald. The analysis of the metrical structure of the syllables of the stanzas reveals the coincidence of the structure of the first part of the stanza of Jerzy Petersburgsky's tango with the stanza composed by the author of the novel. This fact may indicate the desire of Yurii Vynnychuk to generalize the image of tango through the references for the genre itself, thanks to the preservation of dance rhythms with its metric repetition. The study of the polyfunctionality of intermedial connections between the artistic text of Yurii Vynnychuk and the musical-intonation sphere of culture opens up new facets of understanding the novel and the entire literary heritage of the author.
References
Weisstein, W. (2009). Mutual elucidation of literature and music: the field of comparative studies? [Vzaiemovysvitlennia literatury ta muzyky: sfera komparatyvistyky?]. In: Contemporary literary comparative studies: strategies and methods. Anthology [Suchasna literaturna komparatyvistyka: stratehii i metody]. Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Kyiv, pp. 391–410 [in Ukrainian].
Vynnychuk, Y. (2013). Tango of death [Tango smerti]: a novel. Kharkiv: Folio. 379 p. [in Ukrainian].
Vicheva, E. A. (2013). Tango in Russia: on the way to creating a domestic version of the genre [Tanho v Rossyy: na puty k sozdanyiu otechestvennoi versyy zhanra]. In: Herald of the Volgograd State Pedagogical University [Izvestiya Volgogradskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo universiteta], pp. 70–74 [in Russian].
Gere, A. (1999). Music in literature: influences and analogies [Muzyka v literature: vliyaniya i analogii]. In: Herald of young scientists. Humanities. [Vestnik molodyh uchenyh. Gumanitarnye nauki]. Transl. by I. Borisova. Saint Petersburg. Issue 1, pp. 86–99 [in Russian].
Grishchenko, O. V. (2013). “Tango of Death” by Y. Vynnychuk: urban & historical [«Tanho smerti» Y. Vynnychuka: urbanistychne & istorychne]. In: Society for Cultural and Scientific Progress in Central and Eastern Europe: online-magazine. Available at: http://scaspee.com/all-materials/tango-of-death-by-yu-vynychuk-urban-historical-gryshchenko-o-v (accessed: 19.10.2021) [in Ukrainian].
Kovalevskaya, E. (2012). “Tango of Death” by Yuri Vynnychuk — a whirlpool of history and mystification. [«Tanho smerti» Yuriia Vynnychuka — vyr istorii i mistyfikatsii]. Interview. 2012. 16 November. In: BBC Ukraine: online edition. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian/entertainment/2012/11/121116_book_2012_interview_vynnychuk_ek (accessed: 05.11.2021) [in Ukrainian].
Kovalenko, D. (2018). Intertextual space of Yurii Vynnychuk’s novel “Tango of Death” [Intertekstualnyi prostir romanu Yuriia Vynnychuka «Tanho smerti»]. In: Word and Time: scientific and theoretical journal [Slovo i Chas]. Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Issue 2 (686), pp. 80–86 [in Ukrainian].
Monolatiy, I. (2020). From the city-crossroads to the city-victim: Lviv in Yurii Vynnychuk’s novel “Tango of Death” [Lviv: vid mista-perekhrestia do mista-zhertvy: Lviv u romani Yuriia Vynnychuka «Tango smerti»]. In: City: History, Culture, Society [Misto: istoriia, kultura, suspilstvo]. No. 9: Holocaust and City: Spaces of Murder — Spaces of Destruction [Holokost i misto: prostory vbyvstva — prostory ruinatsii]. Institute of History of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, pp. 141–154 [in Ukrainian].
Oliinyk, I. I. (2021) Batyar songs in Viktor Morozov’s creativity (for the seventieth unniversary of the musician) [Batiarski pisni u tvorchosti Viktora Morozova (do 70-richchia muzykanta)]. In: Scientific herald of Tchaikovsky National Music Academy of Ukraine [Naukovyi visnyk Natsionalnoi muzychnoi akademii Ukrainy imeni P. I. Chaikovskoho]. Issue 130: History of music — 2020. Anniversary and memorable dates. Collection of articles. [Istoriia muzyky — 2020. Yuvileini ta pamiatni daty], pp. 119–130 [in Ukrainian].
Oliinyk, I. I. (2021). Variety music of Lviv: to the Bondi Vesolovsky`s song creativity [Estradna muzyka Lvova: do pisennoi tvorchosti Bondi Vesolovskoho]. In: Musica Galiciana. Karol Mikuli and his students in the context of the development of music education in Galicia. [Musica Galiciana. Karol Mikuli i jego uczniowie w kontekscie rozwoju szkolnictwa muzycznego Galicji]. Rzeszow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Rzeszowskiego, 2021. Vol. XVII, pp. 253–260 [in Ukrainian].
Pagirya, O. (2018). Known and unknown Yaniv concentration camp [Vidomyi i nevidomyi Janivskyi konctabir]. Zbruch [Zbruch]: online magazine. Available at: https://zbruc.eu/node/85555 (accessed: 25.09.2021) [in Ukrainian].
Pagirya, O. (2019). “Tango of Death”: music behind the barbed wire of the Third Reich [Tanho smerti»: muzyka za koluchym drotom III Raikhu]. In: Zbruch [Zbruch]: online magazine. Available at: https://zbruc.eu/node/91945 (accessed: 27.10.2021) [in Ukrainian].
Pichugin, P. (2010). Argentine tango. [Argentinskoe tango]. Moscow: Music, 2010. 262 p. [in Russian].
Pukhonska, O. (2014). The problem of cultural amnesia in the modern novel (on the material “Tango of Death” by Yurii Vynnychuk and “Temple of Aphrodite” by Alexander Strazhny) [Problema kulturnoi amnezii v suchasnomu romani (na materiali «Tanho smerti» Yuriia Vynnychuka ta «Khram Afrodity» Oleksandra Strazhnogho)]. In: Foreign Philology [Inozemna filologhiia]. Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. V. 126 (2), pp. 194–199 [in Ukrainian].
Rysak, O. (1996). Melodies and colors of the word: Problems of synthesis of arts in Ukrainian literature of the late 19 — early 20 centuries. [Melodii i barvy slova: Problemy syntezu mystectv v ukrainskij literaturi kincia XIX — pochatku XX st.]. Lutsk: Nadstyria, 98 p. [in Ukrainian].
Romanenko, O. (2015). Lviv civilization in the novel by Yurii Vynnychuk “Tango of Death” [Lvivska cyvilizaciia u romani Yuriia Vynnychuka «Tanho smerti»]. In: Scientific Bulletin of Mykolayiv National University named after V. O. Sukhomlinsky. Philological Sciences (Literary Studies) [Naukovyi visnyk Mykolaivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V. O. Sukhomlynskoho. Filolohichni nauky (literaturoznavstvo)]: collection of scientific works. [Filologichni nauky (literaturoznavstvo)]. Еd. O. S. Filatova. Mykolaiv. № 1 (15), pp. 144–147 [in Ukrainian].
Stakhivska, Y. (2017). Yurii Vynnychuk. “Censor of Dreams” [Yurii Vynnychuk. «Cenzor sniv»]. In: Critique [Krytyka»]. Issue 3, February. Available at: https://m.krytyka.com/en/reviews/tsenzor-sniv (accessed: 20.11.2021) [in Ukrainian].
Friedwald, Z. “The Last Sunday”. In: Old Melody. Available at: https://staremelodie.pl/piosenka/110/To_ostatnia_niedziela (accessed 20.10.2021) [in Polish].
Miller, M. G. (2014). Tango lessons: movement, sound, image, and text in contemporary practice. Duke University Press, 282 p. [in English].
Torp, J. (2014). Tango placed and unplaced: a historical sketch of two centuries. In: Dance, Place, Festival: 27th Symposium of the ICTM Study Group on Ethnochoreology. The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance University of Limerick, pp. 184–191 [in English].
