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The article examines three novels about the Revolution of Dignity, written by men and published in 2015: “Fiery Winter” by Andriy Kokotyukha, “Maidan Semester” by Kyryl Halushko, “2014” by Vladyslav Ivchenko. Among other works on this subject, they are already partially characterized by critics and scholars. This article focuses on the mythologized geo-image of the Maidan, which is a source of metaphorical meanings and ultimately reveals itself in the archetypes of Chaos / Harmony / Order and Own / Stranger. This study is one of the stages in the study of the strategy of forming collective memory in Ukrainian novels about Euromaidan and was partially tested in the form of a report at the conference. The key results were achieved through a combination of the concept of artistic understanding of the myth by Northrop Fry and aspects of artistic myth-making by Elena Bondareva, which made it possible to identify the main areas of study of the key for all three plots geo-image. The place of the Maidan topos in the structure of the plots is traced, in particular its first appearance. It is concluded that the authors rely on the positive mythology present in the mind of the reader, developing its semantics in accordance with the attitude of the characters to the events of the Revolution of Dignity. The potential of binary oppositions is traced in this. It is established that a larger number and variety of characters allow the author to develop the metaphorical semantics of the Maidan mythology (V. Ivchenko), while the limited system of characters (A. Kokotyukha) preserves the semantic potential of the Maidan topos, reduces it to retransmission of already formed families. K. Halushko takes a different approach, allowing his character to change his views as a result of participating in revolutionary events. Further analysis showed that the undeveloped metaphorization of the Maidan topos does not allow A. Kokotyukha to engage in appropriate archetypes to deepen the semantics of the work as a whole. Instead, the other two authors, despite their different ways of constructing the plot, succeeded. As a result, an assumption was made about the further artistic understanding of the theme of the Revolution of Dignity and the potential of the relevant artistic strategies. The proposed approach requires further testing on a larger array of works.

For the first time, Borys Grinchenko’s poems were published in the Galician journal “Svit” (1881–1882) and the almanac “Rada” (1883, 1884). Some of them became programmatic and were therefore perceived as the works of a mature author. However, the poet expressed dissatisfaction with his first attempts at poetry. Besides, the poems underwent editorial interventions in these publications. Since there is no detailed biography of Borys Grinchenko, there is a need to reconstruct the creative history of these poems and conduct textological observations. For this, one should refer to the personal correspondence of Borys Grinchenko with Ivan Levytskyi (Nechuy), Mykhailo Starytskyi, Ivan Zozulya and other participants of the Ukrainian cultural movement of that time. Materials from the collections of the Institute of Manuscripts of V. I. Vernadskyi National Library of Ukraine and corresponding printed materials were used for the textological comparison. On the basis of the conducted reconstruction, it is found that Borys Grinchenko did not have significant authorial control over the preparation of the first publications of his poems. He actually had no contact with the publishers of the Galician journal “Svit”, and had only fragmentary communication with the editors of the almanac “Rada”. Mykhailo Starytskyi’s active intervention in the texts of the works gave rise to a misunderstanding between him and the author. In addition, such actions of the initiator of the “Rada” almanac led to the existence of several editions of Borys Grinchenko’s individual poems, which differ significantly. At the same time, the history of Borys Grinchenko’s pseudonyms is connected with the first publications of poems. The article proposes an assumption about their sources and significance. The reconstructed relationship between Borys Grinchenko and leading figures of Ukrainian culture is important for understanding the history of subsequent publications of his works and individual sources of literary and critical polemics of the 1890s. The materials and observations proposed in the article will be included in the scientific biography of Borys Grinchenko, which is being prepared by specialists of the Department of Ukrainian Literature, Comparative Studies and Grinchenko Studies of Grinchenko University.