Arguments against ‘The Executed Renaissance’

SummaryThis article attempts to critically analyze ‘The Executed Renaissance’ anthology edited by Iurii Lavrinenko and its impact on the formation of the post-war historical and literary discourse of the 20 s in the Ukrainian Humanities. The aim of this paper is a critical review of the most important topics of the anthology, which has founded the paradigm of the “executed renaissance” era. The work revolves around four issues: a) biographical and historical factors and conditions underlying the anthology and the discourse of the “executed renaissance,” b) the issue of criteria for the selection of works, which was the basis of the anthology, as well as a canon and anti-canon of literature of the period, c) heuristic usefulness of the “executed renaissance” metaphor, conceptualization of literary phenomena with constituent figures proposed by Lavrinenko in the title of the anthology (“execution” and “renaissance” figures), d) the impact of the closing essay in the anthology –Literature of vitaism (1917–1933)by I. Lavrinenko on ideological and theoretical-literary image of this period.