The Image of the Scholar in Walentyn Tarnawskyj’s Dissertation in the Context of Masculinity Discourse

Abstract

The article examines the protagonist of Walentyn Tarnawskyj’s long short story, The Dissertation, within the context of masculinity discourse in Ukrainian literature. The author maintains that the position of scholars in the Soviet Union depended on the field and background; therefore, the dominant models of Soviet masculinity fit them selectively. The literary representation of scholars in Ukrainian literature of the Soviet period was rare and reflected the dominant Soviet ideology. The late 1980s in Walentyn Tarnawskyj’s writing present a new type of scholar-character and literary expression. In the context of masculinity discourse, Tarnawskyj’s protagonist appears as a person of convoluted identity torn between his life priorities regarding academic and social status and suppressed spiritual desires provoked by an ideal woman. The author concludes by stating that Tarnawskyj’s Dissertation while breaking the socialist realist Soviet canon, may well be regarded within the tradition of Ukrainian “Chimeric” prose as well as within European classics.