TIME AND SPACE IN ILARION PAVLIUK’S NOVEL “I SEE YOU’RE INTERESTED IN DARKNESS”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32782/2307-1222.2026-62-25Keywords:
chronotope, artistic space, artistic time, genre, detective story, afterlife, borderland, dual world, Illarion PavliukAbstract
The article analyzes the peculiarities of the chronotope in Illarion Pavliuk’s novel I See You Are Interested in Darkness. The relevance of the study is determined by the considerable popularity of the work in contemporary Ukrainian literature and by the insufficient scholarly attention to its spatio-temporal organization. The aim of the paper is to clarify the specific interaction of time and space in the novel and to identify the features of the chronotope of the afterlife and the borderland. The theoretical basis of the research includes M. Bakhtin’s concept of the chronotope, the works of N. Kopystianska, and modern studies devoted to the artistic dual-world model. The study establishes that the settlement of Buskiv Sad functions as a model of the otherworldly space endowed with the key characteristics of this type of chronotope: geographical isolation, enclosure, cyclicity of time, repeated deaths and resurrections of its inhabitants, and perpetual winter as a sign of spiritual decline and hopelessness. The spatio-temporal organization of the settlement correlates with allusions to Dante’s Inferno, especially the ninth circle associated with cold and betrayal. It is proved that an important role in shaping the chronotope belongs to demonic characters (the bartender, the nun, Kharyton) and the authoritarian mayor, who represent the system of otherworldly power. Special attention is paid to the image of Kharyton as a ferryman between worlds, referring to the ancient myth of Charon. The chronotope of the borderland is realized through the images of the Tuon River, the bridge, the road, the night time, and the state of death or near-death of the hero as a necessary condition for crossing between worlds. Two crossings of the protagonist Andrii Haister are analyzed, demonstrating the variability of liminal space: from an extended initiatory journey to a rapid conscious return. It is concluded that Illarion Pavliuk’s novel, structurally a detective story, is distinguished by a complex multilayered chronotopic model combining the real and the otherworldly worlds, while time and space become important means of revealing the philosophical issues of the work.
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