THE CARPATHIAN REGION OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR PERIOD IN HISTORICAL FICTION (ON THE EXAMPLE OF D. MASON’S NOVEL “THE WINTER SOLDIER”)

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyze the coverage of the Carpathian region during the First World War in the historical novel by the American writer Daniel Mason “The Winter Soldier”. The research methodology is based on the principles of objectivity, historicism and interdisciplinary approach, the work uses historical-genetic, historical-typological and historical-systemic methods. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the historical novel by D. Mason “The Winter Soldier”, whose main character is a medical student from Vienna, Luciusz Kszelewski, serves during the Great War on the Eastern Front in the Carpathians, is analyzed. The reflection of the landscape specificity and polyphony of the Carpathian region in the conditions of the First World War is characterized. As a result of the conducted research, conclusions are drawn. An important content line of the main character is his reflections on the journey to the destination on the Eastern Front (the fictional village of Lemnovichi) and the interpretation of impressions about the Carpathian region, relief, climatic conditions, traditions, customs, culture, everyday life, national identity, everyday life of the civilian population. The plot of the novel highlights the course of combat events on the Eastern Front, issues of supply, logistics, manning of the Austro-Hungarian army, the conditions and peculiarities of the work of the medical service, field hospitals, reflects various human emotions, experiences, empathy, suffering, experience during the war. Daniel Mason considers the Carpathians as a geographical location, a bridgehead, an existential borderland, a frontier. D. Mason’s novel “The Winter Soldier” is important for understanding how the events of the First World War on the territory of Ukraine in the Carpathian region are perceived and interpreted in modern Western literature