NON-CANONICAL CANON: YURIY ANDRUKHOVYCH’S “CRIMINAL SONNETS”

Abstract

This article explores the genre-specific features of Yuriy Andrukhovych’s «Criminal Sonnets» cycle, focusing on how the sonnet canon has been transformed under the influence of socio-ideological and other contextual factors. Particular attention is paid to the contested nature of canon formation, which often occurs within the interests of specific groups, societies, or ideologies. Despite this, any canon must satisfy aesthetic criteria and remain open to the excluded – the non-canonical. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a new generation of poets associated with the «Bu-Ba-Bu» group rejected the legacy of official ideology, along with the established artistic canons, stereotypes, norms, and values that no longer reflected the realities of national life. Drawing on traditions of satirical parody and folk carnivalesque culture, these poets developed a form of artistic expression more aligned with their own sensibilities. This approach involved a reinterpretation of previous literary traditions and a revision of outdated assumptions regarding what is considered canonical. For Andrukhovych, such a re-evaluation, particularly of the genre canon, was a vital aspect of his poetic vision. It infused his verse with new dynamism and generated unconventional strategies for representing reality. The distinctive generic features of «Criminal Sonnets» clearly reflect this reimagining in the form of an alternative canon – one that plays with established hierarchies (reversing poetic conventions from «high» to «low»), poeticizes the grotesque, caricatural, and base, parodies outdated norms, infuses the sonnet with irony and sarcasm, and incorporates criminal slang. The article further explores how «Criminal Sonnets» challenge conventional ideas of optimal usage and reception associated with the canonical genre model. The cycle articulates parodic intent and a provocative stance toward the themes of Ivan Franko’s «Prison Sonnets» and Ivan Svitlychny’s «Grated Sonnets» – texts that clearly served as sources of verbal and thematic allusion for Andrukhovych. These poems exemplify how nonclassical content in poetic form can enter the realm of cultural heritage through its aesthetic innovation.