Abstract:
The paper examines the specific character of visualizing the mythologem of the boundary, which manifests the semantics of a geographical boundary, a border between the worlds of dead and alive, the separation of personal space from collective space, a «threshold» in the rite of passage, a temporal division into past and present, social and national differentiation. It also traces the correlation of this mythologem with eschatological motifs. The study looks at the embodiment of the concepts “threshold people” and “communitas” in the characters of H. Pahutiak’s mystery. It considers the motif of labour migration to be a projection of the rite of passage. The paper focuses on the author’s interpretation of the binary oppositions “native/alien”, “home/anti-home”. It highlights that being dynamic and permeable the borders in Bitter Lands lose the function of structuring the world. The analysis of the mythologem of the boundary in this mystery allows drawing a conclusion that the author’s main interpretation strategies are transformation and destruction of traditional meanings, contamination of oppositions.
