The Nationally Marked Component of the Concept of Sin and Atonement in Oleksa Storozhenko’s Whimsical Novel Marko the Accursed

Abstract

This article explores the nationally marked component of the concept of Sin and Atonement in Olexa Storozhenko’s chimeric novel «Marko the Accursed», a significant work of the Romantic era. The relevance of the research result of substantiating the genre affiliation of the work as a whimsical novel with elements of Gothic. The aim is to analyze the transformation of universal archetypes of evil and punishment based on Ukrainian folklore and Romantic aesthetics. The main findings of the study prove that the concept of Sin and Atonement acquires national specificity through: The Nature of Sin: Marko’s sin is conceptualized as the destruction of ancestral sacredness (incest, matricide, and fratricide), which constitutes the highest taboo in the Ukrainian moral code. The Form of Atonement (Penance): The punishment takes a unique physical, corporal materialization – the heads of the murdered relatives in a sack. The Motive of Exile: Marko's eternal wandering is interpreted as the refusal of Mother Earth to accept the sinner.