Existential Loneliness as a Driving Force of the Female Character in Yevheniia Kononenko’s Novel Imitation

Abstract

The article is devoted to interpreting the role of existential loneliness as a driving force in the formation of female characters in Yevheniia Kononenko’s novel Imitation. The aim of the study is to analyse the novel’s existential dimension in the context of imitation as a philosophical and psychological phenomenon, and to trace how the theme of loneliness, alienation, and the loss of authenticity in the modern individual is revealed through a system of female characters. The study employs general scientific research methods, including analysis, synthesis, interpretation, comparison, and generalization, as well as elements of hermeneutic and phenomenological approaches. The results demonstrate that in Kononenko’s novel existential loneliness emerges not as a consequence of physical isolation but as the result of inner alienation in a world dominated by the imitation of moral and spiritual values. The depicted society functions according to the laws of simulation, where sincerity, the authenticity of feelings, and genuine human connections lose their meaning. The cult of success prevails, while moral truth is replaced by superficial activity and social masks. In this context, loneliness becomes a mode of being and is therefore characterized by a profound spiritual crisis and personal disorientation. Special attention is paid to female characters as embodiments of various aspects of existential loneliness. Mariana Khrypovych represents the type of an intellectual woman who, despite her professional achievements and social activity, finds herself spiritually depleted. Her charitable work acquires features of false humanism devoid of genuine ethical content. Her inability to experience deep feeling, fear of inner emptiness, and striving for control testify to the loss of an authentic self. Her death is interpreted as the symbolic culmination of the process of personal disintegration experienced by an individual attempting to live according to models of imitation. Larysa Lavrynenko, in turn, embodies an emotional and sensual type of loneliness. Her attempts to gain love and self-affirmation through external relationships result in an even deeper immersion in alienation. Her inability to achieve genuine intimacy leads to an existential crisis. Thus, in the novel Imitation, existential loneliness is revealed as a universal experience of the modern woman who, while striving for self-realization, loses her spiritual identity in a world of simulacra. The practical significance of the study lies in deepening the understanding of existential issues and their gender dimensions in contemporary Ukrainian prose.