2 terms
Usmishka
The usmishka ('little smile', a humorous sketch) is an original genre of Ukrainian humorous-satirical short prose, inaugurated by Ostap Vyshnia (Pavlo Hubenko), which combines features of the humorous tale, the feuilleton, and the sketch with an easy, good-naturedly ironic or sharply satirical intonation and a vivid national coloring. The writer himself introduced this name instead of the usual 'feuilleton', emphasizing the special warmth, lyricism, and folk quality of his laughter. Ostap Vyshnia's usmishky (Hunting Smiles, Let Us Ukrainize, and numerous satirical miniatures) combine sharp wit and the exposure of social vices with love for the human being, for native nature, and for the Ukrainian word. The genre is distinguished by laconism, living colloquial language, a wealth of folk humor, and an apt detail. The usmishka became Ostap Vyshnia's unique contribution to Ukrainian literature; despite repressions and exile, the writer preserved in this genre the life-affirming, folk spirit of Ukrainian laughter.
Utopia
Utopia is a genre of imaginative literature that portrays the image of an ideal, perfectly ordered society built on principles of justice, equality, and rational order. The name comes from the work of the English humanist Thomas More, Utopia (1516) — the Greek ou-topos means 'a place that does not exist'. Utopia expresses humanity's dream of a better world and at the same time criticizes the vices of the existing order. Classic examples are Tommaso Campanella's The City of the Sun and Francis Bacon's New Atlantis. Utopian motifs — a striving for a harmonious social order — are present in Ukrainian social thought and literature, in particular in the philosophy of Hryhorii Skovoroda with his idea of 'kindred labor' and the 'heavenly republic'. In the twentieth century utopia largely gave way to its negation — dystopia, which warned against the dangers of realizing ideal projects.
