Research of Children’s Literature in Ukrainian Scientific Discourse

Abstract

Contemporary studies of children’s literature are multidimensional and multidisciplinary. They cover texts and contexts, focus on both individual works or a writer’s body of work and on theoretical generalizations of literary and cultural phenomena, as well as on national and comparative studies. However, in different countries, study of children’s literature has its own specifics and history of development. In this article, the authors reviewed and analyzed the Ukrainian efforts in researching children’s literature. The role and contribution of famous writers, scientists and teachers in affirming children’s literature as a full-fledged subject of scientific studies was determined. The key trends in the development of Ukrainian studies of children’s literature in the late 20th and the early 21st century were highlighted, listing the main problems which they raise. In this context, effective strategies, methodologies and critical approaches were considered in the research. These efforts revealed the potential of a systematic study of contemporary Ukrainian prose for children and youth as a multifaceted subject. They resulted in an outline of the concept of the artistic-aesthetic paradigm and the methodology of its cognition, which is based on the literary analysis of poetics that encompasses narrative, receptive-aesthetic, gender, post-colonial and other approaches as well as multidisciplinary studies.