Ethnography of short prose by B. Lepkyi

The article explores the ethnographic elements in the prose of B. Lepky, a multifaceted Ukrainian poet, novelist, translator, and cultural activist, who authored over 80 books. The purpose of the article to examine the characteristics and significance of ethnography in Lepky's short prose, identifying the methods he employed to incorporate ethnographic details. This analysis seeks to reveal how these elements contribute to creating a distinct national image and reflect the depth of the writer's creative world. The research methodology The main methods of our research are historical and comparative. First of all, we strive to find analogies of the ethnographic realities mentioned in the work of B. Lepkyi, in the scientific literature, published and commented sources describing the life of Podillia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is connected with the wide use of works containing specific ethnographic materials, historical references, and local history descriptions. For the same purpose, reference books and encyclopedias containing information about the places described by B. Lepkyi are used. The scientific novelty lies in the fact that for the first time an analysis of the artistic works of B. Lepky as an ethnographic source of everyday life in Podillia has been carried out. Conclusions. After analyzing the short prose of B. Lepkyі, we concluded that a literary work can serve as a valuable ethnographic source. In our research, we paid attention to the following ethnographic elements of the writer's short prose: ethnopedagogy, beliefs and worldview of the Ukrainian peasant, celebrating Christmas in Podillya, customs and traditions related to the Easter holidays. Using the example of B. Lepkyi’s short prose, it becomes clear that the object of direct ethnographic descriptions for a realist writer is not only the events that the author perceives as the archaic, but also the description of traditional everyday life, which gives special value to this ethnographic source. The reliability of ethnographic descriptions is confirmed by the research of Ukrainian ethnographers.