TRANSFORMATION OF VALUES OF LIFE AND FREEDOM IN THE WAR DIARY OF VALERIA SUBOTINA "CAPTION": AN ARTISTIC-DOCUMENTARY ASPECT

Abstract

Abstract. The article, in the context of military literature, explores the artistic and documentary specificity of reflecting the transformation of the value orientations of life and freedom in the book by V. Subotina “Captive”. It is known that after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine in 2022, military journalists, media workers, writers, and combatants became significantly more active, covering events at the front and recording the crimes of the aggressor country. What the authors described became a new impetus for the creation of strong and truthful prose and poetic works of various genres of military literature. An example is the books by Valeria Subotina (call sign Nava) “Azovstal. Steel Press Service” (2024) and “Captivity” (2024), which describe not only military events, but also present the author’s vision of understanding the concept of Life as the highest human value and the concept of Freedom as a full life with the right to conscious choice. The literary work “Captivity” is based on real facts from the life of servicewoman Valeria Subotina.
Based on the autobiographical notes of military journalist Valeria Subotina, the dynamics and transformation of the fundamental categories of human existence – Life and Freedom – are analyzed. After all, while serving in the military in the “Azov" regiment and having survived the inhuman trials of long-term captivity in russian captivity, the woman finds salvation in understanding the value of life and gaining her dignity.
It has been found that the war diary "Captivity" combines a set of information correspondence to real, experienced facts from the author's life, documentary data and a high level of emotional and aesthetic generalization, inherent in fiction.
It has been proven that the value of Life and Freedom in the text of V. Subotina is reinterpreted through the prism of sacrifice, memory of fallen comrades, as a "living" voice about Ukrainian soldiers-defenders who did not survive or are still in russian captivity.
Attention is drawn to the fact that the book "Captivity" expands the idea of the genre nature of the war diary, in which the author talks about the difficult time she experienced in captivity, her thoughts, and emotions through the prism of her own perception and the specifics of understanding the war trauma of those people who survived the ordeal of captivity.
The article emphasizes the importance of military journalists' recording of historical events of the current russian-ukrainian war, the description of heroic and tragic stories of the front-line life of Ukrainian soldiers in the context of the genre diversity of military literature.