Abstract

This article is devoted to the artistic image of life and the creations of the Ukrainian philosopher H. Skovoroda in I. Sreznevsky’s story. The motivation for the conduct of the protagonist in connection with his philosophy is highlighted. Historicalcultural and comparative methods are applied in the article. I. Sreznevsky offered his own version of the H. Skovoroda’s life and work in his story “Major, Major!” The baroque prototype underwent a romantic transformation. From our standpoint, the image of the philosopher in I. Sreznevsky’s work is far from the psychological truth. However, the author of the story avoided idealizing the hero, much prevalent later, and thus has created a precedent for the controversial interpretation of this fi gure in Ukrainian literature. The features and interpretations of the fi gure of the philosopher are presented from the perspective of the specifi c creative thinking and awareness of the writer of the prototype, given its genre as a romantic story and a prototype belonging to the baroque.