Декадентські мотиви в українському романі fin de siècle: Агатангел Кримський та Михайло Яцків

This paper examines to what extent the paradigm of the decadent hero in French literature can be applied to two Ukrainian novels written at the turn of the century, namely Andrii Lahovs’kyi (1905) by Ahatanhel Kryms’kyi and Blyskavytsi (1912) by Mykhailo Yatskiv. In my analysis of these two novels I do not limit myself to the discussion of the decadent sensibility and worldview but I also pinpoint elements of technical innovation introduced by these two writers. I argue that these novels (considered marginal by some critics) exemplify the most consistent synthesis of decadent traits in Ukrainian fin de siècle literature.