"Diary of a Ukrainian Madman" by L. Kostenko from position of postcolonial reception

The article examines Lina Kostenko's novel "Diary of a Ukrainian Madman" from the perspective of postcolonial criticism, in terms of functioning in the text of mythologems and symbols significant for Ukrainian cultural and national identity. The study tackles the problems of ressentiment, colonial trauma, self-awareness of colonial object, historical memory, "culture survival", the process of deconstruction of imperial stereotypes and reconstruction of authentic Ukrainian world. Particular attention is given to re-describing binary oppositions colonized and colonizer, one's own / foreign, local/ global.