ПОШУКИ У-ТОПОСУ СВОБОДИ ЗА «CЛІДАМИ НА ДОРОЗІ» В ОДНОЙМЕННОМУ РОМАНІ ВАЛЕРІЯ АНАНЬЄВА

The article is devoted to V. Ananiev's book «Footprints on the Road» and the representation of the concept of FREEDOM in it. Based on the hermeneutic method, it has been found that the protagonist gains awareness of freedom mainly through its absence which he encounters throughout his life, starting from kindergarten and ending with his service in the paratrooper company of the pre-war Ukrainian army.

The difference between those institutions is that he entered the kindergarten without his consent, whereas it was his own decision to serve in the army – quite consciously and of his own free will. This is what forms the foundation of his further search for both personal identity and the path to freedom.

As a result, a conclusion is drawn that the main character of Ananyev's literary work ascertains once again that even if someone is lucky enough to gain freedom, it does not guarantee that they will be able to indicate the exact coordinates where it happened. After all, freedom resides in the u-topos which can be found, having made great efforts and having been extremely lucky, following the «footprints on the road», as it happened to the main character of the same name book.