Between Memory and Reality: Means of Modeling Migration Processes in Yuliya Ilyukha’s Short Prose Collection 'My Women'

Abstract

The article examines literary strategies for modeling the experience of forced migration in Yuliya Ilyukha’s short prose collection 'My Women' (2023). The analysis reveals that the narrative canvas of the texts is based on a combination of documentary precision and symbolic generalizations: the anonymity of the female characters creates a generalized image of the refugee woman, while the motifs of home, road, roots, and food acquire metaphorical meaning and function as markers of memory. Migration processes are modeled through contrasts between past and present (destruction versus the search for shelter), an emphasis on everyday rituals that take on existential significance, the use of auditory and visual imagery to evoke flashbacks, and the metaphorization of bodily and psychological transformations that emerge as consequences of forced displacement. The study demonstrates that the psychological depth of the collection emerges through the fixation on unresolved emotions – fear, guilt, alienation – as well as through visually and acoustically rich scenes of escape, separation, and traumatic memory. The findings suggest that Ilyukha’s collection extends beyond the documentation of individual stories, evolving into an artistic testimony of the collective experience of Ukrainian refugee women.