The Enactivist Dimension of the Book “Captivity” by Valeria “Nava” Subotina
Андрей Сергеевич Дружинин, Yulia Gordiienko
Respectus Philologicus April 10, 2026 DOI: 10.15388/respectus.2026.49.9 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that an enactivist hermeneutic algorithm centered on bodily correlates—pain, hunger, and touch—can effectively interpret Ukrainian war-themed non-fiction such as V. Subotina's Captivity, and proposes that these bodily experiences can paradoxically function not only as sources of suffering and deprivation but also as inspiration to live, fight, and create. |
Abstract
The lack of temporal distance from the works of contemporary Ukrainian literature, devoted to themes of the Russian-Ukrainian war, necessitates the search for adequate methods for the effective analysis of non-fiction literary works. The purpose of the article is to propose an algorithm to interpret texts like V. Subotina’s book Captivity. The hermeneutic method and an enactivist approach were used to achieve the goal. The algorithm for analysing Subotina’s book considers such corporal correlates as pain, hunger, and touch since the core phenomenon of the enactivist approach is the body. The conclusion is that the corporal correlates of pain, hunger, and touch can become not only a means of suffering and unfair deprivation of personal freedom, but, paradoxically, a source of inspiration to live, fight, and create. In the proposed context, the enactivist approach shows its potential in view of the functional use of relevant corporal correlates and can be applied in further studies of various genres of non-fiction literary samples.