"Ocean catcher. History of the Odyssey" by V. Yermolenko as a postmodernist novel

The article deals with the literary analysis of Volodymyr Yermolenko's novel „The Ocean Catcher. History of Odyssey” as a sample of postmodern prose. In modern literary criticism, this is the first attempt at a scientific study of the work. Volodymyr Yermolenko is a scientist-philosopher and political scientist, author of scientific works, translator, essayist, TV presenter. „Ocean catcher. The Story of Odysseusˮ is his first experience in the field of fiction. The novel is like a continuation of the plot of Homer's „Odysseyˮ, but the writer only starts from the ancient plot and the mythical hero. He develops his own myth of good and evil, guilt and redemption, the search for meaning in life and finding one's own identity. His hero interacts with women, not so much seeking pleasure, as seeking to know love in its various manifestations. He analyzes his life, travels to places where he has been, and even descends into the realm of the dead to ask forgiveness from those he has offended. The poetics of the novel fit perfectly into the canon of postmodernism: author's myth; saturation of the text with philosophical reflections; introduction of several narrators; intertextuality, associations, contamination of several myths (Ariadne and Theseus, Dionysus, Cassandra). Synthetic genre structure – a combination of elements of adventure novel, travelogue, love novel, myth novel. Analysis of the novel convinces in the postmodern poetics of the work.