BOOKSTORES AS SPACES FOR REMEMBERING THE NATIONAL NARRATIVE OF WAR

Abstract

Memorial bookshops are a new cultural phenomenon in Ukraine, emerging in response to the challenges of full-scale war, which requires the formation of a modern language of remembrance. The Heroes bookshop in Vinnytsia is Ukraine’s first memorial bookshop, created in honour of the fallen soldier and philologist Mykola Rachko. The article examines its significance as a space for cultural, educational, and social interaction, combining the function of book distribution with the mission of honouring the fallen soldier. Its activities combine traditional forms of book communication with practices of memory preservation: holding events, forming an excursion narrative, supporting public initiatives, creating symbolic practices such as bookplates, memory shelves, and author signatures. It shows how such spaces integrate memory into everyday life and contribute to the formation of a new culture of honouring war victims, becoming important elements of documentary communication and local identity, as well as opening up prospects for further research in the field of book studies and memory studies.