Modernist Retreat to Primordial Nature in Lesya Ukrainka’s “The Forest Song,” Knut Hamsun’s “Pan” and Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring”

<p dir="ltr">This article examines the seminal works “The Forest Song” (1911) by Lesya Ukrainka, “Pan” (1894) by Knut Hamsun, and “The Rite of Spring” (1913) by Igor Stravinsky as profound artistic responses to the crisis of modernity at the fin de siècle. While emerging from distinct cultural contexts (Ukrainian, Norwegian, and Russian) these works exhibit remarkable thematic and structural parallels. They collectively represent a retreat from industrialized society and a turn towards primordial nature, not as a pastoral idyll but as a realm of amoral, often terrifying, psychic and spiritual energy. Each piece utilizes mythological frameworks and the trope of ritual sacrifice to explore the conflict between individual desire and archaic, collective forces. Ukrainka’s lyrical drama, Hamsun’s psychological novel, and Stravinsky’s ballet score all converge in portraying nature as an active, animistic agent in human drama, challenging the anthropocentric and rationalist traditions of Western thought. This comparative analysis argues that these three works, though rooted in their unique national traditions, form a cohesive transnational modernist project that seeks to recuperate the sacred through a confrontation with the pagan past.</p>