Стаття розкриває ознаки художньо-документального метажанру в епістолярній творчості українських шістдесятників. У такій моделі в художню цілісність поєднуються міжродові й міжжанрові художні сегменти. Наголошується на тому, що епістолярій прочитується і як документально-біографічний матеріал, і як ілюстрація літературно-мистецького життя епохи. За хронологічнім принципом здійснена класифікація різнорідного епістолярного масиву шістдесятників.
Fictional-documentary prose by the Ukrainian writers of the 1960s actively develops in its system metagenre forms among which the leading one is epistolary works by the movement figures. The letters by I. Svitlychnyi, V. Stus, V. Chornovol to their relatives, friends, acquaintances presented as metagenre constructions were most completely comprehended by literary critics. Among them it is worth regarding message from prison by V.Marchenko entitled “Letters to Mother from Bondage", correspondence of the brothers Valeriy and Anatoliy Shevchuks — “Conversation with Hostile Eavesdropping, ” Letters from Prison ” by M. Horyn' etc. Epistolary contacts of the 1960s are presented by the dialogues: M Kotsiubynska - Z. Henyk-Berezovska, I. Zhylenko - V. Drozd, Ye. Sverstiuk - Yu. Lutskyi, I. Svitlychnyi — I. and I. Kalynets'. The correspondence of V. Symonenko with his wife, A. Horska with P. Zalyvakha, M. Kotsiubynska with E. Solovei, Z. Krasivskyi with A. Akahosha, B. Necherda with M. Ryl’skyi, V. Pidpalyi with I. Hnatiuk was fragmentary and not long-lasting (because of personality and ideological reasons). In the context of fictional-documentary prose we distinguish several thematic groups of letters by the writers of the 1960s which are arranged chronologically: epistles of the early 1960s, letters from the short epoch of Khrushchov’s thaw and non-established democratic society processes, letters from the period of curtailing democratic processes and consolidation of ideological dictatorship in the society, epistles of the writers of the 1960s belonging to the newest epoch.
Epistolary works by the writers of the 1960s is ‘a metagenre entity’ which fully manifests itself due to the fact that prose and poetic fragments from fictional works interact and function properly from the author’s viewpoint, original verses from different languages and samples of poetic translations are introduced into this context, nonfictional elements such as drawings, schemes, draughts, some marks are involved from time to time. All this material, nevertheless, appears as integral artistic entity of contents and form that enables to regard epistolary as genealogic variety offictional-documentary metagenre.
