У статті реконструйовано наукову діяльність українського літературознавця А. Шамрая (1896—1952) з 1922-го по 1929-й роки: період
навчання в аспірантурі літературно-етнографічної секції науково-дослідної кафедри історії України (1922—1924), підготовка та публікація підручника «Українська література. Стислий огляд» (1927,
1928), вивчення творчості Г. Квітки. Окремо розглядаються сторінки наукового діалогу з М. Зеровим та полеміки з І. Айзенштоком і журналом «Нова генерація».
The paper aims to reconstruct the research activity of the Ukrainian literary scholar Ahapii
Pylypovych Shamrai (1896—1952) in the period from 1922 to 1929. For this purpose, the
works of the scholar, his personal files, materials from the newspapers and journals of the
time, as well as correspondence have been examined. It was necessary to describe A. Shamrai’s
postgraduate studies at the Research Department of History of Ukraine (literary and
ethnographic section) (1922—1924). Much attention is given to the textbook “Ukrainian
Literature. A Brief Survey” (1927, 1928) that was among the first structured presentations
of the history of Ukrainian literature. The paper analyzes the perception of the textbook by
contemporary readers and outlines the specifics of Shamrai’s sociological method of this
period. Considering the research work of A. Shamrai in the context of literary criticism of
the 1920s, the author of the paper reconstructs the scholar’s dialogue with M. Zerov and the
polemic with “New Generation” magazine. One of the central topics for A. Shamrai in the
1920s is examined in detail: it is his study of H. Kvitka-Osnovianenko’s work. In particular,
the discussion between A. Shamrai and Ye. Aizenshtok on the publication of H. Kvitka’s
works in 1928 has been highlighted. A. Shamrai’s scholarly concepts of the 1920s characterize
him as a textual critic (‘text of the work’, ‘canonical text’) and historian of literature
(‘literary fact’, ‘work’, ‘environment’, ‘style’, ‘literary school’, ‘template’, ‘minor writers’, ‘influence’).
The category ‘reader’ was also very important for Shamrai’s works of this period. A
range of examples shows how Shamrai used the methodology of comparative studies.
