CATEGORY OF SPACE IN THE ESSAY: PRESENTATION OF THE PROBLEM

The article deals with the space in the literary essay as the semantic field of the text, the place of com- prehension, re-modeling of specific, real spaces and places in the author's consciousness. The emphasis is made on the fact that they are always the inner space: the outer space consists of those objectively existing loci and topos, which become the subject of the author's reflection and observation. The classification of space understanding in essay is given: it can be understood as a subject of reflection; as a space that arises in the process of reflection; as a space of reflection itself; as a space that induces a new space in the mind of the reader. These positions are Illustrated by examples from the essays by modern Ukrainian writers