TRENDS IN IMAGE REPRESENTATION OF MICHAEL COLLINS IN IRELAND

In the galaxy of heroes and martyrs of the Irish national movement, the personality of Michael Collins, one of the most prominent figures of the Irish Revolution, stands out not only by constant and unflagging attention from historians, political scientists, but also constantly attracts the attention of writers and the media. In fact, from the moment of his tragic death to the present day, the image of Collins both does not leave the pages of special publications and manifests itself in Internet resources, thus expanding the areola of the reading audience. The online community, in addition, allows readers to instantly express their point of view on the representations of the various facets of his personality and the mul-tifaceted activities of the hero. A rather active transformation of the Collins image over time is observed. New generations of authors and the needs and demands of new generations of readers dictate the need to reveal new aspects of Collins' personality. From the Collins's heroization, traditional for the beginning of the 20th century, a transformation is currently observed in the evaluative characteristics of the personality. More and more attention is paid to the purely human characteristics of the character. Such innovations are dictated not only by the expansion of the "ecumenical" standard image of the hero, by the invasion of those areas, for example, his personal life, which were previously either on the periph- ery of interest or were not touched at all. No less influence on the formation of the multifaceted image of Michael Collins has a change in the mental characteristics of modern society, the formation of a new cultural code. This "omnivorous" readers of the new generation indicates that a new historical and cultural paradigm has been created. The transformation of the image of Michael Collins in research literature, in journalism, in popular publications, on the World Wide Web is not called to somehow fundamentally change the reading public's direction in the direction of negative attitude towards the hero, but once again testifies to new "standards" inherent in Western culture. The attention to the characters of the Irish Revolution was expectedly strengthened in connection with the centennial of this most important event in national history, the commemoration of which continues to this day. The proposed topic is, therefore, relevant in several aspects and goes beyond the analysis of only Collins' personality. In domestic historiography there are no studies devoted to the analysis of Collins' representation in the specialized literature, as well as in public opinion and perception.

Michael Collins, Ireland, Irish Nationalism, Sinn Fein, Irish Republican Brotherhood, Eamon de Valera, Civil war in Ireland

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