The Role of Recursion in the Author's Strategy of Boris Dyshlenko (the Novel Contours and Silhouettes)

Identificator

EDN: AQDQYI ; УДК: 821.161.1-31:801.82

Authors

Nalimova Natalia Vladimirovna, postgraduate student of the Department of Russian Philology, Ivanovo State University. Russia, Ivanovo. E‑mail: nalinia@mail.ru

Journal

HERALD OF HUMANITARIAN EDUCATION №2 (42), 2026

Section

PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Pages

141-150

Abstract

The article analyzes Boris Dyshlenko's novel Contours and Silhouettes in the aspect of recursive text organization. The study proceeds from the observation that recursive structures shape not only narrative returns but also a distinctive visual architecture of the work. Two forms of recursion in the novel are identified: the procedural form, associated with repeated references to key motifs and quotations that change their meaning depending on the context and direct the movement of interpretation, and the plastic form, expressed in a system of visual images organized around the motifs of contours, silhouettes, canvases, and spots of light and color. These elements create the impression of a painterly composition in which the reader's attention moves like a gaze across the surface of a picture. The analysis reveals the role of the "instruction" embedded in the text, which sets the mode of perception, as well as the emergence of metatextual fragments modeling the reader's active involvement. Special attention is given to the way visual motifs and their variations set the rhythm of the narration and create a multilayered effect in which the text becomes a space of contemplation. The novel is organized as a system where each return generates new optical and semantic connections. In this respect, the work demonstrates a unique form of interaction between the verbal and visual planes, allowing for a deeper understanding of the ways in which perception is artistically modeled. Overall, the study makes it possible to regard the novel as an example of an artistic system in which literary and pictorial strategies converge, and opens up prospects for the study of the interaction between verbal and visual art.

Keywords

Boris Dyshlenko recursive structures plastic thinking visual poetics metatext reader's perception

Recieved

24.09.2025

Published

20.08.2026

References

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