Late prose by Borys Necherda: the novel “Quadro”

Abstract

The relevance of the article is determined by the need to investigate the novel-epiphany, the novel-prediction “Quadro” by the laureate of the Shevchenko Prize Borys Necherda. The purpose of the research is to analyse the late prose of the writer in the context of the Odessa literary school. The subject of the research is the genre and style parameters of the works, in particular, the novel “Quadro”, the observations of which constitute the novelty of the research.

As a result of the research, using the hermeneutic method, the quantitative and qualitative significance of the artist’s prose was proven on the basis of a comprehensive study of the novel “Quadro” as the pinnacle of the writer’s creativity. The conducted research gives reasons to define “Quadro” as a philosophical postmodern novel, embodied in a plot form. The novel has the qualities of a parable, such as an appeal to the timeless nature of eternal problems, the philosophical nature of their justification, the wide use of biblical intertext, moral guidance, aphoristic language, generalization, and metaphorical aesthetic thinking. At the same time, the work contains characteristic features of the adventure and detective genre, although it does not contain a detective plot. The synthetic nature of the genre allows the author to include lyrical miniatures, essays, and pamphlet elements in the text.

These genre features encourage the author to consider the novel in the context of the postmodern manner of writing, which in the work of Borys Necherda manifests itself through intertextuality, archetypal images, and presentation of the work as a kind of artistic code that needs to be deciphered through the polysemy of symbols and the syncretism of metaphors and associations.

The perspectives of the research are the analysis of the reception of the late works of Borys Necherda in modern times. With his formula “Order a golden word for me”, expressed in the “Last Book” of the late period, the author indicated one of the ways of studying his place in Ukrainian culture. After all, many works have been dedicated to Necherda, his image is reflected in the canvases of artists, in particular the famous Yuriy Kovalenko, who was the prototype of the heroes of Necherda‘s prose.