The Borderline: The Semiotics of Fences and Enclosures in the Artistic World of Yuri Olesha

The goal of the research is to identify the semiotic potential of the images of fences and enclosures in the artistic world of Yuri Olesha. The material for the study consists of the writer’s literary and memoir works. A comprehensive analysis of the texts based on the structural-semiotic method has shown that the chronotope of the boundary acquires different shades of meaning in Olesha’s work. It has been established that the opposition “gray fence” – “dacha enclosure” becomes a key theme for the writer. A permeable enclosure, open to the gaze of outsiders, in contrast to a fence, has a purely decorative function, which is why it does not scare or oppress Olesha’s characters. While the enclosure is linked to a dream and its feasibility, the fence is linked to “offense and envy”. In Olesha’s works, representatives of the old world always remain outside the Soviet paradise. Children occupy the position on the fence. The child is a mediator between the two worlds – the real world (the world of adults) and the imaginary world (the world of children). For Olesha, the possibility of imagining the unseen world behind the barrier is particularly important, which is why the space beyond the fence is an area of mystery, a space for imagination.