September 16, 2025Open Access

Peculiarities of portraiture in combatant literature based on the biographical novel “Footprints on the road” by Valerii Markus (Ananyev)

Key Points

The novel illustrates diverse character portraits that reflect the complexities of war experiences, enriching reader interpretation.
Key types of portraits identified include individual, collective, antagonistic, and nostalgic, each contributing unique insights into characters.
The analysis employs methodologies from notable literary scholars, enhancing the understanding of character representations in the context of war.
The findings call for deeper theoretical exploration of portraits, underscoring their significance in shaping the narrative of combatant literature.

Abstract

The article describes the classification of portraits of characters in combatant literature using the example of the novel by Valerii Markus (Ananyev) «Footprints on the road». The methodological basis for studying information about the portrait was the works of K. Sizova, G. Syritsa, A. Halych, O. Halych and others. The work analyzes the means of creating images of soldiers, relatives, loved ones, in particular through the typification of characters, their appearance, the functional load of characters in the plot and the description of their internal state. The main types of portraits are distinguished: anthropomorphic technical, individual or personal; collective, concentrated-deconcentrated, laconic and short, mosaic, necroportrait (memorial), nostalgic or retrospective, oneiric, paired, portrait of the antagonist hero and the protagonist hero, symbolic, traumatic. It is determined that the author of the book Valerii Markus, through such structural elements of the portrait as appearance, face, manners, behavior, gait, facial expressions, gestures, describes the characters in detail, and sometimes quite briefly, giving them his own assessment. The writer also allows each reader to independently complete the holistic image of the book's heroes in his imagination. It is emphasized that the novel demonstrates the aesthetics of the depiction of a warrior – not only as a fighter, but also as a complex, deep personality, influenced by the bitter experience of war. The study actualizes an important need for further theoretical understanding of portraits in combatant literature and offers a methodological approach to their typological analysis. The proposed approach allows us to rethink the structure of combatant texts and deepen our understanding of the aesthetics and functions of combatant prose in the modern Ukrainian literary context through the prism of the portrait of the main characters.

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