MEANS OF CREATING PSYCHOLOGICAL SUBTEXT IN THE SHORT STORIES BY HRYHIR TIUTIUNNYK (BASED ON “THREE CUCKOOS WITH A BOW”)

Abstract

The paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon of subtext as a key aesthetic category of a
literary work, drawing on the achievements of hermeneutics and reception aesthetics. Subtext is interpreted as a
structured semantic potential of the text, realized through a system of implicit signals and actualized in the process of
the reader’s interpretive activity. Emphasis is placed on the systemic nature of poetics, within which compositional,
linguistic, plot-related, and semiotic elements form an integral model for generating hidden meanings.
The short story «Three Cuckoos with a Bow» by Hr. Tiutiunnyk is chosen as the material for analysis and is
examined as an example of psychological prose characterized by a high degree of artistic compression and implicitness.
It is argued that stylistic laconicism, the “iceberg principle,” the functionality of artistic detail, pauses, silence, and
intonational shifts serve as generators of psychological subtext. Particular attention is paid to the symbolism of the title-code, the role of the epigraph, the compositional frame (present – past – letter – present), and the deconstruction
of the traditional love triangle through its humanistic and spiritual reinterpretation. Chronological allusions, everyday
and historical details contribute to a subtextual reconstruction of the traumatic era of repression, which transforms the
way the love story is interpreted: from a private conflict, it rises to an existential and ethical level.
The images of Marfa, Sofia, and Mykhailo are analyzed as embodiments of different dimensions of «supreme
love», with an emphasis on the ethical delicacy of the characters and their inner struggle. Special consideration
is given to Mykhailo’s final letter as the culminating node of implicitness, where explicit everyday narration is
combined with subtextual farewell intonation and existential tension. It is concluded that the subtext of the novella
is formed through the coordinated interaction of poetic subsystems and is realized in the co-creative collaboration
between the author and the prepared reader, who reconstructs the phenomenological meaning of love as spiritual
responsibility and moral purity.