CRYPTOGRAPHIC CODE AS A MEANS OF SEMANTIC PLOT ORGANIZATION IN FICTION PROSE
Keywords:
cryptogram, cipher, deciphering, fiction prose, code semantics, poetics of mystery, intertextuality, plot organization, sign system, reader interpretation.Abstract
The article examines the cryptographic code as a device for organizing meaning and plot development in fiction. The study draws on literary works in which encrypted messages, letter permutations, numerical combinations, and concealed quotations are integrated into the motif structure and guide the process of interpretation. It is argued that decipherment in such texts performs not only a plot generating function but also a semantic one, since it connects the material details of the text, its cultural allusions, and the actions of the characters. The analysis demonstrates that the cryptogram serves as a form of semantic condensation, slows the pace of reading, and shifts the reader’s attention from the event itself to the act of interpretation.
References
1. Chaouachi B.Encryption in Edgar Allan Poe’s fiction: A transactional reading of secret writing // British and American Studies. – 2022. – Vol. 28. – P. 97–104.
2. Eco U., Sebeok Th. A. (eds.).The Sign of Three: Dupin, Holmes, Peirce. – Bloomington; Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988. – 256 p.
3. Rosenheim Sh. J.The cryptographic imagination: Secret writing from Edgar Poe to the Internet. – Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020. – 282 p.
4. Todorov T.The poetics of prose. – Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977. – 272 p.
5. Whalen T.The code for gold: Edgar Allan Poe and cryptography // Representations. – 1994. – No. 46. – P. 35–57.
6. Кибальник С. А., Дьёндьёши М.Криптопоэтика русской литературы нового времени // Филологические науки. Научные доклады высшей школы. – 2022. – № 3. – С. 160–164.
7. Лотман Ю. М.Структура художественного текста. – М.: Искусство, 1970. – 383 с.
8. Моисеев П. А.Поэтика детектива. – М.: Издательский дом Высшей школы экономики, 2017. – 240 с.
9. Стрельцов А. А.Передача зашифрованных сообщений-вкраплений в художественном тексте с английского языка на русский // Научный результат. Вопросы теоретической и прикладной лингвистики. – 2021. – Т. 7, № 3. – С. 56–71.
10. Филистова Н. Ю.Структура и семантика детективного нарратива (на материале текстов английских и русских рассказов): автореф. дис. … канд. филол. наук. – Тюмень, 2007. – 28 с.
