This study applies a structural-semiotic perspective to analyze V. M. Shukshin’s short stories, whose conceptual basis lies in the “war and peace” opposition shaped by archetypal and intertextual projections. In Shukshin’s oeuvre, this ambivalent code functions as a “memory capacitor.” Within the writer’s poetics, the “war and peace” dichotomy manifests rather restrainedly through constant symbolic combinations: an initiatory complex (lesson / exam / teacher), a false holiday, and transformations of mortality (orphanhood, supposed death, imaginary retribution, suicide, and metaphysical death). The findings demonstrate that Shukshin’s concept of war and peace is shaped by world literature and cinema, predominantly within the cultural and historical context of early Russian and Soviet literature. However, the author seeks a unique approach to developing the highly complex theme of war in its universal sense: he departs from the pathos of The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, the abstract rhetoric of L. N. Tolstoy’s War and Peace, and the confessional tone of M. A. Sholokhov’s works. Shukshin’s complex attitude toward the “triumphal” paradigm – the glorifying program of depicting war in Russian literature – defines his distinct manner of dialogue concerning war and peace. By introducing dramaturgical and cinematic elements into his concept of war, Shukshin prioritizes attention to detail and scenography, verbal economy, and, consequently, the relevance of the motif of silence.
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