Abstract
<jats:p>The article is dedicated to the interpretation of the novel by one of the leading contemporary Russian prose writers, Andrey Rubanov. The aim of the research is to identify the specifics of genre synthesis in A. Rubanov’s “The Mahogany Man”. The scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that the genre features of the novel are identified for the first time. As a result, it is established that in “The Mahogany Man”, genre synthesis is realized through the combination of a fantastic premise, mythopoetic reconstruction, psychological prose, parable elements, and historical novel elements, with none of these forms becoming dominant. A. Rubanov uses genre models as flexible constructs that allow the narrative to gradually move beyond external intrigue and focus on the problems of identity, faith, memory, and the internal formation of personality. The motif of liminality is particularly significant in the novel. The wooden people exist between object and human, idol and saint, handicraft and living personality. Their nature allows the writer to raise the question of what makes a person human: corporeality, memory, faith, the capacity to suffer, the desire to find “one’s own”, or the ability to make a moral choice.</jats:p>