25 марта 2018г.
In the article we draw attention to the theory of cognitive metaphor and the formation of literary space. Literary space creation can occur thanks to the process of metaphorization within the sphere of space concepts.
Key words: the cognitive metaphor, literary space, space of sets
РОМАН ИЭНА МАКЬЮЭНА «ИСКУПЛЕНИЕ» КАК ЯРКИЙ ПРИМЕР СОЗДАНИЯ ХУДОЖЕСТВЕННОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА
Семенова Полина
В статье особый акцент делается на теорию когнитивной метафоры и формирование с её помощью художественного пространства. Создание художественного пространства произведения может происходить благодаря процессу метафоризации в рамках пространственной концептосферы.
Ключевые слова: когнитивная метафора, художественное пространство, пространство множеств.
Space is one of the basic categories of human world-knowledge and perception. By establishing the physical boundaries in which human life takes place, space is also one of those fundamental concepts thanks to which people perceive, comprehend, create the world, and which are represented practically in all the languages of the world. To transform the human experience of physical space (source sphere) in linguistic nominative activity, the process of metaphorization is widely used. The basis of the metaphorical transposition is the frames of spatial character (target sphere), with which the person is oriented not only in real space, but also in the space of sets (пространство множеств) [2]
The physical orientation of a man in the world serves as the basis for the description of the world, which is fixed in the language. The space is animated by human presence; it is interpreted, read by a person. Actually, human activity forms its life world (many world views, variety types of space) as the basis of human existence. The term space of sets is fundamental in the interpretation of the language category of space in a number of works (Olga Seliverstova, Olga Suleimanova, Tatyana Malar). The space of sets is a way beyond the narrow understanding of the physical concept of space. It is a kind of space comprehension on the basis of differentiation of types of human activity - different types of human activity form their spaces, therefore the following types of space are distinguished: space of a language, space of a city, space of relationship, space of a situation, etc. [3]
Space of sets category is considered as the main category for the disclosure of the concept of literary space. Literary space consists of set of different kinds of spaces as different spheres of human activity and at the same time animated by an individual vision of the author's representation of space realized in the heroes’ individual spaces of the work and in those images of space that arise in the recipient (reader). Hence the literary space of the text is a multi-layered structure of cognitive metaphors, based not only on the physical characteristics of space and the space of sets, but also on the figurative interpretation of these basic categories in the author's vision and in the reader's view.
Characters and actions in a literary work defined by the category of space of sets exist in real spatial coordinates and at the same time they are artistic phenomena, and not just physical reality. They reflect real physical spaces, as well as interpreted by human perception, the contemplative foreshortening of the author of the work and the individual comprehension of the recipient. Therefore, the literary space of a work, being an author's phenomenon, is correlated with a real physical space, as a model of an object with the object itself.
Thus, the subject of the research analysis is the expressive linguistic means of the literary work used by the author to create spatial coordinates of the heroes of the work and the work itself. The main purpose of the thesis is to disclose the role of cognitive metaphor as one of the most productive mechanisms for the space formation of a number of heroes in the creation of a general picture of a novel literary space.
Cognitive metaphor participates in the creation of the literary space of a work, forming a powerful associative field. It is within its framework that the spatial concept is meaningfully enriched: knowledge of the source sphere of the metaphorical image determines the perception of the target sphere. The associative field of the literary space concept sphere is formed not only by a cognitive metaphor, but also by many examples of other nominative elements (small concepts) that form a motivated basis for the unity of these elements, which allows us to identify the most essential characteristics of the writer's worldview.
Let’s consider a series of cognitive metaphors in the formation of the literary space in “Atonement” by Ian McEwan. In the work the author often refers to the metaphors which construct the way of life of one of the main characters as a linear space. Linear space is a kind of artistic language for modeling temporal categories “life journey” as a means of characterizing the hero in time process. In a general sense, the concept of road is associated with the dynamics, with the desire to achieve a certain goal. The formation of the cognitive metaphor "life journey" is a mechanism for transforming the source sphere (the common understanding of the road as dynamics in time) into the target sphere (his destiny).
Describing Robbie, one of the main characters, the author of the novel, uses the following cognitive metaphor of the man’s way of life. He uses words such as: route, path, road, track. ‘Their route swung to the west as they rose out of the valley, still between the ancient walls’ [McEwan 2001: 108]. In this example, as in many other examples, a specific description of the way is used as a natural experience of human life situations. But each of these sentences is used to express more complex meanings: his long way to his beloved, purification of the wounded soul, his rehabilitation.
In the characterization of the personal space of the main heroine of the novel, Briony, the reader can observe space opposition of a simple, orderly child's world to the world of adult chaos. This opposition is seen in the description of the sisters’ rooms. Chaotic nature of the personal space of the older sister is seen in the following example: “When she (Cecilia) dropped them in they once again refused to fall into the artful disorder she preferred, and instead swung round in the water into a willful neatness, with the taller stalks evenly distributed around the rim” [26]. The metaphorical phrase once again refused to fall into the artful disorder she preferred, contains a spatial characteristic of the heroine's preferences and indicates the absence of a desire for order in her character.
Briony’s personal space is also revealed through her relationship with her close people: ‘Briony was lost to her writing fantasies-what had seemed a passing fad was now an enveloping obsession’ [58]. In a metaphorical expression was lost to her writing fantasies a characterization of the relationship between the main character and her writings is given. Thanks to this metaphor, the reader is able to recreate her psychological space, the space of her ideas and fantasies, on which she is focused.
Thus, from the analysis of examples it follows that the literary space of the work is created by a combination of at least personal spaces of the heroes of the work. Personal spaces of the heroes of the work are created by the language means that are included in the category of the spatial concept sphere and can be a set of language means for the nomination of spatial coordinates, linguistic expressive means of lexical and syntactic nature, cognitive metaphors, and metonymy. The concept of the literary space of the work is based as a source sphere on the notion of physical space and the typology of the space of sets. The recipient's perception of the literary space created by the author depends on the degree of correlation between the cognitive space of the reader and the cognitive space of the author of the work.
References
1. Ian McEwan Atonoment London, 2001.
2. Melnik O.G. Metaforicheskoe pereosmyslenie prostranstva [Melnik O.G. Metaphorical reinterpretation of space] Izvestia of SFedU. Texnicheskie nauki, 2012.
3. Seliverstova O.N. Trudy po semantike. [Seliverstova O.N. Works on semantics] M.: Yazyki slavyanskoj kultury, 2004.
