Functioning of  Comparative Tropes in E. Vodolazkin’s Novel Chagin

The article discusses the use of metaphors and similes in the text of E. Vodolazkin’s latest novel “Chagin”. The study has shown that the functioning of comparative tropes in the novel is closely related to the nature of its narrative: metaphors and similes are involved in the differentiation of the subject-speech plans of the narrators and perform a characterological function. The study shows that the tropes including precedent names and quotation inclusions are often used in the novel. The text of the novel is characterized by a punning clash of direct and figurative meanings of lexical units with wordplay involving a number of phraseological units, catchphrases, and clichés. The distinctive features of the style of the novel “Chagin” are the literalization of the metaphors in the text, which can be both contact and distant in nature and actualize the derivational connections of lexical units. The article shows that the tropes used in the text of the novel are often based on the depicted reality. What is more, we pay particular attention to the role of comparative tropes in identifying and deploying the key themes of the work: the theme of memory and the theme of fiction (fantasy). It is concluded that these topics are accentuated in the text with the help of tropes, the subject of comparison in which are the names of mental entities (memory, oblivion, recollection, memorization and fantasy).

Keywords

E. Vodolazkin’s novel “Chagin”, comparative trope, metaphor, simile, narrative structure, irony, pun

Acknowledgment

The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation grant No. 23-28-00060 “Dynamics of comparative constructions and types of their interaction in modern Russian prose”.

Received

04.10.2023

Publication date

04.10.2023

Number of characters

16796

Cite

GOST	Nikolina N., Petrova Z. Functioning of Comparative Tropes in E. Vodolazkin’s Novel “Chagin” // Russkaya Rech’ – 2023. – Issue 4 C. 102-112 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/rusrech/s013161170027463-8-1-en (circulation date: 29.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013161170027463-8
MLA	Nikolina, Natalia, Petrova, Zoya Yu "Functioning of Comparative Tropes in E. Vodolazkin’s Novel “Chagin”." Russkaya Rech’ 4 (2023):102-112. DOI: 10.31857/S013161170027463-8
APA	Nikolina N., Petrova Z. (2023). Functioning of Comparative Tropes in E. Vodolazkin’s Novel “Chagin”. Russkaya Rech’ (4), pp.102-112 DOI: 10.31857/S013161170027463-8

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 182

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Bedusenko G. A. [Semantic-syntactic features of extended metaphor and its main types]. Izvestiya vuzov, 2013, no. 2, pp. 238–240. (In Russ.)

2. Bogdanova E. S. [Metaphor in a literary text: functions, perception, interpretation]. Vestnik Ryazanskogo gos. un-ta im. S.A. Esenina, 2016, no. 3 (52), pp. 134–145. (In Russ.)

3. Ermakova O. P. Ironiya i ee rol’ v zhizni yazyka [Irony and its role in the life of the language]. Moscow, Flinta Publ., 2017. 190 p.

4. Klyucherova A. O. [Extended metaphors of A. S. Grin: structure and semantics]. Problemy i tendentsii razvitiya sotsiokul’turnogo prostranstva Rossii: istoriya i sovremennost’: Materialy IV Mezhdunarodnoi nauchno-prakticheskoi konferentsii [Problems and trends in the development of the socio-cultural space of Russia: history and modernity: Materials of the IV International scientific and practical conference]. Bryansk, 2017, pp. 187–192. (In Russ.)

5. Kozhevnikova N. A. [On the relationship between the trope and reality in a literary text]. Kozhevnikova N.A. Izbrannye raboty po yazyku khudozhestvennoi literatury [Selected works on the language of literature]. Moscow, Znak Publ., 2009, pp. 473–498. (In Russ.)

6. Nikolina N. A., Petrova Z. Yu. [The system of comparative tropes in E. Vodolazkin’s novel “Aviator”]. Slavica XLVIII. Debrecen, Debrecen Univ. Press, 2019, pp. 101–112. (In Russ.)

7. Novikova M. L. Struktura i semantika metafory kak konstruktivnogo komponenta khudozhestvennogo teksta. Diss. kand. filol. nauk [The structure and semantics of metaphor as a constructive component of a literary text. Cand. philol. sci. diss.]. Moscow, 1983. 206 p.

8. Sannikov V. Z. [Pun as a semantic phenomenon]. Voprosy jazykoznanija, 1995, no. 3, pp. 56–69. (In Russ.)

9. Vodolazkin E. [“A myth is not a lie, but rather our active attitude towards the fact”]. Available at: https://www.fontanka.ru/2022/11/02/71786480/ (accessed 07.04.2023).

10. Zhirmunsky V. M. [Poetics of Alexander Blok] // Zhirmunsky V. M. Teoriya literatury. Poetika. Stilistika [Theory of literature. Poetics. Stylistics]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1977, pp. 205–237. (In Russ.)