IMAGARY AS THE BASIC FEATURE OF A LITERARY WORK

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 823.

CHAPTER 1

A work of literature differs from all other types of written patterns of a language. From the point of view of Stylistics the written variety of a language is presented in the form of functional styles. A functional style is a patterned variety of literary text characterized by the greater or lesser typification of its constituents, supra-phrasal units, in which the choice and arrangement of interdependent and interwoven language media are calculated to secure the purport of the communication.

All works of literature are united under the belles-lettres style. The belles-lettres style is a generic term for the main three types of written patterns found in literature; they are the language of poetry (verse), emotive prose (the language of fiction),andthe language of drama. All the substyles have certain common features; typical of the general belles-lettres style, but each of them enjoys individuality. The functional substyle dealt with in this textbook is emotive prose.

The very name – emotive prose – suggests at least two involved spheres of the reader: psychological and cognitive. The psychological element is mainly based on genuine imagery while the cognitive rests on indispensable linguistic features. These two spheres are interdependent and interconnected and it is only for the sake of better understanding of a literary work that they should be treated separately.

Imagery as the subject of study belongs not only to literature. It is recognized as an aesthetic category and can be defined as representation of the general through the individual, the generic through the concrete, the abstract through the sensitive. Literary imagery is rather individual in its character. It is presented through the characters, through their actions and deeds. In this way the individual serves as an example of the general.

Sensitive obviousness and individuality of literary imagery make up the initial plan of a literary work. Here concrete objects and phenomena are presented; concrete people with their feelings, emotions are depicted. At the same time those people and their environment serve as an individual example in the general conflicts of the society. Literary characters become generalized through images created by the writer. Thus, the generalized sense embodied into literary images makes up its fathom structure which is connected with problems, ideas and thoughts. The surface structure is formed by the plot of the literary work. Both are inseparable and only together they constitute the literary work.

The literary image and the plot are characterized by the conflict. Deep social conflict can be represented by an endless number of concrete displays. The presence of the conflict presupposes a set of images and a sequence of fictional events. It is through the conflict that the reader understands the development of the characters and of the plot of the literary work. The fathom and the surface structures of the literary work may be presented further in a series of constituents.

The system of literary images includes the image of the author, the images of the characters, the images of the nature and natural environment.

The image of the author is the creative centre of the literary work. It is the author who gets the reader acquainted with the problem, with its influence on people's life and its possible solution. But the image of the author is not actually the personality of a real writer. It is rather an idealized image. It is somewhat idealized because it represents not the biographical facts of the writer's life, but a certain possible, thought out or invented situation.

The image of the author is mostly associated with the type of speech characteristic of a piece of literature. Usually it is the first person narration that is more intimate, more subjective. The third person narration is more objective. The two types of narration have their own linguistic features which may be looked upon as differentiating ones. Thus, the first person narration is closer to the spoken variety of the language. It can be characterized as containing colloquialisms, violation of grammar and orthoepic rules. This makes a literary work more expressive and close to life. At the same time the first person narration illustrates the usual way of speaking showing that not all the people are highly educated, but this does not mean that they do not have problems or do not suffer from injustice or hard life; it does not mean that such people cannot cope with the problems or cannot overcome difficulties.

The third person narration is oriented mostly on the norms of the language; it usually presents a more sophisticated description of problems and conflicts. The imagery of such a narration is mostly based on the inner properties of words. The third person narration is rather a presentation of time, space, circumstances under which the events happen making the reader decide whether he sides with the author or not.

A literary work is a complicated type of message; that is why it cannot consist of one type of narration only. Usually it is a skillful combination of the both that makes a piece of literature come very close to a fragment of the real world or the real life of people. Nevertheless there are genres in which one type of narration is prevailing, for example, fairy tales, science fiction, fantasy, etc.

The image of the author is deduced not only by the type of the narration but also through the manner of presentation of the events. Some writers use flashbacks, due to which the prehistory of the situation or the past of the characters are described. Many works contain foreshadowing, providing hints about the future development of the events. A straight line narration presupposes presentation of the events in chronological sequence. The type “a story in a story” (when two stories contrast or parallel) is often referred to as framing. A circular way of narration is observed when the closing event of the story returns the reader to the introductory part.

The image of the author is the integrating basis for all the other images come across in the text. The personages of the literary work, the descriptions of the nature, places and separate objects are interconnected into one whole by the idea, topic, and development of the story making up the system of images.

The central part of the system of images is presented by the characters that are usually divided into main and secondary. It is through their appearances, thoughts, actions and deeds the individual and the concrete is brightly presented against the background of the general and the universal. The personalities of the main characters spotlight the ideas of the author being protagonists or antagonists of his position. It is through the images of the literary personages that the spirit of the time is described.

The main characters of a fiction work are the brightest and the most elaborate type of images. The main characters of a literary work make up the literary image of the society, of the time it narrates. They serve as illustration of a deep social conflict. Thus, the conflict of the new and the old is presented in many literary works. Shakespeare's plays present this conflict through family tragedies, for example, “Romeo and Juliet”, “King Lear”, “Hamlet”, etc. A concrete character in which the main, acute and important features of the epoch are concentrated becomes a typical image. For its creation the author uses characteristics and features of concrete people ascribing them to one personage thus making it generalized. For example, Soames Forsyte has become a typical representative of a man of property.

The choice of the main characters is one of the most difficult and at the same time the most important moment in the creation of a literary work. The more realistic the main characters are the greater effect the literary work produces on the reader. Close to life portrayal of the personalities of the main characters makes the conflict of the literary work so real that the reader realizes, accepts and treats it as a part of his own life.

The literary personages are described against the background of the images of the nature and natural environment. One of the most frequently met images of the nature is a landscape. It often becomes a literary image in the cases when the psychological state of the character is the focus of narration. Nature is the unique and constant environment of man. It is the permanent source of emotions. That is why landscapes play a very significant role in literature helping to reveal the inner state of the people. For example, the atmosphere of fear is often created by describing expectations of a thunderstorm with strong winds, black clouds and sudden darkness. The moments of disappointment and depression are associated with drizzling autumn and long gray evenings. The idea of hope and change for the better can be portrayed by a refreshing rain in summer or the blossom of the nature in spring.

The role of the nature image varies in different genres of literature. It may take the central part in lyrics, for example, but in emotive prose it occupies a subordinative position. The image of nature in prose serves as a means of creating the background of the plot conflict. It fulfils two opposite functions in a literary work. It may show the unity of the character and the nature. For example, in “King Lear” by Shakespeare the description of the storm makes the reader understand the King's indignation, despair and insult in a vivid way. On the contrary, the description of a quiet summer night in the book by Harper Lee “To Kill a Mocking-bird” does not presuppose anything dangerous or unpleasant. But the fact that the children are attacked during this very night shows the contrast between the quietness of the nature and the violence of Atticus Finch and produces a deep impression on the reader.

The unity of the character with the nature usually shows deep unconscious ties of human beings and natural environment describing them rather in a positive than a negative way. The contrast between the two images presents different interpretation. In the book “To Kill a Mocking-bird” A. Finch is a negative personage. In the book “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway the old fisherman is portrayed as a strong personality who overcomes all the difficulties.

Besides nature the thing imageplays an important role in the description of the interior, the surrounding objects and personal belongings. The thing image plays a subordinative role and makes the characters concrete, close to reality. It is through such images the habits and preferences of the characters are presented, for example, the pipe or the violin of Sherlock Holms in the books by A. Christie. Another block of thing image constitutes the personages' clothes and their dressing style. Usually it is given together with the description of the appearance. That is why they make up the portrait of the character.

The perception of the nature by different people has some common features. The description of the sea evokes more pleasant feelings than the description of mountains. That is why the nature image in a literary work singles out not personal but general features of the characters, their emotional states. On the contrary, things, clothes, hairdos, manners reflect individual characteristics, for example, Hercule Poirot, a detective from the books by Agatha Christie. H.Poirot is a small bald man with a large moustache and a very neat appearance.

All kinds of images in a literary work do not realize themselves in a moment. They are formed and developed gradually. These are the components that make up the imagery structure of the literary work.

The images characteristic of a certain piece of literature are evaluated by the reader as positive and negative. This distinction has strong dependence on historical and cultural development of the society. The problem may be looked upon from two points of view: the reader and the author. From the position of the reader there is always a chance to get new information on other societies, their customs and traditions. It is also a possibility to compare on the basis of a fiction work what is acceptable and non-acceptable in the reader's native country culture.

On the part of the author deep knowledge of the subject described is required. Sometimes it is, for example, a small detail that makes the reader believe the creator of the story. These may be the real names of streets, the native words for typical clothes or footwear, the manner of greeting or addressing, the way people eat and so on. Such details make literary works true to life, close to people and their everyday concerns.