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Abstract: The paper examines Leonid Leonov’s novel “The Russian Forest” (1950–1953). The aim of the study is to explore the specific features of the author’s metaphors that form the basis of the novel poetics. The author’s task is to present the key image of the novel as a constructive text element in the light of the aesthetic parameters and stylistic principles of the writer. The article presents a scholarly research of the problem under consideration. The author examines the spiritual and symbolic orientation of associations, which determines the originality and structure of Leonov’s metaphorical phraseologisms. The author’s metaphors, being the most important elements of the writer-philosopher’s individual style, make up the semantic axis of the symbolic-realistic, nationally colored worldview. The author suggests an interpretation of the artistic space of the “The Russian Forest” from the perspective of the modern concept of metaphor and the idea of the fractal dimension of the narrative, which connects the principles of religious culture and the philosophy of literature. Fractal theory is used as a potential model of studying the system of novel tropes. Metaphors and metaphorical similes dominate the range of novel expressive means. Metaphor is an intensive component of Leonov’s symbolically-realistic language. Two worlds are brought together with the help of the author’s metaphors in “The Russian Forest”: man and nature. The metaphors-personifications, the title metaphor, the metaphorical dialogic utterances, and the fragments of the text created on this basis (narration about events, memories of the childhood of the main character, dialogues and monologues, insert episodes) considered in the article organize the ideological and artistic framework of the work. The article provides examples of important compositional parts of the novel: an introductory lecture by Ivan Vikhrov and a fragment of Gratsiansky’s secret notes. Attention is paid to the technique of graphical highlighting of words essential for the expression of the author’s meanings. The results of the analysis can be used in the practice of teaching Russian literature of the 20th century, lectures and seminars in the theory and history of literature in universities, in the reading for school essays. The article is aimed to develop interest in the creative work of one of the brightest representatives of philosophical prose in the literary process of the second half of the last century. The interpretation of “The Russian Forest” as a philosophical novel with a rich metaphorical potential outlines a promising line of study of Leonov’s creative activity.

About the author(s) :

Alexander A. Dyrdin

Ulyanovsk State Technical University (Ulyanovsk, Russia)

ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2920-3752

 

A c k n o w l e d g m e n t s : The research was carried out with financial support of the Russian Science Foundation (project No. 23-28-00905 “Aesthetic meanings and fractal poetics of modern Russian literature: A. P. Platonov, L. M. Leonov, A. V. Ivanov”).

Publication Timeline:

Date of receipt: 29.09.2023; date of publication: 31.10.2023

References:

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