THE MESHCHERSKY FOREST SPACE IN THE SPATIAL CONCEPTOSPHERE OF K. PAUSTOVSKY'S WORKS

Abstract

In the article on the material of K. Paustovsky's works, belonging to the Meshchersky cycle, the fragment of spatial conceptosphere of the writer's works – the space of the Meshchersky forest is reconstructed. The main results of the research are: 1) establishment of quantitative and qualitative composition of lexemes actualized in Meshchersky forest descriptions creation; 2) creation of a register of main and additional features significant in the Meshchersky forest space visualization; 3) the features of auditory, coloristic, luminous, spatial, odorative representation of the Meshchersky forest description; 4) identification of studied descriptions functionality; 5) description of the Meshchersky forest spatial model, as well as its role in creating spatial and temporal dimensions of the artwork, its chronotope. The results make a certain contribution to the description of the master’s of the art word linguistic picture of the world, to full version of Russian spatial conceptosphere creation.

Extended abstract:

In the light of the significance in contemporary linguistic research of the spatial relations theme in the article on the material of K. Paustovsky’s works, belonging to the Meshchersky cycle, one of the fragments of the individual-authors’ spatial conceptosphere of the writer’s works – the space of the Meshchersky forest – was reconstructed. The main results of the study, based on the writer’s Collected Works, are intended to fill a certain research lacuna: previously the problem of complex description of the Meshchersky forest space from the perspective of linguistics had not been undertaken.

The main results of the study are: 1) the quantitative and qualitative composition of lexemes actualised in descriptions of the Meshchersky forest was established: the dominant lexemes in the register are the forest – 378 (the number of uses) and the wood – 87; 2) a register of main characteristics significant in Meshchera forest space visualising was created, including: auditory characteristic, colouristic, light, spatial, odorative; the register was extended by a number of additional characteristics, including temperature, dryness or dampness of the forest, forest density, forest hardiness, forest species composition; 3) the author’s specific features of the Meshchersky forest representation have been identified, including: a) the prevalence of natural sound over silence; b) the dominance of green and blue in the colour range of the forest descriptions; c) the importance of the light component in the forest perception, the relevance of the trees’ reflectivity; d) the significance of the scale of the forest, its constant opposition to urban space, and identification with water space; e) the complex set of smells inherent in the forest; 4) a number of forest functions is identified, to which the writer pays special attention; among them: ecological function, agricultural, relaxation and inspiration function. A special focus is placed on the forest colour descriptions function, including: the stereotypical function, the function of the indicator of the change of seasons, the function of the indicator of the remoteness of the forest from the place of its observation, the associative-impressive function; 5) the spatial model (man – creation – history) constructed by Meshchersky forest descriptors and their roles in creating of the spatial and temporal dimension of the prose and its chronotope have been identified and described.

The obtained results bring certain contribution to the description of Paustovsky’s linguistic picture of the world, to his unique linguistic personality, to the creation as full as possible version of the description of the spatial conceptosphere of the Russian language.