ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНО-АВТОРСКИЕ СМЫСЛЫ КОНЦЕПТУАЛЬНОЙ ОППОЗИЦИИ LIFE – DEATH В РОМАНЕ ДЖЕЙМСА ДЖОЙСА «ПОРТРЕТ ХУДОЖНИКА В ЮНОСТИ»

Introduction

One of the most important events in linguistics of the XXth century is the study of concepts and conceptual meanings.  Different approaches and methods of investigation are presented in researches worldwide. However, questions have been raised about the definition of “a fiction concept”. According to O.V.Bespalova, «a fiction concept is a unit of a poet or writer’s consciousness which is represented in a work of fiction or a set of fiction works. It expresses individual and author’s understanding of objects or phenomena [2]. Similarly, L.G. Babenko [1], N.S. Bolotnova [3], I. A.Tarasova [9] consider a fiction concept as a unit of the author’s sphere of concepts, individual consciousness, verbalized in a single creative text of a writer. L.V.Miller notes that «a fiction concept is a complex mental unit, which includes not only individual consciousness but psychomental sphere of a definite ethnic community. It seems to be a unique fiction experience, fixed in cultural memory, which is able to become ferment and building material in formation of new fiction meanings» [6, P. 41-42].

We consider Miller’s definition of a fiction concept the most adequate. So far we use it throughout the research as well as the term “conceptual opposition”, incorporating the idea of solidarity and opposition of a conceptual set LIFE – DEATH. 

Previous studies of the concepts LIFE and DEATH have reported that these concepts have individual meanings in different cultures of language. Within fiction works they gain new individual and authors’ and cultural meanings. This indicates a need to further research.

According to V.V.Stepanova, a fiction text is «a created world», where «phenomena, situations, and real world objects are placed» [8, p. 220]. The author masters this world through his imagination on the part of an individual from the one hand, and a person with definite cultural consciousness from the other.

Cognitive approach allows defining a fiction text as «a complex notional sign, which is a result of an author’s attitude to real world, represented in individual picture of the world» [4, P.146].

Materials and methods

The major objective of this study was to determine individual and author’s meanings of the concepts LIFE and DEATH. For this purpose we analyzed representative units of the concepts in the novel of James Joyce “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”. Data for this study were collected using semantic and cognitive interpretation of contexts, which represented LIFE and DEATH concepts. We consider cognitive interpretation as mental generalization of the described results of lexical units. These units nominate a concept to highlight verbal cognitive characteristics which represent different meanings or semantic components of these language units. As a result a concept is modeled [7]. Also, a conceptual analysis and a statistic analysis of key lexemes were used. 

Results

A considerable amount of literature has been published on the analysis of James Joyce’s novels. Speech and language experiments, psychologism, disruption of traditional way of narration, introduction of stream of consciousness, lack of storyline attracted attention of  J.P.Requelme, Ch. Butler, J. Levine, M.Fludermik, D.Lodge and other researchers  [11], [13]. Recent evidence suggests that inner monologue, dialogue with himself as with «a stranger», «voice of an inner person», a character’s stream of consciousness are typical for James Joyce’s narration [10]. The stream of consciousness doesn’t transfer the voice of an inner person but imitates his inner life. Non-verbal images are presented in the stream of consciousness amongst the character’s inner voice.  From this point of view the stream is a phenomenon with wider characteristics then the inner monologue as it reflects the character’s life in its verbalized form [5].

Stephen Dedalus’s stream of consciousness in the novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” is metaphoric. Inner monologue helps the author constructing the main character’s consciousness and showing his growing-up step by step. For little Stephen Dedalus the real world perception comes through his perceptional channels. The first chapter is presented from the first person. Stephen is a six or seven-year old boy.  He studies the world through the sounds and smells. Also visual images and contact sensations influence upon the formation of Stephen Dedalus’s real world.

The character’s inner world presented through the development of Stephen as a person is the leading line in the novel. We consider his life standards and values, including individual perceptions of everything, through three age periods – childhood, adolescence and youth, which can update temporal meanings. This approach is also justified in terms of considering fiction concepts LIFE  – DEATH   in the novel.

The results of cognitive interpretation allow representing of life and death perception peculiarities of Stephen Dedalus and determining individual meanings of the concepts components.

Discursive component of the concept LIFE in the character’s childhood means a physiological existence of the man (his life, my life). The defining component is the local one (life at home, life at school).  We suggest representation of the concepts LIFE – DEATH corresponding to perception of the concepts WARM – COLD. Religious components of the concept appear in the adolescence period (in this life, another life).  In the youth social components of a men’s existence are represented (the social life).  Life perception corresponds to conceptual perception: life in the childhood – «peaceful valley», life in the adolescence – «road and circle», life in the youth – «voyage», «fire » (his station of life, the spark of life, the vast cycle of starry life). Life in the youth is represented by the metaphor of a living body (a new wild life was singing, the wild heart of life). According to Joyce life in the childhood and youth periods has positive impact.  The adolescence time is varied from strongly negative (his monstrous way of life) to positive appraisal (a pleasant life, a good life). Development dynamics of the concept DEATH perception is characterized by religious education of Stephen Dedalus. As such we can see it through all concept components.  In the childhood death is a routine, and funeral is its sign. Such funeral symbols as catafalque, altar, candles, etc., and appraisive connotations How sad and how beautiful! play an important role in the formation of the concept. The character feels indifferent to death in adolescence. Here there is an obvious connection of conceptual oppositions LIFE – DEATH, and DAY – NIGHT. In the youth period conceptual component of DEATH is represented by understanding that the body is mortal. Death is evanescence, nonexistence.  The opposition LIFE – DEATH correlates to the opposition BODY – SOUL.

One unanticipated finding was that the concept SIN was an interosculant component of the conceptual opposition LIFE – DEATH throughout all steps of Stephen Dedalus’s growing-up as an individual.  

The frequency of key lexemes functioning in the text prove the results of the cognitive interpretation and demonstrate the change of concept components significance in this or that period of the character’s life.

Fig. 1 Functioning of key lexemes

The following results of semantic and cognitive interpretation of the text extracts, which represent the concepts LIFE – DEATH, show the author’s meanings:

1. Religious components implementation:

• My coffin shall be black,
  Six angels at my back,
  Two to sing and two to pray
  And two to carry my soul away.
• He cared little that he was in mortal sin, that his life had grown to be a tissue of subterfuge and falsehood.

2. Elaboration of temporal components of the concepts meanings. Life is represented by the lexemes childhood, adolescence, youth, year, day, moment. Death is represented by forever.

• Every part of his day, divided by what he regarded now as the duties of his station in life, circled about its own centre of spiritual energy
• The bell! The bell! Farewell! O farewell!
• Life became a divine gift for every moment and sensation of which, were it even the sight of a single leaf hanging on the twig of a tree, his soul should praise and thank the Giver.

3. Local components of the concepts are included in the texts. Life can be at home, school, in the city, in the world.  Death is always in the grave, in the coffin, aloft. 

• The sudden flight from the comfort and revelry of Blackrock, the passage through the gloomy foggy city, the thought of the bare cheerless house in which they were now to live made his heart heavy, and again an intuition, a foreknowledge of the future came to him
• The figure of his old master, so strangely re-arisen, brought back to Stephen's mind his life at Clongowes...

4. Actualization of perceptive components (sensuous perception in childhood is opposed to the attempt to mortify senses in adolescence): To mortify his hearing… In order to mortify the sense of sight…

5. Actualization of appraisive components:

• It would be beautiful to die if God so willed. It was beautiful to live in grace a life of peace and virtue and forbearance with others.
• How simple and beautiful was life after all!
• By his monstrous way of life he seemed to have put himself beyond the limits of reality.
• It was a grave and ordered and passionless life that awaited him, a life without material cares.

6. Actualization of opposition «own» – «alien»:

To merge his life in the common tide of other lives was harder for him than any fasting or prayer and it was his constant failure to do this to his own satisfaction which caused in his soul at last a sensation of spiritual dryness together with a growth of doubts and scruples. 

Conclusion

The purpose of this research was to determine individual and author’s meanings of the concepts LIFE – DEATH in James Joyce’s novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”. The study has shown that the main linguistic methods of the author’s representation of the concepts include «mataphorization», transfer of vital and mortal semantics on the objects of inanimate nature and abstract objects, low nominative density of concepts and symbolism of colour naming.

The development of the author's meanings of the concepts comes through implementation of religious, local, perceptive, and appraisive components. The development of the conceptual opposition LIFE – DEATH is presented in terms of man’s age (childhood, adolescence, youth).