Cognitive-conceptual plot matrix in artistic discourse (a case study of the short story “Oskolok l’du” by Vladimir Dahl)

This study considers the importance of cognitive methods in analyzing the plot foundations of literary texts, revealing the mechanisms of knowledge conceptualization within a plot-cognitive matrix. The analysis of the short story “Oskolok l’du” (“A fragment of ice”) written by Vladimir Dahl demonstrates that examination of plot-event concepts can improve cognitive scenario studies. It is demonstrated how Dahl uses documentary accounts (such as notes by Russian prisoners) and personal correspondence (letters to friends) as a referential basis for this work, creating numerous thematic and situational resonances. The writer constructs an original version of an “abductively reversible” story matrix of the “journey” type, in which event concepts, situational scenes, and plot motifs are uniquely organized, forming a double plot matrix comprising five distinct stages (frames). The dominant concepts within each frame dictate the implementation of the cognitive scenario of the text. Their nominative structure is linked to specific semantic fields, including both lexical meanings and linguocultural associations, which become the interpretative basis of the cognitive plot matrix. Ultimately, the plot matrix represents a synergy between the mental processing of real events and the “fairy-tale matrix” as a universal narrative structure. The conceptual sphere of a literary text becomes the basis of architectonics, and the cognitive-conceptual plot matrix is a set and sequence of nominative fields of artistic concepts.

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