Comparison as a meaning-modelling structure in the G. D. Grebenshchikovʼs stories: experience of functional-stylistic interpretation

The paper presents the functional-stylistic interpretation of comparison as a tool for modelling the semantic organization of the text, the actualization of the author’s plan and interpretation related to the plan of more important fragments of the artistic text in the stories by G. Grebenshchikov. In «From childhood years», the comparison performs the following functions: 1) «detailing a specific fragment of the denotative basis of a text» to actualize the detailed fragment of reality perceived by a child; 2) «visualizing the individual fragments of the denotative basis of the text». The detailing function of comparison is related to the modelling of the mental world of a nineyear-old village boy; the visualizing function of a similie is realized in the story in fragments of the text fixing the pictures of the frosty day and snowstorm. The images used for visualization are simple and reflect the system of mental images of the child. In «The grey gelding», the author uses the comparison for «visualizing» the individual fragments of the denotative text basis as well as for detailing the description of the main fragments of the semantic structure of the text. Observation of the type and functions of the comparison in each of the four parts of the story suggests that one of the functions is detailing the specific fragment of the denotative basis of the text. Thus, due to changing the stylistic tonality of the narrative, the denotative and connotative components of the text are synthesized to show the internal and external changes that occur with the hero in different periods of his life. Together, they contribute to the compositional development of the text and the formation of its semantic completeness and integrity, making the reader’s reflection deeper. The study of the stories related to different periods of the writer’s work allowed revealing the functions of the comparisons used by the author for both detailing and visualizing some of text fragments basis as well as for actualizing the «subtextual meaning» that allows the reader to move from the descriptive surface structures of the text to a deep level of understanding the author’s idea. The analysis makes it possible to assume that the multilayerness and depth of the works of G. D. Grebenshchikov, repeatedly noted by the researchers of his work, are determined by the important function of the comparison, that of modelling the meaning of the text.

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