Metaphorical model of the world in a creativity of I.A. Bunin

The last decade has seen a great interest in the problems of semantics and in particular the study of metaphor:its role in the lexical-semantic system, mechanisms and regularities of occurrence of figurative meanings, the role of metaphoric units inthe reflection of reality and fragments of the world language picture. Figurative units of language united by a common cognitive processof analogy by their nature contain a metaphorical component that allows us to consider the whole system of figurative units as metaphorizationfield reflecting the principles of the world systematisation common to all native speakers of one language and identity in particular.The lexical-semantic, semasiological and linguocultural analysis of figurative nominations in the artistic discourse allows buildingmetaphorical models of individual author's picture of the world through the prism of figurative concepts verbalized by figurativeunits: metaphors, figurative comparisons, figurative idioms. After analysing figurative units, representing the concepts man,woman, love we can draw conclusions about the content and structural relationships in Bunins metaphorical model of the world:there is constancy of metaphorical transfers between different spheres of reality: life / death - journey, man - animal, love - fire (thesemetaphorical models are basic and generally accepted). In the category of individual authors models significant to the language of thewriter's personality, we classify love - sunstroke / woman - sun. Metaphors are related to the mythological beliefs (totemism, animism)and the archetypal images of water, fire, and light. All metaphorical models are associated with the axiological and ontological views ofthe individual. The presence of the opposite metaphorical nominations in the disclosure of the image (e.g., love - heaven and hell) characterizesthe dominant of the authors consciousness - ambivalence. Duality of Bunins worldview is reflected in complex syntheticimages of oxymoron type combining semantic oppositions in the internal form: top / bottom, life / death, joy / sorrow, heaven / earth,fire / water. The creative method of Bunin combines traditional imagery system with the new trends in recreating the image of the worldin language: the reification of the world, its objectification, detail, and descriptiveness. Herewith the outside plan is dominant in imaginativenominations that manifest synesthetism and sensual beginning of Bunin's worldview pervading all of its images.

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