INTERACTION BETWEEN GERONTOLOGICAL AND LITERARY DISCOURSES (BASED ON WORKS OF ENGLISH AND GERMAN PROSE)

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Abstract

https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2026-3-114-123

The article examines the interaction between gerontological and literary discourses leading to the hybridization of the former and the expansion of the latter. The research is based on the interpretation of the works of English- and German-speaking authors, who addressed the topic of aging between the 16th and 20th centuries, such as: the play “King Lear” by W. Shakespear, the poem “Don Juan” by G. G. Byron, the novel “Indian Summer” by A. Stifter, the novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by O. Wilde, the saga “Buddenbrooks”, the novellas “Death in Venice”, “The Black Swan”, essay “Old Fontane” by T. Mann, the novel “Sartoris” and the collection of interrelated stories “Go Down, Moses” by W. Faulkner, the novel “September” by R. Pilcher. The results of the study show that the concepts of aging offered in the literary gerontological discourse can be positive, negative, neutral and ambiguous, while the axiological assessment of old age, being expressed explicitly or implicitly, directly or indirectly, factually or figuratively, is determined by the number of extralinguistic factors, namely: individual author’s perception, personal experience, historical context, national traditions, literary tendencies of a particular period, the genre peculiarities of the work, the gender of the author and/or character, the opposition to youth, which, however, is not always in favor of the latter. The gerontological tendencies in fiction necessitate the appearance of the corresponding direction in the literature studies.

Key words: discourse, thematic discourse, hybrid discourse, gerontological discourse, literary discourse, English literature, German literature

Acknowledgements: the study was funded by the Russian Science Foundation, grant No. 2528-01982, https://rscf.ru/project/25-28-01982/, at Southern Federal University.

Author Biographies

  • Natalia G. Sklyarova, Southern Federal University

    Ph.D. in Philology, associate professor, professor of the English Language Theory and Practice Department, Institute of Philology, Journalism and CrossCultural Communication

  • Igor A. Kudryashov , Southern Federal University

    Ph.D. in Philology, professor, professor of the Language Theory and the Russian Language Department, Institute of Philology, Journalism and Cross-Cultural Communication

  • Anastacia V. Lavrukhina , Southern Federal University

    Ph.D. in Philology, junior researcher of the English Language Theory and Practice Department, Institute of Philology, Journalism and Cross-Cultural Communication

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Published

2026-09-28

Issue

Vol. 30 No. 3 (2026)

Section

LINGUISTICS

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Copyright (c) 2026 Natalia G. Sklyarova, Igor A. Kudryashov, Anastacia V. Lavrukhina

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