PERSONIFICATION AND THE WAYS OF ITS REPRESENTATION IN ANDREI BELY'S NOVEL “PETERSBURGˮ
Abstract
https://doi.org/10.18522/1995-0640-2025-1-72-83
The article considers the ways of linguistic representation of personification in Andrei Bely's novel “Petersburgˮ. Andrei Bely (real name Boris Bugaev) is a brilliant master-innovator, poet, novelist, critic and memoirist, whose works had a strong influence on the Russian Symbolist movement and the subsequent Modernist school. The novel recreates the atmosphere of the events of the first Russian revolution. There were strikes and spontaneous rallies in the country, peasants rebelled, and the intelligentsia spoke out against the autocratic system. However, the writer does not seek to reproduce the revolutionary situation of 1905-1906 in all historical accuracy but tries to convey a premonition of the approaching world catastrophe. The high pathos of rhythmic prose expresses the grandeur and horror of the events. The work is a complex system of interaction between various means of figurative language, semantic themes, intonations and rhythms. Personification is an important trope in terms of meaning, connecting the “Petersburg” ‘s characters and realities, contributing to the birth of vivid linguistic images, the creation of expression and a unique style of the novel. Natural objects, urban spaces, abstract notions, time periods, and sculptural images are endowed with animated characteristics. The interaction of linguistic means that create the personification effect is analyzed, the role of this trope in the implementation of the influencing function is determined. The instruments of personification in the analyzed texts are personal pronouns, lexemes with anthropomorphic semantics, and words with connotative meaning.
Key words: personification, denotation of personification, personified image, anthropomorphic semantics, emotional impact
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