VERBAL REPRESENTATION OF THE IMAGE OF THE MOON IN THE STORIES OF IVAN BUNIN

Kobtseva A.G.
Student of the Russian Language and Russian Literature Department.

Belgorod national research university

VERBAL REPRESENTATION OF THE IMAGE OF THE MOON IN THE STORIES OF IVAN BUNIN

Summary

This article discusses the peculiarity of the moon lexeme using in the storybook «Dark Avenues» by I.A. Bunin. The purpose of this article is to establish a metaphoric connection of the moon image with the experiences of the lyrical actor, since Bunin repeatedly uses the image of a moonlight night or a starry sky to create a landscape of solitude. Some stories from storybook were analyzed. This article will be useful for schoolchildren, students and teachers in preparation for the discipline «Russian literature».

Keywords: Bunin, Dark Avenues, moon, starry sky.

Ключевые слова: Бунин, Тёмные аллеи, луна, звёздное небо.

The image of the starry sky and the moon is traditionally used by poets and writers as a symbol of mystery and arcana. It is worth noting that such an interpretation originated in the mind of a human being in the distant past, as evidenced by folklore elements. Initially, in mythology, the moon appeared as an ambivalent mystical symbol, which personified the feminine and masculine principles at the same time and was associated with life and death. New symbolic or stylistic functions of the moon lexeme was developing exactly on this linguistic and culturological background in the art of the beginning of the 19th century. The moon, for example, acts as a kind of guide to the world of love feelings, sadness and thoughts.

This symbol occupies a significant place in the works of I. A. Bunin, a bright representative of the Russian art world at the beginning of the 20th century. His «Dark Avenues» is called the «encyclopedia of love». The stories of this collection are filled with special thin lyricism, which is facilitated by the description of natural objects that become living things, actors. «How wonderfully its lustre rippled, seethed, at that mysterious hour when like some marvellous creature, the late moon looked out intently from behind the mountains and the woods!» [4, 14]. Among them an important role is played by descriptions of celestial objects: we turned to the linguistic methods of describing the moon.

The picture of the night sky in the works of I. A. Bunin attains special expressiveness by describing the heavenly bodies and stars — the favorite poetic images of the writer. So, the moon is a full-fledged actor in his works. The image of the moon is represented in the form of the noun moon and luna or by the adjective lunar. In the stories, the names of heavenly objects are used as part of syntagm metaphors: the moon was looking, the moon was floating, the moon was tearing diamond, the moon was diving. In the analysis of six works from the collection of stories «Dark Avenues», we identified one adverb lunatically and the phrase «Moonlight sonata», which stands for a musical composition. It should be noted that the mention of these words has always been associated with the somnambulistic state of the characters, with mystery and loneliness.

Mandatory attribute of the moon is that it makes objects and events mysterious. This is evidenced by such definitions as enchanted, unsteady, motionless. The moon can warm, observe, illuminate. The author uses the comparison «…and the moon is very clean half and looks like an acorn…» [5, 163], the personification and the metaphor of «the moon smoothly goes up» [6, 64], «the white moon was diving in clouds at night» [7, 97], «the moonlight flared up» [8, 163]. With the help of these means of artistic expression, the author conveys the atmosphere of mysterious sadness, sorrow and separation, then happy moments of love, dating. The most mentioned noun in the stories «The Caucasus» (1937), «Muse» (1983), «Smaragd» (1940), «Tanya» (1940), «Natalie» (1941) and «Pure Monday» (1944) is moon — it was mentioned 20 times.

The link between the moon and loneliness is determined by the time of day: at night, the burden of loneliness and doom attacks the person; at night, the actors of the Bunin cycle face their own thoughts and fears. The moon is poor, crying. It is the moonlight that illuminates the road to the sentient character, who goes into the memories. With the help of a landscape description, you can identify the psychological characteristics of the actor, draw parallels and contrasts.

In the story «Muse», the moon is the silent companion of the actor when describing various emotional states. The feeling of calm, regularity is accompanied by «the moonlight, also motionless, enchanted» [9, 31]. When a crisis moment takes place in the life of an actor, the moon becomes poor. Thus, the attributes give the noun a bright shade, forming the author’s artistic concept.

Let us turn to the story «Pure Monday», in which the lexeme the moon appears in a phrase that calls a musical composition. L. Beethoven’s «Moonlight Sonata» itself is somnambulistic, as the author writes, enchanting, mysterious and heavy. The image of the heroine and the whole work is permeated with this sad motive. When the fateful moment of the parting of the actors approaches, everything is covered with a bright moon blizzard, and the moon starts to look like «some glowing skull» [10, 251].

Throughout his work in the prose of Ivan Bunin, the image of the moon constantly arose. And the author always connected the celestial object with the state of the hero, put special connotation into it with special precision. He himself said: «I consider “Dark Avenues” to be the best thing that I wrote…» [11, 17].

As Natalia Prascheryuk notes: «Bunin was not afraid of such repetitions that passed from work to work, becoming a symbolic sign of his style…» [12, 67]. To confirm his words, the author cites an analysis of the story «The Last Date», in which he draws attention to the original element in the writer’s work: «the motive of failed love and unrealized life is held by the “moon” theme. With this theme, the overall psychological atmosphere of the story is modeled». As we can see, in the storybook «Dark Avenues» a similar psychological atmosphere was preserved. From which it can be concluded that in the landscape of loneliness, the landscape of loss, Ivan Bunin uses the image of a moonlight night or a starry sky. This is evidenced by the frequent use of nouns moon and luna, which are a connecting thread through all the works of the writer and the poet.

Refences

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