Chronicle Story “About Troubles and Sorrows...”: Features of the Inclusion of Direct Speech


2019. № 3, 96-104

Olga A. Tufanova, А. M. Gorky Institute of World Literature (Russian Academy of Sciences) (Russia, Moscow), tufoa@mail.ru

Abstract:

This article examines the language of smells in the art world of the novel “The Heavenly Ways” by I. S. Shmelev. The study proves that the writer’s attention to olfactory images is associated with both biographical and creative circumstances. A particular susceptibility to the phenomena of the outside world and the skill of the everyday life by Shmelev determined a special role of the olfactory language in the motion of the internal plot, the characteristics and evolution of the characters. The olfactory images of the novel make the associative and memorable aspect of the workmore evident; serve for the defi nition of semantically uncertain moods and states of the characters.  The researcher concludes that the prevalence of positively marked fragrances refl ects the author’s concept of the world and man. The writer’s faithfulness to the tradition is refl ected in the clear vertical value structure of the olfactory space: holiness — sin. The idea of good and evil in the world of smells has much in common with the juxtaposition of fragrance and stench. The connection of smell with the process of breathing plays the conceptual role in the work.  The subject of close olfactory attention in the novel “The Heavenly Ways” is a variety of fl oral and gastronomic fragrances. These aromas reveal a close connection between olfactory perception and the inner life of a man, when the olfactory code is more signifi cant than the verbal event. The olfactory eclecticism and the phenomenon of synesthesia are typical for Shmelev’s work. The language of smells allows to connect the spiritual and material
realities.