A System of Similes and Metaphors in O. Slavnikova’s Novel “2017”

The article examines metaphors and similes in O. Slavnikova’s novel “2017,” which was awarded the Russian Booker Prize in 2006. In the novel, comparative tropes form a system within which the most frequent classes of comparative imagery can be identifi ed which, as it happens, play a key role in the novel’s world picture: designations of artifacts, mainly household items and food, names of inanimate replicas of people — doll, mannequin, puppet. Designations of animals also stand out, among which the most common are the ones referring to dead animals, as well as words of the semantic class “Insects”. A special place in the novel is taken by images associated with death: mummy, dead person, corpse, death, etc. All these fi gurative denominations are characteristic of Slavnikova’s prose as a whole and most often have negative connotations, reflecting the tendency towards the predominance of the inanimate over the living. There are also a number of less frequent classes of comparative imagery that nevertheless play a dominant role in the novel. These are certain types of personifi cation, primarily the personifi cation of stones and fate, as well as i mages of mythical creatures from Ural folklore, which create a kind of oscillation between the real and unreal planes. They are related to the Ural theme and are a feature of the novel in question.