Motif-Thematic Complex “Initiation” in the Works About the First and the Second World Wars

About the author:

Oleg E. Pokhalenkov, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, Department of the English Language and Interpreting, Smolensk State University; olegpokhalenkov@rambler.ru

Abstract:

The article considers the motif-thematic complex of “initiation” in the works of famous writers of the First World War period (German — Erich Maria Remarque, English — Richard Aldington, American — Ernest Hemingway) and Viktor Nekrasov (representative of the Russian prose of the Second World War). As the result of the comparative studies a set of motifs (death, frontline friendship etc.) that corresponds to the second stage of “initiation” of a literary character (“front every day life”) is identified; the author also presents a nuclear peripheral motif model where the movement of motifs from the nucleus to the peripheral zone demonstrates the importance of a particular event at the level of the plot of the works. The motif-thematic model is analyzed at the stage of “front weekdays” of the initiation (including the following levels of the text: composition, figurative, motif and thematic).

References:

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