Animalistic imagery in Ivan Turgenev’s novella “The Dog” and J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s short story “The White Cat of Drumgunniol”

About the authors:

Alla V. Kononova, Cand. Sci. (Philol.), Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and Literary Studies, University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; a.v.kononova@utmn.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7690-2607
Maria V. Romanenko, Master's Degree Graduate in Philology (Global Russian Studies), University of Tyumen, Tyumen, Russia; mar.r0manenko@yandex.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0003-8466-4495

Abstract:

The article examines animalistic images in Ivan Turgenev’s novella “The Dog” (1864) and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s short story “The White Cat of Drumgunniol” (1870). The relevance of the research is determined by its focus on the problems of comparative literature. The article explores the links between Turgenev’s “mysterious novellas” and Irish Gothic literature, expanding the cultural and historical context of the Russian author’s works. The texts for analysis have been chosen through the comparative-typological approach. The study of the animalistic images shows that the animals in Turgenev’s novella and Le Fanu’s short story are supernatural elements that deepen and form the gothic space of the texts, as they destabilize the reality of other characters, affect their psychoemotional state, refer to mythological and religious concepts, and foreshadow the approaching threat.

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