AESTHETIC ASPECTS OF EKPHRASIS IN GUY DE MAUPASSANT’S SHORT STORY «UN PORTRAIT» («A PORTRAIT»)

Abstract

The current article features the phenomenon of ekphrasis, i.e. a verbal representation of a work of fine arts in fiction, as presented in Guy de Maupassant’s short story "Un portrait". Aesthetic aspects of ekphrasis alongside the linguistic means of its expression are subjected to analysis. The leitmotif of the short story is the thematic motive of an enigmatic, inexplicable mystery that is unraveled at the end of the story. The firstperson narration begins with the description of a gentleman whose indescribable charm fascinates everyone he meets. Being invited to his house, the narrator notices a portrait of an extremely charming lady that happens to be the host’s mother, who died very young. That is how the mystery of the irresistible and captivating charm of the gentleman is solved. The portrait turns out to be a doppelganger of the host, and thus the archetypal ekphrastic motif of an image coming to life is realized. Both the main character of the story as a human being in the flesh and the image in the picture as a still, non-living work of art, manifest themselves as equally significant aesthetic objects, united by one common inherent quality, i.e. the magic and charm of beauty. The beauty does not ensue from the well-bred manners of the son or from a spell-binding expression of the mother’s eyes; the beauty lies in their capability of being absolutely natural, in harmony with their own selves. Aesthetic aspects of the ekphrastic description find their expression in a variety of linguistic means (epithets, metaphor, personification, simile, syntactic parallelism, etc.). Particular significance belongs to a big number of lexical units pertaining to visual perception, which is a specific feature of the archetypal scheme of ekphrasis. Equally important are the words and phrases characterizing the vitality of the image portrayed.