Semiotic dimensions of the U.S. literary and medical discourse

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the semiotic features of American fiction devoted to medical issues. Research methods: systematization, generalization, narratological method, methods of semiotic analysis and receptive aesthetics. The object of the study is a corpus of American prose works united by medical themes (XIX-XXI centuries). Scientific novelty. The article examines the most important signs-symbols in the semiotic system of literary and medical prose discourse in the USA, reveals the author's intentions regarding the use of these signs, as well as the expected receptive potential of the reader. Conclusions. The semiotic code of fiction plays a key role in the interpretation of the images of the doctor and the patient in prose works devoted to medical issues, actualizes the reader's perception, revealing the distribution of institutional roles and the peculiarities of communication in the chronotope of the clinical environment.