THE ROLE OF QUASIREALIA IN THE VERBALIZATION OF THE CONCEPT OF “POWER” IN THE CONCEPTUAL SPACE OF GEORGE R. R. MARTIN’S ENGLISH FANTASY SERIES OF NOVELS “A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE”

Abstract

The article presents the results of the conceptual space of the literary work analysis conducted through the defining of its key concepts and the research of their associative-image and lexical representatives. Particular attention is paid to defining the relationship between the notions of “concept” and “realia” as linguistic and cultural categories that form a picture of the world presented in the literary work, and to substantiating the functional field and the role of quasi-realia in the creation of an autonomous, surreal fantasy world as well. Such an emphasis on the analysis of realia (quasirealia in particular) as an integral part of a literary work is stipulated by the fact that until now they have been regarded as linguistic units outside of the text and their functions have not been taken into account in the context of the literary work itself. In view of this and in view of a number of genre and compositional features of the fantasy literature, which is nowadays at the peak of its popularity, the role and place of quasi-realia in the creation of such a fantasy space that would meet all the requirements and certain canons of the genre and, in particular, the requirements of high fantasy, are determined in this work. The basis of the study presented in the article is an analysis of ways and means of realization the concept of “POWER” in the world-renowned series of fantasy novels “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R. R. Martin. The plot of the saga is centered on a struggle for power in all its manifestations. The given study identifies the essence of power as a universal attractor for most characters of the saga, analyzes semantics of the saga books titles and their semantic radius in the text, examines the explicit and hidden sources of power according to the typology presented by French and Raven, as well as the limits and means of power exercising on the basis of a number of systems of quasirealia of the saga in question.