Modern German Writer Research Articles

Functions and specificity of metaphorical complexes in D. Kehlmann’s novel «Tyll»

The article is devoted to the analysis of the linguistic representation and functional features of the metaphorical complexes death and movement in the German-language novel discourse. The research was based on the novel «Tyll» (2017) written by the modern German writer D. Kehlmann. The novel tells about the character of German medieval legends Till Eulenspiegel portrayed as vagabond and artist, placed in the landscape of the Thirty Years’ War. The relevance of the research is due to the lack of systematic studies of the novel metaphor and its dominant role in the process of meaning generation in literary texts at the «new turn of the century». The author used an integral approach to the problem under study. The initial theoretical premise of the study is the recognition of the serious cognitive potential of metaphor, realized in the process of artistic cognition. As a result of the research, it was found that the metaphorical complex death is embodied by D. Kehlmann in the novel by sequence of figurative rows that create a metaphorical connection between the arrival of the harbinger of death Till Eulenspiegel and the onset of War. The author suggests considering the process of formation of the metaphorical complex movement in a series of text fragments created with the participation of verbs with semantics of movement, spatial prepositions and adverbs of repetition. Attempting to characterize the rhythmic specificity of the novel text under study, the author comes to the conclusion that the main method used by D. Kehlmann is justification of rhythmic expectation. The rhythm of the text is consistent with the conceptual dance of the main character through subjectively ranged gradation rows with an ascending increment of semantic and emotionally expressive significance, which determine the author’s modality. Metaphorical complexes death and movement have prognostic and compositional functions. The results obtained confirm the metaphoricity of the novel under study and the necessity to analyze other metaphorical complexes as part of the central novel metaphor as an important category of modern German literature.

PHENOMENA OF “MEMORY” AND “LOST GENERATION” IN BERNHARD SCHLINK’S NOVEL “THE GRANDDAUGHTER”

The purpose of this article is to consider the phenomena of “memory”, “lost generation”, as well as “national identity” in the work of the modern German writer Bernhard Schlink using the example of the novel “The Granddaughter”. His novel “The Granddaughter”, like most of Schlink’s works (a trilogy about Detective Selb, “Reader”, “Return”, “Olga”, etc.) is devoted to the attitude of Germans to the hard past of their country. The article reveals a whole series of deep psychological, social, political problems touched upon by the author in the work, including special attention to the problem of the emergence of a new “lost generation”, as well as collective memory about historical events of the past and nationalist views of the present time. Particular attention in the study is paid to the existence of penal colonies for minors on the GDR’s territory, which had first been mentioned by Schlink as part of his work. The article gives an understanding of the special figurative and historical value of the novel for German literature.

Художественные средства выразительности в литературе на простом языке (на материале рассказа Ю. Герман «Ловушка»)

The study aims to describe in a comprehensive manner the linguostylistic means of literary expression in the short story “The Trap” („Falle“) by the modern German writer Judith Hermann. A special, simplified version of the German language used by the author, i.e., plain language or ‘einfache Sprache’ in German, is a distinctive feature of the work. J. Hermann’s short story was included in Germany in the first collection of original literary texts in plain language available to a wide readership and became a part of the new literary project „LiES – Literatur in Einfacher Sprache“ (“Literature in plain language”). The scientific novelty of the study lies in the uniqueness of the analysed practical material – it is the first time that an attempt has been made to identify and characterise the stylistic potential of plain language based on the material of an original (untranslated) literary work by a modern German author. The results of the study clearly show that plain literary language is not inferior to standard literary language and has an extensive arsenal of stylistic means (epithets, comparisons, metaphors, personification, antitheses and gradation, parcellation and ellipses, repetitions, rhythm) and an ample potential for building new, fictional worlds and creating non-trivial artistic imagery, in particular due to the receptive intention of the title and the open ending.

Идеалисты и реалисты современной немецкой литературы

The subject of the research in this article is a combination of two approaches to the representation of the world by modern German writers. Attention to the antithesis of the idealistic and realistic, due to the special development of German society after 1945, often makes it possible to explain both the public position of many authors and their artistic practice. The debates on the significance of the Na-zi past for German consciousness, on the value of the GDR literature and ideals questioning by East German authors after unification, on the formation of a united Europe are consistently considered. The article shows how the idealization of certain concepts inevitably leads to the mythologization of the problems under consideration, to the emergence of the opposition “we and they”. The process of idealization of the European cultural and political space is particularly noticeable in the last decade, which has a serious impact on the individual consciousness of German writers. German authors almost unconditionally accept the idea that the European political and cultural unification project is a “reasonable and logical consequence of historical experience” (Menasse). Due to the mythologization of this idea, other opinions are rejected. A united Europe of the present and future is declared ideal from all points of view, and skeptics or opponents of unification are entitled into the mythological category of enemies, dialogue with whom is difficult due to their mental and spiritual underdevelopment. Only few German writers (L. Bärfuss, I. Schulze) retain the ability to think outside the mainstream settings.

Die Kunst der Einfachheit: Standortbestimmungen in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur: Judith Hermann–Peter Stamm–Robert Seethaler by Nadine Wisotzki

Reviewed by: Die Kunst der Einfachheit: Standortbestimmungen in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur: Judith Hermann–Peter Stamm–Robert Seethaler by Nadine Wisotzki Julie Winter Nadine Wisotzki, Die Kunst der Einfachheit: Standortbestimmungen in der deutschen Gegenwartsliteratur: Judith Hermann–Peter Stamm–Robert Seethaler. Gegenwartsliteratur 10. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2021. 226 pp. "Heute ist vieles komplex, so komplex, dass wir uns zunehmend nach Einfachheit sehnen" (9). With these words, Nadine Wisotzki takes on the [End Page 97] daunting task of attempting to define the concept of "Einfachheit," especially in the context of literature, and illuminating certain trends among modern German writers. I will not translate the word Einfachheit here because it implies more than the idea of "simplicity" in literature. What is meant may be closer to "minimalism," but since the author deals with the concept in several different contexts, it is probably best to avoid using a translated term. The scale of the project quickly becomes clear in this two-part book: the first three chapters grapple with exactly what Einfachheit is—generally and in literature—and outline how researchers and critics have attempted to treat it systematically as a literary concept, while the second part focuses on its manifestation in the novels and short stories of Judith Hermann, Peter Stamm, and Robert Seethaler. From the early twentieth century on, Wisotzki maintains, there has been a strong longing for Einfachheit in Western culture. Here the word "simplicity" is appropriate, as are the terms "simple," "functional," "ease of use," and indeed "harmony." As life feels ever more complex and fast-paced, people increasingly think about how to make it simpler and how to return to a more "natural" way of living. Technology, architecture, and lifestyle choices all reflect this longing. The goal of the producers of Apple computers, for example, is to offer complex technology in sleek machines and to make the experience of using them "friendly." Striving for simplicity is not limited to technology; the Bauhaus movement is well known for its focus on simplicity and functionality in architecture, art, furniture, and many other everyday consumer products. Furthermore, books abound that attempt to teach us how to lead simpler, more pared-down lives, and the idea of reducing complexity has been present in non-Western societies as well, such as in Japanese culture, for many centuries. But how does this longing for a simpler way of living manifest itself as a literary concept? To answer this question, Wisotzki turns her attention to the history of the concept of Einfachheit. Attempts to chronicle the history of the term have been so broad and used in so many different contexts that it is difficult to convey a comprehensible history of the concept. Nevertheless, the author provides what may be seen as a type of Forschungsbericht before arriving at a working definition of Einfachheit in literature. As noted above, the term has to do with minimalism in storytelling. Minimalism is not a new phenomenon; however, it has received special emphasis starting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. American authors Edgar Allan Poe, Ernest Hemingway, and [End Page 98] Raymond Carver adhered to a kind of minimalism, a concept summed up by Hemingway in his thought that "[y]ou could omit anything if you knew that you omitted, and the omitted part would strengthen the story and make people feel something more than they understood" (69). The section on the minimalist movement in twentieth-century American writers is illuminating and builds a bridge into the second part of the book, in which Wisotzki presents and discusses characteristics of minimalism in the writings of Hermann, Stamm, and Seethaler, featured in the book's subtitle. Hermann's Aller Liebe Anfang, Stamm's Ungefähre Landschaft, and Seethaler's Ein ganzes Leben are among the eighteen texts described and analyzed in detail. In Hermann's Aller Liebe Anfang, for example, Wisotzki illustrates how the novelist relays the story "mit sprachlicher Knappheit und einer überschaubaren Figurenzahl" (101). In addition, insights from the authors themselves reveal more about the minimalist nature of their works. Hermann recounts a time when she worked at a newspaper in New York as "schnell, intensiv und zugleich kurzlebig, flüchtig" (94), adjectives that also characterize her...

ДРЕВНЕГРЕЧЕСКИЙ СЮЖЕТ И ЕГО ТВОРЧЕСКАЯ ИНТЕРПРЕТАЦИЯ (НА МАТЕРИАЛЕ ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЙ СОВРЕМЕННОГО НЕМЕЦКОГО ПИСАТЕЛЯ ШТЕФФЕНА МАРЦИНЬЯКА)

The article analyzes the transcriptions of ancient myths in the work of the modern German writer Steffen Marciniak. The reasons for his appeal to ancient Greek mythology, its plots, motives and images are clarified, the author’s intentions and ways of their artistic embodiment (interpretation) in a specific text are fixed. The analysis is carried out with the involvement of the reception history of ancient myths in the German-speaking cultural space. Within the framework of historical-literary and historical-comparative analysis, the Russian language context is involved. The transcriptions-retellings-interpretations by Marciniak of original ancient mythological storylines are analyzed both from the point of view of the problem and thematic scope, and the plot, structural and compositional particulars of the writer’s texts. The connection of Marciniak’s works with the peculiarities of his biography, personal psychological and ideological, as well as artistic and aesthetic orientations is traced. It reveals that the main theme, that excites the writer and forms the basis of his plots, becomes the core of interpretation and refers to tradition. Based on the analysis, an attempt is made to determine the specifics of the individual poetics of the writer, to fit it into the general context of German literature of the XX-XXI century.

Лабиринты памяти в романе Моники Марон «Animal triste»

The article considers the results of the memory motive study in the novel of M. Maron, a modern German writer. The syncretic nature of memory is analyzed in terms of memory and forgetting as necessary components of this phenomenon. For this study, the process of purposeful ousting certain fragments connected to the late love story with a tragic finale, from the storyteller’s past, has been analysed. The selective nature of the nameless character’s retrospective activity is based on the desire to level out her commitment to the death of her beloved who betrayed her. The author concludes that the role of the forgetting leitmotiv in the text of the novel is forming.

Peculiarities of W. Moers’s Idiostyle in «The Alchemaster’s Apprentice» («Der Schreksenmeister»)

W. Moers is a modern German writer whose main works are addressed to 
 children. Their popularity has been gained not least by means of the language game, 
 but often by the author’s idiostyle. The language game is clearly visible in the work 
 «The Alchemaster’s Apprentice» (in original: «Der Schrecksenmeister») under anal-
 ysis in all linguistic fields, i.e. lexics, grammar, word-formation, stylistics, etc. The 
 usage of the language game as a means of creating a comic effect is an asset of the author’s idiostyle. The article considers idiostyle as W. Moers’ «individuality and uniqueness» as he uses linguistic, esthetic and stylistic, and literary means, i.e. the total array of language tools for drawing the readers’ attention to them.

Особенности идиостиля К. Функе (на материале романа «Повелитель драконов»)

The article considers the features peculiar to the modern German writer Cornelia Funke’s individual style, using the material of the novel “Dragon Rider”. The study aims to identify the main features of the writer’s individual style. Scientific novelty of the work lies in taking such an approach to studying the individual style in which its main characteristic is considered to be the genre chosen by the author, while language means are considered as markers dictated by specific features of the genre and the author’s creative vision. The attained results indicate that word coinage is the main marker for C. Funke, who writes in the fantasy genre; it is represented by various word-building patterns with significant predominance of compounding. Illustrations created for some parts of the work by the writer herself were noted among graphic markers.

Epithets in Story “Der große Wildenberg” by Siegfried Lenz

The article is devoted to the study of the epithets used by the modern German writer Siegfried Lenz to build a storyline and create images of his characters in the story “Der große Wildenberg”, which reveals social problems, disappointments, worries and fears of an ordinary person waiting for a meeting with a high-ranking person. The novelty of the research is seen in the fact that the epithets that serve as a means of realizing the artistic space, determining the place in it and forming ideas about the main character — as stated in the title “the great Wildenberg” is analyzed and de-scribed with special attention in this work. It is shown how, throughout the story, with the help of characterizing words, the authority, greatness and power of Wildenberg are generated, maintained and at the end unexpectedly collapsed, which deceives the reader’s expectations. Relevance is associated with the identification of functional and structural features of the epithets available in the work. The following types of qualifying lexemes were found: pictorial and emotional epithets; epithets with direct meaning and tropical; evaluative and psychological epithets; simple and extended epithets; free and included in phraseological units epithets; common language epithets.

A Little History of Poetry by John Carey

MLR, .,   field of expertise with the third quarter of the book being devoted solely to Goethe. is is hardly inappropriate, given Goethe’s status as one of the very few writers in world literature to have an entire epoch named aer them (‘Goethezeit’). As Reed also remarks, there is less of a gap between modern German writers and the texts of antiquity and early modernity treated in the first half of his book: even Bertolt Brecht named the Bible as an inspirational text for his style (p. ). Covering Faust, the lyric poetry, and Young Werther and Wilhelm Meister respectively, Reed explores Goethe’s lifelong habit of reworking, revising, and developing some of his most famous works, paying detailed attention to the entanglements of his personal and professional writing life. e final part of Genesis considers nineteenth- and twentieth-century German literature, specifically works by Georg Büchner, omas Mann, Franz Kaa, Brecht, Paul Celan, and Christa Wolf, neatly dramatizing the struggles and successes of their (sometimes foreshortened) literary careers. As Reed admits in his Preface, Genesis ‘casts a wide net for a limited haul—the studies are small in number when set against the infinite corpus of literary works whose every genesis might be reconstructed ’ (p. xi). Nevertheless, Reed’s selection is representative of many authors, many epochs, many genres, and many locations. And, as he rightly observes, ‘even if we can only get to know a few works in genetic detail, we can see in these the embodiment of a constant principle that alters our feeling for whatever we read. Every text will come to life in a fresh way’ (p. ). Reed’s essays—for this book could easily and profitably be dipped into as an essay collection—offer refreshing, invigorating readings; they are consistently pithy, insightful, and deeply rooted in rigorous scholarship lightly worn. M  N I E A Little History of Poetry. By J C. New Haven: Yale University Press. .  pp. £. ISBN ––––. John Carey’s Little History of Poetry, which is just over  pages, is an immensely ambitious project that seeks to tell us about all significant poetry in the history of literacy. An ancient narrative, e Epic of Gilgamesh, is Carey’s starting point. It is a strange story which is possibly a kind of founding epic (but that point is not insisted on). Carey brings out its parallels with Homer’s Odyssey. is light touch contrasts with the systematic aesthetic and cultural history displayed in Stephen Greenblatt’s e Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve (London: Bodley Head, ; reviewed in MLR,  (), –), which compares Gilgamesh with the biblical creation story and links them with Milton’s Paradise Lost and with Michelangelo’s decoration of the Sistine Chapel. Gilgamesh is a text for the learned. William Empson was a fan of Gilgamesh, and Empson’s own poetry is very learned indeed. Sadly, he is not mentioned in this history. e wit and playfulness of ‘Sleeping out in a College Cloister’, the tenderness of ‘To an Old Lady’, and the intellectual density of ‘Bacchus’, ‘High  Reviews Dive’, and ‘Legal Fiction’ could well have earned him a place in this book. e strength of his poetry is not in doubt. Christopher Ricks’s big chapter on Empson in e Force of Poetry (Oxford: Clarendon Press, ), pp. –, is especially persuasive. e literary history as presented in this book is clear and direct. e ancient classical epic poets, Homer and Virgil, underpinned and defined Greek and Roman culture. In later cultures, poetry found new roles. Following the achievement of the Anglo-Saxon poets (especially the Beowulf poet), Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton each reinvented the nature of poetry. Subsequent giants in the English language, Wordsworth, Tennyson, Browning, Kipling, Yeats, Eliot, Auden, and Dylan omas, continued the process of enlarging our understanding of what poetry is and what it can do. e more recent the poet the more biographical information is available. is lends depth to the sketches of poets who were women, or working-class, or homosexual, as well as those who were addicted, disempowered, or mentally or physically ill. Coleridge, Keats, Emily Brontë, Wilde, Hopkins, Hardy, Whitman, Dickinson, Crane, Auden, Bishop...

VERBAL REPRESENTATION OF IRONY IN THE WORLDVIEW OF DIETER NUHR

The article is dedicated to the investigation of the concept of irony and its representation in the work of Dieter Nuhr «Gibt’s intelligentes Leben». The phenomenon of irony, despite its prevalence and long history, still remains poorly understood. This phenomenon appears even less explored in the work of the modern German writer Dieter Nuhr. The study of the functional capabilities of the verbal representation of irony in the work of D. Nuhr “Gibt’s intelligentes Leben” contributes to the identification of new mechanisms for the formation of ironic meaning in a literary text. The change of the scientific paradigm required more careful attention to the study of language in action, that is, the study of not only the structure of language units, but also the processes of their participation in real communication. In modern linguistics, there are several approaches to the study of the phenomenon of irony: irony as trope is a stylistic device that contradicts the literal and hidden meaning of the word and irony as a text-forming category related to the structure of the entire literary text and allowing the author to express his emotional and evaluative positions and convey your negative attitude to what is supposedly depicted in positive colors. This article shows the spectrum of devices which the author uses for achievement of comic effect. It is broad and multifaceted.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ РОМАНТИЧЕСКИХ МОТИВОВ В РОМАНЕ ПАТРИКА ЗЮСКИНДА «ПАРФЮМЕР»

The article attempts to highlight the main romantic motifs that the modern German writer Patrick Süskind used in his novel Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. Symbolic for the contemporary cultural context figurative semantic constants (genius, loneliness, rejection, godlessness, etc.) are assigned to such motifs. The ways and means of rethinking romantic motifs in a modern novel are determined, the specifics of their transformation in a postmodern text is analyzed. The similarities between the work of Süskind and popular upbringing novels in the Enlightenment are noted: the main character of the modern German writer goes through the thorny path of formation, he improves his gift, thanks to which he hopes to change the world, subjugate other people to himself. The parody evangelical allusions that contribute to the deconstruction of the romantic figure of an unrecognized genius are analyzed. The postmodernist writer debunks and ridicules the hero, turning the imaginary king into a jester. Unlike the romantic hero, whose main function was to broadcast the divine will, Jean-Baptiste Grenouille refutes the truth of the Absolute by his existence and the ingenious gift inherent in him by nature. The article concludes that Süskind refers to a stable romantic model, implemented many times in literature and art, setting his own accents in his own way, bringing the romantic structure to its limit. This model goes through the second stage in its development, according to the Hegel’s triad, namely, the negation of negation, when any phenomenon turns into its opposite. Refuting the well-known Pushkin’s claim that “genius and villainy are two incompatible things”, the writer at the same time comes to the conclusion that evil, even without meeting a worthy opponent, is destructive to himself. We see further research prospects in the study of the novel in the context of the work of Süskind and modern German-language literature from the point of view of transforming the romantic tradition in the post-modern text.

The History of Music as a Vertical Dimension and some Parallel Plots

The relevance of the article is the appropriateness to study creative ways of famous masters in order to take into consideration minor details that make up a kind of parallel plots. It helps both to uncover the many layers of the historical process, which has not only horizontal but also vertical linkages, and to appreciate the uniqueness of the ingenious creators making the comparison with their contemporaries less gifted. The purpose of the article is to analyze the concrete plot, which concerns the appearance of opera by Pierre-Louis Dietsch (1808–1865) “The Phantom Ship, or The Accursed of the Sea” produced at the Paris Opera stage. It was created on the basis of a scenario script by R. Wagner that he sold to the Directorate of French Opera under the pressure of financial difficulty in that time when he tried in vain to establish himself on the Parisian stage. After the departure of R. Wagner from Paris the work by P.-L. Dietsch was produced in November 9, 1842, and it became a double version of “Der fliegende Hollȃnder”. Being forgotten for many years, Dietsch’s opera never attracted the attention of researchers. And only thanks to the audio recording recently carried out by a famous French conductor Marc Minkowsky this work became available for study.Different variants of the legend about the ghost ship are compared in the article on the basis of comparative and biographical methods. One of the options of this famous legend is described in the novel by British writer Frederick Joseph Marryat (1792–1848) “The Fantom Ship”, published in 1839. In the article, the author briefly describes the figure of P.-L. Dietsch as a composer and conductor and traces his intersection with the biography of R. Wagner initially in 1841–1842, and then during the preparation of the scandalously well-known Parisian premiere of “Tangoiser” in 1861.It is the historical-analytical method that was used in the analysis of plot construction and musical development the opera by P.-L. Dietsch. On the basis of that analysis, an opinion is that in style and typical contents of the work by P.-L. Dietsch we can found the typical traits of the French Opera School and among other things – the outlines of the opera of salvation. The latter will also inherit the lyric opera.In conclusion, the novel of the modern German writer Hans-Ulrich Treichel “Tristan-chord” is described, where is hidden the cultural references to this story.

ПОЭТИКА "ВСТАВНЫХ КОНСТРУКЦИЙ" В РОМАНЕ Б. ШЛИНКА "ВОЗВРАЩЕНИЕ"

The novelty and relevance of the research are as it contains a poetic analysis of the novel “Homecoming” of the modern German writer B. Schlink in the perspective of the issue of “inserted constructions” as a principle for organizing an artistic text in the contemporary novel. We form the current task of researching B. Schlink’s work in the light of the problems of non-classical artistry, and also with the need to identify the characteristics of understanding in the novel of the important social and political processes of the modern era. As a result of the analysis we show a new poetic significance of “inserted constructions”, they become an essential element of the textual organization of the novel “Homecoming”. On this basis we establish that narrative and “inserted constructions” not only overlap, but also interpenetrate and interact on each other in the text of the novel, so they generate new shades and new meaning combinations – this enables to artistically express the complexity and kaleidics of the modern world. This justifies the modern German novel inclusion in the general art process of adequate poetic tools development aimed at reflecting the changed ideas about the man and the world.

Communicative Space End Intertextual Underlying Cause in B. Shlink’s Novel “The Homecoming”

In this work, the peculiarities of the communicative space in the novel of modern German writer Bernard Shlink “The Homecoming” are considered. These peculiarities include literary, historical and sociological context and intertextual sub-bases of the novel containing sense bearing matters relevant for all times and nationalities; dialogic relations, expressed in the strategy of communication of characters of the novel. It is proved that the communicative space is not limited in the novel by antiquity, but rather includes token for German mentality works, motifs and images. The famous Faust’s dilemma is being played up in the novel. Revealing in the mythological images models of main psychological types and conflicts connected with the type of the personality, B. Shlink creates in his novel a number of Odysseuses, Penelopes and Telemaches. The Odysseus model manifests itself primarily in two main characters of the novel: Peter and Johann Debauers. However, the father personifies only destructive and immoral, which finally leads to his moral inability, the Odysseus-junior Peter, who played Telemachus in the beginning of the novel, finds in his wanderings solid moral values. Perceiving the myth as a historical and dialectic process, B. Shlink, like Th. Mann, takes it as a peculiar cipher of the human experience, a model of development of the humanistic values, a prototype of mutual battle between progress and regress, which b. Shlink masterfully describes in a communicative space of his novel.

Функциональные особенности кумулятивного отрицания в художественной речи

Serebryakova S.V., Serebryakov A.A. (North-Caucasus Federal University, Stavropol, Russian Federation) The article «Functional Peculiarities of Cumulative Negation in Literary Language» deals with the pragmatic potential of the cumulative negation as the stylistically specified concentration of statements of negative semantics. The latter provides statements expressiveness and realizes implicitly and explicitly the pragmatic meaning of the negative judgment. The material for the article has been the short stories by modern German writer Judith Hermann with the emphasis on the narrative «Nichts als Gespenster» which style is mainly characterized by psycologism. The language means and techniques give the insight into character’s inner world. The cumulative negation is understood as the pragmatically relevant concentration of statements with negative semantics having varied structure and conceptual significance. The negative-evaluative modus of the main character’s worldview is realized through different language and contextual negation forms: linguistic and paralinguistic, explicit and implicit, neutral and expressive, recurrent and parallel, single and multiple. Despite the weak reference, little informativeness and static character, the negative structures serve to developing the main topic of the narrative, i.e. the inner discomfort, being unsure in her feelings reciprocality and the vagueness of the main character’s future. The retrospective vector of the cumulative negation marks fragmentary, evaluationally controversial reminiscences of the main character about her three-months visit to America, and it also provides the text coherence and text-forming function. Key words: cumulative negation, pragmatic potential, expressiveness, judgment, literary text, psychologism, negative semantics, communicative situation. DOI: 10.18522/1995-0640-2015-4-99-106

Diversification of simple attributes in German

The article deals with the peculiarities of the use of various types of attributes in the novels of modern German writers. The paper focuses on the hypothesis concerning the diversification law. The investigation was conducted on the basis of 2775 attributive combinations by the means of the quantitative analysis

Проблемы перевода на русский язык разговорной речи и диалектов в новеллах Гюнтера Грасса

The author studies translation of lexical and phonetic colloquial and dialect specific speech features in the works of modern German writer Gunter Grass. The author analyses the methods of fiction literature translation, which have been used for translation from Danzig dialect into Russian.

Struggling with the daimon:Eliza M. Butler on Germany and Germans

In 1935, the British scholar Eliza M. Butler published The Tyranny of Greece Over Germany, in which she explored the appeal of Greek art and poetry to modern German writers. She argued that Hellenism had exerted a baleful influence on German literature and culture, and that Germans were especially—even dangerously—susceptible to the power of ideas. In her view, the most dangerous Hellenic concept to German culture and society was the daimon, which had reached Germany via the work of Winckelmann. Butler's thesis and methods may be problematic, as some reviewers of Tyranny pointed out, but her work is noteworthy as the product of a scholar who had lived in Germany and was a witness to history, familiar with German language, literature, and culture, writing on Germany during difficult times. As a British scholar who began studying German just before World War I and ended her career after World War II, Butler had an ambivalent relationship with Germany and Germans. But in addition to political factors, she was also influenced by her family, her educational and research experiences in Germany, and her preference for 18th- and 19th-century over 20th-century Germans. Moreover, her perception of Germans and Germanness was consistently posed against her perception of England and Englishness, and she defined the two cultural identities in terms of their relation to each other. Writing Tyranny as the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Butler judged Germans and their relationship to the daimon harshly. In 1956, Butler reconsidered the daimonic in a study of Byron and Goethe, and in this work it received a more sympathetic and nuanced analysis. A comparison of these two works is useful for understanding the evolution of Butler's thought in the 20-year interval between their publication.