Philological Analysis Research Articles

Cultural Memory and the Epic in Early Chinese Literature: The Case of Qu Yuan 屈原 and the Lisao 離騷

Abstract The present essay combines the theory of Cultural Memory with ideas about textual repertoires, composite text, and distributed authorship that in recent years have been advanced in studies of early and medieval Chinese literature. In its first part, the essay introduces in detail the historical development and key features of Cultural Memory theory. In its second part, it applies this theory to the study of Qu Yuan 屈原 and the Lisao 離騷, the greatest poem of early China. Through detailed philological analysis, the Lisao is described not as a single text by a single author but as a composite, authorless artifact that participates in a larger Qu Yuan discourse distributed across multiple texts in both prose and poetry. This distributed “Qu Yuan Epic” is an anthology of distinct characteristics attributed to the quasi-mythological Qu Yuan persona—a persona that itself emerges as a composite textual configuration into which are inscribed the nostalgic ideals and shifting aspirations of Han imperial literati. This Han social imaginaire recollects the noble exemplar of the old Chu aristocracy; the dual prophecy of the fall of Chu to Qin and of Qin's subsequent collapse; the religious, historical, mythological, and literary traditions of Chu; the embodied paradigm of the ruler-minister relationship; and the gradual formation of the ideal of authorship through the transformation of poetic hero into heroic poet.

FUNCTIONING OF THE NAMES OF THE SEASONS IN THE ASPECT OF AESTHETIC CATEGORIES REFLECTION (BASED ON THE MATERIAL OF POETIC WORKS OF THE XX–XXI CENTURIES)

Purpose. The article is devoted to the study of the functioning of the names of the seasons in Russian poetry of the XX–XXI centuries. The relevance of this work is due to the insufficient elaboration of a number of issues concerning the aesthetic potential of linguistic units, including temporal lexemes denoting the seasons, as well as the need to describe them as significant elements of a literary text. The purpose of the study is to analyze the data of temporal words in the aspect of reflection of aesthetic categories.
 Materials and methods. The research material was the texts of poetic works of the XX–XXI centuries, collected and systematized on the basis of a sample from the National Corpus of the Russian language. For the purposes of the study, such basic methods as observation, classification, generalization, descriptive-analytical, component analysis method were used.
 Results. The analysis of the linguistic material showed that the names of the seasons are used to reflect only two aesthetic categories, i.e., the beautiful and the sublime. At the same time, most of the examples relate to the description of the beauty of the landscape.
 Practical implications. The conclusions obtained in the course of the study can be used in teaching university courses on lexicology, linguoculturology and philological analysis of poetic speech.

STUDY OF THE CATEGORY OF THE GENRE ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE SOLID FORM OF THE SONNET

The article is devoted to the consideration of the sonnet genre. This topic is presented in classical poetics and textbooks on philological text analysis. However, in the studies of recent years, it was not covered enough, since it was reduced to the consideration of the genre by specific authors or by comparison in the poetry of different peoples. In the course of the philological analysis of the text, the problem of the genre is reduced only to its indication. Nevertheless, in the genre structure of a work of art, formal features are inextricably linked with meaningful ones. Therefore, the relevance of this topic is due to the need to focus on their interaction. The research problem is to find effective ways to achieve this.
 The aim of the study is to systematize the requirements of the sonnet genre for content and form and conduct a comparative analysis of the canonical and non-canonical sonnets.
 The methods of the study are as follows: method of observation and descriptive, structural-semantic, which consists in describing the semantics of language units of different levels in different contexts, as well as comparative – comparing canonical and non-canonical sonnets. It is he who allows us to trace how formal and meaningful features interact in a sonnet.
 Results of the study: it was stated it is the comparative analysis that allows us to work out the skills of determining the formal and substantive features of a sonnet and, using the example of their interaction, to trace the way the elements of form can act as elements of content in the literary text.

Great “Space Weather Events” in March 1653 and September 1672 Were Not Supported With Simultaneous/Clustering Auroral Observations During the Maunder Minimum

The solar activity has been significantly weakened during the Maunder Minimum (MM: 1645–1715), whereas it has been somewhat controversial to reconstruct the actual solar-activity magnitude and the space weather activity in this interval. Here, the East Asian records provide unique references for the low-latitude aurorae in the MM, particularly with the (quasi-)simultaneous candidate auroral accounts in March 1653 and September 1672. These cases have formed unique cases for the intense space weather events and solar-terrestrial interactions in the MM. In particular, the former has been regarded as “virtually incontrovertible evidence” for an intense geomagnetic storm in the Maunder Minimum, despite significant suppression of the solar activity therein. Thus, this record has attracted scientific interpretations on the physical mechanism. However, our philological analyses have traced these source records further back to their original sources and have detected chronological problems in the Japanese source documents. For the 1653 March event, we have identified that the Japanese record retrospectively referred to a hearsay report between 31 December 1652 and 28 January 1653, instead of one on 2 March 1653. Our modification has been verified in two additional contemporary records. In addition, we have further analysed the candidate auroral report of 21 September 1672, which has been subjected to the doubts on the chronological errors. Herein, we have consulted contemporary records and reinforced the revised date of 7 September 1635. Our philological study has cast serious caveats on the reliability of the (quasi-)simultaneous East Asian records for candidate aurorae during the Maunder Minimum, emphasised the importance of philological studies on the auroral records, and highlighted that further discussions are required on the solar–terrestrial environment in the grand solar minima.

Value judgment as an object of forensic linguistic expertise

The article deals with the activity of value judgment, one of the forms of forensic linguistic expertise, which is important for solving urgent problems in the life of modern society. We all know that the protection of human rights and personality is a legal priority in modern society. Therefore, at a time when the modern media environment is the increasing spread of lawsuits for the protection of honor, dignity and business reputation, arising in connection with controversial situations in the media, the Internet and in public communication, linguistic expertise of materials is widely used. Assessing the use of words in conflict texts, the expert linguist draws conclusions by conducting a philological analysis of the text. The expert opinion is considered one of the main pieces of evidence in civil or criminal proceedings. It is known that during the linguistic expertise the most important role is played by fixing the information by means of language and speech, differentiation of value judgments, as well as subjective opinion of the author of the text. Value judgment-valuable basis for linguistic examination of events or considered situations, properties and actions of people at any level of rank with an assessment of this or that value in terms of something good or bad. Keywords: forensic linguistic expertise, value judgment, evaluation, law, conflict texts, expert linguist.

Симболична слика дивљих животиња у Молитвама на језеру Светог Николаја Велимировића

In this paper are researched zoonyms in Prayers by the Lake by St. Nicholai Velimirovich, as a very appropriate text for stylistic and philological analysis. Most of the zoonyms have symbolic meaning in different cultures, but this analysis shows that the creative act of the author can contribute to the spreading of their symbolic network in a certain context. Methodological and analytical procedures are based on the fundamental stylistic elements with including of lexicological approach relating to lexical semantic and paradigmatic lexical relation (hyponymy), as a basic principle for the systematization of excerpted zoonyms. Every zoonym has a unique description which contains: а) lexical meaning of zoonym; b) traditional symbolic meaning; c) symbolic meaning in the context of prayers verses. In the Prayers by the Lake zoonyms have multiple functions: a) as a mediator between God and man, b) as a linguistic means of expressing the experience of the lyrical subject, but also of man’s relationship to God; c) as a metaphorical image of people, their inner state, the state of the soul; d) as a picture of interpersonal relationships and situations, which are presented through animal characters; e) as a mediator in the expression of moral, spiritual instruction. In them, the zoonymic symbolic sphere goes beyond the framework of the usual pragmatics based on life experience in direct or indirect contact with the animal world and enters the sphere of the spiritual, with the emphasis on certain Christian principles. Key words: St. Nicholai Velimirovich, Prayers by the Lake, names of wild animals, Serbian language.

A candidate auroral report in the Bamboo Annals, indicating a possible extreme space weather event in the early 10th century BCE

Historical auroral reports extend our knowledge of solar eruptions and long-term solar variability in the millennial time scale beyond the chronological coverage of instrumental observations, in the decadal to centennial time scales. Such chronological extensions benefit the scientific community, increasing the number of case studies on extreme space weather events with lower frequency but higher potential impact on modern technological infrastructure. So far, the earliest known datable reports of candidate aurorae have reached back to the 7th century BCE. Beyond this time series, we have analysed a celestial report in the Chinese Bamboo Annals that has attracted little scientific interest, probably owing to the controversial interpretations for the physical identity and the chronology of the event. Our philological analysis establishes its probable auroral nature. The textual description can be compared with early modern accounts of visual auroral observations for the multi-colour aurorae. We have located the observational site around Hàojīng (N34°14′, E108°46′) and dated the event to 977 ± 1 or 957 ± 1 BCE. On this basis, we have computed the equatorward extension of the auroral visibility as ≤39.0° in magnetic latitude and reconstructed the equatorward boundary of the auroral oval as ≤45.5° in invariant latitude. Our investigations empirically associate this candidate aurora with an extreme geomagnetic storm. We have compared this space weather event with proxy-based reconstructions of long-term solar variability and characterised it as a unique space-weather reference before the Neo-Assyrian Grand Minimum (alternatively Homeric Grand Minimum) in ca. 810 – 720 BCE.

Methodology for the Application of Philological Text Analysis in Teaching the Legal Language in the Professional Training of Specialists for the Judicial System

Methodology for the Application of Philological Text Analysis in Teaching the Legal Language in the Professional Training of Specialists for the Judicial System

The concept of “Sheol” in the Hebrew Bible and in the old Greek translations

The article outlines the key features of the translation of the word שְׁאוֹל , “Sheol”, from the Hebrew Bible (Masoretic text) into the oldest Greek manuscripts. We take into account revisions of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion from the Origen’s Hexapla. Scholars (e. g. K. Burnett, V. Olivero) often pay attention on the use of Greek terminology in the literature of the Second Temple. Their studies are usually based on methods of religious studies and philosophy. In contrast, we apply textual criticism. Using the philological analysis of the Septuagint, we come to similar conclusion. The concept of Sheol in the Hebrew and Greek Bibles is generally similar. However, it contains an imprint of mythological images of two different cultures. In the Jewish sacred text, Sheol is, first of all, a pit where a person finds his death, an insatiable beast with a huge mouth. Hell of the Septuagint is not a terrible monster, it is the “house of Hades”. In the depths of this Hades appears Tartarus, which is not known in the Hebrew Bible. The idea of Tartarus probably was borrowed from Hellenistic literature. The examples presented in the article demonstrate the translation technique in the use of the Greek word ᾅδης “hell”, equivalent to the Hebrew שְׁאוֹל “Sheol”. These examples show how the theological ideas from the Septuagint influenced on the early Christian literature.

ДЖЕРЕЛА ЦИТАЦІЙ ІЗ ДАНТЕ У ШЕВЧЕНКОВИХ ЛИСТАХ

In his works, Shevchenko repeatedly mentioned the name of the Italian poet of the Renaissance Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), used reminiscences and quotes from his work, which indicates a high level of knowledge of "The Divine Comedy" author's legacy (c. 1308–1321). Until now, it was believed that all such references to the poetry by the famous Italian have long been carefully considered and thoroughly studied. However, a closer examination revealed a lack of details about the sources of Shevchenko's acquaintance with the famous poem. The traditional methods of literary source studies and methods of philological analysis applied in this study made it possible in some cases to bring to light, with a high degree of probability, the translations Shevchenko read and the publications he used, although absolute accuracy cannot be achieved here. The author of the article argues that Shevchenko knew the aphorism from the Fifth song in "The Inferno" used in a letter to Osyp Bodians'kyi dated November 15, 1852, not in Avraam Norov's translation, but in Dmitrii Min's translation published in 1843 in the journal "Moskvitianin". It is still unclear where Shevchenko found a quote from the song XVII in "The Paradiso" he used in a letter to Bronisław Zaleski (in the second half of June 1856). It was possible to discover that the poet knew this aphorism, most likely through Alexander Pushkin's novel "The Queen of Spades" (1833), first published in the popular journal "Biblioteka dlia chteniia" in 1834. As a result, the author rejected as unconvincing a hypothesis offered previously by commentators that Shevchenko knew "The Inferno" in a Russian translation by Elizaveta Kologrivova, published for two years in six installments, which the Ukrainian poet most likely did not know. In addition, her translation did not relieve artistic flawlessness (tercins in the original are reproduced in prose). Most likely, Shevchenko heard a lot about "The Divine Comedy", especially about its first part, and read some fragments available in the periodicals, in particular, as it was proved, in a translation by Dmitrii Min.

«АНГЕЛЬСКИЙ ГИМН» КАК ПРИМЕР КОПТСКОЙ ГИМНОГРАФИИ

The article is devoted to the philological analysis of poetic passage from the apocrypha «The Investiture of Archangel Michael», which wasto be read on the feast day in honour of the Archistratigus. Coptic hymnography, although derived from Greek, has become distinctive; several collections of ancient hymns are known. The peculiarity of the so-called «angelic hymn» is the fact that it is not included in any collection, but is included in a literary text. The article provides the first Russian translation of this hymn. It differs in style from the entire narrative of «The Investiture». It is sung by Michael himself with the angels. The hymn is framed by references to the righteous and consists of eight stanzas. It, like the text itself, is preserved in three versions, two in Sahidic dialect (manuscripts of the 9th century) and one in Fayymic (manuscripts of the 9th-11th centuries). Anaphora, lexical repetition and parallelism are used in hymn. The three versions identify the following themes: feast, meal and mercy. Analyzing the structure of the hymn, one can conclude that it was preserved in all three versions. However, a study of the themes and literary devices involved shows that in each version of hymn the accents are set in an original way. The inner link between the parts of the hymn can be traced. The passage itself is also logically integrated into the overall narrative. The main distinguishing feature of all the hymns is that some phrases are so brief that the listener is left with a great deal of room for interpretation and conjecture. For a more accurate understanding it is necessary either to know other versions of the hymn, or to refer to the stories in «The Investiture». The apocrypha also stresses the importance of hymn singing. It suggests that the congregation participated in the singing of the hymn during the reading of the text on the feast day.

Рецензия на книгу Э. Смит «И все это Шекспир» (Смит Э. И все это Шекспир. Самая эротичная комедия, самая драматичная трагедия, сгорающие от стыда мужчины, картонные злодеи, феминистки, звезды шоу-бизнеса и многое другое / Эмма Смит; пер. с англ. М. Сухотиной; науч. ред. Д. Иванов, В. Макаров. М.: Ма

Modern literary criticism offers the reader a whole sphere of Shakespearean studies based on the ideas of historical poetics. In accordance with the latter, we understand the images and problems of dramas, comedies and tragedies of the great English playwright in the key of romantic, symbolist, psychoanalytic, and other interpretations. Emma Smith offers a relevant reading of Shakespeare’s texts, based on theatrical productions and film adaptations of his works in the 20th and 21st centuries. The actualization of the Shakespearean heritage is being implemented in modern theater and cinema as an attempt to bring the complex and diverse content of the writer’s tragedies and comedies closer to mass culture. As a result, there appears the effect of inversion, of a break-off with the deep philosophical problems of the Shakespeare theater. The chapters of the book somehow address the problem of interpretation -contemporary with Shakespeare and with our time. The author’s arsenal includes psychology and psychoanalysis, cultural and sociological approaches, which are combined with the actual philological analysis of plays. However, the book discusses the evolution of themes and genres the least. The works chosen for the analysis are well known to readers and experts. The book includes 20 chapters, each dedicated to one play. We stress that, in the educational process, this structure is very convenient because it draws one’s attention to the work as much as possible and allows determining one’s own perception, consent or disagreement with the author of the book. This feature has been tested in practical work with students in classes on Shakespeare’s works. We analyze all the interpretations of Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies, both modern and historical, given in Smith’s book. The author of the book is interested, first of all, in topical approaches to understanding the plays of the English playwright, this is dictated by the very aim of the study - to interest the reader and show Shakespeare as our contemporary. The author of the book speaks a modern language with her reader, relying on the experience of attracting both wide readers and experts to reading Shakespeare’s works. Contribution of the authors: the authors contributed equally to this article. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

РОМАН В. ЄРМОЛЕНКА «ЛОВЕЦЬ ОКЕАНУ. ІСТОРІЯ ОДІССЕЯ» ЯК ФІЛОСОФСЬКИЙ СІКВЕЛ ГОМЕРІВСЬКОГО ЕПОСУ

The article investigates the philosophical space of V. Yermolenko’s novel “The Ocean Catcher”, created as a continuation (sequel) of the well-known ancient heroic epic “Odysseus”. The peculiarities of the transformation of mythological and figurative material in modern Ukrainian literature are examined. The purpose of the article is to clarify the originality of the content transformation of the Homeric epic, ways of deepening the ideological content of the novel, and ways of modernizing the mythological image of Odysseus. The realization of the set purpose involves addressing a number of tasks, including: 1) clarifying the functions of the mythological image of Odysseus and of the female characters in the contemporary novel; 2) outlining the philosophical issues addressed in the work; 3) identifying the peculiarities of transforming traditional artistic material in postmodern literature. The article is based on the comparative method, and the method of philological analysis of the text is also applied. The scientific novelty of the article lies in clarifying the genre of V. Yermolenko’s novel. It is widely believed among researchers and reviewers that “The Ocean Catcher” can be categorized as a travelogue, as it portrays a journey of atonement from the burnt Ithaca to the fallen Troy, paralleling the adventures of Odysseus in the Homeric epic. However, the article provides arguments in favor of defining the genre of the novel as a sequel. In conclusion, the article emphasizes that the Ukrainian writer’s novel begins almost where the Homeric epic ends, but V. Yermolenko significantly expands the semantic scope of the work. The writer also portrays a range of female characters (Penelope, Nausicaya, Calypso, Circe) with psychological authenticity. The romantic and erotic element of the novel is complemented by profound reflections on love, betrayal, happiness, forgiveness, atonement, and other moral and ethical categories. “The Ocean Catcher” is one of the few examples of a sequel genre in Ukrainian literature. The author transfers the ideological and thematic focus from the external plot to the inner world of the characters. The image of Odysseus is deheroized. Instead, the internal motivation of his behavior is deepened, and a profound reassessment of his actions takes place from a humanistic perspective.

The presence of the possible world of cinema text in the modern screenplay

The article analyzes the presence of the possible world of film text in A.P.Zvyagintsev’s and O.I.Negin’s screenplay Dislike. This text for the first time became the subject of philological analysis using comparative and contextual-functional methods. The director’s published comments allow tracing the path from the literary screenplay itself to the film text. As a result of the sampling of linguistic material, which reveals the presence of the possible world of the film text in the script, the specificity of its categories (integrity, coherence, completeness, dynamics, etc.) was revealed. The possible world of cinema text determines the a priori variability and uncertainty of the script text. The article reflects the features of the scenario functioning of lexical-grammatical and syntactic language means. The screenplay and the film text are interdependent, but not identical entities. It has been established that the development of the technical parameters of the film text has an indirect effect on the film script. One of the aims of the study is to critically analyze the notions that the screenplay does not have the merits of a literary text. In the course of analyzing the presence of a possible world of film text, the working hypothesis was confirmed that a film script is a text with a motivated violation of communicative and pragmatic norms (accuracy, relevance, expressiveness). It represents a new type of text, the anomalies of which are due to its intended purpose for semiotic translation into cinematic text, the diverse nature of its receptive program.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE UKRAINIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917–1921 AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR ON THE DRAMATURGY OF YURI YANOVSKY

The relevance of the study is determined by the lack of works that consider the impact of war and revolution on the dramaturgy of Yuri Yanovsky. The purpose of the investigation is to analyze the impact of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921 and the Second World War on the writer's plays. This goal involves the performance of such tasks as the comparison of Yanovsky's biography and dramaturgical works, analysis of draft materials for plays, and consideration of final editions of works. The tasks set require the involvement of not only methods of philological analysis, but also textual criticism and source criticism methodology. Yanovsky's dramaturgy can be divided into pre-war and post-war. In the pre-war plays, which include "The Conquerors", "Duma about Britanka" and "Descendants", there is a clear influence of the revolution of 1917–1921. " Duma about Britanka" directly shows the revolutionary events, for the depiction of which Yanovsky turned to periodicals and communicated with eyewitnesses. In the other two plays, there are frequent references to the revolutionary past from various characters. The Second World War clearly influenced the development of two post-war plays, "Son of the Dynasty" and "The Prosecutor's Daughter". Yanovsky planned the first play with civilian issues, but revised it, showing how the characters face the realities of war. The writer changed the text of "Prosecutor's Daughter" several times. In the pre-war version, some characters mentioned their revolutionary past, but in the post-war versions, this changed to mentions of wartime. In the first post-war edition, the impact of the war on the lives of the characters was more pronounced, but in the second, the writer reduced it, in particular by removing the antagonism between the former front-line soldier and the fascist regime's guide. It can also be assumed that it was his own experience related to the war that made Yanovsky sensitive to this topic and prompted him to write the play "Paradise Camp" inspired by just one newspaper note. War and revolution had a powerful influence on the writer's dramaturgy, both as realities reflected in the text and, in the case of war, as a factor that prompted Yanovsky to make the current changes to the plays.

Język i symbol. O języku inskrypcji nagrobnych na cmentarzu w Prużanie

The article is devoted to the cemetery of Pruzhany. The object of the study were inscriptions and gravestone symbols. The text is based on the analysis of materials obtained during the field study. The article uses quantitative and qualitative research methods, as well as comparative and philological analysis. A special attention was paid to the language in the context of social prestige, which made it possible to reconstruct socio-cultural processes in this territory. The studied tombstones are dated as covering two centuries: from the 19th to the 20th centuries (the limitary dates being: 1830 and 1970). The analysis revealed the languages that dominated over the grave inscriptions in the period studied: Polish and Russian. At the same time, it was noted, that after 1939 the Polish language began to lose its position. The text positively confirmed the original hypothesis of a direct relationship between the language of gravestones and religious affiliation and confirmed the assumption of the mutual influence of various funeral rites.

Body Exposure and Embalming in the Tibetan Empire and Beyond: A Study of the btol Rite

The paper puts forward a new interpretation of the problematic word btol that is sparsely attested in Old Tibetan sources. The philological analysis is supported by a lexicological survey of potential cognates; taken together these allow us to sketch the word family of btol, and thus to better understand the underlying semantics of the word. It is argued that the term denoted a rite within a funeral ceremony; to be specific, the rite of exposure of the deceased’s body before it was interred. In order to contextualise the rite and to assess its cultural significance, this paper also discusses certain funeral customs of later periods.

A Philological Study of the Reflexive-Possessive Use of Personal Pronouns in the Fourth Gospel

Abstract This study provides a philological analysis of all the occurrences of personal pronouns with reflexive-possessive meaning in the Gospel of John. Here, the author argues that the Gospel highly conforms to the rule of Classical Greek that the deictic force of the article suffices to identify the possessor when it is clear in the literary context who the possessor is. This high conformity enables the author to specify in which cases personal pronouns are strictly necessary to indicate the possessor and where they are redundant. Exegetical case studies (e.g., John 6:52) illustrate the implications of this study for the interpretation of the Gospel.

حتقيق النصوص لكتاب االعتكاف يف خمطوطة شرح منهاج الطالبن

<p>This paper is entitled: "Manuscript of I'tikaf on the Book of Syarah Minhaj Ath-Thalibin." Is a scientific work that discuss Manuscript of I'tikaf on the Book of Syarah Minhaj Ath-Thalibin ( philological analysis) with two problem analyzes : How condition of the text The Manuscript I'tikaf in the Book of Syarah Minhaj Ath- Thalibin? How critique of the text The Manuscript I'tikaf in the Book of Syarah Minhaj Ath- Thalibin? To finishing problems, researchers use scientific methods that include collection methods in the form of text criticism analysis theory and literature methods. On the stage of data collection using the library method then at the stage of data presentation using the narrative descriptive method and the critical method of the text. The text of the I'tikaf Manuscript in the Kitab Syarah Minhaj Ath-Thalibin belongs to Ashaf Zein He work as a teacher in one of the schools in Mandar inherited from his father Kiai Ahmad Bin Muh. Zein on located in Bonde village, Campalagian District, Polewali Mandar Regency. In general, the text of the manuscript is still good, but does not have some writing errors and the loss of some letters, words and sentences.</p>

Philological analysis of the text: reception of I. A. Bunin's short fiction “The Epitaph”

The object of this research is Ivan Bunin’s prose of the early period – “The Epitaph”. I. A. Bunin is a Neorealist writer of the turn of the XIX – XX centuries, publicist, a unique representative of the white émigré. The subject of this research is the reception of “The Epitaph” by modern audience based on the command of philological text analysis. Having analyzed the traditional semantic components of the literary text (that are part of the concept of “philological text analysis”), the authors offer modern approaches towards representation of the established semantic categories of the text, demonstrate their functionality on the linguistic level, analyze the methods of their lexical representation and verbalization, which determines the novelty of this article. The goal lies in philological analysis of I. A. Bunin's short fiction “The Epitaph”, taking into account the historical-cultural context of its creation, the role of extralinguistic factors in the text, and their reflection on the linguistic level, semantics of the title and keywords in the ideological-thematic content of the work and expression of the authorial position. Alongside the traditional methods of academic philology, such as historical-cultural, biographical, commentary reading, linguistic-stylistic analysis, the research employs the techniques of cognitive linguistics. This article is first to describe the experience of a commentary reading of I. A. Bunin's short fiction “The Epitaph”, which is based on cognition of the semantic components of the work through the prism of a linguostylistic approach within the framework of philological analysis. The authors reveal techniques of reading the text, placing emphasis on the lexical means of representation of the key semantic categories, which on the one hand reflect the writer’s worldview , while on the other – form his individual writing style. Such articulation of the problem determines the prospects for the study of other proses of I. A. Bunin.