Landscape details in Leo Tolstoy and Thomas Mann ("Anna Karenina" and "Buddenbrooks")
Нино Квирикадзе
Abstract
The purpose of the present paper is to explore the functional aspects of landscape details in Leo Tolstoy’s "Anna Karenina" and Thomas Mann’s "Buddenbrooks" by making use of structural-semantic method. In both novels landscape details are viewed as movable/mobile elements of the dynamic struture of the work. The analysis shows that in Tolstoy’s novel dominates the landscape associated with the spiritual life of the protagonists depicting their feelings and passions. The natural world is here a kind of criterion of evaluation: the inclusion of the characters in this world or alienation from it gives the reader an opportunity to judge their moral and psychological state. The landscape details also acquire the social tone, reflecting the position of the representatives of the “ruthless” secular/high society. Landscape and landscape-architectural details in Thomas Mann’s novel are also multifunctional. They may be linked to the state of mind of characters reflecting their successes and achievements as well as business and family failures. They can also expressively recreate the experience of the protagonists and differently affect their minds; they bear the imprint of the protagonist’s individuality. As in "Anna Karenina", in "Buddenbrooks" these details should be considered in social terms: they serve here as signs of decadence/decline (Verfall) and the decay of not only the Buddenbrooks family but of the patriarchal burgers, once the leading social stratum in Germany, and in a broader sense even the European burghers in general. As in "Anna Karenina", in "Buddenbrooks" landscape details in certain cases turn into leitmotivs in the context of not one but several characters. Thus, the landscape details are very active elements of the structure of both novels.
Keywords:
Толстой Анна Каренина, Томас Манн Будденброки, пейзажные детали, душевное состояние персонажей, социальный оттенок, лейтмотивностьReferences
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