For citation:
Shavrygin S. M. The functions of the “basic models” in the formation of a pastoral-sentimental genre matrix in N. M. Karamzin’s prose (“Wooden Leg”, “Eugene and Julia”). Speech Genres, 2025, vol. 20, iss. 1 (45), pp. 78-86. DOI: 10.18500/2311-0740-2025-20-1-45-78-86, EDN: VFBCQH
The functions of the “basic models” in the formation of a pastoral-sentimental genre matrix in N. M. Karamzin’s prose (“Wooden Leg”, “Eugene and Julia”)
The article considers the category of “family resemblance” and the related category of “basic models” in the aspect of genre analysis using the example of two early works of N. M. Karamzin: the translation of S. Gesner’s idyll “Wooden Leg” and the first original story “Eugene and Julia”. The theory of “basic models” by J. Lakoff, created by the researcher for the needs of cognitive linguistics, with some reservations and modifications can be applied to the analysis of genre structures of both speech and literary genres. Using the method of dilution of form as a phenomenon and form as a structure, proposed by K. I. Belousov, by analogy, for analytical purposes, it is possible to divide the categories of genre-phenomenon (world-modeling function) and genre-structure (projection of genre phenomenon on the subject area of the text). As a result of the identification of genre substructures, the author highlights the nuclear and peripheral components necessary for the interpretation of the genre model. As the proposed method of analysis shows, under the influence of Gesner’s work and through translations of his idylls (“Wooden Leg”), several basic genre models are formed in Karamzin’s mind as a novice writer: nuclear – idyllic-bucolic, peripheral – anthemic, heroic, précieuse-gallant, gallantly fabulous – interconnected synergetic relationships and creating a multi-genre matrix that opens up unlimited possibilities for the selection and distribution of genre basic models in accordance with the original creative idea. The development and complication of the genre-style matrix occurs in Karamzin’s first original story “Eugene and Julia”, the core genre component of which becomes a sentimental lyrical basic model forming a cluster of two pastoral basic structures connected by a metonymic cognitive connection: life in a rural estate and georgics. In the architectonics of the story, the sentimental, patriarchal basic model is contrasted with a new basic model, masonic-psychological, arising on the basis of the moral and philosophical prose of the masons, in the translations of which Karamzin actively participated. It is on the basis of the masonic matrix that the sentimental psychologism of Karamzin’s prose is formed. This type of synergetic correlation of genre and style matrices becomes the main one for a number of Karamzin’s novels of 1790–1800.
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