The transcultural symbol of the blue flower in English discourse. The image of a blue flower as a cultural palimpsest

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze the image of the blue flower in the English-language discourse as a transcultural symbol with its own semantics in the English-speaking tradition and at the same time having a stable connection with German literature (Novalis’s novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen”). Since the image of a blue flower has a pronounced colorativ, it is impossible to deny the influence of the semantics of the lexeme “blue” on it. Consequently, an appeal to phraseological units that have such a lexeme allows revealing the peculiarities of the perception of the transcultural symbol of the blue flower in the English-speaking environment. Analysis of publicistic and literary sources created before the translation of the novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen” into English shows that the image of the blue flower had previously appeared in English literature. Thanks to the studied works, one can understand what additional connotations the image acquires, why in the English-language discourse the blue flower appears to be an otherworldly phenomenon, and its appearance symbolizes the nearness of death or a journey to distant worlds. This becomes a feature of its perception in the English-speaking environment. The works of the late 20^th – early 21^th century cited as examples let us talk about it as of a transcultural phenomenon.