Methodology of imagological analysis

Abstract

Literary imagology – a discipline of comparative studies which investigates stereotypical images of “different” or “alien” nations, countries, cultures, traditions, and religions in various works of literature – has already become quite firmly established in science. However, its theoretical bases are not yet completely formed. That goes for both the conceptual apparatus and the methodology of the research. The article proposes a mechanism for analyzing the image of the “stranger”, first of all, the foreign character. The author highlights the following “elements” of such analysis: physical appearance, costume, age, characters’ “speaking” names, their speech characteristics, pre-history, social status (class, profession), substantive details, chronotope, characterizations, the level of a foreigner’s being accustomed to the Russian life, his/her national consciousness, national character, mentality, the author’s marking a character as a “typical” representative of his/her nation, using antithesis to clear the difference between the “natives” and the “aliens”, reveal of a character within the narrative, his/her place in the system of characters. Moreover, the motives in the work, the author’s axiological position (reflected in tonality and emotionality of the narration), and the very genre of the work of literature may also transmit some imagological information. So, a literary text is a multilevel object of imagological analysis where even minor at first sight elements may be of great importance for the researcher. The theoretical foundations employed are supplemented with examples of such analysis made on works of 19th century Russian literature, the “elements” of such imagological analysis are illustrated. The article contains a brief bibliography on the current state of the issue in modern science.