ВОПРОСЫ ОНОМАСТИКИ | PROBLEMS OF ONOMASTICS

Elena V. Dziuba
Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University
St. Petersburg, Russia

Svetlana A. Eremina
Ural State Pedagogical University
Ekaterinburg, Russia

Yulia V. Rogozinnikova
Northen Trans-Ural State Agricultural University
Tyumen, Russia

Precedent Names from Russian Literature in English-Language Cartoon

Voprosy onomastiki, 2023, Volume 20, Issue 1, pp. 202–222 (in Russian)
DOI: 10.15826/vopr_onom.2023.20.1.012

Received on 6 July 2022
Accepted on 11 November 2022

Abstract: The paper analyzes precedent names of Russian origin in polycode texts of pictorial caricature genre, published in American magazines and available in the licensed cartoonstock.com database. The particular focus is made on the names of Russian writers and poets (Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn), and the titles of Russian-language literary works featured in American caricature (War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, The Karamazov Brothers, Cherry Orchard, The Three Sisters and The GULAG Archipelago). Methodologically, the study is based on cognitive, linguo-semiotic, linguo-axiological, and contextual analysis. It is noted that the cartoons convey stereotypical ideas about the works of Russian writers: the intimidating large volume of Tolstoy’s works, and the conciseness of Chekhov’s are both treated ironically; stylistic features (Chekhov’s attention to detail; Dostoevsky’s psychological tension) are ridiculed. Content references are often superficial and only touch upon the most mundane, utilitarian issues, overlooking more complex social and psychological problems (generation gap, internal conflicts). In a truly caricatured light, the authors are depicted as money-makers, and their characters turn into comic figures of popular computer games. Some works of Russian writers are presented in an axiologically deflated way: Anton Chekhov’s plays were turned into sports competitions and ice shows, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s GULAG Archipelago became a musical. The authors conclude that in English-language polycode texts, Russian precedent literary onyms are predominated with ironic evaluative semantics, and the general irony is accompanied by a tendency towards a simplified, formalized perception of works of Russian literature.

Keywords: precedent phenomena; precedent anthroponym; biblionym; titles of literary works; polycode text; English-language discourse; mass communication; caricature; linguistic axiology.

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