Записки з романо-германської філології (Apr 2015)
Typology of compositional structure of English prose fable
Abstract
This article is devoted to the study of the composition of English prose fable. Detailed classification of compositional structure on the basic types is provided. It is realized a close examination of the composition through the examples of English prose fables; extracted several levels inherent in this type of text. The role of each level in the author-reader communication is determined. The analized texts of fables were subdivided into dialogic-epic, epic-dialogical and epic types of compositional structure. In their turn, each type of compositional structure is subdivided into two subtypes. Overall six types of compositional structure of the fable were singled out: - Dialogic-epic: 1) The first type of the compositional structure with a predominance of dialogue with the rapid exchange of remarks over the author's narrative; 2) The second type of compositional structure with a predominance of monological dialogue over the author's narrative; - Epic-dialogical 3) the third type of compositional structure characterized by a tendency to extend the author's narrative and reduce the dialogue; 4) The fourth type of compositional structure of the fable with a mini-dialogue against the background of the author's narrative; - Epic 5) the fifth type of compositional structure with the non-dialogical direct speech of fable figures against the background of the author's narrative; 6) the sixth type of compositional structure, which is based only on the author's narrative. Our objective was to distinguish types of the compositional structure of the English prose fables, and having analized the texts of the English prose fables by various authors, we found that most of them can be attributed to the fifth type of compositional structure with the non-dialogical direct speech of fable figures against the background of the author's narrative (almost half of the analyzed fables). Some of the fables belong to the second type of compositional structure, with a predominance of monological speech over the author's narrative (approximately 25%). The first type, in which the dialogue with the rapid exchange of remarks predominates over the author's narrative includes approximately 14% of the analyzed texts. And the fewest of all the texts of fables belong to the sixth type of compositional structure, consisting only of the author's narrative, they constitute approximately 6%. Among the analyzed texts of the English prose fables we found only singular cases which are characterized by the third and the fourth types of compositional structure, which belong to the epic-dialogical types. Most texts correspond to the fifth type with the non-dialogical direct speech of fable figures against the background of the author's narrative. The smallest part is made up of the third and the fourth types of compositional structure which tend to extend the author's narrative and reduce the dialogue. Each compositional and stylistic level of the fable has a certain pragmatic function in all the fables. However the specifics of the realization of this function depends on the plot, content of a concrete fable, its set of characters.
Keywords
