The article compares three linguistic zoomorphic pictures of the world – Chinese, Japanese and Indian. It deals with zoometaphors, which are inconsistent with the principle of ascending from the abstract to the concrete, but realize the prototypical effect, presenting some characteristics by concrete notions. These metaphors are of great importance in the process of human thinking as they perform the evaluative-expressive and aesthetic functions of language. They express some social types and standards of human...

This paper gives a critical overview of various analytical approaches dominating the field of discourse studies in the last three decades, from the perspective of their philosophical and formative bases: social constructionism and linguistics. It explores different conceptions and features of the theoretical nexus between these two bases leading to the emergence of three distinct yet apparently complementary strands of thought (i-iii). The paper starts with the account of (i) Laclau and Mouffe’s classical discourse theory...

Summary: The aim of this article is to provide the comparison between the visions of Spanish Civil War, which took place between 1936 and 1939, in the cinematography at the turn of the 20th and 21st century. In the first instance, it shows a brief historical introduction to the topic of this military conflict. Then, it critically reflects upon the attitude of the directors of the eight chosen titles (which were created between 1990 and...

Summary: The text outlines the conception of subjectivity that the philosopher Ernst Bloch (1885-1977) presented in his work published 100 years ago: Spirit of Utopia (Geist der Utopie, 1918). After a short reconstruction of the context in which this conception arose (the reception of German idealistic thought: Kant and Hegel, the discussions with the philosopher and poetess Margarete Susman and others) the paper describes its elaboration in the work of Bloch (Traces, 1930, Heritage of...

Incorporating aquatic motifs into his novel Pathologies, Zakhar Prilepin ascribes different functions to them. Firstly, in ‘Chechen story’, water takes the form of rain that constitutes an ordinary, thought irritating, atmospheric phenomenon. However, when the young protagonists fight under siege in Chechnya, water acquires a symbolic meaning, becoming a dire portent of death. In the final scenes, set in Chechnya, water changes its connotation and saves the survivor Russian soldier’s lives. Besides, water plays in...

In this article we focus on the problem of memory realised in the artistic space of E.G. Vodolazkin’s Aviator. The aim of the study is to analyse memory as a mechanism shaping the novel’s structure. In order to reach this goal, it seems important to explore the structure of the literary text, to understand the meaning of categories of memory and memories, while searching for key ideas of the text. The analysis reveals the significance...

This paper presents some of the critical stages in the evolution of the concept of wilderness in American thought and its revisions. First, it shows the transformation of the idea of wilderness in American culture from something to be feared, to something to be conquered, to something to be cherished by modern environmentalism and demonstrates how nature discourse may perpetuate dualistic relations with wilderness. Than it analyzes some criticisms and responses to the traditional idea...