Филологические науки/

Теоретические и методологические

проблемы  исследования языка.

Pushmina S.A.

Tyumen State University, Russian Federation

Plurality of Possible Worlds in “Anna Karenina”

(Language analysis of the novel)

The theory of possible worlds (henceforth PW), a modern adaptation of a Leibnizian concept, was originally developed by philosophers of the analytic school (Kripke, Lewis, Rescher, Hintikka) as a means to solve problems in formal semantics. In the 1970s a group of literary scholars familiar with structuralist methods (Eco, Pavel, Dolezel) discovered the explanatory power of the PW model for narrative and literary theory [1].

In the 1960s the plurality of possible worlds gained its peak in different forms, such as parallel worlds, which develop independently or those that have interacted segments. The theory is firmly situated within the tradition of “Text World Theory”. It is based on the same principles and takes human communicative process as its central focus.

“Text World Theory” is a discourse framework; therefore it depicts not only how the text is structured, but also how the context adjoining the text impacts its production and perception [2]. The main methodology of dealing with the text is to recognize its complexity and to formulate an appropriate analytical structure through which this complexity can be made more manageable [2]. The same holds true for the theory of plurality of possible worlds in a work of fiction. We somehow try to make a model of possible worlds that may either be parallel or have interacted segments. Hence there is an exterior world that comprises a lot of small inner worlds of the novel.

N.Cheremisina and N. Novikova introduced the notion of “plurality of possible worlds” in the Cultural Linguistics, pointing that every situation, that is depicted, is a small world [3]. Thus, we can conclude that the situation (scene) - that has its time, space, and personages – produces a world. So there are as many worlds, as many situations (scenes) are portrayed by the author of the novel.

The same idea is traced in the thesis of Daniel McIntyre, who assumes that a fictional narration has numerous deictic fields. According to the deictic shift theory, readers presuppose “the spatial, temporal and social coordinates”. Once we have taken up a position within the story world, we move among the various deictic fields of the characters in the text [4]. When we pick up a novel “we are immediately pushed into another deictic field, that of the fictional world” [4]. The deictic center is the position from which we interpret the possible world of the novel.

We’ll present the model of plurality of possible worlds taking into consideration the methodology of Daniel McIntyre, who believes, that the readers are drawn into the world of the novel by the categories of deixis, which are: place, temporal, person, social and emphatic deixes [4]. The existence of different deictic fields equals to the situations (scenes) in the theory of N. Cheremisina and N. Novikova.

“Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy is one of the greatest works of the world’s literature. The plot of the novel comprises numerous characters, but we’ll illustrate the plurality of PW of Anna, as she is undoubtedly one of the brightest personages.

As soon as we start to read the text, we are pushed into the exterior world of the novel. Leo Tolstoy portrayed the epoch, historical events of that time, drawing attention of the reader to every detail, so as to place in the possible world of the novel. The narrative embraces the place deixis that is presented with the help of the macro loci, such as: “Moscow, St.Petersburg” and the suburbs; and the micro loci, such as: “corner, window, ceiling, wall”, “house, theatre”.

The life of Anna Karenina in the novel is quite eventful, so the temporal deixis includes 1972, 1973. The amplitude of time in the novel is so wide, it involves not only periods as “years, months, and weeks,”but also“minutes and hours”. The analysis shows that there are about 1757 lexical units used by the author to present the time.

To prove the existence of plurality of PW in the novel, let’s extract 2 situations (scenes) or, as Daniel McIntyre called them, deictic fields, where Anna Karenina is the key personage.

Scene 1 In the carriage

Madame Karenina entered the carriage again to say good-by to the Countess.

"Well, Countess, you have met your son, and I my brother," she said gaily. "And all my stories are exhausted; I should have nothing more to tell you."

"Oh, no," said the Countess, taking her hand. "I could go all around the world with you and never be dull. You are one of those delightful women in whose company it's sweet either to be silent or to chat. Now please don't fret over your son; you can't expect never to be parted."

Madame Karenina stood quite still, holding herself very erect, and her eyes were smiling.

"Anna Arkadyevna," the Countess said in explanation to her son, "has a little son eight years old, I believe, and she has never been parted from him before, and she keeps fretting over leaving him."

"Yes, the Countess and I have been talking all the time, I of my son and she of hers," said Madame Karenina, and again a smile lighted up her face- a caressing smile intended for him.

"I am afraid that you must have been dreadfully bored," he said, promptly catching the ball of coquetry she had flung him. But apparently she did not care to pursue the conversation in that strain, and she turned to the old Countess.

"Thank you so much. The time has passed so quickly. Good-by, Countess."

"Good-by, my love," answered the Countess. "Let me kiss your pretty face. I speak plainly, at my age, and I tell you simply that I've lost my heart to you."

In this scene Anna Karenina is placed in the small world that has its own deictic categories. According to the theory, the readers are pushed into the world by textual cues:

1. Place deixis: “carriage” – encodes the position in space. We are clearly governed by where the speakers are situated. “Those” indicates that the women are not close to them at the moment.

2. temporal deixis: it’s difficult to define a specific time-frame in the scene, though we can assume that the temporal phrase “all the time” presupposes, that all the way to the destination Anna spent with the Countess. And the adverb “quickly” characterizes their perception of the time continuity.

3. Person deixis: first person pronoun “I”, and second person “you”, and third person “him” used by the speakers, who are Anna Karenina and the Countess, to refer to themselves and to the addressee. The third person refers to Anna’s son.

4. Social deixis: help to define how the announcer perceives herself in relation to the addressee. It’s clear from the scene, that Anna uses the deferential title ‘the Countess’ and the Countess in her turn uses the full name of Anna, saying ‘Anna Arkadyevna’, pointing that they are just acquitances.

5. Empathetic deixis: the usage of the possessive pronouns as “my brother” and “your son” uncovers how the personages express their psychological closeness.

Thus we considered the situation, traced all the deictic categories, so we may conclude, that that is a possible world with its time, space and personages.

Scene 2 At the Oblonsky’s

When Anna entered the tiny drawing room, she found Dolly sitting there with a white-headed plump little boy, already resembling his father […] Dolly was crushed by her sorrow, utterly swallowed up by it. Still she did not forget that Anna, her sister-in-law, was the wife of one of the most important personages in Peterburg, and was a Peterburg grande dame. …All these days Dolly had been alone with her children. […]

Catching the sound of skirts and of light steps at the door, she looked round, and her careworn face unconsciously expressed not gladness, but wonder. She got up and embraced her sister-in-law

"What, here already?" she said as she kissed her.

"Dolly, how glad I am to see you!"

"I am glad, too," said Dolly, faintly smiling, and trying by the expression of Anna's face to find out whether she knew. "Most likely she knows," she thought, noticing the sympathy in Anna's face. "Well, come along, I'll take you to your room," she went on, trying to defer as long as possible the time of explanation.

"Is this Grisha? Heavens, how he's grown!" said Anna; and kissing him, never taking her eyes off Dolly, she stood still and flushed. "No, please, let us stay here."

"You are radiant with health and happiness!" said Dolly, almost with envy.

"I?... Yes," said Anna. "Merciful heavens, Tania! You're the same age as my Seriozha," she added, addressing the little girl as she ran in. She took her in her arms and kissed her. "Delightful child, delightful! Show me them all" [part 1, chapter XIX] .

In this passage we are pushed into the other possible world, where we outline the same deictic categories, helping us to “enter” the possible world:

1. Place deixis: “tiny drawing room”, “room” – determine the location in space. The pronoun “this” presupposes that the personage is near Anna, he is placed into this world

2. temporal deixis: it’s also hard to delineate a specific time-frame in the scene, though we can assume that the temporal phrase “all these days” implies, that Dolly isolated herself as soon as she learned about the adultery of her husband .

3. Person deixis: first person pronoun “I”, and second person “you”, used by Anna Karenina and Dolly, to refer to themselves and to the addressee.

4. Social deixis: Both women addressed to each other by the names, calling as “Anna” and “Dolly”. That emphasizes their close relation. Dolly was Anna’s sister-in-law.

5. Empathetic deixis: the usage of the possessive pronouns as “his father” and “your room”, “her sorrow” show how they convey their emotional closeness.

Therefore we managed to outline two inner possible worlds in the novel (due to the limits of the article) with the deictic center in Anna Karenina. These worlds have one common segment, which is the personage herself, thus we may conclude, that one and the same person may be pushed into numerous worlds, that have their time-place relation and personages.

Literature:

1. Ryan, Marie-Laure Possible-Worlds Theory / M.-L. Ryan - http://lamar.colostate.edu/~pwryan/pws.htm

2. Qavins, Joanna Text World Theory, Edinburgh, University Press Ltd, 2007

3. Новикова, Н.С., Черемисина Н.В. Картина мира и многомирие в языке и поэтическом тексте [Текст]/ Н.С. Новикова, Н.В. Черемисина// Русская словесность. – 2000. - №1. – с.2-6.

4. Mc Intyre, D. Point of view in dramatic texts with special reference to Alan Bennett’s The Lady in the Van [Text]/ D. McIntyre BA MA PGCert - Lancaster, 2003 – 326 p.

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