Филологические
науки/ 7. Язык, речь, речевая коммуникация
Bekker
Julia
Karaganda State University
Serebryakova
Natalya
Karaganda State University
An Image of
the Beloved Lady in the Classic and Modern Literature
Nowadays there is
a phenomenon of the expansion of international cooperation. The whole activity
of the people of today is concentrated on the creating close relationships
between different nations in all spheres. That is why the Republic of
Kazakhstan has come to the ideology of multilingual and multiethnic society.
Our country has also been influenced with the global
tendencies and the Government has always tried to keep ties with the world
community. In 1989, September 22 Kazakhstan adopted the law “On Languages”.
That law proclaimed the importance of two languages – Kazakh as a national one
and Russian as the language. Since then the world has changed dramatically and
the response for these changes given by our Republic was the new law “On
Languages” of 1997. The Kazakh language got the status of the State language,
Russian became the language of interethnic communication and English was
recognized as the international language of the world communication. It is the
main evidence that is the condition on the urgency of this article.
This article compares three cultures: English,
Russian and Kazakh. However the notion of culture is too wide and huge to describe
in an article, and we had some selection before choosing the object. As modern
sciences are anthropocentric, a man has been put in the center of our survey. Linguistics
of today gives the special place to a man who is considered as speaking,
thinking, cognizing and feeling. It has been suggested to some people to help
in the survey and to fill in the questionnaire. The average age of the targeted
auditory was about 26 years. The questionnaire included questions on modern and
classic culture to find out what people know and think about them. After
working out the filled forms it can be concluded that thinking is traditional. In
the table below you can observe the most frequent answers that have been
presented in the questionnaires.
|
|
Kazakh culture |
British culture |
Russian culture |
|
Motives of
classic culture |
War, love |
Love |
Love |
|
Motives of
modern culture |
Love |
Love |
Love |
|
Spheres of classic
culture |
Literature |
Literature |
Literature |
|
Spheres of
modern culture |
Music |
Popular music |
Popular music |
|
Famous people
of classic culture |
Abay Kunanbayev |
William Shakespeare |
Alexander Pushkin |
|
Famous people
of modern culture |
Akhmet Zhubanov |
Elton John |
Igor Krutoy |
These answers demonstrate
the people’s idea on culture. Here we can apply the basic term of cognitive
linguistic – concept. Many scientists have reasoned on this theme, but they all
have stayed in the boundaries of cognitive linguistics. In our article we would
like to define concept as knowledge of a
denotate. In our survey we faced with
two conceptions – of modern culture that is presented by popular music, and of
classic culture that is presented by literature in the questionnaires. Due to
the survey the sphere for the research has been identified. The main theme in
the three cultures is love, but the multiple-aspect of the
phenomenon makes us introduce a narrow field for diachronic and synchronic
study. We have chosen the concept “image of the beloved lady”.
The theme of love
has existed in the literature forever, in spite of the fact, that the world has
been constantly changing. Every new day
people invent new gadgets, devices, cars, phones, the latest fashion in clothes
and art. May be in some time everything will be drastically different,
everything but not a man. Until the mankind is divided into men and women,
people will be united with senses, as it has always been. So, the authors will
always describe their beloved ones following their culture predecessors.
Our survey helped
us to define the brightest figures in three cultures of modern and classic
periods. They are Abay Kunanbayev (1845 – 1904), William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616), Aleksander Pushkin (1799 –
1837), and Akhmet Zhubanov (1906 – 1968), Elton John (born 1947), Igor Krutoy (born 1954). The
results of the analysis are presented in the article. The article gives only
one work of each of the authors as examples, but the conclusions are drawn
after studying the most works including even some others representatives of the
certain periods and cultures.
Starting with William Shakespeare chose his sonnet 130.
My mistress' eyes are
nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red
than her lips' red;
If snow be white; why
then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black
wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses
damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see
I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes
is there more delight
Than in the breath
that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her
speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far
more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a
goddess go –
My mistress when she
walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I
think my love as rare
As any she belied
with false compare. [1, 132]
William Shakespeare shows not an ideal image
of his beloved or the incarnation of Madonna, but the ordinary woman.
Nevertheless, his sonnets are full of emotions, beautiful metaphors and
comparisons, deep content, that gives the reader the beloved lady’s perfect
appearance.
Russian classic culture is presented by Aleksander Pushkin’s literature. His works mostly have first
person narration creating the sense of opened soul.
Я помню чудное мгновенье:
Передо мной явилась ты,
Как мимолетное виденье,
Как гений чистой красоты.
В томленьях грусти безнадежной,
В тревогах шумной суеты,
Звучал мне долго голос нежный
И снились милые черты...[2, 48]
This work like many other Pushkin’s verses gives us no single feature of
the beloved, but all used stylistic devices and expressive means show that the
author feasted his eyes on the lady. Pushkin used skillfully the game of
epithets and similes. One more example can prove this idea.
Исполнились мои желания. Творец
Тебя мне ниспослал, тебя, моя Мадонна,
Чистейшей прелести чистейший образец. [2, 93]
This extract of “Madonna” also does not have any description of the beloved’s
appearance, but the master uses poetic coloring to create the image of a
beauty.
Classical period of Kazakh culture is presented by Abay Kunanbayev. One of his most
famous works is “Kozymnyn Karasy” giving the full picture of the beloved lady
in Kazakh culture.
Көзімнің қарасы
Көңілімнің санасы
Бітпейді іштегі
Ғашықтық жарасы
Қазақтың данасы
Жасы үлкен, ағасы
«Бар» демес сендей бір
Адамның баласы
Жылайын, жырлайын
Ағызып көз майын
Айтуға келегнде
Қалқама сөз дайын
Жүректен козғайын
Әдептен озбайын
Өзі де білмей ме
Көп сөйлеп созбайын [3, 6]
Abay Kunanbayev also uses a lot of expressive means in the description of
his beloved lady. The whole verse is about her merits that are shown through colorful
epithets and metaphors.
The culture of today is presented with popular music that mirrors all
changes of people’s relationships, cultural life and creativeness. The concept
of love is a constant of the world culture but as the time passes this concept
gains new sides, that can be observed comparing the works above with the works
of modern authors.
Igor Krutoy presents his beloved in many works, but it is rather
difficult to find her description there. His senses are described mostly by the
lines about him and his condition.
Ты даже не знаешь,
Как ты прекрасна.
И даже быть рядом
С тобой опасно.
Ведь может от счастья
Поехать крыша,
Я словно ослеп,
Я других не вижу.
Одно лишь я знаю,
Одно мне ясно,
Что ты прекрасна,
Как ты прекрасна...[4]
The same is done by Elton John. His beloved is in sot as spiritual as in
classic verses. In his works we also meet more descriptions of his feelings.
For example, his song “Dark diamond”.
Oh, I'm a dark diamond
But you're something else
You read me more than I read myself
The one star I could count on
Only comet I could trust
You burnt through my life to the true meaning
of love [4]
Or another extract from the
song “The One”.
And all I ever needed was the one
Like freedom fields where wild horses
run
When stars collide like you and I
No shadows block the sun
You're all I've ever needed
Baby you're the one [4]
Kazakh modern culture keeps more the classic
traditions. The style of Akhmet Zhubanov is very like to the style of Abay Kunanbayev. Zhubanov’s song “The
Swallow” just like the examples of classic literature has a lot of expressive
means on the beloved’s features. The beloved is described with epithets and
metaphors, the author calls her swallow and all her features are compared with
swallow.
Құралай көз, қолаң шаш
Алма мойын қиғаш қас
Сүйген сәулем, қарлығаш
Ақ тамақ, қиылған қас, жазық маңдай
Әдемі, ақша бетің жауған қардай, қарлығаш!
Жайдары, еркелеген жарқын мінез
Жарқ етсең, жадыратар жанған шамдай, қарлығаш! [4]
Comparing the works of the brightest authors of two epochs we observe the
evolution of the concept of love. The beloved lady in classical culture was
presented higher and more valuable than the personal “I”, love was considered
as spiritual sense. Modern culture has shifted accents, we can observe morals
decay. In the modern culture the theme
of love gains the sides of love-passion and love-game. These tendencies are
enforced by sexual revolution. Nevertheless, platonic love still gives place
for high love, similar to Shakespeare’s relationships of Romeo and Juliette.
Russian and British modern cultures are influenced by Americanization and globalization,
it gains character of unification. Meanwhile Kazakh culture saves its
originality and identity, not changing its values and standards.
References: