Remarks on discourse hierarchization in The Queen of Spades: Lyrical strategies in prose
Gennadij Zeldowicz
Warsaw UniversityAbstract
The paper is focused on certain fore- and backgrounding strategies adopted in The Queen of Spades by Alexander Pushkin. It is claimed that in several instances culmination points of the plotline are marked by means generally alien to artistic prose, but very typical of foregrounded fragments in lyrical poetry, and in one instance for backgrounding a device is employed that is usually exploited for this goal in lyrical texts. A suggestion is made as to what is the deeper sense of this discourse strategy. It may be explained by the fact that while special means for marking culmination points in narrative prose are optional, markers of foreground in lyrical poetry are practically necessary. The author proposes that this might be a hidden and yet unstudied aspect of the famous brevity proper to The Queen of Spades.
Keywords:
Alexander Pushkin, The Queen of Spades, foregrounding, backgrounding, lirycal poetryReferences
Asher, N. | Lascarides, A. (2003), Logics of Conversation. Cambridge. Google Scholar
Firbas, J. (1971), On the concept of communicative dynamism in the theory of functional sentence perspective, [in:] Sborník prací Filozofické fakulty brněnské university 20 (A19), 135-144. Google Scholar
Fleischman, S. (1990), Tense and Narrativity: From Medieval Performance to Modern Fiction. Austin. Google Scholar
Gofman, M. (1922), “Kleopatra” и “Yegipetskiye nochi”. Neosushchestvlennyy zamysel Pushkina, [in:] Sovremennye zapiski XIII, 169-190. [Гофман, М. (1922), «Клеопатра» и «Египетские ночи». Неосуществленный замысел Пушкина, [in:] Современные записки XIII, 169-190.] Google Scholar
Grice H. (1975), Logic and conversation, [in:] Cole P. | Morgan, J. (eds.), Syntax and Semantics. Vol. 3: Speech Acts. New York, 41-58. Google Scholar
Hopper, P. | Thompson, S. (1980), Transitivity in grammar and discourse, [in:] Language 56 (2), 251-299. Google Scholar
Lambrecht, K. (2000), When subjects behave like objects, [in:] Studies in Language 24 (3), 611-682. Google Scholar
Longacre, R. (1983), The Grammar of Discourse. New York. Google Scholar
Mil’don, V. (1992), Beskonechnost’ mgnoveniya. Moskva. [Мильдон, В. (1992), Бесконечность мгновения. Москва.]214 Google Scholar
Pushkin, A. (1995), Polnoye sobraniye sochineniy, t. 8. Moskva. [Пушкин, А. (1995), Полное собрание сочинений, т. 8. Москва.] Google Scholar
Silant’ev, I. (2009), Syuzhetologicheskiye issledovaniya. Moskva. [Силантьев, И. (2009), Сюжетологические исследования. Москва.] Google Scholar
Sil’man, T. (1977), Zametki o lirike. Leningrad. [Сильман, Т. (1977), Заметки о лирике. Ленин¬град.] Google Scholar
Vinogradov, V. (1936), Stil’ “Pikovoy damy”, [in:] Pushkin: Vremennik Pushkinskoy komissii, vyp. 2. Moskva | Leningrad, 74-147. [Виноградов, В. (1936), Стиль «Пиковой дамы», [in:] Пушкин: Временник Пушкинской комиссии, вып. 2. Москва | Ленинград, 74-147.] Google Scholar
Yokoyama, O. (2005), Kognitivnaya model’ diskursa i russkiy poryadok slov. Moskva. [Йокояма, О. (2005), Когнитивная модель дискурса и русский порядок слов. Москва.] Google Scholar
Zel’dovich, G. (2021), Diskursivnaya perspektiva v liricheskoy poezii: Opyt zhanrovoy grammatiki. Warszawa. [Зельдович, Г. (2021), Дискурсивная перспектива в лирической поэзии: Опыт жанровой грамматики. Warszawa.] Google Scholar
Warsaw University
Similar Articles
- Evgeny Bylina, Subject in a Search of Event: Serguey Zhadan’s Poetry as an Expression of New Political Thought , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 9 No. 2 (2018): East European Review
- Yury Snapkouski, Alexander Łappa (1802-1869) – Last Elected Minsk Governorate Marshal of Nobility: Part I: Genealogy and county activity (1823-1859) , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023): East European Review
- Ludmiła Mnich, The theme of a poet and poetry in the texts by Veronika Dolina , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 16 No. 1 (2025): East European Review
- Yury Snapkouski, Alexander Łappa (1802-1869) – The Last Elected Minsk Governorate Marshal of Nobility. Part II: Governorate Marshal of Nobility (1859-1863) , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 14 No. 2 (2023): East European Review
- Michaił L. Kotin, Generation change in Russian poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries: a case study in comparative textual analyses , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 11 No. 2 (2020): Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski
- Milosav Ž. Čarkić, On Serbian and Polish relations (a short chronological review until the end of the 19th century) , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 9 No. 1 (2018): East European Review
- Saule Abisheva, Madina Moldagali, Samal Serikova, The colorful world of David Samoylov’s poetry , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 14 No. 1 (2023): East European Review
- Andrzej Szmyt, Struktura szkolnictwa w imperium rosyjskim na początku XIX wieku. Zarys problemu , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 12 No. 1 (2021): East European Review
- Oxana Khaliman, The development of Alexander Bondarko’s ideas in the aspect of grammar of estimation theory , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 8 No. 2 (2017): East European Review
- Andrey N. Bezrukov, Intertextuality reception in postmodernist discourse , Przegląd Wschodnioeuropejski: Vol. 8 No. 2 (2017): East European Review
You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.
