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
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