Article

Name: Fiction cosmos as an object of interpretation

Authors: Leonid Yu. Fukson

Kemerovo State University, Kemerovo, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract: The degree of comprehensibility of any art creation depends on its perception as a coherent whole. It is one of the axioms of hermeneutics. Nonetheless, the internal links of a fictional text can be divided into two different types by similarity and by contrast. This fact allows for an analogy that is due to the fiction world being somewhat similar to the real world, i.e., arranged quite in line with the doctrine of the ancient Greek philosopher Empedocles. This philosopher thought the complex unity of the cosmos to be organized by two opposite powers – Love (φιλία) and Feud (νέικος). A modern physicist would call them the forces of attraction and repulsion. The analogs of “love” attraction and “hostile” repulsion are a symbolic representation and a tension of opposite values in a fiction world. When drawing the above analogy, one should take into account the fact that the art world, unlike the real one, has a purely intentional character, that is, all its objects and the connections between them are mediated by the consciousness and value-based intention of the author, the protagonist, and the reader. These opposing powers of “Love” and “Feud” may also be called the integral and differential axes of the value-semantic structure coordinates of the fiction cosmos. It is in these coordinates that the aesthetic event and the comprehensive participation of the reader take place. The paper provides a number of analyses of various works and fragments of fiction to substantiate the above-formulated thesis.

Keywords: fiction cosmos, interpretation, symbol, representation, value tension, Empedocles, love, feud

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