VERBALIZED CONCEPT OLD AGE AS A CONSTITUENT OF EKPHRASIS IN THE MODERN ESSAYS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH ABOUT THE LATE WORKS OF PABLO PICASSO: COGNITIVE AND DISCURSIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the charactristics of the verbalization of the concept OLD AGE as a constituent of ekphrasis in modern discourse about the fine arts.

The purpose of the paper is to reveal the cognitive and discursive peculiarities of the verbalization of the concept OLD AGE as a constituent of ekphrasis in the essays about the late period of Pablo Picasso’s creative activity by three different authors. The methodology of the research is rooted in the idea of the “the jigsaw paradigm pattern” (O.P. Vorobyova, E. Chrzanowska-Kluczewska) and is a synthesis of the studies of the types of ekphrasis, types of ekphrastic texts, essays about art as a genre, as well as discourse about art which are integrated within the cognitive-discursive approach.

Methods. The following methods have been used: componential, conceptual semantic and contextual interpretative analyses.

Results. The concept OLD AGE as a constituent of the descriptive, interpretative, simple and generalizing ekphrasis (following the classification of ekphrasis by E.V. Yacenko) when actualized in the essays about the late period of Picasso’s creative activity, includes the following conceptual components: “bent”, “knobby (part of the body”, “lost reproductive power”, “impotence”, “withered flesh”, “weak”, “decline”, “loss of mental ability”, “lust”, “despair”, “anger”, “being alone, “confidence”, “is deeply moving”. The concept OLD AGE develops I the essays discursive configurations (in A.N. Prixodko’s terminology) with the concepts YOUTH, PIGMENT, FLESH and DISCOVERY.

Conclusions. The characteristic cognitive and discursive feature of the concept OLD AGE as a constituent of ekphrasis in the essays about Picasso’s late work is attributing the features of the old age, which are conceptualized as components of the concept OLD AGE, either to a person in general or to an artist. It enables the development of the meanings created in the essays in different domains: in the domain of the contemplation on the old age as a stage in the human existence as well as in the domain of reflexions on the old age as a problem tackled in the fine arts and a predicament old painters find themselves in.