ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN ENGLISH AND UKRAINIAN MILITARY FICTION

Abstract

The article aims at revealing verbal and narrative means for representing altered states of consciousness (ASCs) triggered by warfare. Such states may fall into different kinds: battle trance, concentration on a liferisking task, mass trance, ASCs as a result of long-term isolation or witnessing atrocities. The study is based on the novels by M. Ondaatje The English Patient and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Half of a Yellow Sun, both centering on war and conflict. The research material in Ukrainian was taken from the essays written by contemporary Ukrainian authors to share their experiences of the war in Ukraine. ASCs are viewed as states occurring due to an excessive/insufficient level of external or internal stimulation and are significantly different from ordinary states. Methods. A linguopsychological analysis of verbal imagery is applied to identify key psycho-semantic parameters of ASCs and cognitive grounds of their manifestation in English fiction and Ukrainian essays. The main focus of the narrative analysis is on the specificity of space and time presentation as it is one of the essential characteristics of ASCs. Another important feature of ASC manifestation in literary contexts is focalisation, which makes it possible to judge about the intensity and depth of ASCs. Results. The present work offers criteria for the identification of ASCs in literary contexts, provides the classification of ASCs caused by war and conflict, and elucidates verbal and cognitive features of their manifestation. Conclusions. The key criteria for ASC identification are as follows: space-time disorientation, prevalence of sensory images, significant changes in emotional colouring of the texts under analysis. The depiction of ASCs depends both on authors individual styles and the culture they belong to.