Article

Name: Parallelism in Prose

Authors: Wolf Schmid

Independent Researcher, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract:

The article discusses five equivalence functions, or parallelism, in prose: 1) rhetorical function; 2) formation of archi-situations (examples from Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”); 3) formation of categorical frameworks; 4) marking changes in state (an example from Pushkin's short story “The Undertaker”); 5) formation of gestalts. Conclusion. Jakobson’s sharp and rigid distinction between poetry based on the principle of similarity and prose based on the principle of contiguity should be reviewed. Equivalences play a crucial role in both cases. However, the substances, the material in which these samples are realized and embodied are different. In prose they are more thematic, more abstract, and found in larger units.

Keywords: equivalence, parallelism, poetry and prose

Bibliography:

Eichenbaum B. M. Boldinsky tales of Pushkin. In: Eichenbaum B. M. About literature. Works of different years. Moscow, 1987, pp. 343–347. (in Russ.)

Frank J. Spatial Form in Modern Literature. In: Frank J. The Widening Gyre: Crisis and Mastery in Modern Literature. New Brunswick, 1963, pp. 3–62.

Jakobson R. Linguistics and Poetics. In: Sebeok Th. A. (ed.). Style in Language. Cambridge, MA, 1960, pp. 350–377.

Jakobson R., Pomorska K. Dialogues. Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 1983, 186 p.

Lotman Yu. M. The structure of a literary text. Moscow, Iskusstvo, 1970, 384 p. (in Russ.)

Meijer J. Situation Rhyme in a Novel of Dostoevsky. In: Dutch Contributions to the IV International Congress of Slavistics. s’Gravenhage, 1958, pp. 1–15.

Schmid V. Narratology. 2nd ed. Moscow, Languages of Slavic Culture, 2008, 302 p. (in Russ.)

Schmid W. Der ästhetische Inhalt. Zur semantischen Funktion poetischer Verfahren. Lisse, Peter de Ridder Press, 1977, 113 S.

Schmid W. Poetic or Ornamental Prose. In: The Living Handbook of Narratology. 2013. URL: http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/article/poetic-or-ornamen-tal-prose (accessed 01.06.2022).

Shklovsky V. B. The Structure of the Story and the Novel. In: Shklovsky V. B. The Unfolding of the Plot. Petrograd, 1921, pp. 3–22. (in Russ.)