Formation of cognitive spatial models in the artworks of V. I. Dahl (Scenes from Russian everyday life)

Purpose. The article examines the processes of formation of spatial representations in the writer’s mind and ways of their representation in artistic creativity using the example of the biography of V.I. Dahl and his cycle of short stories, essays and fairy tales Scenes from Russian Everyday Life. The author uses the method of “imaginative geography” which is a combination of cognitive geography, psychology, linguistics, and literary studies methods.Results. One of the most important tasks of the research is to understand the specifics of modeling space in the writer’s mind, his original ways of creating geographical images, interpreting spatial representations in the context of literary (genre, style) discourse. Due to life circumstances, Dahl often moved, changed his place of residence and service, which influenced the structure of spatial thinking and modeling of the original spatial myth. Since the writer’s figurative geographical representations directly nourished his work and became an important element of the compositional and narrative structure of texts, the cognitive geographical context is most clearly seen in collections of his stories written on the basis of direct observations and practice of life, in particular, such as Scenes from Russian Everyday Life. This is especially true for the plots and stories based on Dahl’s trips to the Ural-Caspian region, Orenburg and the trans-Ural steppes.Conclusion. As the genre-cognitive analysis of the cycle and, in particular, the story Shard of Ice shows spatial impressions were most often represented in genre form of a fable, and were interpreted by the writer in mythological, historical, socio-psychological and ethological aspects.