Ekphrasis and exposition: museum in prologue (based on novels by A.S.Byatt and other works)

"Museum exposition" as a type of "ekphrastic exposition" and its' variations in the European prose of the 19 th-20 th centuries is regarded in the article. The authors establish affinity of the terms "ekphrasis" and "exposition". Based on the works by E.T.A.Hoffmann, Henry James, Julian Barnes and A.S.Byatt the article introduces analysis of different variations of "museum exposition" in relation to the main text, by type of ekphrasis and other characteristics of poetics. The authors of the article compare "museum exposition" in different genres (novella and novel), reveal its' frame function, role in subject and composition of the literary work, in formation of the inner world of the characters etc