Metaphor as a means of actualizing cognitive oppositions in story “The gentleman from San Francisco” by I. A. Bunin

The article deals with the features of using metaphors as a means of actualizing cognitive op-positions in The Gentleman from San Francisco by I. A. Bunin. The research methodology is based on the heuristics of the theory of conceptual metaphor, the theory of conceptual integration, and the theory of metaphorical modeling. The analysis revealed that metaphors are regularly used in The Gentleman from San Francisco to actualize two dominant cognitive oppositions. The first is the “BOTTOM – MIDDLE – TOP” vertical trinary opposition representing the world of suffering as hell, the soulless world of rich people as the middle world (upper decks of a steamship), and the achievements of civilization as an idol occupying the top. The second is the “LAND – WATER” horizontal binary opposition reflecting the opposition of the stable divine and the unsta-ble ungodly, represented by both the ocean chaos and the man-made steamboat. Thus, the writer re-lies on archetypal universal patterns for understanding the world, but creatively combines them into unique conceptual blends, that is, creates his own cognitive constructs, sometimes contradicting the usual picture of the world. Thus, the island of Capri, traditionally associated with a happy and care-less life, becomes a place of drama, while the traditional three-level scheme of the vertical world order is combined with a horizontal opposition, in which the gloomy ocean and the steamship are opposed to the sunny shore. The Gentleman from San Francisco is distinguished by a variety of metaphors actualizing cognitive oppositions, while the same metaphorical image can simultane-ously implement several cognitive oppositions, creating several layers of semantic depth.