Features of sentimentalism in the pastoral novel of William Godwin "Imogen"

The subject of the article is the peculiarities of sentimentalism in one of W. Godwin's early novels "Imogen". The author comes to the conclusion that, relying on the traditional understanding of sentimental pastoralism (the leading role of nature in the "bucolic" or "Georgian" understanding, the use of a pastoral chronotope, idealization of the pastoral lifestyle, the depiction of platonic feelings between heroes, the presence of pastoral conflicts), W. Godwin uses these features as a background to illustrate his socio-political ideas. He widely uses the technique of contrast, building a system of conflicts on its basis, complicates the nature of the characters and the relationships between them, making them more contradictory, and experiments with style and genre canons. As a result, the originality of the author's perception of sentimentalism in the pastoral novel "Imogen" lies in the mixture of typically sentimental features and the author's specific socio-political worldview. In addition, while writing the novel, the writer's style is still in development, which also leaves an imprint on the manifestation of a sentimental basis in the work.