Train, cohesion and Anna Karenina (notes on the question)

The article is devoted to the consideration of the word constructing poetic problem through the main metaphor in the novel “Anna Karenina” by Leo Tolstoy from the point of view of the discursive ordering of the text. The author proceeds from the thesis of “communication” (“cohesion”) as a function of the train, which determines all levels of the work, in particular, the principles of attitude to detail, plot, internal reorganization and reinterpretation of the world of the novel, as well as word. Tolstoy’s strategy of establishing a metaphorical connection and duality is studied in the article in terms of the interaction of some components of the title heroine’s image and fragments of the text of the novel, built on the characteristics of a train. In the course of the linear and cyclical analysis, it is demonstrated that in Tolstoy’s novel the “train» denotes not only the main metaphor but the metapoetic problem of text generation. In the same way, “Anna Karenina” is not just the main image and title of the novel, but by metaphorical means of the word, the image and action of the heroine (see Anna as coupling and falling out, the circle of her plot, the beginning and end point of which is marked by train, wheel, etc.) are also transformed into text generating instances. Therefore, in the analysis, not only on the individual components of the image are looked upon, but also on the poetic function of Anna Karenina, i.e. on the discursive supports in the interpretation of the novel, such as the metaphorical means of “connection”. This aspect is narrowed to the forms of bonding Anna and Vronsky, first of all to the presentation of the narrative about her train trips (way to love, home and suicide) in the novel, since the heroine of the plot here turns into the subject of the text in the world of language, transforming and rethinking the original semantic and symbolic complex of the world of events. At the same time, it is revealed that the metaphorization of both nature and things, details serves to generate a new word as a result of the poetic restructuring of the utterance (see, the phonic order that connects the presentations of the main characters). And the dual metaphor of the main image - the train, personified by Anna Karenina, fits into the plan of the discursive realization of this aspect of interpretation in Leo Tolstoy’s novel, since the vehicle represents both the negative word “Karenina” (punishment death) and the positive word “Anna” (love life).