Reasons for semantic extension in the meaning of artistic symbols

This article examines the process of change in the meaning of artistic symbols in the novels by J. R. Fowles, whose books are filled with deep philosophical content, which is considered to be one of the main components of any symbol. The paper analyzes excerpts from the writer’s novels A Maggot, The Magus, The Tree, The Aristos, as well as the author’s diaries. The problem of studying an artistic symbol lies in its changeability: a symbol as a unit of culture transmits its basic meanings from generation to generation, but at the same time it can acquire other new meanings during the development of society and culture. In addition, new meanings of a symbol can be found in works of different authors. The purpose of this study is to identify the reasons for the occurrence of these meanings. The main research methods included a definition analysis of the artistic symbol in special dictionaries, contextual analysis, and methods of interpretation. Basing on the literature review, the author of the article formulates the following definition: an artistic symbol is a conventional figurative-semiotic object of language and culture (unconsciously or consciously) included by the author in a figurative text in which the symbol actualizes one or some interpretations that reduce the denotative meaning of the word and expand the semantic boundaries of the lexeme. The study reveals that cultural-historical and pragmatic factors influenced the change in the meanings of different artistic symbols in the works of Fowles. It was also found that pragmatic factors brought more changes than cultural- historical factors. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that a person’s personal experience of interaction with an object-symbol can be diverse and generate new meanings. However, such meanings of a symbol may not be fixed in the language in contrast to the meanings caused by changes in society. This study is novel in that it explores the process of formation of new meanings in an artistic symbol.