Theoretical status and functioning of epithet: by V. Nabokov's story “Cloud, lake, tower”

The term “epithet” has no precise conceptual content. This property of it is stated in both poetics and linguistics. The transition from formal-semantic interpretation of the concept to functional one helps to determine the theoretical status of the epithet. The article gives an analysis of epithets functioning, made on the material of V. Nabokov's story “Cloud, lake, tower”. This story is representative, because it is distinguished by the large number of epithets, their originality, occasional compatibility and significant semantic range. In addition, the epithets in this story help to strengthen the invariant for Nabokov's creativity theme of “happiness”. The interdependent concepts of “happiness” and “destiny” appear in the text, being strongly actualized by epithets. The analysis of the story shows that the number of epithets' figurative content anticipates the further development of the action, performing a cryptographic function in relation to the plot. The observations allow us to give a functional definition of the epithet and offer the same functional basis for the typology of epithets. This is the degree of coverage of the context of action, involvement in creation of an artistic image; the degree of importance of the defined word for the picture of the author's world; the degree of originality of the epithet; the degree of originality of the combination of epithet with defined word. So there is an idea of the epithet as a field structure, its nuclear and peripheral properties. The ability to formulate an index of the significance of an epithet in a particular text or artistic system lays the theoretical foundation for the creation of relevant dictionaries of epithets of an author.