Izotova N. Textual Concept PATH TO FAME in English Biographical Novels of the 20th Century: Semantic, Cognitive and Narrative Perspectives

This paper focuses on semantic, cognitive and narrative peculiarities pertinent to the manifestation of the textual concept PATH TO FAME in English biographical novels viewed from their genre perspective. Structurally, PATH TO FAME is viewed as a composite cluster textual concept represented in the fictional space of biographical novels by a group of such concepts as PATH, CREATION, FAME, which actualize the concept under study through their interaction. A componential model of a textual cluster concept, that comprises notional, image- and sense-bearing components, has been elaborated. The peculiarities of narrative realization of the concept PATH TO FAME are elucidated by reconstructing narrative scenarios of the protagonists’ paths to recognition, which reflect invariant and variant schemes of the development of creative personalities’ professional career. Narrateme variance in the novels under study is revealed within chronological and narrative perspectives in the presentation of the biographical material.