Bilynska Kh. The Artistic Universe of Edith Wharton’s Novels: Hermeneutic Aspects. – Qualification Scientific Work. Manuscript.
The thesis for obtaining a candidate degree in philological sciences (Doctor of Philosophy), specialty 035 Philology (Theory of Literature). Drohobych Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University, Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Drohobych, 2023.
The thesis focuses on the hermeneutic analysis of the artistic universe peculiarities in E. Wharton’s novels. It defines her role in the development of American and world literature at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
The object of our scientific research is the artistic universe of E. Wharton’s prose. Her most representative novels — «The House of Mirth», 1905, «The Age of Innocence», 1920, and «Twilight Sleep», 1929, — have been selected. The subject of the research implies various semantic and structural elements of the writer’s artistic world model.
The thesis consists of the introduction, three chapters, conclusions to chapters, and overall conclusions to the work.
The first chapter («Theoretical Foundations and Practice of Interpreting the Artistic World as a Component of Edith Wharton's Prose Poetics») consists of four sections. Section 1.1. «Notion, Essence, and Structure of Artistic Universe: Basic Aspects» deals with the main literary, philosophical, and hermeneutic ways to interpret fictional reality. It seems impossible to overlook a thin borderline between realistic and modernist writing in her prose.
In section 1.2. «Naturalistic Poetics of Edith Wharton’s Novels» attention is paid to naturalistic tendencies in the author’s novels. The influence of positivist and evolutionist ideas upon E. Wharton’s worldview has been traced.
Section 1.3. «Time and Space Interpretation Within Edith Wharton’s Artistic World Model» includes the analysis of works dedicated to the problem of time, space, and chronotope. The influence of A. Bergson’s philosophy upon E. Wharton’s understanding of time has been proven. Mostly linear time in her novels is supplemented with some aspects of duration. An exceptionally closed space turns into a more open one with every following novel.
Section 1.4. «Anthropological Interpretation of Edith Wharton’s Novels (Memory, Trauma, Everyday Life, Corporeality)» deals with the issue of the human experience formation process in the author’s novels considering the anthropological issues of cultural memory, trauma, everyday life, and corporeality.
The second chapter («Eidological Aspects of Interpreting Edith Wharton’s Prose World») has four sections. In section 2.1. «Social Dominants of „The House of Mirth”», realistic and naturalistic characteristics have been proven to prevail in the structure of the artistic world of the novel. They are supplemented with a few modernist tendencies. The chronotope is characterized as a chronological and everyday one. The phenomenon of space polyphony underlies the architectonics of «The House of Mirth».
In section 2.2. «Psychological Interpretation of the Artistic World in „The Age of Innocence”», the psychological chronotope peculiarities in this novel have been studied. E. Wharton’s space model in this novel has been described: the writer opposes progressive liberal Europe and the conservative USA. Realistic and naturalistic dominants have been proven to dominate in the creation of the artistic universe in this novel. They are supplemented with a few modernist tendencies.
In section 2.3. «Modernist Modi in „Twilight Sleep”», it has been stated that modernist tendencies are the most vivid in this very novel. «Twilight Sleep» is distinctive of the space polyphony phenomenon. E. Wharton demonstrates the difference between the «realistic» consciousness of New York aristocrats and the «modernist» consciousness of bohemians. The correlation between realistic-naturalistic and modernist tendencies within the novel causes the co-functioning of two types of chronotopes – chronological and urban.
In the third chapter – «Comparative and Typological Features of Interpreting Edith Wharton’s Literary Universe» – the writer’s works have been considered in the context of American literature at the end of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries. In section 3.1. «Characteristic Features of Edith Wharton’s and Henry James’s Artistic Method», it has been proven that E. Wharton is an independent writer and not merely James’s heiress.
In section 3.2 «Naturalistic Poetics Peculiarities in Edith Wharton’s and Theodore Dreiser’s Works», it has been studied that the difference between their naturalistic methods lies in the degree of their application rather than in their kind.
In Conclusions, the obtained results of our thesis have been systematized.
Keywords: hermeneutics, genre, intertextuality, individualism, intercultural, interpretation, literature, motif, national identity, prose, psychology, novel, environment, chronotope.
