Metaphors in Laszlo Darvasi’s Short Stories of Magic Realism

Abstract

This paper explores the specifics of Laszlo Darvasi’s poetic language aimed at creating original metaphors and similes based on universal images. The purpose of the analysis is to disclose some tropological techniques that allow us to interpret some of the mysterious and vague stories of the modern Hungarian writer who used the style of magical realism. The method of this study should be considered as a lingupoetic approach to the tropes presented primarily by A.A. Potebnya. The results confirm the literary significance of Darvasi’s poetic world: rethinking of traditional images (including wood, a tree, a stone, a mountain), as well as deployment and realization of unexpected and incompatible combinations of semantisation. The presented interpretation gives an opportunity to look deeper into the unique phenomenon in modern Hungarian literature that brings together real historical events (labor camps or revolution) and archetypal images in an unusual poetic system. The tragic causes of historical situations are not disclosed by the writer, who focuses mainly on existential threat and life drama lurking in everyday life. The metaphorical plan contributes to the creation of this meaning. The results of the study, conducted in this article, can be used not only to familiarize new trends in literature of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, but also to study tropological issues.