English texts with parable elements, dating from the XIII-XIV centuries: synergetic approach

Abstract

The scientific article presents the first results of the study of the English parable in the diachronic aspect from the synergetic point of view. The research started from the Middle Ages, illustrated and analyzed the first English texts with parable elements, dating from the XIII-XIV centuries. The scientific work is based on historical events, specific writers and their individual style; the development of a parable as an independent type of text and discourse took place under the influence the mentioned above. It is determined that during this period it is difficult to distinguish the English parable in a separate genre of literature of that time, but the authentic English parable confidently functioned as metatext in the great texts of the Middle Ages. Several parable contexts were observed in one text. The article outlines the results of the study and gives examples of texts of a certain era. The general stylistic and synergetic characteristics of the investigated texts are singled out and their classification according to thematic groups is presented: condemnation of negative human traits, relations of God and mankind, interpretation of spiritual truth and moral values. From the synergetic point of view, thematic groups are thematic attractors that contribute to the development and existence with its functional meta-texts with parable elements. The study of English parable texts allowed us to identify of a number of stylistic devices and stylistic features. It is noted that stylistic attractors of the Middle Ages parables are as follows: prose and poetic form, rhetorical and logical-expressive style. The results of scientific work determine the broad perspectives of further research, in particular the study of the English parable in diachrony from the synergetic point of view, as well as the analysis and comparison of the texts of the following centuries with the systematization of their general and specific features