The Poetics of Color “Cattleya Labiata” in the Lyrics by Vladimir Nabokov

Abstract

Purpose. The study is devoted to the description of the poetic world of V. V. Nabokov-lyricist, more precisely – its color fullness on the example of purple. The method of multidimensional lexicographic description of the color aspect of Nabokov's poetic world is proposed. The presented article offers observations on the dictionary of lexical combinations with a color component, the data for which were obtained using the original software system “Hypertext Search for Companion-words in Author’s Texts”.Results. The use of the software package makes it possible to find stable groups of lexemes in the works of a poet, “passing” from poem to poem. Tokens are adjacent to each other at some distance and usually do not show obvious connections between themselves. These are lexical combinations. They mark common language, general poetic and individual author associations that arise unconsciously in authors. Some of purple’s satellites are obviously attracted by the sound. Purple partners organize the space, emphasizing the top of the vertical and outlining the horizontal landscape; indicate the time; note the presence of plants and humans, mark mystical (religious) consciousness. The properties and characteristics of objects and phenomena associated with purple are due to the play of light. A positive emotional state associated with purple is obvious.Conclusion. In his “purple” lexical combinations Nabokov follows the golden age of Russian poetry, describing the celestial sphere or characterizing the earth's surface, but radically diverges, transferring this color association to the plant world, the mystical region and man. The proximity of purple to God or Russian, as well as to the characteristics of a cheerful disposition, is Nabokov’s idiosyncrasy.