The Image of St. Joseph in R. Brandstaetter's Novel “Jezus z Nazarethu” and Lexical Means of its Creating

The novel “Jezus z Nazarethu” by the Polish writer R. Brandstaetter is the result of an “artistic experiment”: recreating biblical events, the writer revises the Gospel texts, adds scenes and reinterprets the psychological motivation of the characters. Trying to express a deeply personal religious experience, the author at the same time cares about the objectivity of the image, freeing images from the influence of readers' culture and putting events and characters into a universal historical context. The paper undertakes analysis of the influence of these specific features of the work on the choice of lexical means of creating the image of St. Joseph. The author also examines lexemes selected by the writer for the nomination and characteristics of the character, along with their role in disclosing the image and the artistic idea of the work. The paper traces how the changes in the nominations reflect the development of the character's image and the development of new social roles. Based on the study of lexical means of creating an image, the main character traits of Joseph are determined: patience, caring for family and love for poverty. It also allowed concluding about the idealization of the protagonist in order to represent a specimen model for readers.