The specifics of language representation of the space-time category in R. O. Butler’s idiostyle

The aim of the research is to reveal the specifics of language representation of the space-time category in R. O. Butler’s idiostyle. The article considers modern approaches to the study of fiction space and time, which are considered as basic textual categories providing a holistic perception of the text. The scientific novelty lies in revealing the specifics of the implementation of space-time relations in the work of the ergodic genre written in the “stream of consciousness” technique. This is the first time that R. Butler’s idiostyle is studied in this aspect. The results of the study have shown that a range of expressive means and devices representing space-time category is used. Among them are techniques of retardation and syntactic anticipation to create the effect of slow perception of time; a wide use of Historical Present to convey the feeling of the Past as if it were the Present; the usage of the lexical units with emotive connotation, rhetorical questions and exclamations and repetitions to convey emotional atmosphere of the described moments; non-linear narrative and limited time space description to create the effect of “reverse photography”; detailed portrait of the nearest items according to the law of aerial and spatial perspective; synthesis of the lexical units conveying visual, audio and tactile space perception.