Key metaphors in Vladimir Kornilov’s story “A Spark”

The article characterises the key metaphors fire (flame), stars, birds, pebbles in the story of the Russian prose writer of the 2nd half of the 20th century Vladimir Kornilov (1923–2002). The aim of the study is to identify the structural and semantic originality and functional features of the key metaphors that are actively involved in organising the narrative, creation of psychologism in the portrayal of characters and events, the formation of textual meanings, and the explication of the conceptual content of the work. The study of metaphors in a contextual setting is based on the compositional features of the plot and the figurative characteristics of the characters and their actions. Key metaphors are vivid means of forming the narrative structure of the work: they are used to explicate the semantics of the title of the work, to develop characters and events, to advance the action in time and space, and to create the semantic dominants of the text. The article offers a brief overview of modern linguistic studies of the metaphor in the system of speech, its main features and varieties, as well as its textual functions. It also examines the key metaphors in different fragments of the text and identifies genitive constructions, comparative phrases, and phraseological units. In conclusion, the author of the article emphasises the role of the key metaphors in the formation of the structural and semantic integrity of the narrative. Formed as a result of the semantic interaction of metaphors, the system of figurative means explicate the conceptual content of the work, reflect the author’s position, and form the textual modality of the writer’s narrative discourse.