The Concept of "River" in V. P. Astafiev's Novella The Last Bow

This article is devoted to the problem of the implementation of the concept of "river" in the story The Last Bow by Viktor Petrovich Astafiev, one of the leading writers of the Soviet period. The relevance of the undertaken scientific research lies in the use of a cognitive approach to the study of the writer's idiosyncrasy. The methodology is based on the description of the various layers of the concept in terms of lexical representation, interrelation with the stylistic and figurative system of the work, the author's worldview. The main purpose of the work is to describe the features of the implementation of the concept "river" in the author's refraction. The author of the scientific article analyzed the following points: the key lexemes representing the concept of "river" in the work were identified; an etymological analysis of the key lexemes was carried out in order to identify the motivating features of the nomination; the conceptual, figurative, categorical and symbolic layers of the concept were described; textual scenarios for the implementation of the concept were identified. The research results in the following conclusions: the concept of "river" is one of the key cognitive structures in the author's worldview by V. P. Astafiev; the study of the figurative and symbolic layer of the cognitive structure revealed the key role of personification as an artistic device for creating an image of a river; the analysis of the scenario implementation of the concept made it possible to trace the autobiographical motifs forming the fabric of the work. Since the image of the river is also revealed in other important works by V. P. Astafyev, the prospects for further research are related to the analysis of the evolution of this concept within the framework of the writer's entire work.