Literary Image

The world of a literary work is the world of its characters, situations, events, etc. similar to those of real life. Literature cognizes and interprets life by re-creating life in the form of images inspired by life and in accordance with the author’s vision [5, p. 35]. It means that, for instance, Louis Creed from Stephen King’s Pet Sematary is not just a college doctor, but a literary character created by King in precisely the way his talent, his vision and his understanding of an ambitious young doctor’s family life have urged him to create [31]. In giving the image the author transmits to the reader his own philosophy of life, his ethic and moral code.

Literary image is thus the “language” of literature, the form of its existence. The term image refers not only to the whole of the literary work or to characters as its main elements, but also to any of its meaningful units such as details, phrase, etc. [5, p. 35]

All images in the literary work constitute a hierarchical interrelation. The top of this hierarchy is the macro-image, i.e. the literary work itself, which includes the image of life, the image of characters and the image of the author. At the bottom of the hierarchy there is the word-image or the micro-image (tropes and figures of speech), which builds up character-images, event-images, landscape-images, etc. Each micro-image, when in isolation, is just a stylistic device, but within the poetic structure it is an element, which equally with others, helps to reveal the content [5, p. 36].

In literature attention is usually centered on human character and human behaviour, though the images of things, animals, landscape, time, etc. may also be important. In most literary works one character is clearly dominant from the beginning up to the end. Such a character us generally called the main, central or major character, or the protagonist. The main character may also be called hero or heroine, if he or she deserves to be called so. The antagonist is the personage opposing the protagonist or hero. The villain is the character with marked negative features [3, p. 29].

Since images in art reflect the writer’s subjective attitude to them, they are always emotive and appeal to the reader through all the senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste. In the reader’s mind images call up not only visual pictures and other sense impressions, they also arouse feelings, such as warmth, compassion, affection, delight or dislike, disgust, resentment. Our emotional responses are directed by the words with which the author creates his images [3, p. 27].

Accordingly, characters may be simple (flat), which are constructed round a single trait, and complex (rounded), which undergo change and growth, revealing various sides of their personalities [3, p. 30]. Characters may also be shown statically (when the character does not undergo any changes throughout the story) and dynamically (when the character is depicted in his/her development)