THE ARTISTIC AND FUNCTIONAL FEATURES OF PSYCHOPOETIC MEANS EXPRESSING CHARACTER PSYCHOLOGY IN THE TRILOGY OF PEARL S. BUCK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47390/ydif-y2026v2i16/n10Keywords:
psychopoetics, character psychology, indirect psychologism, narrative economy, silence, focalisation, symbolic image, cross-cultural commonality, Pearl S. Buck.Abstract
This thesis examines the artistic and functional features of the psychopoetic means by which character psychology is expressed in the trilogy of Pearl S. Buck. Applying narratological and psychopoetic criteria, the study identifies the principal devices — silence, telling detail, gesture, landscape, focalisation, and symbolic image — and analyses their function in rendering inner life. It argues that these means operate according to the principle of narrative economy, whereby minimal linguistic means generate maximal psychological content, and that each device works simultaneously on two levels: expressing individual psychology at the micro-level and generating cross-cultural meaning at the macro-level. The findings offer a basis for re-evaluating Buck’s prose within psychopoetics and cross-cultural poetics.
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