POETIC AND CONCEPTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PORTRAIT DESCRIPTIONS IN MODERNIST NOVELS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47390/ydif-y2026v2i17/n24Keywords:
modernism, novel, portrait description, poetics, concept, psychologism, stream of consciousness, focalization, artistic detail, character.Abstract
This paper analyzes the evolution of portrait description in modernist novels from a traditional depiction of physical appearance into a vehicle for psychological, symbolic, and conceptual expression. Drawing on James Joyce’s *Ulysses*, Virginia Woolf’s *Mrs Dalloway*, Franz Kafka’s *The Trial* (*Der Prozess*), and William Faulkner’s *The Sound and the Fury* as primary texts, the study examines the relationship between portrait details and techniques such as stream of consciousness, interior monologue, focalization, and fragmented narrative. The research concludes that the modernist portrait serves not merely to record a character's physical traits, but to reveal their inner state, identity crisis, alienation, and complex relationship with time.
References
1. Woolf V. The Common Reader. – New York : Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1925.
2. Joyce J. Ulysses. – Paris : Shakespeare and Company, 1922. – 732 p.
3. Woolf V. Mrs Dalloway. – London : The Hogarth Press, 1925.
4. Kafka F. Der Prozess. – Berlin : Verlag Die Schmiede, 1925.
5. Faulkner W. The Sound and the Fury. – New York : Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith, 1929.
6. Rimmon-Kenan S. Narrative Fiction: Contemporary Poetics. – 2nd ed. – London ; New York : Routledge, 2002. – 204 p.
7. Chatman S. Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. – Ithaca ; London : Cornell University Press, 1978. – 277 p.
8. Leech G. N., Short M. H. Style in Fiction: A Linguistic Introduction to English Fictional Prose. – 2nd ed. – Harlow : Pearson Longman, 2007. – 404 p.
9. Auerbach E. Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature / transl. by W. R. Trask. – Princeton : Princeton University Press, 1953. – 563 p.
This work is licensed under a 