Laocoon revisited: Interplay of architecture and literature
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33910/2686-830X-2023-5-2-65-73Keywords:
literary architectonym, literary oikomononym, architectural motif, architectural semiotics, codes interplay, intertexturalityAbstract
The paper aims at examining the interplay of literature and architecture as two codes combined to enrich the message. In particular, the following research questions are posed: Why is architecture introduced to literary texts? How is it done? What are the functions of the architectural motif in literature?
To sharpen the focus, the authors have limited the scope of material to works of literature, where architectural motif is promoted to the “strong position” in the text — the title. The collected titles were categorized in two datasets: (1) appealing to a unique works of architecture by their unique names and (2) appealing to types of architectural structures. The datasets were analyzed in order to expose the message generated by the architectural names and to juxtapose it with the message of the literary text.
Architectural names, functioning as a code of culture, fulfill two main functions — locating the story in time and space and guiding the reader’s interpretation of the text by foregrounding its key concepts. At that, being introduced to a work of literature to signify a certain concept, an architectural name gets almost unfailingly subject to some degree of reconceptualization. Thus, the architectural code adds meaning to the literary one and gets enriched with new meanings in the process.
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