Verbalization of the concept of "earth" in the Russian translated text of Mo Yan's novel "Tired of being born and dying"

Gao Sin' Postgraduate student, Peoples' Friendship University of Russia 117198, Russia, Moskva oblast', g. Moscow, ul. Ul. miklukho-Maklaya, 6, of. - sin.gao2021@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Introduction

The relevance of this study is determined by several factors. Firstly, the analysis of the concepts that become the basis of the literary text of a writer allows you to get into the picture of the world of the author and the people to which he belongs, to see the peculiarities of linguistic culture. Secondly, if the text of a work of art is translated, then two linguistic cultures are simultaneously unfolding before the researcher — the source language and the translator language. At the same time, an experienced translator is able to preserve the conceptual sphere of the source text. Thirdly, the conceptual sphere of Mo Yan's novel "Tired of being born and dying" and, in particular, the concept of "earth" deserve special attention, since in this work the author shows the history of China in the second half of the twentieth century through the eyes of villagers, for whom the earth was a symbol of life, the main source of both benefits and problems. This concept helps to better understand the worldview of the Chinese peasant.

In the course of the research carried out in this article, the following tasks were solved: firstly, to consider the novel "Tired of being born and dying" and to identify the role of the concept of "earth" in its conceptual sphere; secondly, to discover the key interpretations of the concept of "earth" by Mo Yan and analyze them as an element of the worldview of the Chinese people; thirdly, to establish the main ways of verbalization of the concept of "earth" in the novel.

To achieve this goal and accomplish the tasks, the following research methods were used: general scientific methods of observation, analysis and synthesis, as well as a linguoculturological method used to identify the interrelationships of language and culture reflected in a literary text.

The theoretical basis of the research was the works devoted to Mo Yan's novel "Tired of being born and dying" ^[1-3], as well as studies of the conceptual sphere and, in particular, the concept of "earth" ^[4-8], including those conducted in a comparative plan ^{[9, 10]}. The main approach has become linguoculturological, according to which the phenomena of language are considered as a reflection of the thinking and culture of a person and human society. The practical significance of the research lies in the possibility of using its results in the process of teaching university courses on the history of Chinese literature, as well as courses and special courses in linguoculturology.

Mo Yan and his novel "Tired of being born and dying"

Mo Yan's work occupies a special place in modern Chinese literature. The writer is the first winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in the history of Chinese literature (2012), his works are read and studied in almost all countries of the world.

The novel "Tired of being Born and Dying" was written in 2006; it was first published in Russian in 2012, translated by I. A. Egorova. The novel can be called a chronicle in which Chinese history (from 1950 to 2005) appears before the reader, seen by the inhabitants of a simple Chinese village. The main character of the novel, the landowner Ximen Nao, who was shot in 1948, is reborn in the guise of animals: a donkey, a bull, a hog and a dog, until finally he becomes a boy who remembers his previous rebirths and tells his grandfather their story. This artistic technique allows the author to present the history of China in the second half of the twentieth century in an original, vital and vivid way.

The questions that attracted researchers in the novel "Tired of being born and dying" were the poetics of childhood ^[2], the meaning of the title of the novel ^[3], the features of the use of non-equivalent vocabulary in the translated text of the work ^[1], etc. Unfortunately, philologists have not yet considered the conceptual sphere of the novel as a set of concepts — units of thought and culture reflected in the language.

The concept of "earth" as an element of the concept sphere

The study of concepts began in the middle of the twentieth century. There are various interpretations of the concept of "concept", among which its interpretation as a phenomenon of linguoculture is closer to us. From the standpoint of linguoculturology, the concept is understood as a stable linguistic structure for storing and representing collective experience, which ensures continuity and unity of general cultural development ^{[7, p. 40]}. According to M. N. Krylova, "the concept concentrates the centuries-old experience, culture and ideology of each nation, which are synthesized and filtered in the thesaurus of the linguistic personality" ^{[5, p. 55]}. Concepts presented in language in general, in the speech of a particular person or in a literary text, are combined into a conceptual sphere.

The concept of "earth" is understood by linguists as a nationally significant phenomenon ^{[6, p. 6]}, as a basic linguistic and cultural concept that determines the specifics of the linguistic picture of the world of the people ^{[8, p. 5]}. Researchers recognize that "the concept of "earth" is found in the culture of all peoples of the world" ^{[11, p. 45]}. As verbalizers (language representatives) of this concept, units of a large lexical and semantic field of words are considered, the core of which is the lexeme earth ^{[4, p. 20]}. I. Feng, analyzing Chinese literature, notes that the concept of "earth" is an integral part of the image of the Motherland ^{[12, p. 56]}. Zhang Ying and J. Yan reveals similarities and differences in the implementation of the concept of "earth" in the Russian and Chinese language pictures of the world. Yan believes that for both Russians and Chinese, the earth is "the basis of human life, the foundation of the existence and development of mankind" ^{[10, p. 336]}. According to Zhang Ying, "for native Chinese speakers, the concept of "earth" primarily means the basis, source and root of the Chinese people, the whole being and being" ^{[9, p. 211]}.

Verbal realization of the concept of "earth" in the Russian translation of the novel "Tired of being born and dying"

The main lexeme that verbalizes the concept of "earth" in the translated text of Mo Yan's novel "Tired of being born and dying" has become the word earth. In one form or another, it is used almost 400 times.

Land for the hero of the novel, landowner Simen Nao, is primarily a source of well—being: "The harvest was plentiful from year to year, tenants paid for the land without delay, barns and storehouses were bursting with grain" ^{[13, p. 13]}. As we can see, in this context, the lexemes harvest and grain also take part in the verbalization of the concept of "land". The lexeme earth, symbolizing well-being, is combined with the epithets fertile, beautiful, excellent; there are expressions "the fertile power of the earth" ^{[13, p. 25]}, etc. It seems that the presence of good, fertile land for the hero of the novel, a simple peasant, is an important condition for existence. At the same time, descriptions of fertile land can be both lyrical and dry, including even special terminology: "Because of the proximity to the Great Canal, our site belonged to the flood lands of the second category, had a deep soil layer, high fertility and was suitable for plowing" ^{[13, p. 152]}. The author thus shows competence in matters of agriculture, characteristic not so much for himself as for the hero of the novel.

Mo Yan shows real art, describing the land bearing the harvest, dear to the peasant by feeding him from year to year, without holding grudges for evil or neglect. Such descriptions are accurate, detailed, naturalistic and show that the writer, born a peasant, who spent a significant part of his life in the village, has observed similar paintings since childhood: "Under the chilling moonlight, the overripe wheat breathed dryness, and when some animal slipped by, the ears broke and the grains fell to the ground with a rustle" ^{[13, p. 97]}. Among the descriptions of the land, there are those that are associated with the process of agricultural labor: "The link of the ploughmen of the brigade moved forward, turning the earth out from under the ploughshares in waves" ^{[13, p. 161]}. At the same time, lexemes reflecting the realities of peasant labor act as means of verbalization of the concept of "land": wheat, ears, grain, ploughshare, plowman, etc. And yet the land is not treated simply as a tool for subsistence. In the picture of the peasant's world, which Mo Yan recreates on the pages of his novel, the earth "is a savior, it is able to help a person get out of a difficult situation" ^{[13, p. 337]}.

We consider the detail of the descriptions of the earth, the accuracy of the writer when depicting it at different times of the year to be very important elements of Mo Yan's idiostyle, reflecting the origin of the author and formed on the basis of his ability to see individual components of the national picture of the world. The author is dear to the pictures of the winter land: "Silence reigned on the street; trees, walls, earth — all in silver" ^{[13, p. 155]}, but he especially often refers to the description of the earth in spring: "The earth in spring looks like a suitable dough. The wheels fall through the hubs, the hooves also get deeply bogged down" ^{[13, p. 115]}, "... Plants and grasses were alive, trickles of a white haze that was dormant underground rose into the air" ^{[13, p. 150]}. Spring earth symbolizes life, the awakening of nature, it is beautiful even covered with mud.

For the Chinese peasant, land is one of the most important components of life, part of the complex of those phenomena that make a person human. For each of the heroes of the novel, it is important to "get housing, a plot of land and a wife" ^{[13, p. 28]}. Without land, the picture of a peasant's life will be incomplete. The absence of land makes a person poor, dependent, deprives him of his livelihood and home: "After the death of her husband, she has no house, no land, and has to live on alms" ^{[13, p. 29]}. The function of the earth in the worldview of the Chinese peasant is to protect a person, to protect him from adversity, and the most terrible catastrophes are situations in which the earth ceases to fulfill this most important, fundamental function. Losing support on the ground, a person loses a part of himself, becomes flawed, insecure. At the same time, the peasant is ready to respond to the land, also defending it: "Shoot, if you have enough spirit, I will willingly give my life as a hero for my native land!" ^{[13, p. 207]}. Knowing full well that he will not be able to live without his land, the peasant is ready to die for it. Mo Yan repeatedly emphasizes that the desire and willingness to defend their land is not characteristic of one particular person, but of the entire human community: "It is customary for people to defend their holy land, sparing no blood and even life..." ^{[13, p. 289]}.

The earth is not just the soil, but the basis of human life. It is the loss of land that is associated with the change of a person's social status and the loss of his life foundations. The novel mentions the former masters of life, whose land is "taken away and thrown out of their homes" during the land reform ^{[13, p. 50]}, and this deprivation of land is not only as the greatest crime, but also as the strongest retribution for all the evil that a person has brought to other people.

Such a unity of man with the earth, understanding it as the basis and conditions of his own life serves to ensure that a person begins to perceive himself as part of the earth. One of the heroes of the novel exclaims: "... my flesh will fly around in pieces of earth on dry grass, but I will not let you beat my ox!" ^{[13, p. 151]}. The human body here is associated with the earth, and the associative field of the concept "earth" is replenished with the lexeme flesh. The hero feels oneness with the earth when he steps "barefoot on the cool earth" ^{[13, p. 153]}, because the earth becomes a part of him.

The most important meaning contained in the concept of "land" and reflects the worldview of the Chinese people is the idea that a person should be the owner of his native land: "Only when the land belongs to us, we can consider ourselves its owners" ^{[13, p. 380]}. The verbal field of the concept thus includes the lexeme host. The numerous trials that fell to the lot of both people and animals in the novel, in which the main character was reborn, are explained precisely by the fact that people sought to deprive this right — first the landlords, then the rules of socialism and collectivization. The unity of the peasant with the land, the fact that the land becomes an integral part of his essence, dictate the need to be the owner, to cultivate his own, albeit a small plot of land. Only in this case the essence of a person becomes complete and perfect.

The earth is also associated with death, understood as "the border between life and death, as a place where the bodies of the dead rest" ^{[10, p. 337]}. This meaning is also realized in the novel within the framework of the concept of "earth": "I threw a handful of earth on your grave and threw myself on it myself, burying my face in the yellow earth and quietly sobbing" ^{[13, p. 98]}. The associative field of the concept changes at the same time, the word grave enters it. The earth is both life and death, and what protects a person, gives him protection, and where he finds his last refuge.

The image of the earth in the perception of the Chinese peasant is closely merged with the image of the sky: "O earth and sky, O people and celestials, where is justice? Where is honor and conscience?" ^{[13, p. 15]}. A person should live in such a way as to "shake the sky and shake the earth" ^{[13, p. 385]}. This understanding expands the composition of the lexemes associated with the concept of "earth" due to the word sky, understood in this case not as an opposite phenomenon to the earth, but as closely merged with it. This is not accidental, since "Chinese philosophy offers the unity of heaven, earth and man" ^{[9, p. 211]}. The earth in the perception of the Chinese is no less important and no less worthy of respect than the sky.

Conclusion

Concluding the study, we come to the following conclusions.

1. The concept of "earth" plays a crucial role in the novel "Tired of being born and dying" by Mo Yan. It is a basic component of the conceptual sphere of the novel, reflecting the writer's recreated picture of the world of a Chinese peasant of the second half of the twentieth century. The linguoculturological approach to the text of the novel allowed us to establish the lines of correlation between language and culture, manifested through the concept of "earth".

2. The key interpretations of the concept of "earth" as an element of the Chinese people's worldview in the novel are the understanding of the earth as a source of well-being, as a part and condition of life; the idea of the earth as salvation, protection from adversity and at the same time as an object of protection; the perception of the earth as the basis of life, with which a person is merged, which has entered into his flesh, the master of which he should feel himself; thoughts about the correlation of earth and death, about the unity of earth and heaven. The concept of "earth" appears in the novel as fundamental, having essential characteristics, without which it is impossible to comprehend the nature of man.

3. The main means of verbalization of the concept of "earth" in the novel is the lexeme earth. This is the nuclear element among the linguistic units of the concept, while the remaining elements may vary depending on how exactly the concept of "earth" is interpreted in the novel, which side of it is especially important at one time or another in the narrative. To describe the land as an agricultural object, the words wheat, grain, ploughshare, hoe, seeder, sickle, plow, furrow, etc. become significant elements of verbalization; to realize the idea of a person as the owner of the land, the word owner becomes a significant lexeme; the idea of a person as part of the earth is verbalized using the lexeme flesh, etc. The concept of "earth" acts as a verbalized unit of human knowledge and experience, potentially capable of including linguistic representatives of very different semantics.

Prospects for further research may consist in a deeper analysis of the concept of "earth" in Mo Yan's novel "Tired of being born and dying", in identifying its connection with other concepts that make up the conceptual sphere of the novel, establishing its role in the writer's realization of his artistic idea.