Abstract: From the standpoint of competence-based and synergetic approaches, the expediency of using ekphrasis to create an authentic language environment conducive to the effectiveness of the educational process, general cultural and professional development of the future specialist is substantiated. The main purpose of the study is to determine the didactic possibilities of ekphrasis and the areas of its application in the foreign-language educational environment of a specialized university on the basis of synergistic relationships that contribute to the formation of appropriate competencies among students of language specialties. The research is based on a set of general scientific and special methods traditionally used when working with the source base and linguistic analysis of linguistic facts. The theoretical prerequisites of the research are formulated on the basis of an analytical and synthetic study of normative documents and scientific data, their comparison, systematization, generalization. The empirical part of the study is based, among other things, on the methods of discursive and contextual analysis of linguistic material. The main research results presented in the article: 1) the didactic possibilities of ekphrasis and the scope of its application in the educational space are considered; 2) related disciplines in the subject area "Foreign language" are outlined, revealing the synergetic potential of ekphrasis in the organization of education in a specialized university; 3) the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of the educational process due to synergistic relationships that create optimal conditions for strengthening subject and interdisciplinary integration are demonstrated, the formation of professional qualities, the expansion of the general outlook in the process of reading and interpreting authentic ekphrasis incorporated into literary texts for home reading. According to the results of the study, it is concluded that ekphrasis is one of the means of creating an authentic information environment that ensures active interaction between the student and the subject of study based on a complex of linguistic and extralinguistic knowledge – key components of competencies necessary to solve practical, research, creative and other tasks in a foreign language.

Abstract: The present research is carried out in line with literary stylistics, focusing on the linguistic and expressive means of artistic representation of reality and the peculiarities of their use by one or another author. The research material was the novel "Decline and Destruction", written by one of the recognized masters of the English satirical novel Evelyn Waugh. The "Decline and Destruction" of twentieth–century England is a cross-cutting theme of the entire work of I. Vo, whose stylistic dominant is the satirical grotesque. The above-mentioned determined the purpose of the study, which consists in explicating the main mechanisms and means of creating a satirical grotesque in the novel, exposing and ridiculing the vices of English society in the 1920s, sharpening and criticizing the shortcomings of the existing education system in privileged educational institutions in England.   In accordance with this goal, the article considers the problem of the emergence of the term "grotesque", its connection with the aesthetic category of the comic is indicated, the role and place of this artistic device in the work of I. Vo are indicated. It is revealed that with the help of a satirical grotesque, Vo creates his own special – secondary to the real – world, violating the boundaries corresponding to our ideas of plausibility, for which any means available to the author are suitable. The study showed that the key mechanisms determining the grotesque beginning of the novel are a combination of mutually exclusive, hyperbolization, reification of characters, etc. A special satirical expressiveness and tragicomism, brought to the point of absurdity, is manifested at various levels of the work's organization (lexical, onomastic, morphological, syntactic, graphic). From this point of view, the novel "Decline and Destruction" is being studied for the first time, which determines the novelty of the research undertaken and outlines further prospects in the field of research devoted to the work of Evelyn Waugh and the satirical grotesque, in particular.

Abstract: This article is dedicated to the explication of key meanings in the ekphrastic novel by Oscar Wilde “Picture of Dorian Gray” through the prism of emotional state and attitude of the protagonist in the situation of perception of his own portrait. Structured by antithetic principles novel is based on the semantic dominant of wonderful / disgraceful. The wonderful implies beauty and youth of Dorian and is opposed to his soul and morality, experiencing fatal transformations associated with the moral decay of personality. Thus, the object of research becomes the semantic dominant of wonderful / disgraceful alongside additional key meanings (semantic antinomies) it is based upon. The subject of research is the linguistic markers of focalization of key essences in the portrait ekphrasis, which resemble the character’s evaluation and comprehension of such categories as wonderful / disgraceful, beauty / ugliness, youth / old age, etc. Focalization is viewed as one of the cognitive mechanisms of ekphrasis, which emphasizes most significant from the character’s perspective information that translates his subjective, emotionally colored attitude to the object of perception. Determination of the key meanings is achieved through accumulation of linguistic means, namely lexical-semantic markers and markers of nonverbal communication code. Such means enhance the expressiveness and focus attention of the audience on the sharp comparison of the concepts and images, highlighting the main motif, semantic dominant that serves as the foundation for the entire novel.

Abstract: The article is devoted to ekphrasis as a verbal description of an artwork in finction and non-fiction. At the present time pretty much is known about the theory and practical use of ekphrasis. However, we can't say that this area lacks methodological gaps. There are still a lot of questions, in particular, about the definition of ekphrasis. Thus, the subject of this research is the correlation of such categories as 'genre' and 'discourse' in relation to ekphrasis. The aim of the research is to trace back the genesis of ekphrasis and describes prerequisites for transformation of an ancient rythoric exercise into an individual device/genre/discourse. The researcher focuses on the role of ekphrasis as a device/genre and the genre-creating function of an English ekphrasis discourse. As a result of the research, the author describes invariant features of ekphrasis writings and outlines the main genre invariants of an English akphrasis discourse. The results of the research make an important contribution to the further development of theoretical issues that relate to the definitions of ekphrasis genre/discourse and demonstrate the degree of the problem development at the modern stage.