Analysis of the evaluation zone of the concept "Civil War" in A. Fadeev's novel "The Rout"

Yuan' Xinjie ORCID: 0009-0005-6658-7646 Postgraduate student, Department of Russian Language and Literature, Far Eastern Federal University 690000, Russia, Primorsky Krai, Vladivostok, Ajax str., 10 iuan.si@dvfu.ru Other publications by this author

"Concept" is one of the most common terms in the modern scientific paradigm, but there is no single approach to its definition and properties. According to I. Y. Nikishina, this concept "turned out to be important and necessary for language learning and formed the basis of cognitive linguistics" ^{[7, p. 5]}. This is due to the irreplaceable role that the concept plays in human cognition, as V. A. Efremov says, the concept unites "many different units of the mental dictionary with a kind of generic concept" ^{[3, p. 98]}.

The concept refers to the perception of the objective world by the human brain, represents mental representations created using language. Unlike knowledge, "the concept is extremely subjective" ^{[10, p. 11]}. The subjective nature of the concept has led to the fact that researchers of cognitive linguistics pay special attention to "the formation and formation of concepts in consciousness" ^{[2, pp. 18-35]}. As M. V. Pimenova says, the concept is "mental education, a kind of focus of knowledge about the world" ^{[8, pp. 45-47]}. E. S. Kubryakova and V. V. Kolesov hold an analogical opinion. E. S. Kubryakova understands the concept as "a unit of mental or mental resources of our consciousness and the information structure that reflects knowledge and human experience" ^{[5, p. 328]}. According to its specific internal composition, the concept is a "synthesizing linguistic education that has methodologically replaced the representation (image)" ^{[4, p. 122]}.    

In modern cognitive science, the diversity of research is a simple reflection of different types of human consciousness, which confirm a complex multi-level system of concepts as mental constructions built using language. The concept acts as a consequence of human cognitive behavior at the level of its psychological nature, which, in turn, is determined by the nature of the phenomena of objective reality reflected in consciousness, which determines the complexity and versatility of the concept. The concept is understood as a unit based on thinking-consciousness, a synthesis of human knowledge reflecting the perception of the world. Accordingly, concepts are the result of cognition and, on the other hand, an instrument of cognition.

When studying a concept, it is necessary to talk about the importance of words to explain the concept, since the word performs this activating role in the cognitive process as the basis for the existence of the concept, combining divergent thinking with semantics to identify the cognitive features of the concept. It can be said that a concept is a semantic category of a language reflected by a word in a person's mind, a word as an explanatory code of a concept, a way of expressing its existence in a language, when studying the components of a concept, an analysis of lexical units is assumed.

The concept as a special cognitive phenomenon, it is difficult to see and understand its structure directly. However, the internal structure of the concept can be determined indirectly, through some specific manifestations of it. To identify the structure of the concept "Civil War" by A. A. Fadeev in the novel "Defeat", we use the concept model proposed by representatives of the Voronezh Scientific School. The structure of the concept consists of three main parts: "image, encyclopedic content and interpretative field" ^{[11, p. 166]}.

Interpretative domains in a concept are reinterpretations of information interpreting "the image and encyclopedic content of the concept, representing their practical understanding by human consciousness" ^{[11, p. 161]}. On the one hand, the intrinsic, complementary, explanatory nature of the cognitive properties of this field gives us reason to consider it as occupying a peripheral position in relation to the conceptual structure. On the other hand, the periphery is one of the most unstable positions in the structure of the concept, deconstruction and reinterpretation of the properties of individual concepts, and these attitudes of consciousness arise in the minds of different people. How the properties of concepts are understood at different times and in different contexts, how different individuals approach a particular concept, is often reflected in the interpretative field of concepts.

At the same time, cognitive characteristics derived from the interpretative field change rapidly over time and in different contexts. This changeable nature is the value of studying the interpretative field, many of the features of which become so vivid and concrete in people's minds that without it, the study of conceptual content would remain incomplete and inaccurate.

Objectifying the periphery of the conceptual content, it is able to express in a concise form various semantic properties of concepts that are often not amenable to direct observation. Cognitive features in this field, one way or another explaining the basic information content of the concept, on the basis of which some final knowledge is derived or this conceptual subject is evaluated.

Despite the fact that the interpretative field "is the least structured part of the concept" ^{[9, p. 79]}, at this stage of research it is still possible to define several more detailed areas in it: "the evaluation zone, the utilitarian zone, the regulatory zone, the symbolic zone" ^{[11, p. 161-163]}. The evaluation zone is part of the interpretative field, since it is "always the fact of some interpretation of certain signs or properties of the object of conceptualization" ^{[11, p.162]}.

In a literary text, concepts can form the basis of the semantic space of a particular language, which can be used to judge the intellectual structure of a particular refraction. According to D. S. Likhachev, concepts "as responses to the previous linguistic experience of a person as a whole — poetic, prosaic, scientific, social, historical" ^{[6, p. 243]}. Depending on the immediate context in which the concepts are created, as well as on the cultural experience and personality of the culture, they are decoded in different ways. In each novel there are concepts that hold the key to the denouement of the novel, and their interpretation in cognitive terms potentially has a certain meaning and value.

Our research was conducted on the material of A. A. Fadeev's novel "The Debacle". In order to fully and clearly verbalize the concept in a linguistic interpretation, it is advisable to analyze the interpretative field of the concept "Civil War". During the analysis, it was found out that the interpretative field of the concept "Civil War" is realized by describing its lexical representatives.

When considering the interpretative field of the concept of "Civil War", we must very clearly understand that the novel "Mayhem" is a hyperpersonal novel. Hyperpersonage represents the different strata of society that had developed in the Far East by the time of the Civil War.

The vocabulary of the evaluation zone reflects the writer's own view of the Civil War. We determine these estimates according to the classification of N. D. Arutyunova ^{[1, pp. 64-77]}.

We will look at the assessment of the war from Levinson's point of view: "The fragmentary information that could sometimes be collected painted a cruel picture of collapse" ^{[12, p. 82]}. "Cruel" refers to an emotional assessment. A cruel and realistic life experience underlies the writer's perception of war, the cruelty of which A. Fadeev expresses through his characters. The situation of the war worsened, creating a situation of extremely harsh and ruthless fragmentation. This also led Commander Levinson to lead his partisan detachment along the retreat route. Violent and realistic life experiences strongly influenced the style of his works.

This was Levinson's judgment about those times: "as long as millions of people still live in filth and poverty" ^{[12, p. 131]}. The word "dirt" can be understood as 'moral impurity; immorality, dishonesty', in accordance with this, it refers to an ethical assessment, "poverty" – lack of material benefits, financial difficulties. People lack the necessary means to live, and the assessment of "poverty" borders on the utilitarian. According to Levinson, the Russian people lived in unpleasant material conditions.

This was indeed a condition of the time when the Civil War began, on the one hand, and on the other – the internal cause of its occurrence. Those who saw such a state of the country and the people sought to transform it in accordance with their ideals and intentions, the commander was one of them.

The novel shows the Red Army's view of the White Army: "If they had fallen to Kolchak, they would have just as cruelly and senselessly carried out whatever Kolchak wanted" ^{[12, p. 130]}. "Cruel" is an emotional assessment, "senseless" is an intellectual one. In the eyes of the commander, all whites are extremely harsh and ruthlessly stupid. This indicates that the whites committed some heinous crime during the war, in addition, it confirms the hostile relations between the opposing sides in the war.

The arrival of the Sword made Morozka think about the future of the war: "The sword really came "ready-made", although in fact the difficult way of the cross lay ahead" ^{[12, p. 19]}. "The Difficult Way of the Cross" is an emotional assessment. The "Way of the Cross" is essentially a path of suffering. For Morozka and those who were at war, the war was a road of emotions. The civil war is always perceived as mental torture, there are still many difficulties ahead, and no one knows when this war will end, with what result, and in general, whether he will live to see its end.

The pessimism caused by the ongoing guerrilla struggle leads to an unfavorable assessment of one's own commitment to the military cause: "and even all his "careless" mischief is not joy, no, but hopeless hard labor, which no one has appreciated and will not appreciate" ^{[12, p. 109]}. "Hopeless convict" is an emotional assessment. Morozka believes that during the Civil War, life is very gloomy, without any hope of improvement, it's hard work. "Hard labor" is forced labor and indicates his inability to escape from the oppression that fell upon him in this martial law.

Morozka is again included in the life of the team, freed from the negative emotions that his wife caused him, and understands his own Red Army experience in a new way: "And, thinking so, he involuntarily joined that meaningful healthy life that Goncharenko always seemed to live" ^{[12, p. 123]}. This period of military life was meaningful and useful for him. "Healthy" is a utilitarian assessment. "Meaningful" is more of an intellectual assessment, but in general, going through the pain of life, emotional changes and communicating with friends played a big role in his psychological recovery and growth.

As can be seen from the contrast between the two passages in which Morozka comments on the life of a Red Army soldier, the hardships of the war did not allow them to abandon what they had always aspired to, but on the contrary, strengthened faith in the continuation of the revolutionary struggle, and later Morozka became a real Red Army soldier.

Before joining the partisan army, Mechik praised the partisans of the Red Army: "People in the hills (familiar only from newspapers) stood before my eyes as if they were alive — in clothes made of gunpowder smoke and heroic deeds" ^{[12, p. 15]}. "Heroic" as a teleological assessment that tells about the exploits of heroes. In Mechik's mind, the partisans were experienced and battle-hardened people, successful fighters. Becoming such a person was his life's goal.

From the point of view of the Sword, we can see the true assessment of ordinary people faced with the brutality of war: "What he experienced was not fear, but a painful expectation: when will it all end" ^{[12, p. 92]}. "Painful" is an emotional assessment. The fear that death brings with it is experienced by every person in war. But even more terrifying than death itself is the fear of waiting for it to happen at any moment. This emotional torture is often simply unbearable. Helplessness and the fear of death scared him.

Mechik gave his assessment of the Civil War as an intellectual: "He was alone with his thoughts in a large hostile world where everything was moving, slowly living a strange, watchdog and predatory life" ^{[12, p. 126]}. The expression "alien, watchful" is an emotional assessment, and the word "predatory" refers to an ethical assessment. Mechik believes that people in this environment are hostile to him, which is largely due to a different upbringing and state of life than that of the intelligentsia and workers and peasants.

Life in the war was unusual for him, as well as existence in conditions of strict protection and predation. This military lifestyle is very different from his previous life in the city, but it is the true face of the military struggle and, in fact, a necessary path for the revolutionary cause of that time. His problem is that he is too idealistic about revolutionary life and is not ready for hard work and turns of events.

Mechik's escape led to the almost complete destruction of the partisans, and he escaped, giving another extremely negative assessment of the war: "I can't take it anymore, I can't live such a low, inhuman, terrible life anymore" ^{[12, p. 187]}. "Low": sensory assessment: sensory-gustatory, or hedonistic assessment. Low life – physiological needs. He couldn't stand the difficult combat conditions. For example, Mechik did not refuse to eat meat stolen from Korean farmers, although he was unhappy with such behavior. His physical needs always defeat his mental needs. "Inhuman": a private, sublimated, ethical assessment. "Inhuman" as an assessment was caused by the fact that he did not clearly understand that the essence of the revolutionary war was violence – murder. "Terrible": private, sensory, psychological, emotional assessment. The word "terrible" is more like a summary of his own experiences in the war. In battle, he and the rear are always filled with this kind of negative emotions.

So, this character is more like an author's criticism of intellectuals. Many of them cannot get rid of the shortcomings of their own class. They blindly strive for revolution, but simply strive for progress, they cannot get rid of their squeamishness and endure difficulties. The long and comfortable life before the war made them unable to adapt to the very brutality.

The Civil War was an ideological struggle, the Red Army came from the lower strata and represented their interests. The platoon of Dubov was proud of his profession, who was a miner: "deep down, Dubov believed that the title of miner was the highest and most honorable that a person could wear on earth" ^{[12, p. 68]}. "High" means sublime, unusual, solemn, "honorable" – honored, especially respected, this assessment is ethical. For these red partisans, who came from a mining background, his class affiliation was very honorable and implied respectability from the point of view of socialist morality.

Baklanov gave his assessment of the living conditions in the Far East at the beginning of the war: "until my brother grew up, but here is all this mess" ^{[12, p. 86]}. In Baklanov's speech, the word "porridge" is perceived as a figurative meaning – disorder. The situation in the Far East at the beginning of the war was chaotic, disorganized and confusing, the peace of life was disrupted, life plans were completely upset.

Front—line scouts report the latest information about the battle of the Red Army: "Everything has gone to waste... — We retreated: the battle was terrible, we could not resist" ^{[12, p. 50]}. A partisan of the Osokinsky detachment arrived at Levinson's unit and reported on the situation: the partisans of the Red Army who were nearby were badly battered, and the blow turned out to be crushing – years of development and accumulation were reduced to dust in one battle, hence we understand "dust" as a teleological assessment. "Scary" is an emotional assessment. A bloody battle of partisan detachments had just taken place next to him. The negative feelings that war causes in people are expressed from an emotional point of view. From the first half of the novel, the author strives to create a brutal atmosphere of war and a pessimistic environment in general.

The partisans took refuge from the enemy in the mountains, and the general situation of the partisans worsened even more: "For several days the detachment rushed along the Ulakhinsky tributaries, languishing in battles and painful crossings... People became callous, drier, more silent, meaner" ^{[12, p. 95]}. "Painful" refers to an emotional assessment. "Stale" has a figurative meaning, it is understood as becoming unresponsive, insensitive. "Dry" means severely indifferent, restrained, devoid of emotions. "Silent" is taciturn. "Angry" means angry, unkind. All these words refer to an ethical assessment. The continuous daily march of the party was physical torture, and the fighting on the way and the lack of supplies led to the fact that the mental state of the partisans became more and more extreme and cold. The poor state of mind and body in the war interacted with each other in a vicious circle, forming a vicious circle of endless torment for the team.

The plot of the novel takes place in the countryside of the Far East, a dialogue between peasants at a rural gathering, including their assessments of the war: " Ryabets said thoughtfully. — Are you done, Chi ne? The grass is not very rich — although the summer wedge would have been removed by Sunday. This war will cost us a pretty penny" ^{[12, p. 31]}. A utilitarian estimate of "a penny" means very expensive. The negative impact of the war on production and the lives of peasants is enormous. It directly reduces their income and material level.

The anti—war sentiments of the peasants can still be seen in this dialogue: "And where does such an attack come from? — There is no peace for the man" ^{[12, p. 32]}. Emotion is expressed by the colloquial word "attack", which means trouble, misfortune, an unpleasant incident, shows the anger of the peasants. The emotional assessment of "there is no peace for the man" more reflects their sadness and is more like a complaint and helplessness.

So, based on the above, we can create table 1.

Table 1

So, the concept is considered as a unit based on conscious thinking, which is a synthesis of human knowledge and reflects the perception of the world. Using the model of I. A. Sternin and Z. D. Popova in the painting, it allows us to depict the evaluation zone in the interpretative field of the concept "Civil War".

The analysis made it possible to conclude that the evaluation zone of the interpretative field of the concept "Civil War" expresses more subjective opinions about various aspects of the war that are beyond the influence of real factors of interest, such as the social class and political position of the characters. The perspective of the novel is dominated by the Red Army, whose interests are directly related to the interests of the peasantry. But the peasants were passive in the war, suffered, but did not take direct part in the fighting, so we see how they complain about the current state of things in the assessment area. As Plato said, "there is neither a good war nor a bad peace." The observed assessments of the Civil War are almost negative.

The essence of the Civil War was the class struggle, and for the partisans, who came from among the miners, their class affiliation was noble from the point of view of proletarian morality. For some intellectuals, they were passers-by in the revolution. Although they felt a sense of admiration for revolutionary work and revolutionary fighters, they themselves could not adapt to revolutionary work, and the civil war was a kind of torment and torture for them.

Morozka, who corresponds to a man close to intelligence, has a rare positive comment in the evaluation field. This reflects the steadfast revolutionary spirit of the Red Army miners. Experienced partisans had deep knowledge of the Civil War and understood all its brutality. In general, the Civil War was brutal and bloody, and it had a negative impact on everyone who participated in the war.