Euphemistic Means of the Erotic Narrative in the Cycle Dark Alleys by I. Bunin

Abstract

Purpose. The article analyses the features of the erotic narrative of I. A. Bunin in his cycle Dark Alleys, which became a phenomenon in Russian classical literature – a kind of artistic “encyclopedia of love”, written in defiance of ethical and ideological prohibitions.

Results. Erotica in this cycle is presented in descriptions of the physiology of sex and sexual communication. The research examines 209 contexts extracted from the cycle. They describe actions of a sexual nature, including violent or commercial ones, human physiology and anatomy (59 contexts), which determine human sexual behavior. The writer widely uses various methods of euphemization of erotic meanings: synonymous replacements, generalization techniques, allusion, ellipsis, silence. Quantitative data show that the main speech strategy in the Bunin cycle is silence, which is implemented in a whole series of stylistic tropes and figures. I. A. Bunin uses a diverse arsenal of units of the lexical, lexico-morphological and syntactic levels. Euphemisms appear in areas of maximum erotic tension. With their help, the author reduces the “emotionogenicity” of erotica in accordance with his own ideas about the boundaries of what is acceptable and permissible.

Conclusion. In the vertical context of Russian culture, I. Bunin’s erotic narrative, his restraint and precision in the choice of linguistic means, the deliberate exclusion of naturalism and reduced style serve to preserve harmony in the triad “LOVE – PASSION – SEX”. The Bunin language of Dark Alleys can be considered a classic standard of the sacrament of physical love, which the writers of the 20th century were guided by, accepting or rejecting it.