Realization of the Comic in the Story by A. Borisova Zapiski dlya moikh potomkov (Notes for My Descendants)

Abstract

In the following article, we explore the ways to create a comic effect in the in the stories of the modern Yakut children’s writer A. Borisova Zapiski dlya moikh potomkov (Notes for My Descendants). The comedic tropes are analyzed on three levels: the characters, the situations, and the language. Children's literature has always been particularly humorous and entertaining, which is vividly seen in the works of the best domestic children's writers (N. Nosov, V. Dragunsky, V. Golyavkin etc.). Because of this, in literary criticism and linguistics there is an extensive classification of various techniques for creating a comedic effect. E. Garanina, N. M. Rotanova, I. V. Tsikusheva and others are engaged in the study of these techniques using children's literature as their research material. Nevertheless, the major works are still devoted to the issues of linguistic comedic effects which determines the relevance of this study. The comic effect of the story by A. Borisova is achieved in several ways, including those of non-literary nature, for example, theatrical circus in the form of classic buffoonery. The comedy is delivered by the main character of the story - the restless girl Valentinka whose defining trait is her ability to get into various funny situations. Valentine’s character is outlined from different sides; the negative sides of the girl are, too, shown to the reader. Because of this, the author emphasizes that the protagonist is a realistic character with all the positive and negative traits typical for real people. Thus the author achieves one of the goals of children’s literature: to convey the important moral and moral values to the child reader using the example of a young protagonist. The comedic elements of fictional situations are based on unexpected or comic contrast caused by a misunderstandings. Language-based comedy is represented quite widely and is based on various types of wordplay, for example, using polysemy, phraseological units or language paradoxes, incorrect word reproduction and imitation of word formation typical for children’s speech. Summing up, we can say that the stories of the Yakut author A. Borisova Zapiski dlya moikh potomkov (Notes for My Descendants) demonstrate various ways of creating a comic effect on a variety of text levels.