Semiosis of the mirror in lyric’s text poetics: the gender aspect.

Abstract

The article deals with the semantic sphere of the mirror’s image in the lyrics, in particular in the Ukrainian lyrics of XX th. The methodological base consists of the gender studies and semiotic analysis. The combining of these methodological strategies needs to find out some gender and psychological specificity of semantic loading of the things world depicted in literary texts. The image of mirror is often used in lyrics not only in its direct, household meaning, but also in its archetypical, symbolic sense (for expressing “doubling” of a person, his / her “self-alienation”). It’s different in the masculine or feminine modes of writing depended of the psychic gender preferences and cultural influence. In the feminine lyric consciousness the image of mirror is used more active: as interior’s detail with additional mining of luxury and cosiness, because of femininity is grounded in private space; as “prevention” the Other’s look and opinion (the social stereotype is: female appearance determines the value of a personality and can be observed). In feminine lyric narrative the motive of looking in the mirror is connected with the founding by lyric heroine her identity, with her reflection of herself discording with her visible image, with expressing her fear of senescence (L. Paluy, N. Sheyko-Medvedeva, I. Shzilenko, S. Yovenko and others). The image of mirror has limited implementation for masculine mode of writing (for masculine lyric hero his own looking is less interesting because it doesn’t accord with his own value) and mainly focuses the situation of self-examining about (non)successful life realization (as L. Talalay’s poem).