VERBAL EXPLICATION OF MENTAL PHENOMENA AS A FORM OF METAEKPHRASIS IN JOHN BERGER’S ESSAYS ON VISUAL ART: A COGNITIVE POETIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

The article provides a cognitive poetic analysis of the metaekphrastic contexts of verbal explication of mental phenomena in John Berger’s essays on visual art. Such an analysis derives from and is an extension of cognitive poetic studies of ekphrasis. The essayistic contexts under study contribute to the interpretation of a work of art as they cover the verbal representations of the content or the origin of some ideas, beliefs, convictions of a person or a group of people as well as mechanisms of the functioning of human mind. The cognitive poetic study of such contexts has revealed the mutual semantic dependency of the ekphrastic and metaekphrastic passages which offer verbal explication of mental phenomena in Berger’s essays, which means that both essayistic ekphrasis and metaekphrasis semantically depend on each other and require each other to contribute to the global meanings of the essay which evolve as a result of these passages interaction. The analysis also made it possible to develop a typology of the mental phenomena represented in Berger’s essays. This typology includes the following items: representation of different states of human mind, representation of the content of various beliefs, discussion of the role of the physical environment in the development of certain ideas and beliefs, demonstration of the historical change of some ideas, discussion of the influence of certain beliefs on the artists’ creative activity, discussion of the impact of certain convictions on the interpretation of works of art. Furthermore, the repertoire of linguistic means used by Berger to provide verbal explication of mental phenomena has been outlined. This repertoire includes a conceptual metaphor, a notion as a rational logical construct and a text of another author. Moreover, the role of the metaekphrastic contexts of verbal explication of mental phenomena in the potential interaction of Berger’s essays with the readers has been determined. These contexts both inform the readers (help them to deepen and/ or change their knowledge of certain historical events, cultural phenomena as well as current political and economic situation in the world) and encourage them to be more aware of the way they perceive works of art, to pay more attention to works of art and to acknowledge the relevance of art for their own real lives.