PROGNOSTIC FUNCTION TITLES IN THE WORKS OF I. S. TURGENEV

The paper presents a comprehensive analysis of titles in I.S. Turgenev’s prose. The fact that I.S. Turgenev repeatedly addressed the issue of the title reveals importance the writer attached to the right name for a literary work. Along with it, I.S. Turgenev’s choice of titles clearly indicates the trend for neutral uninformative anthroponymic titles being replaced by symbolic, thought-provoking ones. The research focus is made on the prognostic function of the title, with the analysis based on I.S. Turgenev’s novels of 1844–1883 and two cycles of stories «A Sportman’s Sketches» and «Sinilia». The author interprets the prognostic function as «a tool to shape the reader’s perception, create the effect of anticipation» (N.A. Nikolina). Readers’ projections for the content of a literary work largely hinge on its genre, indicated theme, event (and its assessment), prototypical name, etc. The story titles in «A Sportsman’s Sketches» are built on the same principle as the structure of the narrative:  showing characters rather than describing events. The world depicted in the stories is well familiar to the author, but he acts as an observer on the sidelines. All the titles of this series imply the author’s detachment with only one exception – «Hamlet of Shchigrovsky Province», which features an emotional characteristic of the protagonist the author feels close to. I.S. Turgenev’s novels and novellas, by contrast, portray «homes of the gentry» – the world the writer belongs to and describes from the inside. The titles of all I.S. Turgenev’s novels, except «Rudin», signal some problem and the focus of further narrative. Research results suggest ways of conceptualizing some titles («First Love», «Home of the Gentry») which change their prognostic function. Thus, the titles of «Senilia» sketches, by describing isolated fragments from the outer world, help understand the inner world of the narrator; «A Sportman’s Sketches» shows reality through the prizm of the observer; in novels and novellas Man vs Environment conflict is shown from the author’s viewpoint. Studying I.S. Turgenev’s works in chronological perspective (from his early works to late ones) helps see the rationale of name-giving, as well as trace changes in the prognostic function of the titles.