| Popis: |
The purpose of our investigation is to characterize the peculiarities of the representation of the motif of freedom in “Northern Tales” by Jack London. We proceeded from the hypothesis that there is a motif of freedom in this cycle. It is embodied, first of all, in the image of free, unconquered northern nature. Researchers have repeatedly drawn attention to the writer's characteristic romantic contrast between nature and civilization, which imitates the depiction of nature by representatives of Enlightenment realism of the 18th century and Romantics of the 19th century. Nature heals humanity, corrects it spiritually, makes it perfect, while civilization distorts the human essence, makes a person physically weak or morally crippled. The nature of the North, free and unconquered, awakens the desire for freedom in a person, but also tests it, reveals its deep essence, encourages to know oneself and to harmonize and improve. Of course, the motif of freedom is also realized through the images of people. The heroes of northern tales, whose fate often depends on the ability of a person to free himself from the thirst for gold and feel the thirst for life, to understand and realize the true values of life. The overview of the stories of the northern cycle presented in the study confirms our hypothesis that the motif of freedom is one of the most pervasive and important motifs of this thematic cycle. |
