PROVINCE AS A MENTALLY GEOGRAPHICAL AND MORAL PHENOMENON IN THE LITERARY WORLD OF J.AUSTEN AND G. ELIOT

Abstract

In the article the value descriptions of the space of English province are defined in the novels of J.Austen and G.Eliot. Research of space of province as the mentally geographical and moral phenomenon allows to select the types of values (idyllic, heroic, romantic) and different variants of their correlation (elevated, tragic, comic), and also to make conclusion about the meaning of acciological transformations in the artistic world of authoresses. The province space in the novels by J. Austen and G. Eliot reflects the historical stage of literary values evolution in the national literature and helps to reveal an individually author’s axiological dominant idea. In J. Austen’s works the essence of conflicts is concentrated in the ethics of family relationships. The representation of the province in her literary world allows portraying idyllic values in elated and comical correlation. As the plot develops, the idyllacy turns into comicality or romanticism. These transformations are aimed at establishing J. Austen’s principal measure of values – nature and naturality. But in G. Eliot’s works the conflict acquires socially critical colouring. The imaginary idyllacy is disproved by the tragic reality of people’s existence, with an individual being a measure of values.