Presentation of the monograph «Spain as metaphor»

Abstract

The author presents a scientific monograph “Spain as metaphor”. The aim of the research is to learn the national image of Spain at the junction of different scientific directions: history, culture studies, pragmalinguistics, social psychology, literary criticism, image and imagology. Features of the archetype and mentality of the inhabitants of Spain, the constants of the Spanish picture of the world, modern linguistic phenomena within the framework of national culture and sociohistorical context are considered. Turning to the concept of metaphor seen as ethnocultural concept, the author justifies the book’s title. The main theses of the chapters are considered by analyzing some basic notions and key words that allow one to study a national image of the country from different points of view: fiesta, color, humor, family, piropo-compliment etc. A sociolinguistic portrait of the Spanish society is presented through historical changes. The national character and details of everyday life are considered in the space of the Spanish language. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of modern spoken language in different strata of society, changes in lexical and syntactic means of communication and transformation in forms of addressing. The mutual images of Russia−Spain /Spain−Russia in historical and contemporary contexts are traced. The author studies the stereotypical and realistic view of Spain. A brief review of the bibliography is presented.