GENRE AND LINGUOSTYLISTIC PECULIARITIES OF CONTEMPORARY FICTION ROMANCE (A STUDY OF DANIELLE STEEL’S NOVELS)

Abstract

The article deals with the analysis of the fiction romance genre as a widespread phenomenon in contemporary mass culture which enjoys no small popularity among readers. Literary critics’ controversial views on the genre have been commented on. The article is aimed at highlighting peculiarities of fiction romance on the example of Danielle Steel’s novels and the analysis of the main text-forming tendencies of the writer. The empirical material on which the present study is based originates from 14 romance novels by Danielle Steel, one of the bet-selling fiction authors. The present research has analyzed the objective of the genre, its structural and plot-related peculiarities. A lot of attention has been paid to the text-making and linguo-poetics of the writer’s literary discourse wherein various lexical figures of speech such as similes, hyperboles, epithets, etc., and their combinations play an important role in presenting the protagonists, describing their appearance, character and psychological state. It is notable that the variety of synonyms occurring in the target discourse make the text more varied, help to avoid the monotony of repeating the same words, are used for emphasis and testify to the writer’s rich power of words. Of special interest are religious, historical, literary and other allusions which reflect the author’s skill and challenge the reader’s erudition. Besides, multiple use of the lexeme “eyes” made it possible to single out 10 conceptual metaphors which are useful for deeper understanding complex ideas in simple terms. In D. Steel’s plots, the women characters find happiness owing to hope which they sooner or later come across and which introduces changes in their life, improves the situation, helps solve the problems and overcome difficulties. Moreover, some characters are described against the background of historic events, such as the war in Vietnam, the sinking of the Titanic, etc., which makes the narration true-to-life. The present study concludes that fiction romance is not deprived of its stylistic merit and should not be underestimated.