The structure and functions of the sound code in the “The Hunting Sketches” by Ivan Turgenev

The researchers of Turgenev’s writings have gained a significant experience while studying and interpreting the semantics of various components of the artistic world of the writer. For a long time the main accent was focused on the problems of identifying the features of the reconstruction of the heroes and characters of Turgenev’s prose. At the same time, in the latter half of the last century considerable efforts were put to determine the place and functions of the space-time structure, its visual segment (including the coloristic one), as well as the peculiarities of the olfaction sphere. However, the role of the sound scores within the boundaries of Turgenev’s poetics was studied only sporadically. Meanwhile, the sound code in the “The Hunting Sketches” cycle is of great importance. The structure of this component of the common picture of the world consists of a few levels; each of them has a certain hierarchy inside. At the natural level the sounds of fauna predominate with the predominance of birds’ voices, that conveys the semantics of the air and freedom. The noise element of the depicted flora is based on pantheistic principles with an emphasis on aesthetics and metaphorization. Within the social sound code the cultural paradigm occupies a special place with a clearly marked musical-vocal series that results in a special plot with the apogee in the story “Singers”. Finally, a number of «mystical» sounds complement the complex picture of the national cosmos, as perceived and portrayed by Turgenev in its prosaic cycle.