Conflict as a Category of Literary Studies: Analytical Research Strategies

The substantiation of the methodological viability and hermeneutic potential of the category “conflict” is given. The role of conflict as a category of world modeling in fiction is pointed out. Consideration of the conflict in the aspect of dialogism is suggested. Conflict in fiction is a special kind of communicative act arising from the antagonism of “misunderstanding” of the opposing sides, but providing a new level of understanding to the perceiving consciousness of the reader, making it “intellectually armed” (R. Jacobson) in the face of conflicting structures. Analytical strategies for the study of conflict are presented in the semantic aspect (conflict as an object of artistic depiction) and the aspect of structure (conflict as a fundamental structural principle). It is proved that the dual nature of the conflict presupposes taking into account in research practice the possibilities of textocentric and anthropological approaches to the study of conflict, understood as antagonistic relations of oppositional units. The development of epistemology, axiology and poetics of conflict in fiction is seen in the way of studying all levels of “conflict dialogue”.