The semantic potential of the concept "faith" in Maxim Gorky's novel "Foma Gordeev"

The purpose of the article is to identify the semantic potential of the concept "faith", to show its role in the disclosure of the ideological and philosophical layer of the story, in the system of characters. The subject of the research is the analysis of the functions of the concept "faith" and the ways of its actualization in the first major work of M. Gorky's novella "Thomas Gordeev". The main form of realization of the concept is the monologues of the heroes addressed to the main character in order to inspire their own idea of faith, as well as in his internal monologues and dialogues with opponents.The prospects for the study of the concept of "faith" are connected with the analysis of its functions in other genre forms created by the writer, which allows us to trace the evolution of the artist's worldview. The scientific novelty lies in the proof of the position that the concept of "faith" in the plot of the story expands the peripheral spectrum of meanings revealed in the process of educational monologues of characters addressed to the main character, his internal monologues and dialogues with opponents. The expansion of the peripheral zone of the concept occurs in its speech representation: the use of the concept under consideration by the actors allows us to judge the character of the hero, the moral atmosphere of the era.The result of the study showed that the use of typological, historical and functional methods, conceptual analysis allowed us to determine the associative space of actualization of semantic units characterizing the concept of "faith". The results obtained can be used in the course "History of Russian literature of the XX century", in special courses on Gorky's work.

Gorky, Foma Gordeev, the concept of the faith, the structure of the narrative, the system of characters, the connotation, the periphery of the concept, the monologue, the dialogue, the associative background