Naturalistic symbols in the late 19th – early 20th century American novel

Abstract

The article deals with the study of naturalistic symbols in the fiction of the United States of America of
the late 19th – early 20th centuries. The aim of the research is to analyze functional assignment of the symbolic
images in Frank Norris’s novels «The Octopus» and «McTeague», Theodore Dreiser’s «Sister Carrie», and
Stephen Crane’s «The Red Badge of Courage». Naturalistic «matter-of-factness» of the styles of the narratives
under study is combined with poetic «height» of romanticism and symbolism, thus, details, things and facts of
reality get the status of Dingesymbols. The role of such symbols as «octopus», «gold», «rocking-chair» and «red
badge» in the corresponding works of the American authors has been analyzed in the article. The American
literary naturalism has been proved to carry its national and author’s individual peculiarities connected with its
close links with romanticism and peculiar concept of a man doomed to resist overmastering influence of
determinism. The article is of interest to those dealing with literary studies, literary criticism and text analysis