A buried childhood in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield

• Authors: Jankowska Tatiana

Title variants

PL

Pogrzebane dzieciństwo w Dawidzie Copperfieldzie Karola Dickensa

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Charles Dickens’s autobiographical novel David Copperfield devotes much space to the protagonist’s childhood. By analyzing structural relationships of spatial elements in the artistic world of Dickens’s novel the article focuses on the motif of childhood home in relation to such spatial images as churchyard, elm-trees, garden, rookery and Never-never land. Childhood in David Copperfield is associated with death only on the plot level through the motifs of David’s early trauma of loss, but also owing to numerous metaphors constructed through language expressions as well as through imagery and motifs. Moreover, the motif of childhood home indicates the heavenly home (or nest) where we go – in the sense of homecoming – after death.

PL

Dawid Copperfield, autobiograficzna powieść Karola Dickensa poświęca wiele miejsca motywowi dzieciństwa protagonisty. Analiza strukturalnych relacji przestrzennych elementów w artystycznym świecie powieści koncentruje się na przestrzeni domu rodzinnego w relacji do przestrzennych obrazów cmentarza, wiązów, ogrodu, gawronich gniazd i Nibylandii. Motyw dzieciństwa łączy się w powieści ze śmiercią nie tylko na poziomie fabuły poprzez motywy dziecięcej traumy i osierocenia Dawida, ale także dzięki wielości metafor konstruowanych na poziomie języka oraz poprzez obrazowanie i ekwiwalencje motywów. Ponadto, dom rodzinny wskazuje w powieści na niebo, gdzie wszyscy powracamy – jak do domu – po śmierci.

Keywords

EN

Charles Dickens; David Copperfield; death; childhood; space; home

PL

Charles Dickens; Dawid Copperfield; śmierć; dzieciństwo; przestrzeń; dom

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Gdański
• Journal: Beyond Philology: An International Journal of Linguistics, Literary Studies and English Language Teaching
• Year: 2017
• Issue: 14/3
• Pages: 149-169

Dates

published

2017

Contributors

author

Jankowska Tatiana

References

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Identifiers

ISSN

1732-1220

ISSN

2451-1498