ANIMAL REFERENCES IN BLAGA DIMITROVA’S NOVEL “LITSE”

Abstract

The current paper analyses the animal references in the novel “Litse”. Up until now those animal references have not been noticed by the literary critics who have commented this novel. Animal references are used at two different levels – stylistic and symbolic. The stylistic analysis follows the uses of animal references at the word-formation level as well as the epithets, comparative structures and metaphors that contain animal references. The horse and the wolf are two animals that can be viewed as symbols. They have a very important place in the characters’ lives because of the moral values and ideas the two animals represent. An attempt has been made to answer the question whether the animal references, especially those of the wolf, represent this animal’s real behavior, or they are the result of the so-called cultural fallacy.