Poetics of Character Portrayal in Contemporary Psychological Thriller

Abstract

The aim of this article is to study the means of creating character portraits in the contemporary psychological thriller. The material for the study was the insufficiently studied novel “The Fury” by British writer Alex Michaelides. It is shown that the portraits of the characters are revealed through the depiction of their appearance, personality, speech characteristics, actions, social and family status, value orientations — which constitutes a traditional method of revealing a literary image. It is noted that in the novel under consideration these methods are supplemented by the analysis of the causes of character development, the emphasis on their inner world, conflicts and contradictions of personalities, to which references to scientific psychological works contribute significantly. The analysis of the text of the novel allowed us to identify thematic series of key lexical units serving as dominants in the disclosure of the images of the main and secondary characters (loneliness, rage, pretense). It has been established that the psychologism of the novel is complemented by the description of the natural landscape against the background of which the tragic events take place, while the pictures of nature serve as a figurative comparison of the characters' inner world. It is proven that the psychological portraits allow the author to express the main idea of the novel: dissatisfaction, loneliness and constant pretense can lead to the collapse of the modern individual's personality.