BINARY OPPOSITIONS AS THE MAIN STYLISTIC DEVICE OF ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION OF REALITY IN JULI ZEH’S NOVEL “UNTERLEUTEN”

Abstract

In modern German literature, the topic of German unification and its consequences is one of the most popular. Juli Zeh, author of the novel “Unterleuten”, is a recognized master of socio-psychological prose. The article examines the principle of binary oppositions as the main stylistic device for creating an artistic picture of the world of social and psychological contradictions and conflicts that the country has not overcome in the two decades after unification. The principle of binary, dichotomy seems to be the most organic way of depiction, since it is set by the very theme of the novel. The author considers the oppositions “past – present”, “city – village”, “old people – young generation” as the ideological and compositional basis of the novel. The article also pays special attention to polyphony in the novel, as a means of depicting the main conflict in the work. Julia Tse’s socio-psychological novel develops the tradition of German realist literature at a new stage. Perhaps the writer can be counted among the cohort of young “new realists.” At the center of her work are not the events, but the person inside these events, his thoughts and experiences, his reaction to what is happening around him. Reality in the novel is the sum total of human problems, troubles, likes and dislikes – in a word, what life is made of.