THE CONCEPT OF MYSTERY IN SIRI HUSTVEDT’S ESSAYS ON PAINTING

Abstract

The article focuses on the analysis of the concept of MYSTERY in Siri Hustvedt’s essays on art published in the book under the title “Mysteries of the Rectangle”. The concept of MYSTERY verbalized in Hustvedt’s essays is treated as a textual concept in its intentional and receptive aspects. It has been determined that in Hustvedt’s essays the concept of MYSTERY becomes a part of a more complex conceptual structure MYSTERY OF PAININTG and as such includes components represented by the meaning of the lexeme mystery (“strange”, “not known”, “has not yet been explained”, “has not yet been understood”) as well as the components rooted in Hustvedt’s idiosyncratic approach to painting interpretation (“effect of a picture on spectators is not always known/ explained”, “solving the mystery of paining leads to discovery”, “it is good”, “visceral responses to a picture lead to its understanding”). Besides, it had been revealed that realizing its intentional potential, the conceptual structure MYSTERY OF PAININTG preforms six functions: provides semantic motivation to the titles of the essays included into the book; expresses the congruity of the author’s approach to art interpretation; conveys the author’s attitude to pictures perception in the modern commercialized world; manifests the author’s attitude to the pictures which pose difficulties for their interpretation; communicates the experience of perceiving a particular picture; contrasts the traditional rational approach to a painting interpretation with the author’s idiosyncratic approach. The two more functions of the conceptual structure MYSTERY OF PAININTG are determined by the realization of the receptive potential of this structure and are the following: offering to the readers an alternative way to painting reception with more emphasis on the emotional perception and convincing the reader that rational explanation does not exhaust the picture meaning.