chronotope

Stephen King’s novel Revival (2014) takes after Robertson Davies’s novel Fifth Business (1975), the first book of the Deptford trilogy, although the name of the Canadian writer is significantly missing from the list of King’s acknowledgements. The paper is focused on the comparative analysis of the two novels, the starting point being the category of “fi fth business” borrowed by S. King from R. Davis.

The article considers the motive of rumor in its spatial and time expression based on the cycle of «Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka» by N. V. Gogol. The stylistic functions of the rumor motive in the novels’ plots and the internal link with the folk tradition are researched.

The article discusses the features of how the artistic space of Chekhov’s story is organized. Two key chronotopes are identified: Home and Garden. The structural features of the chronotope of the House are analyzed. It is shown how the chronotope of the House exercises the determining influence on the characters, for whom theatricality as an imitation of life becomes their main feature.