literary text

The text explication of the key and title concept of Pavel Nilin’s novel Cruelty is considered in the article. The place of this mental formation in the linguistic and cognitive picture of the world is very important, despite the differences in the approaches of different scientists to its understanding. Cruelty is equated with aggression and violence in most social sciences (psychology, philosophy, sociology).

The article gives a brief note on the origin of the semiotic trend in linguistic research. Theoretical prerequisites of the metasemiotic approach to the analysis of literary texts are specified. The author offers a possible paradigmatic concept of the metasemiotic analysis based on equivalent but different meanings, as well as on the antonymic oppositions on the material of a literary text.