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JŪRINA ŠVABARYTĖ-VALUŽIENĖ
Institute of the Lithuanian Language
Research areas: analysis of dialects in written sources, dialect lexicography and lexicology, sociolinguistics, syntax.
LINA KAZLAUSKAITĖ1
Šiauliai “Aušra” Museum
Research areas: stylistics, syntax.
COMPARISONS IN THE WRITINGS OF MARIUS KATILIŠKIS: LINGUISTIC ENVIRONMENT AND NEW MEANING
Comparison of Texts by Marius Katiliškis: Linguistic Environment and New Meaning
ABSTRACT
This article presents to the scholarly community an analysis and comparison of the artistic device of simile in two novels by the writer Marius Katiliškis: Miškais ateina ruduo and Išėjusiems negrįžti. Discussion of the similes in these novels by Katiliškis shows that the novels’ linguistic environment allows similes to be expanded by complementary surroundings. In that case, the image loses its function as a simile and is broken down into its separate comparative words. Consequently, readers can no longer understand the simile in the traditional way, because Katiliškis creates an image that readers do not expect.
KEYWORDS: simile, relationship between theme and image, structure of comparison, complementary surroundings of the simile.
ABSTRACT
The article presents the scholarly community with an analysis and comparison of two novels by Marius Katiliškis—Miškais ateina ruduo and Išėjusiems negrįžti—in terms of the literary device of simile. Discussing the similes in these novels by Katiliškis, the author observes that their linguistic environment creates conditions for expanding the similes with complementary surroundings. In that case, the image loses
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the function of comparison and is divided among individual words of the simile. Hence, there is no space for the reader to comprehend the simile in a traditional manner, because Katiliškis creates such an image which the reader does not even expect.
KEYWORDS: simile, theme-image relationship, composition of the simile, complementary surrounding of the simile.
INTRODUCTION
Associative thinking is the process by which reality is reflected in consciousness, allowing things, animals, plants, and so on—both quite similar and entirely different—to be compared on the basis of some secondary feature. Simile, a figure of speech used for expressive comparisons, is common not only in discourse but also in literary, journalistic, and even scholarly texts. According to Juozas Pikčilingis, comparison with something superior “will make even a trifle stand out” (Pikčilingis 1989: 43). Simile is an interdisciplinary research phenomenon: it interests linguists (stylisticians and syntacticians) as a lexical and semantic, structural and grammatical link, and literary scholars as an artistic means of expression.
Vokiečių ir rusų kalbų stilistai palyginimus skiria prie tropų (Я 1998: 520–521; Брандес 1983: 140). Lietuvių stilistai palyginimą apibūdina kaip priemonę perkelinei reikšmei atsirasti, kaip metaforizacijos pagrindą (Pikčilingis 1975: 352–356; Župerka 1980: 18–19). Lenkų ir latvių kalbininkai taip pat akcentuoja metaforizacijos procesą (Kurkowska, Skorupka 2001: 202; Jekevics 1967: 140).
Both stylistics researchers and literary scholars view simile as a complex means of expression. It is most often regarded as a binary construction (Zaborskaitė 1982: 06; Ramonaitė 1972: 18–22; Голуб 1986: 38; Брандес 1983: 140; Koženiauskienė 2013: 151–152). Other views hold that, in addition to what is being compared and the object it is compared with, the tertium comparationes (the third component of comparison; cf. Župerka 1997: 59) is also indicated. In this article, simile is understood as a ternary unit: the theme, the image, and the basis of comparison (Kazlauskaitė 2006: 66–74).
Structurally, a simile may be complete or incomplete, depending on the semantic composition of its words. As a syntactic construction, simile has distinctive grammatical and structural features. Lithuanian and Russian linguists have distinguished simple and extended similes. The classification of simple similes is described in detail by Valerija Ramonaitė (1972: 18–22). Fewer simile constructions are distinguished in Russian and German (Познань 1987: 379; Брандес 1983: 141). Polish expresses comparison using jak, jako, niby, ni to, na kształt, jak gdyby (Kurkowska, Skorupka 2001: 201), while Latvian uses kā, nekā, it kā, jo-jo (MLVG I 1959: 771–773; LVG 2015).
Ramonaitė distinguishes as many as nine constructions of the latter type of simile: comparisons joined by kaip, tarytum, tarsi, lyg, nelyginant, it, nei; those using the instrumental case
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comparisons expressed; correlative (relative) comparisons; comparisons with the preposition *prieš* (‘before’); comparisons with the verbs *mena*, *primena*; comparisons with the adjectives *panašus*, *lygus* and *tikras*; comparisons supplemented by modal words *rodos*, *atrodo*, *sakytum*, and so on; negative comparisons.
The existence of extended comparisons composed of several sentences and capable of encompassing an entire paragraph is noted not only in Lithuanian, but also in sources on Latvian and Russian (Попталь 1987: 379; Гольб 1986: 239–240).
Two other terms are used in Lithuanian linguistics: comparative phrase and comparative clause (LKG 3 1976: 653–689; Gavenis, Keins 1990: 116). These terms describe grammatical relations between words in a sentence and the broad, perceptible image of comparison (DLKG 1997: 634). The term comparison is also used in phraseology, where it is described as a cognitive metaphor (Marcinkevičienė 1994: 14; Koženiauskienė 2001: 206–215; 2013: 153–160)1.
RESEARCH MATERIAL, AIM, METHODS AND OBJECTIVES
Marius Katiliškis (Albinas Vaitkus, 1914–1980) is recognized by literary scholars as one of the most authentic and eloquent writers of Northern Lithuania. Opinions on the language of his novels are divided. Some praise Katiliškis for his eloquence and linguistic subtlety (Kubilius 1995: 453; Bukelienė 1999: 76–99; Sprindė 2012: 49–53), while others say that his eloquence makes his ideas excessively difficult to grasp (Raila 1991: 549; Nyka-Niliūnas 1996: 213). Katiliškis himself greatly valued words; he would always emphasize that he knew words understood by only a few linguists, yet he felt that, over time, writing in exile was becoming increasingly difficult: “There is no soil to nourish the language. We have been torn from our native clay.” (Macijauskienė 1981: 56).
Straipsnyje nagrinėjami romanų Miškais ateina ruduo (1957) ir Išėjusiems negrįžti (1958) veikėjus charakterizuojantys palyginimai. Medžiaga rinkta iš 1991 m. romanų perlaidos, siekiant atskleisti Katiliškio palyginimų variacijas ir kuriamą kultūrinę palyginimo prasmę. Tuo tikslu keliami šie uždaviniai: išrinkti, suskirstyti ir aptarti Katiliškio romanų Miškais ateina ruduo ir Išėjusiems negrįžti palyginimus pagal lyginimo pagrindą; sugretinti abiejų romanų palyginimus ir jų variacijas; apžvelgti kuriamų palyginimų papildomą aspektą (prepozicinį ar postpozicinį pažyminį, aplinkybę) ir išryškinti Katiliško romanų palyginimų savitumą. Sukauptai medžiagai taikomi analizės, gretinimo ir apibendrinimo metodai.
1 The authors do not address theoretical problems of comparison, since that would be the subject of a separate article.
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COMPARISONS IN THE NOVEL WHEN THE FORESTS COME INTO LEAF
Katiliškis uses comparison to describe not only the novel’s main characters (Tilius, Agnė, Monika, Doveika), but also its minor characters (Tugaudžis, Red Petras, Gužienė, etc.). A comparative analysis of the topics and imagery of the comparisons shows that Katiliškis’s characters are compared with human traits, natural phenomena, household objects, the press, and folk characters (see Appendix 1). Comparisons with natural phenomena are most often expressed by the words wind, storm, thunderstorm, drought. Animals used as the basis for comparison are identified as domestic (horse, dog, cat, rooster, gander, brooding hen) and wild animals, birds, and so on (lion, worm, sparrow, lapwing, partridge). Among plants, Katiliškis most often mentions a branch, tree, wild rose, and grass (see Diagram 1). In all the diagrams, the vocabulary forming the basis of comparison is presented according to word frequency.
DIAGRAM 1. Comparison of the characters in the novel When the Forests Come into Leaf with nature
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The image of the comparisons is broadened or narrowed by various modifiers, cf.: (dog) ill-tempered, (horse) young, hot-blooded, (dog) tailless, (apple) nibbled, of a willow swaying over the water (twig), (birch) with a straight trunk, the hot breath of spring, the lukewarm summer (rain), peony (blossom), which one would like to pluck and hold close to one’s heart, [dry], rustling, old (sparrow), and so on.
When comparing characters with nature, Katiliškis does not merely, or even primarily, emphasize certain traits of the characters’ personality or appearance; rather, he creates a new linguistic meaning that is unusual, unexpected, and unconventional. Consequently, the comparison cannot be understood traditionally but is framed by the lexical meaning of the basis of comparison.
A similar image is created by comparisons whose basis is the human (non)cultural and associated social environment. In the novel Autumn Comes Through the Woods, kinship terms are most often used in comparisons (mother, child, baby). Katiliškis likes to use words denoting social affiliation as the basis of comparison (farmhand, farmer, villager). The words chosen by the writer convey (non)cultural meanings (post, scrap of newspaper: specter, drunkard, Gypsy) (see Diagram 2).
DIAGRAM 2. Comparison of the characters in the novel Autumn Comes Through the Woods with the human cultural environment
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The basis of comparison is broadened or narrowed by various modifiers, cf.: an honest runaway (laborer), (mother) a baby, (half-grown girl), a graduate, gone to church or visiting her friends, a true sister of mercy (sister), quite safe (man), (priest) from the pulpit, limping and terribly battered (person), toy (grasshopper), (posts) at a road junction, flax (sheaves) from a mark, and so on.
Comparisons characterizing people in the novel Autumn Comes Through the Woods show that the image is broadened by additional context (a preposed modifier, an expanded postposed modifier). Katiliškis describes the subject phenomenon, thing, or action forming the basis of comparison and its additional aspects in great detail, one might say deliberately; thus, the image of traditional comparisons remains the same, but a different basis of comparison is selected, helping to create a new sentence meaning.
The traditionally recognizable features of the characters emerge from these unconventionally constructed comparisons. Women and girls are sturdy, healthy, rosy-cheeked, and fair-haired (for example, Agnė). Boys and men are strong and tall (Každaila, Tilius), except for those who have no permanent place of residence. They are crippled (Laurynas) or elderly.
COMPARISONS IN THE NOVEL IŠĖJIMES NEGRĮŽTI
The characters in this novel are rather conditional, since people’s lives in the novel are quite chaotic. Comparisons used to describe narrators, refugees and soldiers, management, strangers, and women are presented in Appendix 2 of the article. The characters in this novel are also compared with nature. Here, however, Katiliškis diminishes the animals, plants, and natural phenomena used as points of comparison, or identifies them as unpredictable phenomena. For instance, in comparisons with a dog, horse, ram, cat, the image is broadened not only by postposed or preposed modifiers: mangy (dog), hunting (hound) following the trail blindly, (pig), a wire threaded through its snout, a bullock (bull), and so on, but also by circumstances: (horse) in the pasture, (ram) a runner at the front of its flock, (cat) in a starling’s nest box, and so on. The image in comparisons using the words beetle, bee, insect pupa is narrowed, cf.: (bees) through a narrow flight-hole from the hive, a Jew’s (bee), and so on. When compared with plants and flowers, such as a shoot, a plum, the writer shapes the image with modifiers, cf.: splendid and rare (flower), picked in the gardens and flowerbeds of the northern country, (plum) turned blue and ripened, with a lush stem (shoot), threatening soon to cover an old tree stump, and so on. The image of comparisons with elemental natural phenomena (gust, thunder, fog, volcano) is broadened only once—with an active volcano (see Diagram 3 and Table 2).
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dog, cat, ram, horse
Basis of comparison nature
ant, bees, insect pupa
flower, sprout, plum
gust, thunder, hail, volcano
3 DIAGRAM. Comparison of characters with nature in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti
The comparisons in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti are far more traditional, less often restricted by modifiers, and Katiliškis already uses the basis of comparison to draw the reader into a search for individual and cultural meaning.
In the diagram, common words serving as the basis of comparison with the human cultural environment are neblys, nekrikštas, saracenas. Modifiers that restrict the meaning of the comparison are rare in the novel, e.g.: nekrikštų kūdikiu, tikri saracenai, kokie laukinių salų gyventojai orchidėjų vainikais, and so on. The words apynvirtis, lėlė, senų maišas are used for comparison almost without modifiers. The basis-of-comparison words Jūratė, Samsonas, the Chinese deity, and others provide the reader with a broader cultural, literary, and musical emphasis, extending beyond Lithuania to the world at large. The basis-of-comparison words šmėkla, velnias are used without modifiers (see Diagram 4).
The basis of comparison in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti reflects Katiliškis’s cultural and literary experience, while the comparisons highlight the emotional state of characters who have found themselves in a hopeless situation.
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4 DIAGRAM. Comparison of the characters in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti with the human cultural environment
The narrator of the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti is compared with various animals and objects that highlight resilience and emotionality arising from the inability to betray the Homeland. The fugitives are compared not only on the basis of outward appearance, but also through subtext that reveals an emotional layer. Comparisons characterizing the leadership seek to highlight human flaws: rudeness, cruelty, greed, inertia, and malice. Strangers, little-known or unknown people are compared by emphasizing some similarity between an object, phenomenon, or action and the person being compared. Women are compared with plants and natural phenomena.
CONCLUSIONS
Marius Katiliškis tends to expand a simile with additional surrounding material (a preposed or postposed modifier, or an adverbial). The image seems to lose its comparative function. Because of the descriptive nature of the simile, the semantic load is distributed among individual words. To understand the meaning, attention must be paid not to
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the central word of the simile, but to the phrase as a whole. This model of simile is more characteristic of the novel Miškais ateina ruduo. There is less such elaboration of the simile in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti. It is most often observed when the author turns to poetic speech or embarks on an epic description.
When the simile is brief, Katiliškis compensates for the comparative context with the basis of comparison and microcontext. Traditional similes predominate in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti. The similes in the novel Miškais ateina ruduo are unconventional and far more evocative.
It can be observed that Katiliškis alters an image that has a certain definition and basis of comparison in the reader’s mind, introducing another feature of appearance or character (kaip arklys (nusižiovavau); kaip slyva (pamelės) visas kūnas, ne tik nosis).
Comparing the similes in the two novels leads to the conclusion that the writer continually changes language, like a living organism, and develops new meanings for lexical combinations. In the novel Miškais ateina ruduo, primary nomination is evident. A simile may not sound like a definition of the head word. Here everything is immensely close and real: when Katiliškis compares, he invariably adds detail, as if the simile would otherwise remain unclear. In the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti, the language moves to a higher level (secondary nomination). Usually, only the external similarity between the things being compared is described, and the reader must decode the meaning for themselves (especially in the case of similes that invoke the culture of the world in a broad sense—customs, literature, religion, and so on).
LITERATURE AND SOURCES
Bukelienė Elena Nijolė 1999: Prozos keliai keleliai. Vilnius: Saulės delta.
DLKŽ – Grammar of the Contemporary Lithuanian Language. Vilnius: Institute of Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing, 1997.
Gaivenis Kazimieras, Keinys Stasys 1990: Kalbotyros terminų žodynas. Kaunas: Šviesa.
Jankevics Andris 1967: Piežmes par salīdzinājumus partikulas kā lietošanu. – Latviešu valodas kultūras jautājumi. 3 laidiens.
Katiliškis Marius 1990: Užuožėja. Išėjusiems negrįžti. Vilnius: Vaga.
Katiliškis Marius 1991: Miškais ateina ruduo. Vilnius: Vyturys.
Kazlauskaitė Lina 2006: Pagrindinius veikėjus charakterizuojantys palyginimai Mariaus Katiliškio romane „Miškais ateina ruduo“. – Acta humanitarica universitas Saulensis 1. Šiauliai: Šiaulių universiteto leidykla, 66–74.
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Kožniauskienė Regina 2001: Retorika. Iškalbos stilistika. 2 leidimas. Vilnius: Mokslo ir enciklopedijų leidybos institutas.
Kožniauskienė Regina 2013: Retorinė ir stilistinė publicistinių tekstų analizė. Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla.
Kubilius Vytautas 1995: XX amžiaus literatūra. Vilnius: Alma littera.
Kurkowska Halina, Stanisław Skorupka 2001: Stylistyka polska zarys. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN.
LKG – Grammar of the Lithuanian Language 3. Vilnius: Mokslas, 1976.
LV – Grammar of the Latvian Language 2nd edition. Authors: Ilze Auziņa, Ieva Brenke, Juris Grigorejs, Inese Indrāne, Baiba Ivulāne, Andra Kalnača, Linda Lauze, Ilze Lokmane, Dace Markus, Daina Nītiņa, Gunta Smiltniece, Baiba Valkovska, Anna Vulāne. Riga: Institute of the Latvian Language of the University of Latvia, 2013.
Macijauskienė Marija 1981: Tarp dviejų laiškų. – Nemunas 8, 1981, 5.
Marcinkevičienė Rūta 1994: Kognityvinė metafora – kalbos universalumo ir unikalumo matas. – Tautos vaizdas kalboje. Šiauliai: Šiaulių pedagoginis institutas.
MLLG I – Grammar of the Contemporary Latvian Literary Language 1. Phonetics and Morphology. Riga: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the Latvian SSR, 1959.
Nyka-Niliūnas Alfonsas 1996: Temos ir variacijos: literatūra, kritika, polemika. Vilnius: Baltos lankos.
Pikčilingis Juozas 1975: Lietuvių kalbos stilistika 2. Vilnius: Mokslas.
Pikčilingis Juozas 1989: Kalbos ekspresyvumo būdai ir priemonės. Vilnius: Žinija.
Sprindytė Jūratė 2012: Marius Katiliškis. – Literatūra 12 klasei. 2: Modernioji XX a. antrosios pusės literatūra. Nepriklausomybės laikų literatūra. Chrestomatija. Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas.
Zaborskaitė Vanda 1982: Literatūros mokslo įvadas. Vilnius: Mokslas.
Župerka Kazimieras 1980: Stiliaus figūros. Vilnius: LTSR aukštojo ir specialiojo mokslo ministerija.
Župerka Kazimieras 1997: Lietuvių kalbos stilistika. Vilnius: Mokslas.
Бранде Маргарита Петровна 1983: Стилистика немецкого языка. Москва: Высшая школа.
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Голуб Ирина Борисовна 1986: Стилистика современного русского языка. Москва: Высшая школа.
Розенталь Дитмар Эльяшевич 1987: Практическая стилистика русского языка. Москва: Высшая школа.
Я – Linguistics. Large Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. in chief V. N. Yartseva. Moscow: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998 or http://tapemark.narod.ru/es/ (accessed 2017 09 10).
APPENDIX 1. Similes in the novel Mišais eina ruduo
Basis of comparison
Expression of comparison
Person (body part, gender, social status, profession)
like a scoundrel and a traitor; like a stranger from a distant land; like a thief; like a vagabond; like a farmer; like a decent worker at harvest’s end; like a grumbler; like sorted goods; like a first-year student; like a mother with a baby; like a child; like your half-brother Petras; like a vein; I ran about like a madwoman along the riverside; let him not think that he can so easily be lulled and swaddled like a little child; like a girl; as though a young woman, having left home, you went to church or to visit friends; like a mother; like a true nurse of mercy; like a little rascal already; like the only one; like a noble lord in the passageway of his own courtyard; like a village woman; like a trained soldier; like some kind of messenger; like a prosecutor gesturing, turned toward the courtroom; like a true conspirator; like a girl in a rye field; like a drunkard; like a human being; like a gypsy; like a woman; like a wastrel; like a mother now; like a friend; like all safe men; like brothers; like old friends; like true lovers, young people; like infants in their naivety and helpless incapacity; like sleepwalkers suddenly rising from their beds; like gypsies; like farmers; like relatives; like a lame, badly mutilated little man; like pious women; like a priest from the pulpit; like priests at the confessionals, peering in.
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Nature (fauna, flora, natural phenomena)
like a duck; like a dog gone utterly mad; like a rooster with a comb; like a rooster; like a tailless dog; as though waiting for a young, hot-blooded horse; like a little worm in the corner of a pea pod; like a mole in the very middle of the yard; like a shriveled apple; like a rye stalk on a hill; like a tree; like thunder; like a goat nibbling dahlias over a fence; like a yellow-breasted bunting on a cherry branch; like a magpie; one might say, a louse; like a violet in an alder grove; like a willow fork swaying over water; like a summit flooded by dawn; like a Paladin; like a flowering bird-cherry branch torn off and sharply brandished in a hand; like that tree; like a birch with a bored-through trunk; like a tick; like the rot of an old stump deep in the forest; like the wind; like a hot breath of spring; like warm summer rain; like a scrap of mist blown in by a wind from the clouds; like a hornet; like a pod; like a peony blossom one longs to pluck and pin close to one’s heart; like a storm; like the wind; like something dry that ruffles everything; like a gust of wind; like parched earth; like someone being stroked down the back; like a lion; like a gander; like a tethered horse; like a willow bent down; like a navel; like a river absorbing countless streams into itself; like a hedgehog; like a boar; like a polecat; like a dog being teased; like a bristling hen; like cats; like a tick on a cow’s udder; like a mosquito; like a hen dust-bathing in the sun; like a rat; like a bull; like calves; like a lizard; like a rooster sensing the yoke; like an unbroken calf from the market; like a pointer waiting for a wooden gunshot at rising ducks; like a heifer unmilked in the barn in spring; like a lark; like an old sparrow; like butterflies; like the finest working animal; like a plow ox; like a great toad; like a sparrow; like a badger in its den; like a swallow; like a worm; like a red-and-white cow from pasture; like a gander; like a stork; like a white butterfly from a gray-pink flower; like a mouse; like a stallion sensing the logs being carried; like oxen being turned in a yoke; like an eel among benches; like a lion; like a cat; like a pig after wallowing; like a pig; like lapwings; with a dog’s voice; like a calf rolled onto the ground; like a yawning duckling; like calves until they gag; like a frightened bull; like a true beast; like a louse; like a rooster; like an aphid; like a harmonious chorus of birds, with a hat twisted on; like a mink; like a strawberry; like a vine twining around the first stalk it comes across, trembling; like a sturgeon; like grass, tender and easily trampled underfoot; like a willow twig; like a dogwood in a clearing; like river leaves; like a little weeping birch; like a pine sapling in a clearing; like a leaf.
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Household objects (domestic utensils, construction materials)
like a post; like a wall; like an unsold, worn-out thing at a marketplace; like a toy cricket; like a spinning top; like posts at a crossroads; like a cross; like a cart loaded with coal; like the forehead of a threshing-barn stove; like a loom; like a woollen mitten; like a bundle of flax from the barn; like a folding ruler; like a rag; like a strap.
The press
like a scrap of newspaper; like paper.
Folklore characters
like a crow that has gorged on cheese; like some kind of specter; ugly as the devil, and angry as a witch mother; like actors; like someone bewitched in the threshing barn over buried money; like a sorcerer in the forest.
Human activity
like a haystack made from a heap of hay.
APPENDIX 2. Comparisons in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti
Basis of comparison
Expression of comparison
Person (body, parts, social status, profession)
like a mute; like a true and sworn soldier; like liberators of their homeland; like a Christian; like infants; like children in a playroom; as though to their own children; like a spoiled child; like orphans; like tankmen; like skilled hunters of poultry and other dry provisions; like holidaymakers, enlivened; like people seeing the forests and the city for the first time; like Indians; like that grainy farmer; like tank grenadiers; like a true intellectual; like some Negro in Africa; like a Jewish pauper; like little babies; like unbaptized babies; like heathens; like heathens; like tails; like true aristocrats; like a Cossack; like a woman going to market with eggs; like a sour-faced man going to a church festival; rather than a creator of the Third Reich; like the greatest military commanders; like a little woman who had cracked her eggs; like a deceived maiden; like true Saracens; like a cursing blasphemer, like a first-class fool; rather than our NKVD man; like a turkey; with a peacock or at least a rooster among birds of lesser stock; like a pauper dragging a load for the construction of his palace; like inhabitants of wild islands wearing orchid wreaths; like masters of the smokehouses in their native villages; with ordinary Lithuanians; like all those exhausted and with endless time on their hands; like a stern and supremely knowledgeable judge; blessing like hoarfrost; like the fingers of one hand spread over trampled straw; like this ham’s udder; like a wrestler;
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JANA ŠVAMBARYTĖ-VALUŽIENĖ, INA KAZLAUSKAITĖ
Nature (fauna, flora, natural phenomena)
like a horse in a pasture; like a ram at the head of its flock; as if some kind of two mares; like a bitch in heat; like a dog; like a plum; like the last rams; like a cat in a crow’s nest; like a mare forgotten by her owner outside the tavern; like a flock of sheep; like a Jew’s bees; like stags with their antlers thrown back; like stags with their antlers caught in the endlessly impassable alder thickets; like hazel grouse; like rabid dogs; like a dog; like a pig; like herrings; like a horse in a drunkard’s cart; like an insect’s pupa; more than all the village dogs; from a bear’s hibernation at its beginning, its own tail; like a hunting dog keenly watching the situation; into a goat; like a tassel; than a mechanical hare to a hunting dog; like a pig with wire threaded through its snout; like a hedgehog; like a lion; like thunder; like hail; like an active volcano; amu; like oxen; like a bull gone astray; like little bees through a narrow opening in the hive; like ants; as if ants; like a crow; like flint; like coal; like cats; like a pig around clouds; like the brittle growth of a graft, threatening soon to deceive the old tree stump; as fine and rare as a flower gathered in the gardens and flowerbeds of the northern land; a purlas.
Household objects (domestic utensils, construction materials)
like a sack of old steaming-cloths, passed through a press; like a soap crumb rattling in a tub; like half a garna’s hide; like a fermenting mash; like rivers; like the hollow of an old tree, where both wasps and bees make their nests; like a smagas; like a fermenting mash; like a key under a fingernail; like a log; like a kolna; a real lelė.
Print, literature, music, culture
as if some Parsifal; like Peer Gynt; like a Chinese deity; as if Judas had been cut open, a pouch with thirty pieces of silver, embodying many popular images; like Samson at the millstones; like Jūratė in the ruins of her amber palace; like an angel.
Folklore characters
like šėklos; like that fox from the freezing fishing hole; like devils.
Comparisons in the Works of Marius Katiliškis: Linguistic Environment and New Meaning
SUMMARY
The article discuses the similes used in two novels by Marius Katiliškis (1914–1980) – Miškais ateina ruduo (The Autumn Comes through the Forests) and Išėjusiems negrįžti (To Those Who Departed Never to Return). Katiliškis tends to expand the simile with complementary
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Acta Linguistica Lithuanica LXXVI
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Marius Katiliškio raštų palyginimai: kalbinė terpė ir nauja prasmė
surrounding (by prepositional and postpositional attributes, adverbial modifiers). The image as if loses the function of comparison. Through the descriptive type of the simile, the semantic load of the image is resolved among individual words. In order to comprehend the meaning, not the main word of the simile but the whole phrase has to be taken into account. Such a simile model is more characteristic of the novel Miškais ateina ruduo. There is less resolution of the simile in the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti. It is usually observed when the author speaks in a poetical manner or goes for an epic description.
If the simile is brief, Katiliškis compensates the comparative context with the basis of comparison and its complementary surrounding. The novel Išėjusiems negrįžti is dominated by traditional similes. Untraditional and far more inventive similes prevail in the novel Miškais ateina ruduo.
It is observed that Katiliškis tends to change the basis of comparison for an image that already has a certain definition in the reader’s mind, highlighting a different peculiarity of appearance or manner [like a horse (yawning), like a plum the whole body, not only the nose; (I waned) as a horse, the whole body, not only the nose, is (blue) like a plum].
The comparison of the similes used in the two novels leads to the idea that the writer raises the language as a living organism and changes the result of the thought and its linguistic form by creating a new meaning of the simile. Primary nomination can be observed in the novel Miškais ateina ruduo. The simile may even sound as the definition of the main word. Everything is immensely close and real: by comparing, Katiliškis necessarily provides details; otherwise, the simile would be difficult to comprehend. The language of the novel Išėjusiems negrįžti shifts to a higher level (secondary nomination). Usually, only the exterior coincidence of the things being compared is expressed, and the reader has to decipher the code (in particular those similes which encode the global culture in a broad sense (customs, literature, religion, etc.)).
