Color Construction of Reality in the Novel “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky

Semantics of Pale Colour

Abstract

The article attempts to model an image of what could be the world of pale colour in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky including all constituents such as lexis, title and meaning of colour, codes underlying them (cultural, state, social, etc.), normative legal acts of that time, state legal ideas. The article pays attention to pale colour: its hermeneutical field is defined, primary (literal) and secondary (allegoric) meanings are identified. The key to decoding of colour code in the novel “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky is tractate “Theory of Colours” by J.W. Goethe, particularly, the linkage between pale and yellow and blue/dark blue colours is traced, the low intensity of blue/dark blue and the distinctive saturation of yellow is indicated. It is concluded that there is an opportunity to consider pale colour as a sign in the analysis of separate scenes in the novel. Both methodological and gnoseological difficulties when decoding and interpreting pale colour in the lexicо-semantic field of the novel are highlighted. Attention is drawn to the need of study and reconstruction concerning historical conditions of a literary work creation in order to determine the features of the constituting of its meaning, for the relevant perception and interpretation of pale colour.