Semiotic and multimodal representation of existential conflict in fictional discourse

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Semiotic and multimodal representation of existential conflict in fictional discourse

Olha Chernenko

PhD in Philology, Associate Professor,

Department of Germanic and Finno-Ugrian Philology,

Kyiv National Linguistic University

У статті здійснено спробу побудови та застосування лінгвосеміотичної моделі дослідження ек- зистенційного конфлікту у сучасному англомовному художньому дискурсі. Висвітлено сучасну тенденцію філологічних та соціально-гуманітарних студій до залучення інструментарію семіотики, теорії дискурсу та мультимодальності у процес комплексного аналізу твору мистецтва як художньої моделі дійсності. Дослідження ґрунтується на практичних блоках ілюстративного матеріалу, відібраних дискурсивних фрагментах з художнього твору, які містять екзистенційний конфлікт. Суть побудови семіотичної моделі дослідження інтра та інтерперсонального конфлікту за допомогою теоретичних здобутків семіотики та лінгвосеміотики (Ч. Пірс, Ю. Лотман, У. Еко, Г.Почепцов) та теорії дискурсу та мультимодальності (G. Kress, K. O' Halloran, C. Forceville, M. Halliday) полягає у можливості всеохо- плюючого аналізу конфлікту у художньому дискурсі з виявленням латентних, амбівалентних смислів та релевантного реконструювання та інтерпретації конфлікту у творі читачем.

Тому, метою статті є окреслення переваг інтегрального підходу до вивчення конфлікту у сучасній лінгвоконфліктології та побудова лінгвосеміотичної моделі для аналізу та інтерпретації екзистен- ційного конфлікту у художньому дискурсі. Досягнення поставленої мети можливе через вирішення таких завдань: 1) висвітлення здобутків семіотичного та мультимодального підходу до комунікативних систем синтетичного рівня, що містять конфлікт; 2) розкриття місця, ролі і потенціалу екзистен- ційного конфлікту у художньому творі за допомогою вищезазначених методик; 3) побудова лінгвосеміотичної моделі дослідження екзистенційного конфлікту у сучасному художньому дискурсі.

Теоретико-методологічну базу дослідження становлять теоретичні методи аналізу, синтезу, узагальнення а також метод мультимодального та лінгвосеміотичного аналізу для визначення компонентів семіозису інтраперсонального екзистенційного конфлікту у художньому дискурсі.

Результати дослідження полягають у створенні інтегральної семіотичної моделі аналізу екзистен- ційного конфлікту у сучасному англомовному художньому дискурсі, яка передбачає наявність статичної та динамічної складової у її структурі виявлені, зокрема у процесі семіотичного прочитання твору у трьох послідовних стадіях мімезису, семіозису та синтезу. Виявлено лінгвосеміотичні засоби репрезентації екзистенційного конфлікту на різних рівнях художнього твору, що мають мультимодальну природу. Проаналізовано та класифіковано темпоральні, психологічні, знаково-символічні характеристики екзистенційного конфлікту, що складають семіотичний простір або семіосферу художнього твору. У результаті виявлення та об'єднання чинників які визначають характер перебігу екзистенційного конфлікту у художньому творі було реконструйовано лінгвосеміотичну модель аналізу цього виду інтраперсонального конфлікту. Модель охоплює вивчення семіотичних складових знаково-символічного, психологічного та часового простору та поверхневі і глибинні рівні семіотичного прочитання художнього твору, на яких відбувається декодування та реконструкція когнітивних, поведінкових та емоційних аспектів конфлікту. fictional discourse existential conflict

Ключові слова: художній дискурс, екзистенційний конфлікт, мультимодальні засоби, семіотична модель.

semiotic and multimodal representation of existential conflict in fictional discourse

Olha V. Chernenko, Kyiv National Linguistic University (Ukraine)

Key words: fictional discourse, existential conflict, multimodal means, semiotic model. fictional discourse existential conflict

The article represents an attempt to build and apply a linguosemiotic model of existential conflict research in modern English fictional discourse. The modern tendency of philological and socio-humanis- tic studies to involve the tools of semiotics, discourse theory, and multimodality in the process of complex analysis of a literary work as an artistic model of reality is highlighted. The research is based on practical blocks of illustrative material, selected discursive fragments from a literary work, which contain an existential conflict. Basically, the key point here is the analysis of intra- and interpersonal conflict based on the theoretical achievements of semiotics and linguosemiotics (Ch. Pierce, Yu. Lotman, U. Eco, G. Pocheptsov) and the theory of discourse and multimodality (G. Kress, K. O'Halloran, C . Forceville, M. Halliday). It makes it possible to provide a detailed research of existential conflict in fictional discourse with the identification of latent, ambivalent meanings and the relevant reconstruction and interpretation of the conflict by the reader. The paper aims at projecting the modern tendency towards the synergy of various aspects of conflict studies across the humanities.

Therefore, the goal of the paper is to outline the advantages of an integral approach to the study of conflict in modern linguistic conflictology and to build a linguosemiotic model for the analysis and interpretation of existential conflict in fictional discourse. Thus, the paper's core objectives involve: 1) to study the achievements of the semiotic and multimodal approach in its application to synthetic level communicative systems containing conflict; 2) to reveal the place, role and potential of the existential conflict in fictional discourse using the above-mentioned methods; 3) to present a linguosemiotic model for the study of existential conflict in modern English fictional discourse.

The theoretical and methodological base of the research involves general-scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, deduction as well as the method of linguosemiotic and multimodal analysis to determine the components of semiosis of existential intrapersonal conflict in fictional discourse.

The results of the research consist in the creation of an integral semiotic model of the analysis of existential conflict in modern English-language fictional discourse, which assumes the presence of a static and dynamic component in its structure, revealed, in particular, in the process of semiotic reading of the work in three successive stages of mimesis, semiosis, and synthesis. The process of conflict interpretation presupposes a comprehensive approach to semiotic reading activity developed in consecutive steps. The linguosemiotic means of representing the existential conflict at different levels of the literary work, which have a multimodal nature, have been revealed. The temporal, psychological, and sign-symbolic characteristics of the existential conflict, which make up the semiotic space or semiosphere of the literary work, are analyzed and classified. As a result of the identification and unification of the factors that determine the way of development of existential conflict in fictional discourse, the linguosemiotic model of the analysis of this type of intrapersonal conflict was reconstructed. The model covers the study of the semiotic components of the sign-symbolic, psychological and temporal space and the surface and deep levels of the semiotic reading of the literary work, at which the cognitive, behavioral and emotional aspects of the conflict are decoded and reconstructed.

The era of social transformations, changes, and upheavals is characterized by the aggravation of socially significant issues, in particular the question of the value of human life and its freedoms as an existential form of being. The formation of postmodernism as a new cultural reality characterized by an ironic interpretation of reality, cultural indirectness, artistic activity that goes beyond abstraction, the need to revive art through conflict, sincerity, emotion, contributed to the phenomenon of interpenetration of types and genres of art and their representation in communicative systems of the synthetic level [Грубич, Гичка, 2020; Andreichuk, 2020; Verderber, MacGeorge, 2016].

Human communication is characterized by semiotics as a mediated way of transmitting information, modelling any reality, which is not its duplicate, but creates opportunities for multiple interpretations and reinterpretations, thereby acquiring necessarily a symbolic character.

According to Yu. Lotman's definition, artistic forms of communication are created in the sociocultural context; moreover, they are characterized as “secondary modeling systems" [Лотман, 2000, p. 144], a special type of sign systems designed to create artistic models of reality. In the above-mentioned context, not only the question of symbolism and sign systems that a person masters during his life, but also semiotic codes as a certain system of rules and restrictions, established in the mind of the author and the interpreter ensures the construction of common or close meanings and associations to both sides of the sign-decoding process. This phenomenon is predominantly viewed as a definite network that the interpreter “imposes on the phenomenon of simulated reality in order to obtain information" [Еко, 2006, p. 242].

The combined forms of conflict communication in fictional discourse is the field of special interest for semiotics, since semiotics, linguosemiotics, the theory of discourse and multimodality propose an effective mechanism for the analysis of communication transmitted through several channels or modes at once. It should be noted that a certain gap or backlash is formed between reality and its simulated description, the quality and size of which depend on the chosen communication channel or even on their combination, which makes it possible to talk about the “law of semiotic excess" [Ділі, 2000, p. 122; Почепцов, 2002, p. 46]. At the same time, the sign acts as both a means and a mediator for modelling reality in the process of semiosis as a dynamic process, the action of the sign within the semiotic triangle “sign/object/interpretant" is based on the power of the sign “to represent something other than itself" [Ділі, 2000, p. 84]. Thus, the process of understanding a literary work with the conflict development in its dynamic structure in the triadic model “reality - semiotics of reality - artistic representation" is carried out through the code and the interpreter, which enables the understanding and interpretation of the objective-subjective structure of the work, as well as its reusable reading. However, if the verbal fictional discourse covers the ready-made signs, then in the visual text these signs should be constructed earlier.

Thus, artistic modelling of reality not only expands the space of the possible and correlates relations with reality, but also implements a “structural-semiotic explanation of the phenomenon of creation of a work of art and its existence as a whole" [Хайруліна, 2017, p. 344].

Conflict is an integral part of a literary work as a way of modeling the reality of human experience. In drama, cinematography, and literature, conflict is the core of the problem-thematic level; it is the engine that drives the plot of the story forward revealing the characters through their interaction, circumstances, exposing their roles in relation to the theme. In other words, it is a mandatory component of a dramatic work, which is closely intertwined with other elements such as characters, plot, ideological content, style, etc.; an essential part of any story, which provides a dynamic development of the storyline, its meanings and interpretations.

So, the goal of the current research is to identify the main advantages of a complex integral approach to the study of conflict in modern linguistics and to build a linguosemiotic model for the analysis and interpretation of existential conflict in fictional discourse. The tasks of the investigation include: 1) the study of the contemporary semiotic and multimodal approach in its application to the synthetic level communicative systems containing conflict; 2) the identification of the place, role, and potential of the existential conflict in fictional discourse using the previously stated methods; 3) the determination and presentation of a linguosemiotic model for the study of existential conflict in modern English fictional discourse. Methods include general-scientific methods of analysis, synthesis, deduction as well as the method of linguosemiotic and multimodal analysis to determine the components of semiosis of existential intrapersonal conflict in fictional discourse.

The conflict has repeatedly and successfully become the focus of scientific research from the standpoint of various branches of human knowledge. In search of a meta-method of its research and settlement, thorough studies of the conflict as a universal phenomenon were carried out from the point of view of psychology, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, semiotics, etc. Moreover, conflictology and linguistic conflictology, as a field that arose in the 80s of the last century has become a unified platform for the whole range of tasks, related to the study of conflict primarily as a social phenomenon, its genesis, development, resolution, and settlement [Єременко, 2018; Mоісеєнко, 2018].

The modern toolkit of linguosemiotic research methods makes it possible to form and represent an algorithm for the study of conflict communication, in particular, in fictional discourse [Вірченко, 2012; Войцеховська, 2018; Фролова, Омецинська, 2018; Черненко, 2022; Kumral, 2013], media discourse [Зражевська, 2013; Моісеєнко, 2018; Malki, 2018], political discourse [Krolikowska, 2015; Panasenko, 2018], cinematic or film discourse [Грубич, Гичка, 2020; Криса- нова, 2020; Ширман, Котляр, Супрун-Живодрова, 2018], from the viewpoint of corpus linguistics [Yusupova, 2018], cognitive studies [Panasenko, Gregus, Zabuzhanska, 2018], etc. A comprehensive study of various types of conflicts, including existential ones, using the toolkit of multimodal approach, discourse theory, and semiotics, has not been carried out, which raises the question of the relevance of this study in the spectrum of the combination of verbal, nonverbal, and graphic semiotic resources of generation, functioning, and interpretation of conflict communication in fictional discourse.

In the fictional and film discourse, as its intersemiotic translation, the conflict is represented by different levels of verbal, non-verbal, graphic, visual, audio, etc. means depending on the plane of implementation of two main types of conflicts: external (interpersonal) and internal (intrapersonal) types.

Fictional discourse as “the mental-communicative interaction of the author and the potential reader, which takes place in a certain historical and socio-cultural context and is based on the individual author's conceptual sphere as the sum of worldview orientations" [Фролова, Омецинська, 2018, p. 54], materializes the conflict in the fabric of the literary work, where the speech of the characters embodied by the author is a secondary communicative activity. Accordingly, the zones or planes of realization of intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts, which collectively form the organic storyline of the work, are different. If interpersonal conflicts are located in the so-called “character zone" of the implementation of the secondary narrative strategy, then intrapersonal conflicts are located in the “author's" zone of the primary narrative strategy.

The issue of classification of the above-mentioned types of conflicts is considered depending on the selection of certain criteria, according to which both inter- and intrapersonal conflicts are assigned to certain groups. Thus, taking into account the criterion of literary genre, conflicts are divided into epic, dramatic, and lyrical; based on literary genres - comic, tragic, etc. Within the framework of the epic genres of fictional discourse studied (social, graphic, socio-psycholog- ical, postmodern novel, short story) the main types of conflicts are traditionally distinguished according to the “level of confrontation" and are divided into the following types: “Man /Person vs Self", “Man vs Man", “Man vs Society", “Man vs Nature", “Man vs Technology/Machine", “Man vs Supernatural/God/Fate/Destiny", etc. [Rand, 2000, p.133].

Taking into account the feature “level of conflict realization" (intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, etc.), these conflicts are placed in the discourse zone of the “narrator" or “character zone", an intermediate zone is located between them, where conflicts are realized according to a mixed type by means of fictional characters, verbal and non-verbal means of communication as well as the author's means placed in the narrative part of a fiction. Essentially, if the conflict of the type “Man vs Man" is placed by the author in the zone of the character, and the conflicts belonging to the type “Man/Person vs Self", “Man vs. God/Fate/Inevitability/Supernatural" - in the zone of the narrator, then the rest of the above-mentioned types can be realized in the so-called intermediate zone of the disharmonizing plane of the fictional discourse [Черненко, 2022, p. 204].

The unifying feature of internal and external conflict in literature, drama, and cinema is the thematic feature “field of manifestation" of the conflict, therefore, artistic modeling of such types of conflict as political, social, national, religious, economic, ideological, family, philosophical, existential, spiritual, moral (between reason and feeling, friendship and truth, desire and duty) are distinguished in the fictional discourse.

The diversity and heterogeneity of the spheres of manifestation of internal and external conflicts in the social being confirm the postulate of existentialist philosophers about the disproportion of the philosophical categories of existence/essence, which implies the drama of human existence, as well as the problems of choice and freedom as a potential experience of crisis and conflicts. Therefore, the very existence of the dimensions of essence, existence, freedom of choice, fear implies the power of conflict as a driving force of human progress [Guignon, 2002; May, 2004; Spinelli, 2008]. Moreover, in the conditions of dynamic, global, personal, cultural changes, the simultaneous presence of a person at different levels of society from the micro level (individual characteristics, family, friends, school, church, etc.) to the macro level (socioeconomic status, culture, education, legislative system, ideology, etc.) leads to interweaving of conflicts from different “spheres of manifestation" of human existence, which, accordingly, lays the groundwork for such a complex and multi-component phenomenon as existential conflict.

Thus, an existential conflict or crisis belongs to an internal type of conflicts, its forms of manifestation are existential-conflict states of the personality, caused by extremely complex conflicting worldview challenges of life (the meaning of life, personal identity, alienation, death, etc.), which are difficult for a person to reflect on, difficult to self-regulate, and have an emotional-conflict nature [АРА Dictionary of Psychology]. The emotional components of the manifestation of existential conflict states include emotional pain, despair, anxiety, loneliness, etc. The cognitive component of the existential conflict includes the problem of loss of personal value orientations, senselessness of existence, own mortality. The behavioral aspect of the existential crisis is often expressed in antisocial behavior, addictions, and compulsive manifestations. Unstable social conditions, global crises, and uncertainty serve as the basis for the emergence and exacerbation of existential conflict states of the individual, which are based on deep and difficult internal conflicts of the individual, which arise “as a result of the subject's meeting with such diffi- cult-to-understand realities of human existence as the meaning of human existence, the tragedy of the end of human life, alienation, loneliness, divorce, hope, the experience of love and happiness, self-realization, fateful decision, etc." [Красильников, Мац, 2021, p. 80].

The problem of existential conflicts of the individual has traditionally been studied within the framework of the synthesis of philosophy, sociology, psychology, and conflict studies. The existential-humanistic research paradigm, which is based on deep semantic, worldview experiences of the subject, which have an emotional-conflict nature, was formed thanks to the works of such outstanding scientists as E. Husserl, M. Heidegger, S. Kierkegaard, K. Jaspers, A. Maslow, R. May, E. Fromm, and others. The interdisciplinary aspect of the study of existential conflicts is also represented by the existential-phenomenological direction as a synergy of humanistic psychology, philosophy, linguistics, sociocultural studies, and semiotics, where the priority in the study of existential crises is a deep reading of the existential anxiety of the individual and the problem of finding psychological determinants of overcoming existential-conflict states.

Looking for a meta-method for the study of various forms of communication and its components, in particular, conflict, we pay special attention to linguosemiotic analysis, as it provides new opportunities for the identification of latent, ambivalent meanings and the correlation of these results with a broad sociocultural context, which is certainly important in the study of such semiotically complicated form of communication as fictional discourse.

According to the definition of an artwork/literary work as an artistic model of reality, a “secondary modeling system", which is the starting point of the structural-semiotic concept of Yu. Lotman, several levels of flexible modeling of a literary work are distinguished, in particular, analytical, theoretical, interpretive, and semiotic-cultural [Лотман, 2000, p. 250]. The semiotic-cultural model as an intertextual interpretation of the symbolism of a literary work makes it popular in the process of researching works of art precisely because of the possibility of decoding and interpreting the complex process of perception and relationships between the sign and the recipient. Ultimately, a sign as an object of linguosemiotic research, which, in addition to referential and semantic meaning, also has an expressive meaning (emotions, feelings, moods), can be represented at the level of paradigmatic and syntagmatic analysis, unthinkable out of the sociocultural context and the process of interpretation, and, accordingly, the semiotic code as a certain “net that the interpreter imposes on the phenomenon of reality in order to obtain information" [Еко, 2006, p. 243]. In addition, the modern procedure of semiotic analysis of any literary work assumes the presence of semiotic components, which are divided into constant (temporal, psychological, symbolic space) and transitional (changing symbolic space) and also relies on the analysis of surface and deep levels of semiotic reading of fiction - mimesis, semiosis, and synthesis. Thus, the application of the semiotic model to the reading, decoding and interpretation of a literary work as a secondary modeling system, in which a fragment of reality is not only reflected, but also modeled, generated, functions, and even predicted, opens up wide opportunities for the analysis of fictional, cinematic, media, political, etc. discourse, including that which contains conflict.

The artistic interpretation of reality in both literature and drama occurs through conflict. Actually, the conflict lays the implicit basis of the symbolic space of such a work - dualism and the opposition of the real and the ideal, which, in the end, enables the reconstruction of its harmonious understanding. Researchers of the role of conflict in the structure of fiction warn against a simplified understanding of the conflict as a direct “duplicate" of the life conflict, which is reduced only to the intensity of personified clashes, the struggle of characters, similar to the intensity of social relations in reality. Even in this interpretation, it is understood as a reflection of life's contradictions in a broader sense, where one cannot do without an understanding of the philosophical category of existence. The complexity of the presented problem also lies in the fact that the conflict in fictional discourse is an element of both content and form, and also acts as one of the main components of the work on a par with such primary elements of drama as “action" and “character", and therefore, it can be interpreted as a complete ideological and artistic category that does not require too detailed delimitation or fragmentation. After all, thanks to the conflict, the idea of the work is revealed, thus outlining its functional purpose, which is characterized by a fairly wide range of various functions of conflict: modeling, epistemological, didactic, evaluative, aesthetic, hedonistic, cathartic, etc. [Вітренко, 2012; Цурюпа, 2004].

Existential conflict in literature and cinematography is characterized by the depth of emotional dimensions, where an important role is played by the symbolic nature of verbal and nonverbal codes of the manifestation of emotional-sensual experience embodied in the practices of inner experiences. Accordingly, the means of the spectrum of the linguosemiotic toolkit for the construction and reconstruction of existential-conflict states of the individual is characterized by diversity and multimodality.

Existential crises are usually depicted in such literary and film genres as art-house, noir, so- cio-psychological drama, decadence, philosophical literature, dystopia, social-household drama, biographical novel, psychological novel, graphic novel, etc.

If in the fictional discourse, the literary-semiotic model of the analysis of a work of art involves the “overlay" of a network as a plot element to highlight further details of the semiotic reading of the work and is more static, then the pragmasemiotic model of communication in film discourse is characterized by greater mobility and componentity, which accommodates “the mediated interaction of the collective author and recipient with the help of verbal, non-verbal and cinematographic resources and is delayed in time and space" [Крисанова, 2020, p. 124]. Visual signs of film language (R. Barthes' term), unlike language signs, have an arbitrary and motivated nature, respectively, the possibilities and laws of interpretation, modeling, the logic of visual semiotic systems differs from the logic of building an artistic model of a literary work. A sign in the cinema, which is formed with the help of lighting, camera angle, frame color, mise-en-scene, frame color, acting, etc. is part of a code that consists of visual, audio, and text information. Since the signified in the film discourse has a multimodal nature, the meaning, accordingly, is not immanent, but more transcendental to the film, which enables a clear reading of the existential- conflict states of the characters, their relationships with others, actions, etc. Thus, R. Barthes singles out three levels of meaning in a movie:

1) the informative level, at which the process of directly conveying the message to the viewer takes place, which, in fact, makes this level communicative;

2) the symbolic level of meaning, where the study of the symbolic space of cinematic discourse takes place with the help of cultural, historical analysis, dramaturgy, psychoanalysis;

3) the filmic level, the level of meaning of the open meaning, which makes the film an unfinished reflection for the viewer [Barthes, 1970, p. 876].

Essentially, the depth of reading a sign in a fictional discourse depends on the cultural and value background and individual knowledge of the recipient of the work, and, accordingly, the “common interpretant (commind)" which is necessary to establish a communicative process [Andreichuk, 2020, p. 65]. The process of interpretation of the work by the reader (reading upon the text) is a rather complex and demanding activity, which is based on literary, linguistic, intellectual, etc. reader competencies. Actually, the reader reconstructs the new text around his values in order to form and present his own position as a point of view of the world and a new way of looking at it.

We note that the process of semiotic reading of a literary work correlates with the levels of meaning in a film work identified by R. Barth. Thus, N. Kumral, characterizing the process of semiotic reading of a literary work as a complex approach consisting of three consecutive phases of reading, singled out the stage of reading a work to extract the direction of the meanings embedded in it: the level of mimesis, or the natural domain, the stage of simeosis as the interpretive process of construction of meanings by the reader (cultural domain), and finally, the stage of synthesis, where the reader moves from the said to the unsaid, creating a critically understood text of counterarguments directed at the author, and he attributes such a critically-oriented reading of the work to the symbolic domain as the highest process of signification and evaluation [Kumral, 2013]. Critically, the author defines semiosis as “a triadic (sign/object/interpretant) socio-cognitive dynamic process that depends on the context and the interpreter" [Kum- ral, 2013, p. 32].

Nevertheless, O. Kyrylova, based on considerations of multi-level cinema reality of creating a relevant semiotic-cultural interpretive model of a decadent film-maker, which often serves as a film space for embodying the existential conflict of the individual, singles out such levels of analysis as “morphological, to which the form, structure, and composition of the film-maker are subordinate, stylistic, where style is analyzed as a culture-specific code, rhythmic, which explores linear unity as the organization of screen space in motion and the composite frame construction, intertextual, which demonstrates the cinematic origins of the film work and its inter- textual potential for the further film tradition, auditory - musical series and background sound accompaniment, tactile, which connects rhythmic and anthropological levels, montage - montage division of the film space, as well as specific anthropological and narrative levels" [Кирилова, 2018, p. 18-20].

Analyzing the existential crisis of an individual in fictional discourse, we would like to go further and define the existential conflict as present in all blood vessels of a dramatic work, if it is possible to compare a work of art with a living being. On the anthropological level, this is embodied in the selection of the appropriate acting texture and artistic characters, on the narrative level - in the first person limited narration technique, on the editing level, where editing is considered the leading element of creating a sign in fiction - it is embodied in the use of the editing technique as an artistic technique in fictional discourse and can contain both an emotional and a rational element. Respectively, we find signs, elements, components, signs and symbols that represent the conflict at other levels of an abstract interpretive model as a “network" of a finished literary work, as well as at the stages of a semiotic reading of such a work.

Having analyzed the dynamics of intrapersonal existential conflict development as an integral part of a literary work and its fragments, represented in a fictional discourse by different modes of communication (semiotic resources) we singled out the main components which form a semiosphere of such a work which provides a «toolkit» for its dynamic semiotic reading.

The semiotic space of the literary work, the semiosphere (Yu. Lotman's term) consists of semiotic constants: temporal space (artistic time: plot, fictional, biographical, social and everyday), psychological space (moderate, extreme, etc.), a sign-symbolic space (constant symbolic/transitional symbolic) that serves as a universal means of constructing and reconstructing the meanings of an artwork/fiction. The representation of the existential conflict with multimodal semiotic resources by the primary narrative strategy occurs mostly at the problem-thematic and subtextual/symbolic level of the literary work and is woven into the plot as a necessary element for the interpretation of the work as a whole.

Fig.1 semiotic model of existential conflict analysis in fictional discourse

The semiotic model of fictional discourse is complex in its structure and also comprises its characters and developments of the plot with a conflict fiffing into the overall structure of the storyline. The illocutionary purpose of the author is reconstruction of the meaning by the reader which occurs at the intersection of verbal, nonverbal and graphic semiotic systems and evokes particular emotional and evaluative reaction in them.

The scheme of interpretation and analysis of the work in general and its conflicting component in particular by means of the analysis of the semiotic model involves successive stages of analysis of various sign systems or semiotic resources (verbal, non-verbal, graphic, audio, graphic units, etc.), which intersect and interact, and therefore do not appear before the reader in a certain established sequence or in the order of their occurrence, but as if in a mirror image of arbitrarily located semiotic constants. The first thing the recipient gets to know is the title of the fiction as one of the main symbols of the artistic code created by the author with multi-stage creative effort, the decoding of which requires, accordingly, a consistent understanding of all stages of the semiotic reading of the literary work and the study of the laws of the individual author's language.

Next, individual images created by the author thanks to the possibilities of artistic means are revealed to the reader/viewer, taking into consideration the specifics of the functioning of each level of the work, corresponding to one or another type of sign systems and the logic of their interaction. Respectfully, these levels are not considered in a mirror perspective (interpretation phase) in the process of analysis, but in a sequence that corresponds to the increasing level of abstractness of the work (critical comprehension phase). The mechanism of interpretation involves the movement from the most abstract level of the work of art as a model of semiosis to the least abstract, related to the ontological referents of the art of words as “a type of symbolic activity that reflects their integrity" [Астрахан, 2010, p. 12].

Such referents are primarily a person (his feelings, actions, emotions, experiences, moods, events of his life) and the world (in its spatial and temporal dimensions). The final stage of the interpretation phase also includes the formation of a complete picture of the world, which is perceived by the reader as a certain symbolic analogue, “a substitute for the real world, created by him for the sake of such a comparison" [Хайруліна, 2017, p. 344].

So, for example, the title of the novel written by the well-known British writer Paula Hawkins “The Girl on the Train" (The Girl on the Train), accompanied in the printed version by a visual iconic image of a blurred train car, serves at the same time as the main symbol of the artistic author's code; the process of signification in the interpretive phase of the semiotic reading of the work defines the train not as a symbol of movement, but rather as a symbol of uncertainty, wavering, the impossibility of escaping from the “enchanted circle" of the existential crisis in which the main character of the novel, Rachel, found herself. The visual image of a blurred train acquires the connotative meaning of hidden danger; here the author uses the cinematographic method of suspense, a dramaturgical tool for the movement of the plot, which creates an atmosphere of anxious anticipation, a foreboding of the terrible.

Fig. 2. The title of the book "The Girl on the Train" by Paula Hawkins

The phenomenon of multimodality as the presence of multiple semiotic resources allowed us to single out and unite visual, verbal, non-verbal, graphic, cinematic resources as the ways of meaning-making on the interpretational stage of semiotic reading of a literary work. The combination of frame color (nonverbal and cinematic modes), close-up and eye level shot in the foreground (cinematic mode), large blurry font and its color (graphic mode) and verbal messages “You don't know her. But she knows you" (verbal mode) not only produces an expected effect on the reader but also facilitates the process of semiosis as reconstructing the potential meanings of the text around a new center. The beginning of the novel is also marked by bold capital font “THERE IS A PILE OF clothing on the side of the train tracks", creating suspense in the story (graphic mode).

According to the scheme proposed (see Fig.1), the semiosphere of fiction where existential conflict fits into the overall structure of a story comprises: temporal space (artistic time: fictional, biographical, social), psychological space (moderate, as an internalized personal identification of the main character, which serves as a zone for revealing the existential conflict Rachel's personality and the extreme psychological space in which the main character reveals the manipulative techniques of the abuser), a sign-symbolic space (constant symbolic: the red signal, the house, transitional symbolic: the can, the pile of clothes) that serves as a universal means of constructing and reconstructing the meanings of the fiction.

Even in the first chapter, where the time-space is defined by the narrative artistic time (Friday, July 5, 2013), which does not coincide with the plot, it does not follow the chronological sequence of events, but looks into certain periods of time depending on the narrative of the protagonists of the work, and signs are clearly traced as links of the significant network of the existential conflict of the individual.

The stop of the train, in which Rachel makes her daily journey to work, at a red signal: "There's a faulty signal on this line, about halfway through my journey. The train stops at the signal as usual" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 12], which for other people on the train can serve as a signifi- er of danger, breakdown, delay, etc., symbolizes Rachel's own life, put on pause, and moreover, the decoding of the meaning of signs is presented immediately in interaction with another sign - the house, as a signifier of family happiness and well-being "The train stops at the signal...I have a perfect view into my favourite trackside house", which Rachel experienced and lost "While we're stuck at the red signal, I look for them: Jess and Jason" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 18-19]. Thus, the plan of content, or the concept, corresponding signified for the signifier home/house is not wealth or comfort, well-being, but the pain of loss, and the fictional names that Rachel bestows on the residents of the house serve as another sign of replacing psychological trauma, which the heroine experienced.

The features of an existential crisis at the cognitive level - the loss of personal value orientations, senselessness of existence, etc. we reconstruct by analyzing the signs an empty can "I lift the can to my mouth again, but there's not a drop left" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 23], a pile of clothes "The pile of clothes from last week is still there, and it looks dustier and more forlorn than it did a few days ago" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 34]. The signified here is the concept image "empty life", which has a verbal and narrative confirmation "I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head..J can't help myself, even though there is nothing I want to see there, even though there is anything I do see will help me" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 21].

The emotional components of the manifestation of Rachel's existential-conflict state comprise emotional pain from contemplating someone else's happiness ""When everyone is out and about, being fragrantly, aggressively happy, it's exhausting, and it makes you feel bad, when you're not joining in" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 43], despair, Rachel's loneliness "Just a hug or a heartfelt squeeze of my hand, and my heart twitches" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 28].

The behavioral aspect of the existential crisis is often expressed in antisocial behavior and appearance "My face is puffy from the drinking and the lack of sleep" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 20], addictions "I don't have to feel guilty about drinking on the train" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 18], compulsive manifestations "I held out for about three minutes before I retrieved the phone and dialed into voicemail" [Hawkins, 2016, p. 24].

It should be noted that the representation of the existential conflict with the help of multimodal semiotic resources (including the primary narrative strategy) occurs mostly at the problem-thematic and subtextual (symbolic) level of the fiction and is woven into the plot as a mandatory, necessary element for the interpretation of the literary work as a whole.

Thus, the concept of a semiotic-cultural communicative model of existential conflict in fictional and cinematic discourse includes, in addition to static, dynamic components that determine its structure at the form/content level. Realization of existential conflict occurs at all levels and cross points of levels and planes of a literary work and is embodied multimodally with the help of verbal, non-verbal, and graphic semiotic resources. The semiotic model of the analysis of existential conflict in fictional discourse involves the imposition of a plot-fabulous "network" both on the discourse as a whole and on the discursive fragments containing the conflict as its static component. The statics of the model provides for the existence of semiotic constants - nodes of temporal, psychological, and sign-symbolic spaces, covering multi-level fictional reality as a secondary modeling system. The dynamics of the implementation of the model covers (the process of reading, decoding, and reconstruction) surface and deep levels of semiotic reading of the literary work, at which the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional aspects of the existential conflict are decoded and interpreted.

The theoretical significance of the research undertaken is primarily determined by a certain contribution to the theory of multimodality, linguistic conflictology, linguosemiotic, discourse theory. The set of defining parameters for shaping the intrapersonal conflicts and their types in fictional discourse are preliminary and assume further consideration but the linguosemiotic analysis of existential conflict discourse fragments confirmed the liability of the study from a multidi- mentional perspective. Functional and pragmasemantic potential of integrative semiotic model from the viewpoint of intersemiotic translation constitutes a research perspective.

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