THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE CONCEPT “ENGLISHNESS” AND THE IMAGE OF AN ISLAND IN THE LITERARY WORKS OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE XXth CENTURY

Abstract

The concept “Englishness” has been outlined in a large number of literary island works. The image of an island plays the important role in English culture: in architecture we can find crannogs (artificial islands in the middle of a lake), in mythology, history of the English language the research by many specialists has shown that the name of the Isle of Man derives from Manannan, the Celtic god of the sea; in literature a lot of island works are represented. The metaphor “person-island” also figures in the island literary works of the first half of the XX century. In these literary island projections the image of an island reflects the inner world of a person who forgets or, on the contrary, reserves his English identity. The most well-known English island literary works have been examined through the correlation of the image of an island and the concept “Englishness”: “The Island Pharisees” by J. Galsworthy, “The Moon and Sixpence” by W. S. Maugham, “To the Lighthouse” by V. Woolf, “Mister Blettsworthy on Rampole Island” by H. G. Wells and “The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles” by B. Shaw.