Экфрастические описания в романе Гюстава Флобера «Саламбо»

Abstract

The article presents the analysis of Gustave Flaubert’s novel Salammbô as regards the presence of ekphrastic descriptions in it. There are two types of ekphrasis in the work. For the first one the basis was provided by famous paintings (for the most part those of 19th century French artists), which were familiar to the writer. These are the masterpieces by Jean-Léon Gérôme and Théodore Géricault. As for the second type of ekphrastic descriptions, it is suggested that in the process of their creation the French author could have had recourse to the paintings of several Orientalist painters. Furthermore, Flaubert extrapolated some qualities of their painting to his own literary work, using bright colors, contrasts’ collision and other caracteristics of this art.