Oxymoron , oxymoron, and also oxymoron, oxymoron [1] ( dr. Greek ὀξύμωρον , literally “witty stupidity”, from dr. Greek ὀξύς “sharp” + μωρός “stupid”) - to a seemingly absurdity a pointed expression, figurative combination of conflicting concepts [2] ; witty juxtaposition of conflicting concepts, paradox [3] ; stylistic figure or stylistic mistake - a combination of words with the opposite meaning (that is, a combination of incongruous ).
Oxymoron is characterized by the deliberate use of contradiction to create a stylistic effect. From a psychological point of view, an oxymoron is a way to resolve an unexplained situation [4] [5] .
Content
Examples
- Oxymoron is often found in poetry [6] :
And the day has come. Gets up from the bed
Mazepa, this frail sufferer,
This corpse is alive , yesterday
Moaning weakly over the grave.- A.S. Pushkin . Poltava
Whom to call me? With whom to share
That sad joy that I survived?- Sergey Yesenin . " Soviet Russia "
- Oxymoron is often used in the names of prose literary works ( “Hot Snow” , “Living Corpse ”, “ Dead Souls ”, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being ”, “ Endless Dead End ”, “ End of Eternity ”), films (“ Ordinary Miracle ”, “ C with wide eyes ”,“ True lie ”,“ Little giant of big sex ”,“ Tomorrow was war ”,“ Bad good man ”,“ Adult children ”,“ Society of dead poets ”), music groups ( Blind Guardian -“ blind guard ” "), Video games ( LittleBigPlanet ).
- Oxymorons are used to describe objects that combine opposite qualities: “courageous woman”, “feminine boy”.
- In the novel Foucault 's Pendulum , the characters of Umberto Eco fantasize about a "university of comparative unnecessary things" with the department of oxymoristry. The author cites “urban studies of nomadic tribes”, “popular oligarchy”, “innovative traditions”, “dialectics of tautology”, etc. as subjects of study of this department.
- In the name of the holiday " Old New Year ."
- Oxymorons are often used in advertising and not always in good faith. For example, the expression “forex investment” is an example of professional oxymoron, since the private foreign exchange market by its nature cannot be an object of investment , only speculation (in the economic literature there is often an attempt to separate speculation and investment; however, there is no single opinion. For more details, see article " investment ").
- The very word "oxymoron" (lit. "witty-stupid") is an oxymoron. (See Recursive Definition .)
It is necessary to distinguish between oxymoron and stylistic combinations of words characterizing various qualities: for example, the phrase “sweet bitterness” is an oxymoron, and “poison honey”, “loss found”, “sweet torment” - stylistic combinations.
See also
- Antithesis
- Antitone
Notes
- ↑ Egorova T.V. (comp.). Dictionary of foreign words of the modern Russian language: 100,000 words and phrases. - M .: Adelant, 2014 .-- 800 s. - (Library of school dictionaries). - ISBN 978-5-93642-322-2 .
- ↑ Ancient Greek-Russian Dictionary (in 2 volumes): approx. 70,000 words (in both volumes) / Compiled by I. Kh. Dvoretsky
- ↑ Dictionary of foreign words that make up the Russian language: Materials for the lexical development of borrowed words in Russian. lit. speech / Comp. under the editorship of A.N. Chudinova . - St. Petersburg: V.I. Gubinsky, 1894./s. 582.
- ↑ Kryshchuk N. “Yes” and “no” by Nikolai Punin [ specify the link ] // Star. - 2002.
- ↑ Korotchenko E.S. A visual analogue of oxymoron. // Questions of psychology. - 2006.
- ↑ Kvyatkovsky A.P. Poetic Dictionary / Scientific. ed. I. Rodnyanskaya. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1966 .-- 376 p. The article "Oxymoron".
Links
- Oxymoron in the Literary Encyclopedia
- E. Repin, N. Repin. The comforting hypnosis of oxymoron
- Nikolaev A. I. Syntax of artistic speech // Nikolaev A. I. Fundamentals of literary criticism: a textbook for students of philological specialties. - Ivanovo: LISTOS, 2011 .-- S. 140-147.