ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ЛИТЕРАТУРЫ В КОНТЕКСТЕ ФИЛОЛОГИЧЕСКОЙ ИМАГОЛОГИИ

The article focuses on studying a literary image within imagological approach. The first step in the image research is drawing a distinction between the notions “image” and “concept” and putting forward a new notion - “conceptual space of the image”. This approach is applied to analyzing images of hero and enemy in English folklore tradition of the Middle Ages. Within the proposed methodological approach a conceptual space of the images is constituted by major axiological concepts of Anglo-Saxon and Late-Medieval cultures. A comparative study contributed to revealing a considerable shift in axiological highlights, numerous content discrepancies and a radical shift in a descriptive focus of image concept constituents due to major developments in cultural, political, and social spheres.