Individual stylistic features of allusive anthroponymic concepts in O. Henry’s stories

The paper considers how the peculiarities of allusive anthroponymic concepts are realized on the material of short stories by an American writer O. Henry. Sixteen short stories are selected for analysis. The method of continuous sampling, of conceptual analysis and the descriptive method have been used in the research. It is revealed that an allusive anthroponymic concept can be represented in the form of a concept-representation, a concept-notion, a prototype, a model and a frame. Allusive anthroponymic concepts-gestalts have not been identified in the sample. It is shown that the analysis of an allusive anthroponymic concept can be carried out in a successive description of layers, such as information and image, notional, associative and axiological ones. The notional layer of an allusive anthroponymic concept–notion and concept–prototype has a special significance. The axiological layer is connected with the ironic evaluation of characters and images. It has been established that the ironic evaluation can be based on the contrast of stylistic connotations of an allusive anthroponym and statements with low stylistic connotations, as well as on the contrast of the situation of reference and intratextual events related to illegal activities of the characters. It is concluded that O. Henry’s stories are characterised by a great variety of reference sources, including biblical and mythological allusions, references to writers and historical persons. Allusive anthroponyms can have a recurring character in one or several stories and contribute to the creation of an artistic image of a character. The attributes are transferred according to the principle of metaphor and metonymy. The types of concepts in the stories are diffuse, which makes it difficult to clearly define the type of allusive anthroponymic concept: the concept-notion may have similarities with the notion, and the prototype and the concept–notion may have common features.