Środki artystycznego obrazowania w Listach z Afryki Henryka Sienkiewicza
The linguistic exponents of the imagery in the Listy z Afryki [Letters from Africa] by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses selected linguistic exponents of the imagery in the Letters from Africa by Henryk Sienkiewicz. The material analysis has shown that the imagery and vividness of the descriptions contained in the analysed texts are the result of various stylistic and linguistic devices. The most salient of them include: 1) the comparisons, 2) the adjectives and adjectival participles in the function of an attribute, 3) the accumulations of the semantically and syntactically parallel elements. In the comparative constructions the writer skilfully used the associations comprehensible to the Polish reader, made reference to his experiences, tradition and culture, consequently confronted the exotic with the domestic, thereby making the forms, colours and shapes of Africa more familiar, closer, and more easily imaginable. High frequency of the adjectival epithets, referring – except to the sight – also to the taste, smell, hearing, and touch, is the result of the writer’s concern that his description of the African reality engaged all the senses of the reader and gave him the illusion of participating in the exotic journey. This comprehensiveness of the sensations and sensory associations undoubtedly intensified the reality of the descriptions and strongly affected the imagination of the reader, enhancing the imagery. It should be emphasized that the lexis of this kind doesn’t perform an ornamental function, but always underlines some significant element of the described object or occurrence, probably as a results of the genre assumptions, which took into account the expectations of the potential readers, and, above all, the accurate, true, and vivid account of the journey.

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