PSYCHOLOGICAL DETAIL AS ONE OF THE MAIN MEANS OF EMBODYING PSYCHOLOGISM IN CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE (BASED ON IRWIN SHAW’S NOVEL «TWO WEEKS IN ANOTHER TOWN»)

Abstract

The problem of psychologism as one of the key characteristics of contemporary fiction is a relevant topic of current scholarly research. This phenomenon is studied both in the context of specific literary works and as a universal property of fiction. The aim of the article is to identify psychological details in Irwin Shaw’s novel «Two Weeks in Another Town», to determine their role, and to trace the ways in which they are transformed into basic elements for constructing the protagonist’s psychological portrait. In Irwin Shaw’s novel «Two Weeks in Another Town», psychological detail plays an important role in revealing the peculiarities of the inner world of the main character, Jack Andrus, becoming a tool for exposing hidden emotional states, anxieties, and mechanisms of psychological response. Two recurring psychological details were identified: the mirror and blood. The word «mirror» appears in the text of the novel 32 times, and each occurrence marks a moment of psychological tension. In the opening scenes, the mirror performs a bodily-biographical function, recording the physical condition of Jack, a former movie star, and provoking his anxiety about his present appearance. His youthful admiration of his own body in the past contrasts with his postwar avoidance of mirrors that reflect the traumas of war, the loss of youth, and discomfort caused by physical changes. This contrast implicitly introduces one of the novel’s main themes – the midlife crisis, as well as the protagonist’s key internal conflict: the conflict between the past and the present, and the quintessence of his psychological state at the moment of meeting Veronica – dissatisfaction with his present self. In the elevator operator’s story, the function of this detail expands into a symbol of trauma, a sign of the destructive power of the past. The mirror finally turns into a symbol of destructive force after Jack’s breakup with Veronica and the collapse of his long-standing friendship with the film and body, bloodstains. Blood, as a psychological detail, functions as a psychological marker – a sign of inner fracture and pain – and reveals Jack’s inner drama: his constant struggle between passion and a sense of duty, his painful hesitation, and his attempts to understand whether he has made the right choice. Psychological details structure the protagonist’s inner world, revealing his psychological states and reactions. They perform a coding function: through psychological details, the main themes and conflicts of the novel are embedded in the subtext. The meaning and function of a psychological detail may expand in the course of the narrative. Psychological detail may also lead to psychological generalizations. Thus, psychological detail is one of the key means of embodying psychologism in contemporary prose director whose collaboration once made Jack a movie star. The word «blood» appears in the text of the novel 46 times. These are descriptions of bleeding, of the sensation of blood on the hero’s face