Specifics of Provence mentality in the novel “The Year in Provence” by P. Mayle.

Abstract

The article deals with the specifics of the literary interpretation of the mentality of one of the most amazing regions of France - Provence. The paper represents an attempt of analytical comprehending the unique routine practices of the Provence inhabitants, described in the novel “The Year in Provence” by the English writer Peter Mail. Peter Mail is an extraordinary modern English writer. In the 70-ies of the twentieth century he first debuted as a children’s, or rather adolescent, writer in the field of sex education for young adults. When he moved to Provence, he simply fell in love with the beauty of this region and radically changed his preferences - he began to write about the unique way of life of the Provence people. Therefore, the article considers the essence of the author’s strategy of modeling the way of life of the inhabitants of the unique French culture by an English writer.

The paper particularly focuses on the way of organizing the life of the Provence inhabitants, as well as on the temperamental behavioral traits of literary images of the characters living in this region. Routine plot is relevant in the novel “The Year in Provence”, and elements of the travelogue genre enhance the dynamics of the event sequence. The article presents the defining features of the behavioral model of the Provence inhabitants. It also draws parallels with the Ukrainian practices of everyday life. The elements of cross- cultural analysis are applied in order to expand the cognitive, integrative functions of the text in the work of fiction. Cross-cultural analysis of the text of the novel allows predicting the peculiarities of the mechanisms of interaction between two cultures the Provence and the Ukrainian ones.

It is noted that the “Provence text” of the novels by Peter Mayle is considered in terms of the imagological content of the friend-or-foe oppositions in the literary perspective of the fiction work. It is observed how the novel “The Year in Provence” presents literary attractions, the rhythm of life of the inhabitants in the region, which has not only positive moments but also flaws. The following features of the behavior of the Provence inhabitants are revealed: regularity, balance, self-restraint, etc.