The image of the interpreter and his “Living Emblems” in “The Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan and its adaptations for the contemporary readers (the 17th – the 20th centuries): on the issue of text evolution

Abstract

The article focuses on one of the episodes of ‟The Pilgrim's Progress” by John Bunyan (an episode in the House of the Interpreter) and the change in its emblematic content in the adaptations of J.Bunyan's book for readers of the 19th – the 20th centuries. The object of study is the meaning of the Interpreter’s image and that of the content and form of the seven emblematic descriptions in the episode. The subject of the study is the transformation of the source text in the adaptations of the 19th – the 20th centuries. The study is based on J.Bunyan's book and texts by Helen L. Taylor, ‟Little Pilgrim's Progress” and artin Powell 's comics. The tasks of the study were as follows: to determine the meaning of the episode in question in the plot of the book; establish the meaning of the Interpreter’s image in the context of the 17th – 18th c. English culture; to analyse the connection of the emblem complex with the Baroque religious culture; describe the changes in the adaptations of the Pilgrim's Progress for readers of the 19th and the 20th centuries. The study showed that the Interpreter’s image is the key one. The shift in cultural paradigms led to the destruction of the original set of emblems, but the authors of the adaptations used J.Bunyan’s emblems to create their own mini-sets that met the needs of their readership. Although both the formal and the content of the original text have changed in many respects since the 17th century, both the role of the Interpreter and the purpose of the emblems in the adaptations have been remaining unchanged.