LINGUISTIC AND STYLISTIC MEANS OF HORROR AESTHETICS IN ERNST JÜNGER’S NOVEL “ON THE MARBLE CLIFFS” (a sketch toward the problem)

Nataliia S. Olkhovska

nnataliia.olkhovska@knu.ua,

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7678-6885

Ph.D. in Philology, Associate Professor.

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Mykhailo О. Skopnenko

uggz575@gmail.com,

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-9083-8465

Master’s student,

Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/StudLing2025.26.95-107

PDF (UKRAINIAN)

ABSTRACT

The article explores the realization of the aesthetics of horror in the novel “On the Marble Cliffs” (1939) by the German writer Ernst Jünger (1895–1998). Jünger’s literary legacy attracts increasing interest across various countries, particularly in light of the growing attention in literary studies, aesthetics, philosophy, and linguistics to the phenomenon of horror as a cultural constant in contemporary world perception. This generates a need to reinterpret Jünger’s works within the framework of modern philosophical and aesthetic paradigms.

The study describes specific linguistic means – stylistic, lexical, and syntactic  ̶  that the author employed to convey an atmosphere of horror in his literary texts. Particular emphasis is placed on the receptive potential of the text: it is shown how the horror aestheticized by the author evokes not only emotional empathy in the reader, but also the need for intellectual reflection on what is perceived. The analysis is conducted through a combination of hermeneutic principles, elements of cognitive stylistics, and an intertextual approach. The paper examines key episodes of the novel in which horror is aestheticized through symbolic imagery, metaphorical density, and syntactic structure. It is demonstrated that horror in the novel functions not only as the result of historical catastrophe but also as an aesthetic form of experiencing the apocalypse. Special attention is devoted to the figure of the narrator-observer, who, by distancing himself from events, transforms lived experience into philosophical reflection.

The article reveals the specificity of Jünger’s linguistic code, in which fear is not merely described but constructed. The study concludes with the assertion that further research into the reception of the aesthetics of horror in neo-romantic and post-apocalyptic discourses of 20th and 21st century European literature holds significant promise.

Key words: German literature, Ernst Jünger, aesthetics of horror, linguistic means, style, symbol, anarch, literature of catastrophe.

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