Allusive Style of the Art Speech in the Travelling Diary of Matsuo Bashō

Abstract

The diary of the poet Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694) “Oku no
Hosomichi” (“The Narrow Road to Oku”) is full of historical
and literary reminiscences. Ancient manuscripts of the Japanese culture enrich the contents of the work, saturate it with legends, myths, and poetry, making the associative layer of discourse. Onomastics plays the leading part in the narration concentrating the polysemousness of the text. The extreme lapidary style is characteristic of the diary, which gives rise to the increased suggestibility of the text and is conductive to the realization of cultural, historical and philological allusions. The high intertextual capacity of the work is evident. The accumulation of the diary episodes takes place on the basis of the principles in associative connection of stanzas, put forward by Bashō for linked verse, and also attracting the achievements of medieval
literature.