Abstract
The article examines the function of figurative language in Dickens’s novels in the light of its specific dialogism. Dickens’s dialogism mentioned by M. Bakhtin manifests itself through the so-called double voicing and socio-ideological heteroglossia. It also continues in the form of a dialogue between the author and the reader. The second type of the dialogue includes the first one. The essay explores the hitherto understudied influence of Dickens’s communicative urge for the continuous contact with his reader in his fiction, including its discursive aspects. My research is an attempt to converge these two approaches as I trace the interdependence and the process of transition between the dialogue that develops in the frame of the voice orientation and the dialogue between the author and reader that leads Dickens to extensive dialogism. The analysis shows that the figurative discourse implements two functions: it intensifies heteroglossia and at the same time clarifies the author’s intention and also organizes the space of the author’s and reader’s communication, appealing to the reader to emotionally engage in the process. Figurative and emotional force of Dickens’s language is a means to strengthen the dialogical discourse and to multiply its forms.
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