The Comparative Analysis of Fixed Comparisons in Russian and Swedish (Case study: Tove Jansson’s “The Magician's Hat”)

Fixed comparisons are of particular importance in the phraseological system of any language. They can reveal the specifics of vision of the world of a particular nation, presenting a system of assessments being characteristic of a particular culture. Comparative analysis of set comparisons takes one of the leading positions among the numerous aspects of comparative phraseology, which emphasizes the relevance of the study.The work in this vein makes it possible to explain the reason for choosing models of comparison, as well as the features of the development of fixed comparisons of a particular language.This article presents a contrastive analysis of set comparisons in Russian and Swedish based on the story “The Magician’s Hat” by Tove Jansson. The authors compared the original text of the works with two translations made by L.Y. Braude and V.A. Smirnov, and came to the conclusion that in the Russian variant, set comparative expressions are used much more often. In the process of translation, not only Russian fixed comparisons to be equivalent to Swedish set comparisons were successfully chosen, but the author’s individual comparative constructions of the Swedish-language original text were in most cases rendered by set comparisons in Russian that are close in meaning. A large number of set comparisons gives the text expressiveness, without making it heavier, but making it easier for understanding, since set comparisons do not require explanations, they are fixed in the minds of native speakers.