Abstract
The hero of S. Maugham's novel "The Magician" Arthur Bardon is considered as an object of description and perception of the internal points of view of the main characters and the author. The perception of the heroines (Susie and Margaret) modifies along with the change in their attitude towards him. It demonstrates that the same trait is perceived by the characters in different ways. Also it can be transformed even in the perception of one character. So, Dr. Porhoet doesn’t change his attitude to the hero and interprets Arthur's narrowness as a positive quality. Susie admits this when she falls in love with the hero. Margaret's feelings develop in the opposite way: her acceptance of Arthur's character is transformed into hatred and accusations. There are also such features of the hero as purposefulness, willpower, rationality. Comparison of descriptions allows, firstly, to trace the change in the character of the hero; secondly, to determine the relationship of the characters themselves to the hero; thirdly, comparison of the English text and the Russian translation reveals important differences at the mental and linguistic level. The difference between the concepts of “Искусство” and “Art”, “Любовь” and “Love” is shown. So, “Art” allows us to compare Arthur's skill as a surgeon and his ignorance in matters of art, but this idea wasn’t preserved in Russian translation. It can be explained by a narrower understanding of the concept “Искусство”, as well as the opposition of medicine and art in Russian artistic discourse. The concept “Love” is more meaningful in English, so the author calls Margaret's feelings that way, although in Russian a direct translation would be a mistake. In addition, the position of Maugham as a realist writer is emphasized. To be as objective as possible, he intentionally conveys the point of view of the characters in most of the text, but only gives a brief reference about the hero. That is why he describes Arthur only when he is alone and it is impossible to show him from the characters’ points of view.
Keywords
Point of view, position of perception, concept, love, art, author.