SPANISH NEO-GOTHIC NOVEL AS A DIDACTIC RESOURCE (BASED ON SHORT STORIES BY C. RUIZ ZAFON)

The novels of the most famous Spanish novelist C. Ruiz Zafon are written for the young. The main characteristic of his work is the dualism of images and the plot, as well as their intertextuality. The main binomial in Ruiz Zafon's novella is the pair of angel/demon, which has an extensive literary history and motivates a wide polylogue and discussion. The undoubtedly precise artistic images-comparisons in the novels the author analyse are saturated with the considerable expressions of sensitivity. The reader meets an angel with reptile eyes, in black robes, with a wolf (dog) grin, animal fangs, claws, furry paws and a smell of sulfur. Such fruits of artistic fantasy, subjected to deliberate infantilization and stylized as adolescent perception are a manifestation of the most critical universal antitheses (light/darkness, harmony/deformity, life/death). They are complemented by the metaphorical motifs of a mask, game, shadow, mirage, sleep that are appealing for the student audience. The conclusions of this review can be helpful not only for the students but also for researchers.