ARTISTIC PSYCHOLOGISM IN AMERICAN SCIENCE FICTION: THE POETICS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL IMAGERY IN THE WORKS OF RAY BRADBURY, ISAAC AZIMOV, AND STEPHEN KING

Abstract

This article examines the phenomenon of artistic psychologism in American science fiction based on the works of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Azimov, and Stephen King. Artistic psychologism is understood as a special method of narrative construction in which the psychological states of characters - their consciousness, unconsciousness, affective reactions, and cognitive processes - become the main structural principle of narration. The article examines the theoretical foundations of the category of psychologism in literary studies and demonstrates how each of the three authors realizes this category within the framework of their individual poetics. Comparative analysis allows for the identification of both convergent and divergent features in the approaches of Bradbury, Azimov, and King to the artistic mastery of psychological reality. It is concluded that psychologism is a constitutive feature of American speculative fiction of the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries.