What is the composition of the work. The element of composition in a work of art: examples. The main types of composition
Any literary creation is an artistic whole. Such a whole can be not only one work (poem, story, novel ...), but also a literary cycle, that is, a group of poetic or prose works united by a common hero, common ideas, problems, etc., even a common place of action (for example , a cycle of stories by N. Gogol "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", "Tales of Belkin" by A. Pushkin; M. Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time" - also a cycle of separate short stories, united by a common hero - Pechorin). Any artistic whole is, in essence, a single creative organism with its own special structure. As in the human body, in which all independent organs are inextricably linked with each other, in a literary work all elements are also independent and interconnected. The system of these elements and the principles of their interconnection are called COMPOSITION:
COMPOSITION(from Lat. Сompositio, composition, composition) - the construction, structure of a work of art: selection and sequence of elements and pictorial techniques of the work that create an artistic whole in accordance with the author's intention.
TO elements of the composition literary work include epigraphs, dedications, prologues, epilogues, parts, chapters, acts, phenomena, scenes, prefaces and afterwords of "publishers" (created by the author's fantasy of extra-plot images), dialogues, monologues, episodes, inserted stories and episodes, letters, songs (for example, Oblomov's dream in Goncharov's novel Oblomov, Tatyana's letter to Onegin and Onegin to Tatyana in Pushkin's novel Eugene Onegin, the song The sun rises and sets ... in Gorky's drama At the Bottom); all artistic descriptions - portraits, landscapes, interiors - are also compositional elements.
When creating a work, the author himself chooses layout principles, "assemblies" of these elements, their sequences and interactions, using special compositional techniques... Let's take a look at some of the principles and techniques:
- the action of the work can begin from the end of the events, and subsequent episodes will restore the temporal course of the action and explain the reasons for what is happening; such a composition is called reverse(this technique was applied by N. Chernyshevsky in the novel "What is to be done?");
- author uses composition framing, or circular, in which the author uses, for example, the repetition of stanzas (the last repeats the first), artistic descriptions (the work begins and ends with a landscape or interior), the events of the beginning and the end take place in the same place, the same characters participate in them, etc. .d .; This technique is found both in poetry (Pushkin, Tyutchev, A. Blok often resorted to it in "Poems about the Beautiful Lady"), and in prose ("Dark Alleys" by I. Bunin; "Song of the Falcon", "Old Woman Izergil" M. Gorky);
- the author uses the trick flashbacks, that is, the return of the action to the past, when the reasons for the current narrative were laid (for example, the author's story about Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov in Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons"); quite often, when using retrospection, an inserted story of the hero appears in the work, and this type of composition will be called "story within a story"(Confession of Marmeladov and a letter from Pulcheria Alexandrovna in Crime and Punishment; Chapter 13 The Appearance of a Hero in The Master and Margarita; After the Ball of Tolstoy, Asya Turgenev, Kryzhovnik Chekhov);
- not infrequently the organizer of the composition is the artistic image, for example, the road in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls"; pay attention to the scheme of the author's narration: Chichikov's arrival in town NN - road to Manilovka - Manilov's estate - road - arrival to Korobochka - road - tavern, meeting with Nozdrev - road - arrival to Nozdrev - road - etc .; it is important that the first volume ends with a road; in this way the image becomes the leading structure-forming element of the work;
- the author can preface the main action with an exposition, which will be, for example, the entire first chapter in the novel "Eugene Onegin", or he can start the action immediately, abruptly, "without acceleration", as Dostoevsky does in the novel "Crime and Punishment" or Bulgakov in " The Master and Margarita ";
- composition of the work can be based on symmetry of words, images, episodes(or scenes, chapters, phenomena, etc.) and will be mirror, as, for example, in A. Blok's poem "The Twelve"; mirror composition is often combined with framing (this principle of composition is typical for many poems by M. Tsvetaeva, V. Mayakovsky and others; read, for example, Mayakovsky's poem "From street to street");
- often the author uses the technique compositional "break" of events: breaks off the story at the most interesting place at the end of the chapter, and the new chapter begins with a story about another event; for example, it is used by Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment and Bulgakov in The White Guard and The Master and Margarita. This technique is very fond of the authors of adventurous and detective works or works where the role of intrigue is very great.
Composition is aspect of form literary work, but through the features of the form its content is expressed. The composition of a work is an important way to embody the author's idea.... Read independently A. Blok's poem "Stranger" in full, otherwise our reasoning will be incomprehensible to you. Pay attention to the first and seventh stanzas as you listen attentively to their sound:
The first stanza sounds sharp and disharmonious - because of the abundance of [p], which, like other disharmonious sounds, will be repeated in the following stanzas up to the sixth. It cannot be otherwise, because Blok here paints a picture of disgusting philistine vulgarity, a "terrible world" in which the poet's soul is toiling. This is how the first part of the poem is presented. The seventh stanza marks the transition to a new world - Dreams and Harmony, and the beginning of the second part of the poem. This transition is smooth, the accompanying sounds are pleasant and soft: [a:], [nn]. So in the construction of a poem and using the technique of the so-called sound writing Blok expressed his idea of the opposition of two worlds - harmony and disharmony.
The composition of the work can be thematic, in which the main becomes the identification of the relationship between the central images of the work. This type of composition is more characteristic of the lyrics. There are three types of such a composition:
- consistent, which is a logical reasoning, the transition from one thought to another and the subsequent conclusion in the finale of the work ("Cicero", "Silentium", "Nature is a Sphinx, and so it is more true ..." Tyutchev);
- development and transformation of the central image: the author considers the central image from various angles, reveals its vivid features and characteristics; such a composition presupposes a gradual increase in emotional tension and the culmination of experiences, which often falls on the finale of the work ("The Sea" by Zhukovsky, "I came to you with greetings ..." Feta);
- comparison of 2 images that entered into artistic interaction(Blok's "Stranger"); such a composition is based on the reception antitheses, or opposites.
Today we are talking on the topic: "Traditional elements of composition." But first, you need to remember what "composition" is. For the first time we meet with this term in school. But everything flows, everything changes, gradually even the strongest knowledge is erased. Therefore, we read, stir up the old, and fill in the missing gaps.
Composition in literature
What is composition? First of all, we turn to explanatory dictionary and we learn that in a literal translation from Latin this term means "composition, composition." Needless to say, without "composition", that is, without "composition", no piece of art is possible (examples follow) and no text as a whole. Hence it follows that composition in literature is a certain order of arrangement of parts of a work of art. In addition, these are certain forms and methods of artistic depiction that are directly related to the content of the text.
The main elements of the composition
When we open a book, the first thing we hope for and what we look forward to is a beautiful, entertaining story that will surprise or keep us in suspense, and then not let go for a long time, forcing us to mentally return to what we read again and again. In this sense, a writer is a real artist who first of all shows, not tells. He avoids direct text like: "And now I will tell." On the contrary, his presence is invisible, unobtrusive. But what do you need to know and be able to do for such skill?
Compositional elements - this is the palette in which the artist - the master of the word, mixes his colors to create a bright, colorful plot in the future. These include: monologue, dialogue, description, narration, system of images, author's digression, inserted genres, plot, plot. Further - about each of them in more detail.
Monologue speech
Depending on how many people or characters in a work of art participate in speech - one, two or more - monologue, dialogue and polylogue are distinguished. The latter is a kind of dialogue, so we will not dwell on it. Let's consider only the first two.
A monologue is an element of composition, which consists in the use by the author of the speech of one character, which does not suggest an answer or does not receive it. As a rule, it is addressed to the audience in a dramatic work or to oneself.
Depending on the function, such types of monologue are distinguished in the text as: technical - description by the hero of the events that have taken place or are currently taking place; lyric - the transfer by the hero of his strong emotional experiences; acceptance monologue - the inner reflections of a character who is faced with a difficult choice.
The following types are distinguished according to the form: author's word - an appeal of the author to the readers, most often through this or that character; stream of consciousness - the free flow of the hero's thoughts as they are, without obvious logic and not adhering to the rules of literary construction of speech; dialectics of reasoning - the presentation by the hero of all the pros and cons; dialogue in loneliness - a mental appeal of the character to another character; apart - in drama, a few words aside, which characterize the real state of the hero; stanzas are also lyrical reflections of the character in drama.
Dialogue speech
Dialogue is another element of composition, a conversation between two or more characters. Usually dialogical speech is an ideal means of conveying the collision of two opposing points of view. She also helps to create an image, reveal personality, character.
Here I would like to say about the so-called dialogue of questions, which involves a conversation consisting exclusively of questions, and the response of one of the characters is both a question and an answer to the previous remark at the same time. (examples follow) Khanmagomedov Aydin Asadullaevich "Goryanka" is a vivid confirmation of this.
Description
What is a man? This is a special character, and individuality, and unique. appearance, and the environment in which he was born, raised and exists in this moment life, and his house, and the things with which he surrounds himself, and people, far and near, and the nature around him ... The list can be continued indefinitely. Therefore, creating an image in a literary work, a writer must look at his hero from all possible angles and describe, without missing a single detail, even more - create new "shades" that cannot even be imagined. In the literature, the following types of artistic descriptions are distinguished: portrait, interior, landscape.
Portrait
It is one of the most important compositional elements in literature. He describes not only the appearance of the hero, but also his inner world- so-called psychological picture... The variety and place of a portrait in a work of art. The book can begin with it, or, conversely, it can end with it (A. P. Chekhov, "Ionych"). maybe immediately after the character has done something (Lermontov, "A Hero of Our Time"). In addition, the author can draw a character in one fell swoop, monolithic (Raskolnikov in "Crime and Punishment", Prince Andrey in "War and Peace"), and another time and scatter features in the text ("War and Peace", Natasha Rostova). Basically, the writer himself takes up the brush, but sometimes he gives this right to one of the characters, for example, Maxim Maksimych in the novel "A Hero of Our Time", so that he describes Pechorin as accurately as possible. The portrait can be painted ironically, satirically (Napoleon in "War and Peace") and "ceremonially". Sometimes only the face, a certain detail, or the entire body - a figure, manners, gestures, clothes (Oblomov) - gets under the author's "magnifying glass".
Interior description
The interior is an element of the composition of the novel, allowing the author to create a description of the hero's dwelling. It is no less valuable than a portrait, since the description of the type of room, setting, atmosphere prevailing in the house - all this plays an invaluable role in conveying the characteristics of the character, in understanding the full depth of the created image. The interior reveals both a close connection with which is the part through which the whole is cognized, and the one through which the multiple is seen. So, for example, Dostoevsky in the novel "The Idiot" in Rogozhin's gloomy house "hung" Holbein's painting "The Dead Christ" in order to once again draw attention to the irreconcilable struggle of true faith with passions, with unbelief in Rogozhin's soul.
Landscape - a description of nature
As Fedor Tyutchev wrote, nature is not what we imagine, it is not soulless. On the contrary, much is hidden in it: soul, freedom, love, and language. The same can be said for a landscape in a literary work. With the help of such an element of composition as a landscape, the author depicts not only nature, locality, city, architecture, but thereby also reveals the state of the character, and opposes the naturalness of nature to conventional human beliefs, acts as a kind of symbol.
Remember the description of the oak tree during Prince Andrey's trip to the Rostovs' house in the novel War and Peace. What was he (the oak) at the very beginning of the journey - an old, gloomy, "contemptuous freak" among birches smiling at the world and spring. But at the second meeting, he unexpectedly blossomed, renewed, despite the hundred-year-old tough bark. He still obeyed spring and life. The oak tree in this episode is not only a landscape, a description of the reviving nature after a long winter, but also a symbol of the changes that have occurred in the prince's soul, a new stage in his life, which has managed to "break" the already almost rooted desire to be an outcast of life until the end of his days ...
Narration
Unlike the description, which is static, nothing happens in it, nothing changes and in general it answers the question "what?", The narrative includes action, conveys the "sequence of events" and the key question for it is "what happened ? ". Figuratively speaking, the narration as an element of the composition of a work of art can be presented in the form of a slide show - a quick change of pictures illustrating a plot.
Image system
As each person has his own network of lines on the pads of his fingers, forming a unique pattern, so each work has its own unique system of images. This can include the image of the author, if there is one, the image of the narrator, the main characters, heroes-antipodes, minor characters, and so on. Their relationship is built depending on the ideas and goals of the author.
Author's digression
Or a lyrical digression is the so-called off-plot element of the composition, with the help of which the author's personality seems to break into the plot, thereby interrupting the direct course of the plot narration. What is it for? First of all, to establish a special emotional contact between the author and the reader. Here the writer no longer acts as a storyteller, but opens his soul, raises deeply personal questions, discusses moral, aesthetic, philosophical topics, shares memories from his own life. Thus, the reader is able to catch his breath in front of the stream of the following events, stop and delve deeper into the idea of the work, reflect on the questions posed to him.
Plug-in genres
This is another important compositional element, which is not only a necessary part of the plot, but also serves a more voluminous, deeper disclosure of the hero's personality, helps to understand the reason for his one or another life choice, his inner world, and so on. Any genre of literature can be plug-in. For example, stories are the so-called story in a story (the novel "A Hero of Our Time"), poems, stories, poems, songs, fables, letters, parables, diaries, sayings, proverbs and many others. They can be either your own composition or someone else's.
Plot and plot
These two concepts are often either confused with each other, or mistakenly believed that they are one and the same. But they should be distinguished. The plot is, one might say, the skeleton, the basis of the book, in which all the parts are interconnected and follow one another in the order that is necessary for the full realization of the author's intention, the disclosure of the idea. In other words, the events in the plot can take place at different time periods. The plot is that basis, but in a more concise form, and plus - the sequence of events in their strictly chronological order. For example, birth, maturity, old age, death - this is a plot, then the plot is maturity, memories from childhood, adolescence, youth, lyrical digressions, old age and death.
Subject composition
The plot, just like the literary work itself, has its own stages of development. In the center of any plot there is always a conflict around which the main events develop.
The book begins with an exposition or a prologue, that is, with an "explanation", a description of the situation, the starting point from which everything began. What follows is the plot, one might say, the foresight of future events. At this stage, the reader begins to realize that a future conflict is just around the corner. As a rule, it is in this part that the main characters meet, who are destined to go through the coming trials together, side by side.
We continue to list the elements of the plot composition. The next stage is the development of the action. This is usually the heaviest piece of text. Here the reader already becomes an invisible participant in the events, he is familiar with everyone, he feels what is the essence of what is happening, but is still intrigued. Gradually, the centrifugal force sucks him in, slowly, unexpectedly for himself, he finds himself in the very center of the whirlpool. The culmination comes - the very peak, when a real storm of feelings and a sea of emotions falls on both the main characters and the reader himself. And then, when it is already clear that the worst is over and you can breathe, the denouement is quietly knocking on the door. She chews everything, explains every detail, puts all things on the shelves - each in its place, and the tension slowly subsides. The epilogue draws the final line and briefly outlines the further life of the main and secondary characters. However, not all plots have the same structure. The traditional elements of a fairytale composition are completely different.
Story
A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. Which? The elements of the composition of the fairy tale are fundamentally different from their "brothers", although when reading, light and unconstrained, you do not notice this. This is the talent of a writer or even a whole nation. As Alexander Sergeevich instructed, reading fairy tales is simply necessary, especially common folk, because they contain all the properties of the Russian language.
So, what are they - the traditional elements of a fairy-tale composition? The first words are a saying that sets you in a fabulous mood and promises a lot of miracles. For example: "This fairy tale will tell from morning itself until lunchtime, having eaten soft bread ..." When the listeners relax, sit down more comfortably and are ready to listen further, it is time for the beginning - the beginning. The main characters, the place and time of the action are presented, and another line is drawn, dividing the world into two parts - the real and the magical.
Next comes the fairy tale itself, in which repetitions are often found to enhance the impression and gradually approach the denouement. In addition, poems, songs, onomatopoeia of animals, dialogues are also integral elements of the composition of a fairy tale. The fairy tale also has its own ending, which seems to sum up all the miracles, but at the same time hints at infinity magical world: "They live, live and make good."
The general concept of composition. Composition and architectonics
The concept of "composition" is familiar to any philologist. This term is constantly used, often included in the title or in the subheadings of scientific articles and monographs. At the same time, it should be noted that it has too wide tolerances of meaning, and this sometimes interferes with understanding. "Composition" turns out to be a term without straits, when almost any analysis, with the exception of the analysis of ethical categories, can be called compositional.
The insidiousness of the term is inherent in its very nature. Translated from Latin, the word "composition" means "composing, joining parts." Simply put, composition is way of building, way of being made works. This is an axiom that any philologist can understand. But, as is the case with theme, the stumbling block turns out to be the following question: the construction of what should be of interest to us if we are talking about the analysis of the composition? The simplest answer would be “the construction of the whole work”, but this answer will not clarify anything at all. Indeed, practically everything is built in a literary text: plot, character, speech, genre, etc. Each of these terms presupposes its own logic of analysis and its own principles of "structuredness". For example, plotting involves analyzing the types of plot building, describing the elements (setting, development of the action, etc.), analyzing plot-plot inconsistencies, etc. We talked about this in detail in the previous chapter. A completely different perspective of the analysis of the "structure" of speech: here it is appropriate to talk about vocabulary, about syntax, about grammar, about the types of connections in the text, about the boundaries of one's own and someone else's word, etc. The construction of the verse is another perspective. Then you need to talk about rhythm, about rhymes, about the laws of constructing a line of poetry, etc.
As a matter of fact, we always do this when we talk about the plot, about the image, about the laws of verse, etc. But then the question naturally arises about own meaning of the term composition that does not coincide with the meanings of other terms. If there is none, the analysis of the composition loses its meaning, completely dissolving in the analysis of other categories, but if this independent meaning exists, then what is it?
To make sure that there is a problem, it is enough to compare the Composition sections in the manuals of different authors. We can easily see that the emphasis will be noticeably shifted: in some cases the emphasis is on the elements of the plot, in others - on the forms of organization of the narrative, in the third - on the spatio-temporal and genre characteristics ... And so on almost to infinity. The reason for this lies precisely in the amorphousness of the term. Professionals are well aware of this, but this does not prevent everyone from seeing what he wants to see.
It is hardly worth dramatizing the situation, but it would be better if the compositional analysis presupposes some understandable and more or less uniform methodology. It seems that the most promising would be to see in the compositional analysis precisely the interest in ratio of parts, to their relationships. In other words, the analysis of composition assumes to see the text as a system and aims to understand the logic of the interrelationships of its elements. Then, indeed, the conversation about composition will become meaningful and will not coincide with other aspects of the analysis.
This rather abstract thesis can be illustrated with a simple example. Let's say we want to build a house. We will be interested in what windows it has, what walls, what floors, what colors what is painted, etc. This will be an analysis individual parties... But it is equally important that all this together harmonized with each other. Even if we really like large windows, we cannot make them higher than the roof and wider than the wall. We cannot make the vents larger than the windows, we cannot put the wardrobe wider than the room, etc. That is, each part affects the other in one way or another. Of course, any comparison is sinful, but something similar happens in a literary text. Each part of it does not exist by itself, it is "claimed" by other parts and, in turn, "requires" something from them. Compositional analysis is, in essence, the explanation of these "requirements" of the elements of the text. The famous opinion of A.P. Chekhov about a gun that should fire if it is already hanging on the wall illustrates this very well. Another thing is that in reality everything is not so simple, and not all of Chekhov's own guns were fired.
Thus, composition can be defined as a way of constructing a literary text, as a system of relations between its elements.
Compositional analysis is a rather voluminous concept that relates to different aspects of a literary text. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in different traditions there are serious terminological discrepancies, and the terms not only sound different, but also mean not exactly the same thing. Especially it concerns analyzing the structure of the narrative... There are serious differences in the Eastern European and Western European traditions. All this puts the young philologist in a difficult position. Our task is also very difficult: in a relatively small chapter, tell about a very voluminous and ambiguous term.
It seems that comprehending the composition is logical to start with defining the general scope of this concept, and then move on to more specific forms. So, compositional analysis allows the following models.
1. Analysis of the sequence of parts. It assumes interest in the elements of the plot, the dynamics of the action, the sequence and the relationship between plot and non-plot elements (for example, portraits, lyrical digressions, author's assessments, etc.). When analyzing a verse, we will certainly take into account the division into stanzas (if any), we will try to feel the logic of the stanzas, their interconnection. This type of analysis is primarily focused on explaining how is deployed work from the first page (or line) to the last. If we imagine a string with beads, where each bead of a certain shape and color means a homogeneous element, then we can easily understand the logic of such an analysis. We want to understand how the general pattern of beads is laid out sequentially, where and why repetitions occur, how and why new elements appear. Such a model of compositional analysis in modern science, especially in the one oriented towards the Western tradition, is usually called syntagmatic.Syntagmatics- this is a section of linguistics, the science of how speech unfolds, that is, how and according to what laws speech develops word by word and phrase by phrase. We see something similar in such an analysis of the composition, with the only difference that the elements are most often not words and syntagmas, but pieces of the same type of narration. For example, if we take the famous poem by M. Yu. Lermontov "Sail" ("A lonely sail whitens"), then without much difficulty we will see that the poem is divided into three stanzas (quatrains), and each quatrain is clearly divided into two parts: the first two lines - landscape sketch, the second - author's comment:
The lonely sail is whitening
In the mist of the blue sea.
What is he looking for in a distant country?
What did he throw in his native land?
The waves are playing, the wind is whistling
And the mast bends and creaks.
Alas! .. He is not looking for happiness.
And he is not running out of happiness.
Under it a stream is brighter than azure,
Above him a ray of golden sun
And he, rebellious, asks for storms;
As if there is peace in the storms.
As a first approximation, the compositional scheme will look like this: A + B + A1 + B1 + A2 + B2, where A is a landscape sketch, and B is the author's remark. However, it is easy to see that elements A and elements B are built according to different logic. Elements A are built according to the logic of the ring (calm - storm - calm), and elements B - according to the logic of development (question - exclamation - answer). Pondering over this logic, the philologist can see in Lermontov's masterpiece something that will be missed outside the compositional analysis. For example, it will become clear that "the desire for the storm" is nothing more than an illusion, the storm will not give peace and harmony in the same way (after all, there was already a "storm" in the poem, but this did not change the tonality of part B). A situation arises that is classic for Lermontov's artistic world: the changing background does not change the feeling of loneliness and melancholy of the lyric hero. Let us recall the poem "In the Wild North" we have already quoted, and we can easily feel the uniformity of the compositional structure. Moreover, on a different level, the same structure is found in the famous "Hero of Our Time". The loneliness of Pechorin is emphasized by the fact that the "backgrounds" are constantly changing: the semi-wild life of the highlanders ("Bela"), the gentleness and cordiality of a common man ("Maksim Maksimych"), the life of the people of the bottom - smugglers ("Taman"), the life and customs of high society ( "Princess Mary"), an exceptional person ("Fatalist"). However, Pechorin cannot merge with any background, he feels bad and lonely everywhere, moreover, he willingly or unwillingly destroys the harmony of the background.
All this becomes noticeable precisely in the compositional analysis. Thus, a sequential analysis of the elements can be a good tool for interpretation.
2. Analysis general principles constructing the work as a whole. It is often called analysis. architectonics... The term itself architectonics is not recognized by all experts, many, if not most, believe that it comes just about the different facets of the meaning of the term composition... At the same time, some very authoritative scientists (say, M.M.Bakhtin) not only recognized the correctness of this term, but also insisted that composition and architectonics have different meanings. In any case, regardless of the terminology, we must understand that there is another model of composition analysis, which is markedly different from the one outlined. This model assumes a view of the work as a whole... It focuses on the general principles of constructing a literary text, taking into account, among other things, the system of contexts. If we recall our metaphor of beads, then this model should give an answer how these beads look in general and whether they are in harmony with the dress and hairstyle. Actually, this "double" look is well known to any woman: she is interested in how delicately the parts of the jewelry are woven, but she is no less interested in how it all looks together and whether it is worth wearing it with some kind of costume. In life, as we know, these views do not always coincide.
We see something similar in a literary work. Let's take a simple example. Let's imagine that some writer decided to write a story about a family quarrel. But he decided to build it in such a way that the first part is the husband's monologue, where the whole story looks in one light, and the second part is the wife's monologue, in which all events look different. In modern literature, such techniques are used very often. But now let's think: is this work a monologue or is it dialogical? From the point of view of the syntagmatic analysis of the composition, it is monological, there is not a single dialogue in it. But from the point of view of architectonics, it is dialogical, we see polemics, a clash of views.
This holistic view of composition (analysis architectonics) turns out to be very useful, it allows you to abstract yourself from a specific fragment of the text, to understand its role in a holistic structure. MM Bakhtin, for example, believed that such a concept as a genre is architectonic by definition. Indeed, if I write a tragedy, I all build differently than if I were writing a comedy. If I write an elegy (a poem imbued with a feeling of sadness), all it will not be the same as in the fable: the construction of images, and rhythm, and vocabulary. Therefore, the analysis of composition and architectonics are concepts related, but not coincident. The point, we repeat, is not in the terms themselves (there are many different interpretations), but in the fact that it is necessary to distinguish principles of construction of the work as a whole and the construction of its parts.
So, there are two models of compositional analysis. An experienced philologist, of course, is able to "switch" these models depending on their goals.
Now let's move on to a more specific presentation. Compositional analysis from the point of view of the modern scientific tradition assumes the following levels:
Analysis of the form of organization of the story.
Analysis of speech composition (structure of speech).
Analysis of techniques for creating an image or character.
Analysis of the peculiarities of plotting (including non-plot elements). This has already been discussed in detail in the previous chapter.
Analysis of artistic space and time.
Analysis of the change of "points of view". This is one of the most popular methods of compositional analysis today, little familiar to the novice philologist. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to it.
The analysis of the composition of a lyric work has its own specificity and its own nuances, therefore, the analysis of a lyric composition can also be distinguished at a special level.
Of course, this scheme is very arbitrary, and much does not fall into it. In particular, we can talk about genre composition, about rhythmic composition (not only in poetry, but also in prose), etc. In addition, in real analysis, these levels intersect and mix. For example, the analysis of points of view concerns both the organization of the narrative and speech models, space and time are inextricably linked with the methods of creating an image, etc. However, in order to understand these intersections, you first need to know what overlaps, therefore, in the methodological aspect, a sequential presentation is more correct. So, in order.
For more details, see, for example: Kozhinov V.V. Plot, plot, composition // Theory of Literature. Major problems in historical coverage. Genera and genres of literature. M., 1964.
See, for example: Revyakin A.I. Decree. cit., pp. 152–153.
Analysis of the form of organization of the story
This part of the compositional analysis suggests an interest in how storytelling... To understand a literary text, it is important to consider who is leading the story and how. First of all, the narration can be formally organized as a monologue (speech of one), dialogue (speech of two) or polylogue (speech of many). For example, a lyric poem tends to be monologue, while a drama or a modern novel tends towards dialogue and polylogue. Difficulties begin where clear boundaries are lost. For example, the outstanding Russian linguist V.V. Vinogradov noticed that in the genre of the tale (recall, for example, Bazhov's "Mistress of the Copper Mountain"), the speech of any hero is deformed, in fact merging with the stylistics of the narrator's speech. In other words, everyone starts talking the same way. Therefore, all dialogues organically flow into a single author's monologue. This is a clear example genre deformation of the narrative. But other problems are also possible, for example, a very urgent problem your own and someone else's word when other people's voices are woven into the narrator's monologue. In its simplest form, this leads to the reception of the so-called improper speech... For example, in Alexander Pushkin's "Blizzard" we read: "But everyone had to retreat when the wounded hussar colonel Burmin appeared in her castle, with George in his buttonhole and withinteresting pallor(italics A. Pushkin - A. N.), as the young ladies said there. Words "With an interesting pallor" It is not by chance that Pushkin emphasizes it in italics. Neither lexically, nigrammatically, for Pushkin, they are impossible. This is the speech of provincial young ladies, evoking the author's mild irony. But this expression is inserted into the context of the narrator's speech. This example of "breaking" a monologue is quite simple, modern literature knows much more complicated situations. However, the principle will be the same: someone else's word, which does not coincide with the author's, ends up inside the author's speech. It is sometimes not so easy to understand these subtleties, but it is necessary to do this, because otherwise we will ascribe to the narrator judgments with which he does not associate himself in any way, sometimes he secretly polemizes.
If we add to this the fact that modern literature is completely open to other texts, sometimes one author openly constructs a new text from fragments already created, then it becomes clear that the problem of monologue or dialogicality of the text is by no means as obvious as it might seem on first glance.
No less, and perhaps even more, difficulties arise when we try to define the figure of the narrator. If at the beginning we talked about how much narrators organize the text, then now you need to answer the question: a who are these narrators? The situation is further complicated by the fact that different models of analysis and different terms have been established in Russian and Western science. The essence of the discrepancy is that in the Russian tradition, the most relevant question is whether who is the narrator and how close or distant he is to the real author. For example, is the storytelling from I and who is hiding behind it I... It is based on the relationship between the narrator and the real author. In this case, four main variants are usually distinguished with numerous intermediate forms.
The first option is a neutral narrator(it is also called the narrator proper, and this form is often not very accurately called third person narration... The term is not very good, because there is no third party here, but it has taken root, and there is no point in abandoning it). We are talking about those works where the narrator is not indicated in any way: he has no name, he does not take part in the events described. There are a lot of examples of such an organization of the narrative: from Homer's poems to the novels of L. N. Tolstoy and many modern stories and short stories.
The second option is the author-narrator. The narration is conducted in the first person (such a narration is called I-form), the narrator is either not named in any way, but his proximity to the real author is implied, or he bears the same name as the real author. The author-narrator does not take part in the events described, he only talks about them and comments on them. Such an organization was used, for example, by M. Yu. Lermontov in the story "Maxim Maksimych" and in a number of other fragments of "A Hero of Our Time".
The third option is the hero narrator. A very often used form when a direct participant tells about events. The hero, as a rule, has a name and is emphatically distanced from the author. This is how the "Pechorin" chapters of "A Hero of Our Time" ("Taman", "Princess Mary", "Fatalist") are constructed, in "Bela" the right of narration passes from the author-narrator to the hero (recall that the whole story was told by Maxim Maksimovich). Lermontov needs a change of narrators to create a three-dimensional portrait of the protagonist: after all, everyone sees Pechorin in his own way, the assessments do not coincide. We encounter the hero-narrator in Alexander Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter (almost everything is told by Grinev). In a word, the hero-narrator is very popular in the literature of modern times.
The fourth option is the author-character. This option is very popular in the literature and is quite insidious for the reader. In Russian literature, it was clearly manifested already in the Life of Archpriest Avvakum, and the literature of the 19th and especially the 20th centuries uses this variant very often. The author-character bears the same name as the real author, as a rule, is close to him biographically and at the same time is the hero of the events described. The reader has a natural desire to "believe" the text, to equate the author-character and the real author. But the cunning of this form lies in the fact that no equal sign can be put. There is always a difference, sometimes colossal, between a character author and a real author. The similarity of names and the closeness of biographies in themselves do not mean anything: all events may well be fictional, and the judgments of the author-character do not have to coincide with the opinion of the real author. When creating an author-character, the writer plays to some extent both with the reader and with himself, this must be remembered.
The situation is even more complicated in the lyrics, where the distance between the lyric narrator (most often I) and the real author is hard to feel at all. However, this distance is preserved to some extent even in the most intimate poems. Emphasizing this distance, Yu.N. Tynyanov in the 1920s, in an article about Blok, proposed the term lyric hero, which has become common today. Although the specific meaning of this term is interpreted differently by different specialists (for example, the positions of L. Ya. Ginzburg, L. I. Timofeev, I. B. Rodnyanskaya, D. E. Maksimov, B. O. Korman and other specialists have serious differences), everyone recognizes the fundamental discrepancy between the hero and the author. A detailed analysis of the arguments of different authors within the framework of our short textbook is hardly appropriate, we only note that the problematic point is the following: what determines the character of the lyric hero? Is this a generalized face of the author that appears in his poetry? Or just unique, special author's features? Or a lyrical hero is possible only in a specific poem, but lyrical herogenerally just doesn't exist? There are different answers to these questions. We are closer to the position of D. E. Maksimov and, in many respects, close to her concept of L. I. Timofeev, that the lyrical hero is the generalized I of the author, one way or another felt in all his work. But this position is also vulnerable, and opponents have strong counterarguments. Now, we repeat, a serious conversation on the problem of the lyrical hero seems premature, it is more important to understand that the equal sign between I in the poem and the real author can not be put. The famous poet-satirist Sasha Cherny wrote a humorous poem "Criticism" back in 1909:
When a poet, describing a lady,
Will start: “I was walking down the street. The corset stuck into the sides ", -
Here "I" do not understand, of course, directly,
That, they say, a poet is hiding under the lady ...
This should be remembered in cases where there are no generic discrepancies. The poet is not equal to any of his written selves.
So, in Russian philology, the starting point for analyzing the figure of the narrator is his relationship with the author. There are many subtleties here, but the very principle of the approach is clear. The modern Western tradition is a different matter. There, the typology is based not on the relationship between the author and the narrator, but on the relationship between the narrator and the “pure” narrative. At first glance, this principle seems vague and needs clarification. In fact, there is nothing complicated here. Let's clarify the situation with a simple example. Let's compare two phrases. First: "The sun is shining brightly, a green tree grows on the lawn." Second: "The weather is wonderful, the sun shines brightly, but not blindingly, the green tree on the lawn is pleasing to the eye." In the first case, we have just information, the narrator is practically not manifested, in the second we can easily feel his presence. If we take as a basis a “pure” narrative with the formal non-intervention of the narrator (as in the first case), then it is easy to build a typology on the basis of how much the presence of the narrator increases. This principle, originally proposed by the English literary critic Percy Lubbock in the 1920s, is today dominant in Western European literary criticism. A complex and sometimes contradictory classification has been developed, the basic concepts of which are actant(or actant - pure narration. Although the term "actant" itself presupposes a doer, it has not been identified), actor(the object of the narration, deprived of the right to interfere with it), auctor(A character "intervening" in the narrative or the narrator, the one whose consciousness organizes the narration.). These terms themselves were introduced after the classical works of P. Lubbock, however, they presuppose the same ideas. All of them, together with a number of other concepts and terms, define the so-called narrative typology modern Western literary criticism (from English narrative - narration). In the works of leading Western philologists devoted to the problems of storytelling (P. Lubbock, N. Friedman, E. Leibfried, F. Stantzel, R. Barth and others), an extensive toolkit has been created, with the help of which various shades of meanings can be seen in the fabric of the narrative, hear different "voices". The term voice as a significant compositional component also became widespread after the works of P. Lubbock.
In a word, Western European literary criticism operates with somewhat different terms, while the emphasis of the analysis is also shifting. It is difficult to say which tradition is more adequate to the literary text, and the question can hardly be put on such a plane. Any technique has strengths and weaknesses. In some cases it is more convenient to use the developments of the narrative theory, in others it is less correct, since it practically ignores the problem of the author's consciousness and the author's idea. Serious scientists of Russia and the West are well aware of each other's work and actively use the achievements of the "parallel" method. Now it is important to understand the very principles of the approach.
See: Yu.N. Tynyanov, The Problem of Poetic Language. M., 1965. S. 248–258.
The history and theory of the issue is set out in sufficient detail in the articles of I.P. Ilyin devoted to the problems of narration. See: Modern Foreign Literary Criticism: Encyclopedic Reference. M., 1996. S. 61–81. Read the original works of A.-Zh. Greimas, who introduced these terms, will be too difficult for a novice philologist.
Analysis of speech composition
Analysis of speech composition assumes interest in the principles of speech structure. It partly overlaps with the analysis of "our" and "someone else's" words, partly with the analysis of style, and partly with the analysis of artistic techniques (lexical, syntactic, grammatical, phonetic, etc.). We will talk more about all this in the chapter "Fiction speech"... Now I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the analysis of speech composition is not limited to the description receptions. As elsewhere in the analysis of composition, the researcher should pay attention to the problem of the interconnection of elements, to their interdependence. For example, it is not enough for us to see that different pages of the novel "The Master and Margarita" are written in different style manners: there are different vocabulary, different syntax, different rates of speech. It is important for us to understand why this is so, to grasp the logic of style transitions. After all, Bulgakov often describes the same hero in different style keys. A classic example is Woland and his retinue. Why stylistic drawings change, how they relate to each other - this, in fact, is the task of the researcher.
Analyzing Character Creation Techniques
Although in a literary text, of course, every image is somehow constructed, however, compositional analysis as an independent one in reality is applied, as a rule, to character images (i.e., to images of people) or to images of animals and even objects that metaphorize the human. being (for example, "Kholstomer" by L. N. Tolstoy, "White Fang" by J. London, or M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "The Cliff"). Other images (verbal, details, or, on the contrary, macrosystems of the “image of the homeland” type), as a rule, are not analyzed by any more or less intelligible compositional algorithms. This does not mean that the elements of compositional analysis are not applied, it only means that there are no at least some universal methods. All this is quite understandable in view of the vagueness of the very category of "image": try to find a universal method for analyzing "structuredness", for example, the linguistic images of V. Khlebnikov and the landscapes of A. Pushkin. We will only be able to see a few general properties already discussed in the chapter "Artistic image", but the analysis methodology will be different each time.
Another thing is the character of a person. Here, in all its infinite variety, we can see repetitive techniques that can be singled out as some generally accepted pillars. It makes sense to dwell on this in a little more detail. Almost any writer, creating a human character, uses a "classic" set of techniques. Naturally, he does not always use everyone, but in general the list will be relatively stable.
First, this is the behavior of the hero. In literature, a person is almost always depicted in actions, in deeds, in relations with other people. By "building" a series of actions, the writer creates character. Behavior is a complex category that takes into account not only physical actions but also the nature of speech, what and how the hero says. In this case, we are talking about speech behavior, which is often fundamentally important. Verbal behavior can explain the system of actions, or it can contradict them. An example of the latter can be, for example, the image of Bazarov ("Fathers and Sons"). As you remember, there was no place for love in Bazarov's speech behavior, which did not prevent the hero from experiencing love-passion for Anna Odintsova. On the other hand, speech behavior, for example, of Platon Karataev ("War and Peace") is absolutely organic to his actions and life position. Platon Karataev is convinced that a person should accept any circumstances with kindness and humility. The position is wise in its own way, but threatening with impersonality, absolute merging with the people, with nature, with history, dissolving in them. Such is the life of Plato, such is (with some nuances) his death, the same is his speech: aphoristic, full of sayings, smooth, soft. Karataev's speech is devoid of individual traits, it is "dissolved" in folk wisdom.
Therefore, the analysis of speech behavior is no less important than the analysis and interpretation of actions.
Secondly, this is a portrait, landscape and interior if they are used to characterize the hero. Actually, the portrait is always somehow connected with the disclosure of character, but the interior and especially the landscape in some cases can be self-sufficient and not be considered as a method of creating the character of the hero. We come across the classic series "landscape + portrait + interior + behavior" (including speech behavior), for example, in "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol, where all the famous images of landowners are "made" according to this scheme. There are talking landscapes, talking portraits, talking interiors (remember, at least Plyushkin's heap) and very expressive speech behavior. The peculiarity of constructing a dialogue is also that Chichikov always adopts the manner of the interlocutor's conversation, begins to speak with him in his language. On the one hand, this creates a comic effect, on the other, which is much more important, it characterizes Chichikov himself as a person of an insightful, well-feeling interlocutor, but at the same time prudent and calculating.
If you try to outline the logic of the development of a landscape, portrait and interior in general terms, you will notice that a laconic detail replaces the expanded description. Modern writers, as a rule, do not create detailed portraits, landscapes and interiors, preferring “speaking” details. The artistic impact of the detail was already well felt by the writers of the 18th - 19th centuries, but there the details often alternated with detailed descriptions. Modern literature generally avoids details, isolating only some fragments. This technique is often referred to as "close-up preference." The writer does not give a detailed portrait, focusing only on some expressive sign (remember the famous twitching upper lip with a mustache on the wife of Andrei Bolkonsky or Karenin's protruding ears).
Thirdly, the classic method of creating character in the literature of modern times is internal monologue, that is, the image of the hero's thoughts. Historically, this technique is very late, literature until the 18th century portrayed the hero in action, in speech behavior, but not in thinking. Lyrics and, in part, drama can be considered a relative exception, where the hero often uttered "thoughts aloud" - a monologue addressed to the viewer or having no clear addressee at all. Let us recall the famous "To Be or Not to Be" by Hamlet. However, this is a relative exception, because it is more about talking to oneself than about the process of thinking as such. Portray real the process of thinking by means of language is very difficult, since the human language is not very adapted for this. It is much easier to convey in language what man does than what what at the same time he thinks and feels... However, the literature of modern times is actively looking for ways to convey the feelings and thoughts of the hero. There are many finds and many misses here. In particular, attempts have been and are being made to abandon punctuation, grammatical norms, etc., in order to create the illusion of “real thinking”. This is still an illusion, although such techniques can be very expressive.
In addition, when analyzing the "built" character, one should remember about rating system, that is, about how other characters and the narrator himself evaluate the hero. Almost any hero exists in the mirror of evaluations, and it is important to understand who evaluates him so and why. A person who begins a serious study of literature should remember that narrator's assessment can not always be considered the relationship of the author to the hero, even if the narrator seems somewhat similar to the author. The narrator is also “inside” the work, in a sense he is one of the heroes. Therefore, the so-called "author's assessments" should be taken into account, but they do not always express the attitude of the writer himself. Let's say a writer can play the role of a simpleton and create a narrator for this role. The narrator can evaluate the characters in a straightforward and shallow way, and the overall impression will be completely different. In modern literary criticism, there is a term implicit author- that is, the psychological portrait of the author that develops after reading his work and, therefore, created by the writer for this work... So, for the same writer, implicit authors can be very different. For example, many funny stories by Antosha Chekhonte (for example, the full of careless humor "Calendar") from the point of view of the author's psychological portrait are completely different from "Ward No. 6". All this was written by Chekhov, but these are very different faces. AND implicit author"Ward No. 6" would have looked at the heroes of "The Horse Family" in a completely different way. A young philologist should remember this. The problem of the unity of the author's consciousness is the most complicated problem of philology and psychology of creativity, it cannot be simplified with judgments such as: "Tolstoy refers to his hero in this way, because on page 41, for example, he evaluates him this way." It is quite possible that the same Tolstoy will write quite differently in another place or at another time, or even on other pages of the same work. If, for example, we trust each the assessment given to Eugene Onegin, we find ourselves in a perfect labyrinth.
Analysis of the peculiarities of plotting
In the chapter "Plot" we dwelt in sufficient detail on different methods of plot analysis. There is no point in repeating myself. However, it is worth focusing on the fact that plot composition- this is not just the isolation of elements, schemes or analysis of plot-plot inconsistencies. It is essential to understand the connection and non-randomness of the storylines. And this is a task of a completely different level of complexity. It is important to feel behind the endless variety of events and destinies their logic... In a literary text, logic is always present in one way or another, even when outwardly everything seems to be a chain of accidents. Let us recall, for example, the novel "Fathers and Sons" by I. S. Turgenev. It is no coincidence that the logic of the fate of Yevgeny Bazarov is surprisingly reminiscent of the logic of the fate of his main opponent - Pavel Kirsanov: a brilliant start - fatal love - collapse. In Turgenev's world, where love is the most difficult and at the same time the most decisive test of the personality, such a similarity of fate may indicate, albeit indirectly, that the author's position differs markedly both from Bazarov's and from the point of view of his main opponent. Therefore, when analyzing the composition of the plot, you should always pay attention to the relationship and intersection of plot lines.
Analysis of artistic space and time
Not a single work of art exists in a space-time vacuum. It always contains time and space in one way or another. It is important to understand that artistic time and space are not abstractions and not even physical categories, although modern physics gives very ambiguous answers to the question of what time and space are. Art, on the other hand, deals with a very specific spatio-temporal coordinate system. G. Lessing was the first to point out the importance of time and space for art, which we have already discussed in the second chapter, and theorists of the last two centuries, especially the twentieth century, have proved that artistic time and space is not only a significant, but often defining component of a literary work.
In the literature, time and space are the most important properties of the image. Different images require different space-time coordinates. For example, in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" we are faced with an unusually compressed space. Small rooms, narrow streets. Raskolnikov lives in a room that looks like a coffin. Of course, this is no coincidence. The writer is interested in people who find themselves in a dead end in life, and this is emphasized by all means. When in the epilogue Raskolnikov finds faith and love, space opens up.
Each work of modern literature has its own space-time grid, its own coordinate system. At the same time, there are some general laws of the development of artistic space and time. For example, until the 18th century, the aesthetic consciousness did not allow the author to "interfere" with the temporal structure of the work. In other words, the author could not begin the story with the death of the hero and then return to his birth. The time of the piece was "kind of real." In addition, the author could not disrupt the course of the narrative about one hero by a "plug-in" story about another. In practice, this led to the so-called "chronological incompatibilities" characteristic of ancient literature. For example, one story ends with the hero returning safely, while another begins with the fact that loved ones grieve about his absence. We encounter this, for example, in Homer's Odyssey. In the 18th century, a revolution took place, and the author received the right to "model" the narrative, not observing the logic of life-likeness: a lot of inserted stories, digressions appeared, chronological "realism" was violated. The modern author can build the composition of the work, shuffling the episodes at his own discretion.
In addition, there are stable, culturally accepted spatio-temporal models. The outstanding philologist M.M.Bakhtin, who fundamentally developed this problem, called these models chronotopes(chronos + topos, time and space). Chronotopes are initially permeated with meanings, any artist consciously or unconsciously takes this into account. As soon as we say about someone: "He is on the verge of something ...", as we immediately understand that we are talking about something big and important. But why exactly on the doorstep? Bakhtin believed that threshold chronotope one of the most widespread in culture, and as soon as we “turn it on”, the semantic depth opens.
Today the term chronotope is universal and denotes just the existing space-time model. At the same time, "etiquette" often refers to the authority of M. M. Bakhtin, although Bakhtin himself understood the chronotope more narrowly - precisely as sustainable a model that occurs from work to work.
In addition to chronotopes, one should also remember about more general models of space and time that underlie entire cultures. These models are historical, that is, one replaces the other, but the paradox of the human psyche is that the model, “obsolete”, does not disappear anywhere, continuing to excite a person and generate literary texts. There are quite a few variations of such models in different cultures, but several are basic. First is the model zero time and space. It is also called motionless, eternal - there are a lot of options here. In this model, time and space are meaningless. There is always the same thing, and there is no difference between "here" and "there", that is, there is no spatial extent. Historically, this is the most archaic model, but it is still very relevant today. This model is used to build the concept of hell and heaven, it is often “turned on” when a person tries to imagine existence after death, etc. This model is used to build the famous chronotope of the “golden age”, which manifests itself in all cultures. If we remember the ending of the novel "The Master and Margarita", then we can easily feel this model. It was in such a world, by the decision of Yeshua and Woland, that the heroes eventually found themselves - in the world of eternal good and peace.
Another model is cyclical(circular). This is one of the most powerful spatio-temporal models, supported by the eternal change of natural cycles (summer-autumn-winter-spring-summer ...). It is based on the idea that everything is returning to normal. Space and time are there, but they are conditional, especially time, since the hero will still come back where he left from, and nothing will change. The easiest way to illustrate this model is Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus was absent for many years, he had the most incredible adventures, but he returned home and found his Penelope still beautiful and loving. M.M.Bakhtin called such a time adventurous, it exists as if around the heroes, changing nothing either in them or between them. The cyclical model is also quite archaic, but its projections are clearly perceptible in modern culture as well. For example, it is very noticeable in the work of Sergei Yesenin, for whom the idea of a life cycle, especially in adulthood, becomes dominant. Even the well-known dying lines "In this life, dying is not new, / But living, of course, is not new" refer to the ancient tradition, to the famous biblical book of Ecclesiastes, entirely built on a cyclical model.
The culture of realism is associated mainly with linear model, when space seems to be infinitely wide open in all directions, and time is associated with a directed arrow - from the past to the future. This model dominates the everyday consciousness of a modern person and is clearly visible in a huge number of literary texts of recent centuries. Suffice it to recall, for example, the novels of Leo Tolstoy. In this model, each event is recognized as unique, it can be only once, and a person is understood as a being constantly changing. Linear model discovered psychologism in the modern sense, since psychologism presupposes the ability to change, which could not be in the cyclical (after all, the hero must at the end be the same as at the beginning), and even more so in the model of zero time-space. In addition, the linear model is related to the principle historicism, that is, a person began to be understood as a product of his era. The abstract “man for all time” simply does not exist in this model.
It is important to understand that in the minds of a modern person, all these models do not exist in isolation, they can interact, giving rise to the most bizarre combinations. For example, a person can be emphatically modern, trust a linear model, accept the uniqueness of each moment of life as something unique, but at the same time be a believer and accept the timelessness and spacelessness of existence after death. In the same way, different coordinate systems can be reflected in a literary text. For example, experts have long noticed that in the work of Anna Akhmatova, two dimensions exist in parallel: one is historical, in which every moment and gesture are unique, the other is timeless, in which every movement freezes. The "layering" of these layers is one of the hallmarks of the Akhmatov style.
Finally, modern aesthetic consciousness is more and more persistently assimilating another model. There is no clear name for it, but it would not be a mistake to say that this model allows for the existence parallel times and spaces. The point is that we exist differently depending on the coordinate system. But at the same time, these worlds are not completely isolated, they have intersection points. The literature of the twentieth century is actively using this model. Suffice it to recall M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. The master and his beloved die in different places and for different reasons: Master in an insane asylum, Margarita is at home from a heart attack, but at the same time they are die in each other's arms in the Master's closet from the poison of Azazello. Different coordinate systems are included here, but they are interconnected - after all, the death of the heroes came in any case. This is the projection of the parallel worlds model. If you read the previous chapter carefully, you will easily understand that the so-called multivariate the plot - the invention of literature mainly of the twentieth century - is a direct consequence of the approval of this new space-time grid.
See: Bakhtin M. M. Forms of time and chronotope in the novel // Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. M., 1975.
Analysis of the change of "points of view"
"Point of view"- one of the basic concepts of the modern theory of composition. It should be immediately warned against common mistake inexperienced philologists: to understand the term "point of view" in its everyday meaning, they say, each author and character has his own point of view on life. This is often heard from students, but it has nothing to do with science. As a term of literary criticism, "point of view" first appeared at the end of the nineteenth century in an essay by the famous American writer Henry James on the art of prose. This term was made strictly scientific by the already mentioned English literary critic Percy Lubbock.
"Point of view" is a complex and voluminous concept that reveals the ways of the author's presence in the text. In fact, we are talking about a thorough analysis mounting of the text and about attempts to see in this montage your logic and the presence of the author. One of the largest modern experts on this subject, B.A. Uspensky, believes that the analysis of changing points of view is effective in relation to those works where the plane of expression is not equal to the plane of content, that is, everything said or presented has a second, third, etc. e. semantic layers. For example, in M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "Cliff", of course, we are not talking about a cliff and a cloud. Where the planes of expression and content are inseparable or completely identical, the analysis of points of view does not work. For example, in jewelry or abstract painting.
As a first approximation, we can say that the "point of view" has at least two spectra of values: first, it is spatial localization If we compare the writer with the cameraman, then we can say that in this case we will be interested in where the movie camera was: close, far, above or below, and so on. The same fragment of reality will look very different depending on the change of point of view. The second range of values is the so-called subject localization, that is, we will be interested in whose consciousness the scene is seen. Summarizing numerous observations, Percy Lubbock identified two main types of storytelling: panoramic(when the author directly expresses his consciousness) and stage(we are not talking about drama, it means that the consciousness of the author is "hidden" in the characters, the author does not openly manifest himself). According to Lubbock and his followers (N. Friedman, K. Brooks and others), the stage method is aesthetically preferable, since it does not impose anything, but only shows. This position, however, can be challenged, since the classical "panoramic" texts of L. N. Tolstoy, for example, have a colossal aesthetic potential of influence.
Modern studies focused on the method of analysis of changing points of view convince that it allows you to see even seemingly well-known texts in a new way. In addition, such analysis is very useful in the academic sense, since it does not allow "liberties" in handling the text, forcing the student to be attentive and careful.
Uspensky B.A. Poetics of composition. SPb., 2000.S. 10.
Lyric composition analysis
The composition of a lyric work has a number of its distinctive features. There, most of the foreshortenings we have singled out retain their meaning (with the exception of plot analysis, which is most often inapplicable to a lyric work), but at the same time, a lyrical work has its own specifics. Firstly, the lyrics often have a stanza structure, that is, the text is divided into stanzas, which immediately affects the entire structure; secondly, it is important to understand the laws of rhythmic composition, which will be discussed in the chapter "Poetry"; thirdly, there are many features of the figurative composition in the lyrics. Lyrical images are constructed and grouped differently from epic and dramatic ones. A detailed conversation about this is still premature, since an understanding of the structure of a poem comes only with practice. For a start, it is better to carefully read the test samples. At the disposal of modern students is a good collection of "Analysis of one poem" (L., 1985), entirely devoted to the problems of lyrical composition. We refer interested readers to this book.
Analysis of one poem: Interuniversity collection / ed. V.E.Kolshevnikova. L., 1985.
Bakhtin MM Forms of time and chronotope in the novel // Bakhtin MM Questions of literature and aesthetics. M., 1975.
Davydova T. T., Pronin V. A. Theory of literature. M., 2003. Chapter 6. "Artistic time and art space in a literary work."
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The composition of a literary work, which constitutes the crown of its form, is the mutual correlation and arrangement of units of the depicted and artistic-speech means, "a system of combining signs, elements of a work." Compositional techniques serve to place the accents necessary for the author and in a certain way, directed "serve" the reader with the recreated objectivity and verbal "flesh". They have a unique aesthetic energy.
The term comes from the Latin verb componere, which means to add, build, form. The word "composition" in its application to the fruits of literary creativity is more or less synonymous with words such as "construction", "disposition", "arrangement", "organization", "plan".
The composition realizes the unity and integrity of artistic creations. This, according to P.V. Palievsky, - “the disciplining force and organizer of the work. She is instructed to ensure that nothing is torn to the side, into its own law, namely, it is mated into a whole. Her goal is to arrange all the pieces so that they are closed in the full expression of the idea. "
To what has been said, we add that the totality of compositional techniques and means stimulates and organizes the perception of a literary work. A.K. Eisenstein persistently speaks about this (following the film director S.M. Eisenstein). Zholkovsky and Yu.K. Shcheglov, relying on the term "technique of expressiveness" proposed by them. According to these scientists, art (including verbal art) "reveals the world through the prism of expressive techniques" that control the reader's reactions, subordinate him to himself, and thereby - to the creative will of the author. These methods of expressiveness are few, and they can be systematized, a kind of alphabet can be formed. Experiments in the systematization of compositional means as "methods of expressiveness", which are still preliminary today, are very promising.
The foundation of the composition is the organization (orderliness) of the fictional reality depicted by the writer, that is, the structural aspects of the world of the work itself. But the main and specific beginning of artistic construction is the ways of "presenting" the depicted, as well as speech units.
Compositional techniques have primarily expressive energy. "An expressive effect," notes the music theorist, "is usually achieved in a work using not any one means, but several means aimed at the same goal." The same is the case in literature. Compositional means here constitute a kind of system, to the “terms” (elements) of which we will turn.
COMPOSITION
The composition and sequence of the location of episodes, parts and elements of a literary work, as well as the relationship between individual artistic images.
Thus, in M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ...", the composition is based on the opposition (see Antithesis) between soulless light and the lyrical hero's memories of the "wondrous kingdom"; in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" - the contradiction between the false and the true; in "Ionych" by A. Chekhov - the process of spiritual degradation of the protagonist, etc.
In epic, dramatic and partly lyrical works, the main part of the composition is the plot. Such a composition includes obligatory plot-compositional elements (setting, development of the action, culmination and denouement) and additional (exposition, prologue, epilogue), as well as so-called off-plot elements of the composition (inserted episodes, author's digressions and descriptions).
At the same time, the compositional design of the plot is different.
Subject composition can be:
- consistent(events develop in chronological order),
- reverse(events are given to the reader in reverse chronological order),
- retrospective(events set out in succession are combined with retreats into the past), etc. (See also the Fable.)
In epic and lyric-epic works, extra-plot elements play an important role in the composition: author's digressions, descriptions, introductory (inserted) episodes. The ratio of plot and outside plot elements constitutes an essential feature of the composition of the work, which must be noted. So, for the composition of the poems by M. Yu. Lermontov "The Song About the Merchant Kalashnikov" and "Mtsyri", the prevalence of plot elements is characteristic, and for "Eugene Onegin" by A. Pushkin, "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol, "To whom on Russia to live well "NA Nekrasov is indicative of a significant number of non-plot elements.
An important role in the composition is played by the system of characters, as well as the system of images (for example, the sequence of images in the poem by Alexander Pushkin "The Prophet", expressing the process of the poet's spiritual formation; or the interaction of such symbolic details-images as a cross, an ax, the Gospel, the resurrection Lazarus, etc. in the novel by FM Dostoevsky "Crime and Punishment").
For the composition of an epic work, the organization of the narrative plays an important role: for example, in M. Yu. Lermontov's novel "A Hero of Our Time", at first the narration is led by a simple but observant Maxim Maksimych, then the "author" who publishes "Pechorin's diary" is a person of the same circle and finally myself
Pechorin. This allows the author to reveal the character of the hero, going from outside to inside.
The composition of a work may also include dreams ("Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy), letters ("Eugene Onegin", "A Hero of Our Time"), genre inclusions, for example, songs ("Eugene Onegin "," Who Lives Well in Russia "), a story (in" Dead Souls "-" The Tale of Captain Kopeikin ").
Composition - the structure, location and ratio of the constituent parts of the text, due to its content, problems, genre and purpose.
The composition of a text is a way of constructing it, connecting its parts, facts, images.
The famous Roman scientist Marcus Fabius Quintilian deserves the honor of developing the theory of composition of speech. Quintilian singled out eight parts in the orator's speech. The composition of speech, developed by him, entered the practice of later rhetoric.
So, eight parts of the composition according to Quintilian.
1. Conversion. Its purpose is to grab the attention of the audience and win them over to the speaker.
2. Topic naming. The speaker names what he will talk about, attunes the listeners to the subject, makes them remember what they know, and prepares them to delve into the subject.
3. Narration consists of a description of the history of the subject (how the question arose that needs to be resolved, and how the case itself developed).
4. Description. A story about what the matter is at the moment.
5. Proof consists of logical arguments that justify the solution to the problem.
6. Refutation. Proof by contradiction. A different point of view on the subject is allowed, which the speaker refutes.
7. Proclamation. Appeal to the feelings of the listeners. The goal is to evoke an emotional response from the audience. It occupies the penultimate place in the structure of speech, because people are usually more inclined to make judgments based on emotions, rather than logic.
8. Conclusion. Summary of all that has been said and conclusions on the case under discussion.
- linear composition is a sequential statement of facts and events and is usually structured chronologically (autobiography, report);
- stepped - involves an accented transition from one position to another (lecture, report),
- parallel - based on a comparison of two or more provisions, facts, events (for example, school essays, the topics of which -
"Chatsky and Molchalin", "Onegin and Lensky", "Sisters of Larina"
- discrete - involves the omission of certain points in the presentation of events. This complex type organization is characteristic of literary texts. (For example, such a decision is often at the heart of detective stories);
- annular composition - contains a repetition of the beginning and ending of the text. This type of structure makes it possible to return to what was already said in the beginning at a new level of comprehension of the text.
So, for example, an incomplete repetition of the beginning in A. Blok's poem "Night, Street, Lantern, Pharmacy" makes it possible to comprehend what the poet said as a vital contradiction to the words "And everything will repeat itself as of old" at the end of the text.);
- contrasting - based on a sharp contrast between the two parts of the text.
Genre types of composition
Depending on the genre of the text, it can be:
- tough- obligatory for all texts of the genre (references, information notes, statements, memos);
- variable- the approximate order of the arrangement of parts of the text is known, but the author has the ability to vary it (textbook, answer in the lesson, letter);
- non-rigid- assuming sufficient freedom of the author, despite the fact that he is guided by existing samples of the genre (story, essay, essay);
In the texts:
- built on the basis of combining elements, a linear, stepped, parallel, concentric composition is used,
- in literary texts, its organization is often more complex - it constructs the time and space of a work of art in its own way.
Our short presentation on this topic
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