What are symbols in literature examples. Symbol as a literary phenomenon

sacred symbol novel literature

Symbol - from Greek. symbolon - conventional sign. IN Ancient Greece this was the name given to the halves of a stick cut in two, which helped their owners recognize each other in a distant place. A symbol is an object or word that conventionally expresses the essence of a phenomenon (Lekhin). An artistic symbol is a universal category of aesthetics that can best be revealed through comparison with adjacent categories of image, on the one hand, and sign, on the other. Taking the words broadly, we can say that a symbol is an image taken in the aspect of its signification, and that it is a sign endowed with all the organicity of myth and the inexhaustible ambiguity of the image. Every symbol is an image (and every image is, at least to some extent, a symbol); but if the category of image presupposes objective identity with itself, then the category of symbol places emphasis on the other side of the same essence - on the image going beyond its own limits, on the presence of a certain meaning, intimately fused with the image, but not identical to it. The objective image and the deep meaning appear in the structure of the symbol as two poles, inconceivable one without the other (for the meaning loses its manifestation outside the image, and the image without the meaning crumbles into its components), but also separated from each other and generating tension between themselves, in which is the essence of the symbol. Transitioning into a symbol, the image becomes “transparent”; the meaning “shines through” through it, being given precisely as semantic depth, a semantic perspective that requires a difficult “entry” into oneself.

The meaning of a symbol cannot be deciphered by a simple effort of reason; one must “get used to” it. This is precisely the fundamental difference between a symbol and an allegory: the meaning of a symbol does not exist as some kind of rational formula that can be “embedded” in an image and then extracted from the image. The relationship between the signifier and the signified in a symbol is a dialectical relationship of identity in non-identity: “... each image must be understood as what it is, and only thanks to this is it taken as what it designates” (Schelling). Here we have to look for the specifics of the symbol in relation to the category of the sign. If for a purely utilitarian sign system polysemy is only a meaningless hindrance that harms the rational functioning of the sign, then the more polysemantic it is, the more meaningful the symbol is: ultimately, the content of a genuine symbol, through mediating semantic connections, is each time correlated with the “most important thing” - with the idea of the world integrity, with the completeness of the cosmic and human “universe”. The very fact that any symbol generally has “meaning” itself symbolizes the presence of “meaning” in the world and life. “The image of the world, revealed in the word,” these words of B. Pasternak can be attributed to the symbolism of every great poet. The very structure of the symbol is aimed at immersing each particular phenomenon in the element of the “first principles” of existence and through this phenomenon giving a holistic image of the world. Here lies the affinity between symbol and myth; a symbol is a myth, “sublated” (in the Hegelian sense) by cultural development, derived from identity with itself and realized in its discrepancy with its own meaning.

From myth, the symbol inherited its social and communicative functions, which are indicated by the etymology of the term: the ancient Greeks called symbols suitable friend fragments of one plate to each other along the break line, adding which, people connected by a union of hereditary friendship identified each other. By the symbol, “friends” recognize and understand each other. Unlike an allegory, which can be deciphered by a “stranger,” there is a warmth of unifying mystery in the consciousness.

Yu.V. Shatin suggests that every natural language begins with a symbol, which is the first significant point of separation of language from myth. According to C. Pierce, symbols are conventional (i.e. established by agreement) relations of sign and meaning. The symbol, in the words of S.S. Averintsev, points to the image going beyond its own limits, to the presence of a certain meaning, inseparably fused with the image, but not identical to it. Such a symbol cannot be deciphered by a simple effort of reason. It requires not simple recognition as a cultural sign, but active adaptation to its internal structure on the part of the perceiver.

A symbol is a more difficult object to identify compared to metaphor and metonymic transfer. Apparently, the essence of any poetic symbol is that the word as a whole and its meaning, being unconnected by specific conceptual and figurative bonds with classes of homogeneous objects and phenomena, still designate them. A symbol can denote many such classes; its conceptual, that is, generalizing, range is very wide.

A typical symbol, firstly, “grows” from a specific detail of the text, which has a clear verbal designation. When the text is expanded, this detail ceases to be perceived as a detail in the direct nominative function. In other cases, its functionality acquires duality: what is designated by the word “detail” can be perceived both as a detail and as a symbol.

Frequent use of a particular word or phrase helps highlight characters. In this case, it is necessary to replace the named elements with other elements that directly “go out” to the object of designation. The phenomenon of a symbol is the unconditional replacement of any other element with this element.

Symbols quite often and naturally have an intertextual nature: for one writer or poet, stable symbols function in various works.

Unfortunately, symbols are quite often confused, even by experienced linguists, with so-called “keywords.” “Key words” are semantically very close to symbols: both are very rich in meaning; they are indeed very important reference points in the texts; both tend to attract the attention of readers; “key words” and symbols are the primary characteristics of specific writing styles.

Symbol (from the Greek symbolon - sign, omen) is one of the types of tropes *. A symbol, like an allegory and a metaphor, forms its figurative meanings based on what we feel - the relationship, the connection between the object or phenomenon that is denoted by some word in the language, and another object or phenomenon to which we transfer the same verbal designation. For example, “morning” as the beginning of daily activity can be compared with the beginning of human life. This is how both the metaphor “morning of life” and the symbolic picture of morning as the beginning of life’s journey arise:

In the morning fog with unsteady steps

I walked towards mysterious and wonderful shores.

(Vl. S. Soloviev)

However, symbol is fundamentally different from both allegory and metaphor. First of all, because it is endowed with a huge variety of meanings (in fact, innumerable), and all of them are potentially present in every symbolic image, as if “shining through” each other. So, in the lines from A. A. Blok’s poem “You were strangely bright...”:

I am your loving caress

I am illuminated - and I see dreams.

But, believe me, I think it’s a fairy tale

An unprecedented sign of spring

“spring” is both the time of year, and the birth of first love, and the beginning of youth, and the coming “ new life" and much more. Unlike allegory, the symbol is deeply emotional; in order to comprehend it, you need to “get used to” the mood of the text. Finally, in allegory and metaphor, the objective meaning of a word can be “erased”: sometimes we simply don’t notice it (for example, when mentioned in XVIII literature V. Mars or Venus, we often hardly remember the vividly depicted characters of ancient myths, but only know that we're talking about about war and love. Mayakovsky’s metaphor of “bull days” paints an image of the motley days of human life, and not the image of a spotted bull).

The formal difference between a symbol and a metafaphor is that a metaphor is created, as it were, “before our eyes”: we see exactly which words are compared in the text, and therefore we guess what their meanings are converging to give rise to a third, new one. A symbol can also enter into a metaphorical structure, but it is not necessary for it.

Where does it come from? symbolic meaning image? The main feature of symbols is that they, in their mass, appear not only in those texts (or even more so in parts of the text) where we find them. They have a history of tens of thousands of years, going back to ancient ideas about the world, to myths and rituals. Certain words (“morning”, “winter”, “grain”, “earth”, “blood”, etc., etc.) have been imprinted in the memory of mankind precisely as symbols since time immemorial. Such words not only have multiple meanings: we intuitively sense their ability to be symbols. Later, these words especially attract word artists, who include them in works where they acquire new meanings. Thus, Dante in his “Divine Comedy” used all the variety of meanings of the word “sun”, which went back to pagan cults, and then to Christian symbolism. But he also created his own new symbolism“sun”, which then became the “sun” among the romantics, the symbolists, etc. Thus, the symbol comes into the text from the language of centuries-old cultures, bringing into it all the baggage of its already accumulated meanings. Since a symbol has an innumerable number of meanings, it turns out to be able to “give” them in different ways: depending on the individual characteristics of the reader *.

Symbolism as a literary movement arose at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. in France as a protest against bourgeois life, philosophy and culture, on the one hand, and against naturalism and realism, on the other. In the “Manifesto of Symbolism,” written by J. Moreas in 1886, it was argued that a direct image of reality, of everyday life, only skims the surface of life. Only with the help of a hint symbol can we emotionally and intuitively comprehend the “secrets of the world.” Symbolism is associated with an idealistic worldview, with the justification of individualism and complete personal freedom, with the idea that art is higher than “vulgar” reality. This trend has become widespread in Western Europe, penetrated into painting, music and other forms of art.

In Russia, symbolism arose in the early 1890s. In the first decade, the leading role in it was played by the “senior symbolists” (decadents), especially the Moscow group headed by V. Ya. Bryusov and which published three editions of the collection “Russian Symbolists” (1894-1895). Decadent motifs also dominated the poetry of St. Petersburg authors, published in the magazine “Northern Herald”, and at the turn of the century - in the “World of Art” (F.K. Sologub, Z. N. Gippius, D.S. Merezhkovsky, N.M. Minsky). But the views and prosaic works of the St. Petersburg symbolists also reflected much of what would be characteristic of the next stage of this movement.

The “senior symbolists” sharply denied the surrounding reality and said “no” to the world:

I don't see our reality

I don't know our century...

(V. Ya. Bryusov)

Earthly life is just a “dream”, a “shadow”. Reality is contrasted with the world of dreams and reality - a world where the individual gains complete freedom:

I am the god of the mysterious world,

The whole world is in my dreams.

I will not make myself an idol

Neither on earth nor in heaven.

(F.K. Sologub)

This is the kingdom of beauty:

There is only one eternal commandment - to live.

In beauty, in beauty no matter what.

(D.S. Merezhkovsky)

This world is beautiful precisely because it “is not in the world” (3. N. Gippius). Real life is portrayed as ugly, evil, boring and meaningless. Symbolists paid special attention to artistic innovation - the transformation of the meanings of a poetic word, the development of rhythm, rhyme, etc. The “senior symbolists” have not yet created a system of symbols; they are impressionists who strive to convey the subtlest shades of moods and impressions.

A new period in the history of Russian symbolism (1901-1904) coincided with the beginning of a new revolutionary movement in Russia. Pessimistic sentiments inspired by the era of reaction of the 1880s - early 1890s. and the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer, give way to apprehensions of grandiose changes. “Younger symbolists, followers of the idealist philosopher and poet Vl., are entering the literary arena. S. Solovyov, who imagined that old world evil and deception on the verge of complete destruction, that divine Beauty (Eternal Femininity, the Soul of the world) descends into the world, which must “save the world” by connecting the heavenly (divine) principle of life with the earthly, material, to create the “kingdom of God on earth”:

Know this: Eternal Femininity is now

In an incorruptible body he goes to earth.

In the unfading light of the new goddess

The sky merged with the abyss of water.

(Vl. S. Soloviev)

Among the “younger symbolists,” the decadent “rejection of the world” is replaced by a utopian expectation of its future transformation. A.A. Blok in the collection “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” (1904) glorifies the same feminine principle of youth, love and beauty, which will not only bring happiness to the lyrical “I”, but will also change the whole world:

I have a feeling about you. The years pass by -

All in one form I foresee You.

The whole horizon is on fire - and unbearably clear,

And I wait silently, yearning and loving.

The same motives are found in A. Bely’s collection “Gold in Azure” (1904), which glorifies the heroic desire of people of dreams - the “Argonauts” - for the sun and the happiness of complete freedom. During these same years, many “senior symbolists” also sharply departed from the sentiments of the last decade and moved towards the glorification of a bright, strong-willed personality. This personality does not break with individualism, but now the lyrical “I” is a freedom fighter:

I want to tear the azure

Calm dreams.

I want burning buildings

I want screaming storms!

(K. D. Balmont)

With the advent of the “younger”, the concept of symbol entered the poetics of Russian symbolism. For Solovyov’s students, this is a polysemantic word, some meanings of which are associated with the world of “heaven”, reflect its spiritual essence, while others depict the “earthly kingdom” (understood as the “shadow” of the kingdom of heaven):

I follow a little, bending my knees,

Meek in appearance, quiet in heart,

Floating Shadows

The fussy affairs of the world

Among visions, dreams,

(A. A. Blok)

The years of the first Russian revolution (1905-1907) again significantly changed the face of Russian symbolism. Most poets respond to revolutionary events. Blok creates images of people of the new, national world (“Rising from the darkness of the cellars...”, “The Barge of Life”), fighters (“Went to attack. Straight to the chest...”). V.Ya. Bryusov writes the famous poem “The Coming Huns,” where he glorifies the inevitable end of the old world, to which, however, he includes himself and all the people of the old, dying culture. F.K. During the years of the revolution, Sologub created a book of poems “To the Motherland” (1906), K.D. Balmont - collection “Songs of the Avenger” (1907), published in Paris and banned in Russia, etc.

Even more important is that the years of revolution restructured the symbolic artistic vision of the world. If earlier Beauty was understood (especially by the “younger symbolists”) as harmony, now it is associated with the chaos of struggle, with the elements of the people. Individualism is replaced by the search for a new personality, in which the flourishing of the “I” is connected with the life of the people. The symbolism is also changing: previously associated mainly with the Christian, ancient, medieval and romantic traditions, now it turns to the heritage of the ancient “national” myth (V.I. Ivanov), to Russian folklore and Slavic mythology (A.A. Blok, S.M. Gorodetsky). The structure of the symbol also becomes different. All big role“earthly” meanings also play in it: social, political, historical.

But the revolution also reveals the “indoor”, literary-circle nature of the trend, its utopianism, political naivety, far from the true political struggle 1905-1907 The main issue for symbolism is the question of the connection between revolution and art. When solving it, two extremely opposite directions are formed: the protection of culture from the destructive force of the revolutionary elements (V. Bryusov’s magazine “Scales”) and aesthetic interest in the problems of social struggle. Only with A. A. Blok, who has greater artistic insight, dreams of great national art, writes articles about M. Gorky and realists.

Controversy 1907 and next years caused a sharp division between the Symbolists. During the years of the Stolypin reaction (1907-1911), this leads to a weakening of the most interesting tendencies of symbolism. The “aesthetic revolt” of the decadents and the “aesthetic utopia” of the “younger symbolists” are exhausting themselves. They are being replaced by artistic attitudes of “intrinsic aestheticism” - imitation of the art of the past. Stylization artists (M. A. Kuzmin) come to the fore. The leading symbolists themselves felt the crisis of the direction: their main magazines ("Scales", "Golden Fleece") were closed in 1909. Since 1910, symbolism as a movement ceased to exist.

However, the symbolism artistic method has not yet exhausted itself. So, A. A. Blok, the most talented poet of symbolism, in the late 1900s-1910s. creates his most mature works. He tries to combine the poetics of symbols with themes inherited from 19th-century realism with a rejection of modernity (the cycle “ Scary world"), with motives of revolutionary retribution (the cycle "Iambics", the poem "Retribution", etc.), with reflections on history (the cycle "On the Kulikovo Field", the play "Rose and Cross", etc.). A. Bely creates the novel “Petersburg”, as if summing up the era that gave birth to symbolism.

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Symbolism (from the French word “symbolisme”) is one of the largest trends in artistic arts(literature, painting, music), it arose in France in the 70-80s of the 19th century, and reached its peak in France, Belgium and Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. Under the influence of this movement, many types of art radically changed their form and content, changing the very attitude towards them. Followers of the Symbolist movement primarily extolled the primacy of the use of symbols in art; their work was characterized by the release of a mystical fog, a trail of mystery and mystery, the works are full of hints and understatement. The goal of art in the concept of adherents of symbolism is the comprehension of the surrounding world on an intuitive, spiritual level of perception through symbols, which is the only correct reflection of its true essence.

The term “symbolism” first appeared in world literature and art in the manifesto of the same name by the French poet Jean Moreas “Le Symbolisme” (Le Figaro newspaper, 1886), which proclaimed its basic principles and ideas. The principles of the ideas of symbolism are clearly and fully reflected in the works of such famous French poets like Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Stéphane Mallarmé and Lautreamont.

Poetic art at the beginning of the twentieth century, in a state of decline and having lost its energy, former strength and brightness creativity due to the defeat of the ideas of revolutionary populism, it urgently needed revival. Symbolism as a literary movement was formed as a protest against the impoverishment of the poetic power of the word, created in order to return strength and energy to poetry, to pour new, fresh words and sound into it.

The beginning of Russian symbolism, which is also considered the beginning of the Silver Age of Russian poetry, is associated with the appearance of an article by a poet, writer and literary critic Dmitry Merezhkovsky “On the causes of decline and new trends in modern Russian literature” (1892). And although symbolism originated in Europe, it was in Russia that it reached its highest peak and Russian symbolist poets brought to it their original sound and something completely new that was absent from its founders.

Russian symbolists were not distinguished by unity of views, they did not have a common concept of artistic understanding of the reality around them, they were disunited and disunited. The only thing they had in common was their reluctance to use simple, ordinary words, their reverence for symbols, the use of metaphors and allegories.

Literary researchers distinguish two stages in the formation of Russian symbolism, which have differences in time and in the ideological concepts of symbolist poets.

To the older symbolists who began their literary activity in the 90s of the 19th century, include the work of Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, Fyodor Sologub, Zinaida Gippius, for them the poet was the creator of exclusively artistic and spiritual personal values.

The founder of the St. Petersburg symbolist movement is Dmitry Merezhkovsky, his works written in the spirit of symbolism: the collection “New Poems” (1896), “Collected Poems” (1909). His work differs from other symbolist poets in that he expresses in it not his personal experiences and feelings, as Andrei Bely or Alexander Blok did, but general sentiments, feelings of hope, sadness or joy of the whole society.

The most radical and prominent representative of the early symbolists is the St. Petersburg poet Alexander Dobrolyubov, who was distinguished not only by his poetic creativity (a collection of innovative poetry “Natura naturans. Natura naturata” - “generative nature. Generated nature”), but by his decadent way of life, the creation of a folk religious sect of "good lovers".

Creator of his own separate poetic world, standing apart from the entire modernist movement in literature - poet Fyodor Sologub. His work is distinguished by such striking originality and ambiguity that there is still no single correct interpretation and explanation of the symbols and images he created. Sologub’s works are imbued with the spirit of mysticism, mystery and loneliness; they simultaneously shock and attract close attention, not letting go until the last line: the poem “Loneliness”, the prose epic “Night Dew”, the novel “Little Demon”, the poems “Devil’s Swing”, “ One-eyed dashing."

The most impressive and bright, complete musical sound and amazing melody were the poems of the poet Konstantin Balmont, a symbolist of the early school. In search of a correspondence between the semantic sound, color and sound transmission of the image, he created unique semantic and sound texts and music. In them, he used such a phonetic means of enhancing artistic expressiveness as sound writing, used bright adjectives instead of verbs, creating his original poetic masterpieces, which, according to his ill-wishers, were practically meaningless: the poetry collections “This is Me,” “Masterpieces,” “Romances.” without words”, books “The Third Watch”, “To the City and the World”, “Wreath”, “All the Tunes”.

Younger symbolists, whose activity dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century, are Vyacheslav Ivanov, Alexander Blok, Andrei Bely, Sergei Solovyov, Innokenty Annensky, Jurgis Baltrushaitis. This second wave of this literary movement also called Young Symbolism. A new stage in the development of the history of symbolism coincides with the rise of the revolutionary movement in Russia; decadent pessimism and disbelief in the future are replaced by a premonition of impending inevitable changes.

Young followers of the poet Vladimir Solovyov, who saw the world on the brink of destruction and said that it would be saved by divine beauty, which would combine the heavenly life principle with the earthly, thought about the purpose of poetry in the world around us, the poet’s place in developing historical events, connections between the intelligentsia and the people. In the works of Alexander Blok (the poem “The Twelve”) and Andrei Bely, one can feel a premonition of impending, violent changes, an imminent catastrophe that will shake the foundations of the existing society and lead to a crisis of humanistic ideas.

It is with symbolism that the creativity, main themes and images of poetic lyrics (World Soul, Beautiful Lady, Eternal Femininity) of the outstanding Russian poet of the Silver Age Alexander Blok are associated. The influence of this literary movement and the poet’s personal experiences (feelings for his wife Lyuba Mendeleeva) make his work mystical and mysterious, isolated and detached from the world. His poems, imbued with the spirit of mystery and riddles, are distinguished by their polysemy, which is achieved through the use of blurry and unclear images, vagueness and uncertainty, the use of bright colors and colors, only shades and half-hints.

The end of the first decade of the twentieth century was marked by the decline of the Symbolist movement; new names no longer appeared, although symbolists were still creating individual works. Symbolism as a literary movement had a huge influence on the formation and development of poetic art at the beginning of the twentieth century; with its masterpieces of poetic literature, it not only significantly enriched world art, but also contributed to expanding the scope of consciousness of all humanity.

From direct binomial figurative parallelism even in ancient oral folk art such a significant type of verbal-subject allegory as a symbol arose. Behind Lately began to be called symbols various kinds styles serving symbol certain abstract concepts.

But in its main meaning, a symbol (gr. sumbolon - sign, omen) is an independent artistic image, which has an emotional and figurative meaning based on the similarity of life phenomena. The appearance of symbolic images was prepared by a long song tradition. Folk songs passed from one singer to another and were preserved in the memory of many generations.

And in those cases when these songs were built on the basis of direct binary parallelism, the semantic connection of the images included in it gradually became more and more consolidated in the minds of both the singers themselves and their listeners.

Therefore, as soon as the first term of parallelism appeared in the song - the image of nature, it immediately evoked in the memory of the listeners its second element, known to them in advance - the image of a person, which no longer needed to be reproduced with the help of words. In other words, the depiction of the life of nature began to signify the life of man; it thereby acquired an allegorical, symbolic meaning. People have learned to understand human life through a hidden analogy with the life of nature. Thus, in the wedding song a parallel was drawn between falcons and matchmakers - “boyars”.

The similarity of the actions of both, strengthened by the frequent repetition of the song, which became habitual, led to the fact that during further performance it was enough to sing about falcons nibbling a duck, and the listeners understood that the matchmakers had chosen the girl and decided on her marriage. Falcons have become a symbol of matchmakers, and a duck has become a symbol of brides. Here is a similar song that has become symbolic:

Falcons, falcons, where did they fly? We flew from sea to sea. What did you see? We saw a duck on the sea. Why didn't you take it? And the wings were plucked, Hot blood was shed.

This means that in folk art, a symbol is the first member of figurative parallelism, marking its second member. From two-term direct parallelism arose one-term parallelism. Leading Ukrainian song, in which the “dawn” (star) asks the “month” not to set before it, Veselovsky writes: “Let’s discard the second part of the song... and the habit of well-known comparisons will suggest, instead of the month and star, the bride and groom.”

It should be noted, however, that the point here is not a “habit”, but the very basis of parallelism - the awareness of the objective features of the similarity between the images of nature and people, which is only strengthened by the repetition of the song. Initially, for the emergence of a symbol as a one-term parallelism, it was necessary to first use two-term parallelism, which strongly likened the life of nature to the life of people.

But when the singers and their listeners mastered symbolism as a special type of verbal and object imagery, when the artistic consciousness of society was enriched by this new principle of depicting life, symbolic images began to emerge independently, no longer relying on binary parallelism.

IN fiction, in individual creativity different countries and eras, symbolism became even more widely used. The image of nature acquires symbolic meaning in the process of thoughtful individual perception by readers and listeners on the basis of living associations, similar to human life.

At the same time, the image of nature initially retains a direct, independent meaning for readers, and then, with its emotional content, evokes in them direct emotional parallels with some similar content in people’s lives. Symbolism, i.e. the presence of images-symbols, should not be confused with "symbolism" - a literary movement that emerged only at the end of the 19th century. Lyrical works are especially rich in symbolism.

It is often distinguished by the greater or lesser abstraction of its problematics, therefore its images-symbols can evoke in the reader various associations with human actions, states, and experiences. In other words, lyrical symbolism often has the ambiguity of its emotional meaning. For example, A. Koltsov’s poem “Forest” (“What, dense forest, || I became thoughtful ...”) is undoubtedly symbolic. True, it is dedicated to the memory of A.S. Pushkin and is often interpreted as an allegorical depiction of the last tragic years of the life, and then the death of the great poet.

But such an interpretation impoverishes the content of the poem and gives its main image a straightforward, rational, allegorical meaning.

For readers who do not know this interpretation, who succumb to the emotional charm of Koltsov’s poems with their folk poetic style, the image of the forest, first perceived in its literal meaning, can then evoke much wider and more varied associations - or with individual people in different conditions their lives, or even with entire social movements, etc.

In this perception, Koltsov’s poem retains its symbolic meaning. Lermontov’s works, allegorical in their images (poems “Cliff”, “Leaf”, “In the wild north stands alone...”, ballad Three Palms”, poem “Demon”, etc.) also should not be taken as direct allusions to the personal fate and experiences of the author. Their images must be understood as symbols in their self-sufficient emotional and generalizing allegorical meaning.

In epic and dramatic literature, symbolism is much less common, but it can become a feature of the imagery of an entire epic work. Such, for example, is Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Horse”. In its center is a general image of a peasant horse, exhausted and exhausted half to death by constant hard work.

The author describes appearance animal, its condition; briefly depicts a man: how hard he plows the field. The reader perceives all this first in literally- like the hopeless working life of a peasant “bed”, who “does not live, but does not die.”

But then, with the help of the author’s bitter thoughts that someone needs not the “well-being” of Konyaga, but “a life that can endure the yoke and work,” the reader begins to realize that all this applies to the owner, a poor peasant living in such , the hopelessness of oppression. And the image of a horse crippled by work symbolizes for him the enslavement of the working peasantry.

Initially, symbolic images were images of nature that evoked emotional analogies with human life. This tradition continues to this day. Along with it, images of individual people, their actions and experiences, signifying some more general processes of human life, often began to receive allegorical, symbolic meaning in literature.

Thus, when in the last act of Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard,” Gaev and Ranevskaya, leaving the sold estate, forget about the old, sick footman Firs, slavishly devoted to his masters, and he remains locked in the old house, doomed to be scrapped, the reader and audience first they see this as complete completion real events shown in the play. But they can then understand this last scene much deeper and wider - as a symbolic expression of the doom of the estate world.

Introduction to literary criticism: Proc. for philol.. special. un-tov / G.N. Pospelov, P.A. Nikolaev, I.F. Volkov and others; Ed. G.N. Pospelov. - 3rd ed., rev. and additional - M.: Higher. school, 1988. - 528 p.

MBOU Zazerskaya secondary school

Research work on the topic

“Symbolism of the titles of I. S. Turgenev’s novels”

Heads: Gaunova I. A

Goal of the work:

determine the nature of symbolism manifested in the title, methods of symbolic designation of the works of I. S. Turgenev. We will try to prove that the title of Turgenev’s novel is ambiguous and is not only connected with the entire content of the text, but also reveals the peculiarities of the author’s worldview and attitude.

Introduction

Chapter 1. Symbolism in XIX literature century: general characteristics phenomena.

The concepts of “symbol” and “symbolism” in the science of literature. The specifics of the implementation of symbolism in the titles of works by writers of the 19th century.
The concepts of “symbol” and “symbolism” in the science of literature
Specifics of the implementation of symbolism in the titles of works by writers of the 19th century.

Chapter 2. Symbolism of the names of I. S. Turgenev’s novels.
2.2. “On the Eve” is a symbolistic embodiment of the idea of renewal.
2.3. The symbolic title of the novel “Smoke” as a way of expressing the author’s position
2.4. The symbolism of the title of the novel “Fathers and Sons.”
conclusions
Literature

Why did you choose this topic?

One of the main reasons that prompted me to turn to this topic is the awareness of the need to comprehend the works of Russian literature, which are the spiritual basis of Russian culture.

The goal requires solving the following tasks:

explore the titles of works by I. S. Turgenev;
understand the meaning of the titles of the works, and make sure that the titles of all the works of the great writer are symbolic.

Research methods:

Search
Comparative historical
Systematic text analysis method

The introduction briefly covers the history of the issue.
The rationale for the choice of topic is given and the goal is defined.

Chapter 1. . Symbolism in literature of the 19th century: general characteristics of the phenomenon.

The concept of “symbol” and “symbolism” in the science of literature.

The meaning contains a certain secret, a hint that allows one to only guess what is meant, what the author wanted to say. The interpretation of a symbol is possible not so much by reason as by intuition and feeling.

Symbolic images are widely used in literary works

Symbolism of titles of works in literature XIX century

First and last names placed in the headings become symbols (“Oblomov”, “Poor Liza”),
sometimes social status is indicated (“Dowryless”, “Poor people”),
proverb headings and saying headings (“Poverty is not a vice”, “Don’t get into your own sleigh”),
titles containing an antithesis (“War and Peace”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Crime and Punishment”, “Fathers and Sons”).

Chapter 2. Symbolism of the titles of I. S. Turgenev’s novels.

In the novel “Rudin” (1856), Turgenev recreates the spiritual atmosphere in which he himself developed as a writer and a person and which was always felt both in his own appearance and in the appearance of his beloved heroes. The theme of the novel lies in its title. It's symbolic.

Novels "Rudin" And « Noble Nest» as a symbol of the departure of the old world.

“Nest” is a house, a symbol of a family where the connection between generations is not interrupted. In the novel “The Noble Nest” this connection is broken, which symbolizes the destruction and withering away of family estates under the influence of serfdom. And all the “nests”, which for Turgenev were the stronghold of the country, the place where its power was concentrated and developed, are undergoing a process of disintegration and destruction.

“On the Eve” is a symbolistic embodiment of the idea of renewal.

The novel "On the Eve" in many of its facets was associated with its unusual time, which the author felt as critical and transitional. . The “eve” of significant changes was felt, which determined the title of this work. The breath of new life was felt.

The symbolic title of the novel “Smoke” as a way of expressing the author’s position.

Turgenev creates in the novel a kind of symbolic picture, which reflects post-reform Russian life, embraced by “gaseous” ideas and opinions.

The symbolism of the title of the novel "Fathers and Sons".

“Fathers and Sons” is a symbol of ever-renewing life.
The novel “Fathers and Sons” is about life, as it appeared before Turgenev, and as he understood it.

Conclusion

Research has shown:

The literary prose of I. S. Turgenev has always been and remains the object of close, deep and interested research. This enduring interest in the work of the great writer is due both to the enormous influence on the moral and mental level of society, which was noted by his contemporaries, and to the artistic perfection of his works. In terms of beauty and elegance of verbal painting, he had no equal among his contemporaries.

In our work, we tried to identify the relationship between the content of Turgenev’s works and their titles.

Well known during work art world I. S. Turgenev opened up to us anew, and we were once again convinced that the titles of the writer’s novels are symbolic.