Elements of the composition of a work of art. Element of composition in a work of art: examples

COMPOSITION OF A LITERARY AND ARTISTIC WORK. TRADITIONAL COMPOSITION TECHNIQUES. DEFAULT/RECOGNITION, “MINUS”-RECEIPT, CO- AND CONTRASTINGS. INSTALLATION.

Composition literary work- this is the mutual correlation and arrangement of units of the depicted and artistic and speech means. Composition ensures the unity and integrity of artistic creations. The foundation of the composition is the orderliness of the fictional reality and the reality depicted by the writer.

Elements and levels of composition:

• plot (in the understanding of formalists - artistically processed events);
• system of characters (their relationship with each other);
• narrative composition (change of narrators and point of view);
• composition of parts (correlation of parts);
• the relationship between narrative and description elements (portraits, landscapes, interior, etc.)

Traditional compositional techniques:

• repetitions and variations. Serve to highlight and emphasize the most significant moments and links of the subject-speech fabric of the work. Direct repetitions not only dominated historically early song lyrics, but also constituted its essence. The variations are modified repetitions (the description of the squirrel in Pushkin’s “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”). Increasing repetition is called gradation (the increasing claims of the old woman in Pushkin’s “The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish”). Repetitions also include anaphors (single beginnings) and epiphoras (repeated endings of stanzas);
• co- and oppositions. The origins of this technique are figurative parallelism developed by Veselovsky. Based on the combination of natural phenomena with human reality (“The silk grass spreads and curls / Across the meadow / Kisses, pardons / Mikhail his little wife”). For example, Chekhov's plays are based on comparisons of similarities, where the general life drama of the depicted environment takes precedence, where there are neither completely right nor completely guilty. Contrasts take place in fairy tales (the hero is a saboteur), in Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit” between Chatsky and “25 Fools,” etc.;
• “silence/recognition, minus reception. The defaults are beyond the scope of the detailed image. They make the text more compact, activate the imagination and increase the reader’s interest in what is depicted, sometimes intriguing him. In a number of cases, silences are followed by clarification and direct discovery of what was hitherto hidden from the reader and/or the hero himself - what Aristotle called recognition. Recognitions can complete a reconstructed series of events, as, for example, in Sophocles’ tragedy “Oedipus the King.” But silences may not be accompanied by recognitions, remaining gaps in the fabric of the work, artistically significant omissions - minus devices.
• installation. In literary criticism, montage is the recording of co- and oppositions that are not dictated by the logic of what is depicted, but directly capture the author’s train of thought and associations. A composition with such an active aspect is called a montage. In this case, the spatio-temporal events and the characters themselves are weakly or illogically connected, but everything depicted as a whole expresses the energy of the author’s thought and his associations. The montage beginning one way or another exists where there are inserted stories (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” in “ Dead souls"), lyrical digressions ("Eugene Onegin"), chronological rearrangements ("Hero of Our Time"). The montage structure corresponds to a vision of the world that is distinguished by its diversity and breadth.

THE ROLE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ARTISTIC DETAIL IN A LITERARY WORK. RELATIONSHIP OF DETAILS AS A COMPOSITION DEVICE.

An artistic detail is an expressive detail in a work that carries a significant semantic, ideological and emotional load. The figurative form of a literary work contains three sides: a system of details of object representation, a system of compositional techniques and a speech structure. TO artistic detail usually include subject details - everyday life, landscape, portrait.

Detailing objective world in literature is inevitable, since only with the help of details can the author recreate an object in all its features, evoking the necessary associations in the reader with details. Detailing is not decoration, but the essence of the image. The addition by the reader of mentally missing elements is called concretization (for example, the imagination of a certain appearance of a person, an appearance that is not given by the author with exhaustive certainty).

According to Andrei Borisovich Yesin, there are three large groups details:

• plot;
• descriptive;
• psychological.

The predominance of one type or another gives rise to the corresponding dominant property of the style: plot (“Taras and Bulba”), descriptive (“ Dead Souls"), psychologism ("Crime and Punishment").

Details can either “agree with each other” or be opposed to each other, “argue” with each other. Efim Semenovich Dobin proposed a typology of details based on the criterion: singularity / multitude. He defined the relationship between detail and detail as follows: detail gravitates toward singularity, detail affects multitudes.

Dobin believes that by repeating and gaining additional meanings, the detail grows into a symbol, and the detail is closer to a sign.

DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS OF COMPOSITION. PORTRAIT. SCENERY. INTERIOR.

Descriptive elements of the composition usually include landscape, interior, portrait, as well as characteristics of the heroes, a story about their multiple, regularly repeated actions, habits (for example, a description of the usual daily routine of the heroes in “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” by Gogol ). The main criterion for a descriptive element of a composition is its static nature.

Portrait. A portrait of a character is a description of his appearance: physical, natural, and in particular age properties (facial features and figures, hair color), as well as everything in a person’s appearance that is formed by the social environment, cultural tradition, individual initiative (clothing and jewelry, hairstyle and cosmetics).

Traditional high genres are characterized by idealizing portraits (for example, the Polish woman in Taras Bulba). Portraitures in works of a humorous, comedy-farcical nature had a completely different character, where the center of the portrait is the grotesque (transformative, leading to a certain ugliness, incongruity) presentation of the human body.

The role of a portrait in a work varies depending on the type and genre of literature. In drama, the author limits himself to indicating age and general characteristics, given in the remarks. The lyrics make maximum use of the technique of replacing the description of appearance with an impression of it. Such a replacement is often accompanied by the use of epithets “beautiful”, “charming”, “charming”, “captivating”, “incomparable”. Comparisons and metaphors based on the abundance of nature are very actively used here (a slender figure is a cypress tree, a girl is a birch tree, a timid doe). Gems and metals are used to convey the shine and color of eyes, lips, and hair. Comparisons with the sun, moon, and gods are typical. In the epic, a character's appearance and behavior are associated with his character. Early epic genres, for example, heroic tales, are filled with exaggerated examples of character and appearance - ideal courage, extraordinary physical strength. The behavior is also appropriate - the majesty of poses and gestures, the solemnity of unhurried speech.

In creating a portrait right up to late XVIII V. the leading tendency remained its conditional form, the predominance of the general over the particular. IN XIX literature V. Two main types of portrait can be distinguished: exposure (gravitating towards static) and dynamic (transitioning into the entire narrative).

An exhibition portrait is based on a detailed listing of the details of the face, figure, clothing, individual gestures and other features of appearance. It is given on behalf of the narrator, interested in the character appearance representatives of some social community. A more complex modification of such a portrait is psychological picture, where external features predominate, indicating the properties of character and inner world (Pechorin’s non-laughing eyes).

A dynamic portrait, instead of a detailed listing of appearance features, presupposes a brief, expressive detail that arises during the course of the story (images of heroes in “The Queen of Spades”).

Scenery. Landscape is most correctly understood as a description of any open space in the outside world. Landscape is not a mandatory component art world, which emphasizes the conventionality of the latter, since landscapes are everywhere in the reality around us. The landscape carries several important functions:

• designation of the place and time of action. It is with the help of the landscape that the reader can clearly imagine where and when events take place. At the same time, the landscape is not a dry indication of the spatio-temporal parameters of the work, but artistic description using figurative, poetic language;
• plot motivation. Natural, and, in particular, meteorological processes can direct the plot in one direction or another, mainly if this plot is chronicle (with the primacy of events that do not depend on the will of the characters). Landscape also occupies a lot of space in animal literature (for example, the works of Bianchi);
• a form of psychologism. The landscape creates a psychological mood for the perception of the text, helps to reveal the internal state of the characters (for example, the role of the landscape in the sentimental “Poor Lisa”);
• form of the author's presence. The author can show his patriotic feelings by giving the landscape a national identity (for example, Yesenin’s poetry).

The landscape has its own characteristics different kinds literature. He is presented very sparingly in the drama. In his lyrics, he is emphatically expressive, often symbolic: personification, metaphors and other tropes are widely used. In epic there is much more scope for introducing landscape.

The literary landscape has a very ramified typology. There are rural and urban, steppe, sea, forest, mountain, northern and southern, exotic - opposed to flora and fauna native land author.

Interior. The interior, unlike the landscape, is an image of the interior, a description of an enclosed space. Mainly used for social and psychological characteristics characters, demonstrates their living conditions (Raskolnikov’s room).

"NARRATORY" COMPOSITION. NARRATOR, STORYTELLER AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE AUTHOR. “POINT OF VIEW” AS A CATEGORY OF NARRATORY COMPOSITION.

The narrator is the one who informs the reader about the events and actions of the characters, records the passage of time, depicts the appearance of the characters and the setting of the action, analyzes the internal state of the hero and the motives of his behavior, characterizes him human type, without being either a participant in the events or an object of depiction for any of the characters. The narrator is not a person, but a function. Or, as Thomas Mann said, “the weightless, ethereal and omnipresent spirit of storytelling.” But the function of the narrator can be attached to the character, provided that the character as a narrator will completely differ from him as an actor. So, for example, the narrator Grinev in “ The captain's daughter"is by no means a definite personality, in contrast to Grinev - the character. Grinev's character's view of what is happening is limited by the conditions of place and time, including features of age and development; his point of view as a narrator is much deeper.

In contrast to the narrator, the narrator is entirely within the reality being depicted. If no one sees the narrator inside the depicted world and does not assume the possibility of his existence, then the narrator certainly enters the horizons of either the narrator or the characters - listeners of the story. The narrator is the subject of the image, associated with a certain socio-cultural environment, from the position of which he portrays other characters. The narrator, on the contrary, is close in his outlook to the author-creator.

In a broad sense, a narrative is a set of those statements of speech subjects (narrator, narrator, image of the author) that perform the functions of “mediation” between the depicted world and the reader - the addressee of the entire work as a single artistic statement.

Narrower and more precise, as well as more traditional meaning, narration is the totality of all speech fragments of a work, containing various messages: about events and actions of characters; about the spatial and temporal conditions in which the plot unfolds; about the relationships between the characters and the motives of their behavior, etc.

Despite the popularity of the term “point of view,” its definition has raised and continues to raise many questions. Let's consider two approaches to the classification of this concept - by B. A. Uspensky and by B. O. Korman.

Uspensky says about:

• ideological point of view, meaning by it the vision of the subject in the light of a certain worldview that is transmitted different ways, indicating his individual and social position;
• phraseological point of view, meaning by it the author’s use of different languages ​​or, in general, elements of foreign or substituted speech when describing different characters;
• spatio-temporal point of view, meaning by it the place of the narrator, fixed and defined in spatio-temporal coordinates, which may coincide with the place of the character;
• point of view in terms of psychology, understanding by it the difference between two possibilities for the author: to refer to one or another individual perception or to strive to describe events objectively, based on the facts known to him. The first, subjective, possibility, according to Uspensky, is psychological.

Corman is closest to Uspensky from a phraseological point of view, but he:

• distinguishes between spatial (physical) and temporal (position in time) points of view;
• divides the ideological-emotional point of view into a direct-evaluative one (an open relationship between the subject of consciousness and the object of consciousness lying on the surface of the text) and an indirect-evaluative one (the author’s assessment, not expressed in words that have an obvious evaluative meaning).

The disadvantage of Corman's approach is the absence of a “plane of psychology” in his system.

So, the point of view in a literary work is the position of the observer (narrator, narrator, character) in the depicted world (in time, space, in the socio-ideological and linguistic environment), which, on the one hand, determines his horizons - both in terms of volume ( field of view, degree of awareness, level of understanding), and in terms of assessing what is perceived; on the other hand, it expresses the author’s assessment of this subject and his outlook.

Today we will talk about ways to organize the structure of a work of art and examine such a fundamental concept as composition. Undoubtedly, composition is an extremely important element of a work, mainly because it determines the form or shell in which the content is “wrapped.” And if in ancient times the shell was often not given of great importance, then since the 19th century, a well-structured composition has become almost an obligatory element of any good novel, not to mention short prose (short stories and short stories). Understanding the rules of composition is for modern author something like a mandatory program.

In general, it is most convenient to analyze and assimilate certain types of composition using examples from short prose, solely because of the smaller volume. This is exactly what we will do in the course of today's conversation.

Mikhail Weller “Story Technology”

As I noted above, it is easiest to study the typology of composition using the example of short prose, since almost the same principles are used there as in large prose. Well, if so, then I suggest you trust in this matter a professional author who has devoted his whole life to working on short prose, — Mikhail Weller. Why him? Well, at least because Weller wrote a whole series most interesting essays, dedicated to the craft of writing, from which a novice author can learn a lot of useful and interesting things. Personally, I can recommend two of his collections: “ Word and fate», « Word and profession", which for a long time were my reference books. For those who have not yet read them, I definitely recommend filling this gap as soon as possible.

Today, to analyze the composition, we turn to the famous work of Mikhail Weller “ Story technology" In this essay, the author literally breaks down all the features and subtleties of writing stories and short stories, systematizing his knowledge and experience in this area. Without a doubt, this is one of the best works on the theory of short prose and, what is no less valuable, it belongs to the pen of our compatriot and contemporary. Think, best source for our discussion today we simply cannot find one.

Let's first define what composition is.

- this is a specific construction, the internal structure of a work (architectonics), which includes the selection, grouping and sequence of visual techniques that organize the ideological and artistic whole.

This definition, of course, is very abstract and dry. I still prefer the formulation given by Weller. Here she is:

- this is the arrangement of the material selected for a work in such an order that a greater effect on the reader is achieved than with a simple sequential presentation of the facts.

The composition pursues a clearly defined goal - to achieve from the text the semantic and emotional impact on the reader that the author intended. If the author wants to confuse the reader, he builds the composition in one way; if he decides to amaze him at the end, he builds it in a completely different way. It is from the goals of the writer himself that all types and forms of composition, which we will discuss below, originate.

1. Direct flow composition

This is the most common, well-known and familiar way of presenting the material: at first it was like this, then this happened, the hero did this, and it all ended like this. The main feature of direct-flow composition is the strict sequence of presentation of facts while maintaining a single chain of cause-and-effect relationships. Everything here is consistent, clear and logical.

In general, this type of composition is characterized by a slow and detailed narrative: events follow one after the other, and the author has the opportunity to more thoroughly highlight the points that interest him. At the same time, this approach is familiar to the reader: it eliminates, on the one hand, any risk of getting confused in events, and on the other, it contributes to the formation of sympathy for the characters, since the reader sees the gradual development of their character over the course of the story.

In general, I personally consider direct-flow composition to be a reliable, but very boring option, which may be ideal for a novel or some kind of epic, but a story constructed with its help is unlikely to sparkle with originality.

Basic principles of constructing a direct-flow composition:

• Strict sequence of described events.

2. Banding

By and large, this is the same straightforward story with one single, but decisive important nuance– author’s inserts at the beginning and end of the text. In this case, we get a kind of nesting doll, a story within a story, where the hero introduced to us at the beginning will be the narrator of the main internal history. This move gives rise to a very interesting effect: the presentation of the plot of the story is superimposed on the personal characteristics, worldview and views of the character leading the narrative. Here the author deliberately separates his point of view from the point of view of the narrator and may well disagree with his conclusions. And if in ordinary stories we, as a rule, have two points of view (the hero and the author), then this type of composition introduces even greater semantic diversity by adding a third point of view - the point of view of the character-narrator.

The use of ringing makes it possible to give the story a unique charm and flavor that is impossible under other circumstances. The fact is that the narrator can speak any language (colloquial, deliberately colloquial, even completely incoherent and illiterate), he can convey any views (including those that contradict any generally accepted norms), in any case, the author distances himself from his image, the character acts independently, and the reader forms his own attitude towards his personality. Such separation of roles automatically brings the writer into the widest operational space: after all, he has the right to choose as a narrator even an inanimate object, even a child, even an alien. The degree of hooliganism is limited only by the level of imagination.

In addition, the introduction of a personalized narrator creates in the reader’s mind the illusion of greater authenticity of what is happening. This is valuable when the author is a public figure with a well-known biography, and the reader knows very well that his favorite author, say, has never been to prison. In this case, the writer, introducing the image of the narrator - a seasoned prisoner, simply removes this contradiction in the minds of the public and calmly writes his crime novel.

Banding is very effective way organization of composition, which is often used in combination with other compositional schemes.

Signs of ringing:

• The presence of a character-narrator;
• Two stories - an internal one, told by the character, and an external one, told by the author himself.

3. Dot composition

It is characterized by a close examination of one single episode, a moment in life that seemed important and something remarkable to the author. All actions here take place in a limited area of ​​space in a limited period of time. The entire structure of the work is, as it were, compressed to a single point; hence the name.

Despite its apparent simplicity, this type of composition is extremely complex: the author is required to put together a whole mosaic of the smallest details and details in order to ultimately obtain a vivid picture of the selected event. The comparison with painting in this context seems to me quite apt. Working on a point composition is reminiscent of painting a picture - which, in fact, is also a point in space and time. Therefore, here everything will be important for the author: intonation, gestures, and details of descriptions. A dot composition is a moment in life viewed through a magnifying glass.

Dot composition is most often found in short stories. Usually these are simple everyday stories in which a huge flow of experience, emotions and sensations is conveyed through little things. In general, everything that the writer managed to put into this point of artistic space.

Principles of constructing a dot composition:

• Narrowing the field of view to a single episode;
• Hypertrophied attention to detail and nuances;
• Showing the big through the small.

4. Wicker composition

It is distinguished mainly by the presence of a complex system for depicting a large number of events occurring with different heroes at different points in time. That is, in fact, this model is exactly the opposite of the previous one. Here the author purposefully gives the reader a lot of events that are happening now, happened in the past, and sometimes are supposed to happen in the future. The author uses a lot of references to the past, transitions from one character to another. And all in order to weave a huge large-scale picture of our history from this mass of related episodes.

Often, this approach is also justified by the fact that the writer reveals the causes and relationships of the events described with the help of episodes that took place once in the past, or the implicit connection of today's incidents with some others. All this comes together according to the will and intention of the author, like a complex puzzle.

This type of composition is more typical for large prose, where there is room for the formation of all its laces and intricacies; in the case of short stories or short stories, the author is unlikely to have the opportunity to build something large-scale.

The main features of this type of composition:

• References to events that occurred before the beginning of the story;
• Transitions between actors;
• Creating scale through many interconnected episodes.

I propose to stop here this time. A strong flow of information often creates confusion in the head. Try to think about what was said and be sure to read “ Story technology» Mikhail Weller. To be continued very soon on the pages of the “Literary Craftsmanship” blog. Subscribe to updates, leave your comments. See you soon!

The integrity of a work of art is achieved through various means. Among these means, composition and plot play an important role.

Composition(from lat. componere - to compose, connect) - the construction of a work, the relationship of all its elements, creating a holistic picture of life and promoting expression ideological content. The composition distinguishes between external elements - division into parts, chapters, and internal elements - grouping and arrangement of images. When creating a work, the writer carefully considers the composition, place and relationship of images and other elements, trying to give the material the greatest ideological and artistic expressiveness. The composition can be simple or complex. Thus, A. Chekhov’s story “Ionych” has a simple composition. It consists of five small chapters (external elements) and a simple internal system images In the center of the image is Dmitry Startsev, who is opposed by a group of images of local inhabitants, the Turkins. The composition of L. Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” looks completely different. It consists of four parts, each part is divided into many chapters, a significant place is occupied by the author's philosophical reflections. These are the external elements of the composition. The grouping and arrangement of images-characters, of which there are over 550, is very complex. The outstanding skill of the writer is manifested in the fact that, despite the complexity of the material, it is arranged in the most expedient way and is subordinated to the disclosure of the main idea: the people are the decisive force of history.

In scientific literature the terms are sometimes used architectonics, structure as synonyms of the word composition.

Plot(from the French sujet - subject) - a system of events in a work of art that reveals the characters of the characters and contributes to the most complete expression of the ideological content. The system of events is a unity developing over time, and the driving force of the plot is conflict. There are different conflicts: social, love, psychological, everyday, military and others. The hero, as a rule, comes into conflict with social environment, with other people, with yourself. There are usually several conflicts in a work. In L. Chekhov's story “Ionych” the hero’s conflict with the environment is combined with a love one. A striking example psychological conflict - Shakespeare's Hamlet. The most common type of conflict is social. To indicate social conflict Literary scholars often use the term conflict, and love - intrigue.

The plot consists of a number of elements: exposition, beginning, development of action, climax, denouement, epilogue.

Exposition - initial information about the actors that motivate their behavior in the context of the conflict that has arisen. In the story “Ionych” this is the arrival of Startsev, a description of the “most educated” Turkin family in the city.

Tie - an event that initiates the development of an action, a conflict. In the story “Ionych” Startsev meets the Turkin family.

After the beginning, the development of the action begins, the highest point of which is the climax. In L. Chekhov's story - Startsev's declaration of love, Katya's refusal.

Denouement- an event that resolves a conflict. In the story “Ionych” there is a breakdown in Startsev’s relationship with the Turkins.

Epilogue - information about the events that followed after the denouement. Sometimes. The author himself calls the final part of the story an epilogue. In L. Chekhov's story there is information about the fate of the heroes, which can be attributed to the epilogue.

In big work of art, as a rule, there are many storylines and each of them. developing, intertwined with others. Certain plot elements may be common. Defining a classic pattern can be difficult.

The movement of the plot in a work of art occurs simultaneously in time and space. To denote the relationship between temporal and spatial relations, M. Bakhtin proposed the term chronotope. Artistic time is not a direct reflection of real time, but arises through the montage of certain ideas about real time. Real time moves irreversibly and only in one direction - from the past to the future, but artistic time can slow down, stop and move in the opposite direction. Returning to the image of the past is called retrospection. Artistic time is a complex interweaving of the times of the narrator and the characters, and often a complex layering of times of different historical eras(“The Master and Margarita” by M. Bulgakov). It can be closed, closed in on itself, and open, included in the flow of historical time. An example of the first is “Ionych” by L. Chekhov, the second is “Quiet Don” by M. Sholokhov.

Parallel to the term plot there is a term plot, which are usually used as synonyms. Meanwhile, some theorists consider them inadequate, insisting on their independent significance. The plot, in their opinion, is a system of events in a cause-time sequence, and the plot is a system of events in the author’s presentation. Thus, the plot of I. Goncharov’s novel “Oblomov” begins with a description of the life of an adult hero living in St. Petersburg with his servant Zakhar in a house on Gorokhovaya Street. The plot involves a presentation of the events of Oblomov’s life. starting from childhood (chapter “Oblomov’s Dream”).

We define a plot as a system, a chain of events. In many cases, the writer, in addition to telling stories about events, introduces descriptions of nature, everyday pictures, lyrical digressions, reflections, geographical or historical information. They are usually called extra-plot elements.

It should be noted that there are different principles for organizing the plot. Sometimes events develop sequentially, in chronological order, sometimes with retrospective digressions, and times overlap. The technique of framing a plot within a plot is quite common. A striking example is “The Fate of Man” by Sholokhov. In it, the author talks about his meeting with a driver at the crossing of a flooded river. While waiting for the ferry, Sokolov spoke about his difficult life, about staying in German captivity, loss of family. At the end, the author said goodbye to this man and thought about his fate. The main, main story of Andrei Sokolov is taken within the framework of the author's story. This technique is called framing.

The plot and composition of the lyrical works are very unique. The author depicts in them not events, but thoughts and experiences. The unity and integrity of a lyrical work is ensured by the main lyrical motif, the bearer of which is the lyrical hero. The composition of the poem is subordinated to the disclosure of thoughts and feelings. “The lyrical development of a theme,” writes the famous literary theorist B. Tomashevsky, “reminiscent of the dialectics of theoretical reasoning, with the difference that in reasoning we have a logically justified introduction of new motives... and in lyric poetry the introduction of motives is justified by the emotional development of the theme.” Typical, in his opinion, is the three-part structure of lyrical poems, when the first part gives the theme, the second develops it through lateral motives, and the third provides an emotional conclusion. An example is A. Pushkin’s poem “To Chaadaev.”

Part 1 of Love, Hope, Quiet Glory

The deception did not endure us for long.

Part 2 We wait with longing hope

Minutes of holy freedom...

Part 3 Comrade, believe! She will rise

Star of captivating happiness...

The lyrical development of a theme is of two types: deductive - from the general to the particular and inductive - from the particular to the general. The first is in the above poem by A. Pushkin, the second in the poem by K. Simonov “Do you remember, Alyosha, the roads of the Smolensk region...”.

Some lyrical works have a plot: “ Railway» I. Nekrasova, ballads, songs. They are called story lyrics.

Visual details serve to reproduce concrete sensory details of the characters’ world, created by the creative imagination of the artist and directly embodying the ideological content of the work. The term “visual details” is not recognized by all theorists (the terms “thematic” or “objective” details are also used), but everyone agrees that the artist recreates the details of the external appearance and speech of the characters, their inner world, and surroundings in order to express his thoughts . However, accepting this position, one must not interpret it too straightforwardly and think that every detail (eye color, gestures, clothing, description of the area, etc.) is directly related to the author’s goal setting and has a very definite, unambiguous meaning. If this were so, the work would lose its artistic specificity and would become tendentiously illustrative.

Visual details help ensure that the world of the characters appears before the reader’s inner gaze in all its fullness of life, in sounds, colors, volumes, smells, in spatial and temporal extent. Not being able to convey all the details of the picture being drawn, the writer reproduces only some of them, trying to give impetus to the reader’s imagination and force him to fill in the missing features using his own imagination. Without “seeing”, without imagining “living” characters, the reader will not be able to empathize with them, and his aesthetic perception the work will be defective.

Fine details allow the artist to plastically, visibly recreate the lives of the characters and reveal their characters through individual details. At the same time, they convey the author’s evaluative attitude to the depicted reality and create the emotional atmosphere of the narrative. Thus, re-reading the crowd scenes in the story “Taras Bulba”, we can be convinced that the seemingly scattered remarks and statements of the Cossacks help us “hear” the polyphonic crowd of Cossacks, and various portrait and everyday details help us visually imagine it. At the same time, the heroic disposition is gradually becoming clearer folk characters, which developed in the conditions of wild freemen and poeticized by Gogol. At the same time, many details are comical, cause a smile, and create a humorous tone of the story (especially in scenes of peaceful life). Fine details here, as in most works, perform pictorial, characterizing and expressive functions.

In drama, visual details are conveyed not by verbal, but by other means (there is no description of the external appearance of the characters, their actions, or the setting, because there are actors on stage and there is scenery). The speech characteristics of the characters acquire special significance.

In lyric poetry, visual details are subordinated to the task of recreating the experience in its development, movement, and inconsistency. Here they serve as signs of the event that caused the experience, but they mainly serve as a psychological characteristic of the lyrical hero. At the same time, their expressive role is also preserved; the experience is conveyed as sublimely romantic, heroic, tragic, or in lowered, for example, ironic tones.

The plot also belongs to the sphere of pictorial detail, but stands out for its dynamic character. In epic and dramatic works, these are the actions of the characters and the events depicted. The actions of the characters that make up the plot are varied - these are different kinds of actions, statements, experiences and thoughts of the heroes. The plot most directly and effectively reveals the character of the character, the protagonist. However, it is important to understand that the actions of the characters also reveal the author’s understanding of the typical character and the author’s assessment. By forcing the hero to act in one way or another, the artist evokes in the reader a certain evaluative attitude not only towards the hero, but towards the whole type of people whom he represents. Thus, by forcing his fictional hero to kill a friend in a duel in the name of secular prejudices, Pushkin evokes in the reader a feeling of condemnation and makes him think about the inconsistency of Onegin, about the contradictions of his character. This is the expressive role of the plot.

The plot moves through the emergence, development, and resolution of various conflicts between the characters of the work. Conflicts can be of a private nature (Onegin’s quarrel with Lensky), or they can be a moment, part of socio-historical conflicts that arose in the world itself. historical reality(war, revolution, social movement). By depicting plot conflicts, the writer draws the greatest attention to the problems of the work. But it would be wrong to identify these concepts on the basis of this (there is a tendency towards such identification in Abramovich’s textbook, section 2, chapter 2). The problematic is the leading side of the ideological content, and the plot conflict is an element of the form. It is equally wrong to equate plot with content (as is common in spoken language). Therefore, the terminology of Timofeev, who proposed calling the plot in conjunction with all other details of the life depicted “immediate content” (Fundamentals of the Theory of Literature, Part 2, Chapters 1, 2, 3), was not recognized.

The question of the plot in the lyrics is resolved in different ways. There is no doubt, however, that this term can only be applied to lyrics with great reservations, denoting with it the outline of those events that “shine through” the hero’s lyrical experience and motivate him. Sometimes this term denotes the very movement of lyrical experience.

The composition of visual details, including plot details, is their location in the text. Using antitheses, repetitions, parallelisms, changing the pace and chronological sequence of events in the narrative, establishing chronicle and causal-temporal connections between events, the artist achieves a relationship that expands and deepens their meaning. In all textbooks The compositional techniques of the narrative, the introduction of the narrator, framing, introductory episodes, the main points in the development of the action, and various motivations for plot episodes are quite fully defined. The discrepancy between the order of plot events and the order of narration about them in the work makes us talk about this expressive means, like a plot. It should be taken into account that another terminology is also common, when the actual compositional technique of rearranging events is called the plot (Abramovich, Kozhinov, etc.).

To master the material in this section, we recommend that you independently analyze the visual details, plot and their composition in any epic or dramatic work. It is necessary to pay attention to how the development of the action serves the development of artistic thought - the introduction of new themes, the deepening of problematic motives, the gradual revelation of the characters’ characters and the author’s attitude towards them. Each new plot scene or description is prepared and motivated by the entire previous image, but does not repeat it, but develops, complements and deepens it. These components of form are most directly related to artistic content and depend on it. Therefore, they are unique, just like the content of each work.

In view of this, the student needs to become familiar with those theories that are ignored close connection plot-picture sphere of form with content. This is primarily the so-called comparative theory, which was based on a comparative historical study of the literatures of the world, but misinterpreted the results of such a study. Comparativists paid main attention to the influence of literatures on each other. But they did not take into account that the influence is due to the similarity or difference of social relations in the respective countries, but proceeded from the immanent, that is, internal, seemingly completely autonomous laws of the development of literature. Therefore, comparativists wrote about “stable motives”, about “bequeathed images” of literature, as well as about “ wandering stories”, without distinguishing between the plot and its scheme. The characteristics of this theory are also in the textbook ed. G.N. Pospelov and G.L. Abramovich.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-PREPARATION (m. 2)

1. A literary work as an integral unity.

2. The theme of the work of art and its features.

3. The idea of ​​a work of art and its features.

4. Composition of a work of art. External and internal elements.

5. The plot of a literary work. The concept of conflict. Plot elements. Extra-plot elements. Plot and plot.

6. What is the role of the plot in revealing the ideological content of the work?

7. What is plot composition? What is the difference between narration and description? What are extra-plot episodes and lyrical digressions?

8. What is the function of landscape, household furnishings, portrait and speech characteristics character in the work?

9. Features of the plot of lyrical works.

10. Spatio-temporal organization of the work. The concept of chronotope.

LITERATURE

Corman B.O. Studying the text of a work of art. - M., 1972.

Abramovich G.L. Introduction to literary criticism. Edition 6. - M., 1975.

Introduction to literary criticism / Ed. L.V. Chernets/. M., 2000. - P. 11 -20,

209-219, 228-239, 245-251.

Galich O. ta in. Theory of literature. K., 2001. -S. 83-115.

Getmanets M.F. Such a dictionary of linguistic terms. - Kharkiv, 2003.

MODULE THREE

LANGUAGE OF FICTION

Composition of a literary work.

Basic aspects of composition.

Composition of the figurative system.

The system of images-characters of a work of art.

Composition of the plot and composition of extra-plot elements

Composition 1. Composition of a literary work. Basic aspects of composition. Composition(from Latin compositio - composition, connection) - joining parts or components into a whole; structure of literary and artistic form.

- this is the composition and specific arrangement of parts, elements of a work in some significant sequence. Composition is a combination of parts, but not these parts themselves; depending on what level (layer) of the artistic form we are talking about, they distinguish aspects of composition

The aspects of composition are varied. At the same time, the approach to a work as an aesthetic object allows us to identify at least two layers in its artistic form and, accordingly, two compositions that combine components that are different in nature - textual And subject (figurative). Sometimes in the first case they talk about the outer layer of the composition (or “external composition”), in the second – about the internal one.

Perhaps nothing shows the difference between objective and textual composition so clearly as in the application to them of the concepts of “beginning” and “end”, otherwise “frame” (frame, frame components). Framework components are title, subtitle, Sometimes - epigraph, dedication, preface, Always - First line, first and last paragraphs.

In modern literary criticism, apparently, the term that came from linguistics has taken root: strong text position"(it, in particular, applies to titles, the first line, the first paragraph, the ending).

Researchers are paying increased attention to the frame components of the text, in particular, to its absolute beginning, which is structurally highlighted, creating a certain horizon of expectation. For example: A.S. Pushkin. Captain's daughter. Next is the epigraph: “ Take care of honor from a young age" Or: N.V. Gogol. Inspector. Comedy in five acts. Epigraph: " There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked. Popular proverb" Followed by " Characters"(traditional drama component side text), « Characters and costumes. Notes for gentlemen actors"(for understanding the author's concept, the role of this metatext is very important).

Compared to epic and dramatic works, lyric poetry is more modest in the design of the “entrance” to the text: often there is no title at all, and the name of the text gives it First line, which simultaneously introduces the rhythm of the poem (therefore it cannot be abbreviated in the table of contents).

Parts of the text have their own frame components, which also form relative unities. Epic works can be divided into volumes, books, parts, chapters, sub-chapters, etc. Their names will form their own expressive text (a component of the work’s frame).

In drama, it is usually divided into acts (actions), scenes (pictures), and phenomena (in modern plays, division into phenomena is rare). The entire text is clearly divided into character (main) and author's (side) text, which includes, in addition to the title component, various kinds of stage directions: description of the place, time of action, etc. at the beginning of acts and scenes, designation of speakers, stage directions, etc.

Parts of the text in lyrics (and in poetic speech in general) are verses, stanzas. The thesis about the “unity and closeness of the verse series” put forward by Yu.N. Tynyanov in his book “Problems of Poetic Language” (1924) allows us to consider a verse (usually written as a separate line) by analogy with larger unities, parts of the text. One can even say that the function of frame components in verse is performed by anacrusis and clause, often enriched with rhyme and noticeable as the boundary of the verse in case of transfer.

In all types of literature, individual works can form cycles. The sequence of texts within a cycle (book of poetry) usually gives rise to interpretations in which the arguments are the arrangement of characters, a similar structure of plots, characteristic associations of images (in the free composition of lyric poems), and other spatial and temporal connections of the objective worlds of the work.

So there is text components And components of the objective world works. To successfully analyze the overall composition of a work, it is necessary to trace their interaction, often very intense. The composition of the text is always “overlaid” in the reader’s perception on the deep, substantive structure of the work and interacts with it; It is thanks to this interaction that certain techniques are read as signs of the author’s presence in the text.

Considering the subject composition, it should be noted that its first function is to “hold” the elements of the whole, to make it out of individual parts; Without a thoughtful and meaningful composition, it is impossible to create a full-fledged work of art. The second function of the composition is to express some artistic meaning by the very arrangement and correlation of the images of the work.

Before you begin to analyze the subject composition, you should familiarize yourself with the most important compositional techniques. The main ones among them can be identified: repetition, reinforcement, contrast and montage(Esin A.B. Principles and techniques for analyzing a literary work - M., 1999, pp. 128 - 131).

Repeat– one of the simplest and at the same time most effective composition techniques. It allows you to easily and naturally “round out” the work and give it compositional harmony. The so-called ring composition looks especially impressive when a “roll call” is established between the beginning and end of the work.

A frequently repeated detail or image becomes the leitmotif (leading motive) of the work. For example, the motif of the cherry orchard runs through the entire play by A.P. Chekhov as a symbol of Home, the beauty and sustainability of life, its bright beginning. In the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's leitmotif becomes the image of a thunderstorm. In poems, a type of repetition is a refrain (repetition of individual lines).

A technique close to repetition is gain. This technique is used in cases where simple repetition is not enough to create an artistic effect, when it is necessary to enhance the impression by selecting homogeneous images or details. Thus, according to the principle of amplification, the description of the interior decoration of Sobakevich’s house in “Dead Souls” by N.V. is constructed. Gogol: every new detail strengthens the previous one: “everything was solid, awkward in of the highest degree and bore some strange resemblance to the owner of the house; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut bureau on the most absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless quality - in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” or “and I’m very similar to Sobakevich!”

The selection of artistic images in A.P.’s story operates according to the same principle of intensification. Chekhov’s “The Man in a Case”, used to describe the main character - Belikov: “He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool. And he had an umbrella in a case made of gray suede, and when he took out his penknife to sharpen a pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, since he kept hiding it in his raised collar.”

The opposite of repetition and reinforcement is opposition– a compositional technique based on antithesis. For example, in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov’s “Death of a Poet”: “And you will not wash away the righteous blood of the poet with all your black blood.”

In the broad sense of the word, opposition is any opposition of images, for example, Onegin and Lensky, Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, images of storm and peace in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov “Sail”, etc.

Contamination, the combination of repetition and contrast techniques, gives a special compositional effect: the so-called “mirror composition”. As a rule, with a mirror composition, the initial and final images are repeated exactly the opposite. A classic example of a mirror composition is the novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, It seems to repeat the situation already depicted earlier, only with a change in position: at first Tatyana is in love with Onegin, writes him a letter and listens to his cold rebuke. At the end of the work, it’s the other way around: Onegin in love writes a letter and listens to Tatyana’s answer.

The essence of the technique installation, lies in the fact that images located side by side in the work give rise to a certain new, third meaning, which appears precisely from their proximity. So, for example, in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych" description of the "art salon" of Vera Iosifovna Turkina is adjacent to the mention that from the kitchen the clanking of knives could be heard and the smell of fried onions could be heard. Together, these two details create that atmosphere of vulgarity, which A.P. tried to reproduce in the story. Chekhov.

All compositional techniques can perform two functions in the composition of a work, slightly different from each other: they can organize either a separate small fragment of text (at the micro level) or the entire text (at the macro level), becoming in the latter case principle of composition.

For example, the most common method of microstructure of a poetic text is sound repetition at the end of poetic lines - rhyme.

In the above examples from the works of N.V. Gogol and A.P. Chekhov’s technique of amplification organizes individual fragments of texts, and in the poem by A.S. Pushkin's "Prophet" becomes the general principle of organization of the entire artistic whole.

In the same way, montage can become a compositional principle for organizing the entire work (this can be observed in A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”, in the novel “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov).

Thus, one should distinguish between repetition, contrast, intensification and montage as compositional techniques themselves and as a principle of composition.

In order to correctly use words borrowed from other languages ​​in your speech, you need to have a good understanding of their meaning.

One of the words often used in various fields of activity, mainly in art, is “composition”. What does this word mean and in what cases is it used?

Word "composition" borrowed from Latin, where "composition" means composing, adding, linking a whole from parts. Depending on the field of activity, the meaning of this word may acquire certain semantic variations.

Thus, chemist-technologists are well aware of composite materials, which are a composition of plastic and mineral chips, sawdust or other natural material. But most often this word is found in descriptions of works of art - painting, music, poetry.

Any art is an act of synthesis, which results in a work that has the power of emotional impact on viewers, readers or listeners. An important component creativity, concerning the organizational principles of artistic form is composition.

Its main function is to give integrity to the connection of elements and to correlate individual parts with general plan author. For each type of art, composition has its own meaning: in painting it is the distribution of shapes and color spots on canvas or paper, in music it is a combination and mutual arrangement musical themes and blocks, in literature - the structure, rhythm of the text, etc.

Literary composition is the structure of a literary work, the sequence of arrangement of its parts. It serves to best express the general idea of ​​the work and can use all forms for this. artistic image, available in the literary baggage of a writer or poet.


Important parts literary composition are the dialogues and monologues of his characters, their portraits and the systems of images used in the work, plot lines, and the structure of the work. Often the plot develops in a spiral or has a cyclical structure, a large artistic expression Descriptive passages, philosophical digressions and interweaving stories told by the author are distinguished.

A work may consist of separate short stories connected by one or two characters, or have a single plot line and be narrated on behalf of the hero, combine several plots (a novel within a novel) or have no plot at all. storyline. It is important that its composition serves to most fully express the main idea or enhance the emotional impact of the plot, embodying everything the author intended.

Let's consider the composition of S. Yesenin's poem “Birch”.

White birch
Below my window
Covered with snow
Exactly silver.

The first stanza draws big picture: the author’s gaze from the window falls on a snow-covered birch tree.

On fluffy branches
Snow border
The brushes have blossomed
White fringe.

In the second stanza, the description of the birch becomes more prominent.


Reading it, we clearly see in front of us branches covered with frost - wonderful, fairytale picture Russian winter.

And the birch tree stands
In sleepy silence,
And the snowflakes are burning
In golden fire.

The third stanza describes the picture of the early morning: people have not yet woken up, and silence envelops the birch tree, illuminated by the dim winter sun. The feeling of calm and quiet charm of winter nature intensifies.

And the dawn is lazy
Walking around
Sprinkles branches
New silver.

A quiet, windless winter morning imperceptibly turns into an equally quiet sunny day, but the birch tree, like the Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale, remains. The skillfully constructed composition of the poem is aimed at making readers feel the charming atmosphere of a winter Russian fairy tale.

Composition in the art of music is extremely important. Complex musical composition relies on several basic musical themes, the development and variation of which allows the composer to achieve the emotional effect desired by the composer. The advantage of music is that it directly affects the emotional sphere of the listener.

Let us consider as an example the familiar musical composition- Hymn Russian Federation. It begins with a powerful opening chord that immediately puts the listener in a solemn mood. The majestic melody floating over the hall evokes the memory of Russia’s numerous victories and achievements, and for older generations it is a connecting link between today’s Russia and the USSR.


The words “Glory to the Fatherland” are reinforced by the ringing of timpani, like a burst of rejoicing among the people. Further, the melody becomes more melodious, incorporating Russian folk intonations - free and broad. In general, the composition awakens in listeners a sense of pride in their country, its endless expanses and majestic history, its power and unshakable fortress.