Plots of world literature (36 plots)
Literature is, first of all, art, but at the same time it is information, albeit very specific. And the information volume of world literary literature is constantly increasing, growing to ever more impressive proportions. But, unlike science and technology, from ideology, in fiction new information does not cancel or displace the previous one. (All the masterpieces of world literature in a brief summary. Plots and characters. Russian literature of the 19th century: Encyclopedic edition. - M.: Olimp; ACT Publishing, 1996. - 832 pp., p. 11)
Thus, the volume of world literature, growing over time, does not change in its essence - repeating plots are used that reflect the main plot lines of people's lives.
Each new era adds only a stylistic update and some character traits this era, including minor changes in language use and preferences.
Systematization, schematization, cataloging of the world's book wealth occupied analysts of all eras... back in the 9th century, it was begun by the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius, who compiled the “Myriobiblion” (translated as “Many Books” or as “Library”) - a collection brief descriptions works of Greek and Byzantine authors, including ecclesiastical, secular, historical, and medical literature. It is noteworthy that the idea of such a universal, all-encompassing library became relevant again one thousand one hundred years later. In the works of Hermann Hesse and especially in the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges, the image of “the world as a library” appears.(All the masterpieces of world literature in a brief summary. Plots and characters. Russian literature of the 19th century: Encyclopedic edition. - M.: Olimp; ACT Publishing House, 1996. - 832 pp. 12)
Famous writer Jorge Luis Borges stated that there is everything four plot and, accordingly, four heroes, whom he described in his short story “Four Cycles”.
1. The oldest story is the story of a besieged city, which is stormed and defended by heroes. The defenders know that the city is doomed and resistance is futile. This is the story of Troy, and main character- Achilles knows that he will die without seeing victory. A rebel hero, the very fact of whose existence is a challenge to the surrounding reality. In addition to Achilles, the heroes of this plot are Siegfried, Hercules, Sigurd and others.
2. The second story is about return. The story of Odysseus, who wandered the seas for ten years in an attempt to return home. The hero of these stories is a man rejected by society, endlessly wandering in an attempt to find himself - Don Quixote, Beowulf.
3. The third story is about search. This story is somewhat similar to the second, but in this case the hero is not an outcast and does not oppose himself to society. The most famous example of such a hero is Jason, sailing for the Golden Fleece.
4. The fourth story is about the suicide of God. Atis maims and kills himself, Odin sacrifices himself to Odin, himself, hanging on a tree for nine days, nailed by a spear, Roman legionnaires crucify Christ. The hero of the “death of the gods” - losing or gaining faith, in search of faith - Zarathustra, Bulgakov’s Master, Bolkonsky.
Another famous author Christopher Booker
in his book "The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories" described seven basic plots, on the basis of which, in his opinion, all the books in the world are written.
1. “From rags to riches” - the name speaks for itself, the most striking example, familiar to everyone from childhood, is Cinderella. Heroes are ordinary people who discover something unusual in themselves and, through their own efforts or by coincidence, find themselves “at the top.”
2. “Adventure” - a difficult journey in search of an elusive goal. According to Booker, both Odysseus and Jason fall into this category, and also King Solomon's Mines and Around the World in Eighty Days fall into this category.
3. “There and back.” The plot is based on the hero’s attempt, torn out from his usual world, to return home. This includes “Robinson Crusoe”, and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, and many others.
4. “Comedy” - This is not just a general term, it is a certain type of plot that develops according to its own rules. All Jane Austen novels fall into this category.
5. “Tragedy” - the culmination is the death of the main character due to some character flaws, usually love passion or lust for power. These are, first of all, Macbeth, King Lear and Faust.
6. “Resurrection” - the hero is under the power of a curse or dark forces, and a miracle brings him out of this state. A striking example This plot is also familiar to everyone from childhood - Sleeping Beauty, awakened by the kiss of the prince.
7. “Victory over the Monster” - from the title it is clear what the plot is - the hero fights the monster, defeats him and receives a “prize” - treasures or love. Examples: Dracula, David and Goliath.
About a hundred years ago, playwright Georges Polti compiled his liststories of thirty-six points (by the way, the first number is thirty six were proposed by Aristotle and much later supported by Victor Hugo). Polti's thirty-six plots and themes cover mainly drama and tragedy. There was controversy around this list, it was repeatedly criticized, but no one tried to protest the number 36 itself.
1. PRAYER. Elements of the situation: 1) the pursuer, 2) the persecuted and begging for protection, help, shelter, forgiveness, etc., 3) the force on which it depends to provide protection, etc., while the force does not immediately decide to protect , hesitant, unsure of herself, which is why you have to beg her (thereby increasing the emotional impact of the situation), the more she hesitates and does not dare to provide help. Examples: 1) a person fleeing begs someone who can save him from his enemies, 2) begs for shelter in order to die in it, 3) a shipwrecked person asks for shelter, 4) asks those in power for dear, close people, 5) asks for one a relative for another relative, etc.
2. THE RESCUE. Elements of the situation: 1) unfortunate, 2) threatening, persecuting, 3) savior. This situation differs from the previous one in that there the persecuted person resorted to hesitant force, which had to be begged, but here the savior appears unexpectedly and saves the unfortunate man without hesitation. Examples: 1) interchange famous fairy tale about Bluebeard. 2) saving a sentenced person death penalty or generally in mortal danger, etc.
3. REVENGE FOLLOWING CRIME. Elements of the situation: 1) avenger, 2) guilty, 3) crime. Examples: 1) blood feud, 2) revenge on a rival or rival or lover or mistress out of jealousy.
4. REVENGE OF A CLOSE PERSON FOR ANOTHER CLOSE PERSON OR CLOSE PEOPLE. Elements of the situation: 1) living memory of the insult, harm inflicted on another loved one, the sacrifices he made for the sake of his loved ones, 2) an avenging relative, 3) the relative guilty of these insults, harm, etc. Examples: 1) revenge on a father for his mother or mother on his father, 2) revenge on his brothers for his son, 3) on his father for his husband, 4) on his husband for his son, etc. Classic example: Hamlet’s revenge on his stepfather and mother for his murdered father .
5. PURSUED. Elements of the situation: 1) a crime committed or a fatal mistake and the expected punishment, retribution, 2) hiding from punishment, retribution for a crime or mistake. Examples: 1) persecuted by the authorities for politics (for example, “The Robbers” by Schiller, the history of the revolutionary struggle in the underground), 2) persecuted for robbery (detective stories), 3) persecuted for a mistake in love (“Don Juan” by Moliere, alimony stories and etc.), 4) a hero pursued by a force superior to him (“Chained Prometheus” by Aeschylus, etc.).
6. SUDDEN DISASTER. Elements of the situation: 1) the victorious enemy, appearing in person; or a messenger bringing terrible news of defeat, collapse, etc., 2) a defeated ruler, a powerful banker, an industrial king, etc., defeated by a winner or struck down by the news. Examples: 1) the fall of Napoleon, 2) “Money” by Zola, 3 ) “The End of Tartarin” by Anfons Daudet, etc.
7. VICTIM (i.e. someone, a victim of some other person or people, or a victim of some circumstances, some misfortune). Elements of the situation: 1) one who can influence the fate of another person in the sense of his oppression or some kind of misfortune. 2) weak, being a victim of another person or misfortune. Examples: 1) ruined or exploited by someone who was supposed to care and protect, 2) previously loved or loved one finding themselves forgotten, 3) unfortunate, having lost all hope, etc.
8. OUTRAGE, REVOLT, REBELLION. Elements of the situation: 1) tyrant, 2) conspirator. Examples: 1) a conspiracy of one (“The Fiesco Conspiracy” by Schiller), 2) a conspiracy of several, 3) the indignation of one (“Egmond” by Goethe), 4) the indignation of many (“William Tell” by Schiller, “Germinal” by Zola)
9. A BOLD ATTEMPT. Elements of the situation: 1) the daring person, 2) the object, i.e., what the daring person decides to do, 3) the opponent, the opposing person. Examples: 1) theft of an object (“Prometheus - the Thief of Fire” by Aeschylus). 2) enterprises associated with dangers and adventures (novels by Jules Verne, and adventure stories in general), 3) a dangerous enterprise in connection with the desire to achieve the woman he loves, etc.
10. ABDUCTION. Elements of the situation: 1) the kidnapper, 2) the kidnapped, 3) protecting the kidnapped and being an obstacle to the kidnapping or opposing the kidnapping. Examples: 1) abduction of a woman without her consent, 2) abduction of a woman with her consent, 3) abduction of a friend, comrade from captivity, prison, etc. 4) abduction of a child.
11. RIDDLE (i.e., on the one hand, asking a riddle, and on the other, asking, striving to solve the riddle). Elements of the situation: 1) asking a riddle, hiding something, 2) trying to solve a riddle, find out something, 3) the subject of a riddle or ignorance (mysterious) Examples: 1) under pain of death, you need to find some person or object, 2 ) to find the lost, lost, 3) on pain of death to solve the riddle (Oedipus and the Sphinx), 4) to force a person with all sorts of tricks to reveal what he wants to hide (name, gender, state of mind, etc.)
12. ACHIEVEMENT OF SOMETHING. Elements of the situation: 1) someone striving to achieve something, seeking something, 2) someone on whom the achievement of something depends for consent or help, refusing or helping, mediating, 3) there may be a third party - a party opposing the achievement. Examples: 1) try to get from the owner a thing or some other benefit in life, consent to marriage, position, money, etc. by cunning or force, 2) try to get something or achieve something with the help of eloquence (directly addressed to the owner of the thing or to the judge, arbitrators on whom the award of the thing depends)
13. HATE FOR YOUR FAMILY. Elements of the situation: 1) the hater, 2) the hated, 3) the cause of hatred. Examples: 1) hatred between loved ones (for example, brothers) out of envy, 2) hatred between loved ones (for example, a son hating his father) for reasons of material gain, 3) hatred of a mother-in-law for a future daughter-in-law, 4) mother-in-law for a son-in-law, 5) stepmothers to stepdaughter, etc.
14. RIVALRY OF CLOSES. Elements of the situation: 1) one of the close ones is preferred, 2) the other is neglected or abandoned, 3) an object of rivalry (in this case, apparently, a twist is possible: at first the preferred one is then neglected and vice versa) Examples: 1) rivalry between brothers (“Pierre and Jean” by Maupassant), 2) rivalry between sisters, 3) father and son - because of a woman, 4) mother and daughter, 5) rivalry between friends (“The Two Gentlemen of Verona” by Shakespeare)
15. ADULTURE (i.e. adultery, adultery), LEADING TO MURDER. Elements of the situation: 1) one of the spouses who violates marital fidelity, 2) the other spouse is deceived, 3) violation of marital fidelity (i.e., someone else is a lover or mistress). Examples: 1) kill or allow your lover to kill your husband (“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by Leskov, “Thérèse Raquin” by Zola, “The Power of Darkness” by Tolstoy) 2) kill a lover who entrusted his secret (“Samson and Delilah”), etc. .
16. MADNESS. Elements of the situation: 1) a person who has fallen into madness (mad), 2) a victim of a person who has fallen into madness, 3) a real or imaginary reason for madness. Examples: 1) in a fit of madness, kill your lover (“The Prostitute Elisa” by Goncourt), a child, 2) in a fit of madness, burn, destroy your or someone else’s work, a work of art, 3) while drunk, reveal a secret or commit a crime.
17. FATAL NEGLIGENCE. The elements of the situation are: 1) a careless person, 2) a victim of carelessness or a lost object, sometimes accompanied by 3) a good adviser warning against carelessness, or 4) an instigator, or both. Examples: 1) through carelessness, be the cause of your own misfortune, dishonor yourself (“Money” Zola), 2) through carelessness or gullibility, cause misfortune or the death of another person close to you (Biblical Eve)
18. INVOLVED (ignorant) CRIME OF LOVE (in particular incest). Elements of the situation: 1) lover (husband), mistress (wife), 3) recognition (in the case of incest) that they are in a close degree of relationship that does not allow love relationship according to the law and current morality. Examples: 1) find out that he married his mother (“Oedipus” by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Corneille, Voltaire), 2) find out that his mistress is his sister (“The Bride of Messina” by Schiller), 3) a very commonplace case: find out that his mistress - Married.
19. INVOLVED (OUT OF IGNORANCE) KILLING OF A CLOSE ONE. Elements of the situation: 1) killer, 2) unrecognized victim, 3) exposure, recognition. Examples: 1) unwittingly contribute to the murder of his daughter, out of hatred for her lover (“The King is Having Fun” by Hugo, the play on which the opera “Rigoletto” was made), 2) without knowing his father, kill him (“Freeloader” by Turgenev with the fact that murder replaced by an insult), etc.
20. SELF-SACRIFICE IN THE NAME OF AN IDEAL. Elements of the situation: 1) a hero sacrificing himself, 2) an ideal (word, duty, faith, conviction, etc.), 3) a sacrifice made. Examples: 1) sacrifice your well-being for the sake of duty (“Resurrection” by Tolstoy), 2) sacrifice your life in the name of faith, belief...
21. SELF-SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF LOVED ONES. Elements of the situation: 1) the hero sacrificing himself, 2) the loved one for whom the hero sacrifices himself, 3) what the hero sacrifices. Examples: 1) sacrifice your ambition and success in life for the sake of loved one(“The Zemgano Brothers” by Goncourt), 2) to sacrifice one’s love for the sake of a child, for the life of a loved one, 3) to sacrifice one’s chastity for the sake of the life of a loved one or loved one (“Tosca” by Sordu), 4) to sacrifice one’s life for the sake of the life of a loved one or loved one, etc. d.
22. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR PASSION. Elements of the situation: 1) a lover, 2) an object of fatal passion, 3) something that is sacrificed. Examples: 1) passion that destroys the vow of religious chastity (“The Mistake of Abbé Mouret” by Zola), 2) passion that destroys power, authority (“Antony and Cleopatra” by Shakespeare), 3) passion quenched at the cost of life (“Egyptian Nights” by Pushkin) . But not only a passion for a woman, or a woman for a man, but also a passion for racing, card game, guilt, etc.
23. TO SACRIFICE A CLOSE PERSON DUE TO NECESSITY, INEVITABILITY. Elements of the situation: 1) a hero sacrificing a loved one, 2) a loved one who is being sacrificed. Examples: 1) the need to sacrifice a daughter for the sake of public interest (“Iphigenia” by Aeschylus and Sophocles, “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Euripides and Racine), 2) the need to sacrifice loved ones or one’s followers for the sake of one’s faith, belief (“93” by Hugo), etc. .d.
24. RIVALRY OF INEQUAL (as well as almost equal or equal). Elements of the situation: 1) one rival (in the case of unequal rivalry - lower, weaker), 2) another rival (higher, stronger), 3) the subject of rivalry. Examples: 1) the rivalry between the winner and her prisoner (“Mary Stuart” by Schiller), 2) the rivalry between the rich and the poor. 3) rivalry between a person who is loved and a person who does not have the right to love (“Esmeralda” by V. Hugo), etc.
25. ADULTERY (adultery, adultery). Elements of the situation: the same as in adultery leading to murder. Not considering adultery capable of creating a situation in itself, Polti considers it as a special case of theft, aggravated by betrayal, while pointing out three possible cases: 1) the lover is more pleasant than firm than the deceived spouse, 2) the lover is less attractive than the deceived spouse, 3) the deceived partner ( a) takes revenge. Examples: 1) “Madame Bovary” by Flaubert, “The Kreutzer Sonata” by L. Tolstoy.
26. CRIME OF LOVE. Elements of the situation: 1) lover, 2) beloved. Examples: 1) a woman in love with her daughter’s husband (“Phaedra” by Sophocles and Racine, “Hippolytus” by Euripides and Seneca), 2) the incestuous passion of Doctor Pascal (in Zola’s novel of the same name), etc.
27. LEARNING ABOUT THE DISHONOR OF A LOVED OR RELATIVE (sometimes associated with the fact that the learner is forced to pronounce a sentence, punish a loved one or loved one). Elements of the situation: 1) the person who recognizes, 2) the guilty loved one or loved one, 3) guilt. Examples: 1) learn about the dishonor of your mother, daughter, wife, 2) discover that your brother or son is a murderer, a traitor to the motherland and be forced to punish him, 3) be forced by virtue of an oath to kill a tyrant - to kill your father, etc. .
28. OBSTACLE OF LOVE. Elements of the situation: 1) lover, 2) mistress, 3) obstacle. Examples: 1) a marriage upset by social or wealth inequality, 2) a marriage upset by enemies or random circumstances, 3) a marriage upset by enmity between parents on both sides, 4) a marriage upset by dissimilarities in the characters of lovers, etc.
29. LOVE FOR THE ENEMY. Elements of the situation: 1) the enemy who aroused love, 2) the loving enemy, 3) the reason why the beloved is the enemy. Examples: 1) the beloved is an opponent of the party to which the lover belongs, 2) the beloved is the killer of the father, husband or relative of the one who loves him (“Romeo and Juliette,”), etc.
30. AMBITION AND LOVE OF POWER. Elements of the situation: 1) an ambitious person, 2) what he wants, 3) an opponent or rival, i.e. a person opposing. Examples: 1) ambition, greed, leading to crimes (“Macbeth” and “Richard 3” by Shakespeare, “The Rougons’ Career” and “Land” by Zola), 2) ambition, leading to rebellion, 3) ambition, which is opposed by a loved one, friend, relative, own supporters, etc.
31. FIGHTING GOD (struggle against God). Elements of the situation: 1) man, 2) god, 3) the reason or subject of struggle. Examples: 1) fighting with God, arguing with him, 2) fighting with those faithful to God (Julian the Apostate), etc.
32. UNCONSCIOUS JEALOUSY, ENVY. Elements of the situation: 1) the jealous person, the envious person, 2) the object of his jealousy and envy, 3) the alleged rival, challenger, 4) the reason for the error or the culprit (traitor). Examples: 1) jealousy is caused by a traitor who is motivated by hatred (“Othello”) 2) the traitor acts out of profit or jealousy (“Cunning and Love” by Schiller), etc.
33. JUDGEMENT MISTAKE. Elements of the situation: 1) the one who is mistaken, 2) the victim of the mistake, 3) the subject of the mistake, 4) the true criminal Examples: 1) a miscarriage of justice is provoked by an enemy (“The Belly of Paris” by Zola), 2) a miscarriage of justice is provoked by a loved one, the brother of the victim (“The Robbers” by Schiller), etc.
34. REMORSE. Elements of the situation: 1) the culprit, 2) the victim of the culprit (or his mistake), 3) looking for the culprit, trying to expose him. Examples: 1) remorse of a murderer (“Crime and Punishment”), 2) remorse due to a mistake in love (“Madeleine” by Zola), etc.
35. LOST AND FOUND. Elements of the situation: 1) lost 2) found, 2) found. Examples: 1) “Children of Captain Grant”, etc.
36. LOSS OF LOVED ONES. Elements of the situation: 1) a deceased loved one, 2) a lost loved one, 3) the perpetrator of the death of a loved one. Examples: 1) powerless to do anything (save his loved ones) - a witness to their death, 2) being bound by a professional secret (medical or secret confession, etc.) he sees the misfortune of loved ones, 3) to anticipate the death of a loved one, 4) to find out about the death of an ally, 5) in despair from the death of a loved one, lose all interest in life, become depressed, etc.
Disputes about how many and what kinds of plots exist in literature are still ongoing. Offered different variants, different numbers, but researchers cannot come to a consensus. In principle, each person can find his own versions of this list and, with due desire, getting rid of everything unnecessary, leaving only the “skeleton”, find confirmation of his version in all works of world literature.
In our research using factor analysis out of 36 stories, only 5 were highlighted:
1. Adultery (adultery, betrayal) with revenge
2. Restoring justice
3. Search, achievement.
4. Sacrifice in the family and for the sake of the family
5. Sacrifice for the sake of an idea.
At least 4 of them are very similar to the stories proposed by Borges.
From the point of view of psychology, the preference or choice of a particular plot in literature or cinema seems to be a reflection of the minimum state of a person and the maximum of his psychological (values, goals, norms, interests, abilities) and psychophysiological (peculiarities of perception, information processing depending on the physiological type functioning, the type of leading nervous system, the method of reaction) the type of person, the continuation of which is his worldview, which includes an “addiction” to certain storylines of life, and literature in particular. In addition, it is interesting to consider the plots that are repeated in all works, as a symbolic reflection of genetic programs embedded and evaluated in a non-specific department of the nervous system.
Therefore, your preference for plots in connection with psychophysiological data seems interesting.
Analysis.
In this case, you should consider this questionnaire as a reflection of your interests in the storylines. Your task is to consider the plots that are closest to you and those that you most reject in connection with your type of activation. In the data analysis, when describing your type, include a description of subjects that do not interest you and those that interest you with clarification possible reasons this and the connections between them, and also try to summarize the storylines and connect them with your type of activation and other psychological data, that is, explain these relationships.
More than once attempts have been made to classify the endless variety of literary subjects. If this was possible at least partially (at the level of repeating plot patterns), then only within the boundaries of folklore (the works of Academician A. N. Veselovsky, the book of V. Ya. Propp “The Morphology of Fairy Tales,” etc.). Beyond this point, within the limits of individual creativity, such classifications did not prove anything other than the arbitrary imagination of their authors. This is the only thing that convinces us, for example, of the classification of plots undertaken at one time by Georges Polti. Even the so-called eternal stories(the plots of Ahasfer, Faust, Don Juan, Demon, etc.) do not convince of anything other than the fact that their commonality is based only on the unity of the hero. And here, nevertheless, the spread of purely plot options is too great: behind the same hero there is a chain of different incidents, sometimes in contact with the traditional plot scheme, sometimes falling away from it. Moreover, the very dominant character of the hero in such plots turns out to be too unstable.
It is obvious that Faust folk legend, Faust by Christopher Marlowe and Faust by Goethe and Pushkin are far from the same, just like Don Juan by Moliere, Mozart’s opera, Pushkin’s “The Stone Guest,” and A. K. Tolstoy’s poem. The suppression of the above-mentioned plots in some general mythical and legendary situations (the situation of Faust’s conspiracy with the devil, the situation of retribution that befell Don Juan) does not dampen the individual originality of the plot design. That is why we can talk about the typology of plots in the world of individual creativity only by keeping in mind the most general trends, which largely depend on the genre.
In the vast variety of subjects, two aspirations have long made themselves felt (however, rarely presented in a pure, unalloyed form): to the epically calm and smooth flow of the event and to the escalation of events, to diversity and rapid change of situations. The differences between them are not unconditional: declines and increases in tension are characteristic of any plot. And yet, in world literature there are many plots marked by an accelerated pace of events, a variety of positions, frequent transfers of action in space, and an abundance of surprises.
An adventure novel, a novel of travel, adventure literature, and detective prose gravitate toward precisely such an eventful depiction. Such a plot keeps the reader’s attention in unremitting tension, sometimes seeing its main goal in maintaining it. In the latter case, interest in the characters clearly weakens and decreases in value in the name of interest in the plot. And the more all-consuming this interest becomes, the more obviously such prose shifts from the realm of great art to the realm of fiction.
Action fiction itself is heterogeneous: most often without rising to the true heights of creativity, it, however, has its peaks in the adventure or detective genre or in the field of fantasy. However, it is fantastic prose that is least homogeneous in terms of artistic value: it has its own masterpieces. Such, for example, are the romantic fantasies of Hoffmann. His whimsical plot, marked by all the violence and inexhaustibility of fantasy, does not in the least distract from the characters of his romantic madmen. Both of them, both the characters and the plot, carry within themselves Hoffmann’s special vision of the world: they contain the daring of soaring above the vulgar prose of measured philistine reality, they contain a mockery of the apparent strength of burgher society with its deification of utility, rank and wealth. And finally (and most importantly), Hoffmann’s plot insists that it is in the human spirit that the source of beauty, diversity and poetry, although it is also the receptacle of satanic temptation, ugliness and evil. Hamlet’s words “There are many things in the world, friend Horatio, that our wise men never dreamed of” could be an epigraph to the fantasies of Hoffmann, who always felt painfully acutely the flow of the secret strings of existence. The struggle between God and the devil takes place in the souls of Hoffmann’s heroes and in his plots, and this is so serious (especially in the novel “The Elixir of Satan”) that it fully explains F. M. Dostoevsky’s interest in Hoffmann. Hoffmann's prose convinces us that even a fantastic plot can contain depth and philosophical content.
Tension dynamic plot is not always steady and does not always develop upward. Here, a combination of braking (retardation) and increasing dynamics is much more often used. Braking, accumulating reader anticipation, only aggravates the affect of tense plot twists. In such a plot, chance takes on special significance: chance meetings of characters, random changes in fate, the hero’s unexpected discovery of his true origin, the accidental acquisition of wealth or, conversely, an accidental disaster. All life here (especially, of course, in the adventure novel and in the novel of “high roads”) sometimes appears as a play of chance. It would be in vain to look for any profound artistic “philosophy” of the accidental in this. Its abundance in such stories is largely explained by the fact that chance makes it easier for the author to worry about motivations: chance doesn’t need them.
If the accidental in such stories acquires ideological significance, then only in historical early forms picaresque novel. Here, a favorable event is perceived as a kind of reward for the strong-willed determination of a private person, an adventurer and a predator, who justifies his predatory inclinations by the depravity of the human world order. The unreasoning onslaught of such a personality, who perceives everything around only as an object of application of a predatory instinct, in such stories seems to sanctify its base goals with the favor of chance.
Epicly calm types of plots, of course, do not avoid tension and dynamism. They just have a different tempo and rhythm of the event, which does not distract attention to itself, allowing the artistic fabric of the characters to be spaciously developed. Here the artist’s attention is often transferred from the external world to the internal world. In this context, the event becomes the point of application of the hero’s internal forces, highlighting the outline of his soul. So sometimes the smallest events turn out to be more eloquent than the large ones and are presented in all their multidimensionality. Psychologized dialogue, various confessional-monological forms of revealing the soul, naturally weaken the dynamics of the action.
Epicly balanced, slow types of plots are most noticeable against the backdrop of turbulent eras, inclining literary creativity towards a dramatized and dynamic depiction of reality. Just by their appearance against this background, they sometimes pursue a special goal: to remind of the deeply harmonious, calm flow of the world, in relation to which the strife and chaos of modernity, all this vanity of vanities are depicted only as a tragic falling away from the eternal foundations of life and nature or from traditional foundations national existence. Such are, for example, “Family Chronicle” and “Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson” by S. T. Aksakov, “Oblomov” and “Cliff” by I. A. Goncharov, “Childhood, Adolescence and Youth” by L. N. Tolstoy, “Steppe "A.P. Chekhov. To the highest degree, these artists are characterized by the precious gift of contemplation, loving dissolution in the subject of the image, a sense of the significance of the small in human existence and its connection with the eternal mystery of life. In the plot frame of such works, a small event is enveloped in such a richness of perception and such a freshness of it, which are accessible, perhaps, only to the spiritual vision of childhood.
Finally, there are types of plots in literature in which the temporal duration of an event is either “compressed” or reversed. In both cases, this is accompanied by a slowdown in the pace of events: the event is, as it were, recorded through "slow motion" Images. Seemingly homogeneous and whole, in such an image it reveals many “atomic” details, which themselves sometimes grow to the size of an event. L. N. Tolstoy has an unfinished sketch called “Stories of Yesterday,” which the writer intended to reproduce not only in the full scope of what happened, but also in the abundance of its contacts with the fleeting “breaths” of the soul. He was forced to leave this plan unfinished: one day of life, caught under the “microscope” of such an image, turned out to be inexhaustible. Tolstoy’s unfinished experience is an early harbinger of the literature that in the 20th century will be aimed at the “stream of consciousness” and in which events, falling into the psychological environment of memory and slowing down their real pace in this environment, bring to life a demonstratively slow flow of the plot (for example, “In Joyce's Search for Lost Time).
Bearing in mind, again, only the tendencies of plot construction, one could distinguish between centrifugal and centripetal forms of plot. Centrifugal plot unfolds like a tape, unfolds steadily and often in one temporal direction, from event to event. His energy is extensive and aimed at increasing the diversity of positions. In travel literature, in the novel of wanderings, in morally descriptive prose, in the adventure genre, this type of plot appears to us in its most distinct incarnations. But even beyond these limits, for example, in novels based on a detailed biography of the hero, we encounter a similar plot structure. Its chain includes many links, and none of them grows so large that it can dominate the overall picture. The wandering hero in such stories easily moves in space, his fate lies precisely in this tireless mobility, in moving from one living environment to another: Melmoth is a wanderer in Maturin’s novel, Dickens’ David Copperfield, Byron’s Childe Harold, Medard in Satan’s Elixir "Hoffman, Ivan Flyagin in Leskov's The Enchanted Wanderer, etc.
One life situation here easily and naturally flows into another. Meetings at life path the wandering hero makes it possible to develop a wide panorama of morals. Transfers of action from one environment to another present no difficulties for the author's imagination. Such a centrifugal plot, in essence, has no internal limit: the patterns of its events can be multiplied as much as desired. And only the exhaustion of fate in the hero’s life movement, his “stop” (and this “stop” most often means either marriage, or acquisition of wealth, or death) put the final touch on such a picture of the plot.
Centripetal plot highlights supporting positions and turning points in the flow of events, trying to emphasize them in detail, presenting them in close-up. These are usually nerve nodes, energy centers plot, are by no means identical to what is called the climax. There is only one climax, but there may be several such macro-situations. While drawing the dramatic energy of the plot to themselves, they simultaneously radiate it with redoubled force. In the poetics of drama, such situations are called catastrophes (in Freytag's terminology). The action that takes place between them (at least in the epic) is much less detailed, its pace is accelerated, and much of it is omitted from the author's description. Such a plot perceives human destiny as a series of crises or few, but “stellar” moments of existence, in which its essential principles are revealed. Such are the “first meeting, last meeting” of the hero and heroine in “Eugene Onegin”, in Turgenev’s novels “Rudin” and “On the Eve”, etc.
Sometimes such situations in the plot acquire stability beyond the boundaries of a specific writing style, the ability to vary. This means that literature has found in them some general meaning, affecting the life perception of the era or the nature of the national character. This is a situation that can be defined as “a Russian man on rendez-vous,” using the title of Chernyshevsky’s article (this is A. S. Pushkin, I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov), or another, persistently repeated in the literature of the second half XIX century (in the works of N. A. Nekrasov, A. Grigoriev, Y. Polonsky, F. M. Dostoevsky), most eloquently indicated by Nekrasov’s lines:
When from the darkness of delusion
I raised the fallen soul...
A centripetal plot tends to more often stop the flight of time, peer into the stable principles of existence, pushing the boundaries of the fleeting and discovering a whole world in it. For him, life and fate are not an unstoppable movement forward, but a series of states that contain, as it were, the possibility of a breakthrough into eternity.
I have already raised this topic on another site - it did not arouse interest there. Perhaps the same picture will be here. But suddenly a constructive conversation will turn out...
To begin with, I will lay out a brief description.
The plot is concentric (centripetal)
a type of plot distinguished on the basis of the principle of action development, the connection of episodes, and the characteristics of the beginning and denouement. In S.k. The cause-and-effect relationship between the episodes is clearly visible, the beginning and the end are easily distinguished. If the plot is at the same time multilinear, then a cause-and-effect relationship is also clearly visible between the plot lines, which also motivates the inclusion of a new line in the work.
The plot is chronicle (centrifugal)
a plot without a clearly defined plot, with a predominance of temporary motivations in the development of action. But in S.kh. episodes may be included, sometimes quite extensive, in which events are connected by a cause-and-effect relationship, i.e. in S.kh. Various concentric plots are often included. Contrasted with concentric plot.
Principles of connection of events in chronicles And concentric The plots differ significantly; therefore, their capabilities in depicting reality, actions and behavior of people also differ. The criterion for distinguishing these types of plot is the nature of the connection between events.
IN chronicles In plots, the connection between events is temporary, that is, events replace each other in time, following one after another. The “formula” of plots of this type can be represented as follows:
a, then b, then c... then x (or: a + b + c +... + x),
where a, b, c, x are the events that make up the chronicle story.
Action in chronicles plots are not distinguished by integrity, strict logical motivation: after all, in chronicle plots no one central conflict unfolds. They represent a review of events and facts that may not be externally related to each other. The only thing that unites these events is that they all line up in one chain from the point of view of their passage over time. Chronicle the plots are multi-conflict: conflicts arise and die out, some conflicts replace others.
Often, in order to emphasize the chronicle principle of the arrangement of events in works, writers called them “stories”, “chronicles” or - in accordance with the long Russian literary tradition - “stories”.
IN concentric Plots are dominated by cause-and-effect relationships between events, that is, each event is the cause of the next one and the consequence of the previous one. These stories are different from chronicles unity of action: the writer explores any one conflict situation. All events in the plot seem to be pulled together into one knot, obeying the logic of the main conflict.
The “formula” of this type of plot can be represented as follows:
a, therefore b, therefore c... therefore x
(a -> b -> c ->… -> x),
where a, b, c, x are the events that make up concentric plot.
All parts of the work are based on clearly expressed conflicts. However, the chronological connections between them may be disrupted. IN concentric in the plot, one thing comes to the fore life situation, the work is built on one event line.
And now the questions:
What, in your opinion, is unacceptable in this or that plot?
Which one is better suited for what?
Why do works with a concentric plot predominate in science fiction/fantasy, and why chronic type both critics and authors forget?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each type?
In general, I propose to discuss this topic.
It is customary to distinguish between a concentric plot and a chronicle plot. This classification is based on the difference in connections between events. If in a chronicle story the main attention is paid to time and its flow, then in concentric plot the emphasis is on mental factors. That is why the authors of sagas and chronicles usually deal with the first plot, while the second is preferred by science fiction writers, novelists and others, for whom the chronology of events is not of fundamental importance.
In a concentric plot, everything is simple and clear: the author explores only one conflict, and the elements of the composition are easy to identify and name, since they come one after another. Here, all episodes will have a cause-and-effect relationship, and the entire text will be permeated with clear logic: no chaos, no compositional violations. Even if the work involves several storylines, all events will be interconnected according to the principle of links in one chain. With a chronological plot, everything is somewhat different: here cause-and-effect relationships may be broken or completely absent. In addition, some elements of the composition may simply not exist.
In the word "plot" (from fr. sujet) denotes a chain of events recreated in a literary work, i.e. the life of the characters in its spatio-temporal changes, in changing positions and circumstances. The events depicted by writers form (along with the characters) the basis of the objective world of the work. The plot is the organizing principle of the dramatic, epic and lyric-epic genres. It can also be significant in the lyrical genre of literature (although, as a rule, here it is sparingly detailed and extremely compact): “I remember a wonderful moment...” by Pushkin, “Reflections at the Main Entrance” by Nekrasov, the poem by V. Khodasevich “2- the th of November."
The understanding of plot as a set of events recreated in a work goes back to domestic literary criticism XIX century (work by A.N. Veselovsky “Poetics of Plots”). But in the 1920s, V.B. Shklovsky and other representatives of the formal school dramatically changed the usual terminology. B.V. Tomashevsky wrote: “The set of events in their mutual internal connection<...>let's call it a plot ( lat. legend, myth, fable. - V.H.) <...>The artistically constructed distribution of events in a work is called the plot" 1 . However, in modern literary criticism The prevailing meaning of the term “plot”, dating back to the 19th century.
The events that make up the plot are related in different ways to the facts of reality that precede the appearance of the work. For many centuries, writers took plots mainly from mythology, historical legend, from the literature of past eras and at the same time somehow processed, modified, supplemented. Most of Shakespeare's plays are based on plots familiar to medieval literature. Traditional plots (not least ancient ones) were widely used by classicist playwrights. Goethe spoke about the great role of plot borrowings: “I advise<...>take on already processed topics. How many times, for example, have Iphigenia been depicted - and yet all Iphigenia are different, because everyone sees and depicts things<...>in our own way" 2.
In the 19th–20th centuries. The events depicted by writers began to be based on facts of reality close to the writer, purely modern. Dostoevsky's close interest in newspaper chronicles is significant. IN literary creativity from now on, the writer’s biographical experience and his direct observations of the environment are widely used. At the same time, not only individual characters have their prototypes, but also the plots of the works themselves (“Resurrection” by L.N. Tolstoy, “The Case of the Cornet Elagin” by I.A. Bunin). In the plot structure, the autobiographical element clearly makes itself felt (S.T. Aksakov, L.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Shmelev). Simultaneously with the energy of observation and introspection, individual plot fiction is activated. Plots that are the fruit of the author’s imagination are becoming widespread (“Gulliver’s Travels” by J. Swift, “The Nose” by N.V. Gogol, “Kholstomer” by L.N. Tolstoy, in our century - the works of F. Kafka).
The events that make up the plot are related to each other in different ways. In some cases, one life situation comes to the fore, and the work is built on one line of events. These are the majority of small epic, and most importantly, dramatic genres, which are characterized by unity of action. Subjects single action(it is right to call them concentric, or centripetal) was preferred both in antiquity and in the aesthetics of classicism. Thus, Aristotle believed that tragedy and epic should depict “a single and, moreover, integral action, and the parts of events should be so composed that when any part changes or is taken away, the whole changes and comes into motion” 3 .
At the same time, plots are widespread in literature in which events are dispersed and event complexes, independent of each other and having their own “beginnings” and “ends,” unfold on “equal rights.” These are, in Aristotle's terminology, episodic plots. Here the events do not have cause-and-effect relationships with each other and are correlated with each other only in time, as is the case, for example, in Homer’s “Odyssey,” Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” and Byron’s “Don Juan.” It is right to call such stories chronicle. They are also fundamentally different from single action plots. multi-line plots in which several lines of events unfold simultaneously, parallel to one another, connected with the fate of different individuals and touching only occasionally and externally. This is the plot organization of “Anna Karenina” by L.N. Tolstoy and “Three Sisters” by A.P. Chekhov. Chronicle and multilinear stories depict events panoramas, while plots of a single action recreate individual events nodes. Panoramic scenes can be defined as centrifugal, or cumulative(from lat. cumulatio – increase, accumulation).
Included literary work the plot performs essential functions. Firstly, series of events (especially those constituting a single action) have a constructive meaning: they hold together, as if cementing what is depicted. Secondly, the plot is essential for the reproduction of characters, for the discovery of their characters. Literary heroes are inconceivable outside of their immersion in one or another series of events. Events create a kind of “field of action” for the characters, allowing them to reveal themselves to the reader in a variety of ways and fully in their emotional and mental responses to what is happening, and most importantly, in their behavior and actions. The plot form is especially favorable for a vivid, detailed recreation of the strong-willed, effective principle in a person. Many works with a rich series of events are dedicated to heroic personalities (remember Homer’s “Iliad” or Gogol’s “Taras Bulba”). Action-packed works, as a rule, are those in the center of which there is a hero prone to adventure (many Renaissance short stories in the spirit of G. Boccaccio’s “The Decameron”, picaresque novels, comedies by P. Beaumarchais, where Figaro acts brilliantly).
And finally, thirdly, the plots reveal and directly recreate life’s contradictions. Without some kind of conflict and the lives of the characters (long-term or short-term), it is difficult to imagine a sufficiently expressed plot. Characters involved in the course of events, as a rule, are excited, tense, feel dissatisfied with something, desire to gain something, achieve something or preserve something important, suffer defeats or win victories. In other words, the plot is not serene, one way or another involved in what is called dramatic. Even in works of idyllic “sounding”, the balance in the lives of the heroes is disturbed (Long’s novel “Daphnis and Chloe”).
extra plot elements- plug-in (cm). episodes, stories and lyrical (author's) digressions (see lyrical digression) in an epic or dramatic work, not included in the whole story, the main function of which is to expand the scope of what is depicted, to enable the author to express his thoughts and feelings about various phenomena of life that are not directly related with a plot. Example V. e. - author's digressions in "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin or " Dead souls"N.V. Gogol. V.E. in a fairy tale - a saying, in an epic - a refrain.
13. Plot and composition. Elements of composition. Types of compositional connections.
Plot- a series of events (sequence of scenes, acts) occurring in work of art(on the theater stage) and built for the reader (viewer, player) according to certain rules of demonstration. The plot is the basis of the form of the work. According to Ozhegov's dictionary, plot- this is the sequence and connection of the description of events in a literary or stage work; in the work visual arts- subject of the image.
Composition is the relationship of parts of a work in a certain system and sequence. Moreover, the composition is a harmonious, holistic system, including various ways and the form of literary and artistic depiction and conditioned by the content of the work.
Elements of composition
A prologue is the introductory part of a work. She represents summary events that preceded those described on the pages of the book.
The exposition is in some ways akin to the prologue, however, if the prologue does not have a special impact on the development of the plot of the work, then the exposition directly introduces the reader into the atmosphere of the story. It describes the time and place of action, the central characters and their relationships. The exposure can be either at the beginning (direct exposure) or in the middle of the piece (delayed exposure).
With a logically clear composition, the exposition is followed by a plot - an event that begins the action and provokes the development of the conflict. The plot is traditionally followed by the development of action, consisting of a series of episodes in which the characters strive to resolve the conflict, but it only escalates. Gradually, the development of the action approaches its highest point, which is called the climax. A climax is a decisive confrontation between characters or a turning point in their fate. This is followed by a denouement. Resolution is the end of an action, or at least a conflict. As a rule, the denouement occurs at the end of the work, but sometimes it appears at the beginning.
Often the work ends with an epilogue. This is the final part, which usually narrates the events. These are the epilogues in the novels of I.S. Turgeneva, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.
1. External (architectonics). Its main components include the division of the text into paragraphs and chapters, prologue and epilogue, various appendices and comments, dedications and epigraphs, author's digressions and inserted fragments. In a word, everything that stands out graphically and can be easily seen by opening the book.
2. Internal composition (narration) provides an emphasis on the content of the work: organization of speech situations, plot construction, system of images and individual images, strong text positions (leitmotif, repeating situations, finale, etc.), main composition techniques. Let's look at the latter in more detail.
14. Conflict as the basis of the plot. Types of conflict.
Conflict- a specifically artistic form of reflecting contradictions in people’s lives, reproducing in art an acute clash of opposing human actions, views, feelings, aspirations, passions.
Specific content conflict is the struggle between the beautiful, sublime and the ugly, base.
Conflict in literature is the basis artistic form work, the development of its plot. Conflict and its resolution depends on the concept of the work.
Most often, only the main ones are singled out: love, philosophical, psychological, social, symbolic, military and religious.
15. Theme, idea, problem in a work of art.
Theme (from ancient Greek - “what is given is the basis”) is a concept that indicates which side of life the author pays attention to in his work, that is, the subject of the image. The problem is not a nomination of any phenomenon of life, but a formulation of the contradiction associated with this phenomenon of life. Idea - (from the Greek word - that which is visible) - the main thought of a literary work, the author's tendency in revealing the topic, the answer to the questions posed in the text - in other words, what the work was written for.
16. Lyrics as a type of literature. Subject and content of the lyrics.
Lyrics- this is one of the main types of literature, reflecting life through the depiction of individual states, thoughts, feelings, impressions and experiences of a person caused by certain circumstances.
Lyrics like literary genre is opposed to epic and drama, therefore, when analyzing it, one should take into account to the highest degree generic specificity. If epic and drama reproduce human existence, the objective side of life, then lyrics are human consciousness and subconscious, a subjective moment. Epic and drama depict, lyrics express. One might even say that lyric poetry belongs to a completely different group of arts than epic and drama - not figurative, but expressive.
The main thing in the lyrics is emotionally charged descriptions and reflections. Reproduction of relationships between people and their actions does not play a big role here; most often it is absent altogether. Lyrical statements are not accompanied by images of any events. Where, when, under what circumstances the poet spoke, to whom he addressed - all this either becomes clear from his words themselves, or turns out to be completely unimportant.
The subject of the lyrics is the poet’s inner (subjective) world, his personal feelings caused by some object or phenomenon.
The content of a lyrical work cannot be the development of objective action in its interrelations, expanding to the fullness of the world. The content here is the individual subject and thereby the isolation of the situation and objects, as well as the way in which, in general, with such content, the soul with its subjective judgment, its joys, amazement, pain and feeling is brought to consciousness.
17. Lyrical image. Lyrical subject.
A lyrical hero is the image of that hero in a lyrical work, whose experiences, thoughts and feelings are reflected in it. It is by no means identical to the image of the author, although it reflects his personal experiences associated with certain events in his life, with his attitude to nature, social activities, people. The uniqueness of the poet's worldview, his interests, and character traits find appropriate expression in the form and style of his works. The lyrical hero reflects certain characteristic features of the people of his time, his class, exerting a huge influence on the formation of the reader’s spiritual world.
The lyrical subject is any manifestation of the author’s “I” in a poem, the degree of presence of the author in it, in fact, the view of the world the poet himself, his value system reflected in language and images. In Fet’s lyrics, for example, the personality (“I”) exists “as a prism of the author’s consciousness, in which the themes of love and nature are refracted, but does not exist as independent topic".
Sometimes the poet chooses the model of the so-called “role distance”, then they talk about specific role lyrics - a first-person narrative, perceived by the reader as not identical to the author. In R. l. the poet manages to “suddenly feel someone else’s as his own” (A.A. Fet). The role-playing character of the lyrical character is revealed in this kind of poetic works thanks to extra-textual factors (for example, knowledge of the poet’s biography or the understanding that what is depicted cannot take place in reality. The lyrical “I” is a conventional character to whom the author entrusts the narrative, usually characteristic of a given era or genre: a shepherd in pastoral poetry, a dead man in an epitaph, a wanderer or a prisoner in romantic lyrics; often the story is told from the perspective of a woman.
18. Aesthetic function expressive means artistic speech in lyrics.
The means of artistic expression are varied and numerous. These are tropes: comparisons, personification, allegory, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.
Trope(from ancient Greek τρόπος - turnover) - in a work of art, words and expressions used in a figurative meaning in order to enhance the imagery of the language, the artistic expressiveness of speech.
Main types of trails:
· Metaphor(from ancient Greek μεταφορά - “transfer”, “figurative meaning”) - a trope, a word or expression used in a figurative meaning, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common attribute. (“Nature here destined us to open a window to Europe”). Any part of speech in a figurative meaning.
· Metonymy(ancient Greek μετονυμία - “renaming”, from μετά - “above” and ὄνομα/ὄνυμα - “name”) - a type of trope, a phrase in which one word is replaced by another, denoting an object (phenomenon) located in one or other (spatial, temporal, etc.) connection with the subject, which is denoted by the replaced word. The replacement word is used in a figurative sense. Metonymy should be distinguished from metaphor, with which it is often confused, while metonymy is based on the replacement of the word “by contiguity” (part instead of the whole or vice versa, representative instead of class or vice versa, container instead of content or vice versa, etc.), and metaphor - “by similarity.” A special case of metonymy is synecdoche. (“All flags will visit us”, where flags replace countries.)
· Epithet(from ancient Greek ἐπίθετον - “attached”) - a definition of a word that affects its expressiveness. It is expressed primarily by an adjective, but also by an adverb (“to love dearly”), a noun (“fun noise”), and a numeral (“second life”).
An epithet is a word or an entire expression, which, due to its structure and special function in the text, acquires some new meaning or semantic connotation, helps the word (expression) gain color and richness. It is used both in poetry (more often) and in prose (“timid breathing”; “magnificent omen”).
· Synecdoche(ancient Greek συνεκδοχή) - trope, a type of metonymy based on the transfer of meaning from one phenomenon to another based on the quantitative relationship between them. (“Everything is sleeping - man, beast, and bird”; “We are all looking at Napoleons”; “In the roof for my family”; “Well, sit down, luminary”; “Most of all, save a penny.”)
· Hyperbola(from ancient Greek ὑπερβολή “transition; excess, excess; exaggeration”) - a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration, in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the said thought. (“I’ve said this a thousand times”; “We have enough food for six months.”)
· Litotes- a figurative expression that diminishes the size, strength, or significance of what is being described. Litota is called inverse hyperbola. (“Your Pomeranian, lovely Pomeranian, is no bigger than a thimble”).
· Comparison- a trope in which one object or phenomenon is compared to another according to some characteristic common to them. The purpose of comparison is to identify new properties in the object of comparison that are important for the subject of the statement. (“A man is stupid as a pig, but cunning as the devil”; “My home is my fortress”; “He walks like a gogol”; “An attempt is not torture.”)
· In stylistics and poetics, paraphrase (paraphrase, periphrase; from ancient Greek περίφρασις - “descriptive expression”, “allegory”: περί - “around”, “about” and φράσις - “statement”) is a trope that descriptively expresses one concept with the help of several.
Periphrasis is an indirect mention of an object by description rather than naming. (“Night luminary” = “moon”; “I love you, Peter’s creation!” = “I love you, St. Petersburg!”).
· Allegory (allegory)- conventional representation of abstract ideas (concepts) through concrete artistic image or dialogue.
· Personification(personification, prosopopoeia) - trope, the assignment of properties of animate objects to inanimate ones. Very often, personification is used when depicting nature, which is endowed with certain human traits.
· Irony(from ancient Greek εἰρωνεία - “pretense”) - a trope in which the true meaning is hidden or contradicts (contrasted) with the explicit meaning. Irony creates the feeling that the subject of discussion is not what it seems. (“Where can we fools drink tea?”)
· Sarcasm(Greek σαρκασμός, from σαρκάζω, literally “tear [meat]”) - one of the types of satirical exposure, caustic ridicule, the highest degree of irony, based not only on the enhanced contrast of the implied and the expressed, but also on the immediate deliberate exposure of the implied.
Plot
Composition
Composition- the construction of a work of art, determined by its content and character. Composition is the most important element of form, giving the work unity and integrity. Word " composition" comes from the Latin compositio - composing, linking. Composition represents proportionality components, construction, architecture of the work.
In a journalistic work (due to the peculiarities of the journalistic reflection of reality - intermittent and mosaic), various events separated in time and space can be connected; semantic blocks that reveal the essence of a particular phenomenon; heterogeneous facts and observations; opinions and assessments of people, etc. whole work. Integrity is characterized by new qualities and properties that are not inherent in individual parts (elements), but arise as a result of their interaction in a certain system of connections. Integrity is achieved by the unity of artistic form and content. The dialectic of interaction between content and form follows from the different quality levels of content elements. Some of them express the essence of a phenomenon (theoretical fact, idea, concept), others record specific manifestations of this essence (empirical fact, opinion, situation).
Plot - reflection of the dynamics of reality in the form of what unfolds in the work actions , in the form of internally connected (cause-temporal connection) actions of characters, events that form a certain unity, constituting some complete whole.
Word " plot" comes from the French sujet - subject, i.e. " a system of events in a work of art, revealing the characters of the characters and the writer’s attitude to the life phenomena depicted. The plot forms the dynamic core of the composition.
The unity of action in the works is determined by the fact that the author does not mechanically reproduce the entire inexhaustible multitude of phenomena and connections of reality, but makes a certain selection of some aspects of life, some specific connections that seem typical to him, selects this or that topic and resolves some then the problem.
In journalism, a plot is understood as “the movement of events, thoughts, experiences, in which human characters, destinies, contradictions, and social conflicts are revealed. It is the plot that gives the publicist the opportunity to reveal in development and comprehensively depict characters and circumstances, to identify the connection between them. Unlike a literary plot, a journalistic plot is “more “collected”, not developed, it, as a rule, lacks exposition, the beginning and development of the action are maximally intertwined with each other, and the climax and denouement are perhaps the most developed part... The plot is not a mechanical cast of an event or phenomenon, not a mirror image of the design of an object. It is developed as a result of the creative process, built in accordance with the social who is being pursued by a publicist. And the goals and objectives when constructing the plot of the material can be very different. In some cases, a journalist needs to reflect the dynamics of the development of a particular event, in others - to show the formation of the character of the hero of the work, in others - to reflect a life collision or conflict, in fourths - to highlight a problem. In all these cases, the journalist chooses those techniques and means of plot construction that are most beneficial for the idea of the work and are able to highlight the object or subject of description.
An event or system of events depicted by the author occurs in time, in cause-effect relationships and is characterized by relative completeness. Hence the plot elements: exposition, plot, development of action, climax, denouement.
The organic beginning in many (especially large) journalistic works is plot , which implements the author’s formulation of problems in the plot, exposes the initial contradictions, depicts the first clash of contending forces and serves as the primary source of further action and struggle. Getting Started often precedes exposition , i.e., a description of the circumstances under which the action will unfold, the alignment of the active forces that have not yet entered into a real struggle. The main part of the work is called development of action. Climax– point of highest tension. An important point for understanding the work is denouement , in which one or another resolution of contradictions is given, the final relationship of the contending forces, the author’s assessment of the results of the struggle, and thereby one or another solution to the problem posed by the author.
However, it must be borne in mind that not every plot work has tie , denouement, climax, exposition, etc. The order of plot elements may change depending on the author's intention. In essays and reports, the beginning is used landscape sketch, if it creates the appropriate mood, is organically connected by content. Often there is a ring composition, when a journalist, to enhance the emotional impact, repeats at the end of the material the facts and judgments given in the first paragraph. A very common technique is when the climax or even the denouement is brought into the lead, and only then other elements are introduced. This makes it possible to immediately acquaint the reader with the essence of the conflict or problem, its peak.
The most common and dynamic - event plot. It is used in information genres. It is based on a one-time event, limited in time and space. The plot expressing character history, (note, not a life story or biography) is used when working on essays and sketches. Finally, problematic plot the journalist makes a choice when researching reality; it is typical for analytical genres. The search for a plot twist occurs in the process of developing a topic, it is determined by life materials and the tasks that the journalist has to solve.
