Any literary creation is an artistic whole. Such a whole can be not only one work (poem, story, novel...), but also a literary cycle, that is, a group of poetic or prose works united common hero, general ideas, problems, etc., even a common place of action (for example, the cycle of stories by N. Gogol “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, “Belkin’s Tales” by A. Pushkin; the novel by M. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time” - also a cycle of individual short stories united by a common hero - Pechorin). Any artistic whole is, in essence, a single creative organism that has its own special structure. As in human body, in which all independent organs are inextricably linked with each other, in a literary work all elements are also independent and interconnected. The system of these elements and the principles of their interrelation are called COMPOSITION:
COMPOSITION (from Latin Сompositio, composition, composition) - construction, structure work of art: selection and sequence of elements and visual techniques of a work that create an artistic whole in accordance with the author’s intention.
To the elements of the composition literary work relate epigraphs, dedications, prologues, epilogues, parts, chapters, acts, phenomena, scenes, prefaces and afterwords of “publishers” (created by the author’s imagination of extra-plot images), dialogues, monologues, episodes, inserted stories and episodes, letters, songs (for example, Dream Oblomov in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov", a letter from Tatyana to Onegin and Onegin to Tatyana in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin", the song "The Sun Rises and Sets..." in Gorky's drama "At the Lower Depths"); all artistic descriptions - portraits, landscapes, interiors - are also compositional elements.
the action of the work can begin from the end of events, and subsequent episodes will restore the time course of the action and explain the reasons for what is happening; such a composition is called inverse(this technique was used by N. Chernyshevsky in the novel “What is to be done?”);
the author uses framing composition, or ring, in which the author uses, for example, repetition of stanzas (the last repeats the first), artistic descriptions (the work begins and ends with a landscape or interior), the events of the beginning and ending take place in the same place, the same characters participate in them, etc. d.; This technique is found both in poetry (Pushkin, Tyutchev, A. Blok often resorted to it in “Poems about To a beautiful lady"), and in prose ("Dark Alleys" by I. Bunin; "Song of the Falcon", "Old Woman Izergil" by M. Gorky);
the author uses the technique of retrospection, that is, returning an action to the past, when the reasons for what was happening in currently narratives (for example, the author’s story about Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov in Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons”); Often, when using retrospection, an inserted story of the hero appears in the work, and this type of composition will be called “a story within a story” (Marmeladov’s confession and Pulcheria Alexandrovna’s letter in “Crime and Punishment”; Chapter 13 “The Appearance of the Hero” in “The Master and Margarita”; “ After the Ball" by Tolstoy, "Asya" by Turgenev, "Gooseberry" by Chekhov);
often the organizer of the composition is the artistic image, For example, road in Gogol's poem " Dead Souls"; pay attention to the scheme of the author's narration: Chichikov's arrival in the city of NN - road to Manilovka - Manilov's estate - road - arrival at Korobochka - road - tavern, meeting with Nozdryov - road - arrival at Nozdryov - road - etc.; it is important that the first volume ends on the road; Thus, the image becomes the leading structure-forming element of the work;
the author can preface the main action with exposition, what, for example, will be the entire first chapter in the novel “Eugene Onegin”, or it can begin the action immediately, sharply, “without acceleration”, as Dostoevsky does in the novel “Crime and Punishment” or Bulgakov in “The Master and Margarita”;
the composition of the work can be based on symmetry words, images, episodes (or scenes, chapters, phenomena, etc.) and will be mirrored as, for example, in A. Blok’s poem “The Twelve”; mirror composition often combined with framing(this principle of composition is characteristic of many poems by M. Tsvetaeva, V. Mayakovsky and others; read, for example, Mayakovsky’s poem “From Street to Street”);
the author often uses technique of compositional “break” of events: breaks the story completely interesting place at the end of a chapter, and a new chapter begins with a story about another event; for example, it is used by Dostoevsky in Crime and Punishment and Bulgakov in The White Guard and The Master and Margarita. This technique is very popular among the authors of adventure and detective works or works where the role of intrigue is very large.
Composition is an aspect of the form of a literary work, but its content is expressed through the features of the form. The composition of a work is an important way of embodying the author's idea. Read A. Blok’s poem “The Stranger” in full for yourself, otherwise our reasoning will be incomprehensible to you. Pay attention to the first and seventh stanzas, listening to their sound:
1st stanza
IN THE EVENING AT RESTAURANTS
The hot air is wild and deaf,
And rules the drunken shouts
Spring and decaying spirit.
7th stanza
And every evening, at the appointed hour
(Or am I just dreaming?),
The girl's figure, captured by silks,
The window moves in the fog.
The first stanza sounds sharp and disharmonious - due to the abundance of [p], which, like other disharmonious sounds, will be repeated in the following stanzas up to the sixth. It is impossible to do otherwise, because Blok here paints a picture of disgusting philistine vulgarity, a “terrible world” in which the Poet’s soul suffers. This is how the first part of the poem is presented. The seventh stanza marks the transition to a new world - Dreams and Harmony, and the beginning of the second part of the poem. This transition is smooth, the accompanying sounds are pleasant and soft: [a:], [nn]. Thus, in the construction of the poem and with the help of the technique of so-called sound writing, Blok expressed his idea of the opposition of two worlds - harmony and disharmony.
The composition of the work can be thematic, in which the main thing is to identify the relationships between central images works. This type of composition is more characteristic of lyrics. There are three types of such composition:
consistent, representing logical reasoning, the transition from one thought to another and the subsequent conclusion at the end of the work (“Cicero”, “Silentium”, “Nature is a sphinx, and therefore it is truer...” by Tyutchev);
development and transformation of the central image: the central image is examined by the author from various angles, his bright features and characteristics; such a composition assumes a gradual increase in emotional tension and a culmination of experiences, which often occurs at the end of the work (“Sea” Zhukovsky, “I came to you with greetings...” Fet);
comparison of 2 images, those who entered into artistic interaction ("The Stranger" by Blok); such a composition is built at the reception of antithesis, or opposition.
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 something of a mandatory program for a modern author.
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 theory 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 the work in such an order that the effect of a greater impact 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 main narrator 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 broadcast 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 person with wide famous biography, and the reader knows very well that the beloved author, say, has never been in 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 to ultimately get 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 differs mainly in the presence of a complex system of depicting a large number of events occurring with different characters 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!
COMPOSITION OF A LITERARY AND ARTISTIC WORK. TRADITIONAL COMPOSITION TECHNIQUES. DEFAULT/RECOGNITION, “MINUS”-RECEIPT, CO- AND CONTRASTINGS. INSTALLATION.
The composition of a literary work 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. They 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 principle 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 itself and acquiring additional meanings, a detail grows into a symbol, and a 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 the creation of portraits until the end of the 18th century. the leading tendency remained its conditional form, the predominance of the general over the particular. In the literature of the 19th century. 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, who is interested in the characteristic appearance of representatives of some social community. A more complex modification of such a portrait is a psychological portrait, 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 an obligatory component of the artistic 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 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 - contrasted with the flora and fauna of the author’s native land.
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 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 protagonist. 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.
In a narrower and more accurate, 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, which is conveyed in different ways, indicating its 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 a fixed and defined in spatio-temporal coordinates place of the narrator, 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.
The composition of a literary work of art plays big role in expressing ideological meaning. The writer, focusing on those phenomena of life that he this moment attracts, embodying them in artistic images of characters, landscape, thoughts, mood, strives to combine them in a work of art so that they sound with the greatest persuasiveness: they more clearly reveal the essential aspects of reality, evoke deep work of thought in the reader.
Composition is the construction of a work of art, the correlation of all parts of the work into a single whole, determined by its content and genre. To depict a picture of life, writers use various elements of composition: titles, epigraphs, lyrical digressions, introductory, inserted episodes, plot, portrait, landscape, environment.
COMPOSITION OF THE WORK:
Internal organization works depending on the author's intentions and tasks, a unified and holistic system of certain forms or methods of artistic depiction: narration, description (portrait of a character, his surroundings - interior, landscape), characterization (direct author's, from the outside - by other characters, self-characterization - diary , confession, letter), the character’s own direct speech (dialogue, monologue, internal monologue), author’s reasoning, lyrical digressions, inserted episodes, framing, etc.
Composition components:
Titles and epigraphs play a significant role in a work of art.
Titles- can be associated with different aspects of a work of art. Most often with themes ("Autumn" by Pushkin, "Motherland" by Lermontov, "Nanny" by Pushkin and many others) with images ("Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, "Oblomov" by Goncharov, "Rudin" by Turgenev and others): with issues ("Who guilty?” Herzen, “What to do?” Chernyshevsky, “How the steel was tempered” by Ostrovsky and others.)
Epigraphs represent the second title. Most often they are associated with ideological meaning, with ideological content works, with characteristic feature this or that hero. ("Take care of your honor from a young age", "The Captain's Daughter" by Pushkin, "Vengeance is mine and I will repay it." "Anna Karenina" by Tolstoy, etc.)
Lyrical digressions make up outside plot lines in which the author expresses a personal attitude towards the events, images, and phenomena depicted.
Composition of the image system.“Arrangement” of characters taking into account the conflict system.
Composition of the plot. The arrangement of events and actions, revealing the character of the heroes and the image of the world (the order of the narration of events).
Composition of storytelling methods. The actual narrative composition is a change of points of view on what is depicted.
Composition of details. A composition of details of the situation, behavior, experiences, the purpose of which is to create a holistic, plastic-voluminous image of the hero and the world.
Speech composition. Composition of stylistic devices.
Composition of extra-plot elements. Arrangement of inserted stories (episodes not directly related to the plot of the work) and lyrical digressions (actually lyrical, philosophical and journalistic fragments that reveal the writer’s feelings and thoughts in relation to the subject depicted and the author’s position).
Compositional completeness and integrity, in general, play an important role in identifying ideological - artistic originality literary work. After all, the writer strives not only to depict in the novel the interconnection of all components vital material underlying the work, while revealing the fate of its heroes and characters, showing in detail the social and everyday reality surrounding them. The most important thing is to give an artistic interpretation to what is depicted, to clearly express your ideological and aesthetic position.
The essence of the composition- in the grouping of all components of a work around the main idea, in the interconnection of parts and their subordination to the author’s intention. Artistically mature works are distinguished by their compositional unity of theme and concept. The need for a clear idea of the era of the hero, the dynamics of events and actions of the characters, which serve to reveal the idea of the work, require, in turn, a clear compositional basis of the work. Thus, the composition of a literary work is primarily determined by the artistic, aesthetic and ideological position of the author.
A real writer is not just an artist of words. Reflecting on the role and meaning literary creativity, we note the civic-minded positions of Uzbek writers, their attention to the most burning and pressing problems of our time, their ability to truthfully and highly artistically reflect the phenomena of reality.
Questions of searching for compositional solutions, ensuring the ideological and artistic integrity of a literary work, the connection of compositions with individual style author have now become one of the most current problems modern literary process.
Compositional searches essentially always pursue such creative tasks how to identify the connection between various paintings and phenomena of reality, showing the evolution of human characters, the logic of their behavior in certain situations and circumstances. Outside the context of a work of art, the composition itself has no value: it is significant only for revealing the essence typical characters under typical conditions.
4. ARCHITECTONICS OF THE WORK:
The external form of the structure of the work:
· Epic – book, volume, part, chapter, prologue, epilogue
· Drama - act, action, scene, phenomenon
· Lyrics – STR O F I C A:
A stanza is a combination of verses that represents a semantic, syntactic and rhythmic-intonation whole and has a specific rhyme system. The following stanzas are distinguished:
Couplet, tercist (terza - aba bvb vgv gdg...), quatrain, pentaverse, sextine, septima, octave (abababvv), nine- and ten-line, sonnet (abba abba vvg vvg), Onegin stanza (ababvvggdeedzhzh).
Poems that are not divided into stanzas are called astrophic.
End of work -
This topic belongs to the section:
Basic and auxiliary literary disciplines
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All topics in this section:
Basic and auxiliary literary disciplines
Literary criticism is a science that studies the specifics, genesis and development of verbal art, explores the ideological and aesthetic value and structure of literary works, studies social history
Specifics of art
Disputes about the specifics and essence of art, artistic creativity have been going on since antiquity. Aristotle associated the essence of artistic creativity with a person’s innate “passion” for imitation
World of Arts and Fiction
World of Arts and fiction- is the cultural and spiritual heritage of humanity. Every nation is rich in its own culture, which reflects its mentality in vivid images.
Types of artistic images
One of the most important functions of a literary image is to give words the fullness, integrity and self-significance that things have.
The specificity of the verbal image is also manifested in
Epilogue
The final component of a work, the ending, separated from the action unfolding in the main part of the text.
COMPOSITION OF A LITERARY WORK Composition
Subjective organization of text
In a literary work, one should distinguish between the object of speech and the subject of speech. The object of speech is everything that is depicted and everything that is told about: people, objects, circumstances, events, etc. Subject Artistic speech and literary language Literary image can exist only in a verbal shell. The word appears in literature
material carrier
imagery. In this regard, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of “artistic Poetic devices
Poetic devices
Fiction uses the national language in all the richness of its capabilities. This can be neutral, high or low vocabulary; outdated words and neologisms; foreign words
Poetic figures
Syntactic expressiveness is another important linguistic means fiction. What is important here is the length and melodic pattern of phrases, the arrangement of words in them, and various types of phrasing.
Rhythmic organization of artistic speech
Strophic
A stanza in versification is a group of verses united by some formal feature that is periodically repeated from stanza to stanza.
Monostich - poetic
Plot, plot, composition of the work
C O M P O S I T I O N D E T A L D E T S of the work: 1. PLOT OF THE WORK - a chain of events that reveal the characters and relationships of the characters
Additional Prologue. The introductory part of a literary work, which precedes general meaning
, plot or main motives of the work or briefly outlines the events preceding the main
The ideological and emotional orientation of the literature. The concept of pathos and its varieties The ideological world of the work is the third structural component
content-conceptual level along with themes and issues.
The ideological world is an area Epic genres Epic literary genres go back to epic folklore genres, closest to fairy tales. From point of view
genre form
, the fairy tale has its own quite stable structure: a repeating beginning Epic as a type of artistic creativity. Types of epic. Characteristics of epic genres The most ancient of these types of artistic creativity is epic. Early forms of epic arose even in the conditions of the primitive communal system and are associated with
labor activity
person, with peace
Lyrics as a type of artistic creativity. Lyric genres. The concept and controversy about the lyrical hero
Another type of artistic creativity is lyricism. It differs from epic in that it brings to the fore the poet’s inner experiences. In the lyrics we see a living, excited person
Drama as a form of artistic creativity. Characteristics of drama genres
In the past, the cognitive capabilities of art (and literature as well) were often underestimated.
For example, Plato considered it necessary to expel all true artists from the ideal state.
Function of anticipation (“Cassandrian principle”, art as anticipation)
Why the “Cassandrian beginning”?
As you know, Cassandra predicted the death of Troy in the days of the city’s heyday and power. The “Cassandrian principle” has always lived in art and especially in literature.
Educational function
Literature shapes the way people feel and think. By showing heroes who have gone through difficult trials, literature makes people empathize with them and thus, as it were, cleanses their inner world. IN The concept of direction, flow and style in modern literary criticism
But despite all the uniqueness of creative individuals, within artistic systems special varieties emerge in their own way.
common features . To study these varieties, most of all The concept of ancient literature
If Greece is the cradle
European culture
, then Greek literature is the foundation, the foundation of European literature. The word “antique” translated from Latin means “ancient”. But not every d
The fate of ancient literature
The plots, heroes and images of ancient literature are distinguished by such completeness, clarity and depth of meaning that writers of subsequent eras constantly turn to them. Ancient stories find a new interpretation
Periodization and features of ancient literature In its development, ancient literature went through several stages and is represented by classical examples in all literary forms: epic and lyric poetry, satire, tragedy and comedy, ode and fable, novel and Ancient mythology
The most important element
Greek culture myths appeared, that is, tales, traditions, legends dating back to ancient times. They constitute a rich treasury of images and subjects. Reflected in myths
Ancient epic. Homer
The greatest monuments
The most ancient period of Greek literature are Homer's poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey". The poems belong to the genre of folk heroic epic, as they have folklore, folk
It is human nature to imitate. A child in a game imitates what he sees in life, a savage dances to depict a hunting scene. Ancient Greek philosopher and art theorist Aristotle - all art
Ancient tragedy
The suffering and death of people who are objectively worthy of a better fate, capable of many glorious deeds for the benefit of humanity, who have gained immortal fame among their contemporaries and descendants, are experienced by us
Ancient comedy
People tend to laugh. Aristotle even elevated this characteristic inherent in people to a dignity that distinguishes man from animals. People laugh at everything, even at the most dear and close ones. But in one word
Greek lyrics
There is a pattern in the development of Greek literature: certain historical periods are marked by the dominance of certain genres. Ancient period, “Homeric Greece” - the time of heroic e
Greek prose
The heyday of Greek prose occurred in the Hellenic period (III-I centuries BC). This era is associated with the name of Alexander the Great. His conquests and campaigns in the eastern countries had a great influence on
Middle Ages
The Roman Empire collapsed in the 5th century. AD as a result of a slave revolt and barbarian invasion. Short-lived barbarian states arose from its ruins. The transition from the historically exhausted
A Word on Law and Grace" by Hilarion
4. The most ancient Russian lives (“Life of Theodosius of Pechersk”, lives of Boris and Gleb). Lives of the Saints. Monuments of the hagiographic genre - the lives of saints - also brought up
The story of the ruin of Ryazan by Batu
6. The genre of oratorical prose is one of the main genres in the system ancient Russian literature in the 13th century represented by the “words” of Serapion. Five “words” of Serapion have reached us. Main theme with
The concept of humanism
The concept of “humanism” was introduced into use by scientists of the 19th century. It comes from the Latin humanitas (human nature, spiritual culture) and humanus (human), and denotes ideology, n
Message from Archbishop Vasily of Novgorod to the ruler of Tfera Theodore about paradise"
The political struggle for primacy among the Russian principalities that took place during the period under review strengthens the journalistic focus and topicality of the literary works created at that time.
The Tale of Temir-Aksak
The main genres of literature, as in previous periods, are chronicle writing and hagiography. The walking genre is being revived. The genre of legendary historical tales is becoming widespread.
Historical narrative
In the 16th century all-Russian chronicle writing became centralized: chronicle writing was carried out in Moscow (most likely, by the joint forces of the grand ducal and metropolitan chancellery); chroniclers in other cities
Journalism (I. Peresvetov, A. Kurbsky, Ivan the Terrible)
IN Ancient Rus' did not have special term for the definition of journalism - just as there was none for fiction; the boundaries of the journalistic genre that we can outline are, of course, very conditional
Romanticism as a universal artistic system
Romanticism is a movement in literature at the beginning of the 19th century. ROMANTICISM. Several meanings of the word “romanticism”: 1. The direction in literature and art of the first quarter
Realism as a universal art system
Realism - in literature and art - is a direction that strives to depict reality.
R. (real, real) – thin method, trace
Principles of socialist realism Nationality. By this was meant the understandability of the literature for common people
, as well as the use of folk speech patterns and proverbs.
Ideology. Show In literature Literary socialist realism was an instrument of party ideology. Writer, by famous expression Stalin, is an "engineer"
human souls
" With his talent he should influence the cheat
Modernism as a universal art system
Literature of the 20th century developed in a climate of wars, revolutions, and then the emergence of a new post-revolutionary reality. All this could not but affect the artistic quest of the authors of this time.
Postmodernism: definition and characteristics
Postmodernism is a literary movement that replaced modernity and differs from it not so much in originality as in the variety of elements, quotation, immersion in
Blurring the boundaries between mass and elite art
This refers to the universality of works of postmodern literature, their focus on both prepared and unprepared readers. Firstly, it contributes to the unity of the public and
Features of Russian postmodernism
In the development of postmodernism in Russian literature, three periods can be roughly distinguished: The end of the 60s - the 70s. – (A. Terts, A. Bitov, V. Erofeev, Vs. Nekrasov, L. Rubinstein, etc.) 70s – 8
Symbolism and Acmeism
In Russia, futurism first appeared in painting, and only later in literature. Artistic searches of the brothers David and N. Burlyuk, M. Larionov, N. Goncharova, A. Exter, N. Kulbin and
Cubofuturism
The program of Russian futurism, or more precisely that group of it, which at first called itself “Gilea”, and entered the history of literature as a group of cubo-futurists (almost all Hylean poets - in one degree or another
Ego-futurism. Igor Severyanin
The northerner was the first in Russia, in 1911, to call himself a futurist, adding another word to this word - “ego”. The result is egofuturism. (“Future self” or “future self”). In October 1911, an organization was organized in St. Petersburg
Other futurist groups
After Kubo and Ego, other futuristic groups arose. The most famous of them are “Mezzanine of Poetry” (V. Shershenevich, R. Ivnev, S. Tretyakov, B. Lavrenev, etc.) and “Tsen
Futurists and the Russian Revolution
The events of 1917 immediately placed the futurists in a special position. They greeted October Revolution as the destruction of the old world and a step towards the future they were striving for. "I'll accept
What was the general basis of the movement?
1. A spontaneous feeling of “the inevitability of the collapse of old things.”
2. Creation through art of the coming revolution and the birth of a new humanity.
3. Creativity is not imitation, but continuation
Naturalism as a literary movement
Along with symbolism, in the years of its emergence, another equally widespread trend in bourgeois literature was naturalism. Representatives: P. Bobory Expressionism as a literary movement EXPRESSIONISM (French expression – expression) –
avant-garde movement
in literature and art of the early twentieth century. The main subject of the image in expressionism is internal experiences
Baedeker on Russian Expressionism
Terekhina V. On October 17, 1921, at the Polytechnic Museum, under the chairmanship of Valery Bryusov, a “Review of all poetic schools and groups” was held. Neoclassicists made declarations and poems
Declaration of Emotionalism
1. The essence of art is to produce a unique, unrepeatable emotional effect through the transmission in a unique form of a unique emotional perception.
2
Surrealism as a literary movement Surrealism (French surrealisme - super-realism) is a movement in literature and art of the 20th century, which emerged in the 1920s. Originating in France on the initiative of the writer A. Breton, surre poets, writers and cultural figures, organized at the Leningrad House of Press, whose director N. Baskakov treated quite favorably
Alexander Vvedensky
Guest on a horse (excerpt) The steppe horse runs tiredly, foam drips from the horse’s lips.
Guest of the night, you are gone
A constant of fun and filth
The water in the river gurgles and is cool, and the shadow of the mountains falls on the field, and the light in the sky goes out. And the birds are already flying in dreams.
And a janitor with a black mustache *
Existentialism as a literary direction
Existentialism. In the late 40s and early 50s. French prose is experiencing a period of “dominance” of the literature of existentialism, which had an influence on art comparable only to the influence of Freud’s ideas. Add it up
Russian existentialism
A term used to identify a set of philosophies. teachings, as well as (in a broader sense) spiritually related literary and other artistic movements, the structure of categories, symbols and
Self-destructive art
Self-destructive art is one of the strange phenomena of postmodernism. Paintings painted with paint that fades before the eyes of the audience... A huge eighteen-wheeled structure t
Figures of speech. Trails
Means of expressive speech. Correctness, clarity, accuracy and purity are such properties of speech that the syllable of every writer should be distinguished by, regardless of the form of speech.
Paths (Greek tropos - turnover)
Quite a lot of words and entire phrases are often used not in their own meaning, but in a figurative one, i.e. not to express the concept they denote, but to express the concept of another, having some Artistic speech and its components Literary speech (otherwise the language of fiction) partially coincides with the concept of “literary language”.
Literary language
– this is a normative language, its norms are fixed Versification systems (metric, tonic, syllabic, syllabic-tonic) The rhythmic organization is also connected with the intonation-syntactic structure
artistic speech
. The greatest measure of rhythmicity is distinguished by poetic speech, where rhythmicity is achieved through uniform
Dolniki. Accent verse by V. Mayakovsky
1. DOLNIK - a type of tonic verse, where only the number of stressed syllables coincides in the lines, and the number of unstressed syllables between them ranges from 2 to 0. The interval between stresses is n
Meter, rhythm and size. Types of sizes. Rhythmic determinants of verse
The basis of poetic speech is, first of all, a certain rhythmic principle. Therefore, the characteristic of a specific versification consists primarily in determining the principles of its ri
Rhyme, ways of rhyming
Rhyme is the repetition of more or less similar combinations of sounds that connect the endings of two or more lines or symmetrically located parts of poetic lines. In Russian classical
Types of stanzas
A stanza is a group of verses with a specific rhyme arrangement, usually repeated in other equal groups. In most cases, the stanza is a complete syntactic whole
The sonnet is available in Italian and English
An Italian sonnet is a fourteen-line poem divided into two quatrains and two final tercets. In quatrains, either a cross or a ring is used
Philosophical and literary critical thought in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome
Literary studies as a special and developed science arose relatively recently. The first professional literary scholars and critics appeared in Europe only in early XIX century (Saint-Beuve, V. Belinsky). D
Development of literary critical thought in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
In the Middle Ages, literary critical thought completely died out. Perhaps some glimpses of it can be found in the short period of the so-called Carolingian Renaissance (late 8th - early 9th centuries). B with
Literary critical thought of the Enlightenment
Voltaire's compatriot Denis Diderot (1713–1784), without attacking the followers of Aristotle and Boileau, already expressed something new in comparison with them. In the article “Beautiful” Diderot talks about relative
Biographical method of literary criticism
Mythological school, mythological and ritual-mythological criticism in literary criticism
In the nineteenth century, literary criticism took shape as a separate science, dealing with the theory and history of literature and including a number of auxiliary disciplines - textual criticism, source studies, biography
Cultural-historical school. The main ideas of A. Veselovsky about the art of words
Another outstanding literary critic, Hippolyte Taine (1828–1893), considered himself a student of Sainte-Beuve, whose ideas and methodology were decisive for European literary criticism in the second half of the 19th century.
Comparative-historical method of literary criticism
It is not surprising that the largest Russian literary critic of the 19th century, A. Veselovsky, who in his youth was influenced by the cultural-historical school, later overcame its limitations and became the founder of or
Psychoanalytic criticism
This school, influential in literary criticism, arose on the basis of the teachings of the Austrian psychiatrist and psychologist Sigmund Freud (1856 - 1939) and his followers. Z. Freud developed two important psychologists
Formal schools in literary criticism. Russian formal school
Formal schools in literary criticism. For literary criticism the second half of the 19th century
century is characterized by interest in the content side of literature. Major research schools of the time
Structuralism and the New Criticism New criticism
The most influential school in Anglo-American literary criticism of the twentieth century, the origin of which dates back to the period of the First World War.
Methods of literary criticism of the twentieth century Post-structuralism and deconstructivism Poststructuralism An ideological movement in Western humanitarian thought that has had a strong influence on literary studies in the last quarter of a century
Western Europe
and the USA.
Poststructural
Phenomenological criticism and hermeneutics
Phenomenological criticism Phenomenology is one of the most influential movements of the twentieth century. The founder of phenomenology is the German idealist philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), who sought
Contribution from Yu.M. Lotman in modern literary criticism
Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman (February 28, 1922, Petrograd - October 28, 1993, Tartu) - Soviet literary critic, culturologist and semiotician. Member of the CPSU(b)
Contribution of M.M. Bakhtin into the modern science of literature
Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (November 5 (17), 1895, Orel - March 6, 1975, Moscow) - Russian philosopher and Russian thinker, theorist of European culture and art. Issle
What is composition in literature
In literature, the concept of composition means the construction of a literary work, the structure of its component parts, their sequence and system. But composition in literature is not just a sequence of scenes, chapters, sections, acts. This is a system of work that includes all forms of artistic representation used by the writer.
The parts of composition in literature are: portraits, monologues and dialogues of heroes, author's and lyrical digressions, landscapes, descriptions, systems of images, plots and plots of works. Often authors choose a cyclical structure or spiral plot development for their works, and these are also components of the composition. For example, the composition “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov is a novel within a novel. The main plot, which tells the reader about the story of the Master and his girlfriend, contains another story - the story of Yeshua Ha-Nozri and the procurator Pontius Pilate.
What is the composition of a work of fine art?
Composition in fine arts– the most important organizing factor. The composition of a painting, sculpture, or architectural creation gives it integrity, unity, unites all its elements in harmony, gives it content and character.
The composition creates a perfect form that gives harmony to the entire work. For example, the work of Leonardo da Vinci is constructed in an unusually symmetrical manner. last supper" Moreover, the image on famous fresco balanced not only visually, but also in the plot itself and the images of the picture.
What is composition in photography
Composition for photography is a harmonious, balanced placement of objects in the frame. How often does the situation arise that the photographs of one photographer seem almost brilliant to us, while the photographs of the second evoke the feeling of hackwork or amateur work, although they depict the same cats and trees. Most often, in this case, it’s all about a successfully or unsuccessfully chosen composition. There are the following compositional techniques for constructing the most successful photograph:
Conciseness
You shouldn’t throw all the most beautiful and interesting little things into the frame - the viewer’s eye will get tired instantly. Choose one, but choose one that is the most important and impressive. In a photograph in a gray, boring building, such a detail could be a girl’s red, flowing dress.
Golden ratio rule
The human face and body obeys Da Vinci’s rule of the “golden ratio”; all of nature and a successful shot by a photographer obey the same rule.
Guide lines
The leading lines in the frame also play a significant role. Alternating identical fragments will help add dynamics to the photo and direct the viewer’s gaze from one edge of the photo to another, more important one. For example, a frame from a combination of vertical stripes of massive columns and horizontal stripes of staircase steps outlined by the sun will look good.
Elemental balance
A person is accustomed to feeling support under his feet and the absence of it, even in a photograph, will create an extremely uncomfortable feeling for him. The balance of light and shadow, color elements, objects in the photograph - all this is important for the balance of the frame. A poor example of balance is the girl in the bottom left corner of the frame, facing the photographer. A good example there will be the same girl in the same corner, but facing the sky, where her balloon (in the upper right corner of the frame) of the same color as her dress is floating.
Rhythm
Rhythm is also good for creating dynamics in a shot. Alternation of light and shadow, colors, repeating elements - it can be anything that your imagination is rich in.
