Peculiarities of the narrator's image in an epic work
Tale- this is a narrative with an emphasis on oral speech (from the word “tell”), based on folk traditions and legends, close to them in form, which contains sketches of folk life and customs. The genre of the tale presupposes a storyteller close to the people, a person with a special character and style of speech.
As a genre of Russian literature, the skaz is defined by the Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary as “ a special type of storytelling, focused on modern living, sharply different from the author’s, monologue speech a narrator who comes from some environment that is exotic for the reader (everyday, national, folk)» .
Noting the originality of the tale as a literary genre, P.P. Bazhov wrote: “ What the fairy tale tells was treated in advance as something that occupied, entertained, and taught the younger ones. But the tale was treated differently, in the tale there are elements of real life, history... It is based on a true incident, and this closeness to the truth distinguishes the tale from what is in the popular understanding a fairy tale».
In the linguistic-stylistic aspect, the tale was developed in the works of V.V. Vinogradova, B.M. Eikhenbaum and other researchers.
A deep approach to the problem of skaz is characteristic of Academician V.V. Vinogradov, who defines the tale form of narration as follows: “ A tale is a unique literary and artistic orientation towards an oral monologue of a narrative type; it is an artistic imitation of monologue speech, which embodies the narrative plot, as if constructed in the order of its direct speaking» .
Thus, the interpretation of the tale in the linguistic-stylistic aspect mainly comes down to two points of view. One of them comes from the fact that in front of us “ orientation to the narrator's oral speech", the other is based on the fact that " in most cases, a tale is, first of all, an orientation towards someone else’s speech, and from here, as a consequence,-for oral speech» .
The verb “say” belongs to the category of one of the most ancient words in the Russian language. It has long performed a “double function: direct, ordinary (“tell” in the sense of “report”, “notify”) and specific belonging to the sphere oral creativity(“telling”).”
Folklore traditions have largely determined the nature of literary skaz and the originality of its style, which is an organic fusion of folk-traditional and book elements.
The creativity of such outstanding writers XIX century as N.V. Gogol, M.Yu. Lermontov, V.G. Korolenko's tale is established as a full-fledged genre of fiction.
In the 20-30s of the twentieth century. Such writers as B. Shergin, P.P. turn to literary tales. Bazhov, S. Pisakhov, E. Pistolenko. Thus, one of the important specific features of the literary tale is the alloy life principle With folklore origins- legends, fairy tales, that is, an organic combination of the real and the fantastic.
The most important feature of the skaz genre, which characterizes it both from the content and from the form, is the image of the narrator, the storyteller. In the tale, the narrator is called upon to assess events and facts from the point of view of the people. The narrator of a folk tale is an individual, a hero from the people, whose voice merges with the voice of the author. The narrator - the people - the author are indissoluble in a tale. V.V. Vinogradov argued that “ the narrator is the speech creation of the author, and the image of the narrator in the tale is a form of literary artistry of the author. The image of the author is seen in him as the image of an actor in the stage image he creates.». .
The narrative can be told from three points: 1) from a person from the people (N.V. Gogol, P.P. Bazhov); 2) the story can be the voice of the collective, i.e. “we” (M.Yu. Lermontov); 3) the story can be told on behalf of the writer (S. Yesenin). .
But no matter whose voice is heard in the tale - a representative of the working people, a collective, or the writer himself - it always presupposes a popular assessment of the events described, a popular view of the phenomena of social life. Therefore, the narrator in the tale is the bearer mass consciousness, collective worldview.
A work of fiction begins with its title.
Of all literary genres skaz is perhaps one of the most “sensitive”, most demanding of the title. As for fairy tale images, they are relatively rarely given in a long-term temporary development; they appear before us most often already formed, with all their inherent general, “generic” and individual qualities; but this does not diminish their artistic merits. The most vivid fantastic images develop into typical characters.
The structure of the tale is complex and multifaceted. In the tale, as in others literary genres, there is a plot, a climax, and a denouement. It contains a portrait and a landscape, a dialogue and a monologue, its own composition, unique to this genre. And all these elements are subordinated to the solution of the main artistic task: the reflection of a historical era.
Nikolai Semenovich Leskov (1831-1895).
Arkin I.I. Literature lessons in grades 5-6: Practical. methodology: Book. for the teacher. - M., 2000, p. 130
Double-voice as a unique style of Leskov's tale: author and narrator. The dignity and intelligence of a commoner in the folk-ironic style of a tale. Its contrasting composition: the confrontation between imperial and popular Russia. Historical truth And folk legend in the artistic structure of the tale. The ironic and highly poetic are inseparably contrasting in the style of “Lefty”. (1883). Belinovskaya Z.S., Mayevskaya T.P. An epic with a “human soul”. (Materials for lessons based on N.S. Leskov’s tale “Lefty.” // Russian language and literature in secondary educational institutions Ukraine. No. 2, 1992, p. 2 - 5
The main theme of Leskov’s work is the depiction of the life of post-reform Russia. The writer strives with all his might to preserve the national identity of the Russian people and opposes forces hostile to them.
Theme and idea of the tale by N.S. Leskova "Lefty".
The theme of originality, talent, and dedication of the Russian people is embodied in “Lefty.” This is a tale about a Tula gunsmith, fate talented person from the people. The brilliant master did not have his own name, but only a nickname - Lefty.
Preface by M.S. Goryachkina to the book. Leskov N.S. Left-hander: (The Tale of the Tula oblique left-hander and steel flea). - M., 1985, p. 7
Turyanskaya B.I., Kholodova L.A., Vinogradova E.A. Komissarova E.V. Literature in 6th grade: Lesson by lesson. - M., 1999, pp. 103-111
We can distinguish 4 main ideological motives of the tale “Lefty”:
1. The amazing abilities of the Russian people.
2. True patriotism Lefties, people.
3. Ignorance, which limited his capabilities.
4. Irresponsible and criminal attitude towards him on the part of the authorities (from the courtier to the policeman), reaching not only to beatings, robbery, but, in essence, to the murder of a brilliant master.
The idea for “Lefty,” according to Leskov, arose from a saying: “An Englishman made a flea out of steel, and a Russian shod it.” Polukhina V.P. Guidelines to the educational anthology “Literature”. 6th grade. - M., 1996)
Preface by M.S. Goryachkina to the book. Leskov N.S. Lefty: (The Tale of the Tula oblique lefty and the rest of the flea). - M., 1985, p. 7
“The appearance of the narrator in the tale “Lefty”, his speech merges with the appearance and speech of the main character of the tale. The originality of the perception of life, alien to the narrator and the hero, the comic and satirical rethinking of many of its concepts and language creates a special style of the tale about Lefty. Subsequently comparing the style of his legend “Buffoon Pamfaloi” and the style of “Lefty”, Leskov wrote: “This language, like the language of the “Steel Flea,” is not easy, but very difficult, and love for the work alone can motivate a person to take on such mosaic work . But they blamed me for this very “peculiar language” and finally forced me to spoil it a little and discolor it.”
Leskov uses in it the techniques of a fairy-tale narrative: the beginning, the construction of dialogue, the ending: “The Emperor says: “What do you, courageous old man, want from me?” And Platov replies: “I, Your Majesty, don’t need anything for myself...”
The author characterizes the style of the tale “Lefty” as “fabulous,” that is, fabulous, fabulous, and considers the character of the hero “epic.” But Lefty appears before readers as a living person, and not a conventional one. fairy tale hero. And this impression is created largely thanks to the folk spoken language, given in all its everyday authenticity, thanks to the narrator’s ability to reveal the psychology of the character through dialogue. Both the events and the speech of the characters in the tale are devoid of fantasy. Everything is perceived as quite real and plausible. And this perception is not only not hindered by the bizarre language of the tale, but even helps - it so revives and makes the painted types of people unforgettable.
Russian proverbs and sayings are richly used in the language of the tale: “The sky is cloudy, the belly is swelling, - the boredom is great, and the road is long”, “At least he has a sheep’s fur coat, but a little man’s soul”, etc.
Preface M.S. Goryachkina to the book. Leskov N.S. Lefty: (The Tale of the Tula oblique lefty and the rest of the flea). - M., 1985, p. 7
Leskov’s favorite genre of “fairy tales,” first-person narration, required a special gift of transformation. (Subsequently, this technique was successfully used by other writers; we can say that this genre was transformed into a special type of story with a first-person narrator). Zoshchenko was a brilliant master of the “skaz” - story; Vladimir Vysotsky also spoke confidently on behalf of his heroes.
P.P. Bazhov(1879-1950) was from a Ural workers' village. He received spiritual education, participated in Civil War, was engaged in newspaper journalism. Pavel Bazhov came to fiction late, at the age of 57, but managed to create a whole collection of “Tales of the Old Urals.” In total, from 1936 to 1950, he wrote over forty tales. The first issue of his collection " Malachite Box"was published in 1939. (37 tales).
The writer denied the very possibility of processing folklore: “I don’t know what right I have to process, I have doubts in this regard. After all, this is what they say, but in fact it’s against folk art not create. Any attempt at change will be worse than what is there.” Bazhov's tales only in appearance resemble byliches and fairy tales that existed in mining villages. The writer created the plots and many of the characters himself, mixing folklore and literary devices narratives.
The tales complement each other, some characters move from tale to tale, fantastic events take place within a common time and space. In general, the epic of the Urals is taking shape. At the center of each tale is the life of working people, in which something fantastic suddenly happens. Force working person, his talent and wisdom are opposed to both the power of oppression, embodied in the various masters of life, and the secret power of nature. The drama of this complex confrontation forms the basis of the problems of fairy tales.
The main thematic cycles of P.P.’s tales Bazhova:
1. Tales about the natural resources of the Urals.
2. Tales about the masters of the Urals.
3. Tales about the plight of the working people.
4. Tales about breeders and their associates.
5. Tales about family relationships.
It should be noted that all the above-mentioned themes of P.P.’s tales. Bazhov have very thin, blurred boundaries and can interpenetrate each other, that is, several themes can calmly coexist in one skaz.
His manner of telling a story about the past (as if in reality - on that mountain, behind that forest...) creates the impression of living oral speech addressed directly to the reader-listener. That is why dialect words and common sayings are perceived as an organic feature of a book text (at the same time, Bazhov opposed deliberate folklorism in the literary language)
Pavel Bazhov divided his tales according to tone, according to the structure of speech, into three groups: tales of a “children’s tone” (for example, “Ognevushka-Jumping”), “adult tone” (“Stone Flower”) and “ historical stories"(Markov Stone).
The story is told from the perspective of a clearly interested narrator. The reader is conveyed both his sympathy for the poor and grieving people, and his disapproval for his inability to be kind and affectionate. Tactfully, but steadily, the narrator affirms the ideal of life, not a fairy tale, but the most real one: “We lived and lived, but didn’t make much good; but they didn’t cry for a living, and everyone had something to do.”
The little reader is fascinated by the depicted setting - real and at the same time mysteriously fabulous. Three times he and the characters end up in different dwellings: the first is the most ordinary one, where grief seems to have settled, the second is the Kokovani hut, where it is so comfortable to work and listen to fairy tales, and the third is a forest booth where a unique miracle happens. From the everyday world, where good and evil are intertwined, to a world where fairy tales are intertwined with reality, this is the logic of compositional construction.
Pavel Petrovich Bazhov is the greatest master of literary tale. Many prose writers and poets considered him their teacher.
literature children's story fairy tale
There are literary works, when reading which you get the impression that you are listening to leisurely oral speech. It’s as if someone around the fire at night is telling a slow, interesting story to the other listeners. Skaz also belongs to such methods. What is skaz? Let's turn to dictionaries for help in interpreting the term.
Definition
The dictionaries say that this is a folklore or author’s work, or rather, the form of its presentation. It is specific in its intonation and styles. But the main thing: the tale, as it were, reproduces oral speech in general, and folk character in particular. And also, skaz is a special type of narration in a single work of art. It is constructed as if from the point of view of the narrator, whose position and stylistic norms differ from the style of presentation of the author himself. This creates the desired artistic effect.
Tale - a genre of literature
In Russian literature, according to the conclusions of literary scholars, the tale originates from the works of Nikolai Gogol. But he was presented in a bright manner and especially skillfully in the works of Nikolai Leskov. His tales about the righteous and heroes from the people “The Tale of Tula Lefty and about the steel flea”, “The Stupid Artist”, “The Enchanted Wanderer” - works where the data is fully disclosed
In Russian literature
What is skaz in fiction? The essence of this manner of presentation is that the story seems to be told not from the perspective of a detached and objective author, but from the perspective of a subjective narrator (usually a participant in the relevant events). At the same time, the text of the work itself imitates the speech of a living oral story. And the narrator in a work, as a rule, does not belong to the same social group as the author and the reader. So for Leskov it could be: a merchant, a monk, a soldier, a retired mayor. And each of the narrators speaks precisely in the speech that is most characteristic of him. This is how the artistic effect in the work is achieved. This is what the tale makes an impression on the listener (and reader). This manner gives the work liveliness and originality in the presentation of plots, deepens the social context of the work of art, and gives the text individual creative characteristics, gives the events presented a more subtle and individual assessment. Take, for example, entire paragraphs of text from Leskov’s “The Tale of Lefty,” where individual characteristics described, seen by Lefty in England, sound very original and bright. Another Russian writer - a master of this genre - Bazhov. Everyone probably remembers his “Malachite Box,” which in form and content is also a literary tale. Pavel Bazhov, a folklorist, was the first to make literary adaptations of folk tales of the Urals: “The Blue Snake”, “The Silver Hoof”, “The Mountain Master”, “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain” and many other works of Russian folklore, giving them a bright form and a certain precise laconicism. All of them were included in the book “The Malachite Box,” which has now been republished in millions of copies.
Russian tales
This term in the relevant sciences of literature can be used to refer to various prosaic non-fairy tale genres of CNT: legends, epics, epics, legends (mainly in folklore). What is a tale, and how does it differ, for example, from a fairy tale? In a fairy tale, mainly we're talking about about magic extraordinary adventures and miracles (exception - everyday tales). And the characters are often fictitious: Baba Yaga, Serpent Gorynych. In fairy tales, good usually triumphs over evil.
What is skaz? It relies primarily on traditions and legends. The narration is told on behalf of the narrator, and, as a rule, is based on real events that happened a long time ago. And the main distinguishing feature is the presence of a person from whom the narrative is told, based on folklore.
Almost the entire Russian-speaking audience knows what a skaz is, and it owes its popularity, first of all, to Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. However, not everyone knows that other classical writers also have similar works. As an independent genre, the tale stands out only in Russian literature.
Definition of skaz as a literary genre
Philological specialists rely on certain signs when they answer the question: “What is a tale?” This special genre, in which a plausible plot or real events are often intertwined with elements of magic and the grotesque. Thus, in the “Jumping Ognevushka” the everyday life of prospectors is enlivened fairy-tale character- a girl running out of the fire. In “Lefty” the heroes of the story are the Russian emperors, Ataman M.I. Platov, and gunsmiths from Tula. And the highlight of the work is a savvy flea, which seemed fantastic at that time.
However, the central core of the definition of a tale in literature is not the features of the plot, but the form of its presentation. The narration is told on behalf of a certain narrator who uses colloquial, vernacular- lively, spontaneous, containing jargon, distorted words, dialectisms. In this way, the tale resembles a folklore work.
Another Key Feature of this genre is that the narrator’s worldview, his type of thinking, and style of describing events do not coincide with the author’s. In “The Tale of Lefty,” N. S. Leskov, who had a good command of the literary language, seems to be immersed in someone else’s consciousness. And then a narrator appears - a native of the people, calling Apollo of Belvedere "Abolon of Polvedere", a double carriage - "two-seater", chandeliers - "busters".
Tales in literature and their classification
The founders of the tale are N.V. Gogol and N.S. Leskov. Very clearly the signs of this genre appeared in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, “Lefty”, and in the 20th century - in the stories of I. E. Babel (“Cavalry”, “How it was done in Odessa”), M. M. Zoshchenko (“Lemonade”, “Happiness”), as well as in the works of P. P. Bazhov.
Tales are divided into two types:
- Characteristic. The narration is narrated by an unnamed narrator who uses the folk language (“Malachite Box”, “Jumping Fire”; “Sentimental Stories” by Zoshchenko”; “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” by Gogol).
- Ornamental is characterized by a combination of literary and colloquial styles, poetic and everyday, sometimes by the presence of deviations from storyline(“Cavalry” by Babel, Gogol’s “The Overcoat”, “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”).
It is necessary to mention other writers in order to better understand what skaz is. These are V. I. Dal, V. M. Shukshin, A. Bely, L. M. Leonov.
Tales of Bazhov, glorifying the Ural region
The most famous example that gives an idea of what a skaz is is the works of Pavel Petrovich Bazhov. From the very first lines it is clear: the narration is in the first person. The narrator talks about “our plant”, “our lands”. Addressing the reader-listener, he inserts such phrases and expressions as “you see”, “you hear”, “as far as I can remember.”
The pearls of the Ural folk dialect are strung on a thread of dialogues and monologues: interrogate, protcha, really, zharyn, dedo. There is a high proportion of diminutive words: tiny, doll, artelka, even. Some incredible events are woven into the plot of almost every tale: a lizard turns into the Mistress of the Copper Mountain, the deer Silver Hoof taps precious stones with its foot, the magical grandmother Sinyushka appears from a forest well - “always old, always young”, forever assigned “to the local riches” .
P. P. Bazhov in his books not only described the life of miners and craftsmen, but also glorified the golden hands of the Ural stone cutters, showed the beauty of the soul ordinary people, the charm of our native land.
It is the folklore colorfulness and simplicity of the narrator that allows us to understand what a tale is. This gives the work a special charm. The reader has the opportunity to feel involved in folk traditions, to know their roots, and to reveal the sources of the strength of spirit of the Russian people.
There are groups of works where the non-author's word reigns supreme. These are stylization, intentionally and clearly imitating the features and properties of any folklore or literary style. Let us recall Lermontov’s “Song about<„.>merchant Kalashnikov", ballads by A.K. Tolstoy, the story “Fire Angel” by V.Ya. Bryusov, focused on the style of Western European medieval prose.
Tale, also operating with a non-author's word, unlike stylizations and parodies, it is focused on oral, everyday, colloquial speech. Here there is “an imitation of a “live” conversation, born as if this very minute, here and now, at the moment of its perception” 2 . The main thing is that the story is much more than traditional forms written narrative, attracts our attention to the speaker - to the storyteller highlighting his figure, his voice, his inherent vocabulary and phraseology. “The principle of the tale requires,” noted B.M. Eikhenbaum, - so that the narrator’s speech is colored not only by intonation-syntactic, but also by lexical shades” 3. Samples of the tale - “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” by N.V. Gogol, much in the prose of V.I. Dalia, N.S. Leskova.
SKAZ is a form of presentation specific in its intonation and style folklore works; hence, by S. we mean such a character of presentation in literary works, which reproduces the speech of works of oral literature, and in a broader sense - oral speech in general and even unusual forms writing.
Most common forms of C. - this is: a) imitation of fairy tales, epics and songs. Wed. “Beyond the Volga in the forests, in Chernaya Ramen, there lived a peasant, a rich man. That peasant's daughter was growing up. The daughter grew up and became full of beauty ( Melnikov-Pechersky, “In the Woods” - fabulous S.); b) imitation of local and professional dialects of the peasantry: “He was tired of this to death, he was angry like a fierce snake; and kept going to Prokudin in the evenings. The streets began to pour hemp, and Prokudin dumped the carts off their heels ( Leskov, “The Life of a Woman”); c) imitation of the vernacular and professional dialects of the urban population, mainly those groups of it that do not fully speak the lithic language: “I thank him and say that I have no desires and will not come up with any desires, except for one - if his grace will , to tell me..." ( Leskov, "Darner"); d) imitation of obsolete and unusual shapes written speech: “And with this kind of worldly spirit, as I presented to you, we lived for almost three years. “Everything was going on for us, all successes were pouring out on us as if from the Horn of Amaltheus, when suddenly we saw that there were among us two vessels chosen by God for our punishment” ( Leskov, “The Sealed Angel” - S. Old Russian instructive books).
As is clear from the examples given, S.’s character is achieved in written speech by selecting vocabulary various types of oral speech (and in the last of the above cases - archaic vocabulary, alien to the modern literary language) and specific forms syntax and morphology, allowed only in oral speech (or in ancient writing): imitation folklore genres characterized by e.g. rhythmization, recitative or melodious style, transferring into written speech typical of folklore figures, imitation of vernacular - the introduction of a significant number dialectisms, violation of grammatical structure of written speech - incompleteness of sentences, their inconsistency, abundance of exclamation and interrogative phrases.
In rare cases, S. is maintained throughout the entire work: more often the author intersperses it with the usual lit presentation, citing the need to shorten the story.
The introduction of S. forms is usually motivated by the author’s will, characterizing the situation and the narrator (cf. the construction of most of Leskov’s stories - “Warrior”, “Midnight Office”, “Enchanted Wanderer”, “Stupid Artist”, etc. Cf. "Framing"). Another very common form of S.’s introduction is the monological nature of the narrative - Ich-Erzählung, diary, letter (cf. the construction of Dostoevsky’s novels and stories - “Notes from the Underground”, “Demons”, etc.). Sometimes S.'s introduction characterizes the experiences and train of thought of one of the characters. Wed: “Manefa’s mother is standing in the prayer room in front of the icons, crying with bitter, burning tears... The vain world, the sinful world has again spoken its way into Manefa’s spiritual ears,” follows S. about a rich man and his beautiful daughter as a summary of the heroine’s memories ( Melnikov-Pechersky, "In forests"). Here, the introduction of S. is one of the cases of the so-called. “direct indirect speech” (style indirect libre) - characteristics of the thoughts of the character expressed on behalf of the author.
Genuinely artistic forms S. become when the entire content of the work is presented from the point of view that is characteristic and possible for the imaginary narrator; These are the images emerging from S. of the simple-minded, seedy landowner Belkin, the talkative Ukrainian beekeeper Rudy Panko, the curious “progressive” - everyman of the provincial towns of Dostoevsky, St. Petersburg vixens - hangers-on and resellers, fans of “Father John of Kronstadt” from Leskov, etc., etc. .d.
Allowed in the literary styles of classicism only in direct speech to characterize comic characters, S. is widely used in the literary styles of Romanticism (the predominance of folklore and ancient written S. as well as peasant S.) and realism XIX V. (inclusion of everyday vernacular of the city and widespread use of territorial peasant dialects in regional literature). In modern Soviet literature, literary forms achieve, on the one hand, greater sophistication (the tales of Babel, Tynyanov, Sholokhov, and many others), but on the other hand, they sometimes appear insufficiently justified, acquiring the character of an aimless destruction of the norms of the literary language and causing protest from the outside the best masters words (M. Gorky’s speeches against the corruption of the literary language in 1934).
A fairy tale narration (skaz) is conducted in a manner that is sharply different from the author’s and is oriented towards the forms of oral speech. The tale became widespread in Russian literature of the 19th century, starting in the 30s. For example, in the slightly parodic “Tales of Belkin” by Pushkin, a sympathetic and ironic characterization is given not only of the characters, but also of the storytellers. Gogol and Leskov used a similar form of storytelling. Skaz allows writers to capture more freely and broadly Various types speech thinking, resort to parodies. It is constructed in the order of speaking, focused on the modern living, sharply different from the author’s, monologue speech of the narrator, who came from some exotic environment for the reader (everyday, national, folk). The tale widely uses vernacular language, dialectisms, as well as professional speech. The most common are two forms of narration: the first, told in the first person by a well-defined narrator. It is especially close to the lively intonation of oral speech. the second form dispenses with the introduction of a real narrator. The author's problems: Turning to skaz is most often associated with the desire of writers to break the established conservative literary tradition, to bring to the stage a new hero and new life material. (Tales of Bazhov)
19.Objective world of a work of art: landscape, interior, portrait, thing.
Let's start with the properties of the depicted world. The depicted world in a work of art means that conditionally similar real world the picture of reality that the writer paints: people, things, nature, actions, experiences, etc. In a work of art, a model of the real world is created. This model is unique in the works of each writer; The depicted worlds in different works of art are extremely diverse and can be more or less similar to the real world. But in any case, we should remember that before us is created by the writer artistic reality, not identical to the primary reality.
Let us now move on to a specific consideration of the varieties of artistic details.
Portrait. A literary portrait is understood as the depiction in a work of art of a person’s entire appearance, including the face, physique, clothing, demeanor, gestures, and facial expressions. The reader’s acquaintance with the character usually begins with a portrait. Every portrait to one degree or another- this means that by external features we can at least briefly and approximately judge a person’s character. In this case, the portrait can be provided with an author’s commentary that reveals the connections between the portrait and the character (for example, a commentary on the portrait of Pechorin), or it can act on its own (the portrait of Bazarov in “Fathers and Sons”). In this case, the author seems to rely on the reader to draw conclusions about the person’s character himself. This portrait requires closer attention. In general, a full perception of a portrait requires somewhat enhanced work of the imagination, since the reader must imagine a visible image based on the verbal description.
The correspondence of portrait features to character traits is a rather conditional and relative thing; it depends on the views and beliefs accepted in a given culture, on the character artistic convention. In the early stages of cultural development, it was assumed that beauty appearance spiritual beauty also corresponds; positive characters were often portrayed as beautiful in appearance, negative ones as ugly and disgusting. Subsequently, the connections between the external and the internal in a literary portrait become significantly more complicated. In particular, already in the 19th century. a completely inverse relationship between portrait and character becomes possible: positive hero can be ugly, but negative can be beautiful. Example - Quasimodo V. Hugo and Milady from “The Three Musketeers” by A. Dumas. Thus, we see that a portrait in literature has always performed not only a depictive, but also an evaluative function.
If we look at history literary portrait, then we can notice that this form of literary depiction moved from generalized abstract portraiture to increasingly individualization. In the early stages of literary development heroes are often endowed with a conventionally symbolic appearance; Thus, we almost cannot distinguish between the portraits of the heroes of Homer’s poems or Russian military stories. Such a portrait carried only very general information about the hero; This happened because literature had not yet learned at that time to individualize the characters themselves. Over time the portrait became more and more individualized, that is, it was filled with those unique features and traits that no longer allowed us to confuse one hero with another and at the same time pointed not to the social or other status of the hero, but to individual differences in characters. The literature of the Renaissance already knew a very developed individualization of the literary portrait (an excellent example is Don Quixote and Sancho Panza), which later intensified in literature.
An individualized detail, assigned to a character, can become his permanent feature, a sign by which this character is identified; such, for example, are Helen’s shining shoulders or the radiant eyes of Princess Marya in War and Peace.
The simplest and at the same time the most frequently used form of portrait characterization is portrait description . It consistently, with varying degrees of completeness, gives a kind of list of portrait details, sometimes with a general conclusion or author's commentary regarding the character of the character revealed in the portrait; sometimes with special emphasis on one or two leading details. Such, for example, is the portrait of Bazarov in “Fathers and Sons”, the portrait of Natasha in “War and Peace”.
To others, more complex look portrait characteristic is comparison portrait . It is important not only to help the reader more clearly imagine the hero’s appearance, but also to create in him a certain impression of the person and his appearance.
Finally, the most difficult type of portrait is impression portrait . Its originality lies in the fact that there are no portrait features and details here as such at all, all that remains is the impression made by the hero’s appearance on an outside observer or on one of the characters in the work. So, for example, Chekhov characterizes the appearance of one of his heroes as follows: “His face seems to be pinched by a door or nailed down with a wet rag” (“Two in One”). Draw an illustration like this portrait characteristics It is almost impossible, but Chekhov does not need the reader to visually imagine all the portrait features of the hero; it is important that a certain emotional impression is achieved from his appearance and it is quite easy to draw a conclusion about his character.
Scenery. Landscape in literature is the image of living and inanimate nature in a work. Not in everyone literary work we are meeting with landscape sketches, but when they appear, they usually perform essential functions. First and simplest function landscape - to indicate the scene of action. However, no matter how simple this function may be at first glance, its aesthetic impact on the reader should not be underestimated. Often the location of action is fundamental for of this work meaning. For example, many Russian and foreign romantics used the exotic nature of the East as a setting: bright, colorful, unusual, it created a romantic atmosphere of the exceptional in the work, which was necessary.
Often, the attitude towards nature shows us some significant aspects of the character's character or worldview. Thus, Onegin’s indifference to the landscape shows us the extreme degree of disappointment of this hero. The discussion about nature, taking place against the backdrop of a beautiful, aesthetically significant landscape in Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” reveals differences in the characters and worldviews of Arkady and Bazarov.
The setting in modern literature is often the city. Moreover, in Lately nature as a scene of action is increasingly inferior in this quality to the city, in full accordance with what is happening in real life. The city as a setting has the same functions as the landscape; Even an inaccurate and oxymoronic term appeared in the literature: "city landscape". Just like the natural environment, the city has the ability to influence the character and psyche of people. In addition, the city in any work has its own unique appearance, and this is not surprising, since each writer not only creates a topographical setting, but in accordance with his artistic goals builds a certain image cities. Thus, Petersburg in Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” is, first of all, “restless,” vain, secular. But at the same time, it is a complete, aesthetically valuable whole city that can be admired. And finally, St. Petersburg is a repository of high noble culture, primarily spiritual.
Returning to the literary depiction of nature itself, we must say about one more function of the landscape, which can be called psychological. It has long been noticed that certain states of nature are somehow correlated with certain human feelings and experiences: the sun - with joy, rain - with sadness; Wed also expressions like “mental storm”. Therefore, landscape details from the most early stages developments in literature were successfully used to create a certain emotional atmosphere in a work (for example, in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” a joyful ending is created using the image of the sun) and as a form of indirect psychological image, when state of mind The characters are not described directly, but are, as it were, conveyed to the nature surrounding them, and often this technique is accompanied by psychological parallelism or comparison (“It’s not the wind that bends the branch, It’s not the oak tree that makes noise. It’s my heart that groans. How autumn leaf trembles"), B further development literature, this technique became more and more sophisticated, it became possible not directly, but indirectly to correlate emotional movements with one or another state of nature. At the same time, the character’s mood can correspond to him, or vice versa – contrast with him.
Special mention should be made of the infrequent case when nature becomes like actor a work of art. This does not mean fables and fairy tales, because the animal characters taking part in them are essentially just masks of human characters. But in some cases, animals become actual characters in the work, with their own psychology and character. Most famous works This kind of story is the story of Tolstoy “Kholstomer” and Chekhov’s “Kashtanka” and “White-fronted”.
The world of things. In the early stages of development, the world of things was not widely reflected, and the material details themselves were little individualized. A thing was depicted only insofar as it turned out to be a sign of a person’s belonging to a certain profession or a sign social status. The indispensable attributes of the king's office were a throne, a crown and a scepter; the things of a warrior are, first of all, his weapons, those of a farmer are a plow, a harrow, etc. This kind of thing we'll call accessory, did not yet correlate in any way with the character of a particular character, that is, the same process was going on here as in portrait detailing: the individuality of a person is not yet; was mastered by literature, and therefore there was no need to individualize the thing itself. Over time, although an accessory item remains in literature, it loses its meaning and does not carry any significant artistic information.
Another function of a material detail develops later, starting around the Renaissance, but it becomes the leading one for this type of detail. The detail becomes a way of characterizing a person, an expression of his individuality.
A material detail can sometimes convey extremely expressively psychological condition character; Chekhov especially loved to use this method of psychologism. Here is how, for example, psychosis, the logical state of the hero in the story “Three Years” is depicted using a simple and ordinary material detail: “At home, he saw an umbrella on a chair, forgotten by Yulia Sergeevna, grabbed it and greedily kissed it. The umbrella was silk, no longer new, secured with an old elastic band; the handle was made of simple, white bone, cheap. Laptev opened it above him, and it seemed to him that there was even a smell of happiness around him.”
A material detail has the ability to simultaneously characterize a person and express author's attitude to the character. Here, for example, is a material detail in Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons” - an ashtray in the shape of a silver bast shoe, standing on the table of Pavel Petrovich, who lives abroad. This detail not only characterizes the character’s ostentatious love of the people, but also expresses a negative assessment of Turgenev. The irony of the detail is that the roughest and at the same time perhaps the most essential object of peasant life here is made of silver and serves as an ashtray. By studying the world of things as such, the material environment of a person, one can understand a lot - not about the life of this or that person, but about way of life in general.
SKAZ, -a, m. 1. Folk epic narrative. S. o folk heroes. 2. In literary criticism: a narration that imitates the speech of the narrator and is told on his behalf. Tales of Leskov. * Here (for you) is the whole story (colloquial) - it’s said definitively, there’s nothing more to talk about. || adj. fabulous, -aya, -oe.
View value SKAZ in other dictionaries
Skaz M.— 1. Narration told on behalf of the narrator. 2. A work of oral folk art about actual events of the present or the recent past, in which........
Explanatory Dictionary by Efremova
Tale- tale, m. 1. Narration told on behalf of the narrator (folk poet, lit.). Leskov has a problem with skaz. 2. A term of certain grammars, denoting a complex syntactic........
Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary
Tale- -A; m.
1. Epic work oral folk art about events of the past or present, in which the narration is told on behalf of the narrator. S. about folk........
Kuznetsov's Explanatory Dictionary
Tale— folklore form (including oral folk story), standing on the verge of everyday speech and artistic creativity. Literary tales(N. S. Leskov, P. P. Bazhov) genetically........
Big encyclopedic Dictionary
Tale— - folklore form, including oral folk stories, standing on the verge of everyday speech and artistic creativity. The principle of storytelling based on imitation........
Historical Dictionary
