Plot. Types of plot.
I. Definition
Plot - chain of events, depicted in a literary work, i.e. the life of the characters in its spatiotemporal changes, in changing situations and circumstances. The events recreated by writers form (along with the characters) the basis objective world work and thereby an integral “link” of its form. The plot is the organizing principle of most dramatic and epic (narrative) works. It can also be significant in the lyrical genre of literature (although, as a rule, here it is sparsely detailed and extremely compact): “I remember wonderful moment..." Pushkin, Nekrasov's "Reflections at the Front Entrance", the poem by V. Khodasevich "Monkey".
The understanding of plot as a set of events recreated in a work dates back to Russian literary criticism of the 19th century. (work by A. N. Veselovsky “Poetics of Plots”).
Plots are often taken by writers from mythology, history (“Boris Godunov” by Pushkin), from the literature of past eras, from own life(M. Gorky “Childhood”) and at the same time somehow processed, modified, supplemented. Plots that are the fruit of the author’s imagination are widespread (Gulliver’s Travels by J. Swift, The Nose by N.V. Gogol).
The plot, as a rule, comes to the fore in the text of the work, determines its construction (composition) and completely focuses the reader’s attention. But it happens (this is especially typical for the literature of our century) that the series of events seems to disappear into subtext, the depiction of events gives way to the recreation of the impressions, thoughts and experiences of the heroes, descriptions of the external world and nature.
II. Plot functions
1. Picture of the world. The plot reveals and characterizes a person’s connections with his environment, thereby his place in reality and fate, and therefore captures picture of the world: the writer’s vision of existence as full of meaning, giving food for hope, spiritual enlightenment and joy, as marked by order and harmony, or, on the contrary, as frightening, hopeless, chaotic, predisposing to spiritual darkness and despair.
2. Conflict. The plots reveal and directly recreate life's contradictions. Without any conflict in the lives of the characters (long-term or short-term) it is difficult to imagine a sufficiently expressed plot.
3. Revealing the characters. Event sequences create a field of action for the characters, allowing them to diversify and fully reveal yourself to the reader in your actions, as well as in emotional and mental responses to what is happening. The plot form is especially favorable for vivid, detailed recreation strong-willed beginning in man.
4. Bonding. Event sequences have a constructive meaning: they hold together, as if they cement what is depicted.
III. Types of plot:
1. Concentric plots (plots of a single action)
One event situation comes to the fore, the work is built on one storyline. These are the majority of small epic, and most importantly, dramatic genres, which are characterized by unity of action. This kind of plot (they are called concentric) was preferred both in antiquity and in the aesthetics of classicism.
2. Panoramic scenes (centrifugal or cumulative)
· Chronicle
Events are dispersed and event nodes, independent of each other and having their own “beginnings” and “ends,” unfold “on equal terms.” Events do not have cause-and-effect relationships with each other and are correlated with each other only in time, as is the case, for example, in Homer’s “Odyssey,” Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” and Byron’s “Don Juan.”
· Multiline
Plots in which several event lines unfold simultaneously, parallel to one another, connected with the fate of different individuals and touching only occasionally and externally (“Anna Karenina” by L. N. Tolstoy).
The most deeply rooted in the centuries-old history of world literature are the plots where the events:
· are in a cause-and-effect relationship with each other,
· identify the conflict in its striving for resolution and disappearance: from the beginning of the action to the denouement.
IV. Another classification of plots
Archetypal plots
Plots in which the action moves from beginning to end and temporary, local conflicts are revealed. In them big role twists and turns play - sudden and sharp shifts in the destinies of the characters - all kinds of turns from happiness to unhappiness, from success to failure, or in the opposite direction.
Functions of twists and turns:
1. Revealing the confrontation between the characters, vicissitudes have immediate meaningful function. They carry a certain philosophical meaning. Thanks to the twists and turns, life emerges as an arena of happy and unhappy coincidences of circumstances, which capriciously and whimsically replace each other. In plots with abundant twists and turns, the idea of the power of all kinds of accidents over human destinies is widely embodied.
But chance in traditional plots (no matter how abundant the vicissitudes of the action may be) still does not reign supreme. The final episode required in them, if not happy, is at least calming and reconciling, as if curbing the chaos of eventual intricacies and leading the course of events into the proper direction. So, in the Shakespearean tragedy, the Montagues and the Capulets, having experienced grief and a sense of their own guilt, finally make peace. Such with Souths with abundant twists and turns and a pacifying denouement embody the idea of the world as something stable, reliable, definitely solid, but at the same time not petrified, full of movement.
2. Peripeteia make the work entertaining. Turning events in the lives of the characters arouse the reader’s increased interest in the further development of the action, and thereby in the reading process.
The focus on entertaining intricacies of events is inherent in both literature of a purely entertaining nature (detectives, most of the “low-class” mass literature) and serious, “top”, classical literature (for example, Dostoevsky).
2. Non-canonical plot model(Khalizev does not give the exact name, he simply calls it non-canon)
Plots based on persistent, substantial conflict; stories centered on the state human world in its complexity, the emotional state of the heroes, etc. Conflicts of this kind do not have any clearly defined beginnings and ends; they invariably and constantly color the lives of the heroes, creating a certain background for the action. Characteristic of literature of the 19th and 20th centuries.
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Depending on the nature of the connections between events, there are two types of plots. Plots with a predominance of purely temporal connections between events are chronicles. They are used in epic works large form (“Don Quixote”). They can show the adventures of heroes (“Odyssey”), depict the formation of a person’s personality (“Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson” by S. Aksakov). A chronicle story consists of episodes. Plots with a predominance of cause-and-effect relationships between events are called plots of a single action, or concentric. Concentric plots are often built on such a classicist principle as unity of action. Let us recall that in Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit” the unity of action will be the events associated with Chatsky’s arrival at Famusov’s house. With the help of a concentric plot, one conflict situation is carefully examined. In drama, this type of plot structure dominated until the 19th century, and in epic works of small form it is still used today. A single knot of events is most often untied in novellas and short stories by Pushkin, Chekhov, Poe, and Maupassant. Chronical and concentric principles interact in the plots of multilinear novels, where several event nodes appear simultaneously (“War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy, “The Brothers Karamazov” by F. Dostoevsky). Naturally, chronicle stories often include concentric micro-plots.
There are plots that differ in the intensity of the action. Event-filled plots are called dynamic. These events contain an important meaning, and the denouement, as a rule, carries a huge meaningful load. This type of plot is typical for Pushkin’s “Tales of Belkin” and Dostoevsky’s “The Gambler.” And vice versa, plots weakened by descriptions and inserted structures are adynamic. The development of action in them does not strive for a denouement, and the events themselves do not contain any particular interest. Adynamic plots in " Dead souls"Gogol, "My Life" by Chekhov.
3. Composition of the plot.
The plot is the dynamic side of the artistic form; it involves movement and development. The engine of the plot is most often a conflict, an artistically significant contradiction. The term comes from Lat. conflictus - collision. A conflict is an acute clash of characters and circumstances, views and life principles, which forms the basis of action; confrontation, contradiction, clash between heroes, groups of heroes, hero and society or internal struggle hero with himself. The nature of the collision can be different: it is a contradiction of duty and inclination, assessments and forces. Conflict is one of those categories that permeate the structure of the entire work of art.
If we consider A. S. Griboedov’s play “Woe is Wit,” it is easy to see that the development of the action here clearly depends on the conflict that lurks in Famusov’s house and lies in the fact that Sophia is in love with Molchalin and hides it from daddy. Chatsky, in love with Sophia, having arrived in Moscow, notices her dislike for himself and, trying to understand the reason, keeps an eye on everyone present in the house. Sophia is unhappy with this and, defending herself, makes a remark at the ball about his madness. Guests who do not sympathize with him gladly pick up this version, because they see in Chatsky a person with views and principles different from theirs, and then it is very clearly revealed that it is not just family conflict(Sophia’s secret love for Molchalin, Molchalin’s real indifference to Sophia, Famusov’s ignorance of what is happening in the house), but also the conflict between Chatsky and society. The outcome of the action (denouement) is determined not so much by Chatsky’s relationship with society, but by the relationship of Sophia, Molchalin and Liza, having learned about which Famusov controls their fate, and Chatsky leaves their home.
In the vast majority of cases, the writer does not invent conflicts. He draws them from primary reality and transfers them from life itself into the realm of themes, issues, and pathos.
Several types of conflicts can be identified that are at the heart of dramatic and epic works. Frequently encountered conflicts are moral and philosophical: the confrontation between characters, man and fate (“Odyssey”), life and death (“The Death of Ivan Ilyich”), pride and humility (“Crime and Punishment”), genius and villainy (“Mozart and Salieri "). Social conflicts consist in the opposition of a character’s aspirations, passions, and ideas to the way of life around him (“ Stingy Knight", "Storm"). The third group of conflicts are internal, or psychological, those that are associated with contradictions in the character of one character and do not become the property of the outside world; this is the mental torment of the heroes of “The Lady with the Dog”, this is the duality of Eugene Onegin. When all these conflicts are combined into one whole, they speak of their contamination. This is achieved to a greater extent in novels (“Heroes of Our Time”) and epics (“War and Peace”). The conflict can be local or insoluble (tragic), obvious or hidden, external (direct clashes of positions and characters) or internal (in the soul of the hero). B. Esin also identifies a group of three types of conflicts, but calls them differently: conflict between individual characters and groups of characters; the confrontation between the hero and the way of life, the individual and the environment; internal conflict, psychological, when we're talking about about the contradiction in the hero himself. V. Kozhinov wrote almost the same about this: “TO . (from Latin collisio - collision) - confrontation, contradiction between characters, or between characters and circumstances, or within character, underlying the action of lit. works 5 . K. does not always speak clearly and openly; For some genres, especially idyllic ones, K. is not typical: they only have what Hegel called “situation”<...>In an epic, drama, novel, short story, K. usually forms the core of the theme, and the resolution of K. appears as the defining moment of the artist. ideas...” “Artist. K. is a clash and contradiction between integral human individuals.” "TO. is a kind of source of energy lit. production, because it determines its action.” “During the course of action, it can worsen or, conversely, weaken; in the end the conflict is resolved one way or another.”
The development of K. sets the plot action in motion.
The plot indicates the stages of action, the stages of the existence of the conflict.
An ideal, that is, complete, model of the plot of a literary work may include the following fragments, episodes, links: prologue, exposition, plot, development of action, peripeteia, climax, denouement, epilogue. There are three mandatory elements in this list: the plot, the development of the action and the climax. Optional - the rest, that is, not all of the existing elements must take place in the work. The components of the plot may appear in different sequences.
Prologue(gr. prolog - preface) is an introduction to the main plot actions. It may give the root cause of events: the dispute about the happiness of men in “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” It clarifies the author's intentions and depicts the events preceding the main action. These events can affect the organization of the artistic space - the place of action.
Exposition is an explanation, a depiction of the characters’ lives in the period before the conflict was identified. For example, the life of young Onegin. It may contain biographical facts and motivate subsequent actions. An exposition can set the conventions of time and space and depict events preceding the plot.
The beginning– this is conflict detection.
Development of action is a group of events necessary for the conflict to occur. It presents twists that escalate the conflict.
Unexpected circumstances that complicate a conflict are called twists and turns.
Climax - (from Latin culmen - top ) - the moment of the highest tension of action, the utmost aggravation of contradictions; the pinnacle of conflict; TO. reveals the main problem of the work and the characters of the characters most fully; after it the effect weakens. Often precedes the denouement. In works with many storylines it is possible to have not one, but several TO.
Denouement- this is the resolution of the conflict in the work; it completes the course of events in action-packed works, for example, short stories. But often the ending of works does not contain a resolution to the conflict. Moreover, in the endings of many works, sharp contradictions between the characters remain. This happens both in “Woe from Wit” and in “Eugene Onegin”: Pushkin leaves Eugene at “an evil moment for him.” There are no resolutions in “Boris Godunov” and “The Lady with the Dog.” The endings of these works are open. In Pushkin's tragedy and Chekhov's story, despite all the incompleteness of the plot, the last scenes contain emotional endings and climaxes.
Epilogue(gr. epilogos - afterword) is the final episode, usually following the denouement. In this part of the work, the fate of the heroes is briefly reported. The epilogue depicts the final consequences arising from the events shown. This is a conclusion in which the author can formally complete the story, determine the fate of the heroes, and summarize his philosophical, historical concept (“War and Peace”). The epilogue appears when resolution alone is not enough. Or in the case when, after the completion of the main plot events, it is necessary to express a different point of view (“The Queen of Spades”), to evoke in the reader a feeling about the final outcome of the depicted life of the characters.
The events related to the resolution of one conflict of one group of characters make up the storyline. Accordingly, if there are different storylines, there may be several climaxes. In “Crime and Punishment” this is the murder of a pawnbroker, but this is also Raskolnikov’s conversation with Sonya Marmeladova.
Literary scholars distinguish the following types of plots: interesting and entertaining, chronicle and concentric, internal and external, traditional and wandering. Interesting are those who explore life, discover in it what is hidden from human eye. In works with entertaining plots there are unexpected, random events with spectacular twists and turns and recognizable features. Entertaining stories are used in popular literature and works of adventure and detective nature.
The authors of the textbook "Introduction to Literary Studies" (edited by M. Pospelov) distinguish between chronicle and concentric plots. They note that there can be temporal relationships between events (event B occurs after event A) and cause-and-effect relationships (event B occurs as a result of event A). The phrase "the king died and the queen died" illustrates the first type of plot. The second type of plot can be illustrated by the phrase “the king died and the queen died of grief.” Aristotle spoke about these types of plots. Chronicle plots dominate in the novels of F. Rabelais "Gargantua and Pantagruel", M. de Servalts - "Don Quixote", Dante's poem " The Divine Comedy". Events in U. Samchuk's novel "Maria" develop in chronicle sequence.
Concentric plots reveal cause-and-effect relationships between events. Aristotle considered such stories to be perfect. These plots dominate the short stories; they are present in the novels “Eugene Onegin” by A. Pushkin, “Red and Black” by Stendhal, “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky. In many works, chronicle and concentric plots are combined. This combination is in the novels “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina” by L. Tolstoy, “Do oxen roar when the manger is full?” Panas Mirny and Ivan Bilyk, “The Richinsky Sisters” by Irina Vilde, “Sanatorium Zone” by Nikolai Khvylovy, “Miracle” by P. Zagrebelny, “Marusya Churay” by Lina Kostenko.
External plots reveal characters through events and actions; they are based on intrigue and twists and turns. External plots were popular in ancient literature. Internal plots are built on collisions; they reveal characters indirectly, focusing on changes in the psyche of the characters, the dialectics of the soul. Internal plots in M. Kotsyubinsky’s short stories “Apple Blossom”, “Intermezzo”, “On the Road”.
Vagabond stories occupy an important place in literature; they are found in myths, fairy tales, fables, anecdotes, and songs. Fable stories about the wolf and the lamb, the fox of mercy have been known since antiquity. They were developed by Aesop, Phaedrus, Lafontaine, Grebenka, Glebov, Krylov. Wandering stories Special attention devoted to the "comparative historical school". Supporters of the school believed that the similarities in the plots of folklore and literary works are explained by borrowings.
Traditional stories accumulate the experience of humanity accumulated over thousands of years. They, according to A. Neamtsu, “are a unique form of universal memory that preserves and comprehends human experience” 1. Among traditional plots, according to A. Neamtsu, the most productive are mythological (Prometheus, Pygmalion), literary (Gulliver, Robinson, Don Quixote, Schweik), historical (Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Socrates), legendary church (Jesus Christ, Judas Iscariot, Barabbas). The scientist distinguishes proto-plots, sample plots, intermediary plots and traditional plot schemes. A proto-plot, according to A. Neamtsu, is a work “in which multivariate mythological or legendary material is systematized, a holistic plot scheme is created, the main problems and a value-significant system of moral and psychological dominants are outlined.” 1. A proto-plot for many national literatures became the “People's Book” by I. Spies (1587 p.), which united popular German folklore and historical sources (legends, tales) about the contemporaries of the historical Doctor Faustus, who made a pact with the devil. Thanks to translations into English, French, Dutch, and Spanish, the “People's Book” has become a proto-plot for many national literatures. The German plot, interpreted by Goethe, became a model plot, a factor in European and cultural consciousness.
Among traditional plots, A. Vselovsky distinguished active and passive ones; such a division is conditional. Active plots are those that constantly work and adapt to the requirements of a foreign context. Active stories include stories about Cassandra, Prometheus, Don Juan, Don Quixote, and Faust. Various literatures have addressed the plot of Faust: English (C. Marlowe " Tragic story Doctor Faust"), Spanish (X. Valera "The Illusions of Doctor Faustus"), Belgian (M. de Gelderod "The Death of Doctor Faustus"), French (P. Valera "My Faust"), Russian (I. Turgenev "Faust" ), Ukrainian (V. Vinnichenko “Notes of snub-nosed Mephistopheles”), A. Levada (“Faust and Death”).
Passive plots include a relatively limited number of plots of folklore, mythological and literary origin, the dominant content of which is more dependent on real national-historical factors that promote or hinder traditionalization in those cultures that perceive them. Passive subjects, as a rule, require specific conditions for their entry into the spiritual context of that era; they are borrowed.
Russian researcher L. Pinsky proposes a differentiated distinction between traditional structures into plot-fables and plot-situations: According to the researcher, plot-fables include folklore and mythological structures that writers of different times and literatures were guided by (plots about Antigone, Prometheus , Faust, Don Juan). Situational plots include works from which writers choose the main characters, who are interpreted as generalized social and psychological types ideas. This is Cervantes' Don Quixote. Each of the following quixotes differs from the hero of the Spanish writer in interests, character and fate. In one novel, close in spirit to Don Quixote, plot motifs are not repeated; none of the following Don Quixotes repeats the exploits of the medieval knight of La Mancha, Cervantes.
In the history of literature there were formed various ways processing of traditional plot-figurative material, their detailed characteristics can be found in the monograph by A. Neamtsu “The Poetics of Traditional Plots”. Among them are additions, processing, comparison, continuation, creation of “literary apocrypha, translation, adaptation, variants of narrative transfer. Additions, notes A. Neamtsu, do not fundamentally affect the plot scheme” of the sample, modernizing it by including previously missing episodes... , a significant expansion of the plot moves and situations outlined in the works. Additional writing is characterized by a tendency toward in-depth psychologization of traditional situations, their event-specific concretization and everyday detail."
A unique aesthetic indicator of the deep assimilation of the spiritual values of the past is the creation of “processings”. The authors of the adaptations rethink the plots and images, focusing on the literary options indicated in the subtitle of the work: “Don Juan” (according to Moliere) by Brecht. A. Neamtsu believes that the reasons for creating adaptations are the universal authority of writers whose works are addressed by modern authors. The content of the “processing” is to bring mythological or historically distant events closer to the present, to fill them with relevant ideas and problems, and to make them understandable to the modern reader.
A common form of national-historical and personal concretization of traditional images is “comparison, imposition of their semantics on the names of historical, scientific and cultural figures of different times and peoples” 2. For example, Napoleon called Emperor Paul I the “Russian Don Quixote,” emphasizing his duality. A. Herzen gave an opposite assessment of this person, calling Paul I a disgusting, ridiculous spectacle of the crowned Don Quixote. Such comparisons and associative convergences are subjective in nature and express the opinion of the individual author.
The reason for creating sequels is the desire of the authors to prove the popular plot before logical conclusion, from a modern point of view, is directly or indirectly present in a new version of the traditional structure. For example, writers are interested in what would have happened if Faust and Don Quixote had not died, what would have been the fate of Sancho Panza after the death of Don Quixote, what would have happened if Don Quixote had not died. Such continuation options must comply with the logic of character evolution, preserve the features of traditional situations, motivations that guarantee their recognition by the reader.
In the literature of the 20th century, the educational development of traditional plots became widespread, the purpose of which is to familiarize the general reader with classical examples, while traditional material is translated without significant plot changes or modernization of its problematics (J. Genet “Iliad” by Homer and “Odyssey” by Homer).
A specific form of rethinking traditional material is the creation of so-called literary apocrypha, in which collisions are well known and semantic dominants are qualitatively rethought. The apocrypha of K. Capek ("The Punishment of Prometheus", "Romeo and Juliet") are known. In the second half of the 20th century, the genre of the apocryphal novel was formed (R. Ivanichuk “The Gospel of Thomas”, G. Nossak “Orpheus”).
In the literature of the 20th century, literary versions of author’s myths actively use the technique of changing the narrative center, which differs from the canonized or well-known one. The moral and psychological model of the behavioral and value worlds created is significantly different from the proto-plot one. Thus, a new system of motivation for well-known plot moves and conflicts is formed, new views of the world, new characteristics are created. The appearance of a second narrator does NOT completely remove the real author, who plays the role of an intermediary. The narrator evaluates events differently than the author; he acts as a publisher of unknown materials, or a person who had the opportunity to observe what was happening and claims the objectivity of the narration.
The character's story uses such forms of organization of material as diaries, notes, memoirs, letters, and fictional manuscripts. “Such a narrative organization of the text,” A. Neamtsu rightly notes, “is focused on messages and statements of realistic justification for silence or incredible (fantastic, surreal) events from the point of view of an ordinary person... Such versions are often characterized by a “mosaic” composition, in which the retrospective of the life of the main character (his diary, letter) is complicated by various stylized and real documents, as well as a story about the events of the time the document was published." In G. Nossak's story "Cassandra", the function of the narrator is performed by the son of the cunning Odysseus, who talks about the tragic fate of his father and complements the knowledge about him with the stories of participants in the Trojan War. “The guests who come to Ithaca,” says the son of Odysseus, “are asking me about the Trojan War. Although I did not take part in it, they believe that, as the son of Odysseus... I should know about it more than others. And in As a result, I myself learn more about her from these inquisitive people than from my father’s stories.”
In literary interpretations of the traditional plot there are Various types authors: author-observer (witness), author-participant in events, author-provocateur of events, author-commentator, author-publisher, author-intermediary.
Writers often rethink the plots of well-known myths and create new ones. At all times, there have been attempts at unconventional, ironic rethinking of plots and images (P. Scarron “Virgil Re-faced” (1648-1653), M. Osipov “Virgil’s Aeneid, re-faced” (1791), I. Kotlyarevsky “Virgil’s Aeneid, re-faced” Ukrainian language (1798). A. Neamtsu names the following reasons for parodying traditional plots and images: firstly, the appearance of parodies indicates the popularity and active functioning of the use of traditional structures in the spiritual consciousness of a certain cultural and historical period, and secondly, parody is one of effective ways destruction of the tradition of plot perception. At the same time, quite often unknown possibilities for the evolution of traditional plots appear, the emphasis in their semantics is rearranged, and mythological plots become more complex. Writers fill mythological models with specific historical and national everyday realities. The conflict of Aristophanes' comedy "Lysistrata" is transferred to the 20th century (N. Hikmet "Revolt of Women", K. Gerhard "Greeks Among Us"). The literature of the 20th century rethinks the formal and content dominants of the myths about Medea, Cassandra, and antigens.
A large group consists of traditional plots and images of legendary origin; in the process of centuries-old functioning, they went through a number of stages of plot formation. At first, the plots and images had a distinctly national character: the German Faust, the Spanish Don Juan. In the process of expanding geography, the legendary structures were intensively processed, adapting to the needs and traditions of the underlying culture; their primary national identity was eroded, becoming either conditional (traditional), or reoriented to a specific ontological and spiritual continuum of the recipient environment. “In all cases of “re-nationalization” of material,” notes A. Neamtsu, “a prerequisite is the presence of formal and meaningful problems, situations, characteristics, proximity of emotional and psychological guidelines, etc. Only if these and a number of other conditions are met there is an organic inclusion of the works of one national culture into the spiritual creation of another people."
The medieval legend of Don Juan attracted the attention of such writers as Tirso de Molina, J.B. Moliere, C. Goldoni, ET. Goffman, J.G. Byron, A. de Muses, S. Cherkasenko. For centuries, the medieval character was interpreted as an eternally young and irresistible seducer of women, as a violator of generally accepted norms of behavior. The time of Don Juan, who “playfully” conquered women and destroyed human destinies with impunity, has passed. The modern hero is “doomed” to martyrdom about his immoral existence, which becomes the cause of absolute loneliness. He is pragmatic, not devoid of romance, which leads him to tragic collisions with reality, he is far from the ideals of chivalry, honor and duty.
“Literary variants of traditional structures,” notes A. Neamtsu, “convincingly confirm the effectiveness of using the spiritual heritage of the past to reflect current problems modernity, show the inexhaustibility of ideological and semantic possibilities that have arisen in the depths of centuries, plots and images."
Plots in which the action develops from beginning to end are called archetypes. In such plots, vicissitudes play an important role; fate prepares unexpected changes for the heroes of the work. Such plots are found in the works of Sophocles "Oedipus" and Shakespeare's "Hamlet".
The mentioned types (types, genera) of plots interact and coexist in one work.
One of the creators of the “new novel,” the Frenchman Robbie-Grillet, believes that literature is developing in the direction of being plotless. The plot novel with events and characters has exhausted itself. But besides the new novel, which is based on a stream of consciousness, it is traditional - with heroes, events, plot.
An integral factor of the plot is the plot (Latin Fabula - fable, story, translation, fairy tale, history). In antiquity, the term "plot" had two meanings - a tale, a narrative part of a tragedy, for example, the myth of the Argonauts, about Oedipus the King. Aristotle divided plots into simple and complex. Simple called a plot without twists and turns or recognition, and confused - “one in which change occurs either with recognition, or twists and turns, or with both of them together.” Subsequently, the story taken from the translation began to be called the plot. In the XIX-XX centuries. The plot was understood as a natural, sequential presentation of events in logical, chronological, psychological, cause-and-effect aspects.
1) a sequence of presentation of events that are depicted in the text differently from how they happen in life, with omissions of important links, with rearrangements, with inversion, with subsequent recognition, back ("Boa constrictor", "Roads and Roads" by I. Franko)
2) the motivation of the story - as a memory ("The Enchanted Desna" by A. Dovzhenko), a vision, a dream ("The Dream" by T. Shevchenko), a letter ("Abbé Aubin" by P. Merimee), a diary ("Robinson Crusoe" by D. Defoe) , a story within a story (“The Fate of a Man” by M. Sholokhov)
3) by the subject of the story - in the first and second person..., from the author, does not reveal his presence..., from the author, reveals his emotional mood..., on behalf of the biographical author..., opovidacha-masks... , the narrator-character...
The plot can be documentary or factual in nature. The plot can be based on legends, ballads, legends, anecdotes.
In large epic works there are several plot lines. In the novel "Do oxen roar when the manger is full?" is the line of Chipke, Gregory and Maxim Gudz. Dramatic works intended for stage adaptation cannot have a complex, branched plot.
In lyrical works, the plot can be fragmentary; such a plot is called “pointed”. Those works that are based on thoughts and experiences are plotless. Meditative lyrics are plotless.
The category “motive” is closely related to the category “plot” (French Motivus from Latin Moveo - moving). The concept of “motive,” which came into literary studies from musicology, remains insufficiently studied. The motive is identified with the theme, the idea. They call patriotic, civil, social motives. Motives determine the actions of characters. The leading motive is called the leitmotif.
In the XIX-XX centuries. the term “motive” was used in the study of folklore subjects. A. Veselovsky believed that motives were historically stable and constantly recurring. Each era returns to old motifs, filling them with a new understanding of life. A. Veselovsky wrote that the motive is the primary element of the plot.
A. Tkachenko is right in noting that the “term” motive “is more appropriate to use for lyrics. And first of all, that which is sometimes called plotless (in fact, devoid of a clear plot), themes, problematics and other traditional coarsened in the field of content.”
The peculiarity of the motif is its repetition. “As a motive,” notes B. Gasparov, “there can be any phenomenon, any meaningful “spot” - an event, character traits, an element of landscape, any object, a spoken word, paint, sound, etc., the only thing that determines motive is its reproduction in the text, so, unlike the traditional plot stories, where it is more or less predetermined what can be considered discrete components ("characters" or "events"), there is no given "alphabet" - it is formed directly in the unfolding of the structure and through the structure.
In a lyric work, a motif is a recurring set of feelings and ideas. Individual motives in lyric poetry are more independent than in epic or drama, where they are subordinated to the development of action. The motif repeats psychological experiences. There are motives of memory, conscience, freedom, liberty, feat, fate, death, loneliness, unrequited love.
It is customary to distinguish between a concentric plot and a chronicle plot. This classification is based on the difference in connections between events. If in a chronicle story the main attention is paid to time and its flow, then in concentric plot the emphasis is on mental factors. That is why the authors of sagas and chronicles usually deal with the first plot, while the second is preferred by science fiction writers, novelists and others, for whom the chronology of events is not of fundamental importance.
In a concentric plot, everything is simple and clear: the author explores only one conflict, and the elements of the composition are easy to identify and name, since they come one after another. Here, all episodes will have a cause-and-effect relationship, and the entire text will be permeated with clear logic: no chaos, no compositional violations. Even if several storylines are involved in the work, all events will be interconnected according to the principle of links in one chain. With a chronological plot, everything is somewhat different: here the cause-and-effect relationships may be broken or completely absent. In addition, some elements of the composition may simply not exist.
In the word "plot" (from fr. sujet) denotes a chain of events recreated in a literary work, i.e. the life of the characters in its spatio-temporal changes, in changing positions and circumstances. The events depicted by writers form (along with the characters) the basis of the objective world of the work. The plot is the organizing principle of the dramatic, epic and lyric-epic genres. It can also be significant in the lyrical genre of literature (although, as a rule, here it is sparingly detailed and extremely compact): “I remember a wonderful moment...” by Pushkin, “Reflections at the Main Entrance” by Nekrasov, the poem by V. Khodasevich “2- the th of November."
The understanding of plot as a set of events recreated in a work dates back to Russian literary criticism of the 19th century. (work by A.N. Veselovsky “Poetics of Plots”). But in the 1920s, V.B. Shklovsky and other representatives of the formal school dramatically changed the usual terminology. B.V. Tomashevsky wrote: “The set of events in their mutual internal connection<...>let's call it a plot ( lat. legend, myth, fable. - V.H.) <...>The artistically constructed distribution of events in a work is called the plot" 1 . Nevertheless, in modern literary criticism the prevailing meaning of the term “plot” dates back to the 19th century.
The events that make up the plot are related in different ways to the facts of reality that precede the appearance of the work. For many centuries, writers took plots mainly from mythology, historical legend, from the literature of past eras and at the same time somehow processed, modified, supplemented. Most of Shakespeare's plays are based on plots familiar to medieval literature. Traditional plots (not least ancient ones) were widely used by classicist playwrights. Goethe spoke about the great role of plot borrowings: “I advise<...>take on already processed topics. How many times, for example, have Iphigenia been depicted - and yet all Iphigenia are different, because everyone sees and depicts things<...>in our own way" 2.
In the 19th–20th centuries. The events depicted by writers began to be based on facts of reality close to the writer, purely modern. Dostoevsky's close interest in newspaper chronicles is significant. IN literary creativity from now on, the writer’s biographical experience and his direct observations of the environment are widely used. At the same time, not only individual characters have their prototypes, but also the plots of the works themselves (“Resurrection” by L.N. Tolstoy, “The Case of the Cornet Elagin” by I.A. Bunin). In the plot structure, the autobiographical element clearly makes itself felt (S.T. Aksakov, L.N. Tolstoy, I.S. Shmelev). Simultaneously with the energy of observation and introspection, individual plot fiction is activated. Plots that are the fruit of the author’s imagination are becoming widespread (“Gulliver’s Travels” by J. Swift, “The Nose” by N.V. Gogol, “Kholstomer” by L.N. Tolstoy, in our century - the works of F. Kafka).
The events that make up the plot are related to each other in different ways. In some cases, one life situation comes to the fore, and the work is built on one line of events. These are the majority of small epic, and most importantly, dramatic genres, which are characterized by unity of action. Subjects single action(it is right to call them concentric, or centripetal) was preferred both in antiquity and in the aesthetics of classicism. Thus, Aristotle believed that tragedy and epic should depict “a single and, moreover, integral action, and the parts of events should be so composed that when any part changes or is taken away, the whole changes and comes into motion” 3 .
At the same time, plots are widespread in literature in which events are dispersed and event complexes, independent of each other and having their own “beginnings” and “ends,” unfold on “equal rights.” These are, in Aristotle's terminology, episodic plots. Here the events do not have cause-and-effect relationships with each other and are correlated with each other only in time, as is the case, for example, in Homer’s “Odyssey,” Cervantes’ “Don Quixote,” and Byron’s “Don Juan.” It is right to call such stories chronicle. They are also fundamentally different from single action plots. multi-line plots in which several lines of events unfold simultaneously, parallel to one another, connected with the fate of different persons and touching only occasionally and externally. This is the plot organization of “Anna Karenina” by L.N. Tolstoy and “Three Sisters” by A.P. Chekhov. Chronicle and multilinear stories depict events panoramas, while plots of a single action recreate individual events nodes. Panoramic scenes can be defined as centrifugal, or cumulative(from lat. cumulatio – increase, accumulation).
Included literary work the plot performs essential functions. Firstly, series of events (especially those constituting a single action) have a constructive meaning: they hold together, as if cementing what is depicted. Secondly, the plot is essential for the reproduction of characters, for the discovery of their characters. Literary heroes are unimaginable outside of their immersion in one or another series of events. Events create a kind of “field of action” for the characters, allowing them to reveal themselves to the reader in a variety of ways and fully in their emotional and mental responses to what is happening, and most importantly, in their behavior and actions. The plot form is especially favorable for a vivid, detailed recreation of the strong-willed, effective principle in a person. Many works with a rich series of events are dedicated to heroic personalities (remember Homer’s “Iliad” or Gogol’s “Taras Bulba”). Action-packed works, as a rule, are those in the center of which there is a hero prone to adventure (many Renaissance short stories in the spirit of G. Boccaccio’s “The Decameron”, picaresque novels, comedies by P. Beaumarchais, where Figaro acts brilliantly).
And finally, thirdly, the plots reveal and directly recreate life’s contradictions. Without some kind of conflict and the lives of the characters (long-term or short-term), it is difficult to imagine a sufficiently expressed plot. Characters involved in the course of events, as a rule, are excited, tense, feel dissatisfied with something, desire to gain something, achieve something or preserve something important, suffer defeats or win victories. In other words, the plot is not serene, one way or another involved in what is called dramatic. Even in works of idyllic “sounding”, the balance in the lives of the heroes is disturbed (Long’s novel “Daphnis and Chloe”).
extra plot elements- plug-in (cm). episodes, stories and lyrical (author's) digressions (see. lyrical digression) in an epic or dramatic work, not included in the plot action, the main function of which is to expand the scope of what is depicted, to enable the author to express his thoughts and feelings about various phenomena of life that are not directly related to the plot. Example V. e. - author's digressions in "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin or “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol.V.e. in a fairy tale - a saying, in an epic - a refrain.
13. Plot and composition. Elements of composition. Types of compositional connections.
Plot- a series of events (sequence of scenes, acts) occurring in work of art(on the theater stage) and built for the reader (viewer, player) according to certain rules of demonstration. The plot is the basis of the form of the work. According to Ozhegov's dictionary, plot- this is the sequence and connection of the description of events in a literary or stage work; in a work of fine art, the subject of the image.
Composition is the relationship of parts of a work in a certain system and sequence. At the same time, the composition is a harmonious, holistic system, including various methods and forms of literary and artistic depiction and determined by the content of the work.
Elements of composition
A prologue is the introductory part of a work. She represents summary events that preceded those described on the pages of the book.
The exposition is in some ways akin to the prologue, however, if the prologue does not have a special impact on the development of the plot of the work, then the exposition directly introduces the reader into the atmosphere of the story. It describes the time and place of action, the central characters and their relationships. The exposure can be either at the beginning (direct exposure) or in the middle of the piece (delayed exposure).
With a logically clear composition, the exposition is followed by a plot - an event that begins the action and provokes the development of the conflict. The plot is traditionally followed by the development of action, consisting of a series of episodes in which the characters strive to resolve the conflict, but it only escalates. Gradually, the development of the action approaches its highest point, which is called the climax. A climax is a decisive confrontation between characters or a turning point in their fate. This is followed by a denouement. Resolution is the end of an action, or at least a conflict. As a rule, the denouement occurs at the end of the work, but sometimes it appears at the beginning.
Often the work ends with an epilogue. This is the final part, which usually narrates the events. These are the epilogues in the novels of I.S. Turgeneva, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.
1. External (architectonics). Its main components include the division of the text into paragraphs and chapters, prologue and epilogue, various appendices and comments, dedications and epigraphs, author's digressions and inserted fragments. In a word, everything that stands out graphically and can be easily seen by opening the book.
2. Internal composition (narration) provides an emphasis on the content of the work: organization of speech situations, plot construction, system of images and individual images, strong text positions (leitmotif, repeating situations, finale, etc.), main composition techniques. Let's look at the latter in more detail.
14. Conflict as the basis of the plot. Types of conflict.
Conflict- a specifically artistic form of reflecting contradictions in people’s lives, reproducing in art an acute clash of opposing human actions, views, feelings, aspirations, passions.
Specific content conflict is the struggle between the beautiful, sublime and the ugly, base.
Conflict in literature is the basis artistic form work, the development of its plot. Conflict and its resolution depends on the concept of the work.
Most often, only the main ones are singled out: love, philosophical, psychological, social, symbolic, military and religious.
15. Theme, idea, problem in a work of art.
Theme (from ancient Greek - “what is given is the basis”) is a concept that indicates which side of life the author pays attention to in his work, that is, the subject of the image. The problem is not a nomination of any phenomenon of life, but a formulation of the contradiction associated with this phenomenon of life. Idea - (from the Greek word - that which is visible) - the main thought of a literary work, the author's tendency in revealing the topic, the answer to the questions posed in the text - in other words, what the work was written for.
16. Lyrics as a type of literature. Subject and content of the lyrics.
Lyrics- this is one of the main types of literature, reflecting life through the depiction of individual states, thoughts, feelings, impressions and experiences of a person caused by certain circumstances.
Lyrics as a literary genre are opposed to epic and drama, therefore, when analyzing it, one should take into account to the highest degree generic specificity. If epic and drama reproduce human existence, the objective side of life, then lyrics are human consciousness and subconscious, a subjective moment. Epic and drama depict, lyrics express. One might even say that lyric poetry belongs to a completely different group of arts than epic and drama - not figurative, but expressive.
The main thing in the lyrics is emotionally charged descriptions and reflections. Reproduction of relationships between people and their actions does not play a big role here; most often it is absent altogether. Lyrical statements are not accompanied by images of any events. Where, when, under what circumstances the poet spoke, to whom he addressed - all this either becomes clear from his words themselves, or turns out to be completely unimportant.
The subject of the lyrics is the poet’s inner (subjective) world, his personal feelings caused by some object or phenomenon.
The content of a lyrical work cannot be the development of objective action in its interrelations, expanding to the fullness of the world. The content here is the individual subject and thereby the isolation of the situation and objects, as well as the way in which, in general, with such content, the soul with its subjective judgment, its joys, amazement, pain and feeling is brought to consciousness.
17. Lyrical image. Lyrical subject.
A lyrical hero is the image of that hero in a lyrical work, whose experiences, thoughts and feelings are reflected in it. It is by no means identical to the image of the author, although it reflects his personal experiences associated with certain events in his life, with his attitude towards nature, social activities, and people. The uniqueness of the poet's worldview, his interests, and character traits find appropriate expression in the form and style of his works. The lyrical hero reflects certain character traits people of their time, their class, exerting a huge influence on the formation spiritual world reader.
The lyrical subject is any manifestation of the author’s “I” in a poem, the degree of presence of the author in it, in fact, the poet’s own view of the world around him embodied in the poem, his value system reflected in language and images. In Fet's lyrics, for example, the personality (“I”) exists “as a prism of the author’s consciousness, in which the themes of love and nature are refracted, but does not exist as an independent theme.”
Sometimes the poet chooses the model of the so-called “role distance”, then they talk about specific role lyrics - a first-person narrative, perceived by the reader as not identical to the author. In R. l. the poet manages to “suddenly feel someone else’s as his own” (A.A. Fet). The role-playing character of the lyrical character is revealed in this kind of poetic works thanks to extra-textual factors (for example, knowledge of the poet’s biography or the understanding that what is depicted cannot take place in reality. The lyrical “I” is a conventional character to whom the author entrusts the narrative, usually characteristic of a given era or genre: a shepherd in pastoral poetry, a dead man in an epitaph, a wanderer or a prisoner in romantic lyrics; often the story is told from the perspective of a woman.
18. Aesthetic function expressive means artistic speech in lyrics.
The means of artistic expression are varied and numerous. These are tropes: comparisons, personification, allegory, metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, etc.
Trope(from ancient Greek τρόπος - turnover) - in a work of art, words and expressions used in a figurative meaning in order to enhance the imagery of the language, the artistic expressiveness of speech.
Main types of trails:
· Metaphor(from ancient Greek μεταφορά - “transfer”, “figurative meaning”) - a trope, a word or expression used in a figurative meaning, which is based on an unnamed comparison of an object with some other on the basis of their common feature. (“Nature here destined us to open a window to Europe”). Any part of speech in a figurative meaning.
· Metonymy(ancient Greek μετονυμία - “renaming”, from μετά - “above” and ὄνομα/ὄνυμα - “name”) - a type of trope, a phrase in which one word is replaced by another, denoting an object (phenomenon) located in one or other (spatial, temporal, etc.) connection with the subject, which is denoted by the replaced word. The replacement word is used in a figurative sense. Metonymy should be distinguished from metaphor, with which it is often confused, while metonymy is based on the replacement of the word “by contiguity” (part instead of the whole or vice versa, representative instead of class or vice versa, container instead of content or vice versa, etc.), and metaphor - “by similarity.” A special case of metonymy is synecdoche. (“All flags will visit us”, where flags replace countries.)
· Epithet(from ancient Greek ἐπίθετον - “attached”) - a definition of a word that affects its expressiveness. It is expressed mainly by an adjective, but also by an adverb (“to love dearly”), a noun (“fun noise”), and a numeral (“second life”).
An epithet is a word or an entire expression, which, due to its structure and special function in the text, acquires some new meaning or semantic connotation, helps the word (expression) gain color and richness. It is used both in poetry (more often) and in prose (“timid breathing”; “magnificent omen”).
· Synecdoche(ancient Greek συνεκδοχή) - trope, a type of metonymy based on the transfer of meaning from one phenomenon to another based on the quantitative relationship between them. (“Everything is sleeping - man, beast, and bird”; “We are all looking at Napoleons”; “In the roof for my family”; “Well, sit down, luminary”; “Most of all, save a penny.”)
· Hyperbola(from ancient Greek ὑπερβολή “transition; excess, excess; exaggeration”) - a stylistic figure of obvious and deliberate exaggeration, in order to enhance expressiveness and emphasize the said thought. (“I’ve said this a thousand times”; “We have enough food for six months.”)
· Litotes- a figurative expression that diminishes the size, strength, or significance of what is being described. Litota is called inverse hyperbola. (“Your Pomeranian, lovely Pomeranian, is no bigger than a thimble”).
· Comparison- a trope in which one object or phenomenon is compared to another according to some characteristic common to them. The purpose of comparison is to identify new properties in the object of comparison that are important for the subject of the statement. (“A man is stupid as a pig, but cunning as the devil”; “My home is my fortress”; “He walks like a gogol”; “An attempt is not torture.”)
· In stylistics and poetics, paraphrase (paraphrase, periphrase; from ancient Greek περίφρασις - “descriptive expression”, “allegory”: περί - “around”, “about” and φράσις - “statement”) is a trope that descriptively expresses one concept with the help of several.
Periphrasis is an indirect mention of an object by description rather than naming. (“Night luminary” = “moon”; “I love you, Peter’s creation!” = “I love you, St. Petersburg!”).
· Allegory (allegory)- a conventional depiction of abstract ideas (concepts) through a specific artistic image or dialogue.
· Personification(personification, prosopopoeia) - trope, the assignment of properties of animate objects to inanimate ones. Very often, personification is used when depicting nature, which is endowed with certain human traits.
· Irony(from ancient Greek εἰρωνεία - “pretense”) - a trope in which the true meaning is hidden or contradicts (contrasted) with the explicit meaning. Irony creates the feeling that the subject of discussion is not what it seems. (“Where can we fools drink tea?”)
· Sarcasm(Greek σαρκασμός, from σαρκάζω, literally “tear [meat]”) - one of the types of satirical exposure, caustic ridicule, highest degree irony, based not only on the enhanced contrast of the implied and the expressed, but also on the immediate deliberate exposure of the implied.
The number of plots in world literature is limited. Almost every person who decides to one day take up writing is faced with this fact. And this quantity is not only limited, but also counted! There are several typologies that provide a fairly convincing answer to the question: “How many stories are there?”
For the first time, the Byzantine writer (and part-time Patriarch of Constantinople) Photius became interested in this problem, who, back in the 9th century, compiled the “Myriobiblion” - a collection of brief descriptions of the works of ancient Greek and Byzantine authors, including church, secular, and historical literature.
A thousand years later, interest in this problem flared up with renewed vigor, and now they tried to make the list of subjects as short as possible!
Jorge Luis Borges stated that there are only four plots and, accordingly, four heroes, which he described in his short story “The Four Cycles”.
1. The oldest story is the story of a besieged city, which is stormed and defended by heroes. The defenders know that the city is doomed and resistance is futile. (This is the story of Troy, and main character- Achilles knows that he will die without seeing victory. A rebel hero, the very fact of whose existence is a challenge to the surrounding reality.
2. The second story is about return. The story of Odysseus, who wandered the seas for ten years in an attempt to return home. The hero of these stories is a man rejected by society, endlessly wandering in an attempt to find himself - Don Quixote, Beowulf.
3. The third story is about search. This story is somewhat similar to the second, but in this case the hero is not an outcast and does not oppose himself to society. Most famous example such a hero is Jason, sailing for the Golden Fleece.
4. The fourth story is about the suicide of God. Atis maims and kills himself, Odin sacrifices himself to Odin, himself, hanging on a tree for nine days, nailed by a spear, Roman legionnaires crucify Christ. The hero of the “death of the gods” - losing or gaining faith, in search of faith - Zarathustra, Bulgakov’s Master, Bolkonsky.
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Christopher Booker, in his book “The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories,” described, as one might guess, seven basic plots on which, in his opinion, all books in history are written. world.
1. “From rags to riches” - the name speaks for itself, the most striking example, familiar to everyone from childhood, is Cinderella. Heroes are ordinary people who discover something unusual in themselves and, through their own efforts or by coincidence, find themselves “at the top.”
2. “Adventure” - a difficult journey in search of an elusive goal. According to Booker, both Odysseus and Jason fall into this category, and also King Solomon's Mines and Around the World in Eighty Days fall into this category.
3. "There and back." The plot is based on the hero’s attempt, torn out from his usual world, to return home. In Booker’s interpretation, these are “Robinson Crusoe”, and “Alice Through the Looking Glass”, and many others.
4. “Comedy” - A certain type of plot that develops according to its own rules. All Jane Austen novels fall into this category.
5. “Tragedy” - the culmination is the death of the main character due to some character flaws, usually love passion or lust for power. These are, first of all, Macbeth, King Lear and Faust.
6. “Resurrection” - the hero is under the power of a curse or dark forces, and a miracle brings him out of this state. A striking example of this plot is Sleeping Beauty, awakened by the kiss of the prince.
7. “Victory over the Monster” - from the title it is clear what the plot is - the hero fights the monster, defeats him and receives a “prize” - treasures or love. Examples: Dracula, David and Goliath
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But the most sensational was the list of plots compiled by playwright Georges Polti, which included thirty-six points (by the way, the number thirty-six was first proposed by Aristotle and much later supported by Victor Hugo). Polti's thirty-six plots and themes cover mainly drama and tragedy. There was controversy around this list, it was repeatedly criticized, but almost no one tried to protest the number 36 itself.
1. PRAYER. Elements of the situation: 1) the pursuer, 2) the persecuted and begging for protection, help, shelter, forgiveness, etc., 3) the force on which it depends to provide protection, etc., while the force does not immediately decide to protect , hesitant, unsure of herself, which is why you have to beg her (thereby increasing the emotional impact of the situation), the more she hesitates and does not dare to provide help. Examples: 1) a person fleeing begs someone who can save him from his enemies, 2) begs for shelter in order to die in it, 3) a shipwrecked person asks for shelter, 4) asks those in power for dear, close people, 5) asks for one a relative for another relative, etc.
2. RESCUE. Elements of the situation: 1) unfortunate, 2) threatening, persecuting, 3) savior. This situation differs from the previous one in that there the persecuted person resorted to hesitant force, which had to be begged, but here the savior appears unexpectedly and saves the unfortunate man without hesitation. Examples: 1) interchange famous fairy tale about Bluebeard. 2) saving a person sentenced to death or generally in mortal danger, etc.
3. REVENGE FOLLOWING CRIME. Elements of the situation: 1) avenger, 2) guilty, 3) crime. Examples: 1) blood feud, 2) revenge on a rival or rival or lover, or mistress out of jealousy.
4. REVENGE OF A CLOSE PERSON FOR ANOTHER CLOSE PERSON OR CLOSE PEOPLE. Elements of the situation: 1) living memory of the insult, harm inflicted on another loved one, the sacrifices he made for the sake of his loved ones, 2) an avenging relative, 3) the relative guilty of these insults, harm, etc. Examples: 1) revenge on a father for his mother or mother on his father, 2) revenge on his brothers for his son, 3) on his father for his husband, 4) on his husband for his son, etc. Classic example: Hamlet’s revenge on his stepfather and mother for his murdered father .
5. PERSECUTED. Elements of the situation: 1) a crime committed or a fatal mistake and the expected punishment, retribution, 2) hiding from punishment, retribution for a crime or mistake. Examples: 1) persecuted by the authorities for politics (for example, “The Robbers” by Schiller, the history of the revolutionary struggle in the underground), 2) persecuted for robbery ( Detective stories), 3) persecuted for a mistake in love (“Don Juan” by Moliere, alimony stories, etc.), 4) a hero pursued by a force superior to him (“Chained Prometheus” by Aeschylus, etc.).
6. SUDDEN DISASTER. Elements of the situation: 1) the victorious enemy, appearing in person; or a messenger bringing terrible news of defeat, collapse, etc., 2) a defeated ruler, a powerful banker, an industrial king, etc., defeated by a winner or struck down by the news. Examples: 1) the fall of Napoleon, 2) “Money” by Zola, 3 ) “The End of Tartarin” by Anfons Daudet, etc.
7. VICTIM (i.e. someone, a victim of some other person or people, or a victim of some circumstances, some misfortune). Elements of the situation: 1) one who can influence the fate of another person in the sense of his oppression or some kind of misfortune. 2) weak, being a victim of another person or misfortune. Examples: 1) ruined or exploited by someone who was supposed to care and protect, 2) a previously loved one or loved one who finds themselves forgotten, 3) unfortunate ones who have lost all hope, etc.
8. OUTRAGE, REVOLT, REBELLION. Elements of the situation: 1) tyrant, 2) conspirator. Examples: 1) a conspiracy of one (“The Fiesco Conspiracy” by Schiller), 2) a conspiracy of several, 3) the indignation of one (“Egmond” by Goethe), 4) the indignation of many (“William Tell” by Schiller, “Germinal” by Zola)
9. A BOLD ATTEMPT. Elements of the situation: 1) the daring person, 2) the object, i.e., what the daring person decides to do, 3) the opponent, the opposing person. Examples: 1) theft of an object (“Prometheus - the Thief of Fire” by Aeschylus). 2) enterprises associated with dangers and adventures (novels by Jules Verne, and adventure stories in general), 3) a dangerous enterprise in connection with the desire to achieve the woman he loves, etc.
10. KIDNAPPING. Elements of the situation: 1) the kidnapper, 2) the kidnapped, 3) protecting the kidnapped and being an obstacle to the kidnapping or opposing the kidnapping. Examples: 1) abduction of a woman without her consent, 2) abduction of a woman with her consent, 3) abduction of a friend, comrade from captivity, prison, etc. 4) abduction of a child.
11. RIDDLE (i.e., on the one hand, asking a riddle, and on the other, asking, striving to solve the riddle). Elements of the situation: 1) asking a riddle, hiding something, 2) trying to solve a riddle, find out something, 3) the subject of a riddle or ignorance (mysterious) Examples: 1) under pain of death, you need to find some person or object, 2 ) to find the lost, lost, 3) on pain of death to solve the riddle (Oedipus and the Sphinx), 4) to force a person with all sorts of tricks to reveal what he wants to hide (name, gender, state of mind etc.)
12. ACHIEVEMENT OF SOMETHING. Elements of the situation: 1) someone striving to achieve something, seeking something, 2) someone on whom the achievement of something depends for consent or help, refusing or helping, mediating, 3) there may be a third party - a party opposing the achievement. Examples: 1) try to get from the owner a thing or some other benefit in life, consent to marriage, position, money, etc. by cunning or force, 2) try to get something or achieve something with the help of eloquence (directly addressed to the owner of the thing or to the judge, arbitrators on whom the award of the thing depends)
13. HATRED TO YOUR LOVED ONES. Elements of the situation: 1) the hater, 2) the hated, 3) the cause of hatred. Examples: 1) hatred between loved ones (for example, brothers) out of envy, 2) hatred between loved ones (for example, a son hating his father) for reasons of material gain, 3) hatred of a mother-in-law for a future daughter-in-law, 4) mother-in-law for a son-in-law, 5) stepmothers to stepdaughter, etc.
14. Rivalry between relatives. Elements of the situation: 1) one of the close ones is preferred, 2) the other is neglected or abandoned, 3) an object of rivalry (in this case, apparently, a twist is possible: at first the preferred one is then neglected and vice versa) Examples: 1) rivalry between brothers (“Pierre and Jean” by Maupassant), 2) rivalry between sisters, 3) father and son - because of a woman, 4) mother and daughter, 5) rivalry between friends (“The Two Gentlemen of Verona” by Shakespeare)
15. ADULTURE (i.e. adultery, adultery), LEADING TO MURDER. Elements of the situation: 1) one of the spouses who violates marital fidelity, 2) the other spouse is deceived, 3) violation of marital fidelity (i.e., someone else is a lover or mistress). Examples: 1) kill or allow your lover to kill your husband (“Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk” by Leskov, “Thérèse Raquin” by Zola, “The Power of Darkness” by Tolstoy) 2) kill a lover who entrusted his secret (“Samson and Delilah”), etc. .
16. MADNESS. Elements of the situation: 1) a person who has fallen into madness (mad), 2) a victim of a person who has fallen into madness, 3) a real or imaginary reason for madness. Examples: 1) in a fit of madness, kill your lover (“The Prostitute Elisa” by Goncourt), a child, 2) in a fit of madness, burn, destroy your or someone else’s work, a work of art, 3) while drunk, reveal a secret or commit a crime.
17. FATAL NEGLIGENCE. The elements of the situation are: 1) a careless person, 2) a victim of carelessness or a lost object, sometimes accompanied by 3) a good adviser warning against carelessness, or 4) an instigator, or both. Examples: 1) through carelessness, be the cause of your own misfortune, dishonor yourself (“Money” Zola), 2) through carelessness or gullibility, cause misfortune or the death of another person close to you (Biblical Eve)
18. INVOLVED (ignorant) CRIME OF LOVE (in particular incest). Elements of the situation: 1) lover (husband), mistress (wife), 3) learning (in the case of incest) that they are in a close degree of relationship, which does not allow love relationships according to the law and current morality. Examples: 1) find out that he married his mother (“Oedipus” by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Corneille, Voltaire), 2) find out that his mistress is his sister (“The Bride of Messina” by Schiller), 3) a very commonplace case: find out that his mistress - Married.
19. INVOLVED (through ignorance) KILLING OF A CLOSE ONE. Elements of the situation: 1) killer, 2) unrecognized victim, 3) exposure, recognition. Examples: 1) unwittingly contribute to the murder of his daughter, out of hatred for her lover (“The King is Having Fun” by Hugo, the play on which the opera “Rigoletto” was made), 2) without knowing his father, kill him (“Freeloader” by Turgenev with the fact that murder replaced by an insult), etc.
20. SELF-SACRIFICE IN THE NAME OF AN IDEAL. Elements of the situation: 1) a hero sacrificing himself, 2) an ideal (word, duty, faith, conviction, etc.), 3) a sacrifice made. Examples: 1) sacrifice your well-being for the sake of duty (“Resurrection” by Tolstoy), 2) sacrifice your life in the name of faith, belief...
21. SELF-SACRIFICE FOR THE SAKE OF LOVED ONES. Elements of the situation: 1) the hero sacrificing himself, 2) the loved one for whom the hero sacrifices himself, 3) what the hero sacrifices. Examples: 1) sacrifice your ambition and success in life for the sake of a loved one (“The Zemgano Brothers” by Goncourt), 2) sacrifice your love for the sake of a child, for the life of a loved one, 3) sacrifice your chastity for the life of a loved one (“Longing” by Sordu ), 4) sacrifice life for the life of a loved one, etc.
22. SACRIFICE EVERYTHING FOR PASSION. Elements of the situation: 1) a lover, 2) an object of fatal passion, 3) something that is sacrificed. Examples: 1) passion that destroys the vow of religious chastity (“The Mistake of Abbe Mouret” by Zola), 2) passion that destroys power, authority (“Antony and Cleopatra” by Shakespeare), 3) passion quenched at the cost of life (“Egyptian Nights” by Pushkin) . But not only passion for a woman, or women for a man, but also passion for racing, card games, wine, etc.
23. SACRIFICE A CLOSE PERSON DUE TO NECESSITY, INEVITABILITY. Elements of the situation: 1) a hero sacrificing a loved one, 2) a loved one who is being sacrificed. Examples: 1) the need to sacrifice a daughter for the sake of public interest (“Iphigenia” by Aeschylus and Sophocles, “Iphigenia in Tauris” by Euripides and Racine), 2) the need to sacrifice loved ones or one’s followers for the sake of one’s faith, belief (“93” by Hugo), etc. .d.
24. RIVALRY OF INEQUAL (as well as almost equal or equal). Elements of the situation: 1) one rival (in case of unequal rivalry - lower, weaker), 2) another rival (higher, stronger), 3) the subject of rivalry. Examples: 1) the rivalry between the winner and her prisoner (“Mary Stuart” by Schiller), 2) the rivalry between the rich and the poor. 3) rivalry between a person who is loved and a person who does not have the right to love (“Esmeralda” by V. Hugo), etc.
25. ADULTERY (adultery, adultery). Elements of the situation: the same as in adultery leading to murder. Not considering adultery to be capable of creating a situation in itself, Polti considers it as a special case of theft, aggravated by betrayal, while pointing out three possible cases: 1) the lover is more pleasant than firm than the deceived spouse ), 2) the lover is less attractive than the deceived spouse, 3) the deceived spouse takes revenge. Examples: 1) “Madame Bovary” by Flaubert, “The Kreutzer Sonata” by L. Tolstoy.
26. CRIME OF LOVE. Elements of the situation: 1) lover, 2) beloved. Examples: 1) a woman in love with her daughter’s husband (“Phaedra” by Sophocles and Racine, “Hippolytus” by Euripides and Seneca), 2) the incestuous passion of Doctor Pascal (in Zola’s novel of the same name), etc.
27. LEARNING ABOUT THE DISHONOR OF A LOVED OR RELATIVE (sometimes associated with the fact that the person who finds out is forced to pronounce a sentence, punish a loved one or loved one). Elements of the situation: 1) the person who recognizes, 2) the guilty loved one or loved one, 3) guilt. Examples: 1) learn about the dishonor of your mother, daughter, wife, 2) discover that your brother or son is a murderer, a traitor to the motherland and be forced to punish him, 3) be forced by virtue of an oath to kill a tyrant - to kill your father, etc. .
28. OBSTACLE OF LOVE. Elements of the situation: 1) lover, 2) mistress, 3) obstacle. Examples: 1) a marriage upset by social or wealth inequality, 2) a marriage upset by enemies or random circumstances, 3) a marriage upset by enmity between parents on both sides, 4) a marriage upset by dissimilarities in the characters of lovers, etc.
29. LOVE FOR THE ENEMY. Elements of the situation: 1) the enemy who aroused love, 2) the loving enemy, 3) the reason why the beloved is the enemy. Examples: 1) the beloved is an opponent of the party to which the lover belongs, 2) the beloved is the killer of the father, husband or relative of the one who loves him (“Romeo and Juliet”), etc.
30. AMBITION AND LOVE OF POWER. Elements of the situation: 1) an ambitious person, 2) what he wants, 3) an opponent or rival, i.e. a person opposing. Examples: 1) ambition, greed, leading to crimes (“Macbeth” and “Richard 3” by Shakespeare, “The Rougons’ Career” and “Land” by Zola), 2) ambition, leading to rebellion, 3) ambition, which is opposed by a loved one, friend, relative, own supporters, etc.
31. FIGHTING GOD (struggle against God). Elements of the situation: 1) man, 2) god, 3) the reason or subject of struggle. Examples: 1) fighting with God, arguing with him, 2) fighting with those faithful to God (Julian the Apostate), etc.
32. UNCONSCIOUS JEALOUSY, ENVY. Elements of the situation: 1) the jealous person, the envious person, 2) the object of his jealousy and envy, 3) the alleged rival, challenger, 4) the reason for the error or the culprit (traitor). Examples: 1) jealousy is caused by a traitor who is motivated by hatred (“Othello”) 2) the traitor acts out of profit or jealousy (“Cunning and Love” by Schiller), etc.
33. JUDICIAL MISTAKE. Elements of the situation: 1) the one who is mistaken, 2) the victim of the mistake, 3) the subject of the mistake, 4) the true criminal Examples: 1) a miscarriage of justice is provoked by an enemy (“The Belly of Paris” by Zola), 2) a miscarriage of justice is provoked by a loved one, the brother of the victim (“The Robbers” by Schiller), etc.
34. REMENTS OF CONSCIENCE. Elements of the situation: 1) the culprit, 2) the victim of the culprit (or his mistake), 3) looking for the culprit, trying to expose him. Examples: 1) remorse of a murderer (“Crime and Punishment”), 2) remorse due to a mistake in love (“Madeleine” by Zola), etc.
35. LOST AND FOUND. Elements of the situation: 1) lost 2) found, 2) found. Examples: 1) “Children of Captain Grant”, etc.
36. LOSS OF LOVED ONES. Elements of the situation: 1) a deceased loved one, 2) a lost loved one, 3) the perpetrator of the death of a loved one. Examples: 1) powerless to do anything (save his loved ones) - a witness to their death, 2) being bound by a professional secret (medical or secret confession, etc.) he sees the misfortune of loved ones, 3) to anticipate the death of a loved one, 4) to find out about the death of an ally, 5) in despair from the death of a loved one, lose all interest in life, become depressed, etc.
* * *
To be honest, it seems to me that Polti compiled his list too generally, too sweepingly, and although I have studied this list more than once and been interested in it, I cannot say that it suits me completely and completely. I agree with the idea that the number of topics in world literature is limited, but of the previously existing typologies and lists, none seems completely adequate to me.
And therefore, I am ready to offer my typology, or rather my list, and in order not to repeat my older comrades, I will define the circle of the most frequently occurring plots, the most popular, to which, however, most works of literature, drama and cinematography come down. Moreover, I will not describe basic topics, not in general, but I will specify them more specifically.
So, according to Max Akimov, there are twelve main plots:
The FIRST plot, the most hackneyed one, is Cinderella. It is very stable, all variations fit into a clear plot outline of the “standard”. The plot is loved by authors of women's literature, and is often used by screenwriters of melodramas. There are a lot of examples.
SECOND plot - The Count of Monte Cristo is a secret hero who becomes clear towards the end of the play, receiving wealth or opportunities from somewhere. His mission is to take revenge, or bring justice! The plot is very popular among authors of adventure novels and detective stories. It appeared long before Alexandre Dumas, but this novelist most successfully “smoked” this plot, and after him many people used and used the above-mentioned plot.
THIRD plot - Odyssey. This story can be called the first; it is extremely popular. Variations based on it may be different, but you just have to look closely and the ears stick out quite clearly. Science fiction writers, fantasy writers, authors of adventure literature, travel novels and some other genres are very fond of this ancient plot, and sometimes copy the details ancient greek history, which can conditionally be considered a starting point, a reference.
FOURTH story - Anna Karenina. Tragic love triangle. Has roots in ancient Greek tragedies, but Lev Nikolaevich was able to write it out most clearly and in detail. In the twentieth century, especially at the beginning and middle of the century, this plot was one of the most popular (even ordinary copies copied from Tolstoy, when skilled authors change only names, historical settings and other surroundings, I saw several). But there are many talented variations on this theme.
FIFTH plot - Hamlet. A strong personality with an agile psyche. A broken hero, reflective and bright, fighting for justice, having tasted the betrayal of loved ones and other delights. In the end, he achieves nothing, capable only of tormenting himself, but achieving some kind of spiritual enlightenment and purification, to which he encourages the viewer. Interesting to a fault.
There is nothing to comment on here. The plot is stable, very popular, there is a lot of Dostoevsky in it (near and dear to the Russian heart, and mine in particular). At the moment, this story is more popular than ever.
SIXTH plot - Romeo and Juliet. Story happy love. The total number of repetitions of this plot exceeds the number of repetitions of all other plots, but for some reason there are very few talented works, you can literally count them on your fingers. However, in current TV series, in fiction (especially women's fiction), in drama and song writing, the plot is unusually popular.
The plot, again, is extremely stable, as it has been since ancient times and to this day, there are few special variations.
SEVENTH story - Fathers and sons. Its origins are ancient Greek, the plot is complex, and there is a lot of room for variations in it. This also includes the story of Jason’s bride, who is forced to choose between her father and her groom, and to sacrifice one of them. In short, the whole diversity of parental egoism colliding with the egoism of children is described by this ancient tangle of plots that are similar to each other. There is also altruism of parents, and even less often altruism of children, but usually this also ends in tragedy (as if someone has jinxed our entire human race. Ask King Lear, he will tell you).
EIGHTH Plot - Robinson. It partly echoes Hamlet, primarily in the theme of loneliness, and a little with Odysseus, but Robinson’s story can still be called a separate large plot of world literature. Today's writers and screenwriters often copy, word for word, the work of Daniel Defoe. But there are also many talented and original variations. The hero, most often, is absolutely alone on the island, but this is not required condition, it happens that several heroes find themselves in some kind of isolation from the big world, trying to survive and remain individuals in order to ultimately be saved. My favorite variation is Saltykov-Shchedrin’s story “How one man fed two generals.”
NINTH plot - Trojan theme, war theme. The confrontation between two systems, enmity and hatred, the other side of which is nobility and self-denial. This plot, as a rule, is layered on other plots, or they are layered on top of it, but classic war novels are also not uncommon, descriptions of wars in detail, with varying degrees of artistry. An organic part of this category of plots is the plot of “Spartacus” - a story about a fighter, about a hero, whose personality is sometimes the opposite of the characteristics of reflective heroes, since the essence of Spartacus is a tough struggle as an image of salvation, as a way of life and a way of thinking, a struggle that is intense, obvious, challenging call.
TENTH plot - The catastrophe and its consequences. Classic antique story. At the present time he has been worn out so much that there is no desire to talk. There are a lot of mediocre copies, but occasionally there are interesting ones. The plot is very narrow in terms of semantic variations, but very broad in terms of descriptive possibilities, surroundings and details. But, to be honest, almost every subsequent novel repeats the previous one, even if you don’t go to a fortune teller!
ELEVENTH plot - Ostap Bender - a picaresque novel, an adventure novel. The origins and classic examples are in the literature of France of the New Time. Extremely popular these days, most often comedic. The tangle of plots is quite bright, and there are often successful variations, but all of them, one way or another, copy a couple of templates created back in the early twentieth century.
Similar to the same plot can be conditionally attributed to numerous novels, novellas and short stories that exploit the image of an ironic private detective (or investigator) who acts as “Ostap Bender in reverse.” Nowadays, a certain “roguish detective story” (sometimes a “roguish action film”), the main character of which solves crimes or scams (and sometimes secrets of the past), is popular and in demand.
This plot is often complemented by a literary device that can be called a “rebus story”; most television series (detective format) are based on it, as well as many book series, which are abundantly displayed on store shelves.
Plot TWELVE - Time machine, travel to the future. Its mirror image is a stylization of travel to the past, historical novels. However, this type of work, as a rule, uses “travel to the past” only as an entourage, and the plot is one of those that I listed above, while “travel to the future” is often a “pure plot”, that is, its essence is reduced precisely to the description of how it all works there in this unknown future.
Well, that's it sample list the most frequently used plots often touched upon by writers. Often, plots come across in a standard form, but the writer who is smarter, who has read a lot, before sitting down at his desk, tries to find a synthesis of plots for himself, that is, to combine several basic plots in one work, and also to modify the original idea as much as possible plot.
There is also such a thing as plotless prose, something like a sketch story, a sketch novel (these genres can be defined in different ways). The literary merits of such texts are different, sometimes quite good, they may contain philosophical motives, imitation of Ovid, etc.
But still, quite distinct modifications of the twelve plots that I have listed are often encountered.
