Motif is a term that entered the literature from musicology. It was first recorded in the “musical dictionary” of S. de Brossard in 1703. Analogies with music, where this term is key when analyzing the composition of a work, help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its isolation from the whole and its repetition in a variety of situations.
In literary criticism, the concept of motive was used to characterize components the plot by Goethe and Schiller. They identified five types of motives: accelerating action, slowing down action, distancing action from the goal, facing the past, anticipating the future.
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in the Poetics of Plots Veselovsky. He was interested in the repetition of motifs in different genres at different nations. Veselovsky considered motives to be the simplest formulas that could arise in different tribes independently of each other. (struggle for the inheritance of brothers, fight for the bride, etc.) he comes to the conclusion that creativity is primarily manifested in a combination of motives that gives one or a different plot (in a fairy tale there is not one task, but five, etc.)
Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into various compositions and became the basis of such genres as novels, stories, and poems. The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; combinations of motives make up the plot. The plot could be borrowed, passed from people to people, or become wandering. In the plot, each motive can be primary, secondary, or episodic. Many motifs can be developed into entire plots, and vice versa.
Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable unit of narrative was revised in the 20s. Propp: motives are decomposed, the last decomposable unit does not represent a logical whole. Propp calls the primary elements functions of the actors- actions of the characters, defined in terms of their significance for the course of the action.. seven types of characters, 31 functions (based on Afanasyev’s collection)
It is particularly difficult to identify motifs in the literature of recent centuries: their diversity and complex functional load.
In literature different eras there are many found and functioning mythological motives. Constantly updating within the historical and literary context, they retain their essence (the motive of the hero’s conscious death because of a woman, apparently it can be considered as a transformation of the fight for the bride highlighted by Veselovsky (Lensky in Pushkin, Romashov in Kuprin)
A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repeatability.
The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as leitmotif. It can be considered at the level of theme and figurative structure of the work. In Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, the motif of the garden is a symbol of Home, beauty and sustainability of life... we can talk about the role of both the leitmotif and the organization of the second, secret meaning works- subtext, undercurrent.. (phrase: “life is lost” - the leitmotif of Uncle Vanya. Chekhov)
Tomashevsky: Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts that describe individual actions, events, and things. Themes such small parts of a work that cannot be further divided are called motives.
IN lyrical In a work, a motif is a repeating complex of feelings and ideas expressed in artistic speech. Motifs in lyric poetry are more independent, because they are not subordinated to the development of action, as in epic and drama. Sometimes the poet’s work as a whole can be considered as an interaction, a correlation of motives. (In Lermontov: motives of freedom, will, memory, exile, etc.) One and the same motive can receive different symbolic meanings in lyrical works of different eras, emphasizing the closeness and originality of the poets (Pushkin’s road in Besy and Gogol’s in M.D., the homeland of Lermontov and Nekrasov, Yesenin’s and Blok’s Rus', etc.)
According to Tomashevsky, motives are divided
Free and bound motifs:
- - those that can be skipped (details, details they play an important role in the plot: they do not make the work schematic.)
- - those that cannot be omitted when retelling, because the cause-and-effect relationship is broken...they form the basis of the plot.
Dynamic and static motives:
1. changing the situation. The transition from happiness to unhappiness and vice versa.
Peripeteia (Aristotle: “the transformation of an action into its opposite”) is one of the essential elements of complicating the plot, denoting any unexpected turn in the development of the plot.
2. not changing the situation (descriptions of the interior, nature, portrait, actions and deeds that do not lead to important changes)
Free motives can be static, but not every static motive is free.
I don’t know which book this is from Tomashevsky, because in “Theory of Literature. Poetics." He's writing:
Motivation. The system of motives that make up the theme of this work, should represent some artistic unity. If all parts of a work are poorly fitted to one another, the work “falls apart.” Therefore, the introduction of each individual motive or each set of motives must be justified (motivated). The appearance of one or another motive should seem necessary to the reader in a given place. The system of techniques that justify the introduction of individual motives and their complexes is called motivation. Motivation methods are varied, and their nature is not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to classify motivations.
1. compositional motivation.
Its principle lies in economy and expediency of motives. Individual motifs can characterize objects introduced into the reader's field of view (accessories) or the actions of characters ("episodes"). Not a single accessory should remain unused in the plot, not a single episode should remain without influence on the plot situation. It was about compositional motivation that Chekhov spoke when he argued that if at the beginning of the story it is said that a nail is driven into the wall, then at the end of the story the hero should hang himself on this nail. (Ostrovsky’s “Dowry” using the example of a weapon. “There is a carpet above the sofa on which weapons are hung.” At first this is introduced as a detail of the situation. In the sixth scene, attention is drawn to this detail in the remarks. At the end of the action, Karandyshev, running away, grabs a pistol from the table In the 4th act he shoots at Larisa with this pistol. The introduction of the weapon motif here is compositionally motivated. It serves as a preparation. last moment drama.) The second case of compositional motivation is the introduction of motives as characterization techniques. The motives must be in harmony with the dynamics of the plot. (Thus, in the same “Dowry” the motif of “Burgundy”, made by a counterfeit wine merchant at a cheap price, characterizes the wretchedness of Karandyshev’s everyday environment and prepares for Larisa’s departure). These characteristic details can be in harmony with the action: 1) by psychological analogy (romantic landscape: Moonlight night for a love scene, storm and thunderstorm for a scene of death or crime), 2) by contrast (the motif of “indifferent” nature, etc.). In the same "Dowry", when Larisa dies, the singing of a gypsy choir can be heard from the restaurant doors. One must also take into account the possibility false motivation. Accessories and incidents may be introduced to distract the reader's attention from the true situation. This very often appears in detective stories, where a number of details are given that lead the reader down the wrong path. The author makes us assume the outcome is not what it actually is. The deception is unraveled at the end, and the reader is convinced that all these details were introduced only to prepare surprises at the denouement.
2. realistic motivation
From each work we demand an elementary “illusion”, i.e. no matter how conventional and artificial the work may be, its perception must be accompanied by a sense of the reality of what is happening. For a naive reader, this feeling is extremely strong, and such a reader can believe in the authenticity of what is being presented, can be convinced of the real existence of the heroes. Thus, Pushkin, having just published “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion,” publishes “ Captain's daughter" in the form of Grinev's memoirs with the following afterword: "Peter Andreevich Grinev's manuscript was delivered to us from one of his grandchildren, who learned that we were busy with work dating back to the time described by his grandfather. We decided, with the permission of our relatives, to publish it separately." An illusion of the reality of Grinev and his memoirs is created, especially supported by publicly known moments of Pushkin’s personal biography (his historical studies on the history of Pugachev), and the illusion is also supported by the fact that the views and beliefs expressed by Grinev , in many ways diverge from the views expressed by Pushkin on his own. Realistic illusion in a more experienced reader is expressed as a requirement for “lifeliness.” Firmly knowing the fictionality of the work, the reader still demands some kind of correspondence with reality and in this correspondence even readers see the value of the work. well-versed in laws artistic construction, cannot psychologically free themselves from this illusion. In this regard, each motive must be introduced as a motive likely in this situation. We do not notice, getting used to the technique of an adventure novel, the absurdity that the hero’s salvation always occurs five minutes before his inevitable death, the audience of the ancient comedy did not notice the absurdity that in the last act all the characters suddenly turned out to be close relatives. However, how tenacious this motive is in drama is shown by Ostrovsky’s play “Guilty Without Guilt,” where at the end of the play the heroine recognizes her lost son in the hero). This motive of recognizing kinship was extremely convenient for the denouement (kinship reconciled interests, radically changing the situation) and therefore became firmly entrenched in tradition.
So, realistic motivation has its source either in naive trust or in the demand for illusion. This doesn't stop you from developing. fantastic literature. If folk tales usually arise in a popular environment that allows for the real existence of witches and brownies, they continue to exist as some kind of conscious illusion, where a mythological system or a fantastic worldview (the assumption of really unjustifiable “possibilities”) is present as some kind of illusory hypothesis.
It is curious that fantastic narratives in a developed literary environment, under the influence of the requirements of realistic motivation, usually give double interpretation plot: can it be understood and how real event, and how fantastic. From the point of view of the realistic motivation for the construction of the work, the introduction to the work of art is easy to understand extraliterary material, i.e. topics that have real meaning beyond fiction. So, in historical novels historical figures are brought onto the stage, one or another interpretation is introduced historical events. See in the novel “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy a whole military-strategic report on the Battle of Borodino and the fire of Moscow, which caused controversy in the specialized literature. IN modern works everyday life familiar to the reader is presented, questions of moral, social, political, etc. are raised. order, in a word, themes are introduced that live their own lives outside of fiction.
3. artistic motivation
The introduction of motives is the result of a compromise between realistic illusion and the requirements of artistic construction. Not everything borrowed from reality is suitable for a work of art.
On the basis of artistic motivation, disputes usually arise between old and new literary schools. The old, traditional movement usually denies the presence of artistry in new literary forms. This is how, for example, it affects poetic vocabulary, where the very use of individual words must be in harmony with solid literary traditions(the source of “prosaisms” - words prohibited in poetry). As a special case of artistic motivation, there is a technique defamiliarization. Introducing non-literary material into a work so that it does not fall out of work of art, must be justified by novelty and individuality in the coverage of the material. We must talk about the old and familiar as new and unusual. The ordinary is spoken of as strange. These methods of defamiliarization of ordinary things are usually themselves motivated by the refraction of these themes in the psychology of the hero, who is unfamiliar with them. L. Tolstoy’s technique of defamiliarization is known when, describing the military council in Fili in “War and Peace,” he introduces as a character a peasant girl who observes this council and in her own, childish way, without understanding the essence of what is happening, interprets all actions and speeches of council members.
Motif is a term that entered the literature from musicology. It was first recorded in the “musical dictionary” of S. de Brossard in 1703. Analogies with music, where this term is key when analyzing the composition of a work, help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its isolation from the whole and its repetition in a variety of situations.
In literary criticism, the concept of motive was used to characterize the components of a plot by Goethe and Schiller. They identified five types of motives: accelerating action, slowing down action, distancing action from the goal, facing the past, anticipating the future.
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in the Poetics of Plots Veselovsky. He was interested in the repetition of motifs in different genres among different peoples. Veselovsky considered motives to be the simplest formulas that could arise in different tribes independently of each other. (struggle for the inheritance of brothers, fight for the bride, etc.) he comes to the conclusion that creativity is primarily manifested in a combination of motives that gives one or another plot (in a fairy tale there is not one task, but five, etc.)
Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into various compositions and became the basis of such genres as novels, stories, and poems. The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; combinations of motives make up the plot. The plot could be borrowed, passed from people to people, or become wandering. In a plot, each motive can be main, secondary, episodic... many motives can be developed into entire plots, and vice versa.
Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable unit of narrative was revised in the 20s. Propp : motives are decomposed, the last decomposable unit does not represent a logical whole. Propp calls the primary elements functions of the actors - actions of the characters, defined in terms of their significance for the course of the action.. seven types of characters, 31 functions (based on Afanasyev’s collection)
It is particularly difficult to identify motifs in the literature of recent centuries: their diversity and complex functional load.
In the literature of different eras there are many mythological motives. Constantly updating within the historical and literary context, they retain their essence (the motive of the hero’s conscious death because of a woman, apparently it can be considered as a transformation of the fight for the bride highlighted by Veselovsky (Lensky in Pushkin, Romashov in Kuprin).
A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repeatability .
The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as leitmotif . It can be considered at the level of theme and figurative structure of the work. In Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, the garden motif is a symbol of Home, beauty and sustainability of life... we can talk about the role of both the leitmotif and the organization of the second, secret meaning of the work - subtext, undercurrent (phrase: “life is lost” - the leitmotif of Uncle Vanya. Chekhov)
Tomashevsky: Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts that describe individual actions, events, and things. Themes such small parts of a work that cannot be further divided are called motives .
IN lyrical In a work, a motif is a repeating complex of feelings and ideas expressed in artistic speech. Motifs in lyric poetry are more independent, because they are not subordinated to the development of action, as in epic and drama. Sometimes the poet’s work as a whole can be considered as an interaction, a correlation of motives. (In Lermontov: motives of freedom, will, memory, exile, etc.) The same motive can receive different symbolic meanings in lyrical works of different eras, emphasizing the proximity and originality of poets (Pushkin’s road in Besy and Gogol’s in M.D., the homeland of Lermontov and Nekrasov, Yesenin’s and Blok’s Rus', etc.)
At his lectures, Stepanov said only the following:
According to Tomashevsky, motives are divided
Free and bound motifs:
Those that can be skipped (details, details play an important role in the plot: they do not make the work sketchy.)
Those that cannot be omitted when retelling, because the cause-and-effect relationship is broken... form the basis of the plot.
Dynamic and static motives:
1. Changing the situation. The transition from happiness to unhappiness and vice versa.
Peripeteia (Aristotle: “the transformation of an action into its opposite) is one of the essential elements of complicating the plot, denoting any unexpected turn in the development of the plot.
2. Not changing the situation (descriptions of the interior, nature, portrait, actions and deeds that do not lead to important changes)
Free motives can be static, but not every static motive is free.
I don’t know which book this is from Tomashevsky, because in “Theory of Literature. Poetics." He's writing:
Motivation. The system of motifs that make up the theme of a given work should represent some artistic unity. If all parts of a work are poorly fitted to one another, the work “falls apart.” Therefore, the introduction of each individual motive or each set of motives must be justified(motivated). The appearance of one or another motive should seem necessary to the reader in a given place. The system of techniques that justify the introduction of individual motives and their complexes is called motivation. Motivation methods are varied, and their nature is not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to classify motivations.
TO oppositional motivation.
Its principle lies in economy and expediency of motives. Individual motifs can characterize objects introduced into the reader's field of view (accessories) or the actions of characters ("episodes"). Not a single accessory should remain unused in the plot, not a single episode should remain without influence on the plot situation. It was about compositional motivation that Chekhov spoke when he argued that if at the beginning of the story it is said that a nail is driven into the wall, then at the end of the story the hero should hang himself on this nail. (“Dowry” by Ostrovsky using the example of weapons. “There is a carpet above the sofa on which weapons are hung.”
First it is introduced as a detail of the setting. In the sixth scene, attention is drawn to this detail in the remarks. At the end of the action, Karandyshev, running away, grabs a pistol from the table. In the 4th act, he shoots Larisa with this pistol. The introduction of the weapon motif here is compositionally motivated. This weapon is necessary for the outcome. It serves as preparation for the last moment of the drama.) The second case of compositional motivation is the introduction of motives as characterization techniques . The motives must be in harmony with the dynamics of the plot. (Thus, in the same “Dowry” the motif of “Burgundy”, made by a counterfeit wine merchant at a cheap price, characterizes the wretchedness of Karandyshev’s everyday environment and prepares for Larisa’s departure).
These characteristic details can be in harmony with the action:
1) by psychological analogy (romantic landscape: moonlit night for a love scene, storm and thunderstorm for a scene of death or crime),
2) by contrast (motive of “indifferent” nature, etc.).
In the same "Dowry", when Larisa dies, the singing of a gypsy choir can be heard from the restaurant doors. One must also take into account the possibility false motivation . Accessories and incidents may be introduced to distract the reader's attention from the true situation. This very often appears in detective stories, where a number of details are given that lead the reader down the wrong path. The author makes us assume the outcome is not what it actually is. The deception is unraveled at the end, and the reader is convinced that all these details were introduced only to prepare surprises at the denouement.
Realistic motivation
From each work we demand an elementary “illusion”, i.e. no matter how conventional and artificial the work may be, its perception must be accompanied by a sense of the reality of what is happening. For a naive reader this feeling is extremely strong, and such a reader can believe in the authenticity of what is being presented, can be convinced of the real existence of the heroes. Thus, Pushkin, having just published “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion,” publishes “The Captain’s Daughter” in the form of Grinev’s memoirs with the following afterword: “Peter Andreevich Grinev’s manuscript was delivered to us from one of his grandchildren, who learned that we were busy with work related to to the time described by his grandfather.
We decided, with the permission of our relatives, to publish it separately." An illusion of the reality of Grinev and his memoirs is created, especially supported by moments of Pushkin’s personal biography known to the public (his historical studies on the history of Pugachev), and the illusion is also supported by the fact that the views and beliefs expressed by Grinev , in many respects diverge from the views expressed by Pushkin on his own. Realistic illusion in a more experienced reader is expressed as a requirement for “vitality.”
Firmly knowing the fictional nature of the work, the reader still demands some correspondence with reality and in this correspondence sees the value of the work. Even readers who are well oriented in the laws of artistic construction cannot psychologically free themselves from this illusion. In this regard, each motive must be introduced as a motive likely in this situation.
We do not notice, getting used to the technique of an adventure novel, the absurdity that the hero’s salvation always occurs five minutes before his inevitable death, the audience of the ancient comedy did not notice the absurdity that in the last act all the characters suddenly turned out to be close relatives. However, how tenacious this motive is in drama is shown by Ostrovsky’s play “Guilty Without Guilt,” where at the end of the play the heroine recognizes her lost son in the hero). This motive of recognizing kinship was extremely convenient for the denouement (kinship reconciled interests, radically changing the situation) and therefore became firmly entrenched in tradition.
So, realistic motivation has its source either in naive trust or in the demand for illusion. This does not prevent the development of fantastic literature. If folk tales usually arise in a popular environment that allows for the real existence of witches and brownies, they continue to exist as some kind of conscious illusion, where a mythological system or a fantastic worldview (the assumption of realistically unjustifiable “possibilities”) is present as some kind of illusory hypothesis.
It is curious that fantastic narratives in a developed literary environment, under the influence of the requirements of realistic motivation, usually give double interpretation plot: it can be understood both as a real event and as a fantastic one. From the point of view of the realistic motivation for the construction of the work, the introduction to the work of art is easy to understand extraliterary material, i.e. topics that have real meaning beyond the realm of fiction.
Thus, in historical novels, historical figures are brought onto the stage and one or another interpretation of historical events is introduced. See in the novel “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy a whole military-strategic report on the Battle of Borodino and the fire of Moscow, which caused controversy in the specialized literature. In modern works, everyday life familiar to the reader is depicted, questions of moral, social, political, etc. are raised. order, in a word, themes are introduced that live their own lives outside of fiction.
Artistic motivation
The introduction of motives is the result of a compromise between realistic illusion and the requirements of artistic construction. Not everything borrowed from reality is suitable for a work of art.
On the basis of artistic motivation, disputes usually arise between old and new literary schools. The old, traditional movement usually denies the presence of artistry in new literary forms. This is, for example, reflected in poetic vocabulary, where the very use of individual words must be in harmony with solid literary traditions (the source of “prosaisms” - words prohibited in poetry). As a special case of artistic motivation, there is a technique defamiliarization. The introduction of non-literary material into a work, so that it does not fall out of the work of art, must be justified by novelty and individuality in the coverage of the material.
We must talk about the old and familiar as new and unusual. The ordinary is spoken of as strange. These methods of defamiliarization of ordinary things are usually themselves motivated by the refraction of these themes in the psychology of the hero, who is unfamiliar with them. L. Tolstoy’s technique of defamiliarization is known when, describing the military council in Fili in “War and Peace,” he introduces as a character a peasant girl who observes this council and in her own, childish way, without understanding the essence of what is happening, interprets all actions and speeches of council members.
1) Sierotwiń ski S.
“Subject. The subject of treatment, the main idea developed in a literary work or scientific discussion.
main topic works. The main substantive moment in the work, which forms the basis for the construction of the depicted world (for example, the interpretation of the most general foundations of the ideological meaning of the work, in a plot work - the fate of the hero, in a dramatic work - the essence of the conflict, in a lyrical work - the dominant motives, etc.).
Minor topic works. The theme of a part of a work that is subordinate to the main theme. The theme of the smallest meaningful integrity into which a work can be divided is called a motive” (S. 278).
2) Wilpert G. von. Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.
“Subject(Greek - supposed), the main leading idea of the work; in a specific development of the subject under discussion. Generally accepted in special literature concept into German terminology material history(Stoffgeschichte), which distinguishes only material (Stoff) and motive, in contrast to English. and French, not yet included. It is proposed for motives of such a degree of abstraction that they do not contain the grain of action: tolerance, humanity, honor, guilt, freedom, identity, mercy, etc.” (S. 942-943).
3) Dictionary of literary terms.
A) Zundelovich Ya. Subject. Stlb. 927-929.
“Subject- the main idea, the main sound of the work. Representing that indecomposable emotional-intellectual core that the poet seems to be trying to decompose with each of his works, the concept of theme is by no means covered by the so-called. content. The theme in the broad sense of the word is that holistic image of the world that determines the artist’s poetic worldview.<...>But depending on the material through which this image is refracted, we have one or another reflection of it, i.e., one or another idea (a specific theme), which determines this particular work.”
b) Eichenholtz M. Subject. Stlb. 929-937.
“Subjects- a set of literary phenomena that make up the subject-semantic moment of a poetic work. The following terms related to the concept of subject matter are subject to definition: theme, motive, plot, plot of an artistic and literary work.”
4) Abramovich G. Topic // Dictionary of literary terms. pp. 405-406.
“Subject<...> what is the basis the main idea literary work, the main problem posed by the writer in it.”
5) Maslovsky V.I. Topic // LES. P. 437.
“Subject<...>, the circle of events that form the life basis of the epic. or dramatic prod. and at the same time serving for the formulation of philosophical, social, ethical. and other ideological problems."
Motive
1) Sierotwiń ski S. Słownik terminów literackich. S. 161.
“Motive. The theme is one of the smallest meaningful wholes that stands out when analyzing a work.”
“The motive is dynamic. The motive that accompanies a change in a situation (part of an action) is the opposite of a static motive.”
“The motive is free. A motive that is not included in the system of cause-and-effect plot is the opposite of a connected motive.”
2) Wilpert G. von. Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.
“Motive(lat .
motivus - motivating),<...>3. content-structural unity as a typical, meaningful situation that embraces general thematic ideas (as opposed to something defined and framed through specific features material
3) Mö lk U. Motiv, Stoff, Thema // Das Fischer Lexicon. Literatur. B.2.
“The name that the interpreter gives to the motif he identifies influences his work, no matter whether he wants to compile an inventory of the motifs of a particular corpus of texts or plans an analytical study of the motifs of a particular text, a comparative or historical study of them. Sometimes the formula motifs common in a certain era hide the fact that they bring together completely different phenomena: “ange-femme“ (female angel) designates, for example, in French romance both a beloved stylized as an angel and a female angel; Only if both phenomena are recognized as two different motives do they obtain the prerequisite for further understanding. How significant consequences a proper name can have in identifying a motif is shown by the example of the question whether it is better to speak of “a woman and a parrot” or “a woman and a bird” in relation to Flaubert’s “Simple Heart”; here only a broader designation opens the interpreter’s eyes to certain meanings and their variants, but not a narrower one” (S. 1328).
4) Barnet S., Berman M., Burto W. Dictionary of Literary, Dramatic and Cinematic Terms. Boston, 1971.
“Motive- a repeated word, phrase, situation, object or idea. Most often, the term “motive” is used to designate a situation that is repeated in various literary works, for example, the motive of a poor man getting rich quickly. However, a motif (meaning “leitmotif” from the German “leading motive”) can arise within a single work: it can be any repetition that contributes to the integrity of the work by recalling a previous mention of a given element and everything associated with it” (p .71).
5) Dictionary of World Literary Terms / By J. Shipley.
“Motive. A word or mental pattern that is repeated in the same situations or to evoke a certain mood within a single work, or across different works of the same genre” (p. 204).
6) The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms / By J. Myers, M. Simms.
“Motive(from Latin “to move”; can also be written as “topos”) - a theme, image, or character that develops through various nuances and repetitions” (p. 198).
7) Dictionary of Literary Terms / By H. Shaw.
“Leitmotif. German term literally meaning "leading motive". It denotes a theme or motif associated in a musical drama with a specific situation, character or idea. The term is often used to designate a central impression, a central image, or a recurring theme in a work of fiction, such as the “practicalism” of Franklin’s Autobiography or the “revolutionary spirit” of Thomas Pine” (pp. 218-219).
8) Blagoy D. Motive // Dictionary of literary terms. T. 1. Stlb. 466 - 467.
“M.(from moveo - I move, I set in motion), in the broad sense of the word, is the main psychological or figurative grain that underlies every work of art.” “... the main motive coincides with the theme. So, for example, the theme of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is the motif of historical fate, which does not interfere with the parallel development in the novel of a number of other, often only distantly related to the theme, secondary motifs (for example, the motif of the truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev. ..)". “The entire set of motifs that make up a given work of art forms what is called plot his".
9) Zakharkin A. Motive // Dictionary of literary terms. P.226-227.
“M. (from the French motif - melody, tune) - an out-of-use term denoting the minimum significant component of the narrative, the simplest component of the plot of a work of art.”
10) Chudakov A.P. Motive. KLE. T. 4. Stlb. 995.
“M. (French motif, from Latin motivus - movable) - the simplest meaningful (semantic) unit of art. text in myth And fairy tale; basis, based on the development of one of the members of M. (a+b turns into a+b+b+b) or several combinations. motives grow plot (plot), which represents a greater level of generalization.” “As applied to art. literature of modern times M. is most often called schematic, abstract from specific details and expressed in the simplest verbal formula. presentation of the elements of the content of the work involved in the creation of the plot (plot). The content of M. itself, for example, the death of a hero or a walk, buying a pistol or buying a pencil, does not indicate its significance. The scale of M. depends on its role in the plot (main and secondary M.). Basic M. are relatively stable (love triangle, betrayal - revenge), but we can talk about the similarity or borrowing of M. only at the plot level - when the combination of many minor M. and the methods of their development coincide.”
11) Nezvankina L.K., Shchemeleva L.M. Motive // LES. P. 230:
“M. (German Motive, French motif, from Latin moveo - I move), stable formal-contain. component lit. text; M. can be distinguished within one or several. prod. writer (for example, a certain cycle), and in the complex of his entire work, as well as k.-l. lit. direction or an entire era.”
“The term “M.” receives a more strict meaning when it contains elements of symbolization (road by N.V. Gogol, garden by Chekhov, desert by M.Yu. Lermontov<...>). The motive, therefore, unlike the theme, has a direct verbal (and objective) fixation in the text of the work itself; in poetry, its criterion in most cases is the presence of a key, supporting word that carries a special semantic load (smoke in Tyutchev, exile in Lermontov). In the lyrics<...>M.'s circle is most clearly expressed and defined, so the study of M. in poetry can be especially fruitful.
For storytelling. and dramatic works that are more action-packed are characterized by plot melodrama; many of them have historical universality and repeatability: recognition and insight, testing and retribution (punishment).”
Introduction
Another provision on motive
Variety of motives
Leading motive
Another meaning of “motive”
Conclusion
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
“Motive”, everyone has come across this term in their lives, many know its meaning thanks to their training in music schools, but also this term is widely used in literary criticism. Motive varies in its definition, but what significance does it have in literary works? For people involved in the study and analysis of literary works, it is necessary to know the meaning of motive.
Motif (French motif, German motiv from Latin moveo - I move) is a term that has passed into literary studies from musicology. It is “the smallest independent unit of musical form.”<…>Development is carried out through various repetitions of the motive, as well as its transformations, the introduction of contrasting motives<…> Motive structure embodies a logical connection in the structure of the work" 1. The term was first recorded in “ Musical dictionary"S. de Brossard (1703). Analogies with music, where this term is key in the analysis compositionsworks, help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its separabilityfrom the whole and repeatabilityin a variety of variations.
Motive became a term for a series scientific disciplines(psychology, linguistics, etc.), in particular literary studies, where it has a fairly wide range of meanings: there are a number of theories of motive, which are not always consistent with each other 2. Motif as a phenomenon of artistic literature is in close contact and intersects with repetitions and their similarities, but is far from identical to them.
In literary criticism, the concept of “motive” was used to characterize the components of the plot by I.V. Goethe and F. Schiller. In the article “On Epic and Dramatic Poetry” (1797), five types of motives are identified: “rushing forward, which accelerates the action”; “retreating, those that move the action away from its goal”; “slowers that delay the progress of action”; "addressed to the past"; “addressed to the future, anticipating what will happen in subsequent eras”3 .
The initial, leading, main meaning of this literary term is difficult to define. Motive is component of works of increased significance(semantic richness). A.A. Blok wrote: “Every poem is a veil, stretched on the edges of several words. These words shine like stars. Because of them the work exists." 4. The same can be said about some words and the objects they denote in novels, short stories, and dramas. They are the motives.
Motives are actively involved in the theme and concept (idea) of the work, but they are not exhaustive. Being, according to B.N. Putilov, “stable units,” they are “characterized by an increased, one might say, exceptional degree of semioticity. Each motive has a stable set of meanings" 5. The motif is localized in one way or another in the work, but at the same time it is present in a variety of forms. It can be a separate word or phrase, repeated and varied, or appear as something denoted by various lexical units, or appear in the form of a title or epigraph, or remain only guessable, lost in the subtext. Resorting to allegory, let us say that the sphere of motives consists of the links of the work, marked by internal, invisible italics, which should be felt and recognized by a sensitive reader and literary analyst. The most important feature of a motive is its ability to be half-realized in the text, revealed in it incompletely and sometimes remain mysterious.
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in “The Poetics of Plots” by A.N. Veselovsky. He was mainly interested in the repetition of motifs in the narrative genres of different peoples. The motif acted as the basis of “legend”, “poetic language” inherited from the past: “Under motiveI mean the simplest narrative unit, figuratively responding to various requests of the primitive mind or everyday observation. With the similarity or unity of everyday and psychological conditionsin the first stages human development such motives could be created independently and at the same time represent similar features" 6. Veselovsky considered motifs to be the simplest formulas that could arise among different tribes independently of each other. “The hallmark of a motive is its figurative, single-member schematism...” (p. 301).
For example, an eclipse (“someone is stealing the sun”), brothers’ struggle for an inheritance, a fight for the bride. The scientist tried to find out what motives could arise in the mind primitive people based on a reflection of their living conditions. He studied the prehistoric life of different tribes, their life based on poetic monuments. Acquaintance with rudimentary formulas led him to the idea that the motives themselves are not an act of creativity, they cannot be borrowed, and borrowed motives are difficult to distinguish from spontaneously generated ones.
Creativity, according to Veselovsky, was manifested primarily in a “combination of motives” that gives one or another individual plot. To analyze the motive, the scientist used the formula: a + b. For example, “the evil old woman does not like the beauty - and sets her a life-threatening task. Each part of the formula can be modified, especially subject to increment b” (p. 301). Thus, the pursuit of the old woman is expressed in the tasks that she asks the beauty. There may be two, three or more of these tasks. Therefore, the formula a + b can become more complicated: a + b + b 1 + b 2. Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into numerous compositions and became the basis of such narrative genres as story, novel, poem.
The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; various combinations of motifs make up plot.Unlike motive, plot could borrowmove from people to people, become stray.In the plot, each motive plays a certain role: it can be main, secondary, episodic. Often the development of the same motif is repeated in different plots. Many traditional motifs can be developed into entire plots, while traditional plots, on the contrary, are “collapsed” into one motif. Veselovsky noted the tendency of great poets, with the help of a “brilliant poetic instinct,” to use plots and motifs that have already been subjected to poetic processing. “They are somewhere in the deep dark region of our consciousness, like much that has been tested and experienced, apparently forgotten and suddenly striking us, like an incomprehensible revelation, like novelty and at the same time antiquity, which we do not give ourselves an account of, because we are often unable to determine the essence of that mental act that unexpectedly renewed old memories in us” (p. 70).
Motifs can act either as an aspect of individual works and their cycles, as a link in their construction, or as the property of the entire work of the writer and even entire genres, movements, literary epics, world literature as such. In this supra-individual aspect, they constitute one of the most important subjects of historical poetics5 .
For last decades motives began to be actively correlated with individual creative experience and were considered as the property of individual writers and works. This, in particular, is evidenced by the experience of studying the poetry of M.Yu. Lermontova7 .
In Veselovsky’s understanding, the creative activity of the writer’s imagination is not an arbitrary game with “living pictures” of real or fictional life. The writer thinks in terms of motives, and each motive has a stable set of meanings, partly inherent in it genetically, partly emerging in the process of a long historical life.
OTHER PROVISION OF MOTIVE
Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable and stable unit of narrative was revised in the 1920s. “Veselovsky’s specific interpretation of the term “motive” can no longer be applied at present,” wrote V. Propp. - According to Veselovsky, a motive is an indecomposable unit of narrative.<…>However, the motives that he cites as examples are decomposed.” 8. Propp demonstrates the decomposition of the “serpent kidnaps the king’s daughter” motif. “This motive is decomposed into 4 elements, each of which can be varied individually. The snake can be replaced by Koshchei, whirlwind, devil, falcon, sorcerer. Abduction can be replaced by vampirism and various actions by which disappearance is achieved in the fairy tale. A daughter can be replaced by a sister, fiancee, wife, mother. The king can be replaced by a king's son, a peasant, or a priest. Thus, contrary to Veselovsky, we must assert that the motive is not single-membered, not indecomposable. The last decomposable unit as such does not represent a logical whole (and according to Veselovsky, the motive is more primary in origin than the plot); we will subsequently have to solve the problem of isolating some primary elements differently than Veselovsky does” (p. 22).
Propp considers these “primary elements” functions of the actors. “A function is understood as an act of an actor, defined from the point of view of its significance for the course of action”(pp. 30-31). Functions are repeated and can be counted; all functions are distributed across acting persons so that we can distinguish seven “circles of action” and, accordingly, seven types of characters: saboteur, donor, helper, sought-after character, sender, hero, false hero(pp. 88-89).
Based on the analysis of 100 fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev “Russian folk tales” V. Propp identified 31 functions within which the action develops. These are, in particular: absence(“One of the family members leaves home”), locked(“The hero is approached with a ban”), his violationetc. A detailed analysis of one hundred fairy tales with different plots shows that “the sequence of functions is always the same” and that “all fairy tales are of the same type in their structure” (pp. 31, 33) despite their apparent diversity.
Veselovsky's point of view was also disputed by other scientists. After all, motives arose not only in the primitive era, but also later. “It is important to find such a definition of this term,” wrote A. Bem, “that would make it possible to highlight it in any work, both ancient and modern.” According to A. Bem, “a motif is the ultimate level of artistic abstraction from the specific content of a work, enshrined in the simplest verbal formula” 9. As an example, the scientist cites a motif that unites three works: the poems “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Pushkin, “Prisoner of the Caucasus” by Lermontov and the story “Atala” by Chateaubriand - this is the love of a foreign woman for a captive; incoming motive: the release of a captive by a foreigner, either successful or unsuccessful. And as a development of the original motive - the death of the heroine.
It is particularly difficult to identify motifs in the literature of recent centuries. The variety of motives and complex functional load require special scrupulousness in their study.
Motif is often considered as a category comparative historical literary criticism.Motives are identified that have very ancient origins, leading to primitive consciousness and at the same time developed in the conditions of high civilization in different countries. These are the motives prodigal son, a proud king, a pact with the devil, etc.
VARIETY OF MOTIVES
motive narrative literature work
In the literature of different eras, a variety of mythologicalmotives. Constantly being updated in different historical and literary contexts, they at the same time retain their semantic essence. For example, the motive of the hero’s deliberate death because of a woman runs through many works XIX-XX centuries Werther's suicide in the novel "Suffering" young Werther"Goethe, the death of Vladimir Lensky in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin", the death of Romashov in Kuprin's novel "The Duel". Apparently, this motif can be considered as a transformation of the motif identified by Veselovsky in the poetic work of deep antiquity: “the fight for the bride.”
Motives can be not only plot, but also descriptive, lyrical,Not only intertextual(Veselovsky means exactly these), but also intratextual.We can talk about iconicitymotive - both in its repetition from text to text, and within one text. IN modern literary criticism the term “motive” is used in different methodological contexts and for different purposes, which largely explains the differences in the interpretation of the concept and its most important properties.
A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repeatability.“...The role of a motive in a work can be,” believes B. Gasparov, “any phenomenon, any semantic “spot” - an event, a character trait, an element of the landscape, any object, a spoken word, paint, sound, etc.; the only thing that defines a motif is its reproduction in the text, so that unlike a traditional plot narrative, where it is more or less predetermined what can be considered discrete components ("characters" or "events"), there is no set "alphabet" “- it is formed directly in the deployment of the structure and through the structure”10 .
For example, in V. Nabokov’s novel “Feat” one can highlight motifs of the sea, flickering lights, and paths leading into the forest.
In the same novel, another motive - the hero’s alienness to the world around him - largely determines the development of the plot and helps clarify the main idea. And if in “Feat” the motive of foreignness is limited to exile (“his choice is not free<…>there is one thing he must do, he is an exile, doomed to live outside his home"), then in other works of Nabokov it takes on a broader meaning and can be defined as the motive of the hero’s foreignness to the vulgarity and mediocrity of the world around him (“The Gift”, “The Defense of Luzhin” , “The True Life of Sebastian Knight”, etc.).
One of the motifs of Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” is spiritual softness, often associated with feelings of gratitude and submission to fate, with tenderness and tears, but most importantly, it marks certain higher, illuminating moments in the lives of the heroes. Let's remember the episodes when old prince Bolkonsky learns about the death of his daughter-in-law; wounded Prince Andrei in Mytishchi. Pierre, after a conversation with Natasha, who feels irreparably guilty before Prince Andrei, experiences some kind of special elation: he speaks of his, Pierre’s, “blooming to a new life, softened and encouraged soul.” And after captivity, Bezukhov asks Natasha about last days Andrei Bolkonsky: “So he calmed down? Have you softened up?
Perhaps the central motif of “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov - the light emanating from full moon, disturbing, exciting, painful. This light somehow “affects” a number of characters in the novel. It is associated primarily with the idea of torment of conscience - with the appearance and fate of Pontius Pilate, who was once afraid for his “career”.
In Blok’s cycle “Carmen” the word “treason” performs the function of motive. It captures the poetic and at the same time tragic element of the soul. The world of betrayal here is associated with the “storm of gypsy passions” and leaving the homeland, coupled with an inexplicable feeling of sadness, with the “black and wild fate” of the poet, and at the same time with the charm of boundless freedom, free flight “without orbits”: “This is - music of secret betrayals?/Is this the heart captured by Carmen?”
One of the most important motives of B.L. Pasternak - face,which the poet saw not only in people who remained true to themselves, but also in nature and the highest power of being 11. This motive became the poet's leading theme and an expression of his moral credo. Let's remember the last stanza of the poem “Being famous is ugly...”:
And should not a single slice
Don't give up on your face
But to be alive, alive and only,
Alive and only until the end.
LEADING MOTIVE
The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as leitmotif.Sometimes they talk about the leitmotif of some creative direction(German: Leitmotiv; the term was introduced into use by musicologists and researchers of the work of R. Wagner). Usually it becomes the expressive and emotional basis for the embodiment of the idea of the work. The leitmotif can be considered at the level of theme, figurative structure and intonation and sound design of the work. For example, throughout the entire play A.P. Chekhov " The Cherry Orchard"The motif of the cherry orchard is used as a symbol of Home, beauty, and sustainability of life. This leitmotif sounds in the dialogues, in the memories of the characters, and in the author’s remarks: “It’s already May, they’re blooming.” cherry trees, but it’s cold in the garden, matinee” (no. 1): “Look, the late mother is walking through the garden... in a white dress!” (house 1, Ranevskaya); “Come everyone and watch how Ermolai Lopakhin will hit the cherry orchard with an ax and how the trees will fall to the ground!” (no. 3, Lopakhin).
We can talk about the special role of both the leitmotif and the motive in organizing the second, secret meaning of the work, in other words - subtext, undercurrent.The leitmotif of many of Chekhov's dramatic and epic works is the phrase: “Life is lost!” (“Uncle Vanya”, no. 3, Voinitsky).
A special “relationship” connects the motive and leitmotif with topicworks. In the 1920s, a thematic approach to the study of motive was established. “Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts, describing individual actions, events or things. The themes of such small parts of a work that can no longer be divided are called motives"- wrote B. Tomashevsky 12. A motif can be considered as a development, expansion and deepening of the main theme. For example, the theme of the story by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Double" is the split personality of the poor official Golyadkin, who is trying to establish himself in a society that has rejected him with the help of his confident and arrogant "double". As the main theme unfolds, motifs of loneliness, restlessness, hopeless love, and the “discrepancy” of the hero with the life around him arise. The leitmotif of the entire story can be considered the motive of the hero’s fatal doom, despite his desperate resistance to circumstances.
In modern literary criticism there is a tendency to consider artistic system works from the point of view leitmotif construction: “The main device that determines the entire semantic structure of “The Master and Margarita” and at the same time has a broader general meaning seems to us to be the principle leitmotif constructionnarratives. This means a principle in which a certain motif, once arising, is then repeated many times, each time appearing in a new version, new outlines and in ever new combinations with other motives”13 .
IN lyricalIn a work, a motive is, first of all, a repeating complex of feelings and ideas. But individual motives in lyric poetry are much more independent than in epic and drama, where they are subordinated to the development of action. “The task of a lyrical work is to compare individual motives and verbal images, giving the impression of an artistic construction of thought” 14. What is most clearly highlighted in the motif is the repetition of psychological experiences:
I will forget the year, day, date.
I'll lock myself in alone with a piece of paper,
Be created, words enlightened by suffering
Inhuman magic!
The one who stole my heart,
Having deprived him of everything,
Tormenting my soul in delirium,
Accept my gift, darling,
I may not be able to think of anything else.
(V. Mayakovsky. “Flute-spine”)
This is how the motive of hopeless suffering due to unrequited love, which is resolved in creativity, develops.
Sometimes the poet’s work as a whole can be considered as an interaction, a correlation of motives. For example, in Lermontov’s poetry there are motifs of freedom, will, action and feat, exile, memory and oblivion, time and eternity, love, death, fate, etc. “Loneliness is a motif that permeates almost all creativity and expresses the poet’s state of mind. This is both a motive and a cross-cutting, central theme of his poetry, starting with his youthful poems and ending with subsequent ones.<…>None of the Russian poets developed this motif into such a comprehensive image as Lermontov’s”15 .
Same motive to get different symbolicmeanings in lyrical works of different eras, emphasizing the closeness and at the same time the originality of the poets: cf. motive of the road in lyrical digressions Gogol in the poem “Dead Souls” and in the poem “Demons” by Pushkin, “Motherland” by Lermontov and “Troika” by Nekrasov, “Rus” by Yesenin and “Russia” by Blok, etc.
ANOTHER MEANING OF “MOTIVE”
Note that the term “motive” is also used in a slightly different meaning than the one on which we rely. Thus, themes and problems of a writer’s work are often called motives (for example, the moral rebirth of man; the illogical existence of people). In modern literary criticism, there is also the idea of a motive as an “extrastructural” beginning - as the property not of the text and its creator, but of the unrestricted thought of the interpreter of the work. The properties of the motive, says B.M. Gasparov, “grow anew every time, in the process of analysis itself” - depending on what contexts of the writer’s work the scientist turns to. Thus understood, the motive is conceptualized as the “basic unit of analysis,” an analysis that “fundamentally abandons the concepts of fixed blocks of structure that have an objectively specified function in the construction of the text”16 .
CONCLUSION
But no matter what semantic tones are attached to the word “motive” in literary studies, the irrevocable significance and genuine relevance of this term, which first of all captures the really existing facet of literary works, remains self-evident.
bibliography
1.Musical encyclopedic dictionary. M., 1990. P. 357.
2.See: Silantiev I.V. The theory of motive in domestic literary criticism and folkloristics. Essay on historiography. Novosibirsk, 1999; It's him. Motif in the system of artistic storytelling. Problems of theory and analysis. Novosibirsk, 2001.
.Goethe I.V. About art. M., 1957. P. 351.
.Blok A.A. Notebooks. 1901-1920. P. 84.
.Putilov B.N. Veselovsky and the problems of folklore motif//The legacy of Alexander Veselovsky: Research and materials. St. Petersburg, 1992. S. 84, 382-383.
.Veselovsky A.N. Historical poetics. M., 1989. P. 305. (Further, when citing this publication, pages are indicated in the text.)
.See articles under the heading “Motives” in: Lermontov Encyclopedia. M., 1981. Note that the motives and themes embodied in them were given considerable attention in the lectures of M.M. Bakhtin (1922-1927), especially when referring to the poetry of the Silver Age. See: Recordings of lectures by M.M. Bakhtin on the history of Russian literature. Notes by R.M. Mirkina // Bakhtin M.M. Collection cit.: In 7 volumes. M., 2000. T. 2. P. 213-427.
.Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. L., 1928. S. 21-22. (Further, when citing this publication, pages are indicated in the text.)
.Bem A. Towards an understanding of historical and literary concepts//Izvestia/ORYAS AN. 1918. T. 23. Book. 1. P. 231.
10.Gasparov B.M. Literary leitmotifs: Essays on Russian literature of the twentieth century. M., 1994. pp. 30-31.
11.See: Prouillard J. “Face” and “personality” in the works of Boris Pasternak (translated from French) // Pasternak readings. Vol. 2. M., 1998.
.Tomashevsky B. Poetics: A Short Course. M., 1996. P. 71.
.Gasparov B.M. Literary leitmotifs. P. 30.
.Tomashevsky B. Poetics. P. 108.
.Shchemeleva L.M., Korovin V.I., Peskov A.M., Turbin V.N. Motives of Lermontov’s poetry//Lermontov Encyclopedia. M., 1981. (P. 290-312.)
.Gasparov B.M. Literary leitmotifs. M., 1994. P. 301.
.Introduction to literary criticism. Literary work: basic concepts and terms: Textbook. Manual/ed. L.V. Chernets. - M.: Higher School; "Academy", 1999. - 556 p.
.Khalizev V.E. Theory of literature. M., 2007. - 405 p.
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MOTIVE[from Latin moveo - “I move”] is a term transferred to literary studies from music, where it denotes a group of several notes, rhythmically designed. By analogy with this, in literary criticism the term “Motif” begins to be used to designate the minimum component of a work of art - a further indecomposable element of content(Scherer). In this sense, the concept of motive plays a particularly large, perhaps central, role in the comparative study of plots of predominantly oral literature; here the comparison of similar motifs, used both as a method of reconstructing the original form of the plot and as a way of tracing its migration, becomes almost the only method of research in all pre-Marxist schools - from the Aryan Grimms and the comparative mythological M. Muller to the anthropological, eastern and comparative historical inclusive.
The depravity of the concept of motive - beyond folklore, especially popularized by the formalists in their polemics with the cultural-historical school - in the mechanistic concept artistic method as a technique for combining a certain number of qualitatively unchanged elements; this concept presupposes the separation of the technique (techniques) of artistic mastery from its content, that is, ultimately, the separation of form from content. Therefore, in a concrete historical analysis of a literary work, the concept of M as a formalist concept is subject to significant criticism.
The term “Motive” has a different meaning among representatives of Western European subjective-idealistic literary criticism, who define it as “the experience of the poet, taken in its significance” (Dilthey). Motive in this sense is the starting point artistic creativity, the totality of the poet’s ideas and feelings, seeking an accessible design, determining the choice of the very material of the poetic work, and - thanks to the unity of the individual or national spirit expressed in them - repeated in the works of one poet, one era, one nation and thereby accessible to isolation and analysis. Contrasting the creative consciousness with the matter it shapes, this understanding of motive is built on the opposition of subject to object, so typical of subjective-idealistic systems, and is subject to exposure in Marxist literary criticism.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. the concept of “motive” appears in the works of the Russian philologist A. N. Veselovsky, who speaks of it as “the simplest narrative unit” that forms the basis of the plot at first - myths And fairy tales, and subsequently - literary works. In other words, the scientist represented motives as “bricks” that make up plots. According to Veselovsky, each poetic era works on “bequeathed poetic images from time immemorial,” creating their new combinations and filling them with a “new understanding of life.” As examples of such motives, the researcher cites bride kidnapping, “representing the sun as an eye,” etc.
The concept of “motive” gained particular popularity in literary criticism of the 20th century, and its content expanded significantly. Thus, modern literary scholars sometimes identify the motif with topic works; they talk, for example, about the motive of moral revival in the works of classics of Russian literature of the 19th century. or about philosophical motives creativity of F.I. Tyutchev. Often, motives are understood as key, supporting words-symbols that carry a special semantic load in the text. Such “milestones” can be intuitively felt in a work by a sensitive reader, and they often become the subject of study by a philologist. These are exactly what A.A. meant. Block, when he wrote: “Every poem is a veil, stretched on the edges of several words. These words are placed like stars. Because of them the work exists.” Cross-cutting motifs-symbols may be present in any separate work; for example, a robe in the novel by I.A. Goncharova“Oblomov”, a thunderstorm in the drama by A. N. Ostrovsky“Thunderstorm”, moonlight in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov"Master and Margarita". Cross-cutting motifs-symbols can run through the entire work of a writer or poet; road near N.V. Gogol, desert near M. Yu. Lermontov, night at F.I. Tyutcheva, garden at A.P. Chekhov, sea near I.A. Brodsky. In addition, we can talk about motives characteristic of certain literary genres, directions and eras; for example, music among the romantics, a snowstorm among the symbolists.
MOTIVE, in the broad sense of the word, is the main psychological or figurative grain that underlies every work of art (this is what they say, for example, about the “love motives” of Tyutchev’s lyrics, the “star motives” of Fet’s poetry, etc.). the most primitive stage of literary and artistic development, for example, in elementary myth-making, a separate artistic verbal formation is covered, for the most part, by the development of one motif, unfolding into an integral poetic work (such as, for example, the so-called légendes des origines, etc.). P.). The motive here still completely coincides with the theme. In the further movement of artistic evolution, at more advanced stages literary development, a poetic work is formed by the fusion of a very large number of individual motives. In this case, the main motive coincides with the theme. So. for example, the theme of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is the motif of historical fate, which does not interfere with the parallel development in the novel of a number of other side motives, often only remotely associated with the theme (for example, the motive of the truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev; the everyday motive - ruin rich noble family of the Counts of Rostov: numerous love motives: Nikolai Rostov and Sophie, he is also Princess Maria, Pierre Bezukhov and Ellen, Prince Andrei and Natasha, etc., etc., mystical and so characteristic in further creativity Tolstoy's motif of regenerating death - the book's dying insights. Andrei Bolkonsky, etc., etc.).
The entire set of motifs that make up a given work of art forms what is called plot his. In relation to this latter, the motif is like a silk colored thread in a variegated plot fabric, a separate pebble of a complex plot mosaic. (On the question of the relationship between motive and plot, see A. N. Veselovsky, Poetics of Plots, St. Petersburg, 1913).
Motive as the primary element of the plot. The theory of “wandering plots” by A.N. Veselovsky
motive(Latin moveo - to move) is a stable formal-content component of a text that can be repeated within the work of one writer, as well as in the context of world literature as a whole. Motives can be repeated. The motif is a stable semiotic unit of the text and has a historically universal set of meanings. A comedy is characterized by the motive of “quid pro quo” (“who is talking about what”), an epic is characterized by a motive of wandering, and a ballad is characterized by fantastic motive(appearance of the living dead).
Motif more than other components artistic form correlates with the thoughts and feelings of the author. According to Gasparov, “motive is a semantic spot.” In psychology, a motive is an incentive to act; in literary theory, it is a recurring element of a plot. Some researchers classify the motive as an element of the plot. This type of motive is called narrative. But any detail may be repeated in the motif. This motive is called lyrical. Narrative motifs are based on some event; they are unfolded in time and space and presuppose the presence of actants. In lyrical motifs, it is not the process of action that is actualized, but its significance for the consciousness that perceives this event. But both types of motive are characterized by repetition.
The most important feature of the motive is its ability to be half-realized in the text, its mystery, and incompleteness. The scope of the motif consists of works marked with invisible italics. Attention to the structure of the motive allows you to consider the content deeper and more interesting. literary text. The same motive sounds differently in different authors.
Researchers talk about the dual nature of the motive, meaning that the motive exists as an invariant (contains a stable core that is repeated in many texts) and as an individuality (each author has his own motive in terms of embodiment, individual increment of meaning). Repeated in literature, the motif can acquire philosophical fullness.
Motive as literary concept brought out by A.N. Veselovsky in 1906 in his work “Poetics of Plots”. Under the motive, he assumed the simplest formula, answering the questions that nature poses to man, and especially establishing vivid impressions reality. The motive was defined by Veselovsky as the simplest narrative unit. Veselovsky considered imagery, one-dimensionality, and schematic features of a motif. Motives, in his opinion, cannot be broken down into their component elements. The combination of motifs forms a plot. Thus, primitive consciousness produced motives that formed plots. Motive is the oldest, primitive form of artistic consciousness.
Veselovsky tried to identify the main motives and trace their combination into plots. Comparative scientists tried to check the relationship between plot schemes. Moreover, this similarity turned out to be very conditional, because only formal elements were taken into account. Veselovsky’s merit lies in the fact that he put forward the idea “ wandering stories", i.e. plots wandering through time and space among different peoples. This can be explained not only by the unity of everyday and psychological conditions of different peoples, but also by borrowings. IN XIX literature centuries, the motive for the husband’s self-removal from his wife’s life was widespread. In Russia, the hero returned under own name, faking his own death. The skeleton of the motif was repeated, which determined the typological similarity of works of world literature.
