Over the millennia of cultural development, mankind has created countless literary works, among which there are some basic types that are similar in the way and form of reflection of human ideas about the world around. These are three types (or types) of literature: epic, drama, poetry.

How is each type of literature different?

Epos as a kind of literature

epic(epos - Greek, narration, story) is an image of events, phenomena, processes that are external to the author. Epic works reflect the objective course of life, human existence as a whole. Using various artistic means, the authors of epic works express their understanding of the historical, socio-political, moral, psychological and many other problems that human society as a whole and each of its representatives in particular live with. Epic works have significant pictorial possibilities, thereby helping the reader to learn about the world around him, to comprehend the deep problems of human existence.

Drama as a kind of literature

Drama(drama - Greek, action, action) is a kind of literature, the main feature of which is the stage nature of works. Plays, i.e. dramatic works are created specifically for the theater, for staging on stage, which, of course, does not exclude their existence in the form of independent literary texts intended for reading. Like the epic, the drama reproduces the relationship between people, their actions, the conflicts that arise between them. But unlike the epic, which has a narrative nature, the drama has a dialogic form.

Related to this features of dramatic works :

2) the text of the play consists of the characters' conversations: their monologues (the speech of one character), dialogues (the conversation of two characters), polylogues (simultaneous exchange of remarks by several participants in the action). That is why the speech characteristic turns out to be one of the most important means of creating a memorable character of the hero;

3) the action of the play, as a rule, develops quite dynamically, intensively, as a rule, it is given 2-3 hours of stage time.

Lyrics as a kind of literature

Lyrics(lyra - Greek, a musical instrument, to the accompaniment of which poetic works, songs were performed) is distinguished by a special type of construction of an artistic image - this is an image-experience in which the individual emotional and spiritual experience of the author is embodied. Lyrics can be called the most mysterious kind of literature, because it is addressed to the inner world of a person, his subjective feelings, ideas, ideas. In other words, a lyrical work primarily serves the individual self-expression of the author. The question arises: why are the readers, i.e. other people refer to such works? The thing is that the lyricist, speaking on his own behalf and about himself, surprisingly embodies universal human emotions, ideas, hopes, and the more significant the personality of the author, the more important his individual experience is for the reader.

Each type of literature also has its own system of genres.

Genre(genre - French genus, species) - a historically established type of literary work that has similar typological features. The names of the genres help the reader navigate the boundless sea of ​​literature: someone loves detective stories, another prefers fantasy, and the third is a fan of memoirs.

How to determine What genre does the particular piece belong to? Most often, the authors themselves help us in this, calling their creation a novel, story, poem, etc. However, some author's definitions seem unexpected to us: remember that A.P. Chekhov emphasized that The Cherry Orchard is a comedy, and not a drama at all, but A.I. Solzhenitsyn considered "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" a story, not a story. Some literary scholars call Russian literature a collection of genre paradoxes: the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", the poem in prose "Dead Souls", the satirical chronicle "The History of a City". There was a lot of controversy regarding "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. The writer himself said only about what his book is not: “What is War and Peace? This is not a novel, still less a poem, still less a historical chronicle. "War and Peace" is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed. And only in the 20th century did literary critics agree to call the brilliant creation of L.N. Tolstoy's epic novel.

Each literary genre has a number of stable features, the knowledge of which allows us to attribute a particular work to one or another group. Genres develop, change, die off and are born, for example, literally before our eyes, a new genre of blog (web loq English network magazine) - a personal Internet diary - has arisen.

However, for several centuries now, there have been stable (they are also called canonical) genres.

Literature of literary works - see table 1).

Table 1.

Genres of literary works

Epic genres of literature

Epic genres primarily differ in volume, on this basis they are divided into small ones ( essay, short story, short story, fairy tale, parable ), average ( story ), large ( novel, epic novel ).

Feature article- a small sketch from nature, the genre is both descriptive and narrative. Many essays are created on a documentary, life basis, they are often combined into cycles: the classic example is “Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy” (1768) by the English writer Laurence Sterne, in Russian literature it is “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790) A Radishcheva, "Frigate Pallada" (1858) I. Goncharov "Italy" (1922) B. Zaitsev and others.

Story- a small narrative genre, which usually depicts one episode, an incident, a human character, or an important incident from the life of a hero that influenced his future fate (“After the Ball” by L. Tolstoy). The stories are created both on a documentary, often autobiographical basis (“Matryonin Dvor” by A. Solzhenitsyn), and thanks to pure fiction (“The Gentleman from San Francisco” by I. Bunin).

The intonation and content of the stories are very different - from comic, funny (the early stories of A.P. Chekhov) to deeply tragic (Kolyma Tales by V. Shalamov). Stories, like essays, are often combined into cycles (“Notes of a Hunter” by I. Turgenev).

Novella(novella ital. news) is in many ways akin to a story and is considered its variety, but it is distinguished by a special dynamism of the narrative, sharp and often unexpected turns in the development of events. Quite often the narration in the short story begins with the finale, is built according to the law of inversion, i.e. in the reverse order, when the denouement precedes the main events ("Terrible Revenge" by N. Gogol). This feature of the construction of the short story will later be borrowed by the detective genre.

The word "novella" has another meaning that future lawyers need to know. In ancient Rome, the phrase "novellae leges" (new laws) was used to refer to laws introduced after the official codification of law (after the release of the Code of Theodosius II in 438). The short stories of Justinian and his successors, published after the second edition of the Code of Justinian, later formed part of the code of Roman laws (Corpus iuris civillis). In the modern era, a novel is called a law submitted for consideration by parliament (in other words, a draft law).

Fairy tale- the most ancient of the small epic genres, one of the main in the oral art of any people. This is a small work of a magical, adventurous or everyday nature, where fiction is clearly emphasized. Another important feature of the folklore tale is its instructive character: "The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows." Folk tales are usually divided into magical ("The Tale of the Frog Princess"), household ("Porridge from an ax") and fairy tales about animals ("Zayushkina's hut").

With the development of written literature, literary tales arise in which traditional motifs and the symbolic possibilities of a folk tale are used. The Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) is rightfully considered a classic of the literary fairy tale genre, his wonderful "The Little Mermaid", "The Princess and the Pea", "The Snow Queen", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Shadow", "Thumbelina" are loved by many generations of readers, both very young and quite mature. And this is far from accidental, because Andersen's fairy tales are not only extraordinary, and sometimes strange adventures of heroes, they contain a deep philosophical and moral meaning, contained in beautiful symbolic images.

Of the European literary tales of the 20th century, The Little Prince (1942) by the French writer An-toine de Saint-Exupery became a classic. And the famous "Chronicles of Narnia" (1950 - 1956) by the English writer Kl. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings (1954-1955), also by the Englishman J. R. Tolkien, are written in the fantasy genre, which can be called a modern transformation of an ancient folk tale.

In Russian literature, unsurpassed, of course, are the tales of A.S. Pushkin: “About the dead princess and seven heroes”, “About the fisherman and the fish”, “About Tsar Saltan ...”, “About the golden cockerel”, “About the priest and his worker Balda”. A substitute storyteller was P. Ershov, the author of The Little Humpbacked Horse. E. Schwartz in the 20th century creates the form of a fairy tale play, one of them “The Bear” (another name is “Ordinary Miracle”) is well known to many thanks to the wonderful film directed by M. Zakharov.

Parable- also a very ancient folklore genre, but, unlike a fairy tale, parables contained written monuments: the Talmud, the Bible, the Koran, a monument of Syrian literature "Teaching Akahara". A parable is a work of an instructive, symbolic nature, distinguished by sublimity and seriousness of content. Ancient parables, as a rule, are small in volume; they do not contain a detailed account of the events or the psychological characteristics of the hero's character.

The purpose of the parable is edification or, as they once said, the teaching of wisdom. In European culture, the most famous are the parables from the Gospels: about the prodigal son, about the rich man and Lazarus, about the unrighteous judge, about the crazy rich man, and others. Christ often spoke with the disciples allegorically, and if they did not understand the meaning of the parable, he explained it.

Many writers turned to the parable genre, not always, of course, putting a high religious meaning into it, rather trying to express some kind of moralistic edification in an allegorical form, as, for example, L. Tolstoy in his late work. Carry it. V. Rasputin - Farewell to Matera "can also be called a detailed parable in which the writer speaks with anxiety and sorrow about the destruction of the "ecology of conscience" of a person. The story "The Old Man and the Sea" by E. Hemingway is also considered by many critics to be in the tradition of a literary parable. The well-known modern Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho also uses the parable form in his novels and short stories (the novel The Alchemist).

Tale- an average literary genre, widely represented in world literature. The story depicts several important episodes from the life of the hero, as a rule, one storyline and a small number of characters. The stories are characterized by great psychological saturation, the author focuses on the experiences and mood changes of the characters. Very often, the main theme of the story is the love of the protagonist, for example, "White Nights" by F. Dostoevsky, "Asya" by I. Turgenev, "Mitina's Love" by I. Bunin. The stories can also be combined into cycles, especially those written on autobiographical material: “Childhood”, “Boyhood”, “Youth” by L. Tolstoy, “Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities” by A. Gorky. The intonations and themes of the stories are very diverse: tragic, addressed to acute social and moral issues (“Everything flows” by V. Grossman, “House on the Embankment” by Y. Trifonov), romantic, heroic (“Taras Bulba” by N. Gogol), philosophical , parable ("Pit" by A. Platonov), mischievous, comic ("Three in a boat, not counting the dog" by the English writer Jerome K. Jerome).

Novel(Gotap French originally, in the late Middle Ages, any work written in the Romance language, as opposed to those written in Latin) is a major epic work in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual. The novel is the most complex epic genre, which is distinguished by an incredible number of themes and plots: love, historical, detective, psychological, fantastic, historical, autobiographical, social, philosophical, satirical, etc. All these forms and types of the novel are united by its central idea - the idea of ​​personality, the individuality of a person.

The novel is called the epic of private life, because it depicts the diverse connections between the world and man, society and the individual. The reality surrounding a person is presented in the novel in different contexts: historical, political, social, cultural, national, etc. The author of the novel is interested in how the environment affects the character of a person, how he is formed, how his life develops, whether he managed to find his destiny and realize himself.

Many attribute the emergence of the genre to antiquity, these are Long's Daphnis and Chloe, Apuleius' Golden Ass, the chivalrous novel Tristan and Isolde.

In the work of the classics of world literature, the novel is represented by numerous masterpieces:

Table 2. Examples of the classic novel by foreign and Russian writers (XIX, XX centuries)

Famous novels of Russian writers of the XIX century .:

In the 20th century, Russian writers develop and multiply the traditions of their great predecessors and create no less remarkable novels:

Of course, none of these enumerations can claim completeness and exhaustive objectivity, especially in modern prose. In this case, the most famous works that glorified both the literature of the country and the name of the writer are named.

epic novel. In ancient times, there were forms of the heroic epic: folklore sagas, runes, epics, songs. These are the Indian "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata", the Anglo-Saxon "Beowulf", the French "Song of Roland", the German "Song of the Nibelungs", etc. In these works, the exploits of the hero were exalted in an idealized, often exaggerated form. The later epic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer, "Shah-name" by Ferdowsi, while retaining the mythological nature of the early epic, nevertheless, had a pronounced connection with real history, and the theme of the interweaving of human fate and the life of the people becomes one of them. main. The experience of the ancients will be in demand in the 19th-20th centuries, when writers will try to comprehend the dramatic relationship between the era and the individual personality, tell about the tests that morality, and sometimes the human psyche, are subjected to at the time of the greatest historical upheavals. Let us recall the lines of F. Tyutchev: "Blessed is he who visited this world in its fatal moments." The romantic formula of the poet in reality meant the destruction of all habitual forms of life, tragic losses and unfulfilled dreams.

The complex form of the epic novel allows writers to artistically explore these problems in all their completeness and inconsistency.

When we talk about the genre of the epic novel, of course, we immediately recall Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Other examples can be mentioned: Quiet Flows the Don by M. Sholokhov, Life and Fate by V. Grossman, The Saga of the Forsytes by the English writer Galsworthy; the book of the American writer Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind" can also be reckoned with good reason in this genre.

The very name of the genre indicates a synthesis, a combination of two main principles in it: the novel and the epic, i.e. related to the theme of the life of an individual and the theme of the history of the people. In other words, the epic novel tells about the fates of the heroes (as a rule, the heroes themselves and their fates are fictitious, invented by the author) against the background and in close connection with epoch-making historical events. So, in "War and Peace" - these are the fates of individual families (Rostovs, Bolkonskys), favorite heroes (Prince Andrei, Pierre Bezukhov, Natasha and Princess Mary) in the turning point for Russia and all of Europe, the historical period of the beginning of the 19th century, the Patriotic War of 1812 . In Sholokhov's book, the events of the First World War, two revolutions and a bloody civil war tragically intrude into the life of the Cossack farm, the Melekhov family, the fate of the main characters: Grigory, Aksinya, Natalya. V. Grossman talks about the Great Patriotic War and its main event - the Battle of Stalingrad, about the tragedy of the Holocaust. In "Life and Fate" the historical and family theme is also intertwined: the author traces the history of the Shaposhnikovs, trying to understand why the fate of the members of this family developed so differently. Galsworthy describes the life of the Forsyte family during the legendary Victorian era in England. Margaret Mitchell is a central event in US history, the Civil War between North and South, which dramatically changed the lives of many families and the fate of the most famous heroine of American literature - Scarlett O'Hara.

Dramatic genres of literature

Tragedy(tragodia Greek goat song) is a dramatic genre that originated in ancient Greece. The emergence of the ancient theater and tragedy is associated with the worship of the god of fertility and wine, Dionysus. A number of holidays were dedicated to him, during which ritual magical games were played with mummers, satyrs, whom the ancient Greeks represented as bipedal goat-like creatures. It is assumed that it was this appearance of the satyrs, who sang hymns to the glory of Dionysus, that gave such a strange name in translation to this serious genre. Theatrical action in Ancient Greece was given a magical religious significance, and theaters, built in the form of large open-air arenas, were always located in the very center of cities and were one of the main public places. Spectators sometimes spent the whole day here: they ate, drank, loudly expressed their approval or condemnation of the spectacle presented. The heyday of ancient Greek tragedy is associated with the names of three great tragedians: Aeschylus (525-456 BC) - the author of the tragedies Chained Prometheus, Oresteia, etc.; Sophocles (496-406 BC) - author of "Oedipus Rex", "Antigone" and others; and Euripides (480-406 BC) - the creator of Medea, Troy Nok, etc. Their creations will remain examples of the genre for centuries, they will be tried to imitate, but they will remain unsurpassed. Some of them ("Antigone", "Medea") are staged even today.

What are the main features of the tragedy? The main one is the presence of an insoluble global conflict: in ancient tragedy, this is the confrontation between fate, fate, on the one hand, and man, his will, free choice, on the other. In the tragedies of later eras, this conflict took on a moral and philosophical character, as a confrontation between good and evil, loyalty and betrayal, love and hatred. It has an absolute character, the heroes, embodying the opposing forces, are not ready for reconciliation, compromise, and therefore there are often many deaths at the end of the tragedy. This is how the tragedies of the great English playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616) were built, let us recall the most famous of them: Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, etc.

In the tragedies of the French playwrights of the 17th century Corneille ("Horace", "Polyeuctus") and Racine ("Andromache", "Britanic") this conflict received a different interpretation - as a conflict of duty and feeling, rational and emotional in the souls of the main characters, i.e. . received a psychological interpretation.

The most famous in Russian literature is the romantic tragedy "Boris Godunov" by A.S. Pushkin, created on historical material. In one of his best works, the poet sharply posed the problem of the “real misfortune” of the Moscow state - a chain reaction of impostures and “terrible atrocities” that people are ready for for the sake of power. Another problem is the attitude of the people to everything that happens in the country. The image of the “silent” people in the finale of “Boris Godunov” is symbolic; to this day, discussions continue about what Pushkin wanted to say by this. Based on the tragedy, an opera of the same name by M. P. Mussorgsky was written, which became a masterpiece of Russian opera classics.

Comedy(Greek komos - a cheerful crowd, oda - a song) - a genre that originated in ancient Greece a little later than tragedy (5th century BC). The most famous comedian of that time is Aristophanes ("Clouds", "Frogs", etc.).

In comedy, with the help of satire and humor, i.e. comic, moral vices are ridiculed: hypocrisy, stupidity, greed, envy, cowardice, complacency. Comedies tend to be topical; addressed to social issues, exposing the shortcomings of power. Distinguish between sitcoms and character comedies. In the first, a cunning intrigue, a chain of events (“The Comedy of Errors” by Shakespeare) are important, in the second - the characters of the characters, their absurdity, one-sidedness, as in the comedies “The Undergrowth” by D. Fonvizin, “The Tradesman in the Nobility”, “Tartuffe”, written by the classic genre, French comedian of the 17th century Jean-Baptiste Molière. In Russian dramaturgy, satirical comedy with its sharp social criticism, such as N. Gogol's The Inspector General, M. Bulgakov's Crimson Island, turned out to be especially in demand. Many wonderful comedies were created by A. Ostrovsky (“Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”, “Mad Money”, etc.).

The comedy genre invariably enjoys success with the public, perhaps because it affirms the triumph of justice: in the finale, vice must certainly be punished, and virtue must triumph.

Drama- a relatively "young" genre that appeared in Germany in the 18th century as a lesedrama (in German) - a play for reading. The drama is addressed to the everyday life of a person and society, everyday life, family relationships. Drama is primarily interested in the inner world of a person, it is the most psychological of all dramatic genres. At the same time, it is also the most literary of the stage genres, for example, the plays of A. Chekhov are largely perceived more as texts for reading, and not as theatrical performances.

Lyrical genres of literature

The division into genres in the lyrics is not absolute, because. the differences between genres in this case are conditional and not as obvious as in epic and drama. More often we distinguish lyrical works by their thematic features: landscape, love, philosophical, friendly, intimate lyrics, etc. However, we can name some genres that have pronounced individual characteristics: elegy, sonnet, epigram, message, epitaph.

Elegy(elegos Greek mournful song) - a poem of medium length, as a rule, moral-philosophical, love, confessional content.

The genre arose in antiquity, and elegiac distich was considered its main feature, i.e. dividing the poem into couplets, for example:

The longed-for moment has come: my long-term work is over, Why is an incomprehensible sadness secretly disturbing me?

A. Pushkin

In the poetry of the 19th-20th centuries, the division into couplets is no longer such a strict requirement, now the semantic features that are associated with the origin of the genre are more significant. In terms of content, the elegy goes back to the form of ancient funeral “weeps”, in which, while mourning the deceased, they simultaneously recalled his extraordinary virtues. This origin predetermined the main feature of the elegy - the combination of sorrow with faith, regret with hope, the acceptance of being through sadness. The lyrical hero of the elegy is aware of the imperfection of the world and people, his own sinfulness and weakness, but does not reject life, but accepts it in all its tragic beauty. A striking example is "Elegy" by A.S. Pushkin:

Crazy years faded fun

It's hard for me, like a vague hangover.

But, like wine - the sadness of bygone days

In my soul, the older, the stronger.

My path is sad. Promises me labor and sorrow

The coming turbulent sea.

But I don't want, oh friends, to die;

I want to live in order to think and suffer;

And I know I will enjoy

Between sorrows, worries and anxiety:

Sometimes I'll get drunk again with harmony,

I will shed tears over fiction,

And maybe - at my sad sunset

Love will shine with a farewell smile.

Sonnet(sonetto, ital. song) - the so-called "solid" poetic form, which has strict construction rules. There are 14 lines in the sonnet, divided into two quatrains (quatrains) and two three-line verses (tercet). In quatrains only two rhymes are repeated, in terzets two or three. The methods of rhyming also had their own requirements, which, however, varied.

The birthplace of the sonnet is Italy, this genre is also represented in English and French poetry. Petrarch, the 14th-century Italian poet, is considered the luminary of the genre. He dedicated all his sonnets to his beloved Donna Laura.

In Russian literature, the sonnets of A.S. Pushkin remain unsurpassed, beautiful sonnets were also created by the poets of the Silver Age.

Epigram(Greek epigramma, inscription) is a short, mocking poem, usually addressed to a specific person. Many poets write epigrams, sometimes increasing the number of their ill-wishers and even enemies. The epigram on Count Vorontsov turned around for A.S. Pushkin by the hatred of this nobleman and, ultimately, expulsion from Odessa to Mikhailovskoye:

Popu-my lord, half-merchant,

Half wise, half ignorant,

Semi-scoundrel, but there is hope

What will be complete at last.

Mocking verses can be dedicated not only to a specific person, but also to a generalized addressee, as, for example, in the epigram of A. Akhmatova:

Could Bice create like Dante,

Were Laura to glorify the heat of love?

I taught women to speak...

But, God, how to silence them!

There are even cases of a kind of duel of epigrams. When the famous Russian lawyer A.F. Horses were appointed to the Senate, ill-wishers extended an evil epigram to him:

Caligula brought the horse to the Senate,

He stands dressed in both velvet and gold.

But I will say, we have the same arbitrariness:

I read in the papers that Kony is in the Senate.

What A.F. Koni, who was distinguished by his extraordinary literary talent, replied:

(Greek epitafia, tombstone) - a farewell poem for a dead person, intended for a tombstone. Initially, this word was used in a literal sense, but later it acquired a more figurative meaning. For example, I. Bunin has a lyrical miniature in prose "Epitaph", dedicated to farewell to the writer's dear, but forever receding Russian estate. Gradually, the epitaph is transformed into a poem-dedication, a farewell poem ("Wreath to the Dead" by A. Akhmatova). Perhaps the most famous poem of this kind in Russian poetry is “The Death of a Poet” by M. Lermontov. Another example is the "Epitaph" by M. Lermontov, dedicated to the memory of Dmitry Venevitinov, a poet and philosopher who died at the age of twenty-two.

The concepts of "genus", species, "genre"

Genus literary - a series of literary works that are similar in the type of their speech organization and cognitive focus on an object or subject, or the act of artistic expression itself.

The division of literature into genera is based on the distinction between the functions of the word: the word either depicts the objective world, or expresses the state of the speaker, or reproduces the process of verbal communication.

Traditionally, there are three literary types, each of which corresponds to a specific function of the word:
epic (pictorial function);
lyrics (expressive function);
drama (communicative function).

Target:
The image of the human personality is objective, in interaction with other people and events.
Item:
The outside world in its plastic volume, spatio-temporal extension and richness of events: characters, circumstances, social and natural environment in which the characters interact.
Content:
The objective content of reality in its material and spiritual aspects, presented in characters and circumstances artistically typed by the author.
The text has a predominantly descriptive-narrative structure; a special role is played by the system of subject-pictorial details.

Target:
Expression of thoughts and feelings of the author-poet.
Item:
The inner world of the personality in its impulsiveness and spontaneity, the formation and change of impressions, dreams, moods, associations, meditations, reflections caused by interaction with the outside world.
Content:
The subjective inner world of the poet and the spiritual life of mankind.
Features of the organization thin. speeches:
The text is distinguished by increased expressiveness, the figurative possibilities of the language, its rhythmic and sound organization play a special role.

Target:
Image of the human personality in action, in conflict with other people.
Item:
The external world, represented through the characters and purposeful actions of the characters, and the inner world of the characters.
Content:
The objective content of reality, presented in characters and circumstances artistically typified by the author, and involving a stage embodiment.
Features of the organization thin. speeches:
The text has a predominantly dialogic structure, which includes monologues of the characters.
A literary type is a stable type of poetic structure within a literary genre.

Genre - a group of works within a literary type, united by common formal, meaningful or functional features. Each literary era and trend has its own specific system of genres.

Epos: types and genres

Large forms:
epic;
Novel (Genres of the novel: Family-household, Socio-psychological, Philosophical, Historical, Fantastic, Utopian novel, Educational novel, Love novel, Adventure novel, Journey novel, Lyro-epic (novel in verse))
epic novel;
Epic poem.

Medium forms:
Tale (genres of the story: Family-household, Social-psychological, Philosophical, Historical, Fantastic, Fairy-tale, Adventure, Tale in verse);
Poem (poem genres: Epic, Heroic, Lyrical, Lyrical-epic, Dramatic, Ironic-comic, Didactic, Satirical, Burlesque, Lyrical-dramatic (romantic));

Small forms:
Story (story genres: Essay (descriptive-narrative, “moral-descriptive”), Novelistic (conflict-narrative);
Novella;
Fairy tale (tale genres: Magic, Social, Satirical, Socio-political, Lyrical, Fantastic, Animalistic, Scientific and educational);
Fable;
Essay (essay genres: Artistic, Journalistic, Documentary).

An epic is an epic work of national problems that is monumental in form.

A novel is a large form of epic, a work with a detailed plot, in which the narrative is focused on the fate of several personalities in the process of their formation, development and interaction, deployed in an artistic space and time sufficient to convey the “organization” of the world and analyze its historical essence. Being an epic of private life, the novel presents individual and social life as relatively independent, not exhaustive and not absorbing each other elements. The story of individual fate in the novel acquires a general, substantial meaning.

The story is the average form of the epic, a work with a chronicle, as a rule, a plot in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual in the process of its formation and development.

Poem - a large or medium-sized poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot; in various genre modifications, it reveals its synthesis, combining moralistic and heroic beginnings, intimate experiences and great historical upheavals, lyrical-epic and monumental tendencies.

The story is a small epic form of fiction, a small prose work in terms of the volume of the depicted phenomena of life, and hence in terms of the volume of the text.

A short story is a small prose genre, comparable in volume to a story, but differing from it in a sharp centripetal plot, often paradoxical, lack of descriptiveness and compositional rigor.

Literary fairy tale - the author's artistic prose or poetic work, based either on folklore sources, or purely original; the work is predominantly fantastic, magical, depicting the wonderful adventures of fictional or traditional fairy-tale characters, in which magic, a miracle plays the role of a plot-forming factor, serves as the main starting point for characterizing characters.

A fable is a small form of didactic epic, a short story in verse or prose with a directly formulated moral conclusion that gives the story an allegorical meaning. The existence of a fable is universal: it is applicable to different occasions. The artistic world of the fable includes the traditional circle of images and motifs (animals, plants, schematic figures of people, instructive plots), often painted in tones of comedy and social criticism.

An essay is a kind of small form of epic literature, which differs from a story and a short story in the absence of a single, quickly resolved conflict and a greater development of a descriptive image. The essay touches not so much on the problems of the formation of the personality's character in its conflicts with the established social environment, but on the problems of the civil and moral state of the "environment" and has a great cognitive diversity.

Lyrics: thematic groups and genres

Thematic groups:
Meditative lyrics
intimate lyrics
(friendly and love lyrics)
landscape lyrics
Civil (socio-political) lyrics
Philosophical lyrics

Genres:
Oh yeah
Hymn
Elegy
Idyll
Sonnet
Song
Romance
Dithyramb
Madrigal
Thought
Message
Epigram
Ballad

Ode - the leading genre of high style, characteristic primarily for the poetry of classicism. The ode is distinguished by canonical themes (glorification of God, the fatherland, wisdom of life, etc.), techniques (“quiet” or “rapid” attack, the presence of digressions, permitted “lyrical disorder”) and types (odes are spiritual, solemn - “pindaric”, moralizing - "Horatian", love - "Anacreontic").

Anthem is a solemn song to verses of a programmatic nature.

Elegy is a genre of lyrics, a poem of medium length, meditative or emotional content (usually sad), most often in the first person, without a distinct composition.

Idyll - a genre of lyrics, a small work depicting an eternally beautiful nature, sometimes in contrast with a restless and vicious person, a peaceful virtuous life in the bosom of nature, etc.

Sonnet - a poem of 14 lines, forming 2 quatrains and 2 tercetes or 3 quatrains and 1 couplet. The following types of sonnets are known:
"French" sonnet - abba abba ccd eed (or ccd ede);
"Italian" sonnet - abab abab cdc dcd (or cde cde);
“English sonnet” - abab cdcd efef gg.

A wreath of sonnets is a cycle of 14 sonnets, in which the first verse of each repeats the last verse of the previous one (forming a “garland”), and together these first verses add up to the 15th, “main” sonnet (forming a gloss).

A romance is a short poem written for solo singing with instrumental accompaniment, the text of which is characterized by a melodious melody, syntactic simplicity and harmony, completeness of a sentence within the boundaries of a stanza.

Dithyramb - a genre of ancient lyrics that arose as a choral song, a hymn in honor of the god Dionysus, or Bacchus, later - in honor of other gods and heroes.

Madrigal is a small poem of predominantly loving-complimentary (less often abstract-meditative) content, usually with a paradoxical sharpening at the end.

Duma is a lyrical epic song, the style of which is characterized by symbolic pictures, negative parallelisms, retardation, tautological phrases, single-mindedness.

The message is a genre of lyrics, a poetic letter, the formal feature of which is the presence of an appeal to a specific addressee and, accordingly, such motives as requests, wishes, exhortation, etc. The content of the message, according to tradition (from Horace), is mainly moral-philosophical and didactic, but there were numerous narrative, panegyric, satirical, love messages, etc.

An epigram is a short satirical poem, usually with a sharp one at the end.

Ballad - a poem with a dramatic development of the plot, which is based on an extraordinary story that reflects the essential moments of the interactions of a person and society or interpersonal relationships. The characteristic features of the ballad are a small volume, a tense plot, usually saturated with tragedy and mystery, jerky narration, dramatic dialogism, melodiousness and musicality.

Synthesis of lyrics with other types of literature

Lyric-epic genres (types) - literary and artistic works that combine the features of the epic and lyrics; the plot narration about the events is combined in them with the emotional-meditative statements of the narrator, creating the image of the lyrical “I”. The connection of the two principles can act as the unity of the theme, as the narrator's self-reflection, as the psychological and everyday motivation of the story, as the author's direct participation in the unfolding plot, as the author's exposure of his own techniques, which becomes an element of the artistic concept. Compositionally, this connection is often made in the form of lyrical digressions.

A prose poem is a lyrical work in prose form that has such features of a lyrical poem as a small volume, increased emotionality, usually plotless composition, a general setting for expressing a subjective impression or experience.

The lyrical hero is the image of the poet in the lyrics, one of the ways to reveal the author's consciousness. The lyrical hero is the artistic “double” of the author-poet, growing out of the text of lyrical compositions (a cycle, a book of poems, a lyrical poem, the entirety of lyrics) as a clearly defined figure or life role, as a person endowed with the certainty of an individual fate, the psychological distinctness of the inner world, and sometimes even features of a plastic appearance.

Forms of lyrical expression:
monologue in the first person (A.S. Pushkin - “I loved you ...”);
role-playing lyrics - a monologue on behalf of the character introduced into the text (A.A. Blok - “I am Hamlet, / The blood is getting cold ...”);
expression of the author's feelings and thoughts through a subject image (A.A. Fet - “The lake fell asleep ...”);
expression of the author's feelings and thoughts through reflections in which objective images play a subordinate role or are fundamentally conditional (A.S. Pushkin - “Echo”);
expression of the author's feelings and thoughts through the dialogue of conditional characters (F. Villon - “The dispute between Villon and his soul”);
appeal to some indefinite person (F.I. Tyutchev - “Silentium”);
plot (M.Yu. Lermontov - “Three palm trees”).

Tragedy - “Tragedy of Rock”, “High Tragedy”;
Comedy - Comedy of characters, Comedy of everyday (morals), Comedy of positions, Comedy of masks (commedia del’arte), Comedy of intrigue, Comedy buffoonery, Lyrical comedy, Satirical comedy, Social comedy, “High comedy”;
Drama (view) - “Petty-bourgeois drama”, Psychological drama, Lyrical drama, Narrative (epic) drama;
Tragicomedy;
Mystery;
Melodrama;
Vaudeville;
Farce.

Tragedy is a type of drama based on an irresolvable collision of heroic characters with the world, its tragic outcome. The tragedy is marked by severe seriousness, depicts reality most pointedly, as a clot of internal contradictions, reveals the deepest conflicts of reality in an extremely intense and rich form, which acquires the meaning of an artistic symbol.

Comedy is a type of drama in which characters, situations, and action are presented in funny forms or imbued with the comic. Comedy is aimed primarily at ridiculing the ugly (contradicting the social ideal or norm): the heroes of the comedy are internally untenable, inconsistent, do not correspond to their position, purpose, and thus are given out as a victim of laughter, which debunk them, thereby fulfilling their “ideal” mission.

Drama (view) is one of the main types of drama as a literary genre, along with tragedy and comedy. Like a comedy, it mainly reproduces the private life of people, but its main goal is not to ridicule morals, but to portray the individual in her dramatic relationship with society. Like tragedy, drama tends to recreate sharp contradictions; at the same time, her conflicts are not so tense and inescapable and, in principle, allow for the possibility of a successful resolution, and her characters are not so exceptional.

Tragicomedy is a type of drama that has features of both tragedy and comedy. The tragicomic worldview underlying tragicomedy is associated with a sense of the relativity of the existing criteria of life and the rejection of the moral absolute of comedy and tragedy. Tragicomedy does not recognize the absolute at all, the subjective here can be seen as objective and vice versa; a sense of relativity can lead to complete relativism; reassessment of moral principles can be reduced to uncertainty in their omnipotence or to the final rejection of firm morality; an unclear understanding of reality can cause a burning interest in it or complete indifference, it can result in less certainty in displaying the laws of being or indifference to them and even their denial - up to the recognition of the illogicality of the world.

Mystery - a genre of Western European theater of the late Middle Ages, the content of which was biblical stories; religious scenes alternated in them with interludes, mysticism was combined with realism, piety - with blasphemy.

Melodrama is a type of drama, a play with sharp intrigue, exaggerated emotionality, a sharp opposition between good and evil, and a moral and instructive tendency.

Vaudeville is one of the types of drama, a light play with an entertaining intrigue, with couplet songs and dances.

Farce is a type of folk theater and literature of Western European countries of the 14th-16th centuries, primarily France, which was distinguished by a comic, often satirical orientation, realistic concreteness, freethinking and was full of buffoonery.

The dramatic genre of literature has three main genres: tragedy, comedy and drama in the narrow sense of the word, but it also has such genres as vaudeville, melodrama, tragicomedy.

Tragedy (gr.

Tragoidia, lit. - goat song) - "a dramatic genre based on the tragic collision of heroic characters, its tragic outcome and full of pathos ..."266.

The tragedy depicts reality as a bunch of internal contradictions, it reveals the conflicts of reality in an extremely intense form. This is a dramatic work, which is based on an irreconcilable life conflict, leading to the suffering and death of the hero. So, in a collision with the world of crime, lies and hypocrisy, the bearer of advanced humanistic ideals Danish prince Hamlet, the hero of the tragedy of the same name by W. Shakespeare, tragically perishes.

In the struggle waged by tragic heroes, the heroic traits of human character are revealed with great fullness.

The tragedy genre has a long history. It arose from religious cult rites, was a stage performance of a myth. With the advent of the theater, tragedy emerged as an independent genre of dramatic art. The creators of tragedies were the ancient Greek playwrights of the 5th century. BC e. Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, who left her perfect samples. They reflected the tragic collision of the traditions of the tribal system with the new social order. These conflicts were perceived and portrayed by playwrights mainly on mythological material. The hero of an ancient tragedy was drawn into an irresolvable conflict either by the will of an imperious fate (fate) or by the will of the gods. So, the hero of the tragedy of Aeschylus "Prometheus chained" suffers because he violated the will of Zeus when he gave fire to people and taught them crafts. In the tragedy of Sophocles "Oedipus Rex" the hero is doomed to be a parricide, to marry his own mother. The ancient tragedy usually included five acts and was built in compliance with the "three unities" - place, time, action. Tragedies were written in verse and distinguished by loftiness of speech; its hero was a "high hero."

The great English playwright William Shakespeare is considered to be the founder of modern tragedy. At the heart of his tragedies "Romeo and Juliet", "Hamlet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth" are acute conflicts. Shakespeare's characters are no longer heroes of myths, but real people struggling with real, not mythical, forces and circumstances. Striving for maximum truthfulness and completeness in reproducing life, Shakespeare developed all the best aspects of ancient tragedy, at the same time freeing this genre from those conventions that lost their meaning in his era (mythological plot, observance of the rule of "three unities"). The characters in Shakespeare's tragedies amaze with their vital persuasiveness. Formally, Shakespearean tragedy is far from antiquity. The tragedy of Shakespeare covers all aspects of reality. The personality of the hero of his tragedies is open, not fully defined, capable of change.

The next stage in the development of the tragedy genre is associated with the work of the French playwrights P. Corneille (Medea, Horace, The Death of Pompey, Oedipus, etc.) and J. Racine (Andromache, Iphigenia, Fed - ra" etc.) * They created brilliant samples of the tragedy of classicism - the tragedy of "high style" with the obligatory observance of the rule of "three unities".

At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries.

F. Schiller updated the "classic" style of tragedy, creating the tragedies "Don Carlos", "Mary Stuart", "The Maid of Orleans".

In the era of romanticism, the content of the tragedy becomes the life of a person with his spiritual quest. Tragic dramas were created by V. Hugo (Ernani, Lucrezia Borgia, Ruy Blas, The King Amuses himself, etc.), J. Byron (Two Fascari), M. Lermontov (Masquerade).

In Russia, the first tragedies within the framework of the poetics of classicism were created in the 18th century. A. Sumarokov (“Khorev”), M. Kheraskov (“Flames”), V. Ozerov (“Polyxena”), Y. Knyazhnin (“Dido”).

In the 19th century Russian realism also provided convincing examples of tragedy. The creator of the tragedy of a new type was A.

C. Pushkin. The main character of his tragedy "Boris Godunov", in which all the requirements of classicism were violated, was the people, shown as the driving force of history. Comprehension of the tragic conflicts of reality was continued by A.N. Ostrovsky (“Guilty Without Guilt”, etc.) and L.N. Tolstoy ("The Power of Darkness").

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. the tragedy “in high style” is being revived: in Russia - in the works of L. Andreev (“The Life of a Man”, “Tsar-Hunger”), Vyach. Ivanov ("Prometheus"), in the West - in the work of T.-S. Elliot ("Murder in the Cathedral"), P. Claudel ("Annunciation"), G. Hauptmann ("Rats"). Later, in the 20th century, in the work of J.-P. Sartre ("Flies"), J. Anouilh ("Antigone").

Tragic conflicts in Russian literature of the XX century. were reflected in the dramaturgy of M. Bulgakov (“Days of the Turbins”, “Running”). In the literature of socialist realism, they acquired a peculiar interpretation, since the conflict based on the irreconcilable clash of class enemies became dominant in them, and the main character died in the name of the idea (“Optimistic Tragedy” by Vs. Vishnevsky, “Storm” by B.

N. Bill-Belotserkovsky, "Invasion" by L. Leonov, "Eagle on his shoulder" by I. Selvinsky, etc.). At the present stage of development of Russian drama, the genre of tragedy is almost forgotten, but tragic conflicts are comprehended in many plays.

Comedy (lat. sotoesIa, Greek kotosIa, from kotoe - a merry procession and 6s1yo - a song) is a type of drama in which characters, situations and actions are presented in funny forms or imbued with the comic1.

Comedy, like tragedy, originated in ancient Greece. The "father" of comedy is the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes (V-IV centuries BC). In his works, he ridiculed the greed, bloodthirstiness and immorality of the Athenian aristocracy, stood up for a peaceful patriarchal life (“Horsemen”, “Clouds”, “Lysistrata”, “Frogs”).

In European literature of modern times, comedy continued the traditions of ancient literature, enriching them. In European literature, stable types of comedies stand out. For example, the comedy of masks, the commedia dell'arte (sottesia (le1marle), which appeared in Italy in the 16th century. Its characters were typical masks (Harlequin, Pulcinella, etc.). This genre influenced the work of J.-B. Molière, K Goldoni, C. Gozzi.

In Spain, the comedy “cloak and sword” was popular in the works of Lope de Vega (“Sheep Spring”), Tirso de Molina (“Don Gil Green Pants”), Calderon (“No Joking With Love”).

Art theorists have solved the issue of the social purpose of comedy in different ways. During the Renaissance, her role was limited to correcting morals. In the 19th century V. Belinsky noted that comedy not only denies, but also affirms: “True indignation at the contradictions and vulgarity of society is an ailment of a deep and noble soul that stands above its own society and carries the ideal of another, better society.” First of all, comedy was supposed to be aimed at ridiculing the ugly. But, along with laughter, the invisible “honest face” of the comedy (according to N.V. Gogol, the only honest face of his comedy “The Inspector General” was laughter), it could have a “noble comedy”, symbolizing a positive principle, represented, for example, in the image of Chatsky in Griboyedov, Figaro in Beaumarchais, Falstaff in Shakespeare.

The art of comedy achieved significant success in the work of W. Shakespeare (“Twelfth Night”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, etc.). The playwright expressed in them the Renaissance idea of ​​the irresistible power of nature over the human heart. The ugliness in his comedies was funny, fun reigned in them, they had solid characters of strong people who know how to love. Shakespeare's comedies still do not leave the theater stages of the world.

Brilliant success was achieved by the French comedian of the 17th century. Molière is the author of the world-famous "Tartuffe", "The Tradesman in the Nobility", "The Miser". Beaumarchais became a famous comedian (The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro).

Folk comedy has existed in Russia for a long time. An outstanding comedian of the Russian Enlightenment was D.N. Fonvizin. His comedy "Undergrowth" mercilessly ridiculed the "wild nobility" reigning in the Prostakov family. Wrote comedies I.A. Krylov (“Lesson to daughters”, “Fashion shop”), ridiculing admiration for foreigners.

In the 19th century examples of satirical, social realistic comedy are created by A.S. Griboyedov ("Woe from Wit"), N.V. Gogol ("Inspector"), A.N. Ostrovsky (“Profitable place”, “Our people - we will get along”, etc.). Continuing the traditions of N. Gogol, A. Sukhovo-Kobylin in his trilogy (“Krechinsky’s Wedding”, “Deed”, “Tarelkin’s Death”) showed how the bureaucracy “covered” the whole of Russia, bringing it troubles comparable to the damage caused by the Tatars. the Mongol yoke and the invasion of Napoleon. Famous comedies by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (“The Death of Pazukhin”) and A.N. Tolstoy (“The Fruits of Enlightenment”), which in some way approached tragedy (they contain elements of tragicomedy).

Comedy has spawned different genre varieties. There are comedy of positions, comedy of intrigue, comedy of characters, comedy of manners (everyday comedy), buffoonery comedy. There is no clear boundary between these genres. Most comedies combine elements of different genres, which deepens the comedy characters, diversifies and expands the very palette of the comic image. This is clearly demonstrated by Gogol in The Government Inspector. On the one hand, he created a "comedy of situations" based on a chain of ridiculous misunderstandings, of which the main one was the ridiculous mistake of six county officials who mistook Khlestakov's "elystratishka", "kestrel" for a powerful auditor, which was the source of many comic situations. On the other hand, the comic effect aroused by various absurd situations in life far from exhausts the content of The Inspector General. After all, the reason for the mistake of county officials lies in their personal qualities? - in their cowardice, spiritual rudeness, mental limitations - and in the essence of Khlestakov's character, who, while living in St. Petersburg, learned the behavior of officials. Before us is a vivid "comedy of characters", more precisely, a comedy of realistically written out social types, presented in typical circumstances.

In terms of genre, there are also satirical comedies (“Undergrowth” by Fonvizin, “Inspector General” by Gogol) and high, close to drama. The action of these comedies does not contain funny situations. In Russian dramaturgy, this is primarily "Woe from Wit" by A. Griboyedov. There is nothing comical in Chatsky's unrequited love for Sophia, but the situation in which the romantic young man put himself is comical. The position of the educated and progressive-minded Chatsky in the society of the Famusovs and the Silent Ones is dramatic. There are also lyrical comedies, an example of which is "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. comedies appear, characterized by increased psychologism, installation on the image of complicated characters. These include “comedies of ideas” by B. Shaw (“Pygmalion”, “Millionaire”, etc.), “comedies of moods” by A.P. Chekhov (“The Cherry Orchard”), tragicomedies by L. Pirandello (“Six characters in search of an author ”), J. Anuya (“Wild Woman”).

In the XX century. Russian avant-gardism declares itself, including in the field of dramaturgy, the roots of which undoubtedly go back to folklore. However, the folklore beginning is already found in the plays of V. Kapnist, D. Fonvizin, in the satire of I. Krylov, N. Gogol, M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose traditions in the 20th century continued M. Bulgakov ("Crimson Island", "Zoyka's Apartment", "Adam and Eve"), N. Erdman ("Suicide", "Mandate"), A. Platonov ("Barrel Organ").

In the Russian avant-garde of the XX century. three stages are conventionally distinguished: futuristic (“Zangezi” by V. Khlebnikov, “Victory over the Sun” by A. Kruchenykh, “Mystery-buff” by V. Mayakovsky), post-futuristic (Oberiut theater of absurdity: “Elizabeth to you” by D. Kharms, Ivanovs' Christmas Tree by A. Vvedensky) and contemporary avant-garde dramaturgy (A. Artaud, N. Sadur, A. Shipenko, A. Slapovsky, A. Zheleztsov, I. Savelyev, L. Petrushevskaya, E. Gremina and others. ).

Avant-garde tendencies in modern drama are the subject of literary studies. For example, M.I. Gromova, sees the origins of this phenomenon in the fact that in the 20s of the XX century. Attempts to create "alternative" art (Oberiut theater) were suppressed, which went underground for many years, giving rise to "samizdat" and "dissidence", and in the 70s (years of stagnation) was formed on the stages of numerous "underground" studios that received the right to work legally in the 90s (the years of perestroika), when it became possible to get acquainted with Western European avant-garde dramaturgy of all types: “the theater of the absurd”, “theater of cruelty”, “theater of paradox”, “happening”, etc. On the stage of the studio "Laboratory" was staged a play by V. Denisov "Six Ghosts on the Piano" (its content was inspired by a painting by Salvador Dali). Critics were struck by the cruel absurd reality of the plays by A. Galin (“Stars in the Morning Sky”, “Sorry”, “Titul”), A. Dudarev (“Dump”), E. Radzinsky (“Sports Games of 1981”, “Our Decameron", "I'm standing at the restaurant"), N. Sadur ("Luna Wolves"),

A. Kazantsev ("Dreams of Evgenia"), A. Zheleztsov ("Askold's Grave", "Nail"), A. Buravsky ("Russian Teacher"). Plays of this kind gave reason to critic E. Sokolyansky to conclude: “It seems that the only thing that a dramatic writer can convey in the current conditions is a certain madness of the moment. That is, the feeling of a turning point in history with the triumph of chaos. All of these plays have elements of tragicomedy. Tragicomedy is a type of dramatic works (drama as a kind), which has the features of both tragedy and comedy, which distinguishes tragicomedy from forms intermediate between tragedy and comedy, that is, from drama as a species.

Tragicomedy renounces the moral absolute of comedy and tragedy. The attitude underlying it is associated with a sense of the relativity of the existing criteria of life. Overestimation of moral principles leads to uncertainty and even rejection of them; subjective and objective beginnings are blurred; an unclear understanding of reality can cause interest in it or complete indifference and even recognition of the illogicality of the world. The tragicomic worldview dominates in them at turning points in history, although the tragicomic beginning was already present in the dramaturgy of Euripides (Alcestis, Ion).

The "pure" type of tragicomedy became characteristic of the drama of the Baroque and Mannerism (F. Beaumont, J. Fletcher). Its signs are a combination of funny and serious episodes, a mixture of sublime and comic characters, the presence of pastoral motives, the idealization of friendship and love, intricate action with unexpected situations, the predominant role of chance in the fate of the characters, the characters are not endowed with constancy of character, but their images often emphasize one trait that turns a character into a type.

Dramaturgy at the end of the 19th century. in the works of G. Ibsen, Yu.A. Strindberg, G. Hauptmann, A. Chekhov, L. Pirandello, in the XX century. - G. Lorca, J. Giraudoux, J. Anouilh, E. Ionesco, S. Beckett, the tragicomic element is intensified, as in the Russian avant-garde dramaturgy of the 20th century.

Modern tragicomedy does not have clear genre features and is characterized by a “tragicomic effect”, which is created by showing reality both in tragic and comic coverage, the discrepancy between the hero and the situation (the tragic situation is a comic hero, or vice versa, as in Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit »); the insolubility of the internal conflict (the plot presupposes the continuation of the action; the author refrains from a final assessment), a sense of the absurdity of being.

A special type of entertaining comedy is vaudeville (fr. vaudeville from Vau de Vire - the name of the valley in Normandy, where this genre of theatrical art appeared at the beginning of the 15th century) - a play of everyday content with an entertaining development of the action, in which witty dialogue alternates with dances and songs. - senks-couplets.

In France, vaudeville was written by E. Labiche, O. Scribe. In Russia, vaudeville appeared at the beginning of the 19th century. He inherited from the comic opera of the XVIII century. interest in national subjects. Vaudeville wrote to A.S. Griboedov ("Feigned infidelity"), D.T. Lensky ("Lev Gurych Sinichkin"), V.A. Sollogub (“Coachman, or the Prank of a Hussar Officer”), P.A. Karatygin (“Borrowed wives”, “The eccentric dead man”), N.A. Nekrasov ("Petersburg usurer"), A.P. Chekhov ("Bear", "Proposal", "Wedding", "On the dangers of tobacco"). In the second half of the XIX century. vaudeville was superseded by operetta. Interest in it returned at the end of the 20th century.

In theatrical art of the XIX-XX centuries. comedies-vaudevilles of light content with external comic devices began to be called farces. Farce (French farce, from Latin farcio - I start: middle-century mysteries “began” with comedy inserts) - a type of folk theater and literature of Western European countries of the XIV- 16th century, especially in France. He was distinguished by a comic, often satirical orientation, realistic concreteness, freethinking; full of buffoonery. Its heroes were the townspeople. Farce mask images were devoid of an individual beginning (farce is close to the comedy of masks), although they were the first attempt to create social types268.

The means of creating a comic (satirical) effect are speech comics - alogism, incongruity of situations, parody, playing with paradoxes, irony, in the latest comedy - humor, irony, sarcasm, grotesque, wit, wit, pun.

Wit is based on a sense of humor (in fact, it is one and the same) - a special associative ability, the ability to critically approach the subject, notice the absurdity, quickly respond to it269. The paradox "expresses an idea that at first glance is absurd, but, as it turns out later, to a certain extent fair"1. For example, in Gogol's "Marriage" after the shameful flight Podkolesina Arina Panteleymonovna reprimands Kochkarev: Yes, I live in my sixth decade, but I have not yet made such a fear. Yes, I am for that, father, I will spit in your face if you are an honest person. Yes, after that you are a scoundrel, if you are an honest person. Shame the girl in front of the whole world!

Features of the grotesque style are characteristic of many comedies created in Russian literature of the 20th century. (“Suicide” by N. Erdman, “Zoyka’s apartment” by M. Bulgakov, “The house that Swift built” by G. Gorin). E. Schwartz (“Dragon”, “Shadow”) used comic allegory and a satirical symbol in his fairy tale plays.

Drama as a genre appeared later than tragedy and comedy. Like tragedy, it tends to recreate sharp contradictions. As a kind of dramatic genre, it became widespread in Europe during the Enlightenment and at the same time was comprehended as a genre. Drama became an independent genre in the second half of the 18th century. among the enlighteners (petty-bourgeois drama appeared in France and Germany). It indicated an interest in the social way of life, in the moral ideals of a democratic environment, in the psychology of the “average person”.

During this period, tragic thinking is in crisis, replaced by a different view of the world, affirming the social activity of the individual. In the process of drama development, its inner drama thickens, a successful outcome is less and less common, the hero is at odds with society and with himself (for example, the plays of G. Ibsen, B. Shaw, M. Gorky, A. Chekhov).

Drama is a play with a sharp conflict, which, unlike the tragic, is not so sublime, more mundane, ordinary and somehow resolved. The specificity of the drama lies, firstly, in the fact that it is built on modern, and not on ancient material, and secondly, the drama establishes a new hero who rebelled against his fate and circumstances. The difference between drama and tragedy lies in the essence of the conflict: tragic conflicts are insoluble, because their resolution does not depend on the personal will of the person. The tragic hero finds himself in a tragic situation involuntarily, and not because of a mistake he made. Dramatic conflicts, unlike tragic ones, are not insurmountable. They are based on the clash of characters with such forces, principles, traditions that oppose them from the outside. If the hero of a drama dies, then his death is in many ways an act of a voluntary decision, and not the result of a tragically hopeless situation. So, Katerina in A. Ostrovsky's "Thunderstorm", acutely worried that she had violated religious and moral norms, not being able to live in the oppressive atmosphere of the Kabanovs' house, rushes into the Volga. Such a decoupling was not mandatory; the obstacles to the rapprochement between Katerina and Boris cannot be considered insurmountable: the heroine's rebellion could have ended differently.

Drama flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the era of romanticism, tragedy reigned in drama. The birth of drama is associated with the writers' appeal to contemporary social topics. Tragedy, as a rule, was created on historical material. The role of the protagonist was played by a major historical figure, leading the struggle in extremely unfavorable circumstances for himself. The emergence of the dramatic genre characterized the increased interest in the knowledge of modern social life, the dramatic fate of a "private" person.

The range of drama is extraordinarily wide. The playwright depicts the everyday private life of people, their relationships, clashes caused by estate, property, class differences. In the realistic drama of the XIX century. predominantly psychological drama developed (dramas by A.N. Ostrovsky, G. Ibsen, and others). At the turn of the century, drama changed in the work of A.P. Chekhov ("Ivanov", "Three Sisters") with his mournfully ironic lyricism, using subtext. Similar trends are observed in the work of M. Maeterlinck with his hidden "tragedy of everyday life" ("The Blind", "Monna Witta").

In the literature of the XX century. the horizons of the drama have expanded significantly, its conflicts have become more complex. In the dramaturgy of M. Gorky (“Petty Bourgeois”, “Enemies”, “Children of the Sun”, “Barbarians”), the problem of the responsibility of the intelligentsia for the fate of the people is posed, but it is considered mainly on the basis of family and everyday material.

In the West, dramas were created by R. Rolland, J. Priestley, Y. O "Neill, A. Miller, F. Durrenmatt, E. Albee, T. Williams.

The "element" of the drama is modernity, the private life of people, situations based on solvable conflicts concerning the fate of individuals that do not affect problems of public importance.

There were such varieties of drama as the lyrical drama of M. Maeterlinck and A. Blok (The Pavilion, The Rose and the Cross), the intellectual drama of J.-P. Sartre, J. Anouilh, the drama of the absurd by E. Ionesco (“The Bald Singer”, “Chairs”), S. Beckett (“Waiting for Godot”, “The End of the Game”), oratorical, rally theater - the political theater of B. Brecht with his "epic" plays ("What is that soldier, what is this").

In the history of the Soviet theater, the political theater, whose traditions were laid down by V. Mayakovsky, V. Kirshon, A. Afinogenov, B. Lavrenev, K. Simonov, and distinguished by a pronounced position as an author, has taken an important place. In the 60s - 90s of the XX century. journalistic dramas appeared (“Man from outside” by I. Dvoretsky, “Minutes of one meeting” by A. Gelman, “Interview in Buenos Aires” by G. Borovik, “Further ... further ... further” by M. Shatrov) and documentary dramas (“Leaders” by G. Sokolovsky, “Joseph and Hope” by O. Kuchkina, “The Black Man, or Me, Poor Soso Dzhugashvili” by V. Korkiya, “Sixth of July” and “Blue Horses on Red Grass” by M. Shatrov , "Anna Ivanovna" by V. Shalamov, "The Republic of Labor" by A. Solzhenitsyn, etc.). In the genre of drama, such varieties as debate plays, dialogue plays, chronicle plays, parable plays, fairy tale plays and "new drama" appeared.

Separate varieties of drama merge with related genres, using their means of expression: with tragicomedy, farce, mask theater.

There is also such a genre as melodrama. Melodrama (from the Greek m?los - song, melody and drama - action, drama) - 1) the genre of drama, a play with sharp intrigue, exaggerated emotionality, a sharp opposition of good and evil, a moral and moral tendency; 2) a musical and dramatic work in which the monologues and dialogues of the characters are accompanied by music. J.J. Rousseau developed the principles of this genre and created its model - "Pygmalion"; an example of Russian melodrama is "Orpheus" by E. Fomin.

Melodrama originated in the 18th century. in France (plays by J.-M. Monvel and G. de Pixerecourt), it flourished in the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, later external entertainment began to prevail in it. Melodrama appeared in Russia in the 1920s. (plays by N.V. Kukolnik, N.A. Polevoy, etc.), interest in it revived in the 20s of the XX century. There are elements of melodrama in the work of A. Arbuzov (“Old-fashioned comedy”, “Tales of the Old Arbat”)270. Dramatic genres turned out to be very mobile.

Summing up what has been said about the genera, types and genres of literature, it should be noted that there are inter-generic and extra-generic forms. According to B.O. Korman, one can distinguish works in which the properties of two generic forms are combined - “two-generic formations”271.

For example, the epic beginning, according to V. Khalizev, is in the plays of A.N. Ostrovsky and B. Brecht, M. Maeterlinck and A. Blok created "lyrical dramas", the lyrical-epic principle in the poems became a well-known fact. Non-generic forms in literary criticism include essays, literature of the “stream of consciousness”, essayism, for example, “Experiments” by M. Montaigne, “Fallen Leaves” and “Solitary” by V. Rozanov (it tends to syncretism: the beginnings of the actual artistic in it are combined with journalistic and philosophical, as in the works of A. Remizov "Salting" and M. Prishvin "Eyes of the Earth").

So, V.E. Khalizev, “... there are distinguishable generic forms proper, traditional and undividedly dominating in literary creativity for many centuries, and “non-generic”, non-traditional forms, rooted in “post-romantic” art. The first interact with the second very actively, complementing each other. Today, the Platonic-Aristotelian-Hegelian triad (epos, lyrics, drama), apparently, is largely shaken and needs to be corrected. At the same time, there is no reason to declare the three types of literature habitually distinguished as obsolete, as is sometimes done with the light hand of the Italian philosopher and art theorist B. Croce. Among Russian literary critics, A.I. Beletsky: “For ancient literatures, the terms epic, lyric, drama were not yet abstract. They denoted special, external ways of transmitting a work to a listening audience. Going into the book, poetry abandoned these modes of transmission, and gradually<...>types (meaning the types of literature. - V.Kh.) became more and more fiction. Is it necessary to continue the scientific existence of these fictions?" 1. Disagreeing with this, we note: literary works of all eras (including modern ones) have a certain generic specificity (epic, dramatic, lyrical form, or not rare in the 20th century forms of essay, "stream of consciousness", essay). Genus affiliation (or, on the contrary, involvement of one of the "extra-generic" forms) largely determines the organization of the work, its formal, structural features. Therefore, the concept of "kind of literature" in the composition of theoretical poetics is inalienable and essential "2. ? Control questions and tasks I 1.

What served as the basis for the allocation of three types of literature. What are the signs of an epic, lyrical, dramatic way of reproducing reality? 2.

Name the genres of artistic literature, give their characteristics. Tell us about the relationship between genera, species, genres of literary works. 3.

How is a story different from a novel and a short story? Give examples. 4.

What are the hallmarks of the novel? Give examples. 1 Beletsky A.I. Selected works on the theory of literature. G. 342. 2

Khalizev V.E. Theory of Literature. pp. 318 - 319.

Control questions and tasks 5.

Why, in your opinion, did the novel and short story become the leading genres of realistic literature? Their differences. 6.

Outline the article by M.M. Bakhtin "Epos and the novel: On the methodology of the study of the novel" (Appendix 1, p. 667). Complete the tasks and answer the questions suggested after the article. 7.

Gogol initially called "Dead Souls" a "novel", then - a "small epic". Why did he stop at defining the genre of his work as "poem"? 8.

Determine the features of the epic novel in the works "War and Peace" by L. Tolstoy and "Quiet Flows the Don" by M. Sholokhov. 9.

Give a genre definition to the work of N. Shmelev "Summer of the Lord" and justify it (novel-fairy tale, novel-myth, novel-legend, true-fiction, myth-remembrance, free epic, spiritual novel). 10.

Read O. Mandelstam's article "The End of the Novel". SMandelstam O. Works: In 2 vols. M., 1990. S. 201-205). Using B. Pasternak's novel "Doctor Zhivago" as an example, explain what is the innovative approach of writers of the 20th century. to the problem of the modern novel. Is it possible to assert that "... the compositional measure of the novel is a human biography"? I. How would you define the genre of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, in which history and feuilleton, lyrics and myth, everyday life and fantasy (novel, comic epic, satirical utopia) are freely combined?

What are the features of lyrics as a kind of literature? 2.

Outline the article by V.E. Khalizeva "Lyric" (Appendix 1, p. 682). Prepare answers to the questions provided. 3.

Based on the article by L.Ya. Ginzburg "On the lyrics" (Appendix 1, p. 693) prepare a message "Style features of the lyrics." Name the main lyrical and lyrical genres, indicate their differences. What is the classification of lyrics based on the thematic principle? 4.

Explain what the terms "suggestive lyrics" and "meditative lyrics" mean. Give examples. 5.

Read the article by A.N. Pashkurova “Poetics of pre-romantic elegy: “Time” by M.N. Muravyov” (Appendix 1, p. 704). Prepare the message “What path did the Russian elegy take in its development from pre-romanticism to romanticism?”. 6.

Tell us about the history of the development of the sonnet genre. 7.

Read the article by G.N. Esipenko “Studying the sonnet as a genre” (Literature at school. 2005. No. 8. P. 29-33) and complete the tasks proposed in it related to the analysis of sonnets by N. Gumilyov, I. Severyanin, I. Bunin (optional), and also write a poem in the form of a sonnet (perhaps in imitation of a poet). 8.

What ways of depicting life does A. Pushkin use in the poem "Gypsies"? 9.

What works are called lyroepic? On the example of one of the poems of V. Mayakovsky (“Man”, “Good!”), S. Yesenin (“Anna Onegin”) or A. Tvardovsky (“By the Right of Memory”), analyze how lyrical and epic elements are combined in them. 10.

What is the image of the lyrical heroine of the "Denisiev cycle" F.I. Tyutchev? 13.

Determine the features of the lyrical heroine in the poetry of M. Tsvetaeva and A. Akhmatova. 14.

Is it possible to talk about the peculiar "passivity" of the lyrical hero B. Pasternak, as R. Yakobson believed? 15.

How is the biography of A. Blok connected with his work? What evolution has the image of the lyrical hero undergone? 16.

Why has modern poetry lost most of its traditional genres?

Describe the division into genres in a dramatic way. 2.

Outline the article by V.E. Khalizeva "Drama" (Appendix 1, p. 713). Prepare answers to the questions provided. 3.

Tell us about the main stages in the development of the tragedy genre. 4.

What is the difference between drama and tragedy? 5.

Name the types of comedy. Give examples. 6.

Describe the "small" dramatic genres. Give examples. 7.

How do you understand the genre definition of A. Ostrovsky's plays? Can the dramas "Thunderstorm", "Dowry" be called classic tragedies? 8.

Define the genre of "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov (comedy, tragedy, farce, melodrama). 9.

On the example of one of the plays, analyze Chekhov's new approaches to the organization of dramatic action (decentralization of plot lines, refusal to divide characters into main and secondary ones) and methods for creating individual characters (self-characteristics, monologues-cues, building a speech part of an image on a change in stylistic key; "random » remarks in dialogues emphasizing the instability of the psychological state of the characters, etc.). 10.

Read and analyze one of the plays by a contemporary playwright (optional). eleven.

Define the concept of "subtext" (see: Literary Encyclopedia of Terms and Concepts. M., 2001. P. 755; Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1987. P. 284). Give examples of lyrical and psychological subtexts in A.P. Chekhov (optional), in the novels of E. Hemingway, in the poems of M. Tsvetaeva (“Longing for the Motherland! For a long time ...”) and O. Mandelstam (“Slate Ode”).