Of these two concepts, one, namely, the emblem, came from the culture of the 16th-18th centuries. practically unchanged. The concept of topos, which in the ancient tradition meant "common places", i.e. ready-made elements used by speakers in their speeches, acquired new meaning in the middle of the 20th century. thanks to the book Europäische Literatur und lateinische Mittelalter (European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages, 1948) by Ernst Curtius.
In the work of A. V. Mikhailov on the poetics of the Baroque, it is shown that the baroque emblematics is based on the “allegorical-spiritual” thinking associated with the traditions of rhetoric. For him, “the same thing denoted by the same word can denote both God and the devil, and all the value space that separates them. The lion can mean Christ, because he sleeps with open eyes. <...>It means the righteous... the heretic...<...>The meaning of a thing depends on the property involved and on the context in which the word appears.
On the basis of this variable allegorical sign, an emblem is born - as a result of choosing one of the meanings, and the chosen meaning is illustrated (which limits the field of interpretation), and the choice is motivated with the help of an inscription. Thus, the meaning of the word "schism" (separation, split) is conveyed in a book of the late 15th century. woodcut of two men sawing through a church building.
Since the publication of the "Book of Emblems" by A. Alziat (1531, then - 179 reprints), "emblem" has always been understood as a combination of a word-sign with a schematic graphic image, but only gradually the "strict form" of the emblem was established, consisting "of an image (pictura), an inscription (lemma, inscriptio) and an epigrammatic signature (subscriptio)".
If reading collections of emblems would require knowledge of this " strict form”and the corresponding interpretations, then in order to understand the functions of emblematic images in literature, it is necessary to be familiar with specific works of art- examples of their use. Here, for example, what evidence of the “emblematic nature of thinking” and at the same time an explanation of its essence (A.V. Mikhailov drew attention to this in the already mentioned study) is given in Grimmelshausen’s novel “Simplicissimus”:
So, seeing some thorny plant, I brought to mind the crown of thorns of Christ; having seen an apple or a pomegranate, he remembered the fall of the forefathers and lamented about it; and when I saw palm wine flowing from a tree, I imagined how mercifully my Redeemer shed his blood for me on the Holy Cross.<...>... I never ate food without remembering the Last Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, I did not cook a single stew without this temporary fire reminding me of eternal torment in hell.
Here we can also mention such a classic example of the use of emblems as the beginning of the first song of "Hell" by Dante. It's about not only about the forest, but also - to an even greater extent - about the figures of animals:
And now, at the bottom of a steep slope, -
Agile and curly lynx,
All in bright spots of a motley pattern.
She, circling, blocked the heights for me ...
<...>
The blood in the heart no longer sank so
At the sight of a beast with whimsical hair;
But, again, he is embarrassed by horror,
A lion with uplifted mane stepped forward.
He stepped on me,
Growling furiously from hunger
And the very air is numb with fear.
And with him a she-wolf, whose thin body,
It seemed that he carried all the greed in himself;
Many souls mourned because of her.
I was bound by such a heavy oppression
Before her dreadful gaze,
That I lost my hope for heights.
On the one hand, these figures are so concrete and visible, as if the author had assumed the possibility of illustration; on the other hand, they cannot be understood literally, the allegorical meaning embedded in these figures is too obvious: they impede the upward movement (and then overthrow the hero down into darkness), the she-wolf carries “all greed” and brings sorrow to souls. Turning to the comments, we learn that the lynx (more precisely, the panther) means lies, betrayal and voluptuousness; lion - pride and violence; she-wolf - greed and selfishness.
We find a similar picture in Pushkin's poem "At the beginning of my life, I remember school ...", written in terts, which was an unambiguous sign of the author's orientation towards Dante's poem:
At the beginning of my life, I remember school;
There were many of us, careless children;
An uneven and frisky family.
humble, poorly dressed,
But the appearance of a stately wife
She kept strict supervision over the school.
Surrounded by our crowd
With a pleasant, sweet voice, it happened,
She talks to babies.
Her brow I remember the veil
And eyes bright as heaven.
But I delved into her conversations a little.
I was embarrassed by the strict beauty
Her forehead, calm lips and eyes,
And full of holy words.
Already this descriptive part of the poem, regardless of the subsequent opposition of the “school” to the “foreign garden” and the appearance of the “stately wife” to “idols” in the shade of trees, and “words full of relics” to “two demons to images”; we repeat, regardless of everything that follows, it gives the reader the impression of allegory, even if this allegory was not entirely clear.
Here is how such a brilliant connoisseur of Russian poetry of the 18th-19th centuries as G. A. Gukovsky explains its meaning: “A school is a school of life, a school of the spirit, or vice versa: life is a school, it is education for eternity”; “People are unreasonable children, diverse; leads, educates and brings them into a family Christian faith»; « symbolic image church" here - "simple-minded, distinct and calmly material; this is the image of an ordinary woman, human, almost everyday”; “Direct logical correlations between the image and its allegorical meaning determine its structural character.
Hence the poor clothes of the educator church, and all the details of its material-material description, correlated with the understanding of people as senseless babies; hence even her Blue eyes- a simple, uncomplicated symbol of her "heavenly" (translated by M. I. Bent).
In this excellent historical and stylistic analysis, there is, in our opinion, only one inaccuracy: it is hardly legitimate to speak of symbols in this case, it would be more accurate to say “emblems”. Thus, emblematic images retain their significance in Pushkin's poetry (in this case, they are associated with the tasks of historical stylization, which will be discussed below). All the more significant are the poetic images of this kind in the poetry of the 20th century, in particular, among the Symbolists.
Let's move on to the question of topoi. According to E. R. Curtius, these are “solid clichés or schemes of thought and expression”, which can include not only individual words or expressions (including, in particular, emblems), but also ways of designing entire complexes of verbal images associated with "typical situations" such as "farewell, praise, consolation", or with typical pictorial functions.
Such, for example, as V. Kaiser points out, is the complex of images that make up an idyllic landscape: “The finished landscape scenario stretches through the centuries, it includes certain scenes: meadows, streams, light breaths, birdsong, etc. Without knowledge of the tradition of this topos, which sometimes becomes a real motif, especially in the lyrics of the 17th century, all studies that wanted to derive a sense of the nature of this or that poet from such scenes hang in the air. This applies, among other things, to rural landscape Pushkin's "Village", in which they often sought to reflect the real situation and impressions that make up part of the author's biography.
Summing up, it is necessary to emphasize the stability of meanings in this group of verbal images, their relative independence from the context of the work. In this respect, traditional tropes and figures, as well as topoi and emblems, resemble the range of meanings of the words of the language recorded in the dictionary.
Of course, the image-emblem has not one (like an allegory), but several meanings. But even a word in the dictionary can have more than one meaning, but even a large number of them (say, the verb "to go" in Russian has up to forty meanings). However, all these meanings are stable and fixed, which fundamentally distinguishes them from the meaning that a word or a combination of words can have in a particular life situation.
From this point of view, the “ready-made” poetic image (in all its varieties) is opposed by images with an unhardened semantic core and unlimited potential: firstly, parallelism, metaphor (not as “techniques”, but as forms of prelogical thinking) and image-symbol; secondly, a “simple” (non-style, non-poetic) word. These types of verbal image do not carry a ready-made meaning, but an infinite meaning that is actualized in the context of the poem as a whole.
Theory of Literature / Ed. N.D. Tamarchenko - M., 2004
Topos, a common place in rhetoric is abstract reasoning inserted into speech for a specific case (for example, reasoning on the topic “all people are mortal” in a speech on the death of a certain person). Aristotle understands the topos as a pre-selected evidence, which the speaker must "have ready for every question" (Rhetoric); In a broad sense, a topos is a stereotypical, clichéd image, motive, thought (complaints about the decline of morals and reasoning on the topic “it used to be better”; template formulas of self-abasement and expressions of respect for the addressee used in epistolary genre; sustainable landscape motifs - in particular, when describing the idyllic " pleasant corner”, the so-called “locus amoenus”. The problem of the functioning of the topos in literature was posed in the book by E.R. Curtius "European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages" (1948), which shows how the system of rhetorical literary genres”, turning into a set of commonly used universal clichés (Curtius E.R. Europaische Literatur und lateinische Mittelalter. Bern; Miinchen, 1984).
In the understanding of Curtius, “Topos is something anonymous. It breaks from the writer's pen like literary reminiscence. To him, as well as to the motive in fine arts, temporal and spatial omnipresence is inherent ... In this impersonal stylistic element, we touch on such a layer historical life which lies deeper than the level of individual invention" (Curtius E.R. Zum Begriff eines historischen Topik Toposforschung: Eine Dokumentation, 1972). Curtius showed that the author's original "invention" is in fact often an illusion, turning into a slightly modified traditional formula; At the same time, he showed that European literature was not limited to a set of topoi borrowed from classical rhetoric, but was constantly enriched by inventing new topoi, and therefore the boundary between topos and invention, tradition and innovation is very fluid. Some of the topoi described by Curtius go beyond those set by “himself historical framework(antiquity - the Middle Ages) and with their universal meaning resemble archetypes: such is the topos "puer-senex" ("old boy") traced by Curtius and in ancient China(Name Chinese philosopher 6th century BC Laozi, according to Curtius, means "old child"), and in the culture of early Christianity (African martyrs of the 2nd century imagined God "as a gray-haired old man with a youthful face"), and in German romanticism(novel "Godvi", 1799-1800, C. Brentano). The followers of Curtius further expanded the scope of the concept of topos, raising, in particular, the question of the topos in the literature of the 19th century (for example, the topos of "people" in romanticism), the topic of modern political argumentation, mass culture.
The topos of opposites refers to comparative topoi. For example, to talk about how important knowledge is, they talk about how harmful ignorance and ignorance are; to show what friendship is, they say how dangerous enmity and quarrels, war and all unfriendliness; affirming the idea of good, remembering evil. Schematically, it looks like this: what is A? The answer follows: A is not B.
For example, many proverbs are built on the analysis of opposite phenomena:
If you don't know sorrow, you won't know joy.
It would be happiness, but bad weather overcame.
Happiness to the stupid, bad weather to the smart.
Old man, better than seven young ones.
And old, but cheerful, and young, but gloomy. Etc.
Each of the above proverbs can become material for the development of further speech and the affirmation of a positive idea through its opposite.
Most plots in fiction are built on the clash of opposites, since the basis of the conflict is left by opposing views, concepts, clash of opposite characters and interests.
Suffice it to recall the contrast of characters in "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin, where it is said about Lensky and Onegin: "poetry and prose, ice and fire."
Topos name.
The topos "name" must be comprehended on the basis of the theory of naming. According to this theory, the name reflects the properties of a thing, and naming a thing by a certain name suggests further successful or unsuccessful actions. If vvz is given successfully, the existence of the object and actions with it will be successful, if not, the existence of the named object (object or person) and actions with it will be unfavorable and difficult.
The creator of speech, referring to the name of an object or phenomenon, as if peers, peers into the nature of the name and comments on the essence of the thing based on the properties of the name. The Om itself simple form the essence of a thing can be commented on through the etymology of the name, which is done at the beginning of many discussions.
Most of the introductory explanations for the study begin with the interpretation of the name. different sciences. For example, philology means “love of the word”, geography means “description of the earth”, etc.
The topos of a name is especially important when an explanation of the meaning of a thing (object, phenomenon) is required. For example, democratic transformations in Russia in the mid-80s-90s of the 19th century. to create a new style of thought and life. Russia began economic reforms, but business man we remained a figure in some way dubious. How can reforms proceed in Russia if we are afraid of the very word "business" (we usually replace it with the word "business")? If business in America is a serious and law-abiding business, for us the word business remains foreign and dubious. So, it's time to rehabilitate the word "business" - and really honestly, diligently, energetically go about your business.
How we call ourselves - gentlemen, friends, comrades ... - the vagueness of the name gives rise to shakiness, ambiguity in assessing people and the social situation ...
The matter moves forward and is decided when the correct meaning is established and right word- naming.
Topoi cause-effect.
Each thought expressed requires an explanation, justification. Developing and proving this or that idea, look for the answer to the question “why?”. Nothing happens without a reason. Therefore, in search of a continuation of your thoughts, it is necessary to ask or answer the question: "Why is this statement true?"
The topos of reason is present in every speech, since the advancement of any thesis requires its justification.
So, the very clarification of the circumstances of a court case or a crime is connected with the clarification of the cause of what happened. A good investigator is one who is able to find, reveal the causes of a crime that are hidden from the unprofessional eye.
Therefore, the stories of Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes are read with such interest, who, unexpectedly for the listeners, immediately names conclusions and consequences: “this man is left-handed, limps on left leg, carries a dull penknife in his pocket. Holmes sees the causes of the events: “the victim received a blow to the head from the left side, the marks on the ground from the left foot are deeper, and the end of the cigar was cut off unevenly ...”.
Topos condition.
The topos condition is used to show under what conditions a given statement is true. The question "under what condition?" as if mentally set during the preparation of speech. The rhetor seems to answer the question: under what condition is this statement true?
For example, "Study brings joy (under what condition?) If you study diligently and see the results of your labors."
"The world around you will change for the better (under what conditions?) if you start this change with yourself."
The topos condition can become the basis for the development of any new situation, in in a certain sense fantastic. At the same time, it is the new condition that becomes a kind of mental stimulus to the creation new reality:
If I were a queen, -
One girl says
That is for the whole baptized world
I'd make a feast...
Topos concession (concession).
A striking means, shading the main statement, is the so-called concession (concession). The position being proved will shine brighter if it is shown in various, opposing colors, and the rhetor himself will point out what may hinder its assertion.
Any congratulation becomes more lively and natural if, showing the positive properties of the birthday man, playful criticism is directed at him: “despite the fact that the birthday man has many shortcomings ... (further, the shortcomings are jokingly listed - and through this, the virtues look more convex).
Thus, the statement is stronger if the reasons or conditions that prevent its implementation are shown: “Spring is my favorite time year, despite the fact that in the spring it is both slushy and dirty. But in the spring the sun shines, and together with the sun, nature blossoms and blossoms like a flower, the soul.
So, when creating this or that position, it is better for the orator to name the circumstances that interfere with or contradict the position that he defends. Then his statement sounds more honest, and more convex, and more diverse.
Topos time.
Consideration of most objects, phenomena, people can be imagined at a certain time and place. Every subject has its own history, so speech can be built on the basis of the facts of the past (history, biography, memoirs), their reflection in the present and the projection of the life of the subject in the future.
Such is any object… every object develops in time – everything has its own history. The topos of time becomes the most important mental device for constructing any reasoning. For example, advertising of any institution includes information about the history of the institution, its current state and plans for the future. In the same way, the image of any person is comprehended - the creator can talk about the past, present and future of a person. Therefore, intense reflection on the past, present and future of the subject of speech is necessary, and then the choice of facts and their skillful description.
Topos place.
The topos place involves a description of the existence of an object in a certain place (space). The use of this topos is possible through the question “where?”, i.e. where it exists, the subject of your speech manifests itself. For example, a description of a trip or biography may have a long enumeration of places visited by a particular person. In this case, the text is limited only by the number of places that the author chooses - at the will of the author, such a description can be quite lengthy or limited.
For example, M.V. Lomonosov, with the help of topoi, time and place creates praise for science. In this poem, Mikhail Vasilievich also lists "time" human life and "places" when and where sciences are useful:
The sciences feed young men,
They give joy to the old,
IN happy life decorate,
Save in case of an accident.
And in distant wanderings is not a hindrance,
Science is everywhere
Among the nations and in the wilderness,
In the city noise and alone,
In peace, sweet and labor.
Topos evidence.
One of the most common and convenient ways the development of speech, the reinforcement of one's opinion or the truth being proved, is to quote the words of an authoritative person ( famous person, writer, politician, scientist). This may be a quote from famous book, folk wisdom, someone's successful aphorism, etc. This method of spreading speech is called evidence, since all or part of speech can be built, starting from a reference to an authoritative person: "Someone testifies that ..."
There is a lot of advice, both in classical rhetoric and in modern developments, to start a speech from a quote, aphorism, a brief thought-maxim that you like, and then develop it in further reasoning ... “As my friend’s grandmother used to say:“ Eyes are afraid, but hands are doing.
The benefit of top evidence is that referring to an authoritative person allows you to rely on the opinion of an authoritative source that you can trust. The testimony also shows the orator himself from the favorable side, since it shows his erudition and education. Every speaker is recommended to find, write down, memorize and use wise thoughts, aphorisms, proverbs, etc. in time.
Topos example.
The most important way to achieve a vivid impact on the audience, explain the incomprehensible and awaken the fading attention is an example. The example attracts primarily with its bright specifics; moreover, the hearer by analogy will take the same actions that are suggested to him by the power of example. Modern media even abuse in advertising examples whose characters become popular for a certain period of time (Aunt Asya, Lenya Golubkov, etc.). However, every rhetorician must have a number of expressive examples in reserve to support his positions, since it is the examples that are remembered and allow the development of original and expressive evidence.
An example is an obligatory topos in scientific reasoning. Sometimes examples are abused when they want to show the infinity and persuasiveness of the proposition being proved.
Examples are divided into literary (taken from fiction), actual ( life facts), authoritative (from the life of great or famous people).
Learning and work overcome all obstacles. So Demosthenes, having been born tongue-tied, overcame natural stiffness and became the best speaker Greece.
With a curious example, you can start a speech. American rhetoricians often advise starting a speech with an example.
An example is used when the explanation is difficult for one reason or another. Therefore, there is a requirement for momentary improvisation of a prepared example (or an example stored in memory).
Semantic models "definition", "properties-qualities-characteristics", "comparison", "cause and effect", "circumstances", "example", "effect", "name", "time", "place", "whole -parts", "genus-species" and others..
Each of these semantic models is found in speeches of a certain type. For example, the “cause and effect”, “genus and species”, “varieties” model is especially characteristic for argumentative speech, the “circumstances” model is for narration, the “property” model is for description.
Lomonosov says that when creating speeches, the force of the writer's imagination operates. This means that the writer uses his "spiritual talent" with one thought to connect, to imagine others, with the first somehow "conjugated". For example, when thinking about ship in consciousness there are others - sea-storm-waves-noise on the shores-stones... A whole "bush" of ideas is formed, as it were, developing the theme and forming its semantic framework, framework.
Place the main term (idea) of the speech on a piece of paper in the middle, and show branches from it, arbitrarily fixing the associations that arise, as well as those ideas that arise when you sort through common places (main tops) in your mind. Superfluous then, with a general look at the resulting bush, is crossed out. The result is semantic scheme of speech.
It is better to first learn how to do a rhetorical semantic analysis, compiling semantic schemes of ready-made texts, small in volume, and then proceed to independent actions.
τόπος - letters. "place"; trans. "subject", "argument") has different meanings:- Topos in mathematics is a type of category in category theory, which in its properties resembles and generalizes the category of sets. Topoi, in particular, are used in geometry, topology, mathematical logic, informatics (in the field of databases).
- Top or (less common) topos in traditional logic and classical rhetoric - an argument (synonyms: " historical place”, “dialectical place”), a generally valid statement or theme (“common place”).
- From the rhetorical tradition comes the study of topoi or common places(German toposforschung) in literary criticism is a direction created by Ernst Robert Curtius that explores world literature through a history of recurring motifs (common places; for example, "golden age", "book of nature").
- Topos in cultural studies is a synonym for the expressions category of culture or image of culture (forming, not generally accepted meaning).
- Topoi in sociology - inclinations, preferences, symbolic words of any social group(forming, uncommon meaning).
- "Topos" - festival of author's song in St. Petersburg.
- "Topos" is a network literary, artistic, philosophical and cultural journal.
- "Topos" is a philosophical and cultural journal.
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An excerpt characterizing the Topos
The last words were read by the reader in perfect silence. The tall fellow lowered his head sadly. It was obvious that no one understood these last words. In particular, the words: "I'll arrive tomorrow at dinner," apparently even upset both the reader and the listeners. The understanding of the people was tuned to a high tune, and this was too simple and needlessly understandable; it was the very thing that each of them could have said, and that therefore a decree from a higher authority could not speak.Everyone stood in gloomy silence. The tall fellow moved his lips and staggered.
“I should have asked him!.. Is he himself?.. Why, he asked! two mounted dragoons.
The police chief, who went that morning on the orders of the count to burn the barges and, on the occasion of this commission, rescued a large amount money, which was in his pocket at that moment, seeing a crowd of people advancing towards him, he ordered the coachman to stop.
- What kind of people? he shouted at the people, who were approaching the droshky, scattered and timid. - What kind of people? I'm asking you? repeated the chief of police, who received no answer.
“They, your honor,” said the clerk in a frieze overcoat, “they, your honor, at the announcement of the most illustrious count, not sparing their stomachs, wanted to serve, and not just some kind of rebellion, as it was said from the most illustrious count ...
