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What are the stages of compositional construction in drama. Composition of a dramatic work

What are the stages of compositional construction in drama. Composition of a dramatic work

27.02.2019

The word composition comes from Latin words"compositio" (drawing up) and "compositus" - well-placed, slender, correct.

The subject of the image in a dramaturgic work is, social conflict, personified in the heroes of the work.

The history of dramaturgy shows that to create a holistic artistic image conflict event, to comply with a seemingly simple condition, to show not only the beginning of the conflict, but also its development and result, is by no means simple. The difficulty lies in finding the only correct dramatic development, and then the completion of the initial situation.

When the beginning of the play remains the most interesting part of it and further development goes from the beginning not “up”, but “down”, the author is forced to throw new “logs” into his dying fire, replacing the development of this conflict from its initial situation by tying some new, additional collisions. This path excludes the completion of the play by resolving the conflict with which it began, and leads, as a rule, to artificial completion by way of volitional order of the author of the play with the destinies of his characters.

Basically, due to the compositional complexity of creating a dramatic work, a fair conviction arose that dramaturgy is the most complex kind of literature. Add to this: good dramaturgy. For seventy pages of a bad play are easier to write than nine hundred pages of a bad novel.

In order to cope with compositional difficulties, the playwright needs to understand his artistic task well, to know the basic elements of a dramatic composition and to imagine the “typical structure” of constructing a dramatic work. Of course, no work of art is written according to a predetermined pattern. The more original this essay, the better.

The "scheme" in no way encroaches either on the individual originality of each given play, or on the infinite variety of works of dramatic art as a whole. It is conditional in nature and serves to clearly explain what compositional requirements are in question. It will also be useful for analyzing the structure of dramatic works.

Since without the basic elements of a dramatic composition - images of the beginning of the struggle, the course (development) of the struggle and the result of the struggle - it is impossible to create a holistic image of a conflict event, their presence and the named sequence of arrangement in a dramatic work are necessary, in the full sense of the word, elementary artistic requirement of dramatic art.

Hegel drew attention to the need for the presence of the three named basic elements in a work of dramaturgy. Therefore, the concept underlying dramatic work, is called the Hegelian triad.

For clarity, the fundamental structure of a dramatic work - Hegel's triad - can be depicted as follows:

The father of drama theory was Aristotle (384-322 BC). His "Poetics" is the first work that has come down to us containing the theory dramatic art in Ancient Greece 1 . The most difficult thing in drama is the creation of a plot, Aristotle writes: “The plot is the basis and, as it were, the soul of tragedy” ...

“There are two parts to every tragedy: the plot and the denouement. The plot "embraces" an event that is outside the drama, and some of those that lie in itself" 2.

The tie is that part of the action "which extends from the beginning to the moment, which is the limit from which the transition to happiness [or from happiness to unhappiness] occurs" 3 . the denouement is the rest of the action "from the beginning of this transition to the end" 4 . Thus, Aristotle establishes two very important elements of the composition of the drama associated with its action. From the ancient poetics, the rules of composition, obligatory for the authors of comedies and tragedies, were extracted. Here they are:

1. The basis of the drama is the plot. This position of Aristotle, confirmed by Horace, is accepted by all drama theorists. It served as a rationale for the need to carefully develop the intrigue of the play. Drama theorists and practitioners prefer simple plots over complex plots. However, while most critics and writers rejected the complex composition of the dramatic action, considering it artificial, A. K. Tolstoy remained a supporter of a well-developed dramaturgy. He saw in it an important means of achieving artistic effect. The construction of the drama by A.K. Tolstoy compared with the composition of the symphony, which has a certain "pattern". Every tragedy must have its own dramatic core. But it is not immobile, but rather represents a certain movement of action 5 .

2. Typification of characters.

Typification is understood as the correspondence of the character's image to the characteristics of a certain age, gender, profession, social status, etc. According to this understanding of typification, Achilles must always be angry, and Orestes gloomy, etc. As for comic characters, although they invented by the author, nevertheless, they should have the characteristics that are considered the most typical for this character: grouchiness for old people, amorousness for young people, cunning for servants, and the like.

As is well known, outstanding works of drama violated such a limited understanding of typing.

3. The five-act structure of the play.

The division of the drama into five acts had its rational justification. Its essence was seen in the fact that each act represented a certain step in the composition of the play. “The Romans believed that the plot should be five acts,” wrote Giraldi Chintno. - The first contains the exposition. In the second, what is given in the exposition begins to move towards its end. In the third, obstacles arise and change occurs. In the fourth, an opportunity begins to appear to correct what caused all the troubles. In the fifth, the expected end takes place with a denouement corresponding to the entire exposition.

Some rules of composition were of particular importance, since they determined the specifics of the dramatic action. This applies, in particular, to how to build the action as a whole. There were two trends in theory and practice in the 16th century. One was to build the action of the tragedy, to concentrate attention on the already accomplished misfortune. A friend is to dynamically depict events, emphasizing their drama. Opposed to this dynamic principle is a principle which may be called static. The event itself has already happened and the action is only to establish the fact of the incident. This kind of concept was proposed by Scaliger, who considered it ideal 1 .

Based on the fundamental structure of the work, we list the specific elements of the dramatic composition, and then reveal the essence and purpose of each of them.

The beginning of the struggle is revealed in the exposition and in the beginning of the main conflict.

The course of the struggle is revealed through the specific actions and clashes of the heroes - through the so-called twists and turns that make up general movement actions from the beginning of the conflict to its resolution. In many plays (though not all) there is a pronounced moment of the highest tension of the action - the climax.

The result of the struggle is shown in the denouement (resolution) of the main conflict and in the finale of the play.

Each dramatic work necessarily has an exposition, that is, an initial part.

The exposition is the initial part of a dramatic work. Its purpose is to inform the viewer of the information necessary to understand the upcoming action of the play. Sometimes it is important to let the viewer know in which country and at what time the events take place. Sometimes it is necessary to report something from what preceded the conflict.

Great French philosopher and the writer Denis Diderot (1713-1784) in his treatise "On Dramatic Poetry" - "On Interest", in which Diderot develops the question: how to capture the attention of the public? In plays, the action should arise naturally, as if spontaneously: “Let them (the characters) form the plot of the amia without noticing it, let everything be dark for them, let them go to the denouement without suspecting it” 1 . the meaning of this principle is that the viewer's attention should be focused not on external events, but on the experiences of the characters, their thoughts and feelings, their reactions to reality.

The action should be built economically and thoughtfully in order to focus on the most important and essential.

Already the exposition of the drama is of great importance for the entire subsequent development of dramatic events.

“The events chosen for the beginning of the play will serve as the plot of the first scene; she will call the second, the second will call the third, and the act will be completed. It is important that the action proceed with increasing speed and be clear... the more events the first action leaves in an undeveloped state, the more details will be for the following acts. However, in striving for the reality of the exposition, one can make a mistake that will ruin the drama. The initial event should not be such that its interest exceeds the interest of subsequent scenes and events: “If you start with a strong moment, the rest will be written with equal tension, or completely wither. How many plays have been killed by the beginning! The poet was afraid to start coldly and his positions were so strong that he could not support the first impression he made on me.

The most common type of exposition is showing that last segment of everyday life, the course of which will be interrupted by the emergence of a conflict.

According to Gogol, the incident should seem alive, natural, recently happened. Only when the drama gives a natural, truthful picture of life, when the thought embedded in it is capable of influencing the public, “then the work is lively, dramatic, boiling before the eyes of the viewer. And at the same time, the highly didactic is the height of creativity, accessible only to great geniuses.

Dramaturgy has much in common with the folk tale and most likely comes from it. Dramaturgy took from the folk tale, as its main topic, its main miracle, a social miracle - the victory of good over evil. There is also much in common between the construction of a fairy tale and the structure of a dramatic work. In particular, the exposition of most plays is built on the same principle as the exposition of a fairy tale. So, for example, "An old man lived with his old woman by the very blue sea," says at the beginning of Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish." “The old man was fishing with a net. The old woman was spinning her yarn. This went on for “exactly thirty years and three years”, but there was no “fairy tale”. Only when the old man caught a golden fish that spoke with a human voice, this ordinary flow of life was interrupted, an occasion arose for this story, the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish began.

The beginning in many plays is built on the same principle: “Once upon a time ...” and suddenly there is a “goldfish” or “golden egg” of this work - the conflict that will be depicted in it.

Another type of exposition - Prologue - a direct appeal of the author to the viewer, short story about the characters of the future action and its character. In a number of cases, the prologue exhausts the exposition, since the plot of the play's conflict is contained (announced) in itself. Often, however, the prologue only opens the exposition, which then continues until the beginning of the conflict by showing the flow of life that preceded it. This is how the beginning of Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" is constructed. The exposition after a short prologue continues throughout the first act.

Sometimes a play begins with an inversion, that is, showing how the conflict will end before the action begins. This technique is often used by the authors of action-packed works, in particular, detective stories. The task of inversion is to captivate the viewer from the very beginning, keep him in additional tension with the help of information about the end of the depicted conflict.

From what has been said, it should be clear that the exposition - the initial part of a dramatic work - lasts until the beginning of the plot - the plot of the main conflict of this play. It is extremely important to emphasize that we are talking about the beginning of the main conflict, the development of which is the subject of the image in this play.

In the Educational Book of Literature, Gogol solves the problems of dramatic composition. Gogol defines the elements of composition that provide authentic dramatic development Actions. The first thing a playwright must take care of is to create a "strictly and cleverly considered plot" 1 . The most important condition is the unity of action: “All persons who must act, or, better, between whom an affair must begin, must be taken in advance by the author; the fate of each of them is preoccupied by the author and cannot carry and move them quickly and in multitude in the form of phenomena flying by. Every arrival of a person, apparently insignificant at the beginning, already announces his participation later. Everything that is not is only because it is connected with the fate of the hero himself” 2 .

The most important compositional principle, according to Gogol, is that “the writer, deprived of the opportunity to cover the whole of reality, chooses one event, one incident, but one in which the most important patterns of life are revealed.

The tie should embrace all faces, not just one or two - touch what excites, more or less, everyone acting characters. Here every hero; the course and course of the play produces a shock to the whole machine: not a single wheel should remain as rusty and not included in the case.

Thus, the notion - "setting" - includes the setting of the main conflict of the play. In the plot, his movement begins - a dramatic action.

For example, from the very beginning of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" we meet with manifestations of the age-old conflict between the families of Montague and Capulet. But this enmity of theirs is not the subject of the image in this work. It lasted for centuries, so they "lived and were", but there was no reason for this play. Only when the young representatives of the two warring clans - Romeo and Juliet - fell in love with each other, did the conflict arise, which became the subject of the image in this work - the conflict between the bright human feeling love and a dark misanthropic feeling of tribal enmity.

Some contemporary playwrights and theater critics express the opinion that in our time, when the pace and rhythms of life have accelerated immeasurably, it is possible to bypass the bases of the exposition, and start the play right away with the action, with the outset of the main conflict. This way of putting the question is wrong. Only the heroes of the play can “start” a conflict. But we must understand the meaning and essence of what is happening. Like every moment real life-- the life of the heroes of the play can only take place in a specific time and in a specific space. Not to designate either one or the other, or at least one of these coordinates, would mean an attempt to depict some kind of abstraction. The conflict in this unimaginable case would arise from nothing, which contradicts the laws of the mother's movement in general. Not to mention such a difficult moment in its development as the movement of human relations. Thus, the idea of doing without exposition in creating a play is not well thought out.

Sometimes the exposure is combined with the plot. That is how it is done in N.V. Gogol. The very first phrase of the mayor, addressed to the officials, contains all the necessary information for understanding the subsequent action, and at the same time, is the plot of the main conflict of the play. Gogol's "Inspector General" is the embodiment of precisely this principle of comedy composition and a classic example of compositional unity ... In "The Inspector General" there is not a single person, not a single position that was not closely connected with the main event, with its idea. All the characters participate in the plot and its subsequent development of the action. Each of them lives on the stage and reveals his own character in relation to central conflict. All the characters in his play actively participate in the events and each has its own individual face.

And so, according to Gogol, it is the idea that determines all the elements of the composition in the drama: the plot, the plot, the development of the action, the role and significance of individual characters 1 .

Sometimes the main conflict of the play does not appear immediately, but is preceded by a system of other conflicts. Shakespeare's Othello is full of conflicts. Conflict between Desdemona's father, Brabantio and Othello. The conflict between Desdemona's unfortunate fiancé, Rodrigo, and his rival, the more fortunate Othello. Conflict between Rodrigo and Lieutenant Cassio. There is even a fight between them. Conflict between Othello and Desdemona. It arises at the end of the tragedy and ends with the death of Desdemona. Conflict between Iago and Cassio. And finally, another conflict. He is the main conflict of this work - the conflict between Iago and Othello, between the bearer of envy, servility, chameleonism, careerism, petty selfishness, which is Iago, and a direct, honest, trusting person, but possessing a passionate and furious character, which is Othello.

Resolution of the main conflict. As already mentioned, the denouement in a dramatic work is the moment of resolving the main conflict, the removal of the conflict contradiction, which is the source of the movement of the action.

In Othello, the denouement of the main conflict comes when Othello learns that Iago is a slanderer and a scoundrel. Let's pay attention to the fact that this happens after the murder of Desdemona. It is wrong to believe that the denouement here is precisely the moment of the murder. The main conflict of the play is between Othello and Iago. Killing Desdemona, Othello does not yet know who he is. main enemy. Consequently, only the elucidation of the role of Iago is here the denouement.

The resolution of the conflict is possible only if the unity of action is preserved.

The theory of drama at one time considered it necessary to observe three unities in a dramatic work: the unity of time, the unity of place and the unity of action. Practice, however, has shown that dramaturgy can easily do without observing the unity of place and time, but the unity of action is a truly necessary condition for the existence of a dramatic work as a work of art.

The observance of the unity of action is essentially the observance of a single picture of the development of the main conflict. Thus, it is a condition for creating a holistic image of the conflict event, which is depicted in this work. The unity of action - a picture of the development of the main conflict that is continuous and not replaced in the course of the play - is a criterion for the artistic integrity of the work. Violation of the unity of action - the substitution of the conflict tied up in the plot - undermines the possibility of creating an integral artistic image of the conflict event, inevitably seriously reduces the artistic level of a dramatic work 1 .

As you know, the rule of three unities does not belong to either Aristotle or Horace. It was created for the first time in the Renaissance. The first of these rules is unity of action- was already known in antiquity. It followed from the definition of plot and action given by Aristotle, who demanded that there should be nothing in the drama that was not related to the main plot of the work.

Law unity of time was first formulated by Giraldi Cinthio in his Discourse on Comedy and Tragedy (1543). “... Both of them (that is, comedy and tragedy) limit their action to one day or a little more time,” wrote Giraldi Cinthio. The ancient playwrights limited the action of comedy and tragedy to one day. Scaliger accepted Maggi's point of view: the action of the play should correspond to the time of the performance. Castelvetro believes that it is not the unity of action that dictates the need for unity of time, but vice versa: “comedy and tragedy contain one action, not because the plot is not appropriate to have more than one action, but because limited space, on which the action takes place, and the limited time - no more than twelve hours - do not allow showing many events.

Thus, Castelvetro notes the relationship of the three unities - action, place and time. He was the first to formulate the rule of three unities as an internal integral law of drama. Castelvetro sees aesthetic value in the composition of the drama, subject to the rules of the three unities. “In the unity of action,” he wrote, “it means something else, namely, that the plot will be more beautiful and the author will be more admired if he depicts the action of one hero” 1 .

IN denouement, or rather, as a result of it, a new situation is created in comparison with the one that took place in the plot, expressed in a new relationship between the characters. This new attitude can be quite varied. One of the heroes may die as a result of the conflict.

The denouement, according to Aristotle, includes the entire course of events arising from the initial conflict.

Aristotle points out that a well-composed plot should contain an image of the transition from happiness to unhappiness 2 . This is due to the emotional impact of the tragedy, which should arouse feelings of compassion and fear. The turn of events in a happy direction for the heroes will not arouse feelings of compassion and fear. Aristotle considers a third possibility. In simple plots, the action has a certain ending - such as should be in a tragedy, that is, unhappy. But along with this, there is a tragedy that has a "double composition", that is, those where the action "ends oppositely for the best and worst people" 3 . Here we are talking about such a denouement, when good people achieve happiness, and the bad ones are overtaken by misfortune 4.

The final is the emotional and semantic completion of the work. “Emotionally” means that we are talking not only about the semantic result, not just about the conclusion from the work.

If in a fable morality is expressed directly - “the moral of this fable is this”, then in a dramatic work the finale is a continuation of the action of the play, its last chord. The finale concludes the play with a dramatic generalization and not only completes this action, but opens the door to perspective, to connection. this fact with a wider social organism.

An example of a strong ending is the end of Shakespeare's already mentioned tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The main characters of the tragedy have already died. This

unleashed, resolved the conflict that arose due to their love. But Shakespeare writes the end of the tragedy. The leaders of the warring clans are reconciled at the grave of their dead children. The condemnation of the wild and absurd enmity that separated them sounds all the stronger because in order to stop it, it took two beautiful, innocent, young creatures to be sacrificed. Such an ending contains a warning, a generalized conclusion against those dark prejudices that cripple human destinies. But at the same time, this conclusion is not "added" to the action of the tragedy, it is not "suspended" by the author. It follows from the natural continuation of the events of the tragedy. The burial of the dead, the repentance of the parents responsible for their death, do not need to be invented - all this naturally completes and ends the "sad" story of Romeo and Juliet.

The finale in the play is, as it were, a verification of the dramaturgy of the work as a whole. If the main elements of his composition are violated, if the action that began as the main one is replaced by another, the final will not work. If the playwright did not have enough material, lacked talent or knowledge, lacked dramatic experience in order to complete his work with a genuine finale, the author often, in order to get out of the situation, ends the work with the help of an ersatzfinal. But not every ending under one pretext or another is the final, can serve as the emotional and semantic completion of the work. There are several stamps, typical examples of ersatzfinal. They are especially visible in the movies. When the author does not know how to end the film, the characters, for example, sing a cheerful song or, holding hands, go into the distance, getting smaller and smaller... The most common type of ersatzfinal is the author's "punishment" of the hero. In the play "104 pages about love" its author - E. Radzinsky - specially made his heroine a representative of a dangerous profession - an aeroflot stewardess.

In the play by E. Radzinsky, the death of the plane on which the heroine flew has nothing to do with the action of the play. The relationship between the hero and the heroine developed largely artificially, through the author's willful efforts. The different characters of the heroes complicated their relationship, however, the ground for the development of a conflict, a genuine contradiction, reflecting any significant social problem, not in the play. Conversations "on the subject" could go on endlessly. In order to somehow complete the work, the author himself "ruined" the heroine with the help of an accident - a fact external to the content of the play. This is a typical ersatzfinal 1 .

The problem of such an ersatzfinal - with the help of the hero's murder - was considered by E.G. Kholodov: “If this alone achieved drama, it would not be easier than to pass for a tragic poet. Lessing ridiculed such a primitive understanding of the problem of the tragic”: “any scribbler who would bravely strangle and kill his heroes and not let a single one leave the stage alive or healthy would also imagine himself as tragic as Euripides » 2 .

Drama structure (briefly)

Dramas usually begin with a prologue. This is the name of the part of the work from the beginning to the appearance of the choir. The choir entered the orchestra, performing a song called parody. Other songs of the choir are stasims. They are composed of stanzas, antistrophes, and epods. The conversations of the characters among themselves and their dialogues with the choir are called episodies. The mournful cry, performed in turn by the protagonist and the choir of the tragedy, was called komos. Comedies had two more, only for them, characteristic parts: parabasis and agon. Parabaza is a non-comedy song of the choir, a journalistic digression. In it, the author talks about various events and phenomena of interest to him. public life talks about literary topics. Agon is a dispute between the main characters or the main ideas of a comedy. Dramas end with an exode - the departure of the choir. The choir talks a little with one or two characters in the drama and leaves, singing the final song.

THE STRUCTURE OF A TRAGEDY

Regardless of the differences in the ideological and artistic content of the works of the three great tragedians, the overall structure of their tragedies remains constant, based on the alternation of speech and choral parties. Since in the following we will have to operate with terms denoting individual parts of the tragedy, it is advisable to clarify their meaning.

The tragedy opens with a prologue. In Aeschylus's Oresteia, it also consists of a short monologue, in Sophocles and Euripides it can grow to a whole scene, but in general it is equally reduced to a plot exposition. The prologue is followed by the parod - the exit of the choir, which is to some extent connected with the main characters and in Aeschylus and Sophocles acts as a collective character, distinguished by a special emotional susceptibility. Euripides usually leaves the choir to comment on the events taking place in the orchestra.

The further course of the tragedy takes place in the change of speech parties(episode) with choral(stasims). The leader of the choir (luminary) can enter into a dialogue with the characters in episodies, can perform a solo part in the so-called commòs - a joint vocal scene of one or two characters with the choir. Kommos is a vehicle for conveying intense emotions when not enough ordinary word. A sharp character, as a rule, is also stichomyth - an exchange of one-line remarks, during which one side attacks, and the other defends or, in turn, goes on the counterattack. The speech party concludes the tragedy(eksod- "care"); at the end, the choir, together with the actors, leaves the orchestra.

This structure, as we shall see, can partly change: for example, the soloist's voice can be woven into the parody of the choir in the form of separate stanzas, and his aria (mondia) can be woven into the episody. For all that, the compositional possibilities of the ancient playwrights remain rather limited by tradition, as well as the number of actors, which never exceeded three people (accordingly, each of them had to play several roles). One can only wonder how, with such poor resources and with a small volume of tragedy in general (on average, about one and a half thousand verses), Athenian tragedians achieved an artistic result, to this day. surprising

Additionally: If the tragedy, as was usually the case later, began with the parts of the actors, then this first part, before the arrival of the choir, constituted the prologue. Then came the parod, the arrival of the choir; the choir would enter from both sides in a marching rhythm and sing the song. Subsequently, there was an alternation of episodies (additions, i.e., new arrivals of actors), acting scenes, and stsims (standing songs), choral parts, usually performed when the actors left. The last stasim was followed by an exod (exit), the final part, at the end of which both the actors and the choir left the place of the game. In episodies and exodes, a dialogue between the actor and the luminary (leader) of the choir is possible, as well as kommos, a joint lyrical part of the actor and choir. This latter form is especially characteristic of the traditional mourning of tragedy. The choir parts are strophic in structure (p. 92). A stanza corresponds to an antistrophe; they may be followed by new stanzas and antistrophes of a different structure (scheme: aa, cc, ss); epods are relatively rare.

intermissions in modern sense there was no word in the Attic tragedy. The game went on continuously, and the choir almost never left the place of the game during the action. Under these conditions, changing the scene in the middle of a play or stretching it out for a long time created a sharp violation of the stage illusion. Early tragedy (including Aeschylus) was not very demanding in this respect and handled quite freely both with time and place, using different parts of the site on which the game took place, as different places actions; subsequently it became customary, although not absolutely obligatory, that the action of the tragedy takes place in one place and does not exceed one day in its duration. These features of the construction of a developed Greek tragedy were obtained in the 16th century. the name of "unity of place" and "unity of times and". Poetics French classicism attached, as you know, very great importance to "unities" and raised them to the main dramatic principle.

Necessary constituent parts Attic tragedy are "suffering", the message of the messenger, the lamentation of the choir. A catastrophic end is by no means obligatory for her; many tragedies had a conciliatory outcome. The cult nature of the game, generally speaking, demanded a happy, joyful end, but since this end was provided for the game as a whole by the final drama of the satyrs, the poet could choose the ending that he saw fit.

STRUK.COMEDY TOUR.

The choir consisted not out of 12, as in the tragedy, but out of 24 people. In the middle of the performance, the action was suspended, and the choir performed a special part called parabasa. It was an appeal to the audience, in which the author often expressed his views in an “open” text, and sometimes commented on the idea of the work. The comedy included the following elements: prologue, parode (the opening song of the choir), agon (“competition” of the characters), parabasis, episodies (acting skits, often of a comical, rude nature), and finally, exodus (departure of the choir). Agon was at the heart of comedy. Agon (literally - competition, fight) called special form public speaking, which is a polemic with an ideological opponent. Agon reflected the very principle of competitiveness, identifying the best, worthy as a result of fair competition, and this corresponded to the fundamental democratic norms of Greek society. Moreover, he became a sign of the Hellenic mentality. In comedy, a gon usually lined up as a dispute between two antagonists and often had a defiantly comic, cheerful character. The arguing sometimes tried to "surpass" each other not only in terms of logic and argumentation, but also in verbal rudeness.

Concepts: “Drama”, “Dramatic text”, “Main and secondary dramatic text”, “Remark”, “Poster”, “Replica”, “Scene”, “Action”, “External and internal action”, “Intrigue”, “Character system” “Off-stage characters”, “Role”.

Required Literature

1. Dramatic composition. Action. verbal action. Internal action. external action. Plot. Intrigue. Exposure. Action development. Pause. Turn action. Interchange. Ending. Dramatic text. Main text. Remark text. mise-en-scene. Stage ligaments// Pavi Patrice. Theater Dictionary. M., 1991.

Optional literature (one of the articles in the collection):

1. Analysis of a dramatic work. L., 1988.

Additional literature:

1. Khalizev V.E. Dramatic work and some problems of its study // Analysis of a dramatic work. L., 1988. pp.6-27.

2. Vladimirov S.V. action in drama. L., 1972.

15. Genre literary work:

Concepts: “Genre”, “Genre canon”, “Genre tradition”, “Genre structure”, “Genre system”, “Genre features”.

Mandatory literature:

1. Medvedev P.N. (Bakhtin M.M.) Elements of artistic construction // Medvedev P.N. (Bakhtin M.M.) Formal method in literary criticism. M., 1993. pp.144-159.

2. Likhachev D.S. Poetics ancient Russian literature. M., 1979. pp.55-79.

Additional literature:

1. Rumyantseva E.M. Analysis artwork in the aspect of the genre// Ways of analyzing a literary work. M., 1981. pp.168-187.

Section 4

Methodology and methodology of modern literary criticism.

Concepts: “Method”, “Historicism”, “Structuralism”, “Semiotics”, “Methodology”, “Methodology”.

Mandatory literature:

1. Ginzburg L.Ya. On historicism and structurality (theoretical notes). Talk about literary criticism // Ginzburg L.Ya. About old and new. L., 1982. C.4-15,43-59.

2. Gasparov M.L. “Again clouds over me…” // Gasparov M.L. Selected works. In 3 volumes. M., 1997. V.2. About verses.S.9-20.

3. Egorov B.F. What is literary structural analysis? // Ontology of verse. In memory of Vladislav Evgenievich Kholshevnikov. SPb., 2000. S.26-37.

Literature by choice:

Analyzes literary texts within different methods:

1. Lotman Yu.M. K.N. Batyushkov. “You are awakening, O Baya, from the tomb...” // Lotman Yu.M. About poets and poetry. Analysis poetic text. Articles. Research. Notes. St. Petersburg, .1996. pp.136-141.

2. Jacobson R.O. The texture of one quatrain by Pushkin // Roman Yakobson: Works on Poetics. M., 1987. pp.210-213.

3. Vatsuro V.E. “To the nobleman” A.S. Pushkin // Poems of Pushkin in the 1820-1830s. History of creation and ideological and artistic problems. L., 1974. pp.177-212.

4. Gasparov M.L. O. Mandelstam. Civic lyrics of 1937. M., 1996. S.6-77; 78-128.

additional literature.

1. Lyric study patterns: Tutorial in 2 parts. Izhevsk, 1997.

2. Samples of studying an epic work. Izhevsk, 1995.

Compositional construction of cultural and leisure programs

1.4 The concept of composition in dramaturgy

The word "composition" goes back to the Latin words "compositio" (drawing up) and "compositus" - well-placed, slender, correct.

The subject of the image in a dramatic work is the social conflict personified in the heroes of the work.

The history of dramaturgy shows that it is by no means easy to create an integral artistic image of a conflict event, to observe a seemingly simple condition, to show not only the beginning of the conflict, but also its development and result. The difficulty lies in finding the only correct dramatic development, and then the completion of the initial situation.

When the beginning of the play remains its most interesting part and further development proceeds from the beginning not “up” but “down”, the author is forced to throw new “logs” into his fading fire, replacing the development of this conflict from its initial situation by tying some new ones, additional collisions. This path excludes the completion of the play by resolving the conflict with which it began, and leads, as a rule, to an artificial conclusion by way of the author's volitional command over the destinies of his characters.

Hegel drew attention to the need for the presence of the three named basic elements in a work of dramaturgy. Therefore, the fundamental scheme underlying the dramatic work is usually called the Hegelian triad.

For clarity, the fundamental structure of a dramatic work - Hegel's triad - can be depicted as follows:

The father of drama theory was Aristotle (384-322 BC). His "Poetics" is the first work that has come down to us containing the theory of dramatic art in Ancient Greece 1 . The most difficult thing in drama is the creation of a plot, Aristotle writes: “The plot is the basis and, as it were, the soul of tragedy” ...

“There are two parts to every tragedy: the plot and the denouement. The plot "embraces" an event that is outside the drama, and some of those that lie in itself" 2.

2. Typification of characters.

As is well known, outstanding works of drama violated such a limited understanding of typing.

3. The five-act structure of the play.

Based on the fundamental structure of the work, we list the specific elements of the dramatic composition, and then reveal the essence and purpose of each of them.

The beginning of the struggle is revealed in the exposition and in the beginning of the main conflict.

The course of the struggle is revealed through the specific actions and clashes of the heroes - through the so-called ups and downs that make up the general movement of the action from the beginning of the conflict to its resolution. In many plays (though not all) there is a pronounced moment of the highest tension of the action - the climax.

The result of the struggle is shown in the denouement (resolution) of the main conflict and in the finale of the play.

Each dramatic work necessarily has an exposition, that is, an initial part.

The great French philosopher and writer Denis Diderot (1713-1784) in his treatise "On Dramatic Poetry" - "On Interest", in which Diderot develops the question: how to capture the attention of the public? In plays, the action should arise naturally, as if spontaneously: “Let them (the characters) form the plot of the amia without noticing it, let everything be dark for them, let them go to the denouement without suspecting it” 1 . the meaning of this principle is that the viewer's attention should be focused not on external events, but on the experiences of the characters, their thoughts and feelings, their reactions to reality.

The action should be built economically and thoughtfully in order to focus on the most important and essential.

Already the exposition of the drama is of great importance for the entire subsequent development of dramatic events.

The most common type of exposition is showing that last segment of everyday life, the course of which will be interrupted by the emergence of a conflict.

Dramaturgy has much in common with the folk tale and most likely comes from it. Dramaturgy took from the folk tale, as its main theme, its main miracle, the social miracle - the victory of good over evil. There is also much in common between the construction of a fairy tale and the structure of a dramatic work. In particular, the exposition of most plays is built on the same principle as the exposition of a fairy tale. So, for example, "An old man lived with his old woman by the very blue sea," says at the beginning of Pushkin's "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish." “The old man was fishing with a net. The old woman was spinning her yarn. This went on for “exactly thirty years and three years”, but there was no “fairy tale”. Only when the old man caught a golden fish that spoke with a human voice, this ordinary flow of life was interrupted, an occasion arose for this story, the Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish began.

Another type of exposition is the Prologue - a direct appeal of the author to the viewer, a brief story about the characters of the future action and its character. In a number of cases, the prologue exhausts the exposition, since the plot of the play's conflict is contained (announced) in itself. Often, however, the prologue only opens the exposition, which then continues until the beginning of the conflict by showing the flow of life that preceded it. This is how the beginning of Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" is constructed. The exposition after a short prologue continues throughout the first act.

In the Educational Book of Literature, Gogol solves the problems of dramatic composition. Gogol defines the elements of composition that provide a truly dramatic development of the Action. The first thing a playwright must take care of is to create a "strictly and cleverly considered plot" 1 . The most important condition is the unity of action: “All persons who must act, or, better, between whom a case should be started, must be taken in advance by the author; the fate of each of them is preoccupied by the author and cannot carry and move them quickly and in multitude in the form of phenomena flying by. Every arrival of a person, apparently insignificant at the beginning, already announces his participation later. Everything that is not is only because it is connected with the fate of the hero himself” 2 .

The plot should embrace all the faces, and not just one or two, - touch on what excites, more or less, all the acting characters. Here every hero; the course and course of the play produces a shock to the whole machine: not a single wheel should remain as rusty and not included in the case.

Thus, the notion - "setting" - includes the setting of the main conflict of the play. In the plot, his movement begins - a dramatic action.

For example, from the very beginning of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" we meet with manifestations of the age-old conflict between the families of Montague and Capulet. But this enmity is not the subject of the image in this work. It lasted for centuries, so they "lived and were", but there was no reason for this play. Only when the young representatives of the two warring clans - Romeo and Juliet - fell in love with each other, did the conflict arise, which became the subject of the image in this work - the conflict between the bright human feeling of love and the dark misanthropic feeling of tribal enmity.

Some modern playwrights and theater critics express the opinion that in our time, when the pace and rhythms of life have accelerated immeasurably, it is possible to bypass the exposition bases and start the play right away with the action, with the outset of the main conflict. This way of putting the question is wrong. Only the heroes of the play can “start” a conflict. But we must understand the meaning and essence of what is happening. Like any moment of real life, the life of the heroes of the play can only take place in a specific time and in a specific space. Not to designate either one or the other, or at least one of these coordinates, would mean an attempt to depict some kind of abstraction. The conflict in this unimaginable case would arise from nothing, which contradicts the laws of the mother's movement in general. Not to mention such a difficult moment in its development as the movement of human relations. Thus, the idea of doing without exposition in creating a play is not well thought out.

Sometimes the exposure is combined with the plot. That is how it is done in N.V. Gogol. The very first phrase of the mayor, addressed to the officials, contains all the necessary information for understanding the subsequent action, and at the same time, is the plot of the main conflict of the play. Gogol's "Inspector General" is the embodiment of precisely this principle of comedy composition and a classic example of compositional unity ... In "The Inspector General" there is not a single person, not a single position that was not closely connected with the main event, with its idea. All the characters participate in the plot and its subsequent development of the action. Each of them lives on the stage and reveals his own character in relation to the central conflict. All the characters in his play actively participate in the events and each has its own individual face.

In Othello, the denouement of the main conflict comes when Othello learns that Iago is a slanderer and a scoundrel. Let's pay attention to the fact that this happens after the murder of Desdemona. It is wrong to believe that the denouement here is precisely the moment of the murder. The main conflict of the play is between Othello and Iago. Killing Desdemona, Othello does not yet know who his main enemy is. Consequently, only the elucidation of the role of Iago is here the denouement.

The resolution of the conflict is possible only if the unity of action is preserved.

We have already named and briefly described the main parts of the composition of a dramatic work. They do not have a given form of combination once and for all, but each time, combining in a new way, they create special types compositions. In the compositional presentation of the events of the play, a breakdown of the action into acts is distinguished. The events in the acts are located in completely different ways and depend primarily on the form of construction of the play.

In a play consisting of5 acts

1 act - exposition, at the end of the act - a plot;

2nd and 3rd - development of action;

4th - climax;

5th - denouement and finale.

In a play consisting of4thactions (acts):

1- exposure and tie;

2- development action;

3- climax;

4- denouement and epilogue;

IN3rdact play:

1- exposition, plot and the beginning of the development of the action;

2- development of action at the end of the culmination;

3- denouement of the action, finale and epilogue;

In a play consisting of2ndacts:

1 - exposition, plot, development of action, culmination at the end;

2 - culmination, denouement, final epilogue can be placed at the beginning;

IN one-act play Naturally, everything is located in one act.

According to the sequence of events (naturally, major, i.e. defining the plot of the play) one by one we distinguish several types of compositions. Let's name a few.

Linear- composition. This is the most common type of composition. It is characterized by the fact that in it parts of the composition follow sequentially, one after another.

Ring - characterized by the fact that in it the beginning closes with the final, i.e. the action of the play begins with what it ends with.

Mounting - consisting of several storylines, stories that are linked into one single narrative with the help of montage. For example, two stories.

Events of the 1st story a b c d e f g h i l k

Events of the 2nd story 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Montage of these two stories:

a1 b2 c d3 4 e f5 g h6 7 i l8 k9

There is a montage of three or more stories. This type of composition allows you to achieve epic narration. The main characteristic of this type will be lighting that is not plot-related to each other. various events, one semantic problem underlying the work.

collage - one of the most complex compositions but also the most interesting. It is based on a certain semantic plot built according to a structural scheme (exposition, plot, climax, denouement, epilogue), but each part of the composition is revealed by a separate story.

1 story 2 3 4 5

This is not a montage, but a collage. As a clear example, we can cite “Little Tragedies” by A.S. Pushkin, where a single plot is revealed various stories about vices. Collage as an eccentric metaphor, but not an explicit form of composition, is present in the paintings of Picasso, in the plays of B. Brecht and P. Weiss, in the direction of E. Vakhtangov and E. Piscator. This type compositions can be used especially successfully in staging.

Paradoxical- this type of composition is characterized by a reversal of perspective and a shift in dramatic structure. This deliberate violation of the harmonic compositional unity leads to the exposure of the semantic and artistic construction, which generally removes the automaticity of the viewer's perception. In reality, this is expressed as follows: a logically developing action is interrupted by a piece or scene completely unrelated in meaning, style, even genre. On the one hand, this shows the "wrong side" of the action, character, performance; on the other hand, it communicates a new vision of an ordinary, everyday event. The location of the parts of the composition in this case becomes not exactly defined, but it will be more accurate to say un-defined: the plot can be followed, for example, by the finale, and then the exposition begins. But this type of composition is used extremely rarely in dramaturgy, it is more characteristic of directorial innovations.

Thus, we see that with a single plot set of events, in a work of art it is possible to state (arrange) them completely arbitrarily, but according to certain laws. At the same time, it is necessary to distinguish sequence of events that occurred chronologically from forms of presentation these events. This brings us to the concept of disposition, which we will consider.

Disposition and composition

This concept(disposition) is used by Vygotsky L.S. in "Psychology of Art" in the analysis of aesthetic reaction on the example of I. Bunin's story "Easy breathing". In this analysis, in his opinion, the issue of composition is especially relevant: “... events a, b, c completely change their meaning ... if we rearrange them in this order, say: b, c, a; b, a, c. When analyzing a work of art, Vygotsky proposes to distinguish between the static scheme of the construction of a story (as it were, its anatomy) from the dynamic scheme of its composition (as it were, its physiology). In this case, "disposition" means chronological arrangement episodes that make up the story. This is commonly called the disposition of the story i.e. "natural arrangement of events".

This concept is very rarely used in dramaturgy, but we still decided to include it, because. not always in theatrical practice the director is conditioned by dramaturgy. Recently, they have often resorted to staging, and in working on it, this concept becomes very important in revealing the author's intention and in building his presentation scheme.

To explain the concept of disposition, since we are talking about Vygotsky, we will use the story "Lung and Breath". So, the disposition of the story "Light Breath" by I. Bunin differs significantly from its composition. The events that took place in the life of the characters in this story are presented out of order, in the wrong sequence and relationship. The story itself consists of two stories. The first is the life of Olya Meshcherskaya; second Life cool lady. These stories do not tell about their whole life, but about last times in the life of Olya Meshcherskaya and the life of a cool lady after her death. We present these events in chronological order(definition and names of Vygotsky's events).

Story disposition

A- these are events related to the life of O. Meshcherskaya. They make up the main outline, the plot of the story. IN - events from the life of a classy lady. We did not include them in the general numbering, because the author does not give an exact time definition for them (as well as talking about easy breathing, but more on that later). In the story, these events follow a very different order.

Story Composition

14. Grave.

1. Childhood.

2. Youth.

3. Episode with Shenshin.

8. Last winter.

10. Conversation with the boss.

11. Murder.

13. Interrogation with a witness.

9. Episode with the officer.

7. Diary entry.

5. Arrival of Malyutin.

6. Communication with Malyutin.

14. Grave.

· Classy lady.

· Dream of a brother.

· The dream of an ideological worker.

12. Funeral

4. Talk about easy breathing.

The question of where to put the talk about easy breathing is very important. Vygotsky puts it almost at the very beginning. But Bunin does not give an exact temporal definition of this scene (“... one day at a big break, walking in the gymnasium garden ...”). This is the liberty of Vygotsky, from which the whole semantic concept of the story changes. If this scene is at the beginning, then all "love stories" are some kind of development of this " easy breathing". But if, after all the stories and connections of Meshcherskaya, we put this conversation about her discovery of beauty - “easy breathing” - then her refusal to go with an officer becomes completely new meaning and the more tragic the murder becomes. We emphasize once again that chronologically (in disposition) the author does not give the exact location of this scene, but in the composition we talk about light breathing completes(!) story. This may be the author's intention: for the reader to correlate the location of this story in the life of Meshcherskaya, he himself puts it in the finale.

CHAPTER 8

CONSTRUCTION OF DRAMA

Internal construction

In the very common understanding"drama construction" is its architectonics, system internal organization formal elements of the play according to a certain order, which gives the impression of a whole and carefully built organism. It is divided into external and internal structure. The internal construction of a drama should be understood as a series of elements that make up the action of the entire play. It can also be understood as the organization of the main semantic units, their alignment before writing the play. This is expressed by the theme, idea and event series. The concept of construction constantly intersects with structure.

The analysis of the internal structure is based on the study of the main problems that the author of the play faces when he builds the play. before her writing. Once the author has decided on the main plot and thematic content future play, he inevitably faces the problem of their technical implementation. Without knowing the basic techniques for constructing a drama, it is very difficult for a playwright to clearly state his intention. This would be easier to do if the drama was limited to reading as a literary work (see the tragedies of Seneca), but it is intended for productions on the stage and here, completely different mechanisms for the realization of meaning in space and time are switched on. Aristotle was the first to try to determine the type of scenes that organize the internal structure of the play. To do this, he divided all the elements of the drama into two parts: generators And constituents. This division is more related to the internal structure. He also refers to the external a number of scenes:

1. Change of happiness to unhappiness.

2. scenes of recognition.

3. Scenes of "pathos", those. violent suffering, despair.

We would add to this division also:

· transition scenes- they are sometimes called insignificant or preparatory scenes.

· Moments to stop action- as a rule, these are intermissions, within the framework of the action it can be a special device as a transition from one scene to another, or as a semantic accent.

According to their ideological and thematic content, dramatic scenes can be divided into:

· main;

· central;

· side and passing;

By the number of characters taking part in the action, there can be a division into:

· crowd scenes- scenes of the struggle of one person with a group (mass); groups with a group (the beginning of "Romeo and Juliet");

· group scenes- where various representatives of this society participate (the ball scene in Romeo and Juliet).

What distinguishes these two groups of scenes is that in crowd scenes characters must act; in group, as a rule, - passively present. Meanwhile, the scenes can follow one another continuously, or they can also be connected to each other by a certain technique - a “link”.

Bundles are stage- the principle according to which two scenes following each other must be united by some character so that the stage space does not remain empty for a minute. Pavie speaks of the existence of several types of ligaments in classical dramaturgy:

· bundle of presence- carried out with the help of an actor;

· bonding through noise- when an actor attracted by this sound comes out to the noise coming from the stage;

· flight bunch- when one character flees from another;

We briefly examined the first, initial division of the whole action of the play into scenes, which constitute the internal architectonics of the play. The scenes themselves, inside themselves, consist of a number of structural elements. Namely:

· Replica- a separately taken, independent, whole in meaning statement of the actor. There is a replica as a response to the previous discourse.

· Replica a parte- a remark addressed not to the character, but to himself and the public. In general, it does not fall out of the scope of action as a monologue. It can be considered a kind of dialogue with the public. Replica typology aparte(according to Pavi):

self-reflection;

- "wink" to the public;

Awareness;

Addressing the public;

· Dialogue- a sequence of remarks, a conversation between several characters. The main function of the dialogue: communication and narration.

· replica targeting- an indication of who they are addressed to;

presence or absence remarks;

· the situation is dramatic;

We have decided to include among the elements relating to the construction of drama the concept of "dramatic situation". But in this case, we are talking not so much about what influence and place it occupies in the overall structure, but about its essence and functioning. Situation (from lat. situs) is a certain ratio of circumstances in which the characters are placed. In itself, it is not something static, even an outwardly "harmless" situation, contains the potential for a collision, i. the occurrence of action and maintains its balance until a certain moment. The most important in a dream is the initial situation, because. it contains the beginning of a collision, the future action of which absorbs the exposition, seeking to transform it. Depending on the genre, the development of the action tends to either destroy the original situation (tragedy) or transform it (drama and comedy).

Any linguistic message is meaningless and means nothing if the situation or context is unknown. Therefore, in in a certain sense we can say that the analysis of the play comes down to finding a situation and creating a context. This is in the theory of the theater and makes it possible for the concept of "interpretation" to exist.

The search and definition of a "dramatic situation" is based on the study and analysis of the action. At the same time, a series of actions of individual characters is analyzed, and then a situation is created that would cover them all (see Fig.)

This is sometimes called an event, but in our opinion this is not quite the right definition, because an event is an effective fact that, on the whole, radically changes the whole situation. And it would be more correct to call this scheme co-existence or dramatic. An analysis that is only textual and effective does not reveal another level - situational:

Semiotics of the text		Text
stage speech		Action
		Characters
		Situation
		Actant

A character (as an actant) - getting into this or that situation, depending on the worldview and character, performs this or that action - through a word or action - changing this situation, which is an event or fact (a partial change in the situation).

External construction

The outer construction of drama is various forms, which can be adopted by the internal structure according to theater traditions or for stage purposes. Usually a play consists of several large parts (pieces) they are called actions or acts. Their number usually ranges from one to five. Ancient tragedy did not know the division into acts, the plot segments of the action were determined by the appearance of the choir and were called episodes, number from 2 to 6. The division into five acts is first encountered in the tragedies of Seneca, but becomes a normative requirement in the era of classicism in France. Acts, in turn, are divided into scenes, and they into phenomena.

Sometimes playwrights use titles action instead of Act; painting- instead of scenes, but the principle does not change from this: the play consists of several large parts, which in turn (depending on the idea, style, etc.) are broken into smaller pieces, and sometimes (like Ostrovsky's) by events. In the history of drama, the principles of division into acts and the transition from one to another have been very diverse. This could be done by the entry of the choir, the lowering of the curtain (the most common technique), a change in lighting ("blackout"), music. The need for an act separation was dictated not only by the semantic content, but also by technical reasons (the need to change the scenery, change the candles, etc.). Classic Rules it was prescribed to limit the act to the whole day, but this was often ignored and the act included time periods of more than one day, and only a few hours.

Most importantly, it must be remembered that the construction is not a mathematically exact structure of the work. It is always in relationship with the outside world that comments on it. The construction, ideally, should refer us to the plot through which the main ideas of the author are expressed and the cultural world in which this plot exists.

On the structure of the play, i.e. its design is influenced;

· image system(characters);

· stage type(box, arena, amphitheater);

· how characters appear;

· characters speech;

· character action;

· technology and certain aspects of theatrical writing;

CHAPTER 9

ABOUT GENRE

§ 1. On the question of defining the genre

What is a genre? With this sacramental question begins almost any article that touches upon the principles of the genre division of a particular type of art, especially dramatic. Almost every author points out terminological confusion in this matter. "Genre" is applied to the definition of comedy as such and in "comedy of manners", tragedy and "tragedy of rock" (i.e. more specific division). Such "overuse" this term leads, according to P. Pavi to the loss of its meaning and "reduces attempts to classify literary and theatrical forms." We will not deviate from this involuntary established tradition, and we will also undertake a small study in this area. First, we will touch on a number of definitions, we will try to consider, if not the history of the emergence, then at least the development of the genre, we will touch upon the art forms adjacent to theater and drama (music and painting). All this, perhaps, will lead to a “purified” from personal ideas, I understand the genre.

Genre - from fr. "genre" - genus, species; lat. "genus" - will give birth to a case. Genre division into genus and species is a division of works of art, in each separate form arts (literature, painting, music, theater, etc.) into certain groups, according to certain laws and united by a common structural principle. Such a definition can be called a definition in its most general form. Two unresolved questions follow logically from it:

1. What is the need for such a division?

2. What are the principles of association?

In the history of the emergence and development of the genre, these two questions play a key role. A consistent answer to them will help to understand this "confusing" concept. Is it really necessary to divide into genres? What gives (or will give) such a division?

Speaking about the art of poetry, Aristotle writes in Poetics about such a division that arose almost at the moment of the birth of poetry itself, noting what served basis for this division. “Poetry fell apart [into two kinds] according to the personal character [of the poets]” and further in the text (ch. 4). From this we can conclude: initially, dramatic poetry was divided into two channels (tragedy and comedy), each of which spoke about different things, touched on certain aspects of life, reality and the whole existence of a person. The personal character of the author chose a certain object for the image - “high” or “low” (“universals” - “phenomena”) and created, on the basis of imitation of him, a work of art (with its own structure), identical to his personal character (psychological, mental and spiritual structure person). Here we introduce the term - "identity of structures".

Imitation is a general category, a property of any person: “after all, imitating is inherent in people from childhood: people, after all, differ from other creatures in that they are more prone to imitation and even acquire their first knowledge through imitation.” Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to divide according to this principle, because we all imitate something and someone from birth to death. Based on this, we can determine that the “object” of imitation, and not imitation itself, will be the first category that introduces certain distinctions in the art of imitation. One object requires correspondingly one form of imitation, the other requires others. (using the terminology of Aristotle) we imitate the “better”, “beautiful deeds of people like ourselves.” With a “low” object - “deeds bad people”, i.e. coarse, devoid of any sublimity. Speaking of "high" and "low" we do not touch upon the aesthetic and moral topography. We are talking about spiritual aspiration and the principle of correlating the ideal with reality, about structure identities, which manifests itself only in the "high"; "low" is a distortion of this identity:

* correspondence real ideal - tragedy ;

* discrepancy real ideal - comedy;

This is how the process of identifying forms, means and methods in the reproduction of an object is formalized. In theatrical art, there is a difference in the technology of performing tragedy and comedy, because it is absolutely impossible to mix, say, a "tall" object and forms of a "low" image. This will be a direct discredit and not only of the object, but of the artist himself. Thus, gradually we come to several, but basic principles, according to which the genre division of works of art takes place. Aristotle formulated them most precisely. “They are divided by themselves in three ways: either by different means, or by different ... objects, or by different, non-identical ways.”

What was the need for such a division? In our opinion, the need for stratification of an integral artistic and semantic space into separate worlds, which were previously attributes and qualities of this integrity, but now have become full-fledged "heroes" of the image, was dictated by the entire evolution of mankind. In the same way, the process of individualization of consciousness and it proceeds - according to A.Yu. Titov - clearly illustrates the process of selecting an actor from ancient choir. Nevertheless, this process was considered by ancient playwrights as a reflection of the stages of Genesis, the evolution of Creation and man in it. The further process of individualization and realization of more particular potentialities, the smallest facets of Being, leads to the emergence of more particular genres. Compliance with all the laws imposed by certain genres makes it possible to create a holistic (for all its particularity) work of art, as a reflection of the same integral object.

We stopped at the principles of the difference between genres given by Aristotle. But we would like to make a small digression and turn to painting and music in order to consider the basic laws of genre division in these types of art. This will provide a more holistic and comprehensive picture of the genre as a category of art.