federal education agency
state educational institution
higher professional education
Far Eastern State University for the Humanities
Faculty of Philology
Department of the Russian language
O. Slavkina, student 742 gr.
WAYS of creating a comic effect in the stories of Arkady Bukhov
course work
specialty 031001 - philology
Khabarovsk, 2008
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………….3
§1. ARKADY BUHOV IN LIFE AND CREATIVITY…………………………….5
- Arkady Bukhov - satyric writer……………………………………5
Techniques for creating a comic effect………………………………………9
2.1 Impersonation………………………………………………………………22
2.2 Hyperbole……………………………………………………………………24
2.3 Phraseological pun………………………………………………….28
2.4 Mixing vocabulary of different styles…………………………………………...30
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………33
REFERENCES………………………………………….34
- INTRODUCTION
As you know, the comic effect is created on the basis of the play of meanings, as well as on the contrast: who says and what he says; who speaks and how he speaks; who speaks and where speaks; what he says and how he says it, etc. Therefore, the comic can be created through many stylistic devices.
The work of Arkady Bukhov is, in our opinion, a very rich material for studying the techniques of creating a comic effect.
Relevance And novelty This work consists in the fact that until now there have been no linguistic studies devoted to the study of stylistic devices in the stories of Arkady Bukhov. However, the work of this writer widely illustrates the various ways of creating comic.
object of our research are the techniques for creating a comic effect in the stories of Arkady Bukhov. Item - the study of the techniques used by Bukhov to create a comic effect in his works.
Thus, purpose Our work is the analysis of techniques that contribute to the creation of a comic effect in the stories of A. Bukhov.
Our goal is to solve the following tasks:
- form an idea of A. Bukhov as a person and an artist
find out by what means a comic effect can be created
identify and describe ways to create a comic effect in Bukhov's stories
determine the most frequent methods of creating comic in the stories of the writer
We analyzed 98 stories by Arkady Bukhov, from which we selected the stories that most clearly illustrate different ways of creating a comic effect.
The following were used in the work. methods:
- continuum sampling method
method of analysis of language units
counting method
descriptive method
Practical significance: The results of our study can be used in preparing for the exam in the subject of "stylistics", as well as in the classroom when studying the expressive means of the language and in Russian language lessons at school when studying the section "stylistics".
Accepted in work conditional contraction: PU - phraseological unit.
§1. ARKADY BUKHOV IN LIFE AND CREATIVITY
- Arkady Bukhov - satirical writer
“He was a strange person. Dense, of medium height, always standard well-dressed, with a white, plump, bun-shaped and motionless face, he came to the editorial office - literally, I'm not exaggerating - with a dozen stories, feuilletons, reviews, poems written in one night "- recalls him secretary of the magazine "Satyricon" Efim Zozulya.
His stories were always sustained in the same style and almost always the main character in them was the image of the narrator-author.
Arkady Sergeevich Bukhov was born on January 26, 1989 in Ufa. The writer's father was a railroad employee. Following his older brother Mikhail, Arkady entered the law faculty of Kazan University. In the very first year of his studies, Bukhov was exiled to the Urals, to the gold mines of Kochkar, for his active participation in the student movement of 1907.
After returning from exile, Bukhov wrote satirical stories and feuilletons for the Dragonfly magazine, renamed Satyricon in 1908.
In 1909, he published his first book, Critical Touches, about the lyrical work of Alexander Blok and Mikhail Kuzmin.
In St. Petersburg, Bukhov enters the Faculty of Law, but leaves the 4th year for professional literary activity.
In a difficult time of political reaction and terror, the journal Satyricon appears.
“At one of the regular meetings of the editorial board, it was decided to turn Strekoza from a humorous magazine into a satirical one, reflecting the topical events of social and political life in the country. They immediately came up with a different name for the magazine. It was proposed by Radakov. He recalled the famous ancient Roman novel "Satyricon" - a colorful kaleidoscope of the nightmarish era of Nero, where the relief details of life are fancifully mixed with grotesque images of a dissolute disgusting world (Gaius Petronius the Arbiter is considered its author). . The writing team of the magazine set itself the goal of correcting and purifying society by satire on contemporary morals.
Despite strict censorship, the satyricists continued to publish a magazine and instill in readers a taste for genuine and witty humor, exposing the vulgarity of philistine life.
For most satyricists, laughter was a way to hide from the horrors of life, the only way to hold out in this dirty and difficult time. A striking example is Sasha Cherny's poem "Oasis":
When the soul is dark as a coffin
And life came down to a loaf of bread,
Involuntarily raise your forehead
To the bright call of the tramp Phoebus, -
And laughter, magical alcohol,
Against earthly hell
Ringing, swaying pain,
Like waves of a dead naiad.
Sasha Black.
“Satyricon actively opposed two negative trends in the development of satire at that time: the wretched malice of the Black Hundreds humor and the shameless scoffing of the street press. The editors of the new magazine set themselves the goal of cheering up the despondent Russian society with the help of "resisting evil with laughter" or giving it "magic alcohol" to drink.
At the beginning of the imperialist war, Bukhov was taken into the army, but was soon demobilized as "politically unreliable."
In 1918, Arkady Averchenko closed the magazine in connection with the transfer of power into the hands of the people. In the same year, Bukhov moved with his wife to Minsk, and then to Vilnius. A theater troupe is created there and the writer is offered to manage the repertoire. After a short existence, the troupe breaks up in Grodno and Bukhov earns a living by private lessons.
Fleeing from the Belopolsky invaders, the Bukhov family moves to Lithuanian territory. But the hopes of hiding in Lithuania did not come true - it was also occupied by the Belopolsky legions and Bukhov was forced to move to Kaunas, where the Echo newspaper was published on October 26, 1920 and the writer became its employee. In fact, it was the press organ of Russian emigrants.
In 1925, Bukhov bought the newspaper and became its editor-in-chief.
The newspaper "chose alignment with Moscow". It became unsafe to stay further abroad - the Bukhov family began to be attacked by anti-Soviet emigrant circles and local nationalists.
On October 3, 1927, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR granted the request of Arkady Bukhov to accept him into Soviet citizenship and return to his homeland with his wife and daughter.
Bukhov's work becomes even more socially purposeful, he begins to actively fight against everything that was disgusting to his soul.
For a long time, the work of Arkady Bukhov was forgotten, and only recently modern readers have again begun to turn to the works of this wonderful satirist, finding in them humor and optimism sparkling with wit, which does not allow them to lose heart in difficult life situations. So, since 2005, the Eksmo publishing house has been publishing a series of books under the general title "Anthology of Satire and Humor", which includes collections of stories by such wonderful humorists as N.A. Teffi, Mikhail Zoshchenko, A. Averchenko, Arkady Bukhov and many others.
Bukhov's stories are of great value even today, making readers laugh to tears.
We are interested in what this comic effect is based on and by what means it is created.
- Techniques for creating comic effect
Most often, it is impossible to sharply draw a line between techniques that create an artistic image in one context. It would be more appropriate to talk about the convergence of 1 methods - in this case, one of the means used by the author will be the leading, organizing one in this example.
Allegory (from Greek allegoria- allegory) - "a numerous detailed metaphor-mystery that performs an explanatory function". “A term for an allegorical image based on the similarity of the phenomena of life: the connection between meaning and image is established by analogy or contiguity. So, in fables, under the guise of animals, certain persons or social phenomena are allegorically depicted, i.e. animals replace man and their relations and actions are correlated with "morality", conclusions already from the field of human relations. A very striking example using allegory is presented in A. Bukhov’s story “Laziness”: “And it seems to him at that time that if some special, monstrously large adhesive sheet for flies, in which all relatives and strangers would get stuck with their conversations, vanity and the habit of getting into the soul, complete bliss would come ... ". Here, people are allegorically portrayed as annoying, annoying insects - flies, which reflects the protagonist's desire to retire and take a break from someone invading his inner world.
Alogism- (from the Greek alogia - irrationality, madness) - “violation of logical connections in speech.<…>Common to the categories A. and improbability is the concept of absurdity.
Example: “Although the dialogues were beautiful, they often did not correspond to the development of the plot.
“There was that vague time,” the hero of the play said passionately, “when young Russia, straining her strength in the struggle, was bred by the genius of Peter ...
The heroine, not letting him finish the phrase, objected confident and angry
- We all learned little by little, something and somehow, so educate, thank God, it’s no wonder we shine ...
Argument ended only due to the intervention of a third person introduced into the play by the director to fill an empty space<…>, and this a third person gave a summary that reconciled everyone:
- Winter. The peasant, triumphant, renews the way on the firewood. Here it is also appropriate to talk about the contamination of devices - antiphrasis is combined with alogism, since the words used “objected”, “quarrel”, “summary that reconciled all” in this context have opposite meanings. The comic effect here is also based on the fact that the dialogue of the characters is built on the principle of centon 2.
Anagram- (Greek ana - "re-"; gramma "letter") - "sound repetition, which serves to highlight the thematically key word. The monophonic Anagram is based on the repetition of one sound.<…>Polyphonic anagrams are usually less successful, since polyphony imposes significant restrictions on the choice of words, which in this case often occurs to the detriment of the meaning of the text.
Example: “Sleep, Chiris-Kavr…. How are you next?
“I forgot,” I whispered, “something like Bal-Tal…
– Talbal, Petya added. - Sleep.
Antithesis(from Greek antithesis - opposition ) - “a stylistic figure 3 built on the principle of contrast, sharp opposition of concepts, positions, images, states, etc. The antithesis is based on a comparison of two opposite phenomena or signs, which, as a rule, are inherent in different objects. A. differs from an oxymoron in that it is not typical for the merging of opposite concepts into one. ”
Example: "Is it fairy tale?
- And what is it - Research Article, whether? - I boiled. In this example, the comic effect is created due to the obvious opposition in the conversation between the characters of two completely different genres - a fairy tale and a scientific article. The narrator, trying to satisfy the request of his beloved, begins to tell a fairy tale he is inventing, wedging in the narratives colloquial interjections and words, but with obvious zeal he tries to do what is required of him. And therefore, his indignation at the discontent of his beloved is so sincere.
Antiphrasis(from the Greek antiphrasis - opposite in meaning) - "the use of a word as well as phrases and sentences in a meaning opposite to the usual, which is achieved with the help of context and special intonation (in oral speech)" .
Example: “What? Leave? And you think that on a night like this I...
After half an hour fruitless struggle with inexhaustible kindness sympathetic person, I had to stay overnight at Schwanin's. At night, he cautiously looked into the room allotted to me four times. The hero speaks of Shvanin's kindness, but the reader fully understands from the context that this kindness turns into a difficult test for the hero, it is of an obsessive nature. In this example, you can also see an oxymoron - " fight with kindness". Kindness in the general human understanding is not something that needs to be fought.
Literalization (realization) of metaphor- "a stylistic device, which consists in the fact that a metaphorical expression is deliberately comprehended and used in a direct (literal, non-figurative) sense" .
Example: "Tell me blue fairy tale- asked Shura, putting her head on my shoulder, - tell me, dear.
- Blue? You will certainly ... blue? I asked hesitantly, going over in my mind everything that I could fit into this concept.
<…>you feel forced to deceive the woman you love with stories about some devils, and even to make it all blue... ". In the above example, the stable metaphorical expression "blue fairy tale" is understood by the hero literally, which indicates a strong difference in the worldviews of the two heroes.
Hyperbola(from the Greek hyperbole - exaggeration) - “a technique based on excessive exaggeration, intensification. The image in a greatly exaggerated form of any properties, signs of an object or process, a phenomenon to enhance the impression.
Example: “All rooms, in proportion to the total size of the house, are wide and spacious, so that for each person there is several cubic versts of air. Each of the spouses - on a separate half of the house, connected by telephone, whose devices are so far apart that it’s even embarrassing to call the phone home. <…>If, in a fit of despair, the husband wants to make a scandal, he it will take so long to get to his wife's boudoir that by half way his mood begins to change, and he reaches the door of the boudoir already cheerful, cheerful and with an annoying dream of what to give him to his wife. In this example, an expanded hyperbole is presented, where the size of the apartment is exaggerated not only by the description of the duration of the movement of residents and guests from one part of the house to another, but also by replacing the component in a stable combination: “cubic miles air." As you know, the volume of air can be measured in cubic centimeters, meters, but never in kilometers and even more so in versts. In addition, the word “verst” used gives even greater scale to the living quarters and the air contained in it, since a verst is more than a kilometer.
gradation(from lat. gadatio - a gradual increase< gradus – ступень, степень) – «стилистическая фигура, состоящая из ряда словесных компонентов (не менее трех): слов, словосочетаний, частей предложения, предложений, изобразительно-выразительных средств языка, расположенных в порядке их возрастающей, или (реже) убывающей семантической и/или эмоциональной значимости, которая порождает стилистический эффект» .
Example: “My dear,” she said softly, kissing my drooping head, “ you are better now . You became unearthly . You have a blue soul » . Thanks to the gradation technique used here, we understand how badly the character of the hero is broken.
Zeugma- (from the Greek zeugma - "connection") - “a semantic-syntactic device of the comic, in which semantically heterogeneous words, very far from each other in meaning, are attached to a polysemantic word (more often a verb).
Example: "If this my buddy and horse's mistake, That let them split my expenses in half: I don't want to be responsible for other people's mistakes. The friend of the hero is made responsible for his mistake next to the animal - the horse, which, of course, cannot bear any responsibility. In this case, it is also appropriate to talk about the personification of the horse, which is endowed with human qualities: the ability to make mistakes and be responsible for their actions.
Irony(from Greek - “pretense”) - “this is a combination of semantic polarities, contrasts, inconsistencies” . Irony is based on "double actualization of context and directly opposite subtext".
Example: "For people with a healthy body and strong nerves, who cannot be finished off with one blow, someone came up with a sure and irresistible remedy and called it installment» . In this example, the narrator, using irony, criticizes the existing installment payment system and its negative impact on people's lives.
Chancellery- “words, set phrases, grammatical forms and constructions, the use of which in the literary language is assigned to the official business style, especially to its clerical business (administrative and clerical substyle.” Chancellery is an integral part of any official business text, but used in artistic style are able to create a comic effect based on their inappropriateness in such usage.
Example: “So I could listen calmly while lying in bed, but since the conversation was about Ksenia Mikhailovna, this required more careful attention and diplomatic place behind the open shutters." In this example, we are talking about a child (the main character) who overhears the conversation of adults. The hero, using in his speech the clerical clichés “more careful attention” and “diplomatic place”, makes fun of himself in childhood and his attempts to justify his behavior.
Metaphor- “a way of rethinking the meaning of a word based on similarity, by analogy.<…>Metaphor is based on comparison. It is traditionally called an abbreviated comparison - without similarity predicates (similar, reminiscent, etc.) and comparative conjunctions (as, as if, as if, as if, exactly, etc.) ". “An essential feature of a metaphor is the duality of its content, provided by the interaction (“play”) of the main and auxiliary subjects (that is, the meaning and internal form of the metaphorical sign). Such interaction is the key to the semantic usefulness of the metaphor.
Example: “Fate confronted me with stupid everyday women, dangling heavy blunt millstones on a submissive male neck» . In the above example, one can clearly see the spread of the phraseological combination "hang on the neck" as an extended metaphor.
Metonymy(from the Greek metonymia - renaming) - “trope, which is based on the transfer of meaning according to the principle of contiguity of concepts, i.e. causal or other objective relationship between them. “Metonymic is the transfer of a name from one object to another on the basis of one of the real (spatial, temporal, etc.) connections between these objects.”
Example: “I myself lay down on the floor on the latest issue of the monthly magazine and on fragments of a torn Maeterlinck» . Maeterlinck is the surname of a famous symbolist theater playwright. In this example, the transfer of the name occurred on the basis of the attachment to the author of his works. It is clear that the writer himself could not lie torn there - these were his works.
« personification(tracing paper from Latin persona - face, personality + facere - to do), Personification is a stylistic device with the help of which inanimate objects, natural phenomena, abstract concepts appear in a human image (anthropomorphism) or in the image of another living being ". Personification can be created on the basis of other stylistic devices: parallelism, comparison, metaphorical definition, rhetorical appeal to an inanimate addressee, allegory, replacement of a phraseological unit (PU) component.
Example: “When he talked about them, it seemed that he spent his entire childhood in a racing stable, knows how quickly get along with any, even the most reserved horse and find out from her the running secret of tomorrow» . In this example, one can clearly see the personification created on the basis of the replacement of a component in the phraseological unity “it’s easy to get along with someone”, as well as the spread of a stable turnover, which is transformed into “ quickly get along with any, even the most reserved horse.
homonymy And Related phenomena“(from the Greek homonymia - same name) - the presence in the language of units that coincide in form (sound and / or spelling), but have different semantics (meaning) and are not associated associatively.
Example: “- Well, come on, now one the horse will run...
- At all one? This one will probably come first ... ". Here the comic effect is based on the use of two homonyms: "one" - in the meaning of the pronoun and "one" - in the meaning of the numeral, which allows you to see the frustration and skepticism of the hero - one horse simply cannot but come first.
colloquial vocabulary- “words, word forms and phrases inherent in vernacular, i.e. everyday speech of different social strata, standing outside the literary language or on its periphery.
Example: “Life is arranged in such a way that a lot of respectable people spend their whole lives rubs near the houses being erected and not a single speck of dust falls on their heads ... ". From the context of the story, we understand that the metaphorical description given is connected with the experiences of feelings of love. The vernacular used emphasizes the author's annoyance at the injustice of life's choice of people who have found love.
speech stamp(from Lat stampa - seal) - “once figurative words and expressions that have lost their brightness and expressiveness due to the high frequency of use. Their unjustified use is a speech flaw that violates the communicative-pragmatic norm. Speech stamps, being words and turns of speech with erased semantics and faded emotional coloring, deprive speech of concreteness, individuality, simplicity and therefore are evaluated negatively. Therefore, many writers use this technique to create a deliberate artificiality of the characters' speech, its pathos and, as a result, to create a comic effect.
Example “- Lieutenant Germinal,” said one of the commanders-in-chief of the battalion, “do you love life?
- Yes, i love life, - said the lieutenant, putting aside the armored sword, - but i will give it» . Here the comic effect is based on the use of pathos speech stamp " I love life, but I will give it"- to ridicule the "military fiction" writers with their excessive splendor of style and isolation from real military operations.
Retardation(lat. retardatio - slowdown) - "a stylistic device that consists in deliberately creating and maintaining tension in the text and delaying the climax and, accordingly, the denouement".
Example: “We need to stand behind a wire fence,” thought Dementiev, but then he straightened up and began to think.
The projectile flew.
Dementiev rushed down to the desk and wrote a telegram:
etc.................
Lexical and phraseological means of creating a comic effect in an individual style
I. Ilf and E. Petrov.
Introduction………………………………………………………………………..….3
Chapter I. The problem of the writer's individual style.
About the language of fiction. Principles of constructing verbal images…………………………………………………………….5 Language means and techniques of expressing the comic in artistic style……………………………………… …………………10 Features of the individual style of I. Ilf and E. Petrov ……………………………………………………………………………...… 12
Chapter II. Lexico-phraseological means of creating a comic effect in the individual style of I. Ilf and E. Petrov.
2.1. Comic method of transforming a phraseological unit……………………16
2.2. Semantic and structural-semantic transformations
phraseological units in the text…………………………………………………………18
2.3. Semantic-syntactic technique of "sculpting speech segments"………..23
2.4. Puns……………………………………………………………...…….25
Chapter III. Comedy of tropes.
3.1. Comparisons……………………………………………………………...…….27
3.2. Epithets………………………………………………………………...…31
3.3. Metaphors……………………………………………………………………34
3.4. Paraphrases…………………………………………………….…………..38
Conclusion…………………………………………………….………………...40
References…………….……………………………………………...43
Introduction
The comic has always been one of the subjects of literary research. But over time, our mentality and our understanding of the comic changes. Not only the forms and means of the comic are changing, but also the styles of the authors. Each author uses certain techniques and ways of expressing the comic, which makes his style and language unique and unrepeatable. The language of each author is special, so we decided to identify and analyze some language methods of expressing the comic used in the individual style of I. Ilf and E. Petrov.
Not enough attention is paid to the study of the means of creating a comic effect in linguistics; the novel by I. Ilf and E. Petrov has not yet been subjected to such a study.
All this allows us to speak about the novelty and relevance of this work.
The purpose of the study of the topic "Lexico-phraseological means of creating a comic effect in the individual style of I. Ilf and E. Petrov" is to identify, describe, characterize different methods of comic use of lexical and phraseological means in the novel-dilogue "The Twelve Chairs", displaying their peculiar aesthetic function within a literary text.
All means used in artistic speech are intended to serve here an aesthetic function, the expression of a system of images, the poetic thought of the artist. Getting into a work of art, the word takes on a “different” life: its semantic structure expands, enriched with various figurative associations.
In connection with the goal, the following tasks were defined:
Select words and combinations from the literary text, the comic potential of which is associated with the possibilities of their metaphorization and ambiguity. To reveal how the semantic structure of a word expands in a literary text, how a two-dimensional perception is created. Describe language devices, the comic effect of which is based on semantic two-dimensionality.
Features of the language of fiction.
The question of the language of fiction and its place in the system of functional styles is solved ambiguously: some researchers (,) include a special artistic style in the system of functional styles, others (, MM. Shansky,) believe that there are no grounds for this. The following are given as arguments against singling out the style of fiction: 1) the language of fiction is not included in the concept of literary language; 2) it is multi-styled, not closed, does not have specific signs that would be inherent in the language of fiction as a whole; 3) the language of fiction has a special, aesthetic function, which is expressed in a very specific use of linguistic means.
It seems to us quite legitimate the opinion that “bringing artistic speech beyond the limits of functional styles impoverishes our understanding of the functions of the language. If we deduce artistic speech from among the functional styles, but consider that the literary language exists in a variety of functions, and this cannot be denied, then it turns out that the aesthetic function is not one of the functions of the language. The use of language in the aesthetic sphere is one of the highest achievements of the literary language, and because of this, neither the literary language ceases to be such when it enters a work of art, nor the language of fiction ceases to be a manifestation of the literary language.
Indeed, artistic speech uses the language means of all other styles, including those typical of them. However, in a work of art, these means act in a modified function - aesthetic, form a different system.
The artistic style as a whole differs from other functional styles in that if the latter, as a rule, are characterized by some general stylistic coloring, then in the artistic style there is a diverse range of stylistic colors and stylistic means used. However, this is not a "mixture of styles". Since each medium in a work of art is motivated by content and stylistically, they are all united together by a common, inherent aesthetic function.
All those linguistic resources that are described by linguists are known to artistic speech. However, in each specific case, out of the entire arsenal of linguistic and stylistic means, only one chosen means is appropriate, the only one necessary in this context. Moreover, the concept of high qualities of artistic speech and its indispensable properties includes the uniqueness and freshness of expression when creating an image, their bright individuality. wrote: “Getting into the sphere of the stylistics of fiction, the material of the stylistics of language and the stylistics of speech undergoes a new redistribution and a new grouping in the verbal and aesthetic plane, acquiring a different life and being included in a different creative perspective”2.
Living speech, getting into a work of art, is subjected to a certain selection and processing, and most importantly, it is subject to an aesthetic function. In this regard, that feature of artistic speech, which he called the internal form of the artistic word, clearly emerges. It lies in the fact that the means of language, in particular lexical ones, and their meanings turn out to be the basis in a work of art, starting from which the artist creates a poetic word - a metaphor, entirely "turned" to the theme and idea of a particular work of art. At the same time, the metaphorical meaning of a word can often be understood and determined only after reading the entire work of art, that is, it follows from the artistic whole. So, according to the words, the semantic meaning of the word bread, put in the title of the famous novel by A. Tolstoy, does not mean the same as the well-known meaning of this word. But, relying on it and starting from it, this word acquires in the context of the artistic whole the ability to express one of the phenomena of the revolution and civil war presented in the novel.
I drew attention to such a property of an artistic word as the formation and definition of its meaning in a broad context even earlier. He also noted the systemic relationship of the word with other words of the artistic whole, when expressing the so-called cross-cutting poetic thought - an idea, an artistic image. This property of the poetic word is called combinatorial increments of meaning.
The main goal of the literary and artistic style is the development of the world according to the laws of beauty, the satisfaction of the aesthetic needs of both the author of the work of art and the reader, the aesthetic impact on the reader with the help of artistic images.
In this regard, it is possible to single out the broadest property of artistic speech as a whole, named as artistic - figurative speech concretization, which constitutes the most general basic feature of artistic speech. It also explains the nature of the impact of the poetic word on the reader.
The word (in the dictionary), as you know, expresses the concept. In the context of artistic speech, words express not just concepts, ideas, but artistic images. Concretization here has its own means and ways of expression (“translating” a word-concept into a word-artistic image). The writer in the process of creativity uses the same words as anyone who speaks this language, but these words in the context of his work turn out to be an expression not of concepts and elementary ideas, but of artistic images. How does this happen? Obviously, the point here is a special selection and organization of linguistic means.
The translation of the conceptual structure of a language into a figurative one occurs with the participation of units of all language levels. The writer strives to build his speech in such a way that it contributes to the figurative concretization of words and excites the reader's imagination.
The language of fiction, despite the stylistic heterogeneity, despite the fact that the author's individuality is clearly manifested in it, still differs in a number of specific features that make it possible to distinguish artistic speech from any other style.
The features of the language of fiction as a whole are determined by several factors. It is characterized by broad metaphor, figurativeness of language units of almost all levels, the use of synonyms of all types, ambiguity, different stylistic layers of vocabulary. In the artistic style (compared to other functional styles) there are laws of perception of the word. The meaning of a word is largely determined by the author's goal setting, genre and compositional features of the work of art, of which this word is an element: firstly, in the context of a given literary work, it can acquire artistic ambiguity that is not recorded in dictionaries, and secondly, it retains its connection with the ideological and aesthetic system of this work and is assessed by us as beautiful or ugly, sublime or base, tragic or comic.
Do we wonder how the author of a satirical story, a humorous story or a feuilleton manages to make the reader laugh, or at least an ironic smile? “Well,” we say, “that’s why he is a writer, this is the secret of his talent.” But after all, every person must own the secret of a clever joke, laughter. Let's remember what an awkward feeling a person who does not understand jokes or jokes rudely, vulgarly, causes in a company. And how good it is sometimes to amuse comrades with wit, how necessary it is sometimes to ridicule with a caustic word an idler, a liar, a sycophant!
It is possible and necessary to learn to joke, to make fun of what interferes with our lives. Of course, for this, first of all, it is necessary to have a sense of humor, observation, the ability to see shortcomings.
Here is how Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary interprets the meaning of funny:
Humor - 1. Understanding the comic, the ability to see and show the funny, condescendingly - a mocking attitude towards something. Sense of humor. Talk about something with humor. 2. In art: a depiction of something in a funny, comic way. Humor and satire. Newspaper humor section. 3. Mocking and playful speech. Subtle humor.
Satire - 1. A work of art that sharply and mercilessly denounces negative phenomena. 2. Convicting, scourging ridicule.
Laughter - 1. Short characteristic voice sounds expressing fun, joy, pleasure, as well as mockery, gloating and other feelings. Laughter through tears (sad laughter). Roll with laughter (laugh). 2. Something funny, worthy of ridicule.
Joke - 1. What is said or done in earnest, for the sake of entertainment, fun; words that are not trustworthy. 2. A small comic play. 3. Expression of disapproval, doubt, surprise.
Irony is a subtle, hidden mockery.
So, laughter is cheerful, kind, and then we call it humorous. The well-known poems by S. V. Mikhalkov about Uncle Styopa can be attributed to humorous works. We laugh at how Uncle Styopa "looked for the greatest shoes on the market", "looked for pants of the greatest width." We find it funny, for example, when N.V. Gogol’s Taras Bulba begins to “fistfight” with his sons who have just returned home after a long separation, that is, at a moment that, according to our ideas, should be solemn and touching.
And sometimes laughter is angry, angry - satirical. He calls people to protest, awakens contempt for a character or phenomenon. A satirical work in a thoughtful reader always causes not only laughter, but also a sad feeling, because the satirist writer exposes phenomena that interfere with people's happiness. Such are the fables of Krylov, the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the stories of Zoshchenko.
Share of joke - share of truth
Every joke, like the truth, has a hard fate. Although they respect the truth, many do not like it. And everyone loves a joke, although they don’t have much respect for it. This is where love and respect come together, which has long been used by humorous and satirical literature. A joke is a favorite of society and is kept in it easily and naturally, but the truth is like an elephant in a china shop: wherever it turns, something flies everywhere. That's why she often appears accompanied by a joke.
It would seem that a fairy tale, a joke, but what is the truth behind it! For example, in the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the truth and the joke exist, as it were, separately from each other: the truth recedes into the background, into the subtext, and the joke remains the rightful mistress in the text.
Such is mathematics: we write a joke, the truth is in the mind.
And in the stories of the mature Chekhov, the joke dissolves into the truth and becomes almost invisible. Let's try to laugh at the stories "Vanka" or "Tosca". If we succeed, it's bad!
“Brevity is the sister of talent” (A.P. Chekhov.)
A feature of a humorous story is that it is a small work that tells about one event with a small number of characters.
So, a humorous story should be, first of all, short, concise. Such are the works-sketches of A.P. Chekhov. Let's try to find out what are the features of the style of early Chekhov - Antosha Chekhonte, the Man without a spleen?
At the time of Chekhov's creative debut, according to the conditions of humorous magazines, the story should not exceed one hundred lines. In fulfilling these requirements, Chekhov learned to write concisely. “Brevity is the sister of talent” is one of the writer’s favorite phrases. The short stories were very capacious in content. This was achieved by a striking title; meaningful names and surnames; a plot that was built on an unusual situation or event; dynamic development of action; expressive detail; scenic dialogue; simple, clear speech of the author.
Recall the story "Horse name". Why do we find it funny every time we listen to it, read it? What makes a work funny?
Firstly, the plot is ridiculous: the whole family is busy searching for the “horse name” of an official who knows how to speak a toothache. Secondly, it is ridiculous because an educated person is so superstitious that he is ready to believe in conspiracies, that a tooth can be cured by telegraph. Thirdly, the ways in which the retired general is trying to calm the pain are ridiculous: vodka, cognac, tobacco soot, turpentine, iodine Fourthly, ambiguous phrases: “Now he only feeds on his teeth”, “He lives not with his wife, but a German woman” and others - make you smile. Fifthly, the “horse” surnames themselves are ridiculous: Zherebtsov, Zherebchikov, Loshadkin, Kobylin, Kobylitsyn, Kobylyatnikov, Kobylkin, Loshadevich. It is also funny that efforts to find a surname were in vain: "a doctor came and pulled out a bad tooth." Chekhov's laughter is good-natured, cheerful, he achieved a good laugh by brevity, conciseness of presentation.
An artistic detail that carries a huge semantic load
Chekhov is rightfully considered a master of the short humorous work. In a small story, extensive, detailed descriptions, long monologues are impossible. That is why the artistic detail comes to the fore in Chekhov's works. An artistic detail is one of the means of creating an artistic image, which helps to present the picture, object or character depicted by the author in a unique individuality. A detail can reproduce the features of appearance, features of clothing, furnishings, nuances of experiences or actions of the hero.
Consider the role of the artistic detail in Chekhov's story "Chameleon". It is about how a police officer, considering the case of a puppy that bit a jeweler, changes his mind several times about the outcome of the case. Moreover, his opinion directly depends on who owns the dog - a rich general or a poor person. Only by hearing the names of the characters, we can imagine the heroes of the story. Policeman Ochumelov, master Khryukin, policeman Eldyrin - the names correspond to the characters, the appearance of the heroes. The name "Chameleon" also conveys the main idea of the story. Ochumelov's opinion changes as quickly and often, depending on the circumstances, as a chameleon lizard changes skin color, corresponding to natural conditions. It is thanks to Chekhov's masterful use of artistic details in his works that the writer's work is understandable and accessible to every person.
Chekhov's skill lies in the fact that he was able to select material, saturate a small work with capacious content, highlight an essential detail that is important for characterizing a character or object. Accurate and capacious artistic detail, created by the author's creative imagination, guides the reader's imagination. Chekhov attached great importance to the details, believed that it “excites the reader’s independent critical thought,” which is why we still read short and witty stories of this brilliant writer today.
A.P. Chekhov greatly appreciated the sense of humor and those who quickly caught the joke. “Yes, sir, this is the surest sign: a person does not understand a joke - write it down! - said the comedian. From the memoirs of K. I. Chukovsky about Chekhov, we know that the comedian loved to work with people, but most of all he loved to have fun, play pranks, laugh with them. “The laughter was not at all unreasonable, because Chekhov was its cause.”
Pig under the oak
I. A. Krylov in his fables also talks about comic situations and comic characters, but the nature of laughter is different. Krylov's fables are allegorical: people and their actions are hidden under the masks of animals. The fable is written in free verse, it contains a moral - a brief and clear conclusion from the lesson contained in it. Krylov's fables reflected the experience, consciousness and moral ideals of our people, the features of the national character. This was expressed not only in the original interpretation of traditional plots, but above all in the language in which the fables are written. In the language of Krylov's fables, live folk speech was clearly manifested. Each class in his works has its own language: the Wolf’s rude language, the Lamb’s obedient (“The Wolf and the Lamb”), the Hare’s boastful speech (“The Hare is catching”), the thoughtful reasoning of the stupid Rooster (“The Rooster and the Pearly Seed”), the snobby Geese's speech about their ancestors ("Geese"), stupidly self-satisfied with the Pig ("Pig under the oak").
Krylov broadly and freely introduced folk vocabulary into his fables: snout, peasant, dung, fool, cattle, booby. By what means does the fabulist achieve the rejection of the Pig, for example, in this passage?
Pig under the ancient oak
I ate acorns to the full, to satiety,
Having eaten, slept under it,
Then, tearing her eyes, she got up
And she began to undermine the roots of the oak with her snout.
Of course, you will say that the pig does not cause any good feelings - it is gluttonous, nasty, stupid. The author achieved a similar effect by drawing the image of the Pig with the help of rude, colloquial words and expressions: she ate to satiety, her eyes were pierced, her snout. The pig is shown in actions, the last of which is not only absurd, meaningless, but also harmful - "and began to undermine the roots of the oak."
Let us recall another Krylov's fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale". By what means does the fabulist create the image of a stupid, narcissistic judge? Let's answer this question with an example passage:
The donkey saw the Nightingale
And he says to him: “Listen, my friend!
You, they say, sing a great master:
I would very much like
Judge for yourself, hearing your singing,
How great is your skill?
The choice of a donkey as a judge, and not another animal, is in itself absurd: the donkey is a symbol of stupidity, stubbornness, ignorance. In addition, the cry of this animal is the most anti-musical in nature, so you can immediately guess that it is beyond the power of a donkey to appreciate the singing of a nightingale. The arrogance, narcissism of this character is shown in the manner of speaking: the familiar appeal "buddy", the combination of incompatible words "great master" - give the whole combination a dismissive coloring. The colloquial language of the fable contributes to the fact that it can be presented as a small comedy. The comic of the situation is often complemented by the comic of the language.
Let's talk about some of the features of Krylov's fables. An indispensable condition of a fable is that the action is emphasized by frequent verbal rhymes. Rhyme in Krylov carries a semantic load. Consider in this connection the fable "Two Barrels". The beginning is already ridiculous: "Two barrels were driving, one with wine, the other Empty." Here the rhyme connects precisely those words that determine the subject of consideration in the fable. The story presents us with a fantastic picture: two barrels are driving around the city on their own, one smoothly, the other rushing and rattling. If we accept the conditionality of the situation, then everything looks quite natural: a column of dust, a passer-by huddles to the side. But in the second part of the fable it is directly spoken about people who "shout about their deeds." Then morality is clearly formulated: "Whoever is truly deeds is often quiet in words." And further: “Great man. he thinks his strong thought ∕ No noise. Returning to the beginning of the story, we comprehend it on a different level. Barrels turn out to be conditional objects denoting human qualities. But this allegorical statement contains an additional metaphorical element, which we become aware of after reading the entire fable. The metaphorical meaning of an empty barrel in this context is comprehended in relation to an empty person, a talker. The whole fable is built on similar comparisons.
So, the images of animals, which are sometimes depicted in Russian costumes in the illustrations, carry a satirical typification of the features of the Russian national character. Krylov accurately expressed the people's faith in good and evil. And the people willingly accepted as their dozens of Krylov's humorous and satirical poems and "moralizing", including them in proverbs during the life of the fabulist: "Ay, Moska! She is strong to know That she barks at the elephant”, “They even laugh at the braggarts, and often they get shares in the division”, “They bark and leave behind”, “And Vaska listens and eats”, “I didn’t even notice the elephant”, “ A helpful fool is more dangerous than an enemy "Even the names of fables have become proverbs, for example: "Trishkin's caftan",
Demyanov's Ear, Elephant and Pug.
Comic speech means
In addition to an interesting humorous plot, a bright speech of a character, the writer needs to remember about the speech means of the comic. There are special words and expressions that give brightness, emotionality to speech, serve as an expression of the author's attitude to the depicted. They are called speech means of comic or speech means of humor. First, it is a monologue and dialogue. A monologue is a detailed statement of one character. Dialogue is a conversation between two or more characters. To this it should be added that there is a so-called "internal monologue", when the author seems to be talking to himself. For example: “It must have happened! Dunno has never been in a similar situation. It was the first time." "Wow! Was I right? Conversational speech is, first of all, oral, unprepared, free speech. This is how we talk to friends and parents. That's what the heroes of humorous stories say. They do not "talk", but "talk", do not shout, but "yell" and often make some speech errors. But the author needs to accurately reproduce this free, colloquial speech in order to create a comic effect so that we “believe” him.
Secondly, it is imperative to name as a means of creating a humorous work - both a fable and a story - expressively colored words. They make speech bright, interesting, and most importantly - immediate. Speech in this case, of course, is called expressive. It can be particles: Wow! Yah! Oh what is this?; words and expressions: The cat jumped - and onto the closet; Try to get it out of the closet! What could we do!
Thirdly, not only expressively colored words, but also comparisons give brightness, figurativeness of speech. Comparison is a technique based on comparing one phenomenon or object with another. When we play, we also compare our friends to someone or something. For example: "Petka puffs like a steam locomotive"; “The bow on Button’s head looked like a butterfly. It seemed that she was about to fly away”, “They, like donkeys, did not want to give way to each other.” And finally - this is hyperbolization as one of the speech means of the comic. Hyperbolization - “exaggeration”, that is, “above the usual, familiar”. She often causes a smile: "I'm about to die of laughter" - this is an exaggeration. We often say: "Fear has big eyes." The eyes of laughter are just as big.
Let us turn to the story of V. Dragunsky "The Enchanted Letter" and try to determine what features of the humorous story the author implements in his work. This story can be called funny, since the guys' misunderstanding of each other and everyone's confidence in their own rightness cause a smile. The comic effect is created due to the fact that the guys incorrectly pronounce the word bumps. The children are still small, and they do not know how to pronounce all the letters correctly. This happens because each of them “does not hear himself from the outside” and considers his “pronunciation” to be correct.
Language and humor are so closely related
So, we are convinced that satirists and humorists have their own completely accurate and definite speech means and techniques. Let's dwell on some of them. Let's compare for reception the words warrior and warrior, soul and little soul. It is quite obvious that the suffixes -yak - and -onk - give these words a disparaging, mocking connotation, causing an ironic smile in relation to what they mean: Oh, you warrior! Or Petty, cowardly little soul! Here are some more suffixes of this kind: - ishk - (people, passions), - nya (squabble, cooking), - shin-a (storming), - il-a (thug, boss), - yag-a (dealer, dude ) and etc.
There are also prefixes that, under certain conditions, give an ironic or playful connotation of speech: once - (ras -): beautiful (in A. Gaidar's story "Chuk and Gek" the mother calls the boys who have been in trouble her beautiful sons), cheerful (too, overly cheerful and therefore cheeky), for example: a cheerful company, etc.; by - + suffix - willow - (-yva -): pee, read (jokingly - ironically about a frivolous attitude to writing or reading), etc.; pre-: much (for example, ironically: thank you very much), etc.
A large group of words with an ironic or humorous tinge is formed by word formation. They are created in lively folk speech: rotozey (onlooker or razin), scoffer (mockery), krokhobor (mean, petty person), windbag, empty talker (chatterbox), etc. There are many such words in colloquial and literary book speech: high-flown (pompous ), base (of low quality), scribbler (prolific, but a bad writer), sentimental (sentimental, overly sensitive), new-found, newly minted (recently, just created, appeared), etc.
There are also lexical means. Let us recall Igor's characterization from A. Rybakov's story "The Adventures of Krosh": "Igor works in an office, rubs himself near his superiors, loves to hang around among his elders." Let's try to replace the highlighted words (colloquial and colloquial) with neutral, general literary ones: "Igor is often near his superiors, he likes to be among his elders." As you can see, the dismissive, mocking coloring of the characteristic has disappeared. This means that irony is achieved in these phrases by the selection of colloquial everyday and colloquial words that aptly characterize Igor as a sycophant seeking an easy life.
So, one of the means for giving irony and humor to a speech is apt and figurative colloquial and colloquial words-synonyms for neutral words: instead of talking, rant (to rant or be pompous, pompous); instead of drawing - to paint (about inept, mediocre drawing); instead of a picture - daub (about a bad picture); instead of writing - scribbling, scribbling (he scribbled a slander, sprinkled verses, that is, bad poems); place like-minded person - sang along, (about someone who dutifully repeats other people's words); instead of an assistant - an accomplice (usually - in an unseemly deed, in a crime). Some words of this kind (for example, accomplice) were originally taken from vernacular (where help means "help"), and then entered the general literary language, firmly establishing a negative connotation.
To give speech an ironic or playful tone, archaisms are also used, most often from the Old Slavonic language. For example: instead of sitting - sit; instead of wanting - deign; instead of said - spoke; instead you are your grace; instead of coming, appearing - welcome; instead of inventing - inventing; instead of the fault of someone - by mercy.
For the same purpose, some words of foreign origin are also used opus (jokingly - ironically about an unsuccessful, poor-quality work), chimera (an unrealizable, strange dream, unrealizable fantasy), sentiments (inappropriate, excessive sensitivity), maxim (ironically about thoughts with a claim to wisdom ), battle (jokingly about a fight, quarrel), fanfaron (braggart, braggart).
To give the statement a touch of irony, ridicule, the figurative meaning of words and the technique of metaphorization are widely used. So, the location of the enemy is called the lair (in the literal sense, the lair is the dwelling of the beast); a group of criminal elements - a pack (cf .: a pack of dogs); decomposed, anti-social elements - scum (in the literal sense - the remains of the liquid at the bottom along with the sediment); about the one who became dissolute, lost all restraint, they say - unbelted (literally - took off his belt); about having reached the extreme limits of self-will, arbitrariness - unbridled (unbridled initially - free the horse from the bridle, then give full rein to something).
One of the most common subjects of irony and humor is the juxtaposition of disparate words, in which there is a discrepancy between form and content. This achieves a comic effect. On such a comparison, such ironic expressions as pearls of illiteracy, a certified philosopher, and others are built.
An important means of humor and irony is the use of humorous and ironic phraseological expressions in speech. Many of them are nothing more than frozen expressions built using the above means, as well as well-aimed comparisons, hyperbolas. Here are some humorous phraseological units: flies are dying, dying (about the unbearable boredom caused by something), a week without a year (most recently), on their own for two (that is, on foot), your money was crying (about a missing debt, wasted money) , not everyone is at home (out of their mind), the nose has not grown up (it’s too early to do something), history is silent about this (something remains unknown, they prefer not to talk about anything), etc. Ironic phraseological units can be attribute: in person (himself, personally), from the height of his greatness (with excessive importance, with disdain for others), hide in the bushes (cowardly, dodge something), filkin's letter (illiterate or invalid document), veal delight (too violent delight), veal tenderness (excessive or inappropriate expression of endearment).
Weapon of laughter M. M. Zoshchenko
M. M. Zoshchenko is a writer not only of a comic style, but also of comic situations. Not only his language is comical, but also the place where the story of the next story unfolded: a commemoration, a communal apartment, a hospital - everything is so familiar, familiar, everyday. And the story itself: a fight in a communal apartment because of a scarce hedgehog, a scandal at the wake because of a broken glass.
Some of Zoshchenko’s phrases have remained in Russian literature as aphorisms: “as if suddenly I smelled the atmosphere”, “they will rob me like sticky and throw them away for their kind, even if they are their own relatives”, “lieutenant wow, but a bastard”, “disturbs the riots” . Zoshchenko, while writing his stories, laughed himself. So much so that later, when I read stories to my friends, I never laughed. He sat gloomy, gloomy, as if not understanding what he could laugh at. Having laughed while working on the story, he then perceived it with longing and sadness. I took it as the other side of the coin. If you listen carefully to his laughter, it is not difficult to catch that the carefree-joking notes are just a background for the notes of pain and bitterness.
The hero Zoshchenko is a layman, a man with poor morals and a primitive outlook on life. This inhabitant personified the whole human layer of the then Russia. The writer ridiculed not the man himself, but the philistine features in him.
Consider some of the writer's works. The story “Case History” begins like this: “Frankly, I prefer to be sick at home. Of course, there are no words, in the hospital, perhaps, it is brighter and more cultured. And the calorie content of food, maybe they have more provided. But, as they say, houses and straw are eaten. A patient with a diagnosis of typhoid fever is brought to the hospital, and the first thing he sees in the room for registering new arrivals is a huge poster on the wall: “Issue of corpses from 3 to 4”. Having barely recovered from the shock, the hero tells the paramedic that "the patients are not interested in reading this." In response, he hears: “If you get better, which is unlikely, then criticize, otherwise we will really betray you from three to four in the form of what is written here, then you will know.” an old woman is bathing.
It would seem that the nurse should apologize and postpone the “bathing” procedure for a while. But she was used to seeing patients, not people, in front of her. And what to stand on ceremony with patients? She calmly invites him to get into the bath and not pay attention to the old woman: “She has a high fever, and she does not react to anything. So you undress without embarrassment. The tests of the patient do not end there. First, he is given a dressing gown that does not fit. Then, a few days later, having already begun to recover, he falls ill with whooping cough. All the same nurse tells him: "You must have inadvertently ate from the device on which the whooping cough child ate." When the hero finally recovers, he can’t escape from the hospital walls in any way, because they forget to write him out, then “someone didn’t come, and it was impossible to celebrate,” then the entire staff is busy organizing the movement of the wives of the sick. At home, the last test awaits him: his wife tells how a week ago she received a notice from the hospital demanding: "Upon receipt of this, immediately appear for your husband's body."
“The Case History” is one of those stories by Zoshchenko in which the image of rudeness, extreme disrespect for a person, spiritual callousness is brought to the limit. Together with the author, we laugh merrily, and then we become sad. This is called “laughter through tears.”
A reminder for a beginner to write a humorous story.
In order to determine how a humorous story differs from a regular story, we will turn to the "Reminder for a beginner to write a humorous story."
First of all, consider the plot of your story;
Do not forget that a humorous story is based on a comic situation or a funny misunderstanding (they are created due to the appearance of participants in the events that are unexpected for the hero of the story, due to an unexpected turn of events, due to an unexpected denouement, the nature of the events that took place).
Remember that the title is of great importance in the story: the title is the key to unraveling the plot; the title can express the author's attitude;
Use language tools for creating humor in the story: interesting dialogues, funny names (nicknames), characters' names, author's humorous assessments;
The situation of the game is the next feature of the humorous story at the story level. The game is always laughter, cheerful mood. The game is always putting on some kind of mask, attributing to oneself someone's role. Daniil Kharms says this beautifully in the poem "Game".
It is the presence of funny characters that is another feature of a humorous story at the plot level. Always those characters that are presented in the story cause a kind smile or grin.
For example, in the story "Chicken broth" by V. Dragunsky, by chance, the boy and his dad are forced to cook food, that is, to do the work that they never did. In N. Nosov's story "Knock-knock-knock", the unexpected appearance of a crow, which was mistaken for a robber, led to the "creation of a protective structure" in order to avoid a collision with the robber. In V. Dragunsky's story "The Glory of Ivan Kozlovsky", the main character believes that good singing is loud. “I sang well, you can probably even hear it on the other street.”
Conclusion
M Twain wrote that humorous stories require "the same ability to see, analyze, understand, which is necessary for the authors of serious books."
So, we think that we have proved that you can learn to ridicule what interferes with our lives. Of course, for this, first of all, it is necessary to have a sense of humor, observation, the ability to see shortcomings.
“Brevity is the sister of talent” is one of the writer’s favorite phrases. The short stories were very capacious in content. This was achieved by a striking title; meaningful names and surnames; a plot that was built on an unusual situation or event; dynamic development of action; expressive detail; scenic dialogue; simple, clear speech of the author.
Thus, summing up the analysis of Krylov's fables, we can conclude: a prerequisite for the funny in them is a comic situation, which is based on an unexpected twist in the plot, a comic hero, a discrepancy between something, a caricature display of some character trait of a character or a situation in which based on allegory, hyperbole, metaphor, personification, comparison.
In the “Reminder for a beginner to write a humorous story”, we tried to highlight the main artistic techniques for creating a humorous story. Using this "Memo" and "Scheme-sun", the guys composed stories. Of course, it is impossible to include all the details of the funny, the rays of the “merry sun” in one work. In order for the story to turn out to be funny, humorous, training is needed, as in any business, you need to hone your skills. How this is done, we tried to show on the example of the works of satirical writers, humorous writers.
We wish our peers not to stop there - to write - to write funny, with humor, with a share of irony, and even satire. And then, perhaps, our own Saltykov-Shchedrins, Chekhovs, Zoshchenkos, Zhvanetskys will appear in our life and literature.
The comic effect of ordinary commonly used words is associated primarily with the possibilities of their metaphorization and ambiguity. The comedy is enhanced by individual words when they are connected differently, they acquire additional comic coloring in a comic environment, with misunderstandings that arise in the course of dialogues and mutual remarks of characters. Of course, the comic possibilities of words are also manifested in the language of the author in the course of the story, but the language of the characters has more opportunities to achieve artistic goals.
The comic embraces satire and humor, which are equal forms of the comic.
In philological and aesthetic literature, techniques and means of the comic are often confused and identified.
The means of the comic, along with linguistic ones, also cover other means that cause laughter. The linguistic means of the comic are phonetic, lexical, phraseological and grammatical (morphological and syntactic) means.
The techniques of the comic are generated differently and are formed, first of all, by linguistic means.
Comic art is able to reveal the comic potential not only of common, emotional words, but also of terms, terminological words and combinations. An important condition for the acquisition of comic coloring by lexical units is the comic environment, the unexpected connection of a word in a text with other words and expressions.
In prose, the possibilities of words in creating comic effect, apart from ironic intonation, are as follows:
a) the historical formation of the meaning of a certain part of lexical units in a comic quality;
b) unexpected polysemy, homonymy and synonymy of lexical units;
c) a change in the stylistic conditions for the use of words belonging to different spheres.
Phraseological units serve to express the comic in three cases:
a) accompanied by an ironic intonation;
b) historically formed in the language in a comic capacity;
c) with a successful combination with other words and expressions.
A significant role in the art of the comic is played by witticisms that are expressive and cause laughter.
The comic effect plays an important role in relation to culture as a whole. Modern sociological research shows that, on the one hand, it can act as an instrument for the destruction of traditions, on the other hand, it can preserve and support the existing system, which can be considered as a destructive and constructive function of the comic.
1.2 Stylistic ways of expressing comic effect
There are such types of comic effect as humor, satire, grotesque, irony, caricature, parody, etc. Such a selection of species comes from a mixture of forms and techniques of the comic. Grotesque, caricature, parody are included in the technique of hyperbole and in the aggregate constitute a method of deformation of phenomena, characters, and also serve both satire and humor to the same extent.
“Humor (English humour - moral mood, from Latin humour - liquid: according to the ancient doctrine of the ratio of four bodily fluids, which determines four temperaments, or character), a special kind of comic effect ; the relation of consciousness to the object, to individual phenomena and to the world as a whole, combining an outwardly comic interpretation with an inner seriousness. According to the etymology of the word, humor is obviously “wilful”, “subjective”, personally conditioned, marked by the imprint of the “strange” mindset of the “humorist” himself. In contrast to the actual comic interpretation, humor, reflecting, tunes in to a more thoughtful, serious attitude towards the subject of laughter, to comprehend its truth, despite funny oddities - in this humor is the opposite of ridiculing, destructive types of laughter.
On the whole, humor strives for a complex assessment, like life itself, free from the one-sidedness of generally accepted stereotypes. “At a deeper (serious) level, humor reveals the sublime behind the insignificant, the wisdom behind the insane, the true nature of things behind the wayward, and the sad behind the ridiculous.” Jean Paul, the first theoretician of humor, likens it to a bird that flies up to the sky with its tail up, never losing sight of the earth - an image that materializes both aspects of humor.
"Depending on the emotional tone and cultural level, humor can be good-natured, cruel, friendly, rude, sad, touching, and the like." The “fluid” nature of humor reveals a “proteic” (Jean Paul) ability to take any form that meets the mood of any era, its historical “temper”, and is also expressed in the ability to combine with any other types of laughter: transitional varieties of ironic, witty, satirical, funny.
1.2.2 Irony
Irony is translated from the Greek "eironeia", literally - "pretense".
In various fields of knowledge, the comic effect is defined in different ways.
In stylistics - “an allegory expressing mockery or slyness, when a word or statement acquires in the context of speech a meaning that is opposite to the literal meaning or denies it, casting doubt on it.”
Irony is reproach and contradiction under the guise of approval and consent; a property is deliberately attributed to a phenomenon, which is not in it, but which should have been expected. Irony is usually referred to as paths, less often as stylistic figures. A hint of pretense, the "key" to irony is usually contained not in the expression itself, but in the context or intonation, and sometimes only in the situation of the utterance. Irony is one of the most important stylistic means of humor, satire, and the grotesque. When ironic mockery becomes evil, caustic mockery, it is called sarcasm.
By virtue of its intellectual conditioning and critical orientation, irony approaches satire; at the same time, a line is drawn between them, and irony is seen as a transitional form between satire and humor. According to this provision, the object of irony is mainly ignorance, while satire has a destructive character, creates intolerance towards the object of laughter, social injustice. "Irony is a means of imperturbable cold criticism".
1.2.3 Satire
Satire (lat. satira, from earlier satura - satura , literally - “mixture, all sorts of things”), a kind of comic; merciless, destroying rethinking of the object of the image (and criticism), which is resolved by laughter, frank or latent, "reduced"; a specific way of artistic reproduction of reality, revealing it as something perverted, incongruous, internally untenable (substantive aspect) through comical, accusatory and ridiculing images (formal aspect).
Unlike direct denunciation, artistic satire is, as it were, two-plot: the comic development of events in the foreground is predetermined by some dramatic or tragic collisions in the "subtext", in the sphere of the implied. Satire itself is characterized by the negative coloring of both plots - visible and hidden, while humor perceives them in positive tones, irony is a combination of an external positive plot and an internal negative one.
“Satire is an essential means of social struggle; the actual perception of satire in this capacity is a variable, depending on historical, national and social circumstances. But the more popular and universal the ideal, in the name of which the satirist creates a denying laughter, the more "tenacious" satire, the higher its ability to revive. The aesthetic "super task" of satire is to excite and revive the memory of the beautiful (goodness, truth, beauty), offended by baseness, stupidity, vice.
Satire retained the features of lyricism, but lost its genre definition and turned into a kind of literary genre that determines the specifics of many genres: fables, epigrams, burlesque, pamphlet, feuilleton , satirical novel. In the last half century, satire has invaded science fiction (O. Huxley, A. Asimov, K. Vonnegut and others).
2 Analyzing stories and highlighting levels of comic effect
On the examples of the stories studied in the course work, it can be seen that the comic effect was widely used by the authors of the twentieth century at various levels. Therefore, the functioning of the methods and techniques for expressing the comic effect at various textual levels will be considered:
story level,
character level,
Offer level,
Phrase level.
Authors often use various means and techniques to create comic effect at the plot level. The predominant means are irony and satire, and the methods are metaphors, repetitions, introductory constructions and neoplasms.
The example of Owen Johnson's story "The Great Pancake Record" shows that even the title speaks of the frivolity of this "sports" record. It talks about how the boys from the college were glorified. Each of them had some hobbies for sports, but one day a new one came to them, who did not go in for any kind of sport. Johnny Smeed only liked to eat and sleep. When the students ran out of money for food, they agreed with the shop owner that if Johnny ate more than 39 pancakes, he would feed them for free. The record was to eat more than anyone in the history of the college.
Forty-nine pancakes! Then, and only then, did they realize what had happened. They cheered Smeed, they sang his praises, they cheered again.
"Hungry Smeed's broken the record!"".
The use of irony in this case underlines the "significance" of this record for the college.
The basic techniques of the comic
All the main artistic means, all the main techniques of the comic serve to create an "image" of phenomena that deviate from the norm, phenomena that give rise to the comic.
A brief description of the main techniques of the comic, the most common in various types of creativity (satirical, humorous, farce-vaudeville), will be devoted to the further content of the first chapter of our thesis.
The mentioned techniques can be divided into 5 large groups and within their framework, more specific ones can be distinguished:
1. Modification and deformation of phenomena:
Exaggeration - can affect appearance (face, figure), behavior (manner of speaking, moving), situation and character traits .;
b Usual exaggeration.
b Exaggeration as a means of caricature.
· Parody - imitation of the original with simultaneous exaggeration of its characteristic features, sometimes exaggerating them to the point of absurdity;
· Grotesque.
Travesty - its purpose is to humiliate, vulgarize those phenomena that are considered worthy, worthy of respect or even worship;
· Downplaying caricature - a deliberate simplification that distorts the essence of the phenomenon by emphasizing minor and minor points while neglecting essential features;
A pace that deviates from the usual.
Understatement, exaggeration, violation of the sequence of irreversible phenomena - a list of various kinds of deformations used to cause the perception of the comic.
2. Unexpected effects and striking comparisons.
Surprise as a means of creating comic
l Any plot move, any turn that the viewer or reader did not foresee, everything that happened contrary to his expectations and assumptions;
b Unexpected convergence and comparison of phenomena that are different or even mutually exclusive (similarity between a person and an object or between a person and an animal), which go beyond the limits of ordinary comparisons;
ü Comparisons that reveal a striking coincidence and similarity between generally accepted views and everyday situations, on the one hand, and ridiculous and absurd situations and views, on the other.
l Exposure of contrast by comparing different, often opposite (in terms of appearance, character, temperament, habits and views) human types;
b Sharpness, based on a comparison of phenomena that are far in their essence or incommensurable. Thought that treats the similarity between phenomena that are actually distant. For example: "Friendship is like tea: good while hot, strong and not oversweetened."
3. Disproportion in relationships and connections between phenomena.
· Anachronisms from the field of morals, beliefs, language, way of thinking, etc. This is a mixture of features from different eras with the same goal - to create a comic effect.
4. An imaginary unification of absolutely heterogeneous phenomena.
· Grotesque, based on multiple transitions from one sphere to another; using contradictions, combining different styles and creative methods;
Creation of situations in which the behavior of the hero does not correspond to the circumstances, is not consistent with them - in situations that are least suitable for this, the hero retains the appearance of a person for whom self-esteem and good manners are most important;
Inconsistency of appearance with behavior, nature of the activity performed or other psychophysical manifestation of individuality;
· Discrepancy between appearance and what lies behind it, between illusion and reality.
ü Demonstration of the discrepancy between a person's high opinion of his moral, social, intellectual significance and his actual value;
ü Discrepancy between theory and practice, between stated views and actions that contradict them.
ü Discrepancy between dream and reality;
b A statement where the hidden essence serves as a negation of the literal meaning is, in other words, an ironic statement. The essence of irony always lies in the fact that a feature that is missing is attributed to someone, and thus its absence is only emphasized.
Sarcasm Sarcasm (from the Greek. Sarcazo - tear meat) - indignant mockery, expressing a high degree of indignation. Sarcasm is characteristic of satire, in contrast to the irony associated with both humor and satire. Like irony, satire, biplanes, denunciation is based on the ratio of the planes of the implied and the expressed [Dictionary-reference book on literature: 2000]. differs from irony only in greater causticity and gloominess, which takes it beyond the limits of the comic.
· The discrepancy between the normal purpose of the item and the new amazing way to use it;
· Mismatch between form and content.
One can speak of a discrepancy between form and content if the language used by the author to describe a particular situation clearly does not correspond to what is being described.
· Unnatural repetition of phenomena as a method of the comic. Repetition can only be comical if it is surprising, unexpected, or ridiculous. The intensity of the comic in this technique increases with repetition (phrases or situations).
5. Creation of phenomena that essentially or apparently deviate from the logical norm or the praxeological norm.
Violation of praxeological norms
Doing unnecessary, useless work;
b Choosing the wrong means to achieve the goal;
b Complicating an apparently simple task;
b Misunderstanding.
· Violation of logical norms.
b Error in inference and wrong associations;
l Logical confusion and randomness of statements (lack of logical connection by sentences, unexpected insertions and turns of the topic, incorrect use of words, etc.);
ü Absurdist dialogue, characterized by a lack of connection between the replicas of the interlocutors;
l Logical inversion, which consists in the polar shift of situations and qualities of objects;
ü Absurd at first glance statements.
This short list of the most important comic techniques can be continued. A more extensive and systematic description of the language techniques by which comic effects are created was created by Bystron in his monograph.
The main functions of the comic
B. Dzemidok in his monograph "On the comic" defines the social role of the comic, thus revealing the various functions of the comic. They, in particular, were allocated such functions as
· cognitive,
· Entertaining,
Therapeutic.
The comic serves as a means to the knowledge of the world and the assimilation of ideas about it.
The greatest cognitive value is attributed, according to tradition, to humor, which represents the world in its real colors, refusing both the deformation of phenomena and attempts to reorganize the world. “The position of a humorist is the position of a thinker, immersed in thought over human nature and over the course of events. The humorist sees and does not hide from the reader the contrasts and disproportions of reality” Dzemidok B. About the comic. - M., 1974., S. 154.
Satire, on the other hand, deforms the phenomena it depicts, resorting to an increase or distortion of proportions, but in this way it emphasizes what usually goes unnoticed. Satire is designed to show the true essence of the phenomenon.
It should be noted that the cognitive essence of the comic deepens our knowledge of the world and people, teaches us to distinguish the content of a phenomenon from its form, and warns against hasty assessments.
B. Dzemidok sees the essence of the entertaining function in the ability to cause laughter and cheer up.
The therapeutic function is that the comic can serve as a consolation for one's own failures and disappointments. Ibid., p. 162.. A joke on oneself and self-irony can be a form of self-defense, not so much from external factors, but from oneself, despondency, pessimism, doubts about one's own strengths and capabilities.
In our opinion, along with the indicated functions, it is necessary to single out the educational function of the comic. So, even the Romans noted the enormous educational possibilities of the comic: "Satire, laughing, corrects morals." According to Lessing, “in all morality there is no means stronger and more effective than laughter” Lessing G. E. Selected Works. - M., 1953, S. 533. .
All these functions are characteristic of the comic in children's literature, but it should be especially noted that children should be educated, taught, and instructed. Therefore, this function is especially important in children's literature.
Humorous comedy, humorous perception of reality, while performing an educational function, does not yet mean condemnation of any phenomenon. It (comic) contains only elements of friendly, tolerant and mild criticism, which plays the role of reproach. Humor exerts its educational effect by denying vices and mistakes.
