Literature is divided into two genres. Literary genres

One of the founders of Russian literary criticism was V. G. Belinsky. And although serious steps were taken in antiquity in the development of the concept of literary gender (Aristotle), it is Belinsky who owns the scientifically based theory of three literary genera, which you can get acquainted with in detail by reading Belinsky's article "Division of poetry into genera and types."

There are three types of fiction: epic(from the Greek. Epos, narration), lyrical(called the lyre musical instrument, accompanied by sung verses) and dramatic(from Greek Drama, action).

Presenting a particular subject to the reader (meaning the subject of conversation), the author chooses different approaches to it:

First approach: can be detailed tell about the subject, about the events associated with it, about the circumstances of the existence of this subject, etc.; at the same time, the position of the author will be more or less detached, the author will act as a kind of chronicler, narrator, or choose one of the characters as the narrator; the main thing in such a work will be precisely the story, the narration about the subject, the leading type of speech will be precisely narration; this kind of literature is called epic;

The second approach: you can tell not so much about events, but about impression, which they produced on the author, about those feelings that they called; image inner world, experiences, impressions and will refer to the lyrical genre of literature; exactly experience becomes the main event of the lyrics;

Third approach: you can portray item in action, show him on stage; introduce to the reader and viewer of it, surrounded by other phenomena; this kind of literature is dramatic; in the drama itself, the voice of the author will be the least likely to sound - in remarks, that is, the author's explanations for the action and replicas of the characters.

Look at the table and try to remember its contents:

Genres of fiction

Each type of literature in turn includes a number of genres.

GENRE is a historically formed group of works united common features content and form. These groups include novels, stories, poems, elegies, short stories, feuilletons, comedies, etc. In literary criticism, the concept is often introduced literary style, is a broader concept than genre. In this case, the novel will be considered a type of fiction, and genres - various varieties of the novel, for example, adventure, detective, psychological, parable novel, dystopian novel, etc.

Examples genus-species relations in literature:

• Genus: dramatic; view: comedy; genre: sitcom.
• Genus: epic; view: story; genre: fantasy story etc.

Genres being categories historical, appear, develop and eventually "leave" from the "active reserve" of artists, depending on historical era: ancient lyricists did not know the sonnet; in our time, an archaic genre has become born in antiquity and popular in XVII-XVIII centuries Oh yeah; romanticism XIX century brought to life detective literature etc.

Consider the following table, which lists the types and genres related to the different kinds of word art:

Genera, types and genres of fiction

Modern literary criticism also highlights fourth, an adjacent genre of literature, combining the features of the epic and lyrical genera: lyrical-epic to which it refers poem. Indeed, by telling the reader a story, the poem manifests itself as an epic; revealing to the reader the depth of feelings, the inner world of the person who tells this story, the poem manifests itself as a lyric.

In the table you came across the expression "small genres". epic and lyrical works are divided into large and small genres to a greater extent in terms of volume. The epic, the novel, the poem belong to the large ones, the story, the story, the fable, the song, the sonnet, etc., to the small ones.

Read V. Belinsky's statement about the genre of the story:

If the story, according to Belinsky, is "a leaf from the book of life", then, using his metaphor, one can figuratively define the novel from the genre point of view as "a chapter from the book of life", and the story as "a line from the book of life".

Small epic genres to which the story relates is "intense" in terms of the content of prose: due to the small volume, the writer does not have the opportunity to "spread his thoughts along the tree", get carried away detailed descriptions, enumerations, reproduce a large number of events in detail, and the reader often needs to say a lot.

The story is characterized by the following features:

• small volume;
• the plot is most often based on one event, the rest are only plotted by the author;
• a small number of characters: usually one or two central characters;
• the author is interested in a certain topic;
• one decides main question, the remaining questions are "derived" from the main one.

So,
STORY- it's small prose work with one or two main characters, dedicated to the image of a single event. Somewhat more voluminous story, but the difference between a story and a story is not always possible to catch: the work of A. Chekhov "Duel" is called by some a small story, and some - a big story. The following is important: as the critic E. Anichkov wrote at the beginning of the twentieth century, " personality is at the center of the story rather than a group of people."

Rise of the Russian short prose starts in the 20s XIX years century, which gave excellent examples of small epic prose, including the unconditional masterpieces of Pushkin ("Belkin's Tales", " Queen of Spades") and Gogol ("Evenings on a farm near Dikanka", St. Petersburg stories), romantic novels A. Pogorelsky, A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, V. Odoevsky and others. In the second half of the 19th century, small epic works by F. Dostoevsky were created ("Dream funny man"," Notes from the Underground"), N. Leskova ("Lefty", "Dumb Artist", "Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district"), I. Turgenev ("Hamlet of the Shchigrovsky district", "Steppe King Lear", "Ghosts", "Notes of a hunter"), L. Tolstoy (" Prisoner of the Caucasus"," Hadji Murat "," Cossacks ", Sevastopol stories), A. Chekhov as the greatest master short story, works by V. Garshin, D. Grigorovich, G. Uspensky and many others.

The twentieth century also did not remain in debt - and the stories of I. Bunin, A. Kuprin, M. Zoshchenko, Teffi, A. Averchenko, M. Bulgakov appear ... Even such recognized lyrics as A. Blok, N. Gumilyov, M. Tsvetaeva "descended to despicable prose," in the words of Pushkin. It can be argued that on turn of XIX-XX centuries, the small genre of epic took leading position in Russian literature.

And for this reason alone, one should not think that the story raises some minor problems and touches on shallow topics. Form story concise, and the plot is sometimes uncomplicated and concerns, at first glance, simple, as L. Tolstoy said, "natural" relations: there is simply nowhere for a complex chain of events in the story to unfold. But this is precisely the task of the writer, in order to conclude a serious and often inexhaustible subject of conversation in a small space of text.

If the plot of the thumbnail I. Bunina "Muravsky Way", consisting of only 64 words, captures only a few moments of the conversation between the traveler and the coachman in the middle of the endless steppe, then the plot of the story A. Chekhov "Ionych" Enough for a whole novel artistic time The story spans nearly a decade and a half. But the author does not care what happened to the hero at each stage of this time: it is enough for him to “snatch” several “links”-episodes from the hero’s life chain, similar friend on a friend, like drops of water, and the whole life of Dr. Startsev becomes extremely clear to both the author and the reader. “As you live one day of your life, so you will live your whole life,” Chekhov seems to say. At the same time, the writer, reproducing the situation in the house of the most "cultural" family provincial town S., can focus all his attention on the sound of knives from the kitchen and the smell of fried onions ( artistic details! ), but to say about several years of a person’s life as if they didn’t exist at all, or it was a “passing”, uninteresting time: “Four years have passed”, “Several more years have passed”, as if it’s not worth wasting time and paper on the image of such a trifle ...

Image Everyday life a person devoid of external storms and upheavals, but in a routine that makes a person wait forever for happiness that never comes, became a cross-cutting theme of A. Chekhov's stories, which determined further development Russian short prose.

Historical upheavals, of course, dictate other themes and plots to the artist. M. Sholokhov in the cycle of Don stories speaks of terrible and beautiful human destinies in a time of revolutionary upheaval. But the point here is not so much in the revolution itself, but in eternal problem man's struggle with himself, in the eternal tragedy of the collapse of the old familiar world, which mankind has experienced many times. And therefore Sholokhov turns to plots that have long been rooted in world literature, depicting private human life, as it were, in the context of the world. legendary history. Yes, in the story "Mole" Sholokhov uses an ancient story, like the world, about the duel between father and son, who are not recognized by each other, which we meet in Russian epics, in epics ancient persia and medieval Germany ... But if ancient epic explains the tragedy of a father who killed his son in battle by the laws of fate beyond the control of man, then Sholokhov speaks of the problem of a person’s choice of his life path, a choice that determines all future events and in the end makes one a beast in human form, and the other an equal the greatest heroes of the past.

• A. Pushkin. The stories "Dubrovsky", "Snowstorm"
• N. Gogol. The stories "The Night Before Christmas", "Taras Bulba", "The Overcoat", "Nevsky Prospekt".
• I.S. Turgenev. Tale " Noble Nest"; "Notes of a hunter" (2-3 stories of your choice); story "Asya"
• N.S. Leskov. Stories "Lefty", "Dumb Artist"
• L.N. Tolstoy. The stories "After the Ball", "The Death of Ivan Ilyich"
• M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Fairy tales " wise gudgeon", "Bogatyr", "Bear in the province"
• A.P. Chekhov. The stories "The Jumper", "Ionych", "Gooseberries", "About Love", "The Lady with the Dog", "Ward Number Six", "In the Ravine"; other stories of your choice
• I.A. Bunin. Stories and novels "The Gentleman from San Francisco", "Dry Valley", " easy breathing", "Antonov apples", "Dark alleys" A.I. Kuprin. The story "Olesya", the story "Garnet Bracelet"
• M. Gorky. The stories "Old Woman Izergil", "Makar Chudra", "Chelkash"; collection "Untimely Thoughts"
• A.N. Tolstoy. The story "Viper"
• M. Sholokhov. The stories "The Mole", "Alien Blood", "The Fate of Man";
• M. Zoshchenko. Stories "Aristocrat", "Monkey tongue", "Love" and others of your choice
• A.I. Solzhenitsyn. The story "Matryona yard"
• V. Shukshin. The stories "I believe!", "Boots", "Space, nervous system and shmat lard", "Mil pardon, madam!", "Stalled"

Before doing task 6, consult a dictionary and set exact value concepts with which you have to work.

• Grechnev V.Ya. Russian end story XIX-beginning XX century. - L., 1979.
• Zhuk A.A. Russian prose II half of XIX century. - M.: Enlightenment, 1981.
• Literary encyclopedic Dictionary. - M., 1987.
• Literary criticism: Reference materials. - M., 1988.
• Russian story XIX century: History and problems of the genre. - L., 1973.

Which are combined on the basis of formal and meaningful features. They develop historically, experiencing the emergence, flourishing, and some decline. They include novels, short stories, elegies, feuilletons, stories, comedies, etc. The concept of literary genres is narrower than literary genres. Each contains several genres. For example, a story, a short story, a novel are included in the author's epic race literature.

The first attempt to systematize literary genres was made in his book by He presented them as something regular, established once and for all. The author had only to fit into the norms of the genre to which he turned. This understanding led to the emergence of a kind of textbooks on normative poetics. Most famous among them he received the treatise "Poetic Art" by N. Boileau. Of course, since the time of Aristotle, literary genres and genres have not remained absolutely unchanged, but theorists preferred either to ignore innovations or to reject them. This lasted until it became impossible not to notice the processes taking place in the literature. Some genres of literary works suddenly took off and just as quickly died out, only occasionally flashing in the creative sky (as was the case with the ballad). Others, on the contrary, came out of an undeserved "conclusion" (for example, a novel).

IN domestic literary criticism the theory substantiating literary genres and genera belongs to V. G. Belinsky. He singled out three types, depending on the author's approach to the way the subject of conversation is presented: epic, drama and lyrics.

The attribution of a work to a particular genre depends on what criterion is taken as a basis. If the literary genre is taken into account (drama, lyrics, epic), then all genres are divided, respectively, into dramatic, lyrical and epic.

Works representing dramatic kind Literature is comedy, drama and tragedy.

Comedy is designed to reflect something incongruous in life, to ridicule everyday or social phenomenon, human character traits, sometimes absurd behavior.

Drama is a work that depicts a complex conflict that has arisen between several characters, a serious opposition between them.

Tragedy is a work in which the character actor reveals himself in a struggle leading to his death, or in conditions from which he sees absolutely no way out.

Literary works representing the epic genre of literature are divided into three groups:

Large (novel, and epic);

Medium (story);

Small (short story, essay, story).

This genre also includes a fairy tale, an epic, a ballad, a fable, a historical song and a myth.

Works representing the lyrical genre of literature are stanzas, an ode, an elegy and a message.

An elegy is a small poem, completely imbued with a slight sadness. The most famous are the elegies of the classics of the 19th century.

A message is a work written in the form of a poetic appeal to one person or to several persons.

An ode is a poem in honor of a past or upcoming celebration, in honor of some person, characterized by enthusiasm.

In addition, on present stage Literary scholars distinguish another, lyrical-epic kind of literature. It combines the features of the lyric and the epic and is represented by a poem. This work is indeed ambiguous. On the one hand, it tells in detail about some event, character (like the epic), and on the other hand, it conveys the feelings, moods, experiences of the hero or the narrator himself, the inner world, thereby approaching the lyrics.

IN Lately new genres in literature did not appear.

A genre in literature is a selection of texts that have a similar structure and are similar in content. There are quite a lot of them, but there is a division by gender, by form and content.

Classification of genres in literature.

Division by birth

With such a classification, one should consider the attitude of the author himself to the text of interest to the reader. He was the first to try to divide literary works into four genres, each with its own internal divisions:

• epic (novels, stories, epics, short stories, stories, fairy tales, epics),
• lyrical (odes, elegies, messages, epigrams),
• dramatic (dramas, comedies, tragedies),
• lyrical-epic (ballads, poems).

Division by content

According to this principle of separation, three groups emerged:

• Comedy
• tragedy
• Drama.

Two recent groups talking about tragic fate, about the conflict in the work. And comedies should be divided into smaller subgroups: parody, farce, vaudeville, sitcom, interlude.

Separation by shape

The group is diverse and numerous. There are thirteen genres in this group:

• epic,
• epic,
• novel,
• story,
• short story
• story,
• sketch,
• play,
• feature article,
• essay,
• opus,
• visions.

There is no such clear division in prose.

It is not easy to immediately determine what genre this or that work is. How does the read work affect the reader? What feelings does it evoke? Whether the author is present, whether he introduces his personal experiences, whether a simple narrative is being conducted without adding an analysis of the events described. All these questions require specific answers in order to make a final verdict on whether the text belongs to a certain type of literary genre.

Genres speak for themselves

To begin to understand the genre diversity of literature, you should know the characteristics of each of them.

1. Form groups are perhaps the most interesting. A play is a work written specifically for the stage. The story is a prosaic narrative work of small volume. The novel is distinguished by its scale. The story is an intermediate genre, standing between the story and the novel, which tells about the fate of one hero.
2. Content groups are small, so it is very easy to remember them. Comedy is humorous and satirical. Tragedy always ends as expected. The drama is based on the conflict between human life and society.
3. The genus typology contains only three structures:
   1. The epic tells about the past without expressing one's personal opinion about what is happening.
   2. Lyrics always contain feelings and experiences lyrical hero i.e. the author himself.
   3. The drama reveals its plot through the communication of the characters among themselves.

literary genre- this is a form, an abstract model on which the text of a literary work is built. Genre is a set of certain features that allow us to attribute literary work to the kind of epic, lyric or drama. Genres were not invented. They have existed and continue to exist in the very nature of human thought.

The main types of literary genres

Literary genres are divided into three types: epic, lyrical and dramatic. TO epic genres include: fairy tale, epic, epic, epic novel, novel, story, essay, story, anecdote. Lyrical genres called an ode, an elegy, a ballad, a message, an epigram, a madrigal. Dramatic genres are tragedy, comedy, drama, melodrama, vaudeville and farce.

Literary genres have certain characteristics, which are divided into genre-forming and additional. Genre-forming features determine the specifics of a particular genre. For example, the genre-forming feature of a fairy tale is an attitude towards fiction. The events of the fairy tale are obviously perceived by the listener as magical, fictional, not directly related to reality. The genre-forming feature of the novel is its connection with objective reality, coverage a large number events that happened in reality or could happen, many acting characters, focus on inner world heroes.

Art style used in fiction. It affects the imagination and feelings of the reader, conveys the thoughts and feelings of the author, uses all the richness of vocabulary, possibilities different styles, characterized by figurativeness, emotionality of speech.

The emotionality of the artistic style differs from the emotionality of colloquial and publicistic styles. Emotionality artistic speech performs aesthetic function. Artistic style requires pre-selection language tools; all language means are used to create images.

Genre as a concept appeared a very long time ago, back in ancient world. At the same time, a typology of genres appeared. Today, text typologies are more rigorous and have clear boundaries. Moreover, they are applied in all spheres of life - in state activities, V professional fields, theater, medicine and even everyday life.

Genres in fiction are a special complex issue. As you know, all literary works, depending on the nature of the depicted, belong to one of the three genera: epic, lyric or drama. Literary gender- this is a generalized name for a group of works, depending on the nature of the reflection of reality.

EPOS(from the Greek "narrative") is a generalized name for works depicting events external to the author.

LYRICS(from the Greek. "performed to the lyre") - this is a generalized name for works in which there is no plot, but the feelings, thoughts, experiences of the author or his lyrical hero are depicted.

DRAMA(from the Greek. "action") - a generalized name of works intended for staging on stage; the drama is dominated by the dialogue of the characters, the author's beginning is minimized.

Varieties of epic, lyrical and dramatic works are called types of literary works .

Type and genre - concepts in literary criticism very close .

Genres called variations of the type of literary work. For example, a genre version of a story can be fantastic or historical tale, and the genre variety of comedy is vaudeville, etc. Strictly speaking, a literary genre is a historically established type of work of art containing certain structural features and aesthetic quality characteristic of this group of works.

TYPES (GENRES) OF EPIC WORKS:

epic, novel, story, short story, fairy tale, fable, legend.

EPIC- large piece of art, telling about significant historical events. In ancient times - a narrative poem of heroic content. In the literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, the epic novel genre appears - this is a work in which the formation of the characters of the main characters occurs in the course of their participation in historical events.

NOVEL- a large narrative work of art with complex plot, in the center of which is the fate of the individual.

STORY- a work of art that occupies a middle position between a novel and a short story in terms of volume and complexity of the plot. In ancient times, any narrative work was called a story.

STORY- a work of art of a small size, based on an episode, an incident from the life of a hero.

FAIRY TALE- a work about fictional events and heroes, usually with the participation of magical, fantastic forces.

FABLE(from "bayat" - to tell) - this is a narrative work in poetic form, small in size, moralizing or satirical in nature.

TYPES (GENRES) OF LYRICAL WORKS:

ode, hymn, song, elegy, sonnet, epigram, message.

OH YEAH(from Greek “song”) - choral, solemn song.

HYMN(from Greek “praise”) - a solemn song to verses of a programmatic nature.

EPIGRAM(from the Greek. "Inscription") - a short satirical poem of a mocking nature, which arose in the 3rd century BC. e.

ELEGY- a genre of lyrics dedicated to sad thoughts or lyric poem filled with sadness. Belinsky called an elegy "a song sad content". The word "elegy" is translated as "reed flute" or "mournful song". The elegy originated in Ancient Greece in the 7th century BC e.

MESSAGE- a letter of poetry specific person, request, wish, recognition.

SONNET(from the Provencal sonette - "song") - a poem of 14 lines, which has a certain rhyming system and strict stylistic laws. The sonnet originated in Italy in the 13th century (the creator is the poet Jacopo da Lentini), appeared in England in the first half of the 16th century (G. Sarri), and in Russia in the 18th century. The main types of the sonnet are Italian (of 2 quatrains and 2 tercetes) and English (of 3 quatrains and the final couplet).

LYROEPIC TYPES (GENRES):

poem, ballad

POEM(from the Greek poieio - “I do, create”) - a large poetic work with a narrative or lyrical plot, usually on a historical or legendary topic.

BALLAD- a story song of dramatic content, a story in verse.

TYPES (GENRES) OF DRAMA WORKS:

tragedy, comedy, drama (in the narrow sense).

TRAGEDY(from Greek tragos ode - “goat song”) - dramatic work, depicting a tense struggle strong characters and passions, which usually ends with the death of the hero.

COMEDY(from the Greek komos ode - “merry song”) - a dramatic work with a cheerful, funny plot, usually ridiculing social or domestic vices.

DRAMA(“action”) is a literary work in the form of a dialogue with a serious plot, depicting a person in his dramatic relationship with society. Drama may be tragicomedy or melodrama.

VAUDEVILLE- genre of comedy light comedy with singing couplets and dancing.

FARCE- genre of comedy theatrical play light, playful character with external comic effects, designed for rough taste.