General idea of the literary process. Tradition and innovation
The final chapter of our book, devoted to the literary process, is perhaps the most difficult methodologically. The fact is that for an adequate understanding of the laws of the literary process, it is necessary at least in general view imagine the corpus literary works different eras and cultures. Then the logic of the formation of genres, and the projections of some cultures on other eras, and the patterns of stylistic development begin to emerge. But a novice philologist, of course, almost never has such a historical and literary base, so there is always a danger of turning a conversation into pure scholasticism: a student can honestly “learn by heart” some information, but the real, living content of theoretical provisions is not yet available to him. It is difficult, for example, to talk about the features of the Baroque style if the majority of readers do not know a single poet of this era.
On the other hand, it is also unrealistic to clarify each position in detail with many examples, each time plunging into the history of literature - this would require the involvement of a huge amount of material that goes beyond the objectives of our manual and which the student will not be able to physically cope with. Therefore, it is very difficult to find a balance between what is necessary and what is sufficient.
Understanding all these objective difficulties, we will be forced to strongly schematize the presentation, dwelling only on the most important aspects. There is simply no other way, in any case, the author is not aware of any manual where different facets of literary processes would be covered quite fully and accessible to a novice philologist. There are many excellent studies on different parties literary process, but to reduce together a huge and contradictory material, making it accessible to a junior student, and even within the same chapter, is a completely unrealistic task.
Therefore, the proposed chapter is only an introduction to the problem, which briefly outlines the main issues related to the study of the literary process.
The literary process is a complex concept. The term itself appeared relatively recently, already in the 20th century, and gained popularity even later, only starting from the 50s and 60s. Prior to this, attention was paid to some separate aspects of literary interrelations, but the literary process in its entirety was not comprehended. In the full sense of the word, it has not been comprehended even today, only the main components of the literary process have been determined, and possible research methodologies have been outlined. Summarizing various views, we can say that understanding the literary process involves the solution of several scientific problems:
1. It is necessary to establish links between literature and the socio-historical process. Literature, of course, is connected with history, with the life of society, it reflects it to some extent, but is neither a copy nor a mirror. At some moments, at the level of images and themes, there is a rapprochement with historical reality, at some, on the contrary, literature moves away from it. To understand the logic of this "attraction-repulsion" and to find transitional links connecting the historical and literary processes is an extremely difficult task and hardly has a final solution. As such a transitional link “from life to literature”, religious and symbolic forms, then social stereotypes were considered (or, in the terminology of A. A. Shakhov, “ public types”), which are formed in society in certain period and are embodied in art; then the socio-psychological atmosphere in society (in the terminology of Yu. B. Kuzmenko - “social emotions”); then the structure of the aesthetic ideal, reflecting both ideas about a person and aesthetic traditions (for example, this approach is typical for the works of N. A. Yastrebova), etc. There were a lot of concepts, but the mechanism for transforming historical reality into works of art so it remains a mystery. At the same time, attempts to find this transitional link stimulate the emergence of interesting research, unexpected and original concepts in both domestic and foreign aesthetics. Say, it is the search for these links, at the same time concrete historical and "transhistorical" (in the terminology P. Bourdieu), then are of the same type for any moment in history, gives rise to the concept of "new historicism" - one of the most popular methodologies in modern Western European science. According to the theory of Pierre Bourdieu, the author of this concept, it is useless to "impose" some kind of history general laws, based on today's coordinate system. It is necessary to proceed from the “historicity of the object”, that is, every time you need to enter the historical contextthis work. And only comparing the set with such way of the obtained data, including the historicity of the researcher himself, we can notice elements of commonality, "overcome" history. The concept of P. Bourdieu is popular today, but of all questions it, of course it doesn't take off. The search for an adequate methodology continues, and definitive answers are hardly possible here.
2. In addition to "external" connections, that is, connections with history, psychology, etc., literature also has a system internal communications , that is, constantly relates itself to its own history. No writer of any era ever begins to write "with clean slate”, he always consciously or unconsciously takes into account the experience of his predecessors. He writes in a certain genre, in which centuries-old literary experience has been accumulated (it is no coincidence that M. M. Bakhtin called the genre “the memory of literature”), he is looking for the kind of literature closest to himself (epos, lyrics, drama) and involuntarily takes into account the laws adopted for this kind . Finally, he absorbs many authorial traditions, correlating his work with one of his predecessors. All this is made up of internal laws development of the literary process, which are not directly related to the socio-historical situation. For example, the genre of an elegiac poem, permeated with sadness, and sometimes even tragedy, can manifest itself in different sociohistorical situations, but will always correlate itself with the genre of elegy, regardless of the desire and will of the author.
That's why the concept of "literary process" includes the formation of generic, genre and style traditions.
3. Literary process can also be viewed from another point of view: the process of formation, development and change artistic styles . This raises a number of questions: how and why do styles arise, what impact do they have on further development culture, how it is formed and how important it is for the development of the literary process individual style, what are style dominants a certain era, etc.
It is clear that any voluminous idea of literary process we will get only if we take into account all these issues, if these issues themselves are understood systematically, interrelated. In the early stages of development philological science these interconnections are not yet felt, therefore, further the conversation will be conducted more in an analytical than in a synthetic manner, first you need to deal with the different components of the literary process, and only then, having more experience, establish connections between these components.
Tradition and innovation - the most important components of the literary process. There is not a single great work of literature that would not be connected by thousands of threads with the context of world culture, but in the same way it is impossible to imagine a significant aesthetic phenomenon that has not enriched world literature something of their own. Therefore, tradition and innovation are back sides one medal: a true tradition always involves innovation, and innovation is possible only against the background of tradition.
One of the most famous philologists of the 20th century, M. M. Bakhtin, who constantly returned to this issue, wrote as follows: “Every really significant step forward is accompanied by a return to the beginning (“originality”), more precisely, to the renewal of the beginning. Only memory can go forward, not oblivion. The memory goes back to the beginning and updates it. Of course, the terms “forward” and “backward” themselves lose their closed absoluteness in this understanding, rather revealing by their interaction the living paradoxical nature of movement.
In another work, Bakhtin creates an excellent metaphor: “Great works of literature are prepared for centuries, while in the era of their creation only the ripe fruits of a long and complex process of maturation are removed. Trying to understand and explain the work only from the conditions of its era, only from the conditions of the near future, we will never penetrate into its semantic depths. Developing this idea, the author continues: “The semantic treasures invested by Shakespeare in his works were created and collected for centuries and even millennia: they hid in the language, and not only in the literary, but also in such layers vernacular which before Shakespeare had not yet entered literature, in diverse genres and forms of speech communication, in the forms of powerful folk culture ».
Hence one of the central ideas of Bakhtin, which is directly related to the problem of tradition and innovation, is the idea of world culture as dialogue space, wherein various works and even different eras constantly echo, complement and reveal each other. Ancient authors predetermine modern culture, but the modern era also allows you to discover in brilliant creations antiquity, those meanings that in those days were not visible and were not recognized. Thus, any new work is dependent on tradition, but, paradoxically, the works of bygone eras also depend on modern culture. The Modern Reader"born" by Shakespeare, but Shakespeare reveals to him such semantic depths that neither the contemporaries of the brilliant playwright, nor he himself could feel. Thus, time in the space of culture loses the "linearity" so familiar to us (from the past to the future), it turns into a living movement in both directions.
V. V. Musatov considered the problem of tradition with somewhat different accents. In his opinion, any artist strives to create an "individual hypothesis of being", so every time he correlates the experience of his predecessors with his era and his destiny. Therefore, tradition is not just a “copying” of techniques, it is always the most complex psychological act, when a foreign world is “tested” by one’s own experience.
So, "tradition" is a very voluminous concept, fundamental for an adequate perception of the literary process.
So far, we have been talking about the philosophical, general aesthetic meaning of the term "tradition". At a more specific level, there are several "problem points" associated with tradition and innovation.
Firstly, it is not always easy to separate concepts "tradition", "canon", "imitation", "stylization","imitation" etc. If today we associate “epigonism” with “empty imitation”, which does not enrich culture in any way (this word itself has negative connotation), then, for example, with imitation and canon everything is more difficult. Far from every imitation is epigonism; an open orientation to some kind of model can lead to significant aesthetic results. For example, in Russian lyrics the word “imitation” is allowed as a kind of genre determinant: “In imitation of the Koran”, “In imitation of Byron”, etc. We encounter the same thing in numerous poems starting with “From ...”: “From Heine", "From Goethe", etc. Here, even interesting cases. For example, the famous program poem by A. S. Pushkin “From Pindemonti”, at first glance, openly refers to the work of the Italian poet, but in reality this is a hoax, I. Pindemonti never had such a poem. The question arises: why does Pushkin refer us precisely to this name; Is this an accident, a “trick” to deceive censorship, or did the poet still feel some kind of internal echo of his lines with the poetry of this author? There is no consensus among scholars on this issue. But in any case, it is in this poem that Pushkin formulates his poetic credo:
Other, better, rights are dear to me;
Another, better, I need freedom:
Depend on the king, depend on the people -
Don't we all care? God is with them.
Nobody
Do not report...
In other cases, a direct orientation to a well-known text can lead to the creation of a genuine author's masterpiece. So, Pushkin's "little tragedy" "A Feast in the Time of Plague" is, as you know, the author's translation of one act from J. Wilson's play "City of the Plague" (1816). In general, Pushkin follows Wilson's text, but adds two songs "on his own behalf": Mary's song and the famous "Hymn to the Plague":
Everything, everything that threatens death,
For the heart of a mortal conceals
Inexplicable pleasures -
Immortality, maybe a pledge!
And happy is he who is in the midst of excitement
They could acquire and know.
So - praise to you, Plague,
We are not afraid of the darkness of the grave,
We will not be confused by your calling!
We sing glasses together
And the rose-maidens drink the breath,
Perhaps ... full of Plague!
These inserts radically change the whole picture, from not the most famous play John Wilson Pushkin gives birth to a masterpiece.
However, in many cases, a work written "in imitation" does not have great artistic value, testifies to the helplessness, insufficient talent of the author. Ultimately, as always in creativity, everything is decided by talent.
It is even more difficult to separate tradition and canon. The canon is the norms accepted in a given culture and strictly observed.. The canon imposes rather severe restrictions on the freedom of the author's self-expression, thus being a "binding tradition". Archaic forms of culture, for example, many genres of folklore, were associated with the canon to such an extent that they left little room for the author's "liberties". In this sense, it is possible to speak about the "authorship" of folklore texts only metaphorically, in folklore there is a "collective author". The ancient consciousness did not draw a line between "known to me" and "born by me" (in other words, between what I I know some text and the fact that I have it created), so any text was easily assigned to those to whom it was familiar. Gradually, the boundaries of "one's own and others" became stronger, and in many cultures, for example, in medieval oriental poetry or in Russian icon painting, the canon began to be perceived as an "external" condition obligatory for the author. But inside the canon, the author's vision of the world was already manifesting. That is why, for example, the Russian icon is so diverse in strict observance of the Orthodox canon.
In modern secular culture, the canon does not play such a role, although, naturally, any artist experiences some restrictions imposed by the established tradition. However, these restrictions are no longer rigid, and the traditions of culture are so diverse that they provide the author with almost limitless possibilities.
SecondlyWhen speaking of tradition, one must remember that it manifests itself in different levels. Let's dwell on this in a little more detail.
theme tradition suggests that the author, while defining the thematic range of his work, constantly correlates his decision with those that have already been found by culture. For example, the theme of the truth of Christ, confirmed by his sufferings and death, finds thousands artistic solutions taking into account each other and arguing with each other. It is enough to recall M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita to feel that the author simultaneously continues and breaks (or develops) the established tradition. It is no coincidence that many supporters of the Orthodox canon do not accept Bulgakov's novel, considering it "the gospel from Satan."
The tradition of the image (character). The tradition of the image or its variant, the tradition of character, involves taking into account the decisions already accumulated by culture regarding this or that character. Sometimes it manifests itself directly, most often in this case some famous image becomes emblematic, sets off the character of the hero. So, N. S. Leskov, defining his heroine Katerina Lvovna as “Lady Macbeth Mtsensk district”, immediately creates a Shakespearean background, against which the heroine looks different: more tragic and larger.
In other cases, the roll call is visible at the level of the psychology of the characters, their actions, relationships. At one time, A. D. Sinyavsky, somewhat coarsening, characterized the relationship between a man and a woman in classical Russian literature in this way: “A woman was a touchstone for a man in literature. Through relations with her, he revealed his weakness and, compromised by her strength and beauty, got down from the stage, on which he was going to play something heroic, and left, bent over, into oblivion with the shameful nickname of unnecessary, worthless, extra person» .
Sinyavsky is too straightforward, but the structure of the relationship is captured quite accurately. And it is easy to see that this structure was offered to Russian culture by A. S. Pushkin in "Eugene Onegin", other authors (I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N.Tolstoy) in one way or another already followed the Pushkin tradition.
Genre tradition - one of the most powerful in world culture. Genre is a form of author's self-expression found and assimilated by literature. The genre captures both the features of the narrative, and - in many cases - themes, and the types of pathos, and the features of conflicts, etc. Therefore, the chosen genre is always to some extent binding. For example, a poet writing an ode unwillingly finds himself in the bowels of a thousand-year tradition of this genre. Although there is a huge distance between the odes of M.V. Lomonosov and, for example, “Ode to the Revolution” by V. Mayakovsky, many common features dictated by the tradition of the genre are striking.
national tradition associated with the value system adopted in a particular culture: ethical, aesthetic, historical, etc. As a rule, the artist absorbs world culture through the national, way back practically impossible. The Russian writer is open to world cultural experience, but this experience is refracted through the cultural experience of the nation. This was well reflected by M. Yu. Lermontov in a youthful poem:
No, I'm not Byron, I'm different
Still unknown chosen one,
How he is a wanderer persecuted by the world,
But only with a Russian soul.
The poet declares his openness to Byron's world, his closeness to the brilliant English bard, but Byron is refracted through the "Russian soul". As a result, we have not one of Byron's innumerable imitators, but a great Russian poet who has won world fame.
Rising from the depths national culture a poet can become a poet of the world. But if one imagines some abstract "world poet", he cannot become a national poet. The now popular expression "man of the world" should not be absolutized. People of the world are not born, but become.
Artistic tradition combines lexical, syntactic, rhythmic, plot-compositional, etc. techniques for constructing a text. In many cases, the tradition of techniques is striking, for example, a poet who writes with a "ladder" will immediately find himself in line with the Mayakovsky tradition. In other cases, it is less recognizable, but any work in one way or another uses already found artistic techniques. Like any tradition, the tradition of tricks is enriched by new discoveries, becoming more and more complex and multifaceted.
Style tradition in some sense synthesizes all the above possibilities. Style is precisely the sum of figurative-thematic, genre, etc. unity. Here you can talk about the author's traditions (for example, Pushkin's or Nekrasov's) or about the traditions of certain trends or even eras (for example, about the traditions of antiquity in the culture of classicism, about romantic tradition in modern poetry etc.).. 6, No. 16, Jun., 1927.
Sinyavsky A. (Abram Terts) What is socialist realism // http://antology.igrunov.ru/authors/synyavsky/1059651903.html
Literary process - historical movement national and world literature, developing in complex relationships and interactions. The literary process is at the same time the history of the accumulation of aesthetic, spiritual and moral values, a non-straight, but steady expansion of humanistic concepts. Until a certain time, the literary process is relatively closed, national character; in modern era, with the development of economic and cultural ties, "... from the multitude of national and local literatures, one world literature is formed."
Krylov, Pushkin, Zhukovsky and Gnedich in the Summer Garden. Artist G. Chernetsov.
The study of the literary process involves the formulation and solution of many complex, complex problems, the main of which is to elucidate the patterns of transition of some poetic ideas and forms to others, old to new, entailing a change in styles, literary trends, trends, methods, schools, etc. What changes in meaningful form of literature, reflecting a life shift, a new historical situation?
Writers are included in the literary process with new artistic discoveries that change the principles of studying man and the world. These discoveries are not made empty place. The writer certainly relies on the traditions of both immediate and distant predecessors, participants in the literary process of the domestic and foreign literatures, in one form or another, using all the experience gained in artistic development humanity. We can say that the literary process is a struggle artistic ideas, new with the old, carrying the memory of the old, the defeated. Each literary direction(the trend) puts forward its leaders and theoreticians, declaring new creative principles and refuting the old ones, as being exhausted by literary development.
So, in the XVII century. in France, the principles of classicism were proclaimed, strict rules of "poetic art" were established in opposition to the willfulness of baroque poets and playwrights. But at the beginning of the XIX century. romantics sharply opposed all the norms and rules of classicism, declaring that the rules are crutches and a genius does not need them (see Romanticism). Soon the realists rejected the subjectivism of the romantics, putting forward the demand for an objective, truthful image life.
But even within one school (direction, current) there is a change of stages. “So, for example, in Russian classicism, the role of the initiator was played by Kantemir, whose work ended in the very beginning of the 40s. 18th century In the works of M.V. Lomonosov, A.P. Sumarokov, V.K. in early XIX c., classicism reaches its completion and ceases to exist as a definite literary movement". “The change in the stages of classicism was determined by the convergence of literature with reality” (L. I. Timofeev).
An even more complex picture is the evolution of critical realism in Russian literature XIX in: A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov. It's about not just about different artistic individuals: the character of realism itself, the knowledge of man and the world, is changing, deepening. " natural school”, which opposed romanticism and created masterpieces of realistic art, already in the second half of the century is perceived as a kind of canon that fetters literary development. deepening psychological analysis L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky marked new stage realism in comparison with the "natural school".
At the same time, it should be emphasized that, in contrast to the development of technology in the history of art and literature, new artistic discoveries do not cross out the old ones. Firstly, because the great works created on the basis of the “old” principles of human studies continue to live in new generations of readers. Secondly, because these "old" principles themselves find life in new epochs. For example, folklore in the "Quiet Don" by M. A. Sholokhov or the principles of the enlighteners of the 18th century. (see Enlightenment) in dramaturgy German writer socialist realism B. Brecht.
And finally, thirdly: even when the experience of predecessors is rejected in a sharp controversy, the writer still absorbs some part of this experience. So, the conquests of psychological realism of the XIX century. (Stendhal, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy) were prepared by romantics (see Romanticism), their close attention to the individual and his experiences. In new discoveries, the memory of the former ones lives, as it were.
An important role for understanding the literary process is played by the study of the influence of foreign literatures on the literary process of the domestic one (for example, the significance of J. G. Byron or I. F. Schiller for the development of literature in Russia) and domestic literature to foreign ones (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, M. Gorky in the literatures of the world).
The literary process is revealed very clearly in the history of different genres. So, if we consider the development of the novel on a European scale, then we can trace the change in artistic methods and trends (trends). For example, the novel by M. Cervantes "Don Quixote" is characteristic of the Renaissance, "Robinson Crusoe" by D. Defoe - for the Age of Enlightenment, "The Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris» V. Hugo - for the era of romanticism, the novels of Stendhal, O. de Balzac, C. Dickens, I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky represent a critical realism XIX in. And a completely new stage (and new types) of the novel is advanced by the literature of socialist realism: Quiet Don» M. A. Sholokhov or “The Seventh Cross” by A. Zegers, “Communists” by L. Aragon. It is essential to emphasize here that the literary process in different countries goes through similar stages and the development of the genre, method, style reflects these stages.
(Symbol - from the Greek. Symbolon - a conventional sign)- The central place is given to the symbol *
- The striving for the highest ideal prevails
- The poetic image is intended to express the essence of a phenomenon.
- Characteristic reflection of the world in two plans: real and mystical
- Elegance and musicality of the verse
Acmeism
(From the Greek "acme" - a point, the highest point). The literary current of acmeism arose in the early 1910s and was genetically associated with symbolism. (N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and V. Narbut.) M. Kuzmin's article "On Fine Clarity", published in 1910, had an influence on the formation. In the programmatic article of 1913, “The Legacy of Acmeism and Symbolism,” N. Gumilyov called symbolism “a worthy father,” but emphasized that the new generation had developed a “courageously firm and clear outlook on life”- Orientation towards classical poetry of the 19th century
- Acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness
- Objectivity and clarity of images, sharpness of details
- In rhythm, acmeists used dolnik (Dolnik is a violation of the traditional regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The lines coincide in the number of stresses, but the stressed and unstressed syllables are freely located in the line.), which brought the poem closer to the living colloquial speech
Futurism
Futurism - from lat. futurum, the future. Genetically, literary futurism is closely associated with the avant-garde groupings of artists of the 1910s - primarily with the groups " Jack of Diamonds», « donkey tail”, “Union of Youth”. In 1909, in Italy, the poet F. Marinetti published the article "Manifesto of Futurism." In 1912, the manifesto “Slapping the Face of Public Taste” was created by Russian futurists: V. Mayakovsky, A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov: “Pushkin is more incomprehensible than hieroglyphs.” Futurism began to disintegrate already in 1915-1916.- Rebelliousness, anarchic worldview
- Rejection of cultural traditions
- Experiments in the field of rhythm and rhyme, figured arrangement of stanzas and lines
- Active word creation
Imagism
From lat. imago - image A literary trend in Russian poetry of the 20th century, whose representatives stated that the purpose of creativity was to create an image. Main means of expression Imagists - a metaphor, often metaphorical chains, comparing the various elements of two images - direct and figurative. Imagism arose in 1918, when the "Order of Imagists" was founded in Moscow. The creators of the "Order" were Anatoly Mariengof, Vadim Shershenevich and Sergei Yesenin, who was previously a member of the group of new peasant poetsLITERARY PROCESS - the historical existence of literature, its functioning and evolution both in a certain era and throughout the history of a nation, country, region, world.
The literary process in every historic moment includes both verbal and artistic works themselves, socially, ideologically and aesthetically of different quality (from high examples to epigone, boulevard or popular literature), and the forms of their social existence (publications, reprints, literary criticism). Sometimes works become the property of the literary process only after a long period of time after the moment of their creation or first publication (many poems by F. I. Tyutchev, M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita”). On the other hand, phenomena that are insignificant on the scale of the history of national literature sometimes become an important factor in the literary process of an era; such are the bands of enthusiasm for whole genres or individual writers.
important side literary process - constant interaction fiction with other types of art, as well as with general cultural, linguistic, ideological, scientific phenomena. Often (especially in recent centuries) there is a direct connection between the work of writers and their groups with socio-political movements, as well as philosophical concepts.
The concept of the literary process was formed during the 19th and 20th centuries. as literature was perceived as a historically changing entity (already in the 19th century, the terminological expressions "literary evolution" and "literary life of the era" were used). The term "literary process" arose at the turn of the 20-30s. 20th century and became widely used in the 1960s.
FLOW AND DIRECTION literary - concepts that denote the unity of the leading spiritually meaningful and aesthetic principles covering the work of many writers (groups, schools). In the struggle and change of currents and directions, the laws of the literary process are most clearly expressed. There is no agreement in the use of these terms: sometimes they are used as synonyms; often "direction" is recognized as a generic concept in relation to "flow". Often "flow" is identified with literary school and grouping, and "direction" - with artistic method or style. In the 60s. the specificity of the concepts of flow and direction, their connection with artistic content, is increasingly emphasized. A. N. Sokolov considers the direction as an ideological and artistic integrity, which includes method and style as separate components; moreover, the leading and organizing beginning of the direction is ideological content. The concept of "direction" captures the unity of more general spiritual and aesthetic foundations artistic content, due to the unity of cultural and artistic traditions, the type of worldview of writers, the commonality facing them life problems, and ultimately - the commonality or similarity of the epochal socio-cultural-historical situation. But the world outlook itself - the attitude to the problems posed, the idea of ways and means of resolving them, ideals, ideology, and artistic concept, as well as the stylistic principles of writers belonging to the same direction - can be different, even opposite.
Lit. the struggle is not only between different directions, but also within them - between the currents, schools and groupings that make up them (for example, the struggle between the "Sumarok" and "Lomonosov" currents in Russian classicism; the critical attitude of the romantic Decembrists to the poetry of "cordial imagination Zhukovsky, the conflict between the realist writers of the revolutionary-democratic and noble camps; controversy within Russian symbolism).
Belonging to a current and/or direction (as well as the desire to stay outside existing trends) presupposes free - personal and creative - self-determination of the writer.
literary process. The main aspects of the study of the literary process. Modern concepts of the literary process.
Literary process - firstly, the literary life of a particular country and era; Secondly, centuries of development literature on a global scale.
The literary process in the second meaning of the word is the subject of comparative historical literary criticism. The stages of the literary process are habitually conceived as corresponding to those stages in the history of mankind that manifested themselves most distinctly and fully in the countries of Western Europe and especially brightly in the Romanesque. In this regard, ancient, medieval and modern literatures are singled out with their own stages.
The literary process is a change of literary direction.
Conrad said that all nations follow the same literary path.
The literary process is a complex concept. The term itself appeared relatively recently, already in the 20th century, and gained popularity even later, only starting from the 50s and 60s. Prior to this, attention was paid to some separate aspects of literary interrelations, but the literary process in its entirety was not comprehended. In the full sense of the word, it has not been comprehended even today, only the main components of the literary process have been determined, and possible research methodologies have been outlined. Summarizing different views, we can say that understanding the literary process involves the solution of several scientific problems:
1. It is necessary to establish links between literature and the socio-historical process. Literature, of course, is connected with history, with the life of society, it reflects it to some extent, but is neither a copy nor a mirror. At some moments, at the level of images and themes, there is a rapprochement with historical reality, at some, on the contrary, literature moves away from it. To understand the logic of this "attraction-repulsion" and to find transitional links connecting the historical and literary processes is an extremely difficult task and hardly has a final solution. As such a transitional link “from life to literature”, religious and symbolic forms, then social stereotypes (or, in the terminology of A. A. Shakhov, “social types”), which are formed in society in a certain period and are embodied in art, were considered; then the socio-psychological atmosphere in society (in the terminology of Yu. B. Kuzmenko - “social emotions”); then the structure of the aesthetic ideal, reflecting both ideas about a person and aesthetic traditions (for example, this approach is typical for the works of N. A. Yastrebova), etc. There were a lot of concepts, but the mechanism for transforming historical reality into works of art remains a mystery . At the same time, attempts to find this transitional link stimulate the emergence of interesting studies, unexpected and original concepts both in domestic and foreign aesthetics. For example, it is the search for these links, both concrete historical and “transhistorical” (in the terminology of P. Bourdieu), that is, the same type for any moment in history, that gives rise to the concept of “new historicism” - one of the most popular methodologies in modern Western European science. According to the theory of Pierre Bourdieu, the author of this concept, it is useless to "impose" any general laws on history, based on today's coordinate system. It is necessary to proceed from the "historicity of the object", that is, every time you need to enter the historical context of this work. And only by comparing the set of data obtained in this way, including the historicity of the researcher himself, can we notice elements of commonality, “overcome” history. The concept of P. Bourdieu is popular today, but, of course, it does not remove all questions. The search for an adequate methodology continues, and definitive answers are hardly possible here.
2. In addition to "external" connections, that is, connections with history, psychology, etc., literature also has a system of internal connections, that is, it constantly correlates itself with its own history. No writer of any era ever begins to write "from scratch", he always consciously or unconsciously takes into account the experience of his predecessors. He writes in a certain genre, in which centuries-old literary experience has been accumulated (it is no coincidence that M. M. Bakhtin called the genre “the memory of literature”), he is looking for the kind of literature closest to himself (epos, lyrics, drama) and involuntarily takes into account the laws adopted for this kind . Finally, he absorbs many authorial traditions, correlating his work with one of his predecessors. From all this, the internal laws of the development of the literary process are formed, which do not directly correlate with the socio-historical situation. For example, the genre of an elegiac poem, permeated with sadness, and sometimes even tragedy, can manifest itself in different sociohistorical situations, but will always correlate itself with the genre of elegy, regardless of the desire and will of the author.
Therefore, the concept of "literary process" includes the formation of generic, genre and style traditions.
The need to “keep track” of the slow development of architectonic forms of literature that has stretched over the centuries is what gave rise to large-scale historicism. historical poetics. This science has developed the most generalized picture of the literary process to date and has revealed 3 major stages in the development of world literature.
Veselovsky called the first stage in the history of poetics the era of syncretism. By modern ideas, this tradition lasts from the ancient Stone Age to the 7th-6th century BC. e. in Greece and the first centuries AD. e. in the East.
Veselovsky proceeded from the fact that the most obvious and simple, and at the same time the most fundamental difference between archaic consciousness and modern consciousness is its undifferentiated nature, or syncretism. It permeates all ancient culture, starting from the direct sensory perceptions of its bearers to their ideological constructs- myths, religion, art.
In general, the poetics of the era of syncretism - and this is its very special place in the history of art - the time of the slow development of basic and primary principles artistic thinking, subject forms, figurative languages, plot archetypes, genera and genres, everything that will be set by the subsequent stages of the development of literature as ready-made forms without which all the rest would be impossible.
The second major stage of the literary process begins in the 6th-5th centuries. BC e. in Greece and the first centuries AD. e. and lasts until the middle - second half of the 18th century. in Europe and the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries. in the East. The generally accepted name of this stage has not been established, its most common definition is rhetorical (others: the era of reflective traditionalism, canonical, eidetic).
