Epic genre - what is it? The fact is that it is impossible to answer this question unambiguously. This is due to the fact that this genre contains several varieties. Let's see what is the epic genre, and what directions does it contain? And also in what connects the epic and the lyrics.
What is a literary genre?
It seems that at the beginning of the narrative about the genres of epic works, it would be appropriate to understand the concept literary genre as such. The word "genre" comes from the French genre, taken from the Latin, where there is the word genus, both of them mean "kind, genus."
As for the literary genre, they are such groups of works of literature that are formed historically and are united by a set of a number of properties. Such properties are both substantive and formal. In this they differ from literary forms, which are distinguished only on the basis of formal features. Often the genre is confused with the type of literature, which is wrong.
Now let's move on to a direct consideration of the question that this is an epic genre.
What is the essence of the concept?
An epic (as the genre we are considering is also called) is one (just like drama and lyrics) that tells about events that supposedly took place in the past. And the narrator remembers them. characteristic feature epic is the coverage of being in such various aspects as:
- Plastic bulk.
- Extension in time and space.
- Plot, or richness of events.
Aristotle on the nature of the epic
ancient greek philosopher 4th century BC e. Aristotle in his work "Poetics" wrote that the epic genre is (unlike dramatic and lyrical works) impartiality and objectivity of the author at the moment of narration. According to Aristotle, the features of the epic are the following:
- A wide scope of reality, which means the image and privacy individual characters, and phenomena occurring in public life.
- Disclosure of the characters of people in the course of the plot.
- Objectivity in the narrative, in which the author's attitude to his characters and the world depicted in the work occurs through the selection of artistic details.
Varieties of the epic
As mentioned above, there are several types of epic genres that can be grouped on the basis of their volume. These are large, medium and small. Each of these types includes the following varieties:
- The major ones include the epic, the novel, the epic poem (the epic poem).
- To the middle belongs such a kind as a story.
- Among the small ones they name a story, a short story and an essay.
A little more about the varieties of works that belong to the epic genres will be discussed below.
What else should be noted? There are also folklore, folk-epic genres, such as epic, fairy tale and historical song.
What else is the significance of the epic?
Features of this genre are also the following:
- An epic work is not limited in scope. As V. E. Khalizev, who was a Soviet and Russian literary critic, said, the epic refers to such a kind of literature that contains not only short stories, but also works designed for long reading or listening - epics, novels.
- In the epic genre big role belongs to the image of the narrator (narrator). He, talking about the events themselves, about actors ah, at the same time delimits itself from what is happening. But at the same time, in the narration itself, not only what is being told is reproduced, imprinted, but also the mindset of the narrator, his manner of presentation.
- In the epic genre, it is possible to use almost any artistic means known in the literature. The narrative form inherent in it makes it possible to deeply penetrate into inner world individual person.
two large forms
leading genre epic literature until the 18th century, it was the source of its plot is a folk tradition, the images of which are generalized and idealized. The speech reflects a relatively unified national consciousness, and the form, as a rule, is poetic. Examples are Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
In the 18-19 centuries, it was replaced by the novel as the leading genre. The plots of the novels are mainly drawn from modern reality, and the images become more individualized. The speech of the heroes reflects the multilingual nature of the public consciousness, which is sharply differentiated. The form of the novel is prosaic. Examples are the novels written by Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
Combining in cycles
Epic works strive for the fullest possible reflection of life's realities, so they tend to be combined into cycles. An illustration of this trend is the epic novel called The Forsyte Saga.
It is a monumental series of diverse works describing the life of the wealthy Forsyth family. In 1932, for the art of narration inherent in Galsworthy, in which the Forsyte Saga is the pinnacle, the writer was awarded Nobel Prize on literature.
Epic means "narrative"
An epic (from the ancient Greek ἔπος - “word, narrative” and ποιέω - “I create”) is an extensive narrative, which is set out either in verse or in prose, and is dedicated to outstanding historical events of a national scale. IN general sense An epic is a complex, lengthy story that includes a series of events on a large scale.
The forerunners of the epic were past songs, which were half lyrical, half narrative. They were caused by the exploits of a tribe or clan, timed to coincide with the heroes around whom they were grouped. Such songs formed into large-scale poetic units called epics.
In heroic-romantic epics, their main characters purposefully and actively participate in significant events. historical events, in the process of which the formation of their personality is carried out, as, for example, in the novel by A. N. Tolstoy "Peter I". There are also “moral-descriptive” epics that tell about the state of society in a comic vein, such as Rabelais’s “Gargantua and Pantagruel” or “ Dead Souls» Gogol.
Epic and lyrical genres
The two genres are interconnected and in some cases can form a kind of symbiosis. To understand this, let's define lyrics. This word comes from the Greek λυρικός, which means "performed to the sound of the lyre."
This kind of literature, also called lyric poetry, reproduces the personal feeling of a person, his attitude to something, or the mood of the author himself. Works in this genre are characterized by emotionality, sincerity, excitement.
But there is also an intermediate option between verses and epic genre is a lyric epic. In such works there are two sides. One of them is the observation and assessment by the reader from the side of the plot narrative, presented in the form of poetry. And the second, which, however, is closely related to the first, is the receipt by him of a certain lyrical (emotional) assessment of the narrator. Thus, lyric epic is characterized by both epic and lyrical principles in the reflection of the surrounding reality.
Lyro-epic genres include such genres as:
- Poem.
- Ballad.
- Stanzas.
Epos (genus of literature)
A significant role for epic genres is played by the image of the narrator (narrator), who talks about the events themselves, about the characters, but at the same time delimits himself from what is happening. The epic, in turn, reproduces, imprints not only what is being told, but also the narrator (his manner of speaking, mentality).
epic work can use almost any artistic medium known to literature. The narrative form of the epic work "contributes to the deepest penetration into the inner world of man."
Literature
- Khalizev V. E. Theory of Literature. - M ., 2009. - S. 302-303.
- Belokurova S. P. Dictionary of literary terms.
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See what "Epos (kind of literature)" is in other dictionaries:
- (Greek from ero to say) works epic poetry. Dictionary foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. EPOS [gr. epos word, story, song] lit. narrative literature, one of the three main genera ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language
EPOS, epic, pl. no, husband. (Greek epos word) (lit.). 1. Narrative kind of literature (as opposed to drama and lyrics). 2. The totality of works of this kind, united common theme, general nationality, chronology, etc. ... ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
A; m. [from Greek. epos word, narration] 1. Spec. Narrative kind of literature (as opposed to lyrics and drama). Great masters of the epic. 2. A set of folk heroic songs, legends, poems, united by a common theme, nationwide ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
epic- a, m. 1) only units. One of the three (along with lyrics and drama) main types of literature, which is a work of a narrative nature. Epic and drama. Epic and lyric. 2) The totality of works folk art(usually… … Popular dictionary of the Russian language
I m. Narrative, in contrast to drama and lyrics, a kind of literature. II m. The totality of works of folk art: folk songs, legends, poems, etc., united by a single theme or a common national identity. III m. Row ... ... Modern Dictionary Russian language Efremova
epic- A; m. (from the Greek. épos word, narrative) see also. epic 1) special Narrative kind of literature (as opposed to lyrics and drama) Great masters of the epic. 2) A set of folk heroic songs, legends, poems, united by a common theme, ... ... Dictionary of many expressions
GENUS LITERARY- GENUS LITERARY, row literary works, similar in the type of their speech organization and cognitive orientation to an object or subject, or the act itself artistic expression: the word either depicts object world, or expresses ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary
Edouard Rod (1857-1910) Swiss novelist who wrote in French. lang. He studied in Bern, then in Berlin. From 1887 to 1893 he was professor of general literature in Geneva, then moved to Paris. His first novels were written in the spirit of naturalism ... ... Literary Encyclopedia
Epos, poetry, drama. Determined by different features: from the point of view of ways of imitation of reality (Aristotle), types of content (F. Schiller, F. Schelling), categories of epistemology (objective subjective in G. V. F. Hegel), formal ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
GENUS LITERARY, one of three groups of works fiction epic, lyric, drama. The tradition of generic division of literature was founded by Aristotle. Despite the fragility of the boundaries between genera and the abundance of intermediate forms (lyroepic ... ... Modern Encyclopedia
Books
- Content of art forms. Epos. Lyrics. Theatre, GD Gachev. What meaning does the very form of a work of art radiate? Its genre and genre, this or that construction, plot, rhythm? Why does a playwright perceive the world differently than a lyricist or a writer...
word, narrative - the same as the epic, as well as the ancient historical songs, for example be lin. Besides, literary gender, along with lyrics and drama, a narrative of events assumed in the past (as if accomplished and remembered by the narrator). E. grasps being in its plastic volume, spatio-temporal extension and event saturation (plot). Arises in folklore (fairy tale, epic, historical song, epic). Until the 18th century The leading genre of E. literature is the epic poem. The source of its plot is a folk legend, the images are idealized and generalized, the speech reflects a relatively monolithic folk consciousness, the form is poetic. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. novel becomes the leading genre. Plots are borrowed mainly from modernity, images are individualized, speech reflects a sharply differentiated multilingual public consciousness, prosaic form. Other genres of E. - story, short story, short story. Epic works tend to be combined into cycles. Based on the same trend, an epic novel is being formed, for example, D. Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga.
Great Definition
Incomplete definition ↓
EPOS
heroic (from Greek epos - word, narration, story). It came in the form of both extensive epics ("Iliad", "Ramayana", "Beowulf", "Dzhangariada", "Manas", etc.), and short songs (historical songs, Russian epics, Yugoslav youth songs, etc. ), partly grouped into certain cycles, in verse and song, mixed and less often prosaic. form (for example, Nart legends, Irish sagas). E. as a genre of folklore was formed in the oral tradition, and many others. monuments of book E. have preserved traces of oral improvisational "technique". E. arose in the era of the decomposition of the primitive communal system. Center creation. the image of E. - the hero-hero required a certain degree of identification of personality from primitive community, and the appearance of epic. background was impossible without overcoming the clan-tribes. isolation. E. developed in antique. or feud. ob-ve in conditions of partial preservation of patriarchal ties and patriarchal ideas. Early heroic. the epic grew up on the basis of the interaction of the heroic fairy tale-song and the primitive mythological. E. about the first ancestors - "cultural heroes"; and when the experience of the state. consolidation dealt a decisive blow to the mythologization of the East. past, then the most important source of the formation of heroic. epics became ist. legends about inter-tribes. wars, migrations, outstanding military. leaders. In the archaic forms of E. (for example, Karelian-Finnish runes, heroic poems of the Turkic-Mong. peoples of Siberia, Nart legends of the peoples of the Caucasus, some fragments of Georgian and Armenian E., the essential basis of E. about Gilgamesh and the Edda) heroism still appears in the fabulously mythological. shell, epic time coincides with the mythological. time of creation, epic. Enemies have features fantastic. monsters, and heroes combine the prowess of warriors with the properties of shamans. In the classic forms of E. enemies-foreigners (and especially enemies-gentiles) retain only otd. attributes of "monsters", the heroes turn out to be leaders and warriors, representing the ist. nationality, the past of the people is transmitted by the language of ist. legends. "Epic time" here is a glorious ist. the past of the people at the dawn of his nat. stories; sing ist. faces and events. It was to them that representatives of the "historical school" (in Russia - V.F. Miller and his students, in the UK - K. and M. Chadwicky, etc.) erected directly the epic. stories. In modern historiography B. A. Rybakov defended the importance of epics as a direct source. source. "Historicism" E. should not, however, be taken too literally. East realities, even if they are reliable, usually do not form themselves. plot, but are included in the tradition. plot schemes. Historical memories are reproduced on the scale of heroic idealization, and, in addition, the very measure of "historicism" varies greatly. Heroic E. contains complete picture nar. heroic life. stories about the past. The perfect epic. the world and the hero-hero in harmony. unity - osn. heroic content elements. E. Epic. the background is built on a comparison of two ethnic groups. "tribes" ("one's own" and "foreign", in a state of constant struggle). In E. Greek, Indian or German, “tribes” (Achaeans and Trojans; Pandavas and Kauravas; Goths, Burgundians and Huns) are fighting, who have already descended from the East. arenas, and therefore this fight is covered with the famous epic. "objectivism", which is not in the E. Romanesque, Slavic, Armenian and Modern Greek, where the struggle is drawn ist. "ancestors" with foreign conquerors, besides the Gentiles - Arabs, Turks, Tatars, and heroic heroism is colored with passionate patriotism. East the background in a number of epics is concentrated around a certain ist. events - a war that has a general public. meaning ( Trojan War in the Iliad, the battle on Kurukshetra in the Mahabharata, the battle on the Kosovo field in Serbian E.), but this event itself is often a generalization of the whole ist. period, many wars (the same Trojan War) or minor wars. clashes described as a war of peoples (the battle in the Ronceval Gorge 778 in the "Song of Roland"), a semi-fictional event (the capture of Beijing - in the Kyrgyz "Manas") or (as an exception) even mythical (the struggle for sampo in the "Kalevala"). In some E., the focus of "epic time" is the image of an ideal state, the prototype of which is early political formations (Mycenae - in the Iliad, the empire of Charlemagne - in the Song of Roland, the Kiev state in Prince Vladimir - in epics, the state of four Oirats - in "Dzhangariad"). This image seems to be to a certain extent turned into the past, not only national-historical, but also social-historical. utopia: "prince", personifying power and nat. unity, and heroes, directly embodying Nar. ideal, are in a patriarchal relationship. The most archaic types of heroes still retain the features of "cultural heroes" - the first ancestors, along with the sword, they act as witchcraft. But in the process of development of E. archaic. bogatyrs are forced out by real warrior heroes (for example, in the Nart legends Sozruko gives way to Batraz, in "David of Sasun" Mher is pushed aside by David of Sasun, in the "Iliad" the brave Achilles overshadowed the cunning Odysseus). Heroic the character is often marked not only by courage, but also by obstinacy, impudence, fury (cf. the definitions: "furious Sasunians", "Nyurgun Bootur" - impetuous - from Yakut. E. Olonkho, "anger" of Achilles, "furious heart" of Gilgamesh). In the archaic epic, heroic obstinacy leads to atheism (Gilgamesh, Amirani, Mher), and in the classical "historical" E. - to a conflict with the authorities. The "wrath" of Achilles, who refused to fight because of resentment against the supreme basileus Agamemnon, makes up the composition. rod "Iliad", Marko Kralevich obstinate with tour. Sultan (Serb. E.), and Ilya Muromets quarrels with Prince. Vladimir and "knocks the tops off the churches." But the obstinacy of the heroes does not lead to a break with power, which is identified with the tribe. or national political unity. For the same reason, Sid remains obedient to the king, who drives him away - his faithful vassal ("Song of my Sid"). Even the largely "debunked" prince remains the focus of an ideal epic. peace. Actually "revolutionary" motives appear only at the stage of decomposition of the classical. heroic forms. E. (for example, in the heroic-romanich. Turk. E. o Ker-Ogly - " noble robber", which became fair" epic. prince" in an impregnable mountain fortress). In some E. feudal eras of epic heroism, on the contrary, it is supplemented by the idealization of vassal loyalty (Sid, Roland, etc.), which, however, necessarily develops into loyalty to the clan-tribe and only to the extent of outgrowth does it become an object of idealization - and in this sense, Roland opposes the "traitor" Ganelon, personally devoted to Charles, but not "sweet France". Heroic E., even in its classical forms, is quite diverse. The great epics that have developed in ancient Greece and India at the dawn of early class society (the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana), are fundamentally different from the epic cycles that arose in the conditions of the early Western European Middle Ages (Irish sagas, Icelandic sagas, the Anglo-Saxon poem "Beowulf"), or specific forms of oral epic that developed in the atmosphere of nomadic feudalism among the Turkic-Mong peoples and Tibetans of Central Asia ("Alpamysh", "Manas", "Dzhangariada", "Geseriada" ), or epic monuments of the era of developed feudalism (Armenian "David of Sasun", Rus. epic, French "The Song of Roland" "Song of my Side", Byzantium. "Digenis Akrit", Oghuz "Dede Korkut", heroic. songs of the Balkan peoples, etc.). Lit .: Propp V. Ya., Rus. heroic epic, 2nd ed., M., 1958; Zhirmunsky V. M., People's heroic. epic. Comparative historical. essays. M.-L., 1962; his own, Turkic heroic epic, L., 1974; Issues of studying the epos of the peoples of the USSR, M., 1958; Meletinsky E. M., The origin of the heroic. epic. Early forms and archaic. monuments, M., 1963; his own, Nar. epic, in the book: Theory of literature, (book 2) - Genera and genres of literature, M., 1964; Putilov B. N., Rus. and Yugoslav. heroic epic, M., 1971; Textological study of the epic, M., 1971; Grinzer P. A., Ancient Indian epic. Genesis and typology, M., 1974; Bowra, S. M., Heroic poetry, L.-N. Y., 1961; Levy G.R., The sword from the rock. An investigation into the origins of epic literature, N. Y., (1954); Lord A. B., The singer of tales, N. Y., 1968; Dum?zil G., Mythe et ?pop?e, (t. 1-3, P., 1968-1973). See also lit. at Art. Folklore. E. M. Meletinsky. Moscow.
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).
In the epic kind of literature (other - Gr. epos - word, speech), the organizing beginning of the work is a story about the characters (characters), their fates, actions, mindsets, about the events in their lives that make up the plot. This is a story about what happened earlier.
The narration is conducted from the outside and, as a rule, has the grammatical form of the past tense. The narrator is characterized by the position of a person who recalls what happened earlier. The distance between the time of the depicted action and the time of the narration about it is perhaps the most essential feature of the epic form.
The word "narrative" is used in a variety of ways when applied to literature. In a narrow sense, this is a detailed designation in words of what happened once and had a temporal duration. In a broader sense, the narrative also includes descriptions, i.e., the recreation through words of something stable, stable or completely motionless (such most of landscapes, characteristics of the everyday environment, features of the appearance of the characters, their mental states).
In epic works, the narrative connects to itself and, as it were, envelops the statements of the characters - their dialogues and monologues, including internal ones, actively interacting with them, explaining, supplementing and correcting them. AND artistic text turns out to be a fusion of narrative speech and statements of characters.
Artworks epic kind they make full use of the arsenal of artistic means available to literature, freely and freely master reality in time and space. However, they do not know the limitations in the amount of text. Epos as a kind of literature includes both short stories (medieval and renaissance short stories; O'Henry's and early A.P. Chekhov's humor) and works designed for prolonged listening or reading: epics and novels that cover life with extraordinary breadth. Such are the Indian "Mahabharata", the ancient Greek "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer, "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy, "The Forsyte Saga" by J. Galsworthy, "Gone with the Wind" by M. Mitchell.
An epic work can “absorb” such a number of characters, circumstances, events, destinies, details that are inaccessible to either other types of literature or any other kind of art. At the same time, the narrative form contributes to the deepest penetration into the inner world of a person. Complex characters, possessing many features and properties, incomplete and contradictory, in motion, formation, development are quite accessible to her.
But the idea of the artistic reproduction of life in its entirety, the disclosure of the essence of the era, the scale and monumentality of the creative act is firmly connected with the word "epos". Does not exist (neither in the sphere verbal art, nor outside) groups works of art who would so freely penetrate both into the depth of human consciousness and into the breadth of people's being, as they do stories, novels, epics.
GENRES OF EPOS
Folk epic: myth, poem (epos) (Heroic, Strogovoinskaya, Fairytale-legendary, Historical, etc.), fairy tale, epic, thought, legend, tradition, ballad, parable. Small genres: proverbs, sayings, riddles.
