Types of composition in the literature table with examples. What are the elements of composition in literary criticism

General concept of composition. Composition and architectonics

The concept of "composition" is familiar to any philologist. This term is constantly used, often taken out in the title or in the subtitles of scientific articles and monographs. At the same time, it should be noted that it has too wide tolerances of meaning, and this sometimes hinders understanding. “Composition” turns out to be a term without shores, when almost any analysis, with the exception of the analysis of ethical categories, can be called compositional.

The insidiousness of the term lies in its very nature. Translated from Latin, the word "composition" means "composition, connection of parts." Simply put, composition is way of building, way of doing works. This is an axiom that any philologist understands. But, as in the case of topic, the stumbling block is the following question: the construction of what should be of interest to us if we are talking about the analysis of the composition? The simplest answer would be “the construction of the whole work”, but this answer will not clarify anything at all. After all, almost everything is built in a literary text: the plot, the character, the speech, the genre, etc. Each of these terms implies its own logic of analysis and its own principles of "construction". For example, plot construction involves an analysis of the types of plot construction, a description of the elements (the plot, the development of the action, etc.), the analysis of plot-plot inconsistencies, etc. We discussed this in detail in the previous chapter. A completely different perspective on the analysis of the "construction" of speech: here it is appropriate to talk about vocabulary, syntax, grammar, types of text connections, the boundaries of one's own and another's word, etc. The construction of the verse is another angle. Then you need to talk about rhythm, about rhymes, about the laws of constructing a line of verse, etc.

As a matter of fact, we always do this when we talk about the plot, about the image, about the laws of verse, etc. But then the question naturally arises about own meaning of the term composition, which does not coincide with the meanings of other terms. If there is none, the analysis of the composition loses its meaning, completely dissolving in the analysis of other categories, but if this independent meaning exists, then what is it?

To see if there is a problem, just compare the "Composition" sections in the manuals different authors. We can easily see that the emphasis will be noticeably shifted: in some cases, the emphasis is on the elements of the plot, in others - on the forms of organization of the narrative, in the third - on spatio-temporal and genre characteristics ... And so on almost ad infinitum. The reason for this lies precisely in the amorphousness of the term. Professionals understand this very well, but this does not prevent everyone from seeing what they want to see.

It is hardly worth dramatizing the situation, but it would be better if compositional analysis suggested some kind of understandable and more or less unified methodology. It seems that the most promising would be to see in compositional analysis precisely the interest in ratio of parts, to their relationships. In other words, the analysis of the composition involves seeing the text as a system and aims to understand the logic of the relationships of its elements. Then indeed the conversation about composition will become meaningful and will not coincide with other aspects of the analysis.

This rather abstract thesis can be illustrated with a simple example. Let's say we want to build a house. We will be interested in what kind of windows it has, what walls, what ceilings, what colors what is painted, etc. This will be an analysis individual parties. But it is equally important that all this together harmonized with each other. Even if we really like large windows, we cannot make them higher than the roof and wider than the wall. We cannot make vents larger than windows, we cannot put a closet wider than the room, etc. That is, each part affects the other in one way or another. Of course, any comparison sins, but something similar happens in a literary text. Each part of it does not exist on its own, it is "demanded" by other parts and, in turn, "demands" something from them. Compositional analysis is, in essence, an explanation of these "requirements" of the elements of the text. The famous judgment of A.P. Chekhov about a gun that should fire if it is already hanging on the wall illustrates this very well. Another thing is that in reality not everything is so simple, and not all of Chekhov's guns fired.

Thus, composition can be defined as a way of constructing a literary text, as a system of relations between its elements.

Compositional analysis is a fairly voluminous concept that relates to different aspects of a literary text. The situation is further complicated by the fact that in different traditions there are serious terminological discrepancies, and the terms not only sound differently, but also do not mean exactly the same thing. Especially it concerns analysis of the structure of the narrative. In Eastern European and Western European traditions there are serious discrepancies here. All this puts the young philologist in a difficult position. Our task also turns out to be very difficult: in a relatively small chapter talk about a very voluminous and ambiguous term.

It seems that it is logical to start understanding composition by defining the general scope of this concept, and then move on to more specific forms. So, compositional analysis allows the following models.

1. Analysis of the sequence of parts. It assumes an interest in the elements of the plot, the dynamics of the action, the sequence and relationship of plot and non-plot elements (for example, portraits, lyrical digressions, author's assessments, etc.). When analyzing a verse, we will definitely take into account the division into stanzas (if any), we will try to feel the logic of the stanzas, their relationship. This type of analysis is primarily focused on explaining how deployed work from the first page (or line) to the last. If we imagine a thread with beads, where each bead of a certain shape and color means a homogeneous element, then we can easily understand the logic of such an analysis. We want to understand how the overall pattern of the beads is consistently laid out, where and why repetitions occur, how and why new elements appear. This model of compositional analysis in modern science, especially in the Western-oriented tradition, it is customary to call syntagmatic.Syntagmatics- This is a branch of linguistics, the science of how speech unfolds, that is, how and according to what laws speech develops word by word and phrase by phrase. We see something similar in such an analysis of the composition, with the only difference that the elements are most often not words and syntagmas, but pieces of the same type of narration. Say if we take famous poem M. Yu. Lermontov’s “Sail” (“The lone sail turns white”), then without much difficulty we will see that the poem is divided into three stanzas (quatrains), and each quatrain is clearly divided into two parts: the first two lines - landscape sketch, the second - the author's comment:

A lonely sail turns white

In the blue mist of the sea.

What is he looking for in a distant country?

What did he throw in his native land?

The waves are playing, the wind is whistling,

And the mast bends and creaks.

Alas! .. He is not looking for happiness

And not from happiness runs.

Under it, a stream of lighter azure,

Above him is a golden ray of sunshine,

And he, rebellious, asks for a storm;

As if there is peace in the storms.

As a first approximation, the composition scheme will look like this: A + B + A1 + B1 + A2 + B2, where A is a landscape sketch, and B is the author's remark. However, it is easy to see that elements A and elements B are built according to different logic. Elements A are built according to the logic of the ring (calm - storm - calm), and elements B - according to the logic of development (question - exclamation - answer). Thinking about this logic, the philologist can see something in Lermontov's masterpiece that will be missed outside. compositional analysis. For example, it will become clear that “the desire for a storm” is nothing more than an illusion, the storm will not give peace and harmony in the same way (after all, there was already a “storm” in the poem, but this did not change the tone of part B). A classic situation for the artistic world of Lermontov arises: the changing background does not change the feeling of loneliness and melancholy lyrical hero. Let us recall the poem “In the Wild North” already quoted by us, and we will easily feel the uniformity of the compositional structure. Moreover, on another level, the same structure is found in the famous "Hero of Our Time". Pechorin's loneliness is emphasized by the fact that the "backgrounds" are constantly changing: the semi-wild life of the mountaineers ("Bela"), the gentleness and cordiality of a simple person ("Maxim Maksimych"), the life of people from the bottom - smugglers ("Taman"), life and customs high society("Princess Mary"), an exceptional person ("Fatalist"). However, Pechorin cannot merge with any background, he feels bad and lonely everywhere, moreover, he voluntarily or involuntarily destroys the harmony of the background.

All this becomes noticeable precisely in compositional analysis. Thus, a sequential analysis of the elements can be a good tool for interpretation.

2. Analysis general principles constructing the work as a whole. It is often referred to as analysis. architectonics. The term itself architectonics is not recognized by all experts, many, if not most, believe that we are talking simply about different facets of the meaning of the term composition. At the same time, some very authoritative scientists (for example, M. M. Bakhtin) not only recognized the correctness of such a term, but also insisted that composition And architectonics have different meanings. In any case, regardless of the terminology, we must understand that there is another model of compositional analysis that differs markedly from the one presented. This model assumes a view of the work as a whole. It focuses on the general principles of constructing a literary text, taking into account, among other things, the system of contexts. If we recall our bead metaphor, then this model should give an answer to how these beads look in general and whether they are in harmony with the dress and hairstyle. Actually, this “double” look is well known to any woman: she is interested in how finely the parts of the jewelry are woven, but no less interested in how it all looks together and whether it is worth wearing with some kind of suit. In life, as we know, these views do not always coincide.

We see something similar in a literary work. Let's take a simple example. Imagine that a writer decides to write a story about family quarrel. But he decided to build it in such a way that the first part is the husband’s monologue, where the whole story looks in one light, and the second part is the wife’s monologue, in which all events look different. IN contemporary literature such techniques are used very often. And now let's think about it: is this work monologue or is it dialogic? From the point of view of the syntagmatic analysis of the composition, it is monologue, there is not a single dialogue in it. But from the point of view of architectonics, it is dialogical, we see controversy, a clash of views.

This holistic view of composition (analysis architectonics) turns out to be very useful, it allows you to abstract from a specific fragment of the text, to understand its role in the overall structure. M. M. Bakhtin, for example, believed that such a concept as a genre is architectonic by definition. Indeed, if I write a tragedy, I All I will build it differently than if I wrote a comedy. If I write an elegy (a poem filled with sadness), All it will not be the same as in a fable: the construction of images, and rhythm, and vocabulary. Therefore, the analysis of composition and architectonics are concepts related, but not coinciding. The point, we repeat, is not in the terms themselves (there are many discrepancies), but in the fact that it is necessary to distinguish principles of construction of the work as a whole and the construction of its parts.

So, there are two models of compositional analysis. An experienced philologist, of course, is able to “switch” these models depending on his goals.

Now let's move on to a more specific presentation. Compositional analysis from the point of view of the modern scientific tradition involves the following levels:

Analysis of the form of organization of the narrative.

Analysis of speech composition (construction of speech).

Analysis of techniques for creating an image or character.

Analysis of plot construction features (including non-plot elements). This has already been discussed in detail in the previous chapter.

Analysis of artistic space and time.

Analysis of the change of "points of view". This is one of the most popular methods of compositional analysis today, little known to a novice philologist. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to it.

The analysis of the composition of a lyrical work is characterized by its own specificity and its own nuances, so the analysis of a lyrical composition can also be distinguished as a special level.

Of course, this scheme is very conditional, and much does not fall into it. In particular, one can speak of genre composition, rhythmic composition (not only in poetry, but also in prose), etc. In addition, in real analysis these levels intersect and mix. For example, the analysis of points of view concerns both the organization of the narrative and speech patterns, space and time are inextricably linked with the methods of creating an image, etc. However, in order to understand these intersections, you first need to know What intersects, so methodological aspect more correct sequential presentation. So, in order.

For more details, see, for example: Kozhinov V.V. Plot, plot, composition // Theory of Literature. The main problems in historical coverage. Types and genres of literature. M., 1964.

See, for example: Revyakin A.I. Decree. cit., pp. 152–153.

Analysis of the form of organization of the narrative

This part of compositional analysis involves an interest in how storytelling. To understand a literary text, it is important to consider who and how the story is told. First of all, a narrative can be formally organized as a monologue (the speech of one), a dialogue (the speech of two), or a polylogue (the speech of many). For example, a lyric poem is usually monologue, while a drama or modern novel gravitate toward dialogue and polylogue. Difficulties begin where clear boundaries are lost. For example, the outstanding Russian linguist V. V. Vinogradov noted that in the genre of a tale (let us recall, for example, Bazhov’s “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain”), the speech of any character is deformed, actually merging with the style of the narrator’s speech. In other words, everyone starts talking the same way. Therefore, all dialogues organically merge into a single author's monologue. This is a clear example genre storytelling distortions. But other problems are also possible, for example, the problem of one's own and another's word when other people's voices are woven into the monologue of the narrator. In its simplest form, this leads to the so-called non-author's speech. For example, in A.S. Pushkin’s “The Snowstorm” we read: “But everyone had to retreat when the wounded hussar colonel Burmin appeared in her castle, with George in his buttonhole and Withinteresting pallor(italics by A. S. Pushkin - A. N.), as the young ladies there said. Words "with an interesting pallor" Pushkin does not accidentally highlight in italics. Neither lexically nor grammatically for Pushkin they are impossible. This is the speech of provincial young ladies, evoking the soft irony of the author. But this expression is inserted into the context of the narrator's speech. This example of "violation" of the monologue is quite simple, modern literature knows much more complex situations. However, the principle will be the same: someone else's word, which does not coincide with the author's, is inside the author's speech. Understanding these subtleties is sometimes not so easy, but it is necessary to do this, because otherwise we will attribute to the narrator judgments with which he does not associate himself in any way, sometimes he secretly argues.

If we add to this the fact that modern literature is completely open to other texts, sometimes one author openly builds new text From the fragments already created, it will become clear that the problem of monologue or dialogue text is by no means as obvious as it might seem at first glance.

No less, and perhaps even more, difficulties arise when we try to define the figure of the narrator. If at first we talked about How many narrators organize the text, now you need to answer the question: a Who these narrators? The situation is further complicated by the fact that Russian and Western science have established different models analysis and different terms. The essence of the discrepancy is that in the Russian tradition the most relevant question is whether Who is the narrator and how close or far he is to the real author. For example, is the story being told from I and who is behind it I. The relationship between the narrator and the real author is taken as a basis. In this case, four main variants are usually distinguished with numerous intermediate forms.

The first option is a neutral narrator(it is also called the narrator proper, and this form is often not very accurately called third person narration. The term is not very good, because there is no third person here, but it has taken root, and there is no point in abandoning it). We are talking about those works where the narrator is not identified in any way: he has no name, he does not take part in the events described. There are a lot of examples of such an organization of the narrative: from the poems of Homer to the novels of L. N. Tolstoy and many modern novels and short stories.

The second option is the narrator. The narration is conducted in the first person (such a narration is called i-form), the narrator is either not named in any way, but his closeness to the real author is implied, or he bears the same name as the real author. The narrator does not take part in the events described, he only talks about them and comments. Such an organization was used, for example, by M. Yu. Lermontov in the story "Maxim Maksimych" and in a number of other fragments of "A Hero of Our Time".

The third option is the hero-narrator. A very often used form when a direct participant tells about events. The hero, as a rule, has a name and is emphatically distanced from the author. This is how the “Pechorinsky” chapters of “A Hero of Our Time” (“Taman”, “Princess Mary”, “Fatalist”) are constructed, in “Bel” the right of narration passes from the author-narrator to the hero (recall that the whole story is told by Maxim Maksimovich). Lermontov needs a change of narrators to create a three-dimensional portrait of the main character: after all, everyone sees Pechorin in his own way, the assessments do not match. We encounter the hero-narrator in " Captain's daughter» A. S. Pushkin (almost everything is told by Grinev). In a word, the hero-narrator is very popular in modern literature.

The fourth option is the author-character. This variant is very popular in the literature and very tricky for the reader. In Russian literature, it manifested itself with all distinctness already in the Life of Archpriest Avvakum, and the literature of the 19th and especially the 20th centuries uses this option very often. The author-character bears the same name as the real author, as a rule, is close to him biographically and at the same time is the hero of the events described. The reader has natural desire"believe" the text, put an equal sign between the author-character and the real author. But that is the insidiousness of this form, that no equal sign can be put. Between the author-character and the real author there is always a difference, sometimes colossal. The similarity of names and the closeness of biographies in themselves do not mean anything: all events may well be fictitious, and the judgments of the author-character are not at all obliged to coincide with the opinion of the real author. When creating an author-character, the writer to some extent plays both with the reader and with himself, this must be remembered.

The situation is even more complicated in lyrics, where the distance between the lyrical narrator (most often I) and a real author and it’s hard to feel at all. However, this distance is preserved to some extent even in the most intimate poems. Emphasizing this distance, Yu. N. Tynyanov in the 1920s in an article about Blok proposed the term lyrical hero which has become commonplace today. Although the specific meaning of this term is interpreted differently by different specialists (for example, the positions of L. Ya. Ginzburg, L. I. Timofeev, I. B. Rodnyanskaya, D. E. Maksimov, B. O. Korman and other specialists have serious differences), everyone recognizes the fundamental discrepancy between the hero and the author. A detailed analysis of the arguments of various authors within the framework of our brief guide is hardly appropriate, we only note that the problematic point is the following: what determines the character of a lyrical hero? Is it a generalized face of the author that appears in his poetry? Or only unique, special author's features? Or a lyrical hero is possible only in a particular poem, and lyrical heroat all just doesn't exist? These questions can be answered in different ways. We are closer to the position of D. E. Maksimov and, in many respects, the concept of L. I. Timofeev, which is close to it, that the lyrical hero is the generalized I of the author, one way or another felt in all his work. But this position is also vulnerable, and opponents have strong counterarguments. Now, we repeat, a serious discussion on the problem of the lyrical hero seems premature, it is more important to understand that the equal sign between I in the poem and the real author can not be put. The well-known satirist poet Sasha Cherny wrote a playful poem "Criticism" back in 1909:

When a poet, describing a lady,

Begins: “I was walking down the street. A corset dug into the sides, ”-

Here "I" do not understand, of course, directly,

That, they say, a poet is hiding under the lady ...

This should be remembered even in cases where there are no generic differences. The poet is not equal to any of his written 'I's.

So, in Russian philology, the starting point in the analysis of the figure of the narrator is his relationship with the author. There are many subtleties, but the principle of the approach is clear. Another thing is the modern Western tradition. There, the typology is based not on the relationship between the author and the narrator, but on the relationship between the narrator and "pure" narration. This principle at first glance seems vague and needs to be clarified. In fact, there is nothing complicated here. Let's clarify the situation with a simple example. Let's compare two sentences. First: "The sun is shining brightly, a green tree is growing on the lawn." Second: “The weather is wonderful, the sun shines brightly, but not blindingly, the green tree on the lawn is pleasing to the eye.” In the first case, we simply have information in front of us, the narrator is practically not manifested, in the second we can easily feel his presence. If we take “pure” narrative as a basis with the formal non-interference of the narrator (as in the first case), then it is easy to build a typology based on how much the presence of the narrator increases. This principle, originally proposed by the English literary scholar Percy Lubbock in the 1920s, is now dominant in Western European literary criticism. A complex and sometimes contradictory classification has been developed, the basic concepts of which are actant(or actant - pure narration. Although the term "actant" itself suggests a doer, it is not revealed), actor(the object of the narrative, deprived of the right to interfere in it), auditor(“intervening” in the narrative character or narrator, the one whose consciousness organizes the narrative.). These terms themselves were introduced after the classical works of P. Lubbock, but they suggest the same ideas. All of them, together with a number of other concepts and terms, define the so-called narrative typology modern Western literary criticism (from English narrative - narration). In the works of leading Western philologists devoted to the problems of narration (P. Lubbock, N. Friedman, E. Leibfried, F. Stanzel, R. Barth, etc.), an extensive toolkit has been created, with the help of which one can see various shades of meanings in the fabric of narration, hear different voices. The term voice as a significant compositional component also became widespread after the work of P. Lubbock.

In a word, Western European literary criticism uses somewhat different terms, while the accents of analysis are also shifting. It is difficult to say which tradition is more adequate to an artistic text, and the question can hardly be posed in such a plane. Every technique has strengths and weaknesses. In some cases, it is more convenient to use the developments of the narrative theory, in others it is less correct, since it practically ignores the problem of the author's consciousness and the author's idea. Serious scientists in Russia and the West are well aware of each other's work and are actively using the achievements of the "parallel" methodology. Now it is important to understand the principles of the approach themselves.

See: Tynyanov Yu. N. The problem of poetic language. M., 1965. S. 248–258.

The history and theory of the issue is described in sufficient detail in the articles by I. P. Ilyin devoted to the problems of narration. See: Modern foreign literary criticism: Encyclopedic reference book. M., 1996. S. 61–81. Read original works by A.-J. Greimas, who introduced these terms, it will be too difficult for a novice philologist.

Analysis of speech composition

The analysis of speech composition implies an interest in the principles of speech construction. Partly it intersects with the analysis of "one's own" and "foreign" words, partly with the analysis of style, partly with the analysis of artistic devices (lexical, syntactic, grammatical, phonetic, etc.). We will talk about all this in more detail in the chapter. "Artistic speech". Now I would like to draw attention to the fact that the analysis of speech composition is not limited to description tricks. As elsewhere in the analysis of the composition, the researcher must pay attention to the problem of the relationship of elements, to their interdependence. For example, it is not enough for us to see that different pages of The Master and Margarita are written in different stylistic manners: there are different vocabulary, different syntax, different rates of speech. It is important for us to understand why this is so, to catch the logic of style transitions. After all, Bulgakov often describes the same hero in different stylistic terms. A classic example is Woland and his retinue. Why stylistic drawings change, how they are connected with each other - this, in fact, is the task of the researcher.

Analysis of character creation techniques

Although in a literary text, of course, every image is somehow constructed, however, compositional analysis as an independent one in reality is applied, as a rule, to images-characters (i.e., to images of people) or to images of animals and even objects that metaphorize human being (for example, “Kholstomer” by L. N. Tolstoy, “ White Fang"J. London or M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "Cliff"). Other images (verbal, details, or, conversely, macrosystems such as "the image of the motherland"), as a rule, are not analyzed according to any more or less intelligible algorithms of composition. This does not mean that the elements of compositional analysis are not applied, it only means that there are no universal methods at all. All this is quite understandable in view of the vagueness of the very category of “image”: try to find a universal method for analyzing “construction”, for example, V. Khlebnikov’s linguistic images and A. S. Pushkin’s landscapes. We can only see some general properties already mentioned in chapter "Artistic image", but the method of analysis will be different each time.

Another thing is the character of a person. Here, in all its infinite variety, we can see repetitive devices that can be isolated as some generally accepted supports. It makes sense to dwell on this in a little more detail. Almost any writer, when creating a person's character, uses a "classical" set of techniques. Naturally, he does not always use everything, but in general the list will be relatively stable.

First, this is the behavior of the hero. In literature, a person is almost always depicted in actions, in deeds, in relations with other people. "Building" a series of actions, the writer creates a character. Behavior is a complex category that takes into account not only physical actions, but also the nature of speech, what and how the hero says. In this case, we are talking about speech behavior which is often of fundamental importance. Speech behavior can explain the system of actions, or it can contradict them. An example of the latter can be, for example, the image of Bazarov ("Fathers and Sons"). As you remember, there was no place for love in Bazarov's speech behavior, which did not prevent the hero from experiencing love-passion for Anna Odintsova. On the other hand, the speech behavior of, for example, Platon Karataev (“War and Peace”) is absolutely organic to his actions and life position. Platon Karataev is convinced that a person must accept any circumstances with kindness and humility. The position is wise in its own way, but threatening with facelessness, absolute merging with the people, with nature, with history, dissolving in them. Such is Plato's life, such is (with some nuances) his death, such is his speech: aphoristic, full of proverbs, smooth, soft. Karataev's speech is devoid of individual features, it is "dissolved" in folk wisdom.

Therefore, the analysis of speech behavior is no less important than the analysis and interpretation of actions.

Secondly, it is a portrait, landscape and interior, if they are used to characterize the hero. Actually, a portrait is always somehow connected with the disclosure of character, but the interior and especially the landscape in some cases can be self-sufficient and not considered as a method of creating the character of the hero. We encounter the classic series “landscape + portrait + interior + behavior” (including speech behavior), for example, in “ Dead souls» N. V. Gogol, where everyone famous images landowners are "made" according to this scheme. There are talking landscapes, talking portraits, talking interiors (remember at least Plyushkin's bunch) and very expressive speech behavior. The peculiarity of the construction of the dialogue is also in the fact that Chichikov each time adopts the manner of conversation of the interlocutor, begins to speak with him in his language. On the one hand, this creates a comic effect, on the other hand, which is much more important, it characterizes Chichikov himself as a person of an insightful, well-feeling interlocutor, but at the same time prudent and prudent.

If in general view try to outline the logic of the development of the landscape, portrait and interior, you can see that a detailed description is being replaced by a laconic detail. Modern writers, as a rule, do not create detailed portraits, landscapes and interiors, preferring "talking" details. The artistic impact of the detail was well felt by the writers of the 18th and 19th centuries, but there the details often alternated with detailed descriptions. Modern literature generally avoids details, isolating only some fragments. This technique is often referred to as "close-up preference". The writer does not give a detailed portrait, concentrating only on some expressive sign (remember the famous twitching upper lip with a mustache from Andrei Bolkonsky's wife or Karenin's protruding ears).

Third, the classic method of creating character in the literature of modern times is internal monologue, that is, the image of the thoughts of the hero. Historically, this technique is very late, literature until the 18th century depicted the hero in action, in speech behavior, but not in thinking. Lyrics and partly dramaturgy can be considered a relative exception, where the hero often said “thoughts aloud” - a monologue addressed to the viewer or not having a clear addressee at all. Recall the famous "To be or not to be" by Hamlet. However, this is a relative exception, because it is more about talking to yourself than about the process of thinking as such. portray real the process of thinking by means of language is very difficult, since the human language is not very adapted for this. Much easier to convey in language What man does than what What he thinks and feels. However, modern literature is actively looking for ways to convey the feelings and thoughts of the hero. There are many finds and many misses. In particular, attempts have been made and are being made to abandon punctuation, grammatical norms, etc., in order to create the illusion of “real thinking”. This is still an illusion, although such techniques can be very expressive.

In addition, when analyzing the “construction” of character, one should remember about grading system, that is, about how other characters and the narrator himself evaluate the hero. Almost any hero exists in the mirror of assessments, and it is important to understand who and why evaluates him so. A person who begins a serious study of literature should remember that narrator's score by no means always can be considered the relation of the author to the hero, even if the narrator seems to be somewhat similar to the author. The narrator is also "inside" the work, in a sense, he is one of the heroes. Therefore, the so-called "author's assessments" should be taken into account, but they do not always express the attitude of the writer himself. Let's say the writer play the role of a fool and create a narrator for this role. The narrator can evaluate the characters in a straightforward and shallow way, and general impression will be completely different. In modern literary criticism there is a term implicit author- that is, that psychological picture the author, which develops after reading his work and, therefore, created by the writer for this work. So, for the same writer, implicit authors can be very different. For example, many of Antosha Chekhonte's funny stories (for example, the "Calendar" full of careless humor) from the point of view of the psychological portrait of the author are completely different from "Ward No. 6". All this was written by Chekhov, but these are very different faces. AND implicit author"Chambers No. 6" would have looked at the heroes of the "Horse Family" in a completely different way. This young philologist should remember. The problem of the unity of the author's consciousness is the most difficult problem of philology and psychology of creativity, it cannot be simplified by judgments like: "Tolstoy treats his hero in such and such a way, because on page, say, 41, he evaluates him in such and such a way." It is quite possible that the same Tolstoy in another place or at another time, or even on other pages of the same work, will write in a completely different way. If, for example, we trust each According to Eugene Onegin, we will find ourselves in a perfect labyrinth.

Analysis of plot construction features

In the chapter "Story" we dwelled in sufficient detail on different methods of plot analysis. There is no point in repeating yourself. However, it should be emphasized that plot composition- this is not just the isolation of elements, schemes or analysis of plot-plot discrepancies. It is fundamental to understand the connection and non-randomness of storylines. And this is a task of a completely different level of complexity. It is important to feel behind the endless variety of events and destinies their logic. In a literary text, logic is always present in one way or another, even when outwardly everything seems to be a chain of accidents. Let us recall, for example, the novel "Fathers and Sons" by I. S. Turgenev. It is no coincidence that the logic of Yevgeny Bazarov's fate surprisingly resembles the logic of the fate of his main opponent, Pavel Kirsanov: a brilliant start - fatal love - a crash. In Turgenev's world, where love is the most difficult and at the same time the most decisive test of personality, such a similarity of destinies may indicate, albeit indirectly, that the author's position differs markedly from Bazarov's and from the point of view of his main opponent. Therefore, when analyzing the plot composition, one should always pay attention to mutual reflections and intersections of plot lines.

Analysis of artistic space and time

No work of art exists in a space-time vacuum. It always has time and space in one way or another. It is important to understand that artistic time and space are not abstractions and not even physical categories, although modern physics also gives a very ambiguous answer to the question of what time and space are. Art does deal with a very specific spatio-temporal coordinate system. G. Lessing was the first to point out the importance of time and space for art, which we already spoke about in the second chapter, and theorists of the last two centuries, especially the twentieth century, proved that artistic time and space is not only a significant, but often defining component of a literary work.

In literature, time and space are the most important properties image. Different images require different space-time coordinates. For example, in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment" we are confronted with an unusually compressed space. Small rooms, narrow streets. Raskolnikov lives in a room that looks like a coffin. Of course, this is no coincidence. The writer is interested in people who find themselves in an impasse in life, and this is emphasized by all means. When Raskolnikov gains faith and love in the epilogue, space opens up.

Each work of modern literature has its own spatio-temporal grid, its own coordinate system. At the same time, there are some general patterns in the development of artistic space and time. For example, until the 18th century, aesthetic consciousness did not allow the author to "intervene" in the temporal structure of the work. In other words, the author could not begin the story with the death of the hero, and then return to his birth. The time of the work was "as if real". In addition, the author could not disrupt the course of the story about one hero by an "inserted" story about another. In practice, this led to the so-called "chronological inconsistencies" characteristic of ancient literature. For example, one story ends with the hero returning safely, while another begins with loved ones mourning his absence. We encounter this, for example, in Homer's Odyssey. In the 18th century, a revolution took place, and the author received the right to “model” the narrative, not observing the logic of lifelikeness: a lot of inserted stories, digressions appeared, chronological “realism” was violated. A modern author can build the composition of a work by shuffling the episodes at his own discretion.

In addition, there are stable, culturally accepted spatial and temporal models. The outstanding philologist M. M. Bakhtin, who fundamentally developed this problem, called these models chronotopes(chronos + topos, time and space). Chronotopes are initially permeated with meanings, any artist consciously or unconsciously takes this into account. As soon as we say about someone: "He is on the verge of something ...", as we immediately understand that we are talking about something big and important. But why exactly on the doorstep? Bakhtin believed that threshold chronotope one of the most common in culture, and as soon as we “turn it on”, the semantic depth opens up.

Today term chronotope is universal and denotes simply the existing spatio-temporal model. Often at the same time, “etiquettely” refers to the authority of M. M. Bakhtin, although Bakhtin himself understood the chronotope more narrowly - precisely as sustainable model that occurs from work to work.

In addition to chronotopes, one should also keep in mind the more general patterns of space and time that underlie entire cultures. These models are historical, that is, one replaces the other, but the paradox of the human psyche is that a model that has “obsolete” its age does not disappear anywhere, continuing to excite a person and giving rise to artistic texts. In different cultures, there are quite a few variations of such models, but there are several basic ones. First, this is a model zero time and space. It is also called motionless, eternal - there are a lot of options here. In this model, time and space lose their meaning. There is always the same thing, and there is no difference between "here" and "there", that is, there is no spatial extension. Historically, this is the most archaic model, but it is still very relevant today. Ideas about hell and heaven are built on this model, it is often “turned on” when a person tries to imagine existence after death, etc. The famous “golden age” chronotope, which manifests itself in all cultures, is built on this model. If we remember the ending of The Master and Margarita, we can easily feel this pattern. It was in such a world, according to the decision of Yeshua and Woland, that the heroes ended up in the world of eternal good and peace.

Another model - cyclic(circular). This is one of the most powerful space-time models, supported by the eternal change of natural cycles (summer-autumn-winter-spring-summer ...). It is based on the idea that everything returns to normal. There is space and time there, but they are conditional, especially time, since the hero will still come to where he left, and nothing will change. The easiest way to illustrate this model is Homer's Odyssey. Odysseus was absent for many years, the most incredible adventures fell to his lot, but he returned home and found his Penelope still just as beautiful and loving. M. M. Bakhtin called such a time adventurous, it exists, as it were, around the heroes, without changing anything either in them or between them. The cyclic model is also very archaic, but its projections are clearly felt in modern culture. For example, it is very noticeable in the work of Sergei Yesenin, who has the idea of ​​a life cycle, especially in mature years, becomes dominant. Even the well-known dying lines “In this life, dying is not new, / But living, of course, is not newer” refer to ancient tradition, to the famous bible book Ecclesiastes, built entirely on a cyclical model.

The culture of realism is associated mainly with linear a model where space seems to be infinitely open in all directions, and time is associated with a directed arrow - from the past to the future. This model dominates the everyday consciousness of modern man and is clearly visible in a huge number of literary texts recent centuries. Suffice it to recall, for example, the novels of Leo Tolstoy. In this model, each event is recognized as unique, it can only happen once, and a person is understood as a constantly changing being. Linear model opened psychologism in the modern sense, since psychologism presupposes the ability to change, which could not be either in the cyclic (after all, the hero must be the same at the end as at the beginning), and even more so in the model of zero time-space. In addition, the linear model is associated with the principle historicism, that is, a person began to be understood as a product of his era. An abstract "man for all time" simply does not exist in this model.

It is important to understand that in the mind of a modern person, all these models do not exist in isolation, they can interact, giving rise to the most bizarre combinations. For example, a person can be emphatically modern, trust a linear model, accept the uniqueness of every moment of life as something unique, but at the same time be a believer and accept the timelessness and spacelessness of existence after death. Exactly the same in literary text may be reflected different systems coordinates. For example, experts have long noticed that in the work of Anna Akhmatova there are two parallel dimensions, as it were: one is historical, in which every moment and gesture is unique, the other is timeless, in which any movement freezes. The "layering" of these layers is one of the hallmarks of Akhmatov's style.

Finally, modern aesthetic consciousness is increasingly mastering another model. There is no clear name for it, but it would not be a mistake to say that this model allows for the existence parallel times and spaces. The meaning is that we exist differently depending on the coordinate system. But at the same time, these worlds are not completely isolated, they have points of intersection. The literature of the twentieth century actively uses this model. Suffice it to recall M. Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. Master and his beloved die V different places and for various reasons: Master in a lunatic asylum, Margarita at home from a heart attack, but at the same time they are die in each other's arms in the Master's closet from Azazello's poison. Different coordinate systems are included here, but they are interconnected - after all, the death of the heroes came in any case. This is the projection of the model of parallel worlds. If you have carefully read the previous chapter, you will easily understand that the so-called multivariate the plot - the invention of literature in the main twentieth century - is a direct consequence of the establishment of this new spatio-temporal grid.

See: Bakhtin M. M. Forms of time and chronotope in the novel // Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. M., 1975.

Analysis of changing "points of view"

"Point of view"- one of the basic concepts of the modern doctrine of composition. You should immediately beware of characteristic error inexperienced philologists: to understand the term "point of view" in the everyday sense, they say, each author and character has his own point of view on life. This is often heard from students, but it has nothing to do with science. As a literary term, "point of view" first appeared at the end of the 19th century in an essay by the famous American writer Henry James on the art of prose. The English literary critic Percy Lubbock, already mentioned by us, made this term strictly scientific.

"Point of view" is a complex and voluminous concept that reveals the ways of the author's presence in the text. In fact, we are talking about a thorough analysis mounting text and about trying to see in this montage their own logic and the presence of the author. One of the leading modern experts on this issue, B. A. Uspensky, believes that the analysis of changing points of view is effective in relation to those works where the plan of expression is not equal to the plan of content, that is, everything said or presented has second, third, etc. semantic layers. For example, in M. Yu. Lermontov's poem "The Cliff", of course, we are not talking about a cliff and a cloud. Where the planes of expression and content are inseparable or completely identical, the analysis of points of view does not work. For example, in jewelry art or in abstract painting.

As a first approximation, we can say that "point of view" has at least two ranges of meanings: first, it is spatial localization, that is, the definition of the place from which the story is being told. If we compare the writer with the cameraman, then we can say that in this case we will be interested in where the camera was: close, far, above or below, and so on. The same fragment of reality will look very different depending on the change of point of view. The second range of meanings is the so-called subject localization, that is, we are interested in whose consciousness the scene is seen. Summarizing numerous observations, Percy Lubbock identified two main types of storytelling: panoramic(when the author directly shows his consciousness) and stage(we are not talking about drama, it means that the consciousness of the author is “hidden” in the characters, the author does not openly show himself). According to Lubbock and his followers (N. Friedman, K. Brooks and others), the stage method is aesthetically preferable, since it does not impose anything, but only shows. Such a position, however, can be challenged, since the classical "panoramic" texts of Leo Tolstoy, for example, have a colossal aesthetic potential for impact.

Modern research, focused on the method of analyzing the change of points of view, convinces that it allows you to see even seemingly well-known texts in a new way. In addition, such an analysis is very useful in the educational sense, since it does not allow "liberties" with the text, it forces the student to be attentive and careful.

Uspensky B. A. Poetics of composition. SPb., 2000. S. 10.

Analysis of lyrical composition

Composition lyrical work has a number of distinctive features. There, most of the angles we have identified retain their meaning (with the exception of plot analysis, which is most often inapplicable to a lyrical work), but at the same time, a lyrical work also has its own specifics. Firstly, the lyrics often have a strophic structure, that is, the text is divided into stanzas, which immediately affects the entire structure; secondly, it is important to understand the laws of rhythmic composition, which will be discussed in the chapter "Poetry"; thirdly, in the lyrics there are many features of figurative composition. Lyrical images are built and grouped differently than epic and dramatic ones. A detailed discussion of this is still premature, since understanding the structure of a poem comes only with practice. To begin with, it is better to carefully read the samples of analyzes. At the disposal of modern students there is a good collection "Analysis of one poem" (L., 1985), entirely devoted to the problems of lyrical composition. We refer interested readers to this book.

Analysis of one poem: Interuniversity collection / ed. V. E. Kholshevnikova. L., 1985.

Bakhtin M. M. Forms of time and chronotope in the novel // Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. M., 1975.

Davydova T. T., Pronin V. A. Theory of Literature. M., 2003. Chapter 6. “Artistic time and art space in a literary work.

Kozhinov V.V. Composition // Brief literary encyclopedia. T. 3. M., 1966. S. 694–696.

Kozhinov VV Plot, plot, composition // Theory of Literature. The main problems in historical coverage. Types and genres of literature. M., 1964.

Markevich G. Main problems of the science of literature. M., 1980. S. 86–112.

Revyakin AI Problems of studying and teaching literature. M., 1972. S. 137–153.

Rodnyanskaya I. B. Artistic time and artistic space // Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1987. S. 487–489.

Modern foreign literary criticism. Encyclopedic reference book. Moscow, 1996, pp. 17–20, 61–81, 154–157.

Theoretical poetics: concepts and definitions: Reader for students of philological faculties / author-compiler N. D. Tamarchenko. M., 1999. (Themes 12, 13, 16–20, 29.)

Uspensky B. A. Poetics of composition. SPb., 2000.

Fedotov OI Fundamentals of the theory of literature. Part 1. M., 2003. S. 253–255.

Khalizev V. E. Theory of Literature. M., 1999. (Chapter 4. "Literary work".)

Composition artwork

Composition- this is the construction of all elements and parts of a work of art in accordance with the author's intention (in a certain proportion, sequence; figurative system characters, space and time, series of events in the plot).

Compositional plot parts literary work

Prologue- what led to the emergence of the plot, the previous events (not in all works).
exposition- designation of the original space, time, heroes.
tie- Events that give the development of the plot.
Development of action- development of the plot from the beginning to the climax.
climax- moment highest voltage plot action, after which it moves to the denouement.
denouement- termination of action in a given conflict direction, when contradictions are resolved or removed.
Epilogue- "announcement" of further events, summing up.

Composite elements

Compositional elements include epigraphs, dedications, prologues, epilogues, parts, chapters, acts, phenomena, scenes, prefaces and afterwords of "publishers" (out-of-plot images created by the author's imagination), dialogues, monologues, episodes, inserted stories and episodes, letters, songs (Oblomov's dream in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov", Tatyana's letters to Onegin and Onegin to Tatyana in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin"); All artistic descriptions(portraits, landscapes, interiors).

Compositional techniques

Repeat (refrain)- the use of the same elements (parts) of the text (in poems - the same verses):
Keep me, my talisman,
Keep me in the days of persecution,
In the days of repentance, excitement:
You were given to me on a day of sorrow.
When the ocean rises
The waves are roaring around me,
When the clouds are storming -
Keep me, my talisman...
(A.S. Pushkin "Keep me, my talisman")

Depending on the position, frequency of appearance and autonomy, the following compositional techniques are distinguished:
Anaphora- repeat at the beginning of the line:
Past the lists, temples,
past temples and bars,
past chic cemeteries,
past the big bazaars...
(I. Brodsky "Pilgrims")

Epiphora- repeat at the end of the line:
My horse does not touch the ground,
Don't touch my forehead stars
Sigh my lips do not touch,
The rider is a horse, the finger is a palm.
(M. Tsvetaeva "Khansky full")

simplock- the subsequent part of the work begins in the same way as the previous one (usually found in folklore works or styles):
He fell on the cold snow
On the cold snow, like a pine
(M.Yu. Lermontov “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilievich ...”)

Antithesis- opposition (works at all levels of the text from the symbol to the character):
I swear on the first day of creation
I swear by his last day.
(M.Yu. Lermontov "Demon")
They agreed. Wave and stone
Poetry and prose, ice and fire...
(A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin")

Compositional techniques associated with time shifts(combination of time layers, retro jump, insertion):

Retardation- stretching the unit of time, slowing down, braking.

Retrospection- the return of the action to the past, when the causes of what is happening in currently narratives (a story about Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov - I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons"; a story about Asya's childhood - I.S. Turgenev "Asia").

Change of "points of view"- a story about one event from the point of view of different characters, character and narrator (M.Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time", F.M. Dostoevsky "Poor People").

Parallelism- the location of identical or similar in grammatical and semantic structure elements of speech in adjacent parts of the text. Parallel elements can be sentences, their parts, phrases, words.
Your mind is as deep as the sea
Your spirit is as high as the mountains
(V. Bryusov "Chinese verses")
An example of compositional parallelism in prose text the work of N.V. Gogol "Nevsky Prospekt".

The main types of composition

1. Linear composition: natural time sequence.
2. Inversion (retrospective) composition: reverse chronological order.
3. Ring composition: repetition of the initial moment in the final of the work.
4. Concentric composition: plot spiral, repetition of similar events in the course of the development of the action.
5. Mirror composition: combining the techniques of repetition and opposition, as a result of which the initial and final images are repeated exactly the opposite.

The composition of a literary work. The main aspects of the composition.

The composition of the figurative system.

The system of images-characters of a work of art.

Plot composition and composition of non-plot elements

1. Composition of a literary work. The main aspects of the composition.

Composition(from lat. compositio - compilation, connection) - the connection of parts or components into a whole; the structure of the literary and artistic form. Composition- this is the composition and a certain arrangement of parts, elements of the work in some meaningful sequence.

Composition is a combination of parts, but not these parts themselves; depending on what level (layer) of the art form in question, distinguish aspects of composition. This is the arrangement of characters, and the event (plot) connections of the work, and the installation of details (psychological, portrait, landscape, etc.), and the repetition of symbolic details (forming motives and leitmotifs), and the change in the flow of speech of its forms such as narration , description, dialogue, reasoning, as well as the change of subjects of speech, and the division of the text into parts (including the frame and main text), and the dynamics of speech style, and much more.

The aspects of composition are manifold. At the same time, the approach to the work as an aesthetic object allows us to identify in its composition art form at least two layers and, accordingly, two compositions that combine components of different nature, - textual And subject (figurative). Sometimes in the first case one speaks of the outer layer of the composition (or "outer composition"), in the second - of the inner.

Perhaps, the difference between subject and textual composition is not so clearly manifested in anything, as in applying the concepts of “beginning” and “end” to them, otherwise “frame” (frame, frame components). Framework components are title, subtitle, Sometimes - epigraph, dedication, preface, Always - First line, first and last paragraphs.

In modern literary criticism, apparently, the term " strong position of the text” (it applies, in particular, to titles, the first line, the first paragraph, the ending).

Researchers show increased attention to the frame components of the text, in particular, to its absolute beginning, which creates a certain horizon of expectation, structurally distinguished. For example: A.S. Pushkin. Captain's daughter. Next is the epigraph: Take care of honor from a young age". Or: N.V. Gogol. Auditor. Comedy in five acts. Epigraph: " There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked. folk proverb". Followed by " Characters» (traditional drama component side text), « Characters and costumes. Notes for gentlemen actors(for understanding the author's concept, the role of this metatext is very important).

Compared to epic and dramatic works, lyrics are more modest in the design of the “entrance” to the text: often there is no title at all, and the name gives the text its name. First line, which simultaneously introduces the rhythm of the poem (therefore, it cannot be shortened in the table of contents).

Parts of the text have their frame components, which also form relative units. epic works can be divided into volumes, books, parts, chapters, subchapters, etc. Their names will form their own expressive text (component of the frame of the work).

In drama, it is usually divided into acts (actions), scenes (pictures), phenomena (in modern plays, breakdown into phenomena is rare). The entire text is clearly divided into character (main) and author's (side), which includes, in addition to the heading component, various kinds of stage indications: a description of the place, time of action, etc. at the beginning of acts and scenes, the designation of speakers, remarks, etc.

Parts of the text in lyrics (and in poetic speech in general) are a verse, a stanza. The thesis about the “unity and tightness of the verse series”, put forward by Yu.N. Tynyanov in the book "Problems of Poetic Language" (1924) allows us to consider the verse (usually written in a separate line) by analogy with larger units, parts of the text. One might even say that the function framework components they perform an anacrusis and a clause in the verse, often enriched with rhyme and noticeable as the border of the verse in case of transfer.

In all kinds of literature, individual works can form cycles. The sequence of texts within a cycle (a book of poems) usually gives rise to interpretations in which the arguments are the arrangement of characters, a similar structure of plots, and characteristic associations of images (in the free composition of lyrical poems), and other - spatial and temporal - connections of the objective worlds of the work.

So there is text components And components of the objective world works. Successful analysis of the overall composition of a work requires tracing their interaction, often very tense. The composition of the text is always "superimposed" in the perception of the reader on the deep, objective structure of the work, interacts with it; it is thanks to this interaction that certain devices are read as signs of the presence of the author in the text.

Considering the subject composition, it should be noted that its first function is to “hold” the elements of the whole, to make it out of separate parts; without a deliberate and meaningful composition, it is impossible to create a full-fledged work of art. The second function of the composition is to express some artistic meaning by the very arrangement and correlation of the images of the work.

Before proceeding to the analysis of the subject composition, you should familiarize yourself with the most important compositional techniques. The main ones among them are: repetition, amplification, contrast and montage(Esin A.B. Principles and methods of analysis of a literary work - M., 1999, p. 128 - 131).

Repeat- one of the simplest and at the same time the most effective composition techniques. It allows you to easily and naturally "round" the work, to give it a compositional harmony. The so-called ring composition looks especially impressive when a “roll call” is established between the beginning and end of the work.

A frequently repeated detail or image becomes the leitmotif (leading motive) of the work. For example, the motif of the cherry orchard as a symbol of the Home, the beauty and sustainability of life, its bright beginning runs through the entire play by A.P. Chekhov. In the play by A.N. Ostrovsky, the image of a thunderstorm becomes the leitmotif. In poems, a kind of repetition is a refrain (repetition of individual lines).

A technique close to repetition is gain. This technique is used in cases where a simple repetition is not enough to create an artistic effect, when it is necessary to enhance the impression by selecting homogeneous images or details. So, according to the principle of amplification, a description of the interior decoration of Sobakevich’s house in “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol: every new detail reinforces the previous one: “everything was solid, clumsy in the highest degree and had some strange resemblance to the owner of the house; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut office on absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, the armchairs, the chairs—everything was of the most heaviest and most restless quality—in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “Me, too, Sobakevich!” or “and I am very similar to Sobakevich!”.

According to the same principle of amplification, the selection of artistic images in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "The Man in the Case", used to describe the main character - Belikov: "He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with wadding. And his umbrella was in a gray suede case, and when he took out his penknife to sharpen his pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, since he always hid it in his upturned collar.

The opposite of repetition and amplification is opposition- a compositional technique based on antithesis. For example, in a poem by M.Yu. Lermontov's "The Death of a Poet": "And you will not wash away all your black blood / Poet's righteous blood."

In the broad sense of the word, opposition is any opposition of images, for example, Onegin and Lensky, Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, images of storm and peace in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov "Sail", etc.

Contamination, combining the techniques of repetition and opposition, gives a special compositional effect: the so-called "mirror composition". As a rule, when mirror composition the initial and final images are repeated exactly the opposite. A classic example of a mirror composition is the novel by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”, It seems to repeat the situation already depicted earlier, only with a change of position: at first Tatyana is in love with Onegin, writes him a letter and listens to his cold rebuke At the end of the work, on the contrary: Onegin in love writes a letter and listens to Tatyana’s answer.

The essence of the reception mounting, lies in the fact that the images located side by side in the work give rise to a new, third meaning, which appears precisely from their proximity. So, for example, in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych", the description of the "art salon" of Vera Iosifovna Turkina is adjacent to the mention that the clink of knives was heard from the kitchen and the smell of fried onions was heard. Together, these two details create that atmosphere of vulgarity, which A.P. tried to reproduce in the story. Chekhov.

All compositional techniques can perform two functions in the composition of a work, somewhat different from each other: they can organize either a separate small fragment of text (at the micro level) or the entire text (at the macro level), becoming in the latter case the principle of composition.

For example, the most common device for the microstructure of a poetic text is the sound repetition at the end of poetic lines - rhyme.

In the above examples from the works of N.V. Gogol and A.P. Chekhov's technique of amplification organizes separate fragments of texts, and in A.S. Pushkin's "Prophet" becomes the general principle of organizing the entire artistic whole.

In the same way, montage can become the compositional principle of organizing the entire work (this can be observed in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin "Boris Godunov", in the novel "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov).

Thus, it is necessary to distinguish between repetition, opposition, amplification and montage as proper compositional techniques and as a principle of composition.

Reception of the frame (or "story within a story").

Ring reception.

Insert acceptance.

Advance reception.

Retreat acceptance.

Retrospective reception.

frame reception(or “story within a story”) is very common in plot construction. The main storyline is enclosed, as it were, in a "Frame" of memories, disputes, entertainment with anecdotes, a lesson, etc. The hero with such a compositional technique tells a story that happened to him in the past or, on the contrary, fantasizes, predicting the future. Chronologically, this plot is inconsistent. The time of the story itself does not correspond to the time about which the narrator narrates.

Reception is very common: L.N. Tolstoy "After the Ball", A.N. Nekrasov "Railway", A.P. Chekhov Trilogy "About Love", Boccaccio "The Decameron", etc.

Reception of the ring. Reminiscent of the reception of the frame, but differs significantly from it. At this reception last episode compositionally repeats the first. The heroes find themselves in the same circumstances, in the same environment, they are overcome by similar problems. They kind of walk around the ring. But we must not lose sight of the fact that the semantic load of the last episode, due to the development of the plot, is already different than that of the first. are repeated external signs a lot is changing internally. The reception of the ring is used by plots-dreams (Calderon "Life is a dream"), plots-shoots (Lermontov "Mtsyri"). This technique was used by Vampilov (the plays "Farewell in June", "Elder Son", "House with Windows in the Field").

Insertion reception elementary. In the course of the development of the plot, fairy tales, myths, stories, fables, etc., which are not related to the main conflict, are “inserted”, at first glance. The most famous interpolation technique is found in Gogol's "Dead Souls": this is "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin". Chingiz Aitmatov widely uses inserts in his novels. The insert can be removed from the text, this will have little effect on the plot (chain of events), but it will fundamentally impoverish the plot as a whole.

Preliminary reception common in psychological and mystical-religious works. One of the episodes (often a dream, divination, foreboding, a chance meeting, visions) turn out to be prophetic andanticipate future events. Such is the episode of the railway accident observed by Anna Karenina when she arrived in Moscow; Tatiana's dream in "Eugene Onegin", Raskolnikov's dream in "Crime and Punishment". Such preliminary episodes, scenes, sometimes just images (the unyielding burdock in L. Tolstoy's Hadji Murat) find their precisely compositional place in the development of the main storyline.

retreat reception(lyrical, journalistic, scientific, philosophical) is well known for "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin and “Don Juan” by J. Byron, “The Young Guard” by A. Fadeev and “Pushkin House” by A. Bitov. chat with the reader. Digressions most often enrich the plot, giving it the character of an encyclopedia.

Reception of flashback–reception of chronometric return, plot twistto the past. In the course of the action, the hero can remember something retrospectively. Flashback is typical for detective stories. This technique has been known since the time of folklore: it is often found in Russian epics and fairy tales. In modern literature, Yuri Bondarev has resorted to it more than once (“Coast”, “Choice”, “Game”).

There are three levels of literary work:

Subject figurativeness - vital material

Composition - the organization of this material

Artistic language - the speech system of a literary work, at all four levels artistic language Keywords: phonics, vocabulary, semantics, syntax.

Each of these layers has its own complex hierarchy.

The seeming complexity of a literary work is created by the hard work of the writer on all three levels of the artistic whole.

Let's get acquainted with several definitions of this concept and its various classifications, when the composition of the text is revealed according to different signs and indicators.

A literary text is a communicative, structural and semantic unity, which is manifested in its composition. That is, it is the unity of communication - structure - and meaning.

The composition of a literary text is "mutual correlation And location units of depicted and artistic and speech means. The units depicted here mean: theme, problem, idea, characters, all aspects of the depicted external and internal world. Artistic and speech means are the entire figurative system of the language at the level of its 4 layers.

Composition is the construction of a work, which determines its integrity, completeness and unity.

The composition is "system connections" all of its elements. This system also has an independent content, which should be revealed in the process philological analysis text.

Composition, or structure, or architectonics is the construction of a work of art.

Composition is an element of the form of a work of art.

Composition contributes to the creation of a work as an artistic integrity.

The composition unites all the components and subordinates them to the idea, the idea of ​​the work. Moreover, this connection is so close that it is impossible to remove or rearrange any component from the composition.

Types of compositional organization of the work:

Plot view - that is, plot (epos, lyrics, drama)

Non-plot type - plotless (in lyrics, in epic and drama, created creative method modernism and postmodernism)

The plot view of the compositional organization of a work can be of two types:

Eventive (in epic and drama)

Descriptive (in lyrics)

Let's consider the first type of plot composition - event. It has three forms:

Chronological form - events develop in a straight line of time movement, the natural time sequence is not violated, there may be time intervals between events

Retrospective form - deviation from the natural chronological sequence, violation of the linear order of the passage of events in life, interruption by the memories of the heroes or the author, familiarizing the reader with the background of events and the life of the characters (Bunin, "Easy breathing")

Free or montage form - a significant violation of the spatio-temporal and causal relationships between events; the connection between individual episodes is associative-emotional, not logical-semantic (“A Hero of Our Time”, Kafka’s “Trial” and other works of modernism and postmodernism)

Consider the second type of composition - descriptive:

It is present in lyrical works, they basically lack a clearly limited and coherently developed action, the experiences of a lyrical hero or character are brought to the fore, and the whole composition is subject to the goals of his image, this is a description of thoughts, impressions, feelings, pictures inspired by the experiences of a lyrical hero .

Composition is external and internal

External composition(architectonics): chapters, parts, sections, paragraphs, books, volumes, their arrangement may be different depending on the methods of creating the plot chosen by the author.

External composition- this is the division of a text characterized by continuity into discrete units. Composition, therefore, is the manifestation of a significant discontinuity in continuity.

External composition: the boundaries of each compositional unit highlighted in the text are clearly defined, defined by the author (chapters, chapters, sections, parts, epilogues, phenomena in the drama, etc.), this organizes and directs the reader's perception. The architectonics of the text serves as a way of "portioning" the meaning; with the help of ... compositional units, the author indicates to the reader the unification, or, conversely, the dismemberment of the elements of the text (and hence its content).

External composition: no less significant is the absence of division of the text or its expanded fragments: this emphasizes the integrity of the spatial continuum, the fundamental non-discreteness of the organization of the narrative, the non-differentiation, the fluidity of the picture of the world of the narrator or character (for example, in the literature of the “stream of consciousness”).

Internal composition : this is the composition (construction, arrangement) of images - characters, events, action settings, landscapes, interiors, etc.

Internal(meaningful) composition is determined by the system of images-characters, the features of the conflict and the originality of the plot.

Not to be confused: the plot has elements plot, the composition has tricks(internal composition) and parts(external composition) compositions.

The composition includes, in its construction, both all the elements of the plot - plot elements, and extra-plot elements.

Techniques of internal composition:

Prologue (often referred to as the plot)

Epilogue (often referred to as the plot)

Monologue

Character portraits

Interiors

landscapes

Extra-plot elements in the composition

Classification of compositional techniques for the selection of individual elements:

Each compositional unit is characterized by extension techniques that provide emphasis the most important meanings of the text and engage the reader's attention. This:

geography: various graphic highlights,

repetitions: repetitions of language units of different levels,

amplification: strong positions of the text or its compositional part - promotional positions associated with establishing a hierarchy of meanings, focusing attention on the most important, enhancing emotionality and aesthetic effect, establishing meaningful links between adjacent and distant elements that belong to the same and different levels, ensuring the coherence of the text and its memorability. The strong positions of the text traditionally include titles, epigraphs, beginningAndend works (parts, chapters, chapters). With their help, the author emphasizes the most significant elements of the structure for understanding the work and at the same time determines the main "semantic milestones" of one or another compositional part (the text as a whole).

Widespread in Russian literature of the late XX century. montage and collage techniques, on the one hand, led to increased fragmentation of the text, on the other hand, opened up the possibility of new combinations of "semantic planes".

Composition in terms of its connectedness

In the features of the architectonics of the text, such its most important feature is manifested as connectivity. The segments (parts) of the text selected as a result of segmentation correlate with each other, “link” on the basis of common elements. There are two types of connectivity: cohesion and coherence (terms proposed by W. Dressler)

cohesion (from Latin - “to be connected”), or local connectivity, is a connection of a linear type, expressed formally, mainly by linguistic means. It is based on pronominal substitution, lexical repetitions, the presence of conjunctions, correlation of grammatical forms, etc.

coherence(from lat. - “linkage”), or global connectivity, is a connection of a non-linear type that combines elements of different levels of the text (for example, the title, epigraph, “text in the text” and the main text, etc.). The most important means of creating coherence are repetitions (primarily words with common semantic components) and parallelism.

In a literary text, semantic chains arise - rows of words with common semes, the interaction of which gives rise to new semantic connections and relationships, as well as "mean increments".

Any literary text is permeated with semantic roll calls, or repetitions. Words related on this basis can take different positions: they can be located at the beginning and at the end of the text (ring semantic composition), symmetrically, form a gradation series, etc.

Consideration of the semantic composition is a necessary stage of philological analysis. It is especially important for the analysis of "plotless" texts, texts with weakened cause-and-effect relationships of components, texts saturated with complex images. The identification of semantic chains in them and the establishment of their connections is the key to the interpretation of the work.

Extraplot Elements

insert episodes,

lyrical digressions,

artistic advance,

artistic framing,

dedication,

Epigraph,

header

Insert episodes- these are parts of the narrative that are not directly related to the course of the plot, events that are only associatively connected and are remembered in connection with the current events of the work (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” in “Dead Souls”)

Lyrical digressions- are lyrical, philosophical, journalistic, express the writer's thoughts and feelings directly, in the direct author's word, reflect the author's position, the writer's attitude to the characters, some elements of the theme, problem, idea of ​​​​the work (in "Dead Souls" - about youth and old age , about Rus' as a bird - a troika)

Artistic lead - depiction of scenes that are ahead of the further course of events (

Artistic framing - scenes that begin and end a work of art, most often this is the same scene, given in development, and creating ring composition(“The Fate of a Man” by M. Sholokhov)

Dedication - a short description or lyrical work that has a specific addressee to whom the work is addressed and dedicated

Epigraph - an aphorism or a quotation from another famous work or folklore, located in front of the entire text or in front of its individual parts (proverb in The Captain's Daughter)

header- the name of the work, which always contains the theme, problem or idea of ​​the work, a very brief formulation with deep expressiveness, figurativeness or symbolism.

The object of literary analysis in the study of composition I can be different aspects compositions:

1) architectonics, or the external composition of the text, - its division into certain parts (chapters, subchapters, paragraphs, stanzas, etc.), their sequence and interconnection;

2) a system of images of characters in a work of art;

3) change of points of view in the structure of the text; so, according to B.A. Uspensky, it is the problem of point of view that makes "the central problem of composition»; consideration in the structure of the text different points vision in relation to the architectonics of the work allows us to identify the dynamics of the deployment of artistic content;

4) the system of details presented in the text (composition of details); their analysis makes it possible to reveal ways of deepening the depicted: as I.A. Goncharov, “details that appear fragmentarily and separately in the long term of the general plan”, in the context of the whole, “merge in a common system ... as if thin invisible threads or, perhaps, magnetic currents are operating”;

5) correlation with each other and with other components of the text of its extra-plot elements (inserted novels, stories, lyrical digressions, "scenes on the stage" in the drama).

Compositional analysis thus takes into account different aspects of the text.

The term "composition" in modern philology is very ambiguous, which makes it difficult to use.

To analyze the composition of a literary text, you need to be able to:

To single out repetitions in its structure that are significant for the interpretation of the work, serving as the basis of cohesion and coherence;

Detect semantic overlaps in parts of the text;

Highlight markers - separators of different compositional parts of the work;

Correlate the features of the division of the text with its content and determine the role of discrete (individual parts) compositional units in the whole;

Establish a connection between the narrative structure of the text as its “deep compositional structure” (B.A. Uspensky) and its external composition.

Determine all the methods of external and internal composition in F. Tyutchev's poem "Silentium" (namely: parts of the composition, plot type - non-plot, event - descriptive, vision of individual elements, type of their connection, - NB