The element of composition in a work of art: examples. Composition of a work of art as a stylistic dominant

Today we are talking on the topic: “Traditional elements of composition.” But first, we should remember what “composition” is. We first encounter this term in school. But everything flows, everything changes, gradually even the strongest knowledge is erased. Therefore, we read, pick up the old, and fill in the missing gaps.

Composition in literature

What is composition? First of all, we turn to you for help explanatory dictionary and we learn that literally translated from Latin this term means “composition, composition.” Needless to say, without “composition”, that is, without “composition”, no work of art is possible (examples follow) and no text as a whole. It follows that composition in literature is a certain order of arrangement of parts work of art. In addition, these are certain forms and methods artistic image, which have a direct connection with the content of the text.

Basic elements of composition

When we open a book, the first thing we hope for and look forward to is a beautiful, entertaining narrative that will surprise or keep us in suspense, and then not let go for a long time, forcing us to mentally return to what we read again and again. In this sense, a writer is a real artist, which primarily shows and does not tell. He avoids direct text like: “Now I’ll tell you.” On the contrary, his presence is invisible, unobtrusive. But what do you need to know and be able to do for such mastery?

Compositional elements are the palette in which the artist, a master of words, mixes his colors to later create a bright, colorful plot. These include: monologue, dialogue, description, narration, system of images, author's digression, plug-in genres, plot, plot. Below - about each of them in more detail.

Monologue speech

Depending on how many people or characters in a work of art participate in speech - one, two or more - monologue, dialogue and polylogue are distinguished. The latter is a type of dialogue, so we will not dwell on it. Let's consider only the first two.

A monologue is an element of composition that consists in the author's use of one character's speech, which does not expect or receive an answer. As a rule, it is addressed to the audience in a dramatic work or to oneself.

Depending on the function in the text, the following types of monologue are distinguished: technical - the hero’s description of events that have occurred or are currently occurring; lyrical - the hero conveys his strong emotional experiences; monologue-acceptance - the internal reflections of a character who is faced with a difficult choice.

Based on the form, the following types are distinguished: the author's word - the author's address to the readers, most often through one or another character; stream of consciousness - the free flow of the hero’s thoughts as they are, without obvious logic and not adhering to the rules of literary construction of speech; dialectics of reasoning - the hero’s presentation of all the pros and cons; dialogue alone - a character’s mental address to another character; apart - in dramaturgy, a few words aside that characterize the current state of the hero; stanzas are also in dramaturgy the lyrical reflections of a character.

Dialogue speech

Dialogue is another element of composition, a conversation between two or more characters. Typically, dialogical speech is an ideal means of conveying the clash of two opposing points of view. It also helps create an image, reveal personality and character.

Here I would like to talk about the so-called dialogue of questions, which involves a conversation consisting exclusively of questions, and the response of one of the characters is both a question and an answer to the previous remark at the same time. (examples follow below) Khanmagomedov Aidyn Asadullaevich “Mountain Woman” is a clear confirmation of this.

Description

What is a person? This is a special character, individuality, and unique appearance, and the environment in which he was born, brought up and exists at this moment in his life, and his home, and the things with which he surrounds himself, and people, distant and close, and the nature surrounding him... The list can be continued indefinitely. Therefore, when creating an image in a literary work, a writer must look at his hero from all possible angles and describe without missing a single detail, even more - create new “shades” that cannot even be imagined. The following types are distinguished in the literature artistic descriptions: portrait, interior, landscape.

Portrait

It is one of the most important compositional elements in literature. He describes not only the appearance of the hero, but also his inner world- so-called psychological picture. The place of a portrait in a work of art also varies. A book can begin with him or, conversely, end with him (A.P. Chekhov, “Ionych”). maybe immediately after the character commits some act (Lermontov, “Hero of Our Time”). In addition, the author can draw a character in one fell swoop, monolithically (Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment, Prince Andrei in War and Peace), and another time scatter the features throughout the text (War and Peace, Natasha Rostova). Basically, the writer himself takes up the brush, but sometimes he gives this right to one of the characters, for example, Maxim Maksimych in the novel “A Hero of Our Time”, so that he can describe Pechorin as accurately as possible. The portrait can be painted ironically, satirically (Napoleon in War and Peace) and “ceremoniously”. Sometimes only the face, a certain detail, or the entire body - figure, manners, gestures, clothing (Oblomov) - comes under the author’s “magnifying glass”.

Interior description

The interior is an element of the composition of the novel, allowing the author to create a description of the hero’s home. It is no less valuable than a portrait, since the description of the type of room, furnishings, atmosphere in the house - all this plays an invaluable role in conveying the characteristics of the character, in understanding the full depth of the created image. The interior reveals both a close connection with which is the part through which the whole is known, and the individual through which the plural is seen. So, for example, Dostoevsky in the novel “The Idiot” “hung” Holbein’s painting “The Dead Christ” in Rogozhin’s gloomy house in order to once again draw attention to the irreconcilable struggle true faith with passions, with unbelief in Rogozhin’s soul.

Landscape - description of nature

As Fyodor Tyutchev wrote, nature is not what we imagine, it is not soulless. On the contrary, there is a lot hidden in it: soul, freedom, love, and language. The same can be said about the landscape in a literary work. The author, with the help of such an element of composition as landscape, depicts not only nature, terrain, city, architecture, but thereby reveals the state of the character, and contrasts the naturalness of nature with conventional human beliefs, acting as a kind of symbol.

Remember the description of the oak tree during Prince Andrei’s trip to the Rostovs’ house in the novel War and Peace. What it (the oak) was like at the very beginning of its journey - an old, gloomy, “disdainful freak” among the birches smiling at the world and spring. But at the second meeting, it unexpectedly blossomed and was renewed, despite the hundred-year-old hard bark. He still submitted to spring and life. The oak in this episode is not only a landscape, a description of nature coming to life after a long winter, but also a symbol of the changes that have taken place in the prince’s soul, a new stage in his life, which managed to “break” the desire that was almost ingrained in him to be an outcast from life until the end of his days .

Narration

Unlike a description, which is static, nothing happens in it, nothing changes, and in general it answers the question “what?”, a narration includes action, conveys the “sequence of events that occur” and the key question for it is “what happened ?. Speaking figuratively, narration as an element of the composition of a work of art can be presented in the form of a slide show - a quick change of pictures illustrating a plot.

Image system

Just as each person has his own network of lines on his fingertips, forming a unique pattern, so each work has its own unique system of images. This may include the image of the author, if there is one, the image of the narrator, the main characters, antipodean heroes, minor characters and so on. Their relationships are built depending on the ideas and goals of the author.

Author's digression

Or a lyrical digression is a so-called extra-plot element of the composition, with the help of which the author’s personality seems to burst into the plot, thereby interrupting the direct course of the plot narrative. What is it for? First of all, to establish a special emotional contact between the author and the reader. Here the writer no longer acts as a storyteller, but opens his soul, raises deeply personal questions, discusses moral, aesthetic, philosophical themes, shares memories from his own life. Thus, the reader manages to take a breath before the stream of subsequent events, stop and delve more deeply into the idea of ​​the work, and think about the questions posed to him.

Plug-in genres

This is another important compositional element, which is not only a necessary part of the plot, but also serves to provide a more voluminous, deeper revelation of the hero’s personality, helping to understand the reason for this or that. life choice, his inner world and so on. Any genre of literature can be inserted. For example, stories are the so-called story within a story (the novel “Hero of Our Time”), poems, stories, verses, songs, fables, letters, parables, diaries, sayings, proverbs and many others. They can be like own composition, and someone else's.

Plot and plot

These two concepts are often either confused with each other or mistakenly believed to be the same thing. But they should be distinguished. The plot is, one might say, the skeleton, the basis of the book, in which all parts are interconnected and follow one after another in the order necessary for full implementation author's intention, revealing the idea. In other words, events in the plot can take place in different time periods. The plot is the basis, but in a more condensed form, and plus is the sequence of events in their strictly chronological order. For example, birth, maturity, old age, death - this is the plot, then the plot is maturity, memories from childhood, adolescence, youth, lyrical digressions, old age and death.

Subject composition

The plot is exactly the same as the literary work, there are stages of development. At the center of any plot there is always a conflict around which the main events develop.

The book begins with an exposition or prologue, that is, with an “explanation”, a description of the situation, the starting point from which it all began. What follows is the plot, one might say, a foreshadowing of future events. At this stage, the reader begins to realize that a future conflict is just around the corner. As a rule, it is in this part that the main characters meet, who are destined to go through the upcoming trials together, side by side.

We continue to list the elements of the plot composition. The next stage is the development of action. This is usually the most significant piece of text. Here the reader already becomes an invisible participant in the events, he knows everyone, he feels what is happening, but is still intrigued. Gradually, the centrifugal force sucks him in, and slowly, unexpectedly for himself, he finds himself in the very center of the whirlpool. The climax comes - the very peak, when a real storm of feelings and a sea of ​​​​emotions falls on both the main characters and the reader himself. And then, when it is already clear that the worst is over and you can breathe, the denouement quietly knocks on the door. She chews everything over, explains every detail, puts all things on shelves - each in its place, and the tension slowly subsides. The epilogue brings the final line and briefly outlines later life main and secondary characters. However, not all plots have the same structure. The traditional elements of a fairy tale composition are completely different.

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it. Which? The elements of the fairy tale’s composition are radically different from their “brothers,” although when reading, easy and relaxed, you don’t notice this. This is the talent of a writer or even an entire people. As Alexander Sergeevich instructed, it is simply necessary to read fairy tales, especially common folk ones, because they contain all the properties of the Russian language.

So, what are they - the traditional elements of a fairy-tale composition? The first words are a saying that puts you in a fairy-tale mood and promises a lot of miracles. For example: “This fairy tale will be told from the morning until lunch, after eating soft bread...” When the listeners relax, sit more comfortably and are ready to listen further, the time has come for the beginning - the beginning. The main characters, place and time of action are introduced, and another line is drawn that divides the world into two parts - real and magical.

Next comes the fairy tale itself, in which there are often repetitions to enhance the impression and gradually approach the denouement. In addition, poems, songs, onomatopoeia of animals, dialogues - all these are also integral elements of the composition of a fairy tale. The fairy tale also has its own ending, which seems to sum up all the miracles, but at the same time hints at infinity magical world: “They live, get along and make good things.”

In order to correctly use words borrowed from other languages ​​in your speech, you need to have a good understanding of their meaning.

One of the words often used in various fields of activity, mainly in art, is “composition”. What does this word mean and in what cases is it used?

Word "composition" borrowed from Latin, where "composition" means composing, adding, linking a whole from parts. Depending on the field of activity, the meaning of this word may acquire certain semantic variations.

Thus, chemist-technologists are well aware of composite materials, which are a composition of plastic and mineral chips, sawdust or other natural material. But most often this word is found in descriptions of works of art - painting, music, poetry.

Any art is an act of synthesis, which results in a work that has the power of emotional impact on viewers, readers or listeners. An important component of creativity relating to organizational principles artistic form, is the composition.

Its main function is to give integrity to the connection of elements and to correlate individual parts with general plan author. For each type of art, composition has its own meaning: in painting it is the distribution of shapes and color spots on canvas or paper, in music it is the combination and relative position musical themes and blocks, in literature - structure, rhythm of the text, etc.

Literary composition is the structure of a literary work, the sequence of arrangement of its parts. It serves for best expression the general idea of ​​the work and can use for this all forms of artistic representation available in the literary baggage of the writer or poet.


Important parts literary composition are the dialogues and monologues of his characters, their portraits and the systems of images used in the work, plot lines, and the structure of the work. Often the plot develops in a spiral or has a cyclical structure, a large artistic expression descriptive passages differ, philosophical digressions and the interweaving of stories told by the author.

A work may consist of separate short stories connected by one or two characters, or have a single plot line and be narrated on behalf of the hero, combine several plots (a novel within a novel) or have no plot line at all. It is important that its composition serves to most fully express the main idea or enhance the emotional impact of the plot, embodying everything the author intended.

Let's consider the composition of S. Yesenin's poem “Birch”.

White birch
Below my window
Covered with snow
Exactly silver.

The first stanza paints a general picture: the author’s gaze from the window falls on a snow-covered birch tree.

On fluffy branches
Snow border
The brushes have blossomed
White fringe.

In the second stanza, the description of the birch becomes more prominent.


Reading it, we clearly see in front of us branches covered with frost - wonderful, fairytale picture Russian winter.

And the birch tree stands
In sleepy silence,
And the snowflakes are burning
In golden fire.

The third stanza describes the picture early morning: people have not yet woken up, and silence envelops the birch tree, illuminated by the dim winter sun. The feeling of calm and quiet charm of winter nature intensifies.

And the dawn is lazy
Walking around
Sprinkles branches
New silver.

A quiet, windless winter morning imperceptibly turns into an equally quiet sunny day, but the birch tree, like the Sleeping Beauty from a fairy tale, remains. The skillfully constructed composition of the poem is aimed at making readers feel the charming atmosphere of a winter Russian fairy tale.

Composition in musical art extremely important. Complex musical composition relies on several basic musical themes, the development and variation of which allows the composer to achieve the emotional effect desired by the composer. The advantage of music is that it directly affects the emotional sphere of the listener.

Let us consider as an example the familiar musical composition- Hymn Russian Federation. It begins with a powerful opening chord that immediately puts the listener in a solemn mood. The majestic melody floating over the hall evokes the memory of Russia’s numerous victories and achievements, and for older generations it is a connecting link between today's Russia and the USSR.


The words “Glory to the Fatherland” are reinforced by the ringing of timpani, like a burst of rejoicing among the people. Further, the melody becomes more melodious, incorporating Russian folk intonations - free and broad. In general, the composition awakens in listeners a sense of pride in their country, its endless expanses and majestic history, its power and unshakable fortress.

There are three levels of literary work:

Subject figurativeness is vital material

Composition – organization of this material

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

Each of these layers has its own complex hierarchy.

The apparent complexity of a literary work is created by the hard work of the writer at 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 by different signs and indicators.

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

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

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

Composition - represents "system connections" all its elements. This system also has independent content, which should be revealed in the process philological analysis text.

Composition, either 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 components and subordinates them to the idea, the intention of the work. Moreover, this connection is so close that it is impossible to remove or rearrange a single component from the composition.

Types of compositional organization of a work:

Plot type - that is, plot (epic, lyric, drama)

Non-plot type - plotless (in lyric poetry, epic and drama created by the creative method of modernism and postmodernism)

The plot type of compositional organization of a work is of two types:

Event-based (in epic and drama)

Descriptive (lyrics)

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

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

Retrospective form - a deviation from the natural chronological sequence, a violation of the linear order of events in life, interruption with the memories of the heroes or the author, familiarizing the reader with the background of events and the lives of the characters (Bunin, “Easy Breathing”)

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

Let's consider the second type of composition - descriptive:

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

The composition can be external and internal

External composition(architectonics): chapters, parts, sections, paragraphs, books, volumes; their arrangement may vary 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 drama, etc.), this organizes and directs the reader’s perception. The architectonics of the text serves as a way of “portioning” meaning; with the help of... compositional units, the author indicates to the reader the unification, or, conversely, the dismemberment of elements of the text (and therefore its content).

External composition: no less significant is the lack 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 undifferentiation, and fluidity of the narrator’s or character’s picture of the world (for example, in “stream of consciousness” literature).

Internal composition : this is a composition (construction, arrangement) of images - characters, events, setting, 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.

Don't be confused: the plot has elements plot, composition has techniques(internal composition) and parts(external composition) composition.

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

Internal composition techniques:

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 by highlighting individual elements:

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

geography: various graphic highlights,

repetitions: repetitions of linguistic units of different levels,

strengthening: strong positions of the text or its compositional part - positions of advancement associated with establishing a hierarchy of meanings, focusing attention on the most important, enhancing emotionality and aesthetic effect, establishing meaningful connections between elements adjacent and distant, belonging to the same and different levels, ensuring the coherence of the text and its memorability. TO strong positions texts traditionally refer titles, epigraphs, beginningAndend works (parts, chapters, chapters). With their help, the author emphasizes the most significant structural elements for understanding the work and at the same time determines the main “semantic milestones” of a particular compositional part (the text as a whole).

Widespread in Russian literature of the late 20th century. the techniques of montage and collage, on the one hand, led to increased fragmentation of the text, on the other, it opened up the possibility of new combinations of “semantic plans.”

Composition in terms of its coherence

The architectural features of the text reveal its most important feature, such as coherence. The segments (parts) of the text selected as a result of division are correlated with each other, “linked” based on 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 linear type connectivity, 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. - “cohesion”), or global coherence, is a coherence of a nonlinear type that combines elements of different levels of text (for example, title, epigraph, “text within text” and 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 “incremental meaning”.

Any literary text is permeated with semantic echoes, or repetitions. Words connected on this basis can occupy different positions: located at the beginning and at the end of the text (ring semantic composition), symmetrically, form a gradational series, etc.

Consideration of 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 rich in complex images. Identifying semantic chains in them and establishing their connections is the key to interpreting a work.

Extra-plot elements

Inserted episodes

Lyrical digressions,

Artistic advance

Artistic framing,

Dedication

Epigraph,

Heading

Inserted 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- can be lyrical, philosophical, journalistic, express the thoughts and feelings of the writer directly, in the direct author’s word, reflect the author’s position, the writer’s attitude towards 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 - troika)

Artistic advance - depiction of scenes that anticipate the further course of events (

Artistic framing – the scenes with which a work of art begins and ends are most often the same scene, given in development, and creating ring composition(“The Fate of 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 quotation from another famous work or folklore, located before the entire text or before its individual parts (proverb in “ The captain's daughter»)

Heading- the title of a work, which always contains the theme, problem or idea of ​​the work, a very brief formulation that has deep expressiveness, imagery or symbolism.

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

1) architectonics, or external composition of the text - dividing it into certain parts (chapters, sub-chapters, 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 constitutes "the central problem of composition»; consideration of different points of view in the structure of the text in relation to the architectonics of the work allows us to identify the dynamics of the development of artistic content;

4) a system of details presented in the text (composition of details); their analysis makes it possible to reveal ways to deepen what is depicted: as subtly noted by I.A. Goncharov, “details that appear fragmentarily and separately in the long view of the general plan”, in the context of the whole “merge in the general structure... as if thin invisible threads or, perhaps, magnetic currents were acting”;

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

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

The term “composition” in modern philology turns out to be very ambiguous, which makes it difficult to use.

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

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

Identify 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 within the whole;

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

Identify all the techniques of external and internal composition in F. Tyutchev’s poem “Silentium” (namely: parts of the composition, type of plot - non-plot, event - descriptive, vision of individual elements, type of their coherence, - NB

General concept of composition. Composition and architectonics

The concept of “composition” is familiar to any philologist. This term is constantly used, often included in the title or subheadings scientific articles and monographs. At the same time, it should be noted that it has overly wide tolerances of meaning, and this sometimes interferes with understanding. “Composition” turns out to be a term without boundaries, 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 construction, way of making works. This is an axiom understandable to any philologist. But, as is the case with topic, the stumbling block turns out to be the following question: the construction of what should interest us if we are talking about the analysis of composition? The easiest answer would be “the construction of the entire work,” but this answer will not clarify anything. After all, almost everything is constructed in a literary text: plot, character, speech, genre, etc. Each of these terms presupposes its own logic of analysis and its own principles of “construction.” For example, constructing a plot involves analyzing types of plot construction, describing elements (plot, development of action, etc.), analyzing plot-plot inconsistencies, etc. We talked about 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 someone else’s word, etc. The construction of the verse is another perspective. Then we need to talk about rhythm, about rhymes, about the laws of constructing a verse series, 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 into the analysis of other categories, but if this independent meaning exists, then what is it?

To verify that there is a problem, it is enough to compare the “Composition” sections in manuals by different authors. We can easily see that the emphasis will be noticeably shifted: in some cases the emphasis is placed on plot elements, in others on the forms of organization of the narrative, in others on spatio-temporal and genre characteristics... And so on almost ad infinitum. The reason for this lies precisely in the amorphous nature 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 assumed some kind of understandable and more or less unified methodology. It seems that the most promising thing would be to see in compositional analysis precisely the interest in ratio of parts, to their relationships. In other words, composition analysis involves seeing the text as a system and aims to understand the logic of the relationships of its elements. Then the conversation about composition will truly become meaningful and will not coincide with other aspects of 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 kind of walls, what kind of ceilings, what colors it is painted in, etc. This will be an analysis individual parties. But it is no less 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 windows larger than the windows, we cannot install a closet wider than the room, etc. That is, each part influences the other in one way or another. Of course, any comparison is sinful, 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 text elements. The famous judgment of A.P. Chekhov about a gun, which 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 relationships between its elements.

Compositional analysis is a fairly broad concept that concerns various 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 narrative structure analysis. There are serious differences between Eastern European and Western European traditions. All this puts the young philologist in a difficult position. Our task also turns out to be very difficult: in relatively small chapter talk about a very voluminous and ambiguous term.

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

1. Analysis of the sequence of parts. It assumes interest in the elements of the plot, the dynamics of the action, the sequence and relationship between 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 there is one), we will try to feel the logic of the stanzas, their interrelation. This type of analysis is primarily focused on explaining how unfolds 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 beads is laid out sequentially, where and why repetitions occur, how and why new elements appear. Such a model of compositional analysis in modern science, especially in the Western-oriented tradition, is usually called syntagmatic.Syntagmatics is a branch of linguistics, the science of the ways speech unfolds, that is, how and according to what laws speech develops word by word and phrase by phrase. We see something similar in this analysis of composition, with the only difference that the elements most often are not words and syntagmas, but similar pieces of narrative. Let's say, if we take the famous poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “Sail” (“The lonely sail is 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 is the author's comment:

The lonely sail is white

In the blue sea fog.

What is he looking for in a distant land?

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 he’s not running out of happiness.

Below him is 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.

To a first approximation, the compositional scheme will look like this: A+B + A1+B1 + A2+B2, where A is a landscape sketch, and B is the author’s replica. However, it is easy to see that elements A and elements B are constructed according to different logic. Elements A are built according to the logic of the ring (calm - storm - calm), and elements B are built according to the logic of development (question - exclamation - answer). Having thought about this logic, a philologist may see something in Lermontov’s masterpiece that would be missed outside of compositional analysis. For example, it will become clear that the “desire for a storm” is nothing more than an illusion; a storm will also not give peace and harmony (after all, there was already a “storm” in the poem, but this did not change the tonality of part B). A classic situation for Lermontov’s artistic world arises: the changing background does not change the feeling of loneliness and melancholy of the lyrical hero. Let us recall the poem “In the Wild North” that we have already cited, and we can 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 highlanders (“Bela”), the gentleness and warmth of the common man (“Maksim Maksimych”), the life of people of the bottom - smugglers (“Taman”), life and morals high society(“Princess Mary”), an exceptional person (“Fatalist”). However, Pechorin cannot blend into any background, he feels bad and lonely everywhere, moreover, he willingly or unwillingly destroys the harmony of the background.

All this becomes noticeable precisely during compositional analysis. Thus, sequential item analysis can be a good interpretative tool.

2. Analysis general principles construction of the work as a whole. It is often called analysis architectonics. The term itself architectonics is not recognized by all experts; many, if not most, believe that we are simply talking about different faces meaning of the term composition. At the same time, some very authoritative scientists (say, 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 for analyzing composition, noticeably different from the one presented. This model assumes a view of the work as a whole. It is focused on the general principles of constructing a literary text, taking into account, among other things, the system of contexts. If we remember our metaphor of beads, 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 she is 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 literary works. Let's give a simple example. Let's imagine that some writer decided to write a story about a family quarrel. But he decided to structure 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 the events look different. In modern literature such techniques are used very often. But now let’s think about it: is this work monologue or is it dialogical? From the point of view of 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 polemics, a clash of views.

This holistic view of composition (analysis architectonics) turns out to be very useful, it allows you to escape from a specific fragment of text and 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’ll construct it differently than if I were writing a comedy. If I write an elegy (a poem imbued with a feeling of sadness), All it will not be the same as in a fable: the construction of images, rhythm, and vocabulary. Therefore, the analysis of composition and architectonics are related concepts, but do not coincide. The point, we repeat, is not in the terms themselves (there are many discrepancies here), 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 modern scientific tradition assumes the following levels:

Analysis of the form of narrative organization.

Analysis of speech composition (structure of speech).

Analysis of techniques for creating an image or character.

Analysis of plot structure 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 in “points of view”. This is one of the most popular methods of compositional analysis today, little familiar to the beginning philologist. Therefore, it is worth paying special attention to it.

The analysis of the composition of a lyrical work is characterized by its own specifics and nuances, therefore the analysis of a lyrical composition can also be allocated to a special level.

Of course, this scheme is very arbitrary, and much does not fall into it. In particular, we can talk about 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, point of view analysis concerns both narrative organization and speech patterns, space and time are inextricably linked to imagery techniques, etc. However, in order to understand these intersections, you first need to know What intersects, therefore, from a methodological aspect, a sequential presentation is more correct. 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 narrative organization

This part of compositional analysis involves an interest in how storytelling. To understand a literary text, it is important to consider who is telling the story and how. First of all, the narrative can be formally organized as a monologue (speech of one), dialogue (speech of two) or polylogue (speech of many). For example, a lyric poem, as a rule, is monologue, while a drama or a modern novel tends to be 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 skaz (remember, for example, “The Mistress of the Copper Mountain” by Bazhov) the speech of any hero is deformed, actually merging with the style of speech of the narrator. In other words, everyone starts talking the same way. Therefore, all dialogues organically flow into a single author’s monologue. This is a clear example genre narrative deformations. But other problems are also possible, for example, the very pressing problem your own and others' words when other people's voices are woven into the narrator's monologue. In its simplest form, this leads to the so-called non-author's speech. For example, in “The Snowstorm” by A. S. Pushkin 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" It is no accident that Pushkin puts it in italics. Neither lexically nor grammatically they are possible for Pushkin. This is the speech of provincial young ladies, evoking the gentle irony of the author. But this expression is inserted into the context of the narrator’s speech. This example of a “violation” of a 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, turns out to be inside the author’s speech. It is sometimes not so easy to understand these subtleties, 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, and sometimes he is hiddenly polemicizing.

If we add to this the fact that modern literature is completely open to other texts, sometimes one author openly constructs a new text from fragments of already created ones, then it becomes clear that the problem of monologue or dialogicity of the text is by no means as obvious as it might seem in the literature. first glance.

No less, and perhaps even more, difficulties arise when we try to determine 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 different models of analysis and different terms have been established in Russian and Western science. The essence of the discrepancy is that in the Russian tradition the most pressing question is: Who is the narrator and how close or distant he is to the real author. For example, is the story told from I and who is behind it I. The basis is the relationship between the narrator and the real author. In this case, there are usually four main options 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 party 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 does not have a name, he does not take part in the events described. There are a huge number of examples of such organization of storytelling: from the poems of Homer to the novels of L.N. Tolstoy and many modern novels and short stories.

The second option is the author-narrator. The narration is conducted in the first person (this narration is called I-form), the narrator is either not named at all, but his closeness to the real author is implied, or he bears the same name as the real author. The author-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 “Maksim Maksimych” and in a number of other fragments of “A Hero of Our Time.”

The third option is a hero-narrator. A very often used form when a direct participant talks about events. The hero, as a rule, has a name and is clearly distanced from the author. This is how the “Pechorin” 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 (remember 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 their own way, the assessments do not coincide. We encounter the hero-narrator in “The Captain’s Daughter” by A. S. Pushkin (almost everything is told by Grinev). In short, the hero-narrator is very popular in modern literature.

The fourth option is the author-character. This option is very popular in literature and very insidious for the reader. In Russian literature, it clearly manifested itself 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 a natural desire to “believe” the text, to equate the author-character with the real author. But the insidiousness of this form is that no equal sign can be used. There is always a difference, sometimes colossal, between the author-character and the real author. The similarity of names and the proximity of biographies in themselves do not mean anything: all events may well be fictitious, and the judgments of the author-character do not have to coincide with the opinions of the real author. When creating an author-character, the writer to some extent plays with both the reader and himself, this must be remembered.

The situation is even more complicated in lyric poetry, where the distance between the lyrical narrator (most often I) and the real author is difficult to feel at all. However, this distance is maintained 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 commonly used 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 discrepancies), everyone recognizes the fundamental discrepancy between the hero and the author. A detailed analysis of the arguments of different authors within the framework of our short manual is hardly appropriate; we only note that the problem point is the following: what determines the character of the lyrical hero? Is this the 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 specific poem, and lyrical heroat all just doesn't exist? These questions can be answered differently. We are closer to the position of D. E. Maksimov and in many ways the concept of L. I. Timofeev, which is close to it, that the lyrical hero is the generalized self of the author, one way or another felt in all creativity. But this position is also vulnerable, and opponents have compelling counterarguments. Now, we repeat, a serious conversation on the problem of the lyrical hero seems premature; it is more important to understand that the equal sign between I It is impossible to put in a poem and the real author. The famous satirist Sasha Cherny wrote a humorous poem “To the Critic” back in 1909:

When a poet, describing a lady,

He will begin: “I was walking down the street. The corset dug into the sides,”

Here, of course, do not understand “I” directly,

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

This should also be remembered in cases where there are no generic differences. The poet is not equal to any of his written selves.

So, in Russian philology, the starting point when analyzing the figure of the narrator is his relationship with the author. There are many subtleties here, but the principle of the approach is clear. The modern Western tradition is a different matter. There, the typology is based not on the relationship between the author and the narrator, but on the relationship between the narrator and the “pure” narrative. This principle at first glance seems vague and needs clarification. In fact, there is nothing complicated here. Let's clarify the situation with a simple example. Let's compare two phrases. First: “The sun is shining brightly, a green tree is growing on the lawn.” Second: “The weather is wonderful, the sun is shining brightly, but not blindingly, the green tree on the lawn is pleasing to the eye.” In the first case, we have just information in front of us, the narrator is practically not shown, in the second we can easily feel his presence. If we take as a basis “pure” narration 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 critic Percy Lubbock in the 1920s, is now dominant in Western European literary criticism. A complex and sometimes contradictory classification has been developed, the supporting concepts of which are actanta(or actant - pure narration. Although the term “actant” itself presupposes an agent, it is not identified), actor(the object of the narrative, deprived of the right to interfere with it), auditor(“the character or narrator who intervenes” in the narrative, the one whose consciousness organizes the narrative.). These terms themselves were introduced after the classical works of P. Lubbock, but they imply 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 the English narrative - narration). In the works of leading Western philologists devoted to the problems of narrative (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 meaning in the fabric of the narrative, hear different “voices”. The term voice as a significant compositional component also became widespread after the works of P. Lubbock.

In a word, Western European literary criticism operates in slightly different terms, while the emphasis of analysis also shifts. It is difficult to say which tradition is more adequate to the literary text, and the question can hardly be posed in such a plane. Any technique has strengths and weaknesses. In some cases it is more convenient to use the developments of 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 actively use the achievements of the “parallel” methodology. Now it is important to understand the principles of the approach.

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

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

Analysis of speech composition

Analysis of speech composition presupposes an interest in the principles of speech structure. Partially it intersects with the analysis of “one’s own” and “alien” words, partially with the analysis of style, partially 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 techniques. As elsewhere when analyzing a 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 novel “The Master and Margarita” are written in different stylistic manners: there is different vocabulary, different syntax, different rates of speech. It is important for us to understand why this is so, to grasp the logic of stylistic transitions. After all, Bulgakov often describes the same hero in different stylistic keys. Classic example- Woland and his retinue. Why style drawings change, how they are related to 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, compositional analysis, as an independent one in reality, is applied, as a rule, to character images (i.e., to images of people) or to images of animals and even objects that metaphorize the human being (for example, “Kholstomer” by L. N. Tolstoy, “White Fang” by J. London or the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “The Cliff”). Other images (verbal, details, or, on the contrary, macrosystems such as the “image of the motherland”), as a rule, are not analyzed using any more or less intelligible composition algorithms. This does not mean that the elements of compositional analysis are not used, it only means that there are no at least somewhat universal methods. All this is quite understandable in view of the vagueness of the very category of “image”: try to find a universal method for analyzing the “construction” of, for example, the linguistic images of V. Khlebnikov and the landscapes of A. S. Pushkin. We will only be able to see some general properties that have already been discussed in the chapter "Artistic image", but the analysis methodology will be different each time.

Another thing is the character of a person. Here, in all its infinite variety, we can see repeating techniques 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.

Firstly, this is the behavior of the hero. In literature, a person is almost always depicted in actions, in actions, in relationships with other people. By “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 speaks. In this case we are talking about speech behavior, which is often fundamentally important. Speech behavior can explain a system of actions, or it can contradict them. An example of the latter can be, for example, the image of Bazarov (“Fathers and Sons”). In Bazarov’s speech behavior, as you remember, there was no place for love, 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 should accept any circumstances with kindness and humility. The position is wise in its own way, but threatens with impersonality, absolute merging with the people, with nature, with history, with dissolution in them. Such is Plato’s life, such (with some nuances) is his death, such is his speech: aphoristic, full of sayings, 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, this is a portrait, landscape and interior, if they are used to characterize the hero. Actually, a portrait is always somehow connected with the revelation of character, but the interior and especially the landscape in some cases can be self-sufficient and not be 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” by N.V. Gogol, where everything famous images landowners were “made” according to this scheme. There are talking landscapes, talking portraits, talking interiors (remember, for example, the Plyushkin pile) and very expressive speech behavior. Another peculiarity of the dialogue is that Chichikov each time accepts the interlocutor’s manner of speaking and begins to speak to him in his language. On the one hand, this creates a comic effect, on the other, which is much more important, it characterizes Chichikov himself as an insightful person, a well-feeling interlocutor, but at the same time sharp-witted and calculating.

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

Third, a classic technique for creating character in modern literature is internal monologue, that is, an image of the hero’s thoughts. Historically, this technique is very late; literature until the 18th century depicted the hero in action, in speech behavior, but not in thinking. A relative exception can be considered lyricism and partly dramaturgy, where the hero often uttered “thoughts out loud” - a monologue addressed to the viewer or without a clear addressee at all. Let us remember the famous “To be or not to be” by Hamlet. However, this is a relative exception because it is more about self-talk than about the thinking process itself. Depict real the process of thinking through language is very difficult, since the human language is not very suitable for this. It is much easier to convey in language what What man does than that What he thinks and feels. However, modern literature is actively looking for ways to convey the feelings and thoughts of the hero. There are a lot of hits and a lot of misses here. In particular, attempts have been 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 rating system, that is, about how other characters and the narrator himself evaluate the hero. Almost any hero exists in the mirror of evaluations, and it is important to understand who and why evaluates him this way. A person beginning a serious study of literature should remember that narrator's assessment cannot always be considered the attitude 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 a writer can play the role of a simpleton and create a narrator for this role. The narrator may evaluate the characters straightforwardly and shallowly, but the overall impression will be completely different. In modern literary criticism there is a term implicit author- that is, the psychological portrait of the author that develops after reading his work and, therefore, created by the writer for this work. So, for one and the same writer, implicit authors can be very different. For example, many of Antoshi Chekhonte’s funny stories (for example, the “Calendar” full of careless humor) from the point of view of the author’s psychological portrait are completely different from “Ward No. 6”. All this was written by Chekhov, but it is very different faces. AND implicit author"Ward No. 6" would have taken a completely different look at the heroes of "The Horse's Name." A young philologist should remember this. The problem of the unity of the author’s consciousness is the most complex problem of philology and the 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 completely differently. If, for example, we trust each assessment given to Eugene Onegin, we will find ourselves in a complete labyrinth.

Analysis of plot structure features

In the chapter “Plot” we dwelt in some detail on different methods of plot analysis. There's no point in repeating myself. However, it is worth emphasizing that plot composition– this is not just the isolation of elements, schemes or analysis of plot-plot inconsistencies. It is fundamental to understand connection and non-coincidence 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 absolutely no coincidence that the logic of Evgeny Bazarov’s fate surprisingly resembles the logic of the fate of his main opponent, Pavel Kirsanov: a brilliant start - fatal love - collapse. In Turgenev’s world, where love is the most difficult and at the same time the most decisive test of personality, such similarity of destinies may indicate, albeit indirectly, that the author’s position is noticeably different from both Bazarov’s and the point of view of his main opponent. Therefore, when analyzing the composition of the plot, you should always pay attention to the mutual reflections and intersections of plot lines.

Analysis of artistic space and time

No work of art exists in a space-time vacuum. Time and space are always present in it in one way or another. It is important to understand that artistic time and space are not abstractions or even physical categories, although modern physics answers the question of what time and space are very ambiguously. Art, on the other hand, deals with a very specific space-time coordinate system. G. Lessing was the first to point out the importance of time and space for art, which we already discussed 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 a defining component of a literary work.

In literature, time and space are the most important properties of an image. Different images require different space-time coordinates. For example, in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment” we are faced with an unusually compressed space. Small rooms, narrow streets. Raskolnikov lives in a room that looks like a coffin. Of course, this is not accidental. The writer is interested in people who find themselves at a dead end in life, and this is emphasized by all means. When Raskolnikov finds faith and love in the epilogue, space opens up.

Each work of modern literature has its own space-time grid, its own coordinate system. At the same time, there are some general patterns of development of artistic space and time. For example, until the 18th century, aesthetic consciousness did not allow the author’s “interference” 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 flow of the story about one hero with an “inserted” story about another. In practice, this led to the so-called “chronological incompatibilities” characteristic of ancient literature. For example, one story ends with the hero returning safely, while another begins with loved ones grieving for his absence. We encounter this, for example, in Homer's Odyssey. In the 18th century, a revolution occurred, and the author received the right to “model” the narrative without observing the logic of life-likeness: a mass of inserted stories and digressions appeared, and chronological “realism” was disrupted. A modern author can build the composition of a work, shuffling episodes at his own discretion.

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

Today the term chronotope is universal and simply denotes the existing space-time model. Often in this case, “etiquette” they refer to the authority of M. M. Bakhtin, although Bakhtin himself understood the chronotope more narrowly - namely how sustainable a model that appears from work to work.

In addition to chronotopes, we should also remember the more general models 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 an “outdated” model does not disappear anywhere, continuing to excite people and giving rise to literary texts. There are quite a few variations of such models in different cultures, but several are basic. Firstly, 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 become meaningless. 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 based on this model, it is often “turned on” when a person tries to imagine existence after death, etc. The famous chronotope of the “golden age”, which manifests itself in all cultures, is built on this model. If we remember the ending of the novel “The Master and Margarita,” we can easily feel this model. It was in such a world, according to the decision of Yeshua and Woland, that the heroes ultimately found themselves - in a world eternal good and peace.

Another model - cyclical(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 is returning to normal. Space and time are there, but they are conditional, especially time, since the hero will still return 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 befell him, but he returned home and found his Penelope still as beautiful and loving. M. M. Bakhtin called such a time adventurous, it exists as if around the heroes, without changing anything either in them or between them. The cyclical model is also very archaic, but its projections are clearly perceptible in modern culture. For example, it is very noticeable in the work of Sergei Yesenin, in whom the idea of ​​the life cycle, especially in adulthood, becomes dominant. Even the well-known dying lines “In this life, dying is not new, / But living, of course, is not new” refer to ancient tradition, to the famous biblical book of Ecclesiastes, which is entirely built on a cyclical model.

The culture of realism is mainly associated with linear a model when space seems endlessly open in all directions, and time is associated with a directed arrow - from the past to the future. This model dominates in the everyday consciousness of modern people and is clearly visible in a huge number of literary texts last centuries. Suffice it to recall, for example, the novels of L.N. 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. The 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 should be the same at the end as at the beginning), and especially not in the zero time-space model. In addition, the linear model is associated with the principle historicism, that is, man began to be understood as a product of his era. The abstract “man for all times” simply does not exist in this model.

It is important to understand that in the minds of modern man all these models do not exist in isolation; they can interact, giving rise to the most bizarre combinations. Let's say, a person can be emphatically modern, trust the 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 different coordinate systems can be reflected. For example, experts have long noticed that in Anna Akhmatova’s work there are, as it were, two parallel dimensions: one is historical, in which every moment and gesture is unique, the other is timeless, in which every movement freezes. The “layering” of these layers is one of the hallmarks of Akhmatova’s style.

Finally, modern aesthetic consciousness is increasingly mastering yet another model. There is no clear name for it, but it would not be wrong to say that this model allows for the existence parallel times and spaces. The point 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”. The master and his beloved die in different places and for different reasons: The master is in a madhouse, Margarita is at home from a heart attack, but at the same time they are they 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 occurred in any case. This is the projection of the model of parallel worlds. If you carefully read the previous chapter, you will easily understand that the so-called multivariate the plot—a largely twentieth-century invention of literature—is a direct consequence of the establishment of this new space-time 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 the change in “points of view”

"Point of view"– one of the core concepts of the modern teaching of composition. You should immediately warn against most typical mistake inexperienced philologists: understand the term “point of view” in its everyday meaning, they say, each author and character has their own point of view on life. This is often heard from students, but it has nothing to do with science. As a term of literary criticism, “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. This term was made strictly scientific by the already mentioned English literary critic Percy Lubbock.

“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 installation text and about attempts to see one’s own logic and the presence of the author in this montage. One of the largest modern experts on this issue, B. A. Uspensky, believes that the analysis of changes in points of view is effective in relation to those works where the plane of expression is not equal to the plane of content, that is, everything said or presented has second, third, etc. d. semantic layers. For example, in M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “The Cliff,” the speech, of course, is not about a cliff and a cloud. Where the plans of expression and content are inseparable or even identical, the analysis of points of view does not work. For example, in jewelry or abstract painting.

To a first approximation, we can say that “point of view” has at least two spectrums of meaning: firstly, it spatial localization, that is, the definition of the place from which the narration is being conducted. If we compare a writer with a cinematographer, then we can say that in in this case we will be interested in where the movie camera was: close, far, above or below, and so on. The same fragment of reality will look very different depending on the change in point of view. The second range of values ​​is the so-called subjective localization, that is, we will be interested in whose consciousness the scene is seen. Summarizing numerous observations, Percy Lubbock identified two main types of narrative: panoramic(when the author directly shows yours consciousness) and stage(we are not talking about dramaturgy, it means that the author’s consciousness is “hidden” in the characters, the author does not openly manifest himself). According to Lubbock and his followers (N. Friedman, K. Brooks, etc.), the stage method is aesthetically preferable, since it does not impose anything, but only shows. This position, however, can be challenged, since the classic “panoramic” texts of L. N. Tolstoy, for example, have enormous aesthetic potential for impact.

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

Uspensky B. A. Poetics of composition. St. Petersburg, 2000. P. 10.

Lyrical composition analysis

The composition of a lyrical work has a number of distinctive features. Most of the perspectives we have identified there 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, 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, the lyrics have many features of figurative composition. Lyrical images are constructed and grouped differently than epic and dramatic ones. A detailed conversation about 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 sample tests. Modern students have at their disposal 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 artistic space in a literary work.”

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

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

Markevich G. Basic problems of the science of literature. M., 1980. pp. 86–112.

Revyakin A.I. Problems of studying and teaching literature. M., 1972. pp. 137–153.

Rodnyanskaya I. B. Artistic time and artistic space // Literary encyclopedic dictionary. M., 1987. pp. 487–489.

Modern foreign literary criticism. Encyclopedic reference book. M., 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. (Topics 12, 13, 16–20, 29.)

Uspensky B. A. Poetics of composition. St. Petersburg, 2000.

Fedotov O.I. Fundamentals of the theory of literature. Part 1. M., 2003. pp. 253–255.

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

Composition (Latin Compositio - composition, combination, creation, construction) is the plan of a work, the relationship of its parts, the relationship of images, paintings, episodes. A work of fiction should have as many characters, episodes, scenes as necessary to reveal the content. A. Chekhov advised young writers to write in such a way that the reader, without the author’s explanation, could understand what was happening from the conversations, actions, and actions of the characters.

An essential quality of a composition is accessibility. A work of art should not contain unnecessary pictures, scenes, or episodes. L. Tolstoy compared a work of art to a living organism. “In a real work of art - poetry, drama, painting, song, symphony - you cannot take one verse, one bar out of its place and put it on another without violating the meaning of this work, just as it is impossible not to violate the life of an organic being if you take it out one organ from its place and insert into another." According to K. Fedin, composition is the "logic of the development of the theme." When reading a work of art, we must feel where, at what time, the hero lives, where the center of events is, which of them the most important and which ones are less important.

A prerequisite for composition is perfection. L. Tolstoy wrote that the main thing in art is not to say anything superfluous. A writer must depict the world by spending as much as possible less words. No wonder A. Chekhov called brevity the sister of talent. The talent of a writer is found in the mastery of composition of a work of art.

There are two types of composition - event-plot and non-story, non-story or descriptive. The event type of composition is characteristic of most epic and dramatic works. The composition of epic and dramatic works has hourly space and cause-and-effect forms. The event type of composition can have three forms: chronological, retrospective and free (montage).

V. Lesik notes that the essence of the chronological form of an event composition “lies in the fact that events... go one after another in chronological order - the way they happened in life. There may be temporary distances between individual actions or pictures, but there is no violation natural sequence in time: what happened earlier in life, and in the work, is presented earlier, and not after subsequent events. Consequently, there is no arbitrary movement of events, no violation of the direct movement of time."

The peculiarity of a retrospective composition is that the writer does not adhere to chronological sequence. The author can talk about the motives, reasons for events, actions after they have been carried out. The sequence in the presentation of events may be interrupted by the memories of the characters.

The essence of the free (montage) form of event composition is associated with violations of cause-and-effect and spatial relationships between events. The connection between episodes is often associative-emotional rather than logical-semantic in nature. The montage composition is typical of 20th century literature. This type of composition was used in Yu. Japanese's novel "Riders". Here the storylines are connected at the associative level.

A variation of the event type of composition is event-narrative. Its essence lies in the fact that the same event is told by the author, narrator, storyteller, and characters. The event-narrative form of the composition is characteristic of lyrical-epic works.

The descriptive type of composition is typical for lyrical works. “The basis for the construction of a lyrical work,” notes V. Lesik, “is not the system or development of events..., but the organization of lyrical components - emotions and impressions, the sequence of presentation of thoughts, the order of transition from one impression to another, from one sensory image to another "." Lyrical works describe the impressions, feelings, experiences of the lyrical hero.

Yu. Kuznetsov in the “Literary Encyclopedia” distinguishes plot-closed and open composition. The plot is closed, characteristic of folklore, works of ancient and classic literature (three repetitions, happy endings in fairy tales, alternation of choir performances and episodes in ancient Greek tragedy). “The composition is open in plot,” notes Yu. Kuznetsov, “devoid of a clear outline, proportions, flexible, taking into account the genre-style opposition that arises in specific historical conditions literary process. In particular, in sentimentalism (Sternivska composition) and in romanticism, when open works became the negation of closed ones, classicistic...”

What does the composition depend on, what factors determine its features? The originality of the composition is primarily due to the design of the work of art. Panas Mirny, having familiarized himself with the life story of the robber Gnidka, set himself the goal of explaining what caused the protest against the landowners. First, he wrote a story called “Chipka,” in which he showed the conditions for the formation of the hero’s character. Subsequently, the writer expanded the concept of the work, demanded complex composition, this is how the novel “Do oxen roar when the manger is full?” appeared.

The features of the composition are determined by the literary direction. Classicists demanded three unities from dramatic works (unity of place, time and action). Events in a dramatic work were supposed to take place over the course of a day, grouped around one hero. The Romantics portrayed exceptional characters in exceptional circumstances. Nature was often shown during natural disasters (storms, floods, thunderstorms); they often occurred in India, Africa, the Caucasus, and the East.

The composition of a work is determined by its genus, type and genre; lyrical works are based on the development of thoughts and feelings. Lyrical works are small in size, their composition is arbitrary, most often associative. In a lyrical work, the following stages of development of feeling can be distinguished:

a) the initial moment (observation, impressions, thoughts or state that became the impetus for the development of feelings);

b) development of feelings;

c) climax (the highest tension in the development of feelings);

In the poem by V. Simonenko “Swans of Motherhood”:

a) the starting point is to sing a lullaby to your son;

b) development of feelings - the mother dreams about the fate of her son, how he will grow up, go on a journey, meet friends, his wife;

c) climax - the mother’s opinion about the possible death of her son in a foreign land;

d) summary - You don’t choose your homeland; what makes a person is love for their native land.

Russian literary critic V. Zhirmunsky identifies seven types of composition of lyrical works: anaphoristic, amoebaic, epiphoristic, refrain, ring, spiral, junction (epanastrophe, epanadiplosis), pointe.

Anaphoristic composition is typical for works that use anaphora.

You have renounced your native language. You

Your land will stop giving birth,

Green branch in a pocket on a willow tree,

It fades from your touch.

You have renounced your native language. Zaros

Your path disappeared into a nameless potion...

You don't have tears at funerals,

You don't have a song at your wedding.

(D. Pavlychko)

V. Zhirmunsky considers anaphora an indispensable component of amoebaic composition, but in many works it is absent. Characterizing this type of composition, I. Kachurovsky notes that its essence is not in anaphora, “but in the identity of the syntactic structure, replica or counter-replica of two interlocutors, or in a certain pattern of roll call of two choirs." "I. Kachurovsky finds an illustration of the amoebaic composition in the work German romantic Ludwig Uland:

Have you seen the tall castle,

A castle over the sea shire?

The clouds float quietly

Pink and gold above it.

Into the mirror-like, peaceful waters

He would like to bow down

And rise into the evening clouds

Into their radiant ruby.

I saw a tall castle

Castle over the sea world.

Hail the deep fog

And a month stood over him.

(Translation by Michael Orestes)

The amoebaine composition is most common in the tenzons and pastorals of the troubadours.

Epiphoristic composition is characteristic of poems with epiphoristic endings.

Breaks, kinks and fractures...

They broke our spine in circles.

Understand, my brother, finally:

Before heart attacks

We had them - don’t touch them!

Heart attacks of souls... heart attacks of souls!

There were ulcers, like infections,

There were images to the point of disgust -

This is disgusting, my brother.

So leave it, go and don’t touch it.

We all have crazy minds:

Heart attacks of souls... heart attacks of souls!

In this bed, in this bed

In this scream to the ceiling,

Oh, don't touch us, my brother,

Don't touch paralytics!

We all have crazy minds:

Heart attacks of souls... heart attacks of souls!

(Yu. Shkrobinets)

A refrain composition consists of the repetition of a group of words or lines.

How quickly everything in life goes by.

And happiness will only flicker with its wing -

And he's no longer here...

How quickly everything in life goes by,

Is this our fault? -

It's all the metronome's fault.

How quickly everything in life goes by...

And happiness will only flicker with its wing.

(Lyudmila Rzhegak)

I. Kachurovsky considers the term “ring” to be unfortunate. “Where better,” he notes, “is a cyclic composition. The scientific name of this remedy is anadiplosis composition. Moreover, in cases where anadiplosis is limited to any one stanza, this refers not to composition, but to stylistics.” Anadiplosis how compositional agent It can be complete or partial, when part of a stanza is repeated, when the same words are in a changed order, when some of them are replaced by synonyms. The following options are also possible: not the first stanza is repeated, but the second, or the poet gives the first stanza as the final one.

Evening sun, thank you for the day!

Evening sun, thank you for being tired.

The forests are silent, enlightened

Eden and cornflower in golden rye.

For your dawn, and for my zenith,

and for my burnt zeniths.

Because tomorrow wants greens,

For what oddzvenity managed to do yesterday.

Heaven in the sky, for children's laughter.

For what I can and for what I must,

Evening sun, thank you all,

who did not defile the soul in any way.

For the fact that tomorrow awaits its inspiration.

That somewhere in the world blood has not yet been shed.

Evening sun, thank you for the day,

For this need, words are like prayers.

(P. Kostenko)

The spiral composition creates either a “chain” stanza (terzina), or stropho-genres (rondo, rondel, triolet), i.e. acquires stanza-creative and genre characteristics.

I. Kachurovsky considers the name of the seventh type of composition indecent. A more acceptable name, in his opinion, is epanastrophe, epanadiplosis. A work where the repetition of rhyme when two adjacent stanzas collide has a compositional character is E. Pluzhnik’s poem “Kanev”. Each twelve-Shova stanza of the poem consists of three quatrains with rhymes that move from quatrain to quatrain, the last verse of each of these twelve verses rhymes with the first poem as follows:

And the time and fatness will begin in their homes

Electricity: and the newspaper rustled

Where once the prophet and poet

The great spirit behind the darkness has dried up

And will be reborn in millions of masses,

And not only from the portrait,

The competition of immortals is a symbol and sign,

Apostle of truth, peasant Taras.

And since my dozen phrases

In the boring collection of an anchorite,

As the times to come show off,

On the shores lies indifferent Lethe...

And the days will become like the lines of a sonnet,

Perfect...

The essence of the pointe composition is that the poet leaves the interesting and essential part of the work for last. It could be unexpected turn thoughts or conclusion from the entire previous text. The means of pointe composition is used in the sonnet, the last poem of which should be the quintessence of the work.

Exploring lyrical and lyrical-epic works, I. Kachurovsky found three more types of composition: simplocial, gradational and main.

I. Kachurovsky calls a composition in the form of a simplocal simplocial.

Tomorrow on earth

Other people walking

Other people love -

Kind, affectionate and evil.

(V. Simonenko)

Gradational composition with such types as descending climax, growing climax, broken climax is quite common in poetry.

The gradation composition was used by V. Misik in the poem “Modernity”.

Yes, perhaps, even during Boyan’s time

It's spring time

And the rains fell on the youth,

And the clouds moved in from Tarashche,

And the hawks flew over the horizon,

And the cymbals echoed loudly,

And in Prolis the cymbals are blue

We peered into the heavenly strange clarity.

Everything is as it was then. Where is it, modernity?

It is in the main thing: in you.

The main composition is typical for wreaths of sonnets and folk poetry. IN epic works tells about the lives of people over a period of time. In novels and stories, events and characters are revealed in detail and comprehensively.

Such works may have several storylines. In small works (stories, novellas), there are few plot lines, few characters, situations and circumstances are depicted succinctly.

Dramatic works are written in the form of dialogue, they are based on action, they are small in size, because most of them are intended to be staged. In dramatic works there are stage directions that perform service function- give an idea of ​​the location of the action, characters, advice to artists, but are not included in the artistic fabric of the work.

The composition of a work of art also depends on the characteristics of the artist’s talent. Panas Mirny used complex plots, digressions of a historical nature. In the works of I. Nechuy-Levitsky, events develop in chronological order, the writer draws detailed portraits of heroes and nature. Let's remember "Kaidashev's family". In the works of I.S. Turgenev, events develop slowly, Dostoevsky uses unexpected plot moves and accumulates tragic episodes.

The composition of the works is influenced by folklore traditions. The fables of Aesop, Phaedrus, Lafontaine, Krylov, Glebov “The Wolf and the Lamb” are based on the same folklore plot, and after the plot there is a moral. In Aesop's fable it sounds like this: “The fable proves that even a just defense has no power for those who undertake to do injustice.” Phaedrus ends the fable with the words: “This tale was written about people who seek to destroy the innocent by deception.” The fable “The Wolf and the Lamb” by L. Glebov begins, on the contrary, with a moral:

It has been going on in the world for a long time,

The lower he bends before the highest,

And more than a smaller party and even beats