Correct this definition of the idea of ​​the work. Artwork idea. Types of Ideas in a Literary Text

In literary works, the term " topic"has two main interpretations:

1)topic- (from other Greek thema - that which is the basis) the subject of the image, those facts and phenomena of life that the writer captured in his work;

2) main problem set in the work.

Often these two meanings are combined in the concept of "theme". So, in the "Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary" the following definition is given: "Theme is a circle of events that form the lifeblood of epic and dramatic works and at the same time serve to pose philosophical, social, epic and other ideological problems" (Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary. Edited by Kozhevnikov V.M., Nikolaeva P.A. - M., 1987, p. 347).

It is necessary to clearly distinguish between the concepts of "theme", "problem", "idea", and - most importantly - the "levels" of artistic content behind them, avoiding duplication of terms.

The theme is object of artistic reflection, those life characters and situations, as well as the interaction of a person with society as a whole, with nature, life, etc., which, as it were, pass from reality into a work and form objective side its content. Subject in this sense - everything that has become the subject of the author's interest, understanding and evaluation. Topic acts as a link between primary reality and artistic reality(that is, it seems to belong to both worlds at once: the real and the artistic).

The analysis of the topic focuses on on the writer's selection of the facts of reality as the initial moment of the author's concept works. Sometimes unjustifiably much attention is paid to the topic, as if the main thing in a work of art is the reality that is reflected in it, while in fact the center of gravity of a meaningful analysis should lie in a completely different plane: not that author reflected, but how did you comprehend reflected. An exaggerated attention to the subject can turn a conversation about literature into a conversation about the reality reflected in a work of art, and this is far from always necessary and fruitful. (If we consider “Eugene Onegin” or “Dead Souls” only as an illustration of the life of the nobility of the early 19th century, then all literature turns into an illustration for a history textbook. This ignores the aesthetic specificity of works, the originality of the author’s view of reality, and the special meaningful tasks of literature) .

It is wrong to give priority to the analysis of the subject matter because, as already noted, it is the objective side of the content, and, consequently, the author's individuality, his subjective approach to reality, cannot be fully manifested at this level of content. The author's subjectivity and individuality at the level of topics are expressed only in selection of life phenomena, which, of course, does not yet make it possible to seriously talk about the artistic originality of this particular work. To simplify a little, we can say that the theme of the work is determined by the answer to the question: “What is this work about?”. But from the fact that the work is devoted to the theme of love, the theme of war, etc. you can get not so much information about the unique originality of the text (especially since quite often a significant number of writers turn to similar topics).

It should be noted that in a particular artistic whole it is necessary to distinguish between the actual reflection object(topic) and image object(a specific situation drawn by the author). Consider a typical error of this kind. The theme of the comedy A.S. Griboedov's "Woe from Wit" is often defined as "Chatsky's conflict with the Famus society", while this is just a subject of the image. Chatsky and the Famus society are invented by Griboedov, but the theme cannot be completely invented, it, as indicated, “comes” into artistic reality from the reality of life. In order to “get out” directly on the topic, you need to open characters, embodied in characters. Then the definition of the theme will sound somewhat different: the conflict between the progressive, enlightened and serf-owning, ignorant nobility in Russia in the 10-20s of the XIX century.

The difference between the object of reflection and the subject of the image is very clearly visible in works with conditionally-fantastic imagery. It cannot be said that in the fable of I.A. Krylov "The Wolf and the Lamb" the theme is the conflict between the Wolf and the Lamb, that is, the life of animals. In a fable, this absurdity is easy to feel, and therefore its theme is usually defined correctly: this is the relationship of the strong, having power, and the defenseless.

When analyzing topics, it is traditional to distinguish between topics specific historical And eternal.

Specific historical topics- these are characters and circumstances born and conditioned by a certain socio-historical situation in a particular country; they do not repeat beyond the given time. Such, for example, are the theme of the “superfluous person” in Russian literature of the 19th century, the theme of the Great Patriotic War, etc. Eternal themes fix recurring moments in the history of various national societies, in the life of different generations (themes of friendship and love, relationships between generations, the theme of the Motherland, etc.)

Situations are not uncommon when a single theme is organically combines both concrete historical and eternal aspects, equally important for the understanding of the work: this happens, for example, in “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky, "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev, "Master and Margarita" M.A. Bulgakov, etc.

In those cases where the concrete historical aspect of the topic is analyzed, such an analysis should be as historically specific as possible. In order to be specific about the subject matter, it is necessary to pay attention to three options: proper social(class, group, social movement), temporal(at the same time, it is desirable to perceive the corresponding era at least in its main defining trends) and National. Only the exact designation of all three parameters will allow us to satisfactorily analyze the concrete historical theme.

There are works in which not one, but several themes can be singled out. Their totality is called topics. Side thematic lines usually "work" for the main one, enrich its sound, help to understand it better.

The term " problem”(from other Greek problema - task, task) has a meaning in literary criticism similar to that in which it is used in various fields of science. A problem is a theoretical or practical issue that needs to be resolved, researched.

In literary works, the following definitions are found: “ Issues(ancient Greek problema - something thrown forward, i.e. isolated from other aspects of life) - this is the ideological understanding by the writer of those social characters that he depicted in the work. The meaning of this lies in the fact that the writer highlights And reinforces those properties of characters that he, based on his ideological worldview, considers the most significant ”(Introduction to literary criticism. Edited by G.N. Pospelov - M., 1976, p. 77)

Unlike the themes, the problematic is the subjective side of the artistic content, therefore, the author's individuality, the original author's view of the world, or, as L.N. wrote, is maximally manifested in it. Tolstoy, “the original moral attitude of the author to the subject” (Tolstoy L.N. Preface to the writings of Guy de Maupassant / / Complete collection of works. In 90 vols. Vol. 30 - M., 1951). The number of topics provided to the writer by objective reality is involuntarily limited, so it is not uncommon for works by different authors to be written on the same or similar topic. But there are no two major writers whose works would completely coincide in their problems.

In other words, under issues work of art in literary criticism is usually understood as area of ​​comprehension, understanding by the writer of the reflected reality. This is the sphere in which the author's concept of the world and man is manifested, where the thoughts and experiences of the writer are captured, where the topic is considered from a certain angle. At the level of problems, the reader is, as it were, offered a dialogue, this or that system of values ​​is discussed, questions are raised, artistic “arguments” are given for and against one or another life orientation.

Naturally, the issue requires increased activity from the reader: if he takes the topic for granted, then he can and should have his own thoughts about the issue, agreement or disagreement, reflections and experiences, guided by the thoughts and experiences of the author, but not entirely identical.

In many cases, the creations of verbal art become multi-problematic.

Literary scholars offer various classifications of problems. In particular, in the work of the modern researcher A.B. Yesin, Pospelov's classification was clarified and supplemented, as a result of which the following types of problems were identified: "mythological", "national", "sociocultural", "novel" (where "adventurous" and "ideological and moral" are distinguished as subtypes), "philosophical ".

It should be noted that the problems of many specific works often appear in their typologically pure form (Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tales are socio-cultural, Pushkin's Poltava is national, etc.). Other types of problems do not play a significant role in the content of these works. But often there are also works that combine two, less often three or four problematic types. Thus, ideological-moral and socio-cultural issues are combined in "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin, in the dramas of A.N. Ostrovsky; the combination of national and ideological and moral issues is typical for the poem by A.S. Pushkin "The Bronze Horseman".

When analyzing, it should be borne in mind that different types of problems do not always exist in a work “on an equal footing”. So, for example, in the story of N.V. Gogol's "Taras Bulba", along with the leading national type, there are also novelistic aspects of the problematic associated with Andriy's love for a Pole. To a certain extent, they create a meaningful originality of the story. But in the general artistic structure of the work, these aspects undoubtedly occupy a subordinate position. With the help of the novel conflict, the sharpness of the national conflict is emphasized, the drama of this side of the content is enhanced.

As the third structural component of the content, along with themes and problems, they call idea.

Idea- (from other Greek idea - concept, representation) - is usually considered as the main idea of ​​the work; the attitude of the author to the depicted phenomena of life, their assessment; « generalizing, emotional, figurative thought underlying the work of art” (Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary. Edited by V. M. Kozhevnikov, P. A. Nikolaev – M., 1987, p. 114).

The variety of formulations is associated with the complexity of the concept itself, which does not allow for simplified interpretations and cannot be unambiguously interpreted. The point of view of those literary critics who believe that it is necessary to speak not only about actually the idea(that is, a certain thought that the author wanted to convey to readers), but also about author's rating system(the attitude of the creator of a literary text to the depicted phenomenon), author's ideal(the idea of ​​the standard of human relations, of what a person should be, etc.) and pathos works (dominant emotional tone or emotional mood) (Esin A.B. Principles and methods of analyzing a literary work. - M., 1999, pp. 57 - 72). Along with this, scientists talk about the possibility of using the definition of "the ideological concept of the work" or "the ideological world", which means the whole set of thoughts and feelings expressed in the text in a figurative form and reflecting the author's attitude to the reality depicted by him.

If the topic is the area of ​​reflection of reality, and the problematic is the area of ​​raising questions, then idea world- the area of ​​artistic decisions, this is a kind of "completion" of artistic content. This is the area where the author's attitude to the world and to its individual manifestations, the author's position becomes clear; here a certain system of values ​​is affirmed or denied, rejected by the author.

The first and most obvious manifestation of the author's position is the system author's ratings. Any artistic image is not a mechanical copy; an active author's biased and selective attitude towards the depicted is introduced into it. Quite often, the system of author's assessments in a literary work is understandable without special analysis (For example, it is quite obvious that the author of the comedy "Undergrowth" D.I. Fonvizin positively evaluates the characters of Pravdin, Starodum, Milon, Sophia and negatively – Skotinin, Prostakova, Mitrofanushka; L. Tolstoy's positive attitude towards a family based on love is clearly manifested, and his negative attitude towards war as a matter "against human nature", etc.)

At the same time, quite often there is a complex author's assessment of one character or another. This is due to the fact that the characters themselves are ambiguous, contain opposite tendencies that cannot be assessed only with a plus or minus sign. Such are the characters (and, of course, character assessments) of Onegin and Lensky, Pechorin, Raskolnikov and many other literary characters.

The basis for the author's rating system is author's ideal- the writer's idea of ​​the highest norm of human relations, of a person who embodies the author's dreams of what a person should be. It must be said at once that the author's ideal is embodied in a work directly and directly only in rare cases. Much more often, the reader has to "reconstruct" the author's ideal as part of the ideological world of the work, comparing positive and negative assessments, since not every positive character is the author's ideal.

Very often (especially in the works of critical realism) the author's ideal is constructed from the contrary - it is directly opposite to the reality depicted in the work ("Dead Souls" and "The Government Inspector" by N.V. Gogol, fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, etc. ).

Another component of the ideological world of the work is artistic idea- the main generalizing thought or system of thoughts (in the latter case, they sometimes talk about the ideological sound or ideological intent of the work). Sometimes an idea or one of the ideas is directly formulated by the author himself in the text of the work - for example, in L. Tolstoy's "War and Peace": "There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth." Sometimes the author, as it were, "entrusts" the right to express an idea to one of the characters (M. Gorky puts the phrase into the mouth of the heroine of the story "Old Woman Izergil": "There is always a place for a feat in life").

But most often the idea is not formulated in the text of the work, but, as it were, permeates its entire structure. In this case, the idea requires analytical work for its manifestation. When isolating an idea, it must be remembered that it is the result of generalization, abstraction, and therefore inevitably straightens and somewhat simplifies the lively and rich artistic meaning. As L.N. Tolstoy, the idea formulated by the critic is “one of the truths that can be told” (Letter to N.N. Strakhov dated April 23 and 26, 1876) (L.N. Tolstoy. Complete collection of works. In 90 vols. Vol. 62 - M., 1953, p. 268). In other words, a work of art as a whole is always richer than a rational idea.

Along with the idea, one of the components of the artistic world of the work is pathos. In a number of cases (this is especially true for lyrical works, although not only them, but in general all of them, which are distinguished by a high and pronounced emotional intensity), there is simply no need to rationally single out an idea, since it practically dissolves in pathos. It is no coincidence that B. G. Belinsky wrote that “a poetic idea is not a syllogism, not a dogma, not a rule, it is a living passion, it is pathos” (Complete collection of works in 13 vols. V.7 - M ., 1955, p. 312). In this way, pathos can be defined as the leading emotional tone of the work, its emotional mood.

Plot and conflict

Plot(from French sujet - subject, topic) – a chain of events depicted in a literary work, that is, the life of characters in its spatio-temporal changes, in positions and circumstances replacing each other. The events recreated by the writers form, along with the characters, the basis objective world work and thus an integral "link" of its form.

The plot is the organizing principle of most dramatic and epic (narrative) works. It can also be significant in the lyrical genre of literature (although, as a rule, here it is sparingly detailed and extremely compact): “The Prophet”, “Anchar” by A.S. Pushkin, etc.

The plot, as a rule, comes to the fore in the text of the work, determines its construction (composition) and completely focuses the reader's attention on itself. It is no coincidence that in everyday speech the plot is often identified with the content of the work. In response to someone's request to recall the content of the work, the events that happened to the hero are often recounted. But such a retelling is by no means a disclosure of content, it only briefly denotes a plot that belongs to the field of artistic form (or is considered a content-formal element).

Like other aspects of the form, the plot expresses the ideological and thematic concept of the work: the artistic thought of the writer is embodied in the course of events. The plot has a unique range of content functions. Firstly, it (along with the system of characters) reveals and characterizes the connections of a person with his environment, thereby his place in reality and destiny, and therefore captures picture of the world: the writer's vision of life as full of meaning, giving food for hope, spiritual enlightenment and joy, or, on the contrary, as hopeless, conducive to spiritual darkness and despair.

Secondly, the plots reveal and directly recreate life's contradictions. Without any conflict in the lives of heroes (long-term or short-term) it is difficult to imagine a sufficiently pronounced plot. Characters in the course of events, as a rule, experience dissatisfaction with something, a desire to get something, achieve something, suffer defeats or win victories, etc.

Thirdly, the series of events create a field of action for the characters, allow them to reveal themselves in a diverse and full way to the readers in their actions, as well as in their emotional and mental responses to what is happening. Through plots, writers often reproduce the processes of the formation of characters. It is no coincidence that M. Gorky, speaking about the plot as a system of relationships between the characters, about their likes and dislikes, described it as “a story of growth and organization of one character or another” (Conversation with the Young. Collected works. Vol. 27 - M., 1953 , p.215).

Plots are made up mainly of the actions of the characters. Action- this is a manifestation of emotions, thoughts and intentions of a person in his actions, movements, spoken words, gestures, facial expressions.

Literature known different types of action. In some cases, the plot is based on the depiction of the decisive actions of the characters, on turning, "nodal" moments in their lives. The action is executed external dynamics: in its process and as a result, the relationship between the characters, their personal fate or social status somehow change. In other cases, events act primarily as reasons for the thoughts and experiences of the characters. The characters at the same time show their thoughts and feelings in behavior, words, gestures, facial expressions, but do nothing that would bring noticeable external changes into their lives. And the dynamics of the action turns out to be par excellence internal: in the course of events, it is not so much the position of the heroes that undergoes changes, but their psychological state.

Plots with a predominance of external action are based mainly on ups and downs the course of events. This term denotes sudden and abrupt shifts in the fate of the characters - all kinds of turns from happiness to misfortune, from good luck to failure, or in the opposite direction.

The vicissitudes (along with the content function that was discussed) have another purpose: to make the work entertaining. Turning events in the lives of the characters, sometimes purely accidental (along with the accompanying silence about what happened earlier and spectacular “recognitions”), arouse in the reader an increased interest in the further development of the action, and thereby in the reading process: he wants to know what will happen to hero further and how it will end.

Setting on entertaining event intricacies is inherent in both literature of a purely entertaining nature (detectives, most of the “grassroots”, mass literature), and serious, classical literature (“The Young Lady-Peasant Woman”, “Snowstorm” by A.S. Pushkin, “Crime and Punishment »F.M. Dostoevsky, etc.).

The most important function of the plot is the detection of life's contradictions, that is, conflicts. Conflicts are an important aspect of epic and dramatic works. The properties of plot conflicts are determined by the problems of writers' creativity.

In works with the "pathos of sociality" (V.G. Belinsky), conflicts are recognized and portrayed as the product of specific historical situations. Here contradictions and clashes between different social groups, strata, classes or nations, states are often accentuated. Such are “The Tale of Igor's Campaign”, “Boris Godunov” by A.S. Pushkin and others.

Social contradictions in these works are embodied directly and openly, they are present here as conflicts. general. However, social contradictions can be captured in the plots indirectly and indirectly, refracted in the personal relationships of the characters, in conflicts. private (“The Stationmaster” by A.S. Pushkin, “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev).

At the formal level, several types of conflicts should be distinguished. The simplest one is conflict between individual characters or groups of characters(“Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboyedov, “The Stationmaster” by A.S. Pushkin, etc.). A more complex type of conflict is confrontation between the hero and the way of life, personality and environment(social, everyday, cultural, etc.) The hero here is not opposed by anyone in particular, he does not have an opponent with whom he would have to fight and defeat, thereby resolving the conflict (A striking example of a work depicting just this type of conflict is "The Cherry Orchard" by A.P. Chekhov). (Esin A.B.Principles and methods of analysis of a literary work. - M., 1999, p.144).

The relationship between conflicts in the lives of characters and the course of events can be different. Often the conflict is fully embodied and exhausts itself in the course of the events depicted. It arises, escalates and is resolved, as it were, before the eyes of readers, thanks to the active actions of the characters. This is conflict local ”, closed, taking place against the backdrop of a conflict-free situation.

Local and transient conflicts are within the plot. Along with them, there are other types of conflicts. In a number of epic and dramatic works, events unfold on sustainable , constant conflict background . The contradictions to which the writer draws attention exist both before the beginning of the events depicted, and in the course of their course, and after their completion.

Stable conflict situations are inherent in almost most of the plots of realistic literature of the 19th-20th centuries. In this case, the writer draws “a persistently conflicted existence, and no real practical actions that can resolve this conflict are unthinkable. Conventionally, this type of conflict can be called unresolvable in this period of time ”(Esin A.B. Principles and methods of analyzing a literary work. - M., 1999, p. 145).

In addition to these types of conflicts, there are more conflicts external And internal (psychological) . In the first case, the writer depicts the hero's collision with external circumstances (other people, animals, forces of nature, etc.), in the second, those processes that occur in the soul of the character who is forced to wage a "struggle" with himself. External and internal conflicts are often combined.

It follows from the foregoing that the content of the work is not monosyllabic and not one-component. To determine this complexity and multi-layeredness, the concepts proposed above are used - topics, problems and ideological and emotional assessment.

When analyzing a work, the term “idea” is often encountered. At the same time, the idea, understood as an emotionally generalizing thought, is associated with the comprehension and evaluation of characters. This opinion requires clarification. If we talk about an idea, then we must keep in mind that its essence primarily depends on what social characters the author chooses due to the peculiarities of his ideological worldview. The comprehension of characters in artistic creativity is the selection and strengthening of those properties and aspects of their life that exist in these characters themselves. Emotional evaluation - the attitude of the writer to these characters, expressed through their image. This means that all aspects of the ideological content of a work of art - the subject, problems and ideological assessment - are in organic unity. Therefore, they cannot be separated, but can and should be distinguished in the process of analyzing a separate work. Follow-

Consequently, the idea of ​​a literary work is the unity of all aspects of its content; this is a figurative, emotional, generalizing thought of the writer, manifested both in the choice, and in the comprehension, and in the assessment of the characters.

When analyzing a work, it should also be borne in mind that the writer, highlighting, strengthening, developing the aspects of interest to him in the characters' characters, is not limited to this, but reveals in one way or another in his image other aspects of the characters, although less significant for him. Such completeness of character typification creates the ground for rethinking the ideas of works in subsequent periods, as well as for different interpretations of them by critics. With different interpretations of the same works, we meet very often.

So, for example, in the novels of Pushkin, Lermontov and Herzen, characters are depicted taken from the environment of the noble intelligentsia of the 20-30s and early 40s of the last century. When depicting these characters, somewhat different, but mostly similar to each other, it was important for all three writers to show the disappointment, criticism of the heroes, deep dissatisfaction with their surrounding life, the desire to oppose themselves to the conservative noble environment.

In the new period of Russian public life, in the 1960s, the revolutionary democrats understood the development of Russian society in their own way. N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?” otherwise realized the essence of the same characters. The critic focused not on those aspects of these characters that were formed by the ideological and moral atmosphere of the 20-30s, but on those that were determined by the general conditions of the social life of noble youth - on spoiledness, passivity, inability to work, lack of interest in folk life. According to these signs, he brought Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov closer to Oblomov and called all these properties of their characters “Oblomovism”. Such an understanding stemmed from the revolutionary-democratic worldview of Dobrolyubov, who, in the conditions of the ideological and political struggle of the 60s and the decisive demarcation between liberals and democrats, sharply criticized the liberal noble intelligentsia and understood that it could no longer play a leading ideological role.

The ideological comprehension by the writer of the characters portrayed and the ideological and emotional assessment that follows from it represent, in their unity, active

The trend of works of art is always expressed in images. But it also happens that the writer nevertheless expresses in his works a lot of abstract judgments, explaining his figurative thought, explaining his intention. Such are Chernyshevsky's abstract reasoning in What Is To Be Done? or L. Tolstoy in War and Peace. This happens because art is not fenced off by an impenetrable wall from other types of social consciousness. A writer is never just an artist - a "pure" artist, as philosophers and critics have expressed, seeking to tear art away from social life. The writer always has such social views that are expressed in general, abstract concepts - political, philosophical, moral, religious, etc.

These views often contain a very abstract understanding of the prospects for socio-historical development, the writer's abstract ideals. Quite often, writers are so carried away by their general, abstract convictions that they strive to express them in their works - either on their own behalf, or on behalf of the narrator, or in the reasoning of the characters. Hence - in the work, along with its main, figurative, artistic tendency, sometimes rational tendentiousness arises. Often the writer explains with its help the ideological and emotional orientation of his work, sometimes coming into conflict with it. The characters whom the writer instructs to express their general abstract reasoning are called "reasoners" (fr. raisonner - to reason).

Engels has a convincing explanation of this question. In a letter to M. Kautskaya, evaluating her story "Old and New", he reproaches the writer for idealizing her positive characters, that in one of them, Arnold, "personality ... dissolves in principle." “Obviously,” Engels notes, “you felt the need to publicly declare your convictions in this book, to testify to them before the whole world.” “I am by no means,” he writes further, “not against tendentious poetry as such.<...>But I think that the trend should in itself follow from the circumstances.

ki and actions, it should not be emphasized, and the writer is not obliged to present the reader in a finished form with the future historical resolution of the social conflicts he depicts” (5, 333).

This means that Engels considered the resonant speeches of the characters in the work, in which his tendency is "particularly emphasized," to be a shortcoming of the work, to the detriment of its artistry. In true art, the ideological orientation of a work in itself follows from all the relationships, actions, experiences of the characters (“from the situation and action”) and from all means of its depiction and expressiveness.

K. Marx and F. Engels found a similar feature in the tragedy of F. Lassalle "Franz von Sickingen", which they evaluated in their letters to the author. So, Marx reproached Lassalle for writing his tragedy "in Schiller's way", turning individuals into "mere mouthpieces of the zeitgeist" (i.e., forcing his heroes to talk too long and abstractly about the problems characteristic of their era), and indicated that he needed "to a greater extent Shakespeare"(i.e., write like Shakespeare, in whose tragedies the ideological tendency arises from the very course of events, and there are no resonant statements) (4, 484).

But, of course, the whole point here is the degree of reasoning of the writer and his characters. If it is small, if the speeches of the characters, explaining the trend of the work, fully correspond to the very essence of their social characters and have emotionality, if the personality of the characters is not lost in their statements, does not “dissolve in principle”, then this does not harm the artistry of the work.

If reasoning comes to the fore, if the abstract reasoning of the characters is very long, so that, while reading or listening from the stage, the audience or readers even forget who, for what, under what circumstances, this is said, then the writer violates the laws of artistic creativity, acts as a semi-artist , semi-publicist.

Let's compare two works from this point of view - "Dead Souls" by Gogol and "Resurrection" by L. Tolstoy. Gogol's story tells about the life of landowners and officials whom Chichikov met during the purchase of "dead souls", and statements of the author himself, the so-called

"retreats". Such are his arguments about thick and thin, about servility, about the subtlety of treatment, about which characters are easier to portray, about what kind of enthusiasm people can have. Of particular importance and high emotionality are Gogol's thoughts about the types of writers, his reflections on the fate of Russia. But they do not have rationality and tendentiousness. They are an expression of the feelings and emotional reflections of the writer, which characterize his personality, his attitude to artistic creativity, but in which he does not deliberately seek to explain to readers the ideological orientation of his work.

L. Tolstoy's "Resurrection" is written differently. At the beginning of the novel, as well as in many of his other episodes and scenes, the writer seeks to make readers understand his general views on the essence of human relations, on religion, morality, and on Russian legal proceedings. To do this, he introduces abstract reasoning into the text, explaining to readers the actions of the characters and the author's attitude towards them. Such are his reasoning about the animal and spiritual principles in man (chapter XIV), about the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ, about the meaninglessness of church rituals, about the deception that churchmen subjected human souls (chapter X), about the essence of human character (ch. IX) .

However, in the vast majority of cases, writers do without abstract explanations and even, on the contrary, avoid them. The writer-artist is always interested not in general conclusions that the reader can draw, but in understanding and evaluating social characters in their figurative embodiment. When creating a work, the living personalities of his characters with all the features of their lives appear before the eyes of the author. The writer imagines their actions, relationships, experiences, and he himself is fascinated by the life of the characters depicted.

Therefore, the perception of works of art is very different from the perception of works of a scientific or journalistic nature. The reader usually sincerely succumbs to the illusion that everything depicted in the work is life itself; he is carried away by the actions, the fates of the heroes, experiences their joys, sympathizes with their sufferings, or inwardly condemns them. At the same time, the reader often does not immediately realize what essential features are embodied in the characters and in the entire course of the events depicted, and what significance the details of their actions and experiences have. But these details

are created by the writer in order to elevate the characters of some heroes in the mind of the reader through them and lower the characters of others. Only by rereading the works and thinking about them, the reader can come to the realization of what general properties of life are embodied in certain heroes and how the writer comprehends and evaluates them. Literary criticism often helps him in this.

Idea(gr. ideas- prototype, ideal, idea) - the main idea of ​​the work, expressed through its entire figurative system. It is the way of expression that fundamentally distinguishes the idea of ​​a work of art from a scientific idea. The idea of ​​a work of art is inseparable from its figurative system, therefore it is not so easy to find an adequate abstract expression for it, to formulate it in isolation from the artistic content of the work. L. Tolstoy, emphasizing the inseparability of the idea from the form and content of the novel "Anna Karenina", wrote: "If I wanted to say in words everything that I had in mind to express in a novel, then I would have to write a novel, the very one that I wrote first.

And one more difference between the idea of ​​a work of art and the idea of ​​a scientific one. The latter requires a clear justification and strict, often laboratory, evidence, confirmation. Writers, unlike scientists, do not, as a rule, strive for rigorous proof, although such a tendency can be found among naturalists, in particular E. Zola. It is enough for the artist of the word to pose this or that question of concern to society. In this setting itself, the main ideological content of the work can be concluded. As A. Chekhov noted, in such works as "Anna Karenina" or "Eugene Onegin" not a single issue is "resolved", but nevertheless they are permeated with deep, socially significant ideas that concern everyone.

Close to the concept of "the idea of ​​a work" is the concept of "ideological content". The last term is more connected with the position of the author, with his attitude to the depicted. This attitude may be different, just as the ideas expressed by the author may be different. The position of the author, his ideology is determined primarily by the era in which he lives, the social views inherent in this time, expressed by one or another social group. Enlightenment literature of the 18th century was characterized by high ideological content, due to the desire to reorganize society on the principles of reason, the struggle of enlighteners against the vices of the aristocracy and faith in the virtue of the "third estate". At the same time, aristocratic literature, devoid of high citizenship (Rococo literature), also developed. The latter cannot be called "unprincipled", just the ideas expressed by this trend were the ideas of a class opposite to the enlighteners, a class that was losing historical perspective and optimism. Because of this, the ideas expressed by "precise" (refined, refined) aristocratic literature were devoid of great social resonance.

The ideology of the writer is not reduced only to the thoughts that he puts into his creation. The selection of the material on which the work is based, and a certain circle of characters is also important. The choice of heroes, as a rule, is determined by the corresponding ideological attitudes of the author. For example, the Russian "natural school" of the 1840s, which professed the ideals of social equality, sympathetically depicts the life of the inhabitants of the city "corners" - petty officials, poor bourgeois, janitors, cooks, etc. In Soviet literature, the "real life" comes to the fore. a man, concerned primarily with the interests of the proletariat, sacrificing his personal in the name of the national good.

The problem of correlation in the work of "ideological" and "artistic" seems to be extremely important. Far from always, even outstanding writers succeed in translating the idea of ​​a work into a perfect artistic form. Often, word artists, in their desire to express their exciting ideas as accurately as possible, stray into journalism, begin to "argue" rather than "depict", which, ultimately, only worsens the work. An example of such a situation is R. Rolland's novel "The Enchanted Soul", in which the highly artistic initial chapters contrast with the last ones, which are something like journalistic articles.

In such cases, full-blooded artistic images turn into schemes, into simple mouthpieces of the author's ideas. Even such greatest artists of the word as L. Tolstoy resorted to "direct" expression of the ideas that excited them, although relatively little space is allotted to this method of expression in his works.

Usually a work of art expresses the main idea and a number of minor ones associated with side storylines. So, in the famous tragedy "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles, along with the main idea of ​​​​the work, which says that man is a toy in the hands of the gods, ideas about the attractiveness and at the same time the frailty of human power (the conflict between Oedipus and Creon), about the wise "blindness "(dialogue of the blind Tiresias with the bodily sighted, but spiritually blind Oedipus) and a number of others. It is characteristic that ancient authors tried to express even the deepest thoughts only in artistic form. As for the myth, its artistry without a trace "absorbed" the idea. It is in this connection that many theorists say that the older the work, the more artistic it is. And this is not because the ancient creators of "myths" were more talented, but because they simply had no other way to express their ideas due to the underdevelopment of abstract thinking.

Speaking about the idea of ​​a work, about its ideological content, one should also keep in mind that it is not only created by the author, but can also be introduced by the reader.

A. Frans said that we bring our own meaning to each line of Homer, different from the one that Homer himself put into it. To this, critics of the hermeneutic trend add that the perception of the same work of art is different in different eras. Readers of each new historical period usually "absorb" into the work the dominant ideas of their time. And indeed it is. Didn't they try in Soviet times to fill the novel "Eugene Onegin", based on the "proletarian" ideology dominant at that time, with something that Pushkin did not even think about? In this regard, the interpretation of myths is especially revealing. In them, if desired, you can find any modern idea from political to psychoanalytic. It is no coincidence that Z. Freud saw in the myth of Oedipus a confirmation of his idea about the initial conflict between the son and the father.

The possibility of a broad interpretation of the ideological content of works of art is precisely due to the specifics of the expression of this content. The figurative, artistic embodiment of the idea is not as accurate as the scientific one. This opens up the possibility of a very free interpretation of the idea of ​​the work, as well as the possibility of "reading" into it those ideas that the author did not even think about.

Speaking about the ways of expressing the idea of ​​a work, one cannot fail to mention the doctrine of pathos. V. Belinsky's words are known that "a poetic idea is not a syllogism, not a dogma, not a rule, it is a living passion, it is pathos." And therefore the idea of ​​a work "is not an abstract thought, not a dead form, but a living creation." The words of V. Belinsky confirm what was said above - the idea in a work of art is expressed by specific means, it is "live", and not abstract, not a "syllogism". This is profoundly true. It should only be clarified how the idea nevertheless differs from pathos, because such a difference is not visible in Belinsky's formulation. Paphos is above all a passion, and it is associated with a form of artistic expression. In this regard, they speak of "pathetic" and dispassionate (among naturalists) works. The idea, which is inextricably linked with pathos, still refers more to what is called the content of the work, in particular, they speak of "ideological content". True, this division is relative. Idea and pathos merge together.

Topic(from Greek. theme)- what is put in the basis, the main problem and the main circle of life events depicted by the writer. The theme of the work is inextricably linked with its idea. The selection of vital material, the formulation of problems, that is, the choice of a topic, are dictated by the ideas that the author would like to express in the work. V. Dal in the "Explanatory Dictionary" defined the topic as "a position, a task, about which one is discussing or which is being explained." This definition emphasizes that the theme of a work is, first of all, a statement of a problem, a “task”, and not just certain events. The latter can be the subject of the image and also be defined as the plot of the work. Understanding the "theme" mainly as a "problem" implies its closeness to the concept of the "idea of ​​the work". This connection was noted by Gorky, who wrote that "the theme is an idea that originated in the author's experience, is prompted by life, but nestles in the receptacle of his impressions still unformed, and, requiring embodiment in images, arouses in him the urge to work on its design" . The problematic orientation of the theme is often expressed in the very title of the work, as is the case in the novels What Is To Be Done? or "Who is to blame?". At the same time, one can almost speak of a regularity, which consists in the fact that almost all literary masterpieces have emphatically neutral names, most often repeating the name of the hero: "Faust", "Odyssey", "Hamlet", "The Brothers Karamazov", " Don Quixote", etc.

Emphasizing the close connection between the idea and the theme of a work, one often speaks of "ideological and thematic integrity" or of its ideological and thematic features. Such a combination of two different, but closely related concepts seems to be quite justified.

Along with the term "theme" is often used and close to it in meaning - "theme", which implies the presence in the work of not only the main theme, but also various secondary thematic lines. The larger the work, the wider the coverage of vital material and the more complex the ideological basis, the more such thematic lines. The main theme in I. Goncharov's novel "Cliff" is a story about the dramatic nature of finding one's way in modern society (the line of Faith) and the "cliff" that ends such attempts. The second theme of the novel is noble dilettantism and its detrimental effect on creativity (Raisky's line).

The theme of a work can be both socially significant - that was precisely the theme of "Cliff" for the 1860s - and insignificant, in connection with which sometimes it is said about the "small subject matter" of one or another author. However, it should be borne in mind that some genres, by their very nature, involve "small topics", that is, the absence of socially significant topics. Such, in particular, is the intimate lyrics, to which the concept of "small subject matter" is inapplicable as an evaluative one. For large works, a good choice of theme is one of the main conditions for success. This is clearly seen in the example of A. Rybakov's novel Children of the Arbat, whose unprecedented reader success was ensured primarily by the exposing of Stalinism, which was acute for the second half of the 1980s.

1. Theme, subject matter, problematics of the work.

2. The ideological concept of the work.

3. Paphos and its varieties.

Bibliography

1. Introduction to literary criticism: textbook / ed. L.M. Krupchanov. - M., 2005.

2. Borev Yu.B. Aesthetics. Theory of Literature: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Terms. - M., 2003.

3. Dal V.I. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: in 4 volumes. - M., 1994. - V.4.

4. Esin A.B.

5. Literary encyclopedic dictionary / ed. V.M. Kozhevnikov, P.A. Nikolaev. - M., 1987.

6. Literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts / ed. A.N. Nikolyukin. - M., 2003.

7. Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary / ch. ed. A.M. Prokhorov. - 4th ed. - M., 1989.

Literary critics rightly assert that it is not the hero who gives the literary work a holistic character, but the unity of the problem posed in it, the unity of the idea being revealed. Thus, in order to delve deeper into the content of the work, it is necessary to determine its components: theme and idea.

"Topic ( Greek. thema), - according to the definition of V. Dahl, - a proposal, position, task, which is discussed or explained.

The authors of the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary give the topic a slightly different definition: “Theme [what is the basis] - 1) the subject of description, image, research, conversation, etc.; 2) in art, an object of artistic representation, a circle of life phenomena displayed by a writer, artist or composer and held together by the author's intention.

In the "Dictionary of Literary Terms" we find the following definition: "Theme is what is the basis of a literary work, the main problem posed in it by the writer" .

In the textbook "Introduction to Literary Studies" ed. G.N. Pospel's theme is treated as a subject of knowledge.

A.M. Gorky defines a theme as an idea "which originated in the author's experience, is prompted by life, but nestles in the receptacle of his impressions still unformed and, requiring embodiment in images, arouses in him the urge to work on its design."

As you can see, the above definitions of the topic are diverse and contradictory. The only statement with which one can agree without reservations is that the theme is indeed the objective basis of any work of art. About how the process of birth and design of the theme takes place, how the writer studies reality and selects life phenomena, what is the role of the writer's worldview in the choice and development of the theme, we have already spoken above ( see the lecture "Literature is a special type of human artistic activity").

However, the statements of literary critics that the theme is a circle of life phenomena displayed by the writer, in our opinion, are not exhaustive enough, since there are differences between the life material (object of the image) and the theme (theme) of a work of art. The subject of the image in works of fiction can be a variety of phenomena of human life, the life of nature, the animal and plant world, as well as material culture (buildings, furnishings, types of cities, etc.). Sometimes even fantastic creatures are depicted - talking and thinking animals and plants, various kinds of spirits, gods, giants, monsters, etc. But this is by no means the theme of a literary work. Images of animals, plants, types of nature often have an allegorical and auxiliary meaning in a work of art. They either mark people, as happens in fables, or are created to express human experiences (in lyrical images of nature). Even more often, the phenomena of nature with its flora and fauna are depicted as an environment in which human life takes place with its social characteristics.

When defining a theme as the vital material taken for depiction by a writer, we must reduce its study to an analysis of the objects depicted, and not to the characteristic features of human life in its social essence.

Following A.B. Esin, under topic literary work, we will understand " object of artistic reflection , those life characters and situations (the relationship of characters, as well as the interaction of a person with society as a whole, with nature, life, etc.), which, as it were, pass from reality into a work of art and form the objective side of its content ».

The theme of a literary work encompasses everything depicted in it and therefore can be comprehended with the necessary completeness only on the basis of penetration into all the ideological and artistic richness of this work. For example, to determine the theme of the work of K.G. Abramov "Purgaz" ( the unification of the Mordovian people fragmented into many often warring clans at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, which contributed to the salvation of the nation, the preservation of its spiritual values), it is necessary to take into account and comprehend the multilateral development of this topic by the author. K. Abramov also shows how the character of the protagonist was formed: the influence of the life and national traditions of the Mordovian people, as well as the Volga Bulgars, among whom, by the will of fate and his desire, he happened to live for 3 years, and how he became the head of the clan , how he fought with the Vladimir princes and the Mongols because of dominance in the western part of the Middle Volga region, what efforts he made to ensure that the Mordovian people became united.

In the process of analyzing the topic, it is necessary, according to the authoritative opinion of A.B. Esin, firstly, to distinguish between the actual reflection object(topic) and image object(specific depicted situation); secondly, it is necessary distinguish between concrete historical and eternal themes. Specific historical themes are characters and circumstances born and conditioned by a certain socio-historical situation in a particular country; they are not repeated outside of a given tense, they are more or less localized (for example, the theme of the “superfluous person” in Russian literature of the 19th century). When analyzing a concrete historical theme, one must see not only the socio-historical, but also the psychological definiteness of character, since the comprehension of character traits helps to correctly understand the unfolding plot, the motivation for its ups and downs. Eternal themes fix recurring moments in the history of various national societies, they are repeated in different modifications in the life of different generations, in different historical eras. Such, for example, are the themes of love and friendship, life and death, relationships between generations and others.

Due to the fact that the topic requires various aspects of consideration, along with its general concept, the concept is also used. topics, i.e., those lines of development of the theme that are outlined by the writer and constitute its complex integrity. Careful attention to the diversity of topics is especially necessary when analyzing large works in which there is not one, but many topics. In these cases, it is advisable to single out one or two main themes associated with the image of the central character, or a number of characters, and consider the rest as secondary.

When analyzing the content aspects of a literary work, the definition of its problems is of great importance. Under the problems of a literary work in literary criticism, it is customary to understand the area of ​​​​comprehension, understanding by the writer of the reflected reality: « Issues (Greek. problema - something thrown forward, i.e. isolated from other aspects of life) – this is the ideological comprehension by the writer of those social characters that he depicted in the work. This comprehension lies in the fact that the writer singles out and enhances those properties, aspects, relations of the characters depicted, which he, based on his ideological worldview, considers the most significant.

In works of art that are large in volume, writers, as a rule, pose various problems: social, moral, political, philosophical, and so on. It depends on what sides of the characters and what contradictions of life the writer focuses on.

For example, K. Abramov in the novel Purgaz, through the image of the protagonist, realizes the policy of uniting the Mordovian people scattered into numerous clans, however, the disclosure of this problem (socio-political) is quite closely connected with the moral problem (refusal of a beloved woman, order to kill Tengush , one of the leaders of the clan, etc.). Therefore, when analyzing a work of art, it is important to realize not only the main problem, but the entire problem as a whole, to identify how deep and significant it is, how serious and significant are the contradictions of reality that the writer depicted.

One cannot but agree with the statement of A.B. Esin that the problematic contains a unique author's view of the world. Unlike the subject matter, the problematic is the subjective side of the artistic content, therefore, the author's individuality, "the original moral attitude of the author to the subject" is maximally manifested in it. Often different writers create works on the same topic, however, there are no two major writers whose works would coincide in their problems. The originality of the problem is a kind of visiting card of the writer.

For a practical analysis of the problem, it is important to identify the originality of the work, comparing it with others, to understand what is its uniqueness and originality. For this purpose, it is necessary to establish in the researched work type problems.

The main types of problems in Russian literary criticism were identified by G.N. Pospelov. Based on the classification of G.N. Pospelov, taking into account the current level of development of literary criticism A.B. Esin proposed his own classification. He singled out mythological, national, novel, sociocultural, philosophical problems. In our opinion, it makes sense to highlight the issues moral .

Writers not only pose certain problems, they look for ways to solve them, correlate the depicted with social ideals. Therefore, the theme of the work is always connected with its idea.

N.G. Chernyshevsky in his treatise "The Aesthetic Relations of Art to Reality", speaking about the tasks of art, argues that works of art "reproduce life, explain life and pass judgment on it." It is difficult to disagree with this, since works of fiction always express the ideological and emotional attitude of writers towards those social characters that they depict. The ideological and emotional assessment of the depicted characters is the most active side of the content of the work.

"Idea (Greek. idea - idea, prototype, ideal) in literature - an expression of the author's attitude to the depicted, the correlation of this depicted with the ideals of life and man approved by the writers”, - such a definition is given in the Dictionary of Literary Terms. A somewhat refined version of the definition of an idea can be found in the textbook by G.N. Pospelova: " The idea of ​​a literary work is the unity of all aspects of its content; this is a figurative, emotional, generalizing thought of the writer, manifested both in the choice, and in the comprehension, and in the assessment of the characters ».

When analyzing a work of art, the identification of an idea is very important and essential for the reason that a progressive idea, corresponding to the course of history, the trends of social development, is a necessary quality of all truly artistic works. Understanding the main idea of ​​a work should follow from the analysis of its entire ideological content (the author's assessment of events and characters, the author's ideal, pathos). Only under this condition can we judge correctly about it, about its strength and weakness, about the nature and roots of the contradictions that exist in it.

If we talk about the novel by K. Abramov "Purgaz", then the main idea that the author expresses can be formulated as follows: the strength of the people lies in its unity. Only by uniting all the Mordovian clans, Purgaz, as a talented leader, was able to resist the Mongols, liberate the Mordovian land from the conquerors.

We have already noted that the themes and problems of works of art must meet the requirements of depth, relevance and significance. The idea, in turn, must meet the criterion of historical truthfulness and objectivity. It is important for the reader that the writer express such an ideological and emotional understanding of the characters portrayed that these characters really deserve in terms of the objective, essential properties of their lives, in terms of their place and significance in national life in general, in the prospects for its development. Works containing a historically true assessment of the depicted phenomena and characters are progressive in their content.

The primary source of artistic ideas in reality, according to I.F. Volkov, are "only those ideas that entered the flesh and blood of the artist, became the meaning of his existence, his ideological and emotional attitude to life." V.G. Belinsky called such ideas pathos . “A poetic idea,” he wrote, “is not a syllogism, not a dogma, not a rule, it is a living passion, it is pathos.” The very concept of pathos was borrowed by Belinsky from Hegel, who in his lectures on aesthetics meant the word "pathos" ( Greek. pathos - a strong, passionate feeling) the high inspiration of the artist by comprehending the essence of the depicted life, its "truth".

E. Aksenova defines pathos in this way: “Paphos is an emotional animation, a passion that permeates a work (or parts of it) and gives it a single breath, which can be called the soul of a work.. In pathos, the feeling and thought of the artist form a single whole; it contains the key to the idea of ​​the work. Paphos is not always and not necessarily a pronounced emotion; here the creative individuality of the artist is most clearly manifested. Along with the authenticity of feelings and thoughts pathos gives the work liveliness and artistic persuasiveness, is a condition for its emotional impact on the reader ". Paphos is created by artistic means: the image of the characters, their actions, experiences, the events of their lives, the entire figurative structure of the work.

In this way, pathos is the emotional and evaluative attitude of the writer to the depicted, which is distinguished by a great strength of feelings .

In literary criticism, the following main types of pathos are distinguished: heroic, dramatic, tragic, sentimental, romantic, humorous, satirical.

Heroic pathos affirms the greatness of the feat of the individual and the whole team, its great importance for the development of the people, nation, humanity. Figuratively revealing the main qualities of heroic characters, admiring them and singing them, the artist of the word creates works imbued with heroic pathos (Homer "The Iliad", Shelley "Prometheus Unchained", A. Pushkin "Poltava", M. Lermontov "Borodino", A. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin", M. Saygin "Hurricane", I. Antonov "In a single family").

Dramatic pathos characteristic of works that depict dramatic situations that arise under the influence of external forces and circumstances that threaten the desires and aspirations of the characters, and sometimes their lives. Drama in fiction can be both ideologically affirmative pathos, when the writer deeply sympathizes with the characters (“The Tale of the Devastation of Ryazan by Batu”), and ideologically negative, if the writer condemns the characters of his characters in the dramatic nature of their position (Aeschylus “Persians”).

Quite often, the drama of situations and experiences arises during military clashes between peoples, and this is reflected in works of fiction: E. Hemingway “Farewell to Arms”, E.M. Remarque “A time to live and a time to die”, G. Fallada “A wolf among wolves”; A. Beck "Volokolamsk Highway", K. Simonov "The Living and the Dead"; P. Prokhorov "Stood" and others.

Often, writers in their works depict the drama of the position and experiences of the characters, arising from the social inequality of people (“Father Goriot” by O. Balzac, “Humiliated and Insulted” by F. Dostoevsky, “Dowry” by A. Ostrovsky, “Tashto Koise” (“ According to old customs”) K. Petrova and others.

Often the impact of external circumstances gives rise to internal inconsistency in the mind of a person, a struggle with oneself. In this case, the drama deepens to tragedy.

tragic pathos its roots are associated with the tragic nature of the conflict in a literary work, due to the fundamental impossibility of resolving existing contradictions, and is most often present in the tragedy genre. Reproducing tragic conflicts, writers depict the painful experiences of their heroes, difficult events in their lives, thereby revealing the tragic contradictions of life, which have a socio-historical or universal character (W. Shakespeare "Hamlet", A. Pushkin "Boris Godunov", L. Leonov "Invasion", Y. Pinyasov "Erek ver" ("Living Blood").

Satirical pathos. Satirical pathos is characterized by the denial of the negative aspects of public life and character traits of people. The tendency of writers to notice the comic in life and reproduce it on the pages of their works is determined primarily by the properties of their innate talent, as well as by the peculiarities of their worldview. Most often, writers pay attention to the discrepancy between the claims and the real possibilities of people, as a result of which a comedy of life situations develops.

Satire helps to realize the important aspects of human relationships, gives orientation in life, frees from false and obsolete authorities. In the world and Russian literature there are a lot of talented, highly artistic works with satirical pathos, among which are: the comedies of Aristophanes, Gargantua and Pantagruel by F. Rabelais, Gulliver's Travels by J. Swift; "Nevsky Prospekt" by N. Gogol, "History of a City" by M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, "Heart of a Dog" by M. Bulgakov). In Mordovian literature, no significant work with a pronounced satirical pathos has yet been created. Satirical pathos is characteristic mainly of the fable genre (I. Shumilkin, M. Beban, and others).

Humorous pathos. As a special kind of pathos, humor stood out only in the era of romanticism. As a result of false self-esteem, people, not only in public life, but also in everyday and family life, can discover internal contradictions between who they really are and who they pretend to be. These people claim to be significant, which they really do not have. Such a contradiction is comical and causes a mocking attitude, mixed more with pity and sadness than with indignation. Humor is laughter at the relatively harmless comic contradictions of life. A striking example of a work with humorous pathos is the story "The Posthumous Notes of the Pickwick Club" by C. Dickens; “The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” by N. Gogol; “Lavginov” by V. Kolomasov, “Sas the agronomist to the collective farm” (“The agronomist came to the collective farm” by Yu. Kuznetsov).

Sentimental pathos It is characteristic primarily for sentimental works created in the 18th century, characterized by exaggerated attention to the feelings and experiences of heroes, depicting the moral virtues of socially humiliated people, their superiority over the immorality of a privileged environment. As vivid examples are the works “Julia, or the new Eloise” by J.J. Rousseau, "The Suffering of Young Werther" by I.V. Goethe, "Poor Lisa" N.M. Karamzin.

Romantic pathos conveys spiritual enthusiasm, which arises as a result of identifying a certain sublime beginning and the desire to designate its features. Examples include the poems of D.G. Byron, poems and ballads by V. Zhukovsky, etc. In Mordovian literature, there are no works with a pronounced sentimental and romantic pathos, which is largely due to the time of the emergence and development of written literature (the second half of the 19th century).

TEST QUESTIONS:

1. What are the definitions of the topic in literary criticism? Which definition do you think is the most accurate and why?

2. What is the problematic of a literary work?

3. What types of problems are distinguished by literary critics?

4. Why is the identification of problems considered an important step in the analysis of works?

5. What is the idea of ​​the work? How is it related to the concept of pathos?

6. What types of pathos are most often found in the works of native literature?

Lecture 7

PLOT

1. The concept of the plot.

2. Conflict as a driving force for the development of the plot.

3. Plot elements.

4. Plot and plot.

Bibliography

1) Abramovich G.L. Introduction to Literary Studies. – 7th ed. - M., 1979.

2) Gorky A.M.. Conversations with the Young (any edition).

3) Dobin E.S. Plot and reality. Art details. - L., 1981.

4) Introduction to literary criticism / ed. G.N. Pospelov. - M., 1988.

5) Esin A.B. Principles and methods of analysis of a literary work. - 4th ed. - M., 2002.

6) Kovalenko A.G.. Artistic conflict in Russian literature. - M., 1996.

7) Kozhinov V.V.. Plot, plot, composition // Theory of Literature: Main problems in historical coverage: in 2 books. - M., 1964. - Book 2.

8) Literary encyclopedic dictionary / ed. V.M. Kozhevnikova, P.A. Nikolaev. - M., 1987.

9) Literary encyclopedia of terms and concepts / ed. A.N. Nikolyukin. - M., 2003.

10) Shklovsky V.B.. The energy of delusion. A book about the plot // Selected: in 2 vols. - M., 1983. - T 2.

11) Brief literary encyclopedia: in 9 volumes / ch. ed. A.A. Surkov. - M., 1972. - V.7.

It is well known that a work of art is a complex whole. The writer shows how this or that character grows and develops, what are his connections and relationships with other people. This development of character, the history of growth are shown in a series of events, which, as a rule, reflect the life situation. The direct relationships of people presented in the work, shown in a certain chain of events, in literary criticism are usually denoted by the term plot.

It should be noted that the understanding of the plot as the course of events has a long tradition in Russian literary criticism. It developed in the 19th century. This is evidenced by the work of A.N. Veselovsky "Poetics of plots".

The problem of plot has occupied researchers since Aristotle. G. Hegel also paid much attention to this problem. Despite such a long history, the problem of the plot remains largely debatable to this day. For example, there is still no clear distinction between the concepts of plot and plot. In addition, the definitions of the plot that take place in textbooks and teaching aids on literary theory are different and rather contradictory. For example, L.I. Timofeev considers the plot as one of the forms of composition: “Composition is inherent in any literary work, since we will always have one or another ratio of its parts in it, reflecting the complexity of the phenomena of life depicted in it. But not in every work we will deal with the plot, i.e. with the disclosure of characters with the help of events in which the properties of these characters are revealed ... One should reject the widespread and erroneous idea of ​​the plot only as a distinct, fascinating system of events, due to which they often talk about the "non-plot" of certain works in which there is no such distinctness and fascination of the system of events (actions). Here we are not talking about the absence of a plot, but about its weak organization, ambiguity, etc.

The plot in a work is always evident when we are dealing with certain actions of people, with certain events that happen to them. By linking the plot with the characters, we thereby determine its content, its conditionality by the reality that the writer is aware of.

We thus approach both the composition and the plot as a means of revealing, revealing a given character.

But in a number of cases the general content of a work does not fit only into the plot, cannot be revealed only in the system of events; hence, along with the plot, we will have elements outside the plot in the work; the composition of the work will then be wider than the plot and will begin to manifest itself in other forms.

V.B. Shklovsky considers the plot as "a means of knowing reality"; in the interpretation of E.S. Dobin's plot is a "concept of reality".

M. Gorky defined the plot as "connections, contradictions, sympathies, antipathies and, in general, the relationship of people - the history of growth and organization of one or another character, type." This judgment, like the previous ones, in our opinion, is not accurate, because in many works, especially dramatic ones, characters are depicted outside the formation of their characters.

Following A.I. Revyakin, we tend to adhere to the following definition of plot: « The plot is an event (or system of events) selected in the process of studying life, realized and embodied in a work of art, in which conflict and characters are revealed in certain conditions of the social environment.».

G.N. Pospelov notes that literary plots are created in different ways. Most often they quite fully and reliably reproduce real life events. These are, firstly, works based on historical events(“Young Years of King Henry IV” by G. Mann, “Damned Kings” by M. Druon; “Peter I” by A. Tolstoy, “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy; “Polovt” by M. Bryzhinsky, “Purgaz” by K. Abramov ); Secondly, autobiographical stories(L. Tolstoy, M. Gorky); thirdly, known to the writer life facts. The events depicted are sometimes fully fiction, a figment of the author's imagination ("Gulliver's Travels" by J. Swift, "The Nose" by N. Gogol).

There is also such a source of plot creativity as borrowing, when writers widely rely on already known literary plots, processing them and supplementing them in their own way. In this case, folklore, mythological, antique, biblical and other plots are used.

The driving force behind any story is conflict, contradiction, wrestling or, according to Hegel, collision. The conflicts underlying the works can be very diverse, but they, as a rule, have general significance and reflect certain life patterns. Allocate conflicts: 1) external and internal; 2) local and substantial; 3) dramatic, tragic and comic.

Conflict external - between individual characters and groups of characters - is considered to be the simplest. There are quite a few examples of this type of conflict in the literature: A.S. Griboedov "Woe from Wit", A.S. Pushkin "The Miserly Knight", M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin "History of one city", V.M. Kolomasov "Lavginov" and others. A conflict is considered more complex, embodying the confrontation between the hero and the way of life, personality and environment (social, everyday, cultural). The difference from the first type of conflict is that no one specifically opposes the hero here, he does not have an enemy with whom he could fight, who could be defeated, thereby resolving the conflict (Pushkin "Eugene Onegin").

Conflict interior - a psychological conflict, when the hero is not in harmony with himself, when he carries certain contradictions in himself, sometimes contains incompatible principles (Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, etc.).

Sometimes in a work one can simultaneously find both named types of conflict, both external and internal (A. Ostrovsky "Thunderstorm").

Local(Solvable) conflict implies the fundamental possibility of resolving with the help of active actions (Pushkin "Gypsies", etc.).

Substantial(unsolvable) conflict depicts a persistently conflicted existence, and real practical actions that can resolve this conflict are unthinkable (Shakespeare's Hamlet, Chekhov's Bishop, etc.).

Tragic, dramatic and comic conflicts are inherent in dramatic works with the same name of genres. (For more on the types of conflict, see the book A.G. Kovalenko "Artistic conflict in Russian literature", M., 1996).

The disclosure of a socially significant conflict in the plot contributes to understanding the trends and patterns of social development. In this regard, we should note some points that are essential for understanding the multifaceted role of the plot in the work.

The role of the plot in the work of G.L. Abramovich defined it as follows: “First, it must be borne in mind that the artist’s penetration into the meaning of the conflict presupposes, as the modern English writer D. Lindsay rightly says, “penetration into the souls of people who are participants in this struggle.” Hence the great educational value of the plot.

Secondly, the writer "willy-nilly gets involved in the mind and heart in the conflicts that make up the content of his work." Thus, the logic of the development of events by the writer affects his understanding and assessment of the conflict depicted, his social views, which he somehow conveys to readers, inspiring them with the necessary, from his point of view, attitude towards this conflict.

Thirdly, every great writer focuses his attention on the conflicts that are important for his time and people.

Thus, the plots of the works of great writers have a deep socio-historical meaning. Therefore, when considering them, it is necessary first of all to determine what kind of social conflict underlies the work and from what positions it is depicted.

The plot will only fulfill its purpose when, first, it is internally complete, i.e. revealing the causes, nature and ways of development of the depicted conflict, and secondly, it will attract the interest of readers and make them think about the meaning of each episode, every detail in the course of events.

F.V. Gladkov wrote that there are different gradations of plot: “... one book is plot calm, there is no intrigue in it, cleverly tied knots, it is a chronicle of the life of one person or a whole group of people; another book from exciting plot: these are adventure novels, mystery novels, detective, criminal. Many literary scholars, following F. Gladkov, distinguish two types of plots: the plot is calm (adynamic) and the plot is sharp(dynamic). Along with the above types of plots, modern literary criticism also offers others, for example, chronic and concentric (Pospelov G.N.) and centrifugal and centripetal (Kozhinov V.V.). Chronicles are plots with a predominance of purely temporary connections between events, and concentric - with a predominance of causal relationships between events.

Each of these types of plots has its own artistic possibilities. As G.N. Pospelov, the chronicle of the plot is, first of all, a means of recreating reality in the diversity and richness of its manifestations. Chronicle plot construction allows the writer to master life in space and time with maximum freedom. Therefore, it is widely used in large-scale epic works (“Gargantua and Pantagruel” by F. Rabelais, “Don Quixote” by M. Cervantes, “Don Juan” by D. Byron, “Vasily Terkin” by A. Tvardovsky, “Wide Moksha” by T. Kirdyashkin, Purgaz by K. Abramov). Chronicle plots perform various artistic functions: they reveal the decisive actions of the heroes and their various adventures; depict the formation of a person's personality; serve the development of socio-political antagonisms and the way of life of certain sections of society.

The concentricity of the plot - the identification of causal relationships between the events depicted - allows the writer to explore any one conflict situation, stimulates the compositional completeness of the work. Such a plot structure dominated drama until the 19th century. Of the epic works, one can cite as an example “Crime and Punishment” by F.M. Dostoevsky, "Fire" by V. Rasputin, "At the beginning of the journey" by V. Mishanina.

Chronicle and concentric plots often coexist (“Resurrection” by L.N. Tolstoy, “Three Sisters” by A.P. Chekhov, etc.).

From the point of view of the emergence, development and completion of the life conflict depicted in the work, we can talk about the main elements of the plot construction. Literary critics distinguish the following elements of the plot: exposition, plot, development of action, climax, ups and downs, denouement; prologue and epilogue. It should be noted that not all works of fiction that have a plot structure contain all the indicated elements of the plot. Prologue and epilogue are quite rare, most often in epic works, large in volume. As for exposition, it is quite often absent in short stories and short stories.

Prologue is defined as an introduction to a literary work, not directly related to the developing action, but, as it were, preceding it with a story about the events that preceded it, or about their meaning. The prologue is present in "Faust" by I. Goethe, "What is to be done?" N. Chernyshevsky, “Who should live well in Russia” by N. Nekrasov, “The Snow Maiden” by A. Ostrovsky, “Apple Tree by the High Road” by A. Kutorkin.

Epilogue in literary criticism it is characterized as the final part in a work of art, reporting on the further fate of the characters after those depicted in a novel, poem, drama, etc. events. Epilogues are often found in the dramas of B. Brecht, the novels of F. Dostoevsky ("The Brothers Karamazov", "The Humiliated and Insulted"), L. Tolstoy ("War and Peace"), K. Abramov's "Kachamon Patch" ("Smoke Above the Earth" ).

exposure (lat. expositio - explanation) call the background of the events underlying the work. The exposition sets out the circumstances, preliminarily outlines the characters, characterizes their relationships, i.e. the life of the characters before the start of the conflict (tie) is depicted.

In the work of P.I. Levchaev "Kavonst kudat" ("Two matchmakers") the first part is an exposition: it depicts the life of the Mordovian village shortly before the first Russian revolution, the conditions in which people's characters are formed.

The exposition is determined by the artistic objectives of the work and can be different in nature: direct, detailed, scattered, supplemented throughout the entire work, delayed (see "Dictionary of Literary Terms").

outstretched in a work of art, the beginning of the conflict is usually called, the event from which the action begins and due to which subsequent events arise. The tie can be motivated (in the presence of exposure) and sudden (without exposure).

In the story of P. Levchaev, the plot will be the return of Garay to the village of Anai, his acquaintance with Kirei Mikhailovich.

In the subsequent parts of the work, Levchaev shows action development, that the course of events that follows from the plot: meeting with his father, with his beloved girl Anna, matchmaking, Garay's participation in a secret gathering.

Topic(gr. thema literally means something underlying) - this is the subject of knowledge. Subject- these are the phenomena of life that are reflected in the work.

In ancient times, it was believed that the integrity of a literary work is determined by the unity of the protagonist. But even Aristotle drew attention to the fallacy of such a view, pointing out that the stories about Hercules remain different stories, although they are dedicated to one person, and the Iliad, which tells about many heroes, does not cease to be an integral work.

The holistic character of the work is given not by the hero, but by the unity of the problem posed in it, the unity of the idea disclosed.

The subject of depiction in works of art literature can be a variety of phenomena of human life, the life of nature, the animal and plant world, as well as material culture (buildings, furnishings, types of cities, etc.).

But the main subject of knowledge in fiction is the characteristic features of human life. These are the social characters of people both in their external manifestations, relationships, activities, and in their inner, spiritual life.

Esin: Topic -"the object of artistic reflection, those life characters and situations that, as it were, pass from reality into a work of art and form the objective side of its content."

Tomashevsky:“The unity of the meanings of the individual elements of the work. It brings together the components of an artistic construction.”

The plot may be the same, but the theme is different. In mass literature, the plot gravitates over the topic. Life very often becomes the object of the image.

The theme is often determined by the literary predilections of the author, his belonging to a certain group.

The concept of an internal theme - topics that are cross-cutting for the writer, this is the thematic unity that unites all his works.

The theme is the organizing beginning of the work.

Problem - this is the highlighting of some aspect, the emphasis on it, which is resolved as the work unfolds, is the ideological understanding by the writer of those social characters that he depicted in the work. The writer singles out and enhances those properties, sides, relationships of the portrayed characters that he considers the most significant.

The problematics, to an even greater extent than the subject matter, depends on the worldview of the author. Therefore, the life of one and the same social environment can be perceived differently by writers with different ideological worldviews.

Moliere in the comedy "Tartuffe", having brought out in the person of the protagonist a swindler and a hypocrite who deceives straightforward and honest people, portrayed all his thoughts and actions as manifestations of this main negative character trait. The name Tartuffe has become a household name for hypocrites.

Idea- this is what the author wants to say, why this work was written.

It is thanks to the expression of ideas in images that literary works have such a strong effect on the thoughts, feelings, will of readers and listeners, on their entire inner world.

The attitude to life expressed in the work, or its ideological and emotional assessment, always depends on the writer's understanding of the characters he portrays and follows from his worldview.

The idea of ​​a literary work is the unity of all aspects of its content; it is a figurative, emotional, generalizing thought of the writer.

The reader is usually sincerelends itself to the illusion that everything depicted in themanagement is life itself; he is into actionthe fates of the heroes, experiences their joys, sympathizes with theirsuffering or inwardly condemns them. WhereinThe reader is often not immediately aware of the essentialfeatures are embodied in the characters and throughout the course of artabout the events being discussed and how important the details aretheir actions and experiences.

But these detailsare created by the writer in order to elevate the characters of some heroes in the mind of the reader through them and lower the characters of others.

Only by reading the works andby thinking about them, the reader may come to realizewhat general properties of life are embodied in those orother characters and how they are interpreted and evaluated by the writerTel. Literary criticism often helps him in this.