Motif in literature. History and theory of motive in Russian literary criticism

It also has a responsible place in the science of literature. It is rooted in almost all modern European languages, goes back to the Latin verb moveo (I move) and now has a very wide range of meanings.

The initial, leading, main meaning of this literary term is difficult to define. Motive is component of works of increased significance(semantic richness). He is actively involved in the theme and concept (idea) of the work, but is not identical to them. Being, according to B.N. Putilov, “stable semantic units”, motives “are characterized by an increased, one might say exceptional, degree of semioticity. Each motive has a stable set of meanings." The motif is one way or another localized in the work, but at the same time it is present in a variety of forms. It can be a separate word or phrase, repeated and varied, or appear as something denoted by various lexical units, or appear in the form of a title or epigraph, or remain only guessable, lost in the subtext. Having resorted to allegory, it is legitimate to assert that the sphere of motives consists of the links of the work, marked by internal, invisible italics, which should be felt and recognized by a sensitive reader and literary analyst. The most important feature of a motive is its ability to appear half-realized in the text, revealed in it incompletely, and mysterious.

Motifs can act either as an aspect of individual works and their cycles, as a link in their construction, or as the property of the entire work of the writer and even entire genres, movements, literary eras, world literature as such. In this supra-individual side, they constitute one of the most important subjects of historical poetics (see pp. 372–373).

Since the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the term “motive” has been widely used in the study of plots, especially historically early folklore ones. So, A.N. Veselovsky, in his unfinished “Poetics of Plots,” spoke of the motif as the simplest, indivisible unit of narration, as a repeating schematic formula that forms the basis of plots (originally myths and fairy tales). These are, the scientist gives examples of motives, the abduction of the sun or a beauty, water drying up in a source, etc. The motifs here are not so much correlated with individual works, but are considered as a common property verbal art. Motives, according to Veselovsky, are historically stable and endlessly repeatable. In a cautious, conjectural form, the scientist argued: “... is not poetic creativity limited to certain certain formulas, stable motifs that one generation accepted from the previous one, and this from the third?<...>? Doesn’t each new poetic era work on images bequeathed from time immemorial, necessarily revolving within their boundaries, allowing itself only new combinations of old ones and only filling them<...>new understanding of life<...>? Based on the understanding of motive as the primary element of plot, going back to Veselovsky, scientists of the Siberian branch Russian Academy Sciences are now working on compiling a dictionary of plots and motifs in Russian literature.

Throughout last decades motives began to be actively correlated with individual creative experience, considered

as a property individual writers and works. This, in particular, is evidenced by the experience of studying the poetry of M.Yu. Lermontov.

Attention to the motives hidden in literary works allows us to understand them more fully and deeply. Thus, some “peak” moments of the embodiment of the author’s concept in the famous story by I.A. Bunin about a life suddenly cut short charming girl are " easy breathing"(the phrase that became the title), lightness as such, as well as the repeatedly mentioned cold. These deeply interconnected motifs turn out to be perhaps the most important compositional “strings” of Bunin’s masterpiece and, at the same time, an expression of the writer’s philosophical idea of ​​the existence and place of man in it. The cold accompanies Olya Meshcherskaya not only in winter, but also in summer; it also reigns in the episodes framing the plot, depicting a cemetery in early spring. The above motives are combined into last sentence story: “Now this light breath has again dissipated in the world, in this cloudy sky, in this cold spring wind.”

One of the motifs of Tolstoy’s epic novel “War and Peace” is spiritual softness, often associated with feelings of gratitude and submission to fate, with tenderness and tears, but most importantly, it marks certain higher, illuminating moments in the lives of the heroes. Let's remember the episodes when old prince Volkonsky learns about the death of his daughter-in-law; wounded Prince Andrei in Mytishchi. After a conversation with Natasha, who feels irreparably guilty before Prince Andrei, Pierre experiences some special elation. And here it speaks of his, Pierre’s, “blossomed to a new life, softened and encouraged soul.” And after captivity, Bezukhov asks Natasha about last days Andrei Bolkonsky: “So he calmed down? Have you softened up?

Perhaps the central motif of “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov - the light emanating from full moon, disturbing, exciting, painful. This light somehow “affects” a number of characters in the novel. It is associated primarily with the idea of ​​torment of conscience - with the appearance and fate of Pontius Pilate, who was afraid for his “career”.

Lyric poetry is characterized by verbal motives. A.A. Blok wrote: “Every poem is a veil, stretched on the edges of several words. These words shine like stars. Because of them the poem exists." Thus, in Blok’s poem “Worlds Fly” (1912) the supporting (key) words are flight, aimless and mad; the accompanying ringing, intrusive and buzzing; tired, a soul immersed in darkness; and (in contrast to all this) the unattainable, vainly beckoning happiness.

In Blok’s “Carmen” cycle, the word “treason” performs the function of motive. This word captures the poetic and at the same time tragic element of the soul. The world of betrayal here is associated with the “storm of gypsy passions” and leaving the homeland, coupled with an inexplicable feeling of sadness, the “black and wild fate” of the poet, and instead with the charm of boundless freedom, free flight “without orbits”: “This is music secret betrayals?/Is this the heart captured by Carmen?”

Note that the term “motive” is also used in a different meaning than the one on which we rely. Thus, themes and problems of a writer’s work are often called motives (for example, the moral rebirth of man; the illogical existence of people). IN modern literary criticism There is also an idea of ​​the motive as an “extrastructural” beginning - as the property not of the text and its creator, but of the unrestricted thought of the interpreter of the work. The properties of the motive, says B.M. Gasparov, “grow anew every time, in the process of analysis itself” - depending on what contexts of the writer’s work the scientist turns to. Thus understood, the motive is conceptualized as the “basic unit of analysis,” an analysis that “fundamentally abandons the concept of fixed blocks of structure that objectively have given function in the construction of the text." A similar approach to literature, as noted by M.L. Gasparov, allowed A.K. Zholkovsky in the book “Wandering Dreams” to offer readers a number of “brilliant and paradoxical interpretations of Pushkin through Brodsky and Gogol through Sokolov.”

But no matter what semantic tones are attached to the word “motive” in literary criticism, the irrevocable significance and genuine relevance of this term, which captures the really (objectively) existing facet of literary works, remains self-evident.

Cm.: Kholopova V. A. Musical theme. M., 1983.

Putilov B.N. Veselovsky and the problems of folklore motive//The legacy of Alexander Veselovsky: Research and materials. St. Petersburg, 1992. P. 84.

Cm.: Veselovsky A.N.. Historical poetics. P. 301.

Veselovsky A.N.. Historical poetics. P. 40.

See: From plot to motive. Novosibirsk, 1996; Plot and motive in the context of tradition. Novosibirsk, 1998; Tyupa V.I.. Abstracts for the project of a dictionary of motives//Discourse. No. 2. Novosibirsk, 1996.

See articles under the heading “Motives” in: Lermontov Encyclopedia. M., 1981.

Blok A.A. Notebooks. 1901–1920. P. 84.

Gasparov B.M.. Literary leitmotifs. M., 1994. P. 301.

Gasparov M.L. Preface// Zholkovsky A.K., Shcheglov Yu.K.. Works on the poetics of expressiveness. S. 5.

V.V. Prozorov “Essays on Life” in literature."

The plot is the entire living and multi-colored fabric of the text that we perceive.

Fabula (optional feature) – patterns and designs on this fabric in relief.

Motifs are threads that make up the fabric of the text, specially colored and skillfully woven, paired with each other.

The plot and plot are more attested to by poetic textual reality. The motif as a unit of plot-plot data, capable of being correctly isolated from it, remains entirely within the limits of the literary text and at the same time, to a large extent, retains a visibly and sonorously designated memory of the theme of the text, of its intertextual relations and connections, of extra-textual reality , about the world outside the text and behind the text.

At the same time, the plot-fable scheme primarily characterizes the world of the text from the position of extra-textual existence. The motive represents, first of all, the textual reality itself, in which it is organically written.

Motif is an invariable component of a verbal and artistic plot, but the component is by no means the simplest, not elementary, from the point of view of the plot itself; This is not the theme of an indivisible part of the work (B.V. Tomashevsky) or “an indivisible component of intrigue” in the drama.

Motifs in the plot can be productive and derivative, collapsed and widespread, dynamic and static, relatively free and absolutely conditioned. In their complex totality, in their interweaving, they form a verbal and artistic plot.

These are “microplots” (E.M. Meletinsky), “scurrying around” in a whole, independently existing plot.

The motive, even in its artificial analytical isolation from the artistic organism, stubbornly and polysemantically reveals the entire text, keeping its secret, hinting at its poetic pathos and helping to carry out the necessary typological comparisons and other methodological operations in literary criticism. Motif is one of the most reliable means of endless philological examination and discernment of plot.

Motive is a certain (in narratively extended plots) developing constancy, relative repetition of movements and gestures, often objectively (objectively) expressed: in the characters and actions of the heroes, in lyrical experiences, in dramatic actions and situations, in symbolically designated, multi-scale artistic details etc.

Of course, the motive can be recreated in all its autonomous completeness only in the process of research, literary criticism, staging and interpretation, directorial (performances and films “based on ...”), and more or less sophisticated reader analysis.

The more laconic (in accordance with genre characteristics) and aphoristic the text, the more exhaustive the chain of motives found in it may be.

It is also obvious that any description of the inflorescence of motifs that seems to be the most exhaustive does not, of course, provide knowledge about the plot whole, capable of expressing an infinite multiplicity of counter-feelings. The sum or chain of motives is not a plot, but for recognizing the plot, the analysis of motives is one of the most effective philological procedures.

Complex of motives and types of plot schemes.

Compiled by N. D. Tamarchenko

Motive

1) Sierotwiński S.Słownik terminów literackich. S. 161.

“ Motive.The theme is one of the smallest meaningful wholes that stands out when analyzing a work.”

“ The motive is dynamic.The motive that accompanies a change in a situation (part of an action) is the opposite of a static motive.”

“ The motive is free.A motive that is not included in the system of cause-and-effect plot is the opposite of a connected motive.”

2) Wilpert G. von.Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.

“ Motive(lat . motivus -motivating),<...>3. content-structural unity as a typical, meaningful situation that embraces general thematic ideas (as opposed to something defined and framed through specific featuresmaterial , which, on the contrary, can include many M.) and can become the starting point for the content of a person. experiences or experiences in symbolic form: regardless of the idea of ​​those who are aware of the formed element of the material, for example, the enlightenment of an unrepentant murderer (Oedipus, Ivik, Raskolnikov). It is necessary to distinguish between situational M. with a constant situation (seduced innocence, a returning wanderer, triangle relationships) and M.-types with constant characters (miser, murderer, intriguer, ghost), as well as spatial M. (ruins, forest, island) and temporary M. (autumn, midnight). M.’s own content value favors its repetition and often its presentation in specific genre. There are mainly lyrical ones. M. (night, farewell, loneliness), dramatic M. (feud of brothers, murder of a relative), ballad motifs (Lenora-M.: the appearance of a deceased lover), fairy tale motifs(ring test), psychological motives (flight, double), etc., along with them constantly returning M. (M.-constants) of an individual poet, individual periods of the work of the same author, traditional M. of entire literary eras or entire peoples, as well as simultaneously performing M. independently of each other (the community of M.). The history of M. (P. Merker and his school) explores the historical development and spiritual and historical significance of traditional M. and establishes the significantly different meaning and embodiment of the same M. different poets and in different eras. In drama and epic they distinguish according to their importance for the course of action: central or core elements (often equal to the idea), enrichingside M. or bordering M.,lieutenant, subordinates, detailingfilling-and “blind” M. (i.e., deviating, irrelevant to the course of action)....” (S. 591).

3) Mö lk U.Motiv, Stoff, Thema // Das Fischer Lexicon. Literatur. B.2.“The name that the interpreter gives to the motif he identifies influences his work, no matter whether he wants to compile an inventory of the motifs of a particular corpus of texts or plans an analytical study of the motifs of a particular text, a comparative or historical study of them. Sometimes the formula motifs common in a certain era hide the fact that they bring together completely different phenomena: “ange-femme“ (female angel) designates, for example, in French romance both a beloved stylized as an angel and a female angel; Only if both phenomena are recognized as two different motives do they obtain the prerequisite for further understanding. How significant consequences a proper name can have in identifying a motive is shown by the example of the question whether it is better about “ Simple heart Flaubert speaks of “a woman and a parrot” or “a woman and a bird”; here only a broader designation opens the interpreter’s eyes to certain meanings and their variants, but not a narrower one” (S. 1328).

4) Barnet S., Berman M., Burto W.Dictionary of Literary, Dramatic and Cinematic Terms. Boston, 1971.“ Motive- a repeated word, phrase, situation, object or idea. Most often, the term “motive” is used to designate a situation that is repeated in various literary works, for example, the motive of a poor man getting rich quickly. However, a motive (meaning “leitmotif” from the German “leading motive”) can arise within separate work: this can be any repetition that promotes integrity of the work, recalling a previous mention of this element and everything connected with it” (p. 71).

5) Dictionary of World Literary Terms / By J. Shipley.

“ Motive. A word or thought pattern that is repeated in the same situations or to evoke a certain mood within the same work, or in various works one genre” (p. 204).

6) The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms / By J. Myers, M. Simms.

“ Motive(from Latin “to move”; can also be written as “topos”) - a theme, image, or character that develops through various nuances and repetitions” (p. 198).

7) Dictionary of Literary Terms / By H. Shaw.

“ Leitmotif. German term literally meaning "leading motive". It denotes a theme or motive associated in a musical drama with a specific situation, actor or an idea. The term is often used to designate a central impression, a central image, or a recurring theme in a work of fiction, such as the “practicalism” of Franklin’s Autobiography or the “revolutionary spirit” of Thomas Pine” (pp. 218-219).

8) Blagoy D.Motive // ​​Dictionary literary terms. T. 1. Stlb. 466 - 467.

“ M.(from moveo - I move, set in motion), in in a broad sense of this word is the basic psychological or figurative grain that underlies every work of art" “... the main motive coincides with the theme. So, for example, the theme of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is the motif of historical fate, which does not interfere with the parallel development in the novel of a number of other, often only distantly related to the theme, secondary motives (for example, the motif of the truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev. ..)". “The entire set of motifs that make up a given work of art forms what is calledplot his".

9) Zakharkin A.Motive // ​​Dictionary of literary terms. P.226-227.

“ M. (from the French motif - melody, tune) - an out-of-use term denoting the minimum significant component of the narrative, the simplest component of the plot of a work of art.”

10) Chudakov A.P.Motive. KLE. T. 4. Stlb. 995.

“ M. (French motif, from Latin motivus - movable) - the simplest meaningful (semantic) unit of art. text inmyth And fairy tale; basis, based on the development of one of the members of M. (a+b turns into a+b1+b2+b3) or several combinations. motives growplot (plot), which represents a greater level of generalization.” “As applied to art. literature of modern times M. is most often called schematic, abstract from specific details and expressed in the simplest verbal formula. presentation of the elements of the content of the work involved in the creation of the plot (plot). The content of M. itself, for example, the death of a hero or a walk, buying a pistol or buying a pencil, does not indicate its significance. The scale of M. depends on its role in the plot (main and secondary M.). Basic M. are relatively stable ( love triangle, betrayal - revenge), but we can talk about the similarity or borrowing of M. only at the plot level - when the combination of many minor M. and the methods of their development coincide.”

11) Nezvankina L.K., Shchemeleva L.M.Motive // ​​LES. P. 230:

“ M. (German Motive, French motif, from Latin moveo - I move), stable formal-contain. component lit. text; M. can be distinguished within one or several. prod. writer (for example, a certain cycle), and in the complex of his entire work, as well as k.-l. lit. direction or an entire era.”

"More strict meaning the term "M." receives when it contains elements of symbolization (road by N.V. Gogol, garden by Chekhov, desert by M.Yu. Lermontov<...>). The motive, therefore, unlike the theme, has a direct verbal (and objective) fixation in the text of the work itself; in poetry, its criterion in most cases is the presence of a key, reference word, carrying a special semantic load (smoke in Tyutchev, exile in Lermontov). In the lyrics<...>M.'s circle is most clearly expressed and defined, so the study of M. in poetry can be especially fruitful.

For storytelling. and dramatic works that are more action-packed are characterized by plot melodrama; many of them have historical universality and repeatability: recognition and insight, testing and retribution (punishment).”

motive

Motif as a structural and semantic unit of a work

In the 90s of the 20th century, interest in issues of poetics deepened significantly, among which not least the problem of isolating and identifying motive as an independent literary category. Despite the active study of the latter, there are still no stable criteria in defining the concept of “motive”.

To begin with, we note that motive [from the Latin moveo – “I move”] is a term transferred to literary studies from music, where it denotes a group of several notes, rhythmically designed. By analogy with this, in literary criticism the term “motive” begins to be used to designate the minimal component of a work of art.

Currently, the theoretical study of motive is an extensive network of concepts and approaches; we will outline the main ones.

1. Semantic theory (A. N. Veselovsky, O. M. Freidenberg, which is characterized by the position of motive as an indecomposable and stable unit of narration. A. N. Veselovsky by motive means “a formula that figuratively answered public questions at first “, which nature placed everywhere for man, or which reinforced especially vivid, seemingly important or repeated impressions of reality.”

2. The morphological concept (V. Ya Propp, B. I. Yarkho) studies the motive through its constituent elements, components of the logical-grammatical structure of the statement - a set of subjects, objects and predicates, expressed in certain plot variations.

3. Dichotomous concept (A. I. Beletsky, A. Dundes, B. N. Putilov, E. M. Meletinsky).

According to dichotomous ideas about motive, its nature is dualistic and is revealed in two correlated principles:

1) a generalized invariant of the motive, taken in abstraction from its specific plot expressions;

2) a set of variants of the motive, expressed in plots (allomotives).

A motive, according to A.I. Beletsky, is “a simple sentence of an explanatory nature, which once gave all the content to a myth, a figurative explanation of phenomena incomprehensible to the primitive mind.”

A. I. Beletsky distinguishes two levels of realization of the motive in the plot narrative - “schematic motive”, which correlates with the invariant plot scheme, and “real motive”, which is an element of the plot of the work.

B. N. Putilov associates two interrelated meanings with the concept of motive:

1) scheme, formula, plot unit in the form of some kind of elementary generalization;

2) the unit itself in the form of a specific text embodiment.

The term “motive” itself is used by B. N. Putilov in the meaning of “motifema” - as an invariant scheme that generalizes the essence of a number of allomotives.

The researcher identifies certain functions of the motif in the system of epic narration:

1) constructive (the motive is included in the components of the plot);

2) dynamic (the motive acts as an organized moment of plot movement);

3) semantic (the motif carries its own meanings that determine the content of the plot);

4) producing (the motive produces new meanings and shades of meaning - due to the inherent abilities for change, variation, transformation).

The main thesis of E.M. Meletinsky’s concept is that “the structure of a motive can be likened to the structure of a sentence (judgment).” The motive is considered as a one-act microplot, the basis of which is action. The action in the motive is a predicate on which the actant arguments (agent, patient, etc.) depend.

4. Thematic concept (B.V. Tomashevsky, V.B. Shklovsky).

Researchers define motive exclusively through the category of theme, noting that the concept of theme is a concept that unites the material of the work. The whole work can have a theme, and at the same time, each part of the work has its own theme. By decomposing the work into thematic parts in this way, one can reach the non-decomposable parts.

“The theme of an indecomposable part of a work is called a motive. In essence, every sentence has its own motive.”

5. Motive in the theory of intertext (B. M. Gasparov, Yu. K. Shcheglov).

According to this concept, “motifs represent meanings and connect texts into a single semantic space.” In addition, intertextual analysis is characterized by a combination of the concepts of motive and leitmotif: a leitmotif is a semantic repetition within the text of a work, and a motive is a semantic repetition outside the text of a work. Intertext does not accept text boundaries at all, so the motive in in this case is interpreted extremely broadly: it is almost any semantic repetition in the text.

To summarize the review of theoretical judgments of literary scholars and folklorists about the motif as a significant structural unit of a work, the following points should be highlighted:

– repeatability of the motif (in this case, repetition is understood as not a lexical, but a functional-semantic repetition);

– traditionality, i.e. stability of the motif in folklore and literary tradition(a motif is a “traditional, recurring element of folklore and literary storytelling”;

– the presence of a semantic invariant of the motive and its variants.

In this case, it seems productive to distinguish between two meanings of the term. Firstly, the motive as the smallest structural unit of the text, focused mainly on plot and narration. This interpretation The motive has been well studied, especially on the material of historically early literature. Significant scientific results have been achieved here. Secondly, the motive, as the semantically most significant verbal unit of the text, focused primarily on the individual author’s concept, is widely used in the analysis of literature from the period of individual creativity.

The distinction between the two meanings of the term is due to the specifics literary families. The “narrative motif” is mainly represented in epics and partly in dramatic works, which is associated with the leading principle of plot and narration (in the broad sense) in these types of literature. Here the motif serves as the “building” unit of the plot. In the lyrics, the second meaning of the motive seems to be the leading one, since the plot connections here are weakened and the semantic significance of verbal units and their connections comes to the fore. However, one cannot deny the presence of both types of motive in all types of literature of the period of individual author’s creativity, where the choice of motive units is determined primarily by the author’s concept.

As part of the ongoing research, we consider it important to dwell on the specifics of the motive in a poetic text.

The specificity of the motive in the lyrics is determined by the characteristics of the lyrical text and the lyrical event, which is portrayed by the author not as an external objectified “event of an incident,” but as an internal subjectivized “event of experience.” Therefore, in a lyrical work, a motive is, first of all, a repeating complex of feelings and ideas. But individual motives in lyric poetry are much more independent than in epic and drama, where they are subordinated to the development of action. “The task of a lyrical work is to compare individual motives And verbal images, making an impression artistic construction thoughts" .

Undoubtedly, in lyric poetry it is not the object that is primary, but the subject of the utterance and its relationship to the outside world. An amazing property of lyricism is the desire and ability to approach the general through the particular, and through the everyday and ordinary - to the eternal and universal. Another paradoxical property of lyrics is the combination of the desire for extreme brevity and conciseness with the desire for “a certain descriptiveness, communicative design, artistic identification and expression for everyone.” In addition, at the center of the lyric poem there is a lyrical subject, “accumulating in his inner world leakage lyrical plot" The semantic organization of the world of lyrical texts is also reflected in the units of this world - motives. Placing the lyrical “I” at the center of the semantic structure reorients everything in the lyrical text (including motives) towards the relationship to this lyrical subject. The motifs are one way or another grouped around this center and, without generally losing their autonomous significance, are inextricably linked with the lyrical “I” of the text.

Specific signs motive in a lyrical text is the semantic tension of units representing this motive, as well as special variability, which can be not only lexical, but also semantic. The lyrical motif, highlighted in a set of texts, is lexically expressed only in some of them, while in the rest the main idea of ​​the poem, related motifs, main and secondary images, and the subtext of the poem can refer to this motif.

We emphasize that the lyrical motif can be identified exclusively within the context - a cycle of poems or the totality of the author’s entire work. It is impossible to identify a motif in a particular poem without taking into account the manifestation of variants of the same motif in other texts. This is also due to the properties of lyrics as a type of literature - a small volume of lyrical text, the absence of a dynamic plot. Related to this is the need to study lyrical motifs in the system.

The specificity of the motive in lyric poetry is connected not only with the characteristics of the latter as a type of literature, but is also due to the special properties poetic language, characteristic of lyrics.

So the motive– stable, repeating structural and semantic unit; a semantically rich component of the work, related to the theme, idea, but not identical to them; a semantic (substantive) element essential for understanding the author’s concept.

Scientists call the motive either the smallest event unit of the plot, or the unit of the plot, or an element of the text in general, regardless of the plot or plot. Let's try to figure it out different interpretations one of the most common terms.

There are many opinions on the origin of the motif: from him. motive, French motif, from lat. moveo - moving, from French. motif – melody, tune.

In the Russian science of literature, A.N. was the first to turn to the concept of motive. Veselovsky. Analyzing myths and fairy tales, he came to the conclusion that the motive is the simplest narrative unit, which cannot be further decomposed. From our point of view, this category has a plot character.

The thematic concept of the motif is developed in the works of B. Tomashevsky and V. Shklovsky. In their understanding, a motive is the themes into which a work can be divided. Each sentence contains motives - small themes

Most folklore and literary works have a motif, being the smallest element of the plot. The outstanding Russian folklorist V. Ya. Propp played a huge role in the study of the plot. In his book “The Morphology of the Fairy Tale” (1929), he demonstrated the possibility of the existence of several motives in a sentence. Therefore, he abandoned the term motive and resorted to his own category: the functions of the characters. He built a model of the plot of a fairy tale, consisting of sequences of elements. According to Propp, there are a limited number of such functions of heroes (31); Not all fairy tales have all the functions, but the sequence of the main functions is strictly observed. The fairy tale usually begins with the parents leaving the house (absentee function) and turning to the children with a ban on going outside, opening the door, or touching anything (prohibition). As soon as the parents leave, the children immediately violate this prohibition (violation of the prohibition), etc. The meaning of Propp's discovery was that his scheme was suitable for all fairy tales. All fairy tales have the motive of the road, the motive of searching for the missing bride, the motive of recognition. From these numerous motives various plots are formed. In this meaning, the term motive is more often used in relation to works of oral folk art. “Morozko acts differently than Baba Yaga. But a function, as such, is a constant quantity. To study a fairy tale, the question is important What fairy-tale characters do, but the question is Who does and How does - these are questions of only incidental study. The functions of the characters represent those components with which Veselovsky’s “motives” can be replaced...” 10

In most cases, a motif is a repeated word, phrase, situation, object or idea. Most often, the term “motive” is used to designate a situation that is repeated in various literary works, for example, the motive of parting with a loved one.

Motifs help create images and have various functions in the structure of the work. Thus, the mirror motif in V. Nabokov’s prose has at least 3 functions. Firstly, epistemologically: the mirror is a means of characterizing the character and becomes a way of self-knowledge of the hero. Secondly, this motif carries an ontological load: it acts as a boundary between worlds, organizing complex spatio-temporal relationships. And thirdly, the mirror motif can perform an axiological function, expressing moral, aesthetic, and artistic values. Thus, the hero of the novel “Despair” turns out to have a favorite word for mirror, he likes to write this word backwards, loves reflections, similarities, but is completely unable to see the difference and goes so far as to mistake a person with a dissimilar appearance for his double. Nabokovsky's Herman kills in order to mystify those around him, to make them believe in his death. The mirror motif is invariant, that is, it has a stable basis that can be filled with new meaning in a new context. Therefore, it appears in various versions in many other texts, where the main ability of the mirror is in demand - to reflect, to double the object.

Each motive generates an associative field for the character, for example, in Pushkin’s story “The Station Warden,” the motive of the prodigal son is set by pictures hanging on the walls of the stationmaster’s house, and is revealed with particular poignancy when his daughter comes to his grave. The motif of the house can be included in the space of the city, which, in turn, can consist of motifs of temptation, seduction, demonism. The literature of Russian emigrants is most often characterized by a mood that is revealed in the motifs of nostalgia, emptiness, loneliness, and emptiness.

A motive is a semantic (content-based) element of the text that is essential for understanding the author’s concept (for example, the motive of death in “The Tale of dead princess..." by A.S. Pushkin, the motive of loneliness in the lyrics of M.Yu. Lermontov, the motive of cold in "Easy Breathing" and " Cold autumn"I.A. Bunin, the motif of the full moon in "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov). M., as a stable formal-contain. component lit. text, can be selected within one or several. prod. writer (for example, a certain cycle), and in the complex of his entire work, as well as k.-l. lit. direction or an entire era 11”. The motif may contain elements of symbolization (a road by N.V. Gogol, a garden by Chekhov, a desert by M.Yu. Lermontov). The motif has a direct verbal (in lexemes) fixation in the text of the work itself; in poetry, its criterion in most cases is the presence of a key, supporting word that carries a special semantic load (smoke in Tyutchev, exile in Lermontov).

According to N. Tamarchenko, each motive has two forms of existence: a situation and an event. A situation is a set of circumstances, a position, a situation in which the characters find themselves. An event is something that happened, a significant phenomenon or fact of personal or public life. An event changes the situation. A motif is the simplest narrative unit that connects the events and situations that make up the lives of the characters in a literary work. An event is something that happened, a phenomenon, a fact of personal or public life. The situation is a set of circumstances, positions in which the characters find themselves, as well as the relationship between them. The event changes this ratio. Motives can be dynamic or adynamic. Motives of the first type accompany changes in the situation, as opposed to a static motive.

In recent years, literary criticism has outlined a synthesis of approaches to understanding motive. This movement was largely determined by the works of R. Yakobson, A. Zholkovsky and Yu. Shcheglov. The motive is no longer considered as part of the plot or plot. Having lost its connection with the event, the motive is now interpreted as almost any semantic repetition in the text - a repeating semantic spot. This means that the use of this category is quite legitimate when analyzing and lyrical works. The motive can be not only an event, a character trait, but also an object, sound, or landscape element that has increased semantic significance in the text. A motive is always a repetition, but the repetition is not lexical, but functional-semantic. That is, in a work it can be manifested through many options.

Motives can be diverse, among them are archetypal, cultural and many others. Archetypal ones are associated with the expression of the collective unconscious (the motive of selling the soul to the devil). Myths and archetypes represent a collective, culturally authoritative variety of motifs to which French thematic criticism devoted itself to the study of the 1960s. Cultural motifs were born and developed in works of literature, painting, music, and other arts. Italian motifs in Pushkin’s lyrics are a layer of the diverse culture of Italy mastered by the poet: from the works of Dante and Petrarch to the poetry of the ancient Romans.

Along with the concept of motive, there is the concept of leitmotif.

Leitmotif. A term of Germanic origin, literally meaning "leading motive". This is a frequently repeated image or motif that conveys the main mood; it is also a complex of homogeneous motifs. Thus, the leitmotif of “the vanity of life” usually consists of motives of temptation, seduction, and anti-home. The leitmotif of “return to a lost paradise” is characteristic of many of Nabokov’s works in the Russian-language period of creativity and it includes motives of nostalgia, longing for childhood, and sadness about the loss of a child’s outlook on life. In Chekhov's "The Seagull" the leitmotif is a sounding image - the sound of a broken string. Leitmotifs are used to create subtext in a work. When combined, they form the leitmotif structure of the work.

Literature

Fundamentals of literary criticism: Textbook. manual for philological faculties of pedagogy. university / Under the general ed. V. P. Meshcheryakova. M.: Moscow Lyceum, 2000. pp. 30–34.

Tomashevsky B.V. Theory of Literature. Poetics. M., 1996. pp. 182–185, 191–193.

Fedotov O.I. Introduction to literary criticism: Textbook. allowance. M.: Academy, 1998. pp. 34–39.

Khalizev V. E. Introduction to literary criticism. Literary work: basic concepts and terms / Under. ed. L. V. Chernets. M., 1999. pp. 381–393.

Tselkova L.N. Motive // ​​Introduction to literary studies. Literary work: basic concepts and terms / Under. ed. L. V. Chernets. M., 1999. pp. 202–209.

Further reading

1. History and narration: Sat. articles. M.: New Literary Review, 2006. 600 p.

2. Materials for the “Dictionary of Plots and Motives of Russian Literature”: from plot to motive / Ed. V.I. Tyupy. Novosibirsk: Institute of Philology SB RAS, 1996. 192 p.

3. Theory of literature: Textbook. manual: In 2 volumes / Ed. N. D. Tamarchenko. – M.: Publishing house. Center "Academy", 2004. T. 1. pp. 183–205.

1 Kozhinov V. Plot, plot, composition. pp. 408-485.

2Korman B.O. The integrity of a literary work and an experimental dictionary of literary terms. P.45.

3Medvedev P.N. Formal method in literary criticism. L., 1928. P.187.

4Plot // Introduction to literary criticism. P.381.

5Kozhinov V.V. Collision // KLE. T. 3. Stlb. 656-658.

6Tomashevsky B.V. Theory of literature. Poetics. pp. 230-232.

7Zhirmunsky V.M. Introduction to literary criticism: A course of lectures. P. 375.

8 Tolstoy L.N. Full collection cit.: In 90 volumes. M., 1953. T.62. P. 377.

9Kozhinov V. S. 456.

10Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. C.29.

11Nezvankina L.K., Shchemeleva L.M. Motive // ​​LES. P. 230