The plot and composition what to do. The Science of Literature and Its Components
The plot fits into overall composition works, occupying one or another, more or less important place in it, depending on the intentions of the author. There is also an internal composition of the plot. Depending on the relationship of the plot and plot in specific work talking about different types and plot composition techniques. The simplest case is when the events of the plot are linearly arranged in a direct chronological sequence without any changes (Chekhov's "The Death of an Official"). This composition is also called straight or plot sequence.
More complicated is the technique in which we learn about an event that happened before the rest at the very end of the work - this technique is called by default. It allows you to keep the reader in the dark and suspense, and at the end to amaze him with the unexpectedness of the plot twist (used in detective genre).
Another method of breaking the chronology or plot sequence is the so-called retrospection, when, in the course of the development of the plot, the author makes digressions into the past, as a rule, at the time preceding the plot and the beginning this work("Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev - 2 significant retrospectives - the prehistory of the life of Pavel Petrovich and Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov).
Finally, the plot sequence can be broken in such a way that events of different times are given mixed up; the narrative all the time returns from the moment of the action in progress to different previous time layers, then again turns to the present. This composition of the plot is often motivated by the memories of the characters. It is called free composition(in Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gorky, Tvardovsky's poem "Far beyond the distance", novels by Y. Bondarev, Ch. Aitmatov; in foreign literature W. Faulkner especially loved this form).
2. The function of the storyline in the implementation of the author's intention.
The functions of the plot are diverse: the embodiment of conflicts, the disclosure of characters, the motivation for their development, the introduction of new faces, etc. The sequence of events cannot but beat temporary and in concentric plot (in which cause-and-effect relationships prevail), and in chronicles, and with a combination of both of these principles of plot construction. Classic scheme concentric plot includes plot, development of action, climax, denouement; chronicle plot consists of a chain episodes(often including concentric microplots).
However, the narrative does not always obediently follow the chronology. The construction of the story is entirely in the power of the writer. And in works with several storylines he needs to decide how to alternate episodes in which certain characters are involved. Another problem of textual composition is connected with the introduction of the past into the main action of the work, with the reader's acquaintance with the circumstances preceding the plot, as well as with the subsequent fate of the characters. In the history of literature, a number of techniques have been developed to solve these problems: in a work there may be prologue(preface), the plot is usually preceded by exposure, a concise and compact story about the hero's past is called backstory, about his future fate - subsequent history, information about the life of heroes after the main action can be reported in epilogue(afterword). Thanks to these techniques, the spatio-temporal framework of the narrative expands, without prejudice to the image " close-up» the main action of the work.
Plots that are not externally related to the main action can be introduced into the work - inserted novels, as well as parables, fables, little plays, fairy tales. Traditional and reception plot frame, in which the narrator (narrators) is introduced, the found manuscript is reported, etc. - in a word, the motivation for the story is given. Framing can enhance the meaning, the idea of the story being told, or, on the contrary, correct the story, argue with it. Framing can bring many stories together, creating an appropriate storytelling situation, a tradition dating back to Arabian tales"A Thousand and One Nights", collections of short stories "Decameron" by G. Boccaccio, " Canterbury Tales» J. Chaucer. And in the XX century. narrative technique was enriched by montage composition.
As you can see, the organization of the narrative about the plot, and even more so the multilinear plot, as well as the system of plots, provides the author with the widest choice of narrative techniques. If there can be only one natural course of events, then there are many ways to break it in the presentation, mix it with other plots, “stretch” some episodes and “compress” others - there are many.
LECTURE #10. (2 HOURS) Methodological approaches to detecting plot components in the system of working with younger children school age.
Reading is one of the essential means of educating younger students, their comprehensive development. The need for reading books depends on the learning conditions aimed at shaping the personality and the foundations of the reading culture. The work must correspond to the abilities of children in terms of language (so that they can read it on their own), it must be clear in its main idea, it must be distinguished by high poetry that delights the young reader, it must give food to the mind and cause surprise, that is, captivate children.
Penetration into the content of the text requires an understanding of the diverse figurative and expressive means of the language, thanks to which artistic image. Yes, during three years in reading lessons, students become familiar with art, get acquainted with works of art and get a versatile view of the world in the process of reading works fiction and scientific and educational articles.
Consideration of a work of art must begin not with analysis, but with synthesis. Highlighting stylistic dominants also indicates what should be done in the work in the first place. During the conversation about the short prose work(or about ballads, songs, fables), the teacher teaches children to consistently answer a series of questions that are familiar to him and therefore easily remembered by children, which streamline the child’s individual reflections on what he read: - Who did I read about ?; What did you find out about him (them)? (About dreams, deeds, about the time when this! Happened?); - How is it told? (What in the text of the work makes me think about the characters and the incident one way and not another?).
When reading large-scale stories about travels and adventures (real or fictional) of some hero, the logic of thinking about what you read is regulated by somewhat different questions: - Who, when and why embarked on this journey or got into an adventure situation? - What happened to him first? Then? in the end?; - How did he behave in moments of victories and defeats?
When reading large-scale stories and novels for children, where socially significant questions are posed and where the characters are divided into opposing groups, the course of reasoning about what you have read can be as follows: - Think and answer how the main events began in this work; - Select the main character, try to list all the characters and tell the most important thing about each in one or two sentences.
A series of questions of this kind will help in systematic work on a work of art, namely in further work to discover the components of the plot. After four or five constructions of the teacher's series of questions above, the children master them forever and remember the sequence.
When working systematically on the components of the plot with children of primary school age, it is necessary to take into account the concept accessibility plot. The content of the work will be available only when the language of the work, its artistic features are available, when it corresponds to and even somewhat outstrips the level of mental and intellectual development child. One of the indicators of the availability of a book for a student will be interest in it and a desire to listen to it read.
Plot intrigue - one of the essential principles for selecting books for children's reading closely related to the principle dynamism. The younger student still needs a quick change of events that will attract him with their sharpness, unusualness, will occupy his attention with the secret, intensity of the story. The plot is sluggish, drawn out, having many side lines, the connection of which the child cannot grasp, is uninteresting. The system of work to prepare for the detection of plot components should include storytelling principle epic works. To do this, choose small dynamic texts. Narrative can be combined with expressive reading.
One of the approaches to detecting plot components should be called word drawing . It comes down to an oral depiction of what is missing in the work and contributes to the development of imagination and creativity elementary school student. This technique teaches you to read the text, remember the details, organically supplement it with an idea of what could be.
Another technique that produces an effect among younger students may be " letter from the author" or literary hero. With the help of a "letter from the author" you can tell the biography of a writer or a poet, and a "letter from a literary hero" will help to acquaint you with the history of the creation of the work, develop interest in reading the text, and tune in to listening. In the process of a long reading of a work, with the help of a “letter from a hero”, one can retell that part of the text that will not be read, and in the future it will help to determine the components of this plot.
Mystification of this kind is acceptable, firstly, because schoolchildren already understand its meaning and see it as a way to diversify the work of reading a text. Secondly, hoax is literary device, the purpose of which is to arouse interest in the work, captivate, intrigue the reader.
To identify the components of the plot, you can use this type of analysis - following the author those. the kind where the logic of the development of the action is observed. Analysis artistic text conducted by asking questions. Children should get used to listening to the question, understanding its essence and answering in accordance with the meaning of the question, without departing from it, without expanding or narrowing its meaning. Answering the question, he ponders the text, memorizes its content, catches with the help of an adult the features of the form, uses the language of the writer in his speech practice.
Questions for the analysis of a literary text should be accessible to children. All words must be clear, precise, justified. The availability of the question implies the clarity of meaning, the specificity of the answer. The better the question is asked, the more accurate the answer will be. The child should not be asked the so-called double questions: where and why? who and where? etc., so as not to scatter attention, aim at one, but true and deep answer. There are also so-called leading questions, i.e. those that complement main question, help the child to reveal it more deeply and purposefully. But an adult must distinguish leading questions from prompting ones that cannot be asked to children, since they actually contain the answer to the question. Pointless questions like "What else can you say?" or “Who else will say anything?” should not be heard during analysis. Otherwise, the work on detecting the components of the plot can be significantly more difficult.
One of the important methodological approaches in detecting plot components is the teacher’s transformation of a work of art from a compulsory educational exercise into a serious, interesting and useful conversation for schoolchildren about literature, its features as an art form, its impact on a person, a conversation that will never get bored, since with its help, vital, essential questions for the child are solved: will the secret become clear; is it possible to restore youth and whether it should be done; what is nature and what is the place of man in it, etc. Analysis of the plot of the work helps to keep children interested in the world, curiosity, inquisitiveness, teaches them to think, compare.
Consider one of the approaches to work on the plot organization of a fairy tale (according to the classification of V.Ya. Propp) “Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird and Gray wolf". The proposed method for studying the plot of a fairy tale is based on the works of A.N. Veselovsky, N.M. Vedernikova and V.Ya. Propp.
The work on the study of the plot consists of several stages:
clarification of the main motives of the plot, the discovery of causal relationships between them;
definition of individual functions - the actions of characters characteristic of a number of fairy tales;
highlighting the so-called “plot milestones”, or plot elements (strings, development of action, turning point, climaxes, denouements);
Correlating each element of the plot with the characters, actions and actions of the characters.
The beginning of work on the plot of a fairy tale will be the selection of its exposition as the initial link in the construction fairy story. Next, it is necessary to highlight the plot of the fairy tale action, when an event occurs that predetermines the further course of the fairy tale. Children correlate the function of sending heroes from home in search of the Firebird to the plot and concluded that this event was the beginning of the protagonist's adventures. Analyzing the episodes that characterize the development of the action, the children single out the function of the prohibition and its violation (episodes of the abduction of the Firebird and the golden-maned horse). When considering the episode when the brothers kill Ivan Tsarevich, students note the special tension of this moment, thereby determining the culmination of the tale; here, the functions of the brothers as “false heroes”, bringing evil, and the function of the wolf as a “wonderful helper”, embodying the idea of goodness, were noted. The victory of good over evil is named as the denouement of the plot. Special attention we turn children to the ending of a fairy tale, which plays the role of a fairy tale epilogue.
In working on the beginning and ending of fairy tales, children must catch their repetition from fairy tale to fairy tale and at the same time their variation and diversity. Already in grades 1-2, the author introduces literary terms“beginning” and “ending”, based on the etymology of these words. At the same time, it is important that children learn the function of the beginning and ending as stable methods of fairy tale narration and their informative function.
Younger students are quite capable of understanding the pattern of such plot construction fairy tales based on the selected scheme, its plot organization, and even come up with their own fairy tales, which would reflect the main elements of the plot. Thus, the detection of the components of the plot of a literary text is important view work with a literary work. Its goal is a deeper understanding of the meaning of what is being read, artistic features text, creative individuality of the author. To teach a younger student to analyze the plot of a work of art means to educate in him a talented reader, a connoisseur of literature, an interesting person who is receptive to art.
1. Category of the author. The author is the creator literary work. In literary criticism, this word is used in several meanings. First of all, it is necessary to draw a line between the real-biographical author and the author as a category of literary analysis. In the second sense, we mean by the author the bearer of the ideological concept of a work of art. It is associated with the real author, but is not identical to him, since in work of art not the whole fullness of the author's personality is embodied, but only some of its facets (although often the most important ones).
The author as a real biographical person and the author as the bearer of the concept of the work should not be confused author image, which is created in some works verbal art. The image of the author is a special aesthetic category that arises when an image of the creator of this work is created inside the work. This may be the image of “himself” (“Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin, “What is to be done?” Chernyshevsky), or the image of a fictitious, fictitious author (Ivan Petrovich Belkin by Pushkin).
2. Reader and author. The reader seeks to think over what he has read, to understand the reasons for the experienced emotions. The need for the interpretation of works organically grows out of the lively, unsophisticated reader's responses to it. The immediate impulses and mind of the reader correlate with the creative will of the author of the work is very difficult. Discussing the problem of "reader - author", scientists express opinions in different directions, sometimes even polar to one another. They either absolutize the reader's initiative, or, on the contrary, speak of the obedience of the reader to the author as some kind of indisputable norm for the perception of literature.
However, the reader is led by the author, and he requires obedience in following his creative ways. And a good reader is one who knows how to find in himself the breadth of understanding and give himself to the author. The most sensitive reader is always inclined to re-read an outstanding work of fiction several times. Takova norm(in other words, the best, optimal "option") of the reader's perception. It is carried out each time in its own way and not always in full. In addition, the author's orientations to the tastes and interests of the reading public are very different. And literary criticism studies the reader from various perspectives, most importantly, in his cultural and historical diversity.
3. Hero. The usual method of grouping and stringing motives is to bring out characters, living carriers of certain motives. Belonging to one or another motive certain character facilitates the reader's attention. There are techniques that help to understand the very mass of characters and their relationships. The character must be able to recognize, on the other hand, it must attract attention to a greater or lesser extent.
Reception of recognition character is his " characteristic ". By characteristic, we mean a system of motives that are inextricably linked with a given character. IN narrow sense characteristic is understood as the motives that determine the psychology of the character, his "character".
The simplest element of a characteristic is already hero name own name. In more complex constructions, it is required that the actions of the hero follow from some psychological unity, so that they are psychologically probable for this character (psychological motivation of actions). In this case, the hero is awarded certain psychological traits.
Characteristics of the hero can be direct, i.e. his character is reported directly or from the author, or in the speeches of other characters, or in the self-characterization ("confessions") of the hero. Often meets indirect characteristic: character emerges from the actions and behavior of the hero. A special case of an indirect or suggestive characteristic is the reception masks, i.e. development of specific motives in harmony with the psychology of the character. So, the description of the hero's appearance, his clothes, the furnishings of his home (for example, Gogol's Plyushkin) are all mask techniques.
In the methods of characterization of characters, two main cases should be distinguished: character unchanged, which remains the same in the narrative throughout the plot, and the character changing when, as the plot develops, we follow the change in the character of the protagonist. Characters are usually emotionally charged. In the most primitive forms, we meet the virtuous and the villainous. Positive and negative "types" are a necessary element of plot construction. Consequently, the character who receives the most acute and vivid emotional coloring is called hero. The hero is the person who is followed by the reader with the greatest tension and attention. The hero evokes compassion, sympathy, joy and grief for the reader.
Literary hero - this is an artistic image, one of the designations of the integral existence of man in the art of the word. This term has a double meaning. 1) He emphasizes the dominant position of the protagonist in the work (as the protagonist in comparison with character). 2) Under the term "L. G." a holistic image of a person is understood - in the aggregate of his appearance, way of thinking, behavior and peace of mind. This term in its narrow meaning is close to the term "character", and denotes the internal psychological section of the personality, its natural properties, nature.
The concept of composition is broader and more universal than the concept of plot. The plot fits into the overall composition of the works, occupying one or another, more or less important place in it, depending on the intentions of the author.
Depending on the ratio of the plot and plot in a particular work, they talk about different types and techniques plot compositions. The simplest case is when the events are linearly arranged in a direct chronological sequence without any changes. This composition is also called straight or plot sequence.
The composition of the plot also includes a certain order of telling the reader about what happened. In works with a large amount of text, the sequence of plot episodes usually reveals the author's thought gradually and steadily. In novels and short stories, poems and dramas, each subsequent episode opens something new for the reader - and so on until the finale, which is usually, as it were, a pivotal moment in the composition of the plot.
It should be noted that the temporal coverage in works can be quite wide, the pace of narration can be uneven. There is a difference between a concise author's presentation that speeds up the run plot time and "dramatized" episodes, compositional the time of which goes "toe in step" with the plot time.
In some cases, writers depict parallel theaters of action (that is, they draw two storylines running parallel to each other). So, the neighborhood of the chapters of "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy, dedicated to the dying of the old Bolkonsky and the cheerful name day in the Rostovs' house, outwardly motivated by the simultaneity of these events, carries a certain content load. This technique sets readers in the mood of Tolstoy's reflections and the inseparability of life and death.
Writers do not always tell about events in a direct sequence. Sometimes they seem to intrigue readers, keeping them in the dark about the true essence of events for some time. This compositional technique is called by default. This technique is very effective, because it allows you to keep the reader in the dark and tension until the very end, and at the end to amaze with the unexpectedness of the plot twist. Thanks to these properties, the technique of default is almost always used in adventurous-picaresque works and works of the detective genre, although, of course, not only in them. Realist writers also sometimes keep the reader in the dark about what happened. So, for example, the story of A.S. Pushkin "Snowstorm". Only at the very end of the story does the reader learn that Marya Gavrilovna was married to a stranger, who, as it turns out, was Burmin. In the novel “War and Peace”, the author for a long time makes the reader, together with the Bolkonsky family, think that Prince Andrei died during the battle of Austerlitz, and only at the moment the hero appears in the Bald Mountains it turns out that this is not so.
An important means of plot composition are chronological permutations events. Often these rearrangements are dictated by the desire of the authors to switch the attention of readers from the external side of what happened (what will happen to the characters next?) to its inner, deep background. So, in the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time", the composition of the plot serves to gradually penetrate into the secrets of the inner world of the protagonist. First, readers learn about Pechorin from the story of Maxim Maksimych ("Bela"), then from the narrator, who gives a detailed portrait of the hero ("Maxim Maksimych"), and only after that Lermontov introduces Pechorin's diary (the stories "Taman", "Princess Mary" , "Fatalist"). Thanks to the sequence of chapters chosen by the author, the reader's attention is transferred from the adventures undertaken by Pechorin to the riddle of his character, "unraveled" from story to story, up to the Fatalist.
Another method of violating chronologies or plot sequence is the so-called retrospection, when, in the course of the development of the plot, the author makes digressions into the past, as a rule, at the time preceding the plot and the beginning of this work. This kind of “retrospective” (facing back to what happened earlier) composition of the plot suggests the presence in the works of detailed backstories of the characters given in independent plot episodes. In order to more fully discover the successive ties of epochs and generations, in order to reveal the complex and hard ways formation of human characters, writers often resort to a kind of "montage" of the past (sometimes very distant) and the present of characters: the action is periodically transferred from one time to another. So, in "Fathers and Sons" I.S. Turgenev, in the course of the plot, readers are faced with two significant flashbacks - the backstories of the life of Pavel Petrovich and Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov. It was not Turgenev’s intention to start the novel from their youth, and it would clutter up the composition of the novel, but to give an idea of the past of these characters seemed necessary to the author, which is why he used the technique of retrospection.
The plot sequence can be broken in such a way that events of different times are given mixed up; the narrative constantly returns from the moment of the ongoing action to different previous time layers, then again turns to the present in order to immediately return to the past. This composition of the plot is often motivated by the memories of the characters. It is called free composition and used to some extent different writers often. However, it happens that free composition becomes the main and defining principle of plot construction; in this case, it is customary to speak of a free composition proper (“Shot” by A.S. Pushkin).
Internal, emotional-semantic, that is, compositional, connections between plot episodes sometimes turn out to be functionally even more important than plot connections, causal-time ones. The composition of such works can be called active, or, using the term of cinematographers, “ assembly". An active, montage composition allows writers to embody deep, not directly observable connections between life phenomena, events, facts (an example is the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"). The role and purpose of this kind of composition can be characterized by the words of A.A. Blok from the preface to the poem “Retribution”: “I am used to comparing facts from all areas of life accessible to my vision at a given time, and I am sure that all of them together always create a single musical pressure” (Complete collection of works in the 8th vols. T.3 - M., 1960, p.297).
In addition to the plot, in the composition of the work there are also so-called off-plot elements, which are often no less, if not more important than the plot itself. If the plot of the work is dynamic side his compositions, then outside plot elements- static.
Extraplot such elements are called that do not move the action forward, during which nothing happens, and the characters remain in their previous positions. Distinguish three main varieties extra-plot elements: description, author's digressions and inserted episodes (otherwise they are also called inserted short stories or insert plots).
Description- this is an image of the outside world (landscape, portrait, world of things) or a sustainable way of life, that is, those events and actions that occur regularly, day after day and, therefore, also have nothing to do with the movement of the plot. Descriptions are the most common type of non-plot elements; they are present in almost every epic work.
Copyright digressions- these are more or less detailed author's statements of philosophical, lyrical, autobiographical, etc. character; However, these statements do not characterize individual characters or relationships between them. Author's digressions are an optional element in the composition of a work, but when they nevertheless appear there (“Eugene Onegin” by A.S. Pushkin, “ Dead Souls» N.V. Gogol, “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov and others), they play, as a rule, the most important role, they serve as a direct expression of the writer's position.
Insert episodes- these are relatively finished fragments of the action in which other characters appear, the action is transferred to another time and place, etc. Sometimes inserted episodes begin to play in the work even big role than the main plot, as, for example, in " Dead souls» N.V. Gogol.
In some cases, a psychological image can also be attributed to extra-plot elements, if state of mind or the hero’s reflections are not a consequence or cause of plot events, they are switched off from the plot chain (for example, most of Pechorin’s internal monologues in A Hero of Our Time). However, as a rule, internal monologues and other forms of psychological depiction are somehow included in the plot, since they determine the further actions of the hero and, consequently, the further course of the plot.
When analyzing the overall composition of a work, one should first of all determine the relationship between the plot and extra-plot elements, determining which of them is more important, and proceeding from this, continue the analysis in the appropriate direction. So, when analyzing "Dead Souls" N.V. Gogol, extra-plot elements should be given priority.
At the same time, it should be taken into account that there are also cases when both the plot and extra-plot elements are equally important in a work - for example, in A.S. Pushkin. In this case, the interaction of plot and non-plot fragments of the text is of particular importance: as a rule, extra-plot elements are placed between plot events not in an arbitrary, but in a strictly logical order. So, the retreat of A.S. Pushkin "We all look at Napoleons ..." could appear only after readers had sufficiently recognized Onegin's character from his actions and only in connection with his friendship with Lensky; the digression about Moscow is not only formally timed to coincide with Tatyana's arrival in the old capital, but also correlates in a complex way with the events of the plot: the image of "native Moscow" with its historical roots is opposed to Onegin's unrootedness in Russian life, etc. In general, extra-plot elements often have a weak or purely formal connection with the plot and represent a separate compositional line.
Summing up all that has been said, it is necessary to indicate that in the most general form, two types of composition can be distinguished - conditionally they can be called simple And difficult. In the first case, the function of composition is reduced only to the unification of the parts of the work into a single whole, and this unification is always carried out in the simplest and most naturally. In the field of plot formation, this will be a direct chronological sequence of events, in the field of narration - a single narrative type throughout the entire text, in the field of subject details - a simple list of them without highlighting particularly important, supporting, symbolic details and so on.
With a complex composition, in the very construction of the work, in the order of combination of its parts and elements, a special artistic sense. So, for example, the successive change of narrators and the violation of the chronological sequence in the "Hero of Our Time" by M.Yu. Lermontov focus on the moral and philosophical essence of Pechorin's character and allow you to "get close" to it, gradually unraveling the character. In Chekhov's story "Ionych", immediately after the description of the "salon" of the Turkins, where Vera Iosifovna reads her novel, and Kotik beats the piano keys with all his might, it is not by chance that there is a mention of the knock of knives and the smell of fried onions - this compositional comparison of details contains special meaning, the author's irony is expressed. An example of a complex composition of speech elements can be identified in M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin: “It seemed that the cup of disasters was drunk to the bottom. But no: there is still a whole tub at the ready. Here the first and second sentences clash compositionally, creating a contrast between the solemn, high style (and the corresponding intonation) of the metaphorical phrase “the cup of disasters is drunk to the bottom” and colloquial vocabulary and intonation (“an no”, “tub”). As a result, the comic effect necessary for the author arises.
Simple and complex types of composition are sometimes difficult to identify in a particular work of art, since the differences between them turn out to be purely quantitative to a certain extent: one can speak of greater or lesser complexity of the composition of a particular work. There are, of course, pure types: for example, the composition of fables by I.A. Krylova is simple in all respects, and “Ladies with a Dog” by A.P. Chekhov or “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov is complex in all respects. But, for example, such a story by A.P. Chekhov as "House with a mezzanine" is quite simple in terms of plot and narrative composition and complex in terms of composition of speech and details. All this makes the question of the type of composition rather complicated, but at the same time very important, since simple and complex types of composition can become style dominants works and, thus, determine its artistic originality.
The prologue is the introductory part of a work. She either anticipates storyline or the main motives of the work, or represents the events that preceded those described on the pages.The exposition is somewhat akin to the prologue, however, if the prologue does not have a special influence on the development of the plot of the work, then it directly introduces the reader into the atmosphere. It describes the time and place of action, central characters and their relationships. The exposure can be either at the beginning (direct exposure) or in the middle of the work (delayed exposure).
With a logically clear construction, the exposition is followed by a plot - an event that starts the action and provokes the development of the conflict. Sometimes the plot precedes the exposition (for example, Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"). IN detective novels, which differ in the so-called analytical construction of the plot, the cause of events (i.e., the plot) is usually revealed to the reader after the effect generated by it.
The plot is traditionally followed by the development of the action, consisting of a series of episodes in which the characters seek to resolve the conflict, but it only escalates.
Gradually, the development of the action approaches its highest point which is called the climax. The climax is a clash of characters or a turning point in their lives. After the climax, the action moves irresistibly towards the denouement.
Resolution is the end of an action, or at least of a conflict. As a rule, the denouement comes at the end of the work, but sometimes it also appears at the beginning (for example, I.A. Bunina “Easy breathing”).
Often the work ends with an epilogue. This final part, which usually tells about the events that followed after the completion of the main plot, and about further destinies characters. Such are the epilogues in the novels of I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy.
Lyrical digressions
Also, extra-plot elements may be present in the composition, for example, digressions. In them he himself appears before the reader, expressing his own opinions on various issues, which is not always directly related to the action. Of particular interest are the lyrical digressions in "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin and in Dead Souls by N.V. Gogol.All of the above allow you to give the work of artistic integrity, logic and fascination.
1. Plot and composition
ANTITHESIS - opposition of characters, events, actions, words. It can be used at the level of details, particulars (“Black evening, white snow” - A. Blok), or it can serve as a technique for creating the entire work as a whole. Such is the contrast between the two parts of A. Pushkin's poem "The Village" (1819), where in the first part pictures of beautiful nature, peaceful and happy, are drawn, and in the second - in contrast - episodes from the life of a disenfranchised and cruelly oppressed Russian peasant.
ARCHITECTONICS - the relationship and proportionality of the main parts and elements that make up a literary work.
DIALOGUE - a conversation, conversation, dispute between two or more characters in a work.
STAGE - an element of the plot, meaning the moment of the conflict, the beginning of the events depicted in the work.
INTERIOR - a compositional tool that recreates the atmosphere in the room where the action takes place.
INTRIGA - the movement of the soul and the actions of the character, aimed at searching for the meaning of life, truth, etc. - a kind of "spring" that drives the action in a dramatic or epic work and giving him entertainment.
COLLISION - a clash of opposing views, aspirations, interests of the characters of a work of art.
COMPOSITION - the construction of a work of art, a certain system in the arrangement of its parts. Differ composite means(portraits actors, interior, landscape, dialogue, monologue, including internal) and compositional techniques(montage, symbol, stream of consciousness, self-disclosure of the character, mutual disclosure, image of the character of the hero in dynamics or in statics). The composition is determined by the peculiarities of the writer's talent, genre, content and purpose of the work.
COMPONENT - component works: in its analysis, for example, we can talk about components of content and components of form, sometimes interpenetrating.
CONFLICT - a clash of opinions, positions, characters in a work, driving, like intrigue and conflict, its action.
CLIMINATION - plot element: moment highest voltage in the development of the work.
Keynote - the main idea works that are repeatedly repeated and emphasized.
MONOLOGUE - a lengthy speech of a character in a literary work, addressed, in contrast to the internal monologue, to others. An example of an internal monologue is the first stanza of A. Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin": "My uncle is the most fair rules…" etc.
INSTALLATION is a compositional technique: composing a work or its section into one whole from separate parts, excerpts, quotations. An example is the book of Evg. Popov "The beauty of life".
MOTIVE - one of the components of a literary text, part of the theme of the work, more often than others acquiring symbolic meaning. Motif of the road, motif of the house, etc.
OPPOSITION - a variant of antithesis: opposition, opposition of views, behavior of characters at the level of characters (Onegin - Lensky, Oblomov - Stolz) and at the level of concepts ("wreath - crown" in M. Lermontov's poem "The Death of a Poet"; "it seemed - it turned out" in A. Chekhov's story "The Lady with the Dog").
LANDSCAPE - a compositional means: the image in the work of pictures of nature.
PORTRAIT - 1. Compositional means: image of the character's appearance - face, clothes, figure, demeanor, etc.; 2. Literary portrait- one of the prose genres.
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS is a compositional technique used mainly in modernist literature. The scope of its application is the analysis of complex crisis states of the human spirit. F. Kafka, J. Joyce, M. Proust and others are recognized as masters of the "stream of consciousness". In some episodes, this technique can also be used in realistic works- Artem Vesely, V. Aksenov and others.
PROLOGUE - an extra-plot element that describes the events or persons involved before the start of the action in the work ("The Snow Maiden" by A. N. Ostrovsky, "Faust" by I. V. Goethe, etc.).
DENOUGH - an element of the plot that fixes the moment of resolution of the conflict in the work, the result of the development of events in it.
RETARDATION - a compositional technique that delays, stops or reverses the development of action in a work. It is carried out by including in the text various digressions of a lyrical and journalistic nature (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” in N. Gogol’s “Dead Souls”, autobiographical digressions in A. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”, etc.).
PLOT - a system, the order of development of events in a work. Its main elements are: prologue, exposition, plot, development of action, climax, denouement; in some cases, an epilogue is possible. The plot reveals causal relationships in the relationship between characters, facts and events in the work. To evaluate various kinds of plots, such concepts as the intensity of the plot, "wandering" plots can be used.
THEME - the subject of the image in the work, its material, indicating the place and time of action. main topic, as a rule, is specified by subject, i.e., a set of private, separate topics.
FABULA - the sequence of unfolding events of the work in time and space.
FORM - a certain system artistic means revealing the content of a literary work. Categories of form - plot, composition, language, genre, etc. Form as a way of existence of the content of a literary work.
CHRONOTOPE - spatio-temporal organization of material in a work of art.
Bald man with a white beard - I. Nikitin
Old Russian giant – M. Lermontov
With dogaress young – A. Pushkin
Falls on the sofa – N. Nekrasov
Used most often in postmodern works:
Under it is a stream
But not azure,
Above him ambre -
Well, no strength.
He, having given everything to literature,
Full of its fruit tasted.
Drive, man, five-kopeck piece,
And do not annoy unnecessarily.
Desert sower of freedom
Gathers a meager harvest.
I. Irteniev
EXPOSITION - an element of the plot: the situation, circumstances, positions of the characters in which they are before the start of the action in the work.
EPIGRAPH - a proverb, a quote, someone's statement, placed by the author before the work or its part, parts, designed to indicate his intention: “... So who are you finally? I am part of that power that always wants evil and always does good.” Goethe. "Faust" is an epigraph to M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita".
EPILOGUE - an element of the plot that describes the events that occurred after the end of the action in the work (sometimes after many years - I. Turgenev. "Fathers and Sons").
From the book The Art of Color author Itten Johannes15. Composition To compose in color means to place two or more colors side by side in such a way that their combination is extremely expressive. For common solution color composition what matters is the choice of colors, their relationship to each other, their place and direction in
From the book On the plastic composition of the performance the author Morozov GV From the book Dramaturgy of Cinema the author Turkin VKTempo-rhythm and plastic composition of the performance. The tempo-rhythm of a performance is a dynamic characteristic of its plastic composition. And as Stanislavsky said, “... The tempo-rhythm of a play and a performance is not one, but whole line large and small complexes, various and
From the book Nature of the Film. Rehabilitation of physical reality author Krakauer Siegfried From the book Life of Drama author Bentley Eric From book Everyday life Russian tavern from Ivan the Terrible to Boris Yeltsin author Kurukin Igor Vladimirovich From the book Literary Work: Theory artistic integrity the author Girshman Mikhail From the book Forms of Literary Self-Reflection in Russian Prose of the First Third of the 20th Century author Khatyamova Marina Albertovnarhythmic composition and style originality poetic
From the book of Paralogy [Transformations of (post)modernist discourse in Russian culture 1920-2000] author Lipovetsky Mark NaumovichRhythmic composition and stylistic originality of prose
From the book by Kandinsky. Origins. 1866-1907 author Aronov Igor From the book Music Journalism and music criticism: tutorial author Kurysheva Tatyana AlexandrovnaParnok's Plot and the Author's Plot Mandelstam's short story frankly resists plot reading: it seems that its style is aimed at hiding rather than revealing the trauma that gave rise to this text. Three main "events" of the story can be distinguished: two
From book funny little men [cultural heroes Soviet childhood] author Lipovetsky Mark NaumovichRhythm/plot Sometimes it doesn't hurt to point out that something is actually happening. After all, what is happening is ... "Elegy" In the very general view the principle of constructing Rubinstein's compositions can be described as follows: each of the "file cabinets" begins with more or
From the book Saga of the Great Steppe by Aji Murad From the author's book2.2. Rhetoric and logic. composition A long way from the perception of music through evaluative sensations to their verbal design is completed only at the level holistic text, built, composed by the author. To comprehend this side of literary skill - the principles
From the author's bookThe Art of Being an Idiot: Style and Composition The so-called "naive art" laid the foundations of the Russian avant-garde of the 1910s (lubok, children's graphics, ethnic motifs from the art of primitive aboriginal peoples were rethought in the works of M. Larionov, N. Goncharova and
From the author's bookKing Attila. Story composition plays Before presenting the final plot to the reader's judgment, I want to make an explanation. For a long time I wanted to expand the East-West theme, that is, to show how the east became western. By by and large, this consisted
Plot (from French sujet) - a chain of events depicted in a literary work, that is, the life of characters in its spatio-temporal changes, in changing positions and circumstances.
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.
Story elements: The main ones include exposition, plot, development of action, ups and downs, climax, denouement. Optional: prologue, epilogue, background, ending.
We will call a plot the system of events and actions contained in a work, its event chain, and moreover, in the sequence in which it is given to us in the work. The last remark is important, since quite often the events are not told in chronological order, and the reader can learn about what happened earlier. If we take only the main key episodes plot, absolutely necessary for its understanding, and arrange them in chronological order, then we get plot - plot outline or, as it is sometimes said, "straightened plot" . plots in various works can be very similar to each other, the plot is always uniquely individual.
There are two types of stories. In the first type, the development of the action takes place tensely and as rapidly as possible, the main meaning and interest for the reader lies in the events of the plot, the plot elements are clearly expressed, and the denouement carries a huge content load. This type of plot is found, for example, in Pushkin's Tales of Belkin, Turgenev's On the Eve, Dostoevsky's The Gambler, etc. Let's call this type of plot dynamic.
In another type of plot - let's call it, in contrast to the first, adynamic - the development of the action is slow and does not tend to a denouement, the events of the plot do not contain special interest, elements of the plot are not clearly expressed or are completely absent (the conflict is embodied and moves not with the help of plot, but with the help of other composite means), the denouement is either completely absent, or is purely formal, in the overall composition of the work there are many extra-plot elements (see below about them), which often shift the center of gravity of the reader's attention to themselves.
We observe this type of plot, for example, in Gogol's "Dead Souls", "Men" and other works by Chekhov, etc. There is a fairly simple way to check what kind of plot you are dealing with: works with an adynamic plot can be reread from any place, for works with a dynamic plot, reading and rereading only from beginning to end is typical. Dynamic plots, as a rule, are built on local conflicts, adynamic ones - on substantive ones. This regularity does not have the nature of a rigid 100% dependence, but nevertheless, in most cases, this relationship between the type of conflict and the type of plot takes place.
Concentric plot - one event (one event situation) comes to the fore. Characteristic for small epic forms, dramatic genres, literature of antiquity and classicism. (“Telegram” by K. Paustovsky, “Notes of a Hunter” by I. Turgenev) chronicle plot- events do not have causal relationships among themselves and are correlated with each other only in time (Don Quixote by Cervantes, Homer's Odyssey, Byron's Don Juan).
Plot and composition. The concept of composition is broader and more universal than the concept of plot. The plot fits into the overall composition of the work, occupying one or another, more or less important place in it, depending on the intentions of the author. There is also an internal composition of the plot, to which we now turn.
Depending on the ratio of the plot and plot in a particular work, one speaks of different types and methods of plot composition. The simplest case is when the events of the plot are linearly arranged in direct chronological sequence without any changes. This composition is also called straight or plot sequence. More complicated is the technique in which we learn about an event that happened before the rest at the very end of the work - this technique is called default. This technique is very effective, because it allows you to keep the reader in ignorance and tension until the very end, and at the end to amaze him with the unexpectedness of the plot twist.
Thanks to these properties, the technique of default is almost always used in works of the detective genre, although, of course, not only in them. Another method of breaking the chronology or plot sequence is the so-called retrospection, when, in the course of the development of the plot, the author makes digressions into the past, as a rule, at the time preceding the plot and the beginning of this work. Finally, the plot sequence can be broken in such a way that events of different times are given mixed up; the narrative constantly returns from the moment of the ongoing action to different previous time layers, then again turns to the present in order to immediately return to the past.
This composition of the plot is often motivated by the memories of the characters. It is called free composition and is used to some extent by different writers quite often: for example, we can find elements of free composition in Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. However, it happens that free composition becomes the main and defining principle of plot construction, in this case, as a rule, we are talking about free composition itself.
Extra-plot elements. In addition to the plot, there are also so-called extra-plot elements in the composition of the work, which are often no less or even more important than the plot itself. If the plot of a work is the dynamic side of its composition, then the extra-plot elements are static; extra-plot elements are those that do not move the action forward, during which nothing happens, and the characters remain in their previous positions.
There are three main types of extra-plot elements: description, author's digressions and inserted episodes (otherwise they are also called inserted short stories or inserted plots). Description - this is a literary depiction of the outside world (landscape, portrait, world of things, etc.) or a sustainable way of life, that is, those events and actions that occur regularly, day after day, and, therefore, also have nothing to do with the movement of the plot. Descriptions are the most common type of non-plot elements; they are present in almost every epic work.
Copyright digressions - these are more or less detailed author's statements of philosophical, lyrical, autobiographical, etc. character; at the same time, these statements do not characterize individual characters or the relationship between them. Authorial digressions are an optional element in the composition of a work, but when they nevertheless appear there (“Eugene Onegin” by Pushkin, “Dead Souls” by Gogol, “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov, etc.), they play, as a rule, essential role and are subject to review. Finally, insert episodes - these are relatively finished fragments of the action in which other characters act, the action is transferred to a different time and place, etc. Sometimes inserted episodes begin to play an even greater role in the work than the main plot: for example, in Gogol's Dead Souls.
In some cases, a psychological image can also be attributed to extra-plot elements, if the state of mind or thoughts of the hero are not a consequence or cause of plot events, they are switched off from the plot chain. However, as a rule, internal monologues and other forms psychological image one way or another they are included in the plot, since they determine the further actions of the hero and, consequently, the further course of the plot.
In general, elements outside the plot often have a weak or purely formal connection with the plot and represent a separate compositional line.
Composition anchor points. The composition of any literary work is built in such a way that from beginning to end, the reader's tension does not weaken, but intensifies. In a work of small volume, the composition most often represents a linear development in ascending order, striving for the finale, the ending, in which the point of the highest tension is located. In larger works, the composition alternates between ups and downs in tension during general development ascending. We will call the points of greatest reader tension the reference points of the composition.
The simplest case: the reference points of the composition coincide with the elements of the plot, primarily with the climax and denouement. We meet with this when the dynamic plot is not just the basis of the composition of the work, but in fact exhausts its originality. The composition in this case contains practically no extra-plot elements, uses minimal compositional techniques. An excellent example of such a construction is an anecdote story, such as Chekhov's story "The Death of an Official" discussed above.
In the event that the plot traces different turns of the external fate of the hero with a relative or absolute static nature of his character, it is useful to look for reference points in the so-called ups and downs - sharp turns in the fate of the hero. It was this construction of reference points that was typical, for example, for ancient tragedy, devoid of psychologism, and later used and is used in adventure literature.
Almost always, one of the reference points falls on the end of the work (but not necessarily on the denouement, which may not coincide with the end!). In small, mostly lyrical works this, as already mentioned, is often the only reference point, and all the previous ones only lead to it, increase the tension, providing its “explosion” in the end.
In large works of art, the ending, as a rule, also contains one of the reference points. It is no coincidence that many writers have said that over last sentence they work especially carefully, and Chekhov pointed out to novice writers that it should sound "musical".
Sometimes - although not so often - one of the reference points of the composition is, on the contrary, at the very beginning of the work, as, for example, in Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection".
Reference points of a composition can sometimes be located at the beginning and end (more often) of parts, chapters, acts, etc. Composition types. In the most general form, two types of composition can be distinguished - let's call them conditionally simple and complex. In the first case, the function of composition is reduced only to the unification of the parts of the work into a single whole, and this unification is always carried out in the simplest and most natural way. In the field of plot construction, this will be a direct chronological sequence of events, in the field of narration - a single narrative type throughout the entire work, in the field of subject details - a simple list of them without highlighting particularly important, supporting, symbolic details, etc.
With a complex composition, a special artistic meaning is embodied in the very construction of the work, in the order of combination of its parts and elements. So, for example, the consistent change of narrators and the violation of the chronological sequence in Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time" focus on the moral and philosophical essence of Pechorin's character and allow you to "get close" to it, gradually unraveling the character.
Simple and complex types of composition are sometimes difficult to identify in a particular work of art, since the differences between them turn out to be purely quantitative to a certain extent: we can talk about greater or lesser complexity of the composition of a particular work. There are, of course, pure types: for example, the composition of, say, Krylov's fables or Gogol's story "The Carriage" is simple in all respects, while Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov or Chekhov's "Lady with a Dog" is complex in all respects. All this makes the question of the type of composition rather complicated, but at the same time very important, since simple and complex types of composition can become the stylistic dominants of a work and, thus, determine its artistic originality.
