Main motives in literature. Literary Encyclopedia - motive
INTRODUCTION
“Motive”, everyone has come across this term in their lives, many know its meaning thanks to their training in music schools, but also this term is widely used in literary criticism. Motive varies in its definition, but what meaning does it have in literary works. For people involved in the study and analysis of literary works, it is necessary to know the meaning of motive.
MOTIVE
Motif (French motif, German motiv from Latin moveo - I move) is a term that has passed into literary studies from musicology. It is “the smallest independent unit of musical form.”<…>Development is carried out through various repetitions of the motive, as well as its transformations, the introduction of contrasting motives<…>The motivic structure embodies the logical connection in the structure of the work” 1. The term was first recorded in “ Musical dictionary"S. de Brossard (1703). Analogies with music, where this term is key in the analysis compositions works help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its separability from the whole and repeatability in a variety of variations.
Motif has become a term for a number of scientific disciplines (psychology, linguistics, etc.), in particular literary studies, where it has a fairly wide range of meanings: there are a number of theories of motive, which are not always consistent with each other 2 . Motif as a phenomenon of artistic literature is in close contact and intersects with repetitions and their similarities, but is far from identical to them.
In literary criticism, the concept of “motive” was used to characterize the components of the plot by I.V. Goethe and F. Schiller. In the article “On Epic and Dramatic Poetry” (1797), five types of motives are identified: “rushing forward, which accelerates the action”; “retreating, those that move the action away from its goal”; “slowers that delay the progress of action”; "addressed to the past"; “addressed to the future, anticipating what will happen in subsequent eras” 3.
The initial, leading, main meaning of this literary term is difficult to define. Motive is component of works of increased significance(semantic richness). 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 work exists” 4 . The same can be said about some words and the objects they denote in novels, short stories, and dramas. They are the motives.
Motives are actively involved in the theme and concept (idea) of the work, but they are not exhaustive. Being, according to B.N. Putilov, “stable units,” they are “characterized by an increased, one might say, exceptional degree of semioticity. Each motive has a stable set of meanings” 5. The motif is localized in one way or another 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. Resorting to allegory, let's say 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 be half-realized in the text, revealed in it incompletely and sometimes remain mysterious.
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in “The Poetics of Plots” by A.N. Veselovsky. He was interested mainly in the repetition of motifs in narrative genres different peoples. The motif acted as the basis of “legend”, “poetic language” inherited from the past: “Under motive I mean the simplest narrative unit, figuratively responding to various requests of the primitive mind or everyday observation. With the similarity or unity of everyday and psychological conditions in the first stages human development such motives could be created independently and at the same time represent similar features” 6. Veselovsky considered motives to be the simplest formulas that could arise among different tribes independently of each other. “The hallmark of a motive is its figurative, single-member schematism...” (p. 301).
For example, an eclipse (“someone is stealing the sun”), brothers’ struggle for an inheritance, a fight for the bride. The scientist tried to find out what motives could arise in the mind primitive people based on a reflection of their living conditions. He studied the prehistoric life of different tribes, their life based on poetic monuments. Acquaintance with rudimentary formulas led him to the idea that the motives themselves are not an act of creativity, they cannot be borrowed, and borrowed motives are difficult to distinguish from spontaneously generated ones.
Creativity, according to Veselovsky, was manifested primarily in a “combination of motives” that gives one or another individual plot. To analyze the motive, the scientist used the formula: a + b. For example, “the evil old woman does not like the beauty - and sets her a life-threatening task. Each part of the formula can be modified, especially subject to increment b” (p. 301). Thus, the pursuit of the old woman is expressed in the tasks that she asks the beauty. There may be two, three or more of these tasks. Therefore, the formula a + b can become more complicated: a + b + b 1 + b 2. Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into numerous compositions and became the basis of such narrative genres as story, novel, poem.
The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; various combinations of motifs make up plot. Unlike motive, plot could borrow move from people to people, become stray. In the plot, each motive plays a certain role: it can be main, secondary, episodic. Often the development of the same motif is repeated in different plots. Many traditional motifs can be developed into entire plots, while traditional plots, on the contrary, are “collapsed” into one motif. Veselovsky noted the tendency of great poets, with the help of a “brilliant poetic instinct,” to use plots and motifs that have already been subjected to poetic treatment. “They are somewhere in the deep dark region of our consciousness, like much that has been tested and experienced, apparently forgotten and suddenly striking us, like an incomprehensible revelation, like novelty and at the same time antiquity, which we do not give ourselves an account of, because we are often unable to determine the essence of that mental act that unexpectedly renewed old memories in us” (p. 70).
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 epics, world literature as such. In this supra-individual aspect, they constitute one of the most important subjects of historical poetics 5 .
Over the past decades, motifs have begun to be actively correlated with individual creative experience and are considered as the property of individual writers and works. This, in particular, is evidenced by the experience of studying the poetry of M.Yu. Lermontova 7.
According to Veselovsky, creative activity The writer’s fantasies are not an arbitrary play with “living pictures” of real or fictional life. The writer thinks in terms of motives, and each motive has a stable set of meanings, partly inherent in it genetically, partly emerging in the process of a long historical life.
Topic 15. Plot and motive: between “theme” and text. “Complex of motives” and types of plot schemes
I. Dictionaries
Subject
1) Sierotwiński S.Subject. The subject of treatment, the main idea developed in a literary work or scientific discussion. The main theme of the work. The main substantive moment in the work, which forms the basis for the construction of the depicted world (for example, the interpretation of the most general foundations of the ideological meaning of the work, in a plot work - the fate of the hero, in a dramatic work - the essence of the conflict, in a lyrical work - the dominant motives, etc.). Minor theme of the work. The theme of a part of a work that is subordinate to the main theme. The theme of the smallest meaningful integrity into which a work can be divided is called a motive” (S. 278). 2) Wilpert G. von. Subject(Greek - supposed), the main leading idea of the work; in a specific development of the subject under discussion. Generally accepted in special literature concept into German terminology material history(Stoffgeschichte), which distinguishes only material (Stoff) and motive, in contrast to English. and French, not yet included. It is proposed for motives of such a degree of abstraction that they do not contain the grain of action: tolerance, humanity, honor, guilt, freedom, identity, mercy, etc.” (S. 942-943). 3) Dictionary of literary terms. A) Zundelovich Ya. Subject. Stlb. 927-929. “ Subject- the main idea, the main sound of the work. Representing that indecomposable emotional-intellectual core that the poet seems to be trying to decompose with each of his works, the concept of theme is by no means covered by the so-called. content. The theme in the broad sense of the word is that holistic image of the world that determines the artist’s poetic worldview.<...>But depending on the material through which this image is refracted, we have one or another reflection of it, i.e., one or another idea (a specific theme), which determines this particular work.” b) Eichenholtz M. Subject. Stlb. 929-937. “ Subjects- a set of literary phenomena that make up the subject-semantic moment of a poetic work. The following terms related to the concept of subject matter are subject to definition: theme, motive, plot, plot of an artistic and literary work.” 4) Abramovich G. Topic // Dictionary of literary terms. pp. 405-406. “ Subject<...>
what is the basis, the main idea of a literary work, the main problem posed in it by the writer.” 5) Maslovsky V.I. Topic // LES. P. 437. “ Subject<...>, the circle of events that form the life basis of the epic. or dramatic prod. and at the same time serving for the formulation of philosophical, social, ethical. and other ideological problems." 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 features material
II. Textbooks, teaching aids
1) Tomashevsky B.V. Theory of literature. Poetics. (Theme). “The theme (what is said) is the unity of meaning of the individual elements of the works. You can talk about both the theme of the entire work and the themes of individual parts. Every work written in language that has meaning has a theme.<...>In order for a verbal structure to represent a single work, it must have a unifying theme that develops throughout the work.” “...the theme of a work of art is usually emotionally charged, that is, it evokes a feeling of indignation or sympathy, and is developed in an evaluative way” (pp. 176-178). “The concept of a theme is the concept summative, combining the verbal material of the work.<...>the separation from a work of parts that unite each part with a particularly thematic unity is called decomposition of the work.<...>By decomposing the work into thematic parts in this way, we finally arrive at the parts non-degradable, down to the smallest fragmentation of thematic material.<...>The theme of the indecomposable part of the work is called motive <...>From this point of view, the plot is a set of motives in their logical cause-time relationship, the plot is a set of the same motives in the same sequence and connection in which they are given in the work<...>With a simple retelling of the plot of the work, we immediately discover that it is possible lower <...>Non-excludable motives are called related; motives that can be eliminated without violating the integrity of the causal-temporal course of events are free". “The motives that change the situation are dynamic motives, motives that do not change the situation - static motives”(pp. 182-184). 2) Introduction to literary criticism / Ed. G.N. Pospelov. Ch. IX. General properties of the form of epic and dramatic works.<Пункт>The stories are chronicle and concentric (Author - V.E. Khalizev). “The events that make up the plot can be related to each other in different ways. In some cases, they are with each other only in a temporary connection (B happened after A). In other cases, between events, in addition to temporary ones, there are also cause-and-effect relationships (B occurred as a result of A). Yes, in the phrase The king died and the queen died connections of the first type are recreated. In the phrase The king died and the queen died of grief We have before us a connection of the second type. Accordingly, there are two types of plots. Plots with a predominance of purely temporal connections between events are chronic. Plots with a predominance of cause-and-effect relationships between events are called plots of a single action, or concentric” (pp. 171-172). 3) Grekhnev V.A. Verbal image and literary work. “Theme is usually called the circle of phenomena of reality embodied by the writer. This simplest, but also common definition, seems to push us to the idea that the theme is entirely located beyond the line of artistic creation, being in reality itself. If this is true, it is only partly true. The most significant thing is that this is a circle of phenomena that have already been touched by artistic thought. They became an object of choice for her. And this is what is most important, even if this choice may not yet be associated with the thought of specific work” (pp. 103-104). “The direction of choosing a theme is determined not only by the individual preferences of the artist and his life experience, but also general atmosphere literary era, aesthetic preferences of literary movements and schools<...>Finally, the choice of topic is determined by the horizons of the genre, if not in all types of literature, then at least in lyric poetry” (p. 107-109).
III. Special studies
Motive , topic And plot 1) Veselovsky A.N. Poetics of plots // Veselovsky A.N. Historical poetics. “The word “plot” requires a closer definition<...>we must agree in advance what is meant by plot, to distinguish motive from plot as a complex of motives.” "Under motive I mean a formula that, in the early stages of public opinion, answered the questions that nature posed to man everywhere, or that consolidated especially vivid, seemingly especially important, or repeated impressions of reality. The hallmark of the motif is its figurative, single-member schematism; These are the elements of lower mythology and fairy tales that cannot be further decomposed: someone steals the sun<...>marriages with animals, transformations, an evil old woman torments a beauty, or someone kidnaps her and she has to be obtained by force and dexterity, etc. ”(p. 301). 2) Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. “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 do fairy tale characters, and the question Who does and How does - these are questions of only incidental study. The functions of the characters represent those components that can replace Veselovsky’s “motives...” (p. 29). 3) Freidenberg O.M. The Poetics of Plot and Genre. M., 1997. “The plot is a system of metaphors deployed in verbal action; the whole point is that these metaphors are a system of allegories of the main image” (p. 223). “After all, the point of view put forward by me no longer requires either taking into account or comparing motives; she says in advance, based on the nature of the plot, that underneath all the motives of this story there is always a single image, - therefore they are all tautological in the potential form of their existence; and that in design one motive will always be different from another, no matter how much they are brought together...” (224-225). 4) Cavelti J.G. Study of literary formulas. pp. 34-64. “A literary formula is a structure of narrative or dramatic conventions used in a very large number of works. This term is used in two meanings, combining which we obtain an adequate definition of the literary formula. Firstly, it is a traditional way of describing certain specific objects or people. In this sense, some Homeric epithets can be considered formulas: “Fleet-footed Achilles”, “Zeus the Thunderer”, as well as a number of comparisons and metaphors characteristic of him (for example, “ talking head falls to the ground"), which are perceived as traditional formulas of wandering singers, easily fitting into the dactylic hexameter. With an expansive approach, any culturally determined stereotype often found in literature - red-haired hot-tempered Irishmen, eccentric detectives with remarkable analytical skills, chaste blondes, passionate brunettes - can be considered a formula. It is only important to note that in in this case we are talking about traditional constructs determined by a specific culture of a certain time, which outside this specific context may have a different meaning<...>. Secondly, the term “formula” is often applied to types of plots. This is exactly the interpretation of it that we will find in manuals for beginning writers. where you can find clear instructions on how to play out twenty-one win-win plots: a boy meets a girl, they don’t understand each other, the boy gets a girl. Such general schemes not necessarily tied to a specific culture and certain period time<...>As such, they can be seen as examples of what some researchers call archetypes, or patterns, that are common across cultures.<...>Writing a Western requires more than just some understanding of how to construct a compelling adventure story. but also the ability to use certain images and symbols characteristic of the 19th and 20th centuries, such as cowboys, pioneers, outlaws, frontier forts and saloons, along with corresponding cultural themes and mythology: the opposition of nature and civilization, the moral code of the American West or the law - lawlessness and arbitrariness, etc. All this allows you to justify or comprehend the action. Thus, formulas are methods. through which specific cultural themes and stereotypes are embodied in more universal narrative archetypes” (pp. 34-35). 5) Zholkovsky A.K., Shcheglov Yu.K. Works on the poetics of expressiveness. (Appendix. Basic concepts of the “Topic - PV - Text” model). “1.2. Subject. Formally speaking, a topic is the source element of the output. Content-wise, this is a certain value setting, with the help of PV (“techniques of expressiveness” - N.T.) “dissolved” in the text, is a semantic invariant of the entire set of its levels, fragments and other components. Examples of themes include: the theme of the ancient Babylonian “Dialogue of Master and Slave about the Meaning of Life”: (1) the vanity of all earthly desires; theme of "War and Peace": (2) undoubted in human life, simple, real, and not artificial, far-fetched values, the meaning of which becomes clear in crisis situations...<...>All these topics represent certain statements about (= situations from) life. Let's call them themes of the first kind. But the themes can also be value systems not about “life”, but about the tools themselves artistic creativity, - a kind of statements about the language of literature, about genres, plot structures, styles, etc. Let's call them themes of the second kind.<...>Usually the topic literary text consists of one or another combination of themes of the 1st and 2nd types. In particular, this is true of works that not only reflect “life”, but also resonate with other ways of reflecting it. “Eugene Onegin” is an encyclopedia of Russian life, styles of Russian speech and styles of artistic thinking at the same time. So, theme is a thought about life and/or about the language of art that permeates the entire text, the formulation of which serves the starting point of the description-inference. In this formulation, all semantic invariants of the text should be explicitly recorded, i.e., everything that the researcher considers to be meaningful quantities that are present in the text and, moreover, cannot be deduced using PV from other quantities already included in the topic” (p. 292) . 6) Tamarchenko N.D. Motives of crime and punishment in Russian literature (Introduction to the problem). “The term “motive” in the research literature is correlated with two different aspects of a literary work. On the one hand, with this plot element(event or situation) which repeats itself in its composition and/or known from tradition. On the other hand, with the chosen one in this case verbal designation this kind of events and provisions, which is included as element no longer part of the plot, but in composition of the text. The need to distinguish between these aspects in the study of plot was first, as far as we know, shown by V.Ya. Proppom. It was their discrepancy that forced the scientist to introduce the concept of “function”. In his opinion, the actions of the characters in a fairy tale, identical in terms of their role in the course of the action, can have a variety of verbal designations<...>Thus, under the outer layer specific plot the inner layer is revealed. The functions are necessary and always the same, according to V.Ya. Proppa, the sequences form nothing more than a single plot scheme. The verbal designations of its constituent “nodes” (such as dispatch, crossing, difficult tasks etc.); the narrator (storyteller) selects one or another option from the general arsenal of traditional formulas.” “Basic situation directly expressed in the type of plot scheme. How do the complexes of the most important motifs that vary this scheme, characteristic of various genres, relate to it: for example, for a fairy tale (shortage and departure - crossing and the main test - return and elimination of the shortage) or for an epic (disappearance - search - finding)? This problem in our science was posed and solved in a very clear form by O.M. Freudenberg. In her opinion, “the plot is a system of metaphors deployed in action<...>When an image is developed or verbally expressed, it is thereby already subject to a certain interpretation; expression is putting into form, transmission, transcription, and therefore already a well-known allegory.” What kind of “main image” is the plot recognized here as an interpretation? A little lower it is said that this is “an image cycle of life-death-life": it is clear that we are talking about the content of the cyclical plot scheme. But this scheme can have various variations, and the differences in the motives that implement it do not negate the fact that “all these motives are tautological in the potential form of their existence.” The difference is “the result of differentiating metaphorical terminology,” so that “the composition of the plot depends entirely on the language of metaphors.” Comparing the apparently complementary ideas presented by V.Ya. Propp and O.M. Freudenberg, one can see a “three-layer” or “three-level” structure: (1) “main image” (i.e., the situation generating the plot in its content); (2) interpretation of this image in one or another version of the complex of schema-forming motifs and, finally, (3) interpretation of this version of the plot scheme in multiple verbal designations characteristic of one or another “system of metaphors”. This approach to the problem of motive, plot and its basis (situation) can be compared with the characteristic distinction of the German tradition between the concepts “Motiv”, “Stoff” (plot) and “Thema” according to an increasing degree of abstraction” (pp. 41-44). Complex of motives and plot scheme 1) Veselovsky A.N. Poetics of plots // Historical poetics. “The simplest type of motive can be expressed by the formula a+b: the evil old woman does not love the beauty - and sets her a life-threatening task. Each part of the formula can be modified, especially subject to increment b; there can be two, three (popular favorite number) or more tasks; There will be a meeting along the hero’s path, but there may be several of them. So the motive grew into plot. <..>” (p. 301). “But the schematism of the plot is already half conscious, for example, the choice and order of tasks and meetings is not necessarily determined by the theme given by the content of the motive, and presupposes an already known freedom; The plot of a fairy tale, in a certain sense, is already an act of creativity.<...>the less one or another of the alternating tasks and meetings is prepared by the previous one, the weaker they are intercom, so that, for example, each of them could stand in any queue, with the greater confidence we can assert that if in different folk environments we encounter a formula with an equally random sequence<...>we have the right to talk about borrowing...” (p. 301-302). “ Subjects- these are complex schemes, in the imagery of which generalized known acts of human life and psyche in alternating forms of everyday reality. The evaluation of the action, positive or negative, is also connected with the generalization.<...>” (p. 302). “The similarity of outlines between a fairy tale and a myth is explained not by their genetic connection, and a fairy tale would be a bloodless myth, but by the unity of materials and techniques and schemes, only timed differently” (p. 302). “The same points of view can be applied to the consideration of poetic stories And motives; they present the same signs community And repeatability from myth to epic, fairy tale, local saga and novel; and here it is allowed to talk about a dictionary of typical schemes and provisions...” “Under plot I mean a theme in which various situations-motives scurry about...” (p. 305) / “I do not want to say by this that the poetic act is expressed only in repetition or a new combination of typical plots. There are anecdotal stories, prompted by some random incident...” (p. 305-306). 2) Zelinsky F.F. Origin of Comedy // Zelinsky F. From the life of ideas. “As you can see, there is no common, central dramatic motif that would dominate the entire play (meaning Aristophanes’ comedy “The Acharnians” - N.T.), as is customary in our comedy; to put it briefly, we can say that in Aristophanes we have stringing dramatic, as opposed to centralizing drama of modern comedy. I must make a reservation that while attributing centralizing drama to modern comedy, I do not think of denying it from the ancients: we find it in developed form in Plautus and Terence...” (pp. 365-366). 3) Shklovsky V. Connection of plot composition techniques with general style techniques // Shklovsky V. About the theory of prose. pp. 26-62. “...it is completely incomprehensible why a random sequence of motifs should be preserved when borrowing.” “Coincidences are explained only by the existence of special laws of plot formation. Even the assumption of borrowing does not explain the existence of identical fairy tales at a distance of thousands of years and tens of thousands of miles” (p. 29). “Constructions of the type a+ (a=a) + (a (a + a)) + ... etc., that is, according to the formula of an arithmetic progression without bringing similar terms. There are fairy tales built on a kind of plot tautology like a+ (a+a) (a+ (a+a) + a2), etc.” (Following example: the “chain” fairy tale “The Ruffed Chicken” - N.T.) (p. 44). “The action of a literary work takes place on a certain field; The chess pieces will correspond to mask types, the roles of modern theater. The plots correspond to gambits, that is, the classic plays of this game that players use in variants. The tasks and vicissitudes correspond to the role of the enemy’s moves” (p. 62). 4) Propp V.Ya. Morphology of a fairy tale. “A function is understood as an act of an actor, defined from the point of view of its significance for the course of action.” “... in what grouping and in what sequence do these functions occur?<...>Veselovsky says: “Choice and routine tasks and meetings (examples of motives) assumes an already known freedom» <...>“. “The sequence of functions is always the same”(p. 30-31) . “ Morphologically, any development from sabotage (A) or shortage (a) through intermediate functions to wedding (C*) or other functions used as a denouement can be called a fairy tale” (p. 101). “...one can easily imagine a magical, enchanting, fantastic fairy tale constructed completely differently (cf. some Andersen's fairy tales, Brentano, Goethe’s tale of the snake and the lily, etc.). On the other hand, non-fairy tales can be constructed according to the given scheme” (p. 108). “...the same composition can be the basis of different plots. Whether the snake kidnaps the princess or the devil kidnaps the peasant's or priest's daughter is indifferent from the point of view of composition. But these cases can be considered as different stories” (p. 125). 5) Freidenberg O.M. The Poetics of Plot and Genre. “The composition of the plot depends entirely on the language of metaphors...” (p. 224-225). “What is in solar compositions is removal and return, in vegetative compositions is death and Sunday; there are exploits, here are passions, there is struggle, here is death.” “Thus, in any archaic plot we will certainly find a figure of bifurcation-antithesis, or, as it could be called, a figure of symmetrical-inverse repetition” (pp. 228-229). 6) Bakhtin M.M. Forms of time and chronotope in the novel // Bakhtin M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. “The plots of all these novels<...>they reveal enormous similarities and, in essence, are composed of the same elements (motives); in individual novels the number of these elements, their relative weight in the overall plot, and their combinations change. It’s easy to draw up a summary typical plot scheme...” (p. 237). “Motifs such as meeting-parting (separation), loss-gain, search-find, recognition-misrecognition, etc., are included as constituent elements in the plots of not only novels of different eras and different types, but also literary works of other genres (epic, dramatic, even lyrical). These motifs are chronotopic in nature (though in different ways in different genres)” (p. 247). “But the main complex of motives is meeting - separation - searching - finding- is only another, so to speak, reflected plot expression of the same human identity” (p. 256). “ The image of a fairy-tale man- with all the enormous diversity of fairy-tale folklore - it is always based on motives transformations And identities(nor, in turn, is the specific content of these motives varied)” (p. 262-263).<О романе “Золотой осел”>“Thus, the adventurous series with its randomness is here completely subordinated to the encompassing and meaningful series: guilt - punishment - redemption - bliss. This series is governed by a completely different, non-adventurous logic” (p. 269). 7) Todorov Tsv. Poetics / Trans. A.K. Zholkovsky // Structuralism: pros and cons. “Causality is closely related to the temporal sequence of events; they are even very easy to confuse with each other. This is how Forster illustrates the difference between them, believing that in every novel both are present, with causal connections forming its plot, and temporal connections forming the narrative itself: “The king died and after him the queen died” is a narrative; “The king died and after him the queen died of grief” - this is the plot.” “Temporal, chronological organization, devoid of any causality, prevails in historical chronicle, chronicle, private diary and ship's log<...>In literature, an example of causality in its pure form is the portrait genre and other descriptive genres where a time delay is mandatory (a typical example is Kafka’s short story “Little Woman”). Sometimes. on the contrary, literature built on temporal organization does not, at least at first glance, obey causal dependencies. Such works can directly take the form of a chronicle or “saga,” such as “Budenbroki”” (pp. 79-80). 8) Lotman Yu.M. The origin of the plot in typological light // Lotman Yu.M. Favorite Articles: B 3 vol. T. I. P. 224-242. “For a typologically initial situation, we can assume two fundamental opposite types texts. In the center of the cultural mass there is a myth-generating textual device. The main feature of the texts it generates is their subordination to cyclical time movement” (p. 224). “This central text-generating device performs the most important function - it builds a picture of the world<...> <Порождаемые тексты>“they reduced the world of excesses and anomalies that surrounded man to the norm and structure.” “They did not treat one-time and natural phenomena, but about timeless events, endlessly reproduced and, in this sense, motionless.” “As a counterparty mechanism, it (this device - N.T.) needed a text-generating device, organized in accordance with linear temporal movement and recording not patterns, but anomalies. These were the oral stories about “incidents”, “news”, various happy and unhappy excesses. If a principle was fixed there, then here is an accident” (p. 225).
QUESTIONS
1. Which of the given definitions of the concept “topic” emphasizes a) the subjectivity at which the creative idea and author's assessments; b) subjectivity, i.e. precisely the assessments and intentions themselves; c) a combination of both? Please note that in the latter case it is necessary to distinguish between an eclectic, ill-considered mixture of different approaches and a thoughtful problem solving, conscious avoidance of one-sidedness. Which judgments you reviewed emphasize the “objectivity” of the theme (its presence in tradition, or even outside of art) and where, on the contrary, the term characterizes the work itself or the specificity creative consciousness? 2. Try to correlate the given definitions of “motive” with three theoretically possible solutions to the problem: motive - an element of the theme (understood as the reader’s characteristic of the subject of the image or statement); motive - an element of the text, i.e. the author's verbal designation of a separate event or situation; finally, the motive is an element of a series of events or a series of situations, that is, it is part of the plot (or plot). 3. Are there any judgments in the selected materials that distinguish the verbal designation of the motive (verbal formula) from the role of the act or event thus designated in the plot; do they separate a motive as an action or position from that image of a person or the world, the reflection or even interpretation of which is a number of motives? 4. Find and compare the opinions of different authors that the plot is, in essence, a complex of motives. Select among them those who consider the sequence of motives: a) a random combination of them; b) the result of individual, authorial, conscious combination; c) the manifestation of the necessity inherent in tradition, the expression of traditionally established meaning and, thereby, a certain plot “language”. 5. Which of the following statements highlight and distinguish between types of plot schemes? What exactly are their types and on what grounds are they differentiated? Compare solutions to the problem by different authors.
Every poem is a veil stretched out
on the edge of a few words. These words glow
like stars. Because of them the work exists.
The term “motive” is quite ambiguous, because it is used in many disciplines - psychology, linguistics, etc.
This article will discuss the MOTIF OF A LITERARY WORK
MOTIVE - (from Latin moveo - I move) is a recurring component of a literary work that has increased significance.
Motif is a key term when analyzing the composition of a work.
The properties of a motif are its isolation from the whole and its repeatability in a variety of variations.
For example, biblical motifs.
Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita.
Bulgakov's novel is largely based on a reinterpretation of evangelical and biblical ideas and plots. The central motifs of the novel are the motifs of freedom and death, suffering and forgiveness, execution and mercy. Bulgakov's interpretation of these motifs is very far from the traditional biblical ones.
Thus, the hero of the novel, Yeshua, does not in any way declare his messianic destiny, while the biblical Jesus says, for example, in a conversation with the Pharisees, that he is not just the Messiah, but also the Son of God: “I and the Father are one.”
Jesus had disciples. Only Matthew Levi followed Yeshua. According to the Gospel, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, accompanied by his disciples. In the novel, Pilate asks Yeshua whether it is true that he rode into the city through the Susa Gate on a donkey, and he replies that he “doesn’t even have a donkey.” He came to Yershalaim exactly through the Susa Gate, but on foot, accompanied by only Levi Matvey, and no one shouted anything to him, since no one knew him in Yershalaim then” (c)
The quotation can be continued, but I think it is already clear: biblical motifs in the image of the hero have undergone serious refraction. Bulgakov's Yeshua is not a god-man, but simply a man, at times weak, even pathetic, extremely lonely, but great in his spirit and all-conquering kindness. He does not preach all Christian dogmas, but only ideas of good that are significant for Christianity, but do not constitute the entire Christian teaching.
Another main motive is also rethought - the motive of the Antichrist. If in the biblical interpretation Satan is the personification of evil, then in Bulgakov he is part of that force “that always wants evil and always does good.”
Why did Bulgakov so radically overturn traditional ideas? Apparently, in order to emphasize the author’s understanding of eternal philosophical questions: what is the meaning of life? Why does man exist?
A completely different interpretation of the same biblical motifs we see in Dostoevsky.
Hard labor changed Dostoevsky radically - a revolutionary and atheist turned into a deeply religious person. (“... Then fate helped me, penal servitude saved me... I became a completely new person... I understood myself there... I understood Christ..." (c)
Accordingly, after hard labor and exile, the religious topic becomes central theme creativity of Dostoevsky.
That is why after “Crime and Punishment” the novel “The Idiot” had to appear, after the rebel Raskolnikov, who preached “the permission of blood,” - the ideal “Prince Christ” - Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin, preaching love for one’s neighbor with every step of his life.
Prince Myshkin is truth caught in a world of lies; their collision and tragic struggle are inevitable and predetermined. In the words of General Epanchina, “They don’t believe in God, they don’t believe in Christ!” the writer’s cherished idea is expressed: the moral crisis experienced by contemporary humanity is a religious crisis.
In the novel The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky connects the decay of Russia and the growth revolutionary movement with unbelief and atheism. The moral idea of the novel, the struggle between faith and unbelief (“the devil fights with God, and the battlefield is the hearts of people,” says Dmitry Karamazov) goes beyond the Karamazov family. Ivan's denial of God gives rise to the sinister figure of the Inquisitor. "The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor" - greatest creation Dostoevsky. Its meaning is that Christ loves everyone, including those who do not love him. He came to save sinners. The kiss of Christ is a call to the highest love, last call sinners to repentance.
Another example is Block. Twelve.
The work contains the image of Christ - but which one? The one who leads the twelve apostles of the new faith or the one whom the new apostles lead to execution?
There may be several interpretations, but “This was not the biblical Christ, not the real Christ. Let any of you turn to the Gospel and think, is it possible to imagine Jesus of Nazareth wearing a “white crown of roses”? No no. It's a shadow, a ghost. This is a parody. This is the split consciousness that misled our fathers.
Blok wrote that he walked along the dark streets of Petrograd and saw snowstorm whirlwinds swirling and he saw that figure there. It was not Christ, but it seemed to him that it was so good, so wonderful. But it wasn't good. It was a tragedy. Blok realized this, unfortunately, too late. This means that Christ was not there. There wasn't. What is the answer? Blok, as a prophet, felt people’s faith that the world could be redrawn in a bloody way and that this would be for the good. In this regard, his Christ is a pseudo-Christ. The “white crown” contains an unconscious insight - this is an image of a pseudo-Christ. And when he turned around, it turned out that it was the Antichrist" (c)
Despite the inexhaustibility of examples of the use of biblical motifs, I will allow myself to limit myself to only these examples.
I think the main thing is clear – I’m talking about motive as a compositional category.
MOTIVE is a certain starting point for creativity, a set of ideas and feelings of the author, an expression of his worldview.
A motif is a component of a work that has increased significance.
“...Any phenomenon, any semantic “spot” - an event, character trait, landscape element, any object, spoken word, paint, sound, etc. can act as a motif in a work; the only thing that determines the motive is its reproduction in the text, so in contrast to the traditional plot narrative, where it is more or less determined in advance what can be considered discrete components (“characters” or “events”) (c) B. Gasparov.
Thus, throughout Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” there is a motif of the cherry orchard as a symbol of Home, Beauty, and Sustainability of life. (“It’s already May, the cherry trees are blooming, but it’s cold in the garden, it’s a matinee” - “Look, the late mother is walking through the garden... in a white dress!” - “Come everyone to watch Ermolai Lopakhin swing an ax at the cherry orchard and how they will fall to the ground trees!").
In Bulgakov's play "Days of the Turbins" the same motifs are embodied in the image of cream curtains. (“But, despite all these events, in the dining room, in essence, it’s wonderful. It’s hot, cozy, the cream curtains are drawn” - “... cream curtains... behind them you rest your soul... you forget about all the horrors of the civil war”)
The motif is in close contact and intersects with repetitions and their similarities, but is not identical to them.
The motif is present in the work in the most different forms- a separate word or phrase, repeated and varied, or appear in the form of a title or epigraph, or remain only guessable, lost in the subtext.
There are main (=leading) and secondary motives.
LEADING MOTIVE, or
LEITMOTHIO - the prevailing mood, the main theme, the main ideological and emotional tone of a literary work, a writer’s work, a literary movement; specific image or phrase artistic speech, persistently repeated in a work as a constant characteristic of a character, experience or situation.
In the process of repetition or variation, the leitmotif evokes certain associations, acquiring special ideological, symbolic and psychological depths.
The leading motive organizes the second, secret meaning works, that is, subtext.
For example, the theme of the story by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Double" is the split personality of the poor official Golyadkin, who is trying to establish himself in a society that has rejected him with the help of his confident and arrogant "double". As the main theme unfolds, motives of loneliness, restlessness, hopeless love, and the “discrepancy” of the hero with the surrounding life arise. The leitmotif of the entire story can be considered the motif of the hero’s fatal doom, despite his desperate resistance to circumstances. (With)
Any work, especially three-dimensional, is formed by the accretion of very large number individual motives. In this case, the main motive coincides with the theme.
Thus, 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 secondary motives, often only remotely related to the theme.
For example,
motive of truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev;
everyday motive - the ruin of the wealthy noble family of the Counts of Rostov;
numerous love motives: Nikolai Rostov and Sophie, he is also Princess Maria, Pierre Bezukhov and Ellen, Prince. Andrey and Natasha, etc.;
the mystical and so characteristic motif of Tolstoy’s subsequent work of death—reviving death—the dying insights of the book. Andrei Bolkonsky, etc.
VARIETY OF MOTIVES
In the literature of different eras, many MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIVES are found and effectively function. Constantly being updated in different historical and literary contexts, they at the same time retain their semantic essence.
For example, the motive of the hero’s deliberate death because of a woman.
Werther's suicide in Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther,
the death of Vladimir Lensky in Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”,
death of Romashov in Kuprin's novel "The Duel".
Apparently, this motif can be considered as a transformation of the ancient mythological motif: “fight for the bride.”
The motif of the hero’s alienation to the world around him is very popular.
This could be the motive of exile (Lermontov. Mtsyri) or the motive of the hero’s foreignness to the vulgarity and mediocrity of the world around him (Chekhov. A Boring Story).
By the way, the motif of the hero’s foreignness is the central one that links all seven books about Harry Potter together.
The same motif can receive different symbolic meanings.
For example, the motive of the road.
Compare:
Gogol. Dead Souls- the notorious bird-three
Pushkin. Demons
Yesenin. Rus
Bulgakov. The Master and Margarita.
In all these works there is a road motif, but how differently it is presented.
Motives are identified that have very ancient origins, leading to primitive consciousness and, at the same time, developed in the conditions of high civilization in different countries. These are the motives of the prodigal son, the proud king, the pact with the devil, etc. You can easily remember the examples yourself.
And here is an interesting point. If you analyze your creativity, go through your things, then determine which motive is most interesting for you. In other words, what question of existence do you intend to solve with your creativity?
A question to ponder, however.
MOTIVE AND THEME
B.V. Tomashevsky wrote: “The theme must be divided into parts, “decomposed” into the smallest narrative units, in order to then string these units onto a narrative core.” This is how the plot develops, i.e. “an artistically constructed distribution of events in the work. Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts that describe individual actions, events, or things. The themes of such small parts of a work that can no longer be divided are called motives.”
MOTIVE AND PLOT
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated by the Russian philologist A.N. Veselovsky in “The Poetics of Plots”, 1913.
Veselovsky understands a motif as the building block that makes up the plot, and considered motifs to be the simplest formulas that could arise among different tribes independently of each other.
According to Veselovsky, each poetic era works on “bequeathed poetic images from time immemorial,” creating their new combinations and filling them with a “new understanding of life.” As examples of such motives, the researcher cites the kidnapping of the bride, “representation of the sun through the eye,” the struggle of brothers for an inheritance, etc.
Creativity, according to Veselovsky, was manifested primarily in a “combination of motives” that gives one or another individual plot.
To analyze the motive, the scientist used the formula: a + b. For example, “the evil old woman does not like the beauty - and sets her a life-threatening task. Each part of the formula can be modified, especially subject to increment b.”
Thus, the pursuit of the old woman is expressed in the tasks that she asks the beauty. There may be two, three or more of these tasks. Therefore, the formula a + b can become more complicated: a + b + b1 + b2.
Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into numerous compositions and became the basis of such narrative genres as stories, novels, and poems.
The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; various combinations of motifs make up the plot.
Unlike the motive, the plot could be borrowed, move from people to people, and become “wandering.”
In the plot, each motive plays a certain role: it can be main, secondary, episodic.
Often the development of the same motif is repeated in different plots. Many traditional motifs can be developed into entire plots, while traditional plots, on the contrary, are “collapsed” into one motif.
Veselovsky noted the tendency of great poets, with the help of a “brilliant poetic instinct,” to use plots and motifs that have already been subjected to poetic treatment. “They are somewhere in the deep dark region of our consciousness, like much that has been tested and experienced, apparently forgotten and suddenly striking us, like an incomprehensible revelation, like novelty and at the same time antiquity, which we do not give ourselves an account of, because we are often unable to determine the essence of that mental act that unexpectedly renewed old memories in us.” (With)
Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable and stable unit of narrative was revised in the 1920s.
“Veselovsky’s specific interpretation of the term “motive” can no longer be applied at present,” wrote V. Propp. - According to Veselovsky, a motive is an indecomposable unit of narrative.<…>However, the motives that he cites as examples are unraveling.”
Propp demonstrates the decomposition of the “serpent kidnaps the king’s daughter” motif.
“This motive is decomposed into 4 elements, each of which can be varied individually. The snake can be replaced by Koshchei, whirlwind, devil, falcon, sorcerer. Abduction can be replaced by vampirism and various actions by which disappearance is achieved in the fairy tale. A daughter can be replaced by a sister, fiancee, wife, mother. The king can be replaced by a king's son, a peasant, or a priest.
Thus, contrary to Veselovsky, we must assert that the motive is not single-membered, not indecomposable. The last decomposable unit as such does not represent a logical whole (and according to Veselovsky, the motive is more primary in origin than the plot); we will subsequently have to solve the problem of isolating some primary elements differently than Veselovsky does” (c).
Propp considers these “primary elements” to be the functions of the actors. “A function is understood as an act of an actor, defined in terms of its significance for the course of action” (c)
Functions are repeated and can be counted; all functions are distributed among the characters so that seven “circles of action” and, accordingly, seven types of characters can be distinguished:
pest,
donor,
assistant,
the character you are looking for,
sender,
hero,
false hero
Based on the analysis of 100 fairy tales from the collection of A.N. Afanasyev “Russian folk tales” V. Propp identified 31 functions within which the action develops. These are, in particular:
absence (“One of the family members leaves home”),
ban (“The hero is approached with a ban”),
violation of the ban, etc.
A detailed analysis of one hundred fairy tales with different stories shows that “the sequence of functions is always the same” and that “all fairy tales are of the same type in their structure” (c) despite the apparent diversity.
Veselovsky's point of view was also disputed by other scientists. After all, motives arose not only in primitive era, but also later. “It is important to find such a definition of this term,” wrote A. Bem, “that would make it possible to highlight it in any work, both ancient and modern.”
According to A. Bem, “a motif is the ultimate level of artistic abstraction from the specific content of a work, enshrined in the simplest verbal formula.”
As an example, the scientist cites a motif that unites three works: the poem “ Caucasian prisoner"Pushkin, "Prisoner of the Caucasus" by Lermontov and the story "Atala" by Chateaubriand, is the love of a foreigner for a captive; incoming motive: the release of a captive by a foreigner, either successful or unsuccessful. And as a development of the original motive - the death of the heroine.
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This word, one of the main ones in musicology, 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. A motif is a component of works that has 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 localized in one way or another 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 be 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 aspect, they constitute one of the most important subjects of historical poetics.
Since the turn of the 19th-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 narrative, 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 motives here are not so much related to individual works, how many are considered as common property verbal art. Motives, according to Veselovsky, are historically stable and endlessly repeatable. In a cautious, conjectural form, the scientist argued: “Isn’t poetic creativity limited by 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 with a 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.
Over the past decades, motifs have begun to be actively correlated with individual creative experience and are considered as the property of 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 the suddenly cut short life of a 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, most importantly, marking certain higher, illuminating moments in the lives of the heroes. Let us remember the episodes when the 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 - 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 motifs. 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 aimless and insane; the ringing that accompanies it, the intrusive and buzzing sound of a tired soul immersed in darkness; and (in contrast to all this) unattainable, vainly alluring 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 his 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.
V.E. Khalizev Theory of literature. 1999
1) Sierotwiń ski S.
“Subject. The subject of treatment, the main idea developed in a literary work or scientific discussion.
The main theme of the work. The main substantive moment in the work, which forms the basis for the construction of the depicted world (for example, the interpretation of the most general foundations of the ideological meaning of the work, in a plot work - the fate of the hero, in a dramatic work - the essence of the conflict, in a lyrical work - the dominant motives, etc.).
Minor theme of the work. The theme of a part of a work that is subordinate to the main theme. The theme of the smallest meaningful integrity into which a work can be divided is called a motive” (S. 278).
2) Wilpert G. von. Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.
“Subject(Greek - supposed), the main leading idea of the work; in a specific development of the subject under discussion. Generally accepted in special literature concept into German terminology material history(Stoffgeschichte), which distinguishes only material (Stoff) and motive, in contrast to English. and French, not yet included. It is proposed for motives of such a degree of abstraction that they do not contain the grain of action: tolerance, humanity, honor, guilt, freedom, identity, mercy, etc.” (S. 942-943).
3) Dictionary of literary terms.
A) Zundelovich Ya. Subject. Stlb. 927-929.
“Subject- the main idea, the main sound of the work. Representing that indecomposable emotional-intellectual core that the poet seems to be trying to decompose with each of his works, the concept of theme is by no means covered by the so-called. content. The theme in the broad sense of the word is that holistic image of the world that determines the artist’s poetic worldview.<...>But depending on the material through which this image is refracted, we have one or another reflection of it, i.e., one or another idea (a specific theme), which determines this particular work.”
b) Eichenholtz M. Subject. Stlb. 929-937.
“Subjects- a set of literary phenomena that make up the subject-semantic moment of a poetic work. The following terms related to the concept of subject matter are subject to definition: theme, motive, plot, plot of an artistic and literary work.”
4) Abramovich G. Topic // Dictionary of literary terms. pp. 405-406.
“Subject<...> what is the basis, the main idea of a literary work, the main problem posed in it by the writer.”
5) Maslovsky V.I. Topic // LES. P. 437.
“Subject<...>, the circle of events that form the life basis of the epic. or dramatic prod. and at the same time serving for the formulation of philosophical, social, ethical. and other ideological problems."
Motive
1) Sierotwiń ski 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 features material
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 motif is shown by the example of the question whether it is better to speak of “a woman and a parrot” or “a woman and a bird” in relation to Flaubert’s “Simple Heart”; 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 motif (meaning “leitmotif” from the German “leading motive”) can arise within a single work: it can be any repetition that contributes to the integrity of the work by recalling a previous mention of a given element and everything associated with it” (p .71).
5) Dictionary of World Literary Terms / By J. Shipley.
“Motive. A word or mental pattern that is repeated in the same situations or to evoke a certain mood within a single work, or across different works of the same 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 motif associated in a musical drama with a specific situation, character or idea. The term is often used to denote the main impression, 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 of literary terms. T. 1. Stlb. 466 - 467.
“M.(from moveo - I move, set in motion), in the broad sense of the word, is the main 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 called plot 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 in myth And fairy tale; basis, based on the development of one of the members of M. (a+b turns into a+b+b+b) or several combinations. motives grow plot (plot), which represents a greater level of generalization.” “As applied to art. literature of modern times M. is most often called abstract from specific details and expressed in the simplest verbal formula, schematic. 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.”
“The term “M.” receives a more strict meaning 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, supporting word that carries 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).”
