Currently, scientists of the Siberian Branch Russian Academy sciences (V.I. Tyupa, I.V. Silantyev, E.K. Romodanovskaya and others) are working on compiling a Dictionary of plots and motifs of Russian literature, based on the understanding of motive as the primary element of the plot, which goes back to the teachings of A.N. Veselovsky.

Great achievements in the development of the theory of motive in modern literary criticism belong to I.V.Silantiev. Some of the scientist’s works are devoted to an analytical description of the motive, as well as a historiographical consideration of this category in Russian literary criticism. Comparing the motive with the theme, plot, hero work of art, the scientist comes to the following understanding: “A motif is a narrative phenomenon, in its structure correlating the beginning of a plot action with its actants and a certain spatio-temporal scheme.” Defining a motive as “intertextual in its functioning, invariant in its belonging to artistic language narrative tradition and variant in its plot implementations,” the philologist writes that this term acquires a specific meaning within a certain plot context.”

V.E. Khalizev, clarifying the idea of ​​the semiotic significance of a motif, speaks of its ability “to represent a separate word or phrase, repeated or varied, or to appear as something denoted by different lexical units.” The ability to appear half-realized in a work of art, to go into subtext, is defined by a philologist as the most important feature of a motive.

Analyzing the relationship between hero and motive in works of art of modern times, I.V. Silantyev notes that these thematic-semantic connections are no longer always manifested.

In modern literary criticism, there is a tendency to consider motive not only in the context of elucidating literary trends (where it is understood as a category of comparative historical literary criticism), but also in the context of the writer’s entire work. The priority in posing the question belongs to A.N. Veselovsky. In his understanding, the writer thinks in terms of motives, because creative activity fantasy is not an arbitrary game of “living pictures of life”, real or fictitious. This leads to a more specific and practical scientific problem of studying the individual vocabulary of motives of an individual writer.

The authors of the article “Motives of Lermontov’s Poetry” (L.M. Shchemeleva, V.I. Korovin, etc.), considering the poet’s work as a whole as an interaction, a correlation of motives, argue that this term is losing its previous content, which related to the formal structure of the work , and “from the field of strict poetics moves into the field of studying the worldview and psychology of the writer.”

In "Literary encyclopedic dictionary" (1987) states that the motive is "more direct than other components artistic form, correlates with the world of the author’s thoughts and feelings.”

On at the moment in literary criticism there is also the idea of ​​a motive 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, according to B.M. Gasparov, “grow anew every time, in the process of analysis itself.” These properties, according to the scientist, depend on which contexts of the writer’s work are addressed when researching. B.M. Gasparov understands a motif as a cross-level unit, which, repeated in a literary text, varies and intertwines with other motifs, creating its (the text’s) unique poetics. Based on this interpretation of the term, the literary scholar introduces the concept of motive analysis into scientific use. This analysis is a variation of the poststructuralist approach to literary text. The essence of motive analysis, according to the scientist, lies in the fundamental rejection of the concept of “fixed blocks of structure that objectively have given function in the construction of the text." Metaphorically presenting the structure of the text “like a tangled ball of thread,” B.M. Gasparov suggests taking not traditional terms (words, sentences), but motives as the unit of analysis. His follower, V.P. Rudnev, considering motive analysis “an effective approach to a literary text,” notes the natural variability” in the interpretation of a particular motive, “because the structure<...>artistic discourse is inexhaustible and endless."

For our research, the thematic approach to the study of motive that developed in the 20s of the last century is of interest. Representatives of this direction (V.B. Shklovsky, B.V. Tomashevsky, A.P. Skaftymov, G.V. Krasnov, etc.) interpret the motif not as the main unit of plot, but in close connection with the theme of the work. In the traditional approach to motive as a narrative element, the conceptual meaning is predicative. keyword. Thematic direction In the practice of identifying a motive, it allows its designation through a noun that does not imply a set of actions.

Criticizing the thematic approach, I.V. Silantyev notes that the lyrical motif is different from the narrative one. If the latter, according to the scientist, is based on “the moment of action that gives the motive a predicative character,” then the lyrical motive is based “on the internal event of subjective experience.” Thus, if in a narrative motif the determining principle is the plot, and the theme is subordinated to the motive, then in the lyrical motive the importance of the thematic principle prevails, and the motive is subordinate to the theme. Based on this position, I.V. Silantyev writes that “every motive in the lyrics is exclusively thematic.” This interpretation of the motive is conceptual for our research.

Some scientists see identity in the similarity of the concepts of motive and theme. For example, B.V. Tomashevsky writes that “the themes of small parts of the work are called motives that cannot be split up.” Failure of some scholars to distinguish between motive and theme in the practice of literary research I.V. Silantiev explains them as an attempt “at the level of theoretical construction to overcome the objective duality of the very phenomenon of literary themes.”

Modern literary scholars distinguish between the concepts of motive and theme. Thus, V.E. Khalizev says that the motive is “actively involved in the theme, but is not identical to it.” The scientist identifies a distinctive property of the motive: its verbal consolidation and repetition in the text.

It should be noted that in literary studies concepts related to motive are also used - “motiveme”, “allomotiv” and “leitmotif”. In the thematic-semantic aspect, B.V. Tomashevsky considered the relationship between motive and leitmotif: “If<...>the motive is repeated more or less often, and especially if it is cross-cutting, i.e. woven into the plot, it is called a leitmotif."

In literary criticism, there is another (functional) tradition of understanding the motive as a figurative turn that is repeated throughout the entire work” as a moment of “constant characterization of a character, experience or situation.” E.A. Balburov explains the emergence of the categorical pair “motiveme-allomotiv” by the peculiarity of the interaction of motives in the text. The scientist notes their “ability to unfold into a plot, form a tangle of motives or break up into smaller motives,” or even parts (allomotives and motivemes).

Modern literary scholars believe that the only possible dictionary of motives and plots is the dictionary of motives. Yu.V. Shatin in the article “Motive and Context” points out that two components of the motiveme should be taken into account - formal (distinguishing one motiveme from another) and substantive, related to the context. The scientist writes that it is necessary to explore the meaning of any motive taking into account the consideration of the context in which it exists. According to Yu.V. Shatin, it is important to study not only the archetypal motifs that gave rise to the allomotive, but also its immediate contexts.

Thus, motive in literary criticism is considered from fundamentally opposite points of view. Thus, some scientists associate the emergence of motifs only in folklore (A.N. Veselovsky, V.Ya. Propp, E.M. Meletinsky). The ideas of the mythological direction are subject to critical rethinking in the works of D.S. Likhachev and A.V. Mikhailov. In addition to the semantic one (O.M. Freidenberg, B.N. Putilov...), in modern literary criticism there is a thematic approach (B.V. Tomashevsky, V.V. Zhirmunsky, V.B. Shklovsky, G.V. Krasnov and etc.) and understanding of motive as the basis for plotting (by scientists of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Also, at present, the school of B.M. Gasparov, who understands the motive as an extra-structural principle - the property of the interpretation of the interpreter, is of great interest to researchers literary text.

But no matter what semantic tones are given to the term “motive” in literary criticism, its relevance remains obvious.

According to E.A. Balburov, the researcher, looking for a motive, “translates from a linear-discrete language to an iconic one,” i.e. does the opposite of the author's work. This work, according to Yu.M. Lotman, has a meaning-generating effect, and the study of the motive helps to identify the semantic riches of the work.

If you read all national poetry as a single book, then you can identify stable motifs in it that go beyond the individual author’s consciousness and belong to the poetic consciousness of the entire people, characterizing their holistic perception of nature. In fact, from the set of poetic works, another set is isolated, organized not around authors, but around motives. The lines are not closed by the narrow context in which the poet concluded them, but echo each other at a distance of decades, even centuries. Just as different motifs are combined in a poem by one author, so one motif unites the works of different authors around itself and has its own poetic reality, which can also be aesthetically perceived.

As a working definition of the motive on which the research of the topic will be based thesis, I.V. Silantyev’s definition was chosen: “The motive in the lyrics most fully characterizes the author’s concept. These are semantically “strong” units of the verbal structure of a poem. The motive includes ideological content lyrical work and serves as an expression author's position» .

The meaning of motive in literary works

VARIETY OF MOTIVES

motive narrative literature work

In literature different eras Many mythological motifs occur and function effectively. 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 runs through many works XIX-XX centuries Werther's suicide in Goethe's novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther", the death of Vladimir Lensky in Pushkin's novel "Eugene Onegin", the death of Romashov in Kuprin's novel "The Duel". Apparently, this motif can be considered as a transformation of the motif identified by Veselovsky in the poetic work of deep antiquity: “the fight for the bride.”

Motifs can be not only plot, but also descriptive, lyrical, not only intertextual (Veselovsky has just such in mind), but also intratextual. We can talk about the iconicity of the motif - both in its repetition from text to text, and within one text. In modern literary criticism, the term “motive” is used in different methodological contexts and for different purposes, which largely explains the discrepancies in the interpretation of the concept and its most important properties.

A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repetition. “...The role of a motive in a work can be,” believes B. Gasparov, “any phenomenon, any semantic “spot” - an event, character trait, landscape element, any object, spoken word, paint, sound, etc.; the only thing that defines a motif is its reproduction in the text, so that unlike a traditional plot narrative, where it is more or less predetermined what can be considered discrete components ("characters" or "events"), there is no set "alphabet" “- it is formed directly in the deployment of the structure and through the structure” 10.

For example, in V. Nabokov’s novel “Feat” one can highlight motifs of the sea, flickering lights, and paths leading into the forest.

In the same novel, another motive - the hero’s alienation to the world around him - largely determines the development of the plot and helps clarify the main idea. And if in “Feat” the motive of foreignness is limited to exile (“his choice is not free<…>there is one thing he must do, he is an exile, doomed to live outside his home"), then in other works of Nabokov he finds more broad meaning and can be defined as the motive of the hero’s foreignness to the vulgarity and mediocrity of the world around him (“The Gift”, “The Defense of Luzhin”, “ True life Sebastian Knight" and others).

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 Bolkonsky learns about the death of his daughter-in-law; wounded Prince Andrei in Mytishchi. Pierre, after a conversation with Natasha, who feels irreparably guilty before Prince Andrei, experiences some kind of special elation: he speaks of his, Pierre’s, “blooming to a new life, softened and encouraged soul.” And after captivity, Bezukhov asks Natasha about last days Andrei Bolkonsky: “So he calmed down? Have you softened up?

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

In Blok’s cycle “Carmen” the word “treason” performs the function of motive. It 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, with the “black and wild fate” of the poet, and at the same time with the charm of boundless freedom, free flight “without orbits”: “This is - music of secret betrayals?/Is this the heart captured by Carmen?”

One of the most important motives of B.L. Pasternak - a face that the poet saw not only in people who remained true to themselves, but also in nature and higher power being 11. This motive became the poet's leading theme and an expression of his moral credo. Let's remember the last stanza of the poem “Being famous is ugly...”:

And should not a single slice

Don't give up on your face

But to be alive, alive and only,

Alive and only until the end.

Apocalyptic motifs in Solzhenitsyn's prose

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One group includes stories in which personal experience the author’s life in his homeland, when specific events and reflections become the stimulus for broad generalizations: “Inna”, “Moscow Snow”, “Moscow Easter”, “Little House”...

Motif is a term that entered the literature from musicology. Was first recorded in " musical dictionary"S. de Brossard in 1703. Analogies with music, where this term is key when analyzing the composition of a work, help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its isolation from the whole and its repetition in a variety of situations.

In literary criticism, the concept of motive was used to characterize the components of a plot by Goethe and Schiller. They identified five types of motives: accelerating action, slowing down action, distancing action from the goal, facing the past, anticipating the future.

The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in the Poetics of Plots Veselovsky. He was interested in the repetition of motifs in different genres at different nations. Veselovsky considered motives to be the simplest formulas that could arise in different tribes independently of each other. (struggle for the inheritance of brothers, fight for the bride, etc.) he comes to the conclusion that creativity is primarily manifested in a combination of motives that gives one or another plot (in a fairy tale there is not one task, but five, etc.)

Subsequently, combinations of motives were transformed into various compositions and became the basis of such genres as the novel, story, poem. The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; combinations of motives make up the plot. The plot could be borrowed, passed from people to people, or become wandering. In a plot, each motive can be main, secondary, episodic... many motives can be developed into entire plots, and vice versa.

Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable unit of narrative was revised in the 20s. Propp : motives are decomposed, the last decomposable unit does not represent a logical whole. Propp calls the primary elements functions of the actors - actions of the characters, defined in terms of their significance for the course of the action.. seven types of characters, 31 functions (based on Afanasyev’s collection)

It is particularly difficult to identify motives in the literature last centuries: their diversity and complex functional load.

In the literature of different eras there are many mythological motives. Constantly updated within historical and literary context, they retain their essence (the motive of the hero’s conscious death because of a woman, apparently it can be considered as a transformation of the fight for the bride highlighted by Veselovsky (Lensky in Pushkin, Romashov in Kuprin).

A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repeatability .

The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as leitmotif . It can be considered at the level of theme and figurative structure of the work. In Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, the motif of the garden as a symbol of Home, beauty and sustainability of life... we can talk about the role of both the leitmotif and the organization of the second, secret meaning of the work - subtext, undercurrent (phrase: “life is lost” - the leitmotif of Uncle Vanya. Chekhov)

Tomashevsky: Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts that describe individual actions, events, and things. Topics such small parts of a work that cannot be further divided are called motives .

IN lyrical in a work, a motif is a recurring set of feelings and ideas expressed in artistic speech. Motifs in lyric poetry are more independent, because they are not subordinated to the development of action, as in epic and drama. Sometimes the poet’s work as a whole can be considered as an interaction, a correlation of motives. (In Lermontov: motives of freedom, will, memory, exile, etc.) One and the same motive can receive different symbolic meanings V lyrical works different eras, emphasizing the closeness and originality of the poets (Pushkin’s road in Besy and Gogol’s in M.D., the homeland of Lermontov and Nekrasov, Yesenin’s and Blok’s Rus', etc.)

At his lectures, Stepanov said only the following:

According to Tomashevsky, motives are divided

Free and bound motifs:

Those that can be skipped (details, details play an important role in the plot: they do not make the work sketchy.)

Those that cannot be omitted when retelling, because the cause-and-effect relationship is broken... form the basis of the plot.

Dynamic and static motifs:

1. Changing the situation. The transition from happiness to unhappiness and vice versa.

Peripeteia (Aristotle: “the transformation of an action into its opposite) is one of the essential elements of complicating the plot, denoting any unexpected turn in the development of the plot.

2. Not changing the situation (descriptions of the interior, nature, portrait, actions and deeds that do not lead to important changes)

Free motives can be static, but not every static motive is free.

I don’t know which book this is from Tomashevsky, because in “Theory of Literature. Poetics." He writes:

Motivation. The system of motives that make up the theme of this work, should represent some artistic unity. If all parts of a work are poorly fitted to one another, the work “falls apart.” Therefore, the introduction of each individual motive or each set of motives must be justified(motivated). The appearance of one or another motive should seem necessary to the reader in a given place. The system of techniques that justify the introduction of individual motives and their complexes is called motivation. Motivation methods are varied, and their nature is not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to classify motivations.

TO oppositional motivation.

Its principle lies in economy and expediency of motives. Individual motifs can characterize objects introduced into the reader's field of view (accessories) or the actions of characters ("episodes"). Not a single accessory should remain unused in the plot, not a single episode should remain without influence on the plot situation. It was about compositional motivation that Chekhov spoke when he argued that if at the beginning of the story it is said that a nail is driven into the wall, then at the end of the story the hero should hang himself on this nail. (“Dowry” by Ostrovsky using the example of weapons. “There is a carpet above the sofa on which weapons are hung.”

First it is introduced as a detail of the setting. In the sixth scene, attention is drawn to this detail in the remarks. At the end of the action, Karandyshev, running away, grabs a pistol from the table. In the 4th act, he shoots Larisa with this pistol. The introduction of the weapon motif here is compositionally motivated. This weapon is necessary for the outcome. It serves as preparation last moment drama.) The second case of compositional motivation is the introduction of motives as characterization techniques . The motives must be in harmony with the dynamics of the plot. (Thus, in the same “Dowry” the motif of “Burgundy”, made by a counterfeit wine merchant at a cheap price, characterizes the wretchedness of Karandyshev’s everyday environment and prepares for Larisa’s departure).

These characteristic details can be in harmony with the action:

1) by psychological analogy ( romantic landscape: moonlit night for a love scene, storm and thunder for a scene of death or crime),

2) by contrast (motive of “indifferent” nature, etc.).

In the same "Dowry", when Larisa dies, the singing of a gypsy choir can be heard from the restaurant doors. One must also take into account the possibility false motivation . Accessories and incidents may be introduced to distract the reader's attention from the true situation. This very often appears in detective stories, where a number of details are given that lead the reader along the wrong way. The author makes us assume the outcome is not what it actually is. The deception is unraveled at the end, and the reader is convinced that all these details were introduced only to prepare surprises at the denouement.

Realistic motivation

From each work we demand an elementary “illusion”, i.e. no matter how conventional and artificial the work may be, its perception must be accompanied by a sense of the reality of what is happening. For a naive reader this feeling is extremely strong, and such a reader can believe in the authenticity of what is being presented, can be convinced of the real existence of the heroes. Thus, Pushkin, having just published “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion,” publishes “ The captain's daughter" in the form of Grinev's memoirs with the following afterword: "Peter Andreevich Grinev's manuscript was delivered to us from one of his grandchildren, who learned that we were busy with work dating back to the time described by his grandfather.

We decided, with the permission of our relatives, to publish it separately." An illusion of the reality of Grinev and his memoirs is created, especially supported by publicly known moments of Pushkin’s personal biography (his historical studies on the history of Pugachev), and the illusion is also supported by the fact that the views and beliefs expressed by Grinev , in many respects diverge from the views expressed by Pushkin on his own. Realistic illusion in a more experienced reader is expressed as a requirement for “vitality.”

Firmly knowing the fictional nature of the work, the reader still demands some correspondence with reality and in this correspondence sees the value of the work. Even readers well versed in the laws artistic construction, cannot psychologically free themselves from this illusion. In this regard, each motive must be introduced as a motive likely in this situation.

We do not notice, getting used to the technique of an adventure novel, the absurdity that the hero’s salvation always occurs five minutes before his inevitable death, the audience of the ancient comedy did not notice the absurdity that in the last act all the characters suddenly turned out to be close relatives. However, how tenacious this motive is in drama is shown by Ostrovsky’s play “Guilty Without Guilt,” where at the end of the play the heroine recognizes her own in the hero. lost son). This motive of recognizing kinship was extremely convenient for the denouement (kinship reconciled interests, radically changing the situation) and therefore became firmly entrenched in tradition.

So, realistic motivation has its source either in naive trust or in the demand for illusion. This doesn't stop you from developing. fantastic literature. If folk tales and usually arise in a popular environment that allows for the real existence of witches and brownies, they continue to exist as some kind of conscious illusion, where a mythological system or a fantastic worldview (the assumption of really unjustifiable “possibilities”) is present as some kind of illusory hypothesis.

It is curious that fantastic narratives in a developed literary environment, under the influence of the requirements of realistic motivation, usually give double interpretation plot: it can be understood both as a real event and as a fantastic one. From the point of view of the realistic motivation for constructing the work, it is easy to understand the introduction to the work of art extraliterary material, i.e. topics that have real meaning beyond the realm of fiction.

So, in historical novels historical figures are brought onto the stage, one or another interpretation is introduced historical events. See in the novel “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy a whole military-strategic report on the Battle of Borodino and the fire of Moscow, which caused controversy in the specialized literature. IN modern works everyday life familiar to the reader is presented, questions of moral, social, political, etc. are raised. order, in a word, themes are introduced that live their own lives outside of fiction.

Artistic motivation

The introduction of motives is the result of a compromise between realistic illusion and the requirements of artistic construction. Not everything borrowed from reality is suitable for a work of art.

On the basis of artistic motivation, disputes usually arise between old and new literary schools. The old, traditional direction usually denies the new literary forms presence of artistry. So this, for example, affects poetic vocabulary, where the very use of individual words should be in harmony with solid literary traditions(source of “prosaisms” - words prohibited in poetry). As a special case of artistic motivation, there is a technique defamiliarization. The introduction of non-literary material into a work, so that it does not fall out of the work of art, must be justified by novelty and individuality in the coverage of the material.

We must talk about the old and familiar as new and unusual. The ordinary is spoken of as strange. These methods of defamiliarization of ordinary things are usually themselves motivated by the refraction of these themes in the psychology of the hero, who is unfamiliar with them. L. Tolstoy’s technique of defamiliarization is known when, describing the military council in Fili in “War and Peace,” he introduces as actor a peasant girl observing this council and in her own, childish way, without understanding the essence of what was happening, interpreting all the actions and speeches of the council participants.

A motif in a literary work is most often understood as a part, an element of the plot. Any plot is an interweaving of motifs, closely related to each other, growing into one another. The same motive can underlie a wide variety of plots and thus have very different meanings.

The strength and significance of a motive changes depending on what other motives it is adjacent to. The motive is sometimes very deeply hidden, but the deeper it lies, the more content it can carry within itself. It shades or complements the main, main theme of the work. The motive of enrichment unites such in all other respects as various works, like “Père Goriot” by O. de Balzac, “ Queen of Spades" And " Stingy Knight"A.S. Pushkin and " Dead souls"N.V. Gogol. The motive of imposture unites “Boris Godunov”, “The Peasant Young Lady” and “The Stone Guest” by A. S. Pushkin with Gogol’s “The Inspector General”... And yet the motive is not indifferent to the environment of its existence: for example, those beloved by the romantics (although not created by them ) motifs of escape from captivity, death in a foreign land, loneliness in a crowd, appearing in a realistic work, retain the sheen and flavor of romanticism for a long time, giving additional depth to their new home, creating, as it were, niches in which one can hear the echo of the previous sound of these motifs. It is not without reason that for most people the word “motive” means a tune, a melody - it retains something of this meaning as a literary term. In poetry, almost any word can become a motif; in lyrics, the word-motive is always shrouded in a cloud previous values and uses, a halo of former meanings “shines” around it.

Motif, according to A. N. Veselovsky’s definition, is the “nervous knot” of the narrative (including lyrical). Touching such a node causes an explosion of aesthetic emotions, necessary for the artist, and sets in motion a chain of associations that help the correct perception of the work, enriching it. Having discovered, for example, that the motif of escape from captivity permeates all Russian literature (from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” to “Mtsyri” by M. Yu. Lermontov, from “ Caucasian prisoner"A. S. Pushkin to "Walking in Torment" by A. N. Tolstoy and "The Fate of Man" by M. A. Sholokhov), filling with different content, acquiring various details, appearing either in the center or on the outskirts of the narrative, we will be able to go deeper understand and feel this motive if we meet it again and again in modern prose. The motive of wish fulfillment, included in literature from fairy tale, underlies almost all science fiction, but its significance is not limited to this. It can be found in works as distant from each other as “Little Tsakhes” by E. T. A. Hoffman, “The Overcoat” by N. V. Gogol, “The Twelve Chairs” by I. A. Ilf and E. P. Petrov, “The Master and Margarita” by M. A. Bulgakov - the list is almost endless, right up to the novel by V. A. Kaverin, called “The Fulfillment of Desires.”

A motive, as a rule, exists with two signs at once, in two guises, and presupposes the existence of an antonym motive: the motive of impatience (for example, the novel by Yu. V. Trifonov “The House on the Embankment”) will certainly bring to life the motive of patience, and this does not mean at all that the motifs will coexist in one work. What is important for the development of literature is precisely that the motifs seem to resonate with each other not only within one plot (and not even so much), one work, but also across the boundaries of books and even literatures. Therefore, by the way, it is possible and fruitful to study not only the system of motifs belonging to one artist, but also the general network of motifs used in the literature of a certain time, a certain direction, in one or another national literature.

Understood as a plot element, motif borders on the concept of theme.

The understanding of a motive as a plot unit in literary criticism is adjacent to and contradicts the understanding of it as a kind of cluster of feelings, ideas, ideas, even methods of expression. Understood in this way, the motive is already approaching the image and can develop in this direction and develop into an image. This process can occur in one, sometimes very small work, as, for example, in Lermontov’s “Sail”. The motif of a lonely sail (borrowed by M. Yu. Lermontov from A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky and having a long tradition), combined with the motifs of storm, space, flight, gives rise to a complete and organic image of a rebellious lonely soul, an image so rich in the possibilities of artistic influence, that its development and enrichment allowed Lermontov not only to base all his lyrics on it, but also to transform it into the images of the Demon, Arbenin and Pechorin. Pushkin treated motifs differently: he knew how to combine the most prosaic, dispassionate, almost meaningless and empty motifs from long use to give them a fresh and universal meaning and create living and eternal images. In Pushkin, all motives remember their former existence. With them, a new work enters not just a tradition, but also a genre, beginning to live new life. This is how the ballad, elegy, epigram, ode, idyll, letter, song, fairy tale, fable, short story, epitaph, madrigal and many other half-forgotten and forgotten genres and genre formations, introduced through motifs, live in “Eugene Onegin”.

The motif is two-faced, it is both a representative of tradition and a sign of novelty. But the motive is equally dual within itself: it is not an indecomposable unit, it is, as a rule, formed by two opposing forces, it within itself presupposes a conflict that is transformed into action. The life of a motive is not endless (motives fizzle out); straightforward and primitive exploitation of a motive can devalue it. This happened, for example, with the motif of the struggle between old and new in the so-called “industrial” prose of the 50s. XX century After many novels and stories appeared that used this motif, for a long time any manifestation of it served as a sign of literary inferiority. It took time and extraordinary efforts of talented writers for this motif to regain its citizenship rights in our literature. Motives sometimes come back to life completely unexpectedly. For example, the romantic motif of loneliness in a crowd, the motif of a stranger, were successfully resurrected in the story “Scarecrow” by V.K. Zheleznikov, which became especially famous after its film adaptation by R.A. Bykov. Motif is a category that allows us to consider literature as a single book, as a whole - through the particular, as an organism - through a cell. The history of motifs - their origin, development, extinction and new flourishing - can be the subject of a fascinating literary study.