Today we will talk about ways to organize structure work of art and let's look at such a fundamental concept as composition. Undoubtedly, composition is an extremely important element of a work, mainly because it determines the form or shell in which the content is “wrapped.” And if in ancient times the shell was often not given of great importance, then since the 19th century, a well-structured composition has become almost an obligatory element of any good novel, not to mention short prose (short stories and short stories). Understanding the rules of composition is something of a mandatory program for a modern author.
In general, it is most convenient to analyze and assimilate certain types of composition using examples from short prose, solely because of the smaller volume. This is exactly what we will do in the course of today's conversation.
Mikhail Weller “Story Technology”
As I noted above, it is easiest to study the typology of composition using the example of short prose, since almost the same principles are used there as in large prose. Well, if so, then I suggest that you trust in this matter a professional author who has devoted his entire life to working on short prose - Mikhail Weller. Why him? Well, at least because Weller wrote whole line the most interesting essays on the craft of writing, from which a novice author can learn a lot of useful and interesting things. Personally, I can recommend two of his collections: “ Word and fate», « Word and profession", which have been mine for a long time reference books. For those who have not yet read them, I definitely recommend filling this gap as soon as possible.
Today, to analyze the composition, we turn to the famous work of Mikhail Weller “ Story technology" In this essay, the author literally breaks down all the features and subtleties of writing stories and novellas, systematizing his knowledge and experience in this area. Without a doubt, this is one of the best works on the theory of short prose and, what is no less valuable, it belongs to the pen of our compatriot and contemporary. I think we simply cannot find a better source for our discussion today.
Let's first define what composition is.
- this is a specific construction, the internal structure of a work (architectonics), which includes the selection, grouping and sequence of visual techniques that organize the ideological and artistic whole.
This definition, of course, is very abstract and dry. I still prefer the formulation given by Weller. Here she is:
- this is the arrangement of the material selected for the work in such an order that the effect of a greater impact on the reader is achieved than with a simple sequential presentation of the facts.
The composition pursues a clearly defined goal - to achieve from the text the semantic and emotional impact on the reader that the author intended. If the author wants to confuse the reader, he builds the composition in one way; if he decides to amaze him at the end, he builds it in a completely different way. It is from the goals of the writer himself that all types and forms of composition, which we will discuss below, originate.
1. Direct flow composition
This is the most common, well-known and familiar way of presenting the material: at first it was like this, then this happened, the hero did this, and it all ended like this. Main feature direct-flow composition is a strict sequence of presentation of facts while maintaining a single chain of cause-and-effect relationships. Everything here is consistent, clear and logical.
In general, this type of composition is characterized by a slow and detailed narrative: events follow one after the other, and the author has the opportunity to more thoroughly highlight the points that interest him. At the same time, this approach is familiar to the reader: it eliminates, on the one hand, any risk of getting confused in events, and on the other, it contributes to the formation of sympathy for the characters, since the reader sees the gradual development of their character over the course of the story.
In general, I personally consider direct-flow composition to be a reliable, but very boring option, which may be ideal for a novel or some kind of epic, but a story constructed with its help is unlikely to sparkle with originality.
Basic principles of constructing a direct-flow composition:
- Strict sequence of described events.
2. Banding
By and large, this is the same straightforward story with one single, but decisively important nuance - the author's inserts at the beginning and end of the text. In this case, we get a kind of nesting doll, a story within a story, where the hero introduced to us at the beginning will be the narrator of the main internal story. This move gives rise to a very interesting effect: stories are superimposed on the presentation of the plot. personal characteristics, worldview and views of the character leading the narrative. Here the author deliberately separates his point of view from the point of view of the narrator and may well disagree with his conclusions. And if in ordinary stories We, as a rule, have two points of view (the hero and the author), then this type of composition introduces even greater semantic diversity by adding a third point of view - the point of view of the character-narrator.
The use of ringing makes it possible to give the story a unique charm and flavor that is impossible under other circumstances. The fact is that the narrator can speak any language (colloquial, deliberately colloquial, even completely incoherent and illiterate), he can convey any views (including those that contradict any generally accepted norms), in any case, the author distances himself from his image, the character acts independently, and the reader forms own attitude to his personality. Such separation of roles automatically brings the writer into the widest operational space: after all, he has the right to choose as a narrator even an inanimate object, even a child, even an alien. The degree of hooliganism is limited only by the level of imagination.
In addition, the introduction of a personalized narrator creates in the reader’s mind the illusion of greater authenticity of what is happening. This is valuable when the author is a public person with wide famous biography, and the reader knows very well that the beloved author, say, has never been in prison. In this case, the writer, introducing the image of the narrator - a seasoned prisoner, simply removes this contradiction in the minds of the public and calmly writes his crime novel.
Banding is very effective way organization of composition, which is often used in combination with other compositional schemes.
Signs of ringing:
- The presence of a character-narrator;
- Two stories - an internal one, told by the character, and an external one, told by the author himself.
3. Dot composition
It is characterized by a close examination of one single episode, a moment in life that seemed important and something remarkable to the author. All actions here take place in a limited area of space in a limited period of time. The entire structure of the work is, as it were, compressed to a single point; hence the name.
Despite its apparent simplicity, this type of composition is extremely complex: the author is required to put together a whole mosaic of the smallest details and details in order to ultimately obtain a vivid picture of the selected event. The comparison with painting in this context seems to me quite apt. Working on a point composition is reminiscent of painting a picture - which, in fact, is also a point in space and time. Therefore, here everything will be important for the author: intonation, gestures, and details of descriptions. A dot composition is a moment in life viewed through a magnifying glass.
Dot composition is most often found in short stories. Usually these are simple everyday stories in which a huge flow of experience, emotions and sensations is conveyed through little things. In general, everything that the writer managed to put into this point of artistic space.
Principles of constructing a dot composition:
- Narrowing the field of view to a single episode;
- Hypertrophied attention to detail and nuances;
- Showing the big through the small.
4. Wicker composition
It is distinguished mainly by the presence of a complex system for depicting a large number of events occurring with different heroes at different points in time. That is, in fact, this model is exactly the opposite of the previous one. Here the author purposefully gives the reader a lot of events that are happening now, happened in the past, and sometimes are supposed to happen in the future. Author in large quantities uses references to the past, transitions from one character to another. And all in order to get out of this mass related episodes weave a huge, sweeping picture of your story.
Often, this approach is also justified by the fact that the writer reveals the causes and relationships of the events described with the help of episodes that took place once in the past, or the implicit connection of today's incidents with some others. All this comes together according to the will and intention of the author, like a complex puzzle.
This type of composition is more typical for large prose, where there is room for the formation of all its laces and intricacies; in the case of short stories or short stories, the author is unlikely to have the opportunity to build something large-scale.
The main features of this type of composition:
- References to events that occurred before the beginning of the story;
- Transitions between actors;
- Creating scale through many interconnected episodes.
I propose to stop here this time. A strong flow of information often creates confusion in the head. Try to think about what was said and be sure to read “ Story technology» Mikhail Weller. To be continued very soon on the pages of the “Literary Craftsmanship” blog. Subscribe to updates, leave your comments. See you soon!
Composition literary work, constituting the crown of its form, is the mutual correlation and arrangement of units of the depicted and artistic and speech means, “a system of connecting signs, elements of the work.” Compositional techniques serve to place the emphasis needed by the author and in a certain way, in a directed manner, “present” the reader with the recreated objectivity and verbal “flesh”. They have a unique energy of aesthetic impact.
The term comes from the Latin verb componere, which means to fold, build, shape. The word “composition” as applied to fruits literary creativity To a greater or lesser extent, such words as “design”, “disposition”, “layout”, “organization”, “plan” are synonymous.
Composition ensures the unity and integrity of artistic creations. This, says P.V. Palievsky, “a disciplinary force and organizer of the work. She is entrusted with ensuring that nothing breaks out to the side, into its own law, but rather is combined into a whole. Her goal is to arrange all the pieces so that they close into the complete expression of the idea.”
To what has been said, we add that the totality of compositional techniques and means stimulates and organizes the perception of a literary work. A.K. (following film director S.M. Eisenstein) insistently talks about this. Zholkovsky and Yu.K. Shcheglov, relying on the term “technique of expressiveness” they proposed. According to these scientists, art (including verbal art) “reveals the world through the prism of expressive techniques” that control the reader’s reactions, subordinate him to himself, and thereby to the creative will of the author. These methods of expressiveness are few in number, and they can be systematized, forming a kind of alphabet. Experiences in systematizing compositional means as “techniques of expressiveness,” which are still preliminary today, are very promising.
The foundation of the composition is the organization (orderliness) of the fictional reality and the reality depicted by the writer, that is, the structural aspects of the world of the work itself. But the main and specific beginning artistic construction- these are ways of “presenting” the image, as well as speech units.
Compositional techniques have, above all, expressive energy. “An expressive effect,” notes the music theorist, “is usually achieved in a work not by any one means, but by several means aimed at the same goal.” The same is true in literature. Compositional means here constitute a kind of system, the “components” (elements) of which we will turn to.
COMPOSITION
Composition and sequence of episodes, parts and elements of a literary work, as well as the relationship between individual artistic images.
Thus, in the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd...” the basis of the composition is the opposition (see Antithesis) between soulless light and memories lyrical hero about the "wonderful kingdom"; in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” there is a contradiction between the false and the true; in “Ionych” by A.P. Chekhov - the process of spiritual degradation of the main character, etc.
In epic, dramatic and partly lyric epic works, the main part of the composition is the plot. Such a composition includes mandatory plot-compositional elements (plot, development of action, climax and denouement) and additional ones (exposition, prologue, epilogue), as well as the so-called extra-plot elements of the composition (inserted episodes, author's digressions and descriptions).
At the same time, the compositional design of the plot varies.
The plot composition can be:
- consistent(events develop in chronological sequence),
- reverse(events are given to the reader in reverse chronological order),
- retrospective(consistently presented events are combined with digressions into the past), etc. (See also Fabula.)
In epic and lyric-epic works, extra-plot elements play an important role in the composition: author’s digressions, descriptions, introductory (inserted) episodes. The relationship between plot and extra-plot elements is an essential feature of the composition of the work, which must be noted. Thus, the composition of M. Yu. Lermontov’s poems “Song about the Merchant Kalashnikov” and “Mtsyri” is characterized by a predominance of plot elements, and for “Eugene Onegin” by A. S. Pushkin, “Dead Souls” by N. V. Gogol, “Who is on It's good to live in Rus'" by N. A. Nekrasov is indicative of a significant number of extra-plot elements.
An important role in the composition is played by the system of characters, as well as the system of images (for example, the sequence of images in A. S. Pushkin’s poem “The Prophet”, expressing the process of the poet’s spiritual formation; or the interaction of such symbolic details-images as a cross, an ax, the Gospel, resurrection Lazarus, etc. in F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment”).
For the composition of an epic work, the organization of the narrative plays an important role: for example, in the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov “A Hero of Our Time”, at first the narration is led by the simple-minded but observant Maxim Maksimych, then by the “author” who publishes “Pechorin’s diary”, a person of the same circle as him , and finally, myself
Pechorin. This allows the author to reveal the character of the hero, going from external to internal.
The composition of the work may also include dreams ("Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy), letters ("Eugene Onegin", "Hero of Our Time"), genre inclusions, for example, songs ("Eugene Onegin ", "Who Lives Well in Rus'"), story (in " Dead souls" - "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin").
Composition of a literary work.
Basic aspects of composition.
Composition of the figurative system.
The system of images-characters of a work of art.
Composition of the plot and composition of extra-plot elements
1. Composition of a literary work. Basic aspects of composition. Composition 1. Composition of a literary work. Basic aspects of composition.(from Latin compositio - composition, connection) - joining parts or components into a whole; structure of literary and artistic form.
- this is the composition and specific arrangement of parts, elements of a work in some significant sequence. Composition is a combination of parts, but not these parts themselves; depending on what level (layer) of the artistic form we are talking about, they distinguish aspects of composition
. This includes the arrangement of characters, the event (plot) connections of the work, the montage of details (psychological, portrait, landscape, etc.), and repetitions of symbolic details (forming motifs and leitmotifs), and the change in the flow of speech such forms as narration , description, dialogue, reasoning, as well as changing the subjects of speech, and dividing the text into parts (including frame and main text), and the dynamics of speech style and much more. The aspects of composition are varied. At the same time, the approach to a work as an aesthetic object allows us to identify in its composition artistic form at least two layers and, accordingly, two compositions combining components that are different in nature, – textual And (figurative). Sometimes in the first case they talk about the outer layer of the composition (or “external composition”), in the second – about the internal one.
Perhaps nothing shows the difference between objective and textual composition so clearly as in the application to them of the concepts of “beginning” and “end”, otherwise “frame” (frame, frame components). Framework components are title, subtitle, Sometimes - epigraph, dedication, preface, Always - First line, first and last paragraphs.
In modern literary criticism, apparently, the term that came from linguistics has taken root: strong text position"(it, in particular, applies to titles, the first line, the first paragraph, the ending).
Researchers are paying increased attention to the frame components of the text, in particular, to its absolute beginning, which is structurally highlighted, creating a certain horizon of expectation. For example: A.S. Pushkin. Captain's daughter. Next is the epigraph: “ Take care of honor from a young age" Or: N.V. Gogol. Inspector. Comedy in five acts. Epigraph: " There is no point in blaming the mirror if your face is crooked. Popular proverb" Followed by " Characters"(traditional drama component side text), « Characters and costumes. Notes for gentlemen actors"(for understanding the author's concept, the role of this metatext is very important).
Compared to epic and dramatic works, lyric poetry is more modest in the design of the “entrance” to the text: often there is no title at all, and the name of the text gives it First line, which simultaneously introduces the rhythm of the poem (therefore it cannot be abbreviated in the table of contents).
Parts of the text have their own frame components, which also form relative unities. Epic works can be divided into volumes, books, parts, chapters, sub-chapters, etc. Their names will form their own expressive text (a component of the work’s frame).
In drama, it is usually divided into acts (actions), scenes (pictures), and phenomena (in modern plays, division into phenomena is rare). The entire text is clearly divided into character (main) and author's (side) text, which includes, in addition to the title component, various kinds of stage directions: description of the place, time of action, etc. at the beginning of acts and scenes, designation of speakers, stage directions, etc.
Parts of the text in lyrics (and in poetic speech in general) are verses, stanzas. The thesis about the “unity and closeness of the verse series” put forward by Yu.N. Tynyanov in his book “Problems of Poetic Language” (1924) allows us to consider a verse (usually written as a separate line) by analogy with larger unities, parts of the text. One can even say that the function of frame components in verse is performed by anacrusis and clause, often enriched with rhyme and noticeable as the boundary of the verse in case of transfer.
In all types of literature, individual works can form cycles. The sequence of texts within a cycle (book of poetry) usually gives rise to interpretations in which the arguments are the arrangement of characters, a similar structure of plots, characteristic associations of images (in the free composition of lyrical poems), and other - spatial and temporal - connections of the objective worlds of the work.
So there is text components And components of the objective world works. To successfully analyze the overall composition of a work, it is necessary to trace their interaction, often very intense. The composition of the text is always “overlaid” in the reader’s perception on the deep, substantive structure of the work and interacts with it; It is thanks to this interaction that certain techniques are read as signs of the author’s presence in the text.
Considering the subject composition, it should be noted that its first function is to “hold” the elements of the whole, to make it out of individual parts; Without a thoughtful and meaningful composition, it is impossible to create a full-fledged work of art. The second function of the composition is to express some artistic meaning by the very arrangement and correlation of the images of the work.
Before you begin to analyze the subject composition, you should familiarize yourself with the most important compositional techniques. The main ones among them can be identified: repetition, reinforcement, contrast and montage(Esin A.B. Principles and techniques for analyzing a literary work - M., 1999, pp. 128 - 131).
Repeat– one of the simplest and at the same time most effective composition techniques. It allows you to easily and naturally “round out” the work and give it compositional harmony. The so-called ring composition looks especially impressive when a “roll call” is established between the beginning and the end of the work.
A frequently repeated detail or image becomes the leitmotif (leading motive) of the work. For example, the motif of the cherry orchard runs through the entire play by A.P. Chekhov as a symbol of Home, the beauty and sustainability of life, its bright beginning. In the play by A.N. Ostrovsky's leitmotif becomes the image of a thunderstorm. In poems, a type of repetition is a refrain (repetition of individual lines).
A technique close to repetition is gain. This technique is used in cases where simple repetition is not enough to create an artistic effect, when it is necessary to enhance the impression by selecting homogeneous images or details. Thus, according to the principle of amplification, the description of the interior decoration of Sobakevich’s house in “Dead Souls” by N.V. is constructed. Gogol: every new detail strengthens the previous one: “everything was solid, awkward in of the highest degree and bore some strange resemblance to the owner of the house; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut bureau on the most absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, armchairs, chairs - everything was of the heaviest and most restless quality - in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “And I, too, Sobakevich!” or “and I’m very similar to Sobakevich!”
The selection of artistic images in A.P.’s story operates according to the same principle of intensification. Chekhov’s “The Man in a Case”, used to describe the main character - Belikov: “He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with cotton wool. And he had an umbrella in a case made of gray suede, and when he took out his penknife to sharpen a pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, since he kept hiding it in his raised collar.”
The opposite of repetition and reinforcement is opposition– a compositional technique based on antithesis. For example, in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov’s “Death of a Poet”: “And you will not wash away the righteous blood of the poet with all your black blood.”
IN in a broad sense The word opposition is any opposition of images, for example, Onegin and Lensky, Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, images of storm and peace in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov “Sail”, etc.
Contamination, the combination of repetition and contrast techniques, gives a special compositional effect: the so-called “mirror composition”. As a rule, with a mirror composition, the initial and final images are repeated exactly the opposite. A classic example of a mirror composition is the novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, It seems to repeat the situation already depicted earlier, only with a change in position: at first Tatyana is in love with Onegin, writes him a letter and listens to his cold rebuke. At the end of the work, it’s the other way around: Onegin in love writes a letter and listens to Tatyana’s answer.
The essence of the technique installation, lies in the fact that images located side by side in the work give rise to a certain new, third meaning, which appears precisely from their proximity. So, for example, in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych" description of the "art salon" of Vera Iosifovna Turkina is adjacent to the mention that from the kitchen the clanking of knives could be heard and the smell of fried onions could be heard. Together, these two details create that atmosphere of vulgarity, which A.P. tried to reproduce in the story. Chekhov.
All compositional techniques can perform two functions in the composition of a work, slightly different from each other: they can organize either a separate small fragment of text (at the micro level) or the entire text (at the macro level), becoming in the latter case principle of composition.
For example, the most common method of microstructure of a poetic text is sound repetition at the end of poetic lines - rhyme.
In the above examples from the works of N.V. Gogol and A.P. Chekhov’s technique of amplification organizes individual fragments of texts, and in the poem by A.S. Pushkin's "Prophet" becomes the general principle of organization of the entire artistic whole.
In the same way, montage can become a compositional principle of organization of the entire work (this can be observed in A.S. Pushkin’s tragedy “Boris Godunov”, in the novel “The Master and Margarita” by M.A. Bulgakov).
Thus, one should distinguish between repetition, contrast, intensification and montage as compositional techniques themselves and as a principle of composition.
Significantly influences the expression of his ideas. The writer focuses his attention on those who attract him to given time life phenomena and embodies them through artistic image characters, landscapes, mood. At the same time, he strives to connect them in such a way that they are truly convincing and really reveal what he wanted to show, so that they encourage the reader to think.
The fact that composition in literature significantly influences the disclosure ideological plan writer, Belinsky constantly pointed out in his works. He believed that main idea The author must meet the following criteria: isolation and completeness of the whole, completeness, proportionate distribution of roles between the characters of the work of art. Thus, composition in literature is determined by the author’s positions: ideological and aesthetic. But idea and theme can only be harmoniously combined in a mature work.
The composition of the text is considered by literary scholars with different points vision. And on general definition they have not agreed to this day. Most often, composition in literature is defined as the construction of a correlation of all its parts with a single whole. It is known that it has many components that writers use in their works to complete the depiction of life pictures. The main elements that make up composition in literature are and lyrical digressions, and portraits, and inserted episodes, epigraphs, titles, landscapes, surroundings.
Epigraphs and titles carry a special load.
The title usually indicates the following aspects of the work:
Subject (for example, Bazhov “Malachite Box”);
Images (for example, George Sand “Countess Rudolfstadt”, “Valentine”);
Issues (E. Bogat “What moves the Sun and luminaries”).
An epigraph is a kind of additional title, which is usually associated with the main idea of the work or hints at the striking features of the main character.
Lyrical digressions stand aside from storyline. With their help, the author has the opportunity to express his own attitude to the events, phenomena and images that he depicts. There are also lyrical digressions in which the experiences of several characters merge, but at the same time it is still clear that here the writer expressed his feelings and thoughts. For example, as in the digression about mother’s hands in the novel “The Young Guard” by Fadeev.
By choosing the sequence of connecting the listed elements, his own principles of “assembling” them, each author creates a unique work. And he uses the following:
- Ring composition, or framing composition. The writer repeats artistic descriptions, stanzas at the beginning of the work, and then at the end; the same events or characters at the beginning of the story and at the end. This technique is found in both prose and poetry.
- Reverse composition. When the author places the ending at the beginning of the work, and then shows how events developed, explains why it is this way and not otherwise.
- Using the technique of retrospection is when the writer places readers in the past, when the reasons for the events that happened in the past were formed. this moment. Sometimes retrospection is presented in the form of memories of the main actor or his story (the so-called “story within a story”).
- A compositional break in events, when one chapter ends at the most intriguing moment, and the next begins with a completely different action. This technique is more often found in works of the detective and adventure genre.
- Using exposure. It may precede the main action, or it may be completely absent.
There are three levels of literary work:
Subject figurativeness is vital material
Composition – organization of this material
Artistic language is the speech structure of a literary work, at all four levels artistic language: phonics, vocabulary, semantics, syntax.
Each of these layers has its own complex hierarchy.
The apparent complexity of a literary work is created by the hard work of the writer at all three levels of the artistic whole.
Let's get acquainted with several definitions of this concept and its various classifications, when the composition of the text is revealed according to different characteristics and indicators.
A literary text represents a communicative, structural and semantic unity, which is manifested in its composition. That is, this is the unity of communication – structure – and meaning.
The composition of a literary text is a “mutual correlation And location units of depicted and artistic and speech means.” The units of what is depicted here mean: theme, problem, idea, characters, all aspects of the external and internal world depicted. Artistic speech means are the entire figurative system of language at the level of its 4 layers.
Composition is the construction of a work that determines its integrity, completeness and unity.
Composition - represents "system connections" all its elements. This system also has independent content, which should be revealed in the process philological analysis text.
Composition, either structure or architectonics is the construction of a work of art.
Composition is an element of the form of a work of art.
Composition contributes to the creation of a work as an artistic integrity.
The composition unites all components and subordinates them to the idea, the intention of the work. Moreover, this connection is so close that it is impossible to remove or rearrange a single component from the composition.
Types of compositional organization of a work:
Plot type - that is, plot (epic, lyric, drama)
Non-plot type - plotless (in lyric poetry, epic and drama created creative method modernism and postmodernism)
The plot type of compositional organization of a work is of two types:
Eventful (in epic and drama)
Descriptive (lyrics)
Let's consider the first type of plot composition - event-based. It has three forms:
Chronological form - events develop along a straight line of time, the natural time sequence is not disrupted, there may be time intervals between events
Retrospective form - a deviation from the natural chronological sequence, a violation of the linear order of events in life, interruption with memories of the heroes or the author, familiarizing the reader with the background of events and the lives of the characters (Bunin, “Easy Breathing”)
Free or montage form - a significant violation of spatio-temporal and cause-and-effect relationships between events; the connection between individual episodes is associative-emotional, and not logical-semantic (“Hero of Our Time”, “The Trial” by Kafka and other works of modernism and postmodernism)
Let's consider the second type of composition - descriptive:
It is present in lyrical works, they generally lack a clearly limited and coherently developed action, the experiences of the lyrical hero or character are brought to the fore, and the entire composition is subordinate to the goals of his depiction, this is a description of thoughts, impressions, feelings, pictures inspired by the experiences of the lyrical hero .
The composition can be external and internal
External composition(architectonics): chapters, parts, sections, paragraphs, books, volumes; their arrangement may vary depending on the methods of creating the plot chosen by the author.
External composition- this is the division of a text characterized by continuity into discrete units. Composition, therefore, is the manifestation of a significant discontinuity in continuity.
External composition: the boundaries of each compositional unit highlighted in the text are clearly defined, defined by the author (chapters, chapters, sections, parts, epilogues, phenomena in drama, etc.), this organizes and directs the reader’s perception. The architectonics of the text serves as a way of “portioning” meaning; with the help of... compositional units, the author indicates to the reader the unification, or, conversely, the dismemberment of elements of the text (and therefore its content).
External composition: no less significant is the lack of division of the text or its expanded fragments: this emphasizes the integrity of the spatial continuum, the fundamental non-discreteness of the organization of the narrative, the undifferentiation, and fluidity of the narrator’s or character’s picture of the world (for example, in “stream of consciousness” literature).
Internal composition : this is the composition (construction, arrangement) of images - characters, events, setting, landscapes, interiors, etc.
Internal(meaningful) composition is determined by the system of images-characters, the features of the conflict and the originality of the plot.
Not to be confused: the plot has elements plot, composition has techniques(internal composition) and parts(external composition) composition.
The composition includes in its construction both all the elements of the plot - plot elements and extra-plot elements.
Internal composition techniques:
Prologue (often referred to as the plot)
Epilogue (often referred to as the plot)
Monologue
Character portraits
Interiors
Landscapes
Extra-plot elements in the composition
Classification of compositional techniques by highlighting individual elements:
Each compositional unit is characterized by promotion techniques that provide emphasis the most important meanings of the text and activate the reader's attention. This:
geography: various graphic highlights,
repetitions: repetitions of linguistic units of different levels,
strengthening: strong positions of the text or its compositional part - positions of advancement associated with establishing a hierarchy of meanings, focusing attention on the most important, enhancing emotionality and aesthetic effect, establishing meaningful connections between elements adjacent and distant, belonging to the same and different levels, ensuring the coherence of the text and its memorability. The strong positions of the text traditionally include titles, epigraphs, beginningAndend works (parts, chapters, chapters). With their help, the author emphasizes the most significant structural elements for understanding the work and at the same time determines the main “semantic milestones” of a particular compositional part (the text as a whole).
Widespread in Russian literature of the late 20th century. the techniques of montage and collage, on the one hand, led to increased fragmentation of the text, on the other, it opened up the possibility of new combinations of “semantic plans.”
Composition in terms of its coherence
The architectural features of the text reveal its most important feature, such as coherence. The segments (parts) of the text selected as a result of division are correlated with each other, “linked” based on common elements. There are two types of connectivity: cohesion and coherence (terms proposed by W. Dressler)
Cohesion (from Latin - “to be connected”), or local connectivity, is linear type connectivity, expressed formally, mainly by linguistic means. It is based on pronominal substitution, lexical repetitions, the presence of conjunctions, correlation of grammatical forms, etc.
Coherence(from lat. - “cohesion”), or global coherence, is a coherence of a nonlinear type that combines elements of different levels of text (for example, title, epigraph, “text within text” and main text, etc.). The most important means of creating coherence are repetitions (primarily words with common semantic components) and parallelism.
In a literary text, semantic chains arise - rows of words with common semes, the interaction of which gives rise to new semantic connections and relationships, as well as “incremental meaning”.
Any literary text is permeated with semantic echoes, or repetitions. Words connected on this basis can occupy different positions: located at the beginning and at the end of the text (ring semantic composition), symmetrically, form a gradational series, etc.
Consideration of semantic composition is a necessary stage of philological analysis. It is especially important for the analysis of “plotless” texts, texts with weakened cause-and-effect relationships of components, texts rich in complex images. Identifying semantic chains in them and establishing their connections is the key to interpreting a work.
Extra-plot elements
Inserted episodes
Lyrical digressions,
Artistic advance
Artistic framing,
Dedication
Epigraph,
Heading
Inserted episodes- these are parts of the narrative that are not directly related to the course of the plot, events that are only associatively connected and remembered in connection with the current events of the work (“The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” in “Dead Souls”)
Lyrical digressions- can be lyrical, philosophical, journalistic, express the thoughts and feelings of the writer directly, in the direct author’s word, reflect the author’s position, the writer’s attitude towards the characters, some elements of the theme, problem, idea of the work (in “Dead Souls” - about youth and old age , about Rus' as a bird - troika)
Artistic advance - depiction of scenes that anticipate the further course of events (
Artistic framing – scenes with which a work of art begins and ends, most often this is the same scene, given in development, and creating ring composition(“The Fate of Man” by M. Sholokhov)
Dedication – a short description or lyrical work that has a specific addressee to whom the work is addressed and dedicated
Epigraph – an aphorism or quotation from another famous work or folklore, located before the entire text or before its individual parts (proverb in “The Captain’s Daughter”)
Heading- the title of a work, which always contains the theme, problem or idea of the work, a very brief formulation that has deep expressiveness, imagery or symbolism.
The object of literary analysis in the study of composition different aspects of the composition can become:
1) architectonics, or external composition of the text - dividing it into certain parts (chapters, sub-chapters, paragraphs, stanzas, etc.), their sequence and interconnection;
2) a system of images of characters in a work of art;
3) change of points of view in the structure of the text; so, according to B.A. Uspensky, it is the problem of point of view that constitutes "the central problem of composition»; consideration of different points of view in the structure of the text in relation to the architectonics of the work allows us to identify the dynamics of the development of artistic content;
4) a system of details presented in the text (composition of details); their analysis makes it possible to reveal ways to deepen what is depicted: as I.A. subtly noted. Goncharov, “details that appear fragmentarily and separately in the long view of the general plan”, in the context of the whole “merge in the general structure... as if thin invisible threads or, perhaps, magnetic currents were acting”;
5) correlation with each other and with the other components of the text of its extra-plot elements (inserted short stories, short stories, lyrical digressions, “scenes on stage” in drama).
Composition analysis thus takes into account different aspects of the text.
The term “composition” in modern philology turns out to be very ambiguous, which makes its use difficult.
To analyze the composition of a literary text, you must be able to:
Identify in its structure repetitions that are significant for the interpretation of the work, serving as the basis for cohesion and coherence;
Identify semantic overlaps in parts of the text;
Highlight markers - separators of different compositional parts of the work;
Correlate the features of the division of the text with its content and determine the role of discrete (individual parts) compositional units within the whole;
Establish a connection between the narrative structure of the text as its “deep compositional structure” (B.A. Uspensky) and its external composition.
Identify all the techniques of external and internal composition in F. Tyutchev’s poem “Silentium” (namely: parts of the composition, type of plot - non-plot, event - descriptive, vision of individual elements, type of their coherence, - NB