What is dramaturgy? The answer to this question will depend on the context in which the word was used. First of all, this is a type of literature intended for stage productions, implying the interaction of characters with outside world, which is accompanied by an explanation from the author.
Dramaturgy also represents works that are built according to a single principle and laws.
Features of dramaturgy
- The action should take place in the present time and develop rapidly in the same place. The viewer becomes a witness and must be in suspense and empathize with what is happening.
- The production can cover a time period of several hours or even years. However, the action should not last more than a day on stage, as it is limited by the viewing capabilities of the audience.
- Depending on the chronology of the work, a drama may consist of one or more acts. Thus, the literature of French classicism is usually represented by 5 acts, and Spanish drama is characterized by 2 acts.
- All drama characters are divided into two groups - antagonists and protagonists (off-stage characters may also be present), and each act is a duel. But the author should not support anyone's side - the viewer can only guess from hints from the context of the work.
Drama Construction
A drama has a plot, plot, theme and intrigue.
- The plot is a conflict, the relationship of characters with events, which, in turn, include several elements: exposition, plot, development of action, climax, decline of action, denouement and finale.
- A plot is a series of interconnected real or fictional events in a time sequence. Both the plot and the plot are a narrative about events, but the plot represents only the fact of what happened, and the plot is a cause-and-effect relationship.
- A theme is a series of events that form the basis dramatic work, which are united by one problem, that is, what the author wanted the viewer or reader to think about.
- Dramatic suspense is the interaction of characters that influences the expected course of events in a story.
Elements of Drama
- Exposition - a statement of the current state of affairs, which gives rise to the conflict.
- The beginning is the initiation of a conflict or the prerequisites for its development.
- Climax is the highest point of conflict.
- The denouement is the coup or downfall of the main character.
- The finale is a resolution of the conflict, which can end in three ways: the conflict is resolved and has a happy ending, the conflict is not resolved, or the conflict is resolved tragically - the death of the main character or any other conclusion of the hero from the work in the finale.
The question “what is dramaturgy” can now be answered with another definition - this is the theory and art of constructing a dramatic work. It must rely on the rules of plotting, have a plan and a main idea. But in the course of historical development, dramaturgy, genres (tragedy, comedy, drama), its elements and means of expression changed, which divided the history of dramaturgy into several cycles.
The origins of drama
For the first time, the origin of drama was evidenced by wall inscriptions and papyri in the era of Ancient Egypt, which also contained a plot, climax and denouement. The priests, who had knowledge about the deities, influenced the consciousness of the Egyptian people precisely thanks to myths.
The myth of Isis, Osiris and Horus represented a kind of Bible for the Egyptians. Dramaturgy further developed in Ancient Greece in the 5th-6th centuries BC. e. The genre of tragedy originated in ancient Greek drama. The plot of the tragedy was expressed in the opposition of a good and fair hero to evil. The finale ended with the tragic death of the main character and was supposed to cause strong emotions in the viewer for the deep cleansing of his soul. This phenomenon has a definition - catharsis.
The myths were dominated by military and political themes, since the tragedians of that time themselves participated in wars more than once. The dramaturgy of Ancient Greece is represented by the following famous writers: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides. In addition to tragedy, the genre of comedy was also revived, in which Aristophanes made the main theme of peace. People are tired of wars and lawlessness of the authorities, therefore they demand a peaceful and calm life. Comedy originated from comic songs, which were sometimes even frivolous. Humanism and democracy were the main ideas in the work of comedians. The most famous tragedies of that time include the plays “The Persians” and “Prometheus Bound” by Aeschylus, “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles and “Medea” by Euripides.
On the development of drama in the 2nd-3rd century BC. e. influenced by ancient Roman playwrights: Plautus, Terence and Seneca. Plautus empathized with the lower strata of slave-owning society, ridiculed greedy moneylenders and traders, therefore, taking ancient Greek stories as a basis, he supplemented them with stories about the difficult life of ordinary citizens. His works contained many songs and jokes; the author was popular with his contemporaries and subsequently influenced European drama. Thus, Moliere took his famous comedy “Treasure” as a basis when writing his work “The Miser.”
Terence is a representative of a later generation. He does not focus on expressive means, but goes deeper into describing the psychological component of the characters’ character, and the themes for comedies become everyday and family conflicts between fathers and children. His famous play “Brothers” reflects this problem most clearly.
Another playwright who made a great contribution to the development of drama is Seneca. He was the tutor of Nero, Emperor of Rome, and occupied a high position with him. The playwright's tragedies always developed around the protagonist's revenge, which pushed him to commit terrible crimes. Historians explain this by the bloody outrages that took place at that time in the imperial palace. Seneca's Medea later influenced Western European theater, but, unlike Euripides' Medea, the queen is represented negative character, thirsty for revenge and not experiencing any worries.
In the imperial era, tragedies are replaced by another genre - pantomime. This is a dance accompanied by music and singing, usually performed by one actor with his mouth taped. But even more popular were circus performances in amphitheaters - gladiator fights and chariot competitions, which led to the decline of morals and the collapse of the Roman Empire. For the first time, playwrights presented to the audience as closely as possible what dramaturgy is, but the theater was destroyed, and drama was revived again only after a half-millennium break in development.
Liturgical drama
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, drama was revived again only in the 9th century in church rituals and prayers. The church, in order to attract as many people as possible to worship and control the masses through the worship of God, introduces small spectacular performances, such as the resurrection of Jesus Christ or other biblical stories. This is how liturgical drama developed.
However, people gathered for the performances and were distracted from the service itself, as a result of which a semi-liturgical drama arose - the performances were moved to the porch and everyday stories began to be taken as a basis, based on biblical stories that were more understandable to the audience.
Revival of drama in Europe
Dramaturgy further developed during the Renaissance in the 14th-16th centuries, returning to the values ancient culture. Stories from ancient Greek and Roman myths inspire Renaissance authors
It was in Italy that theater began to be revived, a professional approach to stage productions appeared, a musical genre of work such as opera was formed, comedy, tragedy and pastoral were revived - a genre of drama whose main theme was rural life. Comedy in its development gave two directions:
- a scholarly comedy intended for a circle of educated people;
- street comedy - improvisational mask theater.
The most prominent representatives of Italian drama are Angelo Beolco ("Coquette", "Comedy without a title"), Giangiorgio Trissino ("Sofonisba") and Lodovico Ariosto ("Comedy of the Chest", "Orlando Furious").
English drama is strengthening the position of the theater of realism. Myths and mysteries are being replaced by a socio-philosophical understanding of life. The founder of Renaissance drama is considered to be the English playwright Christopher Marlowe (“Tamerlane”, “ Tragic story Doctor Faustus"). The theater of realism was developed under William Shakespeare, who also supported humanistic ideas in his works - “Romeo and Juliet”, “King Lear”, “Othello”, “Hamlet”. The authors of this time listened to the desires common people, and the favorite heroes of the plays were simpletons, moneylenders, warriors and courtesans, as well as modest heroines making self-sacrifice. The characters adapt to the plot, which conveys the realities of that time.
The period of the 17th-18th centuries is represented by the dramaturgy of the Baroque and Classical eras. Humanism as a direction fades into the background, and the hero feels lost. Baroque ideas separate God and man, that is, now man himself is left to influence his own destiny. The main direction of Baroque dramaturgy is mannerism (the impermanence of the world and the precarious position of man), which is inherent in the dramas “Fuente Ovejuna” and “The Star of Seville” by Lope de Vega and the works of Tirso de Molina - “The Seductress of Seville”, “The Pious Martha”.
Classicism is the opposite of baroque mainly in that it is based on realism. The main genre is tragedy. A favorite theme in the works of Pierre Corneille, Jean Racine and Jean-Baptiste Moliere is the conflict of personal and civil interests, feelings and duty. Serving the state is the highest noble goal for a person. The tragedy “The Cid” brought enormous success to Pierre Corneille, and two plays by Jean Racine “Alexander the Great” and “Thebaid, or the Enemy Brothers” were written and staged on the advice of Moliere.
Moliere was the most popular playwright of the time and was under the patronage of the reigning lady and left behind 32 plays written in a variety of genres. The most significant of them are “Madman”, “Doctor in Love” and “Imaginary Invalid”.
During the Enlightenment, three movements were developed: classicism, sentimentalism and rococo, which influenced the drama of 18th-century England, France, Germany and Italy. The injustice of the world towards ordinary people has become a major theme for playwrights. The upper classes share places with ordinary people. “Enlightenment theater” frees people from established prejudices and becomes not only entertainment, but also a school of morality for them. The bourgeois drama is gaining popularity (George Lylo "The Merchant of London" and Edward Moore "The Gambler"), which highlights the problems of the bourgeoisie, considering them as important as the problems of the royals.
Gothic drama was presented for the first time by John Gom in the tragedies "Douglas" and "Fatal Discovery", whose themes were of a family and everyday nature. French dramaturgy was represented to a greater extent by the poet, historian and publicist Francois Voltaire (“Oedipus”, “The Death of Caesar”, “ Prodigal son"). John Gay (The Beggar's Opera) and Bertolt Brecht (The Threepenny Opera) opened up new directions for comedy - moralizing and realistic. And Henry Fielding almost always criticized the English political system through satirical comedies (“Love in Various Masks,” “Coffee Shop Politician”), theatrical parodies (“Pasquin”), farces and ballad operas (“The Lottery,” “The Scheming Maid”), after which a law on theatrical censorship was introduced .
Since Germany is the founder of romanticism, German drama received its greatest development in the 18th and 19th centuries. The main character of the works is an idealized creatively gifted personality, contrasted real world. F. Schelling had a great influence on the worldview of the romantics. Later, Gotthald Lessing publishes his work “Hamburg Drama,” where he criticizes classicism and promotes the ideas educational realism Shakespeare. Johann Goethe and Friedrich Schiller create the Weimar Theater and improve the school of acting. The most prominent representatives of German drama are Heinrich von Kleist (“The Schroffenstein Family,” “Prince Friedrich of Homburg”) and Johann Ludwig Tieck (“Puss in Boots,” “The World Inside Out”).
The rise of drama in Russia
Russian drama began to actively develop back in the 18th century under the representative of classicism - A. P. Sumarokov, called the “father of the Russian theater”, whose tragedies (“Monsters”, “Narcissus”, “Guardian”, “Cuckold by Imagination”) were focused on the work of Moliere. But it was in the 19th century that this movement played an outstanding role in the history of culture.
Several genres developed in Russian dramas. These are tragedies by V. A. Ozerov (“Yaropolk and Oleg”, “Oedipus in Athens”, “Dimitri Donskoy”), which reflected socio-political problems relevant during the Napoleonic wars, satirical comedies by I. Krylov (“Mad Family”, “The Coffee Shop”) and educational dramas by A. Griboedov (“Woe from Wit”), N. Gogol (“The Inspector General”) and A. Pushkin (“Boris Godunov,” “Feast in the Time of Plague”).
In the second half of the 19th century, realism firmly established its position in Russian dramas, and A. Ostrovsky became the most prominent playwright of this trend. His work consisted of historical plays ("The Governor"), dramas ("The Thunderstorm"), satirical comedies ("Wolves and Sheep") and fairy tales. The main character of the works was a resourceful adventurer, merchant and provincial actor.
Features of the new direction
The period from the 19th to the 20th century introduces us to a new drama, which is naturalistic dramaturgy. Writers of this time sought to convey “real” life, showing the most unsightly aspects of the life of people of that time. A person’s actions were determined not only by his internal beliefs, but also by the surrounding circumstances that influenced them, so the main character of a work could be not just one person, but even a whole family or a separate problem or event.
The new drama represents several literary movements. They are all united by the playwrights' attention to state of mind character, believable portrayal of reality and explanation of all human actions from a natural science point of view. It was Henrik Ibsen who is the founder of the new drama, and the influence of naturalism was most clearly manifested in his play “Ghosts”.
In the theatrical culture of the 20th century, 4 main directions began to develop - symbolism, expressionism, Dada and surrealism. All the founders of these directions in drama were united by the refusal traditional culture and the search for new means of expression. Maeterlinck (“The Blind,” “Joan of Arc”) and Hofmannsthal (“The Fool and Death”), as representatives of symbolism, use death and the role of man in society as the main theme in their plays, and Hugo Ball, a representative of Dadaist drama, emphasized meaninglessness human existence and complete denial of all beliefs. Surrealism is associated with the name of Andre Breton (“Please”), whose heroes are characterized by incoherent dialogues and self-destruction. Expressionist dramaturgy inherits romanticism, where main character against the whole world. Representatives this direction in dramaturgy there were Han Jost (“Young Man”, “The Hermit”), Arnolt Bronnen (“Revolt against God”) and Frank Wedekind (“Pandora’s Box”).
Contemporary drama
At the turn of the 20th-21st centuries, modern dramaturgy lost its achieved positions and moved into a state of searching for new genres and means of expression. The direction of existentialism was formed in Russia, and then it developed in Germany and France.
Jean-Paul Sartre in his dramas (“For closed doors", "Flies") and other playwrights choose as the hero of their works a person who is constantly in thoughts of thoughtlessly living life. This fear makes him think about the imperfections of the world around him and change it.
Under the influence of Franz Kafka, the theater of the absurd arises, which denies realistic characters, and the works of playwrights are written in the form of repetitive dialogues, inconsistency of actions and the absence of cause-and-effect relationships. Russian drama chooses as its main theme human values. She defends human ideals and strives for beauty.
The development of drama in literature is directly related to the course historical events in the world. Playwrights from different countries, constantly under the impression of socio-political problems, often themselves led trends in art and thus influenced the masses. The heyday of drama came back in the era of the Roman Empire, Ancient Egypt and Greece, during the development of which the forms and elements of drama changed, and the theme for the works either introduced new problems into the plot, or returned to old problems from antiquity. And if the playwrights of the first millennia paid attention to the expressiveness of speech and the character of the hero, which is most clearly expressed in the work of the playwright of that time - Shakespeare, then representatives modern direction strengthened the role of atmosphere and subtext in their works. Based on the above, we can give a third answer to the question: what is dramaturgy? These are dramatic works united by one era, country or writer.
This is an objective-subjective kind of literature (Hegel). This is an objective picture of the world and its subjective unfolding.
The generic form is dialogue. From point of view generic features the content of dramatic works should be characterized in turn from the position
A) conflict
Drama(Greek dráma, literally - action), 1) one of the three types of literature (along with epic and lyric poetry; see Literary gender ). Drama (in literature) belongs at the same time theater And literature : being the fundamental basis of the performance, it is also perceived in reading. Drama (in literature) formed on the basis of the evolution of theatrical art: bringing to the fore actors connecting pantomime with the spoken word, marked its emergence as a type of literature. Its specificity consists of: plot, i.e. reproduction of the course of events; dramatic tension of the action and its division into stage episodes; continuity of the chain of characters' statements; absence (or subordination) of a narrative beginning (see Narration ). Designed for collective perception, Drama (in literature) always gravitated towards the most acute problems and in the most striking examples it became popular. According to A. S. Pushkin, the purpose Drama (in literature) is to “... act on the crowd, on the multitude, to engage their curiosity” ( Complete collection soch., vol. 7, 1958, p. 214).
Drama (in literature) deep conflict is inherent; its fundamental basis is the intense and effective experience by people of socio-historical or “eternal”, universal human contradictions. Drama, accessible to all types of art, naturally dominates in Drama (in literature) According to V. G. Belinsky, drama is an important property human spirit, awakened by situations when the cherished or passionately desired, demanding fulfillment, is under threat.
Conflicts filled with drama are embodied in action - in the behavior of the heroes, in their actions and accomplishments. Majority Drama (in literature) built on a single external action (which corresponds to the principle of “unity of action” by Aristotle), based, as a rule, on the direct confrontation of the heroes. In this case, the action can be traced from strings before interchanges , covering large periods of time (medieval and eastern Drama (in literature), for example, “Shakuntala” by Kalidasa), or is taken only at its climax, close to the denouement (ancient tragedies, for example, “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles, and many Drama (in literature) modern times, for example, “Dowry” by A. N. Ostrovsky). Classical aesthetics of the 19th century. tends to absolutize these principles of construction Drama (in literature) Looking after Hegel Drama (in literature) as a reproduction of colliding volitional acts (“actions” and “reactions”), Belinsky wrote: “The action of the drama should be focused on one interest and be alien to side interests... There should not be a single person in the drama who would not be necessary in the mechanism of its course and development” (Complete collection of works, vol. 5, 1954, p. 53). At the same time, “... the decision in choosing a path depends on the hero of the drama, and not on the event” (ibid., p. 20).
The most important formal properties Drama (in literature): a continuous chain of statements that act as acts of behavior of the characters (i.e., their actions), and as a consequence of this - the concentration of the depicted in closed areas of space and time. Universal basis of composition Drama (in literature): scenic episodes (scenes), within which the depicted, so-called real, time is adequate to the time of perception, the so-called artistic. In folk, medieval and oriental Drama (in literature), as well as in Shakespeare, in Pushkin’s “Boris Godunov”, in Brecht’s plays, the place and time of action change very often. European Drama (in literature) 17-19 centuries is based, as a rule, on a few and very extensive stage episodes that coincide with the acts theater performances. An extreme expression of the compact development of space and time is the “unity” known from the “Poetic Art” of N. Boileau, which survived until the 19th century. (“Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov).
Dramatic works in the vast majority of cases are intended for production on stage; there is a very narrow range of dramatic works that are called drama for reading.
Dramatic genres have their own history, the features of which are largely determined by the fact that historically, from antiquity to classicism inclusive, it was a two-genre phenomenon: either the mask cried (tragedy) or the mask laughed (comedy).
But in the 18th century a synthesis of comedy and tragedy-drama appeared.
Drama has replaced tragedy.
1)tragedy
2) comedy
4)farce play with a pronounced satirical orientation of a small volume
5)Vaudeville genre content is close to the genre content of comedy, in most cases humorous. The genre form is a one-act play with genres and verses..
6) tragicomedy is a frontal combination of depicted suffering and joy with the corresponding reaction of laughter and tears (Eduardo de Filippo)
7) dramatic chronicle. A genre close to the genre of drama, it usually does not have one hero, and events are given in a stream. Bill Berodelkowski, Storm,
Largest quantity Comedy has historically had genre variants: Italian scientific comedy; comedy of masks in Spain; ,Cloak and sword, There was a comedy of character, situation, comedy of manners (everyday) buffoonery, etc.
RUSSIAN DRAMATURGY. Russian professional literary dramaturgy emerged at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was preceded by a centuries-long period of folk, mainly oral and partly handwritten folk drama. At first, archaic ritual actions, then round dance games and buffoon games contained elements characteristic of dramaturgy as an art form: dialogicity, dramatization of action, acting it out in person, depiction of this or that character (massing). These elements were consolidated and developed in folklore drama.
The pagan stage of Russian folklore dramaturgy has been lost: the study of folklore art in Russia began only in the 19th century, the first scientific publications great folk dramas appeared only in 1890-1900 in the journal "Ethnographic Review" (with comments by scientists of that time V. Kallash and A. Gruzinsky). Such a late start to the study of folk drama has led to the widespread belief that the emergence of folk drama in Russia dates back only to the 16th and 17th centuries. There is an alternative point of view, where the genesis Boats derived from the funeral customs of the pagan Slavs. But in any case, plot and semantic changes in the texts folklore dramas, which took place over at least ten centuries, are considered in cultural studies, art history and ethnography at the level of hypotheses. Each historical period left its mark on the content of folklore dramas, which was facilitated by the capacity and richness of associative connections of their content.
Early Russian literary dramaturgy. The origin of Russian literary drama dates back to the 17th century. and is associated with the school-church theater, which arises in Rus' under the influence of school performances in Ukraine at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Fighting Catholic tendencies coming from Poland, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine used folk theater. The authors of the plays borrowed plots from church rituals, writing them into dialogues and interspersing comedic interludes, musical and dance numbers. In terms of genre, this drama resembled a hybrid of Western European morality plays and miracles. Written in a moralizing, pompously declamatory style, these works of school drama combined allegorical characters (Vice, Pride, Truth, etc.) with historical characters (Alexander the Great, Nero), mythological (Fortune, Mars) and biblical (Joshua, Herod and etc.). The most famous works - An action about Alexy, a man of God, Action on the Passion of Christ etc. The development of school drama is associated with the names of Dmitry Rostovsky ( Assumption drama, Christmas drama, Rostov performance etc.), Feofan Prokopovich ( Vladimir), Mitrofan Dovgalevsky ( Powerful image of God's love for mankind), George Konissky ( Resurrection of the Dead) and others. Simeon of Polotsk also started in the church and school theater
.Russian drama of the 18th century. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the theater was closed and revived only under Peter I. However, the pause in the development of Russian drama lasted somewhat longer: in the theater of Peter's times, translated plays were mainly performed. True, at this time acts of a panegyric nature with pathetic monologues, choirs, musical divertissements, and solemn processions became widespread. They glorified the activities of Peter and responded to current events ( The triumph of the Orthodox world, Liberation of Livonia and Ingria etc.), but did not have much influence on the development of drama. The texts for these performances were more of an applied nature and were anonymous. Russian drama began to experience a rapid rise in the mid-18th century, simultaneously with the emergence of a professional theater that needed a national repertoire.
To the middle of the 18th century. accounts for the formation of Russian classicism (in Europe, the heyday of classicism by this time was long in the past: Corneille died in 1684, Racine - in 1699.) V. Trediakovsky and M. Lomonosov tried their hand at classicist tragedy, but the founder of Russian classicism (and Russian literary dramaturgy in general) was A. Sumarokov, who in 1756 became the director of the first professional Russian theater. He wrote 9 tragedies and 12 comedies, which formed the basis of the theater repertoire of the 1750-1760s. Sumarokov also owned the first Russian literary and theoretical works. In particular, in Epistole on poetry(1747) he defends principles similar to the classicist canons of Boileau: a strict division of drama genres, adherence to "three unities". Unlike the French classicists, Sumarokov was based not on ancient subjects, but on Russian chronicles ( Khorev, Sinav and Truvor) and Russian history ( Dmitry the Pretender and etc.). Others worked in the same direction major representatives Russian classicism - N. Nikolev ( Sorena and Zamir), Y. Knyazhnin ( Rosslav, Vadim Novgorodsky and etc.).
Russian classicist drama had one more difference from French: the authors of tragedies also wrote comedies at the same time. This blurred the strict boundaries of classicism and promoted diversity aesthetic directions. Classicist, educational and sentimentalist drama in Russia do not replace each other, but develop almost simultaneously. The first attempts to create a satirical comedy were made by Sumarokov ( Monsters, Empty Quarrel, Covetous Man, Dowry by Deception, Narcissist and etc.). Moreover, in these comedies he used stylistic devices folklore interfluves and farces - despite the fact that in theoretical works he was critical of folk “merrymaking”. In the 1760s-1780s. the genre is becoming widespread comic opera. They pay tribute to her like the classicists - Knyazhnin ( Misfortune from the carriage, Sbitenshchik, Braggart etc.), Nikolev ( Rozana and Love), and comedian-satirists: I. Krylov ( Coffee pot) etc. The trends of tearful comedy and bourgeois drama are emerging - V. Lukin ( A spendthrift, corrected by love), M. Verevkin ( That's how it should be, Exactly the same), P. Plavilshchikov ( Bobyl, Sidelet) etc. These genres contributed not only to the democratization and increase in the popularity of the theater, but also formed the foundations of the beloved psychological theater in Russia with its traditions detailed development multifaceted characters. The pinnacle of Russian drama of the 18th century. can be called almost realistic comedies V.Kapnista (Snitch), D. Fonvizina (Minor, Brigadier), I. Krylova (Fashion shop, Lesson for daughters and etc.). Krylov’s “joke-tragedy” seems interesting Trumph, or Podschipa, in which satire on the reign of Paul I was combined with a caustic parody of classicist techniques. The play was written in 1800 - only 53 years were needed for the classicist aesthetics, innovative for Russia, to begin to be perceived as archaic. Krylov also paid attention to the theory of drama ( Note on comedy "Laughter and grief", Review of the comedy by A. Klushin "Alchemist" and etc.).
Russian drama of the 19th century. By the beginning of the 19th century. the historical gap between Russian drama and European drama came to naught. Since that time, Russian theater has been developing in a general context European culture. The diversity of aesthetic trends in Russian drama is preserved - sentimentalism ( N. Karamzin, N. Ilyin, V. Fedorov, etc.) gets along with a romantic tragedy of a somewhat classicist kind (V. Ozerov, N. Kukolnik, N. Polevoy, etc.), a lyrical and emotional drama (I. Turgenev) - with a caustic pamphlet satire (A. Sukhovo-Kobylin, M. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Light, funny and witty vaudevilles are popular (A. Shakhovskoy, N. Khmelnitsky, M. Zagoskin, A. Pisarev, D. Lensky, F.Kony, V. Karatygin and etc.). But it was the 19th century, the time of great Russian literature, that became the “golden age” of Russian drama, giving birth to authors whose works are still included in the golden fund of world theatrical classics.
The first play of a new type was a comedy A. Griboyedova Woe from mind. The author achieves amazing mastery in developing all components of the play: characters (in which psychological realism is organically combined with high degree typification), intrigue (where love vicissitudes are inextricably intertwined with civil and ideological conflicts), language (almost the entire play is completely divided into sayings, proverbs and catchphrases, which are preserved in living speech today).
about the true discovery of Russian drama of that time, which was far ahead of its time and determined the vector further development world theater, became plays A. Chekhov. Ivanov, Gull, Uncle Ivan, Three sisters, The Cherry Orchard don't fit into traditional system dramatic genres and actually refute all theoretical canons of drama. There is practically no plot intrigue in them - in any case, the plot never has an organizing meaning, there is no traditional dramatic scheme: plot - twists and turns - denouement; There is no single “cross-cutting” conflict. Events constantly change their semantic scale: large things become insignificant, and everyday little things grow to a global scale.
Russian drama after 1917. After October revolution and the subsequent establishment of state control over theaters, the need arose for a new repertoire that corresponded to modern ideology. However, of the earliest plays, perhaps only one can be named today - Mystery-Buff V. Mayakovsky (1918). Basically, the modern repertoire of the early Soviet period was formed on topical “propaganda”, which lost its relevance within a short period.
A new Soviet drama, reflecting the class struggle, took shape during the 1920s. During this period, such playwrights as L. Seifullina ( Virinea), A. Serafimovich (Maryana, the author's dramatization of the novel Iron Stream), L. Leonov ( Badgers), K. Trenev (Lyubov Yarovaya), B. Lavrenev (Fault), V. Ivanov (Armored train 14-69), V. Bill-Belotserkovsky ( Storm), D. Furmanov ( Mutiny) etc. Their dramaturgy as a whole was distinguished by a romantic interpretation of revolutionary events, a combination of tragedy with social optimism. In the 1930s, V. Vishnevsky wrote a play, the title of which accurately defined the main genre of the new patriotic drama: Optimistic tragedy(this name replaced the original, more pretentious versions - Hymn to sailors And Triumphant tragedy).
The late 1950s - early 1970s are marked by strong individuality A. Vampilova. During his short life he wrote only a few plays: Farewell in June, Eldest son, Duck hunting, Provincial jokes (Twenty minutes with an angel And The case of the master page), Last summer in Chulimsk and unfinished vaudeville Incomparable Tips. Returning to Chekhov's aesthetics, Vampilov determined the direction of development of Russian drama in the next two decades. The main dramatic successes of the 1970s-1980s in Russia are associated with the genre tragicomedies. These were plays E. Radzinsky, L. Petrushevskaya, A. Sokolova, L. Razumovskaya, M. Roshchina, A. Galina, Gr.Gorina, A. Chervinsky, A. Smirnova, V. Slavkina, A. Kazantsev, S. Zlotnikov, N. Kolyada, V. Merezhko, O. Kuchkina and others. Vampilov’s aesthetics had an indirect but tangible influence on the masters of Russian drama. Tragicomic motives are palpable in the plays of that time written by V. Rozov ( Kabanchik), A. Volodin ( Two arrows, Lizard, movie script Autumn marathon), and especially A. Arbuzov ( My feast for the eyes, Happy Days unlucky person, Tales of Old Arbat,In this sweet old house, Winner, Cruel Games). In the early 1990s, playwrights in St. Petersburg created their own association, the Playwright's House. In 2002, the association Golden mask", Teatr.doc and the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater was organized annual festival"New Drama" In these associations, laboratories, and competitions, a new generation of theater writers was formed, who gained fame in the post-Soviet period: M. Ugarov, O. Ernev, E. Gremina, O. Shipenko, O. Mikhailova, I. Vyrypaev, O. and V. Presnyakov, K. Dragunskaya, O. Bogaev, N. Ptushkina, O. Mukhina, I. Okhlobystin, M. Kurochkin, V. Sigarev, A. Zinchuk, A. Obraztsov, I. Shprits and others.
However, critics note that a paradoxical situation has developed in Russia today: modern theater and modern dramaturgy exist, as it were, in parallel, in some isolation from each other. The most high-profile directorial quests of the early 21st century. associated with the production of classical plays. Modern dramaturgy conducts its experiments more “on paper” and in the virtual space of the Internet.
The dramatic genre of literature has three main genres: tragedy, comedy and drama in the narrow sense of the word, but it also has such genres as vaudeville, melodrama, and tragicomedy.
Tragedy (Greek)
Tragoidia, lit. - goat song) - “a dramatic genre based on a tragic collision of heroic characters, its tragic outcome and filled with pathos...”266.
The tragedy depicts reality as a clot of internal contradictions; it reveals the conflicts of reality in an extremely tense form. This is a dramatic work, which is based on an irreconcilable conflict in life, leading to the suffering and death of the hero. Thus, in a collision with the world of crimes, lies and hypocrisy, the bearer of advanced humanistic ideals tragically dies Danish prince Hamlet, the hero of William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name.
In the struggle waged by tragic heroes, the heroic traits of human character are revealed with great completeness.
The genre of tragedy has a long history. It arose from religious cult rituals and was a stage performance of a myth. With the advent of the theater, tragedy emerged as an independent genre of dramatic art. The creators of tragedies were ancient Greek playwrights of the 5th century. BC e. Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus, who left perfect examples of it. They reflected the tragic clash of the traditions of the tribal system with the new public order. These conflicts were perceived and depicted by playwrights primarily using mythological material. Hero ancient tragedy found himself drawn into an insoluble conflict either by the will of an imperious fate (fate), or by the will of the gods. Thus, the hero of Aeschylus’s tragedy “Prometheus Bound” suffers because he violated the will of Zeus when he gave fire to people and taught them crafts. In Sophocles' tragedy "Oedipus the King" the hero is doomed to be a parricide and to marry his own mother. Ancient tragedy usually included five acts and was structured in compliance with the “three unities” - place, time, action. The tragedies were written in verse and were distinguished by lofty speech; its hero was a “lofty hero.”
The great English playwright William Shakespeare is rightfully considered the founder of modern tragedy. His tragedies “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, “Othello”, “King Lear”, “Macbeth” are based on acute conflicts. Shakespeare's characters are no longer heroes of myths, but real people struggling with real, not mythical, forces and circumstances. Striving for maximum truthfulness and completeness in the reproduction of life, Shakespeare developed everything best sides ancient tragedy, at the same time freeing this genre from those conventions that in his era had lost their meaning ( mythological story, compliance with the rule of “three unities”). The characters in Shakespeare's tragedies amaze with their life-like persuasiveness. Formally, Shakespearean tragedy is far from antiquity. Shakespeare's tragedy covers all aspects of reality. The personality of the hero of his tragedies is open, not fully defined, and capable of change.
The next stage in the development of the tragedy genre is associated with the work of the French playwrights P. Corneille (Medea, Horace, The Death of Pompey, Oedipus, etc.) and J. Racine (Andromache, Iphigenia, Fed - ra” etc.)* They created brilliant examples of classicism tragedy - the tragedy of “high style” with the obligatory observance of the rule of “three unities”.
At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. F. Schiller updated the “classical” style of tragedy, creating the tragedies “Don Carlos”, “Mary Stuart”, “The Maid of Orleans”.
In the era of romanticism, the content of tragedy becomes the life of a person with his spiritual quest. Tragic dramas were created by V. Hugo (“Ernani”, “Lucretia Borgia”, “Ruy Blaz”, “The King Amuses himself”, etc.), J. Byron (“The Two Faskari”), M. Lermontov (“Masquerade”).
In Russia, the first tragedies within the framework of the poetics of classicism were created in the 18th century. A. Sumarokov (“Khorev”), M. Kheraskov (“Plamena”), V. Ozerov (“Polyxena”), Y. Knyazhnin (“Dido”).
In the 19th century Russian realism also provided convincing examples of tragedy. The creator of a new type of tragedy was A.
S. Pushkin. The main character of his tragedy “Boris Godunov”, in which all the requirements of classicism were violated, was the people shown as driving force stories. The understanding of the tragic conflicts of reality was continued by A.N. Ostrovsky (“Guilty Without Guilt”, etc.) and L.N. Tolstoy (“The Power of Darkness”).
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. tragedy is being revived “in high style”: in Russia - in the works of L. Andreev (“The Life of a Man”, “Tsar Famine”), Vyach. Ivanov (“Prometheus”), in the West - in the works of T.-S. Elliot (“Murder in the Cathedral”), P. Claudel (“The Annunciation”), G. Hauptmann (“Rats”). Later, in the 20th century, in the works of J.-P. Sartre (“Flies”), J. Anouilh (“Antigone”).
Tragic conflicts in Russian literature of the 20th century. reflected in the dramaturgy of M. Bulgakov (“Days of the Turbins”, “Running”). In the literature of socialist realism, they acquired a unique interpretation, since the dominant one in them was a conflict based on an irreconcilable clash of class enemies, and the main character died in the name of an idea (“Optimistic Tragedy” by Vs. Vishnevsky, “Storm” by V.
N. Bill-Belotserkovsky, “Invasion” by L. Leonov, “Carrying an Eagle on the Shoulder” by I. Selvinsky, etc.). At the present stage of development of Russian drama, the genre of tragedy is almost forgotten, but tragic conflicts are interpreted in many plays.
Comedy (Latin sotoesIa, Greek kotosIa, from kotoe - cheerful procession and 6с1ё - song) is a type of drama in which characters, situations and actions are presented in funny forms or imbued with the comic1.
Comedy, like tragedy, originated in Ancient Greece. The “father” of comedy is considered to be the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes (V-IV centuries BC). In his works, he ridiculed the greed, bloodthirstiness and immorality of the Athenian aristocracy, and advocated for a peaceful patriarchal life (“Horsemen”, “Clouds”, “Lysistrata”, “Frogs”).
In European literature of modern times, comedy continued the traditions of ancient literature, enriching them. In European literature, stable types of comedies are distinguished. For example, the comedy of masks, commedia dell'arte (1e1Gar1e), which appeared in Italy in the 16th century. Its characters were typical masks (Harlequin, Pulcinella, etc.). This genre influenced the work of J.-B. Moliere, C. . Goldoni, C. Gozzi.
In Spain, the comedy “cloak and sword” was popular in the works of Lope de Vega (“The Sheep Spring”), Tirso de Molina (“Don Gil Green Pants”), Calderon (“They don’t joke with love”).
Art theorists have addressed the question of the social purpose of comedy in different ways. During the Renaissance, its role was limited to correcting morals. In the 19th century V. Belinsky noted that comedy not only denies, but also affirms: “True indignation at the contradictions and vulgarity of society is an illness of a deep and noble soul, which stands above its society and carries within itself the ideal of a different, better society.” First of all, comedy had to be aimed at ridiculing the ugly. But, along with laughter, the invisible “honest face” of comedy (according to N.V. Gogol, the only honest face of his comedy “The Inspector General” was laughter), it could contain “noble comicism,” symbolizing the positive principle represented, for example, by in the image of Chatsky by Griboyedov, Figaro by Beaumarchais, Falstaff by Shakespeare.
The art of comedy achieved significant success in the works of W. Shakespeare (“Twelfth Night”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, etc.). The playwright expressed in them the Renaissance idea of the irresistible power of nature over the human heart. The ugliness in his comedies was funny, they were fun, they had solid characters strong people who know how to love. Shakespeare's comedies are still on the stages of theaters around the world.
The French comedian of the 17th century achieved brilliant success. Moliere is the author of the world famous “Tartuffe”, “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”, “The Miser”. Beaumarchais (“The Barber of Seville”, “The Marriage of Figaro”) became a famous comedian.
In Russia, folk comedy has existed for a long time. An outstanding comedian of the Russian Enlightenment was D.N. Fonvizin. His comedy “The Minor” mercilessly ridiculed the “wild lordship” that reigns in the Prostakov family. Wrote comedies I.A. Krylov (“Lesson for Daughters,” “Fashion Shop”), ridiculing the admiration for foreigners.
In the 19th century examples of satirical, social realistic comedy are created by A.S. Griboyedov (“Woe from Wit”), N.V. Gogol (“The Inspector General”), A.N. Ostrovsky (“Profitable place”, “Our people - we will be numbered”, etc.). Continuing the traditions of N. Gogol, A. Sukhovo-Kobylin in his trilogy (“The Wedding of Krechinsky”, “The Affair”, “The Death of Tarelkin”) showed how the bureaucracy “relaxed” the whole of Russia, bringing it troubles comparable to the damage caused by the Tatars. the Mongol yoke and the invasion of Napoleon. Famous are the comedies of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (“The Death of Pazukhin”) and A.N. Tolstoy (“Fruits of Enlightenment”), which in some ways approached tragedy (they contain elements of tragicomedy).
Comedy has given rise to different genre varieties. There are comedy of situations, comedy of intrigue, comedy of characters, comedy of manners ( domestic comedy), a slapstick comedy. There is no clear boundary between these genres. Most comedies combine elements of different genres, which deepens the comedic characters, diversifies and expands the very palette of the comic image. This is clearly demonstrated by Gogol in The Inspector General. On the one hand, he created a “situation comedy” based on a chain of funny misunderstandings, the main one being the absurd mistake of six district officials who mistook the “elistratishka”, “kestrel” Khlestakov for a powerful auditor, which served as the source of many comic situations. On the other side, comic effect, excited by various absurd situations in life, far from exhausts the content of The Inspector General. After all, the reason for the mistakes of the district officials lies in their personal qualities? - in their cowardice, spiritual rudeness, mental limitations - and in the essence of the character of Khlestakov, who, while living in St. Petersburg, adopted the behavior of officials. What we have before us is a vivid “comedy of characters,” or rather, a comedy of realistically depicted social types presented in typical circumstances.
In terms of genre, there are also satirical comedies (“The Minor” by Fonvizin, “The Inspector General” by Gogol) and high comedies, close to drama. The action of these comedies does not contain funny situations. In Russian drama, this is primarily “Woe from Wit” by A. Griboedov. There is nothing comical in Chatsky’s unrequited love for Sophia, but the situation in which the romantic young man has put himself is comical. The position of the educated and progressive-minded Chatsky in the society of the Famusovs and the Silences is dramatic. There are also lyrical comedies, an example of which is “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov.
At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. comedies appear, characterized by increased psychologism and an emphasis on portraying complex characters. These include “comedies of ideas” by B. Shaw (“Pygmalion”, “Millionairess”, etc.), “comedies of moods” by A.P. Chekhov (“The Cherry Orchard”), tragicomedies by L. Pirandello (“Six Characters in Search of an Author” "), J. Anouya ("Savage").
In the 20th century Russian avant-gardeism is making itself known, including in the field of drama, the roots of which, undoubtedly, go back to folklore. However, the folklore principle is already found in the plays of V. Kapnist, D. Fonvizin, in the satire of I. Krylov, N. Gogol, M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, the traditions of which in the 20th century. continued by M. Bulgakov (“Crimson Island”, “Zoyka’s Apartment”, “Adam and Eve”), N. Erdman (“Suicide”, “Mandate”), A. Platonov (“Hurdy Organ”).
In Russian avant-garde of the 20th century. Conventionally, three stages are distinguished: futuristic (“Zangezi” by V. Khlebnikov, “Victory over the Sun” by A. Kruchenykh, “Mystery-bouffe” by V. Mayakovsky), post-futuristic (the theater of the absurd of the Oberiuts: “Elizabeth to You” by D. Kharms, “The Ivanovs’ Christmas Tree” by A. Vvedensky) and the dramaturgy of modern avant-gardeism (A. Artaud, N. Sadur, A. Shipenko, A. Slapovsky, A. Zheleztsov, I. Savelyev, L. Petrushevskaya, E. Gremina, etc.).
Avant-garde trends in modern drama are the subject of literary studies. For example, M.I. Gromova, sees the origins of this phenomenon in the fact that in the 20s of the 20th century. attempts to create an “alternative” art (Oberiut theater) were suppressed, which went underground for many years, giving rise to “samizdat” and “dissidence”, and in the 70s (years of stagnation) was formed on the stages of numerous “underground” studios, which received the right to work legally in the 90s (the years of perestroika), when the opportunity arose to get acquainted with Western European avant-garde drama of all types: “theater of the absurd”, “theater of cruelty”, “theater of paradox”, “happenings”, etc. On the studio stage “Laboratory” staged V. Denisov’s play “Six Ghosts on the Piano” (its content was inspired by a painting by Salvador Dali). Critics were struck by the cruel, absurd reality of the plays by A. Galin (“Stars in the Morning Sky,” “Sorry,” “Title”), A. Dudarev (“Dumping Ground”), E. Radzinsky (“Sports Games of 1981,” “Our Decameron", "I'm Standing at the Restaurant"), N. Sadur ("Moon Wolves"),
A. Kazantsev (“Dreams of Evgenia”), A. Zheleztsov (“Askold’s Grave”, “Nail”), A. Buravsky (“Russian Teacher”). Plays of this kind gave rise to the critic E. Sokolyansky to conclude: “It seems that the only thing that a dramatic writer can convey in the current conditions is a certain madness of the moment. That is, the feeling of a turning point in history with the triumph of chaos”267. All of these plays contain elements of tragicomedy. Tragicomedy is a type of dramatic work (drama as a kind), which has characteristics of both tragedy and comedy, which distinguishes tragicomedy from forms intermediate between tragedy and comedy, i.e. from drama as a type.
Tragicomedy abandons the moral absolute of comedy and tragedy. The attitude that underlies it is associated with a sense of the relativity of existing life criteria. Overestimation of moral principles leads to uncertainty and even abandonment of them; subjective and objective principles are blurred; a unclear understanding of reality can cause interest in it or complete indifference and even recognition of the illogicality of the world. The tragicomic attitude dominates in them at turning points in history, although the tragicomic principle was already present in the dramaturgy of Euripides (“Alcestis”, “Ion”).
The “pure” type of tragicomedy became characteristic of baroque and mannerist drama (F. Beaumont, J. Fletcher). Its signs are a combination of funny and serious episodes, a mixture of sublime and comic characters, the presence of pastoral motifs, the idealization of friendship and love, intricate action with unexpected situations, the predominant role of chance in fate characters, the heroes are not endowed with constancy of character, but in their images one trait is often emphasized that turns the character into a type.
In dramaturgy late XIX V. in the works of G. Ibsen, Yu.A. Strindberg, G. Hauptmann, A. Chekhov, L. Pirandello, in the 20th century. - G. Lorca, J. Giraudoux, J. Anouya, E. Ionesco, S. Beckett, the tragicomic element is strengthened, as in Russian avant-garde drama of the 20th century.
Modern tragicomedy does not have clear genre characteristics and is characterized by a “tragicomic effect”, which is created by showing reality simultaneously in both tragic and comic light, the discrepancy between the hero and the situation (the tragic situation is the comic hero, or vice versa, as in Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit” "); the insolubility of the internal conflict (the plot presupposes the continuation of the action; the author refrains from making a final assessment), the feeling of the absurdity of existence.
A special type of entertaining comedy is vaudeville (French vaudeville from Vau de Vire - the name of the valley in Normandy, where this genre of theatrical art appeared at the beginning of the 15th century) - a play of everyday content with an entertaining development of action, in which witty dialogue alternates with dancing and singing. - senka couplets.
In France, vaudeville was written by E. Labiche and O. Scribe. Vaudeville appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. He inherited from the comic opera of the 18th century. interest in national subjects. Vaudevilles wrote to A.S. Griboedov (“Feigned Infidelity”), D.T. Lensky (“Lev Gurych Sinichkin”), V.A. Sollogub (“The Coachman, or the Prank of a Hussar Officer”), P.A. Karatygin (“Borrowed Wives”, “Dead Eccentric”), N.A. Nekrasov (“Petersburg Moneylender”), A.P. Chekhov (“Bear”, “The Proposal”, “Wedding”, “On the Harm of Tobacco”). In the second half of the 19th century.
Vaudeville was supplanted by operetta. Interest in it returned at the end of the 20th century.
In the theater art of the 19th century-XX centuries comedy-vaudeville of light content with external comic techniques began to be called farces. Farce (French farce, from Latin farcio - I begin: the Middle Ages. Mysteries “began” with comedic inserts) is a type of folk theater and literature of Western European countries of the 14th-16th centuries, primarily France. He was distinguished by a comic, often satirical orientation, realistic concreteness, and freethinking; full of buffoonery. His heroes were the townspeople. The mask images of farce were devoid of an individual beginning (farce is close to the comedy of masks), although they were the first attempt to create social types268.
The means of creating a comic (satirical) effect are speech comedy - alogism, incongruity of situations, parody, playing with paradoxes, irony, etc. the newest comedy- humor, irony, sarcasm, grotesque, wit, wit, pun.
Wit is based on a sense of humor (in fact, they are one and the same thing) - a special associative ability, the ability to critically approach a subject, notice absurdity, and quickly respond to it269. The paradox “expresses an idea that is absurd at first glance, but, as it later turns out, to a certain extent fair”1. For example, in Gogol’s “Marriage,” after the shameful flight of Podkolesin, Arina Panteleimonovna reprimands Kochkarev: Yes, I’ve been living for sixty years, but I’ve never made such a fortune. Yes, father, I will spit in your face if you are an honest person. Yes, after this you are a scoundrel, if you are an honest person. Disgrace a girl in front of the whole world!
Features of the grotesque style are characteristic of many comedies created in Russian literature of the 20th century. (“Suicide” by N. Erdman, “Zoyka’s Apartment” by M. Bulgakov, “The House that Swift Built” by G. Gorin). E. Schwartz (“Dragon”, “Shadow”) used comic allegory and satirical symbols in his fairy tale plays.
Drama as a genre appeared later than tragedy and comedy. Like tragedy, it tends to recreate acute contradictions. As a type of drama, it became widespread in Europe during the Enlightenment and was then conceptualized as a genre. Drama became an independent genre in the second half of the 18th century. among the enlighteners (philistine drama appeared in France and Germany). It showed an interest in the social way of life, in moral ideals democratic environment, to the psychology of the “average person”.
During this period, tragic thinking experiences a crisis and is replaced by a different view of the world, which affirms the social activity of the individual. As the drama develops, its internal drama thickens, a successful outcome is less and less common, the hero is at odds with society and with himself (for example, the plays of G. Ibsen, B. Shaw, M. Gorky, A. Chekhov).
Drama is a play with an acute conflict, which, unlike the tragic, is not so sublime, more mundane, ordinary and one way or another resolvable. The specificity of the drama lies, firstly, in the fact that it is based on modern, and not on ancient material, and secondly, the drama affirms a new hero who has rebelled against his fate and circumstances. The difference between drama and tragedy is in the essence of the conflict: tragic conflicts are insoluble, because their resolution does not depend on the personal will of a person. The tragic hero finds himself in a tragic situation involuntarily, and not because of a mistake he made. Dramatic conflicts, unlike tragic ones, are not insurmountable. They are based on the clash of characters with forces, principles, traditions that oppose them from the outside. If the hero of a drama dies, then his death is largely an act of voluntary decision, and not the result of a tragically hopeless situation. Thus, Katerina in “The Thunderstorm” by A. Ostrovsky, acutely worried that she has violated religious and moral norms, not being able to live in the oppressive environment of the Kabanovs’ house, rushes into the Volga. Such a denouement was not mandatory; The obstacles to the rapprochement between Katerina and Boris cannot be considered insurmountable: the heroine’s rebellion could have ended differently.
The heyday of drama begins at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In the era of romanticism, tragedy reigned in drama. The birth of drama is associated with the appeal of writers to modern social themes. The tragedy, as a rule, was created on historical material. The main character was a major historical figure, fighting in extremely unfavorable circumstances. The emergence of the dramatic genre was characterized by an increased interest in understanding modern public life and the dramatic fate of a “private” person.
The range of drama is unusually wide. The playwright depicts the everyday private life of people, their relationships, clashes caused by estate, property, and class differences. In realistic drama of the 19th century. predominantly psychological drama developed (dramas by A.N. Ostrovsky, G. Ibsen, etc.). At the turn of the century, drama changed in the work of A.P. Chekhov (“Ivanov”, “Three Sisters”) with his mournful and ironic lyricism, using subtext. Similar trends are observed in the work of M. Maeterlinck with his hidden “tragedy of everyday life” (“The Blind,” “Monna Vitta”).
In the literature of the 20th century. The horizons of the drama have expanded significantly, and its conflicts have become more complex. In the drama of M. Gorky (“Bourgeois”, “Enemies”, “Children of the Sun”, “Barbarians”) the problem of the responsibility of the intelligentsia for the fate of the people is raised, but it is considered mainly on family and everyday material.
In the West, dramas were created by R. Rolland, J. Priestley, Y.O. Neal, A. Miller, F. Dürrenmatt, E. Albee, T. Williams.
The “element” of drama is modernity, the private lives of people, situations based on solvable conflicts concerning the destinies of individual people that do not affect problems of public importance.
Such varieties of drama appeared as the lyrical drama of M. Maeterlinck and A. Blok (“Showcase”, “Rose and Cross”), the intellectual drama of J.-P. Sartre, J. Anouilh, drama of the absurd by E. Ionesco (“The Bald Singer”, “Chairs”), S. Beckett (“Waiting for Godot”, “End of the Game”), oratory, rally theater - political theater of B. Brecht with his “epic” plays (“What is that soldier, what is that one”).
In history Soviet theater political theater, the traditions of which were laid by V. Mayakovsky, V. Kirshon, A. Afinogenov, B. Lavrenev, K. Simonov, distinguished by a clearly expressed author’s position, occupied an important place. In the 60s - 90s of the XX century. journalistic dramas appeared (“A Man from the Outside” by I. Dvoretsky, “Minutes of One Meeting” by A. Gelman, “Interview in Buenos Aires” by G. Borovik, “Further... further... further” by M. Shatrov) and documentaries dramas (“Leaders” by G. Sokolovsky, “Joseph and Nadezhda” by O. Kuchkina, “The Black Man, or Me, Poor Soso Dzhugashvili” by V. Korkiya, “The Sixth of July” and “Blue Horses on Red Grass” by M. Shatrov , “Anna Ivanovna” by V. Shalamov, “Republic of Labor” by A. Solzhenitsyn, etc.). In the genre of drama, such varieties as debate plays, dialogue plays, chronicle plays, parable plays, fairy tale plays and “new drama” appeared.
Certain types of drama merge with related genres, using their means of expression: tragicomedy, farce, mask theater.
There is also such a genre as melodrama. Melodrama (from the Greek m?los - song, melody and drama - action, drama) - 1) a genre of drama, a play with acute intrigue, exaggerated emotionality, a sharp contrast between good and evil, a moral and educational tendency; 2) a musical-dramatic work in which monologues and dialogues of the characters are accompanied by music. J.J. Rousseau developed the principles of this genre and created its example - “Pygmalion”; an example of Russian melodrama is “Orpheus” by E. Fomin.
Melodrama originated in the 18th century. in France (plays by J.-M. Monvel and G. de Pixerécourt), it flourished in the 30s and 40s of the 19th century, and later external entertainment began to predominate in it. In Russia, melodrama appeared in the 20s of the 19th century. (plays by N.V. Kukolnik, N.A. Polevoy, etc.), interest in it was revived in the 20s of the 20th century. There are elements of melodrama in the works of A. Arbuzov (“Old-Fashioned Comedy”, “Tales of the Old Arbat”)270. Dramatic genres turned out to be very mobile.
Summarizing what has been said about the genera, types and genres of literature, it should be noted that there are inter-generic and non-generic forms. According to B.O. Corman, we can distinguish works that combine the properties of two generic forms - “bigeneric formations”271.
For example, the epic beginning, according to V. Khalizev’s remark, is in the plays of A.N. Ostrovsky and B. Brecht, M. Maeterlinck and A. Blok created “lyrical dramas”; the lyrical-epic beginning in the poems became a well-known fact. Non-generic forms in literary criticism include essays, “stream of consciousness” literature, essays, for example, “Experiences” by M. Montaigne, “Fallen Leaves” and “Solitary” by V. Rozanov (it tends towards syncretism: the principles of the actual artistic in it are combined with journalistic and philosophical, as in the works of AM Remizov “Posolon” and M. Prishvin “Eyes of the Earth”).
So, V.E. sums it up with his thoughts. Khalizev, “... we can distinguish between the actual generic forms, traditional and undividedly dominant in literary creativity for many centuries, and “non-generic”, non-traditional forms, rooted in “post-romantic” art. The former interact with the latter very actively, complementing each other. Nowadays, the Platonic-Aristotelian-Hegelian triad (epic, lyric, drama), as can be seen, has been significantly shaken and needs to be adjusted. At the same time, there is no reason to declare the usually distinguished three types of literature obsolete, as is sometimes done with light hand Italian philosopher and art theorist B. Croce. Among Russian literary scholars, A.I. spoke out in a similar skeptical spirit. Beletsky: “For ancient literature the terms epic, lyric, drama were not yet abstract. They designated special, external ways of transmitting a work to a listening audience. Having turned into a book, poetry abandoned these methods of transmission, and gradually<...>types (meaning types of literature. - V.Kh.) became more and more fiction. Is it necessary to further prolong the scientific existence of these fictions?”1. Without agreeing with this, we note: literary works of all eras (including modern ones) have a certain generic specificity (epic, dramatic, lyrical form, or essay forms, which were not uncommon in the 20th century, "stream of consciousness", essay). Gender affiliation (or, on the contrary, the involvement of one of the “non-generic” forms) largely determines the organization of the work, its formal, structural features. Therefore, the concept of “genus of literature” in the composition theoretical poetics inalienable and vital." ? Test questions and assignments I 1.
What served as the basis for identifying three types of literature. What are the signs of the epic, lyrical, dramatic way of reproducing reality? 2.
Name the types of artistic literature and give their characteristics. Tell us about the connection between the genera, types, and genres of literary works. 3.
What is the difference between a novel and a short story? Give examples. 4.
What are the distinctive features of the novella? Give examples. 1 Beletsky A.I. Selected works on literary theory. G. 342.2
Khalizev V.E. Theory of literature. pp. 318 - 319.
Test questions and assignments 5.
Why, in your opinion, have the novel and story become the leading genres of realistic literature? Their differences. 6.
Take notes on the article by M.M. Bakhtin “Epic and Novel: On the methodology of studying the novel” (Appendix 1, p. 667). Complete the tasks and answer the questions given after the article. 7.
Gogol originally called " Dead Souls""a novel", then - a "small epic". Why did he choose to define the genre of his work as a “poem”? 8.
Determine the features of an epic novel in the works “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy and “ Quiet Don» M. Sholokhova. 9.
Give a genre definition to N. Shmelev’s work “The Summer of the Lord” and justify it (fairy tale novel, myth novel, legend novel, fable, myth-memory, free epic, spiritual novel). 10.
Read O. Mandelstam’s article “The End of the Novel.” S Mandelstam O. Works: In 2 vols. M., 1990. P. 201-205). Using the example of B. Pasternak’s novel “Doctor Zhivago,” explain what is innovative in the approach of writers of the 20th century. to the problem of the modern novel. Is it possible to say that “...the compositional measure of a novel is a human biography”? I. How do you define the genre of Bulgakov’s work “The Master and Margarita”, in which history and feuilleton, lyricism and myth, everyday life and fantasy are freely combined (novel, comic epic, satirical utopia)?
What are the features of lyrics as a type of literature? 2.
Take notes on the article by V.E. Khalizeva “Lyrics” (Appendix 1, p. 682). Prepare answers to the questions provided. 3.
Based on the article by L.Ya. Ginzburg “On Lyrics” (Appendix 1, p. 693) prepare the message “Style Features of Lyrics.” Name the main lyrical and lyric epic genres, indicate their differences. What is the classification of lyrics based on thematic principle? 4.
Explain what the terms “suggestive lyrics” and “meditative lyrics” mean. Give examples. 5.
Read the article by A.N. Pashkurov “Poetics of pre-romantic elegy: “Time” by M.N. Muravyov" (Appendix 1, p. 704). Prepare the message “What path did Russian elegy take in its development from pre-romanticism to romanticism?” 6.
Tell us about the history of the development of the sonnet genre. 7.
Read the article by G.N. Esipenko “Study of the sonnet as a genre” (Literature at school. 2005. No. 8. P. 29-33) and complete the tasks proposed in it related to the analysis of sonnets by N. Gumilyov, I. Severyanin, I. Bunin (optional), and also write a poem in the form of a sonnet (permissible in imitation of any poet). 8.
What methods of depicting life does A. Pushkin use in the poem “Gypsies”? 9.
What works are called lyroepic? Using the example of one of the poems by V. Mayakovsky (“Man”, “Good!”), S. Yesenin (“Anna Onegin”) or A. Tvardovsky (“By Right of Memory”), analyze how lyrical and epic elements are combined in them. 10.
How does the image appear? lyrical heroine“Denisevsky cycle” F.I. Tyutchev? 13.
Determine the characteristics of the lyrical heroine in the poetry of M. Tsvetaeva and A. Akhmatova. 14.
Is it possible to talk about the peculiar “passivity” of the lyrical hero of B. Pasternak, as R. Yakobson believed? 15.
How is A. Blok’s biography related to his work? What evolution has the image of the lyrical hero undergone? 16.
Why has modern poetry lost most of its traditional genres?
Describe the division into genres in the dramatic genre. 2.
Take notes on the article by V.E. Khalizeva “Drama” (Appendix 1, p. 713). Prepare answers to the questions provided. 3.
Tell us about the main stages in the development of the tragedy genre. 4.
What is the difference between drama and tragedy? 5.
Name the types of comedy. Give examples. 6.
Describe the “small” dramatic genres. Give examples. 7.
How do you understand the genre definition of A. Ostrovsky's plays? Can the dramas “The Thunderstorm” and “Dowry” be called classic tragedies? 8.
Determine the genre of “The Cherry Orchard” by A.P. Chekhov (comedy, tragedy, farce, melodrama). 9.
Using one of the plays as an example, analyze Chekhov’s new approaches to organizing dramatic action (decentralization storylines, refusal to divide characters into main and secondary ones) and techniques for creating individual characters (self-characteristics, monologues-replicas, constructing the speech part of an image by changing stylistic tonality; “random” remarks in dialogues, emphasizing instability psychological state characters, etc.). 10.
Read and analyze one of the plays of a contemporary playwright (optional). eleven.
Define the concept of “subtext” (see: Literary encyclopedia terms and concepts. M., 2001. P. 755; Literary encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1987. P. 284). Give examples of lyrical and psychological subtexts in the plays of A.P. Chekhov (optional), in the novels of E. Hemingway, in the poems of M. Tsvetaeva (“Longing for the Motherland! Long time ago...”) and O. Mandelstam (“Slate Ode”).
One of the founders of Russian literary criticism was V.G. Belinsky. And although serious steps were taken in developing the concept back in antiquity literary kind(Aristotle), it was Belinsky who owned the scientifically based theory of three literary genera, which you can get acquainted with in detail by reading Belinsky’s article “The Division of Poetry into Genera and Types.”
There are three types of fiction: epic(from Greek Epos, narrative), lyrical(a lyre was a musical instrument, accompanied by chanting poems) and dramatic(from Greek Drama, action).
When presenting this or that subject to the reader (meaning the subject of conversation), the author chooses different approaches to it:
First approach: in detail tell about the object, about the events associated with it, about the circumstances of the existence of this object, etc.; in this case, the author’s position will be more or less detached, the author will act as a kind of chronicler, narrator, or choose one of the characters as the narrator; the main thing in such a work will be the story, narration about the subject, the leading type of speech will be narrative; this kind of literature is called epic;
Second approach: you can tell not so much about events, but about the impressed, which they produced on the author, about those feelings which they called; image inner world, experiences, impressions and will relate to the lyrical genre of literature; exactly experience becomes the main event of the lyrics;
Third approach: you can depict item in action, show him on stage; introduce to the reader and viewer of it surrounded by other phenomena; this kind of literature is dramatic; in a drama, the author's voice will be heard least often - in stage directions, that is, the author's explanations of the actions and remarks of the characters.
Look at the following table and try to remember its contents:
Types of fiction
| EPOS | DRAMA | LYRICS |
| (Greek - narrative) story about events, the fate of the heroes, their actions and adventures, a depiction of the external side of what is happening (even feelings are shown from their external manifestation). The author can directly express his attitude to what is happening. |
(Greek - action) image events and relationships between characters on the stage(a special way of writing text). The direct expression of the author's point of view in the text is contained in the stage directions. |
(from the name of the musical instrument) experience events; depiction of feelings, inner world, emotional state; the feeling becomes the main event. |
Each type of literature in turn includes a number of genres.
GENRE is a historically established group of works united by common features of content and form. Such groups include novels, stories, poems, elegies, short stories, feuilletons, comedies, etc. In literary studies, the concept of literary type is often introduced; this is a broader concept than genre. In this case, the novel will be considered a type of fiction, and genres will be various types of novels, for example, adventure, detective, psychological, parable novel, dystopian novel, etc.
Examples of genus-species relationships in the literature:
- Genus: dramatic; view: comedy; genre: sitcom.
- Genus: epic; view: story; genre: fantastic story, etc.
Genres being categories historical, appear, develop and over time “leave” from the “active stock” of artists depending on the historical era: ancient lyricists did not know the sonnet; in our time, an archaic genre has become one that was born in ancient times and popular in XVII-XVIII centuries Oh yeah; romanticism XIX century brought to life detective literature, etc.
Consider the following table, which presents the types and genres related to the various types of word art:
Genera, types and genres of artistic literature
| EPOS | DRAMA | LYRICS | |||
| People's | Author's | Folk | Author's | Folk | Author's |
| Myth Poem (epic): Heroic Strogovoinskaya Fabulous- legendary Historical... Fairy tale Bylina Thought Legend Tradition Ballad Parable Small genres: proverbs sayings puzzles nursery rhymes... |
EpicNovel:
Historical Fantastic. Adventurous Psychological R.-parable Utopian Social... Small genres: Tale Story Novella Fable Parable Ballad Lit. fairy tale... |
A game Ritual Folk drama Raek Nativity scene... |
Tragedy Comedy: provisions, characters, masks... Drama: philosophical social historical social-philosophical Vaudeville Farce Tragifarce... |
Song | Oh yeah Hymn Elegy Sonnet Message Madrigal Romance Rondo Epigram... |
Modern literary criticism also highlights fourth, a related genre of literature that combines the features of the epic and lyrical genres: lyric-epic, which refers to poem. And indeed, by telling the reader a story, the poem manifests itself as an epic; Revealing to the reader the depth of feelings, the inner world of the person telling this story, the poem manifests itself as lyricism.
DRAMA- special type literary creativity. Drama, in addition to its verbal, textual form, also has a second “life” that follows the text - production on stage in the form of a performance, a spectacle. In addition to the author, directors, actors, costume designers, artists, composers, decorators, make-up artists, lighting technicians, stagehands, etc. are involved in organizing the spectacle. Their common task seems to fall into two stages:
2) to give a director’s interpretation, a new interpretation of the author’s intention in the stage production of the work.
Since a dramatic work is designed for the obligatory (even if in most cases “posthumously absentee”) collaboration of the author with the theater, the text of the dramatic work is organized in a special way.
Let's read fragments of the first pages of the text of A. Ostrovsky's drama "The Thunderstorm":
| STORM
Drama in five acts Faces: |
| S avel P r o k o f i c h D i k o y, merchant, significant person in the city. B o r i s G r i g o r e vi c h, his nephew, a decently educated young man. Marfa Ignatyevna Kabanova (Kabanikha), rich merchant's wife, widow. Tikhon Ivanych Kabanov, her son. Katherina, his wife. Varvara, Tikhon’s sister. Kuligin, tradesman, self-taught watchmaker, searching for a perpetual motion machine. (…) |
The action takes place in the city of Kalinov, on the banks of the Volga, in the summer. 10 days pass between the 3rd and 4th actions. All the faces, except Boris, are dressed in Russian. |
| ACT ONE Public garden on the high bank of the Volga; beyond the Volga there is a rural view. There are two benches and several bushes on the stage. First appearance |
Kuligin sits on a bench and looks across the river. Kudryash and Shapkin are walking.
K u l i g i n (sings). "In the middle of a flat valley, at a smooth height..." (Stops singing.) Miracles, truly it must be said, miracles! Curly! Here, my brother, for fifty years I have been looking at the Volga every day and I still can’t get enough of it. K u d r i sh. And what? K u l i g i n. The view is extraordinary! Beauty! The soul rejoices! (…) B o r i s. Holiday; what to do at home! D i k o y. You will find a job if you want. I told you once, I told you twice: “Don’t you dare come across me”; you're itching for everything! Not enough space for you? Wherever you go, here you are! Ugh, damn you! Why are you standing there like a pillar! They tell you, or no? B o r i s. I’m listening, what else should I do! D i k o y (looking at Boris). Fail! I don’t even want to talk to you, the Jesuit. (Leaving.) I imposed myself! (Spits and leaves.) |
Have you noticed that, unlike the author of an epic (narrative work), the author does not tell the story of the heroes at length, but indicates them in a “list”, providing brief necessary information about each, depending on his own plan: what is their name, how old is someone , who is who in the place and in the society where the action takes place, who is related to whom, etc. This "list" of characters is called posters.
Further Ostrovsky pointed out, Where action takes place how much time passes between certain moments of action, how they are dressed characters; in the notes for the first act it says, who is there on the stage, what are you doing characters, what is he doing Each of them. In the following fragments of text, the author briefly states in parentheses, to whom heroes apply with speech, what are they gestures and postures, from which intonation they say. These explanations are made primarily for the artists and the director and are called remarks.
What is happening is broken down into compositional parts - actions(or acts), which in turn are also split into phenomena(or scenes, or paintings). This is explained by the fact that the stage action is strictly limited in time: the performance usually lasts 2-3 hours, and during this time the author and actors need to express everything for which the work was written and staged.
All phenomena, as you see, are also divided into small (or sometimes large!) fragments, which are words - monologues and dialogues - of characters. At the same time, the author always indicates which of the heroes they belong to, calling the hero by name, as if giving him a “microphone”. These words of drama characters are called replicas. As you have already noticed, the words of the characters are often accompanied by stage directions.
So,
Organization of the text of a dramatic work and necessary terms:
POSTER- this is a list of characters with author’s explanations;
REPLICA- these are the words of the characters in a dramatic work; replicas are organized stage dialogues of the characters;
PHENOMENON(or a picture, or a scene) is a plot-complete fragment of the text of a dramatic work; Each phenomenon (or scene, or picture) represents a separate, complete moment of stage action, in other words, an episode.
Since drama is a stage action, a theatrical spectacle, it is not so much designed for communication between one reader and the author’s text (like novels, short stories, poems, verses, where the reader and the work “communicate” one-on-one, alone with each other ), how much for the mass contact of the work with the audience. Hundreds and thousands of people come to theaters. And it is very, very difficult to keep their attention. Therefore, the foundation of any performance - an author's literary work - must be based on the audience's interest and "hold it tenaciously." Drama helps the playwright with this. intrigue.
INTRIGUE(from Latin Intricare, “to confuse”) - 1) intrigues, hidden actions, usually unseemly, to achieve something; 2) the relationship between characters and circumstances, ensuring the development of action in a work of art. (Dictionary foreign words, 1988.)
In other words, intrigue is a kind of secret, a riddle, often organized by one of the characters for their own purposes, the solution of which is the basis of dramatic action. Not a single play is complete without intrigue, since otherwise it will not be interesting to readers and viewers.
Now let's turn to content of dramatic works. It comes first associated with the type and genre of drama. There are three types of dramatic works: tragedy, comedy and drama (don’t get confused, the name of the type coincides with the name of the type of literature, but these are different terms).
| Tragedy | Comedy | Drama | |
| Epoch and culture of appearance: | Ancient Greece. Arose from ritual priestly festivals dedicated to the gods and heroes of myths |
Ancient Greece. It arose from folk calendar holiday processions. |
Western Europe, XVIII century. It has become a kind of “intermediate” genre between tragedy and comedy. |
| Plot basics: | Originally: mythological and historical subjects. Later - turning points, climaxes, moments of history and human destiny | Household stories related to everyday life person and relationships in the family, with neighbors, co-workers, etc. | Can use plot basics, characteristic of both tragedy and comedy |
| Main characters: | Initially: gods, heroes of myths, historical figures; Later - strong, non-trivial personalities, powerful characters, carrying a certain idea, in the name of which they agree to sacrifice everything. | Ordinary people, city dwellers, villagers with their everyday worries, sorrows and joys, scams, successes and failures. | Any heroes. |
| Conflict: | Tragic, or insoluble. At its core are the great “eternal” questions of existence. | Comic, or resolvable through the correct (from the author’s point of view) actions of the heroes. | Dramatic: The depth of the contradictions is close to tragic, but the heroes are not carriers of the idea. |
| Creative goals: | Show the struggle of man and circumstances, man and fate, man and society in the severity of contradictions, the power of the human spirit in rightness or error. | To ridicule vice, to show its powerlessness and defeat in front of the true life values a simple person. | Show the complexity and inconsistency of human life, the imperfection of society, the imperfection of human nature |
| Examples: | Sophocles Oedipus the King W. Shakespeare. Hamlet V. Vishnevsky. Optimistic tragedy |
Aristophanes. Clouds Moliere. Tartuffe N. Gogol. Auditor A. Ostrovsky. Our people - let's count! M. Bulgakov. Ivan Vasilievich |
H. Ibsen. Dollhouse A. Ostrovsky. Storm M. Gorky. At the bottom |
An important aspect of a dramatic work is composition. There are several types of drama composition as a type of literature. Let's look at some of them:
Subject composition- This the totality of all character relationships, a system of their speeches, gestures and actions, connected by a single author’s goal, that is, the main theme of a dramatic work. This set is aimed at revealing the characters’ characters, the reasons for their dependence on everyday and psychological characteristics.
Dynamic composition- this is organized by the author connecting all the sharp points of dramatic action(exposition --> rising action --> conflict --> resolution --> rising --> climax --> falling, etc.). Dynamic composition is characteristic both of the entire work and of its individual components: actions, acts, phenomena, scenes, paintings, etc.
Dialogue composition- This techniques for creating dramatic dialogue, of which there can be many:- Each character has his own theme and has his own emotional mood (diversity of themes);
- Topics change periodically: from line to line, from episode to episode, from action to action (change of topic);
- The theme is developed in dialogue by one character and picked up by another (theme pick-up);
- The theme of one character in the dialogue is interrupted by another, but does not leave the dialogue (topic interruption);
- Characters go off topic and then return to it;
- The characters return to a topic left in one dialogue in another;
- The topic can be interrupted without completion (topic failure).
Since a dramatic work is designed to be staged in a theater where hundreds of spectators come, the range of life phenomena considered by the author ( subject matter of the work) must be relevant to the viewer - otherwise the viewer will leave the theater. Therefore, the playwright chooses for the play topics determined either by the era or by eternal human needs, primarily spiritual, Certainly. The same can be said about issues, that is, about those issues that concern the author and which he brings to the reader’s and audience’s judgment.
A.N. Ostrovsky addressed topics from the life of the Russian merchants, small and large officials, townspeople, creative, and primarily theatrical audiences - that is, those layers of Russian society that were well known to him and studied from both positive and negative sides. And the problems raised by the playwright also concerned public spheres:
- How can a young, smart, talented person make his way in life, but who, due to poverty and origin, does not have the strong support of a rich and influential relative or acquaintance? ("Simplicity is enough for every wise man")
- Where has the conscience of the Russian merchants gone? How did it happen that, in pursuit of profit, both daughter and son-in-law are ready to rob their father-in-law and leave him in debtor’s prison, just so as not to pay his debts? ("Our people - we will be numbered!")
- Why does a mother sell her daughter's beauty? ("Dowry")
- What should a beautiful, but poor and unprotected girl do so that her love and honor are not destroyed? ("Dowry")
- How can a person who feels, loves and strives for freedom live among the “dark kingdom” of ignoramuses and tyrants? (“Thunderstorm”), etc.
A. Chekhov dedicated his plays to people in other circles: the Russian intelligentsia, the last “splinters” of noble families and people of art. But Chekhov’s intellectuals get too deeply entangled in “eternal” questions, depriving them of the ability to make decisions; his landowners, idolizing the cherry orchard as a national treasure, do nothing to save it and are preparing to leave just when the orchard begins to be cut down; and Chekhov’s actors, artists and writers on stage are completely different from the “stars”, “idols” whom the public applauds: they are petty, stingy, quarrel over the ruble, quarrel with loved ones, faint-heartedly endure the already faded and now not at all love, but a boring and burdensome connection... And the problems of Chekhov’s plays are also largely due to time:
- Is it possible to save a dying life and how to do it? ("Uncle Vanya", "The Cherry Orchard")
- Will it be so reverently expected? Chekhov's heroes“tomorrow”, “later”, “someday”? ("Three sisters")
- Why time is running, but a person does not change? ("The Seagull", "Three Sisters", "Uncle Vanya")
- Will there ever be a happy ending to that path, those wanderings that befall a born person? ("The Cherry Orchard")
- What is happiness, glory, greatness anyway? ("Gull")
- Why does a person have to suffer in order to free himself from delusions and discover his own talent? ("Gull")
- Why does art require such things from a person? terrible victims? ("Gull")
- Is a person able to get out of the routine rut into which he has driven himself? ("Three Sisters", "The Cherry Orchard", "The Seagull")
- How to preserve the beautiful “cherry orchard” - our Russia - the way we love and remember it? (“The Cherry Orchard”), etc.
Chekhov's plays introduced a new specificity of stage action into Russian drama: no special events, “adventures,” happen on stage. Even out-of-the-ordinary events (for example, Treplev’s suicide attempt and suicide in “The Seagull”) occur only “behind the scenes.” On stage, the characters only talk: they quarrel over trifles, sort out relationships that are already clear to everyone, talk about meaningless things, get bored and discuss what happened “behind the scenes.” But their dialogues are filled with powerful energy of internal action: behind insignificant remarks hides heavy human loneliness, awareness of one’s own restlessness, something undone, but very important, without which life will never get better. This property of Chekhov's plays made it possible to consider them plays of internal dynamics and became a new step in the development of Russian drama.
Many people often have a question: why when posing such problems and such development of the plots of the play "The Cherry Orchard" and "The Seagull" are comedies? Don't forget, they were defined this way not by critics, but by the author himself. Return to the table. What is the creative task of comedy?
That's right, make fun of vice. Chekhov makes fun, or better yet, laughs - subtly, ironically, beautifully and sadly - not so much at the vices, but at the incongruities, “irregularities” of the life of the person of his time, be it a landowner, a writer, a doctor or someone else: great actress- greedy; famous writer - henpecked; “to Moscow, to Moscow” - and we’ll spend our whole lives in the provincial wilderness; a landowner from a noble and wealthy family - and is going to go to the bank as an ordinary employee, not knowing anything about banking; there is no money - and we give the gold to a beggar rogue; we are going to transform the world - and we are falling down the stairs... This is exactly what inconsistency, overflowing Chekhov's plays(in fact, the fundamental basis of the comic), and makes them comedies in the highest, ancient sense of the word: these are real “comedies of life.”
The turning point era (the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries) demanded that playwrights pay attention to new themes and, first of all, attention to the very phenomenon of “man.” M. Gorky in the play “At the Bottom” he draws a terrible model of the “bottom” of human society, creating on stage a kind of shelter-cave, as if containing the whole world of contemporary human relations in it. But the “bottom” for Gorky is not only poverty and restlessness. The soul also has a “bottom,” and the revelation of the deep dark secrets of this soul was embodied in the images of the Baron, Kleshch, Actor, Kostylevs, Ashes... The appearance of Luka revealed to the night shelters not only the illusory possibilities of another, “better” life, it highlighted in them the impossibility of resisting that darkness, the negativity that has accumulated in their souls throughout their real, actual life. No one will make your life different except yourself - this is the result of the author’s observations of the characters in the drama. And therefore Gorky’s drama “At the Depths” is defined by its genre as social and philosophical. The key problems for Gorky were:
- What is the real truth of life?
- How capable is a person himself of taking his destiny into his hands? What have you done to make your life different, the way you would like it to be?
- Who is to blame for the attempt to “jump off the tram” and start new life failed?
- How should a person be seen today, contemporary to the author, of the moment?
- Regret or stigmatize? - what really helps a person?
- How responsible is society and the environment for human life? And etc.
When analyzing a dramatic work, you will need the skills that you acquired while completing tasks to analyze an episode of the work.
Be careful and strictly adhere to the analysis plan.
Topics 15 and 16 are closely related to each other, so successful completion of the work is only possible with a detailed study of theoretical materials on these topics.
- A.S. Griboyedov. Comedy "Woe from Wit"
- N. Gogol. Comedy "The Inspector General"
- A.N. Ostrovsky. Comedy "Our people - we will be numbered!"; dramas "The Thunderstorm", "Dowry"
- A.P. Chekhov. Play "The Cherry Orchard"
- M. Gorky. The play "At the Bottom"
- ▲ type of fiction, types of literature. epic genre. epic. prose fictional story about which l. events. prose (# works). fiction. lyrics. drama... Ideographic Dictionary of the Russian Language
This term has other meanings, see Drama. Not to be confused with Drama (a type of literature). Drama is a literary (dramatic), stage and cinematic genre. Received particular popularity in XVIII literature XXI centuries,... ... Wikipedia
In art: Drama is a type of literature (along with epic and lyric poetry); Drama is a type of stage cinematic action; a genre that includes various subgenres and modifications (such as bourgeois drama, absurdist drama, etc.); Toponym(s): ... ... Wikipedia
D. as a poetic genus Origin D. Eastern D. Ancient D. Medieval D. D. Renaissance From Renaissance to Classicism Elizabethan D. Spanish D. Classical D. Bourgeois D. Ro ... Literary encyclopedia
Epic, lyric, drama. It is determined according to various criteria: from the point of view of methods of imitation of reality (Aristotle), types of content (F. Schiller, F. Schelling), categories of epistemology (objective subjective in G.V.F. Hegel), formal... ... encyclopedic Dictionary
Drama (Greek dráma, literally - action), 1) one of the three types of literature (along with epic and lyric poetry; see literary genre). D. belongs simultaneously to theater and literature: being the fundamental basis of the performance, it is at the same time perceived in... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Modern encyclopedia
Literary gender- GENUS LITERARY, one of the three groups of works of fiction: epic, lyricism, drama. The tradition of generic division of literature was founded by Aristotle. Despite the fragility of the boundaries between genera and the abundance of intermediate forms (lyric epic ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Epic, lyric, drama. It is determined according to various criteria: from the point of view of methods of imitation of reality (Aristotle), types of content (F. Schiller, F. Schelling), categories of epistemology (objective subjective in G. Hegel), formal characteristics... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
ROD, a (y), prev. about (in) gender and in (on) gender, plural. s, ov, husband. 1. Main public organization primitive communal system, united by blood kinship. The elder of the clan. 2. A number of generations descending from one ancestor, as well as a generation in general... Dictionary Ozhegova
Books
- Pushkin, Tynyanov Yuri Nikolaevich. Yuri Nikolaevich Tynyanov (1894-1943) - an outstanding prose writer and literary critic - looked like Pushkin, which he had been told about since his student years. Who knows, maybe it was this similarity that helped...