Examples of prose texts. A small prose work - Story A work in prose of a large volume: types

Prose is around us. It is in life and in books. Prose is our everyday language.

Artistic prose is a non-rhyming narrative that does not have a size (a special form of organization of sounding speech).

A prose work is a work written without rhyme, which is its main difference from poetry. Prose works are both artistic and non-fiction, sometimes they are intertwined, as, for example, in biographies or memoirs.

How did the prose, or epic, work come about?

Prose entered the world of literature from Ancient Greece. It was there that poetry first appeared, and then prose as a term. The first prose works were myths, traditions, legends, fairy tales. These genres were defined by the Greeks as non-artistic, mundane. These were religious, domestic or historical narratives, which received the definition of "prosaic".

In the first place was highly artistic poetry, prose was in second place, as a kind of opposition. The situation began to change only in the second half. Prose genres began to develop and expand. Novels, short stories and short stories appeared.

In the 19th century, the prose writer pushed the poet into the background. Novel, short story became the main art forms in literature. Finally, prose work took its rightful place.

Prose is classified by size: small and large. Consider the main artistic genres.

A work in prose of a large volume: types

A novel is a prose work that is distinguished by the length of the narrative and complex plot, fully developed in the work, and the novel may also have side storylines, in addition to the main one.

The novelists were Honoré de Balzac, Daniel Defoe, Emily and Charlotte Bronte, Erich Maria Remarque and many others.

Examples of prose works by Russian novelists can make up a separate book-list. These are works that have become classics. For example, such as "Crime and Punishment" and "The Idiot" by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, "The Gift" and "Lolita" by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, "Doctor Zhivago" by Boris Leonidovich Pasternak, "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, "A Hero of Our Time" Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov and so on.

An epic is larger in volume than a novel, and describes major historical events or responds to popular issues, more often both.

The most significant and famous epics in Russian literature are "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy, "Quiet Don" by Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov and "Peter the Great" by Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy.

Prose work of a small volume: types

Novella - short work, comparable to the story, but having a greater saturation of events. The history of the short story originates in oral folklore, in parables and legends.

The novelists were Edgar Allan Poe, Herbert Wells; Guy de Maupassant and Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin also wrote short stories.

The story is a short prose work, characterized by a small number of characters, one storyline and detailed description details.

Bunin and Paustovsky are rich in stories.

An essay is a prose work that is easily confused with a story. But still there are significant differences: the description is only real events, lack of fiction, a combination of fiction and non-fiction, as a rule, touching on social problems and the presence of more descriptiveness than in the story.

Essays are portrait and historical, problematic and travel. They can also mix with each other. For example, historical sketch may also contain portrait or problem.

Essays are some impressions or reasoning of the author in connection with a particular topic. It has free composition. This type of prose combines the functions of a literary essay and a journalistic article. It may also have something in common with a philosophical treatise.

Medium prose genre - short story

The story is on the border between the short story and the novel. In terms of volume, it cannot be attributed to either small or large prose works.

In Western literature, the story is called " short novel". Unlike the novel, the story always has one storyline, but it also develops fully and fully, so it cannot be attributed to the genre of the story.

There are many examples of short stories in Russian literature. Here are just a few: “Poor Liza” by Karamzin, “The Steppe” by Chekhov, “Netochka Nezvanova” by Dostoevsky, “Uyezdnoye” by Zamyatin, “The Life of Arsenyev” by Bunin, “ Stationmaster» Pushkin.

IN foreign literature one can name, for example, Chateaubriand's René, Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles, Suskind's The Tale of Monsieur Sommer.

3. GENRES NARRATIVE IN POSIS

PROSE STORY

Narrative prose works are divided into two categories: small form - short story ( in Russian terminology - "story" *) and a large form - novel. The boundary between small and large forms cannot be firmly established. So, in Russian terminology, medium-sized narratives are often given the name story.

* Today, in our science, the short story is clearly distinguished from the story.

The sign of size - the main one in the classification of narrative works - is far from being as unimportant as it might seem at first glance. It depends on the volume of the work how the author disposes of the plot material, how he builds his plot, how he introduces his own theme into it.

A short story usually has a simple plot, with a single plot thread (the simplicity of constructing a plot has nothing to do with the complexity and intricacy of individual situations), with a short chain of changing situations, or rather, with one central change of situations*.

* B. Tomashevsky could take into account the following works devoted to the short story: Reformatsky A.A. Experience in the analysis of novelistic composition. M.: Ed. OPOYAZ, 1922. Issue. I; Eichenbaum B. o'Henry and the theory of the novel // Star. 1925. No. 6 (12); Petrovsky M. Morphology of the novella// Ars poetica . M., 1927. From recent works about the short story, see: Meletinsky E.M. Historical poetics of the novel. M., 1990; Russian novel. Problems of theory and history. SPb., 1990. See also: Kunz J . Die Novelle // Formen der Literatur. Stuttgart: Kroner, 1991.

Unlike drama, the short story develops not exclusively in dialogues, but mainly in narration. The absence of a demonstrative (stage) element makes it necessary to introduce motives of the situation, characteristics, actions, etc. into the narrative. There is no need to build an exhaustive dialogue (it is possible to replace the dialogue with a message about the topics of conversation). Thus, the development of the plot has greater narrative freedom than in drama. But this freedom also has its disadvantages. The development of the drama is based on exits and dialogues. The stage facilitates the coupling of motifs. In the short story, this cohesion can no longer be motivated by the unity of the scene, and the cohesion of motives must be prepared. There can be two cases here: continuous narration, where each new motive is prepared by the previous one, and fragmentary (when the short story is divided into chapters or parts), where a break in the continuous narration is possible, corresponding to the change of scenes and acts in the drama.

Since the novella is given not in dialogue, but in narration, it plays a much greater role fantastic moment.

This is expressed in the fact that very often a storyteller is introduced in the short story, on whose behalf the short story itself is reported. The introduction of the narrator is accompanied, firstly, by the introduction of the framing motifs of the narrator, and secondly, by the development of a tale manner in language and composition.

The framing motifs usually come down to describing the setting in which the author had to hear the short story (“The doctor’s story in society”, “The found manuscript”, etc.), sometimes in the introduction of motifs that set out the reason for the story (something happens in the setting of the story , forcing one of the characters to recall a similar case known to him, etc.). The development of a tale manner is expressed in the development of a specific language (lexicon and syntax) that characterizes the narrator, a system of motivations when introducing motives, united by the narrator's psychology, etc. There are also tale devices in drama, where sometimes the speeches of individual characters acquire a specific stylistic coloring. So, in the old comedy, usually positive types spoke on literary language, and negative and comic often delivered their speeches in their own dialect.

However, a very wide range of short stories was written in the manner of an abstract narrative, without introducing a narrator and without developing a tale style.

In addition to plot short stories, plotless short stories are possible, in which there is no causal relationship between motives. The sign of a plotless short story is that such a short story is easy to take apart and rearrange these parts without violating the correctness of the general course of the short story. As typical case plotless short story, I will cite Chekhov's Complaint Book, where we have a number of entries in the railway complaint book, and all these entries have nothing to do with the purpose of the book. The sequence of entries here is not motivated, and many of them can easily be transferred from one place to another. Storyless short stories can be very diverse in terms of the system of conjugation of motives. The main feature of the short story as a genre is a solid ending. A short story does not necessarily have to have a plot leading to a stable situation, just as it may not go through a chain of unstable situations. Sometimes the description of one situation is enough to fill the novel thematically. In a plot novel, such an ending can be a denouement. However, it is possible that the narrative does not stop at the motif of the denouement and continues on. In this case, in addition to the denouement, we must have some other ending.

Usually in a short plot, where it is difficult to develop and prepare the final resolution from the plot situations themselves, the denouement is achieved by introducing new faces and new motives not prepared by the development of the plot (sudden or accidental denouement. This is observed very often in drama, where often the denouement is not conditioned dramatic development (see, for example, Molière's The Miser, where the denouement is carried out through the recognition of kinship, not at all prepared by the previous one).

It is this novelty of the end motifs that serves as the main device for the novella's ending. Usually this is the introduction of new motives, of a different nature than the motives of the novelistic plot. So, at the end of a short story there can be a moral or other maxim, which, as it were, explains the meaning of what happened (this is the same regressive denouement in a weakened form). This sententiousness of the endings can also be implicit. So, the motif of "indifferent nature" makes it possible to replace the ending - the maxim - with a description of nature: "And the stars shone in the sky" or "The frost grew stronger" (this is a template ending Christmas story about the freezing boy).

These new motifs at the end of the short story literary tradition receive in our perception the meaning of statements of great weight, with a large hidden, potential emotional content. These are the endings of Gogol, for example, at the end of “The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich quarreled” - the phrase “It’s boring in this world, gentlemen,” which cuts off the narrative that did not lead to any denouement.

Mark Twain has a short story where he puts his characters in a completely hopeless situation. As an ending, he exposes the literary nature of the construction, addressing the reader as an author with a confession that he cannot think of any way out. This new motif ("author") breaks the objective narrative and is a solid ending.

As an example of closing a short story with a lateral motif, I will cite Chekhov's short story, which reports a confusing and stupid official correspondence between the authorities about the epidemic in a rural school. Having created the impression of the uselessness and absurdity of all these "relationships", "reports" and clerical replies, Chekhov closes the short story with a description of the marriage in the family of a paper manufacturer, who in his business amounted to enormous capital. This new motif illuminates the entire narrative of the novel as an unrestrained "out of paper" in the clerical instances.

IN this example we see an approach to the type of regressive denouements that give new meaning and new coverage of all the motifs introduced into the short story.

The elements of a short story are, as in any narrative genre, narration (a system of dynamic motives) and descriptions (a system of static motives). Usually, some parallelism is established between these two series of motifs. Very often, such static motives are a kind of symbols of plot motives - either as a motivation for the development of the plot, or simply a correspondence is established between the individual motives of the plot and description (for example, a certain action takes place in a certain setting, and this setting is already a sign of action). Thus, through correspondences, sometimes static motifs can psychologically predominate in a short story. This is often exposed by the fact that the title of the novel contains a hint of a static motif (for example, Chekhov's "Steppe", Maupassant's "Cock crowed". Compare in the drama - "Thunderstorm" and "Forest" by Ostrovsky).

The short story in its construction often starts from dramatic devices, sometimes representing a short story about the drama in the dialogues and supplemented by a description of the situation. However, usually a novelistic plot is simpler than a dramatic one, where the intersection of plot lines is required. In this regard, it is curious that very often in the dramatic processing of short story plots, two short story plots are combined in one dramatic frame by establishing the identity of the main characters in both plots.

IN different eras- even the most remote - there was a tendency to combine short stories into short story cycles. Such are the “Book of Kalila and Dimna”, “Tales of 1001 Nights”, “Decameron”, etc., which are of worldwide importance.

Usually these cycles were not a simple, unmotivated collection of stories, but were presented according to the principle of some unity: connecting motifs were introduced into the narrative.

So, the book "Kalila and Dimna" is presented as colloquial moral themes between sage Baidaba and king Dabshalim. Novels are introduced as examples of various moral theses. The heroes of the short stories themselves have extensive conversations and tell each other various short stories. The introduction of a new short story usually happens like this: “the sage said: “who is deceived by an enemy who does not cease to be an enemy, then something happens that befell owls from the side of the crows.” The king asked: "How was it?" Baidaba answered "... and the tale of owl-ravens is presented. This almost obligatory question “How was it” introduces the novella into the frame of the narrative as a moral example.

In 1001 Nights, a tale is given of Scheherazade, who married the caliph, who vowed to execute his wives the day after the wedding. Scheherazade tells a new story every night. always cutting it off interesting place and thus delaying his execution. None of the tales has anything to do with the narrator. For the framing plot, only the motive of the story is needed, and it is completely indifferent what will be told about.

The Decameron tells of a society that gathered during an epidemic that devastated the country and spent their time in storytelling.

In all three cases, we have the simplest method of linking short stories - using framing, those. short story (usually little developed, since it does not have the independent function of a short story, but is introduced only as a frame for the cycle), one of the motives of which is storytelling.

Also framed are collections of short stories by Gogol ("Beekeeper Rudy Panko") and Pushkin ("Ivan Petrovich Belkin"), where the frame is the story of the storytellers. Framing comes in various types - or in the form prologue("Belkin's story"), or preface, or ring, when, at the end of the cycle of short stories, the story about the narrator resumes, partially reported in the preface. Interrupted framing is of the same type, when a cycle of short stories is systematically interrupted (sometimes within a short story of a cycle) by messages about the events of the framing story.

This type includes the fairy-tale cycle of Gauff "Hotel in the Spesart". The framing short story tells about travelers who spent the night in a hotel and suspected their hosts of dealing with robbers. Having decided to stay awake, travelers tell each other fairy tales to disperse sleep. The framing novella continues in the intervals between the stories (moreover, one tale is cut off and the second part of it is finished at the end of the cycle); we learn about the attack of robbers, about the capture of some travelers and their release, and the hero is an apprentice jeweler who saves his godmother(not knowing who she is), and the denouement is the hero's recognition of his godmother and the story of his later life.

In other Gauff cycles, we have a more complex system of linking short stories. So, in the cycle "Caravan" of six short stories, two of their heroes are connected with the participants in the framing short story. One of these short stories, "About the Severed Hand", hides a number of mysteries. As a clue to it in terms of the framing novel, the stranger who joined the caravan tells his biography, which explains all the dark moments of the short story about the severed hand. Thus, the characters and motifs of some of the short stories of the cycle intersect with the characters and motifs of the framing short story and are added to a single whole narrative.

With a closer convergence of short stories, the cycle can turn into a single work of art - a novel*. On the threshold between the cycle and a single novel is Lermontov's "A Hero of Our Time", where all the novels are united by the common hero, but at the same time do not lose their independent interest.

* A reflection of the notion popular among formalists, but not accepted by modern science, according to which the novel arose from a collection of short stories as a result of their “stringing” (see below: “The novel as a large narrative form is usually reduced (emphasized by us - S. B.) to tying short stories together", p. 249). This theory was put forward by V. Shklovsky (see his works: How Don Quixote is made; The structure of the story and the novel, etc. / / prose theory). MM. Bakhtin, who criticized her (Medvedev P.V. Shklovsky. Prose Theory//3vezda. No. 1; Formal Method...), believed that she “ignores the organic nature of the novel genre” (Formal Method, p. 152). “Just as we cannot put together the unity of the social life of an epoch from separate life episodes and situations, so the unity of a novel cannot be put together by stringing short stories. The novel reveals a new qualitative side of the thematically understood reality, connected with the new, qualitative construction of the genre reality of the work” (Ibid., p. 153). In modern work on the theory of the novel, it is noted that V. Shklovsky and the authors following him, having come to understand the importance of the cumulative principle in the plot of this genre, did not reveal its role and place in the artistic whole: “The term “stringing” expresses the idea of ​​the absence of an internal connection between successive events. It is usually believed that the cohesion between them is created only by the participation of the same main character in them. Hence the widespread opinion that certain forms of the novel arise as a result of the "cyclization" of independent anecdotal or short story plots.<...>One way or another, the intrinsic content of the cumulative scheme remains undisclosed” (Tamarchenko N.D. Typology realistic novel. S. 38).

Stringing short stories around a single character is one of the usual techniques for combining short stories into one narrative whole. However, this is not enough means to make a novel out of a cycle of short stories. So, the adventures of Sherlock Holmes are still only a collection of short stories, not a novel.

Usually in short stories combined into one novel, they are not content with the commonality of one protagonist, and episodic faces also move from short story to short story (or, in other words, are identified). A common technique in romance technique is to entrust episodic roles at certain moments to a person already used in the novel (compare the role of Zurin in The Captain's Daughter - he plays a role at the beginning of the novel as a billiards player and at the end of the novel as the commander of a unit into which he accidentally falls hero. These could be different persons, since Pushkin only needed the commander of the end of the novel to be previously familiar to Grinev; this has nothing to do with the episode of the billiard game).

But even this is not enough. It is necessary not only to unite the short stories, but also to make their existence unthinkable outside the novel, i.e. destroy their integrity. This is achieved by cutting off the ending of the short story, by confusing the motives of the short stories (preparation for the denouement of one short story takes place within another short story of the novel), etc. Through such processing, the short story as an independent work turns into a short story as a plot element of the novel.

It is necessary to strictly distinguish between the use of the word "novella" in these two meanings. novella like independent genre is a finished work. Inside the novel, this is only a more or less isolated plot part of the work and may not have completeness. * If completely finished short stories remain inside the novel (i.e., which are conceivable outside the novel, compare the captive’s story in Don Quixote), then such short stories have Name "insert novels". Insert novels are a characteristic feature of the old novel technique, where sometimes the main action of the novel develops in stories exchanged between characters when they meet. However, inserted novels are also found in modern novels. See, for example, the construction of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot. The same inserted short story is, for example, Oblomov's dream in Goncharov's.

* In the old poetics, the short story as part of the narrative work was called episode, but this term was used mainly in the analysis of the epic poem.

The novel as a larger narrative form usually comes down to tying short stories together.

A typical device for linking short stories is a sequential presentation of them, usually strung on one hero and presented in the order of the chronological sequence of short stories. Such novels are built as a biography of the hero or the story of his travels (for example, Gilles Blas by Le Sage).

The end situation of each short story is the beginning for the next short story; thus, in the intermediate novellas, there is no exposition and an imperfect denouement is given.

In order to observe forward movement in the novel, it is necessary that each new short story either expands its thematic material compared to the previous one, for example: each new adventure must involve a new and new circle of characters in the hero’s field of action, or each new adventure of the hero must be harder and harder than before.

A novel of this kind is called stepped, or chain.

For a stepped construction, in addition to the above, the following methods of linking short stories are also typical. 1) False denouement: the denouement given within the short story turns out to be erroneous or misinterpreted later on. For example, a character, judging by all the circumstances, is dying. In the future, we learn that this character escaped death and appears in the following short stories. Or - a hero from a difficult situation is saved by an episodic character who came to his aid. Later we learn that this savior was the instrument of the hero's enemies, and instead of being rescued, the hero finds himself in an even more difficult situation. 2) The system of motives - secrets - is connected with this. Motives appear in the short stories, the plot role of which is unclear, and we do not get a complete connection. In the future comes the "disclosure of secrets." Such is the mystery of the murder in the short story about the severed hand in the fairytale cycle of Gauff. 3) Usually, novels of staggered construction are replete with introductory motifs that require novelistic content. Such are the motives for travel, persecution, and so on. In Dead Souls, the motif of Chichikov's travels makes it possible to unfold a number of short stories, where the heroes are landowners, from whom Chichikov acquires dead souls.

Another type of Romantic construction is the ring construction. His technique boils down to the fact that one short story (framing) moves apart. Its exposition stretches over the entire novel, and all the other short stories are introduced into it as interrupting episodes. In the ring construction, the short stories are unequal and inconsistent. The novel is actually slowed down in the narrative and stretched out short story, in relation to which everything else is delaying and interrupting episodes. Thus, Jules Verne's novel "The Testament of an Eccentric" gives the story of the hero's inheritance, the conditions of the will, etc. as a framing novella. The adventures of the heroes involved in the testamentary game constitute interrupting episodic novels.

Finally, the third type is a parallel construction. Usually the characters are grouped into several independent groups, each connected by its own fate (plot). The history of each group, their actions, the area of ​​their operation constitute a special "plan" for each group. The narrative is multifaceted: what is happening in one plane is reported, then what is happening in another plane, and so on. Heroes of one plane pass into another plane, there is a constant exchange of characters and motives between narrative planes. This exchange serves as a motivation for transitions in the narrative from one plane to another. Thus, several short stories are told simultaneously, in their development intersecting, crossing, and sometimes merging (when two groups of characters are combined into one), sometimes branching: this parallel construction is usually accompanied by parallelism in the fate of the characters. Usually, the fate of one group is thematically opposed to another group (for example, by the contrast of characters, setting, denouement, etc.), and thus one of the parallel short stories is, as it were, illuminated and set off by the other. A similar construction is typical for Tolstoy's novels ("Anna Karenina", "War and Peace").

In the use of the term "parallelism" one should always distinguish between parallelism as the simultaneity of narrative unfolding (plot parallelism) and parallelism as a comparison or comparison (plot parallelism). Usually one coincides with the other, but is by no means determined by one another. Quite often, parallel short stories are only compared, but belong to different times and different actors. Usually then one of the short stories is the main one, and the other is secondary and is given in someone's story, message, etc. Wed "Red and Black" by Stendhal, "The Living Past" by A. de Regnier, "Portrait" by Gogol (the history of the usurer and the history of the artist). TO mixed type Dostoevsky's novel "The Humiliated and Insulted" is one of them, where two characters (Valkovsky and Nelly) are the connecting links between two parallel short stories.

Since the novel consists of a set of short stories, the usual novelistic denouement or ending is not enough for the novel.

The novel must be closed with something more significant than the closing of one short story.

In the closure of the novel, there are various systems of endings.

1) Traditional position. Such a traditional position is the marriage of heroes (in a novel with a love affair), the death of a hero. In this respect, the novel approaches the dramatic texture. I note that sometimes, to prepare for such a denouement, episodic persons are introduced who do not play the first role in a novel or drama at all, but are connected with their fate with the main plot. Their marriage or death serves as the denouement. Example: Ostrovsky's drama "The Forest", where the hero is Neschastvitsev, and the marriage is entered into by relatively minor persons (Aksyusha and Peter Vosmibratov. The marriage of Gurmyzhskaya and Bulanov is a parallel line).

2) The denouement of the framing (ring) short story. If the novel is built according to the type of extended short story, then the denouement of this short story is sufficient to close the novel. For example, in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, it's not that Phileas Fogg has finally completed his trip around the world, but the fact that he won the bet (the history of the bet and the miscalculation of the day is the theme of the framing novel).

3) With a stepwise construction - the introduction of a new short story, built differently than all the previous ones (similar to the introduction of a new motive at the end of the short story). If, for example, the hero's adventures are strung together as incidents that occur during his journey, then the end story must destroy the very motive of the journey and thus differ significantly from the intermediate "travel" stories. In Le Sage's Gilles-Blaise, adventures are motivated by the fact that the hero changes his place of service. In the end, he achieves an independent existence, and is no longer looking for new jobs. In Jules Verne's novel 80,000 Miles Under the Sea, the hero goes through a series of adventures as a prisoner of Captain Nemo. Salvation from captivity is the end of the novel, as it destroys the principle of stringing short stories.

4) Finally, for novels of a large volume, the “epilogue” technique is characteristic - the crumpling of the story at the end. After a long and slow story about the circumstances of the hero's life for a short period in the epilogue, we meet a quick story, where on several pages we learn the events of several years or decades. For an epilogue, the formula is typical: “ten years after what was told,” etc. The time gap and the acceleration of the pace of the narrative is a very tangible “mark” for the end of the novel. With the help of an epilogue, it is possible to close a novel with a very weak plot dynamics, with simple and motionless situations of characters. To what extent the demand for an "epilogue" was felt as a traditional form of completing a novel is shown by Dostoevsky's words at the end of "The Village of Stepanchikov": "A lot of decent explanations could be made here; but, in essence, all these explanations are now completely superfluous. That, at least, is my opinion. Instead of any explanations, I will say only a few words about the further fate of all the heroes of my story: without this, as you know, not a single novel ends, and this is even prescribed by the rules.

The novel, as a large verbal construction, is subject to the requirement of interest, and hence the requirement of an appropriate choice of subject matter.

As a rule, the entire novel is "supported" by this non-literary thematic material of general cultural significance.* It must be said that the thematic (non-fabulous) and plot structure mutually sharpen the interest of the work. So, in a popular science novel, on the one hand, there is a revival of a scientific topic with the help of a plot intertwined with this topic (for example, in an astronomical novel, adventures of fantastic interplanetary travel are usually introduced), on the other hand, the plot itself acquires significance and special interest due to the positive information that we receive by following the fate of fictional characters. This is the basis "didactic"(instructive) art, formulated in ancient poetics by the formula " miscere utility duici "("mixing the useful with the pleasant").

* A wording suggestive of an external connection in the novel of "literary" and "non-literary" material. According to modern ideas, in a work of art, the narrated event and the event of the narration itself form an organic unity.

The system for introducing non-literary material into the plot scheme was partly shown above. It comes down to ensuring that non-literary material is artistically motivated. Here it is possible to introduce it into the work in different ways. First, the very system of expressions that formulate this material can be artistic. Such are the methods of estrangement, lyrical construction, and so on. Another technique is the plot use of a non-literary motif. Thus, if a writer wants to put the problem of "unequal marriage" in line, then he chooses a plot where this unequal marriage will be one of the dynamic motives. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" takes place precisely in the context of war, and the problem of war is given in the very plot of the novel. In modern revolutionary novel the revolution itself is the driving force in the plot of the story.

The third method, which is very common, is the use of non-literary themes as a device detention, or braking*. With an extensive narrative, events must be delayed. This, on the one hand, allows you to verbally expand the presentation, and on the other hand, it sharpens the interest of waiting. At the most tense moment, interrupting motives break in, which force us to move away from the presentation of the dynamics of the plot, as if to temporarily interrupt the presentation in order to return to it after the presentation of the interrupting motives. Such detentions are most often filled with static motives. Compare the extensive descriptions in V. Hugo's novel The Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris". Here is an example of the "uncovered reception" of detention in Marlinsky's short story "Trial": in the first chapter it is reported how two hussars, Gremin and Strelinsky, independently of one another, went to Petersburg; in the second chapter with a characteristic epigraph from Byron If I have any fault , " tis disgression (“If I am guilty of anything, it is in retreats”) the entry of one hussar (without giving a name) to Petersburg is reported and Sennaya Square is described in detail, along which he passes. At the end of the chapter we read the following dialogue, a "revealing technique":

* The term "retardation" is also commonly used. V. Shklovsky drew attention to the significance of this technique, understanding it as a way to make the movement “perceptible” (Connection of plot construction techniques with general techniques of style//0 prose theory, p. 32). The classic definition of the role of retardation in epic story gave Hegel, who interpreted it as a way to “present to our gaze the entire integrity of the world and its states” (Aesthetics: V 4 t. M., 1971. T. 3. S. 450). Wed V contemporary work: "Retardation<...>- a way of artistic development of the empirical diversity of life, a diversity that cannot be subordinated to a given goal ”(Tamarchenko N.D. Typology of a realistic novel. P. 40).

- Have mercy, mister writer! - I hear the exclamation of many of my readers: - you have written a whole chapter on the Satisfy Market, which is more likely to stimulate an appetite for food than a curiosity for reading.

- In both cases, you are not a loser, gracious sovereigns!

- But tell me, at least, which of our two hussar friends, Gremin or Strelinsky, came to the capital?

- You will know this only after reading two or three chapters, gracious sovereigns!

– I confess, a strange way to force yourself to read.

- Each baron has his own fantasy, each writer has his own story. However, if you are so tormented by curiosity, send someone to the commandant's office to look at the list of visitors.

Finally, the subject matter is often given in speeches. In this regard, Dostoevsky's novels are typical, where the characters speak on all sorts of topics, covering this or that problem from different angles.

The use of the hero as a mouthpiece for the author's statements is a traditional device in drama and novel. In this case, it is possible (usually) that the author entrusts his views goodie(“reasoner”), but also often the author transfers his too bold ideas to the negative hero, in order to thereby divert responsibility for these views from himself. This is what Molière did in his Don Juan, entrusting the hero with atheistic statements, this is how Mathurin attacks clericalism through the mouth of his fantastic demonic hero Melmoth (“Melmoth the Wanderer”).

The characterization of the hero itself can have the significance of holding a non-literary theme. The hero can be a kind of personification social problem era. In this regard, such novels as "Eugene Onegin", "A Hero of Our Time", Turgenev's novels ("Rudin", Bazarov "Fathers and Sons", etc.) are characteristic. In these novels, the problem of social life, morality, etc. portrayed as an individual problem of the behavior of a particular character. Since many writers completely involuntarily begin to "put themselves in the hero's position," the author has the opportunity to develop the corresponding problem of general significance as a psychological episode in the hero's life. This explains the possibility of works investigating the history of Russian social thought based on the heroes of novels (for example, Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky's "History of the Russian Intelligentsia"), because the heroes of novels, due to their popularity, begin to live in the language as symbols of certain social movements, as carriers of social problems.

But an objective presentation of the problem in the novel is not enough - it is usually necessary to have an oriented attitude towards the problem. Ordinary prosaic dialectics can also be used for such an orientation. Quite often, the heroes of novels make persuasive speeches due to the logic and harmony of the arguments they put forward. But such a construction is not purely artistic. Usually they resort to emotional motives. What has been said about the emotional coloring of heroes makes it clear how sympathy can be drawn to the side of the hero and his ideology. In the old moralistic novel, the hero was always virtuous, uttered virtuous maxims and triumphed in the denouement, while his enemies and villains who uttered cynical villainous speeches perished. In literature, alien to naturalistic motivation, these negative types, emphasizing a positive theme, were expressed simply and straightforwardly, almost in the tone of the famous formula: "judge me, unjust judge", and the dialogues sometimes approach the type of folklore spiritual verses, where the "unrighteous" king addresses with such a speech: "do not believe in your correct faith, Christian, but believe in my faith, dog, infidel." If we analyze the speeches of negative characters (except for the case when the author uses the negative character as a disguised mouthpiece), even close to modern works, with a clear naturalistic motivation, then we will see that they differ from this primitive formula only in a greater or lesser degree of "covering up the traces" .

The transfer of emotional sympathy from the hero to his ideology is a means of instilling an "attitude" towards the ideology. It can also be given as a plot, when the dynamic motif, embodying the ideological theme, wins in the denouement. It is enough to recall the jingoistic literature of the war era, with a description of "German atrocities" and the beneficial influence of the "victorious Russian army", in order to understand the device, designed for the reader's natural need for generalization. The fact is that fictional plot and fictional situations, in order to present the interest of significance, are constantly put forward as situations in relation to which generalization is possible, as “typical” situations.

I will also note the need by a system of special techniques drawing attention reader on the introduced topics, which should not be equal in perception. This attraction of attention is called pedaling theme and is achieved in various ways, ranging from simple repetition and ending with the placement of the theme in crucial tense moments of the narrative.

Turning to the question of the classification of novels, I will note, as in relation to all genres, that their real classification is the result of intersecting historical factors and is carried out simultaneously according to several criteria. So, if we take the storytelling system as the main feature, then we can get the following classes: 1) abstract storytelling, 2) novel-diary, 3) novel - found manuscript (see novels by Rider Haggardt), 4) novel - hero's story (" Manon Lescaut" by Abbé Prevost), 5) an epistolary novel (recording in the characters' letters is a favorite form of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - the novels of Rousseau, Richardson, we have Dostoevsky's "Poor People").

Of these forms, perhaps only the epistolary form motivates the allocation of novels of this kind to a special class, since the conditions of the epistolary form create very special techniques in the development of the plot and the treatment of themes (restricted forms for the development of the plot, since the correspondence takes place between people who do not live together , or living in exceptional conditions that allow for the possibility of correspondence, a free form for the introduction of non-literary material, since the form of writing allows you to enter entire treatises into the novel).

I will try to outline only some forms of the novel.*

* The following selection of seven types of novel is an attempt to outline the typology of this genre. B. Tomashevsky himself described the types listed by him as "a very incomplete and imperfect list of romantic forms", which "can be deployed only in the historical-literary plane" (p. 257). Wed historical typology of the novel, developed in the works of M.M. Bakhtin (Forms of time and chronotope in the novel; The novel of education and its significance in the history of realism). See also; Tamarchenko N.D. Typology of the realistic novel.

1)Roman adventurous- typical for him is the thickening of the hero's adventures and his constant transitions from dangers that threaten death to salvation. (See the novels of Dumas père, Gustave Aimard, Mailly-Rida, especially Ponson du Terail's Rocambole).

2) historical novel, represented by the novels of Walter Scott, and here in Russia - by the novels of Zagoskin, Lazhechnikov, Alexei Tolstoy and others. Historical novel differs from adventurous by signs of a different order (in one - a sign of the development of the plot, in the other - a sign of the thematic situation), and therefore both genera do not exclude each other. Dumas Père's novel can be called both historical and adventurous at the same time.

3) Psychological novel, usually from modern life (in France - Balzac, Stendhal). The usual novel of the 19th century adjoins this genre. with a love affair, an abundance of social descriptive material, etc., which is grouped by school: English novel(Dickens), French novel (Flaubert - Madame Bovary, novels by Maupassant); special mention should be made of the naturalistic novel of the Zola school, etc. Such novels are characterized by adultery intrigue (the theme of adultery). To the same type gravitate rooted in the moralistic novel of the 18th century. a family novel, the usual "feuilleton novel", published in the German and English "Shops" - monthly magazines for " family reading"(the so-called" petty-bourgeois novel), "everyday novel", "tabloid novel", etc.

4) Parodic and satirical novel which took on different forms in different eras. This type includes Scarron's "Comic Novel" (XVII century), "The Life and Adventures of Tristram Shandy" by Stern, who created in prose form a special trend "Sternianism" (early XIX century), some of Leskov's novels can be attributed to the same type ( "Cathedrals"), etc.

5) novel fantastic(for example, "Ghoul" by Al. Tolstoy, "Fiery Angel" by Bryusov), which adjoins the form of a utopian and popular science novel (Wells, Jules Berne, Roni Sr., modern utopian novels). These novels are distinguished by the sharpness of the plot and the abundance of non-literary themes; often develop like an adventure novel (see "We" Evg. Zamyatin). This also includes novels that describe primitive culture a person (for example, "Vamireh", "Ksipehuzy" Roni Sr.).

6) Publicistic novel(Chernyshevsky).

7) As special class should be put forward plotless novel, a sign of which is the extreme weakness (and sometimes absence) of the plot, a slight rearrangement of parts without a noticeable plot change, etc. In general, any large artistic and descriptive form of coherent "essays" could be attributed to this genre, for example, "travel notes" (by Karamzin, Goncharov, Stanyukovich). In modern literature, "autobiographical novels", "diary novels", etc., approach this form. (cf. Aksakov's "Childhood of Bagrov-grandson") - through Andrei Bely and B. Pilnyak, such a "planless" (in the sense of plot design) form for Lately received some distribution.

This very incomplete and imperfect list of private romantic forms can be developed only in the historical-literary plane. The signs of a genre arise in the evolution of form, interbreed, fight among themselves, die off, and so on. Only within the same epoch can an accurate classification of works be given according to schools, genres and trends.

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The quiet rustle of fresh grass underfoot, the sweet whisper of the wind and the ruby ​​sunset on the horizon - an idyll. “How nice it is to relax in the country!” - flashed through my head. On your favorite silver watch, the arrow has passed nine in the evening, the chirping of cicadas can be heard from afar, and the air smells of freshness. “Oh yes, I completely forgot to introduce myself! My name is Semyon Mikhailovich Dolin, and today I turned seventy years old. I have been living on this earth for seven decades! How quickly time flies, ”I thought, slowly walking around the dacha. Walking along a narrow path, I turned right, rounded a massive red brick house and smelled the magnificent fragrance of phlox and aster flowers. After a while, I found myself in my favorite place in our garden. After my wife died in a car accident, I often walk here and take care of the flowers. Grows almost in the center of the garden Cherry tree- the source of beauty. This is not just a cherry tree, but an incredibly beautiful Japanese sakura - a symbol of life. By some miracle, it took root here and, blooming every spring, awakens in me the memories of my happy life.

... A semi-dark room, a tiny and soft bed, through half-open curtains penetrate sunbeams. I hear the sound of a boiling kettle, the voices of my parents in the kitchen ... I sleepily stretch, yawning and rubbing my eyes with my fists. This is how the day started when I was five years old. Getting out of bed, I put on a T-shirt and go to the smell of freshly baked pancakes and raspberry jam. In the bright and spacious kitchen, at the oilcloth table, the people dearest to me are sitting: the ever-hurrying and fussy mother, the strict and bearded father, and also the kind and cheerful grandmother. I tell them all, "Good morning." This is not just a greeting, because I really think that every morning with the sun and pancakes is good. It seemed to me that dad was afraid of me, because when I appeared, for some reason he looked at his watch, jumped up and ran away until the evening. Probably hiding. Mom seemed not to see me at all, immersed in household chores. “How does she do everything in these glass pieces that are attached somewhere behind the ears and on the nose? She doesn't even see me!" I think, looking at my mother wiping the lenses of her glasses. And only my grandmother, seeing me, says: “Good morning, Syomka!”. Then I was as happy as ever!

... A merciless downpour, bright store signs, gigantic gloomy buildings, and, it seems, billions of cars, as well as thoughts in a bursting head: “What should I do now? What will happen next? Is this what I wanted? Was it worth it? I'm scared. Very scary". Thus ended the day when I turned fifteen. I was scared, young, in love and sincerely believed in a miracle. Still would! It's hard not to believe when this miracle, smelling of roses and cinnamon, walks hand in hand through the city at night. She was about sixteen years old, she had Blue eyes and long hair, braided in two luxurious braids. There was a mole on her velvety cheek, and her graceful nose wrinkled cutely when a car drove by and let a stream of smoke into the April air. And so, we slowly went deep into the city, away from parents, problems, stupid jokes on TV, studies, from everyone ... She was my muse, for which I created, she was my meaning, for which I lived. “Yes, we ran away, we acted like children, but I will be with her to the end and I will never forget her!” I thought. And standing like this in the middle of a busy street, the nymph whispered to me: “I love you very much. I'm ready to go to the ends of the world with you." Listening to these beautiful words, I was happier than ever!

... A frighteningly snow-white intensive care corridor, a flashing lamp, a crimson dawn behind a cracked window, falling leaves are spinning in a furious flamenco with the wind. An exhausted wife snores on his shoulder. I rub my eyes, hoping that this is just a dream, that it's not real, but the nightmare treacherously refuses to end. It was as if mercury had been poured into my head, my blue hands ached madly, and the events of that terrible night flashed before my eyes again: a daughter who stopped breathing, a screaming and crying wife, fingers stiff from animal horror, refusing to dial saving numbers on the mobile. Later, the roar of the ambulance, the frightened neighbors and the one and only prayer in my head that I repeated aloud over and over again ... Both of them shuddered at the sound of the opening door. A gray-haired, hunchbacked doctor with shaking dry hands and huge glasses appeared before us like a guardian angel. The Savior took off his mask. There is a tired smile on his face. He uttered only three words: "She will live." My wife fainted, and I, Semyon Mikhailovich Dolin, forty years old, a bearded peasant who had seen a lot in life, fell to my knees and began to sob. Cry because of the fear and pain experienced. Cry because you almost lost your sunshine. Three words! Just think about it: just three words that I then heard made me happier than ever!

... Pink petals of sakura, performing chic pirouettes, gently fall on the ground, the chirping of birds around is heard. The scarlet sunset is mesmerizing. This tree has witnessed many happy moments in my life, kind words of people dear to me. I made many mistakes and delusions, I saw a lot and went through a lot in this life, however, I understood only one thing for sure: a word can really support, cure and save, make a person happy. The word is the source of happiness.