Functions of composition in a literary work. Compositional techniques

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The composition of a literary work, constituting the crown of its form, is the mutual correlation and arrangement of units of the depicted and artistic speech means, "a system for connecting signs, elements of a work." Compositional techniques they serve to place the accents necessary for the author and in a certain way, purposefully “give” the reader a recreated objectivity and verbal “flesh”. They have a unique energy of aesthetic impact.

The term comes from the Latin verb componere, which means to fold, build, decorate. The word "composition" in its application to the fruits literary creativity to a greater or lesser extent, such words as “construction”, “disposition”, “layout”, “organization”, “plan” are synonymous.

Composition provides unity and integrity artistic creations. This, says P.V. Palievsky, “the disciplining force and the organizer of the work. She is instructed to ensure that nothing breaks out to the side, into its own law, namely, it is mated into a whole. Her goal is to arrange all the pieces so that they are closed in the full expression of the idea.

To the above, we add that the totality of compositional techniques and means stimulates and organizes the perception of a literary work. A.K. Zholkovsky and Yu.K. Shcheglov, relying on the term “expressive technique” proposed by them. According to these scholars, art (including verbal art) "reveals the world through the prism of expressive techniques" that control the reader's reactions, subordinate him to himself, and thereby to the creative will of the author. There are not many of these methods of expressiveness, and they can be systematized, a kind of alphabet can be compiled. Experiences of systematization of compositional means as “expressive techniques”, today still preliminary, are very promising.

The foundation of the composition is the organization (orderliness) of the reality that is fictional and depicted by the writer, i.e., the structural aspects of the world of the work itself. But the main and specific beginning of artistic construction is the ways of “presenting” the depicted, as well as speech units.

Compositional techniques have, above all, expressive energy. “An expressive effect,” notes the music theorist, “is usually achieved in a work with the help of not any one means, but several means aimed at the same goal.” The same is true in literature. Composite means here they constitute a kind of system, to the “terms” (elements) of which we will turn.

COMPOSITION

The composition and sequence of episodes, parts and elements of a literary work, as well as the relationship between individual artistic images.

So, in the poem by M. Yu. Lermontov "How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ..." the basis of the composition is the opposition (see Antithesis) between the soulless light and the lyrical hero's memories of the "wonderful kingdom"; in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" - a contradiction between the false and the true; in "Ionych" by A.P. Chekhov - the process of spiritual degradation of the protagonist, etc.

In epic, dramatic, and partly in lyrical epic works, the plot is the main part of the composition. Such a composition includes obligatory plot-compositional elements (outset, action development, climax and denouement) and additional (exposition, prologue, epilogue), as well as the so-called extra-plot composition elements (inserted episodes, author's digressions and descriptions).

At the same time, the compositional design of the plot is different.

The plot composition can be:

- sequential(events unfold in chronological order)

- reverse(events are given to the reader in reverse chronological order),

- retrospective(sequentially presented events are combined with digressions into the past), etc. (See also Fabula.)

In epic and lyrical-epic works important role non-plot elements play in the composition: author's digressions, descriptions, introductory (plug-in) episodes. The ratio of plot and extra-plot elements is an essential feature of the composition of the work, which must be noted. Thus, the composition of M. Yu. Lermontov's poems "The Song about the Merchant Kalashnikov" and "Mtsyri" is characterized by the predominance of plot elements, and for "Eugene Onegin" by A. S. Pushkin, "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol, "To whom Russia to live well" N. A. Nekrasova is indicative of a significant number of extra-plot elements.

An important role in the composition is played by the system of characters, as well as the system of images (for example, the sequence of images in A. S. Pushkin's poem "The Prophet", expressing the process spiritual development poet; or the interaction of such symbolic details-images as the cross, the ax, the Gospel, the resurrection of Lazarus, etc. in F. M. Dostoevsky's novel "Crime and Punishment").

For the composition of an epic work, the organization of the narrative plays an important role: for example, in the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov "A Hero of Our Time", at first the narration is conducted by a rustic but observant Maxim Maksimych, then the "author" who publishes "Pechorin's diary", a person of the same circle with him and finally himself
Pechorin. This allows the author to reveal the character of the hero, going from outside to inside.

The composition of the work may also include dreams ("Crime and Punishment", "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy), letters ("Eugene Onegin", "Hero of Our Time"), genre inclusions, for example, songs ("Eugene Onegin "," To whom it is good to live in Russia "), a story (in " Dead souls- "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin").

The composition of a literary work. The main aspects of the composition.

The composition of the figurative system.

System of images-characters artwork.

Plot composition and composition of non-plot elements

1. Composition of a literary work. The main aspects of the composition.

Composition(from lat. compositio - compilation, connection) - the connection of parts or components into a whole; the structure of the literary and artistic form. Composition- this is the composition and a certain arrangement of parts, elements of the work in some meaningful sequence.

Composition is a combination of parts, but not these parts themselves; depending on what level (layer) of the art form in question, distinguish aspects of composition. This is the arrangement of characters, and the event (plot) connections of the work, and the installation of details (psychological, portrait, landscape, etc.), and the repetition of symbolic details (forming motives and leitmotifs), and the change in the flow of speech of its forms such as narration , description, dialogue, reasoning, as well as the change of subjects of speech, and the division of the text into parts (including the frame and main text), and the dynamics of speech style, and much more.

The aspects of composition are manifold. At the same time, the approach to the work as an aesthetic object allows us to identify in its composition art form at least two layers and, accordingly, two compositions that combine components of different nature, - textual and subject (figurative). Sometimes in the first case one speaks of the outer layer of the composition (or "outer composition"), in the second - of the inner.

Perhaps, the difference between subject and textual composition is not so clearly manifested in anything, as in applying the concepts of “beginning” and “end” to them, otherwise “frame” (frame, frame components). Framework components are title, subtitle, sometimes - epigraph, dedication, preface, always - First line, first and last paragraphs.

In modern literary criticism, apparently, the term " strong position of the text” (it applies, in particular, to titles, the first line, the first paragraph, the ending).

Researchers show increased attention to the frame components of the text, in particular, to its absolute beginning, which creates a certain horizon of expectation, structurally distinguished. For example: A.S. Pushkin. Captain's daughter. Next is the epigraph: Take care of honor from a young age". Or: N.V. Gogol. Auditor. Comedy in five acts. Epigraph: " There is nothing to blame on the mirror if the face is crooked. folk proverb". Followed by " Characters» (traditional drama component side text), « Characters and costumes. Notes for gentlemen actors(for understanding the author's concept, the role of this metatext is very important).

Compared to epic and dramatic works, lyrics are more modest in the design of the “entrance” to the text: often there is no title at all, and the name gives the text its name. First line, which simultaneously introduces the rhythm of the poem (therefore, it cannot be shortened in the table of contents).

Parts of the text have their frame components, which also form relative units. epic works can be divided into volumes, books, parts, chapters, subchapters, etc. Their names will form their own expressive text (component of the frame of the work).

In drama, it is usually divided into acts (actions), scenes (pictures), phenomena (in modern plays, breakdown into phenomena is rare). The entire text is clearly divided into character (main) and author's (side), which includes, in addition to the heading component, various kinds of stage indications: a description of the place, time of action, etc. at the beginning of acts and scenes, the designation of speakers, remarks, etc.

Parts of the text in lyrics (and in poetic speech in general) are a verse, a stanza. The thesis about the “unity and tightness of the verse series”, put forward by Yu.N. Tynyanov in the book "Problems of Poetic Language" (1924) allows us to consider the verse (usually written in a separate line) by analogy with larger units, parts of the text. One can even say that the function of frame components in verse is performed by the anacrusis and the clause, often enriched with rhyme and noticeable as the border of the verse in the case of a transfer.

In all kinds of literature, individual works can form cycles. The sequence of texts within a cycle (a book of poems) usually gives rise to interpretations in which the arguments are the arrangement of characters, a similar structure of plots, and characteristic associations of images (in the free composition of lyrical poems), and other - spatial and temporal - connections of the objective worlds of the work.

So there is text components and components of the objective world works. Successful analysis of the overall composition of a work requires tracing their interaction, often very tense. The composition of the text is always "superimposed" in the perception of the reader on the deep, objective structure of the work, interacts with it; it is thanks to this interaction that certain devices are read as signs of the presence of the author in the text.

Considering the subject composition, it should be noted that its first function is to “hold” the elements of the whole, to make it from separate parts; without a deliberate and meaningful composition, it is impossible to create a full-fledged work of art. The second function of the composition is to express some artistic meaning by the very arrangement and correlation of the images of the work.

Before proceeding to the analysis of the subject composition, you should familiarize yourself with the most important compositional techniques. The main ones among them are: repetition, amplification, contrast and montage(Esin A.B. Principles and methods of analysis of a literary work - M., 1999, p. 128 - 131).

Repeat- one of the simplest and at the same time the most effective composition techniques. It allows you to easily and naturally "round" the work, to give it a compositional harmony. The so-called ring composition looks especially impressive when a “roll call” is established between the beginning and end of the work.

A frequently repeated detail or image becomes the leitmotif (leading motive) of the work. For example, the motif of the cherry orchard as a symbol of the Home, the beauty and sustainability of life, its bright beginning runs through the entire play by A.P. Chekhov. In the play by A.N. Ostrovsky, the image of a thunderstorm becomes the leitmotif. In poems, a kind of repetition is a refrain (repetition of individual lines).

A technique close to repetition is gain. This technique is used in cases where a simple repetition is not enough to create an artistic effect, when it is necessary to enhance the impression by selecting homogeneous images or details. So, according to the principle of amplification, a description of the interior decoration of Sobakevich’s house in “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol: every new detail reinforces the previous one: “everything was solid, clumsy to the highest degree and had some strange resemblance to the owner of the house; in the corner of the living room stood a pot-bellied walnut office on absurd four legs, a perfect bear. The table, the armchairs, the chairs—everything was of the most heaviest and most restless quality—in a word, every object, every chair seemed to say: “Me, too, Sobakevich!” or “and I am very similar to Sobakevich!”.

According to the same principle of amplification, the selection of artistic images in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "The Man in the Case", used to describe the main character - Belikov: "He was remarkable in that he always, even in very good weather, went out in galoshes and with an umbrella and certainly in a warm coat with wadding. And his umbrella was in a gray suede case, and when he took out his penknife to sharpen his pencil, his knife was also in a case; and his face, it seemed, was also in a case, since he always hid it in his upturned collar.

The opposite of repetition and amplification is opposition- a compositional technique based on antithesis. For example, in a poem by M.Yu. Lermontov's "The Death of a Poet": "And you will not wash away all your black blood / Poet's righteous blood."

In the broad sense of the word, opposition is any opposition of images, for example, Onegin and Lensky, Bazarov and Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov, images of storm and peace in the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov "Sail", etc.

Contamination, combining the techniques of repetition and opposition, gives a special compositional effect: the so-called "mirror composition". As a rule, when mirror composition the initial and final images are repeated exactly the opposite. A classic example of a mirror composition is the novel by A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”, It seems to repeat the situation already depicted earlier, only with a change of position: at first Tatyana is in love with Onegin, writes him a letter and listens to his cold rebuke At the end of the work, on the contrary: Onegin in love writes a letter and listens to Tatyana’s answer.

The essence of the reception mounting, lies in the fact that the images located side by side in the work give rise to a new, third meaning, which appears precisely from their proximity. So, for example, in the story of A.P. Chekhov's "Ionych", the description of the "art salon" of Vera Iosifovna Turkina is adjacent to the mention that the clink of knives was heard from the kitchen and the smell of fried onions was heard. Together, these two details create that atmosphere of vulgarity, which A.P. tried to reproduce in the story. Chekhov.

All compositional techniques can perform two functions in the composition of a work, somewhat different from each other: they can organize either a separate small fragment of text (at the micro level) or the entire text (at the macro level), becoming in the latter case the principle of composition.

For example, the most common device for the microstructure of a poetic text is the sound repetition at the end of poetic lines - rhyme.

In the above examples from the works of N.V. Gogol and A.P. Chekhov's technique of amplification organizes separate fragments of texts, and in A.S. Pushkin's "Prophet" becomes the general principle of organizing the entire artistic whole.

In the same way, montage can become the compositional principle of organizing the entire work (this can be observed in the tragedy of A.S. Pushkin "Boris Godunov", in the novel "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov).

Thus, it is necessary to distinguish between repetition, opposition, amplification and montage as proper compositional techniques and as a principle of composition.

Artistic time and space. Worship before the beginning of the egoistic. Realism is fidelity to life, it is such a manner of creativity. Acmeists or Adamists. Fantasy means a special character of works of art. Sentimentalism. artistic method in literature and art. Fiction - depicted in fiction developments. Content and form. Historical and literary process.

"Questions on the theory of literature" - Internal monologue. Description of the character's appearance. Type of literature. Intentional use of the same words in the text. Grotesque. A tool to help describe a character. events in the work. Exposure. Term. Paraphrase. Flame of talent. Symbol. Expressive detail. Description of nature. Interior. Epic works. Plot. Display method internal state. Allegory. Epilogue.

"Theory and History of Literature" - With the help of a detail, the writer highlights the event. Implicit, "subtextual" psychologism. K.S. Stanislavsky and E.V. Vakhtangov. The psychologism of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky is an artistic expression. Tiya, in which all sectors of society inevitably participate. Psychologism has not left literature. Theory of Literature. A. Gornfeld "Symbolists". Subtext is the meaning hidden "under" the text. Psychologism reached its maximum in the work of L.N. Tolstoy.

"Theory of Literature" - Anthem. Stages of action development. Satire. Humor. Novel. Consonance of the ends of poetic lines. Sonnet. The fate of the people. Character. Inner monologue. Tragic. Tragedy. Artistic detail. Author's position. Damage. Style. Symbol. Grotesque. Detail. Composition. Epos. Feature article. Epigram. Message. Oh yeah. Story. Literary genera and genres. Comedy. Character. Lyrical hero. Plot. Tasks. Landscape. Artistic welcome.

"Theory of Literature at School" - epic genres. Space. Acmeism. Speaking surnames. Portrait. Stages of development of action in a work of art. The content and form of a literary work. Lyrics. Genre system of folklore. Artistic image. Plot. Dramatic genres. The theme of the artwork. Biographical author. Composition. Symbolism. lyrical genres. Artwork idea. Artistic time.

"Fundamentals of Literary Theory" - Two ways to create speech characteristics. speech characteristic hero. Characters. Eternal image. Temporary sign. Theory of Literature. The development of the plot. historical persons. Plot. Monologue. Inner speech. Eternal themes. Paphos consists of varieties. Eternal themes in fiction. The content of the work. Pathos. Way. An example of opposition. Pushkin. Fabular development. The emotional content of a work of art.

In literary criticism, they say different things about composition, but there are three main definitions:

1) Composition is the arrangement and correlation of parts, elements and images of a work (components of an artistic form), the sequence of introducing units of the depicted and speech means of the text.

2) Composition is the construction of a work of art, the correlation of all parts of the work into a single whole, due to its content and genre.

3) Composition - the construction of a work of art, a certain system of means of disclosure, organization of images, their connections and relationships that characterize the life process shown in the work.

All these terrible literary concepts, in fact, have quite simple decryption: composition is the arrangement of novel passages in a logical order, in which the text becomes solid and acquires an inner meaning.

How, following the instructions and rules, we collect from small parts constructor or puzzle, so we collect from text passages, whether it be chapters, parts or sketches, and a whole novel.

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The composition of the work is external and internal.

External composition of the book

The external composition (aka architectonics) is the breakdown of the text into chapters and parts, the allocation of additional structural parts and epilogue, introduction and conclusion, epigraphs and lyrical digressions. Another external composition is the division of the text into volumes (separate books with a global idea, a branching plot and in large numbers heroes and characters).

External composition is a way of dispensing information.

The novel text, written on 300 sheets, is unreadable without structural breakdown. At a minimum, he needs parts, as a maximum - chapters or semantic segments, separated by spaces or asterisks (***).

By the way, short chapters are more convenient for perception - up to ten sheets - after all, we, being readers, having overcome one chapter, no, no, let's count how many pages are in the next - and continue to read or sleep.

The internal composition of the book

The internal composition, unlike the external one, includes many more elements and techniques of text composition. All of them, however, come down to a common goal - to build the text in a logical order and reveal the author's intention, but they go to it in different ways - plot, figurative, speech, thematic, etc. Let's analyze them in more detail.

1. Plot elements of the internal composition:

prologue - introduction, most often - prehistory. (But some authors take an event from the middle of the story as a prologue, or else from the final - an original compositional move.) The prologue is an interesting, but optional element of both external composition and external;
exposition - the initial event in which the characters are introduced, a conflict is outlined;
tie - events in which a conflict is tied;
development of actions - the course of events;
culmination - the highest point of tension, the clash of opposing forces, the peak of the emotional intensity of the conflict;
denouement - the result of the climax;
epilogue - a summary of the story, conclusions on the plot and assessment of events, outlines later life heroes. Optional element.

2. Figurative elements:

images of heroes and characters - promote the plot, are the main conflict, reveal the idea and the author's intention. The system of actors - each image separately and the connections between them - important element internal composition;
images of the environment in which the action develops are descriptions of countries and cities, images of the road and accompanying landscapes, if the characters are on the way, interiors - if all events take place, for example, within the walls of a medieval castle. The images of the environment are the so-called descriptive "meat" (the world of history), atmospheric (feeling of history).

Figurative elements work mainly for the plot.

So, for example, the image of a hero is assembled from the details - an orphan, without family and tribe, but with magic power and the goal is to learn about your past, about your family, to find your place in the world. And this goal, in fact, becomes a plot - and compositional: from the search for a hero, from the development of the action - from a progressive and logical progress forward - a text is formed.

And the same goes for the images of the environment. They both create the space of history and at the same time limit it to certain limits - a medieval castle, city, country, world.

Concrete images complement and develop the story, make it understandable, visible and tangible, like correctly (and compositionally) arranged household items in your apartment.

3. Speech elements:

dialogue (polylogue);
monologue;
digressions(the author's word, not related to the development of the plot or the images of the characters, abstract reflections on a specific topic).

Speech elements are the speed of perception of the text. Dialogues are dynamics, while monologues and lyrical digressions (including descriptions of the action in the first person) are static. Visually, a text without dialogues seems cumbersome, uncomfortable, unreadable, and this is reflected in the composition. Without dialogues, it is difficult to understand - the text seems to be drawn out.

A monologue text, like a bulky sideboard in a small room, relies on many details (and contains even more), which are sometimes difficult to understand. Ideally, in order not to weigh down the composition of the chapter, monologue (and any descriptive text) should take no more than two or three pages. And by no means ten or fifteen, just few people will read them - they will miss them, they will look diagonally.

Dialogues, on the other hand, are composed of emotions, easy to understand and dynamic. At the same time, they should not be empty - only for the sake of dynamics and "heroic" experiences, but informative, and revealing the image of the hero.

4. Inserts:

retrospective - scenes from the past: a) long episodes that reveal the image of the characters, showing the history of the world or the origins of the situation, can take several chapters; b) short sketches(flashbacks) - from one paragraph, often extremely emotional and atmospheric episodes;
short stories, parables, fairy tales, stories, poems are optional elements that interestingly diversify the text ( good example compositional fairy tale - "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by Rowling); chapters of another story in the composition “a novel within a novel” (“The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov);
dreams (dreams-premonitions, dreams-predictions, dreams-riddles).

Inserts are extra-plot elements, and remove them from the text - the plot will not change. However, they can frighten, amuse, disturb the reader, suggest the development of the plot, if there is a complex series of events ahead. lines);

— arrangement and design of the text in accordance with the plot (idea) is, for example, the form of a diary, term paper student, novel within a novel;

— the theme of the work- a hidden, cross-cutting compositional technique that answers the question - what is the story about, what is its essence, what main idea does the author want to convey to readers; in practical terms, it is decided through the choice significant details in key scenes;

— motive- these are stable and repetitive elements that create cross-cutting images: for example, images of the road - the motive of travel, adventurous or homeless life of the hero.

Composition is a complex and multi-layered phenomenon, and it is difficult to understand all its levels. However, you need to understand in order to know how to build the text so that it is easily perceived by the reader. In this article, we talked about the basics, about what lies on the surface. And in the following articles we will dig a little deeper.

Stay tuned!

Daria Gushchina
writer, fantasy writer
(page VKontakte

Significantly affects the expression of his ideas. The writer focuses his attention on attracting him to given time life phenomena and embodies them through artistic image characters, landscapes, moods. At the same time, he seeks to connect them in such a way that they are truly convincing and really reveal what he wanted to show, so that they encourage the reader to think.

The fact that the composition in the literature significantly affects the disclosure ideological concept writer, Belinsky constantly pointed out in his works. He believed that main idea the author must meet the following criteria: isolation and completeness of the whole, completeness, commensurate distribution of roles between the heroes of a work of art. Thus, the composition in literature is determined by the positions of the author: ideological and aesthetic. But the idea and the theme can be harmoniously combined only in mature work.

The composition of the text is considered by literary critics from different points of view. And on common definition they haven't gotten along to this day. Most often, the composition in the literature is defined as the construction of the correlation of all its parts with a single whole. It is known that it has many components that writers use in works to complete the image. life pictures. The main elements that make up the composition in literature are lyrical digressions, and portraits, and inserted episodes, epigraphs, titles, landscapes, and the environment.

Epigraphs and titles carry a special load.

The title, as a rule, indicates the following aspects of the work:

Subject (for example, Bazhov " Malachite Box»);

Images (for example, George Sand "Countess Rudolfstadt", "Valentina");

Problematics (E. Rich "What Moves the Sun and the Luminaries").

An epigraph is a kind of additional name, which is usually associated with the main idea of the work or hints at bright features Main character.

Lyrical digressions stand aside storyline. With their help, the author is able to express own attitude to those events, phenomena and images that depicts. There are also such lyrical digressions in which the experiences of several characters merge, but it is still clear that here the writer expressed his feelings and thoughts. For example, as in the digression about mother's hands in the novel "The Young Guard" by Fadeev.

Choosing the sequence of connection of the listed elements, their own principles of their "assembly", each author creates unique work. And he uses the following:

Ring composition, or frame composition. Writer repeats artistic descriptions, stanzas at the beginning of the work, and then at the end; the same events or characters at the beginning of the story and at the end. This technique is found in both prose and poetry.
Reverse composition. When the author places the ending at the beginning of the work, and then shows how events developed, explains why it was that way and not otherwise.
Using the technique of flashback - when the writer places readers in the past, when the causes of those events that happened in this moment. Sometimes a flashback is presented in the form of reminiscences of the main actor or his story (the so-called "story within a story").
A compositional break in events, when one chapter ends at the most intriguing moment, and the next begins with a completely different action. This technique is more common in the works of the detective, adventurous genre.
Using exposure. It may precede the main action, or it may be completely absent.