Literary forms. Types of literary genres by form

A special place in a literary work belongs to the actual meaningful layer. It is legitimate to characterize it not as another (fourth) side of the work, but as its substance. Artistic content is the unity of the objective and subjective principles. This is the totality of what came to the author from the outside and was cognized by him (about subject matter art see p. 40-53), and what he expressed and comes from his views, intuition, personality traits (about artistic subjectivity, see pp. 54-79).

The term "content" (artistic content) is more or less synonymous with the words "concept" (or "author's concept"), "idea", "meaning" (for MM Bakhtin: "the last semantic instance"). V. Kaiser, describing the subject layer of the work (Gnhalt), his speech (Sprachliche Formen) and composition (Afbau) as the main analysis concepts, named content (Gehalt) synthesis... The artistic content is indeed the synthesizing principle of the work. This is its deep foundation, which constitutes the purpose (function) of the form as a whole.

The artistic content is embodied (materialized) not in some separate words, phrases, phrases, and in the aggregate of what is present in the work. We agree with Yu.M. Lotman: “The idea is not contained in any, even well-chosen quotations, but is expressed in the whole artistic structure... A researcher who does not understand this and looks for an idea in individual quotes is like a person who, upon learning that a house has a plan, would begin to break down walls in search of a place where this plan is walled up. The plan is not walled up in the walls, but implemented in the proportions of the building. The plan is the architect's idea, the structure of the building is its implementation. "

Theme... First, the most essential components of the artistic structure, aspects of form, and supporting techniques are called themes. In the literature, these are the meanings of keywords, what is fixed by them. In this terminological tradition, the topic approaches (if not identified) with motive... It is an active, highlighted, accentuated component of artistic fabric. Another meaning of the term "theme" is vital for understanding the cognitive aspect of art: it goes back to the theoretical experiments of the last century and is associated not with the elements of structure, but directly with the essence of the work as a whole. The theme as the foundation of an artistic creation is everything that has become the subject of the author's interest, comprehension and evaluation (the theme of love, death, revolution). "A theme is a certain setting, to which all elements of the work are subordinated, a certain intention that is realized in the text."

The artistic theme is complex and multifaceted. At the theoretical level, it is legitimate to consider it as a combination of three principles. These are, firstly, ontological and anthropological universals, secondly, local (sometimes very large-scale) cultural and historical phenomena, and thirdly, the phenomena of individual life (first of all, of the author's) in their intrinsic value.

Pathos stems from the artist's worldview, from his lofty social ideals, from his desire to resolve acute social and moral issues modernity (according to Belinsky). He saw the primary task of criticism in analyzing the work, to determine its pathos. But not every piece of art has pathos. It is absent, for example, in naturalistic works that copy reality and are devoid of deep problematics. The author's attitude to life does not rise to the point of pathos in them.

The content of pathos in a work with a historically truthful ideological orientation has two sources. It depends both on the artist's worldview and on the objective properties of those phenomena of life (those characters and circumstances) that the writer cognizes, evaluates and reproduces. Due to their significant differences, the pathos of affirmation and the pathos of negation in literature also reveals several varieties. The work can be heroic, tragic, dramatic, sentimental and romantic, as well as humorous, satirical and other types of pathos.

In a work of art, depending on its problematics, sometimes one type of pathos dominates or a combination of its different types is found.

Heroic pathos embodies the affirmation of the greatness of the feat of an individual and a whole collective, its enormous significance for the development of a people, nation, humanity. The subject of heroic pathos in literature is the heroism of reality itself - the vigorous activity of people, thanks to which great nationwide progressive tasks are accomplished.

Drama in literature, like heroism, is generated by contradictions real life people - not only public, but also private. Such situations in life are dramatic when especially significant social or personal aspirations and needs of people, and sometimes their very lives, are under the threat of defeat and death from external forces independent of them. Such positions cause corresponding experiences in the soul of a person - deep fears and suffering, strong anxiety and tension. These experiences are either weakened by the awareness of their righteousness and determination to fight, or they lead to hopelessness and despair.

Tragedy real life situations and the experiences they cause should be considered by the similarity and, at the same time, in contrast to the drama. Being in a tragic situation, people experience deep mental tension and anxiety that causes them suffering, often very difficult. But this excitement and suffering is generated not only by collisions with some external forces, endangering the most important interests, sometimes the very life of people and provoking resistance, as is the case in dramatic situations. The tragedy of the situation and feelings lies mainly in the internal contradictions and struggle that arise in the consciousness, in the soul of people.

Satirical pathos- this is the strongest and sharpest indignant-mocking denial of certain watchmen public life... A satirical assessment of social characters is convincing and historically true only when these characters are worthy of such an attitude, when they have such properties that cause a negative, mocking attitude from writers. Only in this case, the ridicule expressed in the artistic images of the works will evoke understanding and sympathy among readers, listeners, viewers. Such an objective property of human life, causing a mocking attitude towards it, is its comic.

Humorous attitude to life long time did not know how to distinguish from a satirical attitude. Only in the era of romanticism, literary critics and representatives of aesthetic and philosophical thought realized it as a special kind of pathos. Humor, like satire, arises in the process of generalizing emotional comprehension of the comic inner contradictions of human characters - the discrepancy between the real emptiness of their existence and subjective claims to significance. Like satire, humor is a derisive attitude towards such characters on the part of people who can comprehend their internal inconsistency. Humor is laughter at relatively harmless comic contradictions, often combined with pity for people who display this comic.

Sentimental pathos- this is emotional tenderness, caused by the awareness of moral merits in the characters of people who are socially humiliated or associated with an immoral privileged environment. In literary works, sentimentality has a de and n about-affirming direction.

Just as the tragedy of situations and experiences should be viewed in relation to drama, so romantic pathos must be viewed in relation to the sentimental - by similarity and, at the same time, by contrast. The general properties of romance and sentimentality are due to the fact that their basis is high level the development of emotional self-awareness of the human personality, the reflectivity of her experiences. Sentimentality is a reflection of affection, addressed to an obsolete, receding way of life with its simplicity and moral integrity of relationships and experiences. Romance- this is a reflective spiritual enthusiasm, addressed to this or that sublime "supra-personal" ideal and its incarnations.

1. Artistic form and its composition.

As part of the form that carries the content, traditionally stand out three sides, it is necessary to be present in any literary work.

• Subject(subject-figurative) Start, all those individual phenomena and facts that are indicated with the help of words and in their totality constitute peace artwork(there are also expressions “ poetic world"," Inner world "of the work," immediate content ").
• The actual verbal fabric of the work: artistic speech, often fixed by the terms "poetic language", "stylistics", "text".
• Correlation and location in the product of units of subject and verbal "series", i.e. composition... This literary concept is akin to such a category of semiotics as structure (the ratio of elements of a complexly organized subject).

The selection of three of its main aspects in the work goes back to ancient rhetoric. It has been repeatedly noted that the speaker needs to: 1) find the material (that is, choose the subject that will be presented and characterized by speech); 2) somehow arrange (build) this material; 3) translate it into words that will make a proper impression on the audience. Accordingly, the ancient Romans used the terms inventio(invention of objects), dispositio(their location, construction), elocutio(decoration, which meant a bright verbal expression).

Theoretical literary criticism, characterizing a work, in some cases focuses more on its subject-verbal composition (R. Ingarden with his concept of "multilevel"), in others - on the moments of compositional (structural), which was typical for the formal school and even more for structuralism ... In the late 1920s, G.N. Pospelov, far ahead of the science of his time, noted that the subject of theoretical poetics has twofold character: 1) "individual properties and aspects" of works (image, plot, epithet); 2) "connection and relationship" of these phenomena: the structure of the work, its structure. The meaningful form, as you can see, is multifaceted. At the same time, the subject-verbal composition works and his building(compositional organization) are inseparable, equal, equally necessary.

1. The artistic world of the work. Components and object details of the image: landscape, interior. The character. Psychologism. The character's speech as a subject of artistic depiction. Character system.

The world of literary work far from identical the writer's world, which includes, first of all, the circle of representations, ideas, meanings expressed by him. Like speech fabric and composition, the world of a work is an embodiment, a carrier of artistic content (meaning), necessary means his message to the reader. This is recreated in him through speech and with the participation of fiction objectivity... It includes not only material data, but also the psyche, the consciousness of a person, and most importantly - himself as a mental-bodily unity. The world of the work constitutes both "material" and "personal" reality. In literary works, these two principles are unequal: in the center is not “dead nature”, but living, human, personal reality (albeit only potentially).

The world of a work is an integral part of its form (of course, meaningful). It is, as it were, between the content itself (meaning) and the verbal fabric (text).

In the composition of a literary work, 2 semantics are distinguishable: linguistic proper, linguistic, which constitutes the area of ​​objects designated by words, and deep, actually artistic, which is the sphere of the essences comprehended by the author and the meanings imprinted by him.

The concept of the "artistic world of a work" (sometimes called "poetic" or "internal") was substantiated by D.S. Likhachev. The most important properties of the world of a work are its non-identity with the primary reality, the participation of fiction in its creation, the use of not only lifelike, but also conventional forms of depiction by writers. In a literary work, special, actually artistic laws reign.

The world of the work is an artistically mastered and transformed reality... It is multifaceted. Most large units of the verbal and artistic world - the characters that make up the system, and the events that make up the plots. The world includes, further, what is rightfully called components figurativeness (artistic objectivity): acts of behavior of characters, features of their appearance (portraits), phenomena of the psyche, as well as facts of the life around people (things presented within the framework of interiors; pictures of nature - landscapes). At the same time, the artistically imprinted objectivity appears both as a non-verbal being designated by words, and as speech activity, in the form of statements, monologues and dialogues belonging to someone. Finally, a small and indivisible link of artistic objectivity is a single the details(details) of what is depicted, sometimes clearly and actively distinguished by writers and acquiring relatively independent significance.

The form and content of a work of art.

Any literary phenomenon reflects real reality. Considering the work, we compare what is displayed in it with reality itself. But for every person and artist, objective reality is reflected in different forms.

Content is not only objective reality, but also reality reflected in the author's mind. Those. subjectively perceived. Those. the content of a work of art contains a certain assessment of reality, which it receives in its form. It is important for the form that any element of it helps to reveal the content of the work. At the same time, the content is looking for a form for itself, thanks to which it can be expressed fully and vividly. It is not the artist who creates the form, but the content, being refracted in the creative consciousness of the author, receives a certain form of expression.

It is difficult to distinguish between content and form, it is possible only theoretically.

What it represents What it expresses

Objective phenomenon Subjective phenomenon

The subject of the image - the objective side - is formed as the theme of the work. The subjective side determines the problematics of the work. The identity of the objective and the subjective lies in the idea of ​​the work.

Content elements: theme, idea, problem, pathos, characters, characters.

Elements of form: concrete images, composition, language, speech of characters, style, rhythm - forming elements of prose and verse, genre, genus, type. The form of a work of art is called the way of expressing its ideological and thematic content.

There are intermediate categories that express the unity of form and content. This is the plot - the event side of the work, and the conflict that belongs to both form and content.

Theme, problem of a work of art.

A theme is what constitutes the basis of any work of art - what and about what. Defining a topic does not mean retelling the plot, since a topic is a generalization in which subtopics are connected. For example, in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, the theme is the life of Russian society during the war with Napoleon. Private topics: the life of the people, the fate of individual heroes, the Russian nobility, etc. All these branches are the subject of the work. The topic is determined by the views of the writer, his worldview, era, cultural and historical ties.

The problem is the writer's ideological comprehension of the reality that he portrays. The artist not only mechanically transfers life into his work, but also explains it in a certain way. General concept problems includes the division into particular problems, which constitutes the problematics of the work.

Artistic idea.

An idea is what a work is written for. In the creative process, the idea always precedes the topic. Ideological content is associated with the position of the author, his worldview, philosophy of life .. The idea is revealed through specific images. For example, in lyric works artistic idea is revealed through feelings, emotional state. To understand an idea means to comprehend and feel the inner content.

That. the artistic content of the work includes 3 levels:

1. Vital content, which is reflected in the work.

2. Artistic embodiment of life content, which is revealed in the plot.

3. Form-forming level, at which the relationship between idea and form is considered.

Therefore, the analysis of a work of art includes: 1. Topic; 2.Problem; 3.Plot, composition; 4. Idea; 5. Artistic means.

Literary criticism began to talk and argue about what is the form and content of the work. But today the doctrine of the form and content of a work is one of the key ones in the system. In jurisprudence, this theory makes it possible to distinguish between protected and unprotected elements of a work.

The main thesis of the doctrine of the form and content of a work as an object of copyright is as follows:

Copyright protects the form of a work, but not its content.

What is the form and content of a work?

• in a scientific article, the content will include theories, concepts, hypotheses, facts underlying the reasoning;
• v architectural project the content can include the initially set task (area, number of storeys, purpose of the building), the style chosen by the architect (baroque, classicism, etc.), the semantic and symbolic meaning of the object (for example, a monument);
• in photography, the content is the subject, the mood that the photographer wanted to convey and the ideas that he wanted to convey to the public.

The same ideas, the same concepts, methods and methods can form the basis of a whole series of works and even works of an entire era. The clearest example — biblical stories in the works of the Renaissance. The content has no clear boundaries, it is in the "depth" of the work. The content of the work depends on the subjective perception of the reader or viewer. The content answers the question: “ What the author wanted to say? "

The external form of the work Is the language in which the work is written. In a literary work, the external form is the text itself, in a pictorial one - the image itself. The outer form can be copied without any intellectual effort, incl. without human participation, by technical means.

Internal form Is a system of images, artistic means, with the help of which the work is written. In a sense, the inner form is the link between the outer form and the content, but the inner form is copyrighted. It is impossible to copy the internal form without using the external one without the application of intellectual labor.

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. John donne

There is no person who would be like an Island in and of itself: each person is a part of the Mainland, a part of the Land; and if the Wave blows the coastal Cliff into the sea, Europe will become smaller, and also if it flushes the edge of the Cape or destroys your Castle or your Friend; the death of each Man belittles me too, for I am one with all Humanity, and therefore never ask for whom the Bell tolls: it tolls for You. John Donne

The external form of the works is completely different, we will not find a single repeating word, because excerpts are written in different languages. However, the inner form and content of the work are the same. The translator strives to preserve the internal form of the work and through it to convey the content of the work. The content will be the idea that John Donne wanted to convey to the reader with these words.

What is the form of expression of a work?

• written
• oral
• pictorial
• volumetric
• audiovisual (sound and video recording)

The meaning of the form of expression of a work lies in the fact that copyright arises from the moment the work is first expressed in any objective form. You can read more about this in "Form and content of a work in literary criticism".
2. Doctor of Law, Professor E.P. Gavrilov "Copyright and the content of the work."

Integrity- the category of aesthetics, expressing the ontological problems of the art of the word. Each literary work is an independent, complete whole, not reducible to the sum of elements and indecomposable on them without a remainder.

The law of integrity presupposes substantive and semantic exhaustion, internal completeness (completeness) and irreducibility of a work of art. With the help of a plot, composition, images, etc. an artistic whole, complete in itself and unfolded into the world, is formed. Composition plays an especially important role here: all parts of the work should be arranged so that they fully express the idea.

The artistic unity, the consistency of the whole and the parts in the work were already noted by the ancient Greek philosophers of the 4th century BC. Plato and Aristotle. The latter in his "Poetics" wrote: "... The whole is that which has a beginning, middle and end," "parts of events (Aristotle it comes about the drama) should be put together so that with the rearrangement or removal of one of the parts the whole would change and upset, because that, the presence or absence of which is imperceptible, is not a part of the whole. " This rule of aesthetics is also recognized by modern literary criticism.

A work of literature is indestructible at any level. Each image of the hero of a given aesthetic object, in turn, is also perceived as a whole, and not split into separate components. Each detail exists thanks to the imprint of the whole lying on it, “each new feature only expresses the whole figure more” (L. Tolstoy).

Despite this, when analyzing the work, it is nevertheless divided into separate parts. At the same time, the important question is what exactly is each of them.

The question of the composition of a literary work, more precisely, of its constituent parts, has attracted the attention of researchers for a long time. Thus, in Poetics, Aristotle distinguished between a certain “what” (an object of imitation) and a certain “how” (a means of imitation) in his works. In the 19th century G.V.F. Hegel used the concepts of "form" and "content" in relation to art.

In modern literary criticism, there are two main trends in establishing the structure of the work... The first one proceeds from the selection in a work of a number of layers or levels, just as in linguistics in a separate statement one can distinguish the phonetic, morphological, lexical syntactic level. At the same time, different researchers have different ideas about both the set of levels and the nature of their relationship. So, M.M. Bakhtin sees in the work first of all two levels - "plot" and "plot", the depicted world and the world of the image itself, the reality of the author and the reality of the hero.

MM. Hirschman proposes a more complex, mainly three-level structure: rhythm, plot, hero; in addition, "vertically" these levels are permeated by the subject-object organization of the work, which ultimately creates not a linear structure, but rather a grid that is superimposed on a work of art (Style of a literary work. There are other models of a work of art representing it in the form of a series of levels, slices.

The second approach to the structure of a work of art takes as a primary division such general categories as content and form. (In a number scientific schools they are replaced by other definitions. So, Yu.M. Lotman and other structuralists correspond to these concepts "structure" and "idea", with semiotics - "sign" and "meaning", with poststructuralists - "text" and "meaning").

Thus, in literary criticism, along with the separation of two fundamental aspects of the work, there are other logical constructions. But it is obvious that the dichotomous approach is much more consistent with the real structure of the work and is much more substantiated from the point of view of philosophy and methodology.

Content and the form- philosophical categories that find application in different areas knowledge. They serve to designate the essential external and internal aspects inherent in all phenomena of reality. This pair of concepts meets the needs of people to understand the complexity of objects, phenomena, personalities, their diversity, and above all - to comprehend their implicit, deep meaning. The concepts of content and form serve as a mental demarcation of the external - from the internal, essence and meaning - from their embodiment, from the ways of their existence, that is, they correspond to the analytical impulse of human consciousness. Content at the same time, the basis of the object is named, its defining side. The form the same is an organization and appearance subject, its designated side.

The form thus understood is secondary, derivative, dependent on the content and at the same time is a condition for the existence of an object. Its secondary nature in relation to the content does not mean its secondary importance: form and content are equally necessary aspects of the phenomena of being.

Forms expressing content can be associated with it (connected) in different ways: one thing is science and philosophy with their abstract semantic principles, and something completely different - the fruits of artistic creativity, marked by the predominance of the singular and uniquely individual.

In the literary concepts "content" and "form", ideas about the external and internal sides of a literary work are generalized. Hence the naturalness of defining the boundaries of form and content in works: the spiritual principle is the content, and its material embodiment is the form.

The idea of ​​the continuity of the content and form of works of art was consolidated by G.V.F. Hegel at the turn of the 1810s - 1820s. The German philosopher believed that concreteness should be inherent in "both sides of art, both the depicted content and the form of the image," it "is precisely the point at which they can coincide and correspond to each other." It was also significant that Hegel likened a work of art to a single, integral "organism."

According to Hegel, science and philosophy, which make up the sphere of abstract thought, "have a form that is not posited by itself, external to it." It is legitimate to add that the content here does not change when it is redesigned: the same idea can be captured in different ways. Something completely different are works of art, where, as Hegel argued, the content (idea) and its (its) embodiment correspond to each other as much as possible: an artistic idea, being concrete, “carries in itself the principle and method of its manifestation, and it freely creates your own form. "

Similar statements are found in V.G. Belinsky. According to the critic, the idea is in the poet's work “not an abstract thought, not a dead form, but a living creature, in which (...) there is no line indicating stitching or soldering - there is no border between the idea and the form, but both are whole and a single organic creature. "

The majority of modern literary critics adhere to a similar point of view. Wherein content a literary work is defined as its essence, a spiritual being, and form as a way of existence of this content. The content, in other words, is the "statement" of the writer about the world, a definite emotional and mental reaction to certain phenomena of reality. The form- that system of methods and means in which this reaction finds expression, embodiment. Simplifying somewhat, we can say that the content is what the writer wanted to say with his work, and the form is how he did it.

The form of a work of art has two main functions. The first is carried out within the artistic whole, therefore it can be called internal: it is a form of expressing content. The second function is found in the influence of the work on the reader, therefore it can be called external (in relation to the work). It consists in the fact that the form has an aesthetic effect on the reader, because it is the form that acts as the carrier of the aesthetic qualities of a work of art. The content itself cannot be beautiful or ugly in the strict, aesthetic sense - these are properties that arise exclusively at the level of form.

Modern science proceeds from the concept of the primacy of content in relation to form. With regard to a work of art, this is true both for the creative process (the writer is looking for an appropriate form, albeit still for a vague, but already existing content, but in no case the other way around - he does not first create a "finished form", and then pours some content into it) , and for the work as such (the features of the content determine and explain the specifics of the form). However, in a certain sense, namely in relation to the perceiving consciousness, it is the form that is primary, and the content is secondary. Since sensory perception always precedes the emotional reaction and even more rational comprehension of the subject, moreover, it serves as a base for them, readers perceive in the work first its form, and only then and through it - the corresponding artistic content.

In the history of European aesthetics, there were also other points of view, statements about the priority of form over content in art. Going back to the ideas of the German philosopher I. Kant, they were further developed in the works of the writer F. Schiller and representatives of the formal school. In Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, Schiller wrote that in a truly beautiful work (such are the creations of ancient masters) “everything should depend on the form, and nothing on the content, for only the form acts on the whole person as a whole, the content only on separate forces. Content, no matter how sublime and all-embracing, always acts on the spirit in a limiting way, and true aesthetic freedom can only be expected from form. So, the real secret of the art of the master is to destroy the content with the form ”. Thus, Schiller exaggerated such a property of form as its relative independence.

Such views were developed in the early works of Russian formalists (for example, VB Shklovsky), who generally proposed to replace the concepts of "content" and "form" by other concepts - "material" and "method". In the content formalists saw a non-artistic category and therefore assessed the form as the only carrier of artistic specificity, viewed a work of art as the “sum” of its constituent techniques.

Later, trying to point out the specifics of the relationship between content and form in art, literary scholars proposed a special term specifically designed to reflect the continuity of the fusion of the sides of the artistic whole - “ meaningful form". In Russian literary criticism, the concept of a meaningful form, which is hardly central in the composition of theoretical poetics, was substantiated by M.M. Bakhtin in the works of the 1920s. He argued that the artistic form does not make sense outside of its correlation with the content, which was defined by the scientist as the cognitive and ethical moment of the aesthetic object, as the recognized and appreciated reality: the “moment of content” allows “to comprehend the form in a more essential way” than roughly hedonistically.

In another formulation about the same: the artistic form needs "the extra-aesthetic significance of the content." Operating with the phrases "substantial form", "formalized content", "form-forming ideology", Bakhtin emphasized the inseparability and incoherence of form and content. "In every smallest element of the poetic structure," he wrote, "in every metaphor, in every epithet, we will find a chemical combination of cognitive definition, ethical assessment and artistic completion."

In the above words, the most important principle of artistic activity is convincingly and clearly characterized - the installation on unity of content and form in the created works. The fully realized unity of form and content makes the work organically integral, as if a living being, born, and not intellectually (mechanically) constructed.

Other researchers also spoke about the fact that artistic content is embodied (materialized) not in any separate words, phrases, phrases, but in the totality of everything that is present in the work. So, according to Yu.M. Lotman, “the idea is not contained in any, even well-chosen quotations, but is expressed in the entire artistic structure. A researcher who does not understand this and looks for an idea in individual quotes is like a person who, upon learning that a house has a plan, would begin to break down walls in search of a place where this plan is walled up. The plan is not walled up in the walls, but implemented in the proportions of the building. "

However, no matter how meaningful this or that formal element is, no matter how close the connection between content and form, this connection does not pass into identity. Content and form are not the same thing, they are different sides of the artistic whole, distinguished in the process of abstraction and analysis. They have different tasks and different functions. The true meaningfulness of the form is revealed only when the fundamental differences between these two aspects of the work of art are sufficiently realized, when, therefore, it becomes possible to establish certain correlations and regular interactions between them.

Thus, beginnings are distinguishable in a work of art. formally meaningful and actually meaningful .

Artistic content is a unity of objective and subjective principles. This is the totality of what came to the author from the outside and was cognized by him (the subject of art), and what he expressed and comes from his views, intuition, personality traits.

The point of view on the form that many modern scientists adhere to was substantiated by G.N. Pospelov, who singled out in literary texts "subject depiction", verbal structure, composition (Problems of literary style - M. 1970, p. 80; Holistic-systemic understanding of literary works // Questions of methodology and poetics.

According to this point of view, which is shared by many researchers, in the composition of the form that carries the content, three sides are traditionally distinguished, which must be present in any literary work. “This is, firstly, subject(subject-figurative) Start: all those individual phenomena and facts that are indicated with the help of words and in their totality make up the world of a work of art (there are also expressions "poetic world", "inner world" of a work, "immediate content"). Secondly, this is the actual verbal fabric of the work: artistic speech, often fixed by the terms "poetic language", "stylistics", "text". And, thirdly, it is the correlation and arrangement in the product of the units of the subject and verbal "series", that is, composition "(Khalizev V.E. Theory of Literature.

The selection of three aspects of the work goes back to ancient rhetoric. It has been noted on several occasions that the speaker needs to:

1) find material (that is, choose a subject that will be presented and characterized by speech); somehow arrange (build this material;

2) translate it into words that will make a proper impression on the audience.

It should be noted that, accepting the point of view according to which two of its components are distinguished in a work - form and content - some researchers differentiate them somewhat differently. So, in the textbook by T.T. Davydova, V.A. Pronin's "Theory of Literature" states: "Substantive components of a literary work are the theme, characters, circumstances, problem, idea"; “The formal components of a literary work are style, genre, composition, artistic speech, rhythm; content-formal - plot and plot, conflict ”. The lack of a unified position of literary scholars is explained by the complexity of such cultural phenomena as works of art.

There are enough literary genres a large number of... Each of them is distinguished by a set of formal and substantive properties inherent only in it. Even Aristotle, who lived in the 4th century BC. presented their first systematization. According to her, literary genres were a specific system that was fixed once and for all. The author's task was only to find a correspondence between his work and the properties of the genre he chose. And over the next two millennia, any changes in the classification created by Aristotle were perceived as deviations from the standards. And only at the end of the 18th century, literary evolution and the associated decomposition of the ingrained genre system, as well as the influence of completely new cultural and social circumstances, nullified the influence of normative poetics and allowed literary thought to develop, move forward and expand. The prevailing conditions were the reason that some genres simply sunk into oblivion, others found themselves in the center of the literary process, and some began to appear. The results of this process (certainly not final) we can see today - many literary genres, differing in genres (epic, lyric, dramatic), content (comedy, tragedy, drama) and other criteria. In this article, we will talk about what genres are in form.

Literary genres by form

In terms of form, literary genres are as follows: essay, epic, epic, sketch, novel, story (short story), play, story, essay, opus, ode and vision. Further - in detail about each of them.

Essay

An essay is a prosaic essay characterized by a small volume and free composition. It is recognized to reflect the personal impressions or thoughts of the author on any occasion, but is not obliged to give an exhaustive answer to the question posed or fully disclose the topic. The style of the essay is characterized by associativity, aphorism, imagery and maximum proximity to the reader. Some researchers classify essays as fiction... In the 18th and 19th centuries, essay dominated French and English journalism as a genre. And in the XX century, the essay was recognized and actively used by the world's largest philosophers, prose writers and poets.

Epos

The epic is a heroic story about the events of the past, reflecting the life of the people and representing the epic reality of heroic heroes. Usually an epic tells about a person, about the events in which he took part, about how he behaved and what he felt, and also talks about his attitude to the world around him and the phenomena in it. Ancient Greek folk song poems are considered the founders of the epic.

Epic

Epic is the name for large works of an epic nature and similar ones. An epic, as a rule, is expressed in two forms: it can be either a story about significant historical events in prose or poetry, or a long story about something that includes descriptions various events... The epic owes its origin as a literary genre to bygone songs composed in honor of the exploits of various heroes. It is worth noting that it stands out and special kind epics - the so-called "moral-descriptive epic", distinguished by its prosaic orientation and description of the comic state of any national society.

Sketch

A sketch is a small play, the main characters of which are two (sometimes three) characters. The sketch is most widespread on the stage in the form of sketch shows, which are several comedy miniatures ("sketches") up to 10 minutes each. Most of all sketch shows are popular on television, especially in the US and UK. However, a small number of such humorous television programs are also on the Russian air ("Our Russia", "Give youth!" And others).

novel

The novel is a special literary genre, characterized by a detailed narration about the life and formation of the main characters (or one hero) in the most non-standard and crisis periods of their lives. The variety of novels is so great that there are many independent branches of this genre. Novels are psychological, moral, chivalrous, classical Chinese, French, Spanish, American, English, German, Russian and others.

Story

The story (aka - short story) is the main genre in small narrative prose and differs in less volume than a novel or a story. The roots of the novel go back to folklore genres (oral retellings, legends and parables). The story is characterized by the presence of a small number of characters and one storyline. Quite often the stories of one author form a cycle of stories. The authors themselves are often called short stories, and the aggregates of stories are often called short stories.

Play

A play is the name of dramatic works that are intended for stage performance, as well as radio and television performances. Usually, the structure of the play includes monologues and dialogues of the characters and various author's notes, indicating the places where events take place, and sometimes describing the interiors of the premises, appearance characters, their characters, manners, etc. In most cases, the play is preceded by a list of characters and their characteristics. The play consists of several acts, including smaller parts - pictures, episodes, actions.

The story

The story is a literary genre of a prosaic nature. It does not have any specific volume, but is located between the novel and the story (novella), which it was considered to be until the 19th century. The plot of the story is most often chronological - it reflects the natural course of life, has no intrigue, focuses on the main character and the peculiarities of his nature. Moreover, story line just one. In foreign literature, the term "story" itself is synonymous with the term "short novel".

Feature article

An essay is considered to be a small artistic description of the totality of any phenomena of reality, comprehended by the author. The basis of the essay is almost always the direct study by the author of the object of his observation. Therefore, the main feature is "writing from nature." It is important to say that, if in other literary genres it is fiction that can take the leading role, then in the essay it is practically absent. There are several types of essays: portrait (about the personality of the hero and his the inner world), problematic (about a specific problem), travel (about travel and wanderings) and historical (about historical events).

Opus

Opus in its broad sense is any piece of music (instrumental, folk), characterized by internal completeness, motivation of the whole, individualization of form and content, in which the personality of the author is clearly traced. In the literary sense, an opus is any literary work or scientific work of any author.

Oh yeah

Oda is a lyric genre expressed in the form of a solemn poem dedicated to a certain hero or event, or a separate work of the same orientation. Initially (in Ancient Greece) any poetic lyrics (even choral singing) that accompanied music was called an ode. But since the Renaissance, grandiloquent lyrical works, in which the samples of antiquity serve as a reference point, have been called odes.

Visions

Visions belong to the genre of medieval (Hebrew, Gnostic, Muslim, Old Russian, etc.) literature. The "clairvoyant" is usually at the center of the narrative, and the content is saturated with otherworldly, afterlife visual images that appear to the clairvoyant. The plot is presented by a visionary - a person to whom he revealed himself in hallucinations or dreams. Some of the authors of the vision refer to journalism and narrative didactics, tk. in the Middle Ages, human interaction with the world of the unknown was precisely the way to convey any didactic content.

These are the main types of literary genres that differ in form. Their diversity tells us that literary creativity has been deeply appreciated by people at all times, but the process of the formation of these genres has always been long and difficult. Each of the genres as such bears the imprint of a certain era and individual consciousness, each expressed in its own ideas about the world and its manifestations, people and characteristics of their personality. Precisely due to the fact that there are so many genres and they are all different, any creative person had and has the opportunity to express himself precisely in the form that more accurately reflects his mental organization.