Recognizing motives in the plot of a literary work. Motive in literature
1) Sierotwiń ski S.
“Subject. The subject of treatment, the main idea developed in a literary work or scientific discussion.
main topic works. The main substantive moment in the work, which forms the basis for the construction of the depicted world (for example, the interpretation of the most general foundations of the ideological meaning of the work, in a plot work - the fate of the hero, in a dramatic work - the essence of the conflict, in a lyrical work - the dominant motives, etc.).
Minor theme of the work. The theme of a part of a work that is subordinate to the main theme. The theme of the smallest meaningful integrity into which a work can be divided is called a motive” (S. 278).
2) Wilpert G. von. Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.
“Subject(Greek - supposed), the main leading idea of the work; in a specific development of the subject under discussion. Generally accepted in special literature concept into German terminology material history(Stoffgeschichte), which distinguishes only material (Stoff) and motive, in contrast to English. and French, not yet included. It is proposed for motives of such a degree of abstraction that they do not contain the grain of action: tolerance, humanity, honor, guilt, freedom, identity, mercy, etc.” (S. 942-943).
3) Dictionary of literary terms.
A) Zundelovich Ya. Subject. Stlb. 927-929.
“Subject- the main idea, the main sound of the work. Representing that indecomposable emotional-intellectual core that the poet seems to be trying to decompose with each of his works, the concept of theme is by no means covered by the so-called. content. Topic in in a broad sense words is that complete image world, which determines the artist’s poetic worldview.<...>But depending on the material through which this image is refracted, we have one or another reflection of it, i.e., one or another idea (a specific theme), which determines this particular work.”
b) Eichenholtz M. Subject. Stlb. 929-937.
“Subjects- a set of literary phenomena that make up the subject-semantic moment of a poetic work. The following terms related to the concept of subject matter are subject to definition: theme, motive, plot, plot of an artistic and literary work.”
4) Abramovich G. Topic // Dictionary of literary terms. pp. 405-406.
“Subject<...> what is the basis the main idea literary work, the main problem posed by the writer in it.”
5) Maslovsky V.I. Topic // LES. P. 437.
“Subject<...>, the circle of events that form life basis epic or dramatic prod. and at the same time serving for the formulation of philosophical, social, ethical. and other ideological problems."
Motive
1) Sierotwiń ski S. Słownik terminów literackich. S. 161.
“Motive. The theme is one of the smallest meaningful wholes that stands out when analyzing a work.”
“The motive is dynamic. The motive that accompanies a change in a situation (part of an action) is the opposite of a static motive.”
“The motive is free. A motive that is not included in the system of cause-and-effect plot is the opposite of a connected motive.”
2) Wilpert G. von. Sachwörterbuch der Literatur.
“Motive(lat .
motivus - motivating),<...>3. content-structural unity as a typical, meaningful situation that embraces general thematic ideas (as opposed to something defined and framed through specific features material
3) Mö lk U. Motiv, Stoff, Thema // Das Fischer Lexicon. Literatur. B.2.
“The name that the interpreter gives to the motif he identifies influences his work, no matter whether he wants to compile an inventory of the motifs of a particular corpus of texts or plans an analytical study of the motifs of a particular text, a comparative or historical study of them. Sometimes the formula motifs common in a certain era hide the fact that they bring together completely different phenomena: “ange-femme“ (female angel) designates, for example, in French romance both a lover stylized as an angel and a female angel; only if both phenomena are recognized as two various motives, obtain a prerequisite for further understanding. How significant consequences a proper name can have in identifying a motif is shown by the example of the question whether it is better to speak of “a woman and a parrot” or “a woman and a bird” in relation to Flaubert’s “Simple Heart”; here only a broader designation opens the interpreter’s eyes to certain meanings and their variants, but not a narrower one” (S. 1328).
4) Barnet S., Berman M., Burto W. Dictionary of Literary, Dramatic and Cinematic Terms. Boston, 1971.
“Motive- a repeated word, phrase, situation, object or idea. Most often, the term “motive” is used to denote a situation that is repeated in various literary works, for example, the motive of quickly getting rich for the poor. However, a motif (meaning “leitmotif” from the German “leading motive”) can arise within a single work: it can be any repetition that contributes to the integrity of the work by recalling a previous mention of a given element and everything associated with it” (p 71).
5) Dictionary of World Literary Terms / By J. Shipley.
“Motive. A word or mental pattern that is repeated in the same situations or to evoke a certain mood within a single work, or across different works of the same genre” (p. 204).
6) The Longman Dictionary of Poetic Terms / By J. Myers, M. Simms.
“Motive(from Latin “to move”; can also be written as “topos”) - a theme, image, or character that develops through various nuances and repetitions” (p. 198).
7) Dictionary of Literary Terms / By H. Shaw.
“Leitmotif. German term literally meaning "leading motive". It denotes a theme or motif associated in a musical drama with a specific situation, character or idea. The term is often used to designate a central impression, a central image, or a recurring theme in a work of fiction, such as the “practicalism” of Franklin’s Autobiography or the “revolutionary spirit” of Thomas Pine” (pp. 218-219).
8) Blagoy D. Motive // Dictionary of literary terms. T. 1. Stlb. 466 - 467.
“M.(from moveo - I move, I set in motion), in the broad sense of the word, is the main psychological or figurative grain that underlies every work of art.” “... the main motive coincides with the theme. So, for example, the theme of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is the motif of historical fate, which does not interfere with the parallel development in the novel of a number of other, often only distantly related to the theme, secondary motifs (for example, the motif of the truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev. ..)". “The entire set of motifs that make up a given work of art forms what is called plot his".
9) Zakharkin A. Motive // Dictionary of literary terms. P.226-227.
“M. (from the French motif - melody, tune) - an out-of-use term denoting the minimum significant component of the narrative, the simplest component of the plot of a work of art.”
10) Chudakov A.P. Motive. KLE. T. 4. Stlb. 995.
“M. (French motif, from Latin motivus - movable) - the simplest meaningful (semantic) unit of art. text in myth And fairy tale; basis, based on the development of one of the members of M. (a+b turns into a+b+b+b) or several combinations. motives grow plot (plot), which represents a greater level of generalization.” “As applied to art. literature of modern times M. is most often called abstract from specific details and expressed in the simplest verbal formula, schematic. presentation of the elements of the content of the work involved in the creation of the plot (plot). The content of M. itself, for example, the death of a hero or a walk, buying a pistol or buying a pencil, does not indicate its significance. The scale of M. depends on its role in the plot (main and secondary M.). Basic M. are relatively stable (love triangle, betrayal - revenge), but we can only talk about the similarity or borrowing of M. plot level- when the combination of many minor M. and methods of their development coincide.”
11) Nezvankina L.K., Shchemeleva L.M. Motive // LES. P. 230:
“M. (German Motive, French motif, from Latin moveo - I move), stable formal-contain. component lit. text; M. can be distinguished within one or several. prod. writer (for example, a certain cycle), and in the complex of his entire work, as well as k.-l. lit. direction or an entire era.”
“The term “M.” receives a more strict meaning when it contains elements of symbolization (road by N.V. Gogol, garden by Chekhov, desert by M.Yu. Lermontov<...>). The motive, therefore, unlike the theme, has a direct verbal (and objective) fixation in the text of the work itself; in poetry, its criterion in most cases is the presence of a key, supporting word that carries a special semantic load (smoke in Tyutchev, exile in Lermontov). In the lyrics<...>M.'s circle is most clearly expressed and defined, so the study of M. in poetry can be especially fruitful.
For storytelling. and dramatic works that are more action-packed are characterized by plot melodrama; many of them have historical universality and repeatability: recognition and insight, testing and retribution (punishment).”
IN In any culture, the rose is a complex and multi-valued symbol. IN German literature there is a fairy tale called "Dornröschen". "Dornröschen" consists of two words: der Dorn (thorn) and die Röschen (rose), that is, "rose in thorns." Russian name“Sleeping Beauty” refers to the main plot, to the main character, but “Dornröschen” is reminiscent of another part of the fairy tale - the story of a witch who was not invited to the christening. She wanted to be remembered, to be loved, but she was forgotten. And the tip of the spindle, like a rose thorn, became an instrument of retribution and fate. Without him, the beauty would not have fallen asleep in death, but she would not have awakened from the death-conquering love of the prince, who made his way to her through the thorny thickets of roses.
IN one flower combines the meanings of love and death, gift-curse and gift-
And in Goethe’s poem we see not just a prickly flower that wounded a rude boy, but a magical rose that wants to awaken someone else’s soul with a sharp impulse of love, pain and death.
Read the fairy tale by V.A. Zhukovsky "Sleeping Beauty". Find in it the features of the lyrical plot of two Goethe poems - “Found” and “Wild Rose”.
Motif in a work of art
Motif is a stable formal-substantive component literary text. Any semantic “spot” can act as a motive - an event, a character trait, a landscape element, any object, a spoken word, paint, sound, etc.
Let's analyze the motive of the road in the poem by A.S. Pushkin "Winter Road".
The moon makes its way through the wavy fogs, into the sad meadows
She sheds a sad light.
Along the winter, boring road, Three greyhounds are running, The monotonous bell is rattling tiresomely.
Something sounds familiar long songs coachman: That reckless revelry, That heartfelt melancholy...
No fire, no black house...
Wilderness and snow... Towards me Only striped miles come across one.
Boring, sad... Tomorrow, Nina, Tomorrow, when I return to my dear one, I will forget myself by the fireplace, I’ll take a long look.
The hour hand will make its measured circle with a resounding sound, And, removing the annoying ones, Midnight will not separate us.
It’s sad, Nina: my path is boring, my driver has fallen silent from his doze, the bell is monotonous, the moon’s face is foggy.
- How does the motive of the road appear in Pushkin's poem "," (Already by the title we can say that the text will contain the motive of the road. Pushkin describes the dull winter road. She is sad because she is empty (“No fire, no black hut”), lonely. Lyrically, the hero is traveling to his beloved along a boring winter road.)
- What images emphasize the despondency that accompanies the hero on his journey? (In-
she is a sad light"; secondly, the sound of the bell: it “rattles tiresomely”; thirdly, the coachman’s long song, in which one can hear “daring revelry”; fourthly, the lyrical hero is bored of traveling alone, without Nina.)
- How long do you think the lyrical hero is forced to travel? (For a long time. Pushkin repeatedly emphasizes the length of the path: the “troika greyhounds” are running, which means that the horses are frisky, but they still have a long time to run. In addition, the hero is tired of the sound of the bell: he probably has to listen to it for a long time. The coachman sings different songs: riotous , dreary. Miles flash past - this also emphasizes the length of the road. The hero overcomes many miles. In the end, the driver falls silent and falls into a doze, but the road still does not end.)
- What thoughts flash through your head lyrical hero during the journey? (First, the hero looks around - at the snowy meadows, at the moon, listens to the ringing of the bell and the coachman’s songs, counts the miles. Then he remembers his beloved, to whom he returns, and imagines how they will sit together by the fireplace the next day.)
Does the road motif somehow influence the composition of the poem? (Probably, the motive of the road determines the composition of the text. It is linear, that is, built as if in a straight line. The road moves forward, one picture replaces another: the moon, three horses, a singing coachman, striped miles.)
- What breaks the linear composition of the text? (The straightness of the road seems to be broken by the lyrical hero’s memory of Nina, dreams of tomorrow evening by the fireplace.)
Pushkin builds his text through the motive of the road, and from this the composition seems to “straighten” and “stretch out,” but at the same time it gains volume due to the thoughts of the lyrical hero about his beloved: he thinks about the future, but, most likely, he already imagines acquaintance past picture. Thus, the road motif is woven into the poetic fabric and affects the plot and composition of the text.
Assignment for independent work
Find it from A.S. Pushkin's poems, where there is a road motif. What role does it serve?
Motif in music and visual arts. The road motif in M. Gobbema’s painting “Alley in Middelharnis”
IN In music, a motive is the smallest, relatively independent part of a form, equal to one metric beat. Development musical composition carried out through various repetitions and transformations of the original motive. Individual motives make up leitmotif - repeating musical phrase, harmonic turn, melody.
The motif expresses the content of the composition through one part and is a component
as part of an artistic and figurative whole. In architecture, the arch 17 is the theme, and the repeating series of arches - the arcade - is the motive of the architectural composition of a certain style. A motif is a fairly independent and complete composition in itself, but depends on combination and interaction different motives new motifs and themes appear: for example, the zigzag 18 wave motif appears.
IN In naturalistic painting, the concepts of motive in nature and in art coincide. A motif is a view of the area from a certain point of view, a part of the landscape.
Let's consider and analyze the motive of the road in the picture Meindert Gobbema 19 "Alley in Middelharnis", one of the most famous works Dutch artist XVII V. The painting was probably painted by order of the Middelharnis city council, which shortly before ordered the improvement of this road. For the first time, the road became the plot of the picture in itself.
- Look at how the road line is depicted in the picture. (The road begins in the foreground and leads the eye into the distance.)
- Describe what the road looks like, what details the artist highlighted when drawing this
17 Arch - 1. An arched covering of an opening in a wall or a span between two supports. 2. A structure in the form of a large gate of this shape.
18 Zigzag is a broken line.
19 Meindert Gobbema - a landscape artist, in whose paintings one can feel the ability to admire the refinement of lines and colors of nature.
M. Gobbema "Alley in Middelharnis"
trees. People are walking along the road: a figure of a man with a dog is closer to the foreground of the picture and several figures in the distance. There are ruts on the ground, apparently from a passing cart or carriage.)
- What other images can you highlight in the picture? (On the right there are even rows of young trees and seedlings: a peasant is working there. A little further there are rural houses with a man and a woman standing next to them. To the left stands the greenery of the grove,
A In the distance, the bell tower turret catches your eye.)
- What images do the vertical lines create in the picture? (First of all, the vertical is emphasized by the trees planted along the road. They stretch upward. The sky is not pure blue, it is covered with light clouds. The combination of a low horizon and trunks stretching to the sky creates a special space that develops not only in depth, but also upward. In addition , several birds are flying in the sky on the left: they seem to be points in space, but they sharpen the vertical.)
- What color in the painting accompanies the road motif? (The road near Gobbema is yellow-
MOTIVE[from Latin moveo - “I move”] is a term transferred to literary studies from music, where it denotes a group of several notes, rhythmically designed. By analogy with this, in literary criticism the term “Motif” begins to be used to designate the minimum component of a work of art - a further indecomposable element of content(Scherer). In this sense, the concept of motive plays a particularly large, perhaps central role in the comparative study of plots mainly oral literature; here is a comparison of similar motifs, also used as a method of reconstruction original form plot and as a way of tracing its migration, becomes almost the only method of research in all pre-Marxist schools - from the Aryan Grimms and the comparative mythological M. Muller to the anthropological, eastern and comparative historical, inclusive.
The depravity of the concept of motive - beyond folklore, especially popularized by the formalists in their polemics with the cultural-historical school - in the mechanistic concept artistic method as a technique for combining a certain number of qualitatively unchanged elements; this concept involves the separation of techniques (techniques) artistic skill from its content, that is, ultimately, the separation of form from content. Therefore, in a concrete historical analysis of a literary work, the concept of M as a formalist concept is subject to significant criticism.
The term “Motive” has a different meaning among representatives of Western European subjective-idealistic literary criticism, who define it as “the experience of the poet, taken in its significance” (Dilthey). Motive in this sense is the starting point artistic creativity, the totality of the poet’s ideas and feelings, seeking an accessible design, determining the choice of the very material of the poetic work, and - thanks to the unity of the individual or national spirit expressed in them - repeated in the works of one poet, one era, one nation and thereby accessible to isolation and analysis. Contrasting the creative consciousness with the matter it shapes, this understanding of motive is built on the opposition of subject to object, so typical of subjective-idealistic systems, and is subject to exposure in Marxist literary criticism.
At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. the concept of “motive” appears in the works of the Russian philologist A. N. Veselovsky, who speaks of it as “the simplest narrative unit” that forms the basis of the plot at first - myths And fairy tales, and subsequently - literary works. In other words, the scientist imagined motives as “bricks” that make up plots. According to Veselovsky, each poetic era works on “bequeathed from time immemorial” poetic images", creating their new combinations and filling them with a "new understanding of life." As examples of such motives, the researcher cites bride kidnapping, “representing the sun as an eye,” etc.
The concept of “motive” gained particular popularity in literary criticism of the 20th century, and its content expanded significantly. So, modern literary scholars sometimes the motive is identified with topic works; they talk, for example, about the motive of moral revival in the works of classics of Russian literature of the 19th century. or about philosophical motives creativity of F.I. Tyutchev. Often, motives are understood as key, supporting words-symbols that carry a special semantic load in the text. Such “milestones” can be intuitively felt in a work by a sensitive reader, and they often become the subject of study by a philologist. These are exactly what A.A. meant. Block, when he wrote: “Every poem is a veil, stretched on the edges of several words. These words are placed like stars. Because of them the work exists.” Cross-cutting motifs-symbols may be present in any separate work; for example, a robe in the novel by I.A. Goncharova“Oblomov”, a thunderstorm in the drama by A. N. Ostrovsky"Storm", Moonlight in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov"Master and Margarita". Cross-cutting motifs-symbols can run through the entire work of a writer or poet; road near N.V. Gogol, desert near M. Yu. Lermontov, night at F.I. Tyutcheva, garden at A.P. Chekhov, sea near I.A. Brodsky. In addition, we can talk about motives characteristic of certain literary genres, directions and eras; for example, music among the romantics, a snowstorm among the symbolists.
MOTIVE, in the broad sense of the word, is the main psychological or figurative grain that underlies every work of art (this is what they say, for example, about the “love motives” of Tyutchev’s lyrics, the “star motives” of Fet’s poetry, etc.). the most primitive stage of literary and artistic development, for example, in elementary myth-making, a separate artistic and verbal formation is covered, for the most part, by the development of one, unfolding into a whole poetic work, motive (such as, for example; the so-called légendes des origines, etc.). The motive here still completely coincides with the theme. In the further movement of artistic evolution, at more advanced stages literary development, a poetic work is formed by the fusion of very large number individual motives. In this case, the main motive coincides with the theme. So. for example, the theme of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” is the motif of historical rock, which does not interfere parallel development in the novel there are a number of other secondary motives, often only remotely associated with the theme (for example, the motive of the truth of collective consciousness - Pierre and Karataev; the everyday motive - the ruin of the rich noble family of the Counts of Rostov: numerous love motives: Nikolai Rostov and Sophie, he is also Princess Maria , Pierre Bezukhov and Ellen, Prince Andrei and Natasha, etc., etc., mystical and so characteristic in further creativity Tolstoy's motif of regenerating death - the book's dying insights. Andrei Bolkonsky, etc., etc.).
The entire set of motifs that make up a given work of art forms what is called plot his. In relation to this latter, the motif is like a silk colored thread in a variegated plot fabric, a separate pebble of a complex plot mosaic. (On the question of the relationship between motive and plot, see A. N. Veselovsky, Poetics of Plots, St. Petersburg, 1913).
Motive as the primary element of the plot. The theory of “wandering plots” by A.N. Veselovsky
motive(Latin moveo - to move) is a stable formal-substantive component of a text that can be repeated within the work of one writer, as well as in the context of world literature as a whole. Motives can be repeated. The motif is a stable semiotic unit of the text and has a historically universal set of meanings. A comedy is characterized by the “quid pro quo” motif (“who is talking about what”), an epic is characterized by a wandering motif, and a ballad is characterized by a fantastic motif (the appearance of the living dead).
Motif more than other components artistic form correlates with the thoughts and feelings of the author. According to Gasparov, “motive is a semantic spot.” In psychology, a motive is an incentive to act; in literary theory, it is a recurring element of a plot. Some researchers classify the motive as an element of the plot. This type of motive is called narrative. But any detail may be repeated in the motif. This motive is called lyrical. Narrative motifs are based on some event; they are unfolded in time and space and presuppose the presence of actants. IN lyrical motives It is not the process of action that is updated, but its significance for the consciousness that perceives this event. But both types of motive are characterized by repetition.
The most important feature of the motive is its ability to be half-realized in the text, its mystery, and incompleteness. The scope of the motif consists of works marked with invisible italics. Attention to the structure of the motive allows you to consider the content deeper and more interesting. literary text. The same motive sounds differently in different authors.
Researchers talk about the dual nature of the motive, meaning that the motive exists as an invariant (contains a stable core that is repeated in many texts) and as an individuality (each author has his own motive in terms of embodiment, individual increment of meaning). Repeated in literature, the motif can acquire philosophical fullness.
The motif as a literary concept was developed by A.N. Veselovsky in 1906 in his work “Poetics of Plots”. By motive, he assumed the simplest formula that answers the questions that nature poses to man and consolidates especially vivid impressions of reality. The motif was defined by Veselovsky as the simplest narrative unit. Veselovsky considered imagery, monophony, and schematic features of a motif. Motives, in his opinion, cannot be decomposed into constituent elements. The combination of motifs forms a plot. Thus, primitive consciousness produced motives that formed plots. The motive is ancient, primitive form artistic consciousness.
Veselovsky tried to identify the main motives and trace their combination into plots. Comparative scientists tried to check the relationship between plot schemes. Moreover, this similarity turned out to be very conditional, because only formal elements were taken into account. Veselovsky’s merit lies in the fact that he put forward the idea “ wandering stories", i.e. plots wandering through time and space different nations. This can be explained not only by the unity of everyday and psychological conditions of different peoples, but also by borrowings. IN XIX literature centuries, the motive for the husband’s self-removal from his wife’s life was widespread. In Russia, the hero returned under own name, staging own death. The skeleton of the motif was repeated, which determined the typological similarity of works of world literature.
Motif is a term that entered the literature from musicology. Was first recorded in " musical dictionary"S. de Brossard in 1703. Analogies with music, where this term key when analyzing the composition of a work, they help to understand the properties of a motif in a literary work: its isolation from the whole and its repetition in a variety of situations.
In literary criticism, the concept of motive was used to characterize components the plot by Goethe and Schiller. They identified five types of motives: accelerating action, slowing down action, distancing action from the goal, facing the past, anticipating the future.
The concept of motive as the simplest narrative unit was first theoretically substantiated in the Poetics of Plots Veselovsky. He was interested in the repetition of motifs in different genres among different peoples. Veselovsky considered motives to be the simplest formulas that could arise in different tribes independently of each other. (struggle for the inheritance of brothers, fight for the bride, etc.) he comes to the conclusion that creativity is primarily manifested in a combination of motives that gives one or a different plot (in a fairy tale there is not one task, but five, etc.)
Subsequently, combinations of motifs were transformed into various compositions and became the basis of such genres as novels, stories, and poems. The motive itself, according to Veselovsky, remained stable and indecomposable; combinations of motives make up the plot. The plot could be borrowed, passed from people to people, or become wandering. In the plot, each motive can be primary, secondary, or episodic. Many motifs can be developed into entire plots, and vice versa.
Veselovsky's position on the motive as an indecomposable unit of narrative was revised in the 20s. Propp: motives are decomposed, the last decomposable unit does not represent a logical whole. Propp calls the primary elements functions of the actors- actions of the characters, defined in terms of their significance for the course of the action.. seven types of characters, 31 functions (based on Afanasyev’s collection)
It is particularly difficult to identify motives in the literature last centuries: their diversity and complex functional load.
In literature different eras there are many found and functioning mythological motives. Constantly updated within historical and literary context, they retain their essence (the motive of the hero’s conscious death because of a woman, apparently it can be considered as a transformation of the fight for the bride highlighted by Veselovsky (Lensky in Pushkin, Romashov in Kuprin)
A generally accepted indicator of a motive is its repeatability.
The leading motive in one or many works of a writer can be defined as leitmotif. It can be considered at the level of theme and figurative structure of the work. In Chekhov's Cherry Orchard, the motif of the garden is a symbol of Home, beauty and sustainability of life... we can talk about the role of both the leitmotif and the organization of the second, secret meaning works- subtext, undercurrent.. (phrase: “life is lost” - the leitmotif of Uncle Vanya. Chekhov)
Tomashevsky: Episodes are broken down into even smaller parts that describe individual actions, events, and things. Themes such small parts of a work that cannot be further divided are called motives.
IN lyrical in a work, a motif is a recurring set of feelings and ideas expressed in artistic speech. Motifs in lyric poetry are more independent, because they are not subordinated to the development of action, as in epic and drama. Sometimes the poet’s work as a whole can be considered as an interaction, a correlation of motives. (In Lermontov: motives of freedom, will, memory, exile, etc.) One and the same motive can receive different symbolic meanings V lyrical works different eras, emphasizing the closeness and originality of the poets (Pushkin’s road in Besy and Gogol’s in M.D., the homeland of Lermontov and Nekrasov, Yesenin’s and Blok’s Rus', etc.)
According to Tomashevsky, motives are divided
Free and bound motifs:
- - those that can be skipped (details, details they play important role in the plot: do not make the work schematic.)
- - those that cannot be omitted when retelling, because the cause-and-effect relationship is broken...they form the basis of the plot.
Dynamic and static motifs:
1. changing the situation. The transition from happiness to unhappiness and vice versa.
Peripeteia (Aristotle: “the transformation of an action into its opposite) is one of the essential elements of complicating the plot, meaning every unexpected turn in the development of the plot.
2. not changing the situation (descriptions of the interior, nature, portrait, actions and deeds that do not lead to important changes)
Free motives can be static, but not every static motive is free.
I don’t know which book this is from Tomashevsky, because in “Theory of Literature. Poetics." He's writing:
Motivation. The system of motives that make up the theme of this work, should represent some artistic unity. If all parts of a work are poorly fitted to one another, the work “falls apart.” Therefore, the introduction of each individual motive or each set of motives must be justified (motivated). The appearance of one or another motive should seem necessary to the reader in a given place. The system of techniques that justify the introduction of individual motives and their complexes is called motivation. Motivation methods are varied, and their nature is not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to classify motivations.
1. compositional motivation.
Its principle lies in economy and expediency of motives. Individual motifs can characterize objects introduced into the reader's field of view (accessories) or the actions of characters ("episodes"). Not a single accessory should remain unused in the plot, not a single episode should remain without influence on the plot situation. It was about compositional motivation that Chekhov spoke when he argued that if at the beginning of the story it is said that a nail is driven into the wall, then at the end of the story the hero should hang himself on this nail. (Ostrovsky’s “Dowry” using the example of a weapon. “There is a carpet above the sofa on which weapons are hung.” At first this is introduced as a detail of the situation. In the sixth scene, attention is drawn to this detail in the remarks. At the end of the action, Karandyshev, running away, grabs a pistol from the table . From this pistol in the 4th act he shoots at Larisa. The introduction of the weapon motif here is compositionally motivated. This weapon is necessary for the denouement. It serves as a preparation last moment drama.) The second case of compositional motivation is the introduction of motives as characterization techniques. The motives must be in harmony with the dynamics of the plot. (Thus, in the same “Dowry” the motif of “Burgundy”, made by a counterfeit wine merchant at a cheap price, characterizes the wretchedness of Karandyshev’s everyday environment and prepares for Larisa’s departure). These characteristic details can be in harmony with the action: 1) by psychological analogy (romantic landscape: Moonlight night For love scene, storm and thunderstorm for a scene of death or crime), 2) by contrast (motive of “indifferent” nature, etc.). In the same "Dowry", when Larisa dies, the singing of a gypsy choir can be heard from the restaurant doors. One must also take into account the possibility false motivation. Accessories and incidents may be introduced to distract the reader's attention from the true situation. This very often appears in detective stories, where a number of details are given that lead the reader down the wrong path. The author makes us assume the outcome is not what it actually is. The deception is unraveled at the end, and the reader is convinced that all these details were introduced only to prepare surprises at the denouement.
2. realistic motivation
From each work we demand an elementary “illusion”, i.e. no matter how conventional and artificial the work may be, its perception must be accompanied by a sense of the reality of what is happening. For a naive reader this feeling is extremely strong, and such a reader can believe in the authenticity of what is being presented, can be convinced of the real existence of the heroes. Thus, Pushkin, having just published “The History of the Pugachev Rebellion,” publishes “ Captain's daughter" in the form of Grinev's memoirs with the following afterword: "Peter Andreevich Grinev's manuscript was delivered to us from one of his grandchildren, who learned that we were busy with work dating back to the time described by his grandfather. We decided, with the permission of our relatives, to publish it separately." An illusion of the reality of Grinev and his memoirs is created, especially supported by moments of Pushkin’s personal biography known to the public (his historical studies on the history of Pugachev), and the illusion is also supported by the fact that the views and beliefs expressed by Grinev , in many respects diverge from the views expressed by Pushkin on his own. Realistic illusion in a more experienced reader is expressed as a demand for “vitality.” Firmly knowing the fictional nature of the work, the reader still demands some kind of correspondence with reality and in this correspondence sees the value of the work. Even readers who well-versed in laws artistic construction, cannot psychologically free themselves from this illusion. In this regard, each motive must be introduced as a motive likely in this situation. We do not notice, getting used to the technique of an adventure novel, the absurdity that the hero’s salvation always arrives five minutes before his inevitable death, the audience ancient comedy did not notice the absurdity that in the last act all the characters suddenly turned out to be close relatives. However, how tenacious this motive is in drama is shown by Ostrovsky’s play “Guilty Without Guilt,” where at the end of the play the heroine recognizes her own in the hero. lost son). This motive of recognizing kinship was extremely convenient for the denouement (kinship reconciled interests, radically changing the situation) and therefore became firmly entrenched in tradition.
So, realistic motivation has its source either in naive trust or in the demand for illusion. This doesn't stop you from developing. fantastic literature. If folk tales and usually arise in a popular environment that allows for the real existence of witches and brownies, they continue to exist as some kind of conscious illusion, where a mythological system or a fantastic worldview (the assumption of really unjustifiable “possibilities”) is present as some kind of illusory hypothesis.
It is curious that fantasy stories in developed literary environment, under the influence of the requirements of realistic motivation, usually give double interpretation plot: can it be understood and how real event, and how fantastic. From the point of view of the realistic motivation for constructing the work, it is easy to understand the introduction to the work of art extraliterary material, i.e. topics that have real meaning beyond fiction. So, in historical novels are brought to the stage historical figures, one or another interpretation is introduced historical events. See in the novel “War and Peace” by L. Tolstoy a whole military-strategic report on the Battle of Borodino and the fire of Moscow, which caused controversy in the specialized literature. IN modern works everyday life familiar to the reader is presented, questions of moral, social, political, etc. are raised. order, in a word, themes are introduced that live their own lives outside of fiction.
3. artistic motivation
The introduction of motives is the result of a compromise between realistic illusion and the requirements of artistic construction. Not everything borrowed from reality is suitable for a work of art.
On the basis of artistic motivation, disputes usually arise between old and new literary schools. The old, traditional direction usually denies the new literary forms presence of artistry. This is how, for example, it affects poetic vocabulary, where the very use of individual words must be in harmony with solid literary traditions(the source of “prosaisms” - words prohibited in poetry). As a special case of artistic motivation, there is a technique defamiliarization. The introduction of non-literary material into a work, so that it does not fall out of the work of art, must be justified by novelty and individuality in the coverage of the material. We must talk about the old and familiar as new and unusual. The ordinary is spoken of as strange. These methods of defamiliarization of ordinary things are usually themselves motivated by the refraction of these themes in the psychology of the hero, who is unfamiliar with them. There is a well-known technique of defamiliarization by L. Tolstoy, when, describing the military council in Fili in “War and Peace,” he introduces as actor a peasant girl observing this council and in her own, childish way, without understanding the essence of what was happening, interpreting all the actions and speeches of the council participants.