Fantasy is one of the most popular genres of our time. Its manifestations can be found in literature, music, painting, cinema, dramaturgy. This genre is loved by representatives of all ages: children - for a fabulous, magical plot, adults - for hidden meanings and ideas, the opportunity to escape from everyday life. In order to understand its significance in the modern world, one should first study its features and sources of formation.

The concept of genre in modern literary criticism

In modern literary criticism there is no single definition of the concept of "genre", as well as a single classification. The problem is in the focus of attention of scientists, to designate the science of literary types and genres, even (and without even) the term "genology" came into use (Paul Van Tiegem, 1920). Let us consider the dynamics of solving this problem in Russian literary criticism.

Belinsky was the first to raise this problem in the article "The Division of Poetry into Genus and Types"; there is no need to outline it, but if you are talking about the history of the issue, then start with Beklinsky and briefly in your own words what he wrote about.

Alexander Nikolaevich Veselovsky (1836-1906) was engaged in the study of the relationship "content - form". In "Historical Poetics", the scientist asserts the commonality and continuity of the elements of form among different peoples in different historical periods. The content that fills these forms is different at each historical moment, it renews and brings certain forms to life. New forms are not created, innovation is manifested in combinations of new contents and existing elements of forms, the latter, in turn, are a product of the primitive collective psyche. According to Veselovsky's doctrine of syncretism, the prototypes of literary genres were in a mixed state within the framework of ritual actions connecting songs and dances. Genres at this moment are inseparable from each other; over time, they are one by one separated from the rite and develop independently. Veselovsky writes about the criteria for delimiting the types of literature, but the criteria for delimiting the content are related to genres. The content of childbirth, the researcher sees different stages of the relationship between man and society, highlighting three stages, correlated with three types of literature:

1) "a common mental and moral outlook, the non-identification of the individual in the conditions of the clan, tribe, squad" (epos);

2) "the progress of the individual on the basis of a group movement", isolation within the framework of estates (ancient Greek and medieval lyrics, ancient Greek and chivalric romance);

3) "the general recognition of a person", the fall of the class and the assertion of a personal principle (short story and novel of the Renaissance) [Veselovsky, 1913].

The indicated stages are stable, since they change only with the change of epochs, and have content in the relationship between man and society. According to V.M. Zhirmunsky, Veselovsky wrote "Historical Poetics" as a "history of the genre" [Zhirmunsky, 1978 - p.224].

For the first time, speech genres became an object of study in the works of Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin (1895-1975) in the 1930s and 40s. "It was MM Bakhtin who helped to realize that genre studies are the fundamental, basic area of ​​the science of literature" [Golovko, 2009]. In the article "The Problem of Speech Genres", Bakhtin argues that a person uses language in the form of statements, which, being specific and individual, nevertheless combine into relatively stable types depending on the areas in which they are used. The sphere of communication determines the content, language style and composition of the statement (depending on the purpose and conditions of the sphere of communication). Utterances are thus grouped into a set of types which Bakhtin designates as "speech genres". The researcher notes the heterogeneity and diversity of genres within each area and in connection with the multiplicity of areas of communication; inside oral and writing. Bakhtin identifies primary, or simple, and secondary, or complex, speech genres. Primary genres are formed within the framework of actual speech communication and then enter, transforming, into the structure of secondary genres organized on the basis of a highly developed society (such as novels, dramas, scientific research, and so on).

The boundaries of an utterance are outlined by a change in the subjects of speech, as well as integrity, which is determined by "subject-semantic exhaustion, speech intent or speech will of the speaker, as well as typical compositional-genre forms of completion" [Bakhtin, 1996]. The features of these characteristics, in turn, determine the style of the utterance. Statements of a certain speech genre are filled with certain lexical units peculiar to the genre.

Bakhtin spoke about the dialogism of genres, this applied both to primary genres that actually exist in the process of communication, and to secondary ones. On the one hand, the choice of literary (secondary) genres is dictated to the author by the characteristics of the era in which the work was created and the audience for which it is intended. On the other hand, "genre expectation" implies a set of reader requirements for works of different genres. Thus, genres are formed and exist within the framework of dialogue.

In opposition to Yu. Tynyanov, who argued that the system of genres would change with the change of the historical epoch due to the leading role of the author's individuality, Bakhtin considered the genre to be the most stable structure over time.

Boris Viktorovich Tomashevsky (1890-1957) defined the concept of genre as follows: "special classes<…>works, characterized by the fact that in the techniques of each genre we observe a grouping of techniques specific to this genre around these tangible techniques, or features of the genre. "The subject, motivation for leading topics, as well as the form of speech - poetic or prosaic - determine the belonging of the work to a particular genre. Compositional techniques Tomashevsky recognizes as dominating over all other techniques, together they give the definition of the genre, and are therefore called "dominant" [Tomashevsky, 1999 - p. [Tomashevsky, 1999 - p.146]. Such "diversity", according to the scientist, does not allow genres to be classified according to common grounds. At best, it is possible to subdivide into dramatic, lyrical and narrative genres. A genre can evolve and change quite significantly, growing with new works, moving further and further away from the original canon but. The genre can break up into new ones. In general, there is a gradual transition from low genres to high genres.

E.S. Babkina notes that with the genetic approach - considering the genre as a dynamic developing system - it becomes impossible to completely correlate the genres of different historical eras, since at a certain period the genre carries both "dying" features that cease to be essential, and new ones that are not yet significant. become. However, different genres are at different stages of development. As V.E. Khalizev, the time of existence of genres is not the same: some, like, for example, a fable, exist for many centuries, while others arise and cease to exist within the framework of one historical period [Khalizev, 1999].

Viktor Maksimovich Zhirmunsky (1891-1971) pointed out the equivalence of thematic (substantial) and compositional characteristics in distinguishing between genres, as well as, in some cases, the importance of style components in this issue. At the same time, the relationship between these characteristics is unstable, historically determined. Recognizing that genres have typical features, Zhirmunsky suggested studying not the most striking creations of epochs, but the most massive ones, which should contain the most typical for the genre in a particular period: "... it is the secondary poets who create the literary "tradition". great literary work into genre features…" [Zhirmunsky, 1978 - p.226]. In each historical epoch, certain patterns are formed that are characteristic of specific genres, and these patterns are created from minor authors from the most striking manifestations of prominent authors. The scientist notes the possibility of mutual influence of genres, including new and half-forgotten ones, and as a result, the "rejuvenation" of the latter by enriching them with the patterns of the former. By the end of the literary epoch, the boundaries of the accepted genre are “loosened”, boundary genres arise as a result of the exhaustion of patterns and attempts to go beyond them.

According to Gennady Nikolaevich Pospelov (1899-1992), genres do not exist in isolation, but in a system. "Without comparing some genres with others, it is difficult to find out the originality of each of them" [Pospelov, 1978 - p.232]. D.S. was the first to draw attention to this circumstance. Likhachev, explaining the systemic nature by the mutual influences of genres and the common causes that provoke their emergence.

According to Pospelov, genres are repeated during different historical eras, and since the formal features of the same genre are different in different eras, one should pay attention to the content aspect. Agreeing with Veselovsky on the issue of the origin of genres from primitive folklore, Pospelov reproaches him for excluding the prose genre of primitive fairy tales from the field of view. He also uses separate names of genres as names of genre forms - such as epic, fairy tale, story, song, poem, fable, ballad, plays and poems, since the content aspect in these forms can be completely different.

The division into literary genres and genres, according to Pospelov, is carried out for various reasons. He derives genre groups based on the content aspect, each of which includes genres of all three kinds of literature.

Moses Samoylovich Kagan (1921 - 2006) in his work "Morphology of Art" classified genres according to four parameters, arguing that the more grounds for classification, the more complete description of genres is possible. He described the genres in the following aspects:

1) thematic (plot-thematic) (for example, genres of love or civil lyrics);

2) cognitive capacity (story, story, novel);

3) axiological aspect (for example, tragedy or comedy);

4) the type of models created (documentary / fiction, and so on) [Kagan 1972].

Lilia Valentinovna Chernets (1940) points to the reader's typical genre expectations, which, due to differences in genre features in different eras, are also different. Due to the specificity of reader's expectations, a large volume of literary genres arises. Chernets sees the function of the genre in the classification and indication of the literary tradition. Works belonging to different kinds of literature may, nevertheless, belong to the same genre. Such criteria as the pathos of the work and "repeating features of the problematic" allow them to be combined within the framework of one genre. However, belonging to a particular genus is also a criterion for distinguishing between genres. Following G.N. Pospelov, L.V. Chernets adheres to the understanding of the genre as primarily a content structure.

The formal concept of the genre, as opposed to the substantive one, sees the genre as an established type of text structure (including composition and non-plot elements). N. Stepanov, G. Gachev, V. Kozhinov adhered to this position. The genre form is dictated by tradition and the author's idiostyle. The discussion about whether form or content is decisive in the concept of genre is still ongoing.

In addition to the fact that, as noted above, genres form a system, each genre is itself a system, where the core is made up of essential features, and the periphery - variable.

Summarizing the considered features of the genre, it seems appropriate to propose a definition of a genre as a subtype of a kind of literature, characterized by the presence of relatively stable and different from other genres typical formal and content properties, determined by tradition, reader's expectation and author's attitude.

Thus, with all the variety of approaches, the following understanding of the genre has developed in Russian literary criticism. A genre is a specific type of literary work. The main genres can be considered epic, lyrical and dramatic, but it is more correct to apply this term to their individual varieties, such as, for example, an adventure novel, a clownish comedy, etc. Any literary genre, possessing only its inherent features, has gone and is going through certain paths in its development, why one of the main tasks of both theoretical and historical poetics is, on the one hand, the understanding of these features, and on the other, the study of their states in different eras due to their evolution

In modern literary criticism, in the presence of different concepts and approaches to the definition of a genre, a general classification literary genres:

1. in form (ode, story, play, novel, story, etc.);

2. by birth:

epic (fable, story, myth, etc.);

lyrical (ode, elegy, etc.);

lyric-epic (ballad and poem);

dramatic (comedy, tragedy, drama).

In mass literature, such genres as detective, action novel, fantasy, historical adventure novel, popular song, women's novel can be distinguished. The issue of genre is relevant here as well. Let's take a closer look at the classification of fantasy genres.

Elena Afanasyeva in her article "Fantasy Genre: The Problem of Classification" [Afanasyeva, 2007 - p.86-93] combines the classifications of other authors and creates her own, most general and complete: epic fantasy, dark fantasy, mythological fantasy, mystical fantasy, romantic fantasy , historical fantasy, urban fantasy, heroic fantasy, humorous fantasy and parody, science fantasy, techno-fantasy, Christian or sacred fantasy, philosophical thriller, children's and women's fantasy. This will be discussed in more detail in the next paragraph.

Philological sciences / 1. Methods of teaching language and literature

Ph.D. Agibaeva S.S.

North-Kazakhstan State University named after M. Kozybayeva, Kazakhstan

On some approaches to the study of the problem of genre in literary criticism

Literary genre, according to the definition of V.V. Kozhinov in the "Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary" (1987), - a historically emerging type of literary work; the theoretical concept of a genre generalizes the features characteristic of a more or less extensive group of works of an epoch, a given nation, or world literature in general. The principle of historicism regarding the genre category was emphasized by V.M. Zhirmunsky: “... the concept of genre is always a historical and<..>the connection between the elements of content (theme) and the elements of composition, language and verse that we find in one genre or another, be it a fable, be it a ballad, represents a typical, traditional unity that has developed historically, in certain historical conditions.<...>Genres in the narrow sense of the word are the historically established types of works of art. according to: 2, 318]. The concept of a literary genre is based on the fact of “historical stability of the types of artistic structures”, is also noted in the work of Yu.V. Stennik “Systems of genres in historical literary process» .

Genres are difficult to systematize and classify - largely because of the difficulties in defining genre criteria. So, B. V. Tomashevsky called genres specific “groupings of techniques” that are compatible with each other, have stability and depend “on the environment for the emergence, purpose and conditions for the perception of works, on imitation of old works and the literary tradition that arises from this ... Construction techniques are grouped around some tangible tricks. Thus, special classes or genres of works are formed, characterized by the fact that in the techniques of each genre we observe a grouping of techniques specific to this genre around these tangible techniques, or features of the genre. The scientist characterizes the features of the genre as dominant in the work and determining its organization: “These features of the genre are diverse and can refer to any side of the work of art ... The features are diverse, they intersect and do not allow a logical classification of genres on any one basis.”

The same idea sounds in the works of V.M. Zhirmunsky: “It is typical that the features of the genre cover all aspects of a poetic work. They include the features of the composition, the construction of the work, but also the features of the theme, that is, the peculiar content, certain properties of the poetic language (stylistics), and sometimes the features of the verse. So, when we talk about a genre as a type of literary work, we are not limited to composition, but we mean the type of combination of a certain theme established by tradition with the compositional form and features of the poetic language. according to: 2, 234].

These two features of the category of genre: historicism and structural complexity, determined the direction in the scientific approach to the genre problem. Firstly, it is the study of a whole range of issues related to the evolution of genres (development of genre systems, historical poetics, etc.); secondly, the formulation and commentary of various concepts of the genre.

In the context of the first direction, the works of Yu.N. Tynyanov and V.B. Shklovsky played a decisive role. According to Yu. N. Tynyanov, “it is impossible to give a static definition of the genre that would cover all the phenomena of the genre: the genre is shifting ...”. D.S. Likhachev wrote: “The category of literary genres is a historical category. Literary genres appear only at a certain stage in the development of the art of the word and then constantly change and change ... the very principles of distinguishing individual genres change, the types and nature of genres change, their functions change in one or another era. D. S. Likhachev pointed to the existence of a “balance” of genres within a certain system in the literature of each era. This balance is dialectical, the genres of one system support each other and at the same time compete with each other. V.B. wrote about the “canonization of junior genres”. Shklovsky in his work "On the Theory of Prose" (1929). His idea was developed and supplemented by Yu. N. Tynyanov: “In the era of the decomposition of some genre, it turns from the center into the periphery, and in its place from the little things of literature, from its backyards and lowlands, a new phenomenon floats into the center.”

B. V. Tomashevsky singled out the following processes in the life and development of genres: the birth of a genre (according to Yu. century, a romantic poem of the 19th century is born), the displacement of some genres by others (in two ways: a) the complete withering away of the genre - an ode and an epic of the 18th century; b) penetration into the high genre of the techniques of the low genre). At the level of the general historical and literary process, researchers talk about the canonization and decanonization of genre structures (canonical and non-canonical genre forms), about genre confrontations and traditions in a large historical time. Genres appear as "cultural and historical individualities" (V. E. Khalizev), "heroes" of the literary process (M. M. Bakhtin).

In the context of another scientific approach - the formulation and commenting on various concepts of the genre - modern researchers rely on the works of M. M. Bakhtin. On the material of the novel genre, the scientist built the concept of a “three-dimensional constructive whole”, or three aspects of the genre structure of a work of art: stylistic three-dimensionality in the organization of speech material; violation of the absolute epic distance, i.e., change in temporal orientation; restructuring of the image of the hero, the disintegration of the epic integrity of man in the novel.

The authors of the textbook "Theory of Literary Genres" (Moscow, 2012) identify several general concepts of the genre that have developed over time: 1) consideration of the genre in its inextricable connection with the life situation, in particular, with the ritual side of society, "...emphasizing the installation on the audience, which determines the volume of the work, its stylistic tone, stable themes and compositional structure." 2) The perception of the genre as a picture of the world, representing the traditionally general or individual author's vision (works by O.M. Freidenberg, G.D. Gachev, G.N. Pospelov). 3) Formation, on the basis of the theory of tragedy from Aristotle onwards, “the idea of ​​the border between the aesthetic reality and the extra-aesthetic reality of the reader-viewer and the specific interaction of these two worlds (the concept of catharsis).

Based on the teachings of M.M. Bakhtin on speech genres, the authors of the manual consider the literary genre as the implementation of a certain communicative strategy of aesthetic discourse.

As a result, the problem of genre structures, the functioning of genres and the evolution of genre systems is currently one of the most urgent in literary criticism.

Literature:

1. Kozhinov V.V. Literary genre // Literary encyclopedic dictionary. - M., 1987. - S. 106-107.

2. Tamarchenko N.D. theoretical poetics. Reader-workshop. - M., 2004. - S. 317-341.

3. Stennik Yu. V. Systems of genres in the historical and literary process // Historical and literary process - L., 1974. - P. 168-202.

4. Tomashevsky B. V. Theory of Literature. Poetics - M., 1999. - S. 206-210.

5. Tynyanov Yu.N. Poetics. History of literature. Cinema. - M., 1977. - S. 255-270.

6. The theory of literary genres. Ed. N.D. Tamarchenko. - M., 2012. - S. 6-14.

In the XX century. There is also another point of view on authorship, opposite to that which was stated and substantiated above. According to it, artistic activity is isolated from the spiritual and biographical experience of the creator of the work. Here is one of the judgments of X. Ortega y Gasset:

“The poet begins where the man ends. The fate of one is to go his own "human" way; the mission of the other is to create the non-existent<…>Life is one thing. Poetry is something else." The work from which these words are taken is called The Dehumanization of Art (1925).

In recent decades, the idea of ​​dehumanizing art has given rise to the concept of the death of the author. According to R. Barth, now "the myth of the writer as a bearer of values ​​has disappeared." Resorting to a metaphor, the scientist calls the author the Father of the text, characterizing him as despotic and autocratic. And he claims that there is no record of paternity in the text and the personality of the writer is deprived of power over the work, that the will of the author should not be considered, it should be forgotten. Declaring that the Father is "dead by definition," Barthes sharply contrasts the author live text. Now, he believes, the Author has been replaced by a Scriptor (i.e., a writer), who “carries in himself not passions, moods, feelings or impressions, but only such an immense dictionary from which he draws his letter, which knows no stop” . Barth believes that the author is a kind of half-imagination: he does not exist either before the writing of the text, or after the text is completed; Only the reader has full power over what is written.

Barth's concept is based on the idea of ​​the reader's unlimited activity, his complete independence from the creator of the work. This idea is far from new. In Russia, it goes back to the works of A.A. Potebni (see p. 113). But it was R. Barthes who took it to the extreme and contrasted the reader and the author with each other as incapable of communication, pushed them head-on, polarized them, spoke about their irremovable alienation and hostility to each other. At the same time, he interpreted the freedom and initiative of the reader as an essayistic arbitrariness. All this reveals the connection of Barth's conception with what is called the postmodern sensibility (see p. 260).

The concept of the author's death, which undoubtedly has prerequisites and incentives in the artistic and near-artistic practice of our time, is legitimate, in our opinion, to be regarded as one of the manifestations of the crisis of culture and, in particular, humanitarian thought.

2) Author as subject of artistic activity, the creative process present in his creation. He submits and illuminates reality, comprehends and evaluates it, as a carrier of speech within a work of art.

3) Narrator. He can be close to the author, can be distanced from him.

Narrator - an indirect form of the presence of the author, performs an intermediary function between the fictional world and the recipient. According to Tamarchenko, its specificity is as follows:

1) a comprehensive outlook (the narrator knows the ending and therefore places accents, can get ahead of himself, advise on what to focus on).

2) the speech is addressed to the reader, he always takes into account that he will be perceived. - there are different types of readers - an insightful reader, a censor, a lady.

In folklore, authorship was predominantly collective, and its "individual component" remained, as a rule, anonymous. But already in the art of Dr. Greece appeared individually - the author's beginning, as evidenced by the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides.

Most often author acts as narrator , lead story from third person, in a non-subjective, impersonal form. Since the time of Homer, a figure has been known omniscient author, who knows everything and everything about his heroes, freely moving from one time plane to another, from one space to another. In the literature of modern times, this method of narration, the most conditional (the narrator's omniscience is not motivated), is usually combined with subjective forms, with the introduction storytellers, with transmission in speech, formally belonging to the narrator, points of view this or that hero (for example, in War and Peace, the reader sees the battle of Borodino through the “eyes” of Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov).

The narrator(also Narrator from fr. narrateur- narrator) - a certain person (for example, a character), on whose behalf the narration is conducted in a documentary and artistic, in particular, in a literary or television work.

In literature, the narrator observes and describes what the author has come up with. Sometimes the narrator is clearly outlined (for example, Dr. Watson), sometimes anonymous and vague (for example, the narrators of "Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District" or "The Brothers Karamazov"), sometimes almost invisible.

Sometimes the narrator is also present in dramatic works, most often in the prologue or epilogue of the play. In this case, he is entrusted with the task of informing other actors or the public, directly telling about the events or commenting on them.

Usually they talk about narrator in the general case, but about the narrator - when the narrator is a direct participant in the events he describes.

6. Form and content. Foreign, domestic philosophers and literary critics about the form and content.

Form and content- philosophical categories that find application in different fields of knowledge. In ancient philosophy, form was opposed to matter. The latter was conceived as qualityless and chaotic, subject to processing, as a result of which ordered objects appear, which are forms. The meaning of the word "form" at the same time turned out to be close to the meaning of the words "essence", "idea", "Logos". “Form I call the essence of the being of every thing,” wrote Aristotle. This couple concepts (matter - form) arose from the need of the thinking part of humanity to designate the creative, creative power of nature, gods, people.
In the philosophy of modern times (especially active in the 19th century), the concept of "matter" was pushed aside by the concept of "content". The latter began to be logically correlated with the form, which at the same time is thought in a new way: as expressively significant, embodying (materializing) a certain intelligible essence: general (natural-cosmic), mental, spiritual.
The world of expressive forms is much wider than the realm of artistic creations proper. We live in this world and we ourselves are part of it, because the appearance and behavior of each person testify to something and express something. This pair of concepts (an expressively significant form and the intelligible content embodied by it) meets the need of people to understand the complexity of objects, phenomena, persons, their diversity, and, above all, to comprehend their deep essence and implicit meaning. The concepts of form and content serve to mentally delimit the external from the internal, essence and meaning - from the modes of their existence, that is, they correspond to the analytical impulse of human consciousness. In this case, the content is called the basis of the subject, its defining side. The form is the organization and appearance of the object, its defined side.
The form understood in this way is secondary, derivative, dependent on content, and at the same time is necessary condition the existence of an object. Its secondary nature in relation to content does not signify its secondary significance: form and content are equally necessary aspects of the phenomena of being.

CONTENT AND FORM IN LITERATURE are aspects of a work that are inseparably interconnected in artistic reality and are singled out only when it is analyzed in order to better understand the work. S. works - not so much a list of events and situations, but the whole range of his ideas and emotions, i.e. C is the unity of what is depicted and expressed in the work, which is emphasized in such a literary expression as “the ideological and thematic content of the work”

Form and content- fundamental concepts that contain generalized ideas about the internal and external aspects of the work.

Form is a system of means and methods in which this reaction is reflected.

Form functions:

1) Content expression function

2) The form must have an aesthetic impact on the reader

2 approach:

When layers are revealed in a work, levels

The work is a three-level structure:

7. Theme and idea of ​​the work. The ratio of ideology and artistry in the work.

TOPIC- this is a vital phenomenon that has become the subject of artistic consideration in the work.
The range of such vital phenomena constitutes the THEME of a literary work.
All phenomena of the world and human life constitute the sphere of interests of the author: love, friendship, hatred, betrayal, beauty, ugliness, justice, lawlessness, home, family, happiness, deprivation, despair, loneliness, struggle with the world and oneself, solitude, talent and mediocrity, the joys of life, money, relationships in society, death and birth, mysteries and mysteries of the world, etc. say, the thematic basis of the work is kept.
Author's task- artistically reveal the topic, that is, creatively study the life phenomenon from sides interesting to the author. Naturally, this can be done only by posing a question (or several questions) to the phenomenon under consideration. It is this question that the author asks, using the figurative means available to him, that is the problem of a literary work.
The totality of ideas, the system of author's thoughts about the world and man, embodied in artistic images, is called IDEA

Idea- this is what the author wants to say, why this work was written.

It is thanks to the expression of ideas in images that literary works have such a strong effect on the thoughts, feelings, will of readers and listeners, on their entire inner world.

The attitude to life expressed in the work, or its ideological and emotional assessment, always depends on the writer's understanding of the characters he portrays and follows from his worldview.

The idea of ​​a literary work is the unity of all aspects of its content; it is a figurative, emotional, generalizing thought of the writer.

Artistry is a special quality of art associated with the impact of an artistic image.

The literary text also formulates a personalistic image of reality.
The main problem of artistry is related to the criteria for its evaluation. Imagery is considered to be the most general criterion of artistry. The second, narrower one, is associated with the degree of artistic perfection. At the same time, artistic perfection was historically understood either as a substantive category or as a formal one. In the first case, artistry approaches the ideological significance of the work. In didactic forms of art, ideological significance is associated with journalistic sharpness or with an educational idea of ​​the function of literature, i.e. artistically valuable is that which brings up either moral character or citizenship. The controversy of such a representation is due to the fact that, by transmitting, a productive idea can develop directly, not in an artistic image. On the other hand, artistry is not identical with art form, because
an idea can have great spiritual power, and thought in art is a kind of poetics.

Ideology(from the Greek idea) - the ideological orientation of the work, depending on the depth and fidelity of the writer's worldview and determining the significance of the content of the work. How more progressive ideas, on the basis of which the writer reflects life, selects and evaluates life phenomena, the more significant, truer and deeper his work of art can become. Ideological errors reduce, nullify the significance of a work of art; advanced ideas expressing the interests of the working people open up the writer the greatest opportunities for full-fledged artistic creativity.

Lack of ideas art and literature leads to the creation of works that are empty in content, in which the author, instead of educating high thoughts and feelings in the reader, teaching him to understand reality, people, distracts him from the struggle for beauty, for the happiness of mankind.

Literary genres are groups of works that are distinguished within the framework of genres of literature. Each of them has a certain set of stable properties. Many literary genres have their origins and roots in folklore. The genres that have reappeared in proper literary experience are the fruit of the combined activity of the initiators and successors. Genres are difficult to systematize and classify, stubbornly resist them.

First of all, because there are a lot of them: in each artistic culture genres are specific. In addition, the genres have a different historical scope. Some exist throughout the history of verbal art; others are related to certain eras. The picture is further complicated by the fact that the same word often designates profoundly different genre phenomena. Existing genre designations fix various aspects of works. Thus, the word "tragedy" states the involvement of this group of dramatic works in a certain emotional and semantic mood. The word "story" indicates that the works belong to the epic genre of literature and about the "average" volume of the text. It is not easy for literary theorists to orient themselves in the processes of genre evolution and the endless "discordance" of genre designations. However, the literary criticism of our century has repeatedly outlined, and to some extent carried out, the development of the concept of "literary genre" not only in the concrete, historical and literary aspect, but also in its own theoretical aspect. Experiences in the systematization of genres in the perspective of supra-epochal and world-wide were undertaken both in domestic and foreign literary criticism. In epic genres, it is primarily the opposition of genres in terms of their volume that matters. The established literary tradition distinguishes here the genres of large (novel, epic), medium (story) and small (story) volume, however, in typology, it is realistic to distinguish only two positions, since the story is not an independent genre, gravitating in practice either to a story or to novel. But here the distinction between large and small volume seems essential, and above all for the analysis of a small genre - a story. The major genres of the epic - the novel and the epic - are different in their content, primarily in terms of problems. The content dominant in the epic is the national, and in the novel - the novelistic problem The fable genre is one of the few canonized genres that have retained real historical existence in the 19th-20th centuries. The lyrical-epic genre of the ballad is a canonized genre, but already from the aesthetic system of not classicism, but romanticism.

The concept pair content/form is an age-old debate. Especially hot - 1/3 of the 20th century, the apogee of formalism in literary criticism. If there is no generalization in the work, it will not arouse the reader's empathy. This general meaning is content (idea, ideological content). The form is perceived directly. It has 3 sides: 1) objects - what is it about; 2) words - speech itself; 3) composition - the arrangement of objects and words. This is the scheme of the ancient "rhetoricians", which turns into "poetics": 1) inventio - invention 2) elocutio - verbal decoration, presentation 3) disposotio - arrangement, composition. M. V. Lomonosov "A Brief Guide to Eloquence" - division: "About the invention", "About decoration", "About location". Gives examples from fiction (Virgil, Ovid). 1/3 XX century - there is a sharp increase in interest in the composition and structure of the work, i.e., in theoretical poetics. 1925 - Tomashevsky: “Theory of Literature. Poetics". He generalizes literary phenomena, considers them as the result of applying the general laws of the construction of literary works. 1920-40s: Tomashevsky, Timofeev, Pospelov offer schemes for the structure of the work. Similarity with the rhetorical tradition in highlighting the main aspects of the work: themes and style - Tomashevsky (consider questions of composition); images-characters (“immediate content”), language, plot and composition (Timofeev), “subject figurativeness”, verbal structure, composition (Pospelov). Timofeev and Pospelov distinguish the figurative level, considering it as the completion of the artistic form. Timofeev delimits "images-characters" from the "ideological and thematic basis". Pospelov: subject representation is determined by the unity of the main levels of content - themes, problems, pathos. In the future, this concept of the "world of the work" (the legacy of antiquity - the allocation of inventio as the tasks of the poet) will be developed and substantiated by Likhachev, Faryno.

Tomashevsky does not use the concept of an image. He defines the topic in linguistic traditions - "a certain construction, united by the unity of thought or topic."

1910-20s: Formalism. Zhirmunsky, article "The Tasks of Poetics" (1919): rejection of the concept of "image" as a tool of analysis due to its uncertainty - "Art requires precision." Subjects of analysis: poetic phonetics, poetic syntax, themes (the totality of “verbal topics” is reduced to compiling a poetic dictionary; example: “Sentimentalist poets are characterized by such words as “sad”, “languid”, “twilight”, “tears”, "sorrow", "coffin urn", etc.). Bakhtin called the theoretical poetics of the Formalists "material aesthetics", pointing out the inadequacy of the approach.

OPOYAZ - "Society for the Study of Poetic Language" (Shklovsky, Tynyanov, Eikhenbaum, Yakubinsky) - achieved accuracy by bypassing the category of image. Paradoxical is the approach to the analysis of a character, which is traditionally regarded as an "image-character". According to Tomashevsky, the character appears in the work only as a means of revealing a certain motive (the function of the character is the bearer of the motive). Shklovsky - the idea of ​​"estrangement" - explained the appearance in literature of new techniques by "automating" our perception ("Kholstomer", "V. and M." Tolstoy). Shklovsky almost did not touch on the ideological tasks of the writer. He declared art to be a "reception". The conceptual pair "content/form" was replaced by "material/device" (material - verbal, plot - served as a motivation for the techniques). A literary work is a pure form, a “relationship of materials”. The titles of the articles: “How Don Quixote Is Made” (Shklovsky), “How The Overcoat Is Made” (Eichenbaum), etc. But not all formalists denied the content. The unity of “what” (content) and “how” (form) in the work was emphasized (Tynyanov, Zhirmunsky). Later - Lotman - proves the need for a "level" study of the structure of a poetic text: "The dualism of form and content must be replaced by the concept of an idea. A poem is a complexly constructed meaning. Level ladder: phonetics-grammar-vocabulary. Vocabulary: extra-textual connections - genre, general cultural, biographical contexts  enrichment. The category of content was introduced into philosophy and aesthetics by Hegel. It is connected with the dialectical concept of development as the unity and struggle of opposites. In a work of art, they are reconciled. The content of art is an ideal, the form is a figurative embodiment. The task of art is to combine them into one whole. In the future, Hegel foresaw the death of art, since it ceased to be the highest need of the spirit.

Question: why is it often believed that one thing prevails in the work of various poets - the form or the content? How is a work born? The idea is the core, the proforma, from which the whole work is subsequently derived (Arnaudov). Recklessness, spontaneity, integrity of the plan. Belinsky distinguished between content (creative concept) and plot (events). Dostoevsky: idea and implementation. An idea is the first part of creation. Compares the act of creating a work from an idea to cutting a diamond.

Form and content: the problem of lagging one behind the other. Sharp discussions about the lag of form from content - 1920s. Criticism of Fadeev's "Defeat" by Polonsky (he notes the features of Tolstoy in it). The biblical metaphor is "new wine in old wineskins". Severe critics - LEF ("Left Front of the Arts"). Fadeev was also accused of imitating Chekhov. Original forms: Mayakovsky's accent verse, tale, colored with characteristic phraseology (Vs. Ivanov, I. Babel, M. Zoshchenko). In the very possibility of "lag behind the form" its relative independence can be traced. She explains the reason for the return to the old forms: moralizing and pathos - the drama of the 19th century; 4-foot iambic plus lyrical digressions - "Onegin"; psychological analysis - Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. Features of the form have become signs of literary phenomena, elements of codes. In new artistic contexts, however, they can acquire new meaning.

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MINISTRY OF HIGHER AND SECONDARY

OF SPECIAL EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN

SAMARKAND STATE UNIVERSITY NAMED AFTER ALISHER NAVOI

PROBLEMS OF LITERARY STUDIES: THE THEORY OF LITERATURE

B.S. MYKHAILYCHENKO

Samarkand - 2009

Mikhailichenko B.S. Problems of Literary Studies: Theory of Literature. Monograph. - Samarkand: SamGU, 2009. - 182 p.

The proposed study of literary categories is made in the "genre of a monograph" and does not pretend to be a "genre of a textbook". The monograph deals with specific topics, uses complicated, sometimes debatable versions and hypotheses, and the author's judgments are abundantly illustrated with quotation examples.

Regarding the "textbook genre", such books are created exclusively for students or students as the main type of educational literature; textbook stands out methodological approach to the subject, operates with established rules, where each truth is verified and canonized.

The claimed work synthesizes in itself the disparate features of the textbook, and therefore its individual chapters can be used as additional material on the Theory of Literature.

The monograph is addressed to students, graduate students, literary critics of philological universities.

Rep. editor: doctor of philological sciences,

professor Umurov Kh.I.

Reviewers: Doctor of Philology,

Professor SAFAROV Sh.S.,

Doctor of Philology,

professor YULDASHEV B.B.

Samarkand State University named after Alisher Navoi

INTRODUCTION

From the history of the formation of the theory of literature as a science; review of training material

In ancient literary criticism, the main line was marked by poetics, it canonized aesthetic categories, significantly expanded the terminological apparatus (mimesis, poetics, catharsis, character, tyukhe - chance, guilt and mistake of the hero, eidos - idea, eikon - image ...), explored the specific properties of artistic births and species, the source for which is the world of reality, fiction, imagination. Poetics did not lose influence in recent history, and fulfilled its theoretical purpose until the 19th century, when university developments began to be published at the rate of fine literature. It was only in the 20th century that textbooks called "Theory of Literature" appeared, strongly asserting their own status in the system of university education by reducing interest in poetics. In the modern understanding, the analysis of the structure and structural means of the text is poetics, its essence is hidden in the details.

Literary theory is the most important section of literary criticism. Acting as its foundation, explaining the schemes of conceptual categories that are repeated in a certain period and at all times, clarifying the essential in the replacement of some aesthetic formations by others, the theory forms and motivates the main indicators of literature.

Criticism and the history of literature cannot do without theory, aesthetics and philosophy are closely connected with it, it establishes the most general norms that govern the development of literature. Summarizing the experience of the world artistic process, the theory of literature, as a type of human cognition, explores the nature of spiritual and aesthetic values ​​(character, character, feelings), creates rules and laws on how to construct poetic, prose and dramatic works, is called upon to explain the essence of a social phenomenon mastered and comprehended by literary criticism in general. Without a theory of the subject, there is no history of the subject.

The general provisions of this science must be used by writers. In order to enjoy art, one must be aesthetically literate. And in this sense, the theory of literature raises and expands art education and enlightenment of society.

Domestic literary criticism, despite the ideological distortions, has achieved certain success in the field of creating textbooks on the theory of literature. Until the 90s of the XX century, the theoretical developments and personal judgments of the authors were supplied with the statements of political figures, decisions of regular congresses in the field of literature and art, referred to the opinions of critics and writers authoritative at that time. In old textbooks, the following dogmatic chapters stood out as the most promising in the aspect of "literature and society": on class, party spirit and nationality, on the ideological content of literature and the most "advanced in the world" socialist realism. The theme of the work was put in the foreground, and not its artistry. The categories named and omitted here should be read critically, since they reflected the immutable truths that dominated science, but lost their meaning in the new century.

These recommendations introduce such key issues as literature and literary criticism, literary schools, methods, trends, trends, the specifics of the text and work, literary genres, content and form, artistic characterology, criteria for artistry, symbol and myth, the degree of talent of the writer, poetic speech .

Review of educational material on the theory of literature of the XX century. It is customary to begin with the book "Fundamentals of the Theory of Literature" by L.I. Timofeev, published in 1940; Subsequently, it was repeatedly supplemented, corrected and reprinted.

The very title of the monograph contains an indication of its monumentality. Of course, even here the pages are full of quotation truths, but in general the scientist put the theory of literature on a philosophical basis. The main conceptual provisions of L.I. Timofeev are approved by domestic literary criticism.

In 1960 V.I. Sorokin published his "Theory of Literature" (M.: Uchpedgiz), but this work could not stand the scientific rivalry with the book of L.I. Timofeev, it is rarely mentioned, although it contains valuable sections, for example, "Portrait Characteristics" of literary characters. The undoubted significance of V.I. Sorokin consists, firstly, in an attempt to quantitatively increase academic benefits, breaking the monopoly of one program textbook; secondly, in the rejection of triad designations of works such as: “Theory. Poetics. Stylistics”, which was characteristic of literary criticism of the 20-30s of the XX century, which, as it were, ignored the right of theory to its independence.

The three-volume "Theory of Literature" (1962 - 1965), created by a team, among which V. Kozhinov stood out, who, however, could not be on a par with L.I. Timofeev and G.N. Pospelov.

The textbook of the Ukrainian scientist P.K. Volynsky "Fundamentals of the theory of literature" (1967). As the material under study, P.K. Volynsky draws on the works of two far from related and by no means unequal literatures and rarely refers to the works of Western writers. "Fundamentals of the Theory of Literature" P.K. Volynsky consist of twelve sections, his conceptual developments are transmitted in the following sequence: "The subject and specificity of fiction"; "Literature and social life»; "Principles of the analysis of a work of art"; "Theme and idea of ​​a work of art"; "Literary image"; "Composition and plot of a literary work"; "Language of a work of art"; "Elements of versification"; "The historical nature of the development of literature"; "The development of literary genera and types"; "Development of artistic methods and trends". And the crown of theoretical thought is the "most advanced in the world" socialist realism. The most significant scientific value are the sections of "Foundations of the Theory of Literature" by P.K. Volynsky, devoted to poetic speech and the technique of versification.

In 1977 N.A. Gulyaev released tutorial for students of philological specialties. His "Theory of Literature" is divided into VI chapters. The first deals with the history of the formation and development of theoretical thought; the second chapter introduces fiction as a specific kind of art; in the third, literary phenomena are studied in terms of social consciousness; the creative process is discussed in the fourth chapter; in the fifth - a place is given to literary types and genres; in the sixth - artistic methods, trends and style are explored. The dogmatic teachings include three initial chapters. Textbook N.A. Gulyaev can be successfully used in high school.

Published his "Theory of Literature" G.N. Pospelov in 1978, on which the scientist worked almost constantly and his scientific discoveries, long before the publication of this book, were implemented in many articles and monographs. Pospelov's and Timofeev's studies are recognized as classical in the sense that the main theoretical propositions substantiated by the authors do not lose their significance in the historical perspective.

In the same year, 1978, The Theory of Literature was translated from English, which was compiled by two American literary scholars - Rene Welleck and Austin Warren. Initially, this work appeared in the USA in 1949 and became widespread in the universities of Western Europe and America. Western students - philologists to this day continue to study the theory created by these scientists. Structurally, Welleck and Warren's Theory of Literature consists of four parts. The first one - "Definition and differentiation" - considers and classifies many theoretical categories that traditionally Russian literary criticism included in the university course "Introduction to Literary Studies". The exception was the section: “General literary criticism. Comparative literature. History of national cultures. The second part is called "The preliminary stage of literary analysis", the third - "External approach to the study of literature" (subsections: "Literature and biography"; "Literature and psychology"; "Literature and society"; "Literature and idea"; "Literature and others art"); the fourth part - "Internal Aspects of Literature" - (euphony, rhythm and meter, style, image, character, genre) completes the "Theory of Literature" by American authors. It is appropriate to make a reservation here that the textbooks of domestic theorists on English language not translated yet. And this is more than an estimate.

In terms of familiarization, it is desirable to keep in view the university works on the theory of literature, created by philologists different countries. Thus, the Uzbek scientist H.I. Umurov in his "Theory of Literature" ("Adabiyet Nazariyasi" - Toshkent: Shark, 2002. - 256 b.) in the initial chapter ("Fiction") poses and successfully explores the problems of classical literary criticism. These are “The Object and Subject of Literature”, “Artistry, Imagery and Image”, “Talent. Inspiration. Artistic skill”, “Truth of life and artistic truth”, “Spirituality and ideology”. In the second part (“Artwork”), attention is paid to such categories as “Content and Form”, “Theme and Idea”, “Plot and Composition”, “Language and Motif”. The third part (“Poetry”) is devoted to poetic systems and the principles of their analysis. In the fourth part (“Genders and genres”), the thoughts of prof. H.I. Umurov are focused on epic, lyrics, drama and oriental genres; in the fifth part (“Style, creative method and trends”), theoretical positions are built mainly on the texts of Uzbek writers. National dominant Kh.I. Umurova deserves approval.

The experiences of young theorists of the beginning of the 21st century are still ahead of the “Theory of Literature” by V.E. Khalizeva (M.: VSh, 2007. - 405 p.). His textbook appeared in the 90s, and has already gone through four editions. The first two chapters deal with issues of general literary criticism, while the third one deals with the communicative side of literature. The fourth and fifth chapters are devoted to poetics as the basis of the foundations of the science of literature (the doctrine of the composition and structure of individual works and their groups). The sixth chapter examines the genesis of artistic creativity and the patterns of development of literature. Due attention in the textbook V.E. Khalizev is given to the theoretical and methodological positions of major scientists, various scientific schools, the aesthetic value of new concepts is verified.

A brief description of educational materials allows us to draw a conclusion about the progressive movement of theoretical thought in the world of literary criticism.

General information about literary categories is contained in special reference books and specialized encyclopedic dictionaries. This is primarily a multi-volume "Brief Literary Encyclopedia" (KLE), published since 1962. It is followed by: Kvyatkovsky A. Poetic Dictionary. - M.: SE, 1966. - 375 p. Georgiev L., Dzhambazki H., Nitsolov L., Spasov S. Rechnik on literary terms. - Sofia: Science and Art, 1969. - 967 p., Lesin V.M., Pulinets O.S. Glossary of literary terms. - K.: RSH, 1971. - 486 p.; Dictionary of literary terms / Editors - compilers L.I. Timofeev and S.V. Turaev. - M.: Enlightenment, 1974. - 510 p.; Khotamov N., Sarimsakov B. Adabiyetshunoslik terminlarining Ruscha-Uzbekcha iso?li lu?ati. - Tashkent: Ў?ituvchi, 1979.

In the system of auxiliary literary disciplines, literary translation also bears an important burden. Many writers initially tried their creative powers in the field of translation. And here the philologist is obliged to familiarize himself with the theory of text transposition from one linguistic culture to another.

CHAPTER FIRST. LITERATURE AND LITERARY STUDIES

Semantic and terminological definitions and distinctions; the concept of literary disciplines

Literary disciplines are based on the theory of literature, its subject of study are works of art. And in this regard, there is a need to distinguish between the concepts of "literature" and "literary criticism".

The term "literature" (lat. - "letter", written; writer - writer) needs systemic concretization and clarification: in its ambiguous sense, "literature" is a collection of handwritten and printed works of a people, era, humanity. In semantic terms, "literature" is divided into many professional interests and knowledge: medical, legal, theological, soil science ... One of the highest levels is " fiction". In the 19th century, it received the name of "belles-lettres". This kind of phrase correlates with the phenomena of art, which made it possible to call literature the "art of the word", a special kind of creativity that figuratively reproduces life through speech, writing, and iconological techniques. It expresses the consciousness of society and shapes it. In its early phase, literature developed under the strong influence of folklore and an understanding of the role of the individual in the historical process. The power of fiction lies in the emotional depiction of events, human characters, experiences and thoughts. From epoch to epoch, literature accumulates, preserves and transmits the aesthetic, moral, philosophical, historical and social values ​​of each nation.

Literary criticism. In turn, a science is being formed that studies fiction. And her first question is aimed at identifying the composition of literary disciplines. According to the established classification, the subjects studied are divided into main (main) and auxiliary (service). The main ones are literary theory, literary history and literary criticism; auxiliary are literary bibliography, historiography and textual criticism.

The method of the main literary disciplines is heuristic, it seems to test the strength of traditional forms and models in the continuous movement of time and the scientific experience of the writer and critic. The method of service items is paradigmatic and conservative in the sense that it seeks to preserve certain norms of the additional interpreter of the text and the disseminator of its restored aesthetic values.

The distinctions between literature and literary criticism are reflected in the following scheme:

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Basic literary disciplines

I. Theory of Literature. Every science must have a solid theoretical basis which allows it to successfully develop, improve, achieve results. When a theory becomes false, it will fail. The term "theory" in translation from Greek means "observation", "research".

Literary theory (or its simplest presentation - "Introduction to Literary Studies") - the most abstract teaching, abstracted from specific literary facts, consists of some generalizations and belongs to methodological science. Exploring the historically and aesthetically established types of artistic thinking, the theory develops its own typology, establishes and clarifies general concepts (categories) related to literature, in particular, about versification, prose, romanticism, realism, and everything in that order, interprets the categories of plot construction, composition, the characters of literary characters, considers the purpose of fiction and its functions of knowledge, studies the broadest and most general questions of literature. Literary theory comprises three main sections.

I. The doctrine of literature as a method of cognitive activity.

This science is a kind of philosophy of literature, a special kind of social consciousness (consciousness and cognitive activity in this case are considered as synonyms).

II. The doctrine of the work, its structure and composition (general poetics and theoretical poetics).

III. The doctrine of the literary process, the main forms in which literature exists, the laws of its historical evolution.

Sometimes this section is called the doctrine of the historical-literary process.

Thus, the theory of literature is distinguished not by a concrete, but by an abstract, abstract character. Each literary entity (from literature in general to any literary particular) is taken here only in general terms, without regard to how a given phenomenon manifests itself in the artistic practice of a particular writer, in a particular work.

II. History of literature. A real literary discipline studies the process of development of the fiction of all peoples over many centuries or decades, dividing into subdisciplines according to eras and individual countries. For example: "History of ancient literature", "History of English literature of the Middle Ages", "History of French literature of the Renaissance" ... Literary scholars have created and continue to create the history of national and world literature ("History of World Literature").

The history of literature includes such significant categories as the artistic process, periodization, literary and historical sources, and creative portraits of individual writers.

The literary process refers to the complex, sometimes contradictory development of fiction, the laws of which are studied by the history of literature and criticism. The literary process is formed in the course of a collision of aesthetic programs, controversy, agreement, and a resolute rejection of the creative positions of the artists of the word. Cultural, social and national characteristics literary eras. Historical - progressive movement occurs due to the development of the results of predecessors. At the same time, the new era does not simply repeat, but deepens and develops successes, for example, in the field of versification or in the improvement of artistic prose. The literary process is supplemented by a certain number of writers' portraits of both classics and authors of mediocre talents.

Literary historians have created a well-thought-out concept of periodization of world and national literatures. So, from antiquity to the 18th century of modern times, the concept of "literary era" consists of several historical centuries: ancient literature (BC), literature of the Middle Ages (V - XIV centuries AD), literature of the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries .), literature of classicism (XVII century; among the Slavs - XVIII century). Starting from the 18th century, the achievements of the artists of the word are measured in one century (the 18th century - Enlightenment; the 19th century - romanticism and realism; the 20th century can be conditionally designated as the Nobel period).

The artistic subject presents itself with a historical-literary approach. A literary critic in the study of artistic and documentary sources is obliged to objectively read factual materials. At the same time, the historical beginning should not dominate over literary fiction.

The creative portrait of the writer consists of biographical information, a review of published and unpublished (manuscript) works, and genre preferences of the author. Most often, for example, Ukrainian literary critics designate this section as "The life and work of the writer's name."

The history of literature becomes a philological science only when it is not limited to a single enumeration of the literary events of the past, even if they are taken in a chronological, strictly verified temporal sequence. And if changes in literary facts are considered, firstly, as development, and, secondly, in this very evolution certain general patterns and trends appear and are established, only then can we talk about the history of literature as an independent discipline. So, in different literatures and different literary eras, a mandatory system of order is observed: a movement is established from epic to lyrics, and then to dramaturgy, from romanticism (literature of dreams) to realism (literature of reality).

III. Literary criticism. The genres of literary criticism coincide with the genres of journalism: articles, reviews, testimonials, essays, anniversary sketches, essays. It also takes into account the forums held by critics, dialogues, round tables, readers' responses, monographs, in which the works of one of the leading critics are collected, anthologies are published.

Model: critic - writer - reader

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Criticism considers exclusively current literature, it deals with modern phenomena and facts: it discusses, praises, points out shortcomings. Its task is to evaluate a new work, helping the reader to establish the level of the artist's talent and the significance of his published work. This discipline actively participates in the literary process and influences it, it turns out to be on the side of any literary movement or individual writer, the critic enters into polemics with his opponents, trying to defend the right or reject the erroneous principles.

As a science, criticism belongs to the "young" university disciplines. In the history of the Eastern Slavs, "moving aesthetics" was formed in the 19th century, and only in the following century did the history of criticism begin to be systematically studied in student audiences.

In every literary almanac there are sections specially reserved for criticism, which determine the face and aesthetic position of the journal (“Our Contemporary”, “New World”, “Foreign Literature”, “Word and Hour”, “Star of the East”, “Berezil” ...). The authors of articles promptly respond to a new work and often express their extreme attitude towards it. Most often, in the judgments of critics, two opposing opinions about one work collide. At the same time, one cannot fail to note the fact that polemists can distort the aesthetic taste of the reader. L. Tolstoy pointed to this side of the issue: “Now I was thinking about critics. The business of a critic is to interpret the works of great writers, the main thing is to single out the best from the large amount of rubbish written by all of us. And instead, what are they doing? They torture themselves out of themselves, or even mostly out of a bad but popular writer, fish out a flat little thought and start on this little thought, distorting, distorting writers, stringing their thoughts. So under their hands great writers become small, profound writers petty, and wise writers stupid. It's called criticism. And partly this meets the requirements of the masses - a limited mass - they are glad that at least something, even stupidity, a great writer is pinned down and is noticeable, memorable to her; but this is not criticism; clarification of the writer, and this is obscuring him ”(see: Lev Tolstoy on Art and Literature. - M .: SP, 1958, vol. 2. - P. 521). Students should be aware that many of the truths and revelations of L.N. Tolstoy are false and vicious. For example, the writer completely rejects the art of the Western European Renaissance, for him Shakespeare, Goethe, Beethoven, Bach and others are “completely rubbish” (L. Tolstoy on Art and Literature, vol. 2. - P. 243 - 244). So-called socialist realist criticism caused significant harm to readers and writers, when the “limited mass” of readers perceived information in the opposite way: if a writer or his work is scolded, it means that the writer has shown civic courage or he is talented, and his books are worth reading.

Attention is also paid to the “unusual” profession of criticism (see: Buché J. Paul Valery - literary critic. - Paris, 1976). Thus, biographical criticism (Ch. Sainte-Beuve, and after him I. Ten and F. Brunetier) put itself above the writer and was proud of this superiority. In the middle of the 19th century, critics begin to recognize their secondary nature, but secretly or openly feel “envy” of artists. The moving aesthetics of the second half of the 19th century considers itself equal to writing. The following, edifying, criticism frankly ignored the "internal logic" and aesthetic orientation of the work. As for academic criticism, it singled out in the essay what makes it above the environment and the era. Engaged (custom) criticism “saw” in the text something that did not exist in it. Thematic criticism gravitated most of all towards literary criticism; structuralist critics are also in this space. Impressionist criticism is colored by the subjective principle.

Criticism, therefore, on the one hand, helps to develop the creativity of an individual writer, and on the other hand, it forms the reader's opinion, brings up aesthetic taste.

Literary theory, literary history and literary criticism are closely related. The critic relies on the facts and judgments about which the history of literature gives him. To determine the place of a new writer in the modern literary process and in the context of the history of literature, he needs to know the facts of previous periods in the development of literature. Based on knowledge of the history and theory of literature, the observer determines which traditions the modern author borrows in his work and which phenomena are ignored; on the other hand, he is obliged to use the basic provisions of the theory of literature. In turn, the history and theory of literature are based on the assessments expressed by criticism.

Strong links are being forged between history and literary theory. Theory rests on the facts discovered by the history of literature, generalizes them, and the history of literature and criticism cannot do without a conceptual methodology. The theory and history of literature, in contrast to criticism, explore phenomena that manifested themselves both in distant epochs and in the closest ones.

The history of literature and all its constituent subdisciplines, as well as literary criticism, are literary subjects of a concrete, factual nature. The difference between literary history and literary criticism is one thing: criticism is interested in current literature, works today”, and the historian of literature - the facts of past times. All the general concepts used by literary historians and literary critics, borrowed from the theory of literature, confirm the existence of a close interaction between the main (and service, including) literary disciplines within the general historical and literary limits.

Auxiliary literary disciplines

Literary disciplines that are not directly involved in the analysis of works of art are called auxiliary. Their task is to promote, to help the main disciplines to study literature. At the same time, they have developed their own methodology and methodology with their own specific goals and purposes.

Service subjects include: literary bibliography, literary historiography, literary textology.

I. Literary bibliography. The purpose of the bibliography (gr. - book + write; description of books) is the scientific description of books and the compilation of their lists. Literary bibliography is a part of the general bibliography that deals with the registration, accounting and classification of handwritten and printed products. Thanks to the work of bibliographers, the researcher does not drown in the sea of ​​books, he easily finds what is published on the subject of interest. Libraries have a general catalogue, a systematic catalogue, special directories and specialists - bibliographers who help in finding the necessary information.

Bibliography, including literary criticism, is divided into scientific and educational. The educational includes annotated and recommendatory reference books. Recommendations include only those authors whose works, in the opinion of the compilers, should be advised to students. An annotated presentation of information, in addition to indicating the author and the title of the corresponding work, is accompanied by a brief explanation of the essence of this article or monograph. If a student can get by with a specialized reference book, then a literary researcher cannot be satisfied with this. He is obliged to personally familiarize himself with all the relevant information on the issue he needs. The scientific description of the books must be complete and include all publications.

Reference materials are divided into sources and manuals. The first include directly the works of authors of various types of publications; manuals represent all the scientific and critical literature that exists about the work of the writer under study. In the 20th century, reference books began to be published, which are of a mixed nature: all the works of the author, his editions and reprints, all available scientific products about his work are indicated. Such, for example, are the "Writer's Dictionaries", "Comments", "Literary Encyclopedias of Names" of the writer. There are various periodic chronicles of book, magazine and newspaper articles.

Literary bibliography. It is customary to call it scientific - auxiliary, scientific - information, accounting - registration, advisory. In the 21st century, the Internet begins to perform the reference function.

Literary bibliography. Its task is to revive the reader's interest, inculcating aesthetic taste and artistic knowledge, to confidently understand the flow of periodicals and classics.

Bibliography. This is the science of bibliography, in its classical form it originated in the countries of Western Europe and is associated with the name of the Swiss scientist Konrad Gesner (1516 - 1565), who published the "University Bibliography" (1545), describing 15 thousand books of ancient Greek, Latin and European authors, located in the university library. In addition, he created the zoological encyclopedia "The History of Animals" in 5 volumes.

In the 17th century, the Florentine encyclopedist Marucelli (1625 - 1703), in his titanic work "Mare magnum", numbering 112 volumes, recorded and commented on the "great sea" of printed matter for almost the entire 17th century. In the 21st century, bibliographers cannot keep up with periodicals. In Samarkand alone, a huge number of newspapers and other publications are published, but author's publications are not yet recorded or described. Therefore, in bibliography, an information gap is formed and increases.

II. Literary historiography. Historiography should not be confused with the history of literature. Historiography represents the history of research thought devoted to literature, but not the history of literary creativity. Literary critic - historiographer studies the world of writers and their works to a lesser extent, in his field of vision are the works of scientists - literary critics (articles, books, textbooks). When it is necessary to know that in literature there is the most significant, significant and authoritative on a given problem, then they turn to literary historiography, to the works of the classics - literary critics, to a description of their works.

Literary historiography is the science of the development of literature and literary criticism, for example, a scientist dealing with the topic of the “little man” in the literature of the 19th century must find out which writers developed it, in what direction and how this cross-cutting image changes in the history of literature. On the other hand, the researcher is obliged to establish: who introduced this term into use, who raised the scientific problem in literary criticism, where and when it was discussed, what explanation it received from various researchers. Historiography answers these and other questions.

III. Literary textology. Textual criticism studies the manuscripts and lifetime editions of the most talented writers. More specifically, the issues of correspondence between the latest editions of the authors under study and their primary sources are clarified. The fact is that over a long period of time, the author's will is significantly distorted with numerous editions: all kinds of errors accumulate, and also the undesirable fruits of interference in the text of the press workers make themselves felt.

Involuntary (accidental) spelling errors include typographical and typographical errors by the creator of the work. Such miscalculations, as a rule, are fixed and corrected in the next reprint, and the writer's mistakes and the mistakes of the printing house workers, which accidentally turned out to be conscious, are not noticed not only by the reader, but also by a literary critic. Distortions of this quality are called meaningful, more precisely, comprehended.

Textual critics also meet with deliberate juggling. This group of errors is made up of the results of the intervention of an editor (in the past, a censor): he changed the meaning of a phrase, threw out a word and inserted his own, sometimes for reasons of taste, assuming that in the author's form his work should not be allowed to print. Finally, the direct intervention of the proofreader, who believes that the text needs serious stylistic editing, makes itself felt. In the above cases, a distorted line-by-line poses a task for the textual critic: to detect and eliminate errors, to restore the author's text, to restore the author's will.

A wide field of activity for textual critics opens up when working with manuscripts. So, on the material of medieval Ukrainian chronicles (VIII - XIV centuries), many scientific works, in which the words that disappeared from the text are restored to their previous state, the versions about the missing works are clarified, and “dark places” are explained.

At one time, the Italian scientist L. Santifaller proposed to eliminate the boundaries between the auxiliary and basic sciences. He put forward the idea of ​​replacing the term "auxiliary sciences" with "historical basic sciences". However, domestic literary theorists do not revise the established classification, since it has already been canonized.

CHAPTER TWO. artistic image and figurative specificity of literature

Image as an aesthetic and historical category; logical imagery and artistic imagery; concepts; the subject of the image; typification and individualization; cognitive and educational functions of literature; emotional factor and aesthetic value of literature; artistic creativity as a form of knowledge and development of life

Artistic image. The term “image” was borrowed by Russian literary criticism from the Kievan church language, which means face, cheek; in a figurative sense - a picture; the nomination "image" is a tracing-paper from gr. eikon (icon) - image.

A work of art is a thought expressed figuratively, in pictures. The writer, unlike the publicist, does not express certain provisions, from which the reader must draw conclusions. He has everything at once together perfectly, inseparably: both the initial thesis, and the proof, and final result. All this is reflected in a single sketch, in the image.

The theory of the artistic image was created in antiquity and was associated with the concept of imitation (mimesis): the artist recreates life in its unique, individual meaning. Aristotle understood the work as a living being, which obeys its own rules, breaking away from the author, the artistic creation "produces" a product of aesthetic pleasure.

The science of literature of the 19th century (Hegel) defined the art of the word as thinking in images, which reveals concrete reality.

The artistic image is a form of reflection of life and represents a generalized picture of the world. Art recreates life conditionally, symbolizes the second nature, organized according to the laws of beauty. This is not reality, but its image, and it can only be encountered through imagination. The image includes the spiritual activity of a person, it is an object endowed with the features of a sign (K. Goranov).

“An image is a concrete and at the same time a generalized picture of human life, created with the help of fiction and having aesthetic value” (L.I. Timofeev). It contains the author's evaluative - subjective moment to the depicted object (N.A. Gulyaev).

The literary image is inexhaustible, just like reality (an act of individual evaluation, aesthetic pleasure, the relationship of private life with the life of mankind, a way of knowing the author). After reading W. Shakespeare or studying his work, the life of an English playwright is multiplied by infinity. The category "image" and the system of artistic images differ in their ideological significance.

Images of a human personality are classified as images - characters, objects (images - things), natural phenomena (images - landscapes). The writer must convey the social truth, use fiction, recreate the individual character, generalize the circumstances (P.K. Volynsky).

US literary theorists R. Welleck and O. Warren believe that the image consists of three elements: image = metaphor + symbol + myth. The semantic fields overlap, and their scope is undoubtedly the same. Psychologists and aesthetes have proposed a multi-stage classification of images: visual (reproduction of past experience); taste, aromatic, static, dynamic, color, sound, synesthetic (the ability of the image to switch from the sound sphere of feelings to color, taste, aromatic).

There are works in which odorism and synaestheticism acquire a special artistic value. Thus, in the "Song of Songs" (Bible), aromatic varieties and their influence on lovers are depicted: incense of blossoming fig trees and grapes; exacerbate sensuality "nard and saffron, amr and cinnamon with all sorts of fragrant trees, myrrh and scarlet with all sorts of the best aromas."

The French poet of the 19th century Charles Baudelaire created (the collection "Flowers of Evil") a picture of the world, which consists of mysterious hieroglyphs and symbols indicating the connection established between smells, colors and sounds:

Sound, smell, shape, color echo…

There is a smell of cleanliness. It's green like a garden

Like the flesh of a child, fresh, like the call of a flute, tender.

Others are regal, they have luxury and debauchery,

They will not be captured by thought, their unsteady world is boundless, -

So musk and benzoy, so nard and incense

The delight of the mind and senses is given to us to taste.

The problem of the role of feelings, visual, gustatory and aromatic effects in the creation of an artistic image by the Ukrainian poet and scientist I. Franko (“From the Secrets of Poetic Creativity”, works in 10 vols., v. 10. - M .: GIHL, 1959. - S. 76 - 137).

R. Welleck and O. Warren summarized the doctrine of the artistic image: “Apparently, for the theory of literature, the main motives will be the image (or picture), social, supernatural (unnatural, irrational), narrative (story), archetype (or universal), symbolic representation of eternal ideals through events determined by a specific time, programmatic (or eschatological), and, finally, mystical.

There are works of literary theorists who discover new aesthetic facets in this category, such as, for example, “emblem”, “symbol”, “myth”.

The image is an emblem. G.N. Pospelov in the emblematic content highlights the evaluative feature, which is characteristic of the fine arts - painting, sculpture, architecture, chasing. The emblematic (gr. - relief decoration) image is static; the image of the shield of Achilles is considered to be a classic example, however, the drawing of this cover was developed in the process of its creation. The verbal and subject representation of the emblem enhances the mystery of the idea of ​​the work.

The image is a symbol. Its main difference is metaphorical. Every symbol is an image, and when it turns into a symbol, it becomes transparent, acquires a semantic depth that is difficult to decipher. Objects, animals, cosmic phenomena can act as the fundamental principle of a symbol. So, among the Hindus, the "lotus" personifies the deity and the universe; among Christians, the serpent appears as a symbol of wisdom and temptation; Arabs (Iranians) wine - wisdom and knowledge. Dances, tools, topography are shrouded in symbolism. The image-symbol is noticeably different in its dynamic tendency: it is not given, but given, it can only be explained. The difference between a symbol and simple objects is that "things" allow you to look at yourself, they must be considered; the symbol, on the contrary, “works”, he himself “looks” at people. Compare; when you look into the abyss for a long time, someday the abyss will look at you (Nietzsche). A literary image - a symbol of a talented writer - always has a figurative meaning, it is created according to the model of hidden comparison.

The image is a myth. The characteristics of this category aim at irrationality, intuition, and philosophy. Where does the author's myth-image come from and where does it go is explained by the picture of the world, which almost always points to the tragic destiny of mankind.

Eternal images. These include the characters of world literature: Prometheus, Oedipus, Cassandra, Hamlet, Don Juan, Faust, Don Quixote, Leyli and Majnun, Iskander ... These images are unfading, because they combine the features of not a specific hero, but the unity of historical and universal principles. Moscow-Petersburg literature has not created world-class nominal eternal images; it, like other Slavic literatures, I think, will not create, no matter how it magnifies itself.

In the typological system of artistic images, the theory of Ukrainian scientists I. Kovalik - M. Kotsiubynska about the mega-image, macro-image and micro-image stands out.

A mega-image (gr. megas - huge) is directly related to a literary work, the text of which is perceived as a mega-image. It is distinguished by its independent aesthetic value, and literary theorists endow it with the highest generic and indivisible value.

A macro image (gr. macros - wide, long) organizes a system of artistic reflection of life in its narrow specific or large generic segments (segments, parts, pictures). The structure of the macro-image is organized by interconnected homogeneous micro-images.

A microimage (gr. micros - small) is distinguished by the smallest textual size: it is a unit of figurative thinking, in which a small segment of objective (external or internal) reality is artistically reproduced. A micro-image can be made out in one phrase word (Night. Rain. Morning) or a sentence, a paragraph, an epiphrasal integrity.

An epic work (mega image) consists of several macro images. There are examples when in a lapidary poetic text a macro-image includes a significant number of micro-images and, on the contrary, one micro-image can be equal to a mega-image. Among verbal and artistic images, according to the concept of I. Kovalik - M. Kotsiubynska, there are simple (non-expanded, one-phrase) and complex (expanded) micro-images (see: Kotsiubinska M. Literature as the mysticism of the word. - K .: Naukova Dumka, 1965. - P. 21; Kovalik I. About the typological interpretation of the artistic word and having shown the maternity of the Slovnik created I. Franko // Franko I. VIP VII. - L .: LDU, 1969. - P. 154).

The image is a way and form of mastering reality, it is characterized by the unity of feelings, the commonality of semantic moments and belongs to historically changeable categories, showing its beauty in different literary genres.

In the history of literary criticism, there have been attempts to study the image in terms of its pragmatic meaning. Proponents of this approach considered this category as a thing, being, hoping that the image can be understood and studied to the end. If such problems could be solved, then there would be no mystery left from Hamlet, Don Quixote, Oedipus, the Stone Lady... Supporters of the pragmatic method make claims to the heroes: what they did for the family, what contribution they made to the economy and science. In connection with this methodology for the analysis of fiction, it is enough to recall the famous "boots" and the "Sistine Madonna" by Raphael. A well-known critic of the 19th century preferred boots that turned out to be higher than Raphael. However, the critic did not think of "selling" a painting by an Italian artist and buying a lot of shoes. The artistic image is studied according to aesthetic laws, according to the laws of beauty. A pragmatic approach to the analysis of the artistic image and literature, even at the level of a production theme, turned out to be unproductive on the whole.

ARTISTIC SUBJECT

The object of art is a person and everything around him; discontinuity and continuity of artistic development

One of the topical issues in the theory of literature, which continues to be discussed sporadically, abruptly and from time to time, is connected with the subject of artistic representation. Scientists begin to find out the truth from the question: does fiction have its own specific subject matter or not? Are there any differences in the logical-theoretical and artistic-figurative ways of knowing the world?

The subject of the artistic image constitutes a significant circle of actions mastered by the science of literature. Here one can establish the subject of literary theory, the subject of literary history, the subject of literary criticism.

When a theorist defines the specifics of art and reveals the presence of his own subject in literature, there is no single point of view here. The opinions of some literary critics tend to admit that there is no specific subject in fiction. This version boils down to the following: if the sphere of interests of art is limited to some single area, then it will mean that art does not cover all of life. Some aspects remain out of sight, which means that the distinctive property of a work of art is not properly manifested. Meanwhile, the writer depicts objects, the cosmic world, animals, and therefore he does not run counter to practice.

Further, it is argued that the Slavic critics of the 19th century did not raise the issue of the specifics of the subject of a work of art. Raised, however, they followed the path of Western European literary criticism, which believed that the whole reality becomes the subject of art, that attention is focused on everything, anything. There are no areas that would be inaccessible to artistic development. The pathos of all these appeals of opponents and supporters of the existence of the subject of an artistic image does not contain false statements, although their very position is certainly incorrect. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify what, on the one hand, is true, and on the other, unjustified.

It would be a mistake to suggest that art is limited in its ability to study and display reality. This approach opposes science and art and is not consistent with the practice of artistic creation. There will be a writer (Balzac, Zola) who will depict everything that surrounds us. And this should be taken into account. In this regard, we single out several provisions in favor of the version that literature has its own subject of artistic exploration of reality.

Thesis one: the subject of artistic representation is a person and the world around him. Literary critics of the 19th century by no means claimed that art does not have its own specific subject. Indeed, they own the statement: "The object of art is reality." But at the same time, they often talked about a person who attracted the attention of artists. Therefore, critics argued that it was not the main idea, but the earthly spirit: the subject of art is not a deity, not other worlds, but life. Proponents of the existence of the specificity of the subject should share the concept of L.I. Timofeev. This does not mean that the science of literature did not deal with this problem before him. Aristotle has a thought that L.I. Timofeev managed to consistently and to the end master. His concept boils down to the following: an image is a picture of human life, an image is always saturated with human meaning. The scientist recalls that the interests of the artist are focused on the human significance of the surrounding phenomena. There are works where animals, trees, things, space act. Anything can get the writer's attention. When it comes to a person, then he is the object of the image, when the writer depicts nature, then here too the human content stands out, the interests of the person are established.

The contradictions are that the subject of art is limited and the subject of art is specific. How to reconcile this disagreement? Any object can be defined by the logic of the scholastics about the notorious glass: in one state it is a vessel for drinking, then a glass as a product of the glass industry, then a glass as a commodity and it can be sold, finally, it can break through a person’s head. Human consciousness not only reflects, but also depicts. The very development of the two most important forms of cognition (man and society) has led to the fact that any phenomenon can be comprehended in two different planes. Do not think that these two planes are opposed to each other. There are contradictions between them, but people live and create in human society, and this is not an abstract, but a human subject. So, the subject of literature is a person and everything around him in human reality.

In the field of artistic creativity, the subject is not some part of people, but a living person. In this regard, in the work we also find something that can be attributed to human death. There are differences between artistic and logical sections. When the writer draws a dying man, the reader is presented with the son of the earth with his destiny, realizing that life is finite, she passed him by, and, dying, he understands this. Thus, we repeat once again, the subject of the artistic image is a person and the human taken in life, they appear conscious, creating the illusion of authenticity.

The second thesis: the subject of artistic representation is reality itself. Contradictions arise between the subject and content. What is their reason? Contradictions arise from the fact that fiction refers to a specific type of activity. In what planes, aspects do the contradictions of unity and content make themselves felt?

The subject of a work of art is an abstraction; any artistic content specifically. What is the source of specificity? The essence of the matter is expressed by the proverb: "New time - new songs." Reality is not abstract, it is historically changeable. It is one thing - a picture of the ancient world, another - modern life in motion. Artistic content is a drop from the sea of ​​human society, and just as one can judge the taste of the sea from the taste of a drop of water, so one work allows one to indulge in thoughts about humanity and humanity. According to many works of ancient mythology and literature, a thoughtful reader imagines the process of transition from matriarchy to patriarchy.

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