Today we are talking on the topic: "Traditional elements of composition." But first you need to remember what a "composition" is. For the first time we meet this term at school. But everything flows, everything changes, gradually even the strongest knowledge is erased. Therefore, we read, we tear up the old, and fill in the missing gaps.
Composition in the literature
What is a composition? First of all, we turn to the explanatory dictionary for help and find out that in a literal translation from Latin this term means “compilation, composition”. Needless to say, without a “composition”, that is, without a “composition”, no work of art is possible (examples follow) and no text as a whole. It follows that composition in literature is a certain arrangement of parts of a work of art. In addition, these are certain forms and methods of artistic depiction that have a direct relationship with the content of the text.
Key elements of the composition
When we open the book, the first thing we hope for and anticipate is a beautiful entertaining narrative that will either surprise us or keep us in suspense, and then not let go for a long time, forcing us to mentally return to what we read again and again. In this sense, a writer is a true artist who primarily shows, not tells. He avoids direct text such as: “Now I will tell.” On the contrary, his presence is invisible, unobtrusive. But what is necessary to know and be able to do for such mastery?
Compositional elements - this is the palette in which the artist, the master of words, mixes his colors to make a bright, colorful plot in the future. These include: monologue, dialogue, description, narration, system of images, author's retreat, inserted genres, plot, plot. Further - more about each of them.
Monologue speech
Depending on how many people or characters in a work of art participate in a speech - one, two or more - a monologue, dialogue and polylogue are distinguished. The latter is a type of dialogue, so we will not dwell on it. Consider only the first two.
A monologue is an element of composition, consisting in the use by the author of speech of one character, which does not imply an answer or does not receive it. As a rule, she is addressed to the audience in a dramatic work or to herself.
Depending on the function, the text distinguishes between such types of monologue as: technical - a character's description of what has happened or is currently happening; lyric - the hero’s transmission of his strong emotional experiences; acceptance monologue - the internal thoughts of a character who is facing a difficult choice.
The following types are distinguished in form: author’s word - the author’s appeal to readers, most often through a character; stream of consciousness - the free flow of the hero’s thoughts as they are, without obvious logic and not adhering to the rules of literary construction of speech; dialectic of reasoning - the hero expounds all the pros and cons; dialogue in solitude - the character’s mental appeal to another character; apart - in dramaturgy a few words to the side that characterize the present state of the hero; stanzas are also in dramaturgy the lyrical reflections of a character.
Dialogue speech
Dialogue is another element of the composition, a conversation between two or more actors. Usually dialogical speech is an ideal means of conveying a clash between two opposing points of view. She also helps to create an image, the disclosure of personality, character.
Here I want to say about the so-called dialogue of questions, which involves a conversation consisting solely of questions, and the response of one of the characters is both a question and an answer to the previous remark at the same time. The artwork (examples follow) of Hanmagomedov Aydin Asadullaevich Goryanka is a vivid confirmation of this.
Description
What is a person? This is a special character, and individuality, and a unique appearance, and the environment in which he was born, was brought up and exists at the moment of life, and his house, and the things with which he surrounds himself, and people far and near, and the environment its nature ... The list goes on and on. Therefore, creating an image in a literary work, the writer must look at his hero from all possible sides and describe, without missing a single detail, even more - create new “shades” that are impossible to even imagine. The following types of artistic descriptions are distinguished in literature: portrait, interior, landscape.
Portrait
This is one of the most important compositional elements in the literature. He describes not only the appearance of the hero, but also his inner world - the so-called psychological portrait. The diversity of the place of the portrait in the work of art. A book can begin with it or, conversely, end with it (A. P. Chekhov, “Ionych”). The description of the appearance can be right after the character has committed some act (Lermontov, “Hero of our time”). In addition, the author can draw the character in one fell swoop, monolithically (Raskolnikov in “Crime and Punishment”, Prince Andrei in “War and Peace”), and another time, and scatter features throughout the text (“War and Peace”, Natasha Rostova). Basically, the writer himself takes up the brush, but sometimes grants this right to one of the actors, for example, Maxim Maksimich in the novel “Hero of Our Time”, so that he describes Pechorin as accurately as possible. The portrait can be painted ironically (Ippolit Kuragin), satirically (Napoleon in “War and Peace”) and “ceremoniously”. Under the author’s "magnifying glass" sometimes only a person, a certain part or the whole article - a figure, manners, gestures, clothes (Oblomov) falls.
Interior Description
The interior is an element of the composition of the novel, allowing the author to create a description of the hero’s home. It is no less valuable than a portrait, since the description of the type of room, the atmosphere, the atmosphere prevailing in the house - all this plays an invaluable role in conveying the character's characteristics, in understanding the entire depth of the created image. The interior also reveals a close connection with the artistic detail, which is the part through which the whole is known, and the single through which the plural is seen. So, for example, Dostoevsky in the novel “Idiot” in the gloomy house of Rogozhin “hung” the picture of Holbein “The Dead Christ” in order to once again draw attention to the implacable struggle of the true faith with passions, with unbelief in the soul of Rogozhin.
Landscape - a description of nature
As Fyodor Tyutchev wrote, nature is not what we imagine, it is not soulless. On the contrary, much is hidden in it: the soul, and freedom, and love, and language. The same can be said about the landscape in a literary work. The author, using such an element of composition as landscape, depicts not only nature, terrain, city, architecture, but thereby reveals the character’s state, and contrasts the naturalness of nature with conditional human beliefs, acts as a kind of symbol.
Remember the description of the oak tree when Prince Andrei went to the Rostovs' house in the novel War and Peace. What he (oak) was at the very beginning of the journey - an old, gloomy, “contemptuous freak” among the birches smiling at the world and in the spring. But at the second meeting, he suddenly blossomed, updated, despite a hundred-year-old hard crust. He nevertheless obeyed spring and life. The oak in this episode is not only a landscape, a description of the living nature after a long winter, but also a symbol of the changes that took place in the soul of the prince, a new stage in his life that managed to “break” his already deep-rooted desire to be an outcast of life for the rest of his life .
Narration
Unlike the description, which is static, nothing happens in it, nothing changes and in general it answers the question “what?”, The narrative includes an action, conveys a “sequence of events” and the key question for it is “what happened ? " Speaking figuratively, the narrative as an element of the composition of an artwork can be presented in the form of a slide show - a quick change of pictures illustrating a plot.
Image system
As each person has his own network of lines on the fingertips, forming a unique pattern, so each work has its own unique system of images. This includes the image of the author, if any, the image of the narrator, the main characters, antipodes, minor heroes and so on. Their relationship is built depending on the ideas and goals of the author.
Copyright retreat
Or lyrical digression is the so-called extra-plot element of the composition, with the help of which the author’s personality as if breaks into the plot, thereby interrupting the direct course of the plot narrative. What is it for? First of all, to establish a special emotional contact between the author and the reader. Here, the writer no longer acts as a narrator, but opens his soul, raises deeply personal issues, discusses moral, aesthetic, philosophical topics, shares memories from his own life. Thus, the reader manages to take a breath before the stream of the following events, to stop and delve deeper into the idea of the work, to reflect on the questions posed to it.
Plugin genres
This is another important compositional element, which is not only a necessary part of the plot, but also serves as a more voluminous, deeper disclosure of the hero’s personality, helps to understand the reason for his or her life choice, his inner world, and so on. Any genre of literature can be inserted. For example, stories are the so-called story in a story (the novel “A Hero of Our Time”), poems, novels, poems, songs, fables, letters, parables, diaries, sayings, proverbs and many others. They can be either of your own composition, or someone else's.
The plot and plot
These two concepts are often either confused or mistakenly believe that this is one and the same. But they should be distinguished. The plot is, one might say, the skeleton, the basis of the book, in which all parts are interconnected and follow one another in the order that is necessary for the full implementation of the author’s intention, the disclosure of the idea. In other words, events in the plot can occur at different time periods. The plot is that basis, but in a more concise form, and plus is the sequence of events in their strictly chronological order. For example, birth, childhood, adolescence, youth, maturity, old age, death - this is a plot, then the plot is maturity, memories from childhood, adolescence, youth, lyrical digressions, old age and death.
Story composition
The plot, in the same way as the literary work itself, has its own stages of development. In the center of any plot there is always a conflict around which the main events develop.
The book begins with an exposition or a prologue, that is, with an “explanation”, a description of the situation, the starting point from which it all began. What follows is the plot, one might say, the prediction of future events. At this point, the reader begins to realize that a future conflict is just around the corner. As a rule, it is in this part that the main characters meet, who are destined together to go side by side through future challenges.
We continue to list the elements of the plot composition. The next stage is the development of action. This is usually the most significant piece of text. Here, the reader is already becoming an invisible participant in the events, he is familiar with everyone, he feels what the salt of what is happening, but is still intrigued. Gradually the centrifugal force sucks him in, slowly, unexpectedly for himself, he finds himself in the very center of the whirlpool. A climax sets in - the peak, when both the main characters and the reader themselves are struck by a real storm of feelings and a sea of emotions. And then, when it is already clear that the worst is behind and you can breathe, the denouement knocking quietly on the door. She chews everything, explains every detail, arranges all things on the shelves - each in its place, and the tension slowly subsides. The epilogue draws a final line and briefly outlines the future life of the main and secondary characters. However, not all stories have the same structure. The traditional elements of a fabulous composition are completely different.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a lie, but a hint in it. Which one? The elements of the composition of the tale are fundamentally different from their "brothers", although when reading, light and laid-back, you do not notice this. This is the talent of the writer or even the whole nation. As Alexander Sergeyevich instructed, reading fairy tales is simply necessary, especially common people, because they contain all the properties of the Russian language.
So, what are they - the traditional elements of a fairy tale composition? The first words - this is a saying that sets up a fabulous mood and promises a lot of miracles. For example: “This fairy tale will tell from morning to dinner, eating soft bread ...” When the listeners relax, sit down more comfortably and are ready to listen further, the time has come for the beginning - the beginning. The main characters, the place and time of the action are introduced, and another feature is drawn that divides the world into two parts - the real and the magical.
Next comes the tale itself, in which repetitions are often found to enhance the impression and gradually approach the denouement. In addition, poems, songs, onomatopoeia to animals, dialogues - all these are also integral elements of the composition of the tale. The fairy tale has its own ending, which seems to summarize all the miracles, but at the same time hints at the infinity of the magical world: "They live, live and make good."