Often, writers are forced to touch on other types of art: images, music, architectural structures. This tradition dates back to ancient times, continues in modern literature and is one of the types of “text in text”. The most intuitive form of intertextuality is called ecfrasis.
The concept of ecfrasis
Ecfrasis is a description in the literary text of an object of art: a painting or architecture.
There is a more general concept. Ecfrasis is any kind of art reproduced in another. This includes music, embroidery, if you take later types of creativity, then you can turn on cinema and photography.
Ecfrasis in Ancient Greece
Ecfrasis in ancient literature was so widespread that it even formed a separate direction. For example, in one of the treatises of Philostratus the Elder entitled "Pictures", the author describes the images and their meanings. This is one of the first examples of ecfrasis, which had the goal of improving morality: at the beginning of the work, the author writes that "Pictures" were written after talking with young people on the topic of art.
Homer often used ecfrasis in his epics. Examples can be found in his Illiad. These were voluminous chunks of text with rich descriptions of paintings, architecture, weapons, armor, clothing and palaces. Most often, Homer described not just an object, but things depicting an entire plot. For example, the world painted on the shield of Achilles.
Ecfrasis in European literature
Many philologists limit the use of ecfrasis to the Renaissance in European literature. However, this technique can also be found in the works of the XVII-XIX centuries, authored by Umbert Eco, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Honore de Balzac. One of the most striking examples is the novel “Portrait of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde. In it, the portrait of the protagonist plays a key role in the story.
If you go back to the Renaissance, Victor Hugo’s novel “Notre Dame de Paris” will be the best example of ecfrasis. This work is about one of the most magnificent buildings of mankind, and the fates of people that revolve within its walls serve only one purpose: to show the diversity of the church of God in Paris.
Ecfrasis in the early era of Russian literature
In the Middle Ages, many authors of the walking genre used descriptions of architecture, buildings, sacred objects, and images in their travel notes.
Later, the role of ecfrasis changes. This is no longer just a description of a work of fine art or architecture in a literary text. Reception is of paramount importance in the novels, where we are talking about people of art, artists.
The image of art in literature of the XIX-XX centuries
N.V. Gogol uses this technique in his work Portrait. In this story, the owner of the canvas gets the depicted old usurer, bringing misfortune.
Heroes of the works of F.M. Dostoevsky's “Idiot” and L.N. Tolstoy's “Anna Karenina” also observe the paintings, and this makes a certain impression on the main characters. With Fyodor Mikhailovich, the heroes speak the words of the author, conveying his personal impression of the painting "Dead Christ in the Sepulcher" by Hans Holbein. Lev Nikolaevich reflects in the text on the meaning and purpose of art. Thus, the concept of ecfrasis expands and goes into the rank of philosophy.
In the twentieth century, art moves to a new level. It appears majesty and scope, which had never happened before. Public photos and cinema appear.
One of the first stories of I.A. Bunin in exile "Mad Artist". The main character is fighting two trends: worship of the West and the idealization of Russia and the Russian people. The author pays special attention to the methods of expressiveness and image of the paintings: color symbolism, visual vocabulary. An interesting comparison of ideas and the embodiment of paintings. The story also guesses the real picture: "The Sistine Madonna."
The story of B.A. Lavrenieva "Woodcut" raises issues such as the role of art in society, the intuitive nature of creativity. Lavrentyev linked the new art with the creation of a character that would replace the bored prototypes.
Some authors used ecfrasis as Aesopian language in communication with the authorities. EI Zamyatin in his dystopian novel “We” describes the construction of a huge ship, a symbol of the greatness of all mankind. Moreover, the society in which such a large-scale structure is being created is far from perfect: people are being watched, they are under total control. This, of course, is an allusion to the Soviet regime, for which Zamyatin's anti-utopia has long been published only abroad.
In the twentieth century, ekphrasis acts as a technique for revealing the themes of Russia and the revolution. At the same time, Soviet power and its inherent pathos were very strong. A. Platonov in the work “Pit” magnifies the construction of “a single all-proletarian house”. At Zamyatin and Platonov, we see that it is no longer just about reproducing the aesthetic part of art in literature, but also about its connection with the socio-historical movement.
An important part is the influence of icon painting on twentieth-century literature.
Ecfrasis in Silver Age Poetry
The heyday of the Silver Age of Russian poetry is considered the beginning of the twentieth century. At this time, the creators sought to go beyond art, so they searched for themselves at the crossroads of literature, theater, and music.
You can recall A.S. Pushkin and his "Bronze Horseman" - a monument around which events of the next flood in St. Petersburg developed.
Acmeists of the Silver Age A.A. Akhmatova and O.E. Mandelstam gave ecfrasis more "material" and significant significance than the symbolist poets: A. Bely, A.A. Block, V.Ya. Bryusov.
S.A. Yesenin often used music motifs in his poems, which can also be attributed to the reception of ecfrasis. The author often uses in the text the image of wind instruments, folklore musical motifs. In the poems "Pugachev" and "Martha Posadnitsa" there is an image of a bell ringing. Kabatsky motifs are embodied in the "Moscow Kabatskaya". To the music of the guitar and harmonica the soul of the lyrical hero reveals. Through musical images, Yesenin conveys his own thoughts about the purpose of art and the meaning of life.
I. Annensky in the poem "Bronze poet" draws a parallel between the revived bronze statue and sculptures in Pushkin's poetry. Here the theme of the destructiveness of time and the immortality of the creator is raised.
The Impact of Fiction on Fiction
Ecfrasis stands out among other types of "text in text" by its visuality. It has several advantages over other types of intertextuality. Ecfrasis is a technique that allows authors to weave real examples of world art into the text, designate their own impressions, and reproduce the feelings of the characters from contemplating objects of creativity. Translating images and architecture into verbal form provides writers with room for metaphorical description.
Ecfrasis gives writers the opportunity to create the illusion of naturalness. Each sample of art that the authors describe in their books, each reader can watch live, compare the feelings with the feelings of the characters.