When analyzing a work, along with the concepts of “theme” and “problematics”, the concept of idea is also used, by which most often we mean the answer to the question allegedly posed by the author.

Ideas in literature can be different. An idea in literature is a thought contained in a work. There are logical ideas, or concepts. A logically formulated general thought about a class of objects or phenomena; idea of ​​something. The concept of time, which we are able to perceive with the intellect and which are easily conveyed without figurative means. Novels and stories are characterized by philosophical and social generalizations, ideas, analyzes of causes and consequences, and a network of abstract elements.

But there is a special type of very subtle, barely perceptible ideas in a literary work. An artistic idea is a thought embodied in figurative form. It lives only in figurative transformation and cannot be expressed in the form of sentences or concepts. The peculiarity of this thought depends on the disclosure of the topic, the author’s worldview, conveyed by the speech and actions of the characters, and on the depiction of pictures of life. It lies in the combination of logical thoughts, images, and all significant compositional elements. An artistic idea cannot be reduced to a rational idea that can be specified or illustrated. The idea of ​​this type is integral to the image, to the composition.

Forming an artistic idea is a complex creative process. He is influenced personal experience, the writer’s worldview, understanding of life. An idea can be nurtured for years; the author, trying to realize it, suffers, rewrites, and searches for adequate means of implementation. All themes, characters, all events are necessary for a more complete expression of the main idea, its nuances, shades. However, it is necessary to understand that an artistic idea is not equal to an ideological plan, that plan that often appears not only in the writer’s head, but also on paper. Exploring non-fictional reality, reading diaries, notebooks, manuscripts, archives, scientists restore the history of the idea, the history of creation, but do not discover the artistic idea. Sometimes it happens that the author goes against himself, yielding to the original plan for the sake of artistic truth, an internal idea.

One thought is not enough to write a book. If you know in advance everything you would like to talk about, then you should not turn to artistic creativity. Better - to criticism, journalism, journalism.

The idea of ​​a literary work cannot be contained in one phrase and one image. But writers, especially novelists, sometimes struggle to formulate the idea of ​​their work. Dostoevsky said about “The Idiot”: “The main idea of ​​the novel is to portray a positively beautiful person.” Dostoevsky F.M. Collection of works: In 30 volumes. T. 28. Book 2. P.251.. But Nabokov did not accept him for this same declarative ideology. Indeed, the novelist’s phrase does not clarify why, why he did it, what is the artistic and vital basis of his image.

Therefore, along with cases of defining the so-called main idea, other examples are known. Tolstoy’s answer to the question “What is “War and Peace”? answered as follows: ““War and Peace” is what the author wanted and could express in the form in which it was expressed.” Tolstoy demonstrated his reluctance to translate the idea of ​​his work into the language of concepts once again, speaking about the novel “Anna Karenina”: “If I wanted to say in words everything that I had in mind to express in a novel, then I would have to write the very one that I wrote first” (letter to N. Strakhov).

Belinsky very accurately pointed out that “art does not allow abstract philosophical, much less rational ideas: it allows only poetic ideas; and the poetic idea is<…>not a dogma, not a rule, it is a living passion, pathos” (lat. pathos - feeling, passion, inspiration).

V.V. Odintsov expressed his understanding of the category of artistic idea more strictly: “The idea of ​​a literary work is always specific and is not directly derived not only from the individual statements of the writer lying outside it (facts of his biography, social life, etc.), but also from the text - from replicas positive characters, journalistic inserts, comments from the author himself, etc.” Odintsov V.V. Stylistics of the text. M., 1980. S. 161-162..

Literary critic G.A. Gukovsky also spoke about the need to distinguish between rational, that is, rational, and literary ideas: “By idea I mean not only a rationally formulated judgment, a statement, not even just the intellectual content of a work of literature, but the entire sum of its content, which constitutes its intellectual function, its goal and task" Gukovsky G.A. Studying a literary work at school. M.; L., 1966. P.100-101.. And further explained: “To understand the idea of ​​a literary work means to understand the idea of ​​each of its components in their synthesis, in their systemic interconnection<…>At the same time, it is important to take into account the structural features of the work - not only the words-bricks from which the walls of the building are made, but the structure of the combination of these bricks as parts of this structure, their meaning" Gukovsky G.A. P.101, 103..

O.I. Fedotov, comparing the artistic idea with the theme, the objective basis of the work, said the following: “An idea is an attitude towards what is depicted, the fundamental pathos of a work, a category that expresses the author’s tendency (inclination, intention, preconceived thought) in the artistic coverage of a given topic.” Consequently, the idea is the subjective basis of the work. It is noteworthy that in Western literary criticism, based on other methodological principles, instead of the category of artistic idea, the concept of intention, a certain premeditation, the tendency of the author to express the meaning of the work is used. This is discussed in detail in the work of A. Companion “The Demon of Theory” Companion A. The Demon of Theory. M., 2001. pp. 56-112.. In addition, in some modern domestic studies, scientists use the category “creative concept”. In particular, it sounds in textbook edited by L. Chernets Chernets L.V. Literary work as artistic unity// Introduction to literary criticism / Ed. L.V. Chernets. M., 1999. P. 174..

The more majestic the artistic idea, the longer the work lives.

V.V. Kozhinov called an artistic idea a semantic type of work that grows out of the interaction of images. Summarizing the statements of writers and philosophers, we can say that thin. An idea, in contrast to a logical idea, is not formulated by an author’s statement, but is depicted in all the details of the artistic whole. The evaluative or value aspect of a work, its ideological and emotional orientation is called a tendency. In the literature of socialist realism, the tendency was interpreted as partisanship.

In epic works, ideas can be partly formulated in the text itself, as in Tolstoy's narrative: “There is no greatness where there is no simplicity, goodness and truth.” More often, especially in lyric poetry, the idea permeates the structure of the work and therefore requires a lot of analytical work. A work of art as a whole is richer than the rational idea that critics usually isolate. In many lyrical works, isolating an idea is untenable, because it practically dissolves in pathos. Therefore, the idea should not be reduced to a conclusion, a lesson, and one should certainly look for it.

There is an inextricable logical connection.

What is the theme of the work?

If you raise the question of the theme of the work, then intuitively every person understands what it is. He just explains it from his point of view.

The theme of a work is what underlies a particular text. It is with this basis that the most difficulties arise, because it is impossible to define it unambiguously. Some people believe that the theme of the work - which is described there - is the so-called vital material. For example, topic love relationship, war or death.

The topic can also be called problems of human nature. That is, the problem of personality formation, moral principles or the conflict of good and bad actions.

Another topic can be the verbal basis. Of course, it’s rare to come across works about words, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. There are texts in which wordplay comes to the fore. Suffice it to recall the work of V. Khlebnikov “Perverten”. His verse has one peculiarity - the words in the line are read the same in both directions. But if you ask the reader what the verse was actually about, he is unlikely to answer anything intelligible. Since the main highlight of this work is the lines that can be read both from left to right and from right to left.

The theme of the work is a multifaceted component, and scientists put forward one or another hypothesis regarding it. If we talk about something universal, then the theme of a literary work is the “foundation” of the text. That is, as Boris Tomashevsky once said: “The theme is a generalization of the main, significant elements.”

If the text has a theme, then there must be an idea. An idea is a writer’s plan that pursues a specific goal, that is, what the writer wants to present to the reader.

Figuratively speaking, the theme of the work is what made the creator create the work. So to speak, the technical component. In turn, the idea is the “soul” of the work; it answers the question of why this or that creation was created.

When the author is completely immersed in the topic of his text, truly feels it and is imbued with the problems of the characters, then an idea is born - spiritual content, without which the page of the book is just a set of dashes and circles.

Learning to find

As an example, you can give a short story and try to find its main theme and idea:

• The autumn downpour did not bode well, especially late at night. All the residents of the small town knew about this, so the lights in the houses had long gone out. In all but one. It was an old mansion on a hill outside the city that was used as an orphanage. During this terrible downpour, the teacher found a baby on the threshold of the building, so there was a terrible turmoil in the house: feeding, bathing, changing clothes and, of course, telling a fairy tale - after all, this is the main tradition of the old orphanage. And if any of the residents of the city knew how grateful the child would be who was found on the doorstep, they would have responded to the soft knock on the door that sounded in every house on that terrible rainy evening.

In this small passage, two themes can be distinguished: abandoned children and an orphanage. Essentially, these are the basic facts that forced the author to create the text. Then you can see that introductory elements appear: a foundling, tradition and a terrible thunderstorm, which forced all the city residents to lock themselves in their houses and turn out the lights. Why does the author talk about them specifically? These introductory descriptions will be the main idea of ​​the passage. They can be summarized by saying that the author is talking about the problem of mercy or selflessness. In one word, he tries to convey to every reader that, regardless of weather conditions, you need to remain human.

How is a theme different from an idea?

The theme has two differences. Firstly, it determines the meaning (main content) of the text. Secondly, the theme can be revealed both in large works and in small short stories. The idea, in turn, shows the main goal and task of the writer. If you look at the presented passage, we can say that the idea is the main message from the author to the reader.

Determining the theme of a work is not always easy, but such a skill will be useful not only in literature lessons, but also in everyday life. It is with its help that you can learn to understand people and enjoy pleasant communication.

Style carriers

In order to analyze the style of a work, it is necessary to have an idea of ​​the main style-forming aspects of a work of art and their hierarchy.

All subsystems of a literary work carry an expressive load - both the subsystems included in the external form and the subsystems included in the internal form: any artistic element, not to mention each subsystem of a literary work, is multifunctional, and in fact, each of the subsystems also performs genre - New function, and style. But their abilities to perform genre (constructive) and style (expressive) functions are different, which determines the different hierarchy of these subsystems within the style and genre systems. We call the subsystems of a work of art, taken in their expressive function carriers of style.

Hierarchy style carriers are like this.

These are, first of all, “pushed outward” (P.V. Palievsky) layers and elements of artistic form, i.e. Those components of an artistic phenomenon that catch the eye cause an initial aesthetic reaction in the reader.

These include all subsystems of the external and internal form, taken in terms of their expressiveness. The first to introduce the concept of “carriers of style” was A.N. Sokolov in the book “Theory of Style” (Moscow, “Iskusstvo”, 1968).

1. The most “pushed out” are all subsystems of the external form(text itself):

1.1. Expressiveness of verbal organization, expression of words.

1.2. Expressiveness of the rhythmic organization of the text.

1.3. Expressiveness of the melodic organization of the text.

2. And this internal form subsystems(that is, imaginary, “virtual” reality), considered only in terms of their expressive capabilities:

2.1. Expressiveness of spatio-temporal organization (i.e. chronotope architectonics).

2.2. Expressiveness of the subject organization (expressive coloring of the voice of the subject of speech).

Theme is a multifaceted concept.. The word "theme" ("subject") comes from other-gr. theme is what is the basis. However, it is difficult to unambiguously answer the question: “What is the basis of a literary work?” For some, the most important thing is the material of life – what is depicted. In this sense, we can talk, for example, about the theme of war, about the theme of family relationships, the theme card game, love relationships, etc. And every time we will go to the topic level. But we can say that the most important thing in the work is what the most important problems The author poses and decides on human existence (the struggle between good and evil, the formation of personality, the loneliness of man, and so on ad infinitum). And this will also be a theme. The situation with the theme in a lyrical work is even more interesting.

This concept (artistic theme, subject matter) has largely compromised itself with a dogmatically narrow interpretation, which has been consolidated in Russian literary criticism since the 1920s: the themes of literary works were persistently reduced to social character. However, the infringement of the concept of “theme” makes this term non-functional for the analysis of a huge number of works of art. For example, if we understand a theme exclusively as a circle of life phenomena, as a fragment of reality, then the term retains its meaning when analyzing realistic works (for example, the novels of L.N. Tolstoy), but becomes completely unsuitable for analyzing the literature of modernism, where familiar reality is deliberately distorted, or even completely dissolves in the language game. Therefore, if we want to understand the universal meaning of the term “topic,” we must talk about it on a different plane. It is no coincidence that last years the term “theme” is increasingly interpreted in line with structuralist traditions, when a work of art is viewed as a holistic structure. Then the “theme” becomes the supporting links of this structure. For example, the theme of a snowstorm in Blok’s works, the theme of crime and punishment in Dostoevsky, etc. At the same time, the meaning of the term “theme” largely coincides with the meaning of another basic term of literary criticism – “motive”.

Firstly, themes refer to the most essential components of artistic structure, aspects of form, and supporting techniques. In literature, these are the meanings of keywords, what is recorded by them. So, V.M. Zhirmunsky thought of theme as the sphere of semantics of artistic speech: “Every word that has a material meaning is a poetic theme for the artist, a unique method of artistic influence.”<...>. In lyric poetry, an entire poetic movement is often determined primarily by its verbal themes; for example, sentimentalist poets are characterized by such words as “sad”, “languid”, “twilight”, “sadness”, “coffin urn”, etc.” Likewise, the term "theme" has long been used in musicology. This is the brightest<...>musical fragment,” an element of structure that “represents a given work”—that which is “remembered and recognized.” In this terminological tradition, the topic is closer (if not identified) with motive. This is an active, highlighted, accentuated component of artistic fabric. According to B.V. Tomashevsky, topics<...>small parts” of the work are called motives, “which can no longer be divided” (about motive in the lecture on the plot).

Another meaning of the term “theme” is essential for understanding the cognitive aspect of art: it goes back to the theoretical experiments of the last century and is associated not with structural elements, but directly with the essence of the work as a whole. The theme as the foundation of an artistic creation is everything that has become the subject of the author’s interest, comprehension and evaluation. This phenomenon B.V. Tomashevsky called the main theme of the work. Speaking about the theme in this aspect, not structural, but substantial), he named the themes of love, death, revolution. The theme, the scientist argued, is “the unity of meaning of the individual elements of the work. It combines the components of artistic construction, has relevance and arouses the interest of readers.” The same idea is expressed by modern scientists A. Zholkovsky and Yu. Shcheglov: “The theme is a certain attitude to which all elements of the work are subordinated, a certain intention realized in the text.” This is a substantial aspect, i.e., the subject of artistic development (cognition), which is infinitely wide and therefore difficult to define: art cares about almost everything. In works of art, directly or indirectly, both existence as a whole is refracted (i.e., there is a picture of the world as ordered or disharmonious), and its certain facets: phenomena of nature and, most importantly, human life.

Thus, the meaning of the concept can be legitimately reduced (with some approximation) to two main ones.

Generally speaking, a theme is a kind of support for the entire text (event-based, problematic, linguistic, etc.). At the same time, it is important to understand that the different components of the concept of “topic” are not isolated from each other, they represent a single system. Roughly speaking, a work of literature cannot be “disassembled” into vital material, issues and language. This is possible only for educational purposes or as an auxiliary technique for analysis. Just as in a living organism the skeleton, muscles and organs form a unity, in works of literature the different components of the concept of “theme” are also united. In this sense, B.V. Tomashevsky was absolutely right when he wrote that “the topic<...>is the unity of meanings of the individual elements of the work.” In reality, this means that when we talk, for example, about the theme of human loneliness in “A Hero of Our Time” by M. Yu. Lermontov, we already have in mind the sequence of events, the problems, the construction of the work, and the linguistic features of the novel.

Here are some definitions.

1) Subject- “the circle of events that form the life basis of the epic. or dramatic works and at the same time serving to stage philosophical, social, ethical. and other ideological problems” (KLE).

2) “The theme is usually called the range of phenomena of reality embodied by the writer. This simplest, but also common definition, seems to push us to the idea that the theme is entirely located beyond the line of artistic creation, being in reality itself. If this is true, it is only partly true. The most significant thing is that this is a circle of phenomena that have already been touched by artistic thought. They became an object of choice for her. And this is what is most important, even if this choice may not yet be associated with the thought of a specific work<...>The direction of choosing a theme is determined not only by the individual preferences of the artist and his life experience, but also by the general atmosphere of the literary era, the aesthetic preferences of literary movements and schools<...>Finally, the choice of topic is determined by the horizons of the genre, if not in all types of literature, then at least in lyric poetry” ( Grekhnev V. A. Verbal image and literary work).

One (main) topic can also cover groups of works. Russian literature of the 19th century, according to a long-standing traditional definition, is a variety of stories about the so-called superfluous people and the little man. The totality of the corresponding artistic types allows us to talk about a certain broad theme of artistic literature of the last century. And at the same time, any work is thematically multifaceted - in the same text we can easily find different themes (love, social inequality, the meaning of life, etc.). In other words, main topic always appears as a kind of synthesis, a complex thematic unity.

On the other hand, you can focus on the “subject” aspect of the concept: a theme is, first of all, a circle of objects depicted in a work (“plot” level of the theme, “ external theme” with the manifested problems). But we can and should talk about the spiritual and worldview side of the topic (they talk about the writer’s personal theme, the “internal theme” of the work). Of course, these are two sides of one unity, since in art there is no “natural” subject outside of its interpretation (one face of the revolution in I. Babel’s “Cavalry” is in its bizarre interweaving of the cruel drama of social violence and heroic romance, the other in “The Twelve” A. Blok as a ruthlessly cleansing element that “produces a storm in all seas - nature, life, art”) and the “external theme” almost always, with the exception of open declarations and direct authorial judgments, turns out to be a form of manifestation of the internal. Between them there are almost always intermediary signs (the title “Dead Souls”, connecting the plot - the story of Chichikov’s scam - with the internal theme of the mortification of the spirit). Accordingly, thematic analysis involves identifying the main and particular themes, and correlating this entire complex with the “external / internal theme” dyad, and interpreting the system of intermediaries between them.

The artistic subject itself is complex and multifaceted. Firstly, these are those topics that affect the fundamental problems of human existence. This, for example, is the theme of life and death, the fight against the elements, man and God, etc. Such topics are usually called ontological(from Greek ontos - essence + logos - teaching). Ontological issues dominate, for example, in most of the works of F. M. Dostoevsky. In any specific event, the writer strives to see a “glimmer of the eternal,” a projection of the most important issues of human existence. Any artist who poses and solves such problems finds himself in line with the most powerful traditions, which in one way or another influence the solution of the topic. Try, for example, to depict the feat of a person who gave his life for other people in an ironic or vulgar style, and you will feel how the text begins to resist, the topic begins to demand a different language.

The next level can be formulated in the most general form as follows: "A person in certain circumstances." This level is more specific; ontological issues may not be affected by it. For example, a production theme or a private family conflict may turn out to be completely self-sufficient from the point of view of the topic and do not pretend to solve the “eternal” issues of human existence. On the other hand, the ontological basis may well “shine through” through this thematic level. Suffice it to recall, for example, the famous novel by L. N. Tolstoy “Anna Karenina”, where the family drama is interpreted in the system of eternal human values.

Literature comprehends the features of tribes, peoples, nations, religious confessions, properties state entities and large geographical regions with cultural and historical specifics(Western and Eastern Europe, Middle and Far East, Latin American world, etc.). The type of consciousness (mentality) inherent in such communities, the cultural traditions, forms of communication, rooted in them (in the life of both the people as a whole and the “educated layer”), the way of life with its customs invariably resonate in the fruits of artistic activity. And works of art inevitably include such realities of life of certain peoples and eras as agricultural labor and hunting, official service and trade, palace and church life; bullfights and duels; scientific activity and technical invention. The works of art also reflect the nationally specific ritual and ritual side of life, its etiquette and ceremoniality, which takes place both in antiquity and the Middle Ages, and in eras close to us, vivid evidence of which is the novel duology of P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky and “Summer of the Lord” by I.S. Shmeleva.

An essential link in the artistic theme turns out to be, further, phenomena of historical time. Art (more and more from era to era) masters the life of peoples, regions and all humanity in its dynamics. It shows a keen interest in the past, often very distant. These are tales of heroic deeds, epics, epic songs, ballads, historical drama and novels. The future also becomes the subject of artistic knowledge (the genres of utopia and dystopia). But the author’s modernity is most important for art: “Only that poet is alive,” asserted Vl. Khodasevich, who breathes the air of his century, hears the music of his time.”

Along with eternal (universal) and national-historical (local, but at the same time supra-individual) themes, art captures the uniquely individual, spiritual and biographical experience of the authors themselves. At the same time, artistic creativity acts as self-knowledge, and in some cases as an act of creation by the artist of his own personality, as a life-creative activity. This side of the subject of art can be called existential(from lat. existentio – existence). The author's self-disclosure, which in many cases has a confessional character, constituted a very significant layer of literature in a number of eras, especially the 19th and 20th centuries. Writers tirelessly talk about themselves, about their spiritual discoveries and accomplishments, about the dramatic and tragic collisions of their own existence, about heartbreaks, sometimes delusions and falls. Here it is appropriate to name, first of all, the poems of poets in which the result of their activities is introduced - from “Monuments” by Horace, G.R. Derzhavina, A.S. Pushkin before the introduction to the poem “At the top of my voice” by V.V. Mayakovsky and the poem “Petersburg” by V.F. Khodasevich. It’s worth remembering the tragic confessional “Demon” by M.Yu. Lermontov, “Poem without a Hero” by A.A. Akhmatova, the atmosphere of Blok’s lyrics.

Thus, the concept of “topic” can be viewed from different angles and have different shades of meaning.

Issues. Let us recall the fact that in Russian literature there are various stories about the so-called extra people and the little man. But it is equally obvious that the general subject of artistic attention multiplies greatly in the eyes of the writer. No matter how close the moral properties of Onegin, Pechorin and Rudin are, their differences are striking upon the most approximate examination. The generic characteristics of the superfluous person are, as it were, realized in his species qualities. In addition, there is a time factor. No matter how deeply Belinsky, say, has studied Pushkin, we are still turning to new works about him, and subsequent generations will again read his works in some way in their own way and relate them to the problems that time will raise.

This point about the multiplicity of problems of a work (that is, its themes and ideas) is especially important to emphasize, since the idea that a work should be reduced to one specific idea is very common. But here's an example. Any attentive reader of Russian classics, talking about the little man in it, will name three stories: “The Station Agent” by Pushkin, “The Overcoat” by Gogol and “Poor People” by Dostoevsky. Three giants of Russian prose, three founders of the great humanistic theme. Yes, Samson Vyrin, Akakiy Bashmachkin and Makar Devushkin are siblings in the social and hierarchical sense, but it is easy to see that in Pushkin’s character the “controlling force” of his actions is the defense of human and paternal honor, which, as it seems to him, has been violated. A.A. Bashmachkin is a much different modification of the spiritual state of the poor official from Vyrin. It may even seem that here the spiritual principle itself is exhausted to the limit by material concerns. The almost selfless dream of an overcoat threatens to turn into a complete loss of his human appearance for Bashmachkin. Her social invisibility and spiritual obliteration are signs of rejection from the life of normal human society. If there were no motive in the story, expressed in words“This is your brother,” there would be every reason to talk about the transformation of a person into a thing. That “electricity,” which Gogol considered a factor determining the absurdity and grotesqueness of human relations in cold St. Petersburg, essentially makes the entire legal order and way of life unreal. In Gogol's story, a person appears in strict social determination, which has certain consequences: he was a good man Yes, he became a general. Makar Devushkin is a completely different type of official from the St. Petersburg slums. He has great internal dynamism in his perception of what is happening. The range of his judgments is so wide and contrasting that at times it even seems artificial, but this is not so. There is logic in the transition from a spontaneous awareness of the social absurdity of life to a conciliatory consolation regarding its troubles. Yes, says Makar Devushkin, I’m a rat, but I with my own hands I earn bread. Yes. He soberly understands that some people travel in carriages, while others splash around in the mud. But the phrases “morbid ambition” and “submissive self-consolation” are suitable for the emotional characterization of his reflection: ancient philosophers walked barefoot, and wealth often goes to only fools. “We all came out of The Overcoat,” Dostoevsky allegedly said. This is true, but only in a general sense, because Gogol’s coloring is unacceptable for Makar Devushkin. He likes Pushkin’s character and the whole story about Vyrin much better. This is easy to explain. Lyubov Makar Devushkin to Varenka and caring for her is essentially the only thread connecting him with the spiritual forms of life. Soon they will break off, the landowner Bykov will appear, and Devushkin will lose Varenka. And, fearing this approaching future, Devushkin is indignant about his possible reproduction. Makar Devushkin stands, as it were, between Samson Vyrin and Akaki Akakievich. Therefore, it is clear that we are faced with completely different forms of incarnation. little man, i.e. different problems.

Artistic idea (author's concept) is a kind of fusion of generalizations and feelings, which, following Hegel, V.G. Belinsky in his fifth article about Pushkin called pathos(“pathos is always a passion, an idea kindled in a person’s soul”). This is what distinguishes art from impartial science and brings it closer to journalism, essays, memoirs, as well as to everyday comprehension of life, which is also thoroughly evaluative. The specificity of artistic ideas proper lies not in their emotionality, but in their focus on the world in its aesthetic appearance, on sensory forms of life.

Artistic ideas (concepts) differ from scientific, philosophical, journalistic generalizations also in their place and role in the spiritual life of humanity. Generalizations by artists, writers, and poets often precede a later understanding of the world. “Science only rushes after what has already turned out to be accessible to art,” Schelling asserted. Al spoke out even more insistently and sharply in the same spirit. Grigoriev: “Everything new is brought into life only by art: it embodies in its creations what is invisibly present in the air of the era<...>senses the approaching future in advance.” This idea, going back to romantic aesthetics, was substantiated by M.M. Bakhtin. "Literature<...>often anticipated philosophical and ethical ideologies<...>The artist has a sensitive ear for those who are born and become<...>problems." At the moment of birth, “he sometimes hears them better than the more cautious “man of science,” philosopher or practitioner. The formation of thought, ethical will and feeling, their wanderings, their not yet formalized groping for reality, their dull fermentation in the depths of the so-called “social psychology” - all this not yet dissected stream of emerging ideology is reflected and refracted in the content of literary works.” A similar role of the artist - as a harbinger and prophet - is realized, in particular, in the socio-historical concepts of “Boris Godunov” by A.S. Pushkin and “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy, in the novels and stories of F. Kafka, who spoke about the horrors of totalitarianism even before it took hold, and in many other works.

At the same time, in art (primarily verbal) ideas, concepts, truths that have already (and sometimes for a very long time) been established in social experience are widely imprinted. At the same time, the artist acts as a mouthpiece of tradition; his art additionally confirms the well-known, reviving it, giving it poignancy, immediacy and new persuasiveness. A work of such meaningful content soulfully and excitingly reminds people of what, being familiar and taken for granted, turned out to be half-forgotten, erased from consciousness. Art in this side of it resurrects old truths, gives them new life. Here is the image of the folk theater in A. Blok’s poem “Balagan” (1906): “Drag on, mourning nags, / Actors, master the craft, / So that walking truth/ Everyone felt pain and light.”

The distinction between theme and idea is very conditional. Talking about an idea involves interpreting the figurative meaning of a work, and the overwhelming majority of literary masterpieces are imbued with meanings. That is why works of art continue to excite the viewer and reader.

An artistic idea is a very comprehensive concept and we can talk about at least several of its facets.

Firstly, this author's idea, that is, those meanings that the author himself more or less consciously intended to embody. An idea is not always expressed by a writer or poet logically; the author embodies it differently - in the language of a work of art. Moreover, writers often protest (I. Goethe, L. N. Tolstoy, O. Wilde, M. Tsvetaeva - just a few names) when they are asked to formulate the idea of ​​a created work. This is understandable, because, let us repeat O. Wilde’s remark, “the sculptor thinks with marble,” that is, he does not have an idea “torn off” from the stone. Similarly, a composer thinks in sounds, a poet in verses, etc.

This thesis is very popular among both artists and specialists, but at the same time there is an element of unconscious deceit in it. The fact is that the artist almost always reflects in one way or another both on the concept of the work and on the already written text. The same I. Goethe repeatedly commented on his “Faust,” and L. N. Tolstoy was even inclined to “clarify” the meanings of his own works. It is enough to recall the second part of the epilogue and afterword to “War and Peace”, the afterword to “The Kreutzer Sonata”, etc. In addition, there are diaries, letters, memoirs of contemporaries, drafts - that is, a literary scholar has at his disposal quite extensive material that directly or indirectly affects problem of the author's idea.

Confirming the author's idea by analyzing the literary text itself (with the exception of comparing options) is a much more difficult task. The fact is that, firstly, in the text it is difficult to distinguish the position of the real author from the image that is created in this work (according to modern terminology, it is often called the implicit author). But even direct assessments of the real and implicit author may not coincide. Secondly, in general, the idea of ​​the text, as will be shown below, does not copy the author’s idea - the text “says out” something that the author might not have had in mind. Thirdly, the text is a complex formation that allows for different interpretations. This volume of meaning is inherent in the very nature of the artistic image (remember: an artistic image is a sign with an incremental meaning, it is paradoxical and resists unambiguous understanding). Therefore, each time we must keep in mind that the author, when creating a certain image, could have intended meanings that were completely different from those that the interpreter saw.

This does not mean that talking about the author’s idea in relation to the text itself is impossible or incorrect. It all depends on the subtlety of the analysis and the tact of the researcher. The parallels with other works of this author, the finely selected system of indirect evidence, the definition of the system of contexts, etc. are convincing. In addition, it is important to consider what real-life facts the author chooses to create his work. Often this very choice of facts can become a powerful argument in a conversation about the author's idea. It is clear, for example, that from countless facts civil war writers who sympathize with the Reds will choose one thing, and writers who sympathize with the Whites will choose another. Here, however, we must remember that a major writer, as a rule, avoids a one-dimensional and linear factual series, that is, the facts of life are not an “illustration” of his idea. For example, in the novel by M. A. Sholokhov “ Quiet Don“There are scenes that a writer sympathetic to the Soviet regime and communists, it would seem, should have omitted. Let's say, one of Sholokhov's favorite heroes, the communist Podtelkov, chops down captive whites in one of the scenes, which shocks even the seasoned Grigory Melekhov. At one time, critics strongly advised Sholokhov to remove this scene, as it did not fit into the linearly understood idea. Sholokhov at one point listened to this advice, but then, against all odds, he reintroduced it into the text of the novel, since the author’s voluminous idea without it would have been flawed. The writer's talent resisted such notes.

But in general, analysis of the logic of facts is a very effective argument in a conversation about the author’s idea.

The second facet of the meaning of the term “artistic idea” is the idea of ​​the text. This is one of the most mysterious categories of literary criticism. The problem is that the idea of ​​the text almost never completely coincides with the author’s. In some cases these coincidences are striking. The famous “La Marseillaise,” which became the anthem of France, was written as a regimental marching song by officer Rouget de Lille without any pretensions to artistic depth. Neither before nor after his masterpiece, Rouget de Lisle created anything like it.

Leo Tolstoy, when creating Anna Karenina, had one thing in mind, but it turned out something else.

This difference will be even more clearly visible if we imagine that some mediocre graphomaniac tries to write a novel full of deep meanings. In the real text, not a trace of the author’s idea will remain; the idea of ​​the text will turn out to be primitive and flat, no matter how much the author wants the opposite.

We see this same discrepancy, albeit with other signs, in geniuses. Another thing is that in this case the idea of ​​the text will be incomparably richer than the author’s. This is the secret of talent. Many meanings important to the author will be lost, but the depth of the work will not suffer from this. Shakespeare scholars, for example, teach us that the brilliant playwright often wrote “on the topic of the day”; his works are full of allusions to real political events in England in the 16th – 17th centuries. All this semantic “secret writing” was important for Shakespeare, it is even possible that it was these ideas that provoked him to create some tragedies (most often in this regard, “Richard III” is remembered). However, all the details are known only to Shakespeare scholars, and even then with great reservations. But the idea of ​​the text does not suffer at all from this. In the semantic palette of the text there is always something that is not subject to the author, something he did not mean and did not think about.

That is why the point of view, which we have already discussed, seems incorrect - that the idea of ​​​​the text is exclusively subjective, that is, it is always associated with the author.

Besides, the idea of ​​the text is connected with the reader. It can only be felt and detected by the perceiving consciousness. But life shows that readers often actualize different meanings and see different things in the same text. As they say, as many readers as there are Hamlets. It turns out that you cannot completely trust either the author’s intention (what he wanted to say) or the reader (what he felt and understood). Then does it even make sense to talk about the idea of ​​the text?

The idea does not exist in a once and for all frozen form, but in the form of a meaning-generating matrix: meanings are born whenever the reader encounters a text, but this is not a kaleidoscope at all, it has its own boundaries, its own vectors of understanding. The question of what is constant and what is variable in this process is still very far from being resolved.

It is clear that the idea perceived by the reader is most often not identical to the author’s. In the strict sense of the word, there is never a complete coincidence; we can only talk about the depth of discrepancies. The history of literature knows many examples when the reading of even a qualified reader turns out to be a complete surprise for the author. Suffice it to recall the violent reaction of I. S. Turgenev to N. A. Dobrolyubov’s article “When will the real day come?” The critic saw in Turgenev’s novel “On the Eve” a call for the liberation of Russia “from the internal enemy,” while I. S. Turgenev conceived the novel about something completely different. The matter, as we know, ended in a scandal and Turgenev’s break with the editors of Sovremennik, where the article was published. Let us note that N.A. Dobrolyubov rated the novel very highly, that is, we cannot talk about personal grievances. Turgenev was outraged by the inadequacy of the reading. In general, as studies of recent decades have shown, any literary text contains not only a hidden author’s position, but also a hidden intended reader’s position (in literary terminology this is called an implicit, or abstract, reader). This is a certain ideal reader for whom the text is built. In the case of Turgenev and Dobrolyubov, the discrepancies between the implicit and real readers turned out to be colossal.

In connection with all that has been said, we can finally raise the question of objective idea of ​​the work. The legitimacy of such a question was already justified when we talked about the idea of ​​the text. The problem is what counts as an objective idea. Apparently, we have no other choice but to recognize as an objective idea some conditional vector quantity, consisting of an analysis of the author’s idea and the set of perceived ones. Simply put, we must know the author's intent, the history of interpretation, of which our own is a part, and on this basis find some the most important points intersections that guarantee against arbitrariness.

When analyzing a work of art, it is always important not only what the author wanted to say in it, but also what he accomplished - “had an impact.” The writer’s plan can be realized to a greater or lesser extent, but it is the author’s point of view in assessing the characters, events, and problems raised that should be the ultimate truth in the analysis

Definition of the concept

Illustrative examples

Let us recall one of the masterpieces of Russian and world literature of the 19th century - L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”. What the author said about him: he loved “folk thought” in the book. What are the main ideas of the work? This is, first of all, a statement that the people are the main asset of the country, the driving force of history, the creator of material and spiritual values. In the light of this understanding, the author develops the narrative of the epic. Tolstoy persistently leads the main characters of “War and Peace” through a series of tests, to “simplification”, to familiarization with the people’s worldview, worldview, and worldview. Thus, Natasha Rostova is much closer and dearer to the writer and to us than Helen Kuragina or Julie Karagina. Natasha is far from being as beautiful as the first, and not as rich as the second. But it is in this “countess”, who hardly speaks Russian, that there is something primordial, national, natural that makes her similar to common people. And Tolstoy sincerely admires her during the dance (episode “Visiting Uncle”), and describes her in such a way that we too fall under the amazing charm of the image. The author's idea of ​​the work is remarkably revealed using examples from Pierre Bezukhov. Both aristocrats, who at the beginning of the novel live with their own personal problems, each go through their own paths of spiritual and moral quest. And they also begin to live in the interests of their country and the common people.

Cause-and-effect relationships

The idea of ​​a work of art is expressed by all its elements, the interaction and unity of all components. It can be considered a conclusion, a kind of “life lesson” that the reader makes and learns by becoming familiar with the literary text, getting acquainted with its content, and becoming imbued with the thoughts and feelings of the author. Here it is important to understand that parts of the writer’s soul are found not only in positive, but also in negative characters. In this regard, F. M. Dostoevsky said very well: in each of us the “ideal of Sodom” fights with the “ideal of Madonna,” “God with the devil,” and the battlefield of this battle is the human heart. Svidrigailov from Crime and Punishment is a very revealing personality. A libertine, a cynic, a scoundrel, in fact a murderer; sometimes pity, compassion and even some decency are not alien to him. And before committing suicide, the hero does several good deeds: he settles Katerina Ivanovna’s children, lets Dunya go... And Raskolnikov himself, the main character of the work, obsessed with the idea of ​​becoming a superman, is also torn by conflicting thoughts and feelings. Dostoevsky, a very difficult person in everyday life, reveals different sides of his “I” in his heroes. From biographical sources about the writer, we know that at different periods of his life he played a lot. Impressions of the destructive impact of this destructive passion are reflected in the novel “The Gambler.”

Theme and idea

There remains one more important question to consider - how the theme and idea of ​​the work relate. In a nutshell, this is explained as follows: the theme is what is described in the book, the idea is the author’s assessment and attitude towards it. Let's say Pushkin's story “The Station Agent”. It reveals the life of a “little man” - powerless, oppressed by everyone, but having a heart, soul, dignity and awareness of himself as part of a society that looks down on him. This is the topic. And the idea is to reveal the moral superiority of a small person with a rich inner world over those who are above him on the social ladder, but are poor in soul.

From the foregoing it follows that the content of the work is complex and heterogeneous. To define this complexity and multi-layeredness, the concepts proposed above are used - thematic, problematic and ideological-emotional assessment.

When analyzing a work, the term “idea” is often encountered. At the same time, the idea, understood as an emotionally generalizing thought, is associated with comprehension and evaluation of characters. This opinion requires clarification. If we talk about an idea, we must keep in mind that its essence primarily depends on what social characters the author chooses due to the peculiarities of his ideological worldview. Understanding characters in artistic creativity is the identification and strengthening of those properties and aspects of their lives that exist in these characters themselves. Emotional assessment is the writer’s attitude towards these characters, expressed through their depiction. This means that all aspects of the ideological content of a work of art - themes, problematics and ideological assessment - are in organic unity. Therefore, they cannot be separated, but can and should be distinguished in the process of analyzing a separate work. Sledova-

Basically, the idea of ​​a literary work is the unity of all aspects of its content; this is a figurative, emotional, generalizing thought of the writer, manifested in choice, and in comprehension, and in the assessment of characters.

When analyzing a work, it should also be borne in mind that the writer, highlighting, strengthening, and developing aspects of interest to him in the characters’ characters, does not limit himself to this, but one way or another reveals in his depiction other aspects of the characters, although less significant for him. Such completeness of typification of characters creates the basis for rethinking the idea of ​​works in subsequent periods, as well as for different interpretations of them by critics. We come across different interpretations of the same works very often.

For example, in the novels of Pushkin, Lermontov and Herzen, characters taken from the noble intelligentsia of the 20-30s and early 40s of the last century are depicted. When depicting these characters, different in some ways, but basically similar to each other, it was important for all three writers to show the disappointment, criticism of the heroes, deep dissatisfaction with their surrounding life, and the desire to oppose themselves to the conservative noble environment.

In the new period of Russian social life, in the 60s of the 19th century, revolutionary democrats understood the development of Russian society in their own way. N. A. Dobrolyubov in the article “What is Oblomovism?” differently realized the essence of the same characters. The critic paid main attention not to those aspects of these characters that were formed by the ideological and moral atmosphere of the 20-30s, but to those that were determined by the general conditions of the social life of noble youth - spoiledness, passivity, inability to work, lack of interest in folk life. Based on these characteristics, he brought Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov closer to Oblomov and called all these properties of their characters “Oblomovism.” This understanding flowed from the revolutionary-democratic worldview of Dobrolyubov, who, in the conditions of the ideological and political struggle of the 60s and the decisive division between liberals and democrats, sharply criticized the liberal-noble intelligentsia and understood that they could no longer play a leading ideological role.

The writer’s ideological understanding of the characters depicted and the resulting ideological and emotional assessment of them represent, in their unity, active

The tendency of artistic works is always expressed in images. But it also happens that a writer nevertheless expresses a lot of abstract judgments in his works, explaining his figurative thought, explaining his plan. These are Chernyshevsky’s abstract reasoning in the novel “What is to be done?” or L. Tolstoy in “War and Peace”. This happens because art is not fenced off by an impenetrable wall from other types of social consciousness. A writer is never just an artist - a “pure” artist, as philosophers and critics put it, trying to separate art from social life. A writer always has social views that are expressed in general, abstract concepts - political, philosophical, moral, religious, etc.

These views often contain a very abstract understanding of the prospects for socio-historical development, the abstract ideals of the writer. Often writers are so passionate about their general, abstract beliefs that they strive to express them in their works - either on their own behalf, or on behalf of the narrator, or in the reasoning of the characters. Hence, in a work, along with its main, figurative, artistic tendency, sometimes rational tendentiousness arises. Often, a writer uses it to explain the ideological and emotional orientation of his work, sometimes coming into conflict with it. The characters whom the writer instructs to express their general abstract reasoning are called “reasoners” (French raisonner - to reason).

Engels has a convincing explanation of this issue. In a letter to M. Kautskaya, evaluating her story “Old and New,” he reproaches the writer for idealizing her positive heroes, that in one of them, Arnold, “personality... dissolves in principle.” “Obviously,” notes Engels, “you felt the need to publicly declare your convictions in this book, to testify to them before the whole world.” “I am by no means,” he writes further, “an opponent of tendentious poetry as such.<...>But I think that the trend should itself follow from the situation.

ki and actions, it should not be particularly emphasized, and the writer is not obliged to present the reader in a ready-made form with the future historical resolution of the social conflicts he depicts” (5, 333).

This means that Engels considered the resonant speeches of the characters in the work, in which its tendency is “particularly emphasized,” as a shortcoming of the work, which comes to the detriment of its artistry. In true art, the ideological orientation of the work itself follows from all the relationships, actions, experiences of the characters (“from the setting and action”) and from all the means of its depiction and expressiveness.

K. Marx and F. Engels found a similar feature in F. Lassalle’s tragedy “Franz von Sickingen,” which they evaluated in their letters to the author. Thus, Marx reproached Lassalle for writing his tragedy "in Schiller's style" turning individuals into “mere mouthpieces of the spirit of the times” (i.e., forcing his heroes to talk too long and abstractly about the problems characteristic of their era), and indicated that he needed “more Shakespeareanize"(i.e. write like Shakespeare, in whose tragedies the ideological tendency arises from the very course of events, and there are no resonant statements) (4, 484).

But, of course, the whole point here is in the degree of reasoning of the writer and his characters. If it is small, if the speeches of the characters, explaining the tendency of the work, are fully consistent with the very essence of their social characters and have emotionality, if the personality of the characters is not lost in their statements, does not “dissolve in principle,” then this does not damage the artistry of the work.

If reasoning comes to the fore, if the abstract reasoning of the characters is very long, so that, while reading or listening from the stage, spectators or readers even forget who is speaking, why, under what circumstances, then the writer violates the laws of artistic creativity, acts as a semi-artist , semi-publicist.

From this point of view, let us compare two works - “Dead Souls” by Gogol and “Resurrection” by L. Tolstoy. Gogol's story tells the story of the life of landowners and officials whom Chichikov met during the purchase of " dead souls", and the narration is often woven into the statements of the author himself, the so-called

"retreats". These are his thoughts about thick and thin, about respect for rank, about subtlety of treatment, about which characters are easier to portray, about what kind of enthusiasm people can have. Gogol’s thoughts about types of writers and his thoughts about the fate of Russia are especially important and highly emotional. But there is no rationality or tendentiousness in them. They are an expression of the writer’s feelings and emotional thoughts, which characterize his personality, his attitude to artistic creativity, but in which he does not deliberately seek to explain to readers the ideological orientation of his work.

“Resurrection” by L. Tolstoy is written differently. At the beginning of the novel, as well as in many of its other episodes and scenes, the writer strives to make readers understand his general views on the essence of human relations, on religion, morality and on Russian legal proceedings. To do this, he introduces abstract reasoning into the text, explaining to readers the actions of the characters and the author’s attitude towards them. These are his thoughts about the animal and spiritual principles in man (chapter XIV), about the essence of the teachings of Jesus Christ, about the meaninglessness of church rituals, about the deception to which churchmen subjected human souls (chapter X), about the essence of human character (chapter IX) .

However, in the vast majority of cases, writers do without abstract explanations and even, on the contrary, avoid them. The writer-artist is always interested not in the general conclusions that the reader can draw, but in the comprehension and assessment of social characters in their figurative embodiment. When creating a work, the living personalities of his characters with all the features of their lives appear before the eyes of the author. The writer imagines their actions, relationships, experiences, and he himself is fascinated by the lives of the characters depicted.

Therefore, the perception of works of art is very different from the perception of works of a scientific or journalistic nature. The reader usually sincerely succumbs to the illusion that everything depicted in the work is life itself; he is carried away by the actions and destinies of the heroes, experiences their joys, sympathizes with their suffering, or internally condemns them. At the same time, the reader often does not immediately realize what significant features are embodied in the characters and in the entire course of the events depicted and what significance the details of their actions and experiences have. But these details

are created by the writer in order to, through them, elevate the characters of some heroes in the minds of the reader and reduce the characters of others. Only by rereading the works and thinking about them can the reader come to realize what general properties lives are embodied in certain characters and how the writer comprehends and evaluates them. Literary criticism often helps him in this.