Lecture
At the current stage of the development of literature, verbal works
that possess artistic features are predominantly called fiction, or imaginative literature (this term also carries
a sense of evaluating the level of mastery, the perfection of the aesthetic form). Sometimes researchers
use the term belles-lettres, which in a broad sense means works of imaginative
literature in general, and in a narrower sense – artistic prose (bearing in mind that there also exist poetry and
drama).
Besides the division into poetry and prose, fiction has an internal division into so-called
genera of literature, of which there are three principal ones: epic, lyric, drama — and a number of adjacent genus-genre
formations, such as the lyro-epic, epic drama, memoirs, literary biography, and so on.
All existing forms of art are conventionally
divided into three types. The first type comprises the group of so-called spatial
arts, which include painting, sculpture, and architecture. They are called spatial
because the objects depicted in them are perceived by us in their spatial-static
form, that is, as located in an immobile space, as if frozen within it.
The second type forms the group of temporal arts, to which, alongside music, singing, dance,
and pantomime, literature also belongs. They are called temporal because, unlike the static form of depiction characteristic of the spatial arts, they present their subject in
motion, in its dynamic development, which takes place over a certain span of time. For example,
a dance performed by people is not reduced to one particular position of the dancer's
body in space, but consists of a combination of many such positions, given as a dynamic
sequence of their changes, perceived by us not in space but in time. In the same way, the character
of a person depicted in a novel appears before us in its dynamic unfolding, which
takes place over the entire time we spend perceiving the work.
The third type, which includes theater and film, is the so-called synthetic art, which
absorbs and combines, in an integral form of expression, elements of both the spatial and the temporal arts,
including literature, music, pantomime, and the decorative art of design. The form of
depiction in theater and film is realized both in space and in time. Individual elements of synthesis with a
spatial form of depiction are, in turn, also characteristic of certain kinds of temporal
art, including dance and pantomime. For example, a pantomimic performance can take
the form of either a static or a dynamic depiction.
Individual forms of art differ not only in their manner of reflecting life, but also in
the material in which their works appear and which they use for their aesthetic,
artistic reproduction. By material features we define literature as the art of
the word, as compared, for example, with sculpture — the art of stone, painting —
the art of paint, dance — the art of rhythmic bodily movement, pantomime — the art of
gesture and facial expression, music — the art of sounds, and so on. The specificity of the properties of the material
of each art form manifests itself in that, on the one hand, it grants that art certain advantages
over others as regards the possibility of the fullest possible coverage of various aspects
of the depicted subject, and, on the other hand, at the same time limits the extent of its depictive
possibilities. The general advantage of the material used, for example, by the group of spatial
arts, lies in the possibility of a direct, plastically visible reproduction of the object
of its depiction. The skillful play of light and shadow rendered in paint on an artistic canvas, the beauty
of the form of the human body reproduced in the plasticity of plaster or marble of a sculptural ensemble,
the perfection of symmetry in the combination of individual parts of an architectural structure — all of this, reproduced
in spatially concentrated form, affects our feelings directly, owing to the fact
that we perceive it visually, in direct visual contact.
The strength of the emotional impact of the spatial arts lies in the fact that visual sensations are
the determining, primary ones in human life activity; of all the sensations belonging to a person,
the visual ones, for the overwhelming majority of people, are the most highly developed. Hence spatial
art has the capacity to affect nearly all people, whereas the verbal art awakens
emotional impressions in far from all people. This is connected above all with the fact that the emotional
impression from what is perceived verbally is not realized directly during reading or listening, but
through the mediation of the imagination, of fantasy, which in a sufficiently developed form is characteristic of far from
everyone.
At the same time, the peculiarities of the material of the various kinds of spatial art in a certain way
limit their depictive possibilities. The limitations, for example, of the material means
used by the painter are most clearly manifested when their material is contrasted with
sculptural depiction. The latter «can be seen from different points, in different perspectives, you can
walk around it (of course, this does not apply to bas-relief, to wall reliefs). Each time the statue
will appear before us in some new turn. Herein lies an important difference between the works
of the sculptor and the painter. A picture has no volume; it cannot be walked around. As a rule, everything that is
depicted in it, the painter saw from a single point. Both the statue and the picture are located in space, but
the picture is confined to a single plane» If the sculptor or the painter, in
turning to the depiction of some event, that is, of a dynamic rather than a static scene, is substantially limited
in the possibilities of its all-round reproduction, then the verbal form of conveyance can present
the depicted event in the maximal fullness of its progressive dynamic unfolding. Moreover,
even within the group of temporal arts itself, its various kinds, depending on their material, reveal
different possibilities for depiction and for the emotional effect of what is depicted on the consciousness of the one
perceiving it. For example, music, like the spatial arts, exerts a direct influence on the feelings,
creating in the listener a corresponding emotional mood. But the strength of the aesthetic impression that
a person receives from literature, despite its mediated form, can be
far greater, owing to the fact that verbal art gives a person an intellectual-emotional
enjoyment connected not only with the sphere of feeling as such, but also with everything we attribute to
the sphere of the mind, to the intellectual-cognitive or moral world of the human being.
The word is the most flexible material. Its
flexibility consists in the fact that, by means of verbal conveyance, it becomes possible to
partially reproduce the depictive specificity of almost every art form. Thus poetry, through the devices
of its sound organization, approaches music. Prose verbal images can create
the illusion of a plastic depiction, and so on. Moreover, the word is the only one of the materials of art that
makes it possible to depict human speech.
Fiction is a form of art that is one of the most powerful means of understanding
the human being, an instrument of influence on reality. It is literature that develops a person's consciousness, his
feelings, freedom, and psyche, and forms human character — that is, it shapes personality.
The writer generalizes life phenomena, creates typical images, revealing in the process
his own attitude toward what is happening. The significance of the writer, of his work, and hence of literature, is shown
in how truthfully the interests and dreams of the people are expressed. Artistic creation must
serve people. From literary works [canvases] we learn about the past, about the present, we see the dreams
of humankind. In our imagination new concepts are formed, and in our souls feelings not known until now are born.
It is literary works that we perceive first of all with the heart, and only afterward with the practical mind.
Literature is based on humanistic principles, affirms eternal universal human
values; it is in this that it is close and extremely necessary to people. Writers, in works of
various genres, show different strata of the population, reveal the talent of the ordinary person, glorify
the people of labor, instill an interest in one's own history, a love for one's native land, for one's parents, for
loved ones, for one's neighbor, for fraternal peoples... Literature supports people in the difficult moments of life,
inspires acts of courage for the sake of others, gives strength in overcoming life's problems, points the way to
solving important problems. It is in this that it is valuable to every nation.
Different art forms have different aesthetic possibilities for affecting a person. The emotional content of gesture and plasticity in choreography, the ability to act on the subconscious, the infectious power of music. The scheme of shots in film, through editing, can create an unusual image; animation is especially unique in this regard. But there is an assertion that literature, as an art form, is the most universal. The word possesses a universal capacity.
Literature makes use of natural language, which is accessible to everyone. The language system arose in civilization for the universal expression of reality. Proof of the universality of literature: 1. Literature is capable of substituting for itself the content of other art forms. With a word one can convey outward appearance, one can convey emotions, a word is capable of recreating action, as in theater. 2. In many forms of art there exists a literary basis. 3. A verbal image contains within it a multitude of meanings and shades; a verbal image has no clear contours or boundaries, and it is this that makes it possible to create, on the basis of a single literary work, many interpretations. Literature is richer, since it allows itself to be interpreted by other art forms. An adequate translation of one art into another is impossible.
1) Temporal art — developing in time — theater, film, music. We cannot go against time (a fragment is missing).
2) Spatial art — developing in space — plastic art — painting, sculpture. The time of perception is not fixed. In a picture, spatial reference points are laid down — the artist knows what the viewer should notice first. Against this background, literature is a synthesis of the temporal and the spatial. Literature has certain segments, fragments — this is connected with the word. Each of the elements can be presented separately. One can relate in isolation to a sound or a word, judge a phrase, a paragraph, a chapter. At any moment one can interrupt the temporal course of the work; the author does not set it. The author does not know the speed of reading, and the reader can stop at any moment of reading. A temporal work — its author knows how long the work will last, how long the perception of the work will take. There can be a disruption of rhythm, an acceleration of the pace. In a literary work, time is not built in; there is the possibility of interrupting. In theater this is impossible; there is always a set mood. In literature we return to one and the same thing; there is the possibility of returning and restoring what we need. The temporal structure of an artistic work is more free. We perceive everything as it is in the literary work, but at the same time this perception can be different for each person; a word is perceived differently by different people. Any illustration of a text is a distortion of what is conveyed by the text. The word is immaterial. There is no distinctness as in painting, in a photograph (a table in a literary work is far more general than in a picture). The word carries within it both a strong and a weak beginning.
Literature and music: 1) temporal differences; 2) essence: in a literary work — a set of words, the semantic aura of the essence of the literary work. In a musical work there is no definite attachment, it carries no direct associations, but we still sometimes relate to a set of sounds emotionally. A note is a sound, but not a semantic meaning; unlike a word, it acquires temporal characteristics. Music is more free from semantic determinacy than literature. Specific forms of verbal art — the essence of certain categories of literary works that are closely connected with other art forms: drama — with theater, poetry and graphic art (when the author himself illustrates his own work).
Lessing, in his essay «Laocoon, or On the Limits of Painting and Poetry», produced the first scholarly classification: the division into spatial and temporal arts. Sometimes we grasp an artistic image at once and as a whole, sometimes in detail. Painting, architecture, sculpture — at once; literature — part by part. In literature everything is gradual.
In the 18th century Lessing's treatise appeared, delineating the boundary between painting and the art of the word. Lessing compares the Laocoon in the sculptural group and in Virgil's poem «the Aeneid». Before Lessing, no one had paid attention to the verbal nature of literature; literature was perceived as painting by means of words. He saw that literature has different possibilities: it can convey a phenomenon in the dynamics of the world and of life, rather than the static quality of the art of painting. Thus Lessing was the first to note the fact that literature is not inferior to painting, but in many ways even surpasses it. Literature, in a number of cases, grasps its subject better than painting or sculpture. Lessing says that literature, unlike other arts, can depict what others simply cannot manage — what a hero dreams, those phenomena and processes that are invisible (thoughts, experiences).
1. Explain the essence of the concept of «fiction» (imaginative literature).
2. What is the difference between fiction and scholarly/scientific writing?
3. How does fiction relate to other forms of art?
4. What is the cognitive significance of literature?
5. What is the educative significance of literature?
6. Why is fiction called the art of the word?
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