RESEARCH AND EDUCATIONAL TEXTS

One of the paradoxes of modern domestic journalism is the wide dissemination of methods of figurative writing while simultaneously markedly oppressing those genres for which the method of figurative knowledge of reality is decisive - a sketch, feuilleton, pamphlet. Sociological reasons for explaining the absence of the former "grandees" of newspaper pages are not difficult. The essay of the previous decades has compromised itself with an obvious “paintwork” - the heroes were not so much invented, but they, real people, were given such features that did not exist in the mass consciousness. The life of a Soviet person was interpreted as a movement from a feat to a feat. “In life there is always a place for feat” - this winged aphorism of Maxim Gorky impregnated the entire domestic essay of the 1920s - 70s. Therefore, the characters of the essays were chosen, as a rule, from among the heroic personalities, and they were also lifted at the same time on the boat: the world was presented with an icon as the protagonist of the story. Labor, which had ceased to be “a matter of honor, a matter of glory, valor and heroism” (according to the formula of the Soviet times), pushed into the background also the hero-worker.

The feuilleton almost disappeared from the newspaper page (he, however, came to life on television, for example, in Kuklakh and Total by V. Shenderovich): publicity and freedom of the press made comic allegory unnecessary — you can directly expose any state person and enter it into public turnover is any negative fact. Feuilleton was uncompetitive next to the genres of news and commentatorial journalism - a critical note, article, correspondence, column. In an era of total social criticism, in an era of obvious socio-moral and political-economic distress, you don't want to laugh (“Soviet Russia” even once led the “Not Laughing” column): life deviated from the norm so much that it looks implausible under a normal view of world. There is no need to exaggerate her image by means of satirical journalism. There is one more circumstance that has removed artistic and journalistic texts from the genre arena. The hyperdynamic style of work of the current media (as in music - “Quick! Faster! Even faster!”) Does not encourage the authors to work hard on images.

Meanwhile, the resources of artistic journalism are obvious: a) the image as an emotionally enlightened thought actively influences the audience, prompting it to actively cooperate; b) image as a generalized picture of reality greatly expands the possibilities of semantic comprehension of reality; c) image as a system of signs, as a kind of code, creating a certain model of the surrounding world, intellectually enriches the audience with ideas about the aesthetic possibilities of reproducing reality. The artistry of journalism is embodied both in the holistic image of a person and in the image-thesis (image-concept), and in the “talking” details - the subject description of nature, replicas of the characters, the details of reproducible situations.

Figurative journalism, converging on the methods of his research with art, enters a person into the texts of the media as a kind of social and moral integrity, allowing him to explore the hero and the author-narrator in their actions and experiences. The genres of imaginative journalism create a psychologically accurate picture of reality. It is considered that psychology is alien to the media text when depicting the inner world of a person. Meanwhile, the psychologism of journalism manifests itself at all levels of its functioning - the level of the author, the level of the hero, the level of the audience. The perception of the work is largely determined by the credibility of the personality of the narrator (including the psychological accuracy of his own feelings, as recorded in the text) and the veracity of the characters' behavior. The author and the hero create a powerful psychological background in the text for the perception of ideas embedded in the material. By combining a logical and conceptual analysis with a figurative, journalism is able to explain the most complex and controversial social-moral and moral-psychological aspects of situations [12]. The successfully found image prolongs the life of the journalistic text, just as it does with artistic works.

The genre nature of the essay is determined by the syncretic combination of the three principles, the sociological (scientific), publicistic and artistic.

The sociological beginning of the essay is expressed in its focus on the study of social relations and problems, in the consideration of the social aspects of the person’s activities, in the author’s aspiration not for an arbitrary choice of individually unique characters, but in identifying the objective reasons that gave rise to certain social characters and situations. The essay is an analytically substantiated figurative picture of reality: the system of evidence in it is based on the development of a conflict, on the interaction of characters, on the special character of the narration, which includes both a description of the actions of the characters and the author's reasoning.

The publicistic beginning of the essay manifests itself in reliance on fact. In the documentary essay, real events are the starting point of the plot. The author groups the facts so that they give vitality to a socially significant character. In a fictionalized essay, the situation looks as generalized as possible, the boundaries of the fact are blurred: the action created by the imagination of the publicist takes the place of real events and people. It should be noted that the once popular fictionalized essay (remember V. Ovechkin, E. Dorosh, G. Radov) has hardly completely left the everyday practice of the media. But in the documentary essay (as, indeed, in feuillet) the speculation plays a significant role. The fiction is a necessary element of publicist creativity. Strictly speaking, it is possible in other genres, where, by necessity, the author is engaged in the reconstruction of a fact or situation (the journalist was not an eyewitness to the event, but considers it necessary to restore it in the text as it actually happened). In an essay (and in feuilleton) text, the figurative transformation of reality inevitably leads to its speculation. It reveals itself in the introduction of conceptual time and space, in special ways of developing conflict, the use of meaningful details and replicas of actors, etc. The journalistic beginning is also manifested in the author’s desire to give facts in their social focus, to maximally actualize the problem being raised, to express their attitude towards it, relying on a system of artistic and journalistic images. In an essay text, the idea is concentrated in the system of images - both specific individuals, spokesmen and carriers of the idea, and in the system of images-concepts. That is how, in particular, A. Agranovsky worked, creating essays “Wastelands”, “Fairings”, “Owners”. The revelation of thought in the essay is an aesthetic law that determines the specifics of journalistic imagery, which is based on inviting the reader to think.

The artistic beginning is determined by the desire of the publicist to create a reliable and convincing picture of reality with the help of figurative thinking, in which paintings, situations, phenomena and characters are socially typed. In the essay (and in the feuillet, too) two types of typing are possible - collective and selective. In the first case, in a fictional character (event) signs of a certain type of social behavior, character or phenomenon are indicated. In the second - in a real, individual character or action, features and properties belonging to this type of people or events are identified. But in fact, and in another case, the facts and situations are transformed into a system of artistic and journalistic images.

It should be emphasized that the artistic-publicistic image differs from the purely artistic one by its “straightness”. The author's task in it is viewed clearly and definitely: it is no coincidence that artistic-publicistic images are said to possess (and not suffer) a certain one-sided image. The hero in the essay is always categorical. While maintaining his individual uniqueness, he at the same time performs a service function - reflects the problem solved by the author.

Another sign of the essay (and this is its essential difference from the fictional genres) - the narration in it is on behalf of the biographical author, that is, the person really existing and biographical coordinates inscribed in a certain grid. The “I” in the essay is the publicist himself, his point of view on what is happening, his assessments and conclusions. The author-demiurge (as a person endowed with the highest authority) leads the narration, organizes the plot, forms the view of the audience at the events described. The fantasy element in the essay (and in the feuilleton) does not contradict the working principle of the journalistic text - its focus on a certain result, calculated impact on the audience.

The actual socio-moral problem is revealed in the essay in the form of typical social situations, characters and relationships. This predetermines the existence of three main types of documentary essays - problem, portrait and moral character (a travel essay is considered to be a peculiar kind of genre). The subject of research in them is a person and a problem (a specific life situation that needs to be resolved). An essay is a journalistic genre, figuratively exploring the patterns of the social and moral being of a person and the development of social processes, as well as specific situations of reality.

Feuilleton in its nature-forming elements is close to the sketch. He, too, is syncretic, there are also three distinct principles in it - publicistic, satirical, and artistic. The main difference between the feuilleton and the essay is its satirical beginning, which determines the nature of the genre. Its essence lies in the comic allegory, which is subject to everything in the feuilleton and which unites all three elements of the genre. What is the subject matter of feuilleton? Negative facts of reality, the comic nature of which is obvious to satirist.

It is rightly said: there are no facts of feuilleton and non-feletonic ones - there is their feuilleton processing, that is, the revelation of the comic essence of “spoiled reality” (Hegel). To uncover this essence, the publicist resorts to a specific analysis of the facts. The basis of the method is a comic sharpening — exaggeration or minimization of the features, properties and characteristics of the depicted phenomenon. Grotesque, hyperbole, parody, caricaturing (exaggerating sharpening) and litos (minimizing sharpening) act as these means in feuilleton. Thanks to them, the content of the comic paradox is revealed - a contradiction of the negative fact to generally accepted opinion and common sense or the inconsistency of its form, external signs. The comic lies in the fact that the forces expressing this contradiction are not aware of their negativity: the character is always pretentious, claiming the right to play the role he cannot. This anomaly is ridiculed by the publicist-satirist, showing all the inconsistency of the object of ridicule, who is striving to constantly pass the desired for reality. Resorting to allegory, the satirist uses it to create a satirical image.

The principal genre task of the feuilleton text is to show that behind a negative fact there is a comic phenomenon. Many years ago, Izvestia's feuilletonist Elrad Parkhomovsky wrote the feuilleton "Samodur and Airplane." The story told in it seemed to be incredible. Over a group of holidaymakers who settled in a secluded scenic spot, a plane of agricultural aviation flew, pollinating the fields. Fertilizers poured on the heads of tourists. One of them, having risen to heart, grabbed an empty bottle and launched it on the plane. And - surprisingly - hit. When the plane made an emergency landing, the car was surrounded by hapless vacationers. But not to apologize, but to punish the offender of their peace. And - punished! Since among those who grabbed the pilot by the breast, was the second secretary of the district party committee. Casus Incredible case? Should I write about it in a newspaper? The feuilletonist saw a pattern behind the incident: the official is ready to defend his interests always, in any situation. Not every day in the country civil aviation aircraft are shot down with empty bottles, but constantly petty tyrants holding important posts demonstrate confidence in their right, hoping for impunity.

There are many variants of satirical work with facts. “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” on the front page under the heading “Misanthropy” publishes minifelletons “From the Chronicle of the Village of the Dog Booths”. "Misanthrope" Titus Sovietologists 12th regularly extrapolates major social events to the life of his native village. Doghouses - something resembling the Shchedrin city Foolov or Plato Gradov. The trick is small, but the transfer of action in the Booths allows satirist in a parody light to expose the real political figures. In feuilleton “Camdessu spree” tells how a certain Mishka Camdessu promised rural accountants Yurka Muslikov and Vadka Dustov (playing up the names of the head of the International Monetary Fund and former Russian deputy prime ministers) to lend. After this, the “Bookkeepers” went on a spree, having received nothing from the insidious Bear. Names and situation are so transparently deciphered that they do not need special comments.

Meanwhile, feuilleton narration is always a special code that the reader or viewer has to unravel. Aesop language, which the satirist resorts to, is not just a narrative technique, but a typological feature of the genre. The reception is based on the conscious violation not only of the lexico-stylistic norms of the language, but also - more importantly - the violation of external plausibility in the image of the object or phenomenon, the deliberate displacement of the proportions of the fact being described. If the speculation is possible, but not necessary, then in the feuilleton without hyperboletization, without bringing the situation to the extreme, sometimes it is impossible to do the absurd. The speculation reflects the skill of a satirist-publicist - without pointing finger, without edification, create the necessary satirical image.

This is the originality of the expression of the author's position: no matter how encrypted the thought of the feuilletonist, no matter how ingenious and ingenious code he suggested, no matter what game with the word, he always gives the reader the opportunity to accurately determine the author's position. This position is embodied in a satirical image. The fact is not an end in itself; the feuilleton is always a witty movement of thought. The result of this movement is the creation of an image as a kind of generalized comic picture. When this is not there, when a witty manner of writing turns into flirting with an intellectually prepared reader, the genre dies, turning into an ordinary critical correspondence or ironic commentary. All of the above allows defining the feuilleton as a genre of journalism revealing the comic content of a negative fact or phenomenon of reality.

A kind of feuilleton is a pamphlet - a genre of journalism, oriented towards the uncompromising denunciation of views, actions, and other factors alien to the author that characterize the atmosphere of social being. The object of ridicule in a pamphlet is a concept, a belief system of an ideological opponent.

Essay. “The content of my book is myself,” wrote M. Montaigne in his famous “Experiments”. Thus was born the genre of essay, which is based on the comprehension of the development of thought, the analysis of what he saw in life through the prism of the author's sensations. The genre-defining element of the essay is, therefore, the process of knowledge of the world, reflected in the process of self-knowledge of the individual. The essay connects being and personality: life around us is at the same time our inner world. And vice versa: the spectrum of feelings of a publicist is a reflection of the feelings born of the outside world. Therefore, in the center of the essay is not the environment seen by the eyes of the subject of the utterance, but the subject itself as the center of the universe. The man in his relationship with reality - the substantive basis of the text.

How is this goal achieved? An essay is not just a personification of the narration, it is the maximum disclosure of the personal principle in the text, the creation of a psychologically authentic image of the narrator. If the author in the feuilleton, taking fire on himself, demonstrating his “I,” at the same time, makes the reader understand that “I” is just a mask, an image created to activate thought’s work of the audience, then an essay is a genre in which self-disclosure and self-determination of individuality is the fundamental basis of narration. With the help of a system of various associations - logical, emotional, etc. - the author offers a self-analysis of the individual, who cognizes the world around and himself. So the subject of the study becomes its object. Frankness in describing one's own experiences, one’s inner state is the most important quality of an essay text.

Понятно, что процесс самопознания как предмет публицистического исследования имеет смысл только тогда, когда эта трудная работа осуществляется в нерасчленимом единстве человека и среды его обитания. Описание «индивидуально-сознательного» не имеет самостоятельной ценности; важно описание своих чувств и переживаний, возникающих при соприкосновении с таинствами окружающего мира. Так раздвигаются границы повествования: конкретная узкая тема развертывается в широкий план параллелей и аналогий, усложняя, обогащая тем самым контекст разговора автора с аудиторией. Отсюда и свободная форма эссе, допускающая перетекание друг в друга элементов репортажа, очерка, статьи, комментария, письма, дневника, новеллы. Отсюда и возникновение образа повествователя, дистанционно близкого биографическому автору, но тем не менее вполне автономной фигуры. Все это позволяет охарактеризовать эссе как публицистический жанр, выявляющий закономерности бытия человека через изображение процесса восприятия мира.