Article

Name: An artistic event in the system of literary genres and the problem of motif typology

Authors: Igor V. Silantev

Institute of Philology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation

In the section Study of literature

Abstract:

The paper explores the specification of artistic events within the literary genre system. It demonstrates that in the genres of epic, lyric, and drama, artistic events acquire distinct characteristics and interact differently with the hero, narration, and reader (or spectator) instances. The typology of a motif, which serves as a generalization of semantically similar artistic events, can be based on the genre-specific differences. The essence of a motif in lyric poetry is essentially the same as in epic narration, as both rely on the predicative aspect of eventfulness. However, the nature of eventfulness itself differs significantly between lyric poetry and epic narration. In epic literature, the thematic-semantic substrate of an artistic event is the external action of a hero. In contrast, in lyric poetry, the thematic-semantic substrate is the internal action of a lyric hero, their actual experience. In general, a lyrical event can be summarized as a qualitative change in the state of the lyrical subject, carrying existential meaning for the subject itself and aesthetic meaning for the reader engaged in the lyrical discourse. Unlike epic and lyrical events, a dramatic event is not formed within the context of a narrated external action or a revealed internal experience. Instead, it emerges directly within the sphere of the theatrical production’s actual discourse. It takes place in the dimension of dramatic speech rather than action. Consequently, a motif in drama fundamentally differs from a motif in epic and lyric poetry.

Keywords: narratology, fact, event, literary genre, epic, lyric, drama, motif

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