Often, writers are forced to affect others.types of art: images, music, architectural structures. This tradition dates back to ancient times, continues in modern literature, and is a type of “text in text”. The most visual form of intertextuality is called “ecphrasis”.
Ecphrasis is a description in the literary text of an object of art: painting or architecture.
There is a more general concept.Ecphrasis is any art form reproduced in another. This includes music, embroidery, if you take the late types of creativity, you can include cinema and photography.
Ekphrasis in ancient literature was soit is common that even formed a separate direction. For example, in one of Philostratus the Elder's treatises called “Pictures”, the author describes the images and their meanings. This is one of the first examples of ecphrasis, which had the goal of improving morality: at the beginning of the work, the author writes that the “Pictures” were written after talking with young people about art.
Homer often used ecphrasis in his epics.Examples can be found in his Iliad. These were voluminous pieces of text with rich descriptions of paintings, architecture, weapons, armor, clothing and palaces. Most often, Homer described not just an object, but things depicting the whole plot. For example, the world drawn on the shield of Achilles.
Many philologists limit the use of ecphrasisRenaissance in European literature. However, this technique can be found in the works of the XVII-XIX centuries under the authorship of Umbert Eco, E.T. Hoffmann and Honore de Balzac. One of the most striking examples is Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray. In it, the portrait of the protagonist plays a key role in the narration.
If you go back to the Renaissance, the novel of VictorHugo "Notre Dame de Paris" will be the best example of ecphrasis. This work is about one of the most majestic buildings of humanity, and the destinies of people, which come into contact with its walls, serve only one purpose: to show the diversity of the divine temple in Paris.
In the Middle Ages, many authors of the walking genre used descriptions of architecture, buildings, sacred objects and images in their travel notes.
Later, the role of ecphrasis is changing.This is no longer just a description of a work of art or architecture in a literary text. Reception is of paramount importance in novels, where it comes to people of art, artists.
N.V. Gogol uses this technique in his “Portrait”. In this story, the owner of the canvas gets the pictured old moneylender who brings misfortune.
The heroes of the works of F.M. Dostoevsky "Idiot" and L.N.Tolstoy "Anna Karenina" is also observed in the pictures, and this has a certain impression on the main characters. In Fyodor Mikhailovich, the heroes speak with the words of the author, conveying his personal impression of the painting “The Dead Christ in the Tomb” by Hans Holbein. Lev Nikolayevich reflects in the text about the meaning and purpose of art. Thus, the concept of ecphrasis expands and moves to the rank of philosophy.
In the twentieth century, art steps to a new level. In it appears majesty and scope, which had never happened before. Public photos and cinema appear.
One of the first stories by I.A.Bunin in exile "Mad artist." In the main character, two trends are fighting: worship of the West and the idealization of Russia and the Russian people. The author pays special attention to the techniques of expressiveness and images of paintings: color symbols, visual vocabulary. An interesting juxtaposition of ideas and the embodiment of paintings. The story is guessed and real pictures: "Sistine Madonna."
Tale B.A.Lavrenyev "Woodcut" raises issues such as the role of art in society, the intuitive nature of creativity. Lavrentev linked the new art with the creation of a character who will replace the boring prototypes.
In the twentieth century, ecphrasis acts as a device fordisclosing the themes of Russia and the revolution. At the same time, the Soviet government and its pathos are very strong. A. Platonov in the work “Kotlovan” glorifies the construction of a “single common proletarian house.” In Zamyatin and Platonov, we see that it is no longer just about reproducing the aesthetic part of art in literature, but also about its connection with the socio-historical movement.
An important part has the influence of iconography on twentieth century literature.
The heyday of the Silver Age of Russian poetry is the beginning of the twentieth century. At this time, the creators sought to go beyond the framework of art, so they were looking for themselves at the intersection of the boundaries of literature, theater, and music.
We can recall A.S. Pushkin and his "Bronze Horseman" - a monument, around which the events of the next flood in St. Petersburg.
Silver Age Acmeists A.A. Akhmatova and O.E. Mandel'shtam attached ecphrasis more “material” and weighty significance than the symbolist poets: A. Bely, A.A. Blok, V.Ya. Bryusov.
S.A.In his poems, Yesenin often used the motives of music, which can also be attributed to the reception of ecphrasis. The author often uses images of wind instruments and folk music motifs in the text. In the poems "Pugachev" and "Marfa Posadnitsa" there is an image of a bell ringing. Kabatsky motifs are embodied in the "Moscow pub". To the music of guitar and harmonica, the soul of a lyrical hero opens. Through musical images, Yesenin conveys his own thoughts about the purpose of art and the meaning of life.
I. Annensky in the poem "The Bronze Poet" draws a parallel between the revived bronze statue and sculptures in Pushkin's poetry. Here rises the theme of the destructiveness of time and the immortality of the creator.
Ekphrasis stands out among other types of “text intext ”with its visuality. Before other types of intertextuality, it has several advantages. Ecphrasis is a technique that allows authors to weave into the text real examples of world art, to designate their own impressions, to reproduce the feelings of the characters from the contemplation of creative objects. Translating images and architecture into verbal form provides writers with a metaphorical description.
Ekphrasis gives writers the opportunity to createillusion of naturalness. Existing samples of art that the authors describe in their books, each reader can see live, compare sensations with the feelings of the characters.
