Definition of the term "Literature"

It is possible to say what literature is only on the basis of a broad study of human history. One should not think that this word means some single, once and for all defined phenomenon. The history of human culture shows that what we call literature arose from phenomena that, from our modern point of view, barely resemble literature. These phenomena have evolved and changed as the form of human existence has evolved and changed. The primitive song of primitive man, sometimes a little meaningful selection of sounds in time with the labor process, is already the root of literature and from it music and poetry develop. Games and round dances among ancient peoples, which accompanied their festivities, associated either with the beginning or end of field work, or with war or hunting, or with family events such as weddings or funerals, are both the beginning of literature and the beginning of cult (religion). Only through a historical study of the life of human society is it revealed what literature was like at different times. Every century has its own definition of literature. Literature refers to the verbal activity of man. Language or speech is a way of transmitting thoughts from person to person. To preserve speech, it is written down, printed, and memorized. This will already be a literary work. Literary works taken together form literature.

Literature is the art of words, one of the main types of art. This term refers to any works of human thought recorded in writing. Therefore, literature is distinguished as technical, scientific, reference, fiction, journalistic, documentary, memoir, and educational. In the usual and at the same time more strict sense, literature refers to those enshrined in the written word. works of art. Unlike painting, sculpture, music, dance, which have an objective-sensual form from some matter (paint, stone, etc.) or from action (the sound of a string, the movement of a body), literature creates its form from words, from language, which, embodied in sounds and letters, is comprehended not in sensory perception, but in intellectual understanding. It is in the art of words that a person, as a bearer of spirituality, becomes an object of reproduction and comprehension from various points of view, the main point of application of artistic forces even when it is not about him directly, but about the world around him.

Literature - written works of social significance (for example, fiction, scientific literature, epistolary literature). More often, literature is understood as artistic literary production (fiction; equivalent in the 19th century - “beautiful literature”). In this sense, literature is a phenomenon of art (“the art of words”), aesthetically expressing public consciousness and in turn shaping it.

The material carrier of imagery in literature - speech - allows it to unusually widely master and actively interpret life processes in all their complexity, including the inner world of people and their communication, embodied in statements (monologue and dialogue).

Fiction as an art form arises on the basis of mythology and oral and poetic folk art. Fiction preserves, accumulates and transmits aesthetic, moral, philosophical, and social values ​​from generation to generation. Literature is a dynamic system of literary genres (epic, lyric, drama), genres, motifs, plots, images, verse and prose forms, figurative language, and composition techniques that has been developing over thousands of years. There are types of written works that are related to fiction - memoirs, epistolary, documentary literature. The most ancient works were written in verse; prose is a relatively later area of ​​fiction. Only in the 18th-19th centuries. these two areas were equal in value. For the 20th century characteristic connections between fiction and other predominantly new forms of art - cinema, radio, television. The work of outstanding figures of fiction marks the most important phases in the development of world and national culture.

Literature is studied by philology, mainly literary criticism.

In general, everything that is sensually perceived, especially something that is striking in some way (for example, some natural phenomenon). From the point of view of the theory of knowledge, a phenomenon is an expression, evidence of the presence of something else; Thus, high temperature is a phenomenon of illness, i.e. the disease makes itself known through high temperature, it manifests itself through this temperature. In Kant's philosophy, phenomenon is a correlative concept to the “thing-in-itself”; however, therefore, according to Kant, there is no mere appearance, but there is a “thing-in-itself” that actually appears before the knowing subject. N. Hartmann says: what exists in itself (see Cognition) is what appears in phenomenon. Otherwise the phenomenon would be an empty appearance. (Whoever is slightly intoxicated, nothing appears in the phenomenon; on the contrary, the phenomenon receives exceptional strength and fullness of existence.) of things existing in themselves at the psychophysical level, meaning that it becomes a reflection, is nothing more than knowledge itself, considered in a known way in terms of the object. “I know something” and “something appears to me” are two expressions that denote the same relationship between subject and object (see Appearance). The opposition between appearance and being-in-itself appears most sharply in ind. philosophy (see Shankara); in European thought, this opposition appears in Christianity in the opposition of this-worldly and other-worldly and expresses a certain, not only theoretical, skepticism; see also Illusionism, Phenomenalism.

Definitions, meanings of words in other dictionaries:

Philosophical Dictionary

– a philosophical category expressing: a) the surface existence of an entity, the external form of its existence, its discovery; b) any form formation in its entirety (here the term “phenomenon” is used as a synonym for “body”, “thing”, “object”, etc.; c) appearance (appearance) as...

Philosophical Dictionary

- a being that manifests itself, unlike a phenomenon, not by itself, but through something else, such as a disease makes itself felt through symptoms. Includes the phenomenon in its composition. contains a referring connection, and the referring one is a phenomenon (apparently, it is similar to the “signifying...



Phenomenon

Phenomenon

noun, With., used compare often

Morphology: (no) what? phenomena, what? phenomenon, (see) what? phenomenon, how? phenomenon, about what? about the phenomenon; pl. What? phenomena, (no) what? phenomena, what? phenomena, (see) what? phenomena, how? phenomena, about what? about phenomena

1. Any natural, physical phenomena- these are actions, processes and properties of the world around us that do not depend on human actions.

A natural phenomenon. | Celestial phenomena. | The release of biogas from landfill masses is a well-known phenomenon.

2. Any phenomenon reality is what happens around us, and what surrounds us in our social and Everyday life.

There is also such a thing as “telephone law”. | This charity event is not a one-time event, but the beginning of an entire campaign to make life easier for low-income residents of the area.

Event, fact

3. Any painful phenomena in the human body - these are internal processes associated with its life activity.

Phenomena of heart failure. | Side effects. | Painful symptoms in an infected person are not immediately detected.

4. Cultural, scientific, historical, etc. phenomenon they call talented creative people, cultural events or any achievements, discoveries in various fields.

With a certain accumulation of cultural freedom, a phenomenon arose that later began to be called Silver Age and which we are proud of and consider classic. | Perhaps, in the shoe fashion of the 20th century, the stiletto heel is the most original phenomenon that has no analogues in the past.

5. In philosophy phenomenon They call the external expression of the essence of things, processes, as well as how this or that thing is reflected in a person’s sensory perception.

The starry sky, like the entire Universe, is only an idea, a phenomenon in our consciousness.

6. In Christianity phenomenon Jesus Christ, angels, saints - this is their coming (in reality or in a vision) to a person or people.

After the appearance of the Angel, the procession of Abraham and Isaac continues.

Dictionary Russian language Dmitriev. D. V. Dmitriev. 2003.

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

See what “phenomenon” is in other dictionaries:

Any changes in nature. (N.V. Shcheglova) Phenomenon (philosophy) Phenomenon (religion) Phenomenon (theater) in a play, performance, part of an act in which a change in composition occurs characters. Each phenomenon is determined by the logic of development... ... Wikipedia

See Art. Essence and phenomenon. Philosophical encyclopedic Dictionary. M.: Soviet encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983. PHENOMENON... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Phenomena, cf. 1. units only Action according to verb. appear in 1 value and appear at 2 digits. (book obsolete, church). The appearance of Christ to the disciples. The appearance of relics (discovery). 2. Part of an act or action, in which the composition of the characters does not change (lit., theater.) ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

Barotropic phenomenon is the reversal of coexisting phases in liquid-liquid systems (liquid-gas or gas-gas) at high pressures and certain temperatures; the phase located on top, which is less dense under normal conditions, becomes heavy and... ... Nuclear energy terms

Case, event, phenomenon, action; rendering, darshan, picture, image, detection, arrival, scene, reality, rendering, fad, expression, manifestation, effect, coming, detection, field, appearance, gloria, rendering, mirage,... ... Synonym dictionary

See Essence and Phenomenon...

See ESSENCE AND PHENOMENON. Antinazi. Encyclopedia of Sociology, 2009 ... Encyclopedia of Sociology

A fragment of a dramatic work highlighted in the text, during which the composition of the actors on stage remains unchanged... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

PHENOMENON, I, cf. 1. see appear. 2. In philosophy: manifestation, expression of essence, that in which it is revealed. Self and essence. 3. In general, any detectable manifestation of anything. Physical self. Natural phenomena. Social phenomena. 4. Event, incident... Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

Christ to the people. Jarg. they say Joking. About the arrival of unexpected guests. /i> Based on the title of the painting by the artist A. A. Ivanov (1837–1857). Maksimov, 502 ... Big dictionary Russian sayings

phenomenon- Event, incident, fact. About the degree of prevalence and recurrence of the event; about its importance and fame. Abnormal, banal, everyday, everyday, important, temporary, universal, grandiose, individual, natural, vital, mysterious,... ... Dictionary of epithets

Books

• The phenomenon of meanings, Alexey Lapshin. Odessa in 1973 gave the world the philosopher and political scientist Alexei Lapshin, one of the most interesting publicists modern Russia. Lapshin’s method is based on balanced and laconic criticism...

Definition of the concept “phenomenon”

As knowledge accumulates of individual necessary properties and connections of the object under study, and the establishment of individual laws that govern its functioning and development, the need arises to combine knowledge, bringing it together into a single whole. This moment in the development of cognition is a stage in the reproduction of essence as a set of necessary properties and connections (laws) of an object, taken in their natural interdependence, in their “living life” (V.I. Lenin). Since the essence is a whole, divided into many interconnected sides, relationships that represent the necessary in its pure form, it can be reproduced in knowledge only through a system of ideal images, concepts, and only through the construction of an appropriate theory.

Reflecting the internal, necessary in a thing, the category “essence” arises, forms and develops together with the category “phenomenon”. A phenomenon is the discovery of the interior of a thing on the surface through a mass of random properties and connections that are revealed as a result of its interaction with other things.

Thus, the essence is the totality of all the necessary properties and connections of a thing, taken in their natural interdependence of the laws of its functioning and development. The same area of ​​phenomena includes external manifestations all these sides and connections (laws).

Idealists either deny the existence of essence altogether, or deny its materiality. Berkeley, for example, did not recognize the existence of an entity. This is also characteristic of the views of Mach and Avenarius. Other philosophers (for example, Plato, Hegel) recognize the objective real existence of entities, but consider them ideal. For Plato, these essences form a special world, which is true reality, constituting the highest being. For Hegel, essence is the concept of a particular object, preserving itself despite all its changes.

Dialectical materialism believes that the domain of existence of such concepts is not the surrounding reality, not the external world, but consciousness. Existing in consciousness, they not only do not constitute any higher existence in relation to the external world, but are subordinate to this world, dependent on it, for their content is drawn from this world, is a snapshot, a copy from certain sides, or objective connections reality.

Individual material systems, as well as objects consisting of such systems, have another structural parameter - the relationship between phenomenon and essence, or, in other words, the relationship between the phenomenal and essentialist sides. This aspect of systems is the most important among the attributes of a material object; The structure of the cognition process is closely related to it. All other aspects expressed in the relationships of the categories “system - element”, “whole - part”, “content - form”, in their concrete transformation from “thing in itself” to “thing in us” have the phenomenon as their initial link. In the attribute model of a material object developed by V.P. Bransky, phenomenon and essence take the place of the fundamental, most complex attributes; all other attributes (quality, change, law, possibility, causality, etc.) characterize different aspects of these attributes or different aspects of the relationship between them.

The concept of a phenomenon is defined as a form of manifestation of an essence, as an external detection of an essence, that is, as external properties and their systemic structuring. Such a definition is not very informative if the concept of “essence” is not explained (a situation similar to that encountered when defining the concept of “system”). The essence is usually understood as the main thing, the main thing that determines the content of the system, the basis contained in an object for all the changes that occur to it when interacting with other objects. This definition is not correct enough in the sense that in it the essence, and with it the phenomenon, are deprived of mobility; and yet they are dynamic in their relationship, which should be reflected, in our opinion, in the original definition of essence.

This may be the understanding of an entity as relations or properties of a system on which its other relations or properties depend. The category of essence serves to highlight in the system those of its properties and relations that determine its other properties and relations. All material systems, containing cause-and-effect relationships in their content, have something conditioned and conditioning. There is not a single system that has one and not the other; there is no essence without its manifestation, there is no phenomenon without essence. Essence and phenomenon are inextricably linked with each other.

They are also connected when the essence manifests itself inadequately, in the form of appearance. Visibility stems from deception of the senses (hallucinations, aggravation, etc.), from insufficient awareness, which distorts the picture of reality, from the social group position of the subject of cognition, etc. In contrast to these subjective delusions ( having, by the way, some real basis) objective appearance has a direct, complete basis within the structure of a real essence or in the interaction of such essences. For example, wages act as payment for all work performed; in fact, it represents the monetary expression of the value of labor power and is determined by the structure of production relations. The given example refers to intra-essential appearance. E.P. Nikitin proposes to distinguish another type of appearance - conditional, or intersubstantial, appearance. The latter includes the apparent break in the lines of objects partially immersed in water. There is no deception of the senses here: they truly convey the refraction of light rays from different surfaces. This appearance is caused by the interaction of two entities, two structures and is a consequence of the corresponding conditions. Hence the name - “intersubstantial”, or “conditional” (conditio - condition), appearance. Outside of these conditions it does not exist. In both cases, appearance is the opposite of essence. Appearance distorts the essence. But even being the opposite of essence, its distorted expression, it remains objective and is in unity with the phenomenon.

Phenomena, as we see, are of two types:

Appearances, as a subtype of inadequate phenomena (appearances), are also divided into two types:

a) intra-essential;

b) conditional (intersubstantial).

When considering the categories “phenomenon” and “essence”, both types of phenomena are meant (note that the term “phenomenon”, even in philosophical literature, is often used in meanings identical to the concepts of “material object”, “event”, “process”, “existence” ", "reality", and not just as a manifestation of essence).

For example, Bruno’s theory of knowledge is based on the idea of ​​the universal interconnection and dialectical inconsistency of phenomena. “The central point in his theory of knowledge,” writes V.A. about Bruno. Ivliev, “is the doctrine of the unity and struggle of opposites,” which follows from the fact that each phenomenon “does not exist in isolation.”

A phenomenon, a scene, is a part of an act (action) in a dramatic work, which is characterized by a constant number of characters. The phenomenon is sometimes defined as the basic plot unit of stories, novels, and other genres of fiction.

The concept of a phenomenon in literature comes from the theater, where it is understood as a short part of a performance that takes place in the same place of action with the same characters. The phenomenon is characterized by the structure of a finished work, with a beginning, development of action and an ending.

The word “phenomenon” to designate a separate part of a play is common in Russian drama as a synonym for the word “scene” in foreign plays; the term "action" replaces the word "act".

Origin

Act in prose - chapter

The phenomenon is part of an act, or action (Latin actus - action) - a section of a dramatic work. The division of a dramatic work into acts was introduced in ancient Greek and then in Roman theater, in which the performance consisted of 5 acts.

In the ancient theater, the play was performed by several actors who played all the roles. Dividing acts into scenes allowed actors to change costumes and prepare for their next role during intervening scenes. The structure of events in a theatrical performance was also used to change the scene of action by changing the background. After the apparition ended, the curtain was closed briefly, during which time the scenery and props on stage were changed to show a different location. For this reason, scenes in dramatic text are often introduced by location, for example, scene 1, country house; scene 2, garden.

Phenomenon in the structure of a dramatic work

The phenomenon contains a small separate fragment of the overall narrative of a dramatic work. The same characters participate in the phenomenon and the action takes place in the same place and time. The act includes several scenes. In one-act plays, scenes form a plot of 3 parts with a beginning, development, and end of the action.

Playwrights and theater directors arbitrarily distribute acts into scenes (phenomena), and acts of one play can have different quantities scenes In the tragedy in five acts “Romeo and Juliet” (1597) by the great English playwright W. Shakespeare, the acts include a different number of scenes: act I - 5 scenes, act II - 6 scenes, act III - 5 scenes, act IV - 5 scenes, act V – 3 scenes. In the drama of the famous Russian playwright A. N. Ostrovsky in five acts “The Thunderstorm” (1860), there are 9 phenomena in the first act, 10 in the second, 5 in the third, 6 in the fourth, and 7 in the fifth.

Action and phenomenon

The phenomenon begins with the appearance of the characters and ends with their departure. It represents a short dialogue or event that takes place in one place. For example, in the 6th scene of the second act of William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet,” the secret wedding of Romeo and Juliet is described.

The structure of a dramatic work is designed in such a way that the flow of the narrative moves from scene to scene. Action and phenomenon (act and scene) as structural elements of a dramatic work have the following differences:

Action and phenomenon are parts of a play or theatrical performance. The main difference between them is their duration: the action is a long part of the play; phenomenon - brief event or dialogue. The duration of the phenomena depends on their number in action: the more scenes, the shorter each of them. An act in a theatrical performance usually lasts from 30 to 90 minutes.

Action is considered the main tool for dividing a dramatic work and forming its structure. It is divided into several phenomena, and the phenomenon is not divided into its component parts, but can only move on to another phenomenon, where the action and the general flow of the narrative continue.

The act and scene are designated in the text of a dramatic work in capital letters, but Roman numerals are used for numbering acts (ACT I), and Arabic numerals for scenes (SCENE 1).

The act was established by ancient playwrights as the main element of the play. The division of a dramatic work into scenes or phenomena is not necessary.

The meaning of the phenomenon in a dramatic work

In dramaturgy, the division of a work into acts and scenes plays a compositional role, since the ordering and sequence of the narrative improves the transmission of its meaning by actors and the understanding of readers. Since the 18th century In the plays, phenomena were clearly recorded, which were indicated by a serial number and a list of characters.

In the theater of the 18th-19th centuries. performances were divided into stages mainly for technical reasons: the number of events was determined by the design of the stage. The outstanding Russian writer L.N. Tolstoy divided the drama in 6 acts and 12 scenes “The Living Corpse” (1911) into a large number of phenomena, since he created the play for a theater with the latest stage design. Modern dramaturgy rarely adheres to the principle of dividing actions into phenomena.

The word phenomenon comes from the Latin scaena, scena, which means stage.