Historical reminiscence. Literary theory

§ 3. REMINISCENCE

For the average person, reminiscence is famous saying or a thought that is reproduced without quotation marks. In fact, it is something more intellectual and creative. It is used to create a more intense plot that will captivate the reader with its dynamism. What it is and what is the difference between reminiscence and quotation can be found out in the article.

Meaning of the concept

Reminiscence is an element artistic structure. From Latin the word is translated as “memory”.

It can be found in coats of arms, images, musical works, text. Even the surnames of some characters can bear an artistic image of the concept in question.

Origins of the doctrine of reminiscence

This term was mentioned in Ancient Greece. Its author is considered to be Plato. He proves that remembering (reminiscence) is initiation into the sacraments, and therefore brings us closer to spiritual perfection. In his opinion, knowledge is nothing more than remembering.

The appearance of the concept in Russia

In Russian, the term began to be mentioned in the 19th century. One of the first to use it was the poet and philosopher N.V. Stankevich. At that time, reminiscence, an example of which will be described below, became a traditional term in music. Later it began to be used in literature.

Many researchers have dealt with the theoretical part of the problem under consideration in the literature:

• M. Bakhtin;
• Yu. Lotman;
• A. Arkhangelsky;
• P. Buharkin;
• T. Marchenko.

Reminiscence in literature

To understand the problem, one must distinguish reminiscence from literary borrowing. In the first case, everything happens unconsciously, with the aim of realizing specific artistic goals. Not everyone can detect such a phenomenon. Only prepared and insightful readers, listeners or viewers succeed in this.

Reminiscence is the author’s unconscious use of the experience of predecessors. There are many examples in world literature:

• "The Glass Bead Game" German writer Hermann Hesse 1943.
• Ulysses is a novel by Irish author James Joyce, which was published in its entirety in 1922.
• "Long Way to Tea Party" English writer Anthony Burgess.
• Works American poet Ezra Pound.

Russian literature

Reminiscence in the literature of Russian classics is most often found in poetry. The authors unconsciously borrowed other people's images or rhythmic-syntactic moves. You can find similar examples in the works of A. Blok, A. Pushkin, O. Mandelstam and many others.

Many Russian poets consciously used the technique of reminiscence to create complex associations in the reader that enriched the perception of the work.

Literary reminiscences in poetry:

• In A. Pushkin’s poem “Eugene Onegin,” when describing Lensky’s grave, the author created an association with the then popular elegy of C. Milvois.
• In his work “Scythians,” A. Blok uses a phrase from “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
• In their poems, A. Blok and O. Mandelstam deliberately hint at the work of I. Annensky.

Reminiscence effect

Reminiscence is an excellent technique with which a work can be made even more rich and dynamic. Its effect is associated with human memory and is based on associations and memories.

The technique is carried out by referring to famous world works, historical facts, biographies famous people, various works of art. This could be a mention of a specific character, a scene from another work. IN rare moments Direct quotation is used. The effect is achieved if the reader catches the similarity and draws the analogy that the author intended.

Many authors have learned to use reminiscence in their texts. In this case, even if the reader did not catch the analogy, he will be able to understand it with the help of the author. However, it happens when a memory slips into the plot intuitively. Then the effect will not be so obvious, so only very attentive readers will be able to unravel it. This may also be a discovery for the writer himself, who did not intend to draw an obvious analogy.

Reminiscence in cinema

The phenomenon of memory is inherent in all types of art. The most popular today is cinema, which is also full different techniques influence on the viewer. Reminiscence is no exception.

A striking example is Leni Riefenstahl’s painting “Triumph of the Will.” At the end of the film, an analogy is drawn with the painting of the famous impressionist Claude Monet “Rue Saint Denis on the Day national holiday" In the film, as on the canvas, only waving banners are visible without the people holding them.

The scene between the main character and the CIA officer from the 1975 political drama “Three Days of the Condor” can be seen as a reminiscence of the monologue of the Grand Inquisitor (a parable from F. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Brothers Karamazov”).

(in psychology) (from Latin reminiscentia - memory) - reproduction of long-learned and forgotten material, delayed recall of information with later layers. Usually the initial reproduction, immediately following the perception of the material, turns out to be less complete than the delayed, reminiscent one.

REMINISCENCE

in psychology - a more complete and accurate reproduction of material stored in memory compared to what was originally imprinted (memorized); reproduction - some time after memorizing something that was, as it were, inaccessible during direct perception. It can be observed when memorizing a wide variety of verbal and visual material, as well as when consolidating sensorimotor skills. It especially often manifests itself when working with a large volume of logically or substantively related material that has an emotional impact on a person. More pronounced in childhood- especially at preschool and junior school ages.

The effect of reminiscence can be observed when working with various verbal or visual material, which can be texts, poems, lists, pictures, objects, especially if the material is logically connected, large in volume and has an emotional impact.

A number of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the phenomenon of reminiscence. According to one of them, fatigue during learning material leads to a deterioration in its immediate reproduction. The delay allows you to restore the optimal functional state and thus improves the reproduction of the material. Another hypothesis is based on the assumption that there are processes of hidden repetition of material that continue after the cessation of explicit learning and lead to better reproduction after a delay. Reminiscence can also be explained by the fact that after a delay, the interference of information stored in memory decreases. But so far, none of the hypotheses can claim to be a complete explanation of all cases of reminiscence.

REMINISCENCE

from lat. reminiscor - I remember) - reproduction some time after memorizing something that was not available during direct reproduction. This effect can be observed when working with various verbal or visual material, which can be texts, poems, lists, pictures, objects, especially if the material is logically connected, large in volume and has an emotional impact on a person. It is especially often observed in preschool age and at junior schoolchildren.

Reminiscence

Word formation. Comes from Lat. reminiscor - I remember.

Specificity. This effect can be observed when working with various verbal or visual material, which can be texts, poems, lists, pictures, objects, especially if the material is logically connected, large in volume and has an emotional impact on a person. It is especially common in preschool age and in younger schoolchildren.

REMINISCENCE

1. General value similar to the meaning of the term recollection, except that it is often seen as the unconscious retrieval of information, while recollection is considered the result of mental efforts to retrieve information from memory. 2. Chaotic, sequential retrieval from memory of information about some more early experience. The implication is that this process is quite leisurely and enjoyable. 3. Simple: synonym for remembering (1). In meanings 2 and 3 there is no unconscious aspect. See oblivion, loss of information from memory.

REMINISCENCE

from lat. reministentia - recollection, vague recollection) - delayed reproduction of something that was initially temporarily forgotten (not reproduced) during immediate reproduction. The result is a partial or even overall improvement in delayed reproduction compared to immediate reproduction. R. is observed in the process of memorizing a wide variety of verbal and visual material (texts, lists, sets of pictures, objects). R. manifests itself most clearly when working with logically related material that is large in volume and has an emotional impact on a person. In different people there are very noticeable individual characteristics. R. manifests itself most clearly in childhood.

Reminiscence- this is a mnemonic effect characterized by a sudden recollection of perceived material without its repetition through long time(from one day to 7, or even a longer period of time). Reminiscence is a mental phenomenon that often occurs during the perception of information material with internal logical connections of the content, making a strong emotional impression on the individual. The exact causes of sudden memories are not yet understood.

What is reminiscence?

Reminiscence is a phenomenon that appears after memorizing information without directly reproducing it immediately after, but after a certain period of time without the action of a stimulus series on a person.

The term reminiscence was proposed in psychology by the Serbian scientist V. Urbancic in 1907. The scientist studied the phenomenon that he observed in subjects when memorizing material (verbal, non-verbal and sensorimotor movements).

The reminiscence effect is most pronounced in preschool age and in younger schoolchildren. In the field of psychology, scientists have identified higher quality indicators of delayed reproduction of memorized material than reproduction of information immediately after it has been memorized.

The sudden reproduction of material after memorization was studied by P. Ballard. His experimental studies involved individuals who memorized stimulus material, but there was not enough time for sufficient mastery. After a time interval of 24 hours to 7 days, the subjects reproduced the material. The best results were shown by reproduction after a 2-3 day interval. The results obtained were distinguished by quantitatively high indicators, which was consolidated in psychological science about memory as the Ballard phenomenon.

Also in psychology, scientist Pierre Janet studied reminiscence. In his writings, he described the phenomenon as an automatic repetition of actions independent of external factors.

Reminiscence is a phenomenon that is quite widespread, and the frequency of its occurrence depends largely on the nature of the material that needs to be remembered.

In the studies of scientist D.I. Krasilshchikova, the reproduction of semantic material was revealed to a much greater extent than the incoherent reproduction of material. Experimental studies have established that interest in the material significantly influences the manifestation of reminiscence.

The occurrence of the phenomenon of sudden memory is influenced by the degree of mastery of the content of the material by the learner. Provided that you have not sufficiently mastered the content of the information material, a sudden memory will not take place. If the learner tries to reproduce the material immediately after memorization itself, then he relies on associations that appear between images and concepts, and if the reproduction is more delayed, then the subject relies on a logical connection.

An example of reminiscence is taking a test by a student who memorizes the necessary information without understanding or comprehending it. Before taking the test, an individual may have a “mess in his head,” but in necessary moment information is recalled. And after passing the test, the student forgets everything, without understanding the meaning of what he memorized. Or, for example, a schoolchild’s poem, wording, concept. In many learning models, the main thing is the unconscious memorization of actions, phrases or words, which is achieved by frequent repetition of stimulus material.

Almost every person can observe reminiscence. It happens that an individual unexpectedly remembers a particular song, poem or minor events. The peculiarity of this effect is that this reproduction of the material occurs without targeted efforts. A person does not pull from memory, does not try to remember lines from a song, they themselves emerge from the depths of memory.

Reminiscence in psychology

Scientists have not sufficiently studied the causal sequence of the occurrence of sudden memories, the factors causing sudden recall, but the mechanism of the reminiscence effect itself has been studied, relying on the works of domestic and foreign researchers.

The mechanism of sudden occurrence is due to the action of affective inhibition, due to expressed emotional experience, impressions of the perceived information material. Emotional inhibition affects the nature of the reproduced material. When reproducing memorized information, the story begins with the part that produced the most vivid impression, and the logical connection between the reproduced information is lost. In the case of delayed reproduction, the information does not lose its logical sequence.

From a psychological point of view, reminiscence is the process of normalizing the state of fatigue after intense physical, intellectual or emotional stress. Information material, after it is perceived by an individual, is organized in the head, after which it becomes easier for a person to voice it.

Also, sudden recollection occurs in the absence of layering of many details of one logical phenomenon, in which confusion arises. Conditioned forgetting may occur, but after an interval during which the individual is not exposed to stimulus material and there is no additional load on memory, sudden recollection may appear.

Reminiscence depends on an allusion, which is only a hint, a hint that pushes one to the right thought. As a result of an allusion, an individual experiences a sudden memory. is an external phenomenon, a stimulus factor that provokes the appearance of the internal phenomenon of reminiscence.

The phenomenon of reminiscence is also considered from the point of view of pathology in psychology, when a traumatic event takes place and memories take on the character of intrusive and negative ones. When faced with external circumstances similar to those of a traumatic event, a person may experience emotional discomfort associated with the effect of obsessive reminiscence. This state directly depends on the initial emotional state individual.

The phenomenon of sudden recollection in an obsessive form can be observed in individuals with. Reminiscence in these cases manifests itself in dreams with memories of the acquired traumatic experience.

Sudden recall of previously perceived information is often a natural feature of human memory.

If we consider reminiscence from the perspective of psychiatry, it can be a symptom of diseases such as traumatic brain injury, alcohol or infectious intoxication, brain pathologies and others.

Reminiscence in psychiatry is considered as a form, as a manifestation, as a symptom of depressive states, manifested by uncontrolled chaotic thoughts. Sudden memories can appear with phobias.

The manifestation of reminiscence, as a pathological symptom, is characterized by the obsession of thoughts and images, and also causes a fairly expressive emotional reaction in the individual (anxiety, fears).

Reminiscence can become the object of attention in practical activities psychologist, correctional activities with the aim of replacing negative experiences with positive ones, in the treatment of conditions associated with traumatic situations. Specialist interventions require both obsessive reminiscences with negative emotional symptoms and the complete absence of this memory effect, which may signal disturbances in the functioning of the central nervous system or incipient memory.

If a sudden memory occurs in a pathological manifestation, then the intervention of a specialist is necessary, who will determine the medicinal principles of treatment of the disease, the manifestations of which are reminiscence. Also, a qualified specialist must select effective and appropriate psychotherapeutic tactics for the disease.

This term refers to the “references” to previous literary facts present in literary texts; individual works or their groups, reminders about them. Reminiscences, in other words, are images of literature in literature. The most common form of reminiscence is a quotation, exact or inaccurate; “quoted” or remaining implicit, subtextual.

Reminiscences can be included in works consciously and purposefully, or arise independently of the will of the author, involuntarily (“literary recollection”).

Among the implicit, only guessable (presumably!) reminiscences is the word “beggars” in the 1915 poem that opens Akhmatova’s book “The White Flock” (a quarter of a century later, according to L.K. Chukovskaya, A.A. Akhmatova called it the best of of all the poems she wrote):

We thought: we are beggars, we have nothing,

And how they began to lose one after another,

So what happened every day

Memorial day

We started composing songs

About the great generosity of God

Yes about our former wealth.

In combination with the supporting plural pronoun “we”, “we”, “our”, instead of the “I” and “you” that prevail in the lyrics (including Akhmatov’s) the words “beggar” and “former wealth” take on a historical meaning, and the whole poem has a civil, almost journalistic sound.

And associations arise with a wide stream of judgments of the pre-revolutionary years about the supposedly eternal Russian squalor and poverty, to which both Bunin and Gorky paid tribute, to some extent - Chekhov with his “Men”, and Blok with his memorable words about love for “ poor Russia" with its gray huts ("Again, like in the golden years", 1908).

Reminiscences in the form of quotations constitute a significant type of non-author's word. They mark either the writer’s acceptance and approval of his predecessor, following him, or, on the contrary, an argument with him and a parody of a previously created text: “with all the diversity of citations, different and often dissimilar “voices” are always placed in a context that allows one to hear someone else’s words author’s (agreement or disagreement with this someone else’s word).”

At the same time, the sphere of reminiscences is much wider than the field of citation as such. Reminiscences often become simple mentions of works and their creators, coupled with their evaluative characteristics. Thus, in the sixth chapter of the first part of the novel by M. de Cervantes, the priest and the barber sort out the books read by Don Quixote in order to burn some of them, and talk about them, so that the image of literature (mainly chivalric novels) is created in the complete absence of quotation.

Reminiscences as individual links in verbal and artistic texts are of the same nature as the borrowing of plots, the introduction of characters, previously created works, imitation, as well as free translations of foreign language works, the origins of which are in Russian classical poetry - poems and ballads by V.A. Zhukovsky.

Actually, literary reminiscences are also related to references to creations of other types of art, both real ones (the majestic monument of Gothic architecture in V. Hugo’s novel “Notre-Dame de Paris” or Mozart’s “Requiem” in the little tragedy of A.S. Pushkin) and a fictional writer (“ Portrait" by N.V. Gogol or "Doctor Faustus" by T. Mann, extensively "drawing" pictorial and musical creations). Artistic reminiscences are widespread in the literature of the 20th century.

A lot is said about painting in A. Blok’s “Italian Poems”; musical images form the basis of his “Carmen” cycle; Outside of persistent appeals to the motives of architecture, the work of O.E. is unimaginable. Mandelstam: “I am talking with the architect’s Muse again” (from the draft version of the poem “Admiralty”). According to D.S. Likhacheva, “Poem without a Hero” by A.A. Akhmatova “belongs to the number of works that are thoroughly imbued with literary, artistic, theatrical (in particular, ballet), architectural and decorative-painting associations and reminiscences.”

Reminiscences constitute one of the links in the meaningful form of literary works. They embody (realize) the cultural-artistic and genre-stylistic problems of writers’ creativity, their need for an artistic and figurative response to the phenomena of previous art, primarily verbal.

Expressing comprehension and assessment of literary facts, reminiscences often turn out to be a kind of literary-critical speeches - a kind of essay criticism that has invaded the world of artistic texts themselves, which is clear in Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin” (for example, judgments about the ode and elegy), “The Poor people" by Dostoevsky (where Makar Devushkin, apparently expressing the writer's opinion, speaks enthusiastically about Pushkin's "The Station Agent" and very unkindly about Gogol's "The Overcoat"), in the cycles of poems by M.I. Tsvetaeva and B.L. Pasternak, dedicated to Alexander Blok.

Reminiscences are deeply significant in the artistic literature of different countries and eras. Thus, in the works of Russian literature (not only ancient but also modern times) there are countless direct and indirect references to canonical Christian texts. Writers' references to previous fiction are abundant and very varied. There are endless responses to “The Divine Comedy” by A. Dante, “Don Quixote” by Cervantes, “Hamlet” by Shakespeare, “The Bronze Horseman” by Pushkin, “Dead Souls” by Gogol, and the works of L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, A.P. Chekhov.

In the works of writers, including major, original ones, there is a huge number of reminiscences from a variety of sources. Thus, Pushkin’s works - his lyrics, poems, “Eugene Onegin”, “Belkin’s Tales” - are extremely saturated with references (often implicit) to literature, both domestic and Western European, including the contemporary poet.

Here Dante, Shakespeare, Byron, Derzhavin come to life again; K.N. is present Batyushkov, V.A. Zhukovsky, E.A. Baratynsky, P.A. Vyazemsky and many others. In Pushkin’s infinitely varied reminiscences, one can feel the poet’s grateful acceptance of the art of his predecessors and contemporaries, and creative polemics with them, and ridicule of late classicist and sentimental-romantic stereotypes, cliches, and clichés.

Let us turn to the story “The Station Warden,” which Pushkin slyly attributed to the inexperienced provincial writer Ivan Petrovich Belkin.

So the narrator listened to Samson Vyrin’s sad story, accompanied by tears, about how he lost his only daughter. Further we read: “These tears were partly excited by the punch, of which he drew five glasses in the continuation of his story; but, be that as it may, they touched my heart greatly. Having parted with him, I could not forget the old caretaker for a long time, I thought for a long time poor Duma (Remember: from Vyrin’s story it is clear that Dunya is not “poor” at all: she lives in wealth and luxury, is loved by Minsky and loves him herself.)

What attracts attention here is the reproduction of a motif that wandered from one sentimental story to another (the narrator-traveler, enriched by another sadly touching story, indulges in “long” thoughts about it on the road), and the stylistic incompatibility of vocabulary that characterizes Belkin’s naive literary consciousness (neighborhood in one phrase of the archaic-elevated turn “these tears” and the sentimentalist stereotype “touched my heart greatly” with five glasses of punch that the caretaker “pulled out”), and the narrator’s helpless reservation associated with this detail (be that as it may, he is heartily touched ), and, most importantly, the inapplicability of the clichéd epithet “poor” to Dunya’s fate (Pushkin’s contemporary remembered not only Karamzin’s poor Liza, but also the “unfortunate” Mashas, ​​Margaritas, etc. who followed her).

A similar “flaw” of Belkin the writer was slyly ridiculed by Pushkin in the last episode of the story: “In the entryway (where poor Dunya once kissed me) a fat woman came out” and reported that the caretaker had died. The close juxtaposition of the stylistically polar phrases “poor Dunya” and “fat woman” is very funny.

In the given episodes of Belkin's cycle (the number of examples can be greatly increased), Pushkin's penchant for reminiscences of a playful, playful, parody nature was clearly reflected. A significant fact: upon returning from Boldin in 1830, Pushkin told P.A. Pletnev that Baratynsky, reading Belkin’s stories, “laughs and fights.” Apparently, it was the reminiscences that caused this uproarious laughter:

Reminiscences are also very significant in post-Pushkin literature. Thus, explicit and implicit references to the work of Gogol are numerous in the works of Dostoevsky. But the most persistent appeals of Russian writers to Pushkin and his texts. The lyrical poems of the great poet, “Eugene Onegin”, “The Bronze Horseman”, “The Captain’s Daughter” have their own, so to speak, reminiscent history.

Pushkin's works, perceived by writers primarily as the highest examples of art, sometimes become reasons for familiar re-enactments. Thus, in the chapter of the poem “Good!”, dedicated to the political conversation between Miliukov and Kuskova, V. Mayakovsky parodies Tatyana’s conversation with the nanny. I.A. Brodsky dramatically transforms the text of the poem “I loved you” to express his mercilessly tough view of man, the world, and love:

I loved you. Love is still possible

that it's just pain) drills into my brain.

Everything was blown to pieces.

I tried to shoot myself, but it was difficult

I loved you so much, hopelessly,

how God would give you others - but he won’t!

In the literature of the last two centuries, freed from the traditionalist “one-voice”, from genre and style norms, rules, canons, reminiscences have acquired especially great significance. According to I.Yu. Podgaetskaya, “poetry of the 19th century begins where “one’s own” and “alien” are understood as a problem.” Let’s add to this: literary reminiscences mark the discussion of “one’s own” and “their” both in poetry and in prose, and not only in the 19th, but also in the 20th century.

The art of words from eras close to us is reminiscent to varying degrees. References to literary facts are an integral and, moreover, dominant component of the works of V.A. Zhukovsky (almost everything he said about the stranger and in his wake). Reminiscences are abundant and varied in A.S. Pushkin, A.A. Akhmatova, O.E. Mandelstam. But they are not nearly as significant in L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Feta, S.A. Yesenina, M.M Prishvina, A.I. Solzhenitsyn: the reality comprehended by these word artists is most often removed from the world of literature and art.

The internal norm of literary creativity XIX-XX centuries is the active presence of reminiscences in it. The isolation of writers and their works from the experience of their predecessors and contemporaries marks their limitations and narrowness. However, hypertrophied, self-sufficient reminiscence, coupled with the isolation of literature in the world of artistic phenomena, interests, problems, is by no means favorable for culture and art itself.

This idea is embodied in the novel by the Austrian writer of the beginning of this century R. Musil “Man without properties”. Here the author, in his words, set himself the task of “showing people who are entirely composed of reminiscences of which they are unaware.” A number of ironic judgments by M.M. are similar. Prishvin about what he called “meaningfulness” - about the complete, and therefore one-sided and even flawed immersion of a person (in particular, an artist) in the world of other people’s thoughts and words, which are far from living life.

Distrust of “book culture” and the “principle of quotation” was repeatedly expressed in Blok’s poetry. It was clearly reflected in the free verses of the second volume: “She came from the cold,” “When you stand in my way.” In the latter, the poet addresses a fifteen-year-old girl with the words:

So that you fall in love with a simple person,

Who loves the earth and the sky

More than rhymed and unrhymed

Speeches about earth and heaven.

Blok’s quote “carries in itself at the same time a supply of “culture poisons” and the high pathos of Vita nuova.”

The reminiscent layer of literary works, for all its enormous significance, does not need to be absolutized, to be considered as some kind of indispensable center of literary creativity: a truly artistic work is necessarily marked by direct contacts not only with previous literature, but also with “extra-artistic” reality. The words of one of the Russian cultural philosophers of our century are significant: Pushkin’s sounds were inspired by Russian (Zhukovsky) and world literature (antiquity, Horace, Shakespeare, Byron), “but also, perhaps more, by the Kremlin fire, the snows and battles of 1812, and the destinies of the Russian people, and the Russian village and nanny.” Let me also recall the harsh words of A.A. Akhmatova about the critics of N.S. Gumilyov: “Deaf and mute literary critics do not understand at all what they are reading, and they see Parnassus and Leconte de Lisle where the poet is bleeding. His burning love is passed off as leconte de Lilevism. Is the whole history of literature really structured in this manner?”

V.E. Khalizev Theory of literature. 1999