Anyone who seeks to educate themselves, heard of such a concept as "epic".What is it necessarily everyone should know.After being at school, we meet with such masterpieces of world literature as the "Iliad" and "War and Peace".However, not all are aware of the characteristics and features of this genre.
What epic
In literature, this term is used for a large volume of work, as the verse and prose, which affects the national theme.In the period of such literary works of literature describing the most important event for the then people.Among the main topics was the heroic biographies, military clashes, mythological motifs.
Examples
In later novels, epics portrayed is not becoming a society, and its terrible position by means of the comic.Among these novels stands out the poem "Dead Souls" by the world-famous Ukrainian writer Nikolai Gogol.
epic novel as a phenomenon of literature took a long formation, which led to the emergence of many of its species.There are two types of such works.The first includes novels in which the characters of the protagonists evolve under the influence of events of national historic proportions.For example, "War and Peace", "After the Storm", "The Quiet Don".Another type of product can be attributed, in which the evolution of the characters happens during their participation in important historical events.For example, "The Red Wheel", "Peter the Great".
Characteristic features
Any kind of works has its own distinctive features, is no exception and the epic novel.What is it mentioned above, but to be able to refer to this type of work, it is necessary to get acquainted with its features, among them - are listed below.
- The epic novel depicts the national past people.
- Very often this work is based on national traditions.
- time usually separated from the modern novel.
These distinctive features highlighted well-known researcher and scholar MM Bakhtin.
classic epic
to novels that have become classic examples of the epic, include such works as "The Iliad" and "Odyssey" (epic of ancient Greece), "Ramayana" and "Mahabharata" (epic of ancient India) and "The Song of Roland"(France).
Roman epic +
that this concept combines elements of both the novel and the epic, it is clear even from the title.From the novel adopted similar works describing the fate of specific individuals from the epic - becoming a hero on the background of nationally significant historical events that affect the fate of the entire nation.This leads to the fact that the epic novel is often possible to meet not only the crowd scenes and descriptions of specific historical events, but also disclosure of the inner world of certain characters.
«War and Peace»
most famous not only in Russia but throughout the world, an epic novel is a work of Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."The author himself wrote an article about what genre he considers his creation.It was published in "Russian Archives" in March 1868.
In his article, Tolstoy says that his novel, he does not consider either a poem or a historical chronicle.However, in this work can be seen the evolution of delineation of the inner world of heroes, which takes place against the backdrop of historical events, that is exactly what usually describes the epic.What is it exactly, evidenced by the fact that the author has written the history of the people, rather than a specific individual.
To summarize, it should be noted that the works mentioned above, not only have historical value, they imprinted a very important moments in the development of civilizations.It's no wonder still, these works are studied in schools and universities, each of them heard as epic novel - is very significant in the development of the whole of world literature phenomenon.
Influenced like epics and many other areas of art.Reflected the genre also found in the film.For example, "Battle for Moscow" directed by Yuri Ozerov - a real epic.The film describes the largest confrontation of the Great Patriotic War.Genre features epics: a combination of historical authenticity, accuracy broad artistic generalization and romantic pathos.
