Конец рассказа называется в литературе как

This article is about the narrative device. For other uses of «epilogue» and «epilog», see Epilogue (disambiguation).

An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος epílogos, «conclusion» from ἐπί epi, «in addition» and λόγος logos, «word») is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work.^[1] It is presented from the perspective of within the story. When the author steps in and speaks directly to the reader, that is more properly considered an afterword. The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the beginning of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest.^[2] Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an «outro» patterned on the use of «intro» for «introduction».

Epilogues are usually set in the future, after the main story is completed. Within some genres it can be used to hint at the next installment in a series of work. It is also used to satisfy the reader’s curiosity and to cover any loose ends of the story.^[3]

History of the term[edit]

The first known use of the word epilogue was in the 15th century and it was used as a concluding section for literary work.^[4]

In Middle English and Middle French the term «epilogue» was used. In Latin they used epilogus, from Greek epilogos, and then epilegein.^[5]

The first citation of the word epilogue in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1564: «Now at length you are come to the Epilogue (as it were) or full conclusion of your worke.»^[6] Prior to this the OED only refers to Caxton’s term ‘Epylogacion’ in 1474, ‘The Epylogacion and recapitulation of this book’. However, this term was not widely followed and instead ‘conclusion’ was the term used to introduce final words of a text. The first example of a dramatic epilogue in print is John Phillip’s The Play of Patient and Meek Grissell (1569).^[7] Although in non-dramatic publications, the word does appear prior to this such as in Turbervile’s Epitaphs (1566).

The word epilogue could be adopted to describe the end of speeches within medieval plays, but at the time this was primarily used to hint at the connection to later works. Most Greek plays would end with lines from the Chorus, which was different to the epilogues of early modern playwrights as well as Ancient Roman plays.^[8]

American Author Henry James has said the epilogue is a place that distributes last «prizes, pensions, husbands, wives, babies, millions, appended paragraphs and cheerful remarks.»^[9] The word epilogue has also been described as a «Parthian Dart» by Pat Rogers. He said it has the potential to be excessive for some readers as it has a «shift in tense, and a jump in tempo-an accelerando» which quickly changes to a «loosening of the temporal screw, enabling us to move rapidly ahead over a period of years».^[10] Epilogues also consisted of traditional «topoi» which was a metaphor introduced by Aristotle, to symbolise writers creating arguments in their story.^[11]

In literature[edit]

An epilogue is the final chapter at the end of a story that often serves to reveal the fates of the characters. Some epilogues may feature scenes only tangentially related to the subject of the story. They can be used to hint at a sequel or wrap up all the loose ends. They can occur at a significant period of time after the main plot has ended. In some cases, the epilogue is used to allow the main character a chance to «speak freely».

An epilogue can continue in the same narrative style and perspective as the preceding story, although the form of an epilogue can occasionally be drastically different from the overall story. It can also be used as a sequel.

Books[edit]

For example, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale the epilogue is a transcript of a symposium at a university in the Arctic, held in 2195. The majority of the epilogue is a speech given by a professor named Pieixoto who is an expert on the area of Gilead where The Handmaid’s Tale takes place. In the epilogue the land of Gilead has long gone and the main character Offred has her story published. The story is her perspective of the past events within the novel and Offred titles her publication the eponym, ‘The Handmaids Tale.’

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the epilogue is used to satisfy the curiosity of the readers by revealing a utopic ending to the characters in the Manor Farm many years after the revolution. «YEARS passed. The seasons came and went, the short animal lives fled by. A time came when there was no one who remembered the old days before the Rebellion, except Clover, Benjamin, Moses the raven, and a number of the pigs.»^[12]

Horror and suspense novels[edit]

The epilogue can be used to reveal an approaching threat for the character. Readers may believe that the villain has been dealt with, but the epilogue will suggest that this is not entirely true, adding to the horror and mystery of the story.^[13]

Children’s fantasy[edit]

In children’s fantasy it has a particular purpose. It can serve as a reassuring ending to calm fears about a possible bad outcome. This is seen in the Harry Potter Saga where the characters have a happy ending as they are much older and with families. This provides comfort for readers who may have anticipated a bad outcome for them. Epilogues also serve as a transitory stage for the novel to change genres into myths and legends.^[14]

Plays[edit]

In Greek and Elizabethan plays, an actor would stand at the front of the stage and speak directly to the audience. They would usually show the contentment the characters have after experiencing the tragedies within the play. If the hero has had a tragic ending, the speaker of the epilogue would provide the moral lesson that the audience can learn from after the hero’s poor moral choices were made.^[15]

Elizabethan plays[edit]

For example, in Shakespeare’s epilogue in Romeo and Juliet, the speaker is providing the moral lesson and the consequences for the audience to take away.

In As You Like It, the epilogue is said by Rosalind which shows her content.

«… and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women—as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them—that between you and the women the play may please. If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not. And I am sure as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell.»^[17]

Epilogues were more frequently delivered by actors.^[18] As the epilogue would frame the end of the play it would allow the speaker to both simultaneously perform and reflect on the character. In combining both the speaker’s persona and character, Felicity Nussbaum called this the «double consciousness». This invites the audience to reflect on each moment and its meaning behind it. Within tragedies the female epilogues were the most popular, and it would often challenge the integrity of the play. For example, Tyrannick Love took the main female character, who had often undergone tragedy, and reconceptualised her to be a comedian in the epilogue. The female character was adorned in the same costumes that she wore in Act 5 and the speaker would combine her two entities, the tragic role within the main play and her humourized public persona, when speaking in the epilogue.

Many writers would contribute their epilogues to other writer’s plays. This would often be out of friendship. Other epilogues were designated as «written by a person of quality» or «sent from and unknown hand». From the period between 1660 and 1714 outsiders of England would supply both prologues and epilogues 229 times.^[19]

Epilogues would often focus to ensure the audience will return by pointing out the play’s worth in the closing lines.^[20] There have also been linkages between epilogues and prayers and how they are often synonymous with each other when concluding pieces of literature.^[21]

Greek plays[edit]

Most Greek plays would end with lines said by the Chorus. They usually consist of two lines which encapsulate the moral observation of the play. Nine of Euripides’s plays have a deux ex machina and another three «end with a mortal who takes on the superhuman powers of a deus«.^[22]

Roman plays[edit]

Roman plays have particularly shorter epilogues and mainly consist of pleas for a plaudite. This is seen in Terence’s extant plays and Plautus’s comedies. In Plautus’s plays Trinummus, Poenulus, Persa, Milus Gloriosus and Curculio all end with pleas for applause. This is to involve the audience by asking them to participate in the applause. However, in Epidicus the epilogue further states ‘Give us your applause… and stretch your limbs and rise’ and in Stitchus ‘Give us your applause, and then have a party of your own at home.’^[23] This was a strategy to disengage the audience, by smoothly transitioning them to the outside world to regain their sense of reality.

The role of gender[edit]

Both prologues and epilogues would typically give women agency by allowing them to perform comedies and receive audience applause.^[24] Women Playwrights, actors and feminist work are a particular focus within Restoration Culture and especially Restoration Theatre. English playwrights Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, Mary Pix and Catherine Trotter’s work are examined to understand the Restoration theatre’s relationship between women.^[24]

Gayle Rubin’s «The Traffic in Women» and Laura Mulvey’s «Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema» have sparked critical interest in cross-cultural feminism and has increased female audiences in attending theatre. David Robert’s pioneering The Ladies: Female Patronage of Restoration Drama (1989) argues that the theatres were hostile to female spectators and that prologues and epilogues have contributed to that environment.^[25]

Michael Gavin argues the opposite and has stated that player’s direct addresses to women have indicated the value of female audiences, which occurred more frequently when the players were female. It happened to also be one of the first times the women interacted with each in other in a public forum.

Jean Marsden has found that few plays also focus on female sexuality. Epilogues spoken by women to women provide stimulating material. They would often encourage female fantasy and critique male sexual performance. This woman-to-woman paratext allows females speakers and audiences to be perpetuating sexuality which would not often be spoken of within the main structure of the play.

Between 1660 and 1714 a total of 115 prologues and epilogues would feature actors either addressing female audiences or stating facts about the sex. One epilogue written by R.Boyle to Mr Anthony claim that poets try but fail to craft male characters that women find attractive. Epilogues often raise the topic of virtue but when addressing female audiences, they would typically praise the plays lack of virtue to make it a selling point. For example, the epilogue to Ravenscroft’s The Citizen Turn’d Gentleman (1672)^[26] tries to appeal to women by demoting virtue, as the speaker says to win the ladies favour Ravenscroft will become «the greatest debauchee». The epilogue to Thomas Wright’s 1693 comedy, The Female Vertuoso, Susannah Mountfort sneers that older ladies «boast of Virtue ‘cause unfit for Vice».^[27]

Some late Restoration epilogues claim that English women in comparison to women from other countries, possess more liberties, are better behaved, and enjoy happier lives. Examples include Francis Manning’s All for the Better (1702) epilogue which states that English women have superior breeding over women from Madrid. Anne Bracegirdle’s epilogue to Shadwell’s The Amorous Bigotte (1690) claims that even though Spanish women may be wiser, English women are happier because they are not afraid that their husbands will find out about their lovers.

In opera[edit]

Because commenting on past action is inherently undramatic, few operas have epilogues, even those with prologues. Among those explicitly called epilogues are the concluding scenes of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Other operas whose final scenes could be described as epilogues are Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and Delius’s Fennimore and Gerda.^[28]

In film[edit]

In films, the final scenes may feature a montage of images or clips with a short explanation of what happens to the characters. A few examples of such films are 9 to 5, American Graffiti, Changeling, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, National Lampoon’s Animal House, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet Two, and Remember the Titans.

The epilogue of La La Land shows a happy ending, an alternative to the actual ending.

In many documentaries and biopics, the epilogue is text-based, explaining what happened to the subjects after the events covered in the film.

In video games[edit]

In video games, epilogues can occur at the end of the story, usually after the credits have rolled. An epilogue in a game functions similarly to an epilogue in film and literature, providing closure to the end of a story. However, the way in which a video game epilogue is interacted with can then determine how the story ends in works of fiction that contain multiple endings. For example, there are four possible endings to the 2012 video game Spec Ops: The Line, and three of the endings are chosen by what the player does in the epilogue.

In video games that allow the permanent death of playable characters, an epilogue can chronicle what happened to the playable characters who survived and depict how their situation has changed after the story has ended. For example, the 2015 video game Until Dawn features characters who survived (if any) recounting their experiences to the police after being rescued. This system can also be expanded; relationships can be built between characters in most games of the Fire Emblem series, allowing for unique outcomes for characters depending on the actions of the player throughout the campaign.

A visual novel can also feature a type of epilogue, which will wrap up all of the scenarios encountered by a player, most often after the game has been fully completed by reaching all of the multiple endings; as is the case with Tsukihime, featuring an epilogue that expands on the endings of all completable routes, as well as providing context for the rest of the game by explaining events in the prologue.

See also[edit]

• Conclusion
• Prologue

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The dictionary definition of epilogue at Wiktionary
• Gosse, Edmund William (1911). «Epilogue» . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). pp. 693–694.

This article is about the narrative device. For other uses of «epilogue» and «epilog», see Epilogue (disambiguation).

An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος epílogos, «conclusion» from ἐπί epi, «in addition» and λόγος logos, «word») is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the work.^[1] It is presented from the perspective of within the story. When the author steps in and speaks directly to the reader, that is more properly considered an afterword. The opposite is a prologue—a piece of writing at the beginning of a work of literature or drama, usually used to open the story and capture interest.^[2] Some genres, for example television programs and video games, call the epilogue an «outro» patterned on the use of «intro» for «introduction».

Epilogues are usually set in the future, after the main story is completed. Within some genres it can be used to hint at the next installment in a series of work. It is also used to satisfy the reader’s curiosity and to cover any loose ends of the story.^[3]

History of the term[edit]

The first known use of the word epilogue was in the 15th century and it was used as a concluding section for literary work.^[4]

In Middle English and Middle French the term «epilogue» was used. In Latin they used epilogus, from Greek epilogos, and then epilegein.^[5]

The first citation of the word epilogue in the Oxford English Dictionary is from 1564: «Now at length you are come to the Epilogue (as it were) or full conclusion of your worke.»^[6] Prior to this the OED only refers to Caxton’s term ‘Epylogacion’ in 1474, ‘The Epylogacion and recapitulation of this book’. However, this term was not widely followed and instead ‘conclusion’ was the term used to introduce final words of a text. The first example of a dramatic epilogue in print is John Phillip’s The Play of Patient and Meek Grissell (1569).^[7] Although in non-dramatic publications, the word does appear prior to this such as in Turbervile’s Epitaphs (1566).

The word epilogue could be adopted to describe the end of speeches within medieval plays, but at the time this was primarily used to hint at the connection to later works. Most Greek plays would end with lines from the Chorus, which was different to the epilogues of early modern playwrights as well as Ancient Roman plays.^[8]

American Author Henry James has said the epilogue is a place that distributes last «prizes, pensions, husbands, wives, babies, millions, appended paragraphs and cheerful remarks.»^[9] The word epilogue has also been described as a «Parthian Dart» by Pat Rogers. He said it has the potential to be excessive for some readers as it has a «shift in tense, and a jump in tempo-an accelerando» which quickly changes to a «loosening of the temporal screw, enabling us to move rapidly ahead over a period of years».^[10] Epilogues also consisted of traditional «topoi» which was a metaphor introduced by Aristotle, to symbolise writers creating arguments in their story.^[11]

In literature[edit]

An epilogue is the final chapter at the end of a story that often serves to reveal the fates of the characters. Some epilogues may feature scenes only tangentially related to the subject of the story. They can be used to hint at a sequel or wrap up all the loose ends. They can occur at a significant period of time after the main plot has ended. In some cases, the epilogue is used to allow the main character a chance to «speak freely».

An epilogue can continue in the same narrative style and perspective as the preceding story, although the form of an epilogue can occasionally be drastically different from the overall story. It can also be used as a sequel.

Books[edit]

For example, in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale the epilogue is a transcript of a symposium at a university in the Arctic, held in 2195. The majority of the epilogue is a speech given by a professor named Pieixoto who is an expert on the area of Gilead where The Handmaid’s Tale takes place. In the epilogue the land of Gilead has long gone and the main character Offred has her story published. The story is her perspective of the past events within the novel and Offred titles her publication the eponym, ‘The Handmaids Tale.’

In George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the epilogue is used to satisfy the curiosity of the readers by revealing a utopic ending to the characters in the Manor Farm many years after the revolution. «YEARS passed. The seasons came and went, the short animal lives fled by. A time came when there was no one who remembered the old days before the Rebellion, except Clover, Benjamin, Moses the raven, and a number of the pigs.»^[12]

Horror and suspense novels[edit]

The epilogue can be used to reveal an approaching threat for the character. Readers may believe that the villain has been dealt with, but the epilogue will suggest that this is not entirely true, adding to the horror and mystery of the story.^[13]

Children’s fantasy[edit]

In children’s fantasy it has a particular purpose. It can serve as a reassuring ending to calm fears about a possible bad outcome. This is seen in the Harry Potter Saga where the characters have a happy ending as they are much older and with families. This provides comfort for readers who may have anticipated a bad outcome for them. Epilogues also serve as a transitory stage for the novel to change genres into myths and legends.^[14]

Plays[edit]

In Greek and Elizabethan plays, an actor would stand at the front of the stage and speak directly to the audience. They would usually show the contentment the characters have after experiencing the tragedies within the play. If the hero has had a tragic ending, the speaker of the epilogue would provide the moral lesson that the audience can learn from after the hero’s poor moral choices were made.^[15]

Elizabethan plays[edit]

For example, in Shakespeare’s epilogue in Romeo and Juliet, the speaker is providing the moral lesson and the consequences for the audience to take away.

In As You Like It, the epilogue is said by Rosalind which shows her content.

«… and I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women—as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them—that between you and the women the play may please. If I were a woman, I would kiss as many of you as had beards that pleased me, complexions that liked me, and breaths that I defied not. And I am sure as many as have good beards, or good faces, or sweet breaths will, for my kind offer, when I make curtsy, bid me farewell.»^[17]

Epilogues were more frequently delivered by actors.^[18] As the epilogue would frame the end of the play it would allow the speaker to both simultaneously perform and reflect on the character. In combining both the speaker’s persona and character, Felicity Nussbaum called this the «double consciousness». This invites the audience to reflect on each moment and its meaning behind it. Within tragedies the female epilogues were the most popular, and it would often challenge the integrity of the play. For example, Tyrannick Love took the main female character, who had often undergone tragedy, and reconceptualised her to be a comedian in the epilogue. The female character was adorned in the same costumes that she wore in Act 5 and the speaker would combine her two entities, the tragic role within the main play and her humourized public persona, when speaking in the epilogue.

Many writers would contribute their epilogues to other writer’s plays. This would often be out of friendship. Other epilogues were designated as «written by a person of quality» or «sent from and unknown hand». From the period between 1660 and 1714 outsiders of England would supply both prologues and epilogues 229 times.^[19]

Epilogues would often focus to ensure the audience will return by pointing out the play’s worth in the closing lines.^[20] There have also been linkages between epilogues and prayers and how they are often synonymous with each other when concluding pieces of literature.^[21]

Greek plays[edit]

Most Greek plays would end with lines said by the Chorus. They usually consist of two lines which encapsulate the moral observation of the play. Nine of Euripides’s plays have a deux ex machina and another three «end with a mortal who takes on the superhuman powers of a deus«.^[22]

Roman plays[edit]

Roman plays have particularly shorter epilogues and mainly consist of pleas for a plaudite. This is seen in Terence’s extant plays and Plautus’s comedies. In Plautus’s plays Trinummus, Poenulus, Persa, Milus Gloriosus and Curculio all end with pleas for applause. This is to involve the audience by asking them to participate in the applause. However, in Epidicus the epilogue further states ‘Give us your applause… and stretch your limbs and rise’ and in Stitchus ‘Give us your applause, and then have a party of your own at home.’^[23] This was a strategy to disengage the audience, by smoothly transitioning them to the outside world to regain their sense of reality.

The role of gender[edit]

Both prologues and epilogues would typically give women agency by allowing them to perform comedies and receive audience applause.^[24] Women Playwrights, actors and feminist work are a particular focus within Restoration Culture and especially Restoration Theatre. English playwrights Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, Mary Pix and Catherine Trotter’s work are examined to understand the Restoration theatre’s relationship between women.^[24]

Gayle Rubin’s «The Traffic in Women» and Laura Mulvey’s «Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema» have sparked critical interest in cross-cultural feminism and has increased female audiences in attending theatre. David Robert’s pioneering The Ladies: Female Patronage of Restoration Drama (1989) argues that the theatres were hostile to female spectators and that prologues and epilogues have contributed to that environment.^[25]

Michael Gavin argues the opposite and has stated that player’s direct addresses to women have indicated the value of female audiences, which occurred more frequently when the players were female. It happened to also be one of the first times the women interacted with each in other in a public forum.

Jean Marsden has found that few plays also focus on female sexuality. Epilogues spoken by women to women provide stimulating material. They would often encourage female fantasy and critique male sexual performance. This woman-to-woman paratext allows females speakers and audiences to be perpetuating sexuality which would not often be spoken of within the main structure of the play.

Between 1660 and 1714 a total of 115 prologues and epilogues would feature actors either addressing female audiences or stating facts about the sex. One epilogue written by R.Boyle to Mr Anthony claim that poets try but fail to craft male characters that women find attractive. Epilogues often raise the topic of virtue but when addressing female audiences, they would typically praise the plays lack of virtue to make it a selling point. For example, the epilogue to Ravenscroft’s The Citizen Turn’d Gentleman (1672)^[26] tries to appeal to women by demoting virtue, as the speaker says to win the ladies favour Ravenscroft will become «the greatest debauchee». The epilogue to Thomas Wright’s 1693 comedy, The Female Vertuoso, Susannah Mountfort sneers that older ladies «boast of Virtue ‘cause unfit for Vice».^[27]

Some late Restoration epilogues claim that English women in comparison to women from other countries, possess more liberties, are better behaved, and enjoy happier lives. Examples include Francis Manning’s All for the Better (1702) epilogue which states that English women have superior breeding over women from Madrid. Anne Bracegirdle’s epilogue to Shadwell’s The Amorous Bigotte (1690) claims that even though Spanish women may be wiser, English women are happier because they are not afraid that their husbands will find out about their lovers.

In opera[edit]

Because commenting on past action is inherently undramatic, few operas have epilogues, even those with prologues. Among those explicitly called epilogues are the concluding scenes of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress and Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann. Other operas whose final scenes could be described as epilogues are Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, and Delius’s Fennimore and Gerda.^[28]

In film[edit]

In films, the final scenes may feature a montage of images or clips with a short explanation of what happens to the characters. A few examples of such films are 9 to 5, American Graffiti, Changeling, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, National Lampoon’s Animal House, Babe: Pig in the City, Happy Feet Two, and Remember the Titans.

The epilogue of La La Land shows a happy ending, an alternative to the actual ending.

In many documentaries and biopics, the epilogue is text-based, explaining what happened to the subjects after the events covered in the film.

In video games[edit]

In video games, epilogues can occur at the end of the story, usually after the credits have rolled. An epilogue in a game functions similarly to an epilogue in film and literature, providing closure to the end of a story. However, the way in which a video game epilogue is interacted with can then determine how the story ends in works of fiction that contain multiple endings. For example, there are four possible endings to the 2012 video game Spec Ops: The Line, and three of the endings are chosen by what the player does in the epilogue.

In video games that allow the permanent death of playable characters, an epilogue can chronicle what happened to the playable characters who survived and depict how their situation has changed after the story has ended. For example, the 2015 video game Until Dawn features characters who survived (if any) recounting their experiences to the police after being rescued. This system can also be expanded; relationships can be built between characters in most games of the Fire Emblem series, allowing for unique outcomes for characters depending on the actions of the player throughout the campaign.

A visual novel can also feature a type of epilogue, which will wrap up all of the scenarios encountered by a player, most often after the game has been fully completed by reaching all of the multiple endings; as is the case with Tsukihime, featuring an epilogue that expands on the endings of all completable routes, as well as providing context for the rest of the game by explaining events in the prologue.

See also[edit]

• Conclusion
• Prologue

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• The dictionary definition of epilogue at Wiktionary
• Gosse, Edmund William (1911). «Epilogue» . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). pp. 693–694.

Концовка

Синонимы:

Полезное

КОНЦОВКА

КОСМОНИМ →← КОНЦЕПЦИЯ

Синонимы слова «КОНЦОВКА»:

АПОФЕОЗ, ВИНЬЕТКА, ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЕ, ЗАКЛЮЧИТЕЛЬНЫЙ АККОРД, ИСХОД, КОНЕЦ, ОКОНЧАНИЕ, ПРИСКАЗКА, РАЗВЯЗКА, УКРАШЕНИЕ, ФИНАЛ, ФИНИШ, ЭПИЛОГ

Смотреть что такое КОНЦОВКА в других словарях:

КОНЦОВКА ПРОИЗВЕДЕНИЯ

1. Распространённые ошибки концовки произведения.

2. Общие правила концовки произведения.

3. Виды концовок по различным основаниям.

4. Технические приёмы завершения самой концовки.

Концовка произведения — не менее важный элемент структуры, чем завязка и перипетии. Подчас именно от неё зависит не только успех книги, но и желание читателя обратиться к другим произведениям писателя, рассказать о прочитанном своим друзьям и знакомым.

1. Распространённые ошибки концовки произведения:

► Обман читателя. Сейчас модно круто менять судьбу героя — например, по воле автора, угробить в конце всех, хотя ничто не предполагало такой развязки. Смело, неожиданно, читатель ахает и… разочаровывается. Разочарование заменяет чувство удовлетворения от прочитанного, читатель жалеет, что вообще открыл эту книгу. Обман читателя происходит и по другим причинам, например, когда концовка не соответствует заявленному жанру.

► Запутывание читателя. Читатель с интересом следил за судьбой героя, а в конце не может понять — решены задачи или нет? К примеру, героиня долго завоёвывала сердце избранника и, кажется, завоевала, но роман заканчивается многозначительной сценой: он и она встречаются, молчат под какую-нибудь музыку. Читатель восклицает: «Ну?! Что?!», — переворачивает страницу, а там пусто.

► Наглая незавершённость. Герой решает проблемы, но тотчас впутывается в клубок новых. Продолжение следует. Однако читатель не знал в самом начале, что данный роман всего лишь первая книга трилогии. Распространённый сейчас приём, когда писателю или издательству кажется, что если сообщить о продолжении в конце, то читатель непременно начнёт рыскать в поисках второго тома. Не начнёт — для этого книга должна быть суперхороша. Этот приём можно использовать (при условии «суперхорошести»), когда продолжение уже написано, и найти его можно сразу, а не ждать год или два. То, что действует для «Игры престолов», далеко не всегда действует для книг.

► Концовка вне логики. Герой решает задачи настолько нестандартно, что читатель вообще перестает понимать, о чём идет речь. Ужас-ужас пример: обаятельный герой всю дорогу ищет свою возлюбленную, находит, убивает её и радуется — проблемы больше нет, а он сам, оказывается, маньяк в десятом поколении.

► Банальность (обесценивание сюжета) концовки. Примеров — море: «мне всё приснилось», «произошло чудо», «герой болел, а теперь выздоровел», «вышел из комы (летаргии), в которой всё и привиделось», «вмешались неведомые силы (бог, дьявол, друзья, кошелёк с деньгами)». Сюда же отнесем и хэппи-энды без должных оснований, и прием «поскорее всех убью, ибо надоело писать».

► Концовка типа «мы наш, мы новый мир построим» или «поцелуй на развалинах». Распространённый прием в фильмах и книгах: парочка сидит (стоит) на камнях разрушенного города, на куче обугленных трупов, в пустыне, бывшей ранее планетой Земля, и радуется жизни. Возникает проблема достоверности. Читатель просто не верит в «счастливый» конец.

► Концовка «куча мала». Писатель решает, что пора бы и завязывать. В результате тридцать три линии романа завершаются в одной главе. Эпизоды нагромождаются один на другой, часто вообще не связаны между собой. По объему завязка куда больше, чем развязка.

► Концовка «не могу остановиться». Все задачи решены, но писатель никак не может расстаться со своими героями, придумывает им новые, не связанные с предыдущим сюжетом приключения, пишет эпилог, а потом еще послесловие, словарик, сиквелы, приквелы и прочее. И не отдельно — всю эту красоту закидывает в концовку.

► Концовка «как бы всё успеть». Да, проблемы решаются, но писатель вдруг обнаружил, что не реализовал до конца свой потенциал. Он начинает вставлять неуместный юмор, анекдоты, аргументы и факты, гипотезы и концепции, передавать свои знания обо всём на свете, часто впопыхах вкладывая всё это в уста героев, создаёт множество диалогов, ничего не добавляющих к сюжету.

► Концовка «Мораль сей басни такова…» Стиль произведения становится пафосным, а каждое решение (развязка) сопровождается моралью для читателя.

Понять ошибки просто. Почему же писатели их допускают? Вспомнить о правилах концовки нужно бы не тогда, когда она уже написана, а ещё при планировании произведения. Одно из важных правил — не начинать книгу, не зная, что же будет в конце. Как раз при подходе «наоборот» писатель или бросает начатое, или пишет концовку «абы как».

2. Общие правила концовки произведения:

► Идеальная концовка, когда читатель получает то, на что надеялся, плюс бонус неожиданности, открытия, озарения.

► Хорошая концовка вызывает у читателя чувство удовлетворения от прочитанного, сожаление, что нет продолжения, желание почитать что-то ещё у этого автора, а то и перечитать книгу, потому что возникает ощущение ценности всего сюжета, желание проверить свои впечатления.

► Книга должна быть без «нулевого эффекта» — типичного окончания для предполагаемого продолжения, сюжетно завершённой, даже если есть продолжение приключений героя.

► Читатель должен понять логику концовки — то, о чём хотел сказать писатель, — быть готовым к этому.

► Хороший писатель избегает в конце банальности и штампов.

► Концовка должна быть достоверной. Читатель должен видеть основания, причины счастливого или несчастливого конца, верить в них, понимать, что по-другому невозможно.

► Концовка требует такой же обстоятельности, как и начало произведения. Она должна быть не менее, а то и более интересной для читателя.

► Следует отличать концовку от эпилога и послесловия. В концовке важна развязка — убирание коллизий, разнообразное решение конфликтов, завершённость сюжетных линий. 

Авторское послесловие — антоним предисловия, в нем писатель рассуждает, высказывает своё мнение, даёт заключительные объяснения не по сюжету, а по идеям в нем.

Эпилог — антоним пролога, пишется по необходимости после концовки и является отдельным рассказом о судьбах героев в будущем. События в эпилоге, как правило, происходят после развязки и не связаны с сюжетом произведения, чаще всего — через перерыв, через длительное время после событий в романе.

► Хорошая концовка не содержит отвлечений (вне сюжета) любого рода (шутки, анекдоты, концепции, лирические отступления, авторские размышления и т.д.). Впрочем, это правило и для всего произведения. Всё хорошо к месту.

► Хорошая концовка обойдется без морали и пафоса. Читатель сам сделает выводы.

► Концовка произведения всегда определяется его жанром и сюжетом.

Какие же бывают концовки? Видов по разным основаниям много, расскажем о самых главных.

3. Виды концовок по различным основаниям

По отношению ко всей композиции произведения:

► Круговая (циклическая) — событие в конце повторяет событие (место действия, участвующих персонажей) начала с разрешением поставленных проблем, новым взглядом на произошедшее.

► Возвращающая (галстучная) концовка — событие в конце возвращает читателя к событию, которое было значимым в ходе повествования и проблемы которого так и не были разрешены ранее.

► Рамочная — концовка не выходит за рамки места действия, обозначенного ранее.

► Концовка-петля — концовка почти полностью повторяет начало.

► Иллюзорная (круг, петля) — концовка похожа на начало, но уровень осмысления новый.

По отношению ко времени:

► Временная концовка — события начинаются и заканчиваются в определённый период времени. В конце происходят события, продолжающие историю и расставляющие всё по своим местам.

А) Хронологическая — всё завершается во времени в том порядке, как и возникало, в хронологической последовательности.

Б) Футуристическая — переход от настоящего к будущему, концовка рассказывает о будущем, в отличие от эпилога, не является отдельным рассказом, а продолжает (и заканчивает) историю.

В) Переключающая — концовка меняет временные планы: из настоящего в будущее, из прошлого в настоящее.

► Концовка-эпилог — все конфликты, проблемы в произведении разрешаются не одновременно, в конце рассказывается о событиях, которые происходят с героями через некоторое время, окончание всех фабульных линий.

Концовка по отношению к главному смыслу:

► Расплата — всё заканчивается расплатой за содеянное для героя и персонажей.

► Награда — в конце всё не просто разрешается хорошо, но является значимой наградой для героя и персонажей.

► Разгадка — в конце даются ответы на все вопросы-загадки всех сюжетных линий.

► Обобщение — подводится рационально-логический итог всему, что было ранее.

► Оценка — решаются все задачи, дается оценка основным событиям, действиям героев по разрешению конфликтов. Оценка может быть авторская, а может быть дана точкой зрения героя, персонажа.

Стилевые концовки:

► Счастливая концовка — события в конце могут показаться читателю не очень-то и счастливыми, но для героев они – счастье.

► Хэппи-энд — чёткое разделение счастливого завершения для положительных героев и наказания (возмездия) – для отрицательных.

► Трагическая концовка — всё плохо для героев, но читатель испытывает катарсис.

Концовка по отношению к сюжету произведения:

► Закрытая (полная) — все сюжетные линии логически завершены.

А) Условно закрытая — проблемы разрешены частично, остальные – в продолжении или же додумываются читателем.

Б) Закрытая провокационная — проблемы разрешены, но даётся намек на продолжение приключений героя.

В) Резкая концовка — мгновенное закрытие сюжетных линий.

► Открытая (неполная) — формальное завершение истории, исчерпанность лишь одной идеи.

А) Сюжетная развилка (вариабельная) — открытая концовка, говорящая о продолжении истории в новом произведении.

Б) Недосказанность — нарочито открытая концовка, будящая воображение и дающая возможность читателю додумать, как бы все могло быть.

► Неожиданная концовка — всё с ног на голову, смена эмоций, восприятия читателя, новая информация, переосмысление сюжета.

Концовка по эмоциональности:

► Нейтральная — читатель переживал во время чтения, история полностью закончена, все сюжетные линии закрыты.

► Экспрессивная открытая — самые сильные эмоции читатель испытывает в конце, так как желает, но не получает ответов на все вопросы, сюжетные линии частично или полностью не завершены.

► Экспрессивно закрытая — все сильные эмоции читатель получает в конце, инсайт, катарсис.

4. Технические приемы завершения самой концовки:

1). Цитата: герой или автор цитирует кого-то умного в самом конце, придавая значимости всему произведению.

2). Монолог героя: герой в собственной речи подводит итоги всему, что произошло, например, характерно для детективов.

3). Призыв, мобилизация: в конце произведения звучит призыв героя или автора, побуждая читателя совершить физическое или психологическое действие, например, вступить в общество по спасению дельфинов или купить книгу-продолжение.

4) Проблема, вопрос: в конце задаётся обобщающий вопрос, возникает новая проблема, заставляющая читателя задуматься.

5) Поэзия: поэтическое описание, детали, стихотворение, лирическое отступление в самом конце.

6) Вывод: в конце делаются краткие выводы, умозаключения по всем проблемам, идеям.

7) Мораль: герой или автор занимается в конце нравоучениями для себя или читателей, однако такая концовка — один из элементов сказки.

Пафос: «высшая точка подъёма воодушевления, эмоционального чувства, восторга, достигнутая в литературном произведении и в восприятии его читателем, отражающая значительные события в обществе и духовные взлеты героев» (Словарь литературоведческих терминов).

Понятно, что использовать виды концовок, приёмы нужно с осторожностью: то, что уместно в детективе, может выглядеть нелепо в мелодраме, а, скажем, откровенный призыв, открытая концовка далеко не всегда побудит читателя купить продолжение.

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Сбор видов концовок основан на работах учёных: М. Бахтина, А. Колесниченко, Т. Фадеевой, В. Одинцова и других. Собирал Альмонд.