Definition of the word parable in literature. What parables teach: short parables, wise parables

Mine is this one:

Parable about how to change the world

A long time ago, this man lived in a certain city. He lived for himself and lived until he realized at one fine moment that our world is imperfect. This is normal, thoughts about the imperfection of the world come sooner or later to the minds of many people. But our hero was completely special person he decided to change the world. He decided to make the world beautiful, friendly, good and perfect.

And this man said "Give me seven years and I will change the world!". And for seven years this man met with the leaders of states, organized large-scale actions to change the world, attracted hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people to spiritual practices, and worked tirelessly all these years. He became a very famous and respected person, but seven years have passed. And the world: remained the same.

Then he said to himself, “Probably, it is very difficult to change the whole world. Therefore, I will change my country first, and other countries will see how good we have become, and they will also change. It will take more...

The most interesting parables and the most beautiful parables

Below is a list of parables. You can choose the section you are interested in and read the most interesting parables that we have selected especially for you. The section is fully replenished, so visit our site more often and you will learn a lot of interesting and useful things.

What is a parable?

A parable is not just a story that can be told to children in order to teach the wisdom of life. A parable is a special story that conveys the mystery of our world through an example from a real or imaginary story. Every parable has main character, which represents some part of our life. It can be a person, a sage, an animal, a natural phenomenon, element, etc. Also, in each parable there is an action that leads to some result. And, of course, every parable has a point. This is the main part of any parable. It is on how deep the essence is that the value of a parable depends.

Where do they come from...

We have already noted that, as a rule, there is one main element of truth in the parable, although there may be several additional valuable lessons in it. In this section, we will try to consider one parable from the above categories.

Attitude. The parable of the sower (Matthew ch. 13) is intended to show different attitude with which people react to being introduced to the gospel of Christ.

The land "by the road", that is, on the side of the road, is a cold heart, showing no interest in the teachings of Jesus. The stony soil with a very thin fertile layer symbolizes a superficial person who readily accepts the gospel, but then, when persecution begins, quickly retreats from it. The land on which grain and thorns grow can be called "supersaturated" soil. Its fertility is stifled by selfish interests that become "more important" than the gospel. The eternal is subject to the transient. Finally, good land symbolizes honest and kind heart, which with…

The parable has attracted the attention of people since ancient times. Little stories that held wisdom were passed down from generation to generation. Preserving the intelligibility of the presentation, the parables invited a person to think about true sense life.

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Instruction

The parable is small instructive story in the didactic-allegorical genre of literature, carrying moral or religious wisdom.

The parable in its main features is very similar to the fable. The terms "parable" and "fable" were used based not so much on genre differences as on the stylistic significance of these words. A parable is a work of a higher “level” than a fable, often having a too mundane and mundane meaning.

Parables, like fables, had an allegorical character. They emphasized the moral and religious direction. Wherein…

Do you want to somehow distinguish yourself and write a parable? But don't know what exactly to write about? So let's make up a story.

First of all, you need to decide what is a parable? A parable is a special short story in which there is some kind of teaching or, more precisely, wisdom. That is, when writing a parable, it is important that there is some kind of teaching in it. Moreover, this wisdom should be important if you want your parable to turn out good. That is why it is better to write parables to experienced and wise people who have already seen a lot in life and who have something to tell others. Those who have seen little in life are unlikely to have the opportunity to tell anything to anyone.

Since this is a small work, do not write too much big story, remember that brevity is the sister of talent, the more concisely you can tell, the more popular your story will be.

An example of a parable is the following, ...

Parable about balls.

"This parable is real story from our life.
A few weeks ago, I made myself coffee, picked up the morning paper, and sat down to listen to the radio. I turned the tuning knob until suddenly my attention was drawn to velvet voice one old man.
He said something about "a thousand balloons." I became interested, made the sound louder and leaned back in my chair.
“Well,” said the old man, “I bet you are very busy at work. Yesterday Today Tomorrow. And get paid a lot. But with that money, they buy your life. Think you are not spending this time with your loved ones and loved ones. I will never believe that you have to work all this time to make ends meet. You work to satisfy your desires. But know that this is a vicious circle - than more money the more you want and the more you work to get even more.
You need to be able to ask yourself at one moment: “do I really need another blouse so much or ...

http://e-pritchi.narod.ru/pritchi-o-druzhbe.html

What is a parable?
A parable is not just a story that can be told to children in order to teach the wisdom of life. A parable is a special story that conveys the mystery of our world through an example from a real or imaginary story. Each parable has a main character who represents some part of our life. It can be a person, a sage, an animal, a natural phenomenon, an element, etc. Also, in each parable there is an action that leads to some result. And, of course, every parable has a point. This is the main part of any parable. It is on how deep the essence is that the value of a parable depends.

First of all, in my opinion, a parable is needed for teaching life. There are many values ​​in life that cannot always be taught with a simple explanation. At such moments, a parable comes to the rescue. After all, by telling a parable, you can make a person experience those basic feelings that need to be felt for a complete ...

O. A. Tyark

Parables of Jesus Christ

Interpretation

Foreword
Servant of God (About O.A. Tyarke)

SPIRITUAL ARTICLES

Joy of Christmas
"He forgives all your iniquities" - Ps. 102.3
I will not give the inheritance of my fathers
"I am the Door"
Truth and love
"Put on Love"
"Grieve not the Holy Spirit"
great example humility
"Strive to make sure your calling and election"
"Faith without works is dead" - Jas. 2, 20

PARABLES OF JESUS ​​CHRIST

Overview of parables
Parable of the Sower
Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price
The parable of the net
The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares
Parables of the Mustard Seed and Leaven
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Parable of leaven
Parable of the Lost Sheep
The parable of the lost drachma
Parable about prodigal son

BRIEF REMARKS ON SOME OTHER PARABLES

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant - Matt. 18:23-34
The parable of the great supper - Matt. 22:1-14
…

Andrew, first question:
Did you define these characteristics yourself or do they have an author (source)?

I am asking this in order to correctly build my objections. (Whether the conversation is with the author or only with those who agree with him.)

OK. Very interesting observations. I generally agree with them, but there are objections:

- maximum conciseness (there should not be a single superfluous word)
I agree.

- the parable should carry only one idea
If you take Zen or Taoist parables, then you can trace several ideas at once. Are these bad stories?

- the idea must be undeniable
Generally impossible! The thing is, everyone has their own opinion. If the idea were indisputable, then parables would be such a panacea for everyone: read it and be happy for life. A lot of people will consider the ideas controversial.

- this single idea, on the one hand, should not be “chewed”, and on the other hand, it should be generally understandable - there should be no discrepancies in the meaning of the idea
Maybe.

- where you can do without numbers, you need to do without them, where you can do without proper names, you need to do without them
Here's an example for you: in some work I find a passage that in all respects fits the parable. But there are names of heroes. Should I change them to "one person"? Then, perhaps, to abandon the author of the parable and call it "modern" or "historical"?

- professionalisms, other -isms and other little-known terms, as well as jargon should not be used
I agree.

- one element of the parable without special need should not be called by different names
What do you call the "element of the parable"?

- the storytelling should be smooth
I completely agree.
Here I would like to draw the attention of newsletter readers:
They send me a lot interesting texts, beautiful, instructive. But I cannot place some texts either in the mailing list or on the site, because it not a parable by style!

- a parable containing elements considered funny turns into an anecdote
But what about the parables about Nasreddin? This is parable and anecdotes at the same time. No, I cannot agree with you here. It seems to me that the humor in parables is a very good addition that adds to its value.

• (Karellen) Still, the parables about Nasreddin are medieval anecdotes. I once read the wonderful book "23 Nasreddin". So in it, in the preface, they also called them anecdotes, and not parables, although the book was released back in the USSR

  These are your corrections and comments to the theses, Andrey, I consider them to be my own, that's all!

  But on the other side. Do you, Andrei, consider the parable genre a static genre? Hence, do you think that the parable should not develop, taking into account the circumstances of the new time and the new thinking from here? For you know, it turns out strangely, it is forbidden to introduce new elements into the composition of the Bible and change the old ones. That is, for all the greatness of this book, it is static. Is this the same way you think to do with the parable? Sorry, but it's 2012 now. It is all the more strange that with the passage of two thousand years it is proposed to use the old structure of writing. And it is all the more strange to see such a title: "Modern Parables", meanwhile, modern parables are not found in most of the parables, there is a feeling of artificiality, as if the author sends us to ancient time and from there, from antiquity, offers us an ancient solution of some ancient problem. Or maybe it's such a fashion, to write antique?
  And what about the patterns in the body of the parable, such as "spoken" and various others, which, as someone imagines, determine the inner atmosphere of the parable? Don't you, gentlemen, get tired of such stereotypes? And most importantly, to the modern inquisitive and versatile mind, for which, in fact, the parable is intended, will it be interesting for him to study the template in essence?
  And such an important question - is a parable a literary work? Or is it a phenomenon among all genres? I suppose both. I think many will agree with this. But this raises another question - to what extent the literary part can prevail over the philosophical one, and does it have the right to do so?
  The parable certainly teaches something. But the story is also amusing. However, the aesthetics of humor change over time - this is inevitable with the transition of consciousness to a new level. And what happens? Our consciousness for 2000 years has already passed several times to more high level, and the parable remained the same? Nonsense.
  Further. I do not understand why in modern parables it is necessary to use this obligatory pair: student-teacher?
  I understand that there is dualism, that we are learning, that one of us is a teacher, and one is a student. But understand, this outdated form has become boring.
  To nausea, to primitivism. Hence the conclusion - it is necessary to look for new forms and integrate into the parable on a modern basis.
  Another. Why does this majority believe that the parable should teach? So high, so to speak. Isn't that funny in and of itself? What is the value of such a parable? None. And why in parables it is customary to flaunt wisdom, as if hinting toast-here! Watch, learn and learn! Look at the parables about Khoja Nasreddin. Why do people love them? Is it because Khoja Nasreddin, and therefore his teaching, is always different, just as life itself is sometimes funny, sometimes stupid, sometimes wise, sometimes nothing. By the way, these are living parables, and it is them that I consider classic.
  Well ...-) now I hope I can draw a conclusion from everything described above? The conclusion is:
  Yes, a parable should have its own canons as a genre, but such rigid canons, which, nevertheless, will allow it to develop.
  Yes, almost all of these canons were corrected by Andrey, I'm guessing correctly.
  But! No one has the right to categorically affirm the parable as a static, dead genre that cannot be improved. For any teaching develops, for any wisdom is improved. And this parable is teaching and wisdom. This means that the parable must develop, must live, must grow, must correspond to the time (in order to teach), and it will die only together with man.

  But it's another matter when someone, contrary to the above facts, says: I still don't think so. For God's sake-)
  A modern parable will still find its reader, find its way.

  By the way ... regarding "all sorts of isms and jargons", that they do not have the right to be in a modern parable. I think yes, they cannot, when this ism or jargon is not clear in the context and is not clear at all. But when my hero, for example, Jack, says Japanese samurai, who raised the sword, over the head of the servant: -brake! Meaning "wait" he has the right to say that, because he is from the 21st century, and the samurai is from the 17th. In addition, as the story progresses, it is clear that Jack has his own, unlike anyone else's charisma. And this further emphasizes the difference in time, which is what the author was trying to achieve. Another thing is not to be abused. Or something else - I used the word "genesis" in the last session, in relation to being (moreover, this is the only ism, so to speak, present in my parables). So what? Its end? Is this not a parable anymore?
  Not only parables... any! The work of the author must interest the reader. And parables, even more so. I would add to the definitions, what is a parable? This is a short, unforgettable work that leaves a mark on the memory and changes the worldview of the reader. And now let's think with you - if all the time, from century to century, from millennium to millennium, to attract the reader, to seduce him with the same form, won't the reader get bored? And you, gentlemen, won't you get tired of a wife who is two thousand years old? And all these two thousand years you and her ... hmm ... in the same bed. Imagine that the parable will not change before our eyes in these twenty years. Represented? But I'm not. I just look at some of my interesting colleagues - by the way, they are on this site - and I see - they change the modern parable. Handsome!
  It is precisely to them that the grateful author will later say thank you, because he will have the opportunity and pleasure, comparing ancient and modern parables, to observe how the consciousness of man has changed.

  • I answer in order.

    The genre of the parable, of course, is developing. And it cannot fail to develop. For example, I will say that the Proverbs of Solomon are not posted on the site, because they are not parables in modern understanding this word. The parables that Jesus told, for example, the parable of the sower, are more suitable for the modern form of parables. But she is far from modern form because it contains an interpretation. Speaking of trends, modern tendencies the development of the genre is conciseness and depth of meaning. Moreover, shortening, the parable will never turn into an aphorism, because. an aphorism is a solution, and a parable is a situation, a riddle.

    Why are you asking about templates, such as "spoke"? Does it say somewhere that they should be used?

    Yes, a parable literary genre, but carrying a philosophical load. And the task of literature in the parable is not simply to be in harmony with philosophical sense but also properly present it. That is why there are restrictions on the literary part.
    Once Andrei Kuraev was asked why prayers in the church are read monotonously? To which he replied: “Each reader can have his own mood. And if you give freedom to intonation, then everyone will begin to bring their own there. And then the one who listens to the prayer will hear not only her words, but also the mood of the reader. The same can be said about the parable. If the author wants to show off and show off his literary skills, then he will simply impose his point of view on the reader and will not allow him to determine for himself the meaning of what he read. That is why the “correct” parable is one that only states the fact of the event, without explaining or hinting at what its meaning is.

    Humor is not an obligatory component of the parable. Therefore, some of the heroes of parables, who once seemed funny, may now seem stupid. But the instructiveness of the parable does not change from this.

    Where did you read that the teacher-student pair is mandatory?

    • I have not read it anywhere, I ask - is it necessary to use it? Because I see how often this form is used in modern parables, and yet 2000 years have passed.
      And yet, you, Andrei, cited prayer as an example. But what is this, again static, again old? Don't touch me again, will I collapse?
      And although remember the methodical American church, there prayers are sung only and only to the music, and this is only in the church!

      "Why are you asking about templates like "spoken"? Does it say somewhere that they should be used?"
      nowhere you say. If you remember, I spoke about the authors who believe that if they use archaisms and archaics as the inner atmosphere of the parable, thus meaning the climate, that is, taking it for some canons of the parable, then they are mistaken.
      I also come across this word uttered, but once in 99 cases, and then, in relation to EXACTLY the ancient parable.
      An experiment should be present in any work, but not to the detriment, of course, of the subject itself.
      Although ... and also, how to say. I don’t mean myself, for example, but if you, Andrei, are offered a modern parable, but in your opinion it is not a parable and you don’t post it on your site, this doesn’t mean that someone else won’t post it on your site , with more radical views. You designate your cultural position. But there are other cultural positions as well. And if you say so, let this person post his parable on another site. And you will be right, but only in terms of placement on another site. In terms of culture, parables will be controversial issue. Because deviations give birth to something new. New meaning e.g. new word e.g. A new parable, for example.

Big soviet encyclopedia Parable,
didactic-allegorical genre of literature, in its main features close to the fable. In contrast, the form P. 1) occurs only in a certain context, in connection with which it 2) admits the absence of a developed plot movement and can be reduced to simple comparison, retaining, however, a special symbolic fullness; 3) from the content side, P. is distinguished by an inclination towards the deep "wisdom" of a religious or moralistic order. P. in its modifications is a universal phenomenon of world folklore and literary creativity. However, for certain epochs, especially those gravitating toward didactics and allegorism, poetry was the center and standard for other genres, such as the “instructive” prose of the Middle East (the Old Testament, the Syrian Teachings of Ahiqar, etc.), early Christian and medieval literature(see the parables of the Gospels, for example, P. about the prodigal son). In these eras, when the culture of reader's perception comprehends any story as P., the specific poetics of P. dominates with its own laws that exclude descriptiveness " fiction"of the ancient or modern European type: nature and things are mentioned only out of necessity, the action takes place, as it were, without scenery," in cloth ". Characters P., as a rule, do not have not only external features, but also "character" in the sense of a closed combination of mental properties: they appear before us not as objects of artistic observation, but as subjects of ethical choice. At the end of the 19th and 20th centuries. a number of writers see in the frugality and pithiness of P. a model for their work. An attempt to subordinate prose to the laws of poetry was made by L. N. Tolstoy. F. Kafka, as well as the intellectualistic dramaturgy and novelism of J. P. Sartre, A. Camus, J. Anouilh, G. Marcel, and others, relied on the centuries-old traditions of P., excluding “characters” and “settings” in the traditional sense. P. continues to remain attractive to writers seeking an outlet for the ethical foundations of human existence (cf. the role of P.'s moves in B. Brecht)

Small encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron parable, literary short story allegorical in form and moral-didactic in purpose. P.'s form is very common among eastern. peoples, among the Hindus, Arabs, Jews (Bible; I. Christ), also in Byzantium, from where love for them passed to the ancient Russian scribes, who developed borrowed scribes and tried to create independent ones. See Dobrotvorsky, "P. in ancient Russian spiritual writings." ("Orthodox Sobes." 1864). - P. evangelical, a special figurative form of sermon, which I. Christ used to present and clarify his teachings.

(Olga) I also immediately got into the dictionary (Internet dictionary on MegaBook)

PARABLE, and, well.

1. In religious and old didactic literature: a brief allegorical instructive story. Gospel paragraph about the prodigal son.

2. trans. About an incomprehensible, difficult to explain phenomenon, event (colloquial). What p.?

A parable by the town (bookish, usually ironic) is the subject of general conversation.

| adj. parable, oh, oh (special).

So, indeed, if it teaches, it means a parable, if it simply amuses, it’s an anecdote ... but if it’s a completely incomprehensible anecdote, then it can also cause our legitimate question when receiving one in the “mailing list”: “What kind of a parable is this ?!” :D

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What is a parable?

A short instructive story in an allegorical form, containing moral teaching (wisdom).

A parable is a sign of the way, guiding man on the paths of life, giving him the means to a prosperous flow along these paths and through life in general. This is a short saying expressing the rule of life, speculative truth or observation of the course human life, such are many of the parables of Solomon. There are parables in the form of a story using images and phenomena taken from Everyday life people, but allegorically expressing the highest spiritual truths and serving to facilitate their knowledge of spiritually coarsened people - these are already Orthodox parables taken from the Gospel.

What are the parables?

Basically, there are two types of parables:

1. Addressed to the daily household and ritual life of a person and set out as worldly wisdom advice.

2. They are also set out in the form of life advice, but justified by the will of the one God, giving wisdom an objective character. They connect earthly, temporal and heavenly, eternity. The plot that speaks of the individual moral choice and individual responsibility for this step. In such parables, there is a gradual disembodiment of earthly realities towards spiritual abstraction.

What gives a person an understanding of a parable?

"The parable takes events from the realm ordinary life, but gives them a higher and more universal meaning, setting as its goal to make this meaning understandable and illustrative with the help of an everyday case considered in itself" Gegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

However, it should be noted that the content of the parable is deeper, and the form of the parable is characterized by a large moral and didactic goal. Make a person think, reflect, get to the bottom of the truth.

To give a push to the mind of the listener in the right direction, teachers of various spiritual traditions often turned to parables. Using allegory, parables convey true knowledge in a subtle, "indirect" way. Parables serve as a tool to break the stereotypes of our thinking and open the mind to the perception of truth. It is known that ready-made, "foreign" knowledge does not develop, it gives only the illusion of knowledge and extinguishes spiritual search person. Parables are used as a means of indirect indication. It is reflection and interpretation that already excite self-development.

What does the parable teach us?

One of the main conditions for the transfer of knowledge is to speak “from consciousness”. The parable speaks to everyone who perceives it, precisely "according to his consciousness." A parable can give to everyone who perceives it exactly as much as he is able to take. With the help of parables, each tradition reveals the secrets of its teaching. The story is both simple and complex. The knowledge enclosed in the form of a parable has several levels of meaning (usually seven levels are called), and each person can use only one of them that corresponds to his level of consciousness, level of being. One of the greatest spiritual teachers, the Persian poet D. Rumi, gave the name to the collection of his talks "Fihi ma fihi". “In them is what is in them” (“You will extract from them what is in them for you”).

“Each parable is an expression of the spiritual experience of many lives, it is a cipher of the spirit. Each parable is understood by the listener according to his consciousness. Human thinking is threefold: it is answered by the brain, heart and consciousness. The brain is intelligent, the heart is sensitive, the mind is wise. In the combination of these three components is the beauty and joy of knowledge ”(Lavsky V.V.“ Parables of Humanity ”).

Reading the parable, we begin to realize that the seed of truth that lies in our minds germinates and gives flowers and fruits of understanding.

parable about parable

The truth came out undressed from the Garden of Eden. So she wandered around the world - not closed or embellished with anything. And people who still remembered God were amazed at her beauty. But as time passed, Truth grew old, and soon they began to avoid it, calling it ugly and old. Everyone was looking for their new truth. Somehow, the sad Truth met with the Parable, dressed in Nice dress. The parable asked:
- What are you sad about?
“I have become old, and now people don’t like me…” Pravda answered.

But the parable disagreed:
- Can we grow old? I'm as old as you, but the older I get, the more people welcome me! They do not like everything simple and clear, they want the secret and embellished. They like to search for meaning themselves. Now, if I give you some of my clothes, you will immediately see how people will love you.
Truth dressed beautiful clothes, and after that people stopped running from her, accepting her with joy and a smile. Since then, Truth and Parable have been inseparable.

Love for life, self-confidence, kindness and active attitude to others - these are the main lessons of parables ...

In the Russian Bible, the word "parable" corresponds to two Greek words "παροιμία" and "παραβολή", which are different in meaning. Παροιμία is a short saying expressing the rule of life, speculative truth or observation of the course of human life, such are many of Solomon's parables. The word "παροιμία" is translated literally as "roadside", that is, a pointer life path, such is the literal meaning of the word "parable". Παραβολή is a whole story that uses images and phenomena taken from the everyday life of people, but allegorically expresses the highest spiritual truths and serves to facilitate their knowledge of spiritually coarsened people. The gospel abounds with such parables. .

The main source of parable structures in European literature is the New Testament. In the Old Testament, there is still no clear genre formation, which is usually called a parable. Separate plots, for example, about Job, Abraham, etc., can also be conditionally called parables, but they still do not have the final division of time and eternity, which fundamentally distinguishes the gospel parable.

Proverbs of Solomon- it is rather wisdom, "set forth as worldly advice, justified by the will of the one God, giving wisdom an objective and enduring character". But their interpretation in character is not identical to that of the Gospels. The interpretations that Jesus Christ gives to his parables speak of eternal, heavenly, true, spiritual life, and Solomon's parables are entirely addressed to everyday household and ritual practice of a person. The plot linking the earthly, temporal and heavenly, eternity, the plot that speaks of individual moral choice and individual responsibility for this step is completely absent.

Interpretation in gospel parable- this is its essence, the main task of the plot is to illustrate the interpretation. The gospel parable is designed to make any truths, ideas of Christianity more “tangible”. That is, there are certain elements of consciousness that are not accessible to sensual human perception, because both God and the Kingdom of Heaven cannot be seen or grasped by the mind, and the parable makes these ideas, fundamentally devoid of a visual and tactile image, “visible and tangible”. In the parable, there is a gradual disembodiment of earthly realities towards spiritual abstraction. In the gospel parable, interpretation is an integral part, unlike subsequent eras.

It is the gospel parables that play a special role in the evolution of this genre and, if I may say so, of the "allegorical type of consciousness" in general, which can be called dominant for many centuries of human history.

see also

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Notes

Links

• - Catalog of parables in Runet
• - Video parables, series.

Literature

• Agranovich S. Z., Samorukova I. V. Harmony-goal-harmony: Artistic consciousness in the mirror of a parable. M., 1997.
• Berestovskaya, L. E. Biblical parables in the context of religious cognitive science // Vestn. Pyatigor. state. lingu. university - Pyatigorsk, 2000. - N 2. - S. 60-63.
• Davydova T., Pronin. V. Fable and parable // Lit. studies. - M., 2003. - N 3. - S. 195-197.
• Danilova T. V. Archetypal roots of the parable // Rationality and semiotics of discourse. - Kyiv, 1994. - C. 59-73.
• Kafka F. About parables // Kafka F. Transformation. M., 2005.
• Kuzmina R. I. Parable as a conditional art form // Method, genre, poetics in foreign literature. - Frunze, 1990 - S. 19-37.
• Kushnareva L.I. Evolution of the parable // Sphere of language and pragmatics of speech communication. Krasnodar, 2002.
• Kushnareva L. I. Parable as a genre // Language. Ethnos. Consciousness = Language, ethnicity and the mind. - Maykop, 2003. - T. 2. - S. 205-208.
• Levina E. Parable in the art of the XX century: Musical and drama theatre, literature // Art of the XX century. In 2 volumes - N. Novgorod, 1997. V. 2. - S. 23-39.
• Melnikova S.V. The role of the gospel tradition of parable-like forms in Russian literature // graduate School: problems of teaching literature. - Ulan-Ude, 2003. - S. 144-148.
• Muskhelishvili N. L., Schreider Yu. A. A parable as a means of initiating living knowledge // Philosophical Sciences. - 1989. - No. 9. - S. 101-104.
• Smirnov A.Yu., Chikina O.N. The use of parables in psychological support, motivation, career guidance // Ed. Navigatum. M., 2016
• Tovstenko O. O. The specificity of the parable as a genre artistic creativity: Parable as an archetypal form of literature // Vestn. Kyiv. university Rom.-germ. philology. - Kyiv, 1989. - Issue. 23. - S. 121-124.
• Tumina L. E. Parable as a school of eloquence. - M .: El URSS, 2008. - 368 p. - ISBN 978-5-382-00457-0.(reg.)
• Tyupa V. I. Facets and boundaries of the parable // Tradition and literary process. Novosibirsk, 1999. S. 381-387.
• Tsvetkov A. Possibilities and boundaries of the parable // Questions of Literature. - 1973. - No. 5. - S. 152-170.

An excerpt characterizing the parable

- What's your name?
- Pyotr Kirillovich.
- Well, Pyotr Kirillovich, let's go, we'll take you. In complete darkness, the soldiers, together with Pierre, went to Mozhaisk.
The roosters were already crowing when they reached Mozhaisk and began to climb the steep city mountain. Pierre walked along with the soldiers, completely forgetting that his inn was below the mountain and that he had already passed it. He would not have remembered this (he was in such a state of bewilderment) if his bereytor had not run into him on the half of the mountain, who went to look for him around the city and returned back to his inn. The landlord recognized Pierre by his hat, which shone white in the darkness.
“Your Excellency,” he said, “we are desperate. What are you walking? Where are you, please!
“Oh yes,” said Pierre.
The soldiers paused.
Well, did you find yours? one of them said.
- Well, goodbye! Pyotr Kirillovich, it seems? Farewell, Pyotr Kirillovich! other voices said.
“Goodbye,” said Pierre and went with his bereator to the inn.
"We must give them!" thought Pierre, reaching for his pocket. “No, don’t,” a voice told him.
There was no room in the upper rooms of the inn: everyone was busy. Pierre went into the yard and, covering himself with his head, lay down in his carriage.

As soon as Pierre laid his head on the pillow, he felt that he was falling asleep; but suddenly, with the clarity of almost reality, a boom, boom, boom of shots was heard, groans, screams, the slapping of shells were heard, there was a smell of blood and gunpowder, and a feeling of horror, fear of death seized him. He opened his eyes in fear and lifted his head from under his overcoat. Everything was quiet outside. Only at the gate, talking to the janitor and slapping through the mud, was some kind of orderly. Above Pierre's head, under the dark underside of the plank canopy, doves fluttered from the movement he made while rising. A peaceful, joyful for Pierre at that moment, strong smell of an inn, the smell of hay, manure and tar was poured throughout the courtyard. Between the two black awnings one could see a clear starry sky.
“Thank God that this is no more,” thought Pierre, again closing himself with his head. “Oh, how terrible fear is, and how shamefully I gave myself up to it! And they…they were firm, calm all the time, to the very end…” he thought. In Pierre's understanding, they were soldiers - those who were on the battery, and those who fed him, and those who prayed to the icon. They - these strange, hitherto unknown to him, they were clearly and sharply separated in his thoughts from all other people.
“To be a soldier, just a soldier! thought Pierre, falling asleep. – Enter this common life with your whole being, imbue with what makes them so. But how to throw off all this superfluous, diabolical, all the burden of this external person? One time I could be it. I could run away from my father as I wished. Even after the duel with Dolokhov, I could have been sent as a soldier.” And in Pierre's imagination flashed a dinner at the club where he summoned Dolokhov, and a benefactor in Torzhok. And now Pierre is presented with a solemn dining box. This lodge takes place in the English Club. And someone familiar, close, dear, is sitting at the end of the table. Yes it is! This is a benefactor. “Yes, he died? thought Pierre. - Yes, he died; but I didn't know he was alive. And how sorry I am that he died, and how glad I am that he is alive again! On one side of the table sat Anatole, Dolokhov, Nesvitsky, Denisov and others like him (the category of these people was just as clearly defined in Pierre’s soul in a dream, as was the category of those people whom he called them), and these people, Anatole, Dolokhov loudly shouted, sang; but behind their cry was heard the voice of the benefactor, speaking incessantly, and the sound of his words was as significant and continuous as the roar of the battlefield, but it was pleasant and comforting. Pierre did not understand what the benefactor was saying, but he knew (the category of thoughts was just as clear in the dream) that the benefactor spoke of goodness, of the possibility of being what they were. And they from all sides, with their simple, kind, firm faces, surrounded the benefactor. But although they were kind, they did not look at Pierre, did not know him. Pierre wanted to draw their attention to himself and say. He got up, but at the same instant his legs became cold and bare.
He felt ashamed, and he covered his legs with his hand, from which the overcoat really fell off. For a moment, Pierre, adjusting his overcoat, opened his eyes and saw the same sheds, pillars, courtyard, but all this was now bluish, light and covered with sparkles of dew or frost.
“Dawn,” thought Pierre. “But that's not it. I need to listen to and understand the words of the benefactor.” He again covered himself with his overcoat, but there was no longer any dining box or benefactor. There were only thoughts clearly expressed in words, thoughts that someone said or Pierre himself changed his mind.
Pierre, later recalling these thoughts, despite the fact that they were caused by the impressions of that day, was convinced that someone outside of him was telling them to him. Never, as it seemed to him, was he in reality able to think and express his thoughts like that.
“War is the most difficult subjection of human freedom to the laws of God,” said the voice. – Simplicity is obedience to God; you won't get away from it. And they are simple. They don't talk, but they do. The spoken word is silver, and the unspoken is golden. A person cannot own anything while he is afraid of death. And whoever is not afraid of her, everything belongs to him. If there were no suffering, a person would not know the boundaries of himself, would not know himself. The most difficult thing (Pierre continued to think or hear in a dream) is to be able to combine in his soul the meaning of everything. Connect everything? Pierre said to himself. No, don't connect. You can’t connect thoughts, but to connect all these thoughts - that’s what you need! Yes, you need to match, you need to match! Pierre repeated to himself with inner delight, feeling that with these, and only with these words, what he wants to express is expressed, and the whole question that torments him is resolved.
- Yes, you need to pair, it's time to pair.
- It is necessary to harness, it is time to harness, Your Excellency! Your Excellency, - repeated a voice, - it is necessary to harness, it's time to harness ...
It was the voice of the bereytor who woke up Pierre. The sun beat right in Pierre's face. He glanced at the dirty inn, in the middle of which, near the well, the soldiers were watering the thin horses, from which carts rode out through the gates. Pierre turned away in disgust and, closing his eyes, hurriedly fell back into the seat of the carriage. “No, I don’t want this, I don’t want to see and understand this, I want to understand what was revealed to me during sleep. One more second and I would understand everything. What am I to do? Conjugate, but how to conjugate everything? And Pierre felt with horror that the whole meaning of what he saw and thought in a dream was destroyed.
The bereator, the coachman and the janitor told Pierre that an officer had arrived with the news that the French had moved near Mozhaisk and that ours were leaving.
Pierre got up and, having ordered to lay down and catch up with himself, went on foot through the city.
The troops went out and left about ten thousand wounded. These wounded could be seen in the yards and in the windows of houses and crowded in the streets. On the streets near the carts that were supposed to take away the wounded, screams, curses and blows were heard. Pierre gave the wheelchair that had overtaken him to a wounded general he knew and went with him to Moscow. Dear Pierre found out about the death of his brother-in-law and about the death of Prince Andrei.

X
On the 30th, Pierre returned to Moscow. Almost at the outpost he met the adjutant of Count Rostopchin.
“And we are looking for you everywhere,” said the adjutant. “The Count needs to see you. He asks you to come to him immediately on a very important matter.

PARABLE. Dictionary V. Dahl interprets the word "parable" as "a lesson in the example." This is very close to the interpretation of modern literary criticism: a parable is a small moralizing story in an allegorical form. This definition brings the parable closer to the fable. These genres have much in common, but there are also significant differences. A parable may not have a detailed plot. Here is an example of a Jewish parable:

“Rabbi Zusi decided to change the world. But the world is so big and Zusi is so small. Then Zushi decided to change his city. But the city is so big, and Zusi is so small. Then Zusi decided to change his family. But Zusya's family is so big, there are a dozen children alone. So Zusi got to the only thing he can change, being so small - himself.

The main characters of fables are people or animals endowed with certain human qualities usually placed in everyday situations. The characters in the parable have neither external features nor "character". The above parable says nothing about Rabbi Zusi. It is the answer to the question: “What can a person do? What is he capable of?" And this is another difference between a parable and a fable. A fable, as a rule, formulates a moral, a parable leaves the listener or reader to make their own conclusion on how to solve the riddle.

The "wisdom" of a parable is of a "higher" character than the "wisdom" of a fable. If the fable often teaches worldly wisdom, then the parable is usually characterized by philosophical or religious problems. As a rule, the higher style of the parable is also associated with this. Favorite topics of the parable are truth and falsehood (biblical parables about the court of King Solomon), life and death (medieval parable Debate between life and death), man and God (numerous gospel parables: about the prodigal son, about the mustard seed, etc.)

The parable, as a rule, exists and can only be correctly understood in a certain context. For example, the gospel parable of the sower.

“Behold, a sower went out to sow. And while he was sowing, something else fell by the road, and the wind and the birds came up and ate it. Others fell on rocky places where there was little earth, and soon rose up, because the earth was not deep. When the sun rose, it withered, and since it had no root, it dried up. Another fell into thorns, and thorns grew and choked him. Some fell on good ground and brought forth fruit: one a hundredfold, and another sixty, and another thirty. He who has ears, let him hear!” (Matthew 13:1-9). Out of context, the parable is incomprehensible. Another thing, if you know that this is a sermon of Christ, which he delivers to a crowd of people. Then it becomes clear that the "Sower" is Jesus Christ, the "seed" is the word of God, the "earth", "soil" is the human heart.

Ancient and medieval man strove to clothe an abstract thought in an image. In the phenomena of life, in each plot, not only a direct, but also an allegorical meaning was seen. Almost every story was interpreted as a parable. Therefore, the parable did not have clear genre boundaries. Under certain conditions, other genres could also act as a parable: fairy tale, proverb, legend, aphorism (“Do you want to be happy? Learn to suffer first”).

Parables exist in the folklore and literature of all nations. Sometimes they are similar in content. Here, for example, is an ancient parable (first recorded by Aesop): a father, seeing that his sons live unfriendly, ordered to bring a bunch of rods and asked him to break it - nothing happened. Then the father distributed one twig to his sons - naturally, each was easily broken. The “testament” of Genghis Khan, who told his sons the parable of the seven-headed and seven-tailed snake, has the same meaning in Mongolian folklore.

The parable did not disappear in the literature of modern times either. Works of other genres often carry parable content. So, in essence, the poem by A. Pushkin is a parable Shoemaker:

The shoemaker once looked for a picture,
And he pointed out the error in the shoes;
Taking up the brush at once, the artist corrected himself.
Here, akimbo, the shoemaker continued:
I feel like my face is a little crooked...
And this chest is not too naked?»…
Here Apeless interrupted impatiently:
Judge my friend no more than a boot!

I have a friend in mind:
I don't know what subject it is.
He was a connoisseur, although he was strict in words;
But the devil bears him to judge the light:
Try it to judge the boots!

Often the plots of parables are introduced into the fabric literary work. The collision of the universal meaning of the parable with specific events, as it were, raises the description to a higher, philosophical level. So, the parable of the eagle and the raven, told by Pugachev, as if "highlights" his own fate. AT Crime and punishment F. Dostoevsky's gospel parable about the dead and resurrected Lazar, as it were, is projected onto the fate of Raskolnikov, speaks of the possibility of a moral rebirth of the hero.

F. Kafka relied on the centuries-old traditions of the Jewish and Christian parable (for example, the parable At the gates of the law in the novel Process). Such European writers of the 20th century as J.P. Sartre, A. Camus, J. special meaning not so much "characters" and "circumstances" as ethical issues.

They often use a parable (or other genres that have a parable meaning) and modern Russian writers. (For example, the legend of the mankurts in the novel by Ch. Aitmatov Buranny halt).

Complicated poetics modern literature every now and then turns to the parable as a counterbalance: a genre that is simple in form and reminiscent of well-known, but alas, often forgotten truths.

Ludmila Polikovskaya