Features of realism in 19th century literature. Realism in foreign literature of the XIX-XX centuries. Realism in literature

Realism (lat. Realis - - material, real) is a direction in literature and art, which consists in true, objective and comprehensive reflection. In the Middle Ages, one of the directions of medieval philosophy was called realism, which was attributed to an abstract concept of real existence. In the XVIII century. realism was understood as a type of thinking and behavior (practical), which differs from the type of a dreamer, an "idealist". Realists were people who set themselves such a goal that could be achieved.

In the 20s of the XIX century. French critics called realism " new school"in a literature that was different from the" literature of ideas "(classicism) and the literature of images (romanticism). French writers(J. Chanfleurie, L. Duranty) published a collection of articles entitled "Realism" (1857) and several issues of the journal with the same name. The magazine published a manifesto of the realistic school of the artist G. Courbet, in which calls were made to depict the everyday life of the people, to raise social problems... Courbet created two famous paintings"Stone Crushers" and "Burial at Orna", which became the manifesto of realism in painting. Duranty wrote that the task of realism is to create literature for the people. The magazine argued with romantics, demanded to abandon the idealization of life and heroes.

The first to turn to the theory of realism were D. Diderot and Lessing. The problems of realism during the 19th century. worried about O. Balzac, G. Flaubert, Turgenev, L. Tolstoy. In the works of I. Franko, E. Zola, the term "realism" was used as a synonym for the term "naturalism". Hence the name "natural school".

The aesthetics of realism is basically mimetic, that is, it is associated with the understanding of art as a form of imitation of reality. In our literary studies, there is no unanimous opinion regarding the genesis, historical parameters, stages of development of the artistic nature and functionality of realism. Some believe that the art of realism has its roots in folk poetry with her spontaneous desire for truthfulness. E. Auerbach talks about antique (mythological) realism ("Mimesis. Depiction of reality in Western European literature." conditions could not establish realistic artistic systems, and observed, as D. Nalyvayko notes, “only manifestations of realistic creativity on empirical level mostly in low, comic genres. "

Many researchers consider sho realism as an aesthetic art system began to form during the Renaissance. Renaissance realism of the XIV-XV centuries called humanistic, it is characteristic of the work of Cervantes, Rabelais, Shakespeare, Chaucer. According to D. Nalivaiko, Renaissance realism is NOT a direction, but a tendency of artistic thinking.

A significant part of researchers associate the beginning of realism with the Enlightenment, in particular with the works of D. Defoe, Voltaire, Diderot, J. Swift, G.E. Lessing. These writers have deeply revealed the causal relationship between man and the environment. M. Konrad, D. Blagoy, V. Zhirmunsky believe that the history of realism begins not with the Renaissance and not with the Enlightenment, but literature XIX v. V. Zhirmunsky notes that one can speak of the realism of Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rabelais "in the broad sense of the word," in the sense of truthfulness, and not in the sense of Balzac or Tolstoy. The main feature of realism, according to V. Zhirmunsky, is in sociality. He sees the beginning of classical realism in English literature XVIII century, in particular in the works of Defoe, Fielding, Smolett. In the history of realism, the scholar finds no place for Shakespeare.

Most modern researchers associate the emergence of realism with the 30s of the 19th century, and consider the Renaissance and Enlightenment to be the prehistory of classical realism. V soviet period realism XIX century was called "critical".

The term "critical realism", which entered literature with the "light" hand of M. Gorky, does not reflect the entire complexity of the direction, because not all works contain only a critical element. By the way, critical pathos is inherent in the works of different eras.

The essence of realism was well revealed by one of its most representatives I. Nechuy-Levitsky: “Realism or naturalism in literature requires that literature be a truthful, real life, similar to a coastline in water, with a city or village, with forests, mountains and all objects that are on the ground. Real literature should be a mirror in which a true life, albeit subtle, would be like a dream, like the reflection itself. "

The realistic trend was a form of denial of romanticism, a reaction to the Byronism of the 1930s. According to B. Reizov, realism became a protest against "titanic heroes", "crazy" literature, against historical themes in the novel and drama ... against symbolic drama and sentimental philosophical lyrics "".

Romantics portrayed exceptional heroes in exceptional circumstances, realists were guided by the image of the ordinary " little man"not in exotic, but in ordinary conditions. The language of romanticism is poetic, realists use ordinary colloquial speech with dialects and jargon. However, realists do not abandon the romantic pathos and the methods of depiction that romantics used. Elements of romanticism in the works of Balzac, Dicksns, Flaubert , Dostoevsky, Shevchenko, Frank. The experience of romanticism played a positive role for realism. Romantics were allies of realists in the struggle against classicism. By the way, realism took something from classicism, in particular, rationalism, compositional harmony of the work, the logical presentation of the material, certain methods of depicting characters (attention to the intellectual life of a person, loyalty to duty, the contradiction between duty and personal interests). Both romantics and realists turned to the conflict between man and society.

Between romanticism and realism first half of the XIX v. the border is not easy to draw. Balzac in stories and novels uses the means of romantic fantasy and irony (“ Pebbled leather"). There are romantic motives in Stendhal's novel Red and Black. “Every great realist,” notes G. Pomerants, “is a romantic in his own way. Romanticism, according to the literary critic, gravitates "more towards an elder than an adult. Romanticism is 8 and at the same time 80 years old, realism is 40, romanticism is a fairy tale that a grandfather tells his granddaughter, and realism is a serious story for serious people. But serious adults are not you can tell the truth about Little Prince or planet funny person(from the fantastic story of the realist Dostoevsky): they will laugh at, humiliate the idea. But the poet-wizard pretends to be ... a serious business man. This game of the wizard at the professor of sociology is called realism. "

Realism denied the creative principles of naturalism with its factualism, impartiality, and attention to biological factors. He does not fix the facts, but penetrates into their essence, analyzes. Realist writers are analytical researchers. Romantics did not engage in a specific analysis of life, they condemned the social vices of the past and present. Realists investigate the source of evil, they believe that socio-economic conditions have a decisive influence on a person.

An important role in the development of realism was played by the achievements of natural, economic and philosophical thought, in particular, Hegel's dialectics, Feuerbach's materialism, the idea of ​​historicism in the works of French historians (Thierry, Mignet, Guizot).

Rationalism became the ideological basis of realism, the theory of the Enlightenment is rational. The guiding principle of realism is fidelity to reality, a concrete historical approach to it, a view of history as constant progress, the desire to reproduce life, to portray it as it is in the inner world a person without idealization and satirical caricature.

Realism refused to divide objects and phenomena into aesthetic and unaesthetic. It reflects reality in its entirety and reliability.

Creating lifelike images and situations, realists do not abandon myth, fairy tale, allegory, symbol. The realists considered their task to create for the people, to serve them.

I will exalt those little dumb slaves! I am on guard for their circle I will put the word, - wrote T. Shevchenko. Realistic literature, according to I. Franko, "collects and describes facts Everyday life, considering only the truth, not the aesthetic rules, but at the same time analyzes them (facts - N.F.) and draws conclusions from them - this is her scientific realism, because of this she points out the shortcomings social order where not everything can be reached by science (in everyday life, in the development of psychological passions and human desires), and tries to awaken the desire and strength in readers to eliminate those shortcomings - this is its gradual tendency. "

Typing is associated with truthfulness. All textbooks published in Soviet times contain the definition of realism given by F. Engels: “In my opinion, realism presupposes, in addition to the truthfulness of details, truthfulness in reproducing typical characters in typical circumstances.” 2. This definition is not precise, universal. However, the veracity of details, typical characters and typical circumstances are features of realism. But in many works the characteristic circumstances are exceptional, unusual. In a letter to N. Strakhov dated February 28, 1869, Dostoevsky wrote: “I have my own view of reality (in art) and what is called almost fantastic and exceptional, for me constitutes the very reality of reality. in my opinion, not yet realism, and even vice versa. In every newspaper issue you come across a report on real facts and on bizarre ones. For our writers they are fantastic, but they do not deal with them, and yet they are reality. " Typing makes images standard, simplified. Each person is perceived as a representative of the corresponding class.

The innovation of realism is in the structure of character, its development, in connection with typical circumstances. The characters of realistic works are multifaceted, motivated, and develop in a logical sequence. Heroes act in specific socio-historical conditions that motivate their actions. Realism recognizes not only the determinism of human behavior, but also the ability to rise above circumstances, to resist them. Realists reflect a reality full of sharp contradictions and conflicts. They adhere to the principle of sociality and historicism. The behavior of the heroes of realistic works is determined by objective socio-historical conditions. For the realist, man is a social being. The principle of historicism lies in the reproduction of the color of time and place, in the understanding of history as a process of qualitative changes that characterize the national-historical uniqueness of a particular stage in each country. Historicism and sociality are interconnected. Historicism concretizes the principle of sociality, contributes to the disclosure of the development of social conditions. The actions of the hero follow from the characteristics of character and psychology, and the character and psychology are conditioned by life circumstances and the social environment. Changes in the circumstances of life affect the fate of the heroes. The heroes of the novel "Do the oxen howl when the manger is full?" Panas Mirny and Ivan Bilyk, the story "Borislav Laughs" by I. Franko is socially and historically specific.

V Ukrainian literature realism was established in the first half of the 19th century. This realism is called enlightenment. "For the first time in Ukrainian literature, educational ideology in the field artistic functioning appears, - notes M. Yatsenko - in the middle of the XVIII century. In the works of G. Skovoroda. However, on the one hand, it exists in a certain symbiosis with the philosophical and ethical teachings of antiquity (Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Horace) and passes into the area of ​​philosophical junctions, where the main place is occupied by the ideas of self-knowledge and moral self-improvement of the individual, and on the other hand, it appears in generally not yet in educational artistic structure, but within the old book-theological tradition and baroque. "In the work of I. Kotlyarevsky, features of classicism, enlightenment realism and sentimentalism are combined. with classicism.

In educational realism, the place was taken by the social environment. But social determinism was for the characters, according to M. Yatsenko, "not yet a conscious phenomenon." "The social environment acts as a world of laws that have not yet been revealed, the characters themselves are rather objects acting at the level of empirical relations, rather than subjects of action that transform themselves and the world. Hence, the tendency of repression social conflict into the moral and ethical sphere, which Shaftesbury considered independent of social conditions. " leading place in the literature of enlightenment realism philistine dramas, comedy, tragedy, parenting novel, satirical genres.

The lyrics did not differ in genre richness. M. Yatsenko explains this by the fact that in educational realism, the focus was "not on individual characters and the study of their psychology, but on the image of a person's fate, its generic and class characteristics."

"Low" genres came to the fore - burlesque poem, fable, folk-social drama, folk tale and short stories. Enlightenment realism took its toll on the burlesque poem unknown author"Voyage by Little Russia General of Infantry Bekleshov ", on the burlesque alterations of Gulak-Artyomovsky from Horace (" To Parkhom "," XIV Ode to Horace, Book II "), on his poetic messages (" True Kindness"," the petition of Gregory K [branches] and "). Perhaps the most operative and effective genre of educational realism was a tale with varieties of a tale-tale, a proverbial fable (" Grave families "," Sinner "E. Grebenka," Doctor and health "," Two birds in a cage "P. Gulak-Artemovskiy), fable-novella, fable-lies (" Pidbrekhach "," Soldatskiy on the third "G. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko). In the dramas of I. Kotlyarevsky" Natalka Poltavka "and "Moskal the Magician" combines sentimental and realistic features, in the comedy by G. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko "Shelmenko Batman" - classic and realistic. Such a combination of various stylistic systems is also observed in prose, which was formed after drama, in particular in the works of G. Kvitka-Osnovyanenko. The humorous burlesque works combine classical and educational aesthetics ("Deadly Easter", "Here's a treasure for you", "the request of the publisher").

"Literary Enlightenment in Ukraine," according to M. Yatsenko, "is not limited to the half of the 19th century. Having passed the stage of a kind of symbiosis with sentimentalism and romanticism, Enlightenment realism coexists with critical realism almost to the very late XIX v."

In the 40-60s of the XIX century. realism coexisted with romanticism. There is such a synthesis of romantic and realistic principles in the works of T. Shevchenko. In the works of enlightenment realism, certain shortcomings of the social system were criticized, the realists of the second half of the 19th century. criticize the entire autocratic-serf system. In the realism of the 40-60s, ethnographic-everyday, social-everyday and socio-psychological trends are formed.

Strengthening the realistic direction in Ukrainian literature is associated with the work of T. Shevchenko, Marko Vovchok, I.S. Nechuy-Levitsky, A. Svidnitsky, Panas Mirny, Ivan Karpenko-Kary, M. Kropyvnitsky, Hanna Barvinok. Literature has been enriched in genre terms. Gained popularity socio-political, elegiac lyrics, satire. Uriznomanitnilas prose, there were social, ethnographic, everyday, psychological and everyday stories, a socio-psychological novel, social, historical story, socio-psychological novel, chronicle novel. The problems of literature are being enriched. In addition to the peasantry, the writers raise the topic of the clergy, philistinism, and the intelligentsia.

Realistic literature is characterized by certain type the author. The author is always a certain view of the depicted, the concept of the depicted, the expression of which is a work of art. G. Flaubert compares the author with God, who should be in the work, as God is in the universe - everywhere and nowhere. Realist writers who felt like demiurges were not always "invisible" in their writing. They believed that the intuition and mind of the artist can penetrate into everything and adequately reproduce it. This artist gravitates towards the collective "consciousness of the era", its intellectual part, has the necessary knowledge in various fields. The demiurgism of realistic literature is the author's position, based on the ideological and epistemological paradigm of the era.

The leading means of nationalization in the works of realists is showing, which supplants the description, which is clearly manifested in the works of G. Flaubert, A. Chekhov, I. Franko.

In Soviet literary criticism, realism was a cult artistic system, it was placed above all other trends. In the 30s of the XX century, the concept of realism spread as the only correct and most progressive artistic method. The development of literature was reduced to the progress of realism. The view of the evolution of literature as an irreconcilable struggle between realism and anti-realist tendencies is already outdated.

Some of the literary scholars reject the term "realism", doubt the existence of a realistic trend. So, in the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Culture of the XX century" (2001) it is noted that realism is "anti-term", the term "totalitarian thinking", that there was no such trend in the XIX century. Realistic works are classified as romantic.

A critical attitude towards realism is characteristic of modernists, who considered this trend outdated, inappropriate to the dynamic reality of the 20th century. But realism by its nature is a dynamic artistic system; it develops and renews itself. In the 10-20s of the XX century, neo-avant-garde movements oppose realism, they call realism the art of the bourgeois era, doomed to disappear.

Realism of the XX century is an open art system that interacts with other directions, in particular with modernism, taking over such features as stream of consciousness, collage, montage, associativity, "telegraph style" from it.

Realism- a trend in literature and art, which aims to faithfully reproduce reality in its typical features... The reign of realism followed the era of Romanticism and preceded Symbolism.

In any work of fine literature, we distinguish between two necessary elements: objective - the reproduction of phenomena given besides the artist, and subjective - something that the artist has put into the work from himself. Dwelling on a comparative assessment of these two elements, the theory in different eras attaches greater importance to one or the other of them (in connection with the course of the development of art, and with other circumstances).

Hence two opposite directions in theory; one - realism - sets before art the task of faithfully reproducing reality; the other - idealism - sees the purpose of art in the "replenishment of reality", in the creation of new forms. Moreover, the starting point is not so much available facts as ideal representations.

This terminology, borrowed from philosophy, sometimes introduces into the assessment artwork moments are extra-aesthetic: realism is completely wrongly reproached for the absence of moral idealism. in common usage, the term "realism" means an exact copy of details, mostly external. The inconsistency of this point of view, the natural conclusion from which is that the registration of realities - the novel and the photograph are preferable to the painting of the artist - is quite obvious; a sufficient refutation of it is our aesthetic sense, which does not hesitate for a minute between a wax figure, reproducing the finest shades of living colors, and a deathly white marble statue. It would be pointless and pointless to create another world, completely identical with the existing one.

Copy traits outside world in itself never seemed to be the goal of art. As far as possible, a faithful reproduction of reality is complemented by the artist's creative originality. theory is opposed to realism, but in practice it is opposed by routine, tradition, the academic canon, the obligatory imitation of the classics - in other words, the death of independent creativity. Art begins with the actual reproduction of nature; but when popular examples of artistic thinking are known, imitative creativity occurs, work according to a template.

These are the usual features of the established school, whatever it may be. Almost every school makes claims to a new word precisely in the field of true reproduction of life - and each in its own right, and each is denied and replaced by the next one in the name of the same principle of truth. This is especially evident in the history of development. French literature, which reflects a series of conquests of true realism. The striving for artistic truth was at the heart of the same movements that, petrified in tradition and canon, later became symbols of unreal art.

Such is not only romanticism, which has been attacked with such fervor in the name of truth by the doctrinaires of modern naturalism; such is classic drama... Suffice it to recall that the famous three unities were not adopted at all out of slavish imitation of Aristotle, but only because they made it possible for a stage illusion. As Lanson wrote, “The establishment of unity was the triumph of Realism. These rules, which caused so many incongruities in the decline of classical theater, were at the beginning necessary condition scenic verisimilitude. According to Aristotelian rules, medieval rationalism found a means to remove from the stage the last remnants of naive medieval fantasy. "

The deep inner realism of the classical tragedy of the French degenerated in the reasoning of theorists and in the works of imitators into dead schemes, the oppression of which was thrown off by literature only in early XIX century. There is a point of view that every truly progressive movement in the field of art is a movement towards realism. In this respect, there are no exceptions and those new currents that seem to be a reaction of realism. In fact, they represent only a confrontation with routine, artistic dogma - a reaction against realism by name, which has ceased to be a search and artistic recreation of the truth of life. When lyric symbolism tries to convey the poet's mood to the reader by new means, when neo-idealists, resurrecting old conventional devices artistic image, draw stylized, that is, images that are deliberately deviating from reality, they strive for the same thing that constitutes the goal of any art, even if it is an arch-naturalistic one: the creative reproduction of life. There is no truly fictional work - from symphony to arabesque, from Iliad to Whisper, timid breath - which, upon a deeper look at it, would not turn out to be a true depiction of the creator's soul, “a corner of life through the prism of temperament”.

Therefore, it is hardly possible to speak of the history of realism: it coincides with the history of art. You can only characterize certain moments historical life art, when they especially insisted on a truthful depiction of life, seeing it mainly in emancipation from the school convention, in the ability to comprehend and the courage to depict details that remained unnoticed by the artists of former days or frightened them by inconsistency with dogmas. Such was romanticism, such is the final form of realism - naturalism.

In Russia, Dmitry Pisarev was the first to widely introduce the term "realism" into publicism and criticism, until that time the term "realism" was used by Herzen in a philosophical sense, as a synonym for the concept of "materialism" (1846).

• 1 European and American realist writers
• 2 Russian writers-realists
• 3 History of realism
• 4 See also
• 5 Notes
• 6 References

European and American Realist Writers

• O. de Balzac ("The Human Comedy")
• Stendhal ("Red and Black")
• Guy de Maupassant
• C. Dickens ("The Adventures of Oliver Twist")
• Mark Twain (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn)
• J. London ("Daughter of the Snows", "The Tale of Kish", "Sea Wolf", "Hearts of Three", "Valley of the Moon")

Russian realist writers

• G.R.Derzhavin (poems)
• Late A.S. Pushkin - the founder of realism in Russian literature ( historical drama Boris Godunov, story Captain's daughter"," Dubrovsky "," Belkin's Tales ", a novel in verse" Eugene Onegin ")
• M. Yu. Lermontov ("A Hero of Our Time")
• N. V. Gogol (" Dead Souls"," Inspector ")
• I. A. Goncharov ("Oblomov")
• A. Griboyedov ("Woe from Wit")
• A. I. Herzen ("Who is to blame?")
• N. G. Chernyshevsky ("What is to be done?")
• F. M. Dostoevsky ("Poor People", "White Nights", "Humiliated and Insulted", "Crime and Punishment", "Demons")
• L. N. Tolstoy ("War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection").
• I. S. Turgenev ("Rudin", "Noble nest", "Asya", "Spring Waters", "Fathers and Sons", "New", "On the Eve", Mu-mu)
• A. P. Chekhov (" The Cherry Orchard"," Three Sisters "," Student "," Chameleon "," Seagull "," Man in a Case ")
• A. I. Kuprin ("Juncker", "Olesya", "Headquarters Captain Rybnikov", "Gambrinus", "Sulamith")
• A. T. Tvardovsky (Vasily Terkin)
• V. M. Shukshin ("Cut", "Chudik", "Uncle Ermolai")
• B. L. Pasternak ("Doctor Zhivago")

History of realism

There is an opinion that realism originated in ancient times. There are several periods of realism:

• "Antique Realism"
• "Realism of the Renaissance"
• "Realism of the 18th-19th centuries" (here, in the middle of the 19th century, it reached its highest power in connection with which the term Epoch of Realism appeared)
• "Neorealism (realism of the XX century)"

see also

• Critical Realism (Literature)

Notes (edit)

1. V. Kuleshov "History of Russian criticism of the 18th-19th centuries"

Links

• A. A. Gornfeld. Realism, in literature // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb., 1890-1907.

Realism (Literature) Information About

Realism

Realism (- real, real) - artistic direction in art and literature, which was established in the first third of the 19th century. At the origins of realism in Russia were I.A.Krylov, A.S. Griboyedov, A.S. Pushkin (in Western literature, realism appears somewhat later, its first representatives were Stendhal and O. de Balzac).

Features of realism. The principle of truth in life, which guides the realist artist in his work, striving to give the fullest reflection of life in her typical properties... The fidelity of the depiction of reality, reproduced in the forms of life itself, is the main criterion for artistry.

Social analysis, historicism of thinking. It is realism that explains the phenomena of life, establishes their causes and effects on a socio-historical basis. In other words, realism is inconceivable without historicism, which presupposes an understanding of a given phenomenon in its conditioning, in its development and connection with other phenomena. Historicism is the basis of the worldview and artistic method of the realist writer, a kind of key to understanding reality, allowing to connect the past, present and future. In the past, the artist seeks answers to topical questions of the present, while he comprehends the present as a result of the previous historical development.

A critical picture of life. Writers deeply and truthfully show the negative phenomena of reality, focus on exposing the existing order. But at the same time, realism is not devoid of life-affirming pathos, for it is based on positive ideals - patriotism, sympathy for the masses, the search for a positive hero in life, belief in the inexhaustible possibilities of man, the dream of a bright future for Russia (for example, "Dead Souls"). That is why in modern literary criticism, instead of the concept of "critical realism", which was first introduced by N. G. Chernyshevsky, they often speak of "classical realism". Typical characters in typical circumstances, that is, characters were portrayed in close connection with the social environment that brought them up, shaped them in certain socio-historical conditions.

The relationship between the individual and society is the leading problem posed by realistic literature. The drama of this relationship is important to realism. As a rule, the focus of attention of realistic works are outstanding personalities, dissatisfied with life, “breaking out” from their environment, people who are able to rise above society and challenge it. Their behavior and deeds become the subject of close scrutiny and research for realist writers.

The versatility of the characters' characters: their actions, deeds, speech, lifestyle and inner world, the "dialectic of the soul", which is revealed in the psychological details of her emotional experiences. Thus, realism expands the possibilities of writers in the creative assimilation of the world, in the creation of a contradictory and complex personality structure as a result of the finest penetration into the depths of the human psyche.

Expressiveness, brightness, imagery, accuracy of Russian literary language enriched with elements of living, colloquial speech, which realist writers draw from the general Russian language.

A variety of genres (epic, lyric, dramatic, lyroepic, satirical), in which all the richness of the content of realistic literature is expressed.

Reflection of reality does not exclude fiction and fantasy (Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Sukhovo-Kobylin), although these artistic means do not define the basic tonality of the piece.

Typology of Russian realism. The question of the typology of realism is associated with the disclosure of known patterns that determine the dominant of certain types of realism and their change.

In many literary works there are attempts to establish typical varieties (trends) of realism: Renaissance, educational (or didactic), romantic, sociological, critical, naturalistic, revolutionary democratic, socialist, typical, empirical, syncretic, philosophical and psychological, intellectual, spiral, universal, monumental ... Since all these terms are rather conventional (terminological disorder) and there are no clear boundaries between them, we propose to use the concept of "stages of development of realism." Let us trace these stages, each of which takes shape in the conditions of its time and is artistically justified in its uniqueness. The complexity of the problem of typology of realism is that the typologically unique varieties of realism not only replace each other, but also coexist and develop simultaneously. Consequently, the concept of "stage" does not mean at all that in the same chronological framework there can be no other kind of current, earlier or later. That is why it is necessary to correlate the work of this or that realist writer with the work of other realist artists, while revealing the individual originality of each of them, revealing the closeness between the groups of writers.

First third of the 19th century. Krylov's realistic fables reflected the real relations of people in society, depicted living scenes, the content of which is diverse - they could be everyday, social, philosophical and historical.

Griboyedov created “ high comedy"(" Woe from Wit "), that is, a comedy close to drama, reflecting in it the ideas that lived the educated society of the first quarter of a century. Chatsky, in the fight against serf-owners and conservatives, defends national interests from the standpoint of common sense and popular morality. Typical characters and circumstances are given in the play.

In the work of Pushkin, the problematic, the methodology of realism have already been outlined. In the novel "Eugene Onegin" the poet recreated the "Russian spirit", gave a new one, objective principle images of the hero, he was the first to show the "superfluous person", and in the story " Stationmaster"-" little man ". In the people, Pushkin saw the moral potential that determines national character... In the novel "The Captain's Daughter" the historicism of the writer's thinking was manifested - both in the correct reflection of reality, and in exactly social analysis, and in understanding the historical laws of phenomena, and in the ability to convey the typical features of a person's character, to show him as a product of a certain social environment.

30s of the XIX century. In this era of "timelessness", social inactivity, only the bold voices of A. Pushkin, V. G. Belinsky and M. Yu. Lermontov were heard. The critic saw in Lermontov worthy successor Pushkin. Man in his work carries the dramatic features of the time. In destiny

Pechorin, the writer reflected the fate of his generation, his "century" ("A Hero of Our Time"). But if Pushkin devotes the main attention to the description of the actions, actions of the character, gives "character outlines", then Lermontov focuses on the inner world of the hero, on an in-depth psychological analysis of his actions and experiences, on the "history of the human soul."

40s of the XIX century. V specified period the realists received the name "natural school" (N. V. Gogol, A. I. Herzen, D. V. Grigorovich, N. A. Nekrasov). The works of these writers are characterized by accusatory pathos, rejection of social reality, increased attention to everyday life, everyday life. Gogol did not find the embodiment of his lofty ideals in the world around him, and therefore was convinced that in the conditions of contemporary Russia, the ideal and beauty of life can be expressed only through the denial of an ugly reality. The satirist explores the material, material and everyday basis of life, its "invisible" features and spiritually wretched characters arising from it, firmly convinced of their dignity and right.

Second half of the 19th century. The work of writers of this time (I.A.Goncharov, A.N. Ostrovsky, I.S.Turgenev, N.S. Leskov, M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. G. Korolenko, A. P. Chekhov) is distinguished by a qualitatively new stage in the development of realism: they not only critically comprehend reality, but also actively seek ways to transform it, reveal close attention to the spiritual life of a person, penetrate into the “dialectic of the soul”, create a world inhabited by complex, contradictory characters, saturated with dramatic conflicts. The writers' works are characterized by subtle psychologism and great philosophical generalizations.

The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. The features of the era were most clearly expressed in the works of A.I. Kuprin, I.A.Bunin. They keenly grasped the general spiritual and social atmosphere in the country, deeply and faithfully reflected the unique pictures of the life of the most diverse strata of the population, created an integral and true picture of Russia. They are characterized by such themes and problems as the continuity of generations, the legacy of centuries, the root ties of man with the past, the Russian character and features of national history, the harmonious world of nature and the world of social relations (devoid of poetry and harmony, personifying cruelty and violence), love and death , fragility and fragility of human happiness, riddles of the Russian soul, loneliness and tragic predetermination human existence, ways of liberation from spiritual oppression. The original and distinctive work of the writers organically continues the best traditions of Russian realistic literature, and above all deep penetration into the essence of the life depicted, the disclosure of the relationship between the environment and the individual, attention to the social background, the expression of the ideas of humanism.

Pre-October decade. A new vision of the world in connection with the processes taking place in Russia in all areas of life defined a new face of realism, which significantly differed from classical realism in its "modernity". New figures have emerged - representatives of a special trend within the realistic direction - neorealism ("renewed" realism): I.S.Shmelev, L.N. Andreev, M.M. Prishvin, E.I. Zamyatin, S.N.Sergeev-Tsensky A. N. Tolstoy, A. M. Remizov, B. K. Zaitsev and others. They are characterized by a departure from the sociological understanding of reality; mastering the "earthly" sphere, deepening the concrete-sensory perception of the world, artistic study of the subtle movements of the soul, nature and man, coming into contact, which eliminates alienation and brings them closer to the original, unchanging nature of being; a return to the hidden values ​​of the folk-village element, capable of renewing life in the spirit of "eternal" ideals (pagan, mystical coloring of the depicted); comparison of the bourgeois urban and rural structure; the thought of the incompatibility of the natural force of life, of existential good with social evil; the combination of the historical and the metaphysical (next to the features of everyday or concrete historical reality there is a “super-real” background, mythological subtext); the motive of purifying love as a kind of symbolic sign of the all-human natural unconscious beginning, carrying enlightened peace.

Soviet period. Distinctive features of the arisen at this time socialist realism became partisanship, nationality, the depiction of reality in its "revolutionary development", the propaganda of the heroism and romance of socialist construction. In the works of M. Gorky, M. A. Sholokhov, A. A. Fadeev, L. M. Leonov, V. V. Mayakovsky, K. A. Fedin, N. A. Ostrovsky, A. N. Tolstoy, A. T. Tvardovsky and others, a different reality, a different person, different ideals, a different aesthetics, principles were asserted, which formed the basis of the moral code of a fighter for communism. A new method in art was promoted, which was politicized: it had a pronounced social orientation, expressed state ideology... In the center of the works there was usually a positive hero, inextricably linked with the collective, who constantly exerted a beneficial influence on the personality. The main sphere of application of the forces of such a hero is creative work. It is no coincidence that the production novel has become one of the most widespread genres.

20-30s of the XX century. Many writers who were forced to live under a dictatorial regime, under conditions of severe censorship, managed to preserve their inner freedom, showed the ability to remain silent, be careful in their assessments, switch to an allegorical language - they were devoted to the truth, true art realism. The genre of dystopia was born, in which harsh criticism was given totalitarian society based on the suppression of personality, individual freedom. The destinies of A.P. Platonov, M.A.Bulgakov, E.I. Zamyatin, A.A.

The period of the "thaw" (mid-50s - first half of the 60s). In it historical time young poets of the sixties (E. A. Yevtushenko, A. A. Voznesensky, B. A. Akhmadulina, R. I. Rozhdestvensky, B. Sh. Okudzhava, etc.), who became the "masters of thought" his generation, together with representatives of the "third wave" of emigration (V.P. Aksenov, A.V. Kuznetsov, A.T. Gladilin, G.N. Vladimov,

A. I. Solzhenitsyn, N. M. Korzhavin, S. D. Dovlatov, V. E. Maksimov, V. N. Voinovich, V. P. Nekrasov and others), whose works were characterized by an acutely critical understanding of modern reality, the human soul in a command-administrative system and internal opposition to it, confession, moral quest heroes, their release, emancipation, romanticism and self-irony, innovation in the field artistic language and style, genre variety.

The last decades of the XX century. A new generation of writers, already living in somewhat relaxed political conditions within the country, came out with lyric, urban and rural poetry and prose that did not fit into the rigid framework of socialist realism (N.M. Rubtsov, A.V. Zhigulin,

V. N. Sokolov, Yu. V. Trifonov, Ch. T. Aitmatov, V. I. Belov, F. A. Abramov, V. G. Rasputin, V. P. Astafiev, S. P. Zalygin, V. M. Shukshin, F. A. Iskander). The leading themes of their work are the revival of traditional morality and the relationship between man and nature, in which the closeness of the writers to the traditions of Russian classical realism is manifested. The works of this period are permeated with a sense of attachment to their native land, and hence responsibility for what happens on it, a sense of the irreplaceable spiritual losses due to the severance of age-old ties between nature and man. Artists comprehend the turning point in the sphere moral values, shifts in society in which it is forced to survive human soul reflect on the disastrous consequences for those who lose historical memory, the experience of generations.

The latest Russian literature. In the literary process recent years Literary scholars record two trends: postmodernism (blurring the boundaries of realism, awareness of the illusory nature of what is happening, mixing different artistic methods, stylistic diversity, increasing the influence of avant-garde - A.G. Bitov, Sasha Sokolov, V.O. Pelevin, T.N. Tolstaya, T. Yu. Kibirov, D. A. Prigov) and post-realism (traditional for realism attention to the fate of a private person, tragically lonely, in the vanity of humiliating his everyday life, losing his moral guidelines, trying to self-determine, - V. S. Makinin, L. S. . Petrushevskaya).

So, realism as a literary and artistic system has a powerful potential for continuous renewal, which manifests itself in a particular transitional era for Russian literature. In the works of writers who continue the traditions of realism, there is a search for new themes, heroes, plots, genres, poetic means, a new manner of speaking with the reader.

In a common sense, readers call realism a truthful and objective depiction of life that is easy to compare with reality. For the first time literary term"Realism" was used by P.V. Annenkov in 1849 in the article "Notes on Russian Literature of 1818".

In literary criticism, realism is a literary movement that creates an illusion of reality in the reader. It is based on the following principles:

1. artistic historicism, that is, a figurative representation of the connection between time and changing reality;
2. explanation of current events by socio-historical and natural science reasons;
3. identification of relationships between the described phenomena;
4. detailed and accurate sketching of details;
5. the creation of typical characters who act in typical, that is, recognizable and repetitive, circumstances.

It is assumed that realism understood social problems and social contradictions better and deeper than the preceding directions, and also showed society and man in dynamics, in development. Perhaps, proceeding from these features of realism, M. Gorky called realism of the 19th century "critical realism", since he often "exposed" the unjust structure of bourgeois society and criticized the emerging bourgeois relations. Even psychological analysis realists often associated with social analysis, trying to find an explanation in the social structure psychological characteristics characters. Many of O. de Balzac's novels are based on this. Their characters were people of the most different professions... Ordinary personalities finally found a quite prestigious place in literature: no one laughed at them anymore, they no longer served anyone; mediocrity became protagonists, like the characters in Chekhov's stories.

Realism has put forward in place of fantasy and emotions, the most important for romanticism, logical analysis and scientific knowledge of life. V realistic literature facts are not only investigated: a relationship is established between them. This was the only way to make sense of that prose of life, in that ocean of everyday trifles that now appeared in realistic literature.

The most important feature of realism is that it retains all the achievements literary directions that preceded it. Although fantasies and emotions fade into the background, they do not disappear anywhere, there is, of course, “no prohibition” on them, and only the author's intention and style determines how and when to use them.

Comparing realism and romanticism, L.N. Tolstoy once noticed that realism “... is a story from within about the struggle human personality in the surrounding material environment. While romanticism takes a person out of the material environment, makes him struggle with abstraction, like Don Quixote with windmills ... ”.

There are many detailed definitions of realism. Most of the works you study in grade 10 are realistic. As you study these works, you will learn more and more about the realistic direction, which is still developing and enriched today.

It is customary to call realism a trend in art and literature, whose representatives strove for a realistic and truthful reproduction of reality. In other words, the world was portrayed as typical and simple with all its advantages and disadvantages.

Common features of realism

Realism in literature is distinguished by a number of common features. First, life was portrayed in images that corresponded to reality. Secondly, for the representatives of this trend, reality has become a means of knowing oneself and the world around. Third, the images on the pages literary works differed in the truthfulness of details, specifics and typing. Interestingly, the art of the realists, with their life-affirming positions, sought to consider reality in development. Realists discovered new social and psychological relationships.

The rise of realism

Realism in literature as a form artistic creation arose in the Renaissance, developed during the Enlightenment and showed itself as an independent trend only in the 30s of the 19th century. The first realists in Russia include the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin (he is sometimes even called the ancestor of this trend) and the no less outstanding writer N.V. Gogol with his novel Dead Souls. As for literary criticism, the term "realism" appeared within its limits thanks to D. Pisarev. It was he who introduced the term into journalism and criticism. Realism in 19th century literature became hallmark of that time, with its own characteristics and characteristics.

Features of literary realism

Representatives of realism in literature are numerous. The most famous and outstanding writers include Stendhal, C. Dickens, O. Balzac, L.N. Tolstoy, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, F.M. Dostoevsky, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner and many others. They all worked on development creative method realism and embodied in their works the most striking features of it, inextricably linked with their unique author's features.