Literature of recent years on the example of one work. Russian literature of the beginning of the XXI century (first decade). Approximate topics of abstracts

Modern literature is very diverse: it is not only books created today, but also works of "returned literature", "writing desk literature", works of writers from different waves of emigration. In other words, these are works written or first published in Russia from the mid-1980s of the XX century to the beginning of the first decade of the XXI century. Criticism, literary magazines and numerous literary prizes have played a significant role in the formation of the modern literary process.

If during the period of thaw and stagnation in literature, only the method of socialist realism was welcomed, then the modern literary process characterizes the coexistence of various directions.

One of the most interesting cultural phenomena of the second half of the 20th century is postmodernism - a trend not only in literature, but also in all humanitarian disciplines. Postmodernism emerged in the West in the late 60s and early 70s. It was a search for a synthesis between modernism and mass culture, the destruction of any mythology. Modernism strove for the new, which initially denied the old, classical art. Postmodernism did not arise after modernism, but next to it. He does not deny everything old, but tries to ironically rethink it. Postmodernists turn to conventions, deliberate literature in their works, combine the stylistics of different genres and literary eras. “In the postmodern era,” writes V. Pelevin in his novel “Numbers”, “the main thing is not the consumption of material objects, but the consumption of images, since images have much more capital intensity”. Neither the author, nor the narrator, nor the hero are responsible for what is said in the work. The formation of Russian postmodernism was greatly influenced by the traditions of the Silver Age (M. Tsvetaeva,

A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, B. Pasternak and others), the culture of the avant-garde (V. Mayakovsky, A. Kruchenykh, etc.) and numerous manifestations of the dominant socialist realism. Three periods can be conventionally distinguished in the development of postmodernism in Russian literature:

1. Late 60s - 70s - (A. Terts, A. Bitov, V. Erofeev, Vs. Ne-Krasov, L. Rubinstein, etc.)
2. 70s - 80s - self-affirmation of postmodernism through the sub-field, awareness of the world as a text (E. Popov, Vik. Erofeev, Sasha Sokolov, V. Sorokin, etc.)
3. Late 80s - 90s - the period of legalization (T. Kibirov, L. Petrushevskaya, D. Galkovsky, V. Pelevin, etc.)

Russian postmodernism is not homogeneous. The following works can be attributed to the prose works of postmodernism: "Pushkin House" by A. Bitov, "Moscow - Petushki" by Ven. Erofeev, "School for Fools" by Sasha Sokolov, "Kys" by T. Tolstoy, "Parrot", "Russian Beauty" by V. Erofeev, "Soul of a Patriot, or Various Messages to Ferfichkin" Ev. Popova, "Blue Salo", "Ice", "Bro's Way" by V. Sorokin, "Omon Ra", "The Life of Insects", "Chapaev and Emptiness", "Generation P" ("Generation P") by V. Pelevin, " Endless dead end "by D. Galkovsky," Sincere Artist "," Glokaya Kuzdra "," I am not me "by A. Slapovsky," Coronation "by B. Akunin, etc.

In modern Russian poetry, poetic texts are created in line with postmodernism and its various manifestations D. Prigov, T. Kibirov, Vs. Nekrasov, L. Rubinstein and others.

In the era of postmodernism, works appear that can rightfully be classified as realistic. The abolition of censorship, democratic processes in Russian society contributed to the flourishing of realism in literature, sometimes reaching naturalism. These are the works of V. Astafiev "Cursed and Killed", E. Nosov "Tepa", "Feed the Birds", "Lost the Ring",

V. Belov “The Soul is Immortal”, V. Rasputin “In the Hospital”, “Izba”, F. Iskander “Sandro from Chegem”, B. Ekimov “Pinochet”, A. Kim “Father-Les”, S. Kaledin “Stroybat ", G. Vladimov" The General and His Army ", O. Ermakova" The Sign of the Beast ", A. Prokhanov" A Tree in the Center of Kabul "," Chechen Blues "," Walking in the Night "," Mister Hexogen "and others. Material from the site

Since the beginning of the 1990s, a new phenomenon has appeared in Russian literature, which has received the definition of post-realism. The basis of post-realism is the universally understood principle of relativity, dialogical comprehension of the continuously changing world and the openness of the author's position in relation to it. Postrealism, according to N.L. Leiderman and M.N. In post-realism, reality is perceived as an objective given, a set of many circumstances that affect human destiny. In the first works of post-realism, a demonstrative departure from social pathos was noted, writers turned to the private life of a person, to his philosophical comprehension of the world. Criticism usually refers to the post-realists as plays, short stories, the story “Night Time” by L. Petrushevskaya, the novels “The Underground, or a Hero of Our Time” by V. Makanin, stories by S. Dovlatov, “Psalm” by F. Gorenshtein, “Dragonfly, enlarged to the size of a co-tank "by O. Slavnikova, a collection of stories" The Prussian Bride "by Yu. Buida, the stories" Voskoboev and Elizabeth "," The Turn of the River ", the novel" The Closed Book "by A. Dmitriev, the novels" Lines of Fate, or Milashevich's Sun-Duchok "M. Kharitonov," Cage "and" Saboteur "by A. Azolsky," Medea and her children "and" Casus Kukotsky "by L. Ulitskaya," Real Estate "and" Khurramabad "by A. Volos.

In addition, in modern Russian literature, works are created that are difficult to attribute to one direction or another. Writers realize themselves in different directions and genres. In Russian literary criticism, it is also customary to single out several thematic areas in the literary process at the end of the 20th century.

• Appeal to myth and its transformation (V. Orlov, A. Kim, A. Slapovsky, V. Sorokin, F. Iskander, T. Tolstaya, L. Ulitskaya, Aksenov, etc.)
• The legacy of village prose (E. Nosov, V. Belov, V. Rasputin, B. Ekimov, etc.)
• Military theme (V. Astafiev, G. Vladimov, O. Ermakov, Makanin, A. Prokhanov, etc.)
• Fantasy theme (M. Semenova, S. Lukyanenko, M. Uspensky, Viach. Rybakov, A. Lazarchuk, E. Gevorkyan, A. Gromov, Y. Latynina, etc.)
• Contemporary memoirs (E. Gabrilovich, K. Vanshenkin, A. Rybakov, D. Samoilov, D. Dobyshev, L. Razgon, E. Ginzburg, A. Naiman, V. Kravchenko, S. Gandlevsky, etc.)
• The heyday of a detective (A. Marinina, P. Dashkova, M. Yudenich, B. Akunin, L. Yuzefovich, etc.)

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On this page material on topics:

• presentation overview of Russian literature of the late 20th - early 21st century
• a review of the literature of the early 20th century
• Russian literature of the 21st century review
• literary process of the late 20th early 21st century.
• modern authors of the early 20th century

Russian literature of the first decade of the 21st century is a huge debatable field. The peculiarity of modern culture is its multidimensionality, the simultaneity of the existence of different subcultures. Nearby coexist elite and mass literature, literature of "thick magazines" and network literature (Internet literature).

In modern Russian literature, the genre has turned from a canonical phenomenon to a marginal one. It is almost impossible to find a pure genre form of a novel, a story, or a story in the works of writers of the 21st century.

They exist necessarily with some kind of "makeweight", often turning what is named, for example, a novel, into something difficult to define from the point of view of the genre. Modern genre modifications are caused not so much by factors of literary reality (genre evolution, synthesis, immanent laws of literary development), but by extra-literary moments: the socio-cultural situation, mass needs, the author's desire for originality. In literature, there is not a natural genre synthesis, but synesthesia, that is, going beyond the genre limits of a work with the acquisition of possibilities of adjacent types of art or even different arts that are not characteristic of it from the genre nature. The forms of the philological novel are known (memoirs of a literary critic, permeated with literary criticism, - A. Genis "Dovlatov and the surrounding area", V. Novikov "A novel with language", A. Chudakov "The darkness falls on the old steps", etc.), computers thorny (virtual reality and human behavior according to the laws of computer games - V. Pelevin "Helmet of Horror", V. Burtsev "Diamond Nerves", S. Lukyanenko "Labyrinth of Reflections" and "False Mirrors", A. Tyurin and A. Schegolev "Network"), kinoro-mana (translation of film and television plots into the language of fiction - A. Slapovsky "Plot", A. Belov "Brigade"), a vintage novel (a remake of pure forms that were popular in a certain time - B. Akunin with a project of espionage, fantastic, children's exemplary novels), a cartoon novel, an essay novel, etc. Material from the site

Elite literature focuses on artistic uniqueness, the author's experiment, turns to the philosophical understanding of the world, to the search for a new hero and new worldview foundations. Writers model new genre forms, modify the existing genres of the novel and story. As a result of transformations, synthetic genres appear: Writers, specifying the specificity of the created form, in the subtitles give genre definitions to their works: A. Kabakov “House of Models. The Tale of a Boring Time ", N. Rubanova" People from above, people from below. Text that breaks down into puzzles ", A. Koro-lion" To be Bosch. A novel with a biography ”, I. Lisnyanskaya“ Khva-stunya. Mono-novel ", S. Borovikov" Hook. An unwritten philosophical novel ", G. Ball" Scream "crying, V. Berezin" Liquid time. The Tale of the Clepsydra ”, etc. Some genre formations arise from the synthesis of elements not only of different genres, but also of different types of art. Signs of musical forms can be seen in the novel-opera by L. Girshovich "Wii, Schubert's vocal cycle to the words of Gogol", E. Schwartz "Concert for Reviews", in the novel-romance by Zh. Snezhkina "Lyublino".

Contemporary Russian literature

(short review)

1. Background.

Book boom in Russia: more than 100,000 books a year. Difficulties in choosing a book.

"Contemporary" literature - after 1991

Background: 2 literatures in the USSR: official and unofficial. Lack of "mass" literature. Perestroika: the return of forgotten names, the truth about history, the birth of new literature from the underground. Literary disaster of 1992

2. Mass literature.

The birth of mass literature in the early 1990s. Genres of mass literature:

Detective. 1990s: Alexandra Marinina. 2000s: Daria Dontsova and Boris
Akunin.

- thriller (action): Alexander Bushkov, Victor Dotsenko.

- "Pink romance";

Thriller.

- fantastic. Sergey Lukyanenko. The dependence of mass literature on television series.

Growing interest in memoir literature and other forms of non-fiction.

New trends in mass literature since 2005:

- "Glamorous" literature. Oksana Robski.

- "Anti-glamor" literature. Sergey Minaev.

- investigation novels. Julia Latynina.

- Superbest-seller imitations.

3. "Post-Soviet" literature.

The disappearance of "socialist realism" in the early 1990s. The rise of nostalgia for the USSR in the early 2000s. Rehabilitation of socialist realism. Alexander Prokhanov. The novel "Mister Hexogen".

The phenomenon of "thick" literary magazines. Literature of a realistic orientation. Traditions of "liberal" Soviet literature of the "sixties".

Middle-aged writers:

Dmitry Bykov. Novels "Justification", "Spelling", "Tow Truck", "J.-D."

Andrey Gelasimov. The novel "The Year of Deception", the story "Thirst".

Olga Slavnikova. The novel "2017".

Alexey Slapovsky. Novels "Quality of Life", "They".

Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The novel "Daniel Stein, Translator".

"New Realism".

Zakhar Prilepin. The novels "Pathology", "Sankya", "Sin".

4. Between realism and postmodernism

The older generation:

Tatiana Tolstaya. The novel "Kys".

Lyudmila Petrushevskaya. The novel "Number One or In the Gardens of Other Opportunities." Vasily Aksenov. The novels "Voltairians and Voltairians", "Moscow-kva-kva", "Rare Earths".

Middle generation:

Mikhail Shishkin. The novels "The Taking of Ishmael", "Venus's Hair".

Aleksey Ivanov. Novels "Heart of Parma", "Gold of Riot".

5. Russian postmodernism.

The origins are in the underground of the 1970s-1980s. Sotsart. Moscow Conceptualism.

Dmitry Prigov.

Lev Rubinstein.

Vladimir Sorokin. The rise in fame in the late 1990s. Novels "Blue fat", "Ice trilogy", "Day of the oprichnik". Films "Moscow," Kopeyka ". Opera "Children of Rosenthal".

"Younger" conceptualists:

Pavel Pepperstein, Oleg Anofriev "Mythogenic love of castes."

"Petersburg Fundamentalists".

Imperial theme.

Pavel Krusanov. The novels "Angel Bite", "Bom-Bom", "American Hole".

Ironic line: Sergei Nosov. The novels "Hungry Time", "The Rooks Have Fled".

Victor Pelevin. Satire and Buddhism. Novels "Chapaev and Emptiness", "Generation P", "The Sacred Book of the Werewolf", "EmpireV". Alexey Ivanov. Modern "fantasy" with historical. novels "Heart of Parma", "The Gold of Riot" (about the Pugachev uprising). Mikhail Shishkin (lives in Switzerland) "The capture of Ishmael 2000." Russian Booker Prize "Venus's Hair" (about the psychology of a Russian person.)

Sergey Bolmat. The novels "By themselves", "In the air". Mikhail Elizarov. The story "Nails", the novels "Pasternak", "The Librarian". Alexander Garros and Alexey Evdokimov. The novels "Puzzle", "Gray Slime", "Truck Factor".

Main directions

in modern Russian literature

Now it is less and less common to hear voices shouting: "We have no literature."

The concept " Modern literature"For many is now associated not with the Silver Age and not even with the" village "prose of the 70s, but with today's living literary process. The fact that literature is alive and will live is evidenced by several facts:

• firstly, these are literary prizes, large and small, well-known, such as Bookerovskaya, and just born, for example, the name of Pushkin's Ivan Petrovich Belkin, prizes that help talented writers survive and find their bearings - thoughtful readers.
• Secondly, the incredible activity of book publishing. Now not only "thick" magazines rush for literary novelties, but also the publishing houses "Vagrius", "Zakharov", "Horseshoe" and others. Often a book has time to come out before the last part of the same novel - in the magazine, which forms healthy competition.
• Third, literary fairs. Annual fairs of non / fiction intellectual literature in Moscow, book fairs of contemporary literature in the Ice Palace of St. Petersburg are becoming a real event; meetings with writers, round tables and discussions encourage authors to write and readers to read.
• Fourth, the literary internet. Despite the fact that the "network" is in many respects different from the traditional "paper" literature, they are still close relatives, and a growing number of electronic libraries and literary sites, where every visitor is a reader, a writer, and a critic, where there are no "high authorities ”and authorities, but there is only love for the word and the text, testifies to the coming of a new literary generation.

What are the main trends and general patterns of Russian literature in 2001-2002?

Over the past two years, literature in Russia has continued to develop according to the same laws as over the past decade, its main directions:

• postmodernism,
• realism (in all its varieties),
• modernism
• neosentimentalism.

If we talk about the general laws of the literary process in 2001-2002, then it is necessary to note two points.

1. Postmodernism , as before, has an "unspoken" influence on all modern literature, but the balance of power is changing. Just as once it was necessary to defend realism from postmodernism (in 1995, Booker was awarded to Georgy Vladimov with his realistic novel "The General and His Army" as a warning to the fans of the postmodernist Victor Pelevin, who attacked the jury of the competition), so today postmodernism needs the protection of the same Booker jury (members of the jury In 2002, under the leadership of Vladimir Makanin, they said: "The inclusion of Vladimir Sorokin's name in the" short list "is in this case the only way to protest against the writer's bullying, which threatens him with judicial reprisals. We consider it inadmissible to create such a precedent").

2. Strengthening tendency to blur boundaries

• between realistic and unrealistic trends in literature (a feature of most modern texts, most clearly in the works of Olga Slavnikova, Nikolai Kononov, Vera Pavlova, Natalia Galkina);
• between intellectual and mass literature (books by Boris Akunin, Tatiana Tolstoy).

between literary genres ("female detective" by Daria Dontsova, Tatiana Polyakova and others, "detective & utopia & parody" by Holm Van Zaichik, etc.);

• between literature and extra-literary reality. (The extremist movement "Walking Together" and their actions of public destruction of the books of Vladimir Sorokin and Bayan Shiryanov are, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the blurring of boundaries between literature and reality outside of it, taking place in the mass media.
• The use of advertising and PR-technologies for the "promotion" of writers and the implantation of paid advertising and PR-messages into the fabric of works of art - all this is a reality of recent years).

Let us now dwell on the analysis of the main trends in Russian literature over the past 2 years.

Postmodernism , which came from underground to legal literature in the second half of the 80s under the name "other literature", continues to develop actively today.

Founders of Russian postmodernism Are poets Dmitry Alexandrovich Prigov, Lev Rubinstein, Timur Kibirov, Ivan Zhdanov, Alexander Eremenko and others, prose writers Venedikt Erofeev, Vladimir Sorokin, Victor Erofeev.

It should be noted that Russian postmodernism, be it the 70s or the 2000s, is characterized by a divisionpostmodern artistic strategies into 2 varieties:

• The first is “postmodernism as a complex of ideological attitudes and aesthetic principles”, and the second is “postmodernism as a manner of writing”, that is, “deep” postmodernism and “superficial”, when only its aesthetic techniques are used: “quotation”, language games, unusual construction of the text, as in the novel by Tatiana Tolstoy "Kys" (2001). Hundreds of volumes have been written about postmodernism and more than 600 definitions have been given, but if you try to summarize, it turns out that postmodernism is a new type of consciousness characterized by a global crisis of the hierarchy of values. The destruction of the hierarchy of values ​​is based on the idea of ​​equal size and equality of all elements of the Universe, there is no division into “spiritual” and “material”, “high” and “low”, “soul” and “body”. In postmodern literature, this phenomenon is expressed very clearly: the heroine of V. Narbikova's story "The Balance of Light of Day and Night Stars" says about love as follows: , playboy, Tyutchev ".The key concept of postmodernism is "the world as a text»Can be explained as follows: the world is unknowable, but is given to us as a description of this world, therefore it (the world) consists of the sum of texts and is itself a heterogeneous and endless text. A person can perceive only a text (description of the world), and his consciousness is also the sum of texts. Any work (and any consciousness) is a part of this endless text. Hence the idea of ​​polycituality as a norm (there is no point in dividing into one's own and another's), experiments with the beginning / end of the text (both concepts are relative, since the text is infinite), games with the reader (the world-text is anonymous, and therefore the author does not exist, the reader - as much an author as a writer).

Postmodern literature in the last 2 years has been presented very diversely. This is a literary game in the novels "Feast", "Ice" by the patriarch of Russian postmodernism Vladimir Sorokin, where the author continues his destructive experiments with various styles. Mikhail Kononov in the novel "The Naked Pioneer" offers his own scandalous version of one of the chapters of his native history - the Great Patriotic War. Mikhail Elizarov, called by critics "the new Gogol", publishes "Nails", pseudo-nostalgic pseudo-memoirs that amaze with musicality, organicity and richness of language. Anastasia Gosteva ("Travel Lamb", "Brothel of the Enlightened"), a representative of the new women's prose, writes postmodern texts dedicated to the peculiarities of the "drug addict" consciousness. The book by Yulia Kisina "Simple Desires" (St. Petersburg publishing house "Alethea"), also refers to the new women's prose, here the author ("Sorokin in a skirt", according to some critics), deconstructs (dismembers) the holy of holies - childhood, which turns out to be not "Pink", but black and monstrous in nature. Human monstrosity is a cross-cutting theme of the work of Yuri Mamleev, known to readers from "Cranks" and other books, in 2001 his new novel "Wandering Time" was published. The sensational novel by Dmitry Bykov “Justification” surprisingly combines postmodernist strategies for constructing text (fantasy type of narration, playing in “another story”) with traditionally realistic ones, designed for a “conservative” reader. Readers could get acquainted with the "philological" novels by Vladimir Novikov "A Romance with Language, or Sentimental Discourse", Sergei Nosov "Mistress of History", "Give Me a Monkey", Valery Iskhakov "Reader of Chekhov" and "A Light Smack of Treason".

Modern modernism is rooted in the literature of the Silver Age. Most often, modern modernist authors opposing themselves to the "literature of plausibility", solidarize with postmodern writers, but superficially, at the level of "postmodernism as a manner of writing." The internal difference between modernism and postmodernism is that the vertical in the value system has not been destroyed: the classical division into "high" and "low", "spiritual" and "material", "genius" and "mediocre" has been preserved. The modern modernist text goes back to the Russian-language works of Vladimir Nabokov, while the postmodernist, undoubtedly, to the works of Daniil Kharms. Tatiana Tolstoy's novel "Kys", which received the "Triumph" prize in 2001, combined the features of intellectual and mass literature and became an event in the artistic life of Russia. A dystopian novel, a parody novel, a story about the life of a country that was once Russia, and now a settlement thrown back by the Explosion almost into the Stone Age. The author's modernist strategy manifests itself, on the one hand, in the rejection of the legacy of realistic traditions (this is an "unusual" form of organization of the novel - the alphabet, and language games between the author and the reader, and postmodernist techniques), on the other hand, in the space of the novel "Kys" a certain Truth to which the hero aspires, which is completely impossible in a postmodern novel. The parody of Tatiana Tolstoy's novel is not absolute: it ends where the realm of Truth, Goodness and Beauty begins.

Modern russian realism exists in several varieties, the first of which isneo-critical realism... It is rooted in the "natural school" of Russian realism of the 19th century, with its pathos of denying reality and depicting all aspects of life without restriction. Modern naturalism, revived in the late 80s of the XX century, is associated primarily with the name of Sergei Kaledin ("The humble cemetery", "Stroybat"). Many critics classify the prose of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya in the 70s-90s, Svetlana Vasilenko (until 1995, according to the writer), and Vladimir Makanin as naturalism (and even "chernukha"). Among the new critical prose of 2001-2002. - novel by Roman Senchin "Minus", depicting, in the tradition of natural school, the hopeless life of a small Siberian town, Oleg Pavlov's "army" story "The Karaganda Nines, or the Tale of the Last Days" (which, incidentally, was included in the short-list of the 2002 Booker Prize), the abandoned village of Alexander Titov with an indicative name: "Life that did not exist." The pathos of the texts, conventionally attributed to neo-critical realism, is pessimistic. Disbelief in the "high" destiny of a person, the choice as a hero of a creature with a limited, narrowed, "drowsy", according to critic E. Koksheneva, consciousness - all this predetermines the main patterns of style - the severity, laconicism and deliberate artlessness of the syllable.

The second, now not numerous, variety realism - ontological or metaphysical realism, which flourished in the 70s of the XX century of Russian literature. "Village" prose by Vasily Belov, Valentin Rasputin and others has become a school of ontological realism for a group of today's young writers. The philosophical and aesthetic essence of ontological realism can be reduced to the following: in human life there is a high, but hidden meaning, which must be comprehended, and not sought and equiped with one's own place under the sun. A Russian person can comprehend this meaning only through unity, through “conciliarity,” while any individual path is untrue. The key idea of ​​ontological realists is "panpsychism": the whole world surrounding a person is animated, and therefore realistic poetics in "village" prose is adjacent to symbolist poetics. New, today's ontological realists are also looking not for obvious cause-and-effect relationships of life phenomena, but for its mystical and sacred Christian meaning. Reality, which is understood as standing before the face of God, temporary in the light of Eternity, etc. As an example in the literature of the last two years, one can cite the prose of Lydia Sycheva, Yuri Samarin, Dmitry Ermakov, Olga Shevchenko, Yuri Goryukhin, Vladimir Bondar, where the common denominator is their religiosity, their Christian view of the world.

The third kind of realistic wingRussian literature is post-realism. The term, proposed by the scholar and critics Mark Lipovetsky, was introduced to denote artistic attempts to comprehend the existential battle of the individual with the chaos of life. Postrealism is open to postmodern poetics, and, like today's modernists, writers Mikhail Butov, Irina Polyanskaya, Nikolai Kononov, Yuri Buida, Mikhail Shishkin also use the aesthetic techniques of postmodernism. However, first of all, post-realism is existential realism, with its idea of ​​personal responsibility, the idea of ​​freedom that requires individual testing and fitting, the idea of ​​connectedness and the belief in the incompleteness and undecidability of the individual's duel with chaos. The novel "The Funeral of a Grasshopper" by Nikolai Kononov (one of the winners of the Apollo Grigoriev Prize) is a story about the hero's childhood, about how his grandmother died, and he and his mother followed her, with all the horrors of caring for a paralyzed woman. But naturalistic descriptions are harmonized with the language of the novel, its inner poetic rhythm, repetitions, and an abundance of adjectives and subordinate clauses. The existential temperament of Nikolai Kononov's novel is combined in sophisticated naturalism and poetic language and results in the phenomenon of post-realism. Post-realistic poetics is characteristic of Olga Slavnikova's work. Her last work, included in the top three laureates of the Apollo Grigoriev Prize, is “Immortal. A Story about a Real Man ”. "Immortal" by Slavnikova, at first glance, is a phantasmagoria with the flavor of a furious pamphlet. The heroes of the story are poor provincials kicked out of the "usual" Soviet life. However, the sick, unhappy, sometimes scary inhabitants of the Ural town, paradoxically, remain people, and all their terrible ghosts disappear when real pain, real death, real life appears. Immortal is a terrible book, but it is not at all an apology for fear. The reader hears the hidden music of hope, because the tragedy of an individual unique person is associated with the tragic history of our country, and this history is inconceivable without a multidimensional and free word. Personality in an existential battle with the chaos of life, as we see, is an inexhaustible topic.

The next direction in Russian literature in recent years isneosentimentalism , the appearance of which is claimed by almost all well-known critics. This artistic trend is based on the traditions of 18th century sentimentalism. The ideal put forward by Nikolai Karamzin in Poor Liza is a sensitive person. Awareness of the value of simple feelings of a private, "little", non-heroic person has become extremely relevant in today's literature. In drama, the plays of Yevgeny Grishkovets are classified as neosentimentalism, in poetry - by Timur Kibirov, in prose - most of the works of women's prose. It is significant that Lyudmila Ulitskaya became the winner of the 2001 Booker Prize with the neosentimentalist novel "Casus Kukotsky". The novel is imbued with childish freshness of feelings. L. Ulitskaya comments on the title and concept of her novel in the following way: “An incident is a case. I told about the case of Kukotsky - about a man and his fate. This incident seems to me an incident of each of us. Any person is a specific case in the hand of the Lord God, in the world compote in which we all swim ... In this case, it is Kukotsky. But it can be an incident of everyone who carefully observes life, fearlessly and honestly looks at the world ... ". Something similar can be said about the heroes of the story "Girls", the novel "Tsiu-yurikh". And yet, the neosentimentalism of recent years is not equal to Karamzin's sentimentalism: the sensitivity of modern times has, as it were, passed the phase of irony, doubt and reflection, postmodernist polyquatty, the phase of self-denial. A “new sincerity”, “new sensitivity” appears, where total irony is defeated by “counter-irony”. For example, Andrei Dmitriev's story "The Way Back", which won the "big" Apollo Grigoriev prize in 2002, is a story about how the nanny of a boy who has now become a writer went to the store, but instead ended up with a cheerful company far from Pskov - in the Pushkin Hills, where the next birthday of the first poet was officially and drunkenly celebrated. "Cathedral" jubilation-libation (everyone loves Pushkin, and at the same time each other) is replaced by a penniless hangover loneliness: drinking companions have disappeared, and the heroine has many kilometers of walking "road back". The story is encrusted with imperceptible Pushkin quotes, illiterate, but who bought a collection of poems for the last pennies, Maria is seen as a sick double of the legendary Arina Rodionovna, her spree and hangover, melancholy and humility, a tendency to fantasize and earthiness, unrestraint, swindling and awkward barbarism deadly real and mythical. Unbeknownst to herself, the dissolute passion-bearer secretly educates the storyteller. He learned to read from that very penny book, where the most important verses were, and Maria's desperate journey became part of the soul, which is destined to comprehend what a "cruel age", "vague hangover", "striped versts", "fatal passions" are, "Secret freedom", "good feelings" Russia, which cannot be exchanged for anything.

A special kind of modern literature that cannot be ignored due to its growing importance - this is mass literature... It is possible to separate mass and non-mass literature according to various criteria: in this case, the following sign seems to be productive: adherence to a stable genre canon. Mainstream literature consists of enduring genre schemes such as detective story, romance novel, etc. The more fully the author follows the genre canon, the more “reliable” his readership is. Non-mass literature is based on the opposite strategy - unpredictability, new genres are invented here and literary experiments are carried out. As already mentioned, one of the signs of our time is the blurring of the boundaries between mass and intellectual literature.

The most striking phenomenon in this area wasdetective series by Boris Akunin... In the last 2 years, this is the end of the "provincial" series - the novel "Pelagia and the Black Monk", the continuation of the "Fandorin" and "post-Fandorin" series - "Altyn-Tolobas", the diptych "Lover (tsa) of death", "Extracurricular reading". When the name of Erast Fandorin became known to a large circle of readers, and the total circulation of books about him by the end of 2000 reached a million copies, G. Chkhartishvili explained the principle of creating and popularizing texts as a project implementation: “... the roots of literature are in the heart, and the roots of a literary project are in the head. I came up with a multi-part, intricate drawing. Therefore - a project ”. Reasonableness, consideration of the cultural situation and market conditions are characteristic of the entire history of "Fandorin". On the other hand, "The Adventures of Erast Fandorin" is designed primarily for a person who has an idea of ​​the main books of Russian literature in the volume of the average erudition of a university graduate, not necessarily humanitarian (N. Leskov, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy). Akunin focuses on the "literary centrism" of Russian culture. The reader is flattered by the recognition of both the parodic rethinking of well-known plots (Anna Karenina in the Jack of Spades) and the quoting and stylization of them. He does not feel like a stranger in the past: he plunges into the language of literature of those years, reproduced by the average dictionary of the classics, sees characters and situations that resemble what he read once. According to the critic, "Russian classics have acquired a pleasant presentation and now affects the mind and emotions not in an exciting, but in a calming manner." B. Akunin's plan includes not only the creation of all possible variants of the detective genre, which is reported on the cover of each book, but also a consistent projection of the main plot of each of the novels onto key texts of Russian literature, built in historical order - from Karamzin's "Poor Lisa" to the first action "Azazele" before "Slum people" by Gilyarovsky in "The Lover of Death". The novel "Extracurricular Reading" is built as a postmodern text, with its philosophy of a single and endless text of culture: the title of each chapter is at the same time the title of one of the works of world literature.

The success of the series of books about Fandorin attracted the attention of readers to the books of the professional historian Leonid Yuzefovich, who has been writing about the 80s-90s of the 19th century for more than two decades. The works of L. Yuzefovich about the legendary detective Ivan Dmitrievich Putilin (one of the last - "Harlequin's Suit", "Prince of the Wind"), due to the hero's occupations, have a detective basis, but they are not actually detective stories: these are traditional realistic prose, character novels that have long had a stable a circle of adherents who equally value the professionalism of a historian and the talent of a writer, a connoisseur of the past alien to the conjuncture, possessing a leisurely intonation, excellent language. After the award in 2001 of the National Bestseller Prize for the novel "Prince of the Wind", this book and what Yuzefovich wrote about Putilin before began to be published as a series "The Adventures of Ivan Putilin", with a single stylish design.

Yevgeny Lukin and Vyacheslav Rybakov, having created another literary hoax, came up with an author with a mysterious biography and a name - Holm van Zaichik. The genre in which "The Story of the Greedy Barbarian", "The Case of the Independent Dervishes", "The Case of Igor's Regiment", "The Case of the Victory Monkey" are written can be defined as "a utopian detective story." Some critics speak of van Zaichik's post-postmodernism, that is, a homely, cozy, non-revolutionary use of postmodern strategies. Indeed, in the novels of van Zaichik, the great state of the future appears - Ordus (Horde plus Russia), where detective stories unfold. Irony and sentimentality, detective intrigue and witty allusions to modern St. Petersburg realities - all this speaks of a talented combination of a genre that is massive in its essence and its intellectual content.

In addition to the "intellectual" historical and utopian detective stories, an ironic detective story is incredibly widespread. The books by Daria Dontsova (of the latter are “A Bouquet of Beautiful Ladies”, “A Smile of 45 Caliber,” “Fig Leaf Haute Couture,” “Walking the Fly." Russia, obviously, was the reason for the emergence of Russian ironic detectives. Dontsova's novels, unlike her Polish colleague, do not go beyond the boundaries of mass literature and do not create a new synthesis of intellectuality and mass character. Dontsova's heroine, a middle-aged lady, pretty, wealthy and educated, unlike Mrs. Ioanna, mocks over everything and everyone, does not have the ability to self-irony, which leads to an abundance of platitudes and tactlessness and a high degree of predictability of her investigations.

If we rank detectives according to the scale of irony - seriousness ("tough" detective story), then first there will be Andrei Kivinov's stories "It is served to die", "Slaughter" department ", then - Alexandra Marinina's" Unlocked door "," Phantom of memory ", followed by stories Tatyana Polyakova “The Young Lady and the Bully”, “Ghost Hunters”, “Fitness for Little Red Riding Hood”, Alexander Bushkov closes the scale “Vulture”, “Bulldog Fight”, “Piranha: First Throw”. "Obscene dance".

Apparently, mass literature is needed no less than intellectual literature - it has its own functions, its own tasks. At the non / fiction book fair of intellectual literature in Moscow in November of this year, the majority of visitors spoke out against dividing literature into intellectual and mass literature, which should not be forgotten when speaking about the modern literary process. at the same time, looking at the abundance of colorful covers, it must be remembered that modern literature is not alive with single packets for reading in the subway. Yuri Davydov, chairman of the 2001 Booker Jury, admitted that he faced a very difficult choice and it was extremely difficult for him to name only one work as the best. “I had to read many works, but oddly enough, I did not have a funeral mood. I was afraid that if I read closely with modern literature, I would discover its complete and final decline. Fortunately, this did not happen. Young authors write, and they write great. " And the writer Vladimir Makanin, Chairman of the Booker Jury 2002, evaluating the results, said briefly: "I am satisfied with the high quality of the prose." So there really is no reason for pessimism.

Literature of the 50s-80s (review)

Death of J.V. Stalin. XX Party Congress. Changes in the social and cultural life of the country. New trends in literature. Topics and problems, traditions and innovation in the works of writers and poets.

Reflection of history conflicts in the fates of heroes: P. Nilin "Cruelty", A. Solzhenitsyn "One day of Ivan Denisovich", V. Dudintsev "Not by bread alone ..." and others.

New understanding of the problem of man in war: Yu. Bondarev "Hot Snow", V. Bogomolov "Moment of Truth", V. Kondratyev "Sashka" and others. Research of the nature of heroism and betrayal, philosophical analysis of human behavior in an extreme situation in the works of V. Bykov "Sotnikov", B. Okudzhava "Be healthy, schoolboy" and others.

The role of works about the Great Patriotic War in fostering patriotic feelings of the younger generation.

Poetry of the 60s ... The search for a new poetic language, form, genre in the poetry of B. Akhmadullina, E. Vinokurov, R. Rozhdestvensky, A. Voznesensky, E. Evtushenko, B. Okudzhava and others. Development of the traditions of Russian classics in the poetry of N. Fedorov, N. Rubtsov, S. Narovchatov, D. Samoilov, L. Martynov, E. Vinokurov, N. Starshinov, Y.Drunina, B. Slutsky, S. Orlov, I. Brodsky, R. Gamzatova and others.

Reflection on the past, present and future of the Motherland, the assertion of moral values ​​in the poetry of A. Tvardovsky.

« Urban prose» . Themes, moral issues, artistic features of the works of V. Aksenov, D. Granin, Y. Trifonov, V. Dudintsev and others.

« Village prose» . A depiction of the life of the Soviet village. The depth, integrity of the spiritual world of a person, connected by his life with the earth, in the works of F. Abramov, M. Alekseev, S. Belov, S. Zalygin, V. Krupin, P. Proskurin, B. Mozhaev, V. Shukshin, and others.

Dramaturgy... The moral problems of A. Volodin's plays "Five Evenings", A. Arbuzov "Irkutsk Story", "Cruel Intentions", V. Rozov "Good Hour", "Wood Grouse's Nest", A. Vampilov "Last Summer in Chulimsk", "Senior son "," Duck Hunt "and others.

Dynamics of moral values ​​in time,foreseeing the danger of loss of historical memory: "Farewell to Matera" by V. Rasputin, "Snowstorm stop" by Ch. Aitmatov, "Dream at the beginning of the fog" by Y. Rytkheu and others.

An attempt to assess modern life from the standpoint of previous generations: "Sign of Trouble" by V. Bykov, "The Old Man" by Y. Trifonov, "Bereg" by Y. Bondarev and others.

Historical theme in Soviet literature... Resolution of the issue of the role of personality in history, the relationship between man and power in the works of B. Okudzhava, N. Eidelman,

V. Pikulya, A. Zhigulin, D. Balashova, O. Mikhailova and others.

Autobiographical literature... K. Paustovsky,

I. Ehrenburg.

The growing role of journalism. Publicistic orientation of artistic works of the 80s. An appeal to the tragic pages of history, reflections on universal human values.

Logs of this time,their position... ("New World", "October", "Banner", etc.).

The development of the fantasy genre in the works of A. Belyaev, I. Efremov, K. Bulychev and others.

Author's song... Its place in the historical and cultural process (meaningfulness, sincerity, attention to the individual). The significance of the creativity of A. Galich, V. Vysotsky, Y. Vizbor, B. Okudzhava and others in the development of the genre of the author's song.

The multinationality of Soviet literature.

A.I. Solzhenitsyn. Information from the biography.

« Matrenin dvor» *. “One day of Ivan Denisovich.” A new approach to depicting the past. The problem of the responsibility of generations. Reflections of the writer on the possible ways of human development in the story. The skill of A. Solzhenitsyn as a psychologist: the depth of characters, historical and philosophical generalization in the writer's work.

V.T. Shalamov... Information from the biography.

« Kolyma stories» . (two stories optional). The artistic originality of Shalamov's prose: lack of declarations, simplicity, clarity.

V.M. Shukshin. Information from the biography .

Stories: "Chudik", « I choose a village to live», « Cut», « Microscope», « Oratorical reception» . The depiction of the life of the Russian village: the depth and integrity of the spiritual world of the Russian person. Artistic features of V. Shukshin's prose.

N.M. Rubtsov. Information from the biography .

Poems : « Visions on the hill», « Autumn leaves» (a choice of other poems is possible).

The theme of the homeland in the poet's lyrics, acute pain for her fate, faith in her inexhaustible spiritual forces. Harmony between man and nature. Yesenin traditions in Rubtsov's lyrics.

Rasul Gamzatov. Information from the biography.

Poems: « Cranes», « Dzhigits quarreled in the mountains,used to ...» (choice of other poems is possible).

The heartfelt sound of the theme of the homeland in the lyrics of Gamzatov. Reception of parallelism, reinforcing the semantic meaning of eight lines. The ratio of the national and universal in the work of Gamzatov.

A.V. Vampilov. Information from the biography.

Play « Provincial jokes» ( the choice of another dramatic work is possible).

The image of an eternal, indestructible bureaucrat. Affirmation of kindness, love and mercy. Gogol traditions in Vampilov's drama.

Russian literature of recent years (overview)

Foreign literature (review)

I.-V. Goethe.« Faust» .

E. Hemingway.« The Old Man and the Sea» .

E.-M. Remarque.« Three comrades»

G. Marquez.« One Hundred Years of Solitude» .

P. Coelho.« Alchemist» .

Works for conversations on contemporary literature

A. Arbuzov « Years of wandering» .

V. Rozov « Looking for joy» .

A. Vampilov « Last summer in Chulimsk» .

V. Shukshin « Until the third cocks», « Duma» .

V. Erofeev "Moscow - Petushki"

Ch. Aitmatov. "White Steamer" (After the Tale) "," Early Cranes "," Skewbald Dog Running by the Edge of the Sea ".

D. Andreev. "Rose of the World".

V. Astafiev. "Shepherd and Shepherdess".

A. Beck. "New appointment".

V. Belov. "Carpentry Stories", "The Year of the Great Turning Point".

A. Bitov. "Georgian Album".

V. Bykov. "Round-up", "Sotnikov", "Sign of Trouble".

A. Vampilov. "The Eldest Son", "Farewell in June".

K. Vorobyov. "Killed near Moscow."

V. Vysotsky. Songs.

Y. Dombrovsky. "Faculty of unnecessary things."

V. Ivanov. “Primordial Rus”, “Great Rus”.

B. Mozhaev. "Men and women".

V. Nabokov. Luzhin's Defense.

V. Nekrasov. "In the trenches of Stalingrad", "A little sad story".

E. Nosov. "Usvyatskie helmet-bearers", "Red wine of victory".

B. Okudzhava. Poetry and prose.

B. Pasternak. Poetry.

V. Rasputin. "Farewell to Matera", "Live and Remember".

V. Shalamov. “Kolyma stories.

Poetry of the 60s – 90s and the last decade (A. Kuznetsov, N. Tryapkin, G. Aigi, D. Prigov, V. Vishnevsky, etc.).

Approximate topics of abstracts

19th century

Socio-political situation in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The influence of the ideas of the Great French Revolution on the formation of public consciousness and the literary movement.

Romanticism. Social and philosophical foundations of its origin.

Moscow Society of Wisdom, its Philosophical and Aesthetic Program.

Basic aesthetic principles of realism. Stages of development of realism in the XIX century.

K.N. Batyushkov. The cult of friendship and love in the work of Batyushkov. The role of the poet in the development of Russian poetry.

V.A. Zhukovsky. The artistic world of romantic elegies and ballads.

The main problematic of the fables of I.A. Krylov. The theme of the Patriotic War of 1812 in the fables of I.A. Krylov.

Creativity of the Decembrist poets. Features of the civil-heroic romanticism of the Decembrists, the leading themes and ideas of their work (K.F. Ryleev,V.F. Raevsky, etc.).

A.S. Pushkin - the creator of the Russian literary language; the role of Pushkin in the development of Russian poetry, prose and drama.

The freedom-loving lyrics of A.S. Pushkin, her connection with the ideas of the Decembrists ("Liberty", "To Chaadaev", "Village").

Southern poems by A.S. Pushkin, their ideological and artistic features, the reflection in the poems of the character traits of "modern man".

The tragedy "Boris Godunov" A.S. Pushkin. The historical concept of the poet and its reflection in the conflict and the plot of the work.

The Decembrist theme in the works of A.S. Pushkin ("To Siberia", "Arion", "Anchar").

The theme of the poet's spiritual independence in Pushkin's poetic manifestos ("The Poet and the Crowd", "The Poet", "The Poet").

The poet's philosophical lyrics ("A vain gift, an accidental gift ...", "Do I wander along noisy streets ...").

The novel "Eugene Onegin" by A.S. Pushkin is the first Russian realistic novel, its social problems, the system of images, features of the plot and composition.

Patriotic poems by A.S. Pushkin ("Slanderers of Russia", "Borodino anniversary", "Before the tomb of the saint").

Pushkin's fairy tales, their problems and ideological content.

The significance of the creative heritage of A.S. Pushkin. Pushkin and our modernity.

The place and significance of the poets of Pushkin's "galaxy" in Russian poetry. The originality of the poetry of D.V. Davydova, P.A. Vyazemsky, E.A. Baratynsky, A.A. Delvig, N.M. Yazykova, D.V. Venevitinova.

The theme and originality of the early lyrics of M.Yu. Lermontov, her genres, character traits of the lyrical hero.

The theme of the poet and poetry in the work of M.Yu. Lermontov (Death of a Poet, Poet, Prophet).

Development of realistic tendencies in the lyrics of M.Yu. Lermontov, the interaction of lyric, dramatic and epic principles in the lyrics, its genre diversity.

The social and philosophical essence of the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov's "Demon", the dialectic of good and evil, rebellion and harmony, love and hate, fall and rebirth in the poem.

"Hero of Our Time" as a socio-psychological and philosophical novel by M.Yu. Lermontov, its structure, system of images.

A.V. Koltsov. The organic unity of the lyrical and epic principles in Koltsov's songs, the peculiarities of their composition and pictorial means.

The peculiarity of N.V. Gogol and his poetic vision of the world. A.S. Pushkin on the specifics of Gogol's talent.

The poem "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol, her concept, features of the genre, plot and composition. The role of the Chichikov image in the development of the plot and the disclosure of the main idea of ​​the work.

The main features of Russian classical literature of the 19th century: national identity, humanism, life-affirming pathos, democracy and nationality.

Geopolitics of Russia: protection of national and state interests of the country in the works of L. N. Tolstoy, N. A. Nekrasov, F. I. Tyutchev.

Delimitation of social and political forces in the 1860s, polemics on the pages of periodicals. The Sovremennik and Russkoe Slovo magazines and their role in the social movement.

The journalistic and literary-critical activities of N.G. Chernyshevsky, N.A. Dobrolyubov and D.I. Pisarev.

N.G. Chernyshevsky. Socio-political and aesthetic views. Literary criticism of N.G. Chernyshevsky.

The novel "What is to be done?" N.G. Chernyshevsky, its socio-political and philosophical character, problems and ideological content. The theory of "reasonable egoism", its attractiveness and impracticability.

ON. Nekrasov is the organizer and creator of the new Sovremennik.

Roman I.A. Goncharov's "Oblomov" as a socio-psychological and philosophical novel.

"Notes of a Hunter" by I.S. Turgenev - history of creation, problems and artistic originality. V.G. Belinsky about the "Notes".

The novel "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev, his problems, ideological content and philosophical meaning. The main conflict of the novel and the reflection in it of the socio-political struggle on the eve and during the reforms.

The image of Bazarov as a "transitional type" of a "restless and yearning man" in the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons". Controversy around the novel. DI. Pisarev, M.A. Antonovich and N.N. Fears about Fathers and Children.

I.S. Turgenev "Poems in Prose", themes, main motives and genre originality.

The drama "The Thunderstorm" by A.N. Ostrovsky. The problem of personality and environment, ancestral memory and individual human activity in relation to the moral laws of antiquity.

The innovative character of A.N. Ostrovsky. Relevance and topicality of the problems touched upon in his works.

Soul and nature in the poetry of F.I. Tyutchev.

Features of love lyrics by F.I. Tyutcheva, her dramatic tension ("Oh, how destructively we love ...", "Last love", "On the eve of the anniversary of August 4, 1864", etc.).

The immediacy of the artistic perception of the world in the lyrics of A.A. Feta (“At dawn, don't wake her up…”, “Evening”, “How poor our language is! ..”, etc.).

Genre diversity of A.K. Tolstoy. The main motives of the poet's lyrics ("Amid a noisy ball ...", "Not the wind, blowing from a height ...", etc.).

Social, political and cultural life of Russia in the 1870s - early 1880s. Formation of the ideology of revolutionary populism.

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is an employee and editor of Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski.

"Fairy Tales" by M.Ye. Saltykov-Shchedrin, their main themes, fantastic orientation, Aesopian language.

Roman F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", posing and solving in it the problems of moral choice and human responsibility for the fate of the world.

Raskolnikov and his theory of crime. The essence of "punishment" of a lost personality and its path to spiritual rebirth in the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment".

NS. Leskov and his legends about the truth-seekers and the righteous of the people ("Soborians", "The Enchanted Wanderer", "Lefty").

"War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy. Concept, problems, composition, system of images.

Spiritual quest of L.N. Tolstoy in the novel Anna Karenina.

The search for the positive hero and ideals of A.P. Chekhov's stories ("My Life", "House with a Mezzanine", "Jumping").

The innovation of Chekhov's drama.

The cognitive, moral, educational and aesthetic role of Russian literature of the 19th century, its world significance and actual sound for the present.

Late 19th - early 20th century

Modernist trends. Symbolism and young symbolism. Futurism.

The motives of the immortality of the soul in the works of I.A. Bunin.

A.I. Kuprin. Affirmation of the high moral ideals of the Russian people in the writer's stories.

The moral and social quest of the heroes of I.S. Shmeleva.

The concept of society and man in the dramatic works of M. Gorky.

Autobiographical stories by M. Gorky "Childhood", "In people", "My universities"

Ideals of service to society as interpreted by V. Ya. Bryusov.

The theme of the historical destinies of Russia in the works of A.A. Block.

Acmeism as a trend in literature; representatives of acmeism.

The fate and creativity of M.I. Tsvetaeva.

The epic novel by M. Sholokhov "Quiet Don". The uniqueness of the image of the Russian character in the novel.

Novels and stories about the war "Young Guard" by A. Fadeev, "Star" by E. Kazakevich, "In the trenches of Stalingrad" by V. Nekrasov.

Soviet historical novel "Peter the First" by A. Tolstoy.

Satirical novels and stories by I. Ilf and E. Petrov.

Reflection of the tragic contradictions of the era in the works of A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam.

The development of the traditions of Russian folk culture in the poetry of the 30s by A. Tvardovsky, M. Isakovsky, P. Vasiliev.

Patriotic poetry and songs of the Great Patriotic War.

M.A. Sholokhov is the creator of the epic picture of folk life in the Don Stories.

The military theme in the works of M. Sholokhov.

The originality of the composition of the novel "The White Guard" by M.A. Bulgakov.

The tragedy of the depiction of the Civil War in the drama of M.A. Bulgakov (Days of the Turbins, Running, etc.).

The novel "Other Shores" by V.V. Nabokov as a novel-reminiscence about Russia.

Early lyrics by B. Pasternak.

A. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin". The book about the fighter is the embodiment of the Russian national character. I. Bunin about "Vasily Terkin".

Poem by A. Tvardovsky "House by the Road": problems, images of heroes.

"Camp" prose by A. Solzhenitsyn "The Gulag Archipelago", the novels "In the First Circle", "Cancer Ward".

Philosophical novels by Ch. Aitmatov: "Storm stop", "And the day lasts longer than a century", "Ploha".

The portrayal of the difficult path of the Soviet intelligentsia in the novels by Y. Bondarev "Coast", "Choice", "Game".

Philosophical fantastic prose A. and B. Strugatskikh.

Historical novels by L. Borodin, V. Shukshin, V. Chivilikhin, B. Okudzhava.

Realistic satire by F. Iskander, V. Voinovich, B. Mozhaev, V. Belov, V. Krupin.

Neo-modernist and post-modernist prose by V. Erofeev "Moscow - Petushki".

Artistic assimilation of the everyday life of a modern person in the "cruel" prose of T. Tolstoy, L. Petrushevskaya, L. Ulitskaya and others.

The depiction of a working person in the poetic works of Y. Smelyakov, B. Ruchiev, L. Tatyanicheva and others.

The spiritual world of the Russian person in lyric verses and poems by N. Rubtsov.

Lyrics of the front-line poets M. Dudin, S. Orlov, B. Slutsky and others.

Epic comprehension of the Patriotic War in the novel "Life and Fate" by V. Grossman.

Philosophical and parable narration about the war in V. Bykov's stories "Sotnikov", "Obelisk", "Sign of Trouble".

The variety of folk characters in the works of V. Shukshin.

The early stories of A. Solzhenitsyn: "One day of Ivan Denisovich", "Matrenin's yard".

Poetry of the 60s XX century.

N. Rubtsov. The development of Yesenin traditions in the books "The Star of the Fields", "The Soul Keeps", "Pine Noise", "Green Flowers", etc.

I. Brodsky's Nobel lecture is his poetic credo.

Books of poetry by I. Brodsky "Part of speech", "The end of a beautiful era", "Urania", etc.

Socio-psychological dramas by A. Arbuzov "Irkutsk Story", "Tales of the Old Arbat", "Cruel Intentions".

A. Vampilov Theater: "The Elder Son", "Duck Hunt", "Provincial Jokes", "Last Summer in Chulimsk".

Conditionally metaphorical novels by V. Pelevin "The Life of Insects" and "Chapaev and Emptiness".

Literary criticism of the mid 80's and 90's XX century

The development of the detective genre at the end of the twentieth century.

The literary festival in Bath, Somerset is one of the brightest and most respected in the UK. Founded in 1995 with the support of The Independent, it has become an important event in European cultural life. Art director of the festival, Viv Groskop - journalist, writer and comedy actress - sums up the original results of the 20-year activity of the festival and names its best books, year after year. By the way, almost all of them have already been filmed.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin, 1995

Louis de Bernier

Many have seen a wonderful film with Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz and think that Captain Corelli's Mandolin is a beautiful romance about true love. So it is, of course, it is. But it is also a novel about European history, about how strangely and closely the destinies of peoples and people are intertwined: your yesterday's ally shoots you in the back, and your yesterday's enemy saves your life. The plot of the book is based on real historical events when the Italians, being allies of Nazi Germany, occupied Greece, and then were disarmed and shot by the Germans who came, who suspected them of "sympathy for the local population." The Mediterranean charm of landscapes and characters: gentle Pelagia and courageous captain Corelli, did not leave British festival critics indifferent.

She is "Grace", 1996

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is a Booker Prize winner. She dedicated this book to an attempt to solve a brutal crime that rocked the whole of Canada: on July 23, 1843, the police accused 16-year-old maid Grace Marks of ruthlessly murdering her master and his pregnant mistress-housekeeper. Grace was extraordinarily beautiful and very young. But she told the police as many as three versions of what happened, and her accomplice - two. The accomplice went to the gallows, but Grace's lawyer managed to convince the judges that she was out of her mind. Grace spent 29 years in an insane asylum. Who was she really, and who committed the bloody crime? This is what Margaret Atwood is trying to tell.

American Pastoral, 1997

Philip Roth

What, in the end, did the American dream lead to? Who promised wealth, law and order to those who work hard and well-behaved? The main character - the Swede Leivow - married the beautiful Miss New Jersey, inherited his father's factory and became the owner of an old mansion in Old Rimrock. It would seem that dreams have come true, but one day American leafy happiness turns to dust at once ... And claims, of course, not only to the American dream, but to the illusions that modern society as a whole feeds us with.

England, England, 1998

Julian Barnes

Julian Barnes is a witty, ironic Briton who attracts the reader with his dissimilarity from the rest. This book is a kind of satirical utopia that urges people not to confuse the legends of their country's past with what it is in the present. Nostalgia for a never-existed "golden age" pushed businessman Jack Pitman to create the England, England project - a theme park that brings together everything that personifies good old England in the eyes of the whole world.

Disgrace, 1999

J.M. Coetzee

South African Coetzee is a two-time Booker Prize winner, this is a unique case. In 1983 he already received this award for the novel The Life and Times of Michael K.. In 2003, Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The main character of the book, a university professor, because of the scandalous story with a student, is literally deprived of everything: work, the goodwill of society and leaves to live with his lesbian daughter in a distant province. A polemic novel, Coetzee's answer to the question posed by Franz Kafka: to be or not to be a person, if life has reduced him in the eyes of those around him to the state of an insect, should he become zero or start from scratch?

White teeth, 2000

Zadie Smith

People of different races and nationalities, crises of adolescence and middle age, unhappy love and all that stuff: a brilliant comic story that tells about friendship, love, war, earthquake, three cultures, three families over three generations and one very unusual mouse. Zadie Smith is sharp on the tongue: tartly and sarcastically ridicules human stupidity. Raising a lot of problems to the surface, he does not give answers to questions, but rather suggests analyzing or confessing, recognizing himself.

Atonement, 2001

Ian McEwan

This book could very well be number one on the list of books with an unusual plot. In pre-war England there was a rich girl and the son of a gardener, whom she was going to marry. The youngest sister of the girl dreams of being a writer and exercises in observing and interpreting human words and deeds. And now, in her opinion, her sister's beloved is a dangerous maniac. And when the girls' cousin is really raped by someone, the future writer testifies against her sister's fiancé. Of course he was innocent. Of course, my sister broke off relations with the whole family. Of course, the youngest of the sisters becomes a writer and, driven by remorse, writes a novel about this story, a novel with a happy ending. But can he change something?

Every man's heart, 2002

William Boyd

The novel is built in the form of the personal diary of a fictional character - the writer Logan Mountstuart. The events of the hero's long life (1906-1991) are woven into the fabric of history: Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, Picasso, Hemingway appear in the novel. The hero is noddingly familiar with almost all the significant artists and writers of the 20th century: he bows in the streets and talks at parties. But this is not a historical novel; iconic figures are just a background or even a means to show the life of a typical European intellectual from the inside.

Mysterious Nighttime Murder of a Dog, 2003

Mark Haddon

Christopher Boone, 15, is autistic. He lives in a small town with his father. And then one day someone killed a neighbor's dog, and the boy is the main suspect. To investigate the mysterious murder of an animal, he writes down all the facts, although his father forbids him to interfere in this story. Christopher has a sharp mind, he is strong in mathematics, but he understands little in everyday life. He cannot stand touch, does not trust strangers and never leaves the usual path alone. Christopher does not yet know that the investigation will turn his whole life upside down.

Small Island, 2004

Andrea Levy

The novel, set in 1948, touches on the themes of empire, prejudice, war and love. This is a kind of comedy of mistakes, played out in 1948. It was then that Andrea Levy's parents came to the UK from Jamaica, and their story formed the basis of the novel. The protagonist of "Little Island" returns from the war, but a peaceful life on the "big" island turns out to be not so easy and cloudless.

Something Wrong with Kevin, 2005

Lionel Shriver

The book has also been translated with the title "The Price of Dislike". Difficult, hard book about how to live if your child has committed a terrible crime. What questions to ask yourself as a parent? What are you missing? Something was always wrong with Kevin, but nobody did anything about it.

Road, 2006

Cormac McCarthy

This novel has won many awards: the British James Tate Black Memorial Award in 2006 and the American Pulitzer Prize for fiction. A terrible catastrophe has destroyed the United States and an unnamed father and son, still a boy, are moving through the territory, which is ruled by gangs of marauders and thugs, to the sea.

Half of the yellow sun, 2007

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi

The book traces the fates of five main characters: the twin daughters (the beauties of Olanna and the rebel Kainene), an influential entrepreneur, the professor, his boy servant Ugwu and the British journalist-writer Richard. Each of them has their own plans for the future and dreams, which are broken by the war. The action takes place against the backdrop of the Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970). Readers have called Adichie's novel "The African Kite Runner", and British critics have awarded him the prestigious Orange Prize.

Outcast, 2008

Sadie Jones

1957 year. Young Lewis Aldridge returns home after serving two years for a crime that shocked sleepy Surrey. Lewis is destined to go through the path of disappointment and loss, not counting on the support of others, in danger of being broken. And only on the verge of despair he will again be given love, love as salvation ...

Little stranger, 2009

Sarah Waters

End of World War II. England. The previously brilliant family of local landowners fell into decay. Lands are being sold, the farm is unprofitable, the luxurious mansion is decaying, and its dying destroys the psyche of the remaining inhabitants: an old lady with traces of former greatness, who yearns for her first-born daughter who died in childhood, and her children - an ugly daughter who sat in girls and her son crippled in the war, on which all the burdens of the head of a ruined family fall. All events are shown through the eyes of a kind doctor, whose kindness under the finale becomes very doubtful. There is also a ghost living in the estate.

Wolfhall, 2010

Hilary Mantel

You know Cromwell's name. Only you think of Oliver Cromwell, and the main character of this book, which Viv Groskop, art director of the Bath Literary Festival, calls the best of the twenty on offer, is a guy named Thomas Cromwell. He is the son of a rowdy blacksmith, a political genius whose tools are bribery, threats and flattery. His goal is to transform England in accordance with his will and the wishes of the king, whom he faithfully serves, because if Henry VIII dies without leaving an heir, then a civil war is inevitable in the country.

Time Laughs Last, 2011

Jennifer Egan

The book "Time Laughs Last" brought the author world fame and the most prestigious literary award in the United States - the Pulitzer Prize. There are many heroes in this book. A whole tangle. But the most important, central character is Time. And it laughs the last. The youth of the heroes coincides with the inception of punk-rock, and it forever enters their lives, and for someone it becomes a vocation. The book itself is structured like a music album: its two parts are called “Side A” and “Side B”, and each of the thirteen independent chapters, like songs, has its own theme. Life is not generous to everyone, but everyone in their own way tries to resist time and remain faithful to themselves and their dreams.

On the verge of miracles, 2012

Anne Patchett

A brave and risky girl Marina Singh is looking for a miracle, and her sixth sense tells her that it is here, in the vicinity of the Amazon, that she will find what she is looking for. Search and adventure, and such different versions of the "truth." Will the heroine have enough strength?

Life after life, 2013

Kate Atkinson

Imagine having the opportunity to live life over and over again until it works out right. The main character is born and dies before she can breathe. And then he is born again, survives and tells the story of his life. Tells over and over again. Until it turns out to live the twentieth century correctly: to escape from the treacherous waves; avoid a fatal disease; find a ball rolled into the bushes; learn to shoot so as not to miss the Fuhrer.

Goldfinch, 2014

Donna Tartt

This novel has won numerous literary awards, including the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. The novel is named after the painting The Goldfinch (1654) by the famous Dutch artist Karel Fabricius, which plays an important role in the fate of the book's protagonist. Stephen King also expressed his admiration for the novel, adding: “There are no more than five books like The Goldfinch in ten years. It is written both with the mind and with the soul. Donna Tartt presented to the public a brilliant novel "

A Brief History of the Seven Murders, 2015

Marlon James

On October 13, 2015, Marlon James was named the winner of the Booker Prize. James is the first Jamaican to enter the competition. His novel topped the list of best books all year, and its main characteristic is the cinematic storytelling. The book tells about the attempts on Bob Marley in the 1970s, uncovered three decades later, in which drug lords, beauty queens, journalists and even the CIA appeared.

Based on materials: theindependent.com.uk