Literary style realism. Realism is a literary and artistic movement. Realism in Russian literature of the 20th century

Realism (from Late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is unusually rich. The very idea of ​​it changed at different stages of artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a truthful depiction of reality.

Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.”



Illustration by O. Vereisky for L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”.



Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”



Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev”.



Illustration by B. Zaborov for the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Ditte - Child of Man.”

However, the concept of truth, truth is one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theorist of French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth and “imitating nature.” But the romantic V. Hugo, an ardent opponent of classicism, urged “to consult only nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature.” Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".

The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist’s point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to grasp the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.

The specific features of realism depend on the historical conditions in which art develops. National historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.

Realism is not something given and unchangeable once and for all. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.

There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about the realism of cave paintings of primitive people, about the realism of ancient sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of the ancient world and the early Middle Ages (in folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as an artistic system in European literature is usually associated with the Renaissance (Renaissance), the greatest progressive revolution. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church sermon of slavish obedience is reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After centuries of medieval churchmen preaching that man is a “vessel of sin” and calling for humility, Renaissance literature and art glorified man as the supreme creature of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the richness of his soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), the poeticization of the human personality, its capacity for great feeling (as in Romeo and Juliet) and at the same time the high intensity of the tragic conflict, when the clash of personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted .

The next stage in the development of realism is the educational stage (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument of direct preparation for the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the educators there were supporters of classicism; their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the 18th century. The so-called Enlightenment realism was also taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. The English realistic novel, whose founder was D. Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), acquired worldwide significance. A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy of P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy “Cunning and Love” by I. F. Schiller, images of peasants in A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners assessed all phenomena of social life and people's actions as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable, first of all, in all the old feudal orders and customs). They proceeded from this in their depiction of human character; their positive heroes are, first of all, the embodiment of reason, the negative ones are a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, the barbarism of former times.

Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: “Suppose a person finds himself on a desert island...”. At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson’s behavior not as it could actually be (the prototype of his hero went wild, even lost his articulate speech), but as he wants to present the person, fully armed with his physical and mental strength, as a hero, conqueror of forces nature. Faust in I. V. Goethe, shown in the struggle for the establishment of high ideals, is also conventional. Features of a well-known convention also distinguish D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.”

A new type of realism emerged in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its flourishing in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov.

Critical realism portrays the relationship between man and the environment in a new way. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The subject of deep social analysis has become the inner world of man; critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological. Romanticism, which sought to penetrate the secrets of the human “I,” played a large role in the preparation of this quality of realism.

Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some kind of absolute superiority over previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.

The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation characteristic of the Enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.

The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. XIX century Marxism not only influence the literature of critical realism, but also give rise to the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the perspective of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, and the author of “The International” E. Pothier, new features are outlined that anticipate the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.

In Russia, the 19th century is a period of exceptional strength and scope in the development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, won it worldwide recognition.

The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the 19th century. allow us to talk about its different forms.

Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature onto the broad path of depicting “the fate of the people, the fate of man.” In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin seems to be catching up with its previous lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with his universality and his optimism, turning out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. Pushkin’s work lays the foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school.

Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats led by N. G. Chernyshevsky gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).

A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It was thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired global significance. Their psychological mastery and insight into the “dialectics of the soul” opened the way for the artistic quests of 20th century writers. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.

The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “a mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.

The creative scope of Russian social realism is reflected in the wealth of genres, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary journalistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of realistic stories and a kind of “lyrical drama”.

It is important to emphasize that Russian realism of the 19th century. did not develop in isolation from the world historical and literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, in the words of K. Marx and F. Engels, “the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become the common property.”

F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “capacity for universality, all-humanity, all-response.” Here we are talking not so much about Western influences, but about the organic development in line with European culture of its centuries-old traditions.

At the beginning of the 20th century. The appearance of M. Gorky's plays "The Bourgeois", "At the Demise" and especially the novel "Mother" (and in the West - the novel "Pelle the Conqueror" by M. Andersen-Nexo) testifies to the formation of socialist realism. In the 20s Soviet literature declared itself with major successes, and in the early 30s. In many capitalist countries, a literature of the revolutionary proletariat is emerging. The literature of socialist realism is becoming an important factor in world literary development. It should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more connections with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).

The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence of the October Revolution and the existence of the Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world system of socialism - all this affected the fate of realism.

Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until the October Revolution (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development, while undergoing significant changes. In critical realism of the 20th century. in the West, a variety of influences are more freely assimilated and intersected, including some features of the unrealistic movements of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.

From about the 20s. In the literature of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of the “stream of consciousness”. The so-called intellectual novel of T. Mann arises; subtext takes on special significance, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in Western critical realism significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “Quiet Flows the Don” by M. A. Sholokhov, “Walking in Torment” by A. N. Tolstoy, “The Dead Remain Young” by A. Zegers).

Unlike the realists of the 19th century. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Chapek), to convention (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the 20th century. the document, the fact, triumphs. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.

Thus, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O'Casey, I. Becher, such classic books of socialist realism as “Report with a Noose Around the Neck” by Yu. Fuchik and “The Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeeva.

Briefly:

The name comes from Late Latin realis - real, real.

The works of realists are characterized by a truthful and objective reflection of reality. The measure of the realism of a work is the depth of penetration into reality, the completeness of its artistic understanding. Realism in the broad sense of the word is inherent in any great work of art. Therefore, they talk about realism in ancient, ancient and medieval literature, literature of the Enlightenment.

Basic principles of realism of the 19th-20th centuries:

— an objective reflection of life in accordance with the author’s ideal;

- works show typical characters in typical circumstances, without giving up their individuality;

- life-like authenticity of the reflection of reality, i.e. in the “forms of life itself”;

— the interest of the work lies in reflecting the conflict between the individual and society.

In Russia, the foundations of realism were laid in the works of A. S. Pushkin (“Eugene Onegin”, “The Captain’s Daughter”) and A. S. Griboyedov (“Woe from Wit”). The works of I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, A. N. Ostrovsky have a strongly socially oriented critical principle, which is why M. Gorky called it “critical realism.” Realism reached its heights in the works of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.

The reflection of life and human characters from the point of view of the socialist ideal created socialist realism. This trend arose long before the emergence of the socialist state. The first work of socialist realism in Russian literature is considered to be M. Gorky’s novel “Mother”. Socialist realism achieved high artistry in the works of the best representatives of this movement - D. Furmanov, M. A. Sholokhov, A. T. Tvardovsky.

Source: Student's Quick Guide. Russian literature / Author-comp. I.N. Agekyan. - Mn.: Modern writer, 2002

More details:

In the ordinary sense, readers call realism a truthful and objective depiction of life that is easy to compare with reality. For the first time, the 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 the illusion of reality in the reader. It is based on the following principles:

1. artistic historicism, that is, a figurative idea of ​​the connection between time and changing reality;
2. explanation of current events by socio-historical and natural scientific reasons;
3. identifying relationships between the described phenomena;
4. detailed and accurate depiction of details;
5. the creation of typical heroes who act in typical, that is, recognizable and repeated circumstances.

It is assumed that realism understood social problems and social contradictions better and more deeply than previous trends, and also showed society and man in dynamics and development. Perhaps based on these features of realism, M. Gorky called the realism of the 19th century “critical realism”, since he often “exposed” the unjust structure of bourgeois society and criticized the emerging bourgeois relations. Realists often connected even psychological analysis with social analysis, trying to find an explanation in the social structure for the psychological characteristics of the characters. Many of O. de Balzac’s novels are based on this. Their characters were people of various professions. Ordinary personalities finally found a quite prestigious place in literature: no one laughed at them anymore, they no longer served anyone; mediocrity became the main characters, like characters in Chekhov's stories.

Realism replaced fantasy and emotions, which were most important for romanticism, with logical analysis and scientific knowledge of life. In realistic literature, facts are not only examined: a relationship is established between them. This was the only way to understand the prose of life, that ocean of everyday little things that now appeared in realistic literature.

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

Comparing realism and romanticism, L.N. Tolstoy once noted that realism “...is a story from the inside about the struggle of the human personality in the material environment around it. While romanticism takes a person outside the material environment, makes him fight abstraction, like Don Quixote with windmills...”

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

Realism is a trend in literature and art that aims to faithfully reproduce reality in its typical features. The dominance of realism followed the era of Romanticism and preceded Symbolism.

1. At the center of the work of realists is objective reality. In its refraction through the worldview of art. 2. The author subjects life material to philosophical processing. 3. The ideal is reality itself. The beautiful thing is life itself. 4. Realists approach synthesis through analysis.

5. The principle of the typical: Typical hero, specific time, typical circumstances

6. Identification of cause-and-effect relationships. 7. The principle of historicism. Realists turn to the problems of the present. The present is the convergence of past and future. 8. The principle of democracy and humanism. 9. The principle of objectivity of the story. 10. Socio-political and philosophical issues predominate

11. psychologism

12. .. The development of poetry is somewhat calming down 13. The novel is the leading genre.

13. Heightened social-critical pathos is one of the main features of Russian realism - for example, “The Inspector General”, “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol

14. The main feature of realism as a creative method is the increased attention to the social side of reality.

15. The images of a realistic work reflect the general laws of existence, and not living people. Any image is woven from typical traits manifested in typical circumstances. This is the paradox of art. An image cannot be correlated with a living person; it is richer than a specific person - hence the objectivity of realism.

16. “The artist should not be a judge of his characters and what they say, but only an impartial witness

Realist writers

Late A. S. Pushkin is the founder of realism in Russian literature (the historical drama “Boris Godunov”, the stories “The Captain’s Daughter”, “Dubrovsky”, “Belkin’s Tales”, the novel in verse “Eugene Onegin” back in the 1820s - 1830s)

M. Yu. Lermontov (“Hero of Our Time”)

N. V. Gogol (“Dead Souls”, “The Inspector General”)

I. A. Goncharov (“Oblomov”)

A. S. Griboedov (“Woe from Wit”)

A. I. Herzen (“Who is to blame?”)

N. G. Chernyshevsky (“What to do?”)

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”, “The Noble Nest”, “Asya”, “Spring Waters”, “Fathers and Sons”, “New”, “On the Eve”, “Mu-mu”)

A. P. Chekhov (“The Cherry Orchard”, “Three Sisters”, “Student”, “Chameleon”, “The Seagull”, “Man in a Case”

Since the middle of the 19th century, the formation of Russian realistic literature has been taking place, which was created against the backdrop of the tense socio-political situation that developed in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. A crisis of the serfdom system is brewing, and contradictions between the authorities and the common people are strong. There is an urgent need to create realistic literature that is acutely responsive to the socio-political situation in the country.

Writers turn to socio-political problems of Russian reality. The genre of the realistic novel is developing. His works are created by I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, I.A. Goncharov. It is worth noting the poetic works of Nekrasov, who was the first to introduce social issues into poetry. His poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is known, as well as many poems that reflect on the difficult and hopeless life of the people. End of the 19th century - The realistic tradition began to fade away. It was replaced by so-called decadent literature. . Realism becomes, to a certain extent, a method of artistic cognition of reality. In the 40s, a “natural school” arose - the work of Gogol, he was a great innovator, discovering that even an insignificant event, such as the acquisition of an overcoat by a minor official, can become a significant event for understanding the most important issues of human existence.

The “Natural School” became the initial stage in the development of realism in Russian literature.

Topics: Life, customs, characters, events from the life of the lower classes became the object of study by “naturalists”. The leading genre was the “physiological essay,” which was based on accurate “photography” of the life of various classes.

In the literature of the “natural school,” the hero’s class position, his professional affiliation, and the social function he performs decisively prevailed over his individual character.

Those who joined the “natural school” were: Nekrasov, Grigorovich, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Goncharov, Panaev, Druzhinin and others.

The task of truthfully showing and exploring life presupposes in realism many techniques for depicting reality, which is why the works of Russian writers are so diverse in both form and content.

Realism as a method of depicting reality in the second half of the 19th century. received the name of critical realism, because its main task was the criticism of reality, the question of the relationship between man and society.

To what extent does society influence the fate of the hero? Who is to blame for a person being unhappy? What to do to change a person and the world? - these are the main questions of literature in general, Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century. - in particular.

Psychologism - the characterization of a hero through the analysis of his inner world, consideration of the psychological processes through which a person’s self-awareness is realized and his attitude to the world is expressed - has become the leading method of Russian literature since the formation of the realistic style in it.

One of the remarkable features of Turgenev’s works of the 50s was the appearance in them of a hero who embodied the idea of ​​the unity of ideology and psychology.

Realism of the 2nd half of the 19th century reached its peak precisely in Russian literature, especially in the works of L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky, who at the end of the 19th century became the central figures of the world literary process. They enriched world literature with new principles for constructing a socio-psychological novel, philosophical and moral issues, new ways of revealing the human psyche in its deep layers

Turgenev is credited with creating literary types of ideologists - heroes, whose approach to personality and characterization of their inner world is in direct connection with the author’s assessment of their worldview and the socio-historical meaning of their philosophical concepts. The merging of the psychological, historical-typological and ideological aspects in Turgenev’s heroes is so complete that their names have become a common noun for a certain stage in the development of social thought, a certain social type representing a class in its historical state, and the psychological makeup of the individual (Rudin, Bazarov, Kirsanov , Mr. N. from the story “Asya” - “Russian man on rendez-vous”).

Dostoevsky's heroes are at the mercy of ideas. Like slaves, they follow her, expressing her self-development. Having “accepted” a certain system into their soul, they obey the laws of its logic, go through all the necessary stages of its growth with it, and bear the yoke of its reincarnations. Thus, Raskolnikov, whose concept grew out of rejection of social injustice and a passionate desire for good, passing through all its logical stages along with the idea that took possession of his entire being, accepts murder and justifies the tyranny of a strong personality over the voiceless masses. In lonely monologues-reflections, Raskolnikov “strengthens” in his idea, falls under its power, gets lost in its ominous vicious circle, and then, having completed the “experience” and suffering internal defeat, begins to feverishly seek dialogue, the possibility of jointly assessing the results of the experiment.

In Tolstoy, the system of ideas that the hero develops and develops in the course of his life is a form of his communication with the environment and is derived from his character, from the psychological and moral characteristics of his personality.

It can be argued that all three great Russian realists of the mid-century - Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky - depict the mental and ideological life of a person as a social phenomenon and ultimately presuppose obligatory contact between people, without which the development of consciousness is impossible.

Realism at the turn of the century remained a large-scale and influential literary movement. Suffice it to say that in the 1900s L. Tolstoy and A. Chekhov still lived and worked.

The most brilliant talents among the new realists belonged to the writers who united in the Moscow circle “Sreda” in the 1890s, and who in the early 1900s formed the circle of regular authors of the publishing house “Znanie” (one of its owners and de facto leader was M. Gorky). In addition to the leader of the association, over the years it included L. Andreev, I. Bunin, V. Veresaev, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, A. Kuprin, I. Shmelev and other writers. With the exception of I. Bunin, there were no major poets among the realists; they showed themselves primarily in prose and, less noticeably, in drama.

The influence of this group of writers was largely due to the fact that it was they who inherited the traditions of the great Russian literature of the 19th century. However, the immediate predecessors of the new generation of realists seriously updated the appearance of the movement already in the 1880s. The creative searches of the late L. Tolstoy, V. Korolenko, A. Chekhov introduced into artistic practice a lot of things that were unusual by the standards of classical realism. The experience of A. Chekhov turned out to be especially important for the next generation of realists.

Chekhov's world includes many diverse human characters, but with all the originality, his heroes are similar in that they all lack something most important. They try to join true life, but, as a rule, they never find the desired spiritual harmony. Neither love, nor passionate service to science or social ideals, nor faith in God - none of the previously reliable means of gaining integrity - can help the hero. The world in his perception has lost a single center; this world is far from hierarchical completeness and cannot be embraced by any of the worldview systems.

That is why life according to any ideological template, a worldview based on a fixed system of social and ethical values, is interpreted by Chekhov as vulgarity. Life turns out to be vulgar, repeating patterns set by tradition, devoid of spiritual independence. None of Chekhov's heroes are unconditionally right, so Chekhov's type of conflict looks unusual. When comparing heroes on one or another basis, Chekhov most often does not give preference to any of them. What is important to him is not “moral investigation,” but rather finding out the reasons for mutual misunderstanding between people. This is why the writer refuses to be the accuser or lawyer of his heroes.

Outwardly mild plot situations in his mature prose and drama are designed to reveal the delusions of the characters, determine the degree of development of their self-awareness and the associated degree of personal responsibility. In general, various moral, ideological and stylistic contrasts in Chekhov’s world lose their absolute character and become relative.

In a word, Chekhov's world is a world of moving relationships, where different subjective truths interact. In such works, the role of subjective reflection (self-analysis, reflections of the characters, their understanding of their actions) increases. The author has good control over the tone of his assessments: it cannot be unconditionally heroic or recklessly satirical. Subtle lyrical irony is perceived by the reader as a typically Chekhovian tone.

Thus, the generation of realist writers of the early 20th century inherited from Chekhov new principles of writing - with much greater authorial freedom than before; with a much wider arsenal of artistic expression; with a sense of proportion obligatory for the artist, which was ensured by increased internal self-criticism and self-reflection.

While generously using some of Chekhov's findings, realists of the turn of the century did not always possess the last of the mentioned qualities of an artist. Where Chekhov saw a variety and relative equivalence of life behavior options, his young followers were carried away by one of them. If Chekhov, say, shows how strong the inertia of life is, often nullifying the hero’s initial desire to change, then the realist of Gorky’s generation sometimes absolutizes the very volitional impulse of a person, without testing it for strength and therefore replacing the real complexity of a person with a dream of “strong people.” Where Chekhov predicted a long-term perspective, calling for “squeezing a slave out of oneself” drop by drop, the “Knowledge” writer gave a much more optimistic forecast of “the birth of man.”

Nevertheless, it is extremely important that the generation of realists of the early 20th century inherited from Chekhov constant attention to the personality of man, his individuality. What are the main features of realism of the late 19th - early 20th centuries?

Themes and heroes of realistic literature. The thematic range of works by turn-of-the-century realists is wider than that of their predecessors; For most writers at this time, thematic constancy is uncharacteristic. Rapid changes in Russia forced them to vary themes and invade previously reserved thematic layers. In Gorky’s writing circle at that time, the spirit of the artel was strong: through joint efforts, the “Znanievites” created a wide panorama of the country undergoing renewal. Large-scale thematic capture was noticeable in the titles of the works that made up the “Knowledge” collections (it was this type of publication - collections and almanacs - that spread in the literature of the beginning of the century). For example, the table of contents of the 12th collection “Knowledge” resembled the sections of some sociological study: the same type of titles “In the city”, “In the family”, “In prison”, “In the village” designated the areas of life being examined.

Elements of sociological descriptiveness in realism are the not yet overcome legacy of social essay prose of the 60-80s, in which there was a strong focus on the empirical study of reality. However, the prose of the “Znanievites” was distinguished by more acute artistic problems. The crisis of all forms of life - most of their works brought readers to this conclusion. What was important was the changed attitude of realists to the possibility of transforming life. In the literature of the 60-80s, the living environment was depicted as sedentary, possessing a terrible force of inertia. Now the circumstances of a person's existence are interpreted as devoid of stability and subject to his will. In the relationship between man and the environment, realists at the turn of the century emphasized man’s ability not only to withstand the adverse effects of the environment, but also to actively rebuild life.

The typology of characters has also been noticeably updated in realism. Outwardly, the writers followed tradition: in their works one could find recognizable types of the “little man” or the intellectual who survived the spiritual drama. The peasant remained one of the central figures in their prose. But even the traditional “peasant” characterology has changed: more and more often a new type of “thoughtful” man appeared in stories and tales. Characters got rid of sociological averageness and became more diverse in psychological characteristics and attitude. “The diversity of the soul” of the Russian person is a constant motif in I. Bunin’s prose. He was one of the first in realism to widely use foreign material in his works (“Brothers”, “Chang’s Dreams”, “The Mister from San Francisco”). The use of such material became characteristic of other writers (M. Gorky, E. Zamyatin).

Genres and stylistic features of realistic prose. The genre system and stylistics of realistic prose were significantly updated at the beginning of the 20th century.

At this time, the most mobile stories and essays occupied a central place in the genre hierarchy. The novel has practically disappeared from the genre repertoire of realism: the story has become the largest epic genre. Not a single novel in the exact meaning of this term was written by the most significant realists of the early 20th century - I. Bunin and M. Gorky.

Starting with the work of A. Chekhov, the importance of the formal organization of the text has noticeably increased in realistic prose. Individual techniques and elements of form received greater independence in the artistic structure of the work than before. So, for example, artistic detail was used more variedly, at the same time, the plot increasingly lost the significance of the main compositional device and began to play a subordinate role. The expressiveness in conveying the details of the visible and audible world has deepened. In this regard, I. Bunin, B. Zaitsev, I. Shmelev especially stood out. A specific feature of Bunin's style, for example, was the amazing unity of visual and auditory, olfactory and tactile characteristics in conveying the surrounding world. Realist writers attached greater importance to the use of rhythmic and phonetic effects of artistic speech, the transfer of individual characteristics of characters' oral speech (masterful mastery of this element of form was characteristic of I. Shmelev).

Having lost, in comparison with the classics of the 19th century, the epic scale and integrity of the vision of the world, the realists of the beginning of the century compensated for these losses with a keener perception of life and greater expression in expressing the author’s position. The general logic of the development of realism at the beginning of the century was to strengthen the role of highly expressive forms. What was important to the writer now was not so much the proportionality of the proportions of the reproduced fragment of life, but rather the “power of the cry”, the intensity of the expression of the author’s emotions. This was achieved by sharpening the plot situations, when extremely dramatic, “borderline” states in the lives of the characters were described in close-up. The figurative series of works was built on contrasts, sometimes extremely sharp, “screaming”; Leitmotif principles of narration were actively used: the frequency of figurative and lexical repetitions increased.

Stylistic expression was especially characteristic of L. Andreev and A. Serafimovich. It is also noticeable in some of M. Gorky’s works. The works of these writers contain many journalistic elements - “montage” joining of statements, aphorism, rhetorical repetitions; the author often comments on what is happening, intrudes into the plot with lengthy journalistic digressions (you will find examples of such digressions in M. Gorky’s stories “Childhood” and “In People”). In the stories and dramas of L. Andreev, the plot and arrangement of characters were often deliberately schematic: the writer was attracted by universal, “eternal” types and life situations.

However, within the work of one writer, a single stylistic manner was rarely maintained: more often, wordsmiths combined several stylistic options. For example, in the works of A. Kuprin, M. Gorky, L. Andreev, precise depiction coexisted with generalized romantic imagery, elements of life-likeness - with artistic conventions.

Stylistic duality, an element of artistic eclecticism - a characteristic feature of the realism of the beginning

XX century. Of the major writers of that time, only I. Bunin avoided diversity in his work: both his poetic and prosaic works maintained the harmony of precise descriptiveness and authorial lyricism. The stylistic instability of realism was a consequence of the transitivity and well-known artistic compromise of the direction. On the one hand, realism remained faithful to the traditions bequeathed by the previous century, on the other, it began to interact with new trends in art.

Realist writers gradually adapted to new forms of artistic search, although this process was not always peaceful. Those who went further along the path of rapprochement with modernist aesthetics were L. Andreev, B. Zaitsev, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, and somewhat later - E. Zamyatin. Most of them were often reproached by critics who were adherents of former traditions for artistic apostasy, or even ideological desertion. However, the process of updating realism as a whole was artistically fruitful, and its total achievements at the turn of the century were significant.

Modern natural science, which alone has reached its most recent, systematic and scientific development, like all modern history, dates back to that era, which the Germans called the Reformation, the French the Renaissance, and the Italians the Quinquenecento.

This poha begins in the second half of the 15th century. Blooming in the field of art at this time is one of the sides of the greatest progressive revolution, characterized by the breakdown of feudal foundations and the development of new economic relations. The royal authorities, relying on the townspeople, broke the feudal nobility and founded large, essentially national monarchies, in which modern European sciences developed. These shifts, which took place in an atmosphere of powerful popular upsurge, are closely connected with the struggle for secular culture to be independent of religion. In the XV-XVI centuries, advanced realistic art was created

In the 40s of the XIX century. Realism becomes an influential movement in art. Its basis was a direct, lively and unbiased perception and a truthful reflection of reality. Like romanticism, realism criticized reality, but at the same time it proceeded from reality itself, and in it it tried to identify ways to approach the ideal. Unlike the romantic hero, the hero of critical realism may be an aristocrat, a convict, a banker, a landowner, or a petty official, but he is always a typical hero in typical circumstances.

Realism of the 19th century, in contrast to the Renaissance and Enlightenment, according to the definition of A.M. Gorky is, first of all, critical realism. Its main theme is the exposure of the bourgeois system and its morality, the vices of the writer’s contemporary society. C. Dickens, W. Thackeray, F. Stendhal, O. Balzac revealed the social meaning of evil, seeing the reason in the material dependence of man on man.

In the disputes between classicists and romantics in the fine arts, the foundation was gradually laid for a new perception - realistic.

Realism, as a visually reliable perception of reality, assimilation to nature, approached naturalism. However, E. Delacroix already noted that “realism cannot be confused with the visible semblance of reality.” The significance of an artistic image depended not on the naturalism of the image, but on the level of generalization and typification.

The term "realism", introduced by the French literary critic J. Chanfleury in the mid-19th century, was used to designate art that opposed romanticism and academic idealism. Initially, realism came closer to naturalism and the “natural school” in art and literature of the 60-80s.

However, later realism self-identified as a movement that does not coincide with naturalism in everything. In Russian aesthetic thought, realism means not so much an accurate reproduction of life, but rather a “truthful” representation with a “sentence on the phenomena of life.”

Realism expands the social space of artistic vision, makes the “universal art” of classicism speak in a national language, and rejects retrospectivism more decisively than romanticism. A realistic worldview is the other side of idealism[ 9, pp. 4-6].

In the XV-XVI centuries, advanced realistic art was created. In the Middle Ages, artists, submitting to the influence of the church, moved away from the real image of the world inherent in the artists of antiquity (Apollodorus, Zeuxis, Parrhasius and Palephilus). Art moved towards the abstract and mystical; the real depiction of the world, the desire for knowledge, was considered a sinful matter. Real images seemed too material, sensual, and, therefore, dangerous in the sense of temptation. Artistic culture fell, visual literacy fell. Hippolyte Taine wrote: “Looking at church glass and statues, at primitive painting, it seems to me that the human race has degenerated, consumptive saints, ugly martyrs, flat-chested virgins, a procession of colorless, dry, sad personalities, reflecting the fear of oppression.”

The art of the Renaissance introduces new progressive content into traditional religious subjects. In their works, artists glorify man, show him as beautiful and harmoniously developed, and convey the beauty of the world around him. But what is especially characteristic of the artists of that time is that they all live in the interests of their time, hence the completeness and strength of character, the realism of their paintings. The broadest social upsurge determined the true nationality of the best works of the Renaissance. The Renaissance is a time of greatest cultural and artistic upsurge, which marked the beginning of the development of realistic art of subsequent eras. A new worldview was emerging, free from the spiritual oppression of the church. It is based on faith in the strengths and capabilities of man, a greedy interest in earthly life. A huge interest in man, recognition of the values ​​and beauty of the real world determine the activities of artists, the development of a new realistic method in art based on scientific research in the field of anatomy, linear and aerial perspective, chiaroscuro and proportions. These artists created deeply realistic art.