Russian realism of the late XIX - early XX century and its development. Realism in Russian literature of the XIX - XX centuries. Development stages, representatives

Realism is a trend in literature and art that truthfully and realistically reflects the typical features of reality, in which there are no various distortions and exaggerations. This trend followed romanticism, and was the forerunner of symbolism.

This trend originated in the 30s of the 19th century and reached its heyday by the middle. His followers strongly denied the use of literary works any sophisticated techniques, mystical trends and idealization of characters. The main feature of this trend in the literature is artistic display real life with the help of ordinary and well-known readers of images that for them are part of their daily life (relatives, neighbors or acquaintances).

(Alexey Yakovlevich Voloskov "At the tea table")

The works of realist writers are characterized by a life-affirming beginning, even if their plot is characterized by a tragic conflict. One of the main features of this genre is the authors' attempt to consider the surrounding reality in its development, to discover and describe new psychological, social and social relations.

Replacing romanticism, realism has the characteristic features of art, seeking to find truth and justice, and wanting to change the world for the better. The main characters in the works of realist authors make their discoveries and conclusions, after much thought and deep introspection.

(Zhuravlev Firs Sergeevich "Before the crown")

Critical realism is developing almost simultaneously in Russia and Europe (approximately 30-40s of the 19th century) and soon emerges as the leading trend in literature and art throughout the world.

In France, literary realism is primarily associated with the names of Balzac and Stendhal, in Russia with Pushkin and Gogol, in Germany with the names of Heine and Buchner. All of them experience in their literary work the inevitable influence of romanticism, but they gradually move away from it, abandon the idealization of reality and move on to portraying a broader social background, where the life of the main characters proceeds.

Realism in Russian literature of the 19th century

The main founder of Russian realism in the 19th century is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. In his works "The Captain's Daughter", "Eugene Onegin", "Belkin's Tale", "Boris Godunov", " Bronze Horseman»He subtly captures and masterfully conveys the very essence of all important events in the life of Russian society, represented by his talented pen in all its diversity, color and contradiction. Following Pushkin, many writers of that time came to the genre of realism, deepening the analysis of the emotional experiences of their heroes and depicting their complex inner world ("A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov, "The Inspector General" and "Dead Souls" by Gogol).

(Pavel Fedotov "The Choosy Bride")

The tense socio-political situation in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I aroused a keen interest in the life and fate of the common people among progressive public figures of that time. This is noted in the later works of Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol, as well as in the poetic lines of Alexei Koltsov and the works of the authors of the so-called "natural school": I.S. Turgenev (cycle of stories "Notes of a Hunter", stories "Fathers and Sons", "Rudin", "Asya"), F.M. Dostoevsky ("Poor People", "Crime and Punishment"), A.I. Herzen ("Thief Magpie", "Who is to blame?"), I.A. Goncharova ("An Ordinary History", "Oblomov"), A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", L.N. Tolstoy ("War and Peace", "Anna Karenina"), A.P. Chekhov (stories and plays " The Cherry Orchard"," Three Sisters "," Uncle Vanya ").

Literary realism of the second half of the 19th century was called critical, the main task of his works was to highlight existing problems, to touch on the issues of interaction between a person and the society in which he lives.

Realism in Russian literature of the 20th century

(Nikolay Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky "Evening")

The turning point in the fate of Russian realism was the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when this direction was going through a crisis and a new cultural phenomenon - symbolism - loudly announced itself. It was then that a new, updated aesthetics of Russian realism emerged, in which history itself and its global processes were now considered the main environment shaping a person's personality. The realism of the beginning of the 20th century revealed the entire complexity of the formation of a person's personality, it was formed under the influence of not only social factors, history itself acted as the creator of typical circumstances, under the aggressive influence of which the protagonist fell.

(Boris Kustodiev "Portrait of D.F.Bogoslovsky")

There are four main trends in realism at the beginning of the twentieth century:

• Critical: Continues the traditions of mid-19th century classical realism. In his works, an emphasis is placed on the social nature of phenomena (the work of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy);
• Socialist: displaying the historical and revolutionary development of real life, analyzing conflicts in the context of class struggle, revealing the essence of the characters of the main characters and their actions, committed for the benefit of others. (M. Gorky "Mother", "The Life of Klim Samgin", most of the works of Soviet authors).
• Mythological: reflection and rethinking of real life events through the prism of the plots of famous myths and legends (LN Andreev "Judas Iscariot");
• Naturalism: an extremely truthful, often unsightly, detailed depiction of reality (AI Kuprin "The Pit", VV Veresaev "Notes of a Doctor").

Realism in foreign literature of the XIX-XX centuries

The initial stage of the formation of critical realism in European countries in the middle of the 19th century is associated with the works of Balzac, Stendhal, Beranger, Flaubert, Maupassant. Merimee in France, Dickens, Thackeray, Bronte, Gaskell in England, poetry of Heine and other revolutionary poets in Germany. In these countries, in the 30s of the 19th century, tension was growing between two irreconcilable class enemies: the bourgeoisie and the labor movement, there was a period of upsurge in various spheres of bourgeois culture, a number of discoveries were taking place in natural science and biology. In countries where a pre-revolutionary situation has developed (France, Germany, Hungary), the doctrine of scientific socialism by Marx and Engels arises and develops.

(Julien Dupre "Return from the fields")

As a result of complex creative and theoretical polemics with the followers of romanticism, critical realists took for themselves the best progressive ideas and traditions: interesting historical themes, democracy, trends folklore, progressive critical pathos and humanistic ideals.

Realism of the early twentieth century, which survived the struggle of the best representatives of the "classics" of critical realism (Flaubert, Maupassant, France, Shaw, Rolland) with the trends of new unrealistic trends in literature and art (decadence, impressionism, naturalism, aestheticism, etc.) acquires new specific traits. He turns to the social phenomena of real life, describes the social motivation of the human character, reveals the psychology of personality, the fate of art. The modeling of artistic reality is based on philosophical ideas, the author's attitude is given, first of all, to the intellectually active perception of the work when reading it, and then to the emotional one. The classic example of the intellectual realistic novel are the works of the German writer Thomas Mann "The Magic Mountain" and "The Confession of the Adventurer Felix Krul", the dramaturgy of Bertold Brecht.

(Robert Kohler "The Strike")

In the works of the realist author of the twentieth century, the dramatic line intensifies and deepens, there is more tragedy (the works of the American writer Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby", "Tender Night"), there is a special interest in the inner world of man. Attempts to portray the conscious and unconscious moments of human life lead to the emergence of a new literary reception, close to modernism under the name "stream of consciousness" (works by Anna Zegers, V. Keppen, Y. O'Neill). Naturalistic elements are evident in the work of American realist writers such as Theodore Dreiser and John Steinbeck.

Realism of the twentieth century has a bright life-affirming color, faith in man and his strength, this is noticeable in the works of American realist writers William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Mark Twain. The works of Romain Rolland, John Galsworthy, Bernard Shaw, Erich Maria Remarque enjoyed great popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Realism continues to exist as a trend in modern literature and is one of the most important forms of democratic culture.

At the turn of the century, realist writers faced the task of finding adequate means for a deep analysis of the new reality. The gradual growth of capitalism into imperialism and the associated exacerbation of class contradictions is the most characteristic theme that has found coverage in realistic literature.

Philosophical thought during this period fluctuates from positivism to irrationalism. The literary background is also changing. Realism defends its principles not in the fight against classicism or romanticism, but in polemicizing with naturalists, symbolists, all kinds of decadent schools.

In critical realism, four leading lines are distinguished: socio-psychological (G. de Maupassant, T. Hardy, D. Golsou-orsi, G. James, T. Dreiser, K. Hamsun, A. Strindberg, early T. Mann, R. Tagore and etc.); socio-philosophical (A. France, B. Shaw, G. Wells, K. Chapek, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, etc.); satirical and humorous (early G. Mann, D. Meredith, M. Twain, A. Dode, etc.); heroic (R. Rollan, D. London).

In general, critical realism at the turn of the century is distinguished by the openness of borders, is influenced and absorbs the features of all the main artistic methods of the era, while maintaining the main quality - the character of typification. A deep internal restructuring of realism was associated with experiment, bold testing of new means. The main achievements of critical realism of the previous periods - psychologism, social analysis - are qualitatively deepening, the sphere of realistic reflection is expanding, the genres of the short story, novel, and epic are raised to a new artistic level.

This stage in the development of critical realism acts as a transitional phenomenon, in which the main differences of realistic literature of the 20th century are laid. from critical realism XIX v.

NATURALISM

Naturalism is one of the most important trends in literature late XIX v. The genesis of naturalism is associated with the defeat of the European revolutions of 1848, which undermined faith in utopian ideas, in ideology in general.

The principles of naturalism. The philosophical basis of naturalism was positivism. The literary prerequisites for naturalism were the works of G. Flaubert, his theory of "objective", "impersonal" art, as well as the activities of "sincere realists" (Chanfleury, Duranty, Courbet).

Naturalists set themselves a noble task: from the fantastic inventions of romantics, who in the middle of the century more and more depart from reality into the realm of dreams, to turn art face to truth, to real fact... Balzac's work becomes a model for naturalists. Representatives of this trend turn to the life of the lower strata of society, they are inherent in genuine democracy. They expand the scope of what is depicted in the literature, for them there are no forbidden topics. If the ugly is depicted reliably, it acquires for naturalists the meaning of genuine aesthetic value.

Naturalism is characterized by a positivist understanding of certainty. The writer must be an objective observer and experimenter. He can only write about what he has learned. Hence - the image of only a "piece of reality", reproduced with photographic accuracy, instead of a typical image (as a unity of the individual and the general); rejection of the portrayal of the heroic personality as "atypical" in the naturalistic sense; replacement of the plot ("fiction") with description and analysis; the aesthetically neutral position of the author in relation to what is depicted, for him there is no beautiful or ugly; analysis of society on the basis of strict determinism, which denies free will; showing the world in static, as a jumble of details; the writer does not seek to predict the future.

Naturalism was influenced by other methods, closely related to impressionism and realism. The significance of naturalism for realistic art is associated with the pursuit of truth, the widespread introduction of documents, facts, the artistic development of new layers of reality, the development of a number of genres (analytical novel, essay, etc.).

Teng. The founder of the aesthetics of naturalism was the French art critic Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893). He studied at the Higher Normal School (Paris). Since 1864 Teng is professor of aesthetics at the School fine arts, since 1878 - member of the French Academy. In his first significant work, French Philosophers of the Nineteenth Century, Teng declared the greatest philosophers the positivists of Comte, Mill and Spencer. The essay "Balzac" (1858) laid the foundations of naturalistic aesthetics. For its formation the most important event was the appearance of Tain's work "History of English Literature" (1863-1865). In the Introduction to this edition, Teng outlined the theory of "race, environment, and moment," which became the cornerstone of naturalism. In his works, the basic principle of naturalism is formulated: the assimilation of art to science.

Goncourt. The brothers Edmond (1822-1896) and Jules (1830-1870) de Goncourt are outstanding French writers who pioneered naturalism and impressionism in French literature. They were born into a family of provincial nobles. The pinnacle of their creativity is the novel "Germinie Lacert" (1865). The life of a servant, her tragedy, became the subject of research by writers. The foreword to the novel is one of the first manifestos of nascent naturalism. The Goncourts developed a method of "clinical analysis" - a new kind of psychologism: this is a kind of "scientific observation" of the hidden, often shameful sides of inner life, which sheds light on the seemingly illogical actions of the heroes.

The Goncourts created an impressionistic style that captures instant sensations. One of the decisive means in this case was the impressionistic landscape.

Zola School. In the 1870s, Emile Zola became the head of the naturalists. In theoretical works, he substantiated the basic principles of naturalism. In his artistic work, the features of naturalism and critical realism are intertwined, and this synthesis produces strong impression through which naturalism, initially rejected by the reading public, gains acceptance. Zola triumphs with the publication of The Trap in 1877. He managed to rally around himself young writers who formed the core of the naturalist school (A. Sear, L. Ennik, O. Mir-bo, S. M. J. Huysmans, P. Aleksis and others). The most important stage in her activity was the creation of the book of stories "Evenings in Medan" (1880).

In the 1880s, naturalists tried to renovate the theater (E. Zola, P. Aleksis, O. Metenier and others). Zola was not a major playwright, but his theoretical works, dramatizations of his novels, staged on the stage of the leading Free Theater and on many stages of the world, formed a special direction within the movement of European playwrights for a “new drama”.

In the same years, weaknesses naturalism: lack of deep generalizations, physiologism, a pile of details. There was a discrepancy between the naturalists.

In 1887, after the publication of Zola's novel The Earth, the naturalist school split.

Naturalism v Germany. Naturalism rose to prominence in German literature of the 1880s. Naturalism theorists A. Holtz and J. Schlaf developed the concept of the "second style", arguing that the image of the world should be similar to the reproduction of a leaf falling from a branch. Reproduction of the little things of everyday life should be the law of art. It is also necessary to describe in detail the behavior of people, revealing the physiological impulses or painful deviations of the psyche that control it.

Hauptmann. Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946), in his first play Before Sunrise (1889), gave one of best samples German naturalism. The premiere of the play was accompanied by a scandal: never before on the German stage was everyday life depicted with such a degree of frankness, appearing in the most unattractive light.

The Krause family, cut off from their peasant roots thanks to the wealth that fell on them (coal was found on their site), lives with the most primitive, base instincts. Wealth leads to idleness and absolute emptiness of existence - a mother who is bored of idleness begins to attach her lover to her own stepdaughter. The drunkenness that developed on the same soil affects not only the older generation (a father, in a drunken stupor confusing his daughter with a prostitute), but also the younger ( eldest daughter paying for alcoholism with the death of her children). From youngest daughter, Elena, refuses her loving socialist reporter Lot, as soon as she learns that this unspoiled, educated girl was born into a family of alcoholics, and Elena commits suicide.

The title of the play is symbolic, it gives hope for overcoming the darkness that envelops the everyday life of German inhabitants.

In subsequent dramas by Hauptmann (The Lonely, 1891; The Weavers, 1892; The Beaver Fur Coat, 1893), the features of naturalism, primarily the naturalistic depiction of details, are combined with realistic reproduction of reality, with the drama of ideas. However, in those same years he wrote plays in a completely different manner, close to symbolism (The Ascension of Hannele, 1893; The Sunken Bell, 1896). This once again confirms that in a transitional era, the boundaries of various artistic systems are blurred, and unity is replaced by plurality, artistic pluralism.

SYMBOLISM

Symbolism is a trend in literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. At the heart of his aesthetics is the idealistic concept of duality, according to which all the world- only a shadow, a "symbol" of the world of ideas, and comprehension of this higher world is possible through intuition, through a "suggestive image", and not with the help of reason. The spread of this concept, based on the works of A. Schopenhauer and his followers, is associated with disillusionment with the philosophy of positivism.

Symbolism was a reaction to naturalism. The origins of the symbol from ma are in the activities of romantics and Parnassians. C. Baudelaire is rightly considered the direct predecessor of the Symbolists, or even the founder of Symbolism as a trend.

The foundations of the artistic method of symbolism were laid in the 1860s in Songs of Maldoror (1868-1869, published in full in 1890) by Lautréamont (real name - Isidore Ducas, 1846-1870), early collections of P. Verlaine. The poems of the symbolists of this wilderness (Verlaine, Rimbaud) are of a rebellious character. They express such strengths of symbolism as denouncing the bourgeoisie, innovative searches in the field of word ambiguity, the creation of a two-dimensional image, the essence of which was that behind the depicted something unthinkable was visible, the phenomenon turns into a symbol of something else ”. There is no place here for the rejection of the social tasks of art, formalism, irrationality, encrypted form, characteristic of a later stage in the development of symbolism.

In the 1870-1880s, symbolism approaches decadence, with its striving “from the values ​​of the flourishing of life - health, strength, bright mind, victorious will, powerful passion ... - to chains, or rather, minus values ​​of decay in life, i.e. .e. the beauty of fading, beauty that draws its charm from the lulling power of sluggish rhythms, pale images, half-feelings, in the charm that moods of submissiveness and oblivion and everything that evokes them for a tired soul "(AV Lunacharsky). During this period, Rimbaud comes forward with his theory of "clairvoyance", Mallarmé turns to experiments in the field of form, as a result of which the logic of thought and image is destroyed, Verlaine is busy studying the musical properties of various sound combinations. The tendency towards decadence contributes to the strengthening of the reputation of the Symbolists as unrecognized, "damned" poets.

A school begins to form around Mallarmé and Verlaine. Jules Laforgue (1860 - 1887), Gustave Kahn (1859-1936), Gilbert Samin (1858-1900), Laurent Tayad (1854-1919), Francis Viele-Griffen (1864-1937), Stuart Merrill (1863 -1915) and other "small symbolists". Some poets develop prose genres (Henri de Re-nier, 1864-1936; Pierre Louis, 1870-1925; Marcel Schwob, 1867-1905). A symbolist drama arises (Paul Claudel, 1868-1955; Edouard Dujardin, 1861-1950; Paul Faure, 1872-1960, etc.). The most striking phenomenon in this area is the work of the Belgian M. Maeterlinck.

Symbolism influenced late work Guy de Maupassant, E. Zola and other great artists of different directions. In turn, he was influenced by many aesthetic systems at the turn of the century. The decadent doctrine of symbolism is a crisis phenomenon. But the symbolists are also characterized by undoubted achievements in their desire to see the world as a whole, to convey the complexity of the spiritual world of a person. The symbolists made a significant contribution to poetry, to the reform of verse (musical composition, the polysemy of words and images, causing a stream of associations, the statement of vers libre - free verse, etc.).

NEOROMANTISM

The term "neo-romanticism" appeared at the end of the 19th century. Neo-romanticism is associated with the traditions of romanticism, but arises in a different historical era. It is an aesthetic and ethical protest against the dehumanization of the individual and a reaction to naturalism and the extremes of decadence. Neo-romanticists believed in a strong, bright personality, they affirmed the unity of the ordinary and the sublime, dreams and reality. According to the neo-romantic view of the world, all ideal values ​​can be found in everyday reality with a special point of view of the observer, in other words, if you look at it through the prism of illusion.

Neo-romanticism is not homogeneous: in each country where it has established itself, it acquired specific features. Neo-romanticism in Germany and Austria. German and Austrian neo-romanticism, which developed under the influence of the work of Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883), is characterized by such features as the "materialization" of dreams up to the creation of a "dream world", sometimes opposed to everyday reality, sometimes merged with it; abstracting the ideal from concrete social content, absolutizing and opposing it to the material world, or an attempt to synthesize reality and the ideal with the obligatory priority of the latter; development of the image of a person of art as the embodiment of a positive ideal; the opposition of the artist's image to society and circumstances; no restrictions in the genre system (appeal to drama, novel, short story, fairy tale, different genres poetry, etc.), the search for new genres (for example, "musical drama" by R. Wagner); in the field of language - stylization as the main principle of organizing linguistic material (the neo-romantic style as such did not take shape largely due to the dominance of the principle of stylization); the combination of, in fact, neo-romantic principles with the principles of impressionism, symbolism, partly naturalism.

Among German and Austrian neo-romanticists, the theme of the tragic fate of the artist, who is faced with the prose of life's circumstances, became especially popular thanks to the image of Lohengrin in the musical drama of the same name by R. Wagner. "Descendants" of Lohengrin were Titian in the drama of G. von Hoffmannsthal "Death of Titian", Peter Maisky in the novel of the same name by R. Huch, master Heinrich in the drama of G. Hauptmann "The Sunken Bell" and other neo-romantic characters.

Neo-romanticism in Belgium. Leading Belgian neo-romanticists are characterized by the portrayal of an active personality, the creation of a heroic character (Ariana in the drama of M. Maeterlinck "Ariana and Bluebeard", Erenyen in the drama of E. Verharn "Dawns"); showing the relationship between the hero and society as complex (no direct opposition); optimistic outlook; transfer of character conditioning from outside world into the inner, into the world of the soul ("inner law"); some limited genres (the main genre is drama); rejection of the principle of "historical flavor" as a substitute for the principle of historicism, the use of conventional (often allegorical) theater techniques; lack of their own neo-romantic style, broad appeal to the transformed symbolist style.

Neo-romanticism in England. English neo-romanticism is a complex phenomenon. The existence of neo-romantic literature is combined with an almost complete absence of "pure" neo-romantic writers. The neo-romanticism of some of Wilde's works is inseparable from the features of symbolism, partly realism, Joseph Conrad(crust, name - Jozef Theodor Kozheniewski, 1857-1924) - from impressionism (for example, the novel "Typhoon", 1902). In the work of Rudyard Kipling(1865-1936) romantic stories (for example, "Rickshaw the Ghost", "Children of the Zodiac") coexist with realistic sketches of secular society ("The Education of Otis Ayir", "An Average Woman"), the creative method of the adventure genre masters is ambiguous: Robert Louis Stevenson(1850-1894), Arthur Conan Doyle(1859 - 1930), Gilbert Keith Chesterton(1874-1936) and others. Aesthetic and emotional criticism of certain aspects of social life, as a rule, is transformed into criticism of the ordinary, non-romantic consciousness of an individual; the ordinariness or exoticism of the surrounding world does not depend on the qualities immanently inherent in it, but on the outlook of the individual (including the author himself). The image of a heroic personality, characteristic of European neo-romanticism, is usually replaced by the image of an "invisible hero" (Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson Doyle, Father Brown of Chesterton), a child (Mowgli Kipling), a young man (heroes of Stevenson's novels "Treasure Island" 1883; "Kidnapped" 1886; "Katriona" 1893). It is common for English neo-romanticism to make the hero dependent on circumstances (up to the appearance of the theme of rock in the image of the sea in Konrad), which not only do not suppress the hero, but allow him to reveal himself more fully. The circumstances in which the hero finds himself are deprived of specific social content (in their capacity, for example, natural elements act). The plot of most neo-romantic works is built as a tense intrigue. The main genres developed by English neo-romanticists are adventure novels, novels, and short stories.

Neo-romanticism in France. The desire of French neo-romanticists to create a special poetic world explains why they so often turn to the genre of "poetic drama". Drama in verse is the most adequate form of expression of the conventional-poetic perception of reality inherent in them. Building a special poetic world allows one to be content with an illusion in the study of the real world. The "militant illusion" becomes the starting point for the formation of a neo-romantic view of the world. The creation of a poetic world in many cases turns out to be not an end in itself, but a way to place a very conventional neo-romantic hero in an appropriate setting. The problem of heroism and heroic personality is the main problem of French neo-romanticism.

Neo-romanticists cultivate the idea of ​​heroism as an intrinsic property that may not be manifested in specific heroic deeds. This understanding of heroism is clearly expressed in the short story "Don Jose the Brave" by J. Richen, included in his collection "Spanish Tales". Don Jose performs all his heroic deeds in a dream, while in ordinary life he is unremarkable. The novella ends with a programmatic phrase for a number of neo-romanticists: "Sid was probably not as brave as Don Quixote." This concept largely determined the types of characters in the early (essentially neo-romantic) dramas by R. Rolland "Saint Louis" and "Aert", in which one can find a number of common typological features with "The Dreaming Princess" and "Eaglet" Rostand. However, already in these early works R. Rolland poses problems that are not characteristic of French neo-romanticism. His ideal is a person based on the people.

In general, French neo-romanticism is a very amorphous phenomenon. Neo-romanticists strive to occupy, often instinctively, the middle position between naturalism and symbolism, rejecting the former as nihilism in relation to spirituality and the nihilism of the second in relation to the material world. The acuteness of the critical attitude to reality characteristic of V. Hugo is weakening; neo-romanticists for the most part take official or moderately liberal positions, their work, as a rule, does not contradict the government's course.

Eclecticism becomes a characteristic feature of neo-romanticism. Inherent in the romanticism of the early 19th century. the pathos of the new disappears. However, by the 90s of the XIX century. looms general character French neo-romanticism as an ethical and aesthetic protest against an inhuman social system, decadent positivist philosophy, naturalism and decadent literature.

Rostan. Neo-romanticism was most fully expressed in the work of Edmond Rostand (1869-1918), the author of the famous heroic comedy "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1897). His other works are the comedy Romantics (1891), the dramas Princess Dreams (1895), The Samaritan Woman (1897), The Eaglet (1900), Chauntecleer (1910).

Cyrano de Bergerac. The play expounds the neo-romantic concept of heroism as the inner ability of a person to overcome the force of circumstances. The original concept of the comedy was not associated with the figure of the French writer and thinker of the 17th century. Cyrano de Bergerac. However, the historical Cyrano turned out to be in many ways close to the type of person that Rostand wanted to portray. The fact that in the era of absolutism there was a hero,. which the writer was looking for, naturally. This era could not but give rise to such a type of personality as Cyrano, a type of person who challenges all the laws of society, any regulation, suppressing and destroying individuality.

In comedy, a person appears as a fusion, a synthesis of opposite principles. The main method of typing is the combination and exaggeration of polar personality traits. So, Christian is beautiful in face, but stupid; in Roxane, the mind is overdeveloped, feeling nurtures, etc. The same principle is at the basis of the image of Cyrano: he is a poet and a warrior, his gaiety reaches the level of buffoonery, but he is also sentimental, he is a hero, but timid in love. His words are sublime and beautiful, but his face is ugly and funny. The contradictory qualities of Cyrano mutually enrich each other and create an integrity of character, extraordinary in such contradictions.

However, not only the personal qualities of Cyrano determine the originality of this image. It is merged with the Rostanov world, cannot exist outside of it. Cyrano's love of freedom is embodied in the slogan "Be yourself". But in comedy no one is himself, which turns out, according to Rostand, a consequence of the pernicious influence of society on the individual. Cyrano does not avoid such an impact. A man of genius renounces his personality for the sake of the tastes and ideals of society and finds happiness only when he becomes himself again. This is how one should understand the conclusion of an agreement with Christian, whom Roxanne loves for his beauty. The union of the handsome Christian and the beautiful inwardly Cyrano, having embodied in reality the ideal of Roxanne, became a triumph of harmony. However, such an embodiment of the ideal is artificial, it must inevitably bring misfortune to all three. Only at the end of the play does a new harmony emerge. For this, Roxanne had to be reborn, discard her old lifeless ideal and learn to see the truly beautiful in life, even under an ugly shell. Seeing the ideal in reality is the main idea of ​​the play.

Neo-romanticism in other countries. The neo-romantic movement covers other European countries as well. Some works of the great Norwegians G. Ibsen (later work) and K. Gamsun, works of Italian (A. Fogazzaro, S. Benelli, D. Pasco-li), Polish (S. Wyspianski, S. Przybyshevsky), Czech (I Vrkhlitsky, I. Makhar), Hungarian (E. Komjati, F. Molnar) writers are closely associated with neo-romantic tendencies. Somewhat later, neo-romanticism took a prominent place in the literature of the United States.

AESTHETICISM

Aestheticism is a trend in aesthetic thought and art that originated in the 1870s, finally formed in the 1880-1890s and lost its position at the beginning of the 20th century, when it merged with various forms of modernism. Aestheticism manifested itself most vividly in England, its largest representatives were W. Peyter and O. Wilde. Therefore, aestheticism is usually considered as a phenomenon of English culture. Only in the most Lately the idea began to be expressed that aestheticism was an international phenomenon. Thus, the works of the French writers A. DeReignier, Sh. M.Zh. Huysmans, P. Valery, early works by M. Proust, A. Gide, etc .; you can find phenomena related to English aestheticism in German, Austrian, Italian, American and other national literatures.

Peyter. The first principles of aestheticism were expounded by Walter Peyter (1839-1894), an English writer and aesthetic. He was born into the family of a Dutch doctor. Peyter graduated from Oxford University, where he later lectured. He was a student of the largest English aesthetic of the 19th century. John Ruskin (1819 - 1900). But, in contrast to his teacher, who believed that "the art of a country is an indicator of its social and political virtues" (Lectures on Art, 1870, published 1887), Peyter adhered to the concept of "art for art."

Peiter's aesthetic theory, based on the subjectivism of evaluations and the opposition of ethics and aesthetics, was set forth in Essays on the History of the Renaissance (1873), his main work. In the preface to this book, he wrote: “... Beauty, like almost all human sensory experience, is something relative; therefore, its definition is the less meaningful and interesting the more abstract it is ”. According to Peyter, art should not teach good, it is indifferent to morality. The beautiful is subjective, he believes, therefore the task of the critic is only to express his personal experiences from a meeting with a work of art. Such, for example, is the presentation in the "Sketches" of impressions about "La Gioconda" by Leonardo da Vinci, in which Peyter sees "the animality of Greece, the voluptuousness of Rome, the mysticism of the Middle Ages with its ecclesiastical ambition and romantic love, the return of the pagan world, the sins of the Borgia".

Peyter's successors were artists who united around the decadent magazines Yellow Book and Savoy, which began to appear in 1894 and 1895. These were the theorist of symbolism and poet Arthur Simons (1865-1945), the artist and writer Aubrey Beardsley (1872-1898), and others. The Irish poet and playwright William Butler Yeats, the Anglo-American writer Henry James, and others were influenced by Pater's aestheticism. after Peyter becomes Oscar Wilde.

Dadaism

One of the earliest manifestations of avant-gardism in European literature is Dadaism (from fr. dada - a wooden horse, as small children call it, in a figurative sense - incoherent baby talk). Dadaism originated in Switzerland in 1916, at the height of the First World War, and was a kind of anarchist protest. In irrationalism, nihilistic anti-aestheticism, shocking paradoxes, meaningless, random combinations of sounds, words, objects, lines, one can see an ironic, parodic reflection of the meaninglessness of life that opened up in the fire of the world war.

The Dadaists first gathered on February 8, 1916 in Zurich, in the Voltaire cabaret, opened by the German writer Hugo Ball (1886-1927). Schoenberg's music sounded here, poems by Apollinaire, Rimbaud, Alfred Jarry's drama King Jubu (1896) were recited. The founder of Dada literature was Romanian by origin Tristan Tzara(or Tzara, pseudonym Sami Rozenshtoka, 1896-1963). In his most famous collection - "Twenty-five Poems" (1918), there is a poem "White peacock, leper landscape", in which the poet, challenging the reader, clearly demonstrates the transition from coherent speech to incoherent. He deliberately destroys “language as a means of cementing social order", Seeks to" complete fragmentation of the language ":

Here the reader starts screaming, starts screaming, starts screaming; flutes, colored with corals, appear in the scream. The reader wants to die, maybe dance, but begins to scream,

He is a filthy skinny idiot, he does not understand My poems and shouts. It is crooked.

In his soul there are zigzags and a lot of rrrrr

Baz, baz, look at the underwater tiara spreading in golden algae. Oosondrak Truck

Nfunda nbababa pfunda tata nbababa.

(Translated by N. Balashov)

Dadaism attracted the attention of many avant-garde artists; it was supported by Apollinaire, André Breton, Philippe Soupot, Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard, Blaise Sandrard, artists Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Wassily Kandinsky. After the shocking demonstrations in Paris in 1920-1921. Dadaism fades away rather quickly. Breton, Soupot, Aragon, Eluard become prominent figures of Surrealism, while German Dadaists join the ranks of the Expressionists.

Expressionism

This modernist trend is most characteristic of German literature, although its influence is also noticeable in the literatures of the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, Hungary, etc. Expressionism emerged in Germany around 1905 and developed actively until the end of the 1920s. The term (from fr. expression - expression) was introduced in 1911. the founder of the expressionist magazine "Storm" H. Wal-denom. In contrast to Impressionism, with its focus on primary feelings, sensations, expressionists insisted on the principle of an all-encompassing subjective interpretation of reality.

The main provisions of expressionism. Expressionists opposed the negative aspects of the way of life, marked by the enslavement of the individual, mechanization, alienation. Expressionism's first slogan: reality in existing forms must be rejected. To change reality, art must interpret it in a new way (the principle of "activating art"). Poetry and drama can play a special role in this. Thus, the hero of Reinhardt Sorge's drama The Beggar (1912) views the theater as a platform. Instead of the commercial art slogan “Art as an object of profit”, the slogan “Art as an expression of a certain tendency” appears.

Similar information.

The realistic trend in Russian literature at the turn of the 20th century. continued L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, who created his best works, the theme of which was the ideological quest of the intelligentsia and the "little" man with his daily concerns, and the young writers I.A. Bunin and A.I. Kuprin. In connection with the spread of neo-romanticism, new artistic qualities appeared in realism, reflecting reality. The best realistic works of A.M. Gorky reflected the broad picture of Russian life at the turn of the 20th century with its inherent uniqueness economic development and ideological and social struggle. At the end of the 19th century, when, in an atmosphere of political reaction and the crisis of populism, part of the intelligentsia was seized by moods of social and moral decline, in artistic culture decadence became widespread, a phenomenon in the culture of the 19th-20th centuries, marked by the rejection of citizenship, immersion in the sphere of individual experiences. Many motives of this direction have become the property of a number of artistic movements of modernism that arose at the turn of the 20th century. Russian literature at the beginning of the 20th century gave birth to remarkable poetry, and the most significant trend was symbolism. For the Symbolists, who believed in the existence of another world, the symbol was his sign, and represented the connection between the two worlds. One of the ideologues of symbolism D.S. Merezhkovsky, whose novels are permeated with religious and mystical ideas, considered the predominance of realism the main reason decline of literature, and proclaimed "symbols", "mystical content" as the basis of new art. Along with the demands of "pure" art, the Symbolists professed individualism; they were characterized by the theme of "spontaneous genius", close in spirit to the Nietzschean "superman". It is customary to distinguish between “senior” and “junior” Symbolists. “Elders”, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, F. Sologub, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, who came to literature in the 90s, a period of deep crisis of poetry, preached the cult of beauty and free self-expression of the poet. "Younger" Symbolists, A. Blok, A. Bely, Viach. Ivanov, S. Soloviev, brought to the fore the philosophical and theosophical quests. The symbolists offered the reader a colorful myth about the world, created according to the laws of eternal Beauty. If we add to this exquisite imagery, musicality and lightness of the syllable, the steady popularity of the poetry of this direction becomes clear. The influence of Symbolism with its intense spiritual quest, captivating artistry of creative manner was experienced not only by the Acmeists and Futurists who replaced the Symbolists, but also by the realist writer A.P. Chekhov.

By 1910 “symbolism completed its development circle” (N. Gumilev), it was replaced by acmeism. The members of the group of acmeists were N. Gumilev, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, V. Narbut, M. Kuzmin. They declared the liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the “ideal”, the return to it of clarity, materiality and “joyful admiration for being” (N. Gumilev). Acmeism is characterized by a rejection of moral and spiritual searches, a tendency towards aestheticism. A. Blok, with his inherent heightened sense of civic consciousness, noted the main drawback of Acmeism: "... they do not have and do not want to have a shadow of an idea about Russian life and the life of the world in general." However, not all of their postulates acmeists embodied in practice, this is evidenced by the psychologism of the first collections of A. Akhmatova, the lyricism of the early 0. Mandelstam. In essence, the Acmeists were not so much an organized movement with a common theoretical platform, but a group of talented and very different poets who were united by personal friendship. At the same time, another modernist trend- futurism, which split into several groups: "Association of ego-futurists", "Mezzanine of poetry", "Centrifuge", "Gilea", whose participants called themselves cubo-futurists, Bulyans, ie people from the future.

Of all the groups that at the beginning of the century proclaimed the thesis: "art is play", the futurists most consistently embodied it in their work. In contrast to the Symbolists with their idea of ​​"life-building", i.e. transforming the world with art, the futurists focused on the destruction of the old world. Common for the futurists was a denial of traditions in culture, a passion for form creation. The demand of the Cubo-Futurists in 1912 "to throw Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy from the Steamer of our time" received scandalous fame. The groupings of acmeists and futurists that arose in polemics with symbolism, in practice, turned out to be very close to him both because their theories were based on an individualistic idea, and the desire to create vivid myths, and a predominant attention to form.

There were bright individuals in the poetry of that time, which cannot be attributed to a certain trend - M. Voloshin, M. Tsvetaeva. No other era has given such an abundance of declarations of its own exclusivity. Peasant poets like N. Klyuev occupied a special place in the literature of the turn of the century. Without putting forward a clear aesthetic program, they embodied their ideas (the combination of religious and mystical motives with the problem of protecting the traditions of peasant culture) in their work. “Klyuev is popular because the iambic spirit of Boratynskiy is living in him with the prophetic tune of an illiterate Olonets storyteller” (Mandelstam). With peasant poets, especially with Klyuev, S. Yesenin was close at the beginning of his journey, combining the traditions of folklore and classical art in his work.

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Realism in literature is a trend, the main feature of which is a truthful depiction of reality and its typical features without any distortion or exaggeration. This originated in the 19th century, and its adherents sharply opposed the sophisticated forms of poetry and the use of various mystical concepts in works.

Signs directions

Realism in 19th century literature can be distinguished by clear indications. The main one is the artistic depiction of reality in images familiar to the layman, which he regularly encounters in real life. Reality in works is considered as a means of a person's knowledge of the world around him and himself, and the image of each literary character is worked out in such a way that the reader can recognize himself, a relative, a colleague or an acquaintance in him.

In realist novels and stories, art remains life-affirming, even if the plot is characterized by tragic conflict. Another sign of this genre is the desire of writers to consider the surrounding reality in its development, and each writer tries to discover the emergence of new psychological, social and social relations.

Features of this literary movement

Realism in literature, which replaced romanticism, has the characteristics of art, seeking truth and finding it, seeking to transform reality.

In the works of realist writers, discoveries were made after much thought and dreams, after analyzing subjective perceptions of the world. This feature, which can be distinguished by the author's perception of time, determined the distinctive features of realistic literature of the early twentieth century from the traditional Russian classics.

Realism in19th century

Such representatives of realism in literature as Balzac and Stendhal, Thackeray and Dickens, Jord Sand and Victor Hugo, in their works most clearly reveal the theme of good and evil, and avoid abstract concepts and show the real life of their contemporaries. These writers make it clear to readers that evil lies in the way of life of bourgeois society, capitalist reality, people's dependence on various material values... For example, in Dickens's novel Dombey and Son, the owner of the company was not naturally callous and callous. It's just that he had such character traits due to the presence big money and the ambition of the owner, for whom profit becomes the main achievement in life.

Realism in literature is devoid of humor and sarcasm, and the images of the characters are no longer the ideal of the writer himself and do not embody his cherished dreams. From the works of the 19th century, the hero practically disappears, in whose image the ideas of the author are visible. This situation is especially clearly seen in the works of Gogol and Chekhov.

However, this literary trend is most clearly manifested in the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who describe the world as they see it. This was also expressed in the image of the characters with their own merits and weaknesses, the description of mental anguish, reminding readers of the harsh reality, which cannot be changed by one person.

As a rule, realism in literature also affected the fate of representatives of the Russian nobility, as can be judged from the works of I.A.Goncharov. So, the characters of the heroes in his works remain contradictory. Oblomov is a sincere and gentle person, however, due to his passivity, he is not capable of the best. Another character in Russian literature has similar qualities - the weak-willed but gifted Boris Raysky. Goncharov managed to create the image of an "antihero" typical of 19th century, which was noticed by critics. As a result, the concept of "Oblomovism" appeared, referring to all passive characters, the main features of which were laziness and lack of will.

Realism, as you know, appeared in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century and throughout the century existed within the framework of its critical movement. However, symbolism, the first modernist trend in Russian literature, which made itself known in the 1890s, sharply opposed itself to realism. Following symbolism, other unrealistic trends arose. This inevitably led to qualitative transformation of realism as a method of depicting reality.

The Symbolists expressed the opinion that realism only slides on the surface of life and is not able to penetrate the essence of things. Their position was not infallible, but since then it has begun in Russian art confrontation and mutual influence of modernism and realism.

It is noteworthy that modernists and realists, outwardly striving for delimitation, internally possessed a common striving for a deep, essential knowledge of the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the writers of the turn of the century, who considered themselves to be realists, realized how narrow the framework of consistent realism is, and began to master syncretic forms of storytelling, which made it possible to combine realistic objectivity with romantic, impressionistic and symbolist principles.

If the realists of the nineteenth century paid close attention to social human nature, then the realists of the twentieth century correlated this social nature with psychological, subconscious processes, expressed in the clash of reason and instinct, intellect and feeling. Simply put, the realism of the early twentieth century pointed to the complexity of human nature, which is by no means reducible only to his social being. It is no coincidence that Kuprin, Bunin, and Gorky have a plan of events, the surrounding situation is barely indicated, but a refined analysis of the character's mental life is given. The author's gaze is always directed beyond the boundaries of the spatial and temporal existence of the heroes. Hence - the emergence of folklore, biblical, cultural motives and images, which made it possible to expand the boundaries of the narrative, to attract the reader to co-creation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, within the framework of realism, four currents:

1) critical realism continues the traditions of the 19th century and presupposes an emphasis on the social nature of phenomena (at the beginning of the 20th century, these are the works of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy),

2) socialist realism - the term of Ivan Gronsky, denoting the image of reality in its historical and revolutionary development, the analysis of conflicts in the context of the class struggle, and the actions of the heroes in the context of the benefits for humanity ("Mother" by M. Gorky, and later - most of the works Soviet writers),

3) mythological realism formed back in antique literature, however, in the 20th century, under M.R. began to understand the image and interpretation of reality through the prism of well-known mythological plots (in foreign literature, a vivid example is the novel by J. Joyce "Ulysses", and in Russian literature of the early 20th century - the story "Judas Iscariot" by LN Andreev)

4) naturalism assumes an image of reality with the utmost plausibility and detail, often unsightly ("The Pit" by A.I. Kuprin, "Sanin" by M.P. Artsybashev, "Notes of a Doctor" by V.V. Veresaev)

The listed features of Russian realism caused numerous disputes about creative method writers who remained faithful to realistic traditions.

bitter begins with neo-romantic prose and comes to the creation of social plays and novels, becomes the founder of socialist realism.

Creation Andreeva was always in a borderline state: the modernists considered him a "contemptible realist", and for the realists, in turn, he was a "suspicious symbolist." At the same time, it is generally accepted that his prose is realistic, and his drama gravitates towards modernism.

Zaitsev, showing interest in the micro-states of the soul, he created impressionistic prose.

Attempts by critics to define the artistic method Bunin led to the fact that the writer himself compared himself with a suitcase pasted over with a huge number of labels.

The complex outlook of the realist writers, the multidirectional poetics of their works testified to the qualitative transformation of realism as an artistic method. Thanks to the common goal - the search for the highest truth - at the beginning of the 20th century there was a convergence of literature and philosophy, which was outlined in the works of Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy.

19. THE MODERN ERA IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE. MAIN CURRENTS AND THEIR FEATURES ...

Modernism is a single artistic stream. The branches of modernism: symbolism, acmeism and futurism - had their own characteristics.

In Russia, symbolism arose in the 90s. 19th century and at its initial stage (KD Balmont, early V. Ya. Bryusov and A. Dobrolyubov, and later - B. Zaitsev, IF Annensky, Remizov) develops the style of decadent impressionism, similar to French symbolism.

Russian Symbolists of the 1900s (V. Ivanov, A. Bely, A. A. Blok, as well as D. S. Merezhkovsky, S. Soloviev and others), trying to overcome pessimism, passivity, proclaimed the slogan of effective art, the predominance of creativity over knowledge.

The material world is drawn by symbolists as a mask through which the otherworldly shines through. Dualism finds expression in a two-dimensional composition of novels, dramas and "symphonies". The world of real phenomena, everyday life or conventional fiction is depicted grotesquely, discredited in the light of "transcendental irony". Situations, images, their movement acquire a double meaning: in terms of what is depicted and in terms of what is signified.

A symbol is a bundle of meanings that diverge in different directions. The task of symbol_ is to match.

Symbolism also creates its own words - symbols. First, high poetic words are used for such symbols, then simple ones. The Symbolists believed that it was impossible to exhaust the meaning of the symbol.

Symbolism avoids the logical disclosure of the topic, turning to the symbolism of sensual forms, the elements of which receive a special semantic saturation. Logically inexpressible "secret" meanings "shine through" through the material world of art. While putting forward sensory elements, symbolism departs at the same time from the impressionistic contemplation of disparate and self-sufficient sensory impressions, into the motley stream of which symbolization brings a certain wholeness, unity and continuity.

The task of the Symbolists is to show that the world is full of secrets that cannot be discovered.

The lyrics of symbolism are often dramatized or acquire epic features, revealing the structure of "universally significant" symbols, rethinking the images of ancient and Christian mythology. A genre of religious poem, a symbolically interpreted legend (S. Soloviev, D. S. Merezhkovsky) was created. The poem loses its intimacy, becomes like a sermon, a prophecy (V. Ivanov, A. Bely).

New modernist trend, acmeism, appeared in Russian poetry in the 1910s. as a contrast to extreme symbolism. Translated from Greek, the word "akme" means the highest degree of something, flowering, maturity. Acmeists advocated the return of images and words to their original meaning, for art for the sake of art, for the poeticization of human feelings. The rejection of mysticism - this was the main feature of the Acmeists.

For Symbolists, the main thing is rhythm and music, the sound of the word, while for Acmeists it is form and eternity, objectivity.

In 1912 the poets S. Gorodetsky, N. Gumilev, O. Mandelstam, V. Narbut, A. Akhmatova, M. Zenkevich and some others united in the "Workshop of Poets" circle.

The founders of Acmeism were N. Gumilev and S. Gorodetsky. The Acmeists called their work the highest point of achieving artistic truth. They did not deny Symbolism, but they were against the fact that the Symbolists paid so much attention to the world of the mysterious and unknown. Acmeists pointed out that the unknowable, by the very meaning of the word, cannot be known. Hence the desire of the Acmeists to free literature from those incomprehensibility that were cultivated by the Symbolists, and to restore clarity and accessibility to it. The Acmeists tried with all their might to return literature to life, to things, to man, to nature. So, Gumilev turned to the description of exotic animals and nature, Zenkevich - to the prehistoric life of the earth and man, Narbut - to everyday life, Anna Akhmatova - to deep love experiences.

The striving for nature, for "earth" led Acmeists to a naturalistic style, to concrete imagery, objective realism, which determined a number of artistic techniques. Acmeist poetry is dominated by "heavy, weighty words", the number of nouns significantly exceeds the number of verbs.

Having carried out this reform, the Acmeists otherwise agreed with the Symbolists, declaring themselves to be their disciples. The other world remains true for acmeists; only they do not make it the center of their poetry, although the latter is sometimes not alien to mystical elements. Gumilyov's works "The Lost Tram" and "At the Gypsies" are completely permeated with mysticism, and in Akhmatova's collections, like "Rosary", amorous and religious feelings prevail.

Acmeists brought back scenes from everyday life.

Acmeists were by no means revolutionaries in relation to symbolism, they never considered themselves such; they set as their main task only the smoothing out of contradictions, the introduction of amendments.

In the part where the Acmeists rebelled against the mysticism of Symbolism, they did not oppose the latter to real real life. Rejecting mysticism as the main leitmotif of creativity, acmeists began to fetishize things as such, not being able to approach reality synthetically, to understand its dynamics. For acmeists, things of reality have a meaning on their own, in a static state. They admire individual objects of being, and perceive them as they are, without criticism, without trying to understand them in a relationship, but directly, like an animal.

Basic principles of acmeism:

Rejection of symbolist appeals to the ideal, mystical nebula;

Acceptance of the earthly world as it is, in all its brilliance and diversity;

Returning a word to its original meaning;

An image of a person with his true feelings;

Poeticization of the world;

Incorporation of associations with previous eras into poetry.

Acmeism did not last very long, but made a great contribution to the development of poetry.

Futurism(translated as the future) is one of the currents of modernism that originated in the 1910s. It is most clearly represented in the literature of Italy and Russia. On February 20, 1909, the Parisian newspaper Le Figaro published an article by TF Marinetti "Manifesto of Futurism." Marinetti in his manifesto called for abandoning the spiritual and cultural values ​​of the past and building a new art. The main task of the futurists is to mark the gap between the present and the future, to destroy everything old and build a new one. Provocations entered their lives. They opposed bourgeois society.

In Russia, Marinetti's article was published already on March 8, 1909 and marked the beginning of the development of his own futurism. The founders of a new trend in Russian literature were the brothers D. and N. Burliuk, M. Larionov, N. Goncharova, A. Exter, N. Kulbin. In 1910, one of the first futuristic poems of V. Khlebnikov, "The Curse of Laughter", appeared in the collection "Studio of the Impressionists". In the same year, a collection of futurist poets "The Trap of Judges" was published. It contained poems by D. Burliuk, N. Burliuk, E. Guro, V. Khlebnikov, V. Kamensky.

The futurists experience a deformation of language and grammar. Words are piled on top of each other, hastening to convey the author's momentary feelings, so the work looks like a telegraphic text. Futurists abandoned syntax and stanza, invented new words that, in their opinion, better and more fully reflect reality.

The futurists attached special importance to the seemingly meaningless title of the collection. The cage for them symbolized the cage into which the poets were driven, and they called themselves judges.

In 1910 the cubo-futurists united into a group. It consisted of the Burliuk brothers, V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, E. Guro, A. E. Kruchenykh. Cubo-futurists defended the word as such, “words are higher than meaning”, “abstruse words”. Cubo-futurists destroyed Russian grammar, replaced by phrases with a combination of sounds. They believed that the more clutter in a sentence, the better.

In 1911, I. Severyanin was one of the first in Russia to proclaim himself an ego-futurist. He added the word "ego" to the term "futurism". Egofuturism can literally be translated as "I am the future." A circle of followers of ego-futurism rallied around I. Severyanin, in January 1912 they proclaimed themselves the "Academy of Ego Poetry". Egofuturists have enriched their vocabulary with a large number of foreign words and new formations.

In 1912 the futurists united around the Petersburg Glashatay publishing house. The group included: D. Kryuchkov, I. Severyanin, K. Olympov, P. Shirokov, R. Ivnev, V. Gnedov, V. Shershenevich.

In Russia, the futurists called themselves "Bulyans", the poets of the future. The futurists, captured by dynamism, were no longer satisfied with the syntax and vocabulary of the previous era, when there were no cars, no telephones, no phonographs, no cinematographs, no airplanes, no electric railways, no skyscrapers, no subways. The poet, filled with a new sense of the world, has a wireless imagination. The poet puts fleeting sensations into the jumble of words.

The Futurists were passionate about politics.

All these directions radically renew the language, the feeling that old literature cannot express the spirit of modernity.

The Art Nouveau style is one of the earliest trends in such a worldwide artistic trend as modernism in art. Thanks to modernism, the artist went beyond traditional realism, discovering something fundamentally new. Our modern culture owes much to such a concept as modernism in the visual arts. Most of the Art Nouveau artists, I'm not afraid of this word, are geniuses, and rightfully deserve their place in history. But first things first...

The Art Nouveau style in art arose at the end of the nineteenth century: then artists tried to create something original from disparate, but generally accepted directions, to give their works some convention, abstraction. It is worth mentioning, however, that the term "modern" (French modern - new) is inherent only in Russian culture, since at the end of the nineteenth century Russia had its own modern in art. In France, this style was called Art Nouveau, in Germany and Scandinavia - Art Nouveau. The principles of modernism are based on the idea of ​​the inability of the art of previous eras to fight the lack of freedom, inhumanity, social injustice, the inability to capture all this. The main features of modernism are that the artist directs his subjective will to fight against brutal reality, thereby erasing the boundaries of former ideals.

Modernism in the visual arts is a cultural layer that encompasses many concepts, such as: impressionism, expressionism, cubism, futurism. As well as some later trends: surrealism, dadaism, and so on. In this field, such famous artists the modern era, like: Alphonse Mucha, Paul Gauguin, Edvard Munch and others. All these fairly well-known people are not just associated with the concept of modern in the visual arts, but are already synonymous with it.

Here one should turn directly to the work of Alphonse Mucha, a Czech by origin, who has won worldwide fame in France. The so-called "style of the Fly", equated to the official name of Art Nouveau, served as a role model for a whole generation of designers.

In the center of his posters, Mucha placed an idealized image of a woman: smooth lines, closeness to natural forms, rejection of pointed corners - these characteristic signs of Art Nouveau left an indelible impression on the minds of the recipients. The female image itself was then used for advertising purposes for the first time, but history has shown what success this experience gained, and is still used by specialists from such leading countries in the advertising industry as the United States. However, we must pay tribute to Mucha: it is difficult to find the slightest hint of sugaryness in his works, which cannot be said about modern counterparts. Perhaps the fact that aesthetics Czech artist was formed under the influence of medieval plots and Celtic mythology... This, on the one hand, introduced a variety of symbolism in his creations, and, on the other hand, contributed to the ornamental complication of many posters. For orderly consideration of the background of Mucha's works, it is necessary to introduce a conditional classification:

Floral motives

Ornament

Ornament using mythical creatures

Mythological symbolism

Floral motifs borrowed from Eastern culture have become an integral attribute of Art Nouveau paintings for many artists: floating stems and pale petals fully corresponded to the concept of Art Nouveau not only in their forms, but also in a combination of colors that had not been combined until then. In the works of Mucha, one can find a vivid confirmation of this: pastel colors, exotic outlines, as if repeating the image of a beautiful lady, located in the foreground with her flying unrealistically long hair, dressed in lungs, akin to Greek tunics, clothes - all this created a unique harmony and unity due to the interpenetration of the elements of the female figure and the background.

Moving on to considering the ornament, it should be noted that the most frequently used geometric figure in the works of Mucha is the circle as a symbol of endless repetition, circulation, and also as a symbol of the feminine principle. Even advertising inscriptions behind the image of a beautiful lady were located in a semicircle with smoothly outlined letters.

Another motive is a symbolic image of a horseshoe in an enlarged form, with a painted ornament inside. Here again lies a reference to the pagan worldview, not to mention the background images using mythical creatures. Mucha's creative concept was reflected in every detail of his paintings and posters: an emotionally executed figure filled with strength, occupying most space, would be unfinished without an appropriate background, combining features of fine and applied art. Mucha deliberately sought a compromise between the Byzantine and Eastern principles, between modernity and rich mythological subjects, he turned exquisite portraits of women into works of mass art and succeeded in this: everyday life was already absorbing new forms.

20. PICTURE OF A MAN AT A STEP HISTORICAL CHANGE IN THE ROMAN "QUIET DON"

"Quiet Don" by M. Sholokhov is an epic novel that reveals the fate of the people during the First World War and the Civil War. Russian reality has placed at the disposal of the author conflicts of the kind that humanity has not yet known. Old world destroyed to the ground by the revolution, he was replaced there is a new social system. All this led to a qualitatively new solution to such "eternal" issues as man and history, war and peace, personality and people. The latter problem is especially relevant for this work.

Quiet Don is a novel about the fate of the people in a critical era. M. Sholokhov truthfully expressed his view of the revolution not from one side, as was the case in most books of that time, but from both: the bitterness of tragedy, thoughts and feelings of the whole people, common to all mankind. Dramatic destinies of major actors, the cruel lessons of the fate of Grigory Melekhov, the protagonist of the novel, as well as Aksinya, Natalia, are formed by M. Sholokhov into a unity life truth people at a historical turning point.

The action in the novel develops on two levels - historical and everyday, personal. But both of these plans are given in an indissoluble unity. The patriarchal idyll of Melekhov's youth is destroyed on the personal plane - by his love for Aksinya, on the social plane - by Gregory's clash with the cruel contradictions of historical reality. The denouement of the novel is also organic. On a personal level, this is the death of Aksinya. In terms of social and historical significance, this is the defeat of the White Cossack movement and the final triumph of Soviet power on the Don.

In the center of the novel is a tragic character - Grigory Melekhov. He personifies the tragedy of the people: it is also the tragedy of those who did not understand the meaning of the revolution and opposed it, and those who succumbed to deception, the tragedy of many Cossacks who were involved in the Veshen uprising in 1919, the tragedy of the defenders of the revolution who perished for the people's cause.

Grigory Melekhov is a gifted son of the people. First of all, he is an honest man - even in his delusions. He never looked for his own benefit, did not succumb to the temptation of profit and career. Delusional, Grigory Melekhov shed a lot of blood. His guilt is beyond doubt. He himself is aware of her.

But Grigory Melekhov cannot be approached unambiguously. It is impossible not to notice that he has absorbed a number of folk traditions: here is the code of military honor, and intense peasant labor, and daring in folk games and festivities, and familiarization with the rich Cossack folklore. From generation to generation, the courage and courage brought up, nobility and generosity towards the defeated, contempt for cowardice and cowardice determined the behavior of Grigory Melekhov in all life circumstances.

Ilyinichna and Natalya are the embodiment of folk morality and indestructible foundations of life. Ilyinichna is the keeper of the family structure. She comforts her Children when they feel bad, but she also harshly judges them when they commit unrighteous deeds. Natalya suffers from dislike for Grigory, and her suffering is marked by high moral purity.

The Quiet Don shows the greatest social shift

in the fate of the people. Not only the death of the Cossacks as an estate is depicted in the book. The greatness of M. Sholokhov lies in the fact that he traces the life of the entire nation, the fate of the whole people. Two worlds of ideas and beliefs collided, there were sharp historical breaks. The heroes of M. Sholokhov combine the fundamental contradictions of the era, embody the national spiritual qualities. This is the strength of Sholokhov's realism.

"Quiet Don" is called an epic tragedy. And not only because the tragic character is placed in the center - Grigory Melekhov, but also because the novel is permeated with tragic motives from beginning to end. This is a tragedy for those who did not understand the meaning of the revolution and opposed it, and those who succumbed to deception. This is the tragedy of many Cossacks who were involved in the Veshensk uprising in 1919, the tragedy of the defenders of the revolution, who were dying for the people's cause. The people, their past, present and future, their happiness - this is the main theme of the writer's thoughts.

"Melekhovsky Dvor - on the very edge of the farm" - this is how the epic novel begins, and throughout the story Sholokhov will tell us about its inhabitants. A line of defense runs through the Melekhovs' courtyard, it is occupied by either the red or the white, but the paternal house forever remains the place where the closest people live, always ready to receive and warm. Their life appears from the pages of the epic in the interweaving of contradictions, attraction and struggle. It can be said that the whole family found itself at the crossroads of major historical events, bloody clashes.

The revolution and the Civil War bring drastic changes to the existing family and everyday life of the Melekhovs: the usual family ties, new morals and ethics are born. The author of The Quiet Don, like no one else, managed to reveal the inner world of a man from among the people, to recreate the Russian national character of the era of the revolutionary rift. First of all, we get to know the head of the family - Panteley Prokofievich. “Panteley Prokofievich sagged down the slope of the slipping years: he was wide, slouched slightly, but still looked like an old man folding.

He was dry in the bone, lame (in his youth, at the imperial show at the races, he broke his leg), wore a silver crescent-shaped earring in his left ear, his black beard and hair did not shed on him until old age, in anger he reached unconsciousness ... "Pantelei Prokofievich stands on guard of the old Cossack foundations, showing at times the features of a tough character that does not tolerate disobedience, but at the same time in his heart he is kind and sensitive. He knows how to zealously manage the household, he himself works from dawn to dawn. On him, and even more so on his son Gregory, the reflection of the noble and proud nature of grandfather Prokofy, who once challenged the patriarchal customs of the Tatarsky farm, falls. Despite the intra-family split, Pantelei Prokofievich tries to combine the pieces of the old way of life into one whole, if only for the sake of his grandchildren and children. And the fact that he dies outside the home, which he loved more than anything else, is the tragedy of a man whose time has taken away the most precious thing - family and shelter.

The father passed on the same all-consuming love for his home to his sons. “His eldest, already married son, Petro, resembled his mother: big, snub-nosed, with a violent servant of wheat-colored hair, brown-eyed, and the younger, Grigory, pushed his father: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as baty, a drooping, kite-like nose, blue tonsils of hot eyes in slightly oblique slits, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, rosy skin. Grigory stooped in the same way as his father, even in a smile they both had something in common, brutal. "

With great skill M. Sholokhov portrayed the complex character of Grigory Melekhov. He is a gifted son of the people, a sincere person, even in his delusions. He never sought his own profit, did not succumb to the temptation of profit and career. Delusional, Gregory shed a lot of blood of those who affirmed a new life on earth, his guilt is beyond doubt. He himself is aware of her. However, it cannot be judged unequivocally: the enemy, and nothing more. With special insight, Sholokhov showed the difficult path of the protagonist. At the beginning of the epic, this is an eighteen-year-old guy - cheerful, strong, handsome. Gregory is an exceptionally solid, pure nature. Here is the code of Cossack honor, and intense peasant labor, and daring in folk games and festivities, and familiarization with the rich Cossack folklore, and the feeling of first love. From generation to generation, the courage and courage brought up, nobility and generosity in relation to the defeated, contempt for cowardice and cowardice determined the behavior of Gregory in all life circumstances. In the troubled days of revolutionary events, he commits many mistakes. But on the path of the search for truth, the Cossack is sometimes unable to comprehend the iron logic of the revolution, its internal laws. Grigory Melekhov is a proud, freedom-loving personality and at the same time a philosopher and truth-seeker. For him, the greatness and inevitability of revolution must be revealed and proved by the entire subsequent course of life. Melekhov dreams of such a system of life in which a person would be rewarded by the measure of his intelligence, labor and talent.

Most of all in the novel I was struck by the female characters: Ilyinichna, Aksinya and Natalya. These women are completely different, but they are united by a sublime moral beauty. The novel is full of charm in the image of the old Ilyinichna, who personifies the hard lot of the Cossack woman, her high moral qualities. Pantelei Melekhov's wife, Vasilisa Ilinichna, is a native Cossack woman of the Upper Don Territory. Life with her husband was not sweet: sometimes, having flared up, he beat her hard, she grew old early, put on weight, suffered from diseases, but remained a caring, energetic hostess. The reader is captivated by the image of Natalya, a woman of high moral purity and feelings: “her eyes shone with radiant, quivering warmth”. Strong in character, for a long time she put up with the position of her unloved wife and still hoped for a better life. But she can resolutely stand up for herself and her children, powerfully declare her right to a bright, real life. She curses and loves Gregory endlessly. With unprecedented depth in the last days of her life, the strength of the spirit and the conquering moral purity this heroine. Her happiness came to her. The family was restored, harmony and love reigned in her through Natalya's asceticism. She gave birth to twins: a son and a daughter. Natalia turned out to be as loving, devoted and caring mother as she was a wife. This beautiful woman is the embodiment of the dramatic destiny of a strong, beautiful, selflessly loving nature who can sacrifice everything, even life, in the name of a high feeling.

Aksinya's love for Gregory on the pages of the novel borders on a heroic deed. And even though we are faced with a simple semi-literate Cossack woman, we must not forget how beautiful the inner world of this woman with a difficult fate is.

The heroes of Sholokhov's epic entered our life as real people, live with us and among us. Unfortunately, the Melekhov family nevertheless fell apart, but its members were able to create a hearth where a flame of love, warmth and understanding will always glow, which will never go out.

For Sholokhov, a person is the most valuable thing on our planet, and the most important thing that helps the formation of a person's soul is, first of all, his family, the house in which he was born, grew up, where he will always be welcomed and loved and where he must be will return. Two worlds of ideas and beliefs collided, there were sharp historical breaks. The heroes of the epic are contemporaries and participants in the crucial events of the era, each of whom faced the need to determine their place in a new life, to find their own truth. The example of the Melekhov family in "Quiet Don" shows the greatest social change in the fate of the entire people, in the life of the entire nation.

21. IMAGE OF COSSACKS IN SHOLOKHOV'S NOVEL "QUIET DON"

The epic novel by M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is rightfully considered his most significant and serious work. The author managed surprisingly well to convey the life and life of the Don Cossacks, its very spirit and to connect all this with specific historical events. The epic captures a number of great upheavals in Russia. The shocks described in the novel had a strong impact on the fate of the Don Cossacks. The life of the Cossacks in that difficult historical period, which Sholokhov reflected in the novel, defines eternal values ​​as clearly as possible. Love for the native land, respect for the older generation, love for a woman, the need for freedom are the basic values ​​without which a free Cossack cannot imagine himself.

Cossacks are warriors and grain growers at the same time. These two concepts define the life of the Cossacks. It must be said that historically the Cossacks formed on the borders of Russia, where enemy raids were frequent, so the Cossacks were forced to defend their land with arms in hand, which was distinguished by its special fertility and rewarded a hundredfold for the labor invested in it. Later, already under the rule of the Russian Tsar, the Cossacks existed as a privileged military estate, which in many respects determined the preservation of ancient customs and traditions among the Cossacks. In Sholokhov's work, the Cossacks are shown to be very traditional. For example, from an early age, the Cossacks get used to the horse, which is not just an instrument of labor for them, but a loyal friend in battle and a comrade (he takes the description of the crying hero Christoni by the funnel led by the red by the red). All of them are brought up in respect for their elders and unquestioning obedience to them (Panteley Prokofievich could punish Grigory even when hundreds and thousands of people were under the command of the latter). The Cossacks are ruled by an ataman elected by the military Cossack Circle, where Panteley Prokofievich is sent to Sholokhov.

Topic civil war, which unfolded on the Don land, is dedicated to the novel "Quiet Don" by M. A. Sholokhov. Here they found a deep and comprehensive reflection and a peculiar way of life of the Cossacks, and their traditions, culture, way of life, language, and the unique Don nature. The novel is inhabited by many heroes, full of events in social and political life, pictures of peaceful labor. The epic depicts the history of the Cossacks during a turbulent decade from 1912 to 1922. The beginning of the novel depicts everyday life and customs Cossack village on the eve of the First World War, introducing readers into the world of intimate, personal problems of the heroes. Two epigraphs, pre-sent to the novel, reveal the ideological and artistic intention of the author. The words of an old Cossack song precede a story about bloody battles, about the class demarcation of the inhabitants of the Tatarsky farm, about the intense search by the heroes of their place in the turbulent revolutionary reality, about their ineradicable gravitation towards simple human happiness, towards peaceful peasant labor on the land-breadwinner.

Sholokhov the artist defeated Sholokhov the politician, showing the Cossacks in the revolution. What Soviet literary critics saw the ideological weakness of the novel turned out to be his highest achievement... The life reflected in the novel turned out to be much more complicated, confusing, more contradictory. Her palette was by no means limited to two colors - red and white. And the brightest, strongest and most attractive hero of the novel - the "irresponsible" middle peasant Grigory Melekhov - deeply feels and understands this truth, but in the most difficult conditions he cannot find a way out of the moral impasse. This makes him a tragically complex person. His image went down in the history of Russian literature as Pushkin's Onegin, Lermontov's Pechorin, Turgenev's Bazarov, because he combined the best typical qualities of the Don Cossacks during the wars and upheavals of the early XX century. His fate reflected the tragedy of millions captured by the terrible revolutionary elements. Grigory Melekhov serves either the Reds or the Whites. So, at the end of January 1918, in the ranks of the Red Guard, he fights against Kaledin, and then for six months he fights against the Reds as part of the Great Don Army, subordinate to General Krasnov, and at the end of the winter of 1920/21 he goes to Fomin's gang.