Modern Russian literature began during the Thaw. Literary thaw: general characteristics (years)
“Thaw” (1953-1964) - the beginning of self-restoration of literature and a new type literary development- received its definition from the 1954 story of the same name by I. G. Ehrenburg (1891-1967). For writers it was not a short-term state of liberation, sobering up from dogma, from the dictates of permitted half-truths, but rather a rather long process. The “Thaw” had its stages, both forward and backward movements, restoration of the old, episodes of incomplete, partial return to “delayed” classics (for example, the return of the novel “The Master and Margarita” in 1966 or the release of the 9-volume collected works of I.A. Bunin in 1956).
The first segment of the “thaw” (1953-1954) is associated primarily with the liberation from the prescriptions of normative (canonical) aesthetics, the “rules” of approach to reality, the selection of “truth” and “untruth” that arose in the pre-war and post-war years and reflecting their harsh character, their lack of freedom. In 1953, in No. 12 of the New World magazine, an article by V. Pomerantsev “On Sincerity in Literature” appeared, in which the author pointed out the very frequent discrepancy between what the writer personally saw and knew and what he was ordered to depict, what was officially considered true. Thus, the truth in the war was not considered the retreat, not the disaster of 1941, but only the notorious victorious blows. And even writers who knew about the feat and tragedy of the defenders Brest Fortress in 1941 (for example, K. M. Simonov), until 1956 they did not write about her, crossing her out of their memory and biography.
The second stage of the “thaw” (1955-1960) is no longer a sphere of theory, but a series works of art who claimed new type the relationship between the writer and society, the writer’s right to see the world as it is. This is the novel by V. Dudintsev “Not by Bread Alone” (1956), and peasant story“Levers” by the Vologda poet A. Yashin, and his poems from the collection with the characteristic title “Barefoot on the Ground” (1965), essays and stories by V. F. Tendryakov “The Fall of Ivan Chuprov” (1954), “Bad Weather” (1954) , "Tight Knot" (1956). They became, along with the previously published essays “District Everyday Life” and “Difficult Spring” (1956) by V.V. Ovechkin, the origins of the journalistic branch of “village” prose.
The third and last segment of the “thaw” (1961-1963) is rightfully associated with the novel “Silence” (1961) by front-line writer Yu. V. Bondarev (born 1924), and the plays of V. S. Rozov (born 1913 ) - especially with the play “Forever Alive” (1956) (“The Cranes Are Flying” is the title of its film version), a novel in defense of prisoners Soviet soldiers“Missing” (1962) by S. P. Zlobin (1903-1965), early stories and the novels of V. Aksenov, the poetry of E. Yevtushenko and others in the magazine “Youth” and, of course, with the first reliable description of the camp - the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962) by A. I. Solzhenitsyn... 1964-1985. they call coarsening and simplistically “years of stagnation”: this is clearly unfair in relation to our science (our country was the first in space and in the field of many high-tech technologies), to art (remember the symphonies of D. D. Shostakovich, the films of A. Tarkovsky etc.), nor to the literary process. The scope of freedom for artists in these years was so great that for the first time since the 20s:
1) new ones were born literary trends in the literary process, entire movements of “village” prose, “military” prose, prose, relatively speaking, urban, or “intellectual”, art song (V. Vysotsky, A. Galich, etc.) and studio theater flourished;
2) these trends turned out to be not only thematically and problematically united, but united in a completely different, qualitative way;
3) the historical novels of V. S. Pikul (1928-1989) were created, in particular his novel about G. Rasputin “U last line"(1979), the novel-essay by V. Chivilikhin "Memory" (1982) about the search for the "genius without a name", the hitherto unknown creator of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", finally, D. Balashov's novels about free Novgorod, about the "junior sovereigns" Russians;
4) specific works about the Russian religious and moral idea in art appeared - “Letters from the Russian Museum” (1966), “Black Boards” (1969) by Vl. Soloukhina;
5) the historical-revolutionary novelism of A. I. Solzhenitsyn (“The Red Wheel”) arose;
6) takeoff occurred science fiction. "(1972), "Roadside Picnic" (1972), "A Beetle in an Anthill" (1979).
The content of the article
LITERATURE OF THE THAW, conventional name for the period of literature of the Soviet Union of the 1950s–early 1960s. The death of Stalin in 1953, the XX (1956) and XXII (1961) congresses of the CPSU, which condemned the “cult of personality”, the easing of censorship and ideological restrictions - these events determined the changes reflected in the work of writers and poets of the Thaw.
In the early 1950s, on the pages literary magazines articles and works began to appear that played the role of a pathogen public opinion. The story of Ilya Ehrenburg caused heated controversy among readers and critics Thaw. The images of the heroes were given in an unexpected way. main character, parting with a loved one, the director of a plant, an adherent of Soviet ideology, in his person, breaks with the country’s past. In addition to the main storyline, describing the fate of two painters, the writer raises the question of the artist’s right to be independent of any attitudes.
In 1956, a novel by Vladimir Dudintsev was published Not by bread alone and stories by Pavel Nilin Cruelty, Sergei Antonov It happened in Penkovo. Dudintsev's novel traces the tragic path of an inventor in a bureaucratic system. The main characters of the stories by Nilin and Antonov attracted people with their lively characters, their sincere attitude to the events around them, and their search for their own truth.
The most striking works of this period were focused on participation in solving pressing socio-political issues for the country, on reconsidering the role of the individual in the state. Society was in the process of mastering the space of newly opened freedom. Most of the participants in the debate did not abandon socialist ideas.
The preconditions for the Thaw were laid in 1945. Many writers were front-line soldiers. Prose about the war by real participants in hostilities, or, as it was called, “officer's prose,” carried an important understanding of the truth about the past war.
He was the first to raise this topic, which became central in military prose 1950–1960, Viktor Nekrasov in the story In the trenches of Stalingrad, published in 1946. Konstantin Simonov, who served as a front-line journalist, described his impressions in a trilogy Living and dead(1959–1979). In the stories of front-line writers Grigory Baklanov inch of land(1959) and The dead have no shame(1961), Yuri Bondarev Battalions ask for fire(1957) and Last salvos(1959), Konstantin Vorobyov Killed near Moscow(1963), against the backdrop of a detailed, unvarnished description of military life, the theme of conscious personal choice in a situation between life and death was heard for the first time. Knowledge of front-line life and experience of survival in the camps formed the basis of the work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who subjected the Soviet regime to the most consistent criticism.
Issues of literary almanacs and periodicals—various literary magazines—played a major role in the “warming” process. It was they who reacted most vividly to new trends, contributed to the emergence of new names, and brought the authors of the 1920s–1930s out of oblivion.
From 1950 to 1970, the New World magazine was headed by A.T. Tvardovsky. As editor-in-chief, he contributed to the appearance of bright and bold publications in the magazine, gathering around himself best writers and publicists. “Novomirskaya prose” brought to the readers serious social and moral problems.
In 1952, a series of essays by Valentin Ovechkin was published in Novy Mir. District everyday life, where the topic of optimal management of agriculture was first discussed. It was debated what was better: strong-willed pressure or providing rural farms with the necessary independence. This publication marked the beginning of a whole movement in literature - “village prose”. Leisurely reflections Village Diary Efim Dorosh about the fate of rural residents was side by side with the nervous, electrified prose of Vladimir Tendryakov - stories Potholes, Mayfly – short lifespan. Village prose showed the wisdom of peasants living with nature in the same rhythm and sensitively reacting to any falsehood. One of the most prominent “villageists” later, Fyodor Abramov, began publishing in Novy Mir as a critic. His article was published in 1954 People of a collective farm village in post-war prose, where he called for writing “only the truth—direct and impartial.”
In 1956, two issues of the almanac “Literary Moscow” were published, edited by Emmanuel Kazakevich. I. Erenburg, K. Chukovsky, P. Antokolsky, V. Tendryakov, A. Yashin and others, as well as poets N. Zabolotsky and A. Akhmatova, published here; for the first time after a 30-year break, the works of M. Tsvetaeva were published. In 1961, the almanac “Tarussa Pages” was published, edited by Nikolai Otten, where M. Tsvetaeva, B. Slutsky, D. Samoilov, M. Kazakov, and the story of the war by Bulat Okudzhava were published Be healthy, student, chapters from golden rose and essays by K. Paustovsky.
Despite the atmosphere of renewal, opposition to new trends was significant. Poets and writers who worked according to the principles of socialist realism consistently defended them in literature. Vsevolod Kochetov, Chief Editor magazine "October" conducted a polemic with "New World". Discussions on the pages of magazines and periodicals maintained an atmosphere of dialogue in society.
In 1955–1956, many new magazines appeared - “Youth”, “Moscow”, “Young Guard”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Ural”, “Volga”, etc.
“Youth prose” was published mainly in the magazine “Yunost”. Its editor, Valentin Kataev, relied on young and unknown prose writers and poets. The works of the young people were characterized by a confessional intonation, youth slang, and a sincere upbeat mood.
In the stories of Anatoly Gladilin published on the pages of Youth Chronicle of the times of Viktor Podgursky(1956) and Anatoly Kuznetsov Continuation of the legend(1957) described the younger generation’s search for their path at the “construction sites of the century” and in their personal lives. The heroes were also attractive because of their sincerity and rejection of falsehood. In the story by Vasily Aksenov Star ticket, published in Yunost, a new type of Soviet youth was described, later called “star boys” by critics. This is a new romantic, thirsting for maximum freedom, believing that in searching for himself he has the right to make mistakes.
During the Thaw period, many new bright names appeared in Russian literature. For short stories Yuri Kazakov is characterized by attention to shades psychological state ordinary people from the people (stories Manka, 1958, Trali-wali, 1959). A postman girl, a drunken beacon man, singing old songs on the river - they embody their understanding of life, focusing on their own idea of its values. Ironic story Constellation Kozlotur(1961) brought popularity to the young author Fazil Iskander. The story ridicules the emasculated bureaucratic functioning that creates fuss around unnecessary “innovative undertakings.” Subtle irony has become not only characteristic feature Iskander’s author’s style, but also migrated into oral speech.
The science fiction genre, whose traditions were laid in the 1920s and 1930s, continues to develop. Significant works were written by Ivan Efremov - Andromeda's nebula (1958), Heart of the Snake(1959). Utopian novel Andromeda's nebula resembles a philosophical treatise on the cosmic communist future to which the development of society will lead.
In the 1950s, brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky came to literature - From outside (1959), Country of Crimson Clouds (1959), The path to Amalthea (1960), Noon, 21st century (1962), Distant Rainbow (1962), It's hard to be a god(1964). Unlike other science fiction writers who dealt with the themes of cosmic messianism in an abstract and heroic manner, the problems of cosmic “progressors” were revealed by the Strugatskys at the level of philosophical understanding of the mutual influences of civilizations different levels. In the story It's hard to be a god the question is asked what is better: the slow, painful, but natural development of society or the artificial introduction and expansion of the values of a more civilized society into a less developed one in order to direct its movement in a more progressive direction. In subsequent books by the authors, reflection on this issue becomes deeper. There comes an awareness of moral responsibility for considerable sacrifices - the so-called payment. "primitive" societies for the progress imposed on them.
It was in the 1960–1980s that Yuri Trifonov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Venedikt Erofeev, and Joseph Brodsky came to realize themselves as writers and poets.
So, in 1950 Trifonov’s story was published Students. Solzhenitsyn during the years of exile and teaching in Ryazan region worked on a novel Cancer building , research Gulag Archipelago; in 1959 he wrote the story One day of Ivan Denisovich, published in 1962. In the 1950s, Venedikt Erofeev led the life of a student, wandering around different universities. He tried his pen in a lyrical diary Notes from a Psychopath(1956–1957), where a special Erofeev style was already felt.
The thaw period was accompanied by the flowering of poetry. The euphoria from the new possibilities required an emotional outburst. Since 1955, the country began to celebrate Poetry Day. On one September Sunday, poems were read in libraries and theaters all over the country. Since 1956, an almanac with the same name began to be published. Poets spoke from the stands and packed stadiums. Poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum attracted thousands of enthusiastic listeners. Since the monument to the poet was inaugurated on Mayakovsky Square in 1958, this place has become a place of pilgrimage and meeting for poets and poetry lovers. Here poetry was read, books and magazines were exchanged, and there was a dialogue about what was happening in the country and the world.
The greatest popularity during the period of the poetic boom was gained by poets with a bright journalistic temperament - Robert Rozhdestvensky and Evgeny Yevtushenko. Their civic lyrics were imbued with the pathos of understanding the place of their country in the scale of world achievements. Hence a different approach to understanding civic duty and social romance. The images of leaders were revised - the image of Lenin was romanticized, Stalin was criticized. Many songs were written based on Rozhdestvensky’s poems, which formed the basis of the “big style” in the genre of Soviet pop song. Yevgeny Yevtushenko, in addition to civil topics, was known for his deep and quite frank love lyrics, cycles written based on impressions from trips to countries around the world.
The no less popular Andrei Voznesensky was more focused on the aesthetics of the new modernity - airports, neon, new brands of cars, etc. However, he also paid tribute to attempts to comprehend the images of Soviet leaders in a new way. Over time, the theme of searching for the true values of existence began to emerge in Voznesensky’s work. The chamber, intimate motifs of Bella Akhmadulina, her unique, melodious author's style of performance were subtly reminiscent of the poetess Silver Age, attracting many fans to her.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the art song genre became popular. The most prominent representative and founder of this trend was Bulat Okudzhava. Together with Rozhdestvensky, Yevtushenko, Voznesensky and Akhmadulina, he performed at noisy poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum. His work became the starting point, the impetus for the emergence of a galaxy of popular domestic bards - Vizbor, Gorodnitsky, Galich, Vladimir Vysotsky and others. Many bards performed songs not only with their own words, often lines of poets of the Silver Age - Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam were set to music.
The entire palette of the poetic process of the Thaw period was not limited to the bright young voices that were widely heard by the general reader. The collections of poets of the older generation - Nikolai Aseev - are imbued with a premonition of change Thoughts(1955), Leonid Martynov Poetry(1957). Understanding the lessons of war - main topic front-line poets Semyon Gudzenko, Alexander Mezhirov, Olga Berggolts, Yulia Drunina. The motives of courageous asceticism, which helped to survive in the camps, were heard in the works of Yaroslav Smelyakov. “Quiet lyricists” Vladimir Sokolov and Nikolai Rubtsov turned to nature in search of authenticity of being and harmony with the world. David Samoilov and Boris Slutsky based their work on broad cultural and historical reflection.
In addition to the generally recognized published authors, there were a significant number of poets and writers who were not published. They united in groups - poetry circles of like-minded people, which existed either as private associations or as literary associations at universities. In Leningrad, the association of poets at the university (V. Uflyand, M. Eremin, L. Vinogradov, etc.) was inspired by the poetry of the Oberiuts. In a circle at the Leningrad Technological Institute (E. Rein, D. Bobyshev, A. Naiman), whose common hobby was Acmeism, a young poet Joseph Brodsky appeared. He attracted attention for his lack of conformity - his reluctance to play according to accepted rules, for which in 1964 he was brought to court for “parasitism.”
Most creative heritage The Moscow “Lianozov group”, which included G. Sapgir, I. Kholin, Vs. Nekrasov, was published only 30–40 years after it was written. The Lianozovites experimented with colloquial, everyday speech, achieving paradoxical connections and consonances through dissonance. In Moscow at the end of the 1950s there was also a circle of students of the institute foreign languages, which included the poet Stanislav Krasovitsky. In 1964, on the initiative of the poet Leonid Gubanov, the student association of poets and artists SMOG was born (V. Aleinikov, V. Delone, A. Basilova, S. Morozov, V. Batshev, A. Sokolov, Yu. Kublanovsky, etc.), which, in addition to literary experiments carried out radical actions, which accelerated its collapse.
The reaction of the authorities to the publications of some authors abroad was painful and acute. This was given the status of almost high treason, which was accompanied by forced expulsion, scandals, legal proceedings etc. The state still considered itself to have the right to determine the norms and boundaries of thinking and creativity for its citizens. That is why in 1958 a scandal broke out over the award Nobel Prize Boris Pasternak for a novel published abroad Doctor Zhivago. The writer had to refuse the prize. In 1965 there followed a scandal with the writers Andrei Sinyavsky (stories The trial is underway, Lyubimov, treatise What's happened socialist realism ) and Julius Daniel (stories Moscow speaks, Redemption), who published their works in the West since the late 1950s. They were sentenced “for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” to five and seven years in the camps. Vladimir Voinovich after the publication of the novel in the West The life and extraordinary adventures of soldier Ivan Chonkin had to leave the USSR because He could no longer hope to publish his books in his homeland.
In addition to “tamizdat,” “samizdat” became a characteristic phenomenon of the society of that time. Many works passed from hand to hand, reprinted on typewriters or the simplest duplicating technique. The very fact of prohibition fueled interest in these publications and contributed to their popularity.
After Brezhnev came to power, it is believed that the “thaw” ended. Criticism was allowed within limits that did not undermine the existing system. There was a rethinking of the role of Lenin - Stalin in history - different interpretations were proposed. Criticism of Stalin waned.
Essential for understanding the boundaries of freedom was the attitude towards literary heritage beginning of the century. The event was last piece Ilya Ehrenburg - memories People, years, life(1961–1966). For the first time, many learned about the existence of such historical figures as Mandelstam, Balmont, Tsvetaeva, Falk, Modigliani, Savinkov, etc. Names suppressed by Soviet ideology, described in detail and vividly, became reality national history, the artificially interrupted connection between the eras - pre-revolutionary and Soviet - was restored. Some of the authors of the Silver Age, in particular Blok and Yesenin, already began to be mentioned and published in the 1950s. Other authors were still banned.
Self-censorship developed. The internal censor told the author which topics could be raised and which should not be discussed. Certain elements of ideology were perceived as a formality, a convention that must be taken into account.
Olga Loshchilina
DRAMATURGY OF “THAW”
The “Thaw” not only debunked the myth of the holiness of the “father of all nations.” For the first time, it made it possible to raise the ideological scenery above the Soviet stage and drama. Of course, not all, but a very significant part of them. Before talking about the happiness of all mankind, it would be nice to think about the happiness and unhappiness of an individual person.
The process of “humanization” declared itself in playwrights both in its literary basis and in its production.
Search artistic means, capable of conveying the leading trends of the time within the framework of everyday, chamber drama, led to the creation of such a significant work as the play by Alexei Arbuzov Irkutsk history(1959–1960). Image of everyday life human drama rose in her to the heights of poetic reflections about moral principles contemporary, and the appearance of the heroes themselves vividly captured the features of the new historical era.
At the beginning, the heroine of the play, a young girl Valya, experiences a state of deep mental loneliness. Having lost faith in the existence of true love, she lost faith in people, in the possibility of happiness for herself. She tries to compensate for the painful spiritual emptiness, boredom and prose of everyday work with a frequent change of love affairs, the illusory romance of a thoughtless life. Loving Victor, suffering humiliation from him, she decides to “revenge” him - she marries Sergei.
Another life begins, Sergei helps the heroine find herself again. He has a strong-willed, strong, persistent and at the same time humanly charming character, full of warmth. It is this character that makes him, without hesitation, rush to the aid of a drowning boy. The boy is saved, but Sergei dies. The tragic shock experienced by the heroine completes the turning point in her soul. Victor also changes; the death of a friend forces him to reconsider many things in his life. own life. Now, after real tests, it becomes possible real love heroes.
It is significant that Arbuzov widely used stage convention techniques in the play. A sharp mixture of real and conventional plans, a retrospective way of organizing action, transferring events from the recent past to the present day - all this was necessary for the author in order to activate the reader, viewer, make his contact with the characters more lively and direct, as if bringing problems to the surface. space for broad, open discussion.
Prominent place in artistic structure The Chorus occupies the pieces. He introduces into this drama journalistic elements that were extremely popular in the society of that time.
“Even the day before death is not too late to start life over again” - this is the main thesis of Arbuzov’s play My poor Marat(1064), the approval of which the heroes come to in the finale after many years of spiritual quest. Both plot-wise and from the point of view of the dramatic techniques used here My poor Marat constructed as a chronicle. At the same time, the play is subtitled “dialogues in three parts.” Each such part has its own precise, up to month, designation of time. With these constant dates, the author seeks to emphasize the connection of the heroes with the world around them, evaluating them throughout the entire historical period.
The main characters are tested for mental strength. Despite the happy ending, the author seems to be saying: everyday life, simple human relationships require great spiritual strength if you want your dreams of success and happiness not to collapse.
In the most famous dramatic works those years, the problems of everyday life, family, love are not separated from issues of moral and civic duty. At the same time, of course, the severity and relevance of social and moral issues in themselves were not a guarantor creative success– it was achieved only when the authors found new dramatic ways of considering life’s contradictions and sought to enrich and develop the aesthetic system.
The work of Alexander Vampilov is very interesting. His main achievement is a complex polyphony of living human characters, in many ways dialectically continuing each other and at the same time endowed with pronounced individual traits.
Already in the first lyrical comedy Farewell in June(1965) The signs of a hero were clearly identified, who then passed through Vampilov’s other plays in different guises.
Complex psychological ways Busygin goes to finding spiritual integrity, main character plays by Vampilov Eldest son(1967). The plot of the play is constructed in a very unusual way. Busygin and his random travel companion Sevostyanov, nicknamed Silva, find themselves in the Sarafanov family, unknown to them, who are going through difficult times. Busygin unwittingly becomes responsible for what is happening to his “relatives.” As he ceases to be a stranger in the Sarafanovs’ house, the previous connection with Silva, who turns out to be an ordinary vulgar, gradually disappears. But Busygin himself is increasingly burdened by the game he has started, by his frivolous but cruel act. He discovers a spiritual kinship with Sarafanov, for whom, by the way, it doesn’t matter at all whether the main character is a blood relative or not. Therefore, the long-awaited revelation leads to a happy ending to the entire play. Busygin takes a difficult and therefore conscious, purposeful step forward in his spiritual development.
The problem is solved even more complexly and dramatically moral choice in the play Duck hunting (1967). The comic element, so natural in Vampilov’s previous plays, is here reduced to a minimum. The author examines in detail the character of a person drowned in the vanity of life, and shows how, by making immorality the norm of behavior, without thinking about the good for others, a person kills the humanity in himself.
The duck hunt, which the hero of the drama Viktor Zilov is going on throughout the entire action, is not at all an expression of his spiritual essence. He is a bad shot because he admits that he feels bad about killing ducks. As it turns out, he feels sorry for himself, too, although once he reaches a dead end in his senseless whirling among seemingly beloved women and men who seem to be friends with him, he tries to stop everything with one shot. Of course, there was not enough strength for this.
On the one hand, comic, obviously invented, and on the other, small everyday situations in which Vampilov places his heroes, with a more serious acquaintance with them, each time turn out to be serious tests for a contemporary trying to answer the question: “Who are you, man?”
Ethical problems were clearly revealed in the drama of Viktor Rozov On your wedding day(1964). Here, quite young people are tested for moral maturity. On the wedding day, the bride suddenly declares that the wedding will not happen and that she is parting with the groom forever, although she loves him endlessly. Despite all the unexpectedness of this decisive action The behavior of the heroine - Nyura Salova, the daughter of a night watchman in a small Volga town - has its own inexorable internal logic, leading her close to the need to renounce happiness. As the story progresses, Nyura becomes convinced of a bitter but immutable truth: the man she is marrying has long loved another woman.
Originality conflict situation that arises in the play is that the struggle does not flare up between the heroes within a closed and fairly traditional love “triangle”. Rozov, having retrospectively outlined the real origins of the acute conflict that has arisen, follows, first of all, the intense confrontation that takes place in the soul of the heroine, because ultimately she herself must make a conscious choice, utter the decisive word.
Rozov opposed the dogmatic concept of the “ideal hero”, who certainly manifests himself against a historical and social background. The action of his plays always takes place in a narrow circle of characters. If this is not a family, then a group of graduates and classmates gathered at school for their evening after for long years separation. Sergei Usov, the main character of the play Traditional collection(1967), directly speaks about the value of the individual, independent of professional achievements, positions, social roles– the fundamental principles of human spirituality are important to him. Therefore, he becomes a kind of arbiter in the dispute between matured graduates trying to separate the wheat from the chaff in assessing the viability of this or that fate. The gathering of graduates becomes a review of their moral achievements.
In the same way they separate and disconnect their characters from numerous public relations Alexander Volodin – Elder sister(1961),Purpose(1963); Edward Radzinsky - 104 pages about love(1964),Filming (1965).
This is especially typical for female images, to whom the author's undivided sympathy is given. The heroines are touchingly romantic and, despite the very difficult relationship with those around them, as if pushing them to give up any dreams, they always remain true to their ideals. They are quiet, not very noticeable, but, warming the souls of loved ones, they find strength for themselves to live with faith and love. Girl stewardess ( 104 pages about love), a chance meeting with which the hero, the young and talented physicist Electron, did not foretell, seemingly, any changes in his rationally correct life, in fact showed that a person without love, without affection, without a sense of his daily need for another person is not at all Human. In the finale, the hero receives unexpected news about the death of his girlfriend and realizes that he will never again be able to feel life the way he once did - that is, just three and a half months ago...
Interestingly, much changed in the 1960s even for so-called revolutionary drama. On the one hand, she began to resort to the possibilities of documentary filmmaking, which is largely explained by the desire of the authors to be reliable down to the smallest detail. On the other hand, images historical figures acquired the features of completely “alive” people, that is, contradictory, doubting people going through an internal spiritual struggle.
In the play by Mikhail Shatrov sixth of july(1964), called in the subtitle “an experience in documentary drama,” the history of the revolution itself was directly recreated in a dramatic combination of circumstances and characters. The author set himself the task of discovering this drama and introducing it into the framework of theatrical action. However, Shatrov did not take the path of simply reproducing the chronicle of events; he tried to reveal their internal logic, revealing the socio-psychological motives for the behavior of their participants.
The historical facts underlying the play - the Left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion in Moscow on July 6, 1918 - gave the author ample opportunity to search for exciting scenic situations, free flight creative imagination. However, following the principle he had chosen, Shatrov sought to discover the power of drama in the very real story. Intensity dramatic action intensifies as the political and moral combat between two political figures - Lenin and the leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries Maria Spiridonova - intensifies.
But in another play, Bolsheviks(1967), Shatrov, by his own admission, is already in many ways moving away from the document, from the exact chronology “for the sake of creating a more integral artistic image era." The action takes place over just a few hours on the evening of August 30, 1918 (with the stage time more or less exactly corresponding to the real one). Uritsky was killed in Petrograd, and an attempt was made on Lenin's life in Moscow. If in Sixth of July main spring stage action there was a rapid, condensed movement of events, development historical fact, then in Bolsheviks the emphasis is shifted to the artistic understanding of the fact, to penetration into its deepest philosophical essence. Not the tragic events themselves (they happen behind the scenes), but their refraction in the spiritual life of people, the moral problems they put forward form the basis of the ideological and artistic concept of the play.
Collision different views on the moral responsibilities of the individual in society, internal processes, spiritual development the hero, the formation of his ethical principles, which takes place in intense and acute mental struggles, in difficult searches, in conflicts with others - these contradictions constitute the driving principle of most plays of the 1960s. By turning the content of their works primarily to issues of morality and personal behavior, playwrights significantly expanded the range of artistic solutions and genres. The basis of such searches and experiments was the desire to strengthen the intellectual element of the drama, and most importantly, to find new opportunities for identifying spiritual and moral potential in a person’s character.
Elena Sirotkina
Terminological minimum: “thaw”, “sixties”, poetry schools, “loud” lyrics, “quiet” lyrics, “village” prose, “urban” prose, industrial drama, conflict-free theory, industrial prose.
Plan
1. “Thaw” as a special period of Russian culture.
2. Poetry of the “sixties” in the context of the evolution of the personal beginnings of the authors:
a) the convention of dividing into “loud” and “quiet” lyrics;
b) representatives of “loud” lyrics;
c) representatives of “quiet” lyrics;
d) two poetic schools.
3. Main development trends dramatic arts in the 1960s
4. Prose of the “thaw”:
a) from industrial prose to essayistic authenticity (official literature);
c) the origins of the formation of dissident literature.
Literature
Texts to study
1. Arbuzov, A. Irkutsk history.
2. Brodsky, I. Poems.
3. Vampilov, A. Eldest son. Farewell in July. Duck hunting. Last summer in Chulimsk.
4. Voznesensky, A. Poems.
5. Volodin, A. Elder sister.
6. Dorosh, E. Village diary.
7. Evtushenko, E. Bratsk hydroelectric station. Poetry.
8. Leonov, L. Russian forest. Pyramid.
9. Ovechkin, V. Regional everyday life.
10. Pasternak, B. Doctor Zhivago.
11. Pomerantsev, V. On sincerity in literature.
12. Radzinsky, E. 104 pages about love. A movie is being made.
13. Rozhdestvensky, R. Poems.
14. Rozov, V. Traditional collection.
15. Rubtsov, N. Poems.
16. Sapgir, G. Poems.
17. Sokolov, B. Poems.
18. Tvardovsky, A. T. Beyond the distance - the distance. Terkin in the next world. By right of memory.
19. Tendryakov, V. Potholes. The mayfly has a short lifespan.
20. Kholin, I. Poems.
21. Shatrov, M. Bolsheviks. Sixth of July.
Main
1. History of Russian literature of the twentieth century: textbook. manual: in 2 volumes / ed.
V.V. Agenosova. – M.: Yurayt, 2013.
2. Leiderman, N. L. Russian literature of the twentieth century (1950–1990s): textbook. aid for students higher textbook institutions: in 2 vols. T. 1: 1953–1968 / N. L. Leiderman,
M. N. Lipovetsky. – M.: Academy, 2010. – 416 p.
3. Rogover, E. S. Russian literature of the twentieth century: textbook. allowance / E. S. Rogover. – St. Petersburg. – M.: Saga-Forum, 2011. – 496 p.
Additional
1. Gromova, M. I. Russian modern dramaturgy / M. I. Gromova. – M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2002. – 368 p.
2. Kanunnikova, I. A. Russian drama of the twentieth century / I. A. Kanunnikova. – M.: Flinta: Nauka, 2003. – 207 p.
3. Russian literature of the twentieth century: textbook. aid for students universities: in 2 volumes. T. 2: 1940–1990. / ed. L. P. Krementsova. – M.: Academy, 2005. – 458 p.
4. Russian prose of the twentieth century / ed. T. M. Kolyadich. – St. Petersburg. : Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg State University - M. : Academy, 2005. - 255 p.
1. Literature of the “Thaw” –
conventional name for the period of literature of the Soviet Union of the 1950s - early 1960s. Death of Stalin in 1953
The XX (1956) and XXII (1961) congresses of the CPSU, which condemned the “cult of personality”, the easing of censorship and ideological restrictions - these events determined the changes reflected in the work of writers and poets of the “Thaw”.
“Thaw” is not a term, but a metaphor, entrenched in specialized literature since light hand Ehrenburg (who called his story that way)
1954, published in Znamya) to designate a certain period of development Soviet history, and with it literature.
This period has no clear boundaries to date; there are different opinions: the beginning is 1953 (in political history- death of Stalin; in the literary process - Pomerantsev’s article “On Sincerity in Literature”, published in the magazine “New World”, which symbolizes new trends). According to other sources, the beginning of the “thaw” was 1956 (Khrushchev’s report at the 20th Party Congress).
The end of the period also has different interpretations: 1) 1962–1963. – return to previous positions in relation to samples fiction on the part of a number of party leaders, the Strugatsky brothers state in “Comments on the Past”, Solzhenitsyn in “The Calf Butted an Oak Tree”; 2) 1964–1965 – trials of Brodsky and Sinyavsky with Daniel); 3) 1968 – commissioning Soviet troops to Prague, tightening of party policy regarding dissent, partial return of party censorship. Such difficulties with dating are due to the fact that this period is extremely internally contradictory: there was the magazine “New World”, but in contrast it was supported by “October”, led by the ardent Stalinist Kochetov. Pasternak was hounded for the Nobel Prize for Doctor Zhivago, but they published One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by A. Solzhenitsyn and Terkin in the Next World by A. Tvardovsky, etc.
The concept of “thaw” is not so much literary as it is socio-political. However, a new meaning of the word was born precisely in literature.
In 1948, N. Zabolotsky’s poem “The Thaw” was published in the “New World” magazine, and in 1954, the story “The Thaw” was published from the pen of I. G. Erenburg, which caused heated discussions. It was written on the topic of the day and is now almost forgotten, but its title reflected the essence of the changes. The author's name became associated with anti-Stalinist sentiments in society.
The most important internal political events of this period were the XX and XXII Congresses of the CPSU, which gave a new vector in the development of both the country as a whole and in relation to the ruling elite with culture and literature.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU took place in February 1956. The results of the fifth five-year plan were summed up, directives for the sixth five-year plan (1956–1960) were adopted, and the task was set to catch up and overtake the developed capitalist countries “in a short historical period.” The plans were thwarted, the task was forgotten, and the congress went down in the history of Soviet society thanks to the report made by N.S. Khrushchev at the last closed night meeting, which was not on the agenda. The report cited numerous facts of brutal reprisals against high-ranking party, state and military leaders during the time of Stalin. This report was kept secret from the people for 33 years (in the USSR it was published only in 1989). It began the gradual liberation of society from the ideology and practice of state terror.
The 20th Congress of the CPSU marked the beginning of a broad process of rehabilitation of those repressed in the 30s - early 50s. In the spring of 1953, rehabilitation affected only a narrow circle of the nomenklatura elite; in 1957, national statehood was restored in relation to the Kalmyks and North Caucasian peoples repressed during the war. They were allowed to return to historical place residence. In 1964, the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of August 28, 1941 regarding Soviet Germans, who were accused of aiding the occupiers, was canceled. In 1968, such a charge was dropped from Crimean Tatars. At the end of the 60s, the rehabilitation process was curtailed, thereby drawing the line of a “thaw” in the relationship between power and the individual.
The meetings of party and state leaders with cultural figures in 1957, 1962, 1963 received great resonance in the life of Soviet society. They took place at the state dacha near Moscow, in the Reception House at Lenin Mountains and in the Kremlin. The meetings were of a “fatherly” nature: the leading elite praised, scolded, scolded, in their opinion, capable, talented, but careless representatives of culture, who sometimes forget that they live in a socialist state, where literature and art belong to the people and should not only be understandable him, but also ideologically consistent.
The nature of the instructions in form differed in many ways from the harsh ideological pressure on the creative intelligentsia during the Stalinist period. In essence, they pursued the same goal: to completely subordinate the creative intelligentsia to party influence.
The suicide of the writer A. A. Fadeev in May 1956 sounded a sharp dissonance with the hopes for changes that arose during the “thaw”. In his suicide letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU it was said: “I see no way to continue living, since the art to which I gave my life was ruined by the self-confident and ignorant leaders of the party and now can no longer be corrected. The best cadres of literature - in numbers not even dreamed of by the royal satraps - were physically exterminated or died thanks to the criminal connivance of those in power; the best people literature died at a premature age; everything else that is more or less capable of creating true values, died before reaching 40–50 years of age." The suicide letter was not published in those years, but Fadeev’s act became a tragic act of disobedience to authority.
An example of intimidation of representatives of culture was the campaign against the poet B. L. Pasternak, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in October 1958 for the novel “Doctor Zhivago” published in Italy. The novel was called a “political libel”, and its author was called an “internal emigrant” and a “traitor.” The discussion of Pasternak's action, initiated by the party leadership, resulted in a powerful campaign of condemnation. It was at this time that one of the formulas of Soviet literary life was born: “I haven’t read the novel, but I think...”. In factories and on collective farms, in universities and writers' organizations, people who had not read the novel supported methods of persecution, which ultimately led to Pasternak's serious illness and death in 1960. In 1959, at the Third Congress of Writers of the USSR, Khrushchev also condemned the “denigrators” Soviet reality, and at the same time the “varnishers”. Nevertheless, a few years later, in 1962, at the insistence of N. S. Khrushchev, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee allowed the publication of A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich,” which contained information about the regime and order in Soviet concentration camps, which were then considered secret.
The main qualities of literary politics were inconsistency and unpredictability. This was largely due to the controversial figure of N. S. Khrushchev. He either helped writers feel the air of freedom, or sternly pulled them back. Khrushchev was convinced that the party and the state have the right to interfere in cultural issues and therefore very often and for a long time spoke to the creative intelligentsia and writers. On his initiative, a series of reader discussions took place regarding V. Dudintsev’s novel “Not by Bread Alone.” The Writers' Union harshly condemned the novel. However, in the wake of the “thaw”, many readers allowed themselves to speak openly about it with impunity, finding in it features of innovation and artistic courage.
The name of Khrushchev is associated with the “arrest” in February 1961 of the manuscript of V. Grossman’s novel “Life and Fate”, the statement “in art I am a Stalinist”, the defeat of abstract artists at an exhibition in the Manege. The entire period was woven from contradictions literary life, associated with the name of Khrushchev. Since 1964, when general secretary L. I. Brezhnev became the Central Committee, the literary situation turned out to be more predictable. At all party congresses, starting from the twentieth, special paragraphs devoted to literature always appeared in the reports. The sixth article of the Soviet Constitution (repealed only in 1990) spoke about the leading role of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in all spheres of social and political life. In fact, party leadership of literature was constitutionally enshrined.
Thus, the literary process of the Thaw can be divided into three interconnected and interdependent periods.
The first segment of the “thaw”(1953–1954) is associated with liberation from the prescriptions of normative (canonical) aesthetics, the rules of approach to reality, the selection of “truth” and “untruth” that arose in the pre- and post-war years and reflected their harsh nature and lack of freedom. In 1953, in No. 12 of the New World magazine, an article by V. Pomerantsev “On Sincerity in Literature” appeared, in which the author pointed out the very frequent discrepancy between what the writer personally saw and knew and what he was ordered to depict, what was officially considered true. Thus, the truth in the war was not considered the retreat, not the disaster of 1941, but only the notorious victorious blows. And even writers who knew about the feat and tragedy of the defenders of the Brest Fortress in 1941 (for example, K. M. Simonov) did not write about it until 1956, crossing it out of their memory and biography.
The second stage of the “thaw”(1955–1960) is no longer the sphere of theory, but a series of artistic works that affirm a new type of relationship between the writer and society, the right of the writer to see the world as it is. This is the novel by V. Dudintsev “Not by Bread Alone” (1956), and the peasant story “Levers” by the Vologda poet A. Yashin, and his poems from the collection with the characteristic name “Barefoot on the Ground” (1965), essays and stories by V. F. Tendryakova “The Fall of Ivan Chuprov” (1954), “Bad Weather” (1954), “Tight Knot” (1956). They became, along with the previously published essays “District Everyday Life” and “Difficult Spring” (1956) by V.V. Ovechkin, the origins of the journalistic branch of “village” prose.
The third segment of the “thaw”(1961–1963) is rightfully associated with the novel by front-line writer Yu. V. Bondarev (born in 1924) “Silence” (1961), the plays of V. S. Rozov (born in 1913) - especially with the play “Eternally Alive” (1956) (“The Cranes Are Flying” is the name of its film version), the novel in defense of captured Soviet soldiers “Missing” (1962) by S. P. Zlobin (1903–1965), early stories and novels
V. Aksenov, the poetry of E. Yevtushenko and others in the magazine “Yunost” and, of course, with the first reliable description of the camp - the story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962) by A. I. Solzhenitsyn.
The “Thaw” period entered the history of Russian literature as a special stage of development thanks to a number of other achievements:
1) new literary trends were born in the literary process, entire movements of “village” prose, “military” prose, prose, relatively speaking, “urban” or “intellectual”, the author’s song flourished (V. Vysotsky, A. Galich, etc. ) and studio theater;
2) these trends turned out to be united not only thematically and problematically, but also in a completely different qualitative sense;
3) the historical novelism of V. S. Pikul (1928–1989) was created, in particular, his novel about G. Rasputin “At the Last Line” (1979), the novel-essay by V. Chivilikhin “Memory” (1982) about the search for “ a genius without a name,” the hitherto unknown creator of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”; finally, D. Balashov’s novels about free Novgorod, about the “junior sovereigns” of the Russians;
4) specific works about the Russian religious and moral idea in art appeared - “Letters from the Russian Museum” (1966), “Black Boards” (1969) by Vl. Soloukhina;
5) the historical-revolutionary novelism of A. I. Solzhenitsyn (“The Red Wheel”) arose;
6) there was a rise in science fiction, the flourishing of the social dystopia of I. A. Efremov: “The Andromeda Nebula” (1958), “The Razor Blade” (1963), “The Hour of the Bull” (1970) and the Strugatsky brothers: “Snail on the Slope” (1966) ), “Ugly Swans” (1972), “Roadside Picnic” (1972), “A Beetle in the Anthill” (1979).
The largest and most unexpected phenomenon in the literature of the 60s was its division into “urban” and “rural”, contrary to all the traditions of Russian literature. Although this terminology was condemned by writers and critics, it remained, expressing the essence literary processes. “City” prose, which began as young and confessional, mastered the layers of city life with its conflicts and everyday life, the search for a place in life and the self-determination of heroes (A. Gladilin, A. Kuznetsov, V. Aksenov, V. Maksimov, G. Vladimov). “Village” prose explored the national principles of people’s life, primarily the peasantry, its foundations and moral values. She relied on Russian classic literature. The problem of traditions and the history of folk life was characteristic of that time. In 1952–1954 Novy Mir published essays by V. Ovechkin “District Everyday Life” and an article by V. Pomerantsev “On Sincerity in Literature,” which contributed to the development of a broad discussion.
Many acute social and psychological conflicts of the time converge in the focus of “urban prose.” Moreover, if we can talk about “village prose” as a complete phenomenon, then “urban prose” in the conditions of our rapid “urbanization” and the dramas and problems it causes is still far from leaving the stage. Here we can name books by V. Tendryakov, Yu. Trifonov, A. Bitov, V. Dudintsev, D. Granin, S. Kaledin, A. Kim, V. Makanin, L. Petrushevskaya, G. Semenov and others.
The most prominent representative of the so-called “urban prose” (this term is even more conventional than the term “village prose”) -
Yu. V. Trifonov, although in the work of this writer a significant place is occupied historical novels. He develops traditions in prose psychological realism, especially close to A.P. Chekhov. One of the cross-cutting themes of the writer’s “city stories” is the theme of “great trifles in life”, the theme of “little things” that suck a person in and lead to self-destruction of the individual (the stories “Exchange”, “Another Life”, “House on the Embankment”, “Preliminary results", "Late farewell").
2. a) The concept of “sixties” in the history of literature goes back to the populist movement, known in the 19th century. as champions of the unification of the intelligentsia with folk wisdom, ideas, aspirations. In relation to the twentieth century. the term originally came to be used to refer to a poetic community whose members grew out of the realities of war and Stalinist politics. Most of them suffered in one way or another from the Stalinist regime. The parents of many future representatives of the poetic intelligentsia were “enemies of the people.” Thus, the “sixties”, raised under conditions of strict control and censorship, became the first on the path to democratic manifestations of literature Soviet period. Their poetic views were seriously influenced by the Great Patriotic War. The Khrushchev Thaw gave poets the opportunity to more freely express their feelings and moods. Significant names of that time: A. Voznesensky, B. Akhmadullina, R. Rozhdestvensky, E. Evtushenko, Y. Moritz
and etc.
Liberalization that followed the 20th Congress public life, known as the “Thaw” era, became the context for activism. During this period, a “return to Leninist norms” was supported in art, hence the rise of V. Lenin’s apologetics (verses by A. Voznesensky,
E. Yevtushenko, plays by M. Shatrov, prose by E. Yakovlev), the other side of the issue is romanticization Civil War and an oppositional attitude regarding the activities of V. Stalin (B. Okudzhava, Y. Trifanov, etc.).
The “Sixties” are convinced internationalists and supporters of a world without borders. It is no coincidence that revolutionaries in politics and art became cult figures for them - V. Mayakovsky, Vs. Meyerhold,
B. Brecht, E. Che Guevara, F. Castro, E. Hemingway, E. M. Remarque. The term “sixties” itself took root in the literature after the publication in 1960 of an article of the same name by S. Rassadin in the magazine “Yunost”.
The performances of young poets: B. Akhmadulina, A. Voznesensky, E. Yevtushenko, R. Rozhdestvensky became a symbol of the connection between literature and life. It is with these names that the understanding of “loud” lyrics is connected. Their spontaneous performances before a mass audience (mostly youth) at the Mayakovsky monument in Moscow, which had become traditional, had great educational significance for young poets. Publicly organized events were also popular creative meetings: at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow, in parks and palaces of culture, trips of poets with poetry readings throughout the country.
During these years, poets published a number of original collections of poems: B. Akhmadulina released the collection “String” (1962), A. Voznesensky - the collection “Antiworlds” (1964), R. Rozhdestvensky - the collection “To the Same Age” (1962). A. Tvardovsky in 1953–1960 created the poem “Beyond the Distance - Distance” with a sharp anti-Stalinist orientation; E. Yevtushenko spoke with the poem “Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station” (1965); Tvardovsky in the poem “Terkin in the Next World” (1963) gave satirical image bureaucratic deadening of existence.
The poetic word sounded at crowded evenings. Poetry Days have become a tradition, gathering audiences of thousands in concert halls, sports palaces, stadiums. A kind of pop poetic boom occurred, in which, undoubtedly, there was a touch of sensationalism, but the main thing in this craving for poetry was determined by the ability of poets to respond to the most important spiritual needs of people experiencing a time of renewal, liberation from fear, emancipation, overcoming dogmatism and endless “taboos” .
However public performance, pathos of sounding verse, bright civil position, characteristic of representatives of “loud” lyricism, did not exclude the presence of intimate confessional samples in the poetry of that time. This opposition was especially evident in the 1960s. The term “silent poetry” appeared. He was born in opposition to loud, pop poetry and the poetic boom associated with it, and at the same time in opposition to bookishness.
Even then, this term was perceived as a critical stretch, since there was no real group of poets ready to accept it as a program slogan. But critics in their articles persistently tried to create such a group. The following were proposed for the role of its leaders: different names: perhaps more often than others, V. Sokolov is a fundamentally non-group poet, who has always kept himself apart in poetry. “Silent poetry” was also associated with the names of those who tragically passed away in the very early 1970s. poets: N. Rubtsova (1936–1971) and A. Prasolov (1930–1972). This is, in our opinion, a rather narrow understanding of one of the fundamental trends in Russian poetry of the second half of the 20th century.
IN In the works of representatives of quiet lyricism (A. Peredreev, A. Prasolov, N. Rubtsov, St. Kunyaev, etc.), motives predicted and developed by “loud” ones find their expression - motives of citizenship and moral elevation of the individual, Memory and Fate, etc. But they were embodied with a large share of in-depth, concentrated lyricism, characteristic only of this “wave”. Their work reflected the sign of the times - maturity, stability, which required rooting the search in the depths of tradition, providing activity and initiative with the “golden reserve of spirituality.”
The “quiet” poets, or “soil workers,” also reflected the pressing problems of their time in an extremely generalized form. Turning to individuality, a specific personality, in their individual experience they tried to find a universal connection with the environment, to reach the universal foundations of nature, homeland, and family.
The presence of two directions in Russian lyrics of the 1960s. does not exclude the existence of other poetry. And indeed, at this time, “old” poets (B. Pasternak, N. Zabolotsky, A. Yashin, Y. Smelyakov) find a second wind, new young talents appear (A. Voznesensky,
A. Nikulkov, E. Yevtushenko), an author’s song arises (creativity
Yu. Vizbor, A. Galich, A. Gorodnitsky, B. Okudzhava, V. Vysotsky), posthumous rehabilitation of A. Blok, S. Yesenin is taking place. On the pages of newspapers and magazines, a discussion is unfolding about the relationship between science and art, and there is a debate related to the image of the lyrical hero in poetry.
Another classification of poetry of the 1960s can be given:
1. Civil (lyric-journalistic) poetry – addressed to current events of its time, the interpretation of which is given through the personal perception of the poet. Journalism and an open appeal to the reader are some of its most striking features. Representatives: A. T. Tvardovsky, Y. V. Smelyakov, E. A. Evtushenko and others.
2. Romantic poetry. It does not at all glorify the ideals of the revolution, the heroism of labor. During the “thaw” period, romantic poetry poeticizes the beauty in life itself and man. Her characteristic figures are
B. Sh. Okudzhava, Yu. P. Moritz, N. N. Matveeva.
3. Philosophical lyrics, which is addressed to the so-called eternal problems existence: what the world, life, death is, what is the problem of the meaning of life, how death and immortality relate. These are the late texts of B. L. Pasternak, A. A. Tarkovsky, N. A. Zabolotsky.
All this, in general, remains not fully studied in Russian literary criticism.
b) E. Yevtushenko was perceived as a true leader of the entire sixties movement. He revived in his work the tradition of late
V. Mayakovsky, which he crossed with the tradition of the late S. Yesenin (the utmost sincerity and openness of lyrical feeling, which permeates the poet’s political works). He sets the task of reviving true citizenship, and contrasts it with official citizenship. According to him, citizenship is morality in action. It’s not for nothing that Yevtushenko has several poems called “Citizenship.” Yevtushenko's poetry is addressed to current socio-political problems of the era. Modernity is the nerve of his creativity. As soon as the event had time to take place, Yevtushenko was already reacting to it.
The young poet’s initial fame came from the poem “Stalin’s Heirs” (published in Pravda in 1956), published during the 20th Congress of the CPSU, when a report on the cult of personality was first made. The poem seemed to sound in unison with the events that followed in society. Before this, Stalin was in the Mausoleum together with Lenin, and after the 20th Congress, a decision was made to remove the body from the Mausoleum. Yevtushenko describes this specific fact, and then translates everything into a metaphorical plane. Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum, and now it is necessary for Stalin to be taken out of our souls.
Yevtushenko’s largest work in terms of volume, on which he worked throughout the “thaw” years, was the poem “Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station”. Here ideas and motifs scattered across a large number of his poems and poems crossed. The history of Russia is revealed in this poem as the history of the struggle of the people and their best representatives for freedom and a better future for the country. The main stages of the revolutionary movement in Russia, starting with Stepan Razin, are captured. The narrative has been brought up to date. In the "Introduction" the poet contrasts the points of view of historical pessimism and optimism. The symbol of the first glance becomes the Egyptian pyramid - a symbol of slavery and suppression, disbelief in the possibility of changing the world. She considers human oppression to be a norm that has existed in all countries in all centuries, and believes that today's civilization is the same ancient Egypt, only in a new package. “Song of the Taskmasters”: what makes Ancient Egypt civilization is the suppression of the individual. The rhythm has a distinctly militarized character. In dispute with Egyptian pyramid The newly built Bratsk hydroelectric power station enters. Without denying that in modern world a lot more from ancient egypt, The Bratsk Hydroelectric Power Station at the same time claims that there are forces in humanity that will make it possible to rebuild the world on the basis of humanism. The history of Russia (the main text of the poem) is given in the persons of: Razin, Pushkin (Decembrists), Chernyshevsky (revolutionary democrats and populists). Typically, each person in the poem is shown at a particularly difficult and sad moment for him. Basic concept: the spark of freedom passes from generation to generation. In the chapter “Fair in Simbirsk” the image of young Lenin appears, which is no coincidence, since the sixties, who condemned Stalin, had Lenin as their ideal. This is a high school student, a boy who, during a holiday in Simbirsk, sees a drunk woman fallen in the mud, helps her get up and takes her home. This episode is also translated into a metaphorical plane: the Bolsheviks wanted to lead to normal life poor and unhappy Russia wallowing in the mud. The motive of faith in a better future for Russia sounds. This is followed by chapters on the era of revolution and the main stages of Soviet times. In the chapter “Walkers are coming to Lenin” the leader is shown in his mature age. The “sixties” always emphasized Lenin’s democracy and humanism as opposed to Stalin’s despotism and anti-humanism. Walkers go to Lenin for the truth, and he listens carefully to everyone to the people's voice to put into practice what people demand.
Yevtushenko was the first Soviet literature an exponent of the negative changes that the cult of personality brought with it. The poem says that during Stalin’s time there were, as it were, two lives of the USSR. In the chapter “Bolshevik” the floor is given to the Bolshevik Kartsev. It also talks about the beginning big changes happenings in Soviet society. The chapter "Echelon" tells how trains of former prisoners return back to European Russia, and in opposite direction Volunteers are sent to build hydroelectric power stations. Due to the fact that there is nowhere to sleep, former camps are used as shelters, where the barbed wire has been removed, bouquets of flowers are on the tables, and laughter and songs can be heard.
The most famous of the stories about the builders of the Bratsk hydroelectric power station was the chapter “Nyushka” - the confession of a girl who, on a Komsomol ticket, came to work on a construction site, but her life did not work out in the best possible way: she was deceived, the child was born without a father. An entire Komsomol brigade meets her and her child from the maternity hospital. The heroine most of all wants purity in human relationships, and also “so that we can achieve communism.” The author expresses the hope that all the terrible things are behind us, and that a wonderful and bright life awaits Soviet people ahead. the main problem poems - freedom, political and mental, liberation from totalitarian stereotypes.
As a passionate defender of communist ideals, freed from the layers of Stalinism, he speaks R. Rozhdestvensky– a direct successor of V. Mayakovsky’s propaganda poetry. The characteristic features of his work are open journalisticism, posterity, and oratorical style. In the poem “Letter to the Thirtieth Century,” addressing his descendants, Rozhdestvensky talks about how the negative phenomena of the Stalin era hindered progress. The poet has no doubt that the goal will be achieved if the Soviet people follow the path not of Stalin, but of Lenin. All distortions do not cancel, according to Rozhdestvensky, the heroic path of the Soviet people to the future. The motives of Soviet patriotism are very strong in his poems. The poem "Requiem" glorifies the feat of those who defended their homeland from fascism. The poet calls for the labor feats of Soviet people to be carried out at the same height. At the same time, Rozhdestvensky opposes depersonalization (“Cogs”: stop treating a person like a cog).
Time has refuted many of the forecasts of Yevtushenko and Rozhdestvensky, especially those concerning political and historical prospects. But even today Rozhdestvensky’s “Poem about Different Points of View” retains its significance. Poetically mastering the world, the poet strives to understand what the meaning of life is. The author brings together different views on this question and at the same time angrily attacks modern philistinism, ordinary people for whom there are no universal ideals and the norm is a plant existence. What Yevtushenko presents metaphorically and symbolically, Rozhdestvensky usually presents in propaganda, poster form, which forces us to classify his work as a type of propaganda poetry of the 1960s.
Not so clear A. Voznesensky, reviving the tradition of early Mayakovsky and acting as a representative of socialist avant-gardeism. He absorbed the rebellious spirit of his predecessor. Voznesensky considers life at the limit of its capabilities to be the norm of existence, acts as a moral maximalist, and defends the priority spiritual origin. The critic defines his style as expressive and metaphorical. The poet is actively following the path of renewal: he uses non-traditional poetic meters, introduces new vocabulary, including scientific, technical, political, and relies on a living spoken language.
Voznesensky’s work is ambiguous because he has a secondary political line - these works are outdated and lost today living meaning, only the historical and literary remains. But at the same time, Voznesensky created a significant layer of works of a universal human nature, in which the theme of humanism comes first. Voznesensky’s best implementation of the theme of love and devotion is “Juno and Avos,” a musical performed together with A. Rybnikov.
c) High notes of civil, social sound are characteristic of the work of all “quiet” poets. Their attention to the natural world was not confined to the framework of poetic depiction, but was permeated with an intense spiritual and philosophical principle.
Once A. Prasolov noticed that none of the other poets on Earth have such closeness to the deepest in man as the Russians. The poet presents all moments of rapprochement with nature in dynamics - a “living” flow of life on the one hand and a “tense stem” on the other. But the contact with the world itself is not fixed for him by the framework of the end and the beginning; it existed long before it was described by the poet. A. Prasolov thus creates a picture of the unity of the world and the hero, which confirms his ideas about the timelessness of the existence of the unity of man and nature. As a rule, this happens during the zenith, when the “waiting soul” easily and joyfully “senses” the “huge”, “darling”. It is not difficult to notice that the dissolution of the personality in the world among the “quiet” creates its own moral and philosophical equivalent - the soul.
They declared their adherence to the classical tradition in their poems
A. Zhigulin and V. Kazantsev. Their poetry is full of socio-historical and civic journalistic pathos. Their knowledge of the world occurs on the basis of a detailed study of the environment. A. Zhigulin found it difficult to comprehend the changes in himself and the world around him, and only love for his homeland helped him find his creative “I” and heal his wounded soul. V. Kazantsev begins with something unknown to him, with the desire to “live with anxiety,” “live with depth.”
The poetry of V. Sokolov at that time seemed out of date. But he did not abandon his chosen path, did not deviate from his principles of creativity, on the contrary, he always strived for the strict classical form of poetry, clarity of expression. V. Sokolov knows how to create in poetry an atmosphere of continuous action, movement of thought, which indicates his creative mastery and development of one of the main themes of Russian classical poetry - the theme of the path, the road. His lyrical hero feels constant anxiety and concern for the future. This anxiety leads him to the “true word,” to what is “kept in his soul.” The motif of the soul in his lyrics is outlined only dotted line, and he will find his full disclosure in the works of younger poets, representatives of “ new wave"The so-called "quiet lyrics". The artist’s desire to develop various themes of modernity and history, and an appeal to the traditions of Russian classical verse, led the poet to a synthesis of the biographical, natural and socio-historical.
The work of N. Rubtsov occupies a special niche in “quiet” lyrics. All the numerous researchers of his poetry come to the same conclusions. The work of this poet is characterized by:
- thoughts of addiction spiritual world man from the land, nature and traditions of peasant life and in connection with this appeal to historical memory;
- memory of the war;
– poeticization small homeland;
– contextually expressed social protest;
– a peasant understanding of labor and nature as a spiritual dominant;
– the desire for uncompromising truth.
At such philosophical and historical moments, it becomes possible for the emergence of significant works that grow to a semantic picture of what is essential that can be expressed. One of them is the mood of N. Rubtsov. It is difficult to find another poet who, with the same strength and brightness, would show us his external and internal appearance in his work. It seems that all his poetry is a long conversation about his life: about dreams and love, friendship and loneliness, loved ones and losses, i.e. lyrical autobiographical novel in verse.
d) By the middle of this turbulent decade, the general tendency towards strengthening the philosophical and analytical principle in the works of Y. Smelyakov, V. Fedorov, L. Martynov, E. Vinokurov, A. Mezhirov and other poets began to increase. Their desire to record a new level of generalization of thought is quite obvious.
The deepening of historicism in poetry was felt everywhere. This is confirmed both by the experience of the poets of the “war” generation, and by the work of young poets, poets of the “post-war conscription”. The artists tested the lives of their contemporaries by the experience of history - one of the most faithful and convincing principles of recreating the truth of life. This circumstance also had an impact on the style of poetry in the second half of the 60s. It also seems logical that the establishment of philosophical analytics entailed the deepening of realistic tendencies in art systems poets.
The desire for philosophical generalization as a manifestation general trend second half of the 1960s. traced in the works of poets different generations and directions: V. Lugovsky, A. Tvardovsky, M. Lukonin, V. Bokov, N. Rubtsov, A. Zhigulin and others.
The artistic generalization, to which poets everywhere turned, most definitely highlighted the affirmation of the historical-analytical trend in the worldview and poetry of that period.
At the same time, it was during this period that the development of two poetic schools was recorded, the echoes of which are noticeable in Russian lyrics at the turn of the 21st century.
St. Petersburg Poetry School formed under the Acmeist wing of A. Akhmatova. A group of young poets had the lucky fate of meeting her. Communication with Akhmatova established a living connection between Russian culture of the Silver Age and Russian literature of the 1960s. Certain aspects of the aesthetics of Acmeism were developed in the works of poets of the St. Petersburg school. The artistic image of culture becomes such a “single core of meaning,” simultaneously correlated with history and personal destiny. It is he who becomes the focus of the mythological model of the world, in which, as in the poetry of Mandelstam and Akhmatova, the “drama” of time and space, nature and culture, existence and history “plays out.” However, neo-Acmeism in the postmodern situation acquires new features. The private, internal, subjective is no longer perceived as an artistic absolute. From the lyrical freedom of emotional-suggestive verse (from the word “suggestion” - suggestion), a movement begins in the opposite direction, in search of some kind of extra-personal artistic arguments.
Status has changed poetic word. It no longer has that sacred sound, uniqueness, as in modernist verse, because there is no pathos of uniqueness itself. Similarity to everyone becomes a new pathos. Therefore, irony appears, a penchant for puns and games.
The St. Petersburg school included poets of the older generation, the so-called “sixties” (E. Rein, A. Naiman, A. Kushner) and poets of the younger generation – “seventies” (V. Krivulin, E. Schwartz), who generally continued the traditions of their predecessors . The St. Petersburg school is not distinguished by unity of direction. It includes, in addition to neo-Acmeism, neo-baroque traditions, clearly expressed, for example, in poetry
E. Schwartz. V. Krivulin, in a conversation cited by V. Kulakov, speaking about the St. Petersburg school, named one of its distinctive features– spirituality, explaining that “special spiritual alertness” is present precisely in relation to the word.
Spiritualism is a philosophical and mystical doctrine that recognizes the spiritual origin as the essence of the world and considers the material as a creation of the spirit. Constant alertness to the word is manifested primarily through the poet’s wary listening to himself. Thus, the poet acts as a mediator between the fundamental principle, God and the world of Nature. This, of course, gives rise to the principle of dialogicity between different linguistic cultures.
Most well-known representative school, united by the theme of St. Petersburg, became Joseph Brodsky. He attracted attention for his lack of conformity and unwillingness to play by the accepted rules, for which in 1964 he was put on trial for “parasitism.” This was the reason for the writer’s departure from the Soviet Union. Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for his ability and desire to experiment in lyrical art, the poet subsequently considered the topic of Russia undesirable for himself.
For Dostoevsky’s heroes, the concepts of “leaving” (to America) and “perishing” were synonymous. I. Brodsky, having left Russia, broke not only with national tradition. The break with his homeland was more significant, his further attitude towards it (a demonstrative refusal to meet with Russian democratic writers, deliberately ignoring all invitations to visit St. Petersburg) acquired a painful character. Maybe behind this “hatred” there was hidden an unconquerable love and a fear of admitting it to oneself? Moreover, abroad I. Brodsky constantly turned to works written in Russia as sources of new content. And even despite the partial transition to English in his work, the poet did not abandon the theme of St. Petersburg until the end of his life.
Another notable poetic “acquisition” of the 1960s. became the “Lianozov school”. This friendly circle of poets and artists received its name from the name of a village in the Moscow region, which was later absorbed by Moscow and became one of its districts. The circle formed spontaneously around E. Kropavnitsky, who was born at the end of the 19th century. and was the oldest. Members of the circle were poets G. Sapgir, I. Kholin, V. Nekrasov, Y. Satunovsky, artists O. Rabin, N. Vechtomov,
L. Masterkova, V. Nemukhin. And although all members of the “Lianozov school” felt a certain commonality of creative aspirations, a unifying desire to express themselves freely and fully, for them purely human relationships, attention to the creative searches of all members of the circle and support for each other were much more important. It is characteristic that, having played a decisive role in the formation of the school, E. L. Kropivnitsky did not give it his name and it was preserved in the history of Russian culture with a “geographical” name.
A decisive role in the development of the school, at least for initial stage, played by E. L. Kropivnitsky. He became a spiritual teacher for I. Kholin and G. Sapgir. A man generously gifted by nature, an artist (he graduated from the Stroganov School in 1911), a musician (his opera “Kiribeevich” was highly appreciated by the composer A.K. Glazunov), a poet (before the revolution he was published in periodicals), he was also a major, a unique personality, a nature that limitedly combined lyricism and skepticism, a born mentor who did not teach anything, but gradually, in conversation, or through a passing assessment, shared knowledge with the student, awakening a dormant talent, helping him understand his own nature. Ultimately, the impact was also exerted by the life of the teacher, who, in the words of G. Sapgir, existed like an ancient or ancient Chinese philosopher, extremely modestly, even ascetically, but at the same time lived an intense spiritual life. E. L. Kropivnitsky was directly connected with the culture of the Silver Age. Among his friends and close acquaintances are the poet and translator A. Alving (1885–1942), who actively promoted the poetry of I. F. Annensky and sorted through his archive after the master’s death; poet and translator Yu. Verkhovsky (1885–1956), who, in addition, dealt with the 19th century as a source of literature; poet
F. Chernov (1877–1940). Close comrades or associates in painting were the artists P. Kuznetsov (1878–1968), R. Falk (1886–1958), A. Tyshler (1898–1980).
All this, undoubtedly, was reflected in the pictorial aesthetics
E. L. Kropivnitsky, and on his poetics. Refusing in the 1930s. from his previous literary style, he destroyed most of the poems written up to that point (in the collection he compiled, which was published abroad in 1977, E. L. Kropivnetsky included only poems written after 1937).
He pointedly called himself “a poet of the outskirts and bourgeois houses.” His poems, extremely specific, saturated with precise, seemingly redundant details, captured the life of this very outskirts, where nothing can be hidden from the neighbors' eyes, and no one hides anything, where everyone knows everything about each other, just look behind the fence or in any of the windows.
It should be emphasized that the “Lianozovites” (except for Y. Solnovsky) were never interested in social problems. It would be wrong to correlate the search for “Lianozovites” artists with “severe realism” Soviet artists 1960s, and the search for poets - with renewed post-war realism in literature. Living in a single space and time, although they did not run away from modernity, they had no interest in it. Since the first publication in a samizdat magazine
A. Ginsburg “Syntax”, where the poem by G. Sapgir was published,
I. Kholin and not yet a member of the “Lianozov” circle of Vs. Nekrasov, they were interested exclusively in questions of poetics. How others perceived their works is another matter. The very appearance in 1959 of an independent magazine, such as Syntax, whose author and editor agreed not to touch politics, was elevated to the rank of a political action, because their actions were interpreted as a desire to escape from state supervision.
Nevertheless, social criticism is not characteristic of the “Lianozovites” at all. The main and only thing that was of interest to them was aesthetics, at the initial stage, perhaps “anti-aesthetics.” But the objects they chose were outside the boundaries of official culture.
The “Lianozovites” poets and artists are characterized by an increased interest in the quests of their comrades and mutual support.
3. The general rise of theatrical art in the late 1950s. led to the rise of drama. Works by new talented authors appeared, many of whom determined the main paths for the development of drama in the coming decades. Around this period, the personalities of three playwrights were formed, whose plays were often staged throughout the Soviet period - V. Rozov, A. Volodin,
A. Arbuzova. Arbuzov made his debut back in 1939 with the play “Tanya” and remained in tune with his audience and reader for many decades. Of course, the repertoire of the 1950s and 1960s. was not limited to these names, A. Salynsky, L. Zorin, S. Aleshin, actively worked in dramaturgy,
I. Shtok, A. Stein, K. Finn, S. Mikhalkov, Y. Miroshnichenko, A. Sofronov and others. Largest quantity productions in the country's theaters for two or three decades consisted of unpretentious comedies
V. Konstantinov and B. Ratzer, who worked in collaboration. However, the vast majority of plays by all these authors are known today only to theater historians. The works of Rozov, Arbuzov and Volodin were included in the golden fund of Russian and Soviet classics.
During the "thaw" there was a rapid development performing arts, which led to the expansion and renewal of the theater repertoire, the appearance of many bright dramatic works by talented authors. Conflict-free plays, in which the class-ideological principle of character assessment was in effect, were replaced by serious dramas dedicated to moral issues. Depending on the leading principle of creating images, “thaw” and “post-thaw” plays can be divided into three types:
· artistic and journalistic drama;
· socio-psychological drama;
· comedy.
Among all the variety of genres and styles that have overwhelmed the theater since the late 50s. XX century up to the present day, in modern dramaturgy One can note the clear predominance of the socio-psychological play, traditional for Russian theater. Despite the frankly everyday, even everyday background of the action itself, most of these works had a very deep, multi-layered philosophical and ethical subtext. In a sense, the authors of these plays became successors of Chekhov's traditions in drama, when the ordinary plot reflected “eternal,” universal questions and problems. Here writers actively used such techniques as:
Creation of an “undercurrent”;
Built-in plot;
Expanding the stage space by introducing poetic or object symbols.
For example, a small flower garden with daisies in A. Vampilov’s play “Last Summer in Chulimsk”, like the old one The Cherry Orchard from the famous drama by A. Chekhov, becomes for Vampilov’s heroes a kind of test for the ability to love, humanity, and love of life.
Very effective, enhancing the psycho-emotional impact on the viewer, were such techniques as off-stage “voices”, sometimes constituting, in fact, a separate plan of action, or fantastic visions of heroes.
“The Thaw” made it possible for the first time to raise the ideological scenery above the Soviet stage and dramaturgy. Of course, not all, but a very significant part of them. Before talking about the happiness of all mankind, it would be nice to think about the happiness and unhappiness of an individual person.
The process of “humanization” made itself known in dramaturgy, both in its literary basis and in its production.
The search for artistic means capable of conveying the leading trends of the time within the framework of everyday, chamber drama led to the creation of such a significant work as the play A. Arbuzova"Irkutsk history" (1959–1960). The depiction of everyday human drama rose in it to the height of poetic reflections on the moral principles of a contemporary, and the features of the new historical era were vividly imprinted in the appearance of the heroes themselves.
At the beginning of the play, the heroine, a young girl Valya, experiences a state of deep mental loneliness. Disappointed in love, she lost faith in people, in the possibility of happiness for herself. She tries to make up for the painful spiritual emptiness, boredom and prose of everyday work with frequent love affairs, the illusory romance of a thoughtless life. Loving Victor, suffering humiliation from him, she decides to take revenge on him - she marries Sergei.
Another life begins. Sergei helps the heroine find herself again. He has a strong-willed, strong, persistent and at the same time humanly charming character, full of warmth. It is this character that makes him, without hesitation, rush to the aid of a drowning boy. The boy is saved, but Sergei dies. The tragic shock experienced by the heroine completes the turning point in her soul. Victor also changes; the death of his friend forces him to reconsider a lot in his own life. Now, after real trials, true love of the heroes becomes possible.
It is significant that Arbuzov widely used stage convention techniques in the play. A sharp mixture of real and conventional plans, a retrospective way of organizing action, transferring events from the recent past to the present day - all this was necessary for the author in order to activate the reader, viewer, make his contact with the characters more lively and direct, as if bringing problems to the surface. space for broad, open discussion.
The chorus occupies a prominent place in the artistic structure of the play. He introduces into this drama journalistic elements that were extremely popular in the society of that time.
“Even the day before death is not too late to start life over again” - this is the main thesis of Arbuzov’s play “My Poor Marat” (1964), the approval of which the heroes come to in the finale, after many years of spiritual quest. Both plot-wise and from the point of view of the dramatic techniques used here, “My Poor Marat” constructed as a chronicle. At the same time, the play is subtitled “dialogues in three parts.” Each part has its own exact time designation, up to a month. With these constant dates, the author seeks to emphasize the connection of the heroes with the world around them, evaluating them throughout the entire historical period.
The main characters are tested for mental strength. Despite the happy ending, the author seems to be saying: everyday life, simple human relationships require great spiritual strength if you want your dreams of success and happiness not to collapse.
In the most famous dramatic works of those years, problems of everyday life, family, and love are not separated from issues of moral and civic duty. At the same time, of course, the severity and relevance of social and moral issues in themselves were not a guarantee of creative success - it was achieved only when the authors found new dramatic ways of considering life’s contradictions and sought to enrich and develop the aesthetic system.
Very interesting creativity A. Vampilova. His main achievement is a complex polyphony of living human characters, in many ways dialectically continuing each other and at the same time endowed with pronounced individual traits.
Already in the first lyrical comedy “Farewell in June” (1965) The signs of a hero were clearly identified, who then passed through Vampilov’s other plays in different guises.
Busygin, the main character of Vampilov’s play, takes complex psychological paths to achieve spiritual integrity. "Eldest Son" (1967). The plot of the play is constructed in a very unusual way. Busygin and his random travel companion Sevostyanov, nicknamed Silva, find themselves in the Sarafanov family, unknown to them, who are going through difficult times. Busygin unwittingly becomes responsible for what is happening to his “relatives.” As he ceases to be a stranger in the Sarafanovs’ house, the previous connection with Silva, who turns out to be an ordinary vulgar, gradually disappears. But Busygin himself is increasingly burdened by the game he has started, by his frivolous but cruel act. He discovers a spiritual kinship with Sarafanov, for whom, by the way, it doesn’t matter at all whether the main character is a blood relative or not. Therefore, the long-awaited revelation leads to a happy ending to the entire play. Busygin takes a difficult and therefore conscious, purposeful step forward in his spiritual development.
The problem of moral choice is solved even more complexly and dramatically in the play “Duck Hunt” (1967). The comic element, so natural in Vampilov’s previous plays, is here reduced to a minimum. The author examines in detail the character of a person drowned in the vanity of life, and shows how, by making immorality the norm of behavior, without thinking about the good for others, a person kills the humanity in himself.
The duck hunt, which the hero of the drama Viktor Zilov is going on throughout the entire action, is not at all an expression of his spiritual essence. He is a bad shot because he admits that he feels bad about killing ducks. As it turns out, he feels sorry for himself, too, although one day, having reached a dead end in his senseless whirling among seemingly beloved women and seemingly friendly men, he tries to stop everything with one shot. Of course, there was not enough strength for this.
Ethical problems were clearly revealed in V. Rozov’s drama “On the Wedding Day” (1964). Here, quite young people are tested for moral maturity. On the wedding day, the bride suddenly declares that the wedding will not happen and that she is parting with the groom forever, although she loves him endlessly. Despite the unexpectedness of such a decisive act, the behavior of the heroine - Nyura Salova, the daughter of a night watchman in a small Volga town - has its own inexorable internal logic, leading her close to the need to renounce happiness. As the story progresses, Nyura becomes convinced of a bitter but immutable truth: the man she is marrying has long loved another woman.
The uniqueness of the conflict situation that arises in the play lies in the fact that the struggle does not flare up between the characters within a closed and fairly traditional love “triangle”. Rozov, having retrospectively outlined the real origins of the acute conflict that has arisen, follows, first of all, the intense confrontation that takes place in the soul of the heroine, because ultimately she herself must make a conscious choice, utter the decisive word.
Rozov opposed the dogmatic concept of the “ideal hero”, who certainly manifests himself against a historical and social background. The action of his plays always takes place in a narrow circle of characters. If this is not a family, then a group of graduates and classmates who have gathered at school for their evening after many years of separation. Sergei Usov, the main character of the play “Traditional Gathering” (1967), directly speaks about the value of the individual, which does not depend on professional achievements, positions, social roles - the fundamental principles of human spirituality are important to him. Therefore, he becomes a kind of arbiter in the dispute between matured graduates trying to separate the wheat from the chaff in assessing the viability of this or that fate. The gathering of graduates becomes a review of their moral achievements.
In the same way, A. Volodin separates and disconnects his characters from numerous social connections - “The Big Sister” (1961), “The Appointment” (1963); E. Radzinsky - “104 pages about love” (1964), “A movie is being made” (1965).
This is especially typical for female characters, to whom the author’s sympathies are given undividedly. The heroines are touchingly romantic and, despite very difficult relationships with others, as if pushing them to give up any dreams, they always remain true to their ideals. They are quiet, not very noticeable, but, warming the souls of loved ones, they find strength for themselves to live with faith and love. The girl stewardess (“104 pages about love”), a chance meeting with whom did not foretell for the hero, the young and talented physicist Electron, seemingly any changes in his rationally correct life, actually showed that a person without love, affection, sensation of his everyday need for another person is not a person at all. In the finale, the hero receives unexpected news about the death of his girlfriend and realizes that he will never again be able to feel life the way he once did, that is, just three and a half months ago.
Interestingly, in the 1960s. much has changed even for so-called revolutionary drama. On the one hand, she began to resort to the possibilities of documentary filmmaking, which is largely explained by the desire of the authors to be reliable down to the smallest detail. On the other hand, the images of historical figures acquired the features of completely “living” people, that is, contradictory, doubting people going through an internal spiritual struggle.
In the play M. Shatrova"Sixth of July" (1964), called in the subtitle “an experience in documentary drama,” the history of the revolution itself was directly recreated in a dramatic combination of circumstances and characters. The author set himself the task of discovering this drama and introducing it into the framework of theatrical action. However, Shatrov did not take the path of simply reproducing the chronicle of events; he tried to reveal their internal logic, revealing the socio-psychological motives for the behavior of their participants.
The historical facts underlying the play - the Left Socialist Revolutionary rebellion in Moscow on July 6, 1918 - gave the author ample opportunity to search for exciting stage situations and free flight of creative imagination. However, following the principle he had chosen, Shatrov sought to discover the power of drama in the real story itself. The intensity of the dramatic action intensifies as the political and moral combat between two political figures - Lenin and the leader of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries Maria Spiridonova - intensifies.
But in another play, “The Bolsheviks” (1967), Shatrov, by his own admission, largely departs from the document, the exact chronology, in order to create a more integral artistic image of the era. The action takes place over the course of just a few hours on the evening of August 30, 1918 (with the stage time more or less exactly corresponding to the real one). Uritsky was killed in Petrograd, and an attempt was made on Lenin's life in Moscow. Not the tragic events themselves (they happen behind the scenes), but their refraction in the spiritual life of people, the moral problems they put forward form the basis of the ideological and artistic concept of the play.
The clash of different views on the moral responsibilities of the individual in society, the processes of the internal, spiritual development of the hero, the formation of his ethical principles, which takes place in intense and acute mental struggles, difficult searches, conflicts with others - these contradictions constitute the driving principle of most plays of the 1960s. By turning the content of their works primarily to issues of morality and personal behavior, playwrights significantly expanded the range of artistic solutions and genres. The basis of such searches and experiments was the desire to strengthen the intellectual element of the drama, and most importantly, to find new opportunities for identifying the spiritual and moral potential in a person’s character.
4.In Russian prose of the 1960s. a change of vector is planned: N. Lyashko “Blast Furnace”, F. Gladkov “Cement” open the list of industrial prose, which, continuing the state “service” of revolutionary romantic prose, turns to those more relevant in the mid-1920s. issues of industrial restoration, construction and education of a new type of personality, new family. As often happens, the first works of this type are not the most successful. In addition, it is unlikely that it will be possible to judge, say, F. Gladkov’s “Cement” from the texts available to us, since they represent later editions of the work, very different from the text of the 1920s.
Among the most significant phenomena of industrial prose and works marked by signs of similarity with it, one should name “Sot” by L. Leonov, “The Second Day” by I. Ehrenburg, “Hydrocentral” by M. Shaginyan, “Man Changes Skin” by B. Yasensky, “Volga flows into the Caspian Sea" B. Pilnyak, "Journey to a country that does not yet exist" Sun. Ivanova, “Courage” by V. Ketlinskaya, “Time, Forward” by V. Kataev, etc.
The influence of revolutionary romantic works on industrial prose is quite obvious: the system of characters is built on the same principle, it is no coincidence that the main characters continue biographically life path yesterday's commissars, commanders, soldiers returning from the battlefields, and among the characters there is always a hidden implacable enemy.
However, during the “thaw” period in official prose there was a significant shift in favor of the psychologization of characters.
Literature of the 1960s continued artistic research the life of a rural worker, which began in the first decades after 1917 (“Virgin Soil Upturned” by M. Sholokhov, “Whetstones” by F. Panferov, etc.). The works about the village by these authors were imbued with the pathos of overcoming the dark, inert, backward, individualistic, possessive, which conflicted with the tasks of building a new life. The focus of the writers of the 60s was on the issues of preserving everything valuable in the traditions of rural life, the uniqueness of the national way of life, and folk morality. By “village prose” we mean a special creative community, that is, these are, first of all, works united by a common theme, the formulation of moral, philosophical and social problems. They are characterized by the image of an inconspicuous hero-worker, endowed with life wisdom and great moral content. Writers of this direction strive for deep psychologism in depicting characters, for the use of local sayings, dialects, and regional words. On this basis, their interest in the historical and cultural traditions of the Russian people and the topic of continuity of generations grows.
In the early 1950s. Articles and works began to appear on the pages of literary magazines that played the role of stimulating public opinion. I. Ehrenburg’s story “The Thaw” caused heated controversy among readers and critics. The images of the heroes were given in an unexpected way. The main character, parting with a loved one, the director of the plant, an adherent of Soviet ideology, in his person breaks with the country's past. In addition to the main storyline, describing the fate of two painters, the writer raises the question of the artist’s right to be independent of any attitudes.
In 1956, V. Dudintsev’s novel “Not by Bread Alone” and the stories by P. Nilin “Cruelty” and S. Antonov “It Was in Penkov” were published. Dudintsev's novel traces the tragic path of an inventor in a bureaucratic system. The main characters of the stories of Nilin and Antonov attracted people with their lively characters, sincere attitude to the events around them, and searches for their own truth.
The most striking works of this period were focused on participation in solving pressing socio-political issues for the country regarding the revision of the role of the individual in the state. Society was in the process of mastering the space of newly opened freedom. Most of the participants in the debate did not abandon socialist ideas.
Second All-Union Congress Writers (December 15–26, 1954; the first congress, as is known, took place back in 1934) took place in fairly frank discussions. One of the patriarchs of Soviet literature, M. A. Sholokhov, speaking in the debate, expressed regret about the “dirty stream of faceless and mediocre literature” that overwhelmed the pages of publications and generated by official orders. The congress did not make any serious accusations against dissenting writers. On the contrary, he brought several rehabilitations to literary world: restrictions on the publishing activities of such writers as M. A. Bulgakov and
Yu. N. Tynyanov.
The intelligentsia split into two camps: conservatives and liberals. The head of the conservatives turned out to be the writer V. A. Kochetov, the recognized leader of the liberals was A. T. Tvardovsky. The magazines “October”, “Neva”, “Literature and Life” became the mouthpiece of conservatives; The ideas of the liberals were embodied in the magazines “New World” and “Youth”. N.S. Khrushchev balanced between these two camps, pursuing a dual and self-defeating policy.
In the initial post-Stalin period (1953–1964), several fundamentally new ones appeared in form and essence. literary works. The desire to reveal the real contradictions of Soviet society is marked by such talented works as the novels by D. Granin “The Seekers” (1954) and “I’m Going into the Storm” (1962), and G. Nikolaeva’s “The Battle on the Way” (1957). V. Dudintsev’s book “Not by Bread Alone” (1956) about the conflict between an inventor and the bureaucratic machine (an action-packed story about the selfless struggle of scientists to save genetics in the late 1940s) sharply revealed the vices of our reality.
The center of the ideological struggle was the magazine “New World,” which was edited in 1950–1954 and 1958–1970. poet A.T. Tvardovsky. With the support of N. S. Khrushchev, he managed to publish the story
A. I. Solzhenitsyn’s “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (1962), where the topic of the Gulag was first raised.
Fierce struggle in the area literary creativity revolved around the just completed (in 1955) novel by B. L. Pasternak “Doctor Zhivago”. New edition magazine "New World" (after Tvardovsky's next resignation), B. L. Pasternak's novel, accepted for publication under Tvardovsky, was rejected. Soon after this it was published abroad (in 1957 on Italian, then translated into other languages), and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1958. The instant success of the novel and the awarding of such a high international award worsened the already strained relationship writer with the authorities. Under the threat of expulsion from the USSR in 1958, Pasternak was forced to refuse the prize, although several years later, in 1965, the award of the same prize to M. A. Sholokhov was regarded as an outstanding success of Soviet literature.
Soviet criticism declared the novel “Doctor Zhivago” a non-Marxist work, although Pasternak gained official recognition for his work (the poem “Nine Hundred and Five”). The author was accused of joining the anti-Soviet campaign launched in the West. He was accused of being anti-Soviet, contempt for the Russian people, and admiration for the West.
On October 27, 1958, at the request of party bodies (the department of ideology of the CPSU Central Committee), a plenum of the Writers' Union was convened to discuss Pasternak's work. When the clash between Pasternak and the authorities reached highest point, the intelligentsia gave up. The majority of the plenum participants supported the expulsion of Pasternak from the Writers' Union. The novel “Doctor Zhivago” was banned from publication in the USSR (for the first time in our country it was published only under M. S. Gorbachev).
To avoid deportation from the USSR, Pasternak had to send a statement to the organ of the CPSU Central Committee, the newspaper Pravda (November 5, 1958), in which he explained that he had refused the prize for own initiative and accused the West of using his work for political purposes.
The “Pasternak Affair” most clearly showed the limits of de-Stalinization in relations between the authorities and the intelligentsia. At the same time, this so-called “case” gave rise to a serious crisis in the consciousness of the Russian intelligentsia, which showed itself unable to openly resist the pressure of the authorities. For many, this crisis grew into a feeling of constant deep guilt and at the same time became the beginning of a moral revival.
Satisfied with the outcome of the “Pasternak case,” Khrushchev, for his part, stopped further attacks on the liberals. Moreover, he undertook in 1958–1960. a number of steps indicated a tendency towards a certain liberalization: Tvardovsky was returned to the leadership of the New World; The III Congress of the Writers' Union, held in May 1959, ended with the resignation of A. A. Surkov (who showed particular zeal in the campaign against Pasternak) from the post of first secretary of the board of the USSR Writers' Union, whose place in the leadership of the Union was taken by K. A. Fedin, a representative of a more moderate trend . Finally, the appointment in 1960 of E. A. Furtseva (1910–1974) as Minister of Culture at first also seemed to be a concession to new trends. Nevertheless, these measures turned out to be insufficient to smooth out the depressing impression caused by the “Pasternak affair” in the memory of intellectuals. During this period, censorship was tightened again, resulting in the proliferation of typewritten copies of unpublished works.
At the end of the 1950s. samizdat arose. This word was used to name typewritten journals that were born among young poets, writers, philosophers, and historians who met on Mayakovsky Square in Moscow on Saturdays.
One of the first manuscripts to circulate from hand to hand (often without the knowledge of the authors) was Tvardovsky’s poem “Terkin in the Next World,” written back in 1954. It sharply satirically depicts the Stalinist camp system.
Books by emigrants and some people, illegally exported from abroad, began to be secretly distributed. domestic authors(the so-called “tamizdat”).
Thus, for official literature of the 1960s. characterized by interest in the historical and cultural traditions of the Russian people, in the theme of continuity of generations.
All types of prose works- from a journalistic essay to an epic novel, all genres - historical, social, psychological, philosophical, everyday, satirical, lyrical, etc.
The ancestor of the new village sketch can be considered V. V. Ovechkina(1904–1968). All-Union fame came to him after the publication of essays “District Weekdays” in the magazines “Pravda” and “New World”. Ovechkin creates a new type of essays at the intersection of journalism and fiction. The writer uses artistic technique– stylization as an essay. This allows him to analyze the character of people, important economic problems, and leadership problems. "District everyday life" - innovative work, “business truth” based on fact, real events (from journalism) and with fictional characters, artistic generalizations (from literature). Ovechkin for the first time in Soviet literature made economic, social and political problems a subject of deep aesthetic experience. The merit of the writer lies in the fact that he tries to ensure that journalism is artistic and literature is effective. This largely determined the features of his essays. They are associated with the traditions of Russian village prose, which had a direction associated with the formulation of pressing problems.
The theme touched upon by Ovechkin was continued by E. Ya. Dorosh (1908–1972) in “Village Diary”, V. F. Tendryakov (1923–1984) in the stories “Potholes”, “Mayfly - a short century”.
Essays about the village prepared the appearance of “village prose” in Russian literature, the most notable representatives of which are S. Zalygin, F. Abramov, V. Belov, V. Astafiev, V. Rasputin and others.
In the 1960s “village prose” reaches a new level. Writers are beginning to address topics that were previously taboo:
1. The tragic consequences of collectivization (“On the Irtysh” by S. Zalygin, “Death” by V. Tendryakov, “Men and Women” by B. Mozhaev, “Eves” by V. Belov, “Brawlers” by M. Alekseev, etc.).
2. A depiction of the near and distant past of the village, its current concerns in the light of universal human problems, the destructive influence of civilization (“ Last bow", "Tsar Fish" by V. Astafiev, "Farewell to Matera", " Deadline"V. Rasputin, "Bitter Herbs" by P. Proskurin).
3. In the “village prose” of this period there is a desire to introduce readers to folk traditions, to express a natural understanding of the world (“Commission” by S. Zalygin, “Lad” by V. Belov).
Thus, the image of a man from the people, his philosophy, the spiritual world of the village, orientation towards folk word- all this unites such different writers, like F. Abramov, V. Belov, M. Alekseev,
B. Mozhaev, V. Shukshin, V. Rasputin, V. Likhonosov, E. Nosov, V. Krupin and others.
Questions and tasks for self-control
1. Define the concept of “industrial novel.” Have you reproduced similar stories in dramatic works of the designated period?
2. What place does the “Lianozov school” occupy in the history of Russian culture?
3. What is the fate of B. Pasternak’s novel “Doctor Zhivago”?
4. List the representatives of the “St. Petersburg school” in poetry, indicating the main features of their works.
5. What is the “A. Vampilov Theater”? What is the phenomenon of his plays?
Quote by: Ostanina, E. A. Tragic suicides [Electronic resource] /
E. A. Ostanina. – Access mode: http://www.TheLib.ru›books/leksandrovna/
Khrushchev's thaw
This is a period in the history of the USSR after the death of I.V. Stalin (late 1950s - early 1960s), characterized by the weakening of totalitarian power, relative freedom of speech, relative democratization of political and social life, greater freedom creative activity. The expression “Khrushchev’s thaw” is associated with the title of Ilya Ehrenburg’s story “The Thaw”.
The starting point of the “Khrushchev Thaw” was the death of Stalin in 1953.
With Khrushchev strengthening in power, the “thaw” began to be associated with the condemnation of Stalin’s personality cult. On XX Congress of the CPSU in 1956 Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech in which Stalin's cult of personality and Stalin's repressions. Many political prisoners in the USSR and socialist countries were released and rehabilitated. The majority of peoples deported in the 1930s and 1940s were allowed to return to their homeland.
During the period de-Stalinization Censorship has noticeably weakened, primarily in literature, cinema and other forms of art, where more open coverage of reality has become possible. During the "thaw" there was a noticeable rise in literature and art, which was greatly facilitated by the rehabilitation of some cultural figures repressed under Stalin. For the first time, many learned about the existence of such figures as Mandelstam, Balmont, Tsvetaeva, Modigliani, Savinkov and others. The artificially interrupted connection between the eras - pre-revolutionary and Soviet - was restored. Some of the authors of the Silver Age, in particular Blok and Yesenin, already began to be mentioned and published in the 1950s. Other authors were still banned.
In the early 1950s, articles and works began to appear on the pages of literary magazines that played the role of stimulating public opinion. The main platform for supporters of the “thaw” was the literary magazine "New world". From 1950 to 1970, the magazine "New World" was headed by A.T. Tvardovsky. As editor-in-chief, he contributed to the appearance of bright and bold publications in the magazine, gathering around him the best writers and publicists. "Novomirskaya Prose" brought to the attention of readers serious social and moral problems .
In 1952, a series of essays by Valentin Ovechkin was published in Novy Mir. Regional everyday life. This publication marked the beginning of a whole movement in literature - "village prose". Village prose showed the wisdom of peasants living with nature in the same rhythm and sensitively reacting to any falsehood. One of the brightest subsequently "villageists", Fedor Abramov, began publishing in Novy Mir as a critic. His article was published in 1954 “People of a collective farm village in post-war prose”, where he called for writing “only the truth - direct and impartial.”
In 1955-1956, many new magazines appeared - “Youth”, “Moscow”, “Young Guard”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Ural”, “Volga”, etc.
Knowledge of front-line life and experience of survival in the camps formed the basis of creativity Alexandra Solzhenitsyn, who subjected the Soviet regime to the most consistent criticism. Some works of this period became famous in the West, including the novel by Vladimir Dudintsev “Not by Bread Alone” and the story by Alexander Solzhenitsyn "One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich."
The preconditions for the Thaw were laid in 1945. Many writers were front-line soldiers. Prose about the war by real participants in hostilities, or, as it was called, “officer’s prose,” carried an important understanding of the truth about the past war. The first to raise this topic, which became central in military prose of 1950-1960, was Viktor Nekrasov in the story “ In the trenches of Stalingrad", published in 1946. Konstantin Simonov, who served as a front-line journalist, described his impressions in the trilogy “ Living and Dead"(1959-1979). In the stories of front-line writers Grigory Baklanov “ An inch of land"(1959) and "The dead have no shame"(1961), Yuri Bondarev "The battalions are asking for fire"(1957), Konstantin Vorobyov "Killed near Moscow"(1963), against the backdrop of a detailed, unvarnished description of military life, the theme of conscious personal choice in a situation between life and death was heard for the first time.
The thaw period was accompanied by the flowering of poetry. The euphoria from the new possibilities required an emotional outburst. Since 1955, the country began to celebrate Poetry Day. On one September Sunday, poems were read in libraries and theaters all over the country. Since 1956, an almanac with the same name began to be published. Poets spoke from the stands and packed stadiums. Poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum attracted thousands of enthusiastic listeners. Since the monument to the poet was inaugurated on Mayakovsky Square in 1958, this place has become a place of pilgrimage and meeting for poets and poetry lovers. Here poetry was read, books and magazines were exchanged, and there was a dialogue about what was happening in the country and the world. The greatest popularity was gained by poets with a bright journalistic temperament - Robert Rozhdestvensky and Evgeny Yevtushenko. No less popular Andrey Voznesensky was more focused on the aesthetics of new modernity - airports, neon, new brands of cars. Chamber, intimate motives Bella Akhmadulina, her unique, melodious author's style of performance subtly resembled the poetesses of the Silver Age, attracting many fans to her. "Silent Lyricists" Vladimir Sokolov and Nikolai Rubtsov turned to nature in search of authenticity of being and harmony with the world.
A young poet appeared in a circle at the Leningrad Technological Institute (E. Rein, D. Bobyshev, A. Naiman), whose common hobby was Acmeism Joseph Brodsky.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the art song genre became popular. The most prominent representative and pioneer of this trend was Bulat Okudzhava. Together with Rozhdestvensky, Yevtushenko, Voznesensky and Akhmadulina, he performed at noisy poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum. His work became the starting point, the impetus for the emergence of a galaxy of popular domestic bards - Vizbor, Gorodnitsky, Galich, Vladimir Vysotsky and others. Many bards performed songs not only with their own words, often lines of poets of the Silver Age - Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam were set to music.
"Youth prose" was published mainly in the magazine "Youth". Its editor, Valentin Kataev, relied on young and unknown prose writers and poets. The works of the young people were characterized by a confessional intonation, youth slang, and a sincere upbeat mood.
However, the thaw period did not last long. Already with the suppression of the Hungarian uprising 1956 years have appeared clear boundaries openness policy. Khrushchev's persecution of Boris Pasternak, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958, outlined boundaries in the field of art and culture. The final completion of the “thaw” is considered to be the removal of Khrushchev and the coming to leadership of Leonid Brezhnev in 1964.
With the end of the “thaw”, criticism of Soviet reality began to spread only through unofficial channels, such as Samizdat.
the conventional name for the period of literature of the Soviet Union of the 1950s early 1960s. The death of Stalin in 1953, the XX (1956) and XXII (1961) congresses of the CPSU, which condemned the “cult of personality”, the easing of censorship and ideological restrictions these events determined the changes reflected in the work of writers and poets of the Thaw.
In the early 1950s, articles and works began to appear on the pages of literary magazines that played the role of stimulating public opinion. The story of Ilya Ehrenburg caused heated controversy among readers and critics Thaw. The images of the heroes were given in an unexpected way. The main character, parting with a loved one, the director of the plant, an adherent of Soviet ideology, in his person breaks with the country's past. In addition to the main storyline, describing the fate of two painters, the writer raises the question of the artist’s right to be independent of any attitudes.
In 1956, a novel by Vladimir Dudintsev was published Not by bread alone and stories by Pavel Nilin Cruelty, Sergei Antonov It happened in Penkovo. Dudintsev's novel traces the tragic path of an inventor in a bureaucratic system. The main characters of the stories by Nilin and Antonov attracted people with their lively characters, their sincere attitude to the events around them, and their search for their own truth.
The most striking works of this period were focused on participation in solving pressing socio-political issues for the country, on reconsidering the role of the individual in the state. Society was in the process of mastering the space of newly opened freedom. Most of the participants in the debate did not abandon socialist ideas.
The preconditions for the Thaw were laid in 1945. Many writers were front-line soldiers. Prose about the war by real participants in hostilities, or, as it was called, “officer's prose,” carried an important understanding of the truth about the past war.
The first to raise this topic, which became central in the military prose of 1950-1960, was Viktor Nekrasov in the story In the trenches of Stalingrad, published in 1946. Konstantin Simonov, who served as a front-line journalist, described his impressions in a trilogy Living and dead(19591979). In the stories of front-line writers Grigory Baklanov inch of land(1959) and The dead have no shame(1961), Yuri Bondarev Battalions ask for fire(1957) and Last salvos(1959), Konstantin Vorobyov Killed near Moscow(1963), against the backdrop of a detailed, unvarnished description of military life, the theme of conscious personal choice in a situation between life and death was heard for the first time. Knowledge of front-line life and experience of survival in the camps formed the basis of the work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who subjected the Soviet regime to the most consistent criticism.
Issues of literary almanacs and periodicals and various literary magazines played a major role in the “warming” process. It was they who reacted most vividly to new trends, contributed to the emergence of new names, and brought the authors of the 1920s and 1930s out of oblivion.
From 1950 to 1970, the magazine “New World” was headed by A.T. Tvardovsky. As editor-in-chief, he contributed to the appearance of bright and bold publications in the magazine, gathering around him the best writers and publicists. “Novomirskaya Prose” brought to the attention of readers serious social and moral problems.
In 1952, a series of essays by Valentin Ovechkin was published in Novy Mir. District everyday life, where the topic of optimal management of agriculture was first discussed. It was debated what was better: strong-willed pressure or providing rural farms with the necessary independence. This publication marked the beginning of a whole movement in literature - “village prose”. Leisurely reflections Village Diary Efim Dorosh about the destinies of rural residents was side by side with the nervous, electrified prose of Vladimir Tendryakov stories Potholes, Mayfly century short. Village prose showed the wisdom of peasants living with nature in the same rhythm and sensitively reacting to any falsehood. One of the brightest later “villageists,” Fyodor Abramov, began publishing in Novy Mir as a critic. His article was published in 1954 People of a collective farm village in post-war prose, where he called for writing “only the truth, straight and impartial.”
In 1956, two issues of the almanac “Literary Moscow” were published, edited by Emmanuel Kazakevich. I. Erenburg, K. Chukovsky, P. Antokolsky, V. Tendryakov, A. Yashin and others, as well as poets N. Zabolotsky and A. Akhmatova, published here; for the first time after a 30-year break, the works of M. Tsvetaeva were published. In 1961, the almanac “Tarussa Pages” was published, edited by Nikolai Otten, where M. Tsvetaeva, B. Slutsky, D. Samoilov, M. Kazakov, and the story of the war by Bulat Okudzhava were published Be healthy, student, chapters from golden rose and essays by K. Paustovsky.
Despite the atmosphere of renewal, opposition to new trends was significant. Poets and writers who worked according to the principles of socialist realism consistently defended them in literature. Vsevolod Kochetov, editor-in-chief of the magazine “October,” conducted a polemic with “New World.” Discussions on the pages of magazines and periodicals maintained an atmosphere of dialogue in society.
In 1955-1956, many new magazines appeared: “Youth”, “Moscow”, “Young Guard”, “Friendship of Peoples”, “Ural”, “Volga”, etc.
“Youth prose” was published mainly in the magazine “Yunost”. Its editor, Valentin Kataev, relied on young and unknown prose writers and poets. The works of the young people were characterized by a confessional intonation, youth slang, and a sincere upbeat mood.
In the stories of Anatoly Gladilin published on the pages of Youth Chronicle of the times of Viktor Podgursky(1956) and Anatoly Kuznetsov Continuation of the legend(1957) described the younger generation’s search for their path at the “construction sites of the century” and in their personal lives. The heroes were also attractive because of their sincerity and rejection of falsehood. In the story by Vasily Aksenov Star ticket, published in Yunost, a new type of Soviet youth was described, later called “star boys” by critics. This is a new romantic, thirsting for maximum freedom, believing that in searching for himself he has the right to make mistakes.
During the Thaw period, many new bright names appeared in Russian literature. Short stories by Yuri Kazakov are characterized by attention to the shades of the psychological state of ordinary people from the people (stories Manka, 1958, Trali-wali, 1959). A postman girl, a drunken beacon man, singing old songs on the river, they embody their understanding of life, focusing on their own idea of its values. Ironic story Constellation Kozlotur(1961) brought popularity to the young author Fazil Iskander. The story ridicules the emasculated bureaucratic functioning that creates fuss around unnecessary “innovative undertakings.” Subtle irony became not only a characteristic feature of Iskander’s author’s style, but also migrated into oral speech.
The genre of science fiction, the traditions of which were laid in the 1920-1930s, continues to develop. Significant works were written by Ivan Efremov Andromeda's nebula (1958), Heart of the Snake(1959). Utopian novel Andromeda's nebula resembles a philosophical treatise on the cosmic communist future to which the development of society will lead.
In the 1950s, brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky came to literature From outside (1959), Country of Crimson Clouds (1959), The path to Amalthea (1960), Noon, 21st century (1962), Distant Rainbow (1962), It's hard to be a god(1964). Unlike other science fiction writers who dealt with the themes of cosmic messianism in an abstract and heroic manner, the problems of cosmic “progressors” were revealed by the Strugatskys at the level of philosophical understanding of the mutual influences of civilizations of different levels. In the story It's hard to be a god the question is asked what is better: the slow, painful, but natural development of society or the artificial introduction and expansion of the values of a more civilized society into a less developed one in order to direct its movement in a more progressive direction. In subsequent books by the authors, reflection on this issue becomes deeper. There comes an awareness of moral responsibility for considerable sacrifices - the so-called payment. "primitive" societies for the progress imposed on them.
It was in the 1960s and 1980s that Yuri Trifonov, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Venedikt Erofeev, and Joseph Brodsky came to realize themselves as writers and poets.
So, in 1950 Trifonov’s story was published Students. During his years of exile and teaching in the Ryazan region, Solzhenitsyn worked on a novel Cancer building, research Gulag Archipelago; in 1959 he wrote the story One day of Ivan Denisovich, published in 1962. In the 1950s, Venedikt Erofeev led the life of a student, wandering around different universities. He tried his pen in a lyrical diary Notes from a Psychopath(19561957), where a special Erofeev style was already felt.
The thaw period was accompanied by the flowering of poetry. The euphoria from the new possibilities required an emotional outburst. Since 1955, the country began to celebrate Poetry Day. On one September Sunday, poems were read in libraries and theaters all over the country. Since 1956, an almanac with the same name began to be published. Poets spoke from the stands and packed stadiums. Poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum attracted thousands of enthusiastic listeners. Since the monument to the poet was inaugurated on Mayakovsky Square in 1958, this place has become a place of pilgrimage and meeting for poets and poetry lovers. Here poetry was read, books and magazines were exchanged, and there was a dialogue about what was happening in the country and the world.
The greatest popularity during the period of the poetic boom was gained by poets with a bright journalistic temperament Robert Rozhdestvensky and Evgeny Yevtushenko. Their civic lyrics were imbued with the pathos of understanding the place of their country in the scale of world achievements. Hence a different approach to understanding civic duty and social romance. The images of leaders were revised; the image of Lenin was romanticized, Stalin was criticized. Many songs were written based on Rozhdestvensky’s poems, which formed the basis of the “big style” in the genre of Soviet pop song. In addition to civil themes, Yevgeny Yevtushenko was known for his deep and fairly frank love lyrics and cycles written based on his impressions of trips around the world.
The no less popular Andrei Voznesensky was more focused on the aesthetics of the new modernity - airports, neon, new brands of cars, etc. However, he also paid tribute to attempts to comprehend the images of Soviet leaders in a new way. Over time, the theme of searching for the true values of existence began to emerge in Voznesensky’s work. Bella Akhmadulina’s chamber, intimate motifs and her unique, melodious author’s style of performance were subtly reminiscent of the poets of the Silver Age, attracting many fans to her.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the art song genre became popular. The most prominent representative and founder of this trend was Bulat Okudzhava. Together with Rozhdestvensky, Yevtushenko, Voznesensky and Akhmadulina, he performed at noisy poetry evenings at the Polytechnic Museum. His work became the starting point, the impetus for the emergence of a galaxy of popular domestic bards: Vizbor, Gorodnitsky, Galich, Vladimir Vysotsky, etc. Many bards sang songs not only with their own words, often the lines of Silver Age poets Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mandelstam were set to music.
The entire palette of the poetic process of the Thaw period was not limited to the bright young voices that were widely heard by the general reader. Collections of poets of the older generation are imbued with a premonition of change Nikolai Aseev Thoughts(1955), Leonid Martynov Poetry(1957). Understanding the lessons of the war is the main theme of front-line poets Semyon Gudzenko, Alexander Mezhirov, Olga Berggolts, Yulia Drunina. The motives of courageous asceticism, which helped to survive in the camps, were heard in the works of Yaroslav Smelyakov. “Quiet lyricists” Vladimir Sokolov and Nikolai Rubtsov turned to nature in search of authenticity of being and harmony with the world. David Samoilov and Boris Slutsky based their work on broad cultural and historical reflection.
In addition to the generally recognized published authors, there were a significant number of poets and writers who were not published. They united in groups - poetry circles of like-minded people, which existed either as private associations or as literary associations at universities. In Leningrad, the association of poets at the university (V. Uflyand, M. Eremin, L. Vinogradov, etc.) was inspired by the poetry of the Oberiuts. In a circle at the Leningrad Technological Institute (E. Rein, D. Bobyshev, A. Naiman), whose common hobby was Acmeism, a young poet Joseph Brodsky appeared. He attracted attention for his lack of conformity unwillingness to play by the accepted rules, for which in 1964 he was brought to court for “parasitism.”
Most of the creative heritage of the Moscow “Lianozov group”, which included G. Sapgir, I. Kholin, Vs. Nekrasov, was published only 30-40 years after it was written. The Lianozovites experimented with colloquial, everyday speech, achieving paradoxical connections and consonances through dissonance. In Moscow at the end of the 1950s there was also a circle of students at the Institute of Foreign Languages, which included the poet Stanislav Krasovitsky. In 1964, on the initiative of the poet Leonid Gubanov, the student association of poets and artists SMOG was born (V. Aleinikov, V. Delone, A. Basilova, S. Morozov, V. Batshev, A. Sokolov, Yu. Kublanovsky, etc.), which, in addition to literary experiments carried out radical actions, which accelerated its collapse.
The reaction of the authorities to the publications of some authors abroad was painful and acute. This was given the status of almost high treason, which was accompanied by forced expulsion, scandals, trials, etc. The state still considered itself to have the right to determine the norms and boundaries of thinking and creativity for its citizens. That is why in 1958 a scandal broke out over the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Boris Pasternak for a novel published abroad. Doctor Zhivago. The writer had to refuse the prize. In 1965 there followed a scandal with the writers Andrei Sinyavsky (stories The trial is underway, Lyubimov, treatise What is socialist realism) and Julius Daniel (stories Moscow speaks, Redemption), who published their works in the West since the late 1950s. They were sentenced “for anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda” to five and seven years in the camps. Vladimir Voinovich after the publication of the novel in the West The life and extraordinary adventures of soldier Ivan Chonkin had to leave the USSR because He could no longer hope to publish his books in his homeland.
In addition to “tamizdat,” “samizdat” became a characteristic phenomenon of the society of that time. Many works passed from hand to hand, reprinted on typewriters or simple duplicating equipment. The very fact of prohibition fueled interest in these publications and contributed to their popularity.
After Brezhnev came to power, it is believed that the “thaw” ended. Criticism was allowed within limits that did not undermine the existing system. There was a rethinking of the role of Lenin and Stalin in history, and different interpretations were proposed. Criticism of Stalin waned.
Essential for understanding the boundaries of freedom was the attitude to the literary heritage of the beginning of the century. The event was the last work of Ilya Erenburg memoirs People, years, life(19611966). For the first time, many learned about the existence of such historical figures as Mandelstam, Balmont, Tsvetaeva, Falk, Modigliani, Savinkov and others. Names suppressed by Soviet ideology, described in detail and vividly, became the reality of national history, the artificially interrupted connection between the pre-revolutionary and Soviet eras was restored. Some of the authors of the Silver Age, in particular Blok and Yesenin, already began to be mentioned and published in the 1950s. Other authors were still banned.
Self-censorship developed. The internal censor told the author which topics could be raised and which should not be discussed. Certain elements of ideology were perceived as a formality, a convention that must be taken into account.
Goldstein A. Farewell to Narcissus. M., UFO, 1997
Matusevich V. Notes of a Soviet editor. M., UFO, 2000
Weil P., Genis A. 1960s: the world of Soviet man. M., UFO, 2001
Voinovich V. Anti-Soviet Soviet Union
. M., Mainland, 2002
Kara-Murza S. "Scoop" remembers. M., Eksmo, 2002
Savitsky S. underground. M., UFO, 2002
Soviet wealth. St. Petersburg, Academic project, 2002
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