The first novel of education in world literature is. Parenting novel
What is an “educational novel”?
The term “novel of education” (German: Bildungsroman) was first used in 1819 by philologist Karl Morgenstern in his university lectures. German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey referred to the term in 1870, and the term became generally accepted in 1905.
The first novel of education is considered to be Goethe's The Teaching Years of Wilhelm Meister, which was written in 1795-1796. Although the novel of education originated in Germany, it became widespread first in Europe and then throughout the world. After the publication of a translation of Goethe's novel into English, many English writers were inspired by it when creating their works. Classic novels of education are Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, Dickens' David Copperfield and Great Expectations, Flaubert's An Education, and Dostoevsky's The Adolescent.
In the 20th century, the novel of education continues to be popular among writers. Jack London's Martin Eden, Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and many other educational novels appear.
There are several varieties of the educational novel. IN novel development describes the general development of a person’s personality. Novel education focuses on school and other formal education. "Artistic" novel shows the development of the personality of the artist, the artist, the development of his talent. Novel career tells about the hero's gaining social success and his gradual climb up the social ladder. Also distinguished adventure novel of education, in which the development of the hero’s personality is accompanied by a description of his adventures and often fades into the background.
But for all types of educational novels there is one distinctive characteristic: it describes the formation of a person’s personality.
We present to your attention a selection of books of this genre. Perhaps they will be of interest to young readers:
Charles Dickens "David Copperfield"
The Life of David Copperfield is truly Dickens' most popular novel. This is the story of a young man who is ready to overcome any obstacles, endure any hardships and, for the sake of love, commit the most desperate and courageous acts. The story of the endlessly charming David, the grotesquely insignificant Uriah and the sweet, charming Dora. A story that embodies the charm of “good old England”, the nostalgia for which is amazingly felt today by people living in different countries on different continents...
Louisa May Alcott "Little Women"
The book is about four sisters growing up during and after the Civil War. They live in a small American town, their father is fighting at the front, and they have a very difficult time. But, despite all the difficulties, the March family tries to maintain good spirits and support each other in everything. The sisters work, study, help their mother around the house, stage family plays, and write a literary newspaper. They soon welcome another member into their group - Laurie - a rich and bored young man who lives next door and who becomes a close friend of the whole family. Each of the March sisters has their own character, their own dreams, interests and ambitions. Each has its own shortcomings, bad inclinations that they have to overcome. This is a book about the small tragedies and small joys of an ordinary family.
I.-V. Goethe "Wilhelm Meister's Years of Study"
The genre is a novel of education, revealing the organic spiritual development of the hero as he accumulates life experience.
Leo Tolstoy “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth"
Autobiographical trilogy by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Childhood. Adolescence. Youth" is one of the most significant works of Russian literature dedicated to the theme of growing up. The main character of the trilogy is by no means a model of perfection. He makes mistakes, gets confused in relationships with loved ones, friends and family, and makes the wrong choice again and again. But that is precisely why his story - the story of sincere childhood friendship and love, the first great grief and the first failures of entering adulthood - is also interesting to our contemporaries, who recognize themselves in a boy from the distant 19th century.
Gustave Flaubert "Education of the Senses"
One of the brilliant peaks of French prose of the 19th century was Gustave Flaubert’s novel “Education of Sentiments.” This, according to the author, is an attempt to “merge two spiritual inclinations”, two views on things - realistic and lyrical. An eighteen-year-old romantic young man leaves the provinces for Paris to study law. Like Emma Bovary, Frederic is a dreamer. On the way, he falls in love, not yet realizing that this feeling is irreversible, it will change all his plans and intentions.
F.M. Dostoevsky "Teenager"
The novel is about the formation of a young character, about the relationship between fathers and children, about the eternal in these relationships and about what is introduced by time and environment. The action of the novel takes place in the era of bourgeoisism taking root in Russia as a principle of not only purely economic, but also human relations. The main character, a young man with a sensitive but undeveloped soul, experiences the temptations of his time, and his soul is tested: will the shoots of evil sprout in it, and will it harden under the influence of attractive ideas of acquisitiveness and selfishness, or will it retain the ability for spiritual growth.
Jerome Salinger "The Catcher in the Rye"
On behalf of a 17-year-old boy named Holden, it tells in a very frank manner about his heightened perception of American reality and rejection of the general canons and morality of modern society. The work was extremely popular, especially among young people, and had a significant impact on world culture in the second half of the 20th century.
Both the title of the novel and the name of its main character, Holden Caulfield, became code for many generations of young rebels - from beatniks and hippies to modern radical youth movements.
William Golding "Lord of the Flies"
Dystopia. A group of boys who survived a plane crash end up on a desert island. An unexpected turn of fate pushes many of them to forget about everything: first - about discipline and order, then - about friendship and decency, and in the end - about human nature itself.
R. Bradbury “Dandelion Wine”
The events of the summer lived by a 12-year-old boy, behind whom the author himself can easily be discerned, are described in a series of short stories connected by peculiar “bridges” that give the story integrity. Enter his bright world and live with him one summer, filled with joyful and sad, mysterious and alarming events; summer, when amazing discoveries are made every day, the main thing of which is that you are alive, you breathe, you feel!
Günter Grass "Tin Drum"
The story is narrated by a patient of a psychiatric clinic, striking in his sanity, Oscar Matzerath, who, in order to avoid the fate of an adult, in early childhood decided not to grow up anymore.
Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"
The story of a small sleepy town in the American South, told by a little girl...
The story of her brother Jim, her friend Dill, and her father, the honest, principled lawyer Atticus Finch, one of the last and best of the old “Southern aristocracy.”
The story of the trial of a black guy accused of violence against a white girl.
But above all, it is the story of a turning point, when the xenophobia, racism, intolerance and bigotry inherent in the American South are gradually becoming a thing of the past. The “wind of change” was just blowing across America. What will he bring?..
Boris Balter "Goodbye, boys"
Vladislav Krapivin “Boy with a Sword”
Written in the mid-70s, "The Boy with a Sword" is one of the pinnacles of Soviet children's literature and the most famous book by Vladislav Krapivin. The main character of the novel, Seryozha Kakhovsky, became a role model for thousands of Soviet boys, and his image turned out to be so reliable that the editors of the Pioneer magazine were bombarded with letters asking for Seryozha’s address.
40 years have passed, and the main character of this book has not aged, his friends and opponents have not aged, his questions and his search, his struggle with everything random and unfair that is in our lives have not aged.
Anthony Burgess "A Clockwork Orange"
"A Clockwork Orange"— a novel by the English writer Anthony Burgess, which at one time caused a cultural shock and brought the author worldwide fame.
The story is told on behalf of teenager Alex, the leader of a youth gang who takes great pleasure in beating and raping, disfiguring and killing. One day he is caught in flagrante delicto and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. Soon Alex agrees to participate in a medical experiment, after which he must lose all his lustful and sinful desires...
Frightening and provocative in content, A Clockwork Orange is a meditation on the nature of human aggression, free will and the adequacy of punishment.
Jean-Michel Guenassia « Club of Incorrigible Optimists »
French critics called his book great, and French lyceum students awarded the author the Goncourt Prize.
The hero of the novel is twelve years old. This is Paris in the early sixties. And this is the notorious transitional age, when everything: school, communication with parents and life in general is difficult. Michelle Marini is no different from her peers, except for her passion for photography and selfless love of reading. He also has a secret hideout - the back room of a Parisian bistro. There, strange people who fled countries separated from the free world by the Iron Curtain argue, grieve, play chess, waiting for their fate to be decided. Surprisingly, it is here, in this room, nicknamed the Club of Incorrigible Optimists, that the power lines of the era intersect.
Somerset Maugham "The Burden of Human Passion"
Perhaps Somerset Maugham's most significant novel. The genius with which the writer reveals the dark and light sides of the human soul manifested itself especially clearly here.
And it is in this book that Maugham, with a sincerity surprising even for him, bares his own soul...
The literature of the Enlightenment grew out of the classicism of the 17th century, inheriting its rationalism, the idea of the educational function of literature, and attention to the interaction of man and society. Compared to the literature of the previous century, in educational literature there is a significant democratization of the hero, which corresponds to the general direction of educational thought. The hero of a literary work in the 18th century ceases to be a “hero” in the sense of possessing exceptional properties and ceases to occupy the highest levels in the social hierarchy. He remains a “hero” only in another meaning of the word - the central character of the work. The reader can identify with such a hero and put himself in his place; this hero is in no way superior to an ordinary, average person. But at first, this recognizable hero, in order to attract the reader’s interest, had to act in an unfamiliar environment, in circumstances that awakened the reader’s imagination. Therefore, with this “ordinary” hero in the literature of the 18th century, extraordinary adventures still occur, events that are out of the ordinary, because for the reader of the 18th century they justified the story about an ordinary person, they contained the entertainment of a literary work. The hero's adventures can unfold in different spaces, close or far from his home, in familiar social conditions or in a non-European society, or even outside society in general. But invariably, the literature of the 18th century sharpens and poses, shows in close-up the problems of state and social structure, the place of the individual in society and the influence of society on the individual.
England of the 18th century became birthplace of the educational novel. Let us recall that the novel is a genre that arose during the transition from the Renaissance to the New Age; this young genre was ignored by classicist poetics because it had no precedent in ancient literature and resisted all norms and canons. The novel is aimed at an artistic exploration of modern reality, and English literature turned out to be particularly fertile ground for the qualitative leap in the development of the genre, which the educational novel became due to several circumstances. Firstly, England is the birthplace of the Enlightenment, a country where in the 18th century real power already belonged to the bourgeoisie, and bourgeois ideology had the deepest roots. Secondly, the emergence of the novel in England was facilitated by the special circumstances of English literature, where over the course of the previous century and a half, aesthetic prerequisites and individual elements gradually took shape in different genres, the synthesis of which on a new ideological basis gave rise to the novel. From the tradition of Puritan spiritual autobiography, the habit and technique of introspection, techniques for depicting the subtle movements of a person’s inner world came to the novel; from the travel genre, which described the voyages of English sailors - the adventures of pioneers in distant countries, the plot based on adventure; finally, from English periodicals, from the essays of Addison and Style of the early 18th century, the novel learned techniques for depicting the mores of everyday life and everyday details.
The novel, despite its popularity among all layers of readers, was considered a “low” genre for a long time, but the leading English critic of the 18th century, Samuel Johnson, a classicist by taste, in the second half of the century was forced to admit: “Works of fiction that especially appeal to the present generation - these are, as a rule, those that show life in its true form, contain only such incidents that happen every day, reflect only such passions and properties that are known to everyone who deals with people."
As a manuscript
PLUZHNIKOVA YULIA ALEKSANDROVNA
I. A. GONCHAROV’S NOVEL “ORDINARY HISTORY” AND “NOVEL OF EDUCATION” IN RUSSIAN AND GERMAN LITERATURE OF THE 18th-19th CENTURIES: EVOLUTION OF THE GENRE
Dissertations for the degree of candidate of philological sciences
Ulyanovsk -2012
The work was carried out at the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education "Ulyanovsk State Technical University"
Scientific supervisor: Dyrdin Alexander Alexandrovich
Doctor of Philology, Professor
Official opponents: Sapchenko Lyubov Aleksandrovna
Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Literature, Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I. N. Ulyanov
Belova Olga Pavlovna
Candidate of Philological Sciences, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Journalism, Ulyanovsk State University
Leading organization: Volzhsky Humanitarian Institute (branch)
FSBEI HPE "Volgograd State University"
The defense of the dissertation will take place on May 21, 2012 at 14:00 at a meeting of the dissertation council KM212.276.02 for the award of the academic degree of Candidate of Philological Sciences at the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I. N. Ulyanov at the address: 432700, Ulyanovsk, area 100- Legia since the birth of V.I. Lenin, 4.
The dissertation can be found in the library of the Ulyanovsk State Pedagogical University by I. N. Ulyanov.
Scientific Secretary
dissertation council /^1/
¿¿(_ M. Yu. Kuzmina
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF WORK
The relevance of research. The legacy of I. A. Goncharov - a classic of Russian literature - today is increasingly attracting the attention of domestic and foreign literary scholars. Against the backdrop of growing interest in the study of the national literary process, the place and role of Goncharov in it, and in connection with the 200th anniversary of the writer, the study of his work has become one of the constantly developing areas in the modern science of literature. With all the diversity of scientific strategies, there remain many unsolved problems that involve consideration of the aesthetics and poetics of the writer, and, in particular, issues of genre typology.
In modern research, there has been a significant revision of views on the genre of Goncharov’s novel “An Ordinary Story” (1847-1848). If earlier the writer’s work was considered in the context of social issues, then in recent decades his novels have been characterized as philosophical, moral and psychological.
A new look at the novel was proposed by E. A. Krasnoshchekova, defining the form of the “novel of education” as a genre close to the creative consciousness of the writer. This form was actively used by European writers starting from the second half of the 18th century. In Russia, the founder of this genre was N. M. Karamzin with his novel “A Knight of Our Time.” In the context of solving the scientific problem posed - determining the genre specificity of the first novel by I. L. Goncharov - the conclusions and observations of E. A. Krasnoshchekova, V. I. Melnik, V. A. Nedzvetsky are important, on whose concepts the dissertation author relies in his work.
The dissertation was tasked with identifying the typological features of the “novel of education” genre in “Ordinary History.” Despite the fact that the works of a number of scientists have been devoted to this problem, the definition of the genre nature of I. A. Goncharov’s first novel needs to be adjusted.
The purpose of this study is to study the genre specificity of Goncharov’s novel “An Ordinary Story,” primarily the typological features that connect it with the Bildungsroman genre and that are dissimilar to it.
To achieve this goal it was necessary to solve the following tasks:
1) to identify the origins of the formation of the writer’s aesthetics at the initial stage of his work (40s of the 19th century);
2) study the moral and ethical views of the writer, his attitude to the problem of education and personal development;
3) consider the works of domestic and foreign researchers of Goncharov’s work and the principles of studying the typological features of the genre of “novel of education” in the aspect of modern theory of the genre;
4) systematize the theoretical observations of domestic and foreign literary scholars related to the development of the “novel of formation” model (Bildungsroman-model) in “Ordinary History”;
5) complement the existing concepts of “Ordinary History”
characterization of the genre content of the novel based on its connection with the domestic novel tradition, emerging in the first third of the 19th century, and national moral ideals.
The object of the study is the early work of the writer in the context of literary ideas of the 18th - first decades of the 19th century.
The subject of the study is the continuity of the genre of the novel about education and its creative transformation in “Ordinary History” by I. L. Goncharov.
The scientific novelty of the study lies in the consideration of the genre innovation of the novel “An Ordinary Story”, in the context of the ideas of social progress, the ethics of positivism, and the line of educational novel emerging in Russian literature, which is different from the European model.
The following provisions are submitted for defense:
1. In his work, I. A. Goncharov was able to synthesize the traditions of Russian and foreign literature, based, first of all, on the historical consciousness of his people, the aesthetic experience of N. M. Karamzin,
V. T. Narezhny, A. S. Pushkin, creative achievements of writers and thinkers of Europe.
2. The formation and development of Goncharov’s artistic worldview was facilitated by the philosophical, political and socio-historical ideas of I. I. Davydov, N. I. Nadezhdin and
S. P. Shevyreva.
3. The system of ideas that Goncharov developed in the 1830s about morality and morality, about the history and forms of growth of the human personality, determined the writer’s creation of a work in the genre of “novel of education,” which became the initial link in the evolution of his work.
4. The specificity of Goncharov’s “novel of education” genre was the unity of description of everyday life and morals, showing the spiritual development of the young hero in conjunction with the natural principles of national life.
5. Typological features of Goncharov’s novel, original genre-constructive solutions allow us to consider “An Ordinary Story” a modification of the novel about the moral, social and psychological formation of the protagonist’s personality.
The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the fundamental works of the classics of comparative historical literary criticism A. II. Veselovsky, V.M. Zhirmunsky, M.M. Bakhtin, M.P. Alekseev, Yu.M. Lotman, as well as works of a theoretical and literary nature (M.M. Bakhtin, V.I. Kuleshov, V.V. Kozhinov, B. P. Gorodetsky, E. I. Semenov, G. K. Shchennikov, E. A. Demchenkova, etc.)
The dissertation used research by domestic literary scholars devoted to the study of the life and work of Goncharov (P. S. Beisov, N. I. Prutskov, O. G. Postnov, V. A. Nedzvetsky, M. V. Otradin, V. I. Melnik ), as well as works related to the analysis of the genre of “novel of education” in Russian and German literature (L. I. Rubleva, V. N. Pashigorev, E. A. Krasnoshchekova).
The works of foreign researchers (V. Sechkarev, V. Bruford, G. Diment, P. Tupien, A. Huwiler), to whom the dissertation author turned, also largely prepared a new interpretation of the genre nature of the novel.
During the study, typological, comparative-historical, descriptive and structural research methods were used.
The scientific and practical significance of the dissertation lies in the possibility of its use in research work, as well as in university practice: in lectures, special courses and seminars on the history of Russian literature of the 19th century.
Approbation of work. The results of the study were presented at the annual reporting scientific conferences of the teaching staff of Ulyanovsk State Technical University (2007-2012), at the All-Russian scientific and practical conference “Russia and the world: History, culture, regional studies” (Ulyanovsk, 2008), the International scientific conference “Literature and culture in context of Christianity. Images, symbols, faces of Russia" (Ulyanovsk, 2008), International scientific conference "Images of Russia in scientific literature. Og "Sermons on Law and Grace" by Metropolitan Hilarion to "Pyramid" JI. M. Leonov: movement towards a multipolar world" (Ulyanovsk, 2009), International scientific conference "Artistic and philosophical models of the universe in the works of L. M. Leonov and in Russian literature of the 19th - early 21st centuries" (Ulyanovsk, 2011). The dissertation materials were published in 8 scientific articles, including 1 article presented in a leading peer-reviewed scientific journal recommended by the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation.
The structure of the work is determined by the goals and objectives of the study. The dissertation consists of an introduction, 3 chapters, a conclusion and a bibliography that includes 320 titles. The total volume of work is 162 pages.
The Introduction characterizes the degree to which the genre specifics of I.A.’s novel have been studied. Goncharov’s “Ordinary History”, the goals, objectives, object and subject of research, relevance, scientific novelty, practical significance of the work are determined, and the provisions put forward for defense are formulated.
Chapter one, “The worldview of the writer of the 30-40s of the 19th century and the origins of its formation,” analyzes the philosophical, aesthetic and ethical views of the writer during the period of writing the novel “Ordinary History.”
Paragraph one, “Philosophical views of I. A. Goncharov,” is devoted to the study of the system of aesthetic and philosophical views of the writer of the 30-40s of the 19th century. One of the first who contributed to the formation of the writer’s ideological principles were teachers of Moscow University N.I. Nadezhdin and S.P. Shevyrev.
During his university years, I. A. Goncharov developed a strong interest in history, not only in the 18th century, but also in the ancient era. Among
numerous thinkers whose works the future novelist was interested in were I.-I. Winckelmann (1717-1768).
In the knowledge and perception of art, Winckelmann called for harmony and integrity. He argued that “beauty consists in the harmony of parts, the perfection of which is manifested in a gradual rise and fall and, therefore, acts on our feelings evenly, carrying it along with it gently, and not with sudden impulses.”1 It can be assumed that Winckelmann’s judgments, which he applied to art, formed the basis of Goncharov’s principle of the smooth passage of stages in a person’s life, which he transferred to literature, applying it to depicting the life path of his characters.
As you know, Goncharov proved himself to be a writer with a historical outlook on life. The novelist tried to objectively show the inevitability of social change. He analyzed historical events using a dialectical method borrowed from 18th-century German philosophy. The novelist perceived time as “the flow of historical life, the movement of time, the change of times”2.
Speaking about the peculiarities of Goncharov’s worldview in the 30-40s of the 19th century, it is necessary to recall the philosophy of G.-V.-F. Hegel. The German philosopher believed that history is important for a writer as a means of education. He tried to dialectically combine the history of the development of education and the history of human civilization. Hegel saw the influence of cultural and historical conditions on the process of formation of the individual: “every person is the son of his time and his people”3. It is education, according to Hegel, that encourages the individual to actively participate in the cultural life of society, interaction with which, in turn, contributes to the formation of the individual.
In addition to N.I. Nadezhdin, whose aesthetic views significantly influenced Goncharov, S.P. Shevyrev contributed to the formation of the artistic concept of the future writer. His interest in the art of words was combined with an attempt to explain literary phenomena from a historical point of view. This shows the influence of the German writer I.-W. Schiller, who believed that every nation should take a special place in the world literary process and its literature should reflect the characteristics of folk culture and spirituality.
The critic argued that the spiritualization of the world and man is a distinctive feature of Russian literature, and it manifests itself, first of all, in the word.
Goncharov's philosophy is complex. The formation of the writer’s ideological principles was influenced by both the ideas of Western philosophers and domestic thinkers, bearers of primordially Russian
"Winkelman I.-I. Selected works and letters. - M.: Ladomir, 1996. - P. 228-229.
2 Melnik V.I. Ethical ideal of I.L. Goncharov. - Kyiv: Lybid, 1991. - P. 8.
3 Hegel. Philosophy of law. - M.: Mysl, 1990. - P. 55.
outlook on life. In the process of forming philosophical ideas, Goncharov formed an original view of literary creativity. The author at this time was at the beginning of his search for a genre model. Working on the concept of “An Ordinary History,” he combined (to a certain extent) the “novel of education” with the forms of autobiographical and family novels, which were quite developed in the Russian tradition.
In paragraph two “I. A. Goncharov and domestic writers of the late 18th - early 19th centuries” explores the views and literary tastes of the writer, tracing his connections with the work of Fonvizin, Karamzin, Pushkin, Narezhny.
The education received at Moscow University laid the foundation for the future novelist’s literary activity and paved the way for its further development. Listening to lectures from teachers and studying the works of popular authors, he was able to synthesize the searches of writers of two eras: the second half of the 18th century. and the beginning of the 19th century. The knowledge gained at the university helped Goncharov not to get lost in the vast world of literature. “In St. Petersburg, carefully studying foreign literature, I already regulated my studies according to the method and according to the instructions that were taught to us at the university by our<...>favorite professors,”4 writes Goncharov, recalling his university years. There is no doubt that he took seriously not only foreign literature, but also carefully studied works of his native literature. Among the masters of the Russian word that Goncharov was engrossed in were, of course, D. I. Fonvizin, N. M. Karamzin, I. A. Krylov, A. S. Griboedov, L. S. Pushkin, V. T. Narezhny.
The influence of D. I. Fonvizin on the work of the future novelist was noted by many critics and writers, starting with Belinsky. He, analyzing the female images of Aduev’s mother and Nadenka Lyubstskaya, noted in his article “A Look at Russian Literature of 1847” the roll call of the characters in Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor” and the characters in Goncharov’s novel “An Ordinary Story”: “these are two completely different faces: one is a provincial lady, of the old century, reads nothing and understands nothing except the trifles of the household: in a word, the good granddaughter of the evil Mrs. Prostakova; the other is a metropolitan lady who reads French books and understands nothing except the little details of the household: in a word, the good great-granddaughter of the evil Mrs. Prostakova.”5
There is no doubt about the influence of the personalities and creativity of P.M. Karamzin and A.S. Pushkin on Goncharov’s literary and aesthetic position. There is evidence of this both in his personal letters and in following the literary traditions of these outstanding artists of the word. This influence is indicated by figurative reminiscences from their works in the writer’s novels.
4 Goncharov I. A. At the university // Goncharov I. A. Collected works: in 8 volumes - M.: Pravda, 1954. - T. 7. - P. 222.
5 Belinsky V. G. “A look at Russian literature of 1847” // Collection. cit.: in 3 volumes - M.: OGIZ, GIHL, 1948. - T. 3. - P. 34.
Karamzin, who created the aesthetics of Russian sentimentalism, was the forerunner of the “sensitive” line in Russian literature. At the beginning of “An Ordinary Story,” Alexander Aduev represents a type of sentimental hero. Goncharov caught the typical manifestations of the character of the character first created by Karamzin. He begins his work in line with sentimentalism, continuing to develop this imagery in new conditions. The novelist showed that the type of person characteristic of sentimentalism with idyllic views on life, the hero who grew up in a patriarchal-feudal environment, turns out to be unviable in modern society with its impersonality of human relations.
It is known that Pushkin was Goncharov’s idol. Even during his university years, the future writer enthusiastically read the works of the poet who was at the zenith of his fame: the novel “Eugene Onegin”, the poem “Poltava”.
V. I. Melnik in the article “A. S. Pushkin in the life of I. A. Goncharov”6 suggests that, under the influence of Pushkin’s poetry, the writer begins to try himself in poetic forms, later including them in the first novel as the first literary experiments of the main character. The novelist's first poems are full of motifs inherent in Russian poetic romanticism of the early 30s of the 19th century.
The most “influential” creator who gave impetus to the creation of Goncharov’s first novel was V. T. Narezhny. Despite the exposure of social vices in his works, Narezhny was not a supporter of radical political and social changes. He is a supporter of personality correction through educational methods. The main artistic principles in his early works were rationalism and didacticism, characteristic of Russian literature of that time as a whole. Later, in Narezhny’s novels, there is a predominance of educational and didactic pathos, for example, in the novel “Aristion, or Re-education”7, in which echoes of the “novel of formation” genre are visible. A distinctive feature of this novel was the depiction of not only the vices of an individual, but also the negative aspects of the life of the entire aristocratic society.
Narezhny stands at the origins of the domestic “novel of education”, therefore, speaking about the evolution of the “classical” version of the educational novel in Russia, it is necessary to note his contribution to the formation of this genre.
In paragraph three, “The Ethical Concept of the Writer,” Goncharov’s system of ethical views is studied, the origins of which must be sought in his biography.
By the time he wrote “Ordinary History,” Goncharov had already formed his own idea of a balanced education system. Openly philosophical reflections on issues of education in the first novel
6 See: Melnik V.I.L.S. Pushkin in the life of I.A. Goncharov |Electronic resource|. -Access mode: http://wwwлvan-gonchagov.ru/kr¡tika/melmk6.shtml.
7 See: Grikhin V. A., Kalmykov V. F. Creativity of V. T. Narezhny // Narezhny V. T. Favorites. - M. Soviet Russia, 1983. - P. 5-24.
the reader does not encounter, but the writer certainly mentions the education of the heroes of the novel, the gradual knowledge of the concepts of good and evil, which, in fact, constitutes the process of educating a person’s personality.
Later, in a letter to E. A. and S. A. Nikitenko, Goncharov will write that the education of a future personality should be carried out in accordance with human nature - a principle possibly adopted from the pedagogical works of J. J. Rousseau: “the progress of education should consist precisely... ... is to monitor and recognize the child’s abilities and prepare him for what he is inclined to, and whoever is inclined to what will find happiness in that work.”
The same tendency can be found in the work of the outstanding teacher of the second half of the 19th century, L. N. Modzalevsky, “Essay on education and training from ancient to modern times”: “First of all, one must examine the personality of the pet, and based on it, apply all educational and educational measures. The task of moral education is precisely to teach children self-control and self-sacrifice. Children’s mistakes and misdeeds should not be ignored, because over the years they also grow and turn into vices.”5
In one of Goncharov’s autobiographies one can read: “Mother did not love us with that sentimental, animal love that is poured out in hot caresses, in weak indulgence and servility to children’s whims and which spoils children. She loved intelligently, relentlessly following our every step, and with strict justice distributed her sympathy equally among all four of us children. She was exacting and did not let a single prank pass without punishment or reprimand, especially if the prank contained the seed of future vice.”10 Since childhood, the writer has become accustomed to the fact that education should be aimed at developing morality and a sense of virtue. And although Goncharov’s mother did not receive an education and did not read pedagogical works, she was an intelligent woman who gave a good education to her children.
The problem of education occupied a special place in Russian life in the 30s and 40s of the 19th century. Not only teachers, but also writers and public figures discussed it. Goncharov participated in solving this problem, first of all, with his novels. In each of the novels of his trilogy, the problem of education occupies a central place. In “An Ordinary Story,” the upbringing given to Alexander Aduev by his mother did not prepare him for real life in St. Petersburg. Not fitting into St. Petersburg society, the main character goes through the “school” of his uncle, who tries to set him on the “true path.” At first, Aduev Jr. takes the lessons of Aduev Sr. with hostility, but, without noticing it, he is gradually re-educated under the guidance of his mentor and joins the circle of businessmen in St. Petersburg. Alexander becomes a business man, practical and rational.
8 Goncharov I. L. Collection. op. in 8 volumes. T. 8. - P. 290.
9 Modzalevsky L. II. Essay on education and training from ancient times to our times. -SPb.: Martynov, 1867. - P. 353.
10 Goncharov I. A. Collection. op. in 8 volumes. T. 7. - P. 235.
In the romance "Oblomov" the main character remains faithful to his upbringing, received in a patriarchal provincial family. Despite the changing conditions of metropolitan life, the hero does not deviate from his convictions, maintaining in the alien world of St. Petersburg an aura of home, feelings of peace, comfort and family happiness that are unusual for metropolitan society. However, he, like the hero of the first novel, faces the problems of a “new life” and remains misunderstood by others in his desire for the warmth of home.
In his third novel, “The Precipice,” Goncharov shows the clash of two types of education: the new European and the old patriarchal. Vera, the eldest granddaughter of Tatyana Markovna, who received a European education, fails to adapt to the conditions of the patriarchal world. But she can no longer return to her former self: the worldview and culture that arise in new life circumstances do not allow her to do this. The conflict between the everyday life of the “old times”, its spiritual content, and the values of progress becomes one of the main ones in Goncharov’s novels related to the theme of the moral development of the individual.
Goncharov, showing all the positive and negative sides of both the patriarchal and European types of education, throughout his work proclaims the harmony of the new and the old. Goncharov called for taking the best from the experience of world culture, without rejecting his native ways of life and faith.
Goncharov expresses his view on issues of education in a critical article about A. S. Griboedov’s play “Woe from Wit.” Analyzing the image of Sophia, the writer says that her moral character was influenced by the moral principles that dominated society and those around her father. Although by her nature Sophia is by no means immoral and “she has strong inclinations of a remarkable nature, a lively mind,” she became a “victim” of the trend of the times. The writer attributes all of Sophia’s shortcomings to her upbringing.
All his life, Goncharov strove for some ideal image of a person, but did not forget about the shortcomings and flaws of human nature.
Chapter two, “History of the genre of the “novel of education”” is devoted to the consideration of the theoretical foundations of the genre of the “novel of education” in German and Russian literary criticism, the study of the typological features of the genre of the “novel of education” and the analysis of the scientific controversy surrounding the definition of the genre of Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History”.
The first paragraph, “The Origin of the Term “Bildungsroman”,” traces the history of the emergence of the term and genre form Bildungsroman in Western European literature.
For the first time, the term “novel of education”11 began to be used in his works
“In literary criticism, the term “VPs1igshch5gotan” is used both as a “novel of education”, and as an “educational novel”, and as a “novel of formation”.
Dorpat professor of aesthetics Karl Morgenshtsrn12 in the 20s of the 19th century in the process of analyzing the novel by I.-V. Goethe "The Years of Wilhelm Meister's Study" (1795-1796). According to the scientist, VPs11^5gotan differs from other varieties of the genre, firstly, in theme, since the process of developing the character of the hero is shown here from the first years of his life until a certain stage of growing up, the moral virtues that the main character gradually acquires in the process of his inner life are described. development, and ways to acquire them. Secondly, a characteristic feature of this genre is the rather greater degree of influence of the work on the education of the reader in comparison with any other type of novel.
K. Morgen Stern suggests calling a work an “educational novel” if there is a system of events described in the novel that contribute to the ethical education of the reader, although initially the didactic task was not set in the novels, the objective goal of the writer was to depict the main character and the process of developing his character. A skillful description of educational history was presented in the form of a conversation. This typological feature, highlighted by the German scientist, was fully embodied in Goncharov’s first novel “Ordinary History” in the dialogues of Aduev Sr. and Aduev Jr.
According to modern researchers of the “novel of education” genre, this epic form took shape during the Enlightenment, but its further development occurred at the turn of the 19th-19th centuries, and in the first decades of the 19th century, when the aesthetics of romanticism took shape in European literature13. The further development of the novel genre led to the emergence of many of its varieties in the literature of different countries. Nevertheless, most researchers develop the poetics of the “novel of education” using examples of German literature, since it was this literature that provided the classic examples of the “novel of formation.”
In paragraph two, “The evolution of the “novel of formation” in Russia and Germany,” the genesis and evolution of the “novel of education” in German and domestic literature is traced.
In the definitions of the “novel of education” genre that exist in scientific literature, the main emphasis is on the process of formation of the main character, but an important point is the writer’s study of the development of his psychology, transitions from one thought to another, the inclusion of new visual means in the traditional system of poetics of the “novel” genre education."
As for the origins of the genre of the novel of education, then, as stated by
12 Morgenstern K. Zur Geschichte des Bildungsromans. - Tartu, 1820. - S. 13-27; Ober das Wesen des Bildungsromans. - Tartu, 1820. - S. 46-61.
13 See about this: Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. The problem of determining the genre of I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History” in Western Slavic Studies // Literature and culture in the context of Christianity. Images, symbols, faces of Russia: materials of the V International Scientific Conference. - Ulyanovsk: Ulyanovsk State Technical University, 2008. - P. 190-195.
M. M. Bakhtin14, they should be looked for in ancient literature. In his classification of novel genres, based on the principle of chronotope, the scientist identified the “biographical novel,” which created a model of “biographical time” and a new concept of the hero. He finds the origins of such a narrative in ancient texts setting out the biography or autobiography of a hero, who, as a rule, was a real person. The hero's inner life was manifested in external actions. A specific feature of such works lies in their didacticism and openly instructive tendencies.
The formation of the genre of “novel of education” was influenced by both medieval novels of wanderings and novels of trials, the characteristic feature of which was the absolute static image of the hero, but in the novels of trials the image of the protagonist was complicated. Later, an element of psychologism is added to the novel structure, which, however, does not contribute to a detailed depiction of changes in the character of the hero, the dialectics of his consciousness.
Despite the fact that VMigshchgotaman came to Russia quite late, the soil for it was fertile. The fact is that moralizing traditions were characteristic of ancient Russian literature throughout all the centuries of its existence. The first independent attempt to create a “novel of formation” at the very beginning of the 19th century was “A Knight of Our Time” (1803) by N. M. Karamzin. However, due to historical and cultural conditions, writers’ interest in this type of genre faded for some time. Renewed interest in this type of novel occurred in the late 30s and early 40s. At the same time, Russian writers began to read books by German writers and philosophers.
Of all the trends that existed in Western literature in the period from the mid-18th century. Until the 19th century15, Russian literature adopted, first of all, the “Goethean” tradition. Young Goncharov came to literature at a time when Russian literature was already under the influence of the work of German authors. He read their works in the original and translated them from German. The edifying intonation is especially evident in these books. The narration was conducted from the 3rd person (in the dilogy about Wilhelm Meister Goethe, for example). The author acts here as an observer and judge, whose point of view on the process of education dominated the work. The same form of narrative was chosen by Goncharov in Ordinary History.
In paragraph three, “Typological features of the genre of the “novel of formation”,” the works of M. M. Bakhtin16, V.N. Pashigorev17,
14 Bakhtin M. M. The novel of education and its significance in the history of realism // Aesthetics of verbal creativity. - M.: Art, 1979.-S. 190-191.
15 15 Western literature there were several directions in the development of the genre: “Goethean”, “Rousseauian” and “Dickenian”. See: Krasnoshchekova E. A novel of education - GMYig^gotap - on Russian soil: Karamzin. Pushkin. Goncharov. Tolstoy. Dostoevsky. - St. Petersburg: Pushkin Foundation Publishing House, 2008. - pp. 11-13.
16 See: Bakhtin M. M. Decree. op. - pp. 188-236.
17 See: Pashigorev V.N. Novel of education in German literature of the 18th-20th centuries. -Saratov, 1993.- 144 p.
E. Krasnoshchekova18, dedicated to the history of the “novel of education” genre, establishes its general typological features.
M. M. Bakhtin played a significant role in the development of theoretical issues of the Bildungsroman genre and its typology. It was he who laid the scientific basis for research into the genre specifics of the “novel of education.” Bakhtin believed that the “novel of formation” was the last “pure” genre in the system of European gradation of genre varieties of epic.
Bakhtin based the classification of novel genres on the principle of chronotope, which, in his opinion, determines the genre nature of a work. In addition, he draws attention to the history of the emergence of this genre in European literature, explaining this process by the peculiarities of the worldview of a person during the Enlightenment. It was at this time that writers began to depict man in the process of evolution. Temporal and spatial coordinates come to the fore. The authors of the novels strive to show how time changes a person, to connect the reproduction of the maturation of the individual with spiritual factors. Goncharov, testing various schemes of the novel - romantic, sentimental - developed original features in his first novel, does not speak out about the hero's upbringing, but depicts the movement of character discretely, focusing the reader's attention on the turning points in the character's inner life.
A modern researcher of this problem, V.N. Pashigorev, in his dissertation “The Novel of Education in German Literature of the 18th-20th Centuries. Genesis and Evolution" (2005) examines the specific features of the "novel of education", using works of German literature as a genre example.
Firstly, he considers the process of education to be a structure-forming element of this genre, combining all the components of the novel into a single whole. Secondly, but in his opinion, B¡ldungsroman is a novel of monocentric construction, where biographical narration prevails. Thirdly, in the German “novel of education” the process of spiritual formation of personality unfolds over many years, from youth to spiritual and physical maturity. Through the fate of one person, the history of an entire society is shown. Fourthly, the need to express the stages of intellectual and moral development of the protagonist in the works of German writers entails a phase-like, stage-by-stage structure of the plot.
In a number of studies devoted to the study of the genre of “novel of education” using examples of works of Western European writers, a special place is occupied by the works of E. Krasnoshchekova, who turned to the formation of the B¡ldungsroman genre in Russian literature, relying on the concepts of M. M. Bakhtin and V. N. Pashigorev .
E. Krasnoshchekova studied this genre variety of the novel and traced the genesis and evolution of the genre, European in origin, in
18 See: Krasnoshchekova E. Decree. op.
context of the Russian literary tradition, highlighting a monocentric composition with a limited set of second-row characters who perform an auxiliary function. The plot and plot elements are projected onto the character of the main character, who concentrates in himself the spirit, meaning and inner content of everything that happens around him. The composition of the “novel of formation,” according to the researcher, is determined by stages, which reveal clear stages in the life of the main character. One of the main features of this type of genre, Krasnoshchekova emphasizes, is intellectualism, since the “novel of education” contains elements of a philosophical novel. All these features of artistic form and content are found in Goncharov, in his depiction of the life of the human soul in “Ordinary History”, and then in “Oblomov” and “Break”.
In paragraph four, “Scientific controversy around the definition of the genre of the novel “Ordinary History” in the works of domestic and foreign researchers,” the definitions of the genre specificity of the novel “Ordinary History” in the studies of domestic and foreign literary scholars are compared.
In numerous historical and literary works, “Ordinary History” received various definitions of the nature of the genre, ranging from social19, socio-psychological20 and ending with the “novel of education”. An accurate definition of the dominant genre of Goncharov’s novel is important to establish its belonging to the series of works being studied.
Before considering the problem of genre specificity, we should turn to the question of the peculiarities of the artistic world and Goncharov’s creative style.
From the point of view of N.I. Prutskov, “An Ordinary Story” characterizes one of the trends in the development of the socio-psychological novel, where the writer, having created the image of Pyotr Aduev, discovered courage, insight and sensitivity to life, catching the changes taking place in the public consciousness. According to him, Goncharov was interested in the epic scale, the disclosure of the “mechanism of life” in general and the place of man in this life: “he takes ordinary people and reproduces not their philosophical, moral, ideological quests, but the history of the formation of a person’s character under the inexorable influence of a certain social order life." Thus, here the moment of personality formation in changing life conditions is emphasized, and, thereby, one of the
19 See: Lotman Yu. M. I. L. Goncharov // History of Russian literature: In 4 volumes - L.: Nauka, 1982. - G. 3; Tseitlin L. G. I. A. Goncharov. - M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1950; Nedavetsky,
B. A. Goncharov's novels. - M.: Education, 1996.
20See: Glukhov V.I. On the literary origins of “Ordinary History” // Materials of the international conference dedicated to the 180th anniversary of the birth of I. L. Goncharov. -Ulyanovsk: Strezhen, 1994.
21 Quoted from: Melnik V.I. Ethical ideal of I.A. Goncharov. - Kyiv: Lybid, 1991. -
the most important typological features of the “novel of formation”.
V. A. Nedzvetsky in all of Goncharov’s novels highlights the “philosophy of love”22 as the basis of human life.
According to the author of this concept, the main task of the first novel “Ordinary History” is that the main character Alexander Aduev “will have to find a new harmony - the “poetry” of life, or its modern “norm””23 during his stay in the capital, where the writer “will confront him with the realities of bureaucratic service, magazine literature, family relationships with his uncle, and most of all, love”24. And, as the reader can see, Alexander finds harmony in life, but as a result it turns out to be false, illusory. The “philosophy of love” of the hero, who broke under the pressure of Nadenka Lyubetskaya’s vanity and the ordinary and tiresome love of Yulia Tafaeva, does not stand the test either. Raising Alexander Aduev with love did not achieve a positive result.
V. I. Melnik considers Goncharov as a writer “with a pronounced desire for the ideal”25. However, the writer’s call to ideal is expressed in a unique way. Goncharov developed the style of an impartial writer. His novels lack a clearly defined author's position. The author of the monograph notes that when describing the contemporary era, the novelist does not give one-sided characteristics of both the era itself and his heroes; he shows both positive and negative features, leaving it to the reader to judge the hero and the accompanying social formations of a given era. Since the writer was interested in time, his gaze was directed both to the past and to the present. Analyzing this time, Goncharov reveals himself as a writer who synthesizes philosophical ideas with artistic creativity. According to Melnik, this feature of the novelist brings his writing style closer to the work of writers of the 18th century and the aesthetics of N. I. Nadezhdin.
The passage of time in the works of I. A. Goncharov is shown through the prism of human spiritual and social life. Already in his first novel, the writer drew attention to how time itself changes not only the life style of the main character, but also his character, forcing him to choose between old and new norms of existence.
E. Krasnoshchekova believes that the novel “An Ordinary Story” has genre features of Bildungsroman, which can be traced at different levels, and, above all, at the level of composition and plot. The researcher claims: between the “novel of education” of the 18th century and the novel by I. A. Goncharov’s “An Ordinary Story" is different. The Russian writer’s novel is full of philosophical problems, complicated by the description of social changes,
22 Nedzvetsky, V. A. Goncharov’s novels. - M.: Education, 1996. - 112 p.
23 Nedzvetsky V.L. Novels of I.L. Goncharov // Goncharov I.A.: Materials of the anniversary Goncharov conference of 1987 / edited by. ed. N. B. Sharygina. - Ulyanovsk: Simbirsk Book, 1992. - P. 5-6.
"4 Ibid. P.8.
2S Melnik V.I. Decree. op. P. 6.
happening in Russia. These problems are not presented in a “pure” form. The main character, Alexander Aduev, experiences their influence.
All this allows us to talk about a new genre formation, the features of which are determined by the system of coexistence of characters with different personalities.
Unlike the classic “novel of education”, where a wide range of minor characters are presented, “working” to reveal the character of the main character, in “Ordinary History” this series is limited to a few characters, and the role of mentor, educator-mentor, throughout the entire novel is performed only by one character is the hero's uncle.
Foreign pottery scholar A. Huwiler in his monograph “Three Novels of Goncharov - a trilogy?”26 defines “Ordinary History” as an “educational novel”, the prototype of which is “The Years of Wilhelm Meister’s Study” by I.-V. Goethe. Studying Goncharov's connections with German literature, she finds out what works could have influenced the work of the Russian writer in the period preceding the writing of his first novel. In particular, the researcher writes about the influence that Goethe had on the development of the literary process in Russia in the first decades of the 19th century, and what connections there are between the novels of German and Russian writers.
German philologist P. Tiergen points out the eclecticism of the genre of Goncharov’s first novel. He sees in it a synthesis of the “novel of education” and the “social” novel. The researcher pays attention not only to the description of the fate of the main character, but also to descriptions of life in St. Petersburg, reflecting the sociocultural conditions of life in Russian society27.
Tiergen belongs to that group of pottery scholars who do not recognize the genre of Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History” as a pure Bildungsroman genre. This is explained by the nature of the time when this work was written. Goncharov expanded the scope of the “novel of education,” imbuing the text of the work with social and moral problems and philosophical reflections.
Chapter three, “Traditions of the genre of “novel of education” in “Ordinary History” by I. A. Goncharov,” analyzes the typological features of the “novel of education” that can be found in “Ordinary History.”
It should be noted that the peculiarity of Goncharov’s first novel
26 Siehe hierzu: Huwyler-Van der Haegen, A. Goncarovs drei Romane - eine Trilogie? Vorträge und Abhandlungen zur Slavistik. - München: Verlag Otto Sagner, 1991. - Band 19. -100S.
27 See: Tirgen P. Oblomov as a fragment of a man (on the formulation of the problem “Goncharov and Schiller”) // Russian literature. - 1990. - No. 3. - P. 18-33.
is that the author adapted the classic genre example of the “novel of education” - VPs1igshch8gotap - to the conditions of Russian reality. The work was created at a time when European society was entering the bourgeois era. The classic “novel of education” showed the main character traits of a person in line with positivist ideals. The Russian novelist depicted, rather, the process of re-education, rather than a consistent line of development of the personality of the main character.
In paragraph one, “The Chronotope in the Novel,” the problem of confrontation between the province and the capital in “Ordinary History” is analyzed.
The “novel of education” is characterized by a stable chronotope, against the background of which the dynamic process of the hero’s upbringing and changes in his attitude to the world are more clearly visible. Goncharov’s urban topos is contrasted with the image of a rural area, an estate with a wide range of everyday, natural associations. St. Petersburg appears as a “stone” city of prudent businessmen. The first impression of St. Petersburg frightened Aduev Jr. with “monotonous stone masses”, “colossal tombs”, where even feelings are controlled “like a ferry”, “borders are assigned to everything.” The city of practical businessmen greets the provincial with turmoil, where “everyone is running somewhere, preoccupied only with themselves, barely glancing at those passing by, and then only in order not to bump into each other”2*. Alexander’s first impression was not erased even when he returned home from St. Petersburg with a heavy heart, having gone through many trials that befell him.
In contrast to the capital, the novel shows the image of a province, a peripheral area that shapes the character of the inhabitants of the Russian land. If you compare the description of nature in Rooks on the day of departure for St. Petersburg and on the day of Alexander’s return from the capital, you can see the unshakable equanimity of village life. But after some time, after restoring his spiritual strength within the walls of his native estate, Alexander realizes that he can no longer live in the silence of the village, where he sees constant stagnation in both feelings and life. Having become addicted to the bustle of metropolitan life, the hero’s soul again rushes into the “pool” of St. Petersburg. The boredom of the provincial outback, in the end, disgusts the main character, and he still finds his refuge in St. Petersburg. Goncharov’s artistic concretization of the feelings and moods of the novel’s characters is closely related to the theme of the city.
In paragraph two, “The stages of the plot of “An Ordinary Story”,” the stages of development of the personality of the main character of the novel are traced.
In the classic “novel of education”, the plot is built taking into account three main stages of the hero’s life: 1) stay in an “idyllic world”, 2) loss of illusions and 3) finding “truths”, finding harmony. By constructing the narrative in this way, the author shows the path of development of the protagonist’s character. The “idyllic world” for Alexander is the world of the Grachi estate, but at that
28 Goncharov I. A. An ordinary story // Goncharov I. A. Poli. collection op. in 20 volumes - St. Petersburg: Pauka, 1997. - T. 1. - P. 203.
The moment when Alexander decides to leave for St. Petersburg to serve for the good of his homeland, for him this ends his stay in the “idyllic world” and the testing stage begins, during which he loses his youthful illusions. Here the main character seems to take a step from one era to another, moving from a patriarchal province to a European capital. From this moment, Alexander’s “school” of life begins under the guidance of his uncle-mentor, who reluctantly assumes the responsibilities of tutoring his nephew.
The process of getting rid of romantic illusions turned out to be painful for the pride of the protagonist, who showed his inability to adapt to metropolitan life. Leaving the village of Grachi, Alexander chose too difficult a road to personal self-affirmation. The burden of metropolitan life turned out to be very significant, irrevocably changing the hero. A similar situation in which Alexander found himself was described by Goethe in his novel about Wilhelm Meister: “There is nothing worse than when external circumstances bring fundamental changes to a person’s position when he has not prepared for them with thoughts and feelings. Here, as it were, an era without an era arises; the discord becomes stronger, the less a person realizes that he has not grown up to the new
provisions".
After the protagonist’s attempt to regain spiritual harmony, to return to his former self in the lap of nature in his native estate, Alexander faces a new turn of fate, which will lead him to the “truth.”
The return of the main character to St. Petersburg this time was a deliberate choice. Now Alexander knew exactly what he wanted to get from life. It seems to the hero that he has found the harmony he was striving for. But in fact, he, like his uncle-mentor, never finds soulful harmony.
Alexander’s love is no exception, which is also divided into stages. At all stages of growing up, the hero finds his reflection in those people with whom fate confronts him. In his uncle, the reader can see a reflection of Alexander in the future, what he will become after going through his “school” of life. Meetings with women also contributed to the revelation of Alexander’s character; each of them contributed to the final image of Aduev Jr., revealing new internal facets in him.
Paragraph three, “Dialogism as a way of organizing narrative,” presents an analysis of the dialogic component of the novel “An Ordinary Story.”
VPs1igshch8gotan, as recognized by pottery scholars (E. Krasnoshchekova, P. Tiergen), absorbs elements of a philosophical novel, which is manifested in the text in the author’s reflections and in the dialogue form of the narrative. As in the classic “novel of formation”, in “Ordinary History” the writer devotes a lot of space to conversations and disputes between Aduev the elder and the younger, in which there is a clash not only of two different
29 Goethe I.-W. Collection op. in 10 volumes - M.: Fiction, 1979. - T. 6. -
views on reality, but also two life positions.
Through dialogues, the psychology of both Aduev Sr. and Aduev Jr. is revealed. At the very beginning of the novel, the reader sees a conflict between two worldviews. The nephew, due to his youthful maximalism, is still guided by his “heart” and does not at all accept his uncle’s concept of “peace.” For the uncle, everything about the nephew is “wild,” and, first of all, the elevated manner of speech is unacceptable. In the epilogue of the novel, the reader is convinced that the young hero has completed his uncle’s “universities”. Here the need for dialogic conflicts disappears, since Aduev the elder and Aduev the younger come to the same denominator: they go “on par with the century.”
As a result of the struggle between two types of life philosophy - sentimentalist and rationalist - sentimentalist philosophy gives way, revealing its inconsistency in the rapidly changing conditions of modern bourgeois society.
In paragraph four, “Monocentrism as a principle for constructing the imagery of the “novel of education”,” the system of images of the novel is considered.
The characters of the supporting characters, like the environment, are not subject to change. They are static and serve to more fully reveal the characteristics of the main character.
One of the leading characters in the second row is Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev, who for Aduev Jr. plays the role of a mentor, a leader on the path of life. The Novelist" depicts a true resident of the capital, in whose characterization the restraint and self-control of a business man prevails. The image of Aduev Sr. is preserved throughout the main part of the novel. Metamorphoses in the character and appearance of Pyotr Ivanovich occur only at the end of the novel, in the epilogue, when he loses his "stoniness" "of the capital city, as if he had merged into it many years ago. In his psychological portrait, the former firmness is no longer there, doubts and concerns appear.
Since “Ordinary History” is not a classic VP<1ип§кготап, а его модифицированная форма, то Гончаров делает исключение и придает характеру Петра Ивановича некую динамику.
Other characters that Aduev Jr. encounters also act as teachers. Unlike Pyotr Ivanovich, all the other characters (these are mostly female characters) do not receive any development, but participate in the narrative only to the extent that they can reveal another facet of the character of the main character. This fact is another confirmation that Goncharov did not create a classic “novel of education,” but a modified version of it, which synthesized elements of moral, philosophical, psychological, and social novels.
Female characters accompany Aduev Jr. throughout his novel life. The first in this row was, of course, the hero’s mother, Anna Pavlovna. She remains the constant guardian of the patriarchal spirit, an opponent of changes that lead into the unknown. But she can't
stop the onset of new life, stop the historical movement of the entire country.
In the capital, the role of mother passes to his uncle's wife, Lizaveta Aleksandrovna, from the moment she appears on the pages of the novel. The “heartfelt” component of Alexander’s soul, developed in his parents’ home, is supported with all his might by his aunt. She tries to preserve Alexander’s spiritual strength not only throughout all the vicissitudes of love, but also when her nephew’s hopes for recognition in the literary field are dashed.
Lizaveta Aleksandrovna softens the antagonism in the psychological types of Aduev Jr. and Sr., one of whom is “enthusiastic to the point of extravagance,” and the other “icy to the point of bitterness.” Like the image of Pyotr Ivanovich, the image of his wife remains constant, freely integrating into the spiral composition of the educational novel.
Paragraph five, “The concept of the hero in the first novel by I. A. Goncharov,” contains an analysis of the author’s solutions to the conflict of character of Alexander Aduev.
In the novel, Goncharov tries to embody his idea of an ideal person, drawing the types of heroes characteristic of his contemporary era. They are inseparable, like two sides of the same coin: Aduev Jr. personifies enthusiastic dreaminess, Aduev Sr. - calculating practicality.
In “An Ordinary Story” there are very few descriptions of the characters’ appearance. The reader can only see Alexander’s actions, changing his character, which is an integral feature of the “novel of education.” Goncharov is laconic in recreating the inner world of the individual.
There are no lengthy reflections in the novel, the dramatic experiences of the main character are not highlighted, but, nevertheless, there is a movement in Alexander’s soul that allows us to talk about the dynamics of his inner world. The last circumstance is especially important when analyzing the “novel of education” of the Goncharov type.
Against the background of static topoi and the immutability of the characters of the supporting characters, the formation of the main character takes place. It is the statics of the entire environment that makes it possible to highlight even the slightest changes in the character of the hero and in the image as a whole in more relief. Historical time has power only over the main character. “Time is brought inside a person, enters into his very image, significantly changing the meaning of all moments of his fate and life”30.
The narrative strategy adopted by Goncharov allows not only to depict events, but also to describe their impact on a person. The concept of the central character of “An Ordinary Story” is mediated by the hero’s past, which determined the complex, contradictory psychological structure of the individual. The autobiographical harmony of the narrative (describing the fate of the hero as a link connecting the past with the future) is destroyed. According to all the canons of the “novel of formation,” the story of Alexander’s upbringing should have been
10 Bakhtin M. M. Questions of literature and aesthetics. Research from different years. - M.: Fiction, 1975.-S. 126.
to reveal the movement of character through communication with a “teacher of life”, a person who has concentrated the experience of generations and is able to pass it on to his successor. But, as it turned out, Aduev Sr. and Jr. had opposite beliefs and ideas about the right path. In Aduev Sr., the “mind” predominated, while Alexander had a pronounced predominance of the “heart.” This expressed the first conflict of opposites in the minds of the mentor and mentee. Such ideological conflicts reflect the influence of the classical German Bildungsroman.
In the process of educating his main character, the novelist subjects him to the test of love, the test of art, and tests him with life in general in order to test the “strength” of the type he created. Thus, the “novel of testing” is organically woven into the novel structure. And since, according to Bakhtin, “the idea of formation and education and the idea of testing do not at all exclude each other,” but on the contrary, “they can enter into a deep and organic connection”31, then such a transition is quite logical. So, through the tests that metropolitan life throws at Alexander Aduev, the integrity and degree of his character at a certain stage is tested. Having gone through all the stages of personality formation, the main character becomes “thick-skinned” in pursuit of a century, eventually “growing into” life. Goncharov changes the functions of individual components of the work, solving new problems - to show the process of educating a person in accordance with the “prosaicness” (V. A. Nedzvetsky) of life and, at the same time, in the light of enduring folk moral ideals.
An analysis of the typological features of Goncharov’s novel “An Ordinary Story” allows us to draw the following conclusion. The work of the Russian writer cannot be called a “novel of education” in its pure form, since in addition to the typological features characteristic of the genre of the “novel of education”, it absorbs signs of autobiographical, social and philosophical novels, rejecting the normalizing pedagogical approach of the Western European novel. The writer managed to organically include all these elements into the plot, creating the first classic novel in Russia, which served as a launching pad for the subsequent depiction of a developing personality in the genre of the “novel of formation” on Russian soil. Goncharov rebuilds the traditional model of the educational novel, discovers new means and ways of depicting the dynamic development of character.
The Conclusion summarizes the results of the study and notes the multi-layered worldview of I. A. Goncharov. The ideas of European philosophers were intertwined in his mind with the ideas of Russian writers, with the cultural and historical traditions of the Russian ethnos. Throughout his life, Goncharov tried to reconcile and harmonize them, which manifested itself in the writer’s creative search. Of the entire system of moral problems, the novelist puts in first place the problem of educating a person’s personality, which became one of the cross-cutting themes in his entire work.
31 Bakhtin M. M. Decree. op. - P. 204.
Goncharov’s skill was manifested in the fact that he was able, using the “novel of education” genre that had developed in Europe, to breathe new life into it and give subsequent Russian writers an example of turning to the traditional novel form with the aim of modifying it. The genre of educational novel was developed in the works of such famous Russian writers as L. II. Tolstoy (trilogy “Childhood”, “Adolescence”, “Youth”), S. T. Aksakov (“Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson”), F. M. Dostoevsky (“Teenager”), in novels on the theme of educating a new person in XX century.
From the point of view of the dissertation author, consideration of “Ordinary History” as an educational novel requires closer attention to the means of psychological analysis used by Goncharov to reveal the processes of growth of human consciousness. This side of the novel's poetics has not been sufficiently studied. It cannot be called in the full sense of the word “a novel of education.” What distinguishes “An Ordinary Story” from the traditional “novel of formation” is that the hero, who received his first moral lessons in the village, undergoes re-education under the influence of the urban environment, but retains the moral qualities associated with folk morality. The novel combines the real world in which the writer’s characters live and the world of spiritual values that has developed under the influence of the Christian ideal. Goncharov modified the concept of the “novel of education”, introducing into it axiological principles characteristic of the national cultural tradition.
The main provisions of the dissertation are reflected in the following publications:
1. Pluzhpikova, K). A. Formation of the artistic concept of I. A. Goncharov in the context of the ideas of N. I. Nadezhdin / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // Bulletin of Tambov University. Ser.: Humanities. - Tambov, 2011. - Issue. 4 (96).-P. 188-190.
Other publications
2. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. Current problems of studying the creativity of I. A. Goncharov (based on foreign research) / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // Bulletin of Ulyanovsk State University. - Ulyanovsk, 2008. - No. 3. - P. 6-9.
3. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. The problem of determining the genre of I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History” in Western Slavic Studies / 10. A. Pluzhnikova // Literature and culture in the context of Christianity. Images, symbols, faces of Russia: materials of the V International Scientific Conference. -Ulyanovsk: Ulyanovsk State Technical University, 2008. - pp. 190-195.
4. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. “The ability to live” and “the abyss... of bad taste”:
culture of the capital and province in “Letters from a capital friend to a provincial groom” by I. L. Goncharova / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // Russia and the world: History, culture, regional studies: a collection of scientific works. - Ulyanovsk: UlSTU,
2008.-S. 196-199.
5. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. The genre of “novel of education” in Russia and Germany (based on the novels “Wilhelm Meister” by J.-W. Goethe and “Ordinary History” by I. A. Goncharov) // Literary studies at the present stage: Theory . History of literature. Creative individuals: materials of the International. Congress of Literary Critics. To the 125th anniversary of E.I. Zamyatin / Yu. A. Pluzhnikov; Tambov State University named after G. R. Derzhavin. - Tambov,
2009.-S. 188-190.
6. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. The motif of “homelessness” in I. A. Goncharov’s novel “Ordinary History” / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // The Image of Russia in Russian Literature from Metropolitan Hilarion’s “Sermon on Law and Grace” to “Pyramid” L. M. Leonova: movement towards a multipolar world: Proceedings of the VI International Scientific Conference. - Ulyanovsk: Ulyanovsk State Technical University, 2009. - P. 155-158.
7. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. The origins of I. A. Goncharov’s interest in the genre of “novel of education” / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // Artistic and philosophical models of the universe in the work of L.M. Leonov and in Russian literature of the 19th - early 21st centuries: materials of the VIII International Scientific Conference. -Ulyanovsk: Ulyanovsk State Technical University, 2011.-P. 253-259.
8. Pluzhnikova, Yu. A. I. A. Goncharov and Russian aesthetic thought of the first half of the 19th century / Yu. A. Pluzhnikova // Bulletin of the Ulyanovsk State University. - Ulyanovsk, 2011. - No. 4. - P. 20-23.
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This term was coined by Karl Morgenstern in 1819 in his university lectures to define an “emerging” adult. This expression was later “legitimized” by Wilhelm Dilthey in the 1870s. and popularized it in 1905.
The novel of education began its development from Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meister's years of study . Novels of this type focus on the psychological, ethical, ethical and social formation of the hero’s personality, and changing his character is also extremely important.
Although this type of novel originated in Germany, it has had a great influence on literature throughout the world. After the translation into English and publication of Goethe's novel in 1824, many authors began to write educational novels. In the 19th - 20th centuries. the novel became even more popular, spreading to Russia, Japan, France and other countries.
The genre comes from a folk tale in which a hero goes out into the world to find his happiness. As a rule, at the beginning the hero is emotional (for various reasons: losses, conflict between himself and society, etc.)). As the plot develops, the hero accepts the foundations of society, and society accepts him. The hero reaches maturity. In some works, after reaching maturity, the hero can help other people.
There are many subgenres of this type of novel (some of them are):
1. Adventure novel (Treasure Island, Two Captains, etc.);
2. Fiction novel (Portrait of the artist in his youth, The Gift, etc.) - the formation of an artist and the growth of his own personality;
3. Entwicklungsroman (“the development of a novel”) is a story of growth, not self-improvement;
4. Erziehungsroman ("novel of education") focuses on preparation and formal education;
5. Career novel - here opportunistic heroes appear before the reader, for example;
6. Boy's horror - a term coined by the Russian horror community to refer to educational novels in the horror genre. The main character can be either a boy or a girl. A special feature is that a significant part of the narrative is conveyed through the perception of a child/teenager hero or an adult hero remembering his childhood;
7. Coming-of-age story (coming of age story) - focused on the growth of the hero from youth to adulthood (“coming of age”).
In addition, some memoirs, for example, can also be considered as a novel of education.
Some of the main plots:
1. The hero faces serious trials (orphan or loss of parents, war, etc.);
2. The hero stops idealizing people. Becomes more cynical. It is possible that he becomes a villain;
3. Ritual of growing up (you need to kill someone, an enemy or an animal, perform a risky task);
4. First or teenage love;
5. Conflict with parents, possible leaving home.
This type of novel is reflected in cinema.
England in the 18th century became the birthplace of the Enlightenment novel.
The novel is a genre that arose during the transition from the Renaissance to the New Age; this young genre was ignored by classicist poetics because it had no precedent in ancient literature. The novel is aimed at an artistic exploration of modern reality, and English literature turned out to be particularly fertile ground for the qualitative leap in the development of the genre that the educational novel became.
Hero:
In educational literature, there is a significant democratization of the hero, which corresponds to the general direction of educational thought. The hero of a literary work in the 18th century ceases to be a “hero” in the sense of possessing exceptional properties and ceases to occupy the highest levels in the social hierarchy. He remains a “hero” only in another meaning of the word - the central character of the work. The reader can identify with such a hero and put himself in his place; this hero is in no way superior to an ordinary, average person. But at first, this recognizable hero, in order to attract the reader’s interest, had to act in an unfamiliar environment, in circumstances that awakened the reader’s imagination.
Therefore, with this “ordinary” hero in the literature of the 18th century, extraordinary adventures still occur, events that are out of the ordinary, because for the reader of the 18th century they justified the story about an ordinary person, they contained the entertainment of a literary work. The hero's adventures can unfold in different spaces, close or far from his home, in familiar social conditions or in a non-European society, or even outside society in general. But invariably, the literature of the 18th century sharpens and poses, shows in close-up the problems of state and social structure, the place of the individual in society and the influence of society on the individual.
In English literature, the Enlightenment goes through several stages:
In the 20-30s of the 18th century, prose dominated literature, and the novel of adventure and travel became popular.
At this time, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift created their famous works. Daniel Defoe devoted his whole life to trade and journalism, traveled a lot, knew the sea well, he published his first novel in 1719. It was the novel "Robinson Crusoe". The impetus for the creation of the novel was an article Defoe once read in a magazine about a Scottish sailor who was landed on a desert island and within four years became so wild that he lost his human skills. Defoe rethought this idea; his novel became a hymn to the work of a man from the bottom. Daniel Defoe became the creator of the genre of the novel of the New Time as an epic of the private life of an individual. Jonathan Swift was Defoe's contemporary and literary opponent. Swift wrote his novel Gulliver's Travels as a parody of Robinson Crusoe, fundamentally rejecting Defoe's social optimism.
In the 40-60s of the 18th century, the genre of social and everyday moralizing novel of education flourished in literature.
Literary figures of this period are Henry Fielding and Samuel Richardson. Fielding's most famous novel is The Story of Tom Jones, Foundling. It shows the development of a hero who makes a lot of mistakes in life, but still makes a choice in favor of good. Fielding conceived his novel as a polemic on Richardson's novel Clarissa, or the Story of a Young Lady, in which the main character Clarissa is seduced by Sir Robert Lovelace, whose surname later became a household name.
Image of a person: Enlighteners, in accordance with the requirements of the new century, replace the idea of man with a view of him as a natural and, above all, bodily being, and declare his feelings and mind to be products of bodily organization.
From this statement comes the idea of equality of people and the denial of class prejudices.
All desires and needs of a person are reasonable, as long as they are determined by his natural properties; like human life, the life of all natural beings, as well as the existence of inorganic objects, is justified by reference to natural laws, in other words, rational existence must correspond to the natural essence of the object or phenomenon.
The Enlighteners were primarily convinced that by rationally changing and improving social forms of life, it was possible to change every person for the better. On the other hand, a person with reason is capable of moral improvement, and the education and upbringing of each person will improve society as a whole. Thus, in the Enlightenment the idea of human education came to the fore. Belief in education was strengthened by the authority of the English thinker Locke: the philosopher argued that a person is born a “blank slate” on which any moral, social “writing” can be inscribed; it is only important to be guided by reason. “The Age of Reason” is a common name for the 18th century.
The man of the Enlightenment, no matter what he did in life, was also a philosopher in the broad sense of the word: he persistently and constantly strived for reflection, relying in his judgments not on authority or faith, but on his own critical judgment. No wonder the 18th century. It is also called the age of criticism. Critical sentiments strengthen the secular nature of literature, its interest in topical problems of modern society, and not in sublime, mystical, ideal issues.
The Enlightenmentists believed that public well-being was hampered by ignorance, prejudices and superstitions generated by feudal orders and the spiritual dictatorship of the church, and they proclaimed enlightenment as the most important means of eliminating the discrepancy between the existing social system and the requirements of reason and human nature. At the same time, they understood enlightenment not only as the dissemination of knowledge and education, but first of all, according to the fair remark of the Russian literary critic S.V. Turaev, as “civic education, propaganda of new ideas, destruction of the old worldview and creation of a new one.”
Reason was declared to be the highest criterion for assessing the surrounding world, the most powerful tool for its transformation. The Enlighteners believed that through their activities they were contributing to the death of an “unreasonable” society and the establishment of the kingdom of reason, but in the conditions of underdeveloped bourgeois relations of that time, the illusions of the Enlighteners were natural and, having become the basis of their optimistic faith in the progress of mankind, stimulated their critical assessment of the existing order.
