Sentimental novel is a genre of literature. Abstract: Sentimentalism as a literary movement

Back at the end of the 18th century, a new movement arose in Russian literature to replace the dominant trend of classicism, called sentimentalism, which came from the French word sens, meaning feeling. Sentimentalism as an artistic movement, generated by the process of struggle against absolutism, appeared in the second half of the 18th century in a number of Western European countries, primarily in England (the poetry of D. Thomson, the prose of L. Stern and Richardson), then in France (the work of J.-J. Rousseau) and Germany (early works of J.V. Goethe, F. Schiller). Sentimentalism, which arose on the basis of new socio-economic relations, was alien to the glorification of statehood and class limitations inherent in classicism.

In contrast to the latter, he brought to the fore issues of personal life, the cult of sincere pure feelings and nature. The sentimentalists contrasted the empty social life and the depraved morals of high society with the idyll of village life, selfless friendship, touching love at the family hearth, in the lap of nature. These feelings were reflected in numerous “Travels”, which came into fashion after Stern’s novel “Sentimental Journey”, which gave its name to this literary movement.

In Russia, one of the first works of this kind was the famous “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A. N. Radishchev (1790). Karamzin also paid tribute to this fashion, publishing “Letters of a Russian Traveler” in 1798, followed by “Travel to the Crimea and Bessarabia” by P. Sumarokov (1800), “Journey to Midday Russia” by V.V. Izmailov and “Another Journey to Little Russia” by Shalikov (1804). The popularity of this genre was explained by the fact that the author could freely express thoughts here that gave rise to new cities, meetings, and landscapes. These reflections were characterized for the most part by increased sensitivity and moralism. But, in addition to this “lyrical” orientation, sentimentalism also had a certain social order.

Having emerged in the era of Enlightenment, with its inherent interest in the personality and spiritual world of man, and an ordinary, “little” man, sentimentalism also adopted some features of the ideology of the “third estate,” especially since during this period representatives of this estate also appeared in Russian literature - common writers.

Thus, sentimentalism brings to Russian literature a new idea of honor, this is no longer the antiquity of the family, but the high moral dignity of a person. In one of the stories, the “villager” notes that only a person with a clear conscience can have a good name. “For a “little” person - both a hero and a commoner writer who came to literature, the problem of honor takes on special significance; It’s not easy for him to defend his dignity in a society where class prejudices are so strong.”

Characteristic of sentimentalism is also the affirmation of the spiritual equality of people, regardless of their position in society. N. S. Smirnov, a former runaway serf, then a soldier, the author of the sentimental story “Zara,” prefaced her with an epigraph from the Bible: “And I have a heart, just like you.”

Along with describing the “life of the heart,” sentimentalist writers paid great attention to issues of education. At the same time, the “teacher” educational function of literature was recognized as the most important.

Russian sentimentalism found its most complete expression in the works of Karamzin. His “Poor Liza,” “Notes of a Traveler,” “Julia” and a number of other stories are distinguished by all the features characteristic of this movement. Like the classic of French sentimentalism J.-J. Rousseau, in whose works Karamzin, by his own admission, was attracted by “sparks of passionate philanthropy” and “sweet sensitivity,” his works are filled with humane sentiments. Karamzin evoked the sympathy of readers for his characters, excitedly conveying their experiences.

Karamzin's heroes are moral people, gifted with great sensitivity, selfless, for whom affection is more important than worldly well-being. Thus, the heroine of Karamzin’s story “Natalya, the Boyar’s Daughter” accompanies her husband to the war so as not to be separated from her beloved. Love for her is higher than danger or even death. Alois from the story “Sierra Morena” takes his own life, unable to bear the betrayal of his bride. In the traditions of sentimentalism, the spiritual life of the characters in Karamzin’s literary works takes place against the backdrop of nature, the phenomena of which (thunderstorm, storm or gentle sun) accompany people’s experiences as an accompaniment.

Thus, the story about the sad fate of the heroine of “Poor Liza” begins with a description of a gloomy autumn landscape, the appearance of which seems to echo the subsequent dramatic love story of a peasant girl. The author, on whose behalf the story is told, walks through the ruins of the monastery “to grieve with nature on the dark days of autumn.” The winds howl terribly within the walls of the deserted monastery, between the coffins overgrown with tall grass and in the dark passages of the cells. “There, leaning on the ruins of tombstones, I listen to the dull groan of time.” Nature, or “nature,” as Karamzin more often called it, not only participates in people’s experiences, it nourishes their feelings. In the story “Sierra Morena,” the romantic landscape inspires the owner of the castle, Elvira: “Strong winds agitated and twisted the air, crimson lightning curled in the black sky, or the pale moon rose above the gray clouds - Elvira loved the horrors of nature: they exalted, delighted, nourished her soul "

However, it was not only the “history of feeling” that attracted contemporaries in Karamzin’s works. The reader found in them a poetic depiction of Russian life, Russian people, Russian nature, Russian history. As Al testified. Bestuzhev, Karamzin “wanted us to the legends of our antiquity.” Karamzin's historical stories were characterized by the same features of sentimental sensitivity that distinguished his other works; their historicism was instructive in nature: the author used a historical plot to prove some moral sentiment.

However, the bourgeois morality of sentimentalism, glorifying the spiritual values of man and quite applicable to fictitious circumstances, was difficult to combine with the serfdom of Russia.

An appeal to contemporary Russian life revealed the contradictory nature of the writer’s worldview. In one of his most popular stories, “Poor Liza,” Karamzin, revealing with great sympathy the “life of the heart” of the heroine, convinced readers that “even peasant women know how to feel.” This humane statement was a bold innovation for the time. Karamzin was the first Russian writer to introduce the image of a peasant girl into literature, endowing her with high virtues. The peasant woman Liza, in whom her chosen one Erast saw only a simple-minded “shepherdess,” commits an act that proved that, while defending her love, she did not want to put up with the prejudices of society. Erast obeys the laws of the “world” and leaves Lisa in order to save himself from gambling debts by marrying a rich bride.

However, sincerely mourning the death of Lisa, the author refused to explain the cause of the misfortune. The problem of social inequality, which essentially determined the tragedy of the young peasant woman’s love for her master, was avoided in the story. Moreover, even the image of the “insidious seducer” Erast is drawn by Karamzin without condemnation, even with sympathy - an enlightened, sensitive nobleman, he is both to blame and not to blame for what happened. It was not malice, but only the young man’s frivolity that was to blame for his actions. In addition, as reported in the conclusion, the news of Lisa’s death made him unhappy, “he could not be consoled and considered himself a murderer.”

So, contrary to his moralizing tendency, Karamzin passed over in silence the social conflict, which was the true cause of the tragedy. The attitude of sentimentalist writers to the social problems of contemporary Russia was quite ambiguous. If Radishchev’s writings contained a furious denunciation of serfdom and the political system under which these inhuman relations exist, then in the sentimental stories of writers of the early 19th century, in most cases there is not only a condemnation of serfdom, but there is their idealization, their depiction as “fatherly” care landowner about his peasants: “The good landowner sincerely rejoiced at their happiness and shared it with them in his sensitive heart.”

Karamzin did not share either one or the other position. Karamzin’s attitude to serfdom, as well as his historical views, represented a rather complex combination of a monarchical worldview with the influence of idealistic philosophy of the 18th century, especially the teachings of J.-J. Rousseau. Convinced that the basis of world progress is the spiritual perfection of people, Karamzin, a historian and thinker, naturally opposed gross violence against the individual, “tyranny” even on the royal throne. Thus, he praised Catherine II for “purifying the autocracy from the impurities of tyranny.” From the same position, he welcomed the policies of Alexander I. Of course, as a humanist and supporter of education, he could not approve of the cruelty of serfdom.

The author of one of the monographs on Karamzin, N. Ya. Eidelman, cites a characteristic episode that illuminates the historian’s attitude to serfdom: “Pushkin recalled a conversation in which he, challenging Karamzin, said: “So, you prefer slavery to freedom?” Karamzin flared up and called him a slanderer.” However, the condemnation of “tyranny” did not exclude the apologetics of autocracy, the belief that Russia is held by it, and, consequently, the categorical denial of the violent breakdown of the existing order. While affirming autocracy, Karamzin, as a historian, could not help but see the connection between the institution of the feudal monarchy and serfdom. Hence the duality of his attitude to this issue, which was also expressed in literary works.

Karamzin’s “Poor Liza” evoked numerous imitations. Many authors varied the plot of “Poor Lisa”, however, abandoning the overly tragic ending. Following Karamzin’s story, “Beautiful Tatyana, Living at the Foot of the Sparrow Mountains” by V.V. Izmailov, “Dasha - a Country Girl” by P.Yu. Lvov and others appeared. It is noteworthy that the love of a master and a peasant woman was not at all condemned in them; on the contrary: “the inequality of fortune, intensifying their passion, exalts their virtues,” notes the author of one of these stories.

The authors of sentimental stories sought to contrast relationships based on calculation with other, unselfish feelings. Lvov’s story emphasizes the love of the heroine, devoid of any selfish motives, who admits: “He just gave me so many things - silver, gold, beads, and ribbons; but I didn’t take anything, I only needed his love.”

Thus, Russian sentimentalism introduced into literature - and through it into life - new moral and aesthetic concepts, which were warmly received by many readers, but, unfortunately, were at odds with life. Readers brought up on the ideals of sentimentalism, which proclaimed human feelings as the highest value, bitterly discovered that the measure of attitude towards people still remained nobility, wealth, and position in society.

However, the beginnings of this new ethics, expressed at the beginning of the century in such seemingly naive works of sentimentalist writers, will eventually develop in the public consciousness and will contribute to its democratization. In addition, sentimentalism enriched Russian literature with linguistic transformations. The role of Karamzin was especially significant in this regard. However, the principles he proposed for the formation of the Russian literary language aroused fierce criticism from conservative writers and served as the reason for the emergence of the so-called “disputes about language” that captured Russian writers at the beginning of the 19th century.

Plan:

The history of sentimentalism.

Features and genres of sentimentalism.

Bibliography.

Introduction
The literary movement “sentimentalism” got its name from the French word sentiment, that is, feeling, sensitivity). This trend was very popular in literature and art of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. A distinctive feature of sentimentalism was attention to the inner world of a person, to his emotional state. From the point of view of sentimentalism, it was human feelings that were the main value.
Sentimental novels and stories, so popular in the 18th-19th centuries, are today perceived by readers as naive fairy tales, where there is much more fiction than truth. However, works written in the spirit of sentimentalism had a huge influence on the development of Russian literature. They made it possible to capture on paper all the shades of the human soul.

Sentimentalism (French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) is a state of mind in Western European and Russian culture and a corresponding literary movement. In Europe it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of “human nature,” which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, however, the condition for its implementation was not the “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of educational literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize and sensitively respond to what is happening around him. By origin (or by conviction) the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common people is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.

Born on British shores in the 1710s, sentimentalism became floor. 18th century a pan-European phenomenon. Most clearly manifested inEnglish , French , German And Russian literature .

Representatives of sentimentalism in Russia:

Young V.A. Zhukovsky was a sentimentalist for a short time.

The history of sentimentalism.

At the beginning of the 19th century. Sentimentalism (from the French sentimentalisme, from the English sentimental - sensitive) gains the greatest influence. Its emergence is associated with the spiritual growth of the individual, with his awareness of his own dignity and the desire for spiritual emancipation. Sentimentalism was a response to the public need for the democratization of literature. While the leading heroes of classicism were kings, nobles, leaders, interpreted in their abstract, universal, generic essence, sentimentalists brought to the fore the image of an individual, private, ordinary, predominantly “average” personality in its inner essence, in its everyday life. They contrasted the rationality of classicism with the cult of feeling, touching, “religion of the heart” (Rousseau).
The ideology of sentimentalism was close to the Enlightenment. Most educators believed that the world could be made perfect if people were taught certain reasonable forms of behavior. Writers of sentimentalism set the same goal and adhered to the same logic. Only they argued that it was not reason, but sensitivity that should save the world. They reasoned something like this: by cultivating sensitivity in all people, evil can be defeated. In the 18th century, the word sentimentalism meant receptivity, the ability to respond with the soul to everything that surrounds a person. Sentimentalism is a literary movement that reflects the world from the position of feeling, not reason.
Sentimentalism arose in Western Europe in the late 20s of the 18th century and took shape in two main directions: progressive-bourgeois and reactionary-noble. The most famous Western European sentimentalists are E. Jung, L. Stern, T. Gray, J. Thomson, J.J. Rousseau, Jean Paul (I. Richter).
By some ideological and aesthetic features (focus on the individual, the power of feelings, the affirmation of the advantages of nature over civilization), sentimentalism anticipated the advent of romanticism, which is why sentimentalism is often called pre-romanticism (French: preromantisme). In Western European literature, pre-romanticism includes works that are characterized by the following features:
- searching for an ideal way of life outside a civilized society;
- the desire for naturalness in human behavior;
- interest in folklore as a form of the most direct manifestation of feelings;
- attraction to the mysterious and terrible;
- idealization of the Middle Ages.
But attempts by researchers to find in Russian literature the phenomenon of pre-romanticism as a direction different from sentimentalism did not lead to positive results. It seems that we can talk about pre-romanticism, bearing in mind the emergence of romantic tendencies, which manifested themselves primarily in sentimentalism. In Russia, tendencies of sentimentalism clearly emerged in the 60s of the 18th century. in the works of F.A. Emmina, V.I. Lukin and other similar writers.
In Russian literature, sentimentalism manifested itself in two directions: reactionary (Shalikov) and liberal ( Karamzin, Zhukovsky ). Idealizing reality, reconciling, obscuring the contradictions between the nobility and the peasantry, the reactionary sentimentalists painted an idyllic utopia in their works: autocracy and social hierarchy are sacred; serfdom was established by God himself for the sake of the happiness of the peasants; serf peasants live better than free ones; It is not serfdom itself that is vicious, but its abuse. Defending these ideas, Prince P.I. Shalikov in “Travel to Little Russia” depicted the life of peasants full of contentment, fun, and joy. In the play by playwright N.I. Ilyin’s “Liza, or the Triumph of Gratitude” the main character, a peasant woman, praising her life, says: “We live as cheerfully as the red sun.” The peasant Arkhip, the hero of the play “Generosity, or Recruitment” by the same author, assures: “Yes, such good kings as there are in Holy Rus', go all over the world, you won’t find others.”
The idyllic nature of creativity was especially manifested in the cult of the beautifully sensitive personality with its desire for ideal friendship and love, admiration for the harmony of nature and a cutesy mannered way of expressing one’s thoughts and feelings. Thus, playwright V.M. Fedorov, “correcting” the plot of the story “Poor Liza” Ka Ramzina , forced Erast to repent, abandon his rich bride and return to Lisa, who remains alive. To top it all off, the tradesman Matvey, Lisa’s father, turns out to be the son of a wealthy nobleman (“Liza, or the Consequence of Pride and Seduction,” 1803).
However, in the development of domestic sentimentalism, the leading role belonged not to reactionary, but to progressive, liberal-minded writers: A.M. Kutuzov, M.N. Muravyov, N.M. Karamzin, V.A. Zhukovsky. Belinsky rightly called a “remarkable person”, “collaborator and assistant Karamzin in the matter of transforming the Russian language and Russian literature" I.I. Dmitriev - poet, fabulist, translator.
I.I. Dmitriev had an undeniable influence on poetry with his poems V.A. Zhukovsky , K.N. Batyushkova and P.A. Vyazemsky. One of his best works, which became widespread, is the song “The Gray Dove Moans” (1792). Following an idea N.M. Karamzin and I.I. Dmitrieva , the lyrics were also performed by Yu.A. Nelidinsky-Melitsky, creator of the song “I’ll go out onto the river”, and poet I.M. Dolgoruky.
Liberal-minded sentimentalists saw their calling in, as far as possible, comforting people in suffering, troubles, sorrows, and turning them to virtue, harmony and beauty. Perceiving human life as perverse and fleeting, they glorified eternal values - nature, friendship and love. They enriched literature with such genres as elegy, correspondence, diary, travel, essay, story, novel, drama. Overcoming the normative and dogmatic requirements of classicist poetics, sentimentalists largely contributed to the rapprochement of the literary language with the spoken language. According to K.N. Batyushkova, the model for them is the one “who writes the way he speaks, whom the ladies read!” Individualizing the language of the characters, they used elements of popular vernacular for peasants, official jargon for clerks, Gallicisms for the secular nobility, etc. But this differentiation was not carried out consistently. Positive characters, even serfs, spoke, as a rule, in literary language.
While affirming their creative principles, the sentimentalists did not limit themselves to creating works of art. They published literary critical articles in which, while proclaiming their own literary and aesthetic positions, they overthrew their predecessors. The constant target of their satirical arrows was the work of classicists - S.A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, S.S. Bobrova, D.I. Khvostova, A.S. Shishkova and A.A. Shakhovsky.

Sentimentalism in England. Sentimentalism first made itself known in lyric poetry. Poet trans. floor. 18th century James Thomson abandoned the urban motifs traditional for rationalist poetry and made English nature the object of his depiction. Nevertheless, he does not completely depart from the classicist tradition: he uses the genre of elegy, legitimized by the classicist theorist Nicolas Boileau in his Poetic Art (1674), however, he replaces rhymed couplets with blank verse, characteristic of the Shakespearean era.
The development of the lyrics follows the path of strengthening the pessimistic motives already heard in D. Thomson. The theme of the illusory and futility of earthly existence triumphs in Edward Jung, the founder of “cemetery poetry.” The poetry of E. Young's followers - the Scottish pastor Robert Blair (1699–1746), the author of the gloomy didactic poem The Grave (1743), and Thomas Gray, the creator of Elegy Written in a Country Cemetery (1749) - is permeated with the idea of the equality of all before death.
Sentimentalism expressed itself most fully in the genre of the novel. Its founder was Samuel Richardson, who, breaking with the picaresque and adventure tradition, turned to depicting the world of human feelings, which required the creation of a new form - the novel in letters. In the 1750s, sentimentalism became the main focus of English educational literature. The work of Lawrence Sterne, whom many researchers consider the “father of sentimentalism,” marks the final departure from classicism. (The satirical novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760–1767) and the novel A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick (1768), from which the name of the artistic movement came).
Critical English sentimentalism reaches its peak in the work of Oliver Goldsmith.
The 1770s saw the decline of English sentimentalism. The genre of sentimental novel ceases to exist. In poetry, the sentimentalist school gives way to the pre-romantic school (D. Macpherson, T. Chatterton).
Sentimentalism in France. In French literature, sentimentalism expressed itself in classical form. Pierre Carlet de Chamblen de Marivaux stands at the origins of sentimental prose. (Life of Marianne, 1728–1741; and the Peasant, who came out into the public, 1735–1736).
Antoine-François Prevost d'Exile, or Abbe Prevost, opened a new area of feelings for the novel - an irresistible passion that leads the hero to a life catastrophe.
The culmination of the sentimental novel was the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778).
The concept of nature and “natural” man determined the content of his artistic works (for example, the epistolary novel Julie, or New Heloise, 1761).
J.-J. Rousseau made nature an independent (intrinsically valuable) object of image. His Confession (1766–1770) is considered one of the most frank autobiographies in world literature, where he brings to the absolute the subjectivist attitude of sentimentalism (a work of art as a way of expressing the author’s “I”).
Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737–1814), like his teacher J.-J. Rousseau, considered the main task of the artist to affirm the truth - happiness lies in living in harmony with nature and virtuously. He sets out his concept of nature in the treatise Etudes on Nature (1784–1787). This theme receives artistic embodiment in the novel Paul and Virginie (1787). Depicting distant seas and tropical countries, B. de Saint-Pierre introduces a new category - “exotic”, which will be in demand by romantics, primarily Francois-René de Chateaubriand.
Jacques-Sébastien Mercier (1740–1814), following the Rousseauian tradition, makes the central conflict of the novel The Savage (1767) the collision of the ideal (primitive) form of existence (the “golden age”) with the civilization that is corrupting it. In the utopian novel 2440, a dream of which there are few (1770), taking as a basis the Social Contract of J.-J. Rousseau, he constructs an image of an egalitarian rural community in which people live in harmony with nature. S. Mercier also presents his critical view of the “fruits of civilization” in journalistic form - in the essay Picture of Paris (1781).
The work of Nicolas Retief de La Bretonne (1734–1806), a self-taught writer, author of two hundred volumes of works, is marked by the influence of J.-J. Rousseau. The novel The Corrupt Peasant, or The Dangers of the City (1775) tells the story of the transformation, under the influence of the urban environment, of a morally pure young man into a criminal. The utopian novel Southern Discovery (1781) treats the same theme as 2440 by S. Mercier. In New Emile, or Practical Education (1776), Retief de La Bretonne develops the pedagogical ideas of J.-J. Rousseau, applying them to women's education, and polemicizes with him. The confession of J.-J. Rousseau becomes the reason for the creation of his autobiographical work Monsieur Nicola, or The Human Heart Unveiled (1794–1797), where he turns the narrative into a kind of “physiological sketch.”
In the 1790s, during the era of the Great French Revolution, sentimentalism lost its position, giving way to revolutionary classicism.
Sentimentalism in Germany. In Germany, sentimentalism was born as a national-cultural reaction to French classicism; the work of English and French sentimentalists played a certain role in its formation. Significant merit in the formation of a new view of literature belongs to G.E. Lessing.
The origins of German sentimentalism lie in the polemics of the early 1740s between Zurich professors I. J. Bodmer (1698–1783) and I. J. Breitinger (1701–1776) with the prominent apologist of classicism in Germany I. K. Gottsched (1700–1766); The “Swiss” defended the poet’s right to poetic imagination. The first major exponent of the new direction was Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, who found common ground between sentimentalism and the German medieval tradition.
The heyday of sentimentalism in Germany occurred in the 1770s and 1780s and is associated with the Sturm und Drang movement, named after the drama of the same name Sturm und Drang F. M. Klinger (1752–1831). Its participants set themselves the task of creating an original national German literature; from J.-J. Rousseau, they adopted a critical attitude towards civilization and the cult of the natural. The theorist of Sturm und Drang, philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, criticized the “boastful and sterile education” of the Enlightenment, attacked the mechanical use of classicist rules, arguing that true poetry is the language of feelings, first strong impressions, fantasy and passion, such a language is universal. “Stormy geniuses” denounced tyranny, protested against the hierarchy of modern society and its morality (Tomb of the Kings by K.F. Schubart, Towards Freedom by F.L. Stolberg, etc.); their main character was a freedom-loving strong personality - Prometheus or Faust - driven by passions and not knowing any barriers.
In his youth, Johann Wolfgang Goethe belonged to the Sturm und Drang movement. His novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774) became a landmark work of German sentimentalism, defining the end of the “provincial stage” of German literature and its entry into pan-European literature.
The dramas of Johann Friedrich Schiller are marked by the spirit of Sturm und Drang.
Sentimentalism in Russia. Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s and early 1790s thanks to translations of the novels of Werther by J.W. Goethe, Pamela, Clarissa and Grandison by S. Richardson, Nouvelle Héloïse by J.-J. Rousseau, Paul and Virginie J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).
His novel Poor Liza (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited a general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin gave rise to a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared Poor Masha by A.E. Izmailova (1801), Journey to Midday Russia (1802), Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over the Weakness or Delusion of I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G. P. Kamenev (The Story of Poor Marya; Unhappy Margarita ; Beautiful Tatiana), etc.
Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to Karamzin’s group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic pompous style and outdated genres.
Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of a translation of Elegy, written in a rural cemetery by E. Gray, became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, because he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, he translated the genre of elegy, and not the individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E.G. Etkind). In 1809, Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story Maryina Roshcha in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.
Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.
It was one of the stages of pan-European literary development, which completed the Age of Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.
Evgenia Krivushina
Sentimentalism in the theater(French sentiment - feeling) - a direction in European theatrical art of the second half of the 18th century.
The development of sentimentalism in the theater is associated with the crisis of the aesthetics of classicism, which proclaimed a strict rationalistic canon of drama and its stage embodiment. The speculative constructions of classicist drama are being replaced by the desire to bring theater closer to reality. This is reflected in almost all components of theatrical performance: in the themes of plays (reflection of private life, development of family and psychological plots); in language (classicist pathetic poetic speech is replaced by prose, close to conversational intonation); in the social affiliation of the characters (the heroes of theatrical works are representatives of the third estate); in determining the locations of action (palace interiors are replaced by “natural” and rural views).
“Tearful comedy” - an early genre of sentimentalism - appeared in England in the works of playwrights Colley Cibber (Love's Last Trick, 1696; The Carefree Spouse, 1704, etc.), Joseph Addison (The Godless Man, 1714; The Drummer, 1715), Richard Steele (Funeral, or Fashionable Sorrow, 1701; Liar Lover, 1703; Conscientious Lovers, 1722, etc.). These were moralizing works, where the comic element was consistently replaced by sentimental and pathetic scenes, moral and didactic maxims. The moral charge of the “tearful comedy” is based not on the ridicule of vices, but on the chanting of virtue, which awakens to the correction of shortcomings - both individual heroes and society as a whole.
The same moral and aesthetic principles formed the basis of the French “tearful comedy.” Its most prominent representatives were Philippe Detouches (Married Philosopher, 1727; Proud man, 1732; Waster, 1736) and Pierre Nivelle de Lachausse (Melanide, 1741; School of Mothers, 1744; The Governess, 1747, etc.). Some criticism of social vices was presented by playwrights as temporary delusions of the characters, which they successfully overcome by the end of the play. Sentimentalism was also reflected in the work of one of the most famous French playwrights of that time - Pierre Carle Marivaux (The Game of Love and Chance, 1730; The Triumph of Love, 1732; Inheritance, 1736; Sincere, 1739, etc.). Marivaux, while remaining a faithful follower of salon comedy, at the same time constantly introduces into it features of sensitive sentimentality and moral didactics.
In the second half of the 18th century. “tearful comedy,” while remaining within the framework of sentimentalism, is gradually being replaced by the genre of bourgeois drama. Here the elements of comedy completely disappear; The plots are based on tragic situations in the everyday life of the third estate. However, the problematic remains the same as in the “tearful comedy”: the triumph of virtue, overcoming all trials and tribulations. In this single direction, bourgeois drama is developing in all European countries: England (J. Lillo, The London Merchant, or the History of George Barnwell; E. Moore, The Gambler); France (D. Diderot, The Side Son, or The Test of Virtue; M. Seden, The Philosopher Without Knowing It); Germany (G.E. Lessing, Miss Sarah Sampson, Emilia Galotti). From the theoretical developments and dramaturgy of Lessing, which received the definition of “philistine tragedy,” the aesthetic movement of “Storm and Drang” arose (F. M. Klinger, J. Lenz, L. Wagner, I. V. Goethe, etc.), which reached its peak development in the works of Friedrich Schiller (Robbers, 1780; Cunning and Love, 1784).
Theatrical sentimentalism became widespread in Russia. First appearing in the work of Mikhail Kheraskov (Friend of the Unfortunate, 1774; Persecuted, 1775), the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism were continued by Mikhail Verevkin (So It Should Be, Birthday Boys, Exactly), Vladimir Lukin (Mot, Corrected by Love), Pyotr Plavilshchikov (Bobyl, Sidelets, etc.).
Sentimentalism gave a new impetus to the art of acting, the development of which, in a certain sense, was inhibited by classicism. The aesthetics of the classicist performance of roles required strict adherence to the conventional canon of the entire set of means of acting expression; the improvement of acting skills proceeded rather along a purely formal line. Sentimentalism gave actors the opportunity to turn to the inner world of their characters, to the dynamics of image development, the search for psychological persuasiveness and versatility of characters.
By the middle of the 19th century. the popularity of sentimentalism faded away, the genre of bourgeois drama practically ceased to exist. However, the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism formed the basis for the formation of one of the youngest theatrical genres - melodrama.

Features and genres of sentimentalism.

So, taking into account all of the above, we can identify several main features of Russian literature of sentimentalism: a departure from the straightforwardness of classicism, an emphasized subjectivity of the approach to the world, a cult of feelings, a cult of nature, a cult of innate moral purity, innocence, the rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes is affirmed.

Main features of sentimentalism:

Didacticism. Representatives of sentimentalism are characterized by an orientation towards improving the world and solving the problems of educating a person, however, unlike the classicists, sentimentalists turned not so much to the reader’s mind as to his feelings, evoking sympathy or hatred, delight or indignation in relation to the events described.
The cult of “natural” feelings. One of the main ones in symbolism is the category of “natural”. This concept unites the external world of nature with the internal world of the human soul; both worlds are thought of as consonant with each other. The cult of feeling (or heart) became the measure of good and evil in the works of sentimentalism. At the same time, the coincidence of the natural and moral principles was established as a norm, for virtue was thought of as an innate property of man.
At the same time, sentimentalists did not artificially separate the concepts of “philosopher” and “sensitive person,” since sensitivity and rationality do not exist without each other (it is no coincidence that Karamzin characterizes Erast, the hero of the story “Poor Liza,” as a person with “a fair mind, kind heart"). The ability for critical judgment and the ability to feel help to comprehend life, but feeling deceives a person less often.
Recognition of virtue as a natural property of man. Sentimentalists proceeded from the fact that the world is organized according to moral laws, therefore they portrayed man not so much as a bearer of a rational volitional principle, but as the focus of the best natural qualities inherent in his heart from birth. Sentimentalist writers are characterized by special ideas about how a person can achieve happiness, the path to which can only be indicated by a feeling based on morality. It is not the awareness of duty, but the dictates of the heart that prompts a person to act morally. Human nature has a natural need for virtuous behavior, which gives happiness.
etc.................

At the beginning of the 18th century, a completely new literary movement emerged in Europe, which, first of all, focuses on human feelings and emotions. Only at the end of the century does it reach Russia, but, unfortunately, it finds a response here among a small number of writers... All this is about the sentimentalism of the 18th century, and if you are interested in this topic, then continue reading.

Let's start with the definition of this literary trend, which determined new principles for illuminating the image and character of a person. What is “sentimentalism” in literature and art? The term comes from the French word “sentiment”, which means “feeling”. It means a direction in culture where artists of words, notes and brushes emphasize the emotions and feelings of the characters. Time frame of the period: for Europe - 20s of the XVIII - 80s of the XVIII; For Russia, this is the end of the 18th century - the beginning of the 19th century.

Sentimentalism specifically in literature is characterized by the following definition: it is a literary movement that came after classicism, in which the cult of the soul predominates.

The history of sentimentalism began in England. It was there that the first poems of James Thomson (1700 - 1748) were written. His works “Winter”, “Spring”, “Summer” and “Autumn”, which were later combined into one collection, described simple rural life. Quiet, peaceful everyday life, incredible landscapes and fascinating moments from the life of peasants - all this is revealed to readers. The author’s main idea is to show how good life is away from all the bustle and confusion of the city.

After some time, another English poet, Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771), also tried to interest the reader in landscape poems. In order not to be like Thomson, he added poor, sad and melancholy characters with whom people should empathize.

But not all poets and writers loved nature so much. Samuel Richardson (1689 - 1761) was the first representative of symbolism who described only the life and feelings of his heroes. No landscapes!

Lawrence Sterne (1713 - 1768) combined two favorite themes for England - love and nature - in his work “A Sentimental Journey”.

Then sentimentalism “migrated” to France. The main representatives were Abbot Prevost (1697 - 1763) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778). The intense intrigue of love affairs in the works “Manon Lescaut” and “Julia, or the New Heloise” made all French women read these touching and sensual novels.

This marks the end of the period of sentimentalism in Europe. Then it begins in Russia, but we will talk about this later.

Differences from classicism and romanticism

The object of our research is sometimes confused with other literary movements, between which it has become a kind of transitional link. So what are the differences?

Differences between sentimentalism and romanticism:

Firstly, at the head of sentimentalism are feelings, and at the head of romanticism is the human personality straightened to its full height;
Secondly, the sentimental hero is opposed to the city and the harmful influence of civilization, and the romantic hero is opposed to society;
And thirdly, the hero of sentimentalism is kind and simple, love plays the main role in his life, and the hero of romanticism is melancholic and gloomy, his love often does not save, on the contrary, it plunges into irrevocable despair.

Differences between sentimentalism and classicism:

Classicism is characterized by the presence of “speaking names”, the relationship of time and place, the rejection of the unreasonable, and the division into “positive” and “negative” heroes. While sentimentalism “glorifies” the love of nature, naturalness, and trust in man. The characters are not so clear-cut; their images are interpreted in two ways. Strict canons disappear (there is no unity of place and time, there is no choice in favor of duty or punishment for the wrong choice). The sentimental hero looks for the good in everyone, and he is not chained into a template in the form of a label instead of a name;
Classicism is also characterized by its straightforwardness and ideological orientation: in the choice between duty and feeling, it is appropriate to choose the first. In sentimentalism it’s the other way around: only simple and sincere emotions are the criterion for assessing a person’s inner world.
If in classicism the main characters were noble or even had divine origin, but in sentimentalism representatives of the poor classes come to the fore: burghers, peasants, honest workers.

Main features

The main features of sentimentalism are generally considered to include:

The main thing is spirituality, kindness and sincerity;
Much attention is paid to nature, it changes in unison with the character’s state of mind;
Interest in the inner world of a person, in his feelings;
Lack of straightforwardness and clear direction;
Subjective view of the world;
The lower stratum of the population = rich inner world;
Idealization of the village, criticism of civilization and the city;
The tragic love story is the author's focus;
The style of the works is clearly replete with emotional remarks, complaints and even speculations on the reader’s sensitivity.

Genres representing this literary movement:

Elegy- a genre of poetry characterized by the sad mood of the author and a sad theme;
Novel- a detailed narrative about an event or the life of a hero;
Epistolary genre- works in the form of letters;
Memoirs- a work where the author talks about events in which he personally participated, or about his life in general;
Diary– personal notes with impressions of what is happening for a specific period of time;
Trips- a travel diary with personal impressions of new places and acquaintances.

It is customary to distinguish two opposing directions within the framework of sentimentalism:

Noble sentimentalism first considers the moral side of life, and then the social one. Spiritual qualities come first;
Revolutionary sentimentalism mainly focused on the idea of social equality. As a hero, we see a tradesman or peasant who suffered from a soulless and cynical representative of the upper class.

Features of sentimentalism in literature:

Detailed description of nature;
The beginnings of psychologism;
The author's emotionally rich style
The topic of social inequality is gaining popularity
The topic of death is discussed in detail.

Signs of sentimentalism:

The story is about the soul and feelings of the hero;
The dominance of the inner world, “human nature” over the conventions of a hypocritical society;
The tragedy of strong but unrequited love;
Refusal of a rational view of the world.

Of course, the main theme of all works is love. But, for example, in the work of Alexander Radishchev “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” (1790), the key theme is the people and their life. In Schiller's drama "Cunning and Love" the author speaks out against the arbitrariness of the authorities and class prejudices. That is, the topic of the direction can be the most serious.

Unlike representatives of other literary movements, sentimentalist writers became involved in the lives of their heroes. They rejected the principle of “objective” discourse.

The essence of sentimentalism is to show the ordinary everyday life of people and their sincere feelings. All this happens against the backdrop of nature, which complements the picture of events. The main task of the author is to make readers feel all the emotions along with the characters and empathize with them.

Features of sentimentalism in painting

We have already discussed the characteristic features of this trend in the literature earlier. Now it's the turn of painting.

Sentimentalism in painting is most clearly represented in our country. First of all, he is associated with one of the most famous artists, Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757 - 1825). Portraits predominate in his work. When depicting a female image, the artist tried to show her natural beauty and rich inner world. The most famous works are: “Lizonka and Dashenka”, “Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina" and "Portrait of E.N. Arsenyeva." It is also worth noting Nikolai Ivanovich Argunov, who was known for his portraits of the Sheremetyev couple. In addition to paintings, Russian sentimentalists also distinguished themselves in the technique of John Flaxman, namely his painting on dishes. The most famous is the “Service with a Green Frog”, which can be seen in the St. Petersburg Hermitage.

Of the foreign artists, only three are known - Richard Brompton (3 years worked in St. Petersburg, significant work - “Portraits of Prince Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich” and “Portrait of Prince George of Wales”), Etienne Maurice Falconet (specialized in landscapes) and Anthony Van Dyck (specialized in costume portraits).

Representatives

James Thomson (1700 - 1748) - Scottish playwright and poet;
Edward Young (1683 - 1765) - English poet, founder of “cemetery poetry”;
Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771) - English poet, literary critic;
Lawrence Sterne (1713 - 1768) - English writer;
Samuel Richardson (1689 - 1761) - English writer and poet;
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) - French poet, writer, composer;
Abbe Prevost (1697 - 1763) - French poet.

Examples of works

James Thomson's collection of The Seasons (1730);
"The Country Cemetery" (1751) and the ode "To Spring" by Thomas Gray;
"Pamela" (1740), "Clarissa Harleau" (1748) and "Sir Charles Grandinson" (1754) by Samuel Richardson;
"Tristram Shandy" (1757 - 1768) and "A Sentimental Journey" (1768) by Laurence Sterne;
"Manon Lescaut" (1731), "Cleveland" and "Life of Marianne" by Abbé Prévost;
"Julia, or the New Heloise" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1761).

Russian sentimentalism

Sentimentalism appeared in Russia around 1780 - 1790. This phenomenon gained popularity thanks to the translation of various Western works, including “The Sorrows of Young Werther” by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the parable story “Paul and Virginie” by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, “Julia, or the New Heloise” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the novels of Samuel Richardson.

“Letters of a Russian Traveler” - it was with this work by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766 - 1826) that the period of sentimentalism in Russian literature began. But then a story was written that became the most significant in the entire history of this movement. We are talking about “” (1792) by Karamzin. In this work you can feel all the emotions, the innermost movements of the souls of the characters. The reader empathizes with them throughout the book. The success of “Poor Lisa” inspired Russian writers to create similar works, but less successful (for example, “Unhappy Margarita” and “The History of Poor Marya” by Gavriil Petrovich Kamenev (1773 - 1803)).

We can also include the earlier work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783 - 1852), namely his ballad “”, as sentimentalism. Later he wrote the story “Maryina Roshcha” in the style of Karamzin.

Alexander Radishchev is the most controversial sentimentalist. There is still debate about his belonging to this movement. The genre and style of the work “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” speak in favor of his involvement in the movement. The author often used exclamations and tearful lyrical digressions. For example, the exclamation was heard as a refrain from the pages: “Oh, cruel landowner!”

The year 1820 is called the end of sentimentalism in our country and the birth of a new direction - romanticism.

One of the unique features of Russian sentimentalism is that each work tried to teach the reader something. It served as a mentor. Within the framework of the direction, real psychologism arose, which had not happened before. This era can also be called the “age of exclusive reading,” since only spiritual literature could direct a person to the true path and help him understand his inner world.

Hero types

All sentimentalists portrayed ordinary people, not “citizens.” We always see a subtle, sincere, natural nature that does not hesitate to show its real feelings. The author always considers it from the side of the inner world, testing its strength with the test of love. He never puts her in any framework, but allows her to develop and grow spiritually.

The main meaning of any sentimental work has been and will only be a person.

Language Feature

Simple, understandable and emotionally charged language is the basis of the style of sentimentalism. It is also characterized by voluminous lyrical digressions with appeals and exclamations from the author, where he indicates his position and morality of the work. Almost every text uses exclamation marks, diminutive forms of words, vernacular, and expressive vocabulary. Thus, at this stage the literary language becomes closer to the language of the people, making reading accessible to a wider audience. For our country, this meant that the art of words was reaching a new level. Secular prose written with ease and artistry receives recognition, and not the ponderous and tasteless works of imitators, translators or fanatics.

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Sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not the “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of educational literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize and sensitively respond to what is happening around him. By origin (or by conviction) the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common people is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.

The most prominent representatives of sentimentalism are James Thomson, Edward Jung, Thomas Gray, Laurence Stern (England), Jean Jacques Rousseau (France), Nikolai Karamzin (Russia).

Sentimentalism in English literature

Thomas Gray

England was the birthplace of sentimentalism. At the end of the 20s of the 18th century. James Thomson, with his poems “Winter” (1726), “Summer” (1727) and Spring, Autumn, subsequently combined into one whole and published () under the title “The Seasons,” contributed to the development of a love of nature in the English reading public by drawing simple, unpretentious rural landscapes, following step by step the various moments of the life and work of the farmer and, apparently, striving to place the peaceful, idyllic country situation above the vain and spoiled city.

In the 40s of the same century, Thomas Gray, the author of the elegy “Rural Cemetery” (one of the most famous works of cemetery poetry), the ode “Towards Spring”, etc., like Thomson, tried to interest readers in rural life and nature, to awaken their sympathy to simple, inconspicuous people with their needs, sorrows and beliefs, while at the same time giving his creativity a thoughtful and melancholy character.

Richardson's famous novels - "Pamela" (), "Clarissa Garlo" (), "Sir Charles Grandison" () - are also of a bright and typical product of English sentimentalism. Richardson was completely insensitive to the beauties of nature and did not like to describe it, but he put psychological analysis in the first place and made the English, and then the entire European public, keenly interested in the fate of the heroes and especially the heroines of his novels.

Laurence Sterne, author of “Tristram Shandy” (-) and “A Sentimental Journey” (; after the name of this work the direction itself was called “sentimental”), combined Richardson’s sensitivity with a love of nature and a peculiar humor. Stern himself called the “sentimental journey” “a peaceful journey of the heart in search of nature and all spiritual attractions that can inspire us with more love for our neighbors and for the whole world than we usually feel.”

Sentimentalism in French literature

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

Having moved to the continent, English sentimentalism found somewhat prepared soil in France. Quite independently of the English representatives of this trend, Abbé Prévost (“Manon Lescaut,” “Cleveland”) and Marivaux (“Life of Marianne”) taught the French public to admire everything touching, sensitive, and somewhat melancholic.

Under the same influence, Rousseau's "Julia" or "New Heloise" was created, who always spoke of Richardson with respect and sympathy. Julia reminds many of Clarissa Garlo, Clara reminds her of her friend, miss Howe. The moralizing nature of both works also brings them closer to each other; but in Rousseau’s novel nature plays a prominent role; the shores of Lake Geneva - Vevey, Clarens, Julia’s grove - are described with remarkable art. Rousseau's example did not remain without imitation; his follower, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in his famous work “Paul and Virginie” () transfers the scene of action to South Africa, accurately foreshadowing the best works of Chateaubreand, makes his heroes a charming couple of lovers living away from urban culture, in close communication with nature, sincere, sensitive and pure in soul.

Sentimentalism in Russian literature

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s and early 1790s thanks to translations of the novels “Werther” by J.V. Goethe, “Pamela,” “Clarissa” and “Grandison” by S. Richardson, “The New Heloise” by J.-J. Rousseau, "Paul and Virginie" by J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791–1792).

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited a general atmosphere of sensitivity, melancholy and the theme of suicide.

The works of N.M. Karamzin gave rise to a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Liza" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( “The Story of Poor Marya”; “Unhappy Margarita”; “Beautiful Tatiana”), etc.

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to Karamzin’s group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic pompous style and outdated genres.

Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of a translation of Elegy, written in a rural cemetery by E. Gray, became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, for he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, translated the genre of elegy, and not an individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E. G. Etkind). In 1809, Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story “Maryina Roshcha” in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of pan-European literary development, which completed the Age of Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

Main features of the literature of sentimentalism

In painting

The direction of Western art of the second half of the 18th century, expressing disappointment in “civilization” based on the ideals of “reason” (Enlightenment ideology). S. proclaims the feeling, solitary reflection, and simplicity of the rural life of the “little man.” J.J.Russo is considered the ideologist of S.

One of the characteristic features of Russian portrait art of this period was citizenship. The heroes of the portrait no longer live in their own closed, isolated world. The consciousness of being necessary and useful to the fatherland, caused by the patriotic upsurge in the era of the Patriotic War of 1812, the flowering of humanistic thought, which was based on respect for the dignity of the individual, and the expectation of imminent social changes are restructuring the worldview of the advanced person. The portrait of N.A., presented in the hall, is adjacent to this direction. Zubova, granddaughters A.V. Suvorov, copied by an unknown master from a portrait of I.B. Lumpy the Elder, depicting a young woman in a park, away from the conventions of social life. She looks at the viewer thoughtfully with a half-smile; everything about her is simplicity and naturalness. Sentimentalism is opposed to straightforward and overly logical reasoning about the nature of human feeling, emotional perception that directly and more reliably leads to the comprehension of the truth. Sentimentalism expanded the idea of human mental life, coming closer to understanding its contradictions, the very process of human experience. At the turn of two centuries, the work of N.I. developed. Argunov, a gifted serf of the Sheremetyev counts. One of the significant trends in Argunov’s work, which was not interrupted throughout the 19th centuries, is the desire for concreteness of expression, an unpretentious approach to a person. A portrait of N.P. is presented in the hall. Sheremetyev. It was donated by the Count himself to the Rostov Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery, where the cathedral was built at his expense. The portrait is characterized by realistic simplicity of expression, free from embellishment and idealization. The artist avoids painting the hands and focuses on the model’s face. The coloring of the portrait is based on the expressiveness of individual spots of pure color, colorful planes. In the portrait art of this time, a type of modest chamber portrait was emerging, completely freed from any features of the external environment, demonstrative behavior of models (portrait of P.A. Babin, P.I. Mordvinov). They do not pretend to be deeply psychologistic. We are dealing only with a fairly clear fixation of patterns and a calm state of mind. A separate group consists of children's portraits presented in the hall. What is captivating about them is the simplicity and clarity of the interpretation of the image. If in the 18th century children were most often depicted with the attributes of mythological heroes in the form of cupids, Apollos and Dianas, then in the 19th century artists strive to convey the direct image of a child, the warehouse of a child’s character. The portraits presented in the hall, with rare exceptions, come from noble estates. They were part of estate portrait galleries, the basis of which were family portraits. The collection was of an intimate, predominantly memorial nature and reflected the personal attachments of the models and their attitude towards their ancestors and contemporaries, the memory of whom they tried to preserve for posterity. The study of portrait galleries deepens the understanding of the era, allows you to more clearly sense the specific environment in which the works of the past lived, and understand a number of features of their artistic language. Portraits provide rich material for studying the history of Russian culture.

V.L. experienced a particularly strong influence of sentimentalism. Borovikovsky, who depicted many of his models against the background of an English park, with a soft, sensually vulnerable expression on his face. Borovikovsky was connected with the English tradition through the circle of N.A. Lvova - A.N. Venison. He knew well the typology of English portraiture, in particular from the works of the German artist A. Kaufmann, fashionable in the 1780s, who was educated in England.

English landscape painters also had some influence on Russian painters, for example, such masters of idealized classicist landscape as Ya.F. Hackert, R. Wilson, T. Jones, J. Forrester, S. Dalon. In the landscapes of F.M. Matveev, the influence of “Waterfalls” and “Views of Tivoli” by J. Mora can be traced.

In Russia, the graphics of J. Flaxman (illustrations to Gormer, Aeschylus, Dante), which influenced the drawings and engravings of F. Tolstoy, and the small plastic works of Wedgwood were also popular - in 1773, the Empress made a fantastic order for the British manufactory for “ Service with green frog"of 952 objects with views of Great Britain, now stored in the Hermitage.

Miniatures by G.I. were performed in English taste. Skorodumov and A.Kh. Rita; The genre “Pictorial Sketches of Russian Manners, Customs and Entertainments in One Hundred Colored Drawings” (1803-1804) performed by J. Atkinson were reproduced on porcelain.

There were fewer British artists working in Russia in the second half of the 18th century than French or Italian ones. Among them, the most famous was Richard Brompton, the court artist of George III, who worked in St. Petersburg in 1780 - 1783. He owns portraits of the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich, and Prince George of Wales, which became examples of the image of heirs at a young age. Brompton's unfinished image of Catherine against the backdrop of the fleet was embodied in the portrait of the Empress in the Temple of Minerva by D.G. Levitsky.

French by birth P.E. Falcone was a student of Reynolds and therefore represented the English school of painting. The traditional English aristocratic landscape presented in his works, dating back to Van Dyck of the English period, did not receive wide recognition in Russia.

However, Van Dyck's paintings from the Hermitage collection were often copied, which contributed to the spread of the genre of costume portraiture. The fashion for images in the English spirit became more widespread after the return from Britain of the engraver Skorodmov, who was appointed “Engraver of Her Imperial Majesty’s Cabinet” and elected Academician. Thanks to the work of the engraver J. Walker, engraved copies of paintings by J. Romini, J. Reynolds, and W. Hoare were distributed in St. Petersburg. The notes left by J. Walker talk a lot about the advantages of the English portrait, and also describe the reaction to the acquired G.A. Potemkin and Catherine II of Reynolds's paintings: "the manner of thickly applying paint... seemed strange... for their (Russian) taste it was too much." However, as a theorist, Reynolds was accepted in Russia; in 1790 his “Speeches” were translated into Russian, in which, in particular, the right of the portrait to belong to a number of the “highest” types of painting was substantiated and the concept of “portrait in the historical style” was introduced.

Literature

E. Schmidt, “Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe” (Jena, 1875).
Gasmeyer, “Richardson’s Pamela, ihre Quellen und ihr Einfluss auf die englische Litteratur” (Lpc., 1891).
P. Stapfer, “Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages” (P., 18 82).
Joseph Texte, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les origines du cosmopolitisme littéraire” (P., 1895).
L. Petit de Juleville, “Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française” (Vol. VI, issue 48, 51, 54).

“History of Russian Literature” by A. N. Pypin, (vol. IV, St. Petersburg, 1899).
Alexey Veselovsky, “Western influence in new Russian literature” (M., 1896).
S. T. Aksakov, “Various Works” (M., 1858; article about the merits of Prince Shakhovsky in dramatic literature).

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See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries:

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sentimentalism- a, m. sentimentalisme m. 1. The literary movement of the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, which replaced classicism, characterized by special attention to the spiritual world of man, to nature and partly idealizing reality. BAS 1.… … Historical Dictionary of Gallicisms of the Russian Language

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- (from the French sentiment feeling), a movement in European and American literature and art of the 2nd half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Starting from enlightenment rationalism (see Enlightenment), he declared that the dominant of human nature is not reason, but... Modern encyclopedia

- (from the French sentiment feeling) a movement in European and American literature and art of the 2nd half. 18 start 19th centuries Starting from Enlightenment rationalism (see Enlightenment), he declared that the dominant of human nature is not reason, but feeling, and... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

The most prominent representatives of sentimentalism are James Thomson, Edward Jung, Thomas Gray, Laurence Stern (England), Jean Jacques Rousseau (France), Nikolai Karamzin (Russia).

Sentimentalism in English literature

Thomas Gray

Sentimentalism in French literature

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

Sentimentalism in Russian literature

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited a general atmosphere of sensitivity, melancholy and the theme of suicide.

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to Karamzin’s group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic pompous style and outdated genres.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of pan-European literary development, which completed the Age of Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

Main features of the literature of sentimentalism

In painting

Literature

E. Schmidt, “Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe” (Jena, 1875).
Gasmeyer, “Richardson’s Pamela, ihre Quellen und ihr Einfluss auf die englische Litteratur” (Lpc., 1891).
P. Stapfer, “Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages” (P., 18 82).
Joseph Texte, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les origines du cosmopolitisme littéraire” (P., 1895).
L. Petit de Juleville, “Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française” (Vol. VI, issue 48, 51, 54).

“History of Russian Literature” by A. N. Pypin, (vol. IV, St. Petersburg, 1899).
Alexey Veselovsky, “Western influence in new Russian literature” (M., 1896).
S. T. Aksakov, “Various Works” (M., 1858; article about the merits of Prince Shakhovsky in dramatic literature).

Links

Movements in Western art
Middle Ages
New time
Modernism
Modern art

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Synonyms:

Luchko, Klara Stepanovna
Stern, Lawrence

See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries:

Sentimentalism- literary direction in the West. Europe and Russia XVIII beginning. 19th century I. SENTIMENTALISM IN THE WEST. The term "S." formed from the adjective “sentimental” (sensitive), to swarm is already found in Richardson, but gained particular popularity after ... Literary encyclopedia

SENTIMENTALISM- SENTIMENTALISM, SENTIMENTALISM sensitivity. A complete dictionary of foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language. Popov M., 1907. sentimentalism (French sentimentalisme sentiment feeling) 1) European literary movement of the late 18th… Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SENTIMENTALISM- (from the French sentiment feeling), a movement in European and American literature and art of the 2nd half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Starting from enlightenment rationalism (see Enlightenment), he declared that the dominant of human nature is not reason, but... Modern encyclopedia

SENTIMENTALISM- (from the French sentiment feeling) a movement in European and American literature and art of the 2nd half. 18 start 19th centuries Starting from Enlightenment rationalism (see Enlightenment), he declared that the dominant of human nature is not reason, but feeling, and... ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary