Conclusion about the evolution of literary trends. Literary movements (definitions, main features of literary movements)

literary trendsAndcurrents

XVII-X1X CENTURY

Classicism - direction in literature of the 17th - early 19th centuries, focusing on the aesthetic standards of ancient art. The main idea is the affirmation of the priority of reason. Aesthetics is based on the principle of rationalism: a work of art must be intelligently constructed, logically verified, and must capture the enduring, essential properties of things. Works of classicism are characterized by high civic themes, strict adherence to certain creative norms and rules, reflection of life in ideal images that gravitate towards a universal model (G. Derzhavin, I. Krylov, M. Lomonosov, V. Trediakovsky,D. Fonvizin).

Sentimentalism - a literary movement of the second half of the 18th century, which established feeling, not reason, as the dominant of the human personality. The hero of sentimentalism is a “feeling man”, his emotional world is diverse and mobile, and the wealth of the inner world is recognized for every person, regardless of his class affiliation (I. M. Karamzin.“Letters of a Russian Traveler”, “Poor Lisa” ) .

Romanticism - literary movement that formed at the beginning of the 19th century. Fundamental to romanticism was the principle of romantic dual worlds, which presupposes a sharp contrast between the hero and his ideal and the surrounding world. The incompatibility of ideal and reality was expressed in the departure of romantics from modern themes into the world of history, traditions and legends, dreams, dreams, fantasies, and exotic countries. Romanticism has a special interest in the individual. The romantic hero is characterized by proud loneliness, disappointment, a tragic attitude and, at the same time, rebellion and rebellion of spirit (A.S. Pushkin."KavKaz captive" « Gypsies»; M. Yu. Lermontov.« Mtsyri»; M. Gorky.« Song about the Falcon", "Old Woman Izergil").

Realism - a literary movement that established itself in Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century and passed through the entire 20th century. Realism asserts the priority of the cognitive capabilities of literature, its ability to explore reality. The most important subject of artistic research is the relationship between character and circumstances, the formation of characters under the influence of the environment. Human behavior, according to realist writers, depends on external circumstances, which, however, does not negate his ability to oppose his will to them. This determined the central conflict - the conflict between personality and circumstances. Realist writers depict reality in development, in dynamics, presenting stable, typical phenomena in their unique individual embodiment (A.S. Pushkin."Eugene Onegin"; novels I. S. Turgeneva, L. N. TolStygo, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. M. Gorky,stories I. A. Bunina,A. I. Kuprina; N. A. Nekrasoviand etc.).

Critical Realism - The literary movement, which is a subsidiary of the previous one, existed from the beginning of the 19th century until its end. It bears the main signs of realism, but is distinguished by a deeper, critical, sometimes sarcastic author's view ( N.V. Gogol"Dead Souls"; Saltykov-Shchedrin)

XXVEC

Modernism - a literary movement of the first half of the 20th century, which opposed itself to realism and united many movements and schools with a very diverse aesthetic orientation. Instead of a rigid connection between characters and circumstances, modernism affirms the self-worth and self-sufficiency of the human personality, its irreducibility to a tedious series of causes and consequences.

Avant-garde - a direction in literature and art of the 20th century, uniting various movements, united in their aesthetic radicalism (surrealism, drama of the absurd, “new novel”, in Russian literature -futurism). It is genetically related to modernism, but absolutizes and takes to the extreme its desire for artistic renewal.

Decadence (decadence) - a certain state of mind, a crisis type of consciousness, expressed in a feeling of despair, powerlessness, mental fatigue with the obligatory elements of narcissism and aestheticization of the self-destruction of the individual. Decadent in mood, the works aestheticize extinction, the break with traditional morality, and the will to death. The decadent worldview was reflected in the works of writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. F. Sologuba, 3. Gippius, L. Andreeva, and etc.

Symbolism - pan-European, and in Russian literature - the first and most significant modernist movement. Symbolism is rooted in romanticism, with the idea of ​​two worlds. The symbolists contrasted the traditional idea of ​​understanding the world in art with the idea of ​​constructing the world in the process of creativity. The meaning of creativity is the subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings, accessible only to the artist-creator. The main means of transmitting secret meanings that are not rationally cognizable becomes the symbol (of signs) (“senior symbolists”: V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, F. Sologub;"Young Symbolists": A. Blok,A. Bely, V. Ivanov, dramas by L. Andreev).

Acmeism - a movement of Russian modernism that arose as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism with its persistent tendency to perceive reality as a distorted likeness of higher entities. The main significance in the work of Acmeists is the artistic exploration of the diverse and vibrant earthly world, the transfer of the inner world of man, the affirmation of culture as the highest value. Acmeistic poetry is characterized by stylistic balance, pictorial clarity of images, precisely calibrated composition, and precision of detail. (N. Gumilev, S. Gorodetscue, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut).

Futurism - an avant-garde movement that emerged almost simultaneously in Italy and Russia. The main feature is the preaching of the overthrow of past traditions, the destruction of old aesthetics, the desire to create new art, the art of the future, capable of transforming the world. The main technical principle is the principle of “shift”, which manifested itself in the lexical updating of the poetic language due to the introduction of vulgarisms, technical terms, neologisms, in violation of the laws of lexical compatibility of words, in bold experiments in the field of syntax and word formation (V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, I. Severyanin and etc.).

Expressionism - modernist movement that formed in the 1910s - 1920s in Germany. The expressionists sought not so much to depict the world as to express their thoughts about the troubles of the world and the suppression of the human personality. The style of expressionism is determined by the rationalism of constructions, the attraction to abstraction, the acute emotionality of the statements of the author and characters, and the abundant use of fantasy and the grotesque. In Russian literature, the influence of expressionism manifested itself in the works of L. Andreeva, E. Zamyatina, A. Platonova and etc.

Postmodernism - a complex set of ideological attitudes and cultural reactions in the era of ideological and aesthetic pluralism (late 20th century). Postmodern thinking is fundamentally anti-hierarchical, opposes the idea of ​​ideological integrity, and rejects the possibility of mastering reality using a single method or language of description. Postmodern writers consider literature, first of all, a fact of language, and therefore do not hide, but emphasize the “literariness” of their works, combine the stylistics of different genres and different literary eras in one text (A. Bitov, Sasha Sokolov, D. A. Prigov, V. PeLevin, Ven. Erofeev and etc.).

The term “literary process” can confuse a person unfamiliar with its definition. Because it is not clear what kind of process this is, what caused it, what it is connected with and according to what laws it exists. In this article we will examine this concept in detail. We will pay special attention to the literary process of the 19th and 20th centuries.

What is the literary process?

This concept means:

• creative life in the totality of facts and phenomena of a particular country in a particular era;
• literary development in a global sense, including all centuries, cultures and countries.

When using the term in the second meaning, the phrase “historical-literary process” is often used.

In general, the concept describes historical changes in world and national literature, which, as they develop, inevitably interact with each other.

In the course of studying this process, researchers solve many complex problems, among which the main one is the transition of some poetic forms, ideas, trends and directions to others.

Writers' influence

Writers are also included in the literary process, who, with their new artistic techniques and experiments with language and form, change the approach to describing the world and people. However, the authors do not make their discoveries out of nowhere, since they necessarily rely on the experience of their predecessors, who lived both in his country and abroad. That is, the writer uses almost all of humanity’s artistic experience. From this we can conclude that there is a struggle between new and old artistic ideas, and each new literary movement puts forward its own creative principles, which, relying on traditions, nevertheless challenge them.

Evolution of directions and genres

The literary process, therefore, includes the evolution of genres and trends. Thus, in the 17th century, French writers proclaimed, instead of Baroque, which welcomed the self-will of poets and playwrights, classicist principles that presupposed adherence to strict rules. However, already in the 19th century, romanticism appeared, rejecting all rules and proclaiming the freedom of the artist. Then realism arose, expelling subjective romanticism and putting forward its own demands for works. And the change in these directions is also part of the literary process, as are the reasons for which they occurred and the writers who worked within their framework.

Don't forget about genres. Thus, the novel, the largest and most popular genre, has survived more than one change in artistic movements and trends. And in every era it has changed. For example, a striking example of a Renaissance novel - “Don Quixote” - is completely different from “Robinson Crusoe”, written during the Enlightenment, and both of them are unlike the works of O. de Balzac, V. Hugo, and Charles Dickens.

Russian literature of the 19th century

Literary process of the 19th century. presents a rather complex picture. At this time, evolution occurs and representatives of this direction are N.V. Gogol, A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, F.M. Dostoevsky and A.P. Chekhov. As you can see, the work of these writers is very different, however, they all belong to the same movement. At the same time, literary criticism in this regard speaks not only about the artistic individuality of writers, but also about changes in realism itself and the method of knowing the world and man.

At the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism was replaced by the “natural school,” which already in the middle of the century began to be perceived as something impeding further literary development. F. Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy begin to attach increasing importance to psychologism in their works. This became a new stage in the development of realism in Russia, and the “natural school” became outdated. However, this does not mean that the techniques of the previous movement are no longer used. On the contrary, the new absorbs the old, partially leaving it in its original form, partially modifying it. However, we should not forget about the influence of foreign literature on Russian, as well as, indeed, of domestic literature on foreign literature.

Western literature of the 19th century

The literary process of the 19th century in Europe included two main directions - romanticism and realism. Both of them reflected the historical events of this era. Let us remember that at this time factories were opening, railways were being built, etc. At the same time, the Great French Revolution was taking place, which entailed uprisings throughout Europe. These events, of course, are reflected in literature, from completely different positions: romanticism strives to escape reality and create its own ideal world; realism - analyze what is happening and try to change reality.

Romanticism, which arose at the end of the 18th century, gradually became obsolete around the middle of the 19th century. But realism, which was just emerging at the beginning of the 19th century, was gaining momentum by the end of the century. The realistic direction emerges from realism and declares itself around the age of 30-40.

The popularity of realism is explained by its social orientation, which was in demand by the society of that time.

Russian literature of the 20th century

Literary process of the 20th century. very complex, intense and ambiguous, especially for Russia. This is connected, first of all, with emigrant literature. Writers who found themselves expelled from their homeland after the 1917 revolution continued to write abroad, continuing the literary traditions of the past. But what is happening in Russia? Here, the motley variety of directions and trends, called the Silver Age, is forcibly narrowed to the so-called socialist realism. And all attempts by writers to move away from it are brutally suppressed. However, works were created but not published. Among such writers are Akhmatova, Zoshchenko, and from later antagonist authors - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Venedikt Erofeev, etc. Each of these writers was a continuer of the literary traditions of the early 20th century, before the advent of socialist realism. The most interesting in this regard is the work “Moscow - Petushki”, written by V. Erofeev in 1970 and published in the West. This poem is one of the first examples of postmodern literature.

Until the end of the existence of the USSR, practically no works were published that were not related to socialist realism. However, after the collapse of the power, the dawn of book publishing literally began. Everything that was written in the 20th century but was prohibited is published. New writers are appearing, continuing the traditions of Silver Age, banned and foreign literature.

Western literature of the 20th century

The Western literary process of the 20th century is characterized by a close connection with historical events, in particular with the First and Second World Wars. These events greatly shocked Europe.

In the literature of the 20th century, two major trends stand out - modernism and postmodernism (emerging in the 70s). The first includes such movements as existentialism, expressionism, and surrealism. It developed most brightly and intensively in the first half of the 20th century, then gradually losing ground to postmodernism.

Conclusion

Thus, the literary process is the totality of the works of writers and historical events in their development. This understanding of literature makes it possible to understand by what laws it exists and what influences its evolution. The beginning of the literary process can be called the first work created by humanity, and its end will come only when we cease to exist.

The main stylistic trends in the literature of modern and contemporary times

This section of the manual does not pretend to be comprehensive or thorough. Many directions from a historical and literary point of view are not yet known to students, others are little known. Any detailed conversation about literary trends in this situation is generally impossible. Therefore, it seems rational to give only the most general information, primarily characterizing the stylistic dominants of a particular direction.

Baroque

The Baroque style became widespread in European (to a lesser extent Russian) culture in the 16th–17th centuries. It is based on two main processes: On the one side, crisis of revivalist ideals, crisis of idea titanism(when a person was thought of as a huge figure, a demigod), on the other - a sharp contrasting man as a creator with the impersonal natural world. Baroque is a very complex and contradictory movement. Even the term itself does not have an unambiguous interpretation. The Italian root contains the meaning of excess, depravity, error. It is not very clear whether this was a negative characteristic of the Baroque “from outside” this style (primarily referring to assessments Baroque writers of the era of classicism) or is it a self-irony reflection of the Baroque authors themselves.

The Baroque style is characterized by a combination of the incongruous: on the one hand, an interest in exquisite forms, paradoxes, sophisticated metaphors and allegories, oxymorons, and verbal play, and on the other, deep tragedy and a sense of doom.

For example, in Gryphius’s baroque tragedy, Eternity itself could appear on stage and comment with bitter irony on the suffering of the heroes.

On the other hand, the flourishing of the still life genre is associated with the Baroque era, where luxury, beauty of forms, and richness of colors are aestheticized. However, the Baroque still life is also contradictory: bouquets, brilliant in color and technique, vases with fruit, and next to it is the classic Baroque still life “Vanity of Vanities” with the obligatory hourglass (an allegory of the passing time of life) and a skull – an allegory of inevitable death.

Baroque poetry is characterized by sophistication of forms, a fusion of visual and graphic series, when verse was not only written, but also “drawn.” Suffice it to recall the poem “Hourglass” by I. Gelwig, which we talked about in the chapter “Poetry”. And there were much more complex forms.

In the Baroque era, exquisite genres became widespread: rondos, madrigals, sonnets, odes of strict form, etc.

The works of the most prominent representatives of the Baroque (Spanish playwright P. Calderon, German poet and playwright A. Gryphius, German mystic poet A. Silesius, etc.) were included in the golden fund of world literature. The paradoxical lines of Silesius are often perceived as famous aphorisms: “I am great as God. God is as insignificant as I am.”

Many of the discoveries of Baroque poets, thoroughly forgotten in the 18th–19th centuries, were adopted in the verbal experiments of 20th century writers.

Classicism

Classicism is a movement in literature and art that historically replaced Baroque. The era of classicism lasted more than one hundred and fifty years - from the mid-17th to the beginning of the 19th century.

Classicism is based on the idea of ​​rationality, orderliness of the world . Man is understood as, first of all, a rational being, and human society is understood as a rationally organized mechanism.

In the same way, a work of art must be built on the basis of strict canons, structurally repeating the rationality and orderliness of the universe.

Classicism recognized Antiquity as the highest manifestation of spirituality and culture, therefore ancient art was considered a role model and an indisputable authority.

Characteristic of classicism pyramidal consciousness, that is, in every phenomenon, the artists of classicism sought to see a rational center, which was recognized as the top of the pyramid and personified the entire building. For example, in their understanding of the state, the classicists proceeded from the idea of ​​a reasonable monarchy - useful and necessary for all citizens.

Man in the era of classicism is interpreted primarily as a function, as a link in the rational pyramid of the universe. The inner world of a person in classicism is less actualized; external actions are more important. For example, an ideal monarch is one who strengthens the state, takes care of its welfare and enlightenment. Everything else fades into the background. That is why Russian classicists idealized the figure of Peter I, not attaching importance to the fact that he was a very complex and not at all attractive person.

In the literature of classicism, a person was thought of as the bearer of some important idea that determined his essence. That is why in the comedies of classicism “speaking surnames” were often used, immediately determining the logic of the character. Let us remember, for example, Mrs. Prostakova, Skotinin or Pravdin in Fonvizin’s comedy. These traditions are clearly visible in Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit” (Molchalin, Skalozub, Tugoukhovsky, etc.).

From the Baroque era, classicism inherited an interest in emblematicity, when a thing became a sign of an idea, and the idea was embodied in a thing. For example, a portrait of a writer involved depicting “things” that confirm his literary merits: the books he wrote, and sometimes the characters he created. Thus, the monument to I. A. Krylov, created by P. Klodt, depicts the famous fabulist surrounded by the heroes of his fables. The entire pedestal is decorated with scenes from Krylov’s works, thereby clearly confirming that how the author's fame is founded. Although the monument was created after the era of classicism, it is the classical traditions that are clearly visible here.

The rationality, clarity and emblematic nature of the culture of classicism also gave rise to a unique solution to conflicts. In the eternal conflict of reason and feeling, feeling and duty, so beloved by the authors of classicism, feeling was ultimately defeated.

Classicism sets (primarily thanks to the authority of its main theorist N. Boileau) strict hierarchy of genres , which are divided into high (Oh yeah, tragedy, epic) and low ( comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has certain characteristics and is written only in its own style. Mixing styles and genres is strictly prohibited.

Everyone knows the famous thing from school rule of three formulated for classical drama: unity places(all the action in one place), time(action from sunrise to nightfall), actions(the play has one central conflict into which all the characters are drawn).

In terms of genre, classicism preferred tragedy and ode. True, after the brilliant comedies of Moliere, the comedy genres also became very popular.

Classicism gave the world a whole galaxy of talented poets and playwrights. Corneille, Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, Voltaire, Swift - these are just some of the names from this brilliant galaxy.

In Russia, classicism developed somewhat later, already in the 18th century. Russian literature also owes a lot to classicism. It is enough to recall the names of D. I. Fonvizin, A. P. Sumarokov, M. V. Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin.

Sentimentalism

Sentimentalism arose in European culture in the middle of the 18th century, its first signs began to appear among English and a little later among French writers in the late 1720s, by the 1740s the direction had already taken shape. Although the term “sentimentalism” itself appeared much later and was associated with the popularity of Lorenz Stern’s novel “A Sentimental Journey” (1768), the hero of which travels through France and Italy, finds himself in many sometimes funny, sometimes touching situations and understands that there are “noble joys” and noble anxieties beyond one’s personality.”

Sentimentalism existed for quite a long time in parallel with classicism, although in essence it was built on completely different foundations. For sentimentalist writers, the main value is the world of feelings and experiences. At first, this world is perceived quite narrowly, writers sympathize with the love suffering of heroines (such, for example, are the novels of S. Richardson, if we remember, Pushkin’s favorite author Tatyana Larina).

An important merit of sentimentalism was its interest in the inner life of an ordinary person. Classicism was of little interest to the “average” person, but sentimentalism, on the contrary, emphasized the depth of feelings of a very ordinary, from a social point of view, heroine.

Thus, S. Richardson’s maid Pamela demonstrates not only purity of feeling, but also moral virtues: honor and pride, which ultimately leads to a happy ending; and the famous Clarissa, the heroine of the novel with a long and rather funny title from a modern point of view, although she belongs to a wealthy family, is still not a noblewoman. At the same time, her evil genius and insidious seducer Robert Loveless is a socialite, an aristocrat. In Russia at the end of the 18th century - at the beginning of the 19th century, the surname Loveless (hinting at “love less” - deprived of love) was pronounced in the French manner of “Lovelace”, since then the word “Lovelace” has become a common noun, denoting red tape and a ladies' man.

If Richardson's novels were devoid of philosophical depth, didactic and slightly naive, then a little later in sentimentalism the opposition “natural man - civilization” began to take shape, where, unlike the Baroque, civilization was understood as evil. This revolution was finally formalized in the work of the famous French writer and philosopher J. J. Rousseau.

His novel “Julia, or the New Heloise,” which conquered Europe in the 18th century, is much more complex and less straightforward. The struggle of feelings, social conventions, sin and virtues are intertwined here into one ball. The title itself (“New Heloise”) contains a reference to the semi-legendary mad passion of the medieval thinker Pierre Abelard and his student Heloise (11th–12th centuries), although the plot of Rousseau’s novel is original and does not reproduce the legend of Abelard.

Even more important was the philosophy of “natural man” formulated by Rousseau and which still retains a living meaning. Rousseau considered civilization the enemy of man, killing all the best in him. From here interest in nature, natural feelings and natural behavior. These ideas of Rousseau received special development in the culture of romanticism and - later - in numerous works of art of the 20th century (for example, in “Oles” by A. I. Kuprin).

In Russia, sentimentalism appeared later and did not bring serious world discoveries. Mostly Western European subjects were “Russified”. At the same time, he had a great influence on the further development of Russian literature itself.

The most famous work of Russian sentimentalism was “Poor Liza” by N. M. Karamzin (1792), which had a huge success and caused countless imitations.

“Poor Liza”, in fact, reproduces on Russian soil the plot and aesthetic findings of English sentimentalism of the time of S. Richardson, however, for Russian literature the idea that “even peasant women can feel” became a discovery that largely determined its further development.

Romanticism

Romanticism as a dominant literary movement in European and Russian literature did not exist for very long - about thirty years, but its influence on world culture was colossal.

Historically, romanticism is associated with the unfulfilled hopes of the Great French Revolution (1789–1793), but this connection is not linear; romanticism was prepared by the entire course of aesthetic development in Europe, which was gradually shaped by a new concept of man.

The first associations of romantics appeared in Germany at the end of the 18th century; a few years later, romanticism developed in England and France, then in the USA and Russia.

Being a “world style,” romanticism is a very complex and contradictory phenomenon, uniting many schools and multidirectional artistic quests. Therefore, it is very difficult to reduce the aesthetics of romanticism to any single and clear foundations.

At the same time, the aesthetics of romanticism undoubtedly represents a unity when compared with classicism or the critical realism that emerged later. This unity is due to several main factors.

Firstly, Romanticism recognized the value of the human personality as such, its self-sufficiency. The world of feelings and thoughts of an individual person was recognized as the highest value. This immediately changed the coordinate system; in the “individual – society” opposition, the emphasis shifted towards the individual. Hence the cult of freedom, characteristic of the romantics.

Secondly, Romanticism further emphasized the confrontation between civilization and nature, giving preference to the natural elements. It is no coincidence that precisely in the eraRomanticism gave rise to tourism, a cult of picnics in nature, etc. At the level of literary themes, there is an interest in exotic landscapes, scenes from rural life, and “savage” cultures. Civilization often seems like a “prison” for a free individual. This plot can be traced, for example, in “Mtsyri” by M. Yu. Lermontov.

Thirdly, the most important feature of the aesthetics of romanticism was two worlds: recognition that the social world we are accustomed to is not the only and genuine one; the true human world must be sought somewhere other than here. This is where the idea comes from beautiful "there"– fundamental to the aesthetics of romanticism. This “there” can manifest itself in very different ways: in Divine grace, as in W. Blake; in the idealization of the past (hence the interest in legends, the appearance of numerous literary fairy tales, the cult of folklore); in interest in unusual personalities, high passions (hence the cult of the noble robber, interest in stories about “fatal love,” etc.).

Duality should not be interpreted naively . The Romantics were not at all people “not of this world,” as, unfortunately, it is sometimes imagined by young philologists. They took an active part participation in social life, and the greatest poet I. Goethe, closely associated with romanticism, was not only a major natural scientist, but also a prime minister. This is not about a style of behavior, but about a philosophical attitude, about an attempt to look beyond the limits of reality.

Fourthly, a significant role in the aesthetics of romanticism played demonism, based on doubt about the sinlessness of God, on aestheticization riot. Demonism was not a necessary basis for the romantic worldview, but it formed the characteristic background of romanticism. The philosophical and aesthetic justification for demonism was the mystical tragedy (the author called it “mystery”) of J. Byron “Cain” (1821), where the biblical story about Cain is reinterpreted, and Divine truths are disputed. Interest in the “demonic principle” in humans is characteristic of a variety of artists of the Romantic era: J. Byron, P. B. Shelley, E. Poe, M. Yu. Lermontov and others.

Romanticism brought with it a new genre palette. Classical tragedies and odes were replaced by elegies, romantic dramas, and poems. A real breakthrough occurred in prose genres: many short stories appear, the novel looks completely new. The plot scheme becomes more complicated: paradoxical plot moves, fatal secrets, and unexpected endings are popular. Victor Hugo became an outstanding master of the romantic novel. His novel Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) is a world-famous masterpiece of romantic prose. Hugo's later novels (The Man Who Laughs, Les Misérables, etc.) are characterized by a synthesis of romantic and realistic tendencies, although the writer remained faithful to romantic foundations all his life.

Having opened the world of a specific individual, romanticism, however, did not seek to detail individual psychology. Interest in “superpassions” led to the typification of experiences. If it’s love, then it’s for centuries, if it’s hate, then it’s to the end. Most often, the romantic hero was the bearer of one passion, one idea. This brought the romantic hero closer to the hero of classicism, although all the accents were placed differently. Genuine psychologism, “dialectics of the soul” became the discoveries of another aesthetic system - realism.

Realism

Realism is a very complex and voluminous concept. As a dominant historical and literary direction, it was formed in the 30s of the 19th century, but as a way of mastering reality, realism was initially inherent in artistic creativity. Many features of realism appeared already in folklore; they were characteristic of ancient art, the art of the Renaissance, classicism, sentimentalism, etc. This “end-to-end” character of realism has been repeatedly noted by specialists, and the temptation has repeatedly arisen to see the history of the development of art as an oscillation between the mystical (romantic) and realistic ways of understanding reality. In its most complete form, this was reflected in the theory of the famous philologist D.I. Chizhevsky (Ukrainian by origin, he lived most of his life in Germany and the USA), who represented the development of world literature as a “pendulummovement" between the realistic and mystical poles. In aesthetic theory this is called "Chizhevsky pendulum". Each way of reflecting reality is characterized by Chizhevsky for several reasons:

Chizhevsky’s scheme, created many decades ago, is still quite popular today, at the same time it significantly straightens the literary process. Thus, classicism and realism turn out to be typologically similar, and romanticism actually reproduces Baroque culture. In fact, these are completely different models, and the realism of the 19th century bears little resemblance to the realism of the Renaissance, much less to classicism. At the same time, Chizhevsky’s scheme is useful to remember, since some accents are placed precisely.

If we talk about classical realism of the 19th century, then several main points should be highlighted.

In realism, there was a rapprochement between the depicter and the depicted. The subject of the image, as a rule, was the reality “here and now.” It is no coincidence that the history of Russian realism is connected with the formation of the so-called “natural school,” which saw its task as giving as objective a picture of modern reality as possible. True, this extreme specificity soon ceased to satisfy writers, and the most significant authors (I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, A. N. Ostrovsky, etc.) went far beyond the aesthetics of the “natural school.”

At the same time, one should not think that realism has abandoned the formulation and solution of “eternal questions of existence.” On the contrary, major realist writers posed precisely these questions above all. However, the most important problems of human existence were projected onto concrete reality, onto the lives of ordinary people. Thus, F. M. Dostoevsky solves the eternal problem of the relationship between man and God not in the symbolic images of Cain and Lucifer, as, for example, Byron, but using the example of the fate of the beggar student Raskolnikov, who killed the old pawnbroker and thereby “crossed the line.”

Realism does not abandon symbolic and allegorical images, but their meaning changes; they highlight not eternal problems, but socially specific ones. For example, the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are allegorical through and through, but the social reality of the 19th century is recognizable in them.

Realism, like no previously existing direction, interested in the inner world of an individual, strives to see its paradoxes, movement and development. In this regard, in the prose of realism, the role of internal monologues increases; the hero constantly argues with himself, doubts himself, and evaluates himself. Psychologism in the works of realist masters(F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, etc.) reaches the highest expressiveness.

Realism changes over time, reflecting new realities and historical trends. So, in the Soviet era there appears socialist realism, declared the “official” method of Soviet literature. This is a highly ideological form of realism, which aimed to show the inevitable collapse of the bourgeois system. In reality, however, almost all Soviet art was called “socialist realism,” and the criteria turned out to be completely blurred. Today this term has only a historical meaning; it is not relevant in relation to modern literature.

If in the middle of the 19th century realism reigned almost unchallenged, then by the end of the 19th century the situation changed. Over the last century, realism has experienced fierce competition from other aesthetic systems, which, naturally, in one way or another changes the nature of realism itself. Let’s say, M. A. Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” is a realistic work, but at the same time there is a noticeable symbolic meaning in it, which noticeably changes the tenets of “classical realism”.

Modernist movements of the late 19th – 20th centuries

The twentieth century, like no other, was marked by the competition of many trends in art. These directions are completely different, they compete with each other, replace each other, and take into account each other’s achievements. The only thing that unites them is opposition to classical realistic art, attempts to find their own ways of reflecting reality. These directions are united by the conventional term “modernism”. The term “modernism” itself (from “modern” - modern) arose in the romantic aesthetics of A. Schlegel, but then it did not take root. But it came into use a hundred years later, at the end of the 19th century, and began to denote at first strange, unusual aesthetic systems. Today “modernism” is a term with an extremely broad meaning, which actually stands in two oppositions: on the one hand, it is “everything that is not realism,” on the other (in recent years) it is what “postmodernism” is not. Thus, the concept of modernism reveals itself negatively - by the method of “by contradiction”. Naturally, with this approach we are not talking about any structural clarity.

There are a huge number of modernist trends; we will focus only on the most significant:

Impressionism (from the French “impression” - impression) - a movement in the art of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world. Representatives of impressionism sought to capturethe real world in its mobility and variability, to convey your fleeting impressions. The Impressionists themselves called themselves “new realists”; the term appeared later, after 1874, when the now famous work by C. Monet “Sunrise” was demonstrated at the exhibition. Impression". At first, the term “impressionism” had a negative connotation, expressing bewilderment and even disdain of critics, but the artists themselves, “to spite the critics,” accepted it, and over time the negative connotations disappeared.

In painting, impressionism had a huge influence on all subsequent development of art.

In literature, the role of impressionism was more modest; it did not develop as an independent movement. However, the aesthetics of impressionism influenced the work of many authors, including in Russia. Trust in “fleeting things” is marked by many poems by K. Balmont, I. Annensky and others. In addition, impressionism was reflected in the color scheme of many writers, for example, its features are noticeable in the palette of B. Zaitsev.

However, as an integral movement, impressionism did not appear in literature, becoming a characteristic background of symbolism and neorealism.

Symbolism – one of the most powerful directions of modernism, quite diffuse in its attitudes and quests. Symbolism began to take shape in France in the 70s of the 19th century and quickly spread throughout Europe.

By the 90s, symbolism had become a pan-European trend, with the exception of Italy, where, for reasons that are not entirely clear, it did not take root.

In Russia, symbolism began to manifest itself in the late 80s, and emerged as a conscious movement by the mid-90s.

According to the time of formation and the characteristics of the worldview, it is customary to distinguish two main stages in Russian symbolism. Poets who made their debut in the 1890s are called “senior symbolists” (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, etc.).

In the 1900s, a number of new names appeared that significantly changed the face of symbolism: A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov and others. The accepted designation of the “second wave” of symbolism is “young symbolism.” It is important to take into account that the “senior” and “younger” symbolists were separated not so much by age (for example, Vyacheslav Ivanov gravitates towards the “elders” in age), but by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

The work of the older symbolists fits more closely into the canon of neo-romanticism. Characteristic motives are loneliness, the chosenness of the poet, the imperfection of the world. In the poems of K. Balmont, the influence of impressionist technique is noticeable; the early Bryusov had a lot of technical experiments and verbal exoticism.

The Young Symbolists created a more holistic and original concept, which was based on the merging of life and art, on the idea of ​​improving the world according to aesthetic laws. The mystery of existence cannot be expressed in ordinary words; it is only guessed in the system of symbols intuitively found by the poet. The concept of mystery, the unmanifestation of meanings, became the mainstay of symbolist aesthetics. Poetry, according to Vyach. Ivanov, there is a “secret record of the ineffable.” The social and aesthetic illusion of Young Symbolism was that through the “prophetic word” one can change the world. Therefore, they saw themselves not only as poets, but also demiurges, that is, the creators of the world. The unfulfilled utopia led in the early 1910s to a total crisis of symbolism, to the collapse of it as an integral system, although the “echoes” of symbolist aesthetics were heard for a long time.

Regardless of the implementation of social utopia, symbolism has extremely enriched Russian and world poetry. The names of A. Blok, I. Annensky, Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely and other prominent symbolist poets are the pride of Russian literature.

Acmeism(from the Greek “acme” - “the highest degree, peak, flowering, blooming time”) is a literary movement that arose in the early tenths of the 20th century in Russia. Historically, Acmeism was a reaction to the crisis of symbolism. In contrast to the “secret” word of the Symbolists, the Acmeists proclaimed the value of the material, the plastic objectivity of images, the accuracy and sophistication of the word.

The formation of Acmeism is closely connected with the activities of the organization “Workshop of Poets”, the central figures of which were N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky. O. Mandelstam, the early A. Akhmatova, V. Narbut and others also adhered to Acmeism. Later, however, Akhmatova questioned the aesthetic unity of Acmeism and even the legitimacy of the term itself. But one can hardly agree with her on this: the aesthetic unity of the Acmeist poets, at least in the early years, is beyond doubt. And the point is not only in the programmatic articles of N. Gumilyov and O. Mandelstam, where the aesthetic credo of the new movement is formulated, but above all in the practice itself. Acmeism strangely combined a romantic craving for the exotic, for wanderings with sophistication of words, which made it similar to the Baroque culture.

Favorite images of Acmeism - exotic beauty (so, in any period of Gumilyov’s creativity, poems appear about exotic animals: giraffe, jaguar, rhinoceros, kangaroo, etc.), images of culture(in Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam), the love theme is dealt with very plastically. Often an object detail becomes a psychological sign(for example, a glove from Gumilyov or Akhmatova).

At first The world appears to the Acmeists as exquisite, but “toy-like,” emphatically unreal. For example, O. Mandelstam’s famous early poem goes like this:

They burn with gold leaf

There are Christmas trees in the forests;

Toy wolves in the bushes

They look with scary eyes.

Oh, my prophetic sadness,

Oh my quiet freedom

And the lifeless sky

Always laughing crystal!

Later, the paths of the Acmeists diverged; little remained of the former unity, although the majority of poets retained loyalty to the ideals of high culture and the cult of poetic mastery to the end. Many major literary artists came out of Acmeism. Russian literature has the right to be proud of the names of Gumilev, Mandelstam and Akhmatova.

Futurism(from Latin “futurus” " - future). If symbolism, as mentioned above, did not take root in Italy, then futurism, on the contrary, is of Italian origin. The “father” of futurism is considered to be the Italian poet and art theorist F. Marinetti, who proposed a shocking and tough theory of new art. In fact, Marinetti was talking about the mechanization of art, about depriving it of spirituality. Art should become akin to a “play on a mechanical piano”, all verbal delights are unnecessary, spirituality is an outdated myth.

Marinetti's ideas exposed the crisis of classical art and were taken up by "rebellious" aesthetic groups in different countries.

In Russia, the first futurists were the artists the Burliuk brothers. David Burliuk founded the futurist colony “Gilea” on his estate. He managed to rally around himself various poets and artists who were unlike anyone else: Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Kruchenykh, Elena Guro and others.

The first manifestos of Russian futurists were frankly shocking in nature (even the name of the manifesto, “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” speaks for itself), but even with this, the Russian futurists did not initially accept Marinetti’s mechanism, setting themselves other tasks. Marinetti's arrival in Russia caused disappointment among Russian poets and further emphasized the differences.

The Futurists aimed to create a new poetics, a new system of aesthetic values. The masterly play with words, the aestheticization of everyday objects, the speech of the street - all this excited, shocked, and caused resonance. The catchy, visible nature of the image irritated some, delighted others:

Every word,

even a joke

which he spews out with his burning mouth,

thrown out like a naked prostitute

from a burning brothel.

(V. Mayakovsky, “Cloud in Pants”)

Today we can admit that much of the Futurists’ creativity has not stood the test of time and is only of historical interest, but in general, the influence of the Futurists’ experiments on the subsequent development of art (and not only verbal, but also pictorial and musical) turned out to be colossal.

Futurism had within itself several currents, sometimes converging, sometimes conflicting: cubo-futurism, ego-futurism (Igor Severyanin), the “Centrifuge” group (N. Aseev, B. Pasternak).

Although very different from each other, these groups converged on a new understanding of the essence of poetry and a desire for verbal experiments. Russian futurism gave the world several poets of enormous scale: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Pasternak, Velimir Khlebnikov.

Existentialism (from Latin “exsistentia” - existence). Existentialism cannot be called a literary movement in the full sense of the word; it is rather a philosophical movement, a concept of man, manifested in many works of literature. The origins of this movement can be found in the 19th century in the mystical philosophy of S. Kierkegaard, but existentialism received its real development in the 20th century. Among the most significant existentialist philosophers we can name G. Marcel, K. Jaspers, M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre and others. Existentialism is a very diffuse system, having many variations and varieties. However, the general features that allow us to talk about some unity are the following:

1. Recognition of the personal meaning of existence . In other words, the world and man in their primary essence are personal principles. The mistake of the traditional view, according to existentialists, is that human life is viewed as if “from the outside,” objectively, and the uniqueness of human life lies precisely in the fact that it There is and that she my. That is why G. Marcel proposed to consider the relationship between man and the world not according to the “He is the World” scheme, but according to the “I – ​​You” scheme. My attitude towards another person is only a special case of this comprehensive scheme.

M. Heidegger said the same thing somewhat differently. In his opinion, the basic question about man must be changed. We are trying to answer, " What there is a person”, but you need to ask “ Who there is a man." This radically changes the entire coordinate system, since in the usual world we will not see the foundations of each person’s unique “self.”

2. Recognition of the so-called “borderline situation” , when this “self” becomes directly accessible. In ordinary life, this “I” is not directly accessible, but in the face of death, against the background of non-existence, it manifests itself. The concept of a border situation had a huge influence on the literature of the 20th century - both among writers directly associated with the theory of existentialism (A. Camus, J.-P. Sartre), and authors generally far from this theory, for example, on the idea of ​​a border situation almost all the plots of Vasil Bykov's war stories are constructed.

3. Recognition of a person as a project . In other words, the original “I” given to us forces us to make the only possible choice every time. And if a person’s choice turns out to be unworthy, the person begins to collapse, no matter what external reasons he may justify.

Existentialism, we repeat, did not develop as a literary movement, but it had a huge influence on modern world culture. In this sense, it can be considered an aesthetic and philosophical direction of the 20th century.

Surrealism(French “surrealisme”, lit. - “super-realism”) - a powerful trend in painting and literature of the 20th century, however, it left the greatest mark in painting, primarily thanks to the authority of the famous artist Salvador Dali. Dali’s infamous phrase regarding his disagreements with other leaders of the movement “a surrealist is me”, for all its shockingness, clearly places emphasis. Without the figure of Salvador Dali, surrealism probably would not have had such an impact on the culture of the 20th century.

At the same time, the founder of this movement is not Dali or even an artist, but precisely the writer Andre Breton. Surrealism took shape in the 1920s as a left-radical movement, but noticeably different from futurism. Surrealism reflected the social, philosophical, psychological and aesthetic paradoxes of European consciousness. Europe is tired of social tensions, of traditional art forms, of hypocrisy in ethics. This “protest” wave gave birth to surrealism.

The authors of the first declarations and works of surrealism (Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon, Andre Breton, etc.) set the goal of “liberating” creativity from all conventions. Great importance was attached to unconscious impulses and random images, which, however, were then subjected to careful artistic processing.

Freudianism, which actualized human erotic instincts, had a serious influence on the aesthetics of surrealism.

In the late 20s - 30s, surrealism played a very noticeable role in European culture, but the literary component of this movement gradually weakened. Major writers and poets, in particular Eluard and Aragon, moved away from surrealism. Andre Breton's attempts after the war to revive the movement were unsuccessful, while in painting surrealism provided a much more powerful tradition.

Postmodernism - a powerful literary movement of our time, very diverse, contradictory and fundamentally open to any innovations. The philosophy of postmodernism was formed mainly in the school of French aesthetic thought (J. Derrida, R. Barthes, J. Kristeva, etc.), but today it has spread far beyond the borders of France.

At the same time, many philosophical origins and first works refer to the American tradition, and the term “postmodernism” itself in relation to literature was first used by the American literary critic of Arab origin, Ihab Hassan (1971).

The most important feature of postmodernism is the fundamental rejection of any centricity and any value hierarchy. All texts are fundamentally equal and capable of coming into contact with each other. There is no art high and low, modern and outdated. From the standpoint of culture, they all exist in some “now,” and since the value chain is fundamentally destroyed, no text has any advantages over another.

In the works of postmodernists, almost any text from any era comes into play. The boundary between one’s own and someone else’s word is also being destroyed, so texts by famous authors can be interspersed into a new work. This principle is called " principle of centenity» (centon is a game genre when a poem is composed of different lines from other authors).

Postmodernism is radically different from all other aesthetic systems. In various schemes (for example, in the well-known schemes of Ihab Hassan, V. Brainin-Passek, etc.) dozens of distinctive features of postmodernism are noted. This is an attitude towards play, conformism, recognition of the equality of cultures, an attitude towards secondaryness (i.e. postmodernism does not aim to say something new about the world), orientation towards commercial success, recognition of the infinity of the aesthetic (i.e. everything can be art) etc.

Both writers and literary critics have an ambiguous attitude towards postmodernism: from complete acceptance to categorical denial.

In the last decade, people are increasingly talking about the crisis of postmodernism and reminding us of the responsibility and spirituality of culture.

For example, P. Bourdieu considers postmodernism a variant of “radical chic”, spectacular and comfortable at the same time, and calls not to destroy science (and in the context it is clear - art) “in the fireworks of nihilism.”

Many American theorists have also made sharp attacks against postmodern nihilism. In particular, the book “Against Deconstruction” by J. M. Ellis, which contains a critical analysis of postmodernist attitudes, caused a stir. Now, however, this scheme is noticeably more complicated. It is customary to talk about pre-symbolism, early symbolism, mystical symbolism, post-symbolism, etc. However, this does not cancel the naturally formed division into older and younger.

Video tutorial 2: Literary directions

Lecture: Historical and literary process

Classicism

Classicism- the main artistic direction of European art of the 17th and early 19th centuries.

Main topics: civil, patriotic motives

In place of classicism in the second half of the 18th century. sentimentalism came (English: “sensitive”, French: “feeling”). The dominant theme of art was human feelings, emotions, and experiences.

Sentimentalism- the primacy of feelings over reason.

Sentimentalists proclaimed the harmonious combination of nature and man to be the main criterion of value.

Sentimentalism is represented in Russia by works:

N.M. Karamzina,

I. I. Dmitrieva,

V.A. Zhukovsky (early work).

At the end of the 18th century. In Germany, a new literary movement emerged - romanticism. Several circumstances contributed to the emergence of a new trend:

Crisis of the Enlightenment

Revolutionary events in France

Classical German philosophy

Artistic search for sentimentalism

The hero of romantic works is the embodiment of rebellion against the realities of the surrounding reality.

Representatives of the romantic art movement in Russia:

Zhukovsky V.A.

Batyushkov K.N.

Yazykov N.M.

Pushkin A.S. (early works)

Lermontov M.Yu.

Tyutchev F.I. (philosophical lyrics)

Realism is a truthful reflection of reality.

• objective reflection of aspects of life combined with the author's ideal
• reproduction of typical characters in typical circumstances
• life-like authenticity of the image using conventional forms of artistic fantasy (myth, symbol) of the grotesque.

Modernism

The global crisis of bourgeois culture, which formed during the transition from the 19th century to the 20th century, gave rise to a new artistic movement called “modernism”. The new trend proclaimed a complete break with realistic traditions in creativity.

If about a dozen newly created movements have manifested themselves in European modernism, then the Russian version of the new literary movement consists of only “three pillars”:

symbolism

Acmeism

futurism

Literary method, style, or literary movement are often treated as synonyms. It is based on a similar type of artistic thinking among different writers. Sometimes a modern author does not realize in which direction he is working, and his creative method is assessed by a literary critic or critic. And it turns out that the author is a sentimentalist or an Acmeist... We present to your attention the literary movements in the table from classicism to modernity.

There have been cases in the history of literature when representatives of the writing fraternity themselves were aware of the theoretical foundations of their activities, propagated them in manifestos, and united in creative groups. For example, Russian futurists, who published the manifesto “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste” in print.

Today we are talking about the established system of literary movements of the past, which determined the features of the development of the world literary process, and are studied by literary theory. The main literary trends are:

• classicism
• sentimentalism
• romanticism
• realism
• modernism (divided into movements: symbolism, acmeism, futurism, imagism)
• socialist realism
• postmodernism

Modernity is most often associated with the concept of postmodernism, and sometimes socially active realism.

Literary trends in tables

Modernism is represented by the following literary movements:

• Symbolism

  (Symbol - from the Greek Symbolon - conventional sign)
  1. The central place is given to the symbol*
  2. The desire for a higher ideal prevails
  3. A poetic image is intended to express the essence of a phenomenon
  4. Characteristic reflection of the world in two planes: real and mystical
  5. Sophistication and musicality of verse
  The founder was D. S. Merezhkovsky, who in 1892 gave a lecture “On the causes of the decline and new trends in modern Russian literature” (article published in 1893). Symbolists are divided into older ones ((V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, F. Sologub made their debut in the 1890s) and younger ones (A. Blok, A. Bely, Vyach. Ivanov and others made their debut in the 1900s)

• Acmeism

  (From the Greek “acme” - point, highest point). The literary movement of Acmeism arose in the early 1910s and was genetically connected with symbolism. (N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and V. Narbut.) The formation was influenced by M. Kuzmin’s article “On Beautiful Clarity,” published in 1910. In his programmatic article of 1913, “The Legacy of Acmeism and Symbolism,” N. Gumilyov called symbolism a “worthy father,” but emphasized that the new generation had developed a “courageously firm and clear outlook on life.”
  1. Focus on classical poetry of the 19th century
  2. Acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity and visible concreteness
  3. Objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details
  4. In rhythm, the Acmeists used dolnik (Dolnik is a violation of the traditional
  regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The lines coincide in the number of stresses, but stressed and unstressed syllables are freely located in the line.), which brings the poem closer to living colloquial speech

• Futurism

  Futurism - from lat. futurum, future. Genetically, literary futurism is closely connected with the avant-garde groups of artists of the 1910s - primarily with the groups “Jack of Diamonds”, “Donkey’s Tail”, “Youth Union”. In 1909 in Italy, the poet F. Marinetti published the article “Manifesto of Futurism.” In 1912, the manifesto “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste” was created by Russian futurists: V. Mayakovsky, A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov: “Pushkin is more incomprehensible than hieroglyphs.” Futurism began to disintegrate already in 1915-1916.
  1. Rebellion, anarchic worldview
  2. Denial of cultural traditions
  3. Experiments in the field of rhythm and rhyme, figurative arrangement of stanzas and lines
  4. Active word creation

• Imagism

  From lat. imago - image A literary movement in Russian poetry of the 20th century, whose representatives stated that the purpose of creativity is to create an image. The main expressive means of imagists is metaphor, often metaphorical chains that compare various elements of two images - direct and figurative. Imagism arose in 1918, when the “Order of Imagists” was founded in Moscow. The creators of the “Order” were Anatoly Mariengof, Vadim Shershenevich and Sergei Yesenin, who was previously part of the group of new peasant poets