A. I

creative way Herzen.

Herzen was born on March 25 (April 6), 1812 in Moscow, into the family of a wealthy landowner Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev (17671846); mother 16-year-old German Henriette-Wilhelmina-Louise Haag, daughter of a petty official. The marriage of the parents was not formalized, and Herzen bore the surname invented by his father: Herzen "son of the heart" (from German Herz). In 1833 Herzen graduated from the Physics and Mathematics Department of Moscow University.

In his youth, Herzen received the usual noble upbringing at home, based on reading the works of foreign literature, mainly late XVIII century. French novels, comedies by Beaumarchais, Kotzebue, works by Goethe, Schiller with early years tuned the boy in an enthusiastic, sentimental-romantic tone. There were no systematic classes, but the tutors French and Germans gave the boy a solid knowledge foreign languages. Thanks to his acquaintance with Schiller, Herzen was imbued with freedom-loving aspirations, the development of which was greatly facilitated by the teacher of Russian literature, I.E.

Already in childhood, Herzen met and became friends with Ogaryov. According to his memoirs, strong impression the boys (Herzen was 13, Ogaryov 12 years old) were made aware of the Decembrist uprising. Under his impression, their first, still vague dreams of revolutionary activity; the boys vowed to fight for the overthrow of Nicholas I. During this youthful period of Herzen's life, his ideal was first Karl Moor, and then Posa. At the university, Herzen took part in the so-called "Malov story", but got off relatively lightly - by imprisonment, along with many comrades, in a punishment cell. The youth was quite violent; she welcomed the July Revolution and other popular movements. By this time, Herzen's meeting with Vadim Passek, which later turned into friendship, the establishment of friendly relations with Ketcher, etc., dates back. The bunch of young friends grew, made noise, seethed; at times she allowed small revels, of a completely innocent, however, character; diligently engaged in reading, carried away primarily by public issues, studying Russian history, assimilation of the ideas of Saint-Simon and other socialists. In 1834, all members of Herzen's circle and he himself were arrested. Herzen was exiled to Perm, and from there to Vyatka, where he was appointed to serve in the office of the governor. For the organization of the exhibition of local works and the explanations given during its inspection to the heir (the future Alexander II), Herzen, at the request of Zhukovsky, was transferred to serve as an adviser to the board in Vladimir, where he married, secretly taking his bride from Moscow, and where he spent the happiest and bright days own life. In 1840 Herzen was allowed to return to Moscow. Here he had to face the famous circle of Hegelians Stankevich and Belinsky, who defended the thesis of the complete reasonableness of all reality. Meanwhile, in Russian society, they spread greatly, along with the ideas German philosophy, the socialist ideas of Proudhon, Cabet, Fourier, Louis Blanc; they had an influence on the grouping of literary circles of that time. Most of Stankevich's friends approached Herzen and Ogarev, forming a camp of Westerners; others joined the camp of the Slavophiles, with Khomyakov and Kireevsky at the head (1844). Despite mutual bitterness and disputes, both sides had much in common in their views, and above all, according to Herzen himself, the common thing was "a feeling of boundless love for the Russian people, for the Russian mindset, embracing the whole existence." In 1842, Herzen, ots

After serving a year in Novgorod, where he ended up against his will, he was retired, moved to live in Moscow, and then, shortly after the death of his father, went abroad forever (1847).

Herzen arrived in Europe more radically republican than socialist, although his publication in Otechestvennye Zapiski of a series of articles entitled Letters from Avenue Marigny (subsequently published as a book entitled Letters from France and Italy) shocked his friends. - Western liberals - with their anti-bourgeois pathos. February Revolution 1848 seemed to Herzen the fulfillment of all hopes. The June uprising of the workers that followed, its bloody suppression and the ensuing reaction shocked Herzen, who resolutely turned to socialism. He became close to Proudhon and other prominent figures of the revolution and European radicalism; together with Proudhon, he published the newspaper "Voice of the People" ("La Voix du Peuple"), which he financed. In 1849, after the defeat of the radical opposition by President Louis Napoleon, Herzen was forced to leave France and moved to Switzerland, from where he moved to Nice, which then belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. Fame brought him an essay book "From the Other Shore", in which he made a calculation with his past liberal convictions. Under the influence of the collapse of old ideals and the reaction that came across Europe, Herzen formed a specific system of views about doom, "dying" old Europe and about the prospects of Russia and the Slavic world, which are called upon to realize the socialist ideal. After the death of his wife, he leaves for London, where he lives for about 10 years, having founded the Free Russian Printing House for printing prohibited publications, and from 1857 he publishes the weekly newspaper Kolokol.

The peak of Kolokol's influence falls on the years preceding the emancipation of the peasants; then the newspaper was regularly read in winter palace. After the peasant reform, its influence begins to fall. At that time, for the liberal public, Herzen was already too revolutionary, for the radical - too moderate. On March 15, 1865, under the insistent demand of the Russian government to the government of Her Majesty, the editors of the Bell, headed by Herzen, leave England forever and move to Switzerland, of which Herzen is a citizen by that time. In April of the same 1865, the Free Russian Printing House was also transferred there. Soon, people from Herzen's entourage also began to move to Switzerland, for example, in 1865 Nikolai Ogaryov moved there.

On January 9 (21), 1870, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen died of pneumonia in Paris, where he had arrived shortly before on his family business.

G.'s literary activity began as early as the 1930s. In the "Athene" for the year 30 (II vol.), his name is found under one translation from the French. The first article, signed by the pseudonym Iskander, print. in "Telescope" for 1836 ("Hoffmann"). The “Speech delivered at the opening of the Vyatka public library"and" Diary "(1842). In Vladimir it is written: “Zap. one young man”And“ More from the notes of a young man ”(“ Det. Zap. ”, 1840-41; in this story, Chaadaev is depicted in the person of Trenzinsky). From 1842 to 1847 he places in “From. Zap.» and "Sovremennik" articles: "Amateurism in Science", "Romantic Amateurs", "Workshop of Scientists", "Buddhism in Science", "Letters on the Study of Nature". Here G. rebelled against learned pedants and formalists, against their scholastic science, alienated from life, against their quietism. In the article "On the Study of Nature" we find a philosophical analysis of various methods of knowledge. At the same time, G. wrote: “About one drama”, “On different occasions”, “New variations on old themes”, “A few remarks on the historical development of honor”, ​​“From the notes of Dr. Krupov”, “Who is to blame”, “Forty thief", "Moscow and Petersburg", "Novgorod and Vladimir", "Edrovo Station", "Interrupted Conversations". Of all these works, amazingly brilliant, both in depth of thought, and in artistry and dignity of form, especially stand out: the story "Forty Thieves", which depicts the terrible situation of the "serf intelligentsia", and the novel "Who is to blame", dedicated to the issue about freedom of feeling family relationships, the position of a woman in marriage. The main idea of ​​the novel is that people who base their well-being solely on the basis of family happiness and feelings, alien to the interests of public and universal, cannot ensure lasting happiness for themselves, and it will always depend on chance in their life.

Of the works written by Herzen abroad, of particular importance are the letters from Avenue Marigny (the first published in Sovremennik, all fourteen under the general title: Letters from France and Italy, ed. 1855), representing a remarkable characterization and analysis of events and moods that worried Europe in 18471852. Here we meet quite negative attitude to the Western European bourgeoisie, its morality and social principles, and the author's ardent faith in the future significance of the fourth estate. A particularly strong impression both in Russia and in Europe was made by G.'s essay: "From the Other Shore", in which G. expresses his complete disappointment with the West and Western civilization the result of that mental upheaval that ended and determined the mental development of G. in 1848 1851. We should also note the letter to Michelet: “The Russian people and socialism” passionate and ardent defense of the Russian people against those attacks and prejudices that he expressed in one Michelet's article. “The Past and Thoughts” is a series of memoirs, partly of an autobiographical nature, but also giving a number of highly artistic paintings, dazzlingly brilliant characteristics, and G.'s observations from what he experienced and saw in Russia and abroad.

See 7 ticket and summaries

Future great writer and the thinker A. I. Herzen was born in the troubled year of 1812. A six-month-old baby even fell into the hands of the French when they searched Noble Nest his family in Moscow. Tales of the war and the whole romantic era of Alexander's reign made an enthusiastic dreamer out of the child, whose only goal was to fight for a better Russia. Growing up, he did not change his ideals.

Childhood and education

AI Herzen was born into the family of a wealthy nobleman Ivan Alekseevich Yakovlev. Interestingly, his wealth was confirmed and famous origin. One of the ancestors of the family was from whom the royal dynasty of the Romanovs also descended.

The mother was unknown German descent And besides, she was only 16 years old. For these reasons, the father did not register the marriage with the girl, and the born son received an artificial surname invented by Ivan Alekseevich. Herzen in German means son of the heart.

This language generally played big role in the life of a young man. Schiller became his favorite writer. So, for example, the play "Robbers" was Herzen's reference book, and her main character Karl Moor is an ideal and an example for a young man. Also the first serious literary experience the future writer can be considered a review-reflection on "Wallenstein", the author of which was also Schiller.

Even as a child, Ivanovich met his colleague Nikolai Ogarev. The children were stunned by the news about in 1825, after which they made a promise to each other to fight for the revolution.

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A utopian-minded young man entered Moscow University, where he got into numerous circles of radical youth. In particular, they supported the events in France in 1830, when Charles X was overthrown as a result.

In 1833, the student defended his dissertation on Copernicus and received the degree of Candidate of Sciences, as well as a silver medal. It seemed that he had a prosperous noble service life ahead of him. However, a year later, A. I. Herzen fell into disgrace and was sent into exile in the provincial Vyatka with the wording "for singing libelous poems." In the barracks of the Krutitsky Monastery, where he was kept during the investigation, the writer finished the story "The German Traveler".

In Vyatka, Herzen got a job in the local office as an interpreter. The life of a small town of ten thousand seemed to him terribly boring after Moscow impressions. Everything changed when in 1837 the exile caught the eye of the heir to the throne, the future Alexander II. He procured for Herzen the relief of the regime and transfer to Vladimir. Then the writer met the poet who had just witnessed the death of Alexander Pushkin.

"Domestic notes" and Westerners

Finally, in 1838, Herzen ended up in Vladimir, where he married Natalya Alexandrovna Zakharyina, and soon received Alexander's first child. Then the writer managed to move to the capital, but he was again exiled to Novgorod for freethinking. But even there he did not stay long, returning to Moscow. During this time, he worked for the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. Also, A. I. Herzen became one of the leaders of the movement of Westerners, agitating for the movement of Russia along the European path of development.

In 1845, the writer published the first chapters of his most famous work, Who is to Blame? Then Herzen decided to emigrate from the country due to the fact that the authorities did not like his views, in particular on the peasant issue. And although there was no persecution, he went to Europe, from where he never returned.

Europe

Very soon, in 1848, a general revolution began in Europe against the old authorities. Herzen Alexander Ivanovich took part in this movement, in particular in the Roman processions. When the revolution began in France, the writer's family moved to Paris. After Herzen took part in a demonstration against the local authorities, agitating for the return of constitutional order, the persecution of its participants began. The publicist fled to Switzerland. When the rebellion subsided, he returned to Nice.

In 1850, a decree was issued in Russia that Herzen fell under "eternal exile." The reason was his journalistic activity in many magazines, where he criticized the Nikolaev authorities. Despite the ban on printing in Russia, Herzen's books and articles were published in various European languages Abroad.

In 1851, the writer's mother and his son Kolya tragically died in a shipwreck. The following May, his wife and newborn child died in childbirth. tragic events prompted him to start his memoirs, which were published only in 1868 under the title "Past and Thoughts". Then London became permanent place residence chosen by Alexander Herzen. "The Past and Thoughts" eventually became a classic of its genre.

"Bell"

In 1853, the Free Russian Printing House appeared in London, founded by Alexander Ivanovich Herzen. Great thinker wanted to create a journalistic publication, the focus of which would be the political and social events of his native country.

Soon Nicholas I died, and Russia lost Crimean War, after which a request for change appeared at home. By this time, for thirty years, no reforms had taken place in the country, and reaction reigned in response to the Decembrist uprising. When friend and colleague Ogarev moved to London, in 1857 Herzen created the Kolokol newspaper, which became a real symbol of the era.

The publication included fresh materials from correspondents, as well as small literary publications. The thickness of the number was 8-10 sheets. At first, a censored version of the newspaper was published in Russia. It was read by Alexander II himself. However, after secret documents about the upcoming peasant reform were published in one of the numbers in 1858, the Bell was banned. Nevertheless, the newspaper managed to get into the country illegally. The peak of success was 1861, when the Manifesto on the emancipation of the peasants was published in Russia.

Last years

After the writer supported the Polish uprising, interest in him was completely undermined. The Bell ceased printing in 1867. Switzerland became the new home where Alexander Herzen moved. Briefly: the rest of his life turned into wanderings and quarrels with like-minded people.

Alexander Herzen died of pneumonia in 1870. "Who is guilty?" and publicistic activity have immortalized his name. AT Soviet time he was recognized as a symbol of the struggle for the revolution against tsarist power. The writer was buried in Nice.

For a long time, Alexander Ivanovich Herzen was one of the most famous figures of the Russian culture XIX century, who participated in the liberation struggle of their time. His name, creativity, political and historical-philosophical views were known to each of his contemporaries in Russia and in the Russian Diaspora. The memory of him and his work was preserved in the Soviet state of the 20th century, the works were quoted and analyzed by the leaders of the era of socialism, and after them the citizens of the USSR studied. In our time, the work of A. I. Herzen is undeservedly forgotten. Paradoxically, being one of the most published authors at the beginning of the 20th century, Herzen became practically unknown to the general reader of the 21st century; scientific library Russia. Meanwhile, researchers of Russian history and literature admit that A. I. Herzen is an outstanding thinker, politician, writer, philosopher and publicist, especially relevant to our time. Without knowledge and understanding of history people XXI centuries will not be able to comprehend the present, without this there is no future. AT Soviet era Political Views Herzen was considered one-sided, his work was subjected to censorship and ideological clichés. Today, when there is an opportunity to look at history objectively, it becomes clear that when proclaiming freedom, Herzen never called for a "senseless and merciless" rebellion, he condemned those who called Russia "to the axe." In addition, being a vivid exposer of the tsarist autocracy (“prison of peoples”), he was the harbinger of a more terrible phenomenon - the Stalinist genocide of peoples. As a talented publicist, journalist, editor and publisher, he proved himself in organizing the uncensored Russian newspaper Kolokol and the almanac Polar Star. Among the authors of Herzen's "The Bell" were prominent figures from Russia and abroad: I. S. Turgenev, E. Tur, N. A. Dobrolyubov, P. V. Annenkov, J. Garibaldi, V. Hugo, J. Mazzini and others. and memoirs of Herzen himself - this is an encyclopedia not only of Russian, but also of European political and cultural life middle 19th century in which he was directly involved. The deepest knowledge of Herzen in history and philosophy allowed him to create his philosophical writings, the most famous of which are Letters on the Study of Nature and Amateurism in Science. Last work– the work is in many ways unique, being practically the first attempt in Russia to build a detailed philosophical concept of the development of science, to determine its place in society and in the spiritual life of a person. His highest artistic literary talent, the intellectual beginning of Herzen's prose was embodied in the stories "Who is to blame?", "Doctor Krupov", "The Magpie-Thief", the main creation of the emigrant years - the memoirs "Past and Thoughts" and put Herzen on a par with the classics of Russian literature XIX century.
All these reasons testify to the relevance and demand for the work of A. I. Herzen in our time. To date, there is not a single collection in which the works of Herzen would be presented with sufficient completeness and which would fully correspond to the modern level of textual criticism.

Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (1812-1870) entered the history of Russian social thought as an outstanding representative of a brilliant galaxy advanced people 1840-1860 as a peculiar and talented publicist, philosopher and sociologist, literary critic and journalist; in the history of Russian literature - as one of the most significant participants in the new literary trend and the initial stage of its development - the "natural school" of the 1840s.

Herzen Alexander Ivanovich (1812-1870) - an outstanding Russian thinker, writer, public figure. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy Moscow landowner I.A. Yakovlev, in whose family he received a good education and upbringing. In 1829 he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University. During the years of study at the university, Herzen and his closest friend and associate N.P. Ogarev managed to rally a circle of student youth around him, where philosophical problems, the socialist ideas of Saint-Simon and Fourier were discussed. In July 1834, shortly after graduating from the university, for his connection with revolutionary movement youth was arrested and deported to Perm, Vyatka, Vladimir. In 1839, upon his return to Moscow, he met and ideologically converged with M.A. Bakunin, V.G. Belinsky, T.N. Granovsky. Soon there was a second exile under police supervision to Novgorod (1841-1842), after which he was allowed to move to Moscow. Here he writes his first fundamental works on philosophy, adjoins the Western direction of the historiosophical searches of the intellectual movement of the 40s. In 1847, Herzen left Russia forever, becoming a witness to revolutionary upheavals in Western Europe. From 1852 he settled in London, where in 1853 he founded the Free Russian Printing House, began to publish the almanac "Polar Star", the newspaper "Bell", periodical"Voices from Russia". It was these publications that became the first uncensored press in our country.

Start literary activity Herzen refers to the period of his first exile (the second half of the 30s). His early works written in the then popular romantic spirit: the main attention was paid to the conflict romantic hero with "an insensitive crowd" and "low reality". In the first works, which were in the form of autobiographical fragments, dramatic scenes, religious moods were noticeable, the abstractness of the lofty ideas of positive characters was felt. However, Herzen's period of romantic enthusiasm did not last long. He later recalled: “My real nature nevertheless prevailed. I was not destined to ascend to the third heaven, I was born a completely earthly person.
New principles artistic reflection reality were illuminated by the writer primarily in Notes of a Young Man (1840) and in the sequel that soon appeared: More from the Notes of a Young Man (1841). We again meet here with the usual opposition of a dreamy young idealist, full of the most noble aspirations, with rough everyday life. What's new in plot development is that inner world the hero does not remain unchanged, as it happened before. Once in the city of Malinov (in this case, Herzen uses his impressions of Vyatka - a place of exile), he begins to understand how much utopia was in his former romantic dreams, how little he knows real life And how difficult it is to change. The hero's romantic beliefs are criticized by the other positive character story - Trenzinsky, calling not to dream, but to act. However, Trenzinsky himself experienced the collapse of his own illusions of utopian socialism, and now, feeling like a failure, he comes to a sober understanding of the obvious power of circumstances.

In "Notes ..." those themes, images, motives, principles of depicting reality are outlined, which became the main ones for Herzen's work in the 40s. The realistic power of the "Notes ..." was highly appreciated by Belinsky, who saw in them the outstanding skill of the young writer: irony, often rising to sarcasm.

By the 1940s, Herzen embarked on the path of revising the foundations of the ideology of the ruling strata with its idealism and began to gradually master the principles of a materialistic worldview, trying to partially apply them to questions social life. From this point of view, he exposed old romantic illusions to himself and his "friendship circle".
All this found expression in the artistic work of Herzen, whose heyday dates back to the 1940s. From the abstract romance of short stories and poems of the 1930s, he moved on to realistic prose. The novel "Who is to blame?" and with the stories adjoining it, he writes a kind of page in Russian literature of the new period of its development.
Idea development Herzen began very early with an outbreak of romantic moods in connection with the defeat of the Decembrists. “The execution of Pestel and his comrades finally awakened the childish dream of my soul,” he later recalled. As a boy of fourteen, he was already able to put before him the most important question: on whose side is he himself, on the side of the executed or executioners. He immediately and firmly resolved it and for the rest of his life became an irreconcilable enemy of landlord and tsarist despotism.
This aroused in him high, romantic feelings and even turned him to secret "political dreams" about the struggle against despotism, in which the young man "proudly recognized himself as a" malefactor "...". And these experiences until the end of the 30s remained the main pathos of his thinking and activity, which only intensified in prison and exile. These feelings were expressed in his "oath on the Sparrow Hills", in his participation in the protests of the students of Moscow University against reactionary teachers, in the secret material support of the arrested Sungurov circle. When Herzen was transferred to Vladimir, his living conditions improved significantly. He could now occasionally visit Moscow and see friends. Herzen takes away his bride, N. A. Zakharyina, from Moscow and marries her. After a long separation, he was visited by Ogarev, who also suffered exile. However, this period was not rich creative achievements. In Vladimir Herzen wrote only two poetic romantic dramas"Licinius" and "William Pen" and one episode ("About Myself") from the conceived large autobiographical story, later not implemented

features of naive romanticism are given to the idealist hero and Herzen in "Who is to blame?". In this story, the significance of which for the literature of the 40s. and further literary development it is difficult to overestimate, Herzen contrasted two heroes of thought, representing, as it were, two types of carriers of modern intellectual development, and "measured" them with each other. Krucifersky is an abstract idealist-dreamer, longing for harmony. conceivable embodiment of it romantic ideal- idyll. The separation of his dreams from reality makes forecasts equally inaccessible to him. further development society and familiarization with the prosaic disharmonious reality. It can exist only in an artificially created reserve of family life, fenced off from social life full of conflicts, which in its real forms, inaccessible to ideal consciousness, embodies the idea of ​​development. Krucifersky's dream of an idyll in the midst of a disharmonious world turns out to be as ephemeral as all his dreams. The consciousness of man, spiritual world they carry all the elements of world disharmony, as well as the guarantees of a possible future harmony. Thus, even between two people in modern society, a relationship of imperturbable idyll cannot develop. So in the characterization of Krucifersky, the theme of the naivety of his idealism arises - he is a “dear ignoramus” with his heart. Beltov is opposed to Krucifersky - a hero embodying the idea of ​​development and disharmony modern society. In the literature of the 40s, so rich in pseudo-Pechorinsky and anti-Pechorinsky figures, Beltov - the only hero, carrying the "Pechorinsky" tradition and embodying it in a high tragic key. Beltov is inherent in Pechorin's "gigantism", he bears the stamp of "chosenness", a reflection of a lofty mission. At the same time, Beltov, like no hero of the 1940s and 1950s, is imbued with skepticism, an agonizing consciousness of his impotence, inextricably linked with the exorbitant significance of the task entrusted to him by historical reality.

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In the USSR, a huge research literature about Herzen. However, it was almost entirely projected on the theme of his revolutionary nature. From the point of view of literary skill, the work of Herzen the writer was studied incomparably less carefully. Meanwhile, this is the author of a very huge and original writing talent.

AT youth he tried his hand at poetry, but failed. Several romantic stories, written in the late 1830s (“Legend”, “Elena”, etc.), also represent a creatively immature test of the pen. Herzen's first publication was the essay "Hoffmann" (1836). But the first published piece of art- the story "Notes of a Young Man" (1840 - 1841). The autobiographical nature of the story is characteristic: in the subtext this work is about oneself, one's own soul. Relying on what he personally experienced clearly made it easier for Herzen to work in the future: it was difficult for him to come up with fiction, the plots of his few stories and the only novel inflexible. Usually Herzen's work is characterized by the fact that, in fact, the author skillfully evades the plot as such. In fact, it is not the plot that is characteristic of it, but one or another of its imitations.

Thus, the story "Doctor Krupov" (1846) is stylized as a study in psychiatry and even has a mystifying subtitle "About mental illness in general and about the epidemic development thereof in particular. The work of Dr. Krupov ”(here the fictional doctor, a character in several of Herzen’s works, proves that people for the most part are mentally ill, because the whole structure of their life is absurd. The story“ The Thieving Magpie ”(1846) sets out real story from the life of the serf actress Aneta, a woman great talent, who was subjected to gross harassment by the landowner and, in the form of protest, started an insulting “romance” for him (Herzen learned this story from the actor M.S. Shchepkin). Finally, in the novel "Who is to blame?" (1846) already contemporary criticism rightly saw "actually not a novel, but a series of biographies ...".

It is interesting that this judgment belongs to V.G. Belinsky, who was a personal friend of Herzen, treating him with the utmost sympathy. In the mouth of Belinsky, the quoted is a statement style features works of Herzen, and not any reproach. He was one of the first to understand that Herzen was not a prose writer-fiction writer by vocation, but a man of creative talent of a special kind: Belinsky clearly felt that his friend Herzen was the ideal natural embodiment of the type of author-writer that he wanted to nurture in natural school. Vigilantly catching the sharp originality of his talent, he considered the main thing in it to be reliance on real fact of life, scientific-cognitive and artistic-journalistic principles (“transmission of the phenomena of reality, “power of thought”, “mind comes first”). For this, Herzen gave grounds for his numerous articles from the cycles "Amateurism in Science" (1843), "Letters on the Study of Nature" (1845-1846), etc.

Herzen himself did not leave definite assessments in relation to himself in the spirit of the "poetry-prose" antithesis. In a letter to T.N. Granovsky on July 9, 1844, he asserts in self-assessment that his nature is “more active than contemplative” and that there is no “deep and constant reflection of poetic natures” in him. However, here Herzen is talking only about the fact that he is by nature a more practical agent (future revolutionary organizer) than an armchair writer. But about the natural-philosophical works of J. W. Goethe, internally close to his own "Letters on the Study of Nature", Herzen responded very definitely: "The poet is not lost in the naturalist, his science is just the poetry of life, realism, with the same pantheistic character and the same depth. Recall, by the way, a similar point: W. Humboldt believed that prose story Goethe "Suffering young Werther No less poetry than his poems.

The author of one best books Alexey Veselovsky (brother of Academician A. N. Veselovsky) wrote about Herzen: come out good, but everything has no consistency, ”he considers one of his insurmountable shortcomings to be a tendency to“ constantly turn off the road, ”and calls“ introductory places his happiness and misfortune ...". What Veselovsky enumerated by Herzen does not in any way remind of the train of thought of a scientist or scientific publicist, but is very similar to the peculiarities of lyrical creativity.

Of course, Herzen's articles, "Doctor Krupov", "The Past and Thoughts", etc., in the genre sense, have little in common with poetry. It's about the nature of the inherent features creative personality, which just determined the position of the author obviously outside the established system of genres. Much later, in silver Age Vyach. Ivanov will understand such authors as "artists who have not found a place for themselves in the arts." It would seem that "an artist who has not found a place for himself in the arts" is a figure that deserves pity. Translating into the language of concepts, this is an artist, by virtue of internal causes unable to create in the existing system of genres and artistic conventions inherent in the chosen role of art (i.e., for example, unable to withstand the principles of plot construction and plot "proportions", the principles of composition and architectonics, heaping image upon image instead of bringing them into a coherent system, generally violating established taste and measure). However, in such creative features, the Silver Age saw a reflection of semantically important attempts at artistic synthesis.

The synthesis of prose and poetry can manifest itself in many different ways. "Prose" story poem, preserving the verse texture, which was mentioned above, is one of the variants of this phenomenon. In the work of Herzen, the synthesis of prose and poetry is presented in the opposite way. Goethe's natural-philosophical works, according to Herzen himself, are as much poetry as his poems. In them, according to him, "every word" is distinguished by "artistic profundity."

The refusal to return to Russia, and then the publication by Herzen, together with Ogarev in exile, of the magazine Polar Star and the newspaper Kolokol, put the writer outlawed in his homeland. At the same time, his authority as a mysterious exile quickly grew within the country to colossal proportions. Many writers of the 1860s went to Herzen abroad as a kind of political "pilgrimage". But having given himself over to practical revolutionary work and writing works of a predominantly accusatory and propagandistic nature, Herzen forever left artistic creativity as such - among his last stories, it is necessary to avenge "Duty first" (1847) and "Injured" (1851). However, in his text of any character, he remains a wonderful literary stylist.

Aleksey Veselovsky rightly wrote that “Herzen’s treasure is his syllable”, noting the “boldness of neologisms, neologisms (in which only Saltykov could compare with him; in France, only Rabelais was like that in a long time) and combinations that shocked the faithful syntax, while they captivate and attract, an extraordinary variety of shades, from elegant, figurative speech to the nervous conciseness of a heap of written sentences, all gave the style an incredible and original power. Turgenev, who bowed before him, declared that “he was one of the Russians who could write like that,” and returned with enthusiasm to this praise: “his language, maddeningly wrong,” he said, “enlightens me: living body!" The reproach of incorrectness expressed by him in letters to Herzen himself was reduced to Gallicisms, grafted from a long life outside of Russia, it can be extended to other, not overseas, daring deviations from accepted norms. In the fullness of its rich composition, this syllable should be the subject of special research.

It is appropriate to add that, due to the one-sided focus of the overwhelming majority of Soviet researchers on Herzen on the social revolutionary aspects of his work, the task of studying the artistic style of Herzen, one of the greatest Russian writers of the 19th century, is scientifically relevant to this day.

A. I. Herzen is one of the classics of artistic and documentary prose, which in the XIX-XX centuries. besides him, they successfully composed LN. Tolstoy (“Childhood Adolescence Youth”), S. T. Aksakov (“Family Chronicle”, “Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson”), VG Korolenko (“The History of My Contemporary”), and A. Bunin (“Arseniev’s Life”) and others major artists He created the largest of the monuments of such prose - monumental work"The Past and Thoughts", in the structure of which a unique ratio of socio-historical and personal, lyrical components was found, was achieved exclusively high level verbal skill. A I Herzen is one of the best Russian artists words XIX in.