American Literature: Elite and Mass. Abstract: History of American Literature

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Alexander Genis: In my opinion, only a foreigner can say what a typical Russian novel is, and I don’t undertake to describe what happens in his mind, because usually they don’t share with me, for fear of offending. Deciphering the DNA of our literature is indeed not easy, starting right with Pushkin, who wrote prose like a European, like Walter Scott. Yes, that's how it was, in essence, if we talk about the plot, but not the execution - Pushkin's is a hundred times better.

With Tolstoy it is not easier. Although War and Peace is considered a national epic, the European aristocracy operates in the book. Napoleon and Kutuzov read French, and it is easier for Pierre to find a common language with an enemy officer than with his men. The count's Russian is couleur locale: Natasha dances the "lady", Platon Karataev beats in the chains of the author's intention.

Another candidate is the primordially Russian Oblomov, but not a novel, but a hero. National here is not a book, but a riddle: why does he not get out of bed? There remains, of course, Dostoevsky, first of all, the Karamazovs. But I have problems with my brothers. Ivan - a scheme of a European, Alyosha - Christian ideal, Dmitry is his reverse, but also a good side (in The Brothers Karamazov, as in the Möbius strip, this is possible). Dostoevsky, which constantly happened with our classics, overdid it and raised universal heroes from Russian heroes, like Gulliver.

In any case, I have not seen any. Father Karamazov is another matter: if not the root, then the stump of the nation. He does not let the novel out of his hands even dead - such is the life force in it, which the Chinese call qi and value in tree growths. Heroes aren't skinny. Temperament twists them into a spiral, as if for overclocking. Especially in Russia, where you can only get away from the power of tyrants with a fool.

In short, the problem of the specifics of Russian classics takes us so far that perhaps it really is better to entrust it to foreigners. Marina Efimova will tell our listeners about what they get.

Marina Efimova: An article by the American writer and publicist Francine Prowse in the Book Review of the New York Times is called "What Made Russian Literature of the 19th Century So Significant?". Probably every Russian-speaking reader has his own answer to this question, but it is extremely interesting to know what remains of great literature to the modern, discerning American reader after it is translated into English. Prose starts with a comparison:

Speaker: “Why do we still read Russian writers of the century before last with unflagging pleasure and admiration? What is their secret? In persuasive power? In directness and honesty? In the accuracy with which they described the most important aspects of human experience? .. Exactly - the most important ones. No dating experience with computer-selected partners; not violent irritation due to minor inconveniences; not indignant at the delay of an order completed a day later. No, they unforgettably described events and feelings of a different rank in their works: birth, death, childhood dramas, first love, marriage, happiness, loneliness, betrayal, poverty, wealth, war and peace.

Marina Efimova: Glancing over the breadth and depth of the themes of the Russian classics, Prowse captures several other features of 19th-century writers: “They represent each person as a whole world,” she writes. “This is probably why all their heroes (although they were born and raised in the same country) are so uniquely individual.” Prowse admits that she wants to "applaud the ability of these writers to convince us that there are forces in human nature, in the human soul, ready to overcome the barriers set by the requirements of society, class and national differences, and even time."

Prowse admires Gogol's wild imagination - so vivid that the creations of his fantasy seem to readers not only quite possible, but even natural - for example, if a person wakes up in the morning and discovers his own nose is missing. The persuasiveness and vividness of Gogol's fantasy, according to Francine Prowse, allows foreigners to fully appreciate Gogol, despite Vladimir Nabokov's warning, which Prowse cites in the article:

Speaker: “Of course, we can bristle at Nabokov’s assertion that “if Gogol is NOT read in Russian, then you can not read him at all.” Nabokov speaks of Gogol's language - fresh, descriptive, rich in humor and unexpected details. And our admiration is further enhanced by Nabokov's explanation of how Gogol avoided the platitudes "inherited from the ancients." From the century “the sky was blue, the sunset was scarlet, the foliage was green. Nabokov explains. “Only Gogol, the first, saw yellow and lilac.”

Marina Efimova: Briefly discussing the giants of Russian classics in a short article, Prowse tries to highlight the traits of their literary talents that impressed her most: no one behaves like them: throwing themselves at each other's feet or telling shocking details of their whole life to the first comer in the pub.

Speaker: "A sad refinement, a supernatural art to reveal the hidden, deep emotions of the men, women and children who inhabit his plays, his novels and stories."

Marina Efimova: About Tolstoy:

Speaker: “The monumentality of the idea and the sharpest insight elevate each episode of Tolstoy’s novels to an epic level – from the ordinary cooking of jam or theft of plums by village girls – to the tragic canvases of the Battle of Borodino in War and Peace or the horse races in Anna Karenina.

Marina Efimova: About Turgenev:

Speaker: "Turgenev's nature becomes the same important character like people. Just like them, it is meticulously described, and just like them, it still remains incomprehensibly mystical.

Marina Efimova: “In addition,” Francine Prowse writes, “I can advise those who are looking for the most complete answer to the question of the mystery of the Russian classics of the 19th century to read Nabokov's Lectures on Russian Literature.

Speaker: “Some aspects of Nabokov's book can be annoying: for example, his aristocratic prejudices, his contempt for the characters in Dostoevsky's novels - these, as he writes, "neurotics and lunatics"; his rejection of almost all Soviet-era literature. (I would like to ask: what about Akhmatova, Platonov, Babel?). But on the other hand, no one has written as insightfully as Nabokov about two of Chekhov's most moving stories: "In the Ravine" and "The Lady with the Dog"; no one has provided more convincing evidence of the brilliant splendor of Anna Karenina. And yet, believe me, reading Russian classics is even better than reading Nabokov's lectures on their works. Read and reread, because their books are even more striking in their beauty and significance every time we return to them. Therefore, having closed the last page of the last book of Russian classics, take the first one again and start reading from the beginning.

Marina Efimova: Did Francine Prowse answer the question she asked in the title of her article - "What makes Russian literature of the 19th century so significant?". In a poetic sense, of course. But there is a more mundane answer. In the 19th century, censorship was atrocious in Russia - state and church, not letting free thought into historical science, philosophy, theology. State and Church have monopolized answers to eternal questions human soul: What is the meaning of life? What is good and what is bad? Perhaps this circumstance partly explains the special concentration of talents in fiction, where censorship was not so impenetrable. And, perhaps, that is why Russian literature of the 19th century was so enriched with historical and philosophical ideas, and God-seeking.

It seems to me (from a long experience of immigration) that many Americans treat fiction as an exclusively cultural attribute. Reading is the lot of the elite. Apparently, therefore, public schools Literature is taught carelessly and illegibly. And for Russians of many generations, Russian fiction was in childhood the main tool for entering into life. Even before our personal, always limited experience, we learned from the invaluable observations of great writers about the complexity of human relationships. We recognized our own vices in their heroes, we learned to catch humor, we even learned the Russian language more from them than from textbooks. The one who, in childhood, laughed at the entry in the Chekhov's "Complaint Book": "Approaching the city, my hat fell off," for the rest of his life he learned the rules for dealing with adverbial phrases. It seems to me that the wisdom and talent of great writers, proven over the centuries, help modern children grow up too - much more worthy and effective than the instructions of school psychologists or the lessons of sexual educational program.

Throughout the history of the United States, European ideas have nourished the spiritual life of the country, receiving a kind of refraction and being enriched by American cultural experience. From the 1830s to the 1920s, America was influenced by Coleridge and Carlyle, Fourier and Owen, Germaine de Stael and Hippolyte Taine, Darwin and Spencer, Tolstoy and Nietzsche, Marx and Dostoyevsky.

A powerful factor influencing American philosophical thought and artistic culture at the beginning of the 20th century. was Russian literature. The idols of the Americans were Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and a little later - Gorky and Chekhov. They were read and propagandized, admired the psychological subtlety of the images they created, the depth of the image of Russian life, learned from them artistic skill.

The wide popularity of Russian literature in America was no accident. Literature of the USA and Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. were at different stages of development. After a protracted - in comparison with Europe - period of romanticism in American literature at the end of the 19th century. a new artistic method was just beginning to enter widely, the highest point of which was the work of Mark Twain and Henry James. The golden age of Russian realistic literature, which opened with the work of Pushkin and Gogol, was nearing its end, and the Silver Age was already on the threshold. The richest artistic heritage of Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevsky was actively mastered by America as it became available in translations.

The rebellion against conventions and various kinds of aesthetic restrictions, the desire to update the literary language, the development of a new artistic method predetermined the unusually great interest of Americans in Russian literature. Mastering the pragmatism of William James and John Dewey, turn-of-the-century Americans felt the need for social and intellectual renewal and were ready to accept and appreciate new ideas and artistic principles. The mood that gripped many writers of that time was expressed by Theodore Dreiser in the article "Changes" (1916): "Do not blindly adhere to any religious doctrine or system state government theory of morality or philosophy of life, but to be ready to discard traditional teachings and find the freedom and desire to accept completely new rules - this is the ideal state of mind "1. In the same year, the young, then unknown Dos Passos remarked:" because the American one keeps us on a starvation diet."2 The writer's too harsh words reflect a certain state of mind - national literature, a feeling of a certain pause in its development, perhaps even decline.

That was the time when a real cult of Russia arose in America. The atmosphere of that time was determined by Henry May: "Wherever you look, everywhere you can see the fruits of the Slavic genius - both new ones and those that have only now become popular. Literary and art criticism was full of Russian names such as Diaghilev, Nijinsky, Stravinsky, Chekhov, Dostoevsky. "Further, the critic quotes from the influential journal Literi Digest for 1913: "Priority in the world of art and literature has now passed to Russia" (2 ; p. 243).

The circumstance that the works of Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and later Gorky and Chekhov were widely translated and printed both in England and in the USA was of great importance for the acquaintance of Americans with Russian literature. The main translator was the Englishwoman Constance Garnet, who accomplished a real feat - translating the collected works of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky into English 3 . In America, Tolstoy's works were translated by Louise Maud, Alina Delano, and Elizabeth Hapgood. The latter carried out translations of Tolstoy's treatise "On Life", his autobiographical trilogy and "Sevastopol Tales", as well as "Anna Karenina" and "War and Peace" (together with Nathan Dole), the last two being from French translation. Louise Mood translated "Resurrection".

The activities of publishing houses contributed to the spread of Russian literature in America. So, in 1915. Alfred Knopf announced the start of the "Russian Project". Deciding to specialize in the production of Russian literature, the publisher explained it simply: "Russian literature, like German music, is the best in the world" (2; p. 291). These words, we note, belong to Yale University professor William Phelps, who prefaced them with a book of essays on Russian writers 4 .

It is important, however, to note that publishing houses did not always dare to print the works of Russian writers without cuts. Thus, Tolstoy's religious treatise "The Kingdom of God is within you" and the novel "Resurrection" were cut. Even such a faithful follower of Tolstoy as Ernest Crosby, who did a lot to popularize him in America, believed that the novel should be shortened a bit, so that "questions of gender in the narrative part were revealed less frankly" 5 .

An important factor in the interaction and mutual influence of Russian and American literature was personal contacts. Drawn by an interest in a country that was undergoing powerful political ferment and revolutionary change, as well as by love and respect for its culture—especially literature—American writers and journalists strove to visit Russia, become eyewitnesses of the events taking place there, meet writers whose authority in America was very high. Among the Americans who visited Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, one can name, in particular, the writers Henry Adams and his brother Brooks Adams. They were mainly interested in the political situation in the country. From their trips they got the impression that the country was on the verge of gigantic upheavals, but they refrained from predicting its future. In an article published in December 1900 in the Atlantic Monthly magazine, Brooks Adams wrote: "What the socialist revolution will bring to Russia is impossible to even imagine. But, most likely, the whole world will feel its consequences" 6 .

Journalists of various political orientations also visited Russia - Albert Rhys Williams, James Creelman, Andrew White, Stephen Bonsl, Leroy Scott, Ernest Crosby, William Walling, John Reed. The articles and books that they wrote upon their return to America shaped their compatriots' perceptions of Russia, social movements, the balance of socio-political forces and, last but not least, its spiritual culture.

The reverse process also took place: Russian writers came to America, got acquainted with the literary life of the United States, and their direct impressions were reflected in travel notes and stories, becoming the historical background of their works. But there are few such examples, the most famous of them is Gorky's trip to the United States, which stirred up public opinion.

Pyotr Kropotkin's lectures on Russian literature, delivered by him in Boston in 1901, must have had a definite, though limited, effect on Americans compared to the influence and spread that his socio-political views had in the United States. In the preface to publication of these lectures, he expressed a very subtle understanding of the literary situation in America and the importance for her of acquaintance with Russian literature: “She has a sincerity and simplicity of expression, which makes her attractive to anyone who is disgusted with artificiality in literature. introduces into the sphere of art - poetry, prose, drama - almost all social and political questions that in Western Europe and America are discussed mainly in journalism and very rarely in literature.

Turgenev became the first Russian writer to receive national recognition in the United States and "open Russia to American readers and writers" (3, p. 123). His influence relates primarily to the literary life of the United States in the second half of the 19th century, but it persisted later. Interest in his work was of great importance for the development of Russian-American literary and cultural ties. It is known that Turgenev read Hamlin Garland and Stephen Crane, Frank Norris and Sherwood Anderson, not to mention Henry James, for whom throughout his career the works of the Russian master remained a model of artistic excellence. Following the "Notes of a Hunter" American writers discovered novels - "Rudin", "Fathers and Sons", "Nov", "Smoke", "Noble Nest".

Sherwood Anderson, who constantly read and re-read Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Gorky, Chekhov, wrote about the deep influence of Russian literature on him, and Turgenev in particular. His first acquaintance with Russian literature took place, according to the writer himself, around 1911, when he read The Hunter's Notes: "I remember how my hands trembled when I read this book. I read it avidly" 8. In a letter to Roger Sergel, he noted something in common that is characteristic of the Russian writers he loved: in Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, he found "a reverent attitude to human life, the absence of this eternal didacticism and self-confidence, so characteristic of most Western writers" (8; p .118).

An interesting piece of evidence of Turgenev's unfading importance to the American reader is an article by John Reid, published in 1919 as a preface to the American edition of Smoke. The penetrating eye of the critic notes the graceful form and laconism of style, bright national features, but, most importantly, the acute social problems of the book.

Giving a general description of Turgenev's work, John Reed credits him primarily with the propaganda orientation of his works. Reed quotes the writer as saying that he swore to defeat his "enemy" - serfdom. The theme of the liberation of the peasants, Reed notes, permeates almost all of Turgenev's work, and this consistent and firm position had a tangible public resonance. The "Hunter's Notes", according to the critic, awakened public opinion and caused numerous protests against serfdom. He repeats a phrase he heard somewhere: "Notes of a hunter" is the Russian "Uncle Tom's Cabin". Turgenev's strength, Reid believes, is that he was able to write about political problems without didacticism, creating truthful pictures. folk life and allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. The main interest for the critic was the image of Russian society - and not only the 60s of the XIX century, "but the whole era up to 1917." 9: Turgenev showed the weakness and lack of will of the Russian intelligentsia (in "Rudin" and "Smoke"), which was carried away by Western liberal ideas, but was unable to accept the revolution and recoiled from it when it happened. According to Reed, Turgenev belonged to "a galaxy of great Russian novelists who followed Gogol." His books constituted "a true chronicle of an era that has irrevocably passed into the past" (9; pp. 145, 146).

Assessing the role of Turgenev in American and English literature at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, MP Alekseev noticed that those writers who tried to find a way out of the contradictions of their time were looking for support in him; he "awakened their critical thought; they learned from Turgenev an intense interest in the truth of life, love for man, hatred of cruelty, hypocrisy and self-interest" 10 .

Indeed, Turgenev, as a master of psychological writing, who knew how to convey with precise, sparing strokes state of mind heroes, the artist, who subtly felt the peculiarities of the Russian character, became an indisputable authority for American writers, from whom they learned writing skills.

At the beginning of the 20th century, however, Turgenev's influence waned somewhat: Americans discovered Tolstoy. There was even a kind of "cult of Tolstoy", the spread of which was greatly facilitated by William Dean Howells. The assessments made by him in the 80s of the 19th century do not undergo significant changes over time, but are confirmed and developed in articles written at the turn of the century: Tolstoy's Philosophy (1897) and Leo Tolstoy (1908). After the death of the writer, the latter was reprinted under the title "What are the reasons for the fame of Tolstoy."

Howells highlights the main feature of Tolstoy's prose - the combination of ethical and aesthetic, writes about the writer's ability to show the merciless truth of life, recognizes the enormous moral power of his preaching of love, tolerance, self-sacrifice. The critic closely connects the ideas of Tolstoy's philosophical and religious treatises with his artistic work, admires such features of Tolstoy's talent as sincerity, simplicity and artlessness, the depth of the artistic study of characters. It is these qualities of Tolstoy that many American writers of the 20th century, following Howells, will note, and see his highest merit in a deep comprehension of life and humanistic pathos. According to Hamlin Garland, another passionate admirer of Tolstoy's talent, it was Howells who did more than any other American to interpret the work of the Russian writer: "He always saw the moralist as an artist" (5, p. 162).

Tolstoy's popularity in America, albeit in very different ways, was promoted by the brothers William and Henry James. G. James's attitude to Tolstoy was formed in the last decades of the 19th century, however, it was most clearly expressed in articles and letters of 1907-1910. He did not share the creative principles of Tolstoy and his artistic method, remaining to the end of his days an adherent of Turgenev, but at the same time he recognized the enormous scale of his talent. Although G. James warned young "authors against following Tolstoy, his recommendations apparently had the opposite effect. Tolstoy's influence on the strength of the impact on the souls of Americans can be likened to the elements. The venerable American writer could not resist him.

Unlike Henry James, the writer's brother, philosopher, psychologist and one of the founders of pragmatism, William James paid tribute to the mighty figure of Tolstoy. He wrote about it in The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), which had an undoubted influence on the literary process in the United States. William James quotes Tolstoy's treatise "Confession", in which he found confirmation of his thoughts regarding the possibility of overcoming a painful split personality. He speaks of a phenomenon that is by no means peculiar only to Americans - the struggle of two principles: base and sublime, ideal and material, sinful and righteous: "The soul of a person is an arena of struggle between two warring principles - man himself recognizes them as natural and ideal"; "we have two lives - natural and spiritual; losing one, we gain another" 11 .

William James seems to echo the words of Tolstoy, who characterized Nekhlyudov at the beginning of the novel Resurrection as follows: “In Nekhlyudov, as in all people, there were two people. One is a spiritual person who seeks only good for himself that would be good for other people, and the other is an animal person who seeks good only for himself and is ready to sacrifice the good of the whole world for this good. In this period<...>this animal man dominated him and completely crushed spiritual man" 12 .

For William James, it is extremely important that Tolstoy managed to overcome despair and disbelief in the meaningfulness of life - a kind of ontological skepticism, which, in his opinion, is evidenced by "Confession". Tolstoy's book served the philosopher to substantiate the position of inner harmony, which can be achieved through gradual (lysis), and not sharp (crisis). It is noteworthy that James turned to Russian literature for positive examples.

In the eighth chapter, entitled "Split Personality and the Path to Wholeness," William James wrote about spiritual crisis Tolstoy and its overcoming with the help of religion, which brought the writer back to life from the abyss of despair. Among the targets of Tolstoy's social criticism, James names "the vulgarity of the world, the cruel imperial policy, the lies of the church, human vanity, crime." state institutions"(11; p. 175). He expressed his admiration for the talent of the great Russian writer metaphorically: "The mighty nature of Tolstoy can be compared with an old oak<...>He rejects luxury, falsehood, greed and cruelty, all the conventions of our civilization, and sees eternal values ​​​​in things more natural and alive.<...>Few can follow his example, for we do not have such natural power. But at least we think that it would be nice to follow in the footsteps of Tolstoy" (11; p. 173).

Henry James with his brother William in Cambridge. Photo. 1905

Tolstoy's influence on American writers of the early 20th century. was deep and multifaceted. Sherwood Anderson, Upton Sinclair, Theodore Dreiser were undoubtedly influenced by his work. Sherwood Anderson studied artistic skill with Tolstoy, which was reflected in his work later, in the late 10s and early 20s of the 20th century. Upton Sinclair, who gained fame at the beginning of the century as the author of the sharply social novels The Jungle (1906), The Capital (1908), The Money Changers (1908), saw in Tolstoy primarily a "socialist writer", a rebel against social injustice. , protector of the disadvantaged. He especially singled out Tolstoy's journalism and the novel "Resurrection", about which he spoke highly: "This book<...>more than any other work, did for the destruction of tsarism "(3, p. 213). Sinclair called Tolstoy the greatest writer in the world, personifying Russian genius and moral strength. Upton Sinclair expressed his admiration for Tolstoy directly, sending him a copy of the just published the novel "The Jungle" Traces of Tolstoy's reading of the book are visible in his article "On the Significance of the Russian Revolution", on which the writer was working at that time (3, p. 161).

The impact of Tolstoy's work on the artistic world of Dreiser can be judged both directly, based on his own confessions, and indirectly, by comparing the worldview of the two writers, the problems and poetics of their works. Dreiser referred to Tolstoy's experience throughout creative life, mentioned him in works of art, journalism, letters. The first works of Tolstoy, which he happened to read while still a student, were the stories "Kreutzer Sonata" and "The Death of Ivan Ilyich", as well as some of Tolstoy's treatises. In Dreiser's early work, Tolstoy's influence is invisibly present in some refracted form: Tolstoy's demand for simplicity and merciless truthfulness in art, expressed in the treatise What is Art, should have impressed the American writer.

The formation of Dreiser in the years of his student youth was influenced by such different writers and philosophers as Tolstoy, Spencer, Darwin, Huxley, Emerson, and later - already in 1908 - Nietzsche. "I will never forget the chapter on the unknowable from Spencer's Fundamentals," he wrote in his autobiographical book, "At Dawn" (Dawn). "It completely amazed me." And here is another confession, very important for understanding Dreiser's worldview. He responded in the following way to the publication of the book "Nietzsche's Philosophy" (1908) in a letter to H. Mencken: "If what you write in the preface conveys the meaning of Nietzsche's philosophy, then I can consider myself his like-minded person (he and myself are hale fellows well met)" 1 4 . In another letter to Mencken (in 1916), he admitted that Hardy, Tolstoy and Balzac had the greatest influence on him (however, he spoke very carefully about the concept of "influence" as applied to himself). "After 1906 or so, I became acquainted with Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Maupassant, Flaubert, Strindberg and Hauptmann, but I cannot say that they influenced me, since I learned them too late" (14; v. 1, p. 215 ). Tolstoy called "Anna Karenina" along with the novels "Madame Bovary" by Flaubert and "Fathers and Sons" by Turgenev, as well as Balzac's story "Father Goriot" he called one of the greatest works of world literature (13; p. 186).

In 1893, Dreiser read Tolstoy's treatise "So what shall we do?" 15, which by that time had already been translated into English. Then he became acquainted with the religious and philosophical teachings of Tolstoy. Almost forty years later, the writer recalled how, together with a college friend, he discussed Tolstoy's theories. He doubted that they could be realized: “After all, it is well known what human nature is and how deep into our consciousness Darwin's thesis about the survival of the fittest has penetrated.<...>Tolstoy in his treatise preaches a return to a simple life and work, which would provide a person with only the bare necessities. He calls not to return evil for evil - this is the ancient doctrine of non-resistance. But how to make people accept Tolstoy's postulate and make them act contrary to their wishes? It is clear that this question is very complex both from the psychological and biological points of view. Neither he nor I could solve this problem" (15; p. 362).

Dreiser was generally hostile to writers, whom he called "moralists" and "preachers" (religionists) (15; p. 543). It is not surprising that this side of Tolstoy's work did not find a response in his soul. Unlike Howells, he did not always "see the artist in the moralist." He appreciated Tolstoy, first of all, as an artist, and not the creator of a religious and philosophical doctrine - their views were too different. He himself testifies to this as follows: “The most precious thing to me was then (in my student years — E. O.) Tolstoy the artist, the author of The Kreutzer Sonata and The Death of Ivan Ilyich”<...>I was shocked and delighted with the vitality of the pictures that were revealed to me in them” (5, p. 555).

Dreiser, by his own admission, sought to learn artistic skills from Balzac and Tolstoy. However, his worldview was based on other principles. At this time, he was strongly influenced by the ideas of social Darwinism, of which Tolstoy was a fierce opponent. In Dreiser's first novel, Sister Kerry (1900), in depicting the struggle for existence, in which the less worthy win, one feels the author's fascination with the doctrines of H. Spencer, but on the whole the book goes far beyond this teaching. It also clearly shows the features of naturalism, and the influence of Tolstoy is almost indistinguishable.

The German scholar Horst-Jürgen Gerick sees in this novel a "stylistic affinity" (Affinitat) artistic manner Tolstoy 16, with which it is difficult to agree. Rather, one can speak of stylistic similarity to the manner of Dreiser's compatriot Jack London. It is no coincidence that some chapters of the novel resemble London's essays, as well as certain places from the book "People of the Abyss", which appeared three years after "Sister Kerry", but in this case it is hardly legitimate to talk about influence (and then about Dreiser's influence on London) Rather, we are talking about typological convergences here.

The moral pathos so characteristic of Tolstoy was alien to Dreiser, about which he spoke unequivocally in a letter to one of his correspondents in January 1919. Regarding Johan Boyer's novel The Great Famine, he wrote: “In my opinion, the novel should not be like religious treatise. Its idea should lie rather in the material than in the spiritual plane. In life, of course, both of these elements are present, but the artist pursues one goal - to show life in the "whole" ("in the round").<...>Boyer is a real artist, although he strives to embody a spiritual message (if, of course, one can call a writer with such a big flaw an artist).

He is similar to Tolstoy in that he seeks to teach<... >His book is like a sermon, and I don't like that. To see this weakness of hers, it suffices to compare it with Saltykov's novel The Golovlevs, Madame Bovary by Flaubert, Cousin Bethta, or Balzac's Father Goriot" (14; v. I, p. 258). By the way, Dreiser highly valued Saltykov-Shchedrin's book "Lord Golovlev" and called its author "the greatest writer of Russia, and perhaps the world" (14; v. Ill, p. 847).

Like Tolstoy, Dreiser strove for merciless truth, but his truthfulness has other aesthetic characteristics than Tolstoy's truthfulness. So, in "Sister Kerry" the inexorable process of personality degradation is shown - the gradual physical degradation of George Hurstwood, who in the life battle "all against all" turned out to be one of the least adapted and died in the abyss of the New York Bowery. Kerry Meiber adapts, but her success in life is accompanied by moral degradation.

A different picture appears before us in "Jenny Gerhardt" (1911). It is possible that the portrayal of the main character of the novel was influenced by the female images from Anna Karenina - Dolly Oblonskaya and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These women, unlike Anna Karenina, are endowed with the gift of self-sacrifice and genuine, not selfish love. Jenny Gerhardt has something in common with these Tolstoyan heroines.

In 1901, Tolstoy, in an interview with the American journalist Andrew White, noted that the literature of the United States was "not on a crest, but in a deep depression between high waves" 17 . If he had had a chance to read Dreiser's novels, he might have softened his assessment.

The theme of art, which first appeared in Dreiser's work in "Sister Carrie" and developed in the novel "Genius" (1915), was partly suggested to the author by Tolstoy's article "What is Art" 18 . She obviously made an impression on Dreiser, although he did not share all of Tolstoy's aesthetic views. In "Sister Carrie" one can hear echoes of words about "the contagiousness of art 19 , which, according to Tolstoy, requires originality, clarity of meaning and sincerity. Dreiser endowed the last of these qualities to Carrie Meeber when she happened to play the only time in an amateur production of a melodrama Augustine Daly "In the light of gas lamps" "Simplicity and artlessness" 20, which so captured the audience - in the eyes of Dreiser, especially valuable qualities. But the writer did not make Carrey a great actress, based on his artistic task: to show two processes in parallel - withering her acting talent and moral degradation.It is not for nothing that her acting in vaudevilles and operettas was not distinguished by either depth or originality, and her fame was artificially inflated.

Although Dreiser did not share many of Tolstoy's beliefs and was skeptical of his teachings on non-resistance to evil by violence, he considered it his duty to defend the writer when, in 1909, Theodore Roosevelt led an anti-Tolstoy campaign in the United States. The former American president published a scathing article in Outlook magazine, in which he called Tolstoy's views "stupid and fantastic", and called some aspects of his teachings (renunciation of property, denial of the state, philosophical anarchism, pacifism and the famous non-resistance to evil by violence) dangerous and even "immoral" 21 . He took as "intervention" in the internal affairs of America the words of a Russian writer who condemned the discriminatory ethnic policy of the American government and the war with Spain.

These ideas were voiced with great force, in particular, in Tolstoy's article "To Politicians" (1903), where he called on Americans - quite in the spirit of Thoreau - to civil disobedience. “The little-known American writer Thoreau,” Tolstoy wrote in 1903, “in his treatise on why a person is obliged to disobey the government, tells how he refused to pay the American government 1 dollar of tax, explaining his refusal by the fact that he does not want his dollar to participate in the affairs of the government, allowing the slavery of Negroes.Isn’t it possible and should feel the same towards his government, not to mention a Russian person, but a citizen of the most advanced state of America with its actions in Cuba, the Philippines, its attitude towards Negroes, the expulsion of the Chinese. .." (19; vol. 35, pp. 208-209).

Theodore Roosevelt was not afraid for nothing. The method proposed by Thoreau and developed by Tolstoy became, as history has shown, one of the ways of expressing civil protest. Apparently, Theodore Dreiser also understood this, although in his younger years, as already noted, he doubted the effectiveness of Tolstoy's ethical teaching. Later, in Thoreau's Living Thoughts (1939), he praised Thoreau as a philosopher and "moral reformer". It can be assumed that his own views on the theory and practice of civil disobedience have undergone some change. Dreiser's defense of Tolstoy from the invectives of Theodore Roosevelt indicates that the contradictions in his assessments of Thoreau and Tolstoy are smoothed out. Two factors could play a certain role in this: Tolstoy's extreme popularity in America and Dreiser's deeper acquaintance with his work.

Attention is drawn to the roll call of voices and ideas in Russian and American literature: Tolstoy saw much in common with US writers of the first half of the 19th century, who were occupied with philosophical and social problems that worried him too; many of the thoughts of Thoreau and Emerson, Harrison and Parker resonated in his soul. They reinforced his own convictions, gave impetus to reflection and search. And vice versa, the thoughts of Tolstoy the philosopher and the humanistic philosophy expressed in his works of art and treatises, which combined individualism and communality and taught people in their own life, which requires daily decisions and actions, to unfailingly follow their convictions and build relationships on the basis of brotherly love, won he has many admirers and followers in America.

Tolstoy's influence also affected American journalism. At the beginning of the century, many of those who came to Russia considered it their duty to visit Yasnaya Polyana and talk with the great writer, which testifies to Tolstoy's great authority in the United States. This interest was prepared both by the wide dissemination of Russian literature in America and by the development of the revolutionary movement in Russia.

In 1903 James Creelman, a correspondent for the New York newspaper The World, visited Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. The interview he took, reprinted in many newspapers, evoked enthusiastic responses from Americans and was perceived as Tolstoy's appeal to the American people: the Russian writer urged Americans to return to the ideals embodied in the works of Thoreau, Emerson, Whittier, Harrison. Creelman, although he did not agree with much of Tolstoy's philosophy, considered him "the greatest of the most truthful people" (5, p. 434).

The well-known American journalist and active participant in the socialist movement William English Walling visited Russia in 1905-1907 as a correspondent for several American newspapers and magazines. His reports, published in the magazines In-Dependent, Outlook, Nation, Colliers Weekly, World Today, were included in the book Message to Russia. The World Significance of the Russian Revolution (1908). It went through several editions and was even translated into Russian and published in Berlin.

Walling's book is a valuable eyewitness account, a document that reflects the atmosphere of those turbulent years, the struggle of ideas, the confrontation of various political and social forces. The American journalist met with statesmen, politicians, writers, talked with Tolstoy, Gorky, Korolenko, whom he visited during a trip to the Poltava province. He spoke respectfully of Tolstoy's social preaching, Gorky's rebellious spirit, spoke of Korolenko's political views, whom he called "Russia's best publicist."

The materials for the book were not only personal impressions and conversations. Walling addressed the Russians periodicals published abroad, such as Correspondent Russe or the Socialist-Revolutionary monthly Russian Tribune, published in Paris, used articles by American journalists Albert Edwards and Harold Williams in Colliers Weekly and Harpers Weekly, and many other sources. Based on rich historical material, Walling's book is written by a talented pen and includes descriptions of places and events in the genre of a travel diary, sketches of characters, publicistically vivid and emotionally colored appeals to the reader, philosophical reflections, excerpts from letters, official documents, periodicals.

For Walling, Russia in 1905-1907 is the only country in the world that is experiencing spiritual ferment, a country that is ahead of others not only in social thought and ideals, but also in many areas of cultural life. "Under the influence of severe trials and great suffering, the Russian people have become accustomed to a deeper and more intense spiritual life, and therefore his new word, his message to the world should deeply affect all countries" 24 . The time has come, Walling wrote in the preface, "to assess the significance of the first act of the great revolutionary drama. The second act has not yet begun, and its end is far ahead" (23; p. XII). These words echo Walling's conversation with Tolstoy. They have preserved for us one more evidence that the great Russian writer could penetrate into the innermost essence of events, predict the course of history.

The figure of Tolstoy occupies a special place in the book. The author considered him a successor to the revolutionary ideas of Rousseau. “Tolstoy is now the greatest opponent of capitalism in Russia and in the whole world,” Walling wrote, and his social program, although it seems impractical, is in fact “the greatest threat to the existence of tsarism” (23; p. 434). The writer valued Tolstoy as a defender of the oppressed peasantry, noted the revealing power of his journalism.

In a conversation with Tolstoy, whom Walling visited at Yasnaya Polyana on May 12, 1906 (shortly after the convocation of the First Duma), he admitted that he was going to live in Russia for several years to observe the course of the revolution. To this Tolstoy replied that he would have to live in Russia for fifty years. "The Russian Revolution is the greatest drama, which consists of several acts. This Duma is not even the first act, but only the first scene of the first act, and, as always happens with the first scenes, it is a little comical" (23; p. 7) . In the 1917 edition of the book, Walling developed the image found by Tolstoy: "The second act will undoubtedly be played at the end or shortly before the end of the present war with Germany and Austria" 25 . Walling's words proved to be prophetic.

During the meeting of the two writers, the discussion turned to the methods of social protest, the possibility and justification of violence. According to Walling, Tolstoy remarked that in this respect he "consistently agreed with the well-known anarchists—Thoreau, Bakunin, Kropotkin, Proudhon, and others" (23; p. 449). The American writer obviously understood the limitations of Tolstoy's position on this issue. However, like Korolenko, he did not speak out against Tolstoy's doctrine of non-resistance to evil by violence, for he saw how much evil retaliatory violence brings in a village where a real civil war was going on. On the other hand, he accurately assessed the historical futility of terrorism, individual acts of revenge, which were carried out by the "Combat Organization" of the Socialist-Revolutionaries.

Walling's book contains not only an analysis of the revolutionary situation in Russia, but also reflections on the development of philosophical thought in Europe and America. The rejection of the ideas of social Darwinism forced Walling to look for opposite phenomena in Russian culture and philosophy. And he found them in Tolstoy's teachings, 26 in which he was attracted by the preaching of spirituality and moral perfection, nonconformism and the rejection of violence. Under the influence of a conversation with the writer, he formulates his vision of the ways of social progress as follows: “We must stop opposing social progress to personal improvement, stop trying to uphold principles with the help of force. We must, together with him (Tolstoy. - E.O.) actions of non-resistance to evil!" (23; p. 449) At the same time, Walling emphasizes, Tolstoy understands nonviolence as active resistance to evil.

Largely due to his acquaintance with the work and personality of Tolstoy, Walling came to the conclusion about the leading role of Russia in the field of spiritual life. For him, "light from the East" (Lux Orientalis) came precisely from Russia. By the way, Walling's stay in Russia - together with his wife, Anna Strunskaya, and her sister, Roza Strunskaya - had other consequences for the expansion of literary contacts between the two countries. Anna Strunskaya presented Tolstoy with the second edition of the book "Letters of Love" (Letters of Kempton-Weiss), written by her together with Jack London in 1902. Roza Strunskaya translated into English excerpts from Tolstoy's diaries, as well as Gorky's book of religious quest "Confession" 27 .

Walling's views and his Russian impressions could not help but influence Jack London, who knew him closely through Anna Strunskaya. It was no coincidence that he chose Walling as the prototype of the hero from the unfinished novel The Murder Bureau (1911), the plot of which is indirectly connected with Russian events. The main conflict of the novel is the clash of two ideologies: the life philosophy of the head of the Murder Bureau, Ivan Dragomilov, and the socialist Winter Hall, a staunch opponent of terror, carried out by an "initiative personality." Hall was based on William Walling. This is evidenced not only by the portrait resemblance, but also by a number of characteristic details. London calls his hero a "millionaire socialist", namely these words were used in the American press in relation to Walling, the grandson of a prominent politician and heir to a large fortune.

Like Walling, Winter Hall is a brilliant journalist, author of many articles and books. He spent a year in Russia, where he witnessed the events of 1905, studied the tactics of the revolutionaries in the fight against the autocracy. He came to the conclusion that the time of the "rider on horseback" had passed. In an ideological dispute with Dragomilov, Hall wins. He proves to his opponent that the activities of the Murder Bureau are antisocial or, as he said, "socially inappropriate." (Interestingly, in a conversation with Walling, Boris Savinkov characterized the actions of Russian terrorists with similar words.) Having admitted defeat, Dragomilov accepts an order from Hall to destroy himself. As a result, having eliminated all members of the organization, he himself perishes. Hall and Dragomilov's daughter, Grunya, remain to live, demonstrating the triumph of the principles of "humane socialism", devoid of any shade of Nietzscheanism, the principles of which Dragomilov professed.

Walling's views (and possibly Azef's case, about which he could get information from the press or from acquaintances) influenced London's assessment of the methods of Russian revolutionaries. The evolution in his views on the problem of violence is obvious: if in the essay "Revolution" he welcomed the explosion of Sozonov's bomb, then in the novel "The Murder Bureau" he unequivocally condemned the Socialist-Revolutionary tactics of terror.

Tolstoy's influence artistic creativity and social views - both direct and indirect (as evidenced, in particular, by the case described above) - became, at the beginning of the 20th century, perhaps the most significant part of Russian-American literary ties. IN early-century the first attempt was made to put Tolstoy on stage. The choice fell on "Resurrection" 29. The staging of the novel had been going on for several years in Paris, at the Odeon theater. The American premiere took place in New York in February 1903. According to most critics, the performance was unsuccessful because it did not convey the essence of Tolstoy's novel. However, he gave impetus to critical discussions about the writer's work. In one of the reviews, a theater columnist for the Evening Post wrote about Resurrection: “The book contains a lot of fantastic and utopian, which will remain so until a radical transformation of all mankind takes place. But its value does not lie in savoring vice, not in a scrupulous description of poverty and moral decline, but in an analysis of the causes that gave rise to them, in the psychological insight of the author, in a fiery philanthropic spirit that permeates the book, in a deep study of national life and customs, in an ardent desire to protect human interests "(29. p. 194).

Interesting is the testimony of Ernest Crosby, who, in a letter to Tolstoy, mentioned the play he had seen by the American playwright (whose name he does not name) "Lea Kleshma", written under the influence of the novel. The main idea of ​​the play, according to Crosby, is that even in the most hardened criminal there is a spark of good (5; p. 398). In addition to Resurrection, some time later, The Power of Darkness (Guild Theatre, 1920), The Living Corpse (Plymouth Theatre, 1918) were staged on the New York stage, and Anna Karenina was staged ( theater "Herald", 1907) 30 .

An anonymous critic from the Evening Post pointed out quite accurately the reasons for Tolstoy's colossal influence on the American consciousness at the beginning of the century. It was a time when Americans yearned not only for the truth brought to light by the muckrakers, but also for a different kind of truth, in the frame of a utopian doctrine built on the foundation of an optimistic worldview like that which fueled the work of the transcendentalists. The Puritan ideals that shaped the American character remained influential in the 19th and 20th centuries, changing under the influence of changes in social and spiritual life. It is no coincidence that the preaching pathos of the author of "Resurrection" found such a lively response in the souls of many Americans.

Yet Tolstoy influenced American writers in different ways. He was perceived and evaluated, in accordance with the peculiarities of the worldview, creative attitudes, and temperament. Some—there were a minority of them (Henry James and Theodore Roosevelt were among them)—although they recognized Tolstoy's artistic talent, they did not share his belief in the "religious principle of conscience," and his teaching, at best, left them indifferent. They also rejected certain provisions of Tolstoy's aesthetics, which demanded a person who was irreconcilable to evil, sensitive to the pain and suffering of a person, calling him to the spiritual self-improvement of art; they were disgusted by the preaching pathos of his later stories, and the recommendations in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount seemed beautiful-hearted and too lofty to follow in life.

Others - they were in the majority - on the contrary, perceived Tolstoy's work as a kind of unity of the ethical and aesthetic (Howells said this best), admired the writer's artistic innovation, his deep democratism and the scale of social criticism. It is no coincidence that among those who were influenced by Tolstoy were socialists and radicals (Upton Sinclair, William Walling, Michael Gold31), thinkers and philosophers (in particular, William James), writers who sought to overcome the "tradition of decency" still palpable in literature. and reflect the merciless truth of life (Jack London, part naturalists).

The next step in introducing America to Russian literature was acquaintance with the work of Dostoevsky. Its beginning dates back to the last decade of the 19th century. As early as 1889, after reading Crime and Punishment, Howells urged writers to learn from Dostoevsky (later, however, he changed his mind). However, the recognition of Dostoevsky's genius did not come immediately. Many of the American writers of the late 19th century—Henry James, Stephen Crane, Hamlin Garland, Frank Norris—did not accept it, mainly for aesthetic reasons. Henry James spoke of his lack of compositional unity, saw a serious flaw in what he called "disregard for style", "looseness" and "wastefulness" 33 .

In the 10-20s of the XX century. the peculiar cult of Tolstoy began to gradually give way to the passion for Dostoevsky. This was facilitated by the publication of the collected works of the writer in the translation of Constance Garnet. No less important is the circumstance that, under the influence of the events of the First World War, the public consciousness was prepared for the perception of the tragic world of Dostoevsky. Its popularity in the late 10s coincided with a turn in the artistic consciousness and a change in the philosophical orientation of American prose writers, which was later reflected in the work of the Jazz Age writers, in the poetics of Dos Passos and Faulkner. The first to notice this, perhaps, was Randolph Bourne. In 1917, in an article about Dostoevsky's work in the journal Diel, he wrote about the novelty of Dostoevsky's artistic method, which he saw in showing the depths of the human psyche, painful passions, "sinister and grotesque quirks of human thinking." It is no coincidence that he sharply spoke out against classifying Dostoevsky's novels as "unhealthy, pathological, harmful" literature.

The author of the article determined exactly what role Dostoevsky was to play in American literature and life: he was necessary to expand the artistic horizons of his compatriots; they needed to grow up, "free themselves from the pomposity and prejudice of ideas about human psychology"(34; p. 266). It was necessary to shake the established principles of Victorian morality, enshrined in literature, to destroy aesthetic taboos. Only a great talent, an artist of extraordinary strength and a special vision of life, could do this. He considered Dostoevsky such an artist. Analyzing his originality poetics, Born emphasizes the writer's artistic innovation, such a quality as the artist's immanence, when it seems that the author does not move away from his characters, but seems to merge with them.In "Double" and "Possessed" this involvement is brought to the limit. The critic expressed his idea as follows: "The work seems to tell itself" (34, p. 267).The significance of Dostoevsky, according to Born, was that he helped writers change aesthetic guidelines, and critics - to justify the need to more boldly reflect the complexity peace.

Among those who admired Dostoevsky's talent were Dos Passo, Floyd Dell, Sherwood Anderson. Dos Passos read and reread Crime and Punishment in the mid-10s. Noting the decline of Turgenev's popularity during these years, he spoke of special meaning Dostoevsky's poetics, his ability to make the reader "totally live this novel" (3, p. 250).

Around the same time, Floyd Dell explained the reasons for Dostoevsky's extraordinary popularity in an article on his work published in 1915 in the New Review magazine: gave us a new understanding of the truth" (3, p. 249). In another article that appeared in 1916 in the journal Massiz, he noted that the great Russian writers Tolstoy, Turgenev and Dostoyevsky had changed the whole direction of literature in English.

Sherwood Anderson repeatedly wrote and spoke about the influence of Russian literature on him. He became acquainted with the works of Dostoevsky in the early 1910s, when he had already published his first novel, but had not yet created the famous cycle of stories Winesburg, Ohio (1919). Anderson called Dostoevsky the only writer before whom he was "ready to kneel" (8; p. 70). In all literature, he wrote, there is nothing equal to The Brothers Karamazov. He also highly appreciated other works of Dostoevsky: "Demons", "The Idiot", "Notes from the House of the Dead".

The influence of Dostoevsky on the formation of Anderson as an artist can already be judged from the first collection of stories, which was distinguished by the novelty of the subject and courage in showing the human psyche. Anderson managed to breathe new life into the American genre of the short story, which was experiencing a serious crisis at that time. He went against the established - and almost exhausted - tradition and refused to use exotic backgrounds, action-packed plots, spectacular or comforting endings in stories. In the "simple stories" that made up the collection Winesburg, Ohio, he showed the life of a provincial town with its small joys, base passions and deeply hidden tragedies. Sherwood Anderson expanded the scope of the story to include depictions of irrational impulses, oddities of character, feelings of compassion and humility. The psychological depth of the short stories distinguished him from other American writers of that time, and it was achieved not without the influence of Dostoevsky.

The statements of many US writers, and most importantly, their works, confirm the correctness of Randolph Bourne's judgment that Dostoevsky became a measure for determining the aesthetic and moral maturity of Americans, their ability to perceive unpleasant truths about themselves and about human nature in general.

At the beginning of the XX century. America met another Russian writer, first through his works, and then through performances before an American audience - in Philadelphia and Providence, Boston and New York. We are talking about M. Gorky. In 1901, a translation of his story "Foma Gordeev" was published in America. Jack London immediately responded to the publication, writing a review article that was published in the November issue of the San Francisco Impressions magazine. In addition to the story, at the beginning of the century, a collection of short stories "Twenty-six and One" and the novel "Mother", which Gorky wrote in America in the summer of 1906, were published in the USA at the beginning of the century (it was published in Appleton Magazine in 1907). Later, in the early 1910s, the play "At the Bottom" was translated and printed, and in 1919 it was staged on the American stage.

The artistic world of Gorky was a real shock, an aesthetic discovery for American readers. His works have received critical acclaim. In 1917, Randolph Bourne published an article in the New Republic magazine "In the World of Maxim Gorky", in which he evaluated the autobiographical books of the writer "Childhood" and "In People". Their main advantage, according to the critic, is the truth about the unbearable "abominations of life." The sensitive analytical view of the critic caught the main thing in his books: the author's ability to clothe in an artistic form the thought of the ability of a Russian person to resist evil. He is impressed by Gorky's optimism, his indestructible hope, thirst for life, love for people, "fortitude of the soul." The critic considered Gorky's great merit to be that he managed "to achieve a balance between the realism of the depiction and the sympathy of the artist" (34; pp. 68, 269).

Russian experience, captured in the books "Childhood" and "In People", helped Randolph Bourne to substantiate his own aesthetic principles: preference for "moral", responsible art over art far from the life of the people. Gorky's example was an argument for him in a dispute with American writers, whose work, in his words, "takes a person exclusively into the realm of fantasy and thus reconciles him with the existing world." Gorky's strength lies in the fact that his works "are marked not by escapism and detachment from reality, but, on the contrary, by close connection with it and its deep comprehension" (34, p. 70). The secret of the Russian writer's talent was seen by Born in Gorky's deep understanding of people's life, the merciless truth of the image and deep optimism, which - it is quite obvious - appealed to American critics. It is not for nothing that he quotes words from the first part of the Gorky trilogy that he especially liked: “Our life is not only amazing because it contains such a fruitful and fat layer of all bestial rubbish, but because bright, healthy and creative nevertheless victoriously sprouts through this layer. ... arousing an unshakable hope for our rebirth to a light, human life" (34; p. 268). The critic gave Gorky an important place in the history of literature, as evidenced by his high appreciation of the writer's autobiographical books. He called the trilogy one of the greatest literary biographies.

Gorky was perceived by many in America as a successor to the artistic traditions of Tolstoy, a spokesman for revolutionary sentiments in Russia. So, in particular, treated the writer Jack London. His review of "Foma Gordeev" deserves to be told about it in more detail.

For the American writer, Gorky is "genuinely Russian" in his perception and understanding of life. London, familiar with the work of Turgenev and Tolstoy (he read The Nest of Nobles and Sevastopol Tales), had great respect for Russian literature, appreciated the in-depth "introspection of Russians", the passion of their social protest. He used the review of Gorky's story not only to express his own sympathies, but also for literary controversy directed against the authors of entertaining reading, sentimental and far from life novels (light and airy romances). “From his clenched mighty fist come not elegant literary trinkets, pleasant, delightful and deceitful, but living truth - yes, heavy, rude and repulsive, but the truth” (34, p. 209).

Foma Gordeev symbolizes, in the eyes of London, the protest of a strong man, but broken by the environment, who painfully thinks about the meaning of life - and does not find it. "... Spinning in a frenzied whirlpool of life, circling in the dance of death, blindly chasing something nameless, vague, in search of a magical formula, the essence of things, the hidden meaning - a spark of light in pitch darkness, in a word, a reasonable justification for life, Foma Gordeev goes to madness and death "(34; p. 211). He was defeated in the struggle of life because he thought about the meaning of life and lost to successful merchants who "sing a hymn to strength", proclaim freedom unrestricted, ruthless competition.

It is noteworthy that the tone of London's article differs from that which colored other speeches of the writer of those years: from the article about Kipling written in the same 1901 "These bones will rise again" and a number of journalistic essays in which competition and the struggle for existence are presented ( quite in the spirit of William Sumner) as a condition for the survival of the strongest and fittest individuals and races.

Undoubtedly, the writer was greatly impressed by the very figure of Gorky, in whose fate he saw a resemblance to his own fate. He noted and commented on the autobiographical nature of the story as follows: unlike his hero, the author found the meaning of life and found hope. Gorky's example obviously strengthened London's hope that it is possible to assert goodness both in life and in creativity. London highly appreciated Gorky's novel as a "healing book" that awakens the dormant conscience of people and can involve them in the "struggle for humanity" (34; p. 212). Jack London was, of course, biased in his assessments. His perception was left a certain imprint by his own philosophy of life and adherence to the artistic method, marked by strong features of naturalism. Gorky's realism seemed to him more effective than Tolstoy's artistic method, and Turgenev's realism generally seemed "tedious", if not "boring". Not sharing the philosophy of Tolstoy, London, of course, could not appreciate the depth of his artistic creations, but this did not prevent him from considering Tolstoy a great writer. London ends the article with high praise for Gorky, calling him a follower of Tolstoy and Turgenev: "The mantle from their shoulders has fallen on his young shoulders, and he promises to wear it with true grandeur" (34; p. 212).

Gorky's story received favorable reviews in America, and one of them, written by Abraham Kahan, was published in the Bookman magazine in 1902 and was called Tolstoy's Robe (6; p. 158). Judging by the title, London's article did not go unnoticed.

Howells also spoke highly of Gorky's artistic method. In one of his critical essays in 1902, he called his realism "stormy and visual to the point of tangibility" 35 . in the same year, the Diel magazine spoke of Gorky's stories with great praise. Later, Van Wyck Brooks wrote in the same journal (v. LXII, 1917; at that time, his editors included famous writers and philosophers - Torsten Veblen and John Dewey): "America and Russia are in many ways opposite: Russia is the richest of countries in the spiritual In respect, America is the poorest; socially, Russia is the poorest country, and America is the richest" (2, p. 243). These words are reminiscent of the conclusion made by William Walling after his stay in Russia in 1905-1907, where he met with Russian writers, publicists and cultural figures.

Gorky revealed to the reader what the world of the "bottom" looked like. His tramps were perceived as new characters in literature, although they had an American counterpart - tramps (hobo), described by Jack London. According to the American researcher Ivar Spektor, Gorky "was the first to show the world of vagabonds, and this is his main contribution to Russian literature" 36 . But the Americans first saw the image of the social bottom, of course, not in Gorky, but in Dostoevsky. In an effort to better express their literary preferences, critics were not always objective. The very fact of such tendentiousness can be partly explained by the deep impression of reading new works of Russian literature.

Gorky's play "At the Bottom" was highly acclaimed by critics. The theater columnist for the New York Sun, James Hueneker, in an essay on this play (he had seen it staged in a Berlin theater), noted its stunning truthfulness and complete lack of theatricality. Interestingly, he compared her mise-en-scenes with the paintings of the little Dutchmen Teniers and Ostade 37 . "Is it possible to show deeper the character of a person who has lost his place in society? Gorky's play, although it sometimes causes a feeling of disgust, awakens in us pity and horror<...>Compared with the vulgar little plays made in Paris, which come to America every year, this drama of social outcasts contains a moral lesson" (37; p. 283).

Describing the tastes of the American audience, which demanded entertainment, Hueneker expressed the idea that Gorky's play would not be successful in America and might even bring persecution of the author. The critic's fears were not justified. The play was staged in 1919 by Arthur Hopkins, although this great success, as in Germany, did not (30; pp. 299-300).

In his book on Russian theater in America, Oliver Sayler writes that before 1918, Russian plays were rarely staged on the American stage. In addition to the already mentioned dramatizations of two novels and plays by L. N. Tolstoy, he talks about the productions of the historical trilogy of A. K. Tolstoy (the New York theater "Knickerbocker"), Gogol's "Inspector General", Leonid Andreev's plays "Days of Our Life" and "Anatem ". He also mentions the unsuccessful production of Chekhov's The Seagull in 1916 (30; pp. 299-305).

Ivar Spektor, who evaluated The Lower Depths already in the 1940s, interpreted the play in many ways differently from Huenecker. Gorky's heroes, he wrote, are spiritually richer than Chekhov's, "they regard the poverty in which they find themselves as a condition for freedom." The author, in his words, "discovered a whole world in the world of the bottom" (36; p. 245).

Gorky's popularity in America at the beginning of the 20th century. can be explained both by interest in Russia, its culture and the revolutionary movement that swept the country, and by the wide response in the press to his works. When Gorky arrived in America in April 1906, a warm welcome was prepared for him. According to William Phelps (4; pp. 219-220), at a meeting dedicated to the creation of a fund to help the Russian revolution, where Gorky was present, Mark Twain made a short speech. “With all my heart,” he said, “I sympathize with the movement for the liberation of the country that has unfolded in Russia. I am sure that it will be crowned with success. Any such movement deserves approval and the most serious and unanimous assistance from our side ...” 38

However, the very next day a scandal broke out that prevented Howells (and not only him) from personally welcoming the Russian writer to American soil. The fact is that they did not want to place Gorky in hotels with M.F. Andreeva. The campaign against him in the press was launched by the World newspaper, the same newspaper that had published an interview with Tolstoy three years earlier. There were demands to send Gorky out of America. He himself wrote to D. B. Krasin in April 1906 about this: “The World newspaper published an article in which it proved that, firstly, I was a bigamist, and secondly, an anarchist. I printed a portrait of my first wife with children, abandoned by me to the mercy of fate and dying of hunger. The fact is shameful. Everyone shied away from me. Kicked out of three hotels. I settled in with an American writer and waited - what will happen? 39

The incident with Gorky caused a storm of indignation in Russia 40 . A large group of cultural figures, among whom were Mamin-Sibiryak, Nemirovich-Danchenko, and Sologub, came out with a letter of protest, published in the newspaper Rannye Utro. Such a different reaction in America and Russia is by no means explained by political considerations: the American press was dominated by the concept of "decency" (a modification of rigoristic puritan morality), in Russia there was a much greater freedom of belief. It also helps to understand the atmosphere of that time in America that even Mark Twain - despite his free-thinking - refused further meetings with the writer. Later, Howells remarked about this: "He (Gorky. - E.O.), of course, is a simple person and a great writer, but you can’t do such things!" (6; p. 160) Several years later, this episode was also recalled by Upton Sinclair, who did not forgive Howells and Twain for "turning away" from Gorky (9; p. 184).

After returning to Russia, Gorky continued to correspond with his American colleagues. He met John Reed, A.R. Williams, and in the late 1920s, Theodore Dreiser. The latter noted that much in the work of the Russian writer was in tune with his own worldview. He attributed the works of Gorky, permeated with humanistic pathos, to literature that awakens and directs human thought.

In America, where in the 10s of the 20th century, according to Floyd Dell, a certain cultural famine was felt, the influence of Russian literature was extremely beneficial. In addition to Turgenev, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Gorky, Americans discovered Chekhov, whose stories, and later plays (already in the 90s of the 19th century) began to appear here in translation.

Chekhov was perceived in America and England as a writer who achieved an amazing harmony of life and art, form and content. His unique handwriting and subtle psychologism were highly appreciated not only by realist writers of the beginning of the century. They found a response in the hearts of modernist writers who were looking for new opportunities for artistic writing and new aesthetic approaches to reality. In Chekhov they found their idol. The charm of Chekhov's prose was able to be assessed as something completely new by American writers, who had already managed to feel the brilliant power of Tolstoy, the lyricism and sad poetry of Turgenev's prose, and feel the freshness of Gorky's writing style. Before them appeared an unfamiliar artistic world, which at that time, perhaps, had no equal in American literature.

Enthusiastic reviews of Chekhov's work are contained in Dreiser's diaries; he attributed his plays to the highest achievements of literature (14; v. 1, p. 118). Sherwood Anderson spoke about spiritual kinship with the writer. Creating a new type of plotless psychological novel for American literature, he relied on the experience of Russian masters, in particular the experience of Chekhov the novelist.

There is an opinion that the American short story in the 10s of the XX century. began to lose some characteristic features and began to "look like a Russian", and this happened thanks to the influence of Chekhov (6; p. 191). The fact that American writers felt the need to update the artistic language of short stories and turned to Russian literature in search of examples is confirmed by the words of Sherwood Anderson. In a letter to the translator of his works, Pyotr Okhrimenko, in 1923, he noted: “We have a bad tradition in America that we borrowed from the British and French: we are used to looking for an entertaining plot in the stories published in our magazines, all sorts of cunning tricks (trickery and juggling). As a result, human life recedes into the background, becomes unimportant; the plot does not grow out of the natural drama of life generated by the complex interweaving of human relations. In you, in Russian literature, you feel the beating of life in every page" (8; p. 93).

Although the real acquaintance with Chekhov took place after the First World War, when the collected works of the writer in 13 volumes (1916-1922) in translations by Constance Garnet began to appear, the prerequisites for Chekhov's wide influence on American writers in the 30s and 40s were laid precisely at the beginning of the century .

US literature borrowed from Russian those features that had not yet been sufficiently developed on American soil. In the first two decades of the 20th century there were no artists here who could show with such frankness the painful movements of the soul and the destructive nature of passions as Dostoevsky; there was no talent on such a cosmic scale as Tolstoy, who can access a psychologically subtle and accurate analysis of the dialectics of the human soul and at the same time a passionate social protest in conjunction with a program of moral improvement; there was no writer who would create exquisite prose, reflecting at the same time a deep knowledge of the life of the people, as Turgenev did. In America, the legacy of Puritanism, with its many taboos, was still affecting; the legacy of the enlighteners and transcendentalists, who idealized human nature; the “tradition of decency”, which sharply narrowed the horizons of artistic knowledge, did not completely disappear.

Russian literature - from Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to Chekhov and Gorky - was the force that, in the difficult period of the development of American literature at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, gave it new impulses, had a powerful influence on the creative attitudes of its writers. Turning to Russian literature helped them open up new paths in art, affirm humanistic ideals, and expand the boundaries of artistic knowledge.

NOTES

1 Cited. by: Aaron D. Writers on the Left. Oxford & N. Y., Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 9.

2 Quot. by: May, Henry. The End of American Innocence. N.Y., Knopf, 1959, p. 243.

3 For more details on the translations of Russian writers into English, see: Niko-lyukin A. N. Interrelationships between the literatures of Russia and the USA. M., Nauka, 1987, p. 77-82, 159-168,238-240.

4 Phelps W. Essays on Russian Novels. N. Y., 1917, p. VII.

5 Literary heritage, v. 75. In 2 books. Tolstoy and the foreign world, book. 1. M., Nauka, 1965, p. 396.

6 Brewster D. East-West Passage. A Study in Literary Relationships. London, Allen and Unwin, 1954, p. 135.

7 Kropotkin P. Russian Literature. London, N. Y., McClure, 1905, p. v.

8 Anderson Sh. letters. Selected and ed. by H. M. Jones. Boston. Little and Brown, 1953, p. 118.

9 US Writers on Literature. M., Progress, 1974, p. 145.

10 Literary heritage, v. 76. M., Nauka, 1967, p. 506.

11 James W. The Varieties of Religious Experience. N.Y., Vintage Books, 1990, pp. 159, 155.

12 Tolstoy L.N. Sobr. op. in 12 vols., v. 11. M., 1959, p. 60.

13 Dreiser, Theodore. A Selection of Uncollected Prose. Ed. by Donald Pizer. Detroit, Wayne State Univ. Press, 1977, p. 185.

14 Dreiser, Theodore. letters. Philadelphia, 1959, v. 1, p. 97.

15 Dreiser, Th. Dawn. N.Y., 1965, p. 362.

16 Gerigk, Horst-Jurgen. Die Russen in America. Dostojewskij, Tolstoj, Turgenjew und Tschechov in ihrer Bedeutung fur die Literatur der USA. Hurtgenwald, Guido Pressler Verlag, 1995, s. 453.

17 E. White. Walks and conversations with Tolstoy // Foreign Literature, 1978, No. 8, p. 227.

18 H.-Yu. write about it. Gerick (16; s. 451-452) and Stephen Brennan (Brennan S. "Sister Carrie" and the Tolstoyan Artist // Research Studies, 47, 1979, pp. 1-16).

19 Tolstoy L. N. Complete collection. soch., vol. 30. M.-L., Goslitizdat, 1951, p. 148.

20 Dreiser T. Collected. op. in 12 vols. M., Goslitizdat, 1955, v. 1, p. 216.

21 Roosevelt Th. Tolstoy // Outlook. XCII (1909, May 15), p. 105. Op. by: Dreiser Th. Letters, v. I, rL53,

22 Russian word. New York, 1909, May 19, p. 3. I. Gorbunov-Posadov wrote about the influence of Tolstoy's moral preaching on religious and social reformers in the USA. In an introductory article to the translation of Ernest Crosby's book Tolstoy and His Worldview (Count Tolstoy's Philosophy of Life. Boston, 1896), he noted that numerous pacifist and religious organizations various persuasions, including ecumenical and Buddhist ones, send their publications to Tolstoy. "They all send news about themselves to Yasnaya Polyana" (Gorbunov-Posadov I. Ernest Crosby, poet of the new world// Crosby E. Tolstoy and his worldview. M., Posrednik, 1911, p. XI).

23 Walling W. Russia's Message. The True Import of the Revolution. London, 1909, p. 237.

24 Walling W. Message to Russia. Berlin, 1910, p. 367.

25 Walling W. Russia's Message. The People and the Czar. N. Y., 1917, p. 14.

26 Let us note in passing that in America the dispute with representatives of social Darwinism was led by a follower of Tolstoy, Ernest Crosby. On this see: Hofstadter R. Social Darwinism in American Thought. Philadelphia Univ. of Pennsylvania Press; Lnd., Humphrey Milford, Oxford Univ Press, 1945, p. 167.

27 See: Perry J. Jack London. An American Myth. Chicago, 1981, p. 109.

28 For more on this, see: Osipova E. F. The First Russian Revolution in the Works of Jack London // Russian Revolutionary Movement and Problems of the Development of Literature. L., publishing house of Leningrad State University, 1989, p. 130-146.

29 Shchelokova E. N. The first dramatization of the novel "Resurrection" on the American stage // L. N. Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection". Historical and functional research. M., 1991, p. 188-194.

30 Sayler, Oliver. The Russian Theatre. N. Y., Brentano, 1922, pp. 297-299.

31 On Michael Gold's perception of Tolstoy, Dorothy Day, a journalist and editor of The Catholic Worker, writes in her memoir The Long Solitude (1952): Left, p. 85).

32 For details on this, see: Nikolyukin AM. Interrelations between Russian and American Literature, p. 238-284.

33 James H. The Letters. Ed. by P. Lubbock. N.Y., Scribner, 1920, v. 2, p. 237.

34 US Writers on Literature. M., Progress, 1982, v. 1, p. 265, 266.

35 W. D. Howells as Critic. Ed. by E. Cady. London and Boston, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973, p. 424.

36 Spector, Ivar. The Golden Age of Russian Literature. Caldwell, Idaho, 1948, p. 246.

37 Huneker, James. Maxim Gorky's Nachtasyl // Huneker J. Iconoclasts. A Book of Dramatists. N. Y., Scribner, 1921, p. 277.

38 Twain M. Russian Republic// Twain M. Sobr. op. in 12 vols., v. 11. M., Goslitizdat, 1961, p. 582.

39 Gorky M. Sobr. op. in 30 vols. M., Goslitizdat, 1954, v. 28, p. 416.

40 For more on this episode, see: Kireeva I. V., Lunina I. E. A. M. Gorky and Mark Twain // Russian American Studies in Search of New Approaches. M., 1998, p. 46-58.

• Specialty HAC RF24.00.01
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General description of work.
Chapter first. Imagology and the problem national consciousness in the literature (comparative aspects).
1.1. Foreign factor in national literature as an integral part of the relationship and interaction of literatures.
1.2. Imagology and the problem of perception of national images of the world by Russian literature.
1.3. The entry of the image of America into Russian society and Russian literature.
1.4. Americanism and the Russian idea.
1.5. National originality of Russian and American literature in the light of images of Russia and the USA.
1.6. The image of America in the literature of the Russian diaspora.
Chapter two. The United States in the Perception of Russian Writers of the Last Quarter
XIX - the first quarter of the XX century.
2.1. The American theme in the work of G.Machtet and V.Korolenko
2.2. United States in the perception of M. Gorky.
3.3. The image of America in the work of Sholom Aleichem
3.4. The American factor in the work of S. Yesenin
3.5. The American factor in the work of V. Mayakovsky.
Chapter three. Features of the perception of the United States by Russian literature in
1920s-1940s.
3.1. Russian-American literary relations in the 1920s-1930s through the eyes of American criticism.
3.2. The image of the United States in perception Soviet literature 1930s
3.3. America and Russian society during the Second World War
Chapter Four. Russian literary consciousness and the image of America during the Cold War.
4.1. American literature in the perception of Soviet criticism of the late 40s and early 50s.
4.2. The Image of America in the Perception of Russian Literature during the Cold War.
Chapter five. "Thaw" and "second discovery" of America.
Introduction to the thesis (part of the abstract) on the topic "The Image of America in Russian Literature: From the History of Russian-American Literary and Cultural Relations in the Late 19th - First Half of the 20th Centuries."
Topic selection.
The choice of the topic of this study is determined by the relevance of the study of Russian-American cultural relations, which include the problem of contacts between the literatures of the two great peoples. Over the course of two and a half centuries, these contacts expanded and deepened. At the same time, the processes taking place in one of the societies often stimulated responses in another, affecting various aspects of spiritual life. The conceptual moment of modern literary science is the study of literary connections and interactions, the dialogue of cultures in the broadest perspective, taking into account the latest achievements in methodology. In this regard, the imagological approach to the study of the problem of Russian literary and cultural interactions with the literatures of the world and, above all, the literature of the United States deserves special attention. Russian literature has never closed in on itself, invariably responded vividly to foreign experience, searches and discoveries of the masters of the artistic word of other countries. Russian literary criticism has accumulated vast material on the study of the relationships and interactions of Russian literature of the 19th century with the literatures of the world. The 20th century, which brought to life its own specific forms of interactions and contacts, is presented much poorer.
In recent years, interest in the study of Russian-American literary relations has increased significantly. Literary relations between Russia and America, which originated in the 18th century, have undergone significant transformations and are a complex set of ideological, political, philosophical and aesthetic concepts. They reflected in their own way the historical paths of development of the two countries. In their combination, they lead to the mutual enrichment of these literatures in the context of the general process of the dialogue of cultures.
An important aspect This work is an imagological approach, which studies not only typological and contact connections, but also sets a specific task of artistic and aesthetic comprehension of a foreign country and its literature through a system of images that reflect and refract the main features of the people, their mentality, culture and poetics of artistic creativity.
Although the term “imagology” itself appeared relatively recently, it should be noted that Russian literature has always developed in an “imagological” vein, which is characterized by a “Russian” view of the development of events and processes taking place in world society, a comparison of Russia and other countries and peoples. Therefore, along with the study of the "foreign" image, in this case the image of America, the work puts forward the problem of comprehending "one's own" national image, the national identification of Russia through literary works and artistic and aesthetic systems. The problem of the influence of the foreign factor on the development of Russian literary consciousness is put forward, which is due to the inextricable connection between literature and the historical process and finds a specific expression in artistic forms.
Recognizing the global significance of the experience accumulated by American civilization, the large-scale impact of the United States on the world community, including culture and literature, in an effort to contribute to a new promising direction in the humanities - imagology, we have attempted to identify and trace the main stages in the formation of the "Russian" image of America , its specificity. It is also important to study the problem of the influence of the United States of America, the American factor itself, on the work of Russian writers of the first half of the 20th century, on their literary consciousness and worldview. The time frame of the study was chosen taking into account the fact that it was from the beginning of the 20th century that the United States became an extremely important factor in foreign policy for Russia, and the American experience itself began to be comprehended, evaluated, and assimilated in a certain way in our country. It was during this period that the foundations of multifaceted relations in the humanitarian field between Russia and the United States were laid. This determined the features and prospects of our cultural and literary interactions.
In order to specify the conceptual apparatus for a generalized description of the complex impact of the United States on Russian writers and poets, their work and consciousness, the term "American factor" is introduced, which is understood as a set of literary, cultural, philosophical, political and sociological components.
The concept of the image of America is interpreted broadly and includes both real and "mythological" ideas about America that have developed in the Russian public and literary consciousness. They, of course, changed, underwent transformation as a result of a deeper assimilation of the American way of life, in the process of an unfolding dialogue of cultures, literary contact and typological connections and interactions.
In their semantic essence, the concepts of "American factor" and "image of America" ​​are close, but not identical. The first is wider than the second and in some cases the "American factor" includes the "image of America".
Under literary consciousness is understood as a certain system of images, plots, poetic devices, genre features, with the help of which the image of America received its verbal and artistic expression.
Focusing on the literary material, we, at the same time, cannot but take into account the fundamental role of the historical factor, the whole complex of cultural interactions, the specifics of political relations between our countries, which, first of all, in the post-October period most significantly influenced the dialogue of cultures. In terms of Russian-American contacts, this aspect was most of all subordinated to the political situation, since the United States, as a superpower, opposed Soviet Russia, being its main rival. For these reasons, the "American way", "American way of life" was perceived as an alternative to the socialist path of development. The consequence of this was that the real picture of America in Russia was often subjected to significant ideological adjustment, due to the tasks of political propaganda. The connection between the perception of the image of America, the “American factor” and general ideological tasks, especially in the 1930s and 1950s, will be illustrated by many examples.
All this, however, does not mean that the literary material was inevitably subject to political conjuncture, because even during this period there appeared works based on American material, which were of undoubted artistic and aesthetic value.
Scientific novelty.
This dissertation is the first comprehensive study of the image of America in Russian literature in domestic cultural studies, the role of the American factor in Russian literary consciousness, the literary and cultural process in Russia. This is a study that comprehensively analyzes the features artistic expression American theme in Russian literature - from the middle of the 19th century to the 60s of the 20th century.
The relevance of this study is due to the fact that during the period of intense search by Russia for ways and means of reforming society, developing the concept of a national idea, it is extremely important to analyze the process of perception by Russian public consciousness and literature of both positive and negative experience, foreign artistic and ideological influences in the context of a broad historical development. It is important to shed light on the problem of "one's own or someone else's" and to identify ways and forms of borrowing and assimilation of foreign experience in the sphere of artistic expression. In this regard, there is a need for a work in which questions of poetics and creative consciousness of Russian writers in the process of mastering the American theme would be raised and resolved.
The theoretical significance of the study lies in the fact that it solves an important historical and literary problem, makes a significant contribution to both American studies and cultural studies, and comparative literary studies in general. In the process of research, texts and works of art are introduced into scientific circulation, which until now or have not received domestic literary criticism due attention, or inaccurately, in a simplified way, were interpreted. The dissertation corrected some issues related to the perception of the image of the United States by Russian literature, because these issues were previously often considered depending on the political and ideological conjuncture, which led to a distortion of the image of the United States in our domestic fiction and journalism, the assessments of the works of a number of American Sovietologists were clarified.
The object of the study is the process of mutual influences and interactions of American and Russian literature and culture of the first half of the 20th century, the perception of America by Russian writers and poets during this period.
The subject of the study is the role of the American factor in the evolution of the artistic consciousness of Russian writers and poets of this period, the formation and transformation of the image of America in their work.
Goals and objectives of the study.
The main purpose of the study is to study the process of forming the image of America in Russian literature, to identify its specific features, the originality of the "Russian" view of America through literary works, as well as to study the process of the impact of this image on the literary consciousness of Russian writers of the first half of the 20th century and the national self-identification of Russians through literary forms and genres. Chronologically, the literary period does not coincide with the calendar period and is interpreted broadly: 1875-1905 - the first reflection of the American theme in the work of G.Machtet and V.Korolenko; 1906-1917 - development of the American theme in the inter-revolutionary period by M. Gorky, K. Balmont, A. Blok, Sholom Aleichem; 1920s - the formation of the image of the United States in the work of S. Yesenin and V. Mayakovsky; 1930-1940s - development of the American theme by N. Smirnov, B. Pilnyak, I. Ilf and E. Petrov; 1940-1950s - reflection of the image of the United States in Russian literature and literary criticism during the Second World War, the Great Patriotic War and the Cold War; 1950-1960s - the period of transition from confrontation to the "thaw" and the formation of a positive image of the United States in the works of B. Polevoy, V. Kataev, E. Yevtushenko, A. Voznesensky, V. Nekrasov.
In line with the main goal of the study, the following tasks are set:
Determine the specifics of the imagological approach to the study of the image of the country and its literature and culture, the place of imagology in comparative literary and cultural studies, identify the specifics of the Russian image of America and consider the role of the American factor in Russian literature of the late 19th - first half of the 20th century;
Analyze the American theme in the work of Russian writers of the 19th - early 20th centuries (G.Machtet, V.Korolenko, Sholom Aleichem);
To trace the influence of the American factor on M. Gorky - an artist and publicist;
To identify the role of American impressions and experience in the formation and evolution of the artistic world of S. Yesenin, V. Mayakovsky, N. Smirnov, B. Pilnyak, I. Ilf, E. Petrov;
Explore the reasons for the distortion of the image of the United States during the Cold War;
To identify the influence of the image of the United States on the work of Russian writers and poets during the "thaw" (B. Polevoy, V. Kataev, V. Nekrasov, A. Voznesensky.)
Consider in general terms the problem of perception of the image of America by Russian writers abroad, as well as the problem of the formation of national images in world literature and the role of these images in the process of national identification of both Russia and America.
Methodological basis researches were the works of Russian and foreign scientists in the field of comparative literature and cultural studies, who posed and solved the problems of interaction between Russian and foreign literatures in a broad historical perspective. An outstanding contribution to comparative literary criticism and the study of Russian literature in the context of world literature was made by the brothers Alexander and Alexei Veselovskiy. Starting from their concept of historical poetics and the complex connections of Russian literature with the literatures of other countries and peoples, in the new historical conditions, the problems of literary interactions were developed and deepened by M.P. Alekseev, V.M. Zhirmunsky, N.I. Konrad, M.M. Bakhtin , M.B. Khrapchenko, I.G. Neupokoeva. The concept of the dialogue of cultures by M.M. Bakhtin, which was developed on American material in the works of A.S. Mulyarchik1 and A.V. Pavlovskaya2. The author takes into account the studies of Russian Americanists Ya.N. Zasursky, A.N. Nikolzhin, I.V. Kireeva, B.A. Rugle, A. Reilly, devoted to the perception of the American experience by Russian writers4, M. Lerner and D. Burstin - about the nature of the American and Russian society, their common and distinctive features.
Research methods. The main research methods were: system-comparative, comparative-comparative, typological, historical-cultural.
1 Mulyarchik A.C. Listen to each other: On the literary and cultural ties between the USSR and the USA. Moscow-Saransk: Insart,
1991; USA: twentieth century. Limits of the literary process. Moscow-Minsk. 1994.
2 Pavlovskaya A.B. Russia and America. Problems of communication of cultures. M.: MGU, 1998.
J Zasursky Ya.N. American Literature of the 20th Century. Moscow: Moscow State University, 1984: Nikolyukin A.II. Literary ties between Russia and the USA. Formation of literary contacts. Moscow: Nauka, 1981; Relationships between Russian and American Literature. Moscow: Nauka, 1987; Kireeva I.V. Gorky perception of American writers. Gorky, 1978; A.M. Gorky in Correspondence with American Literary Mountains. 11.1 kzhgorod, 1997; Gilenson B. A. Socialist tradition in the literature of the USA. Moscow: Nauka, 1975; In search of "another America". Moscow: Higher school, 1987; Sokhryakov Yu.I. Russian classics in the US literary process of the XX century. Moscow: Higher school, 1988.
4 Reilly A. America in contemporary Soviet literature. N.Y. University Press, 1971; Rougle Ch. Three Russians consider
America. Stockholm, 1976.
5 Lerner M. The development of civilizations in America. Ways of life and thought in the United States today. Moscow: Rainbow, 1992;
Burstin D. America. M.: 1 Iporpecc - Litera, 1993.
At the same time, if necessary, historical and cultural material is introduced into circulation, and the achievements of Russian Americanists are taken into account. The author of the dissertation sought to abandon the simplified ideological schemes and assessments that dominated Russian American studies in the pre-perestroika era, which led to the need to make adjustments to the assessments of both certain historical and literary stages, as well as individual writers and their works.
The practical value of the work. On a vast factual material, part of which has not been studied, the dissertation comprehensively explores the role of the American factor in the development of Russian literature and culture of the late 19th - first half of the 20th century. The dissertation contributes to the philosophical understanding and artistic interpretation of the phenomena of the "Russian idea" and "Americanism" and their complex interaction. The analysis carried out allows us to identify the leading patterns of cultural and literary relations between Russia and the United States for more than half a century, at the most dramatic moments in history - world wars, revolutions, the period of post-war confrontation and the "thaw", which marked the beginning of a constructive dialogue between both societies and their cultures at the present stage.
Both general provisions and specific observations and conclusions formulated in the dissertation can be used in lecture courses on the history of American and Russian literature of the 20th century, as well as US country studies, in the development of special courses and special seminars on the interaction of two literatures and cultures, and also in the preparation of textbooks and teaching aids on the history of literature and culture of the United States.
The reliability of the results obtained is ensured by the methodological validity of the theoretical provisions, the use of a set of complementary research methods, the involvement of a wide range of sources based on the achievements of Russian and foreign scientists in the field of comparative literature and cultural studies.
Vyatka book publishing house, 1993. Yup.l.), approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation as a teaching aid for students of pedagogical universities in Russia and more than 20 articles.
The main provisions of the dissertation were tested in scientific reports read in the 1990s - 2001s at all-Russian and international conferences held by the Department of Literature and Language of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Society for the Study of Culture of the USA, the Russian Association of University Americanists, the Faculty of Journalism of Moscow State University, the Institute for the USA and Canada RAS, Nizhny Novgorod linguistic university, as well as at scientific conferences of the Arzamas Pedagogical Institute: "The American Factor in the Development of National Russian Literature" (MSU, 1995); "The Image of the USA in the Works of Russian Writers" (ISKRAN, 1995); “The Image of the USA in Mass Soviet Literature of the 1930s” (Moscow State University, 1996); "Americanism and the Russian Idea" (International Conference "Crossroads of Cultures". UNNLU, 1997); "Russia and the USA: North and New World" (Moscow State University, 1997); "The American Factor in the Russian Literary Consciousness" (AGPI/1998); "The American factor in the work of S. Yesenin" (AGPI, 1998); "American national character in the Perception of Russian Literature” (Moscow State University, 1999); "The Travelogue Genre and the Image of England in Russian Literature" (International Conference "Literature of Great Britain in the European cultural context". N. Novgorod, 2000); “The Image of America and Literature of the Russian Diaspora” (MSU, 1999); "The Messianic Idea in Russian and American Cultures" (Moscow State University, 2000); "The Role of European Travel in the Process of National Self-Identification of Americans and Russians" (Moscow State University, 2001); "Imagology and the problem of perception of national images of the world by literature in the context of the dialogue of cultures" (international conference "Language and Culture". Moscow, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2001).
The concept and structure of the dissertation was the subject of discussion at the Department of the History of Foreign Literature of the Moscow Pedagogical University (1996) during the dissertation's scientific internship.
Dissertation conclusion on the topic "Theory and history of culture", Kubanev, Nikolai Alekseevich
CONCLUSION
Summing up the results of this study, we can conclude that the topic stated in the dissertation seems to be very relevant both from a scientific and social point of view. The study of the image of America created by Russian literature makes it possible to answer many topical questions of our time, to make a certain contribution to understanding the phenomenon of the dialogue of cultures, to characterize some significant processes of spiritual development in both the United States and Russia.
The image of America and the American factor as a whole played a role in the development of Russian national consciousness and Russian literature, influencing the worldview and work of Russian writers in many aspects.
The study of the types and forms of interactive interaction between the cultures of Russia and the United States allows not only to solve the specific problem of literary ties, but also helps to better understand America itself, contributes to the development of a new promising area of ​​science - imagology.
Imagology as a new scientific direction attracts more and more attention of Russian scientists. This is evidenced by the publication in the late 90s of the XX century of a number of interesting studies, among which one can name “National images of the world: America in comparison with Russia and the Slavs” by G.D. Gacheva, "Russia and America: Problems of Communication between Cultures" A.V. Pavlovskaya, “The Image of the West in Russian Literature” by A.Yu. Bolshakova. The imagological approach is interdisciplinary in nature, because it touches upon, along with literature, issues of history, cultural studies, political science, sociology, ethnography and psychology. For this reason, imagology makes it possible to comprehensively present the image of the studied country and its people, to identify the leading and secondary factors that form their image or image1. A characteristic feature of the imagological approach is
1 The article of Academician H.H. Bolkhovitinov "The Image of America in Russia" (2001), which traces the stages of perception of the United States by Russian society from the 18th century to the present. The main provisions of the article are consonant with the views of the dissertator. H.H. Bolkhovitinov rightly emphasizes the role of literature in the process of forming the image of America in the minds of Russians, while noting that the experience of mastering the United States by Russian writers was far from always successful. The American theme in the works of the leading artists of the word - M. Gorky, S. Yesenin, V. Mayakovsky - received a negative decision, which significantly influenced the perception of the United States by Soviet Americanists, in particular, journalists, political observers and historians. Some of them have made the propaganda of the "image of the enemy" their "specialty". Only a few during the period of ideological confrontation had the courage to present a positive image of the United States in their articles and books, in particular, H.H. Smelyakov (“Business America”) Without questioning the general trend in the perception of the United States in the Soviet era, I would like to significantly expand the circle of people involved in the formation of an objective image of America, based on the content of this dissertation.
395 national coloring of the perception of this or that country, people from a foreigner. At the same time, we can talk about a certain tendency of perception, due either to predeterminedness, or to already established stereotypes, which, as a rule, prevail over the consciousness of the perceiver. Therefore, we can talk about Russian, English or any other national view of the country and people. A significant contribution to the understanding of this phenomenon was the anthology of A.N. Nikolyukin "A look into history - a look into the future" (1987), in which the author reflected the "Russian" view of America, taken in a broad historical perspective from Maxim the Greek to the present.
Having first appeared in theoretical works covering the problems of the media, the term "imagology" began to be used by literary critics and culturologists in relation to their field, when the study of connections and interactions takes place not only at the factual level, but also through a purposeful interpretation of the national character, comprehension national culture and literature, the national mentality in general.
Revealing the essence and specifics of the imagological approach, it should be emphasized that the stereotype occupies a special place in it. A stereotype is understood as a stable, generalizing image or idea of ​​an object or phenomenon, usually emotionally colored, expressing a standard, habitual attitude of a person to a given object or phenomenon, developed under the influence of certain social conditions or previous experience. The theory of the stereotype, in particular, was substantiated in 1922 by the well-known American journalist, publicist and sociologist Walter Lippman, who understood the stereotype as a special form of perception of the surrounding world, taking into account the already established psychological attitude that affects the representation of a person in advance, before the person himself encounters an object. or a phenomenon. According to U. Lippman, everyone has a certain idea about this or that object or phenomenon even before he himself encounters them in real life. Stereotypes are so stable that they can be passed on from generation to generation and assimilated a priori as reality. Only a few can make changes in the existing stereotype through direct personal contact and confirm or destroy the familiar image.
The role of the stereotype in understanding the characters and the true image of the peoples, both the bearers of stereotypes and the objects of stereotyping - in this case, Americans and Russians
396 sky - extremely large. The study of the stereotype helps in solving another very important problem - identifying the specifics of the national character through literary notions, the formation of public opinion regarding a particular people and the determination of the factors that make it up.
In this regard, the studies conducted in the 20-30s in the United States by American scientists R. Binkley, D. Katz and K. Braley are extremely interesting, which revealed the principles of correlation of the “external”, real world, which includes the personal experience of the individual and “ verbal" world, based on the ideas received by the individual through sources of information. They also determined the essence of the "ethnic stereotype", which often has little in common with the real image of a particular people.
During the Cold War, at the initiative of UNESCO and funded by the United States, a large-scale study was conducted to identify the principles of perception of one country by representatives of other countries and peoples, as well as the factors that determine this perception. Based on the data obtained, the so-called “friendliness denominator” was derived. At the same time, it should be noted that in Russia, which was the main goal of studying by UNESCO scientists, the historian and ethnographer L. Gumilyov persistently and fruitfully worked on a similar problem, who introduced into wide scientific circulation the concept of the “principle of complementarity”, which serves as an indicator of the sympathy or antipathy of one people in relation to others. It should be emphasized that the indicator of complimentarity between Russians and Americans towards each other has always been very high, despite the often cold relations between the governments of our countries. Along with L. Gumilyov, I. Kon and N. Erofeev worked on the problem of the national image in Russia. So, I. Kon in the work “National character: myth or reality?” (1968) emphasized that ethnic stereotypes embody not only ideas about other peoples, but also about their own, while expressing an emotional attitude towards the object. In the work devoted to the perception of England in Russia, "Foggy Albion" (1982) N. Erofeev focused on the information factor underlying ethnic ideas that affect relations between nations, ethnic groups and states.
In the formation of a national image, stereotype or image, a gravelogue or travel essay plays a huge role, allowing not only to express an objective, but also a subjective assessment of the perceived country and people. classic examples
397 travelogues are travel essays by L. Stern, N. Karamzin, M. Twain, C. Dickens, I. Goncharov, V. Botkin, I. Ehrenburg, D. Steinbeck. specific feature travelogue is a personal and national view of the world, one's own essence and one's people, knowledge of "one's own" through "alien". At the same time, it should be emphasized that any travelogue is tendentious, because it fully expresses the imagological approach, in which the created image contains the conscious or unconscious desire of the author to fill this image with the desired content, consistent either with social order or with their own ideas.
If, until the middle of the 19th century, Russia showed an increased interest in Europe, seeing in it the main source of knowledge of the state and social structure, then starting from the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, Russia was increasingly oriented towards the young developing state - the United States of America. Since the middle of the 19th century, Russian-American relations have reached a new level - the level of broad communication between peoples. An indicator of this communication is literature, in which the artistic, spiritual interests of both peoples are mainly manifested. The mutual interest between Russia and the United States was due to many common factors: the vastness of the territory, the spirit of pioneers - the development of the Wild West by the Americans and Siberia, and Far East- Russians, the powerful progressive development of industry, the abolition of slavery and serfdom, the search for new models of governing society and the state, the common struggle for geopolitical recognition and assertion on the world stage, the rebuff of political aggression from Europe, the awareness of themselves as "young" nations.
Both America and Russia sought to overcome their isolation from the outside world, to join the family of civilized peoples and take their rightful place among them, to destroy those negative stereotypes with which our countries were identified as "alternative forms of barbarism." Defensive reaction Russia and the United States gave birth to their corresponding spiritual, political and national concepts - "Americanism" and "Russian idea". The 19th century for our countries became the century of national self-determination, the century of the growth of national self-consciousness. For both powers, the outside world was a means of comprehending their own essence and their historical destiny. These processes found their continuation in the 20th century, when Russia and the United States were especially actively getting to know each other no longer at the level of individual diplomatic, trade or state
398 representatives, but at the level of fairly broad masses, not only as a result of personal contacts, which for Russians after the revolution of 1917 under the conditions of the descending "Iron Curtain" were minimized, but indirectly, through literature.
At the same time, it should be noted that the image of any country and any people in any literature is somewhat biased, not always accurate, because it contains, in addition to objective information, a frankly subjective principle, determined by the personality of the author. Mastering the American theme, Russian writers and poets expressed in their work the Russian view of America, their national vision of the United States. The Russian image of America has its own specifics. It lies in the difference between the two mentalities - Americans and Russians, different understanding and interpretation of the concepts of "motherland", "fatherland", in contrast to the historical and cultural paths of development of the two countries, peoples and their literatures.
Russian catholicity has always been opposed to American individualism, Russian sacrifice and "smallness" to American self-respect and self-worth of the individual, a complex alloy of Russian obedience to authorities and a tendency to destructive rebellion - American democratic freedom and law-abiding. At the same time, general trends in the development of American and Russian society, similar milestones in history, moments of convergence of Orthodoxy and Puritanism, the mutual desire to assert their geopolitical interests as "young" nations - all this undoubtedly stimulated the mutual interest and sympathy of Russia and the United States.
Despite the absence of many civil and democratic freedoms in Russia, Russian democracy has deep historical roots. No wonder that the best minds Russia saw America as an attractive example of a democratic system, although they did not turn a blind eye to the "grimaces" of American democracy. Therefore, the comprehension of the American phenomenon by Russian social thought, Russian literature initially began precisely with the comprehension of American freedom, with its acquisition on American soil.
Often the image of America is embodied in the works of Russian writers in the form of its cities and villages.
Entering Russian literature with the work of G.Machtet at the end of the 19th century, the image of America is intertwined with the image of New York as the personification of American civilization.
And this image in Russian literature has attractive features. Typical in this respect
399 G.Machtet's story "New York". The writer draws a giant metropolis as the embodiment not only of the human mind and aesthetic taste, but also as a city of hope, turbulent dynamics and care for a person: “There is nothing to say about the conveniences of life. New York is a completely new city, everything in it is adapted so as to satisfy the needs of a person as easily and conveniently as possible. No matter how exacting a person is, he will not find reasons to complain.
The collective image of America also includes a national character. In many parts of the world, the American character is often identified with aggressive superiority and self-confidence. The image of the uncultured "Yankee" entered the literature of different countries. No wonder Charles Dickens called America a country designed to vulgarize the whole world. A similar point of view was shared by the Russian thinker V. Rozanov. However, G.Machtet emphasizes not negative, but positive features of the American character. He emphasizes the law-abidingness of Americans and their respect for civil liberties, noting that "in the whole world, perhaps, citizens do not respect their constitution and laws as sacredly as in America." In the story "Community Freya" G.Machtet speaks highly of American farmers and debunks the communist principles of an agricultural commune organized by immigrants from Russia
So, under the influence of American reality, G.Machtet from a Russian community member turns into a supporter of American individualism. This psychological metamorphosis entailed a certain change in the writer's worldview. His works of the American cycle are a convincing example of the influence of the American factor, an example of the assimilation of the American experience and the transfer of this experience from everyday life to literature.
The image of America is developed in the work of V. Korolenko. The hero of his story "Without a language" Volyn peasant Matvey goes to the United States in search of better share and eventually finds her. But the American theme at the same time receives a new perspective: it includes the theme of nostalgia and the loss of illusions in a person who finds himself on American soil. And from here the theme of patriotism organically grows.
Initially, the image of America in the mind of a Russian person is illusory, mythical. No wonder Matvey dreams of an ideal American village, which will be “the same as the old one, only much better.” But more experienced than
400 his hero, the author says to Matvey through the mouth of a fantastic creature without a face: “ Foolish people, poor dark people. There is no such village in the world." So already on early stage The perception of the image of America by Russian literature raises the theme of disappointment in the New World. And, at the same time, V. Korolenko sees the undoubted advantages of this country, on the land of which both the economic claims of the settlers and their democratic aspirations are realized.
Despite the loss of illusions, the American experience enriches the emigrants and allows them to find their own place in the new life. The same experience teaches us to take a fresh look at Russia. The lines from V. Korolenko's letter to his homeland in August 1893 from Chicago sound significant: “God is with them, with Europe and America! Let them prosper in health, and we are better. Better than a Russian person, by God, there is no person in the world.
Being in the USA, V.Korolenko shows a deep interest in interethnic relations. Based on the study of the situation of Indians and blacks, he draws relevant political conclusions, extrapolating the American experience to Russia. After returning from America, the writer is actively involved in the human rights movement, defending the interests of national minorities and protesting against manifestations of great-power chauvinism.
Thus, the American factor influenced not only the literary consciousness of V. Korolenko, expanding his creative horizons and pushing him to create works no longer on local themes of the “forest people”, but on topics of broad international significance, which became, in particular, the topic of interaction between Russians and Western civilization, but also was a catalyst for the social activities of the writer, contributing to the formation of his human rights and democratic position.
The romanticized image of America is vividly presented in A. Chekhov's story "The Boys", whose characters know it only from the novels of F. Cooper and M. Reed, and their ideas about the New World are reduced to a set of common clichés ("in California they drink gin instead of tea", "when a herd of buffalo runs across the pampas, the earth trembles"),
In general, by the end of the 20th century, a rather positive and attractive image of America had developed in the Russian public and literary consciousness. At the beginning of the century, this image was further consolidated and enriched thanks to such books as "Essays on the North American United States" by P. Tversky, "In America" ​​by P. Popov, "The Country of the Future" by V. Polenets. During the tense period before the first Russian revolution of 1905,
401 When the expectation of change reached its climax in Russian society, Russia was ready to accept the American state-political and economic experience. These sentiments were reflected in Russian literature. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall the story of VTPishkov "Merikanets", in which there is not a single word about America, but the image of a talented Russian self-taught mechanic is drawn, who amazes others with his technical fantasies, identified in the minds of the inhabitants of the taiga hinterland with American achievements.
However Russian perception The image of America changed significantly for the worse after the publication of a series of satirical essays by M. Gorky "In America", the title of which was a pamphlet with the metaphorical title "City of the Yellow Devil". It creates a repulsive image of New York and its people. But in his pamphlet M. Gorky speaks not against the Americans, not against America and its largest metropolis. During this period, the writer is preparing to create the revolutionary novel "Mother", and America here acts as a metaphor, as the embodiment of capitalist exploitation, and M. Gorky himself appears as the creator of a dehumanized style that "alienates" both capitalist America and capitalist America from a free person. Russia. He later uses the poetic finds of American pamphlets in the description of the "working settlement" of the novel "Mother".
M. Gorky, the artist, in whose work the image of America is so negative, cannot be identified with M. Gorky, a man who sincerely admires many aspects of US life, as evidenced by his "American" letters and the story "Charlie Maine", in which the image proud free American.
However, the public and critics of pre-revolutionary (and subsequently Soviet) Russia “read” the American works of M. Gorky too straightforwardly, not understanding their deep essence and considering the writer an Americanophob. Such well-known public figures as A. Suvorin, N. Berdyaev, V. Kranikhfeld regarded the pamphlet "City of the Yellow Devil" as anti-American. The public and literary authority of M. Gorky was so high that his American pamphlets caused a resonance in the highest spheres. Minister of education tsarist Russia D. Filosofov bluntly stated that he could not admit that Gorky's impressions could somehow determine Russia's attitude towards America.
It is appropriate to recreate the Russian image of America, based on the essays of M. Gorky and the American work of V. Nabokov. The approaches to the knowledge of America by these two writers are diametrically opposed. As G. Gachev figuratively put it, M. Gorky looks at America from the outside as a "plebeian-lumpen", and V. Nabokov comprehends America from the inside as "a refined, refined aristocrat of flesh and spirit." M. Gorky's assessment of America is largely biased, because it was conditioned by the artistic goals of his revolutionary work, and by no means by his anti-American sentiments. We share the point of view of G. Gachev, who believes that M. Gorky is judging not America in general, but America built "according to the notes of capitalism."
Nevertheless, M. Gorky manages to express the Russian image of America. The originality of understanding and simultaneous rejection of capitalist America by the native Russian, Volzhanin M. Gorky, is manifested in the accent of the color scheme of New York - the dominance of "yellow", which opposes the symbol of the unity of Being and Man - the White Light. In the conflicting perception of M. Gorky industrial civilization America also reflected the paradoxical nature of the personality of the writer himself, who sings of creative thought, culture, work, and at the same time is horrified by the technocratic society that makes a person a slave, and then he glorifies the revolutionary, rebel and destroyer.
Unlike M. Gorky, V. Nabokov comprehended America, getting used to it. It enters the mind of a Russian boy as a “foggy moss swamp so inaccessible and mysterious” that they “nicknamed it: America”, Mine Reed’s novel “The Headless Horseman”, a swallowtail butterfly flying to “the beautiful island of St. Lawrence, and through Alaska to Do-uson, and south along the Rocky Mountains. The initial image of America in the children's minds of the future writer is habitually romantic. Such a perception of an overseas country was typical for Russians at the beginning of the 20th century. It is no coincidence that V. Nabokov, recalling the death of his friend, who "jumped alone on a red machine gun," notes that "his comrade who died so early, in fact, did not have time to get out of Mine-Read's militantly romantic dream."
Only the real collision of the writer with America changed this image. V. Nabokov's literary comprehension of the true image of America occurs through his character Timofey Pnin. This process is explored by G. Gachev, artistically convincing, in our opinion, proving that penetration into its deep essence comes only then
403 when Pnin turns from a Russian into an American, although he tries to keep his “Russianness”. The Russian intellectual-aristocrat Nabokov-Pnin alienates the vulgar pragmatism of the New World, the American Pnin becomes a patriot of America. The symbol of "baptism" in the New World becomes a first-class denture - "a revelation, a sunrise, a strong bite of a businesslike, alabaster-white, humane America." Interesting, noted by G. Gachev, is the roll call between V. Nabokov and M. Gorky in the antithesis of “eyes-teeth”, in which the difference between Americans and Russians is clearly expressed: “A Russian looks into the eyes, and light and soul radiate in them. The American is preoccupied with looking as toothy as White Fang, predatory, champion of the struggle for existence. And - successful: in an eternal smile, meaning that everything is “OK” with him.
The perception of America by S. Yesenin and V. Mayakovsky is no less contradictory than the perception of M. Gorky. On the one hand, an unflattering assessment of the inner world of Americans by S. Yesenin has become a commonplace. On the other hand, the poet cannot fail to notice that in the United States the human being is at the forefront: “We are accustomed to living under the light of the moon, burning candles in front of icons, but by no means in front of a person. America internally does not believe in God. . There is light for man."
The poet's acquaintance with the United States, a clash with a developed Western civilization caused him a deep reassessment of values, an awareness of the need for the industrialization of Russia (which was especially evident in the poem "Country of Scoundrels"), reconciliation with the "iron" city. At the same time, the American voyage sharpened the poet's patriotic feelings, prompted him to turn to Pushkin's traditions, filled the cycle of his "little poems" ("Return to the Motherland", "Soviet Rus'", "Departing Rus'") with civic pathos. There is no doubt that the American factor, the comparison of the image of America with the image of Russia, served as the starting point for a serious change in the worldview and poetic worldview of S. Yesenin, who wrote: “My vision was refracted especially after America.”
The image of the United States in the work of V. Mayakovsky for the first time in Russian literature acquires a political coloring. As a politically “engaged” poet, he creates poems filled with pronounced propaganda pathos (“The Challenge”, “Black and White”, “Syphilis”, “Broadway”, essays “My Discovery of America”), Political sympathies
V. Mayakovsky openly appear in his poems about working America (“Camp “Nit ge
404 daige"). But, despite all the ideological predilections, V. Mayakovsky did not make the image of the United States one-dimensional. Admiration for the technical genius of the American people is expressed by him in the poem "Brooklyn Bridge".
As a result of the trip, V. Mayakovsky deeply realized the contradiction between naked technicalism and the spiritual world of man. Out of disappointment in America, the poet grows the feeling that the future belongs to Russia. He expresses his conviction in a conversation with the editor of the pro-communist newspaper Frigate and in the poem "Americans Are Surprised." At the same time, the opinion of a number of American literary critics (P. Blake, C. Moser) is not without foundation, according to which the visit to the USA marked the beginning of V. Mayakovsky's disappointment in the Soviet way of life.
Be that as it may, both S. Yesenin and V. Mayakovsky proceeded from the fact that there is no other real path for Russia, except for the Americanized one. This is especially clearly evidenced by V. Mayakovsky's poem "Three Thousand and Three Sisters", in which the image of the "Soviet States" appears. The thesis about the rapprochement of Russia with America is expressed in his work by A. Blok in the cycle of poems "Rus" - "Russia" - "New America".
In the "American cycle" of Russian literature, there is a constant creative roll call, which is not accidental.
Mastering the American theme, Russian writers and poets closely followed each other's achievements, which indicates the importance of this topic for the Russian. literary world. One way or another, the American factor influenced not only Russian literary consciousness and creativity, but also significantly changed the worldview and worldview of writers, causing a serious revision of their life positions.
As an example of a kind of creative discussion, one can consider the negative image of America by M. Gorky and the positive - optimistic, life-affirming - by Sholom Aleichem, in his story "Boy Motl" and the novel "Wandering Stars". M. Gorky's pamphlet "City of the Yellow Devil" and Sholom Aleichem's story "Boy Motl" were written almost at the same time. However, the writers' images of New York are diametrically opposed. Motl's delight when confronted by this gigantic metropolis knows no bounds. He compares New York's skyscrapers to churches. And the comparison is not accidental. In his image of the "spiritual" New York Sholom Aleichem
405 lemizes with the "spiritual" image of M. Gorky. This controversy continues in the images of children. If a proletarian writer evokes compassion for New York children, then Sho-lom-Aleikhem admires them.
An analysis of Sholom Aleichem's literary works convinces us that he created a surprisingly capacious and expressive image of the United States, an image that inspired numerous Jewish emigrants and, in contrast to Gorky's vision of America, strengthened the romantic and optimistic aura of the New World among Russian readers.
Despite the difference in creative positions, M. Gorky and Sholom Aleichem were never antipodal writers. Gorky, a man who loved and knew America, fully understood and appreciated the "American" work of Sholom Aleichem. This is convincingly evidenced by M. Gorky's correspondence with the outstanding Jewish writer and the desire to promote his books.
The 20s-30s of the 20th century were characterized by an ambivalent attitude towards America. On the one hand, the leaders of Soviet Russia continue to see the United States as their main political and economic adversary. A prominent journalist of that time, N. Pomorsky, in an essay about New York, writes that this metropolis with its skyscrapers "raises great anger in the soul", and expresses confidence that "the workers' revolution will have to liquidate this ugly city." On the other hand, they show great interest in spreading the American experience and from the pages of the leading Soviet newspapers proclaim that it is Americanism that best suits the revolutionary consciousness of the country of October and should be embodied in Russia in the form of "communist Americanism." G. Ford's book in the 20s is quoted at the level of the most widely read bestsellers. During this period, among the most significant works of Russian literature that reflected the image of America, N. Smirnov's story "Jack Vosmerkin American" and two travelogues - "OK. American Novel" by B. Pilnyak and "One-Story America" ​​and Ilf and E. Petrov stand out .
The creation of N. Smirnov's story "Jack Vosmerkin American" (1930) is connected with the discussion that unfolded in the late 1920s on the application of the American economic model in Russian conditions.
Jack Vosmerkin American "occupies a special place in the mass Soviet literature
406 of the 30s. The background of the story is more complex and deep than it might seem at first glance. It was an attempt at a new look at the leading capitalist power, an attempt to move away from the stereotypes that arose under the influence of the work of M. Gorky, V. Mayakovsky and S. Yesenin. With this book, the American factor has once again weightily declared its presence in Russian literature.
Another serious attempt to abandon stereotypes and understand the American phenomenon was the book by V. Pilnyak “Oh, kay. An American Novel, written in the travelogue genre Created in 1931, the novel reflected the desire of the Russian writer to penetrate into a different culture, into a different mentality, although some passages of it are clearly propagandistic in nature, being an integral attribute of that era. B. Pilnyak not only shows America as a country of highly developed technical culture, designed to serve people, but also touches on many moral aspects in a perspective that is unexpected for the Soviet reader.
A qualitatively new stage in the development of the American theme by Russian literature was the travel essays by I. Ilf and E. Petrov under the extraordinary title "One-story America" ​​(1936). In 1933, Soviet Russia established diplomatic relations with the United States, and this fact, apparently, was reflected in the tone of the book. "One-story America", which came out from the pen of recognized masters of "satire and humor", was sustained in a benevolent style unusual for Soviet literature in relation to the recent capitalist enemy, devoid of polemical sharpness.
A symbolic symbol of overcoming the stereotypical perception of America has become a positive image of New York, for the image of which the writers found warm words. In fact, when describing the American metropolis, I. Ilf and E. Petrov return to the Machtet and Korolenko principles, devoid of bias. I. Ilf admitted in one of his letters from America: "I fell in love with this city." In the image of New York, created by I. Ilf and E. Petrov, Gorky's hostility is completely absent, but there is a natural writer's interest and desire to understand the city with all its contrasts. Already the first phrase characterizing New York contradicted the generally accepted "Soviet" image of it as an urban monster: "No one has gone missing in New York yet."
I. Ilf and E. Petrov in their book renounced the “image of the enemy”, laying the foundations
407 a fundamentally new approach to the image of the United States. The works of N. Smirnov and B. Pilnyak should be considered in the same vein. This approach yielded its most significant fruits in the late 1950s and early 1960s after the end of one of the stages of the Cold War, but important steps in normalizing relations between Russia and the United States were made by Russian writers in the difficult period of the 1930s - in era of political confrontation and ideological intolerance.
American" creativity of I. Ilf and E. Petrov represents a special layer in the structure of Russian-American humanitarian relations and marks the transition to a thoughtful and benevolent view of the United States, which slowly but steadily and consistently began to take shape among the creative intelligentsia of Russia from the end of the 30th to the beginning 40s of XX century. The American Sovietologists F. Barghorn and D. Brown in their works “The Soviet Image of the United States” and “Soviet Attitude to American Literature” clearly tendentiously and simply present a bleak picture of cultural relations between Russia and the United States in the prewar and war years. However, a review of the periodicals of those years, in particular the journal International Literature, does not confirm this negative assessment. Moreover, such policy articles as "America and Russian Society" by A. Startsev, reviews of Russian writers about American literature and its significance for the Russian public consciousness prove that the thinking creative intelligentsia has always sought to expand contacts with the United States and tried to influence this attitude towards the official Soviet authorities, seeking to create a positive image of America in the media and literature.
During the Cold War, our Americanists, literary critics, historians, and even writers became hostages of politics. An anti-Western and, above all, anti-American campaign was launched in the Soviet Union. The main propaganda thesis of this action was that the place of German fascism as the main enemy of freedom and democracy was taken by American imperialism. For this reason, everything that was part of the system of Western civilization, including American literature and culture, was declared harmful, decomposed and hostile to Russian and Soviet culture.
Leading Soviet Americanists M. Mendelsohn, I. Anisimov, A. Elistratova
408 found themselves embroiled in an unseemly process of indiscriminate condemnation of US literature, and Western literature in general. The tone of the critical articles was intolerant and rude, often to the point of obscenity. For propaganda of "reactionary" American literature, A. Startsev was repressed as an "enemy of the people." Under the fire of criticism were Alexander Veselovsky and the followers of his school - V. Shishmarev, V. Zhirmunsky, V. Propp, V. Nusinov. All of them were portrayed as adherents of "rootless cosmopolitans", and their concepts and views were pseudoscientific.
Some Russian writers were also involved in the anti-American campaign, such as K. Simonov, B. Lavrenev, as well as the notorious N. Shpanov, who, in their works on the American theme “Smoke of the Fatherland”, “Alien Shadow”, “Voice of America”, The "conspirators" allowed tendentiousness in interpreting the political events of that time.
During the Cold War period, the American theme could receive only unambiguously negative coverage in Soviet literature, and the image of America could appear only in a vulgarly simplified form. Such was the requirement of the time and the prescription of the top, obligatory for both literary critics and writers. Who did not want to follow him, wrote to the table. The cold of the last days of the Stalinist era fettered literature and art. There were still a few years left before the “thaw”.
In September 1959, N. S. Khrushchev made an official visit to the United States, which marked the end of the Stalinist era and asserted new era- the era of Khrushchev's "thaw", which, despite all its inconsistency, showed a serious breakthrough in international affairs, primarily in relations with the United States.
During the "thaw" America again became the main reference point for Russia. At the next party congress, the task was set - to catch up and overtake the leading capitalist power in all major economic indicators. The concept of renouncing military and political confrontation and ending the Cold War was also set among the main tasks of the party and the state. B. Polevoy's book "American Diaries" became an obvious evidence of the change in relations between Russia and the United States. B. Polevoy was able to show that, despite the difference in approaches to the development paths of both powers and disputes about the advantages of systems, it was not confrontational confrontation that came to the fore in relations between Russia and the United States, but the desire for dialogue, for mutual
409 our beneficial cooperation in the conditions of peaceful coexistence.
Describing America, B. Polevoy traditionally refers to the image of New York. His approach to the depiction of the city combines both the Gorky motives of the Yellow Devil and admiration for creative talent in the spirit of V. Mayakovsky, I. Ilf, E. Petrov, that is, the tradition of a respectful approach to the symbol of America, which was increasingly established in Russian literature, starting since the 1930s, reflecting a warming political climate. Along with a stereotypical set of clichés (“blinded skyscrapers”, “heavy fumes”, “dried forest”), depicting New York, the writer finds an original living metaphor representing the metropolis as a gorge, at the top of which warm shepherd’s fires are burning, promising a weary traveler shelter and caring hospitality
Khrushchev's "thaw" paved the way for a group of talented Russian writers and poets who made their "discovery" of America. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, A. Voznesensky, E. Yevtushenko, V. Kataev, V. Nekrasov visited the United States, which did not pass without a trace for them, marking the expansion of the artistic palette.
The result of A. Voznesensky's trip was the poetic cycle "Triangular Pear", in which the poet called for the rejection of negative stereotypes in relation to the United States.
A symbol of comprehending the true essence of America, with a clear allusion to its distorted portrait of the times of the Cold War, is the image of a watermelon in the poem "The Triangular Pear", emerald on the outside, but red on the inside.
America had a significant impact not only on the young poets of the sixties, but also on the representatives of the older generation. Indicative in this regard is the work of the patriarch of Soviet literature V. Kataev and the front-line writer V. Nekrasov.
After visiting the United States in 1959 and a second trip in 1963, V. Kataev created the philosophical story "The Holy Well", built on American impressions. The appeal to the image of the "holy well" symbolizes the writer's search for his own "I", the definition of his true purpose in life. It is noteworthy that these searches by V. Kataev, as well as by A. Voznesensky, are connected with the comprehension of America.
At first, a foreign country causes anxiety in the writer, which is aggravated by the phantasmagoric image of New York:
York, who, for all his splendor, was unable to turn night into day,
410 this night was so powerfully black. And in this darkness of an unfamiliar continent, in its mysterious depths, someone who wanted to harm me was waiting for me tensely and patiently.
However, the anxieties and fears of the hero of the story turned out to be in vain and, in the end, he "fell in love with America." V. Kataev speaks in the "Holy Well" against the most common myths that have developed in the Russian public consciousness in relation to the United States: the myth of the lack of rights and oppression of blacks, the myth of the constant provocations of the secret services, the myth of the American threat. The writer's wariness melts when dealing with real America, and his biggest "loss" is a quarter of a dollar, which he overpaid to a shoe shiner.
The story of V. Kataev is deep and philosophical. It reflects very important trends in Russian literature of the Soviet period, which were expressed in the transition from the specifics of the class struggle, revolutionary uncompromisingness and orthodox confidence to the philosophical, humanistic and sophisticated perception and understanding of life, the rejection of the division into black and white, to the comprehension of universal values.
The American factor, the image of America in the broad sense of this concept, played an important role in the transformation of the worldview of another prominent representative of Russian literature - V. Nekrasov. The tragedy of V. Nekrasov is a vivid example of the inconsistency, duality and inconsistency of the Soviet leadership in relations with the United States.
Despite all the benefits of the famous writer, V. Nekrasov did not become an obedient puppet of those in power, having managed to maintain the right to independence of judgment and his own opinion. In the perspective of "his opinion" he wrote the travel notes "On Both Sides of the Ocean" (1962), creating a visible and attractive image of America.
V. Nekrasov in his American travelogue raises burning issues of Russian life, he opposes the self-isolation of Russians, against the bans of the Iron Curtain, against far-fetched hypervigilance. Passing on his vision of New York, which in Soviet times served as an ideological touchstone of attitude towards America, V. Nekrasov deviates from the template, categorically disagreeing with the conventional wisdom that skyscrapers “suppress”: “Talking about what they suppress is nonsense. many of them. very light (precisely light!), airy, transparent. They have a lot of glass
411 they are very amusingly reflected in each other, and in the morning and in the evening, illuminated by the oblique rays of the sun, they are simply beautiful. Such a warm image of New York was incompatible with the dogmas that were once again beginning to take hold in Soviet society at the end of the thaw.
And yet the "thaw" was irreversible. It laid the foundation for those democratic processes that gained full strength only in the second half of the 1980s. She allowed Russian society in a new way look at the world, including the United States. The second "discovery" of America, which was made by a galaxy of Russian masters of the word in the early 60s, took place, despite all the reservations, silence and distortion. Since that moment, the understanding of the American phenomenon by Russian culture has turned into a broad consistent process that continues today, enriching both peoples and the entire world civilization.
The attitude of Russian writers and poets, including writers from the Russian diaspora, toward America was extremely contradictory and ambiguous. But this is quite understandable and natural, because the United States, like Russia itself, is contradictory and ambiguous. The fact that America radically influenced the creative laboratory and the creative consciousness of Russian word artists is indisputable.
The course of world civilization confirms the presence of common trends in the development of various regions of the world, which bring together the positions of writers belonging to different peoples and cultures. The primacy of reality, the unity of the laws of human development leads to convergence, turns out to be higher than national differences. This largely determines the mutual need to master the cultures and literatures of Russia and the United States, the need for contact and typological connections, the creation of conditions for the perception by Russian literature and Russian literary consciousness of the American factor, each other's images serving mutual self-identification. At the same time, one should once again recall the concept of M.M. Bakhtin, according to which the history of the world, in its essence, is not the sum of self-contained monologues of peoples, but their dialogue.
At the end of the 20th century, US President Bill Clinton said that all nations should follow America and recognize its primacy in everything, including culture, because America embodies the idea of ​​globalization. In response to this statement, the Italian journalist D. Chiesa, the author of the book "Farewell, Russia", considering that the phenomenon of Russian spirituality is largely lost, nevertheless expressed confidence that our country will not follow
412 is obedient about America. “There can be no American globalization, because America is not the whole world. Positive globalization can only be the result of universal agreement, universal control, respect for the differences between peoples, between cultures. And if one state claims that “globalization is us”, then this simply contradicts the natural development of society,” he said in an interview with one of the Russian newspapers.
And this thesis is true, because Russian spirituality has not been lost, it will always retain its originality, strength and exclusivity, and Russia, assimilating the impact of foreign influences and theories, will always remain an equal partner in dialogue with the great powers of the world, including the United States of America.
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Popkov Denis Sergeevich
Introduction………………………………..………………………………………….3
CHAPTER 1. Basic concepts of "literature" and types of literature.
1.1. The concept of "literature", types and genres of literature ……………….5
1.2. Statistical data of book reading in the USA and Russia……………8
CHAPTER 2. Literature of the USA and Russia of the 19th century.
2.1. US literature of the 19th century…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2.2. Russian literature of the 19th century……………………………………….…14
CHAPTER 3. Comparative characteristics of the main themes of the work of Jack London and M.Yu. Lermontov
3.1. The main themes of Jack London's work…………………………19
3.2. The main themes of M.Yu. Lermontov’s creativity……………………….23
3.3. Common themes in the work of Jack London and M.Yu. Lermontov………26
3.4. The results of the survey…………………………….27
Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………...……28
List of used literature……………………………………………..30
List of sources of information used.……………………………..30
Appendix 1…………………………………………………………………..….31
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Introduction
The eternal truth that a person stops thinking when he stops reading, in my opinion, is also relevant in our dynamic and turbulent 21st century. This applies, first of all, to classical literature, tested for centuries, and not to the widely advertised “reading matter”. The role of literature in human life is difficult to assess. Books have brought up more than one generation of people. Unfortunately, in modern society the role of literature is underestimated. There is a category of people who declare that literature has become obsolete as an art form, it has been replaced by the Internet and television. But there remains that category of people who recognize and appreciate the significance of literature in our lives.
As you know, books perform two main functions: informational and aesthetic. From generation to generation, it was with the help of books that the experience accumulated over the centuries was passed on, knowledge was stored in books, discoveries were imprinted.
Books were a platform for the proclamation of new ideas and worldviews. In difficult life situations, a person resorts to a book and draws wisdom, strength and inspiration from it. After all, the book is universal, in it a person can find the answer to any question of interest.
Realizing its aesthetic function, literature teaches the beautiful, the good, forms moral principles. Books form not only moral ideals but also the ideals of appearance and behavior. Heroines and heroes of books become role models. Their images and thoughts are taken as the basis of their own behavior. Therefore, it is so important, during the formation of a person, to turn to the right books that will give the right guidelines.
The purpose of this work is a comparative analysis of the works of American and Russian literature of the 19th century.
Tasks:
1. Define the concept of "literature", its types.
2. Determine the popularity of reading books in Russia and the USA.
3. Consider the works of American and Russian writers of the 19th century.
4. To identify common themes in the work and conduct a comparative analysis of the works of D. London and M.Yu. Lermontov.
5. Compose questions for the questionnaire and conduct a survey of students on the subject of knowledge of the most popular works of American and Russian writers.
Relevance.
Literature is based on humanistic views and beliefs, approves of imperishable and eternal human values. That is why it is close, very necessary and simply necessary for humanity. Thus, the role of literature at all times and in modern times is to help a person comprehend himself and the world around him, to awaken in him the desire for truth, happiness, to teach respect for the past, for knowledge and moral principles that are passed down from generation to generation. The topic I have chosen is very important for people interested in foreign languages. You can often see people who either don't read at all or read very little. Because of this, difficulties may arise in communication, writing, expressing one's thoughts. I believe that this work is of interest to a wide range of people.
Hypothesis.
The works of Russian and American writers have much in common, but also differences in the subject matter of the works.
The object of the study is American and Russian literature of the 19th century. The subject of the research is the works of American and Russian literature of the 19th century.
Research methods
1. search
2. comparative
3. questioning
4. analysis
5. generalization
CHAPTER 1. Basic concepts of "literature" and types of literature.
1.1. The concept of "literature", types and genres of literature.
Literature (lat. lit (t) eratura, literally - written, from lit (t) era - letter) is one of the main types of art; in a broad sense is a set of any texts. This term mainly used to refer to works fixed in writing and having public importance. Also, the word "literature" refers to the totality of all works of human creativity, which reflected the history of mankind.
In strict form, "literature" refers to works of artistic writing, belles-lettres. There are many types of literature, including:
• Fiction- a kind of art that uses words and constructions of natural (written human) language as the only material. The specificity of fiction is revealed in comparison, on the one hand, with art forms that use other material instead of verbal-linguistic (music, visual arts) or along with it (theater, cinema, song), on the other hand, with other types of verbal text: philosophical, journalistic, scientific, etc. There are four types of fiction:
DRAMA is one of the four genres of literature. In the narrow sense of the word - the genre of a work depicting a conflict between characters, in a broad sense - all works without the author's speech. Types (genres) of dramatic works: tragedy, drama, comedy, vaudeville.
LYRICS - one of the four types of literature, reflecting life through the personal experiences of a person, his feelings and thoughts. Types of lyrics: song, elegy, ode, thought, message, madrigal, stanzas, eclogue, epigram, epitaph.
LYROEPIC is one of the four types of literature in which the reader observes and evaluates the artistic world from the outside as a plot narrative, but at the same time events and characters receive a certain emotional assessment of the narrator.
EPOS is one of the four types of literature, reflecting life through a story about a person and the events that happen to him.
Each type of literature in turn includes a number of genres:
COMEDY is a type of dramatic work. Displays everything ugly and ridiculous, funny and awkward, ridicules the vices of society.
LYRICAL POEM (in prose) - a type of fiction, emotionally and poetically expressing the feelings of the author.
MELODRAMA - a type of drama, the characters of which are sharply divided into positive and negative.
ESSAY - the most reliable type of narrative, epic literature, displaying facts from real life.
SONG, or SONG - the most ancient type of lyric poetry; a poem consisting of several verses and a chorus. Songs are divided into folk, heroic, historical, lyrical, etc.
STORY - middle form; a work that highlights a series of events in the life of the protagonist.
POEM - a type of lyrical epic work; poetic storytelling.
STORY - a small form, a work about one event in the life of a character.
ROMAN - large form; a work, in the events of which many characters usually take part, whose fates are intertwined. Novels are philosophical, adventure, historical, family and social.
TRAGEDY - a type of dramatic work that tells about the unfortunate fate of the protagonist, often doomed to death.
EPIC - a work or a cycle of works depicting a significant historical era or a great historical event.
• Documentary prose- a type of literature, which is characterized by the construction of a storyline exclusively on real events, with rare inclusions fiction. Documentary prose includes biographies of some outstanding people, stories of any events, country studies descriptions, investigations of high-profile crimes.
• Memoirs - notes of contemporaries, telling about the events in which the author of the memoirs took part or which are known to him from eyewitnesses. An important feature of the memoirs is the installation on the "documentary" nature of the text, which claims to be the authenticity of the recreated past.
• Scientific literature- a set of written works that are created as a result of research, theoretical generalizations made within the framework of scientific method. Scientific literature is intended to inform scientists and specialists about the latest achievements of science, as well as to fix the priority on scientific discoveries.
• Popular science literature- literary works about science, scientific achievements and scientists, intended for a wide range of readers. Popular science literature is aimed both at specialists from other fields of knowledge and at unprepared readers, including children and adolescents. Unlike scientific literature, works of popular science literature are not reviewed and are not attested. Popular science literature includes works on the foundations and individual problems of the fundamental and applied sciences, biographies of scientists, descriptions of travels, etc., written in various genres.
• Reference literature- auxiliary literature used to obtain the most general, undoubted information on a particular issue. The main types of reference literature:dictionaries, reference books, encyclopedias.
• Educational literature, dividing mainly into textbooks proper and collections of tasks (exercises), has a lot in common with reference literature: like reference literature, educational literature deals with that part of knowledge on a particular issue that is considered more or less generally recognized. However, the purpose of educational literature is different: to present this part of knowledge systematically and consistently so that the addressee of the text has a fairly complete and distinct idea of ​​it and masters a number of skills in demand in this part of knowledge, whether it is the ability to solve equations or correctly place punctuation marks.
• Technical literature- this is literature related to the field of technology and production (product catalogs, operating instructions, maintenance and repair instructions, parts catalogs, patents, etc.).
Literature honestly and fairly reflects social reality: various periods in the life of the entire people, the aspirations and, of course, the hopes of people.
Fiction is a kind of art, which is the most powerful means of knowing a person, a tool that affects the reality that is happening. Literature forms the mind of a person, his will and psyche, his feelings and strong human character, namely, it forms the personality of a person.
Chapter 1.2. Statistical data on book reading in the USA and Russia.
According to a poll by the Public Opinion Foundation, 44% of Russians did not open a single book at all during the year. At the same time, 81% of the adults surveyed fondly recall school literature lessons. True, only 17% of respondents liked the process of reading. The rest remembered colorful explanations of the teacher (14%), fascinating plots of novels (12%), specific authors and works (11%). Russia has long lost the status of the most reading country. According to statistics, Indians are the most read now, who spend almost 11 hours a week on this activity. For Russians, this figure is more than 7 hours - with the world average of 6.5 hours a week. With so many hours, Russia has long been out of even the top ten most reading countries. You can calm yourself only by the fact that the British and Americans read even less. Interest in reading is falling not only because people do not want to read. There is another global problem. Every year books become less accessible and more expensive. And the number of bookstores is constantly decreasing. If in European countries one bookstore accounts for 5-6 thousand inhabitants, then in Russia - for 50-55 thousand inhabitants. During the years of the crisis, as a result of financial difficulties, about 600 bookstores were closed in the country, primarily in the regions.
The preferences of Russian readers are as follows (data from the Levada Center): 28% prefer a "female" detective story, 24% each - books about health and Russian fighters, 23% - historical adventure classics, 19% each - romance novels and books in the specialty.
The Russian Book Union provides the following data on the number of sales: fiction accounts for 42% of sales, reference books - 22%, literature for children and youth -16%, textbooks - 5%, scientific literature - 1%.
The largest segment of the global book market (24%, or 27 billion euros) is located in the United States, but its growth rates have noticeably slowed down. The share of Chinese book publishing, on the contrary, is increasing and amounts to 13% (15 billion euros). In the near future, the performance of the United States and China may equal, perhaps the Celestial Empire will take a leading position. The share of Germany is 8%, Japan - 5%, France - 4%, Great Britain - 3%. The remaining countries together provide 42% - 48 billion euros.
According to studies, in 2014 the share of e-books in the US was 13%, and in the fiction segment - 27%. Interestingly, 31% of e-book publishers release improved versions with the addition of multimedia and interactive content. However, only a few can count on success: usually this type of book business is not very profitable compared to publishing and distributing books in "simple" formats.
The proportion of American adults who read e-books has increased to 8% in recent years. In 2015 alone, this indicator increased by 20%. At the same time, Americans read an average of five books a year. 42% of adults use tablets for reading, about 3 - readers. 92% of American adults have smartphones that they also use to read.
Most of those who do not read books do not have a higher education (40%), among Americans who graduated from college, only 13% do not like to read.
Dislike of books is also related to income. 33% of people with an income of less than $30,000 do not read books, while only 17% of people with an income of more than $75,000 do not like to read books.
Latinos read less than white Americans. If you divide the haters to read by ethnicity, then 40% will be Hispanics, 29% - African Americans and 23% - whites.
As it turned out, men like to read books less than women. In addition, the larger the city, the less its inhabitants find time for reading. They are equally fond of fiction and non-fiction literature. The most popular genres are action films, thrillers and detective stories (47% of Americans read them), biographies (29%), history (27%) science fiction (25%), religion (24%).
A Harris Interactive survey of US children and teens found that for teens aged 13-17, books are the fourth highest personal expense item (teens spend more personal money only on sweets, clothes, and movie tickets) .
CHAPTER 2. Literature of the USA and Russia of the 19th century.
2.1. US literature of the 19th century.
Fiction in the proper sense of the word, and in a capacity that allows it to enter the history of world literature, begins in America only in the 19th century, when such writers as Washington Irving and James Fenimore Cooper appeared on the literary scene.
A priority direction in US policy in the XIX century. was the expansion of territories (attached: Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Upper California and other territories). One of the consequences of this is the military conflict with Mexico (1846-1848). As for the internal life of the country, the development of capitalism in the United States in the XIX century. was uneven. The “slowdown”, the postponement of its growth in the first half of the 19th century, prepared for its especially wide and intensive development, a particularly rapid explosion of economic and social contradictions in the second half of the century. The uneven development of capitalism left a characteristic imprint on the ideological life of the United States, in particular, it led to the relative backwardness, "immaturity" of social thought and social consciousness American society. The provincial isolation of the United States from European cultural centers also played its role. The social consciousness in the country was largely dominated by obsolete illusions and prejudices.
American romantics are the creators of the national literature of the United States. This, above all, distinguishes them from their European counterparts. The book market was dominated mainly by the works of English writers and literature translated from other European languages. The American book hardly made its way to the domestic reader. At that time, literary clubs already existed in New York, but English literature and an orientation towards European culture reigned in tastes: American in the bourgeois environment was considered "vulgar".
At all stages of development, American romanticism is characterized by a close connection with the socio-political life of the country. This is what makes Romantic literature specifically American in content and form. In addition, there are some other differences from European romanticism. American romantics express their dissatisfaction with the country's bourgeois development and do not accept the new values ​​of modern America. The Indian theme becomes a cross-cutting theme in their work: American romantics show sincere interest and deep respect for the Indian people.
The romantic trend in US literature was not immediately replaced by realism after the end of the Civil War. A complex fusion of romantic and realistic elements is the work of the greatest American poet Walt Whitman. A romantic worldview - already outside the chronological framework of romanticism - is imbued with Dickinson's work. Romantic motifs are organically included in creative method F. Bret Hart, M. Twain, A. Beers, D. London and other US writers of the late XIX - early XX century.
Boston School. One of the most important places in the literature of the United States after the Civil War is given to the trend known as the "literature of conventions and decorum", "traditions of refinement", etc. This trend includes writers who lived mainly in Boston and associated with the journals published there and with Harvard University. Therefore, the writers of this group are often referred to as "Bostonians". This included such writers as Lowell ("The Biglow Papers"), Aldrich, Taylor, Norton, and others.
Widespread at the end of the 19th century. received the genre of historical novel and short story. There were such works as "Old Creole Times" by D. Cable (1879), "Colonel Carter of Cartersville" by Smith, "In Old Virginia" by Page. Some of them were not devoid of artistic merit, such as "Old Creole Times", which vividly reproduced the life and customs of the American South at the beginning of the century. In this regard, Cable will act as one of the representatives of "regional literature".
Many creators of the historical novel sought only to entertain the reader. It was this task that D.M. Crawford, author of many pseudo-historical novels. That is why realist writers fought against pseudo-historical novels, seeing them as one of the most important obstacles to the development of realistic literature.
Along with the historical and adventurous-adventure novel, the genre of "business story" became widespread. Works of this type usually told about a poor, but energetic and enterprising young man who, through his work, perseverance and perseverance, achieved success in life. The sermon of businesslikeness in literature (S. White "Conquerors of the Forests", "Companion"; D. Lorrimer "Letters of a self-created merchant to his son") was reinforced by the teachings of pragmatists in American philosophy. W. James, D. Dewey and other American pragmatists laid a philosophical foundation for businessmanship, contributed to the development of the cult of individualism and business among the broad strata of the American population.
The development of American literature is largely associated with the American Dream. Some writers believed in it, propagandized it in their works (the same "delicious literature", later - representatives of apologetic, conformist literature). Others (most of the romantics and realists) sharply criticized this myth, showed its underside (for example, Dreiser in "An American Tragedy").
American literature in each of its generations puts forward outstanding master storytellers like E. Poe, M. Twain, or D. London. The form of a short entertaining narrative becomes typical of American literature.
One of the reasons for the prosperity of the novel is the rapidity of life in America at that time, as well as the "magazine way" of American literature. A prominent role in American life, and hence in literature, XIX century. still plays the oral story. American oral history goes back originally to the legends (which survive for almost the entire nineteenth century) of trappers.
2.2. Russian literature of the 19th century.
The 19th century is the heyday of Russian literature, which develops at a feverish pace; directions, currents, schools and fashions change with dizzying speed; Each decade has its own poetics, its own ideology, its own artistic style. The sentimentalism of the 10s gives way to the romanticism of the twenties and thirties; the forties see the birth of Russian idealistic “philosophy” and Slavophile teachings; the fifties - the appearance of the first novels by Turgenev, Goncharov, Tolstoy; the nihilism of the sixties is replaced by the populism of the seventies, the eighties are filled with the glory of Tolstoy, the artist and preacher; in the nineties, a new flowering of poetry begins: the era of Russian symbolism.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Russian literature, having experienced the beneficial effects of classicism and sentimentalism, was enriched with new themes, genres, artistic images and creative techniques. She entered her new century on the wave of the pre-romantic movement aimed at creating a national literature, original in its forms and content, and meeting the needs of the artistic development of our people and society. It was a time when, along with literary ideas, a wide penetration into Russia of all kinds of philosophical, political, historical concepts formed in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.
In Russia, romanticism as an ideological and artistic trend in the literature of the early 19th century was generated by the deep dissatisfaction of the advanced part of Russians with Russian reality. The formation of romanticism is associated with the poetry of V.A. Zhukovsky. His ballads are imbued with the ideas of friendship, love for the Fatherland.
Realism was established in the 30s and 40s along with romanticism, but by the middle of the 19th century it became the dominant trend in culture. In its own way ideological orientation it becomes critical realism. At the same time, the work of the great realists is permeated with the ideas of humanism and social justice.
For some time now it has become customary to talk about nationality, to demand nationality, to complain about the absence of nationality in works of literature - but no one thought to determine what he meant by this word.
Living literature must be the fruit of a people fed, but not suppressed, by sociability. Literature is and is literary life, but its development is hampered by the one-sidedness of the imitative trend that kills the nationality, without which there can be no complete literary life.
In the mid-1930s, critical realism was established in Russian classical literature, opening up enormous opportunities for writers to express Russian life and the Russian national character.
The special active force of Russian critical realism lies in the fact that, pushing aside progressive romanticism as the predominant trend, it mastered, preserved and continued its best traditions: dissatisfaction with the present, dreams of the future. Russian critical realism is notable for its bright national identity in the form of its expression. The truth of life, which was the basis of the works of Russian progressive writers, often did not fit into the traditional genre-species forms. Therefore, Russian literature is characterized by frequent violations of genre-specific forms.
Most resolutely condemned the fallacies of conservative and reactionary criticism V.G. Belinsky, who saw the transition to realism in Pushkin's poetry, considers Boris Godunov and Eugene Onegin to be the peaks, and abandoned the primitive identification of the people with the common people. Belinsky underestimated Pushkin's prose and his fairy tales; on the whole, he rightly outlined the scale of the writer's work as the focus of literary achievements and innovative undertakings that determined the further development of Russian literature in the 19th century.
In Pushkin's poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" one can feel the desire for nationality, which early manifests itself in Pushkin's poetry, and in the poems "The Fountain of Bakhchisaray", "Prisoner of the Caucasus" Pushkin moves to the positions of romanticism.
Pushkin's work completes the development of Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century. At the same time, Pushkin stands at the origins of Russian literature, he is the founder of Russian realism, the creator of the Russian literary language.
The brilliant work of Tolstoy had a huge impact on world literature.
In the novels Crime and Punishment and The Idiot, Dostoevsky realistically portrayed the clash of bright, original Russian characters. The work of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is directed against the autocratic-feudal system.
One of the writers of the 30s is N.V. Gogol. In the work “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, he is disgusted by the bureaucratic world and, like A.S. Pushkin, he plunged into the fabulous world of romance. Ripening as an artist, Gogol refused romantic genre and moves on to realism. The activity of M.Yu. Lermontov also belongs to this time. The pathos of his poetry lies in the moral questions about the fate and rights of the human person. The origins of Lermontov's work are connected with the culture of European and Russian romanticism. In his early years, he wrote three dramas marked by the stamp of romanticism. The novel "Heroes of Our Time" is one of the main works of literature of psychological realism of the 19th century.
The 1st stage of the critical activity of VG Belinsky belongs to the same time. He had a huge impact on the development of literature, social thought, reader tastes in Russia. He was a fighter for realism, demanded simplicity and truth from literature. The highest authorities for him were Pushkin and Gogol, to whose work he devoted a number of articles. Under the conditions of post-reform life, social thought in Russia, which found its predominant expression in literature and criticism, turned more and more insistently from the present to the past and future in order to reveal the laws and trends of historical development.
Russian realism of the 1860-1870s acquired noticeable differences from Western European. In the works of many realist writers of that time, motifs appeared that foreshadowed and prepared for the shift towards revolutionary romance and socialist realism that would occur at the beginning of the 20th century. With the greatest brightness and scope, the flowering of Russian realism manifested itself in the novel and story in the second half of the 19th century. It was the novels and stories of the largest Russian artists of that time that acquired the greatest public resonance in Russia and abroad. The novels and many short stories by Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky almost immediately after their publication received a response in Germany, France, and the USA. Foreign writers and critics felt in the Russian novel of those years the connection between specific phenomena of Russian reality and the development of all mankind.
The heyday of the Russian novel, the desire to penetrate into the depths of the human soul and at the same time comprehend the social nature of society and the laws in accordance with which its development takes place, became the main distinguishing quality of Russian realism of the 1860s-1870s.
The heroes of Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Chekhov, Nekrasov thought about the meaning of life, about conscience, about justice. In the structure of the new realistic novel and the story, their hypotheses were confirmed or rejected, their concepts and ideas about the world, when confronted with reality, were too often dispelled like smoke. Their novels should be regarded as a real feat of the artist. For the development of Russian realism, I.S. Turgenev did a lot with his novels. The greatest popularity was acquired by the novel "Fathers and Sons". It depicts a picture of Russian life at a new stage in the liberation movement. Turgenev's last novel, Nov, was received by Russian critics. In those years, populism was the most significant phenomenon in public life.
The flowering of critical realism also manifested itself in Russian poetry in the 1860s and 1870s. One of the pinnacles of Russian critical realism of the 60-80s is the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. The brilliant satirist, using allegories, personifications, skillfully posed and conducted the most pressing issues of modern life. Accusatory pathos is inherent in the work of this writer. The stranglers of democracy had a sworn enemy in him.
A significant role in the literature of the 80s was played by such works as “Little Things in Life”, “Poshekhonskaya Satire”. With great skill, he reproduced in them the terrible consequences of serf life and no less terrible pictures of the moral decline of post-reform Russia. “The Tale of How a Man Feeded 2 Generals” or “ wild landlord”, devoted to the most important problems of Russian life, they went to print with great censorship difficulties.
The greatest realist writers not only reflected life in their works, but also looked for ways to transform it.
Chapter 3. Comparative characteristics of the main themes of creativity
Jack London and M.Yu. Lermontov.
3.1. The main themes of the work of Jack London.
The remarkable writer Jack London (January 12, 1876 - November 22, 1916) wrote about the destinies ordinary people of their country. The writer's love for working people, the desire for social justice, hatred for selfishness, greed are close and understandable to the democratic reader of the whole world. Young people read his novels, stories, short stories with enthusiasm.
The first works of London, published in separate editions, were collections of short stories: "Northern Odyssey", "The God of His Fathers", "Children of Frost" and the novel "Daughter of the Snows". They depict the adventures, life and life of American gold miners in the far north. The vivid idealization of this life and its opposition to the calmness, stupidity and narrow-mindedness of the rest of bourgeois society is a characteristic feature that unites these collections. In the foreground - a strong personality and its struggle with nature, the struggle in which individuality is tempered, loses its petty-bourgeois limitations, being reborn physically and spiritually. A significant place in these works is occupied by the clashes of whites with native Indians. London approaches this problem as the ideologist of the white enslaver: although he sometimes sees the predatory policy of the white in relation to the natives, he is fascinated by his power. And the writer considers the natives only as a mass, similar to the elements of nature, with which a strong bourgeois personality is fighting.
All these themes and motifs are also characteristic of London's subsequent works. The writer at the same time worked on various topics (for example, in the period 1907-1909 he wrote: the adventurous vagabond story "The Road", the socialist novel "Iron Heel" and the brightly individualistic autobiographical novel "Martin Eden"). The most striking in social terms are the novels and short stories of London, thematically connected with the life and way of life of the American urban petty bourgeoisie, moving towards proletarianization ("Moon Valley", "The Game", and many others). Against the background of this philistine environment, a hero stands out from its bowels - a strong personality, dissatisfied with his oppressed position in the surrounding capitalist society (a young carter in "Moon Valley", a sailor in "Martin Eden", a circus wrestler in "The Game", etc. ). All of them are seized with a thirst to rise to the top of the capitalist ladder. The very social milieu where the heroes of London strive to penetrate is already characteristic. They are drawn either to mental labor ("Martin Eden"), where it is easiest to show their personal talents and achieve bourgeois well-being, or to agricultural labor. For the sake of the latter, the hero of the "Moon Valley" leaves the city, reviving the traditions of the father farmers, absorbed by the capitalist city; the heroes of London are finally attracted by the bourgeois-cultural prosperous life in the city itself ("The Game"). But under the conditions of capitalist society, these attempts to get out of the suppressed petty-bourgeois environment into more independent strata more often end in disappointment and death. The hero of the "Game" dies on the eve of the implementation of his plans; Martin Eden becomes disillusioned with the ideal he aspired to and commits suicide. The desired goal is achieved only by breaking away from real conditions. The end of "Valley of the Moon" is full of fiction and idealized through and through. The eyes of the heroes-seekers are directed, first of all, to the colonial countries, where there is still ample opportunity for accumulation, where personal strength and enterprise are much more important than in a society with highly developed capitalist relations. Here London acts as an apologist for the aggressive tendencies of America, idealizing and romanticizing the predatory imperialists. The writer acts as an ideologist of the carriers of capitalism in the colony. He shows how in the fight against the natural elements, with the savage natives, the individual strength and abilities of the hero find their full use. The writer strongly idealizes his heroes both in the gold mines of the northern Klondike and on the semi-wild islands of the Great Ocean, etc. P.
With the same idealization and enthusiasm, he depicts the boundless oceans with their semi-wild islands (collections of short stories "When the Gods Laugh", "Tales of the Southern Seas", "Island Tales", etc.; novels: "The Sea Wolf", "Adventure", " Son of the Sun", "Mutiny on Elsinore", etc.), where enterprising heroes rush. The social essence of this category of characters is characterized by the novel "Adventure", where they are shown as the "younger sons" of a capitalist family, who are closely at home and who, as the English song says, strive to "find" their hearth and "saddle" in the colonies, exploiting and subjugating native slaves. In order to justify exploitation, London fully accepts the imperialist philosophy of the domination of personal power and recognition of the physical, mental, racial, property, etc. inequality of people, dividing them into "masters, slave drivers and slaves." This cycle of London's works is also rich in sketches of individual bright human characters that have developed in the conditions of a struggle with nature and society (the type of "sea wolf"), dexterous, strong colonial businessmen (the type of "son of the sun").
The next small group of London's works depicts all the same heroes, but already having reached a higher material and cultural level and striving only to increase wealth and enjoy the blessings of life ("The Little Mistress of the Big House", partly "Island Tales", etc.). "The Little Housewife" is a genuine apologetics for the capitalist businessman, in the form of entrepreneur Dick Forest. London praises his ability to conduct a large enterprise, etc. A similar kind of idealization can also be observed in the novel "Son of the Sun" and others. Direct struggle with the elements of nature and society in the depiction of these images does not play a significant role; it is carried over into the hero's "forgeschichte". The main motives of the works, on the one hand, are the motives of large-scale capitalist business and entrepreneurship, on the other hand, "peaceful life": love, home improvement, sports, etc. These facets of London's work are in close contact with a huge liter of self-satisfied wealthy philistinism . This is natural, since the top of the bourgeoisie is a social stratum, to which, after all the ordeals, struggles, searches, etc., "strong personalities" eventually rolled down. There is no other way for the owner-entrepreneur rising from the philistine ranks. However, London - a singer not only of joy, achievement and contentment, but also of disappointment ("Martin Eden") - could not help looking for another way out for his "strong personalities". This search for other ways had roots in social reality. The unstable position of the American petty bourgeoisie at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the hopes to break out, generated by the rapid general rise of capitalism in America, on the one hand, and the growing absorption of the petty bourgeoisie by big capital, its proletarianization, on the other, all this gave rise, along with the idealization of the personal success, strength, along with the theory of the inequality of people, along with the apologetics of capitalism, also a certain tendency to perceive socialist theories, slogans of the class struggle and the revolutionary transformation of capitalist society. London also owns a number of works devoted to the propaganda of socialism. The most striking of them (except for the core of small essays and articles) is the novel "The Iron Heel".
The path from the glorification of a strong personality to the depiction of the class struggle has its stages in London's work. Such is the hero of the autobiographical story "The Road", who, however, by the end of his wanderings, comes to the conclusion that vagrancy is just an illusion of freedom, that "the road is not a way out." The hero of the story advises his friend to leave the "road" and look for other ways. The same "bottom", but not from the point of view of an anarchist-individualist, an adventurer (the hero of "The Road" is still very close to all the other seekers of London) is depicted by London's book "People of the Abyss". In it, each image shows and proves the need for the restructuring of capitalist society in order to heal the "ulcers of human culture." Ultimately, a strong man in his struggle alone is completely helpless. London's next stage is the realization of the need for class struggle for the restructuring of society. In this regard, in addition to a number of minor works, the most characteristic novel is The Iron Heel, which is a vivid artistic illustration of many provisions of scientific socialism (mainly the theory of the displacement and death of the middle strata of the petty bourgeoisie). Despite, however, this and the pathos of the struggle, the named novel, like all the socialist works of London, is far from the proletarian worldview and reveals the petty-bourgeois basis of socialist tendencies in the writer's work. First of all, here is revealed the writer's lack of understanding that socialism can only be won by the struggle of the proletariat, in essence - disbelief in the forces of the proletariat: the workers are mostly depicted as "beasts of the abyss", suffering defeat in the end. The struggle of the masses in this novel essentially plays no role: the same image of a strong personality, albeit in socialist attire, stands at the center not only of the novel, but of the entire struggle for socialism. The realization of the latter is the work of heroic, strong, devoted personalities. The socialism of London is only a "promised land", where gifted individuals from the petty-bourgeois milieu, fleeing from the hardships of capitalist society, aspire.
London is also the author of a number of purely autobiographical essays, such as "Voyage on the Snark", an anti-alcohol novel, "John Barleycorn", "The Adventures of a Fishing Patrol" and many others. Dr. London owns a number of novels and stories depicting animals, mainly dogs ("White Fang", "Jerry", "Michael", etc.). All these works are dominated by the same motifs of personal strength, the exclusivity of the hero, etc., which are characteristic of London's entire work as a whole. The motives of the wild power of the primitive natural state of man appear in a number of fantastic works of London ("Before Adam", "The Scarlet Plague", etc.). The motives of willpower, capable of self-denial, capable of withstanding any suffering of the body, are in the story "The Jacket". The latter, along with London's general glorification of the superiority of the white man and belief in the immortality of the human race, characterizes London as a mystic, moving away from a realistic image into a world of dreams and fantasy.
3.2. The main themes of the work of Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (October 3, 1814 - July 15, 1841), who worked in the era of romanticism, in his works managed not only to embody the main aesthetic ideas, but also to supplement them with a unique author's vision. The main themes of Lermontov's lyrics are fully consistent with the aesthetic paradigm of romanticism.
One of the most important themes is the theme of loneliness. Loneliness was understood by Lermontov as a natural state. In the concept of the world, the lyrical hero of romanticism is opposed to the real world and the crowd, this conflict turns out to be insoluble. Loneliness lyrical hero can be interpreted in different ways. Firstly, this is a kind of payment for moving towards inner comfort.
The lyrical hero of Lermontov is constantly in search of peace for his soul, and that is why he does not want to contact society. Then loneliness is just a stage that needs to be passed with dignity. Here it is worth mentioning that in the poetic concept of Lermontov the hero remains alone, unable to find peace.
Secondly, loneliness can be seen as a way to escape from the noisy outside world into a world of illusions (Fragment, 1830; Alone in the Noise of People, 1830). Thirdly, the feeling of loneliness is enhanced by a disappointing conclusion: it is inherent in the character of the hero, and, accordingly, the lyrical hero will not be able to overcome it either on earth or anywhere else. A sharp sense of alienation in Lermontov's lyrics grows to cosmic proportions (for example, in the poem "Both boring and sad").
The theme of will and bondage appears. Freedom for the poet is one of the main values. The right to be free must be defended and fought for, which is what the protagonist of Lermontov's poem "Mtsyri" does. Also, these motifs can be traced in the poems "Will" and "Prisoner".
The themes and motifs of Lermontov's lyrics are closely interconnected. So, the theme of loneliness and the motive of alienation are connected with the theme of nature. Wanting to get away from reality, the lyrical hero tries to find solace in nature. He admires and admires the beauty of landscapes, which set off his state of mind. It is worth noting that landscapes that are contrasting with the feelings of the hero are practically never found in the work of M. Yu. Lermontov.
In an effort to understand the specifics of his era, the author draws the image of the crowd, the high society of that time. From such poems as "Hussar", "He was born for happiness, for hopes", "Often people scolded", "Duma" one can understand the poet's attitude towards his contemporaries. Lermontov sharply criticizes society because of the pettiness, idleness, windiness of young people, lack of inner depth. Their spoiledness, laziness, lack of initiative. The crowd does not think and accepts everything that life has to offer. People are completely indifferent to life, being indifferent consumers, they contribute to the mortification of their souls. The lyrical hero deliberately moves away from them, not wanting to come into contact with such a society.
A cycle about a poet and poetry is connected with the theme of the crowd: “The Prophet”, “The Poet” (both versions), “To the Death of the Poet”. In these works, as well as in others, the motives of freedom, doom, misunderstanding sound. The public cannot understand the writer, which is why the latter is disappointed both in life and in his gift. Opening oneself to the world and sharing one's feelings with the public is no longer the path to the poet's happiness: the public only needs something that will be able to amuse and brighten up the evening.
The theme of the Motherland is connected with the theme of nature. Lermontov contrasts the concept of "motherland" and "state", the author openly says that he does not accept the political structure and the thoroughly rotten schemes for the existence of the ruling elite: at the same time, from the poems "Motherland", "I go out alone on the road" and "Russian melody It is clear that the author loves his native land for its originality, the uniqueness of nature, inspiring landscapes, and even for the melodically creaking peasant cart.
The theme of love in Lermontov's lyrics acquires a pessimistic sound. In Lermontov's love lyrics, love itself is never mutual; moreover, the lover and the beloved understand it differently. For a lyrical hero, the feeling of love is only real, it, like the feeling of loneliness, is aggravated and revealed in its entirety. But for the lady of the heart, love is just a small affair, a frivolous hobby that allows you not to get bored.
In the poet's lyrics ornately combine romantic tendencies and realistic details, love dramas, thoughts about the Motherland and the place of man in this world. If we specify all the author's work, the main directions of Lermontov's lyrics can be called philosophical reflections (on the very nature of man and relationships with the surrounding reality) and a holistic display of civil and personal principles.
3.3. Common topics creativity of Jack London and M.Yu. Lermontov
Analyzing the work of D. London and M.Yu. Lermontov, I came to the conclusion that in their work there are common themes characteristic of the literature of the 19th century:
The theme of the fate of the generation (denial of the existing reality, the lack of spirituality of society);
The theme of loneliness (the motive of incomprehension, fatigue and hopelessness);
The theme of the Motherland (appeal to national history and the search for ideals in the past);
The theme of nature (nature as spiritualized beauty and as a reflection of the tragic moments in the life of the human soul);
The theme of love and friendship (passion and suffering as components of love, the search for spiritual intimacy and understanding);
The theme of self-knowledge (the confrontation between earthly and heavenly forces, the motive of spiritual searches)
3.4. The results of the survey
I conducted a survey among students in grades 7-11 in order to identify the level of knowledge of American and Russian literature of the 19th century by students of our school. 39 people took part in the survey.
The questions were:
The analysis of the study showed the following results:
In the 8th grade, 1 person answered all the questions correctly, but few managed the 5th question. It follows that they do not know a writer like Agatha Christie.Grade 9 also does not know the writer from question 5, they answered all other questions absolutely correctly. students Grade 7 knows Russian writers quite well, but they know foreign writers poorly.Grades 10 and 11 know both American and Russian writers very well. They answered all questions correctly.
Based on the data received, I decided to make a visual diagram, where I present the results of the survey.
Conclusion
After analyzing the American and Russian literature of the 19th century, the works of D. London and M. Yu. Lermontov and a survey of students, I came to the conclusion that literature plays a significant social role, both in the life of the Russian and American peoples.
Literature is the whole world. A world of ideas, fantasies, an endless source of different points of view, philosophical foundations. And the most important thing is that in this world everything is in balance, every thought has the right to exist - this is the peculiarity of literature. Everything is there, and each person can find what he needs, can find answers to his questions.
A person needs literature like air. She teaches to feel - people, nature, the whole world around. Makes us think deeply about different problems. It adorns our life like nothing else; while reading, you begin to look at things from a different angle, in everyday life you can see something that you didn’t notice before, your eyes open to many things.
Unfortunately, today the number of people who regularly and with pleasure read fiction books, are interested in novelties of prose and poetry, are well versed in classical literature, is steadily decreasing. Even though the new age information technologies gave people unlimited access to the best libraries in the world, the opportunity to read e-books (downloading them for free and saving money and time) and to be aware of everything that the modern literary process lives on, people have practically stopped reading books.
As a rule, a modern reader is a middle-aged or elderly person who was instilled with reading back in the days of the Soviet Union (when education was also not particularly focused on personal development, but raised the “gray mass”). Modern schoolchildren and students, for the most part, do not read at all, managing successfully and without prejudice to academic performance, even skip publications, familiarization with which involves a training course. And this affects not only the general literacy of modern young people, but also their worldview, value orientations, and morality. After all, literature can have a very serious impact on its reader.
Literature has a particularly great influence on children. The child's personality is a very labile structure that is easily deformed under the influence of external influences and, as a result, develops according to predetermined algorithms. Literary education is one of the external factors that can significantly affect what kind of personality a child will grow up, what character traits he will have.
Given the seriousness and undeniable influence of literature on anyone, each reader should be very careful about what he reads, select only the best works.
I believe that the best books that educate the literary taste and the person himself are the classic ones. Classical literature has stood the test of time, it really makes a person think, analyze, feel.
I believe that this work will be useful for any person who studies English and wants to know more about the culture of the language being studied. The results of the study can be used during the lessons in the study of regional studies material on this topic. Also I think it would be really helpful for cultural understanding between our two countries if we knew more about each other.
List of used literature
1. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin "Biography and poems", 1987.
2. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol "Biography" 1996.
3.Publishing house AST "Biographies of great Russian writers", 2012.
4. Publishing house AST "Biographies of great American writers", 2013.
List of sources of information used.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org
2. http://all-biography.ru/category/iskusstvo/writers
3. http://brightonbeachnews.com
4. http://www.yaklass.ru/materiali?mode=lsntheme&themeid=26

   1) What is the name of the naughty boy and bully from the works of Mark Twain? (Tom Sawyer)

   2) Ukrainian writer of the 19th century who wrote such works as "Taras Bulba"? (N.V. Gogol)

   3) In what year was A.S. Pushkin born? (1799)

   4) What is the name of the teenage boy, the wizard from the works of JK Rowling? (Harry Potter)

   5) What is the name of the famous detective from the works of Agatha Christie? (Hercule Poirot)

   Poll results.

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   "Comparative analysis of American and Russian literature of the 19th century" Author: Popkov Denis Sergeevich, student of the 7th "A" class of the Omsk secondary school "Secondary School No. 129" Head: Anastasia Yuryevna Pleshkova, English teacher of the Omsk Secondary Educational Institution "Secondary School No. 129"

   The purpose of this work is a comparative analysis of the works of American and Russian literature of the 19th century. Relevance The role of literature at all times and in modern times is to help a person comprehend himself and the world around him, to awaken in him the desire for truth, happiness, to teach respect for the past, for knowledge and moral principles that are passed down from generation to generation. The topic I have chosen is very important for people interested in foreign languages. You can often see people who either don't read at all or read very little. Because of this, difficulties may arise in communication, writing, expressing one's thoughts. I believe that this work is of interest to a wide range of people.

   Hypothesis The works of Russian and American writers have much in common, but also differences in the subject matter of the works. The object of the study is American and Russian literature of the 19th century. The subject of the research is the works of American and Russian literature of the 19th century. Research methods: search comparative questioning analysis generalization

   Literature (lat. lit (t) eratura, literally - written, from lit (t) era - letter) - one of the main types of art; in a broad sense is a set of any texts. This term is mainly used to refer to works fixed in writing and of public importance. Also, the word "literature" refers to the totality of all works of human creativity, which reflected the history of mankind. Types of literature: Fiction Non-fiction Memoirs Scientific literature Popular science literature Reference literature Educational literature Technical literature

   There are 4 types of fiction: DRAMA LYRICS LYROEPIC EPOS

   Each kind of literature, in turn, includes a number of genres: COMEDY LYRICAL POEM (in prose) MELODRAMA ESSAY SONG, or SONG STORY POEM STORY NOVEL TRAGEDY EPIC

   American Writers of the 19th Century E. After M. Twain A. Bierce D. London D. Cable S. White D. Lorrimer T. Dreiser

   Russian writers of the 19th century V.A. Zhukovsky A.S. Pushkin M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin N.V. Gogol M.Yu. Lermontov L.N. Tolstoy I.S. Turgenev F.M. Dostoevsky

   Analyzing the work of D. London and M.Yu. Lermontov, I came to the conclusion that in their work there are common themes characteristic of the literature of the 19th century: the theme of the fate of a generation (denial of the existing reality, the lack of spirituality of society); the theme of loneliness (the motive of incomprehension, fatigue and hopelessness); the theme of the Motherland (appeal to national history and the search for ideals in the past); the theme of nature (nature as spiritualized beauty and as a reflection of the tragic moments in the life of the human soul); the theme of love and friendship (passion and suffering as components of love, the search for spiritual intimacy and understanding); the theme of self-knowledge (the confrontation between earthly and heavenly forces, the motive of spiritual searches)

   Questionnaire questions: 1) What is the name of the naughty boy and bully from the works of Mark Twain? 2) Ukrainian writer of the 19th century who wrote such works as "Taras Bulba"? 3) In what year was A.S. Pushkin born? 4) What is the name of the teenage boy, the magician from the works of JK Rowling? 5) What is the name of the famous detective from the works of Agatha Christie?

   The results of the survey

   Thank you for your attention