Boris Golovin - How to speak correctly: Notes on the culture of Russian speech. Accuracy and brevity of Pushkin's prose (based on A.S. Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter")

Twelfth chapter.

"ACCURACY and BRIEF - THESE ARE THE FIRST ADVANTAGES OF PROSE"

By 1830, a theory of the style of both writers was taking shape (the most important part of the aesthetics of Pushkin and Stendhal, reflecting not only their linguistic position, but also more general phenomena - philosophical views, vision of the world, ethical principles).

Brought up on the ideas of the French Enlightenment, rationalism and sensationalism, both writers strive for an objective depiction of life, and the literary language becomes in their understanding the most important guarantee of truthfulness. artistic picture peace. This is why both writers place such high value on the precise and rigorous language of scientific inquiry.

The theory of style of Stendhal and Pushkin is formed in the struggle with the linguistic position of other literary movements, however, the critical approach did not at all exclude creative assimilation by both writers. best achievements in the field of style of the previous and modern literary tradition. Not accepting the "high" style of classicism, Stendhal and Pushkin highly appreciate the transparent and strict prose of the French moralists (Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère).

Artistic truth is the main ethical and aesthetic principle both writers - dictates, first of all, the rejection of the false conventionality of existing literary styles. To speak truthfully meant for them to speak simply and clearly. These demands of rationalist poetics become for both writers at the moment of their struggle with the style of the Romantics the most important pledge of truth. "Simplicity is the first of my deities," states Stendhal (11, 285). Pushkin, in his note On Prose (1822), urges writers to "speak simply" (XI, 18). It's about not about primitive "simplification", but about complex and enriched linguistic "simplicity". “Simplicity” and “clarity” are contrasted by both writers with “vagueness”, which they associate with lies. Stendhal admitted that his love for mathematics was determined by the "sincerity" of logical definitions: "I loved and still love mathematics for its own sake, as it does not allow hypocrisy and obscurity - two properties that disgust me to the extreme" (13, 86). In the eloquence of the romantics, Stendhal saw a reflection of "the most fashionable vice of the nineteenth century - hypocrisy" (11, 3). He wrote: "Everything vague is false" (11, 330). Stendhal, mentally “trying on” his works to the tastes of the readers of 1880 (his goal: “to be somewhat original in 1880” (15, 316), thinks through innovative poetics not only at the level of the plot and the structure of images, but also Thus, in a letter to Balzac dated October 16, 1840, he (alas, with unjustified optimism) wrote: “All political swindlers have always had a declamatory and eloquent tone, and in 1880 they will inspire disgust” (15 , 323). From the first steps of the prose writer, Stendhal willingly used the oppositions "truth - falsehood", "clear - vague" for political allusions. In the book History of Painting in Italy, which is replete with seditious and free-thinking allusions, he casually notes "the love of sovereigns for a vague style ". Later, he wrote: "The dark and pretentious style was chosen by those who defend a bad cause, and people who serve a just cause try to express their thoughts as clearly as possible" (11, 425). Pushkin, a master of political subtext, also knows how to connect the characteristic with political associations. Determining the style of one of his short, direct letters to E. M. Khitrovo, he recalls the style of the Jacobins: “Forgive my laconicism and Jacobin style” (XIV, 32). Yu. M. Lotman suggested that Pushkin was familiar with the speeches of Saint-Just and the revolutionary bulletins of the Jacobins. However, for them, it is still more important not political, but aesthetic aspect opposition "clear - dark": the requirement of "simplicity" and "clarity" meant a resolute rejection of the stylistic norms of the era.

Struggling for a "truthful" style, both writers oppose the artificial "beautifulness" of the style: rhetorical paraphrases, non-objective metaphors, formal verbal embellishments. “But what can be said about our writers, who, considering it base to explain simply the most ordinary things, think to enliven - children's prose with additions and sluggish metaphors? - Asked Pushkin. - These people will never say friendship - without adding: this sacred feeling, of which the noble flame, etc. ... "(XI, 13).

Both writers criticize the artificiality of both the “high” style of the classicists and the “new” style of the sentimentalists, but the style of the romantics becomes the main object of their criticism. "vociferous phrases", "empty rhetoric", "tortured pathos", "petty affectation", "inflated common words” - such derogatory definitions do not leave the pages of Stendhal's work on aesthetics. Chateaubriand especially gets from him, whose "magnificent" style, intended, according to Stendhal, "to hide the scarcity of thought", becomes the target of his constant ridicule.

The simplicity and clarity of prose are organically linked, according to Stendhal and Pushkin, with the saturation of thought: “prose requires thoughts, thoughts and thoughts - without it brilliant expressions serve no purpose" (XI, 18). The same requirement of verbal "asceticism" is put forward by Stendhal: "... I want to conclude as much as possible more thoughts in as few words as possible” (7, 196). The writer, Stendhal believes, is obliged to look for the "single" word that most correctly expresses the thought: "the exact, single, necessary, inevitable word" (11, 271). Pushkin's demand is the same: "Precision and brevity are the first virtues of prose" (X1, 18).

Economy principle artistic material, put forward by them, extends not only to lexical selection, but also to syntax. The rounded, smooth periods of the prose of the Romantics (especially Chateaubriand) irritate Stendhal. He will call his style “chopped” (“le style coupé”) and will be proud of the absence of affectation and prettiness in it: “... not a single magnificent phrase, style has never ignited paper<...>such words as terrible, majestic, terrible were never used” (11, 3). The attitude of both writers to the style of Rousseau is characteristic. From his youth, in love with the “Geneva hermit”, Stendhal, over time, became more and more intolerant of his exalted style, since 1804 he rejected the “language of ecstasy”. Later, he admits that it was not so easy for him: "I do my best to be dry." The demand for truth is associated by both writers with the concepts of "nationality" and "general accessibility" of the language. Like Courier, who announced in his Pamphlet on Pamphlets (1825) that “truth is common,” Stendhal and Pushkin associate the concept of “truthfulness” of style with its closeness to vernacular. Already in his first job, devoted to the problem style, On the dangers that threaten the Italian language, Stendhal, opposing the demand of the Italian "purists" to clear the dictionary of "rude" words, insisted on the need for communication literary language with live popular speech. « Chief Weapon folk genius - his language - he wrote. What good does it do a dumb man to be smart? And how much is a person who speaks a language understandable to him alone different from a dumb person? Later, in the treatise Racine and Shakespeare, Stendhal will criticize Racine for the fact that, pleasing the viewer, he artificially “cleared” the language of his tragedies from everything “common people”.

Pushkin also emphasizes the importance of the living connection of the literary language with folk speech, the beneficial effect of their mutual influence. It is curious that he, like Stendhal, refers to the example of the Italians: “ Colloquial common people <...>also worthy of the deepest research. Alfieri studied Italian language at the Florentine bazaar: it is not bad for us sometimes to listen to Moscow mallows. They speak amazingly clean and correct language» (XI, 149).

From this point of view, for the artistic practice of Stendhal and Pushkin great importance acquires the assimilation of the traditions of writers who introduced the common element into the language of their works. For Stendhal, this is primarily Moliere and Lafontaine, for Pushkin - Fonvizin and Krylov. It is also important that they themselves are well aware of the common language, the language of the streets and oral anecdote.

Stendhal gave his “formula” of style in the treatise Racine and Shakespeare: “only that play can be called a “truly romantic tragedy”, “the language of which is simple, lively, sparkling with naturalness, devoid of tirades” (2, 270). Pushkin, creating at the same time Boris Godunov, whom he also, independently of Stendhal, called a "truly romantic" tragedy, embodied these requirements in the best possible way.

However, closeness in theory does not always mean similarity in artistic practice. Unlike Pushkin, who appreciates harmony in style (“ noble simplicity”, XI, 73), “proportionality” (XI, 52), “conformity” (XI, 52), Stendhal does not strive for it; in his prose there are many "superfluous" service words, lexical repetitions. He is not at all preoccupied with finishing the style, deliberately allowing roughness and clumsy constructions. principled position"stylistic egotism" earned him a reputation as a "skimping" stylist. And yet there is an area where the similarity of the stylistic manner of Pushkin and Stendhal is striking: autobiographical prose(correspondence, diaries, travel essays), which in the highest degree characteristic quality, defined by Pushkin as "the charm of a free, careless story." Otherwise, as artists-stylists, they differ markedly from one another. However, it is not this difference that is essential, but what unites them: both writers are the first in European and Russian literature to create a theory of realistic style and provide an example of its artistic embodiment.

"True Romanticism" - the direction of the transitional stage on the way to mastering the realistic method. In his poetics there is still much in common with romanticism. However, in the field of language and style, the break with the romantics is most noticeable, is of a fundamental nature, it is here that realism first of all consolidates its position.

Comparison with Stendhal helps to better comprehend literary process in Russia. Pushkin's language reform opens new stage in the development of Russian literary style. If before all literary trends(classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism) followed the more developed European stylistic tradition in Russia, focusing on it and striving to catch up with it, then with Pushkin the stage begins when Russian realism becomes on a par with the best European examples in the field of style.

Lesson Objectives:

• help students figure out how language means expressiveness, Pushkin achieves accuracy and brevity in the description of nature, in the depiction of the spiritual hero states, in the transfer of the swiftness of the development of events;
• to develop in students the ability to see the lexical fullness of words, to feel the word;
• educate the reading culture of students.

Equipment:

• portrait of A.S. Pushkin by P. P. Sokolov,
• epigraphs for the lesson,
• text of "The Captain's Daughter",
• excerpt from an essay by S.T. Aksakov "Buran"
• explanatory dictionaries,
• Handout.

Epigraphs for the lesson:

• "Accuracy and brevity - these are the first virtues of prose. It requires thoughts and thoughts - without them, brilliant expressions do not serve anything." (A.S. Pushkin. About prose.)
• "Words are few, but they are so precise that they mean everything. In every word there is an abyss of space. Every word is immense, like a poet." (N.V. Gogol about the prose of A.S. Pushkin).

During the classes

1. introduction teacher about the topic and objectives of the lesson.

Working on ideological content stories by A.S. Pushkin " Captain's daughter", you and I, guys, observed the artistic features of the work, noted the simplicity and clarity of presentation, the conciseness of the Pushkin word. Today's lesson will be completely devoted to the artistic skill of A.S. Pushkin. (The teacher announces the topic of the lesson).

Our task is to find out, thanks to what linguistic means of expressiveness Pushkin achieves accuracy and brevity in describing nature, in describing the state of mind of the characters, in conveying the swiftness of the development of events. To solve this problem, you will use the knowledge you received both in literature lessons and in Russian language lessons. The reference point in our conversation about the language of a work of art will be the statement of A.S. Pushkin from the article "On Prose". (The teacher reads the 1st epigraph).

2. Comparative analysis descriptions of the snowstorm in the story "The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin and in the essay "Buran" by S.T. Aksakov.

Let's start with an analysis of one of the most striking descriptions in The Captain's Daughter - a picture of a snowstorm in the chapter "Counselor". It has long been firmly established that in the description of the steppe snowstorm A.S. Pushkin relied on the essay of the famous Russian writer XIX century S. T. Aksakov "Buran", printed in "Dennitsa" (1834).

Read expressively excerpts from the works of A.S. Pushkin and S.T. Aksakov and compare them. Which description impressed you the most and why?

": A white cloud quickly rose and grew from the east, and when the last pale rays of the setting sun disappeared behind the mountain, a huge cloud already covered more than half of the sky and sprinkled delicate snowy dust from itself: already in the ordinary noise of the wind, it was sometimes heard, as it were, the distant cry of a baby, and sometimes the howl of a hungry wolf: Snowy white cloud, huge as the sky, covered the entire horizon and quickly covered the last light of the red, burnt evening dawn with a thick veil. Suddenly night fell: the storm came with all its fury, with all its horrors. The desert wind broke out in the open, blew up the snowy steppes, like swan fluff threw them up to the sky: White darkness conquered everything, impenetrable, like the darkness of the darkest autumn night! Everything merged, everything mixed up: the earth, the air, the sky turned into an abyss of boiling snowy dust, which blinded the eyes, occupied the breath, roared, whistled, howled, moaned, beat, ruffled, twirled from all sides, from above and below, twisted around like a kite , and strangled everything that he came across. "(From the essay by S.T. Aksakov" Buran ").

“The horses ran together. Meanwhile, the wind grew stronger from hour to hour. The cloud turned into a white cloud, which rose heavily, grew and gradually enveloped the sky. dark sky mingled with the snowy sea. Everything is gone. "Well, sir," the coachman shouted, "the trouble is: a snowstorm!":

I looked out of the wagon: everything was dark and whirlwind. The wind howled with such fierce expressiveness that it seemed animated; the snow covered me and Savelich; the horses walked at a pace - and soon they became ". (From the story "The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin).

(Students conclude: Aksakov's description of the snowstorm is more detailed, Pushkin's is more concise).

How did Pushkin rework Aksakov's text? To do this, find keywords in both descriptions.

(Wind, cloud, snow, darkness)

How is wind noise described in the texts of Aksakov and Pushkin? Compare descriptions.

Aksakov: ": already in the ordinary noise of the wind one could sometimes hear, as it were, a distant crying baby, and sometimes the howl of a hungry wolf: earth, air, sky turned into an abyss of boiling snowy dust, which blinded the eyes, occupied the breath, roared, whistled, howled, moaned, beat, ruffled, spit on all sides, above and below, wrapped around, like a snake and strangled whatever he came across."

Pushkin: " Wind howl with such ferocious expressiveness that seemed animated".

How justified is the laconism of Pushkin's lines? Choose synonyms for words "howl"(noisy, blew, moaned) "ferocious"(fierce, vicious, predatory, harsh). Can they replace Pushkin's words?

Let's find out lexical meaning the words "howl" and "fierce".

We turn to explanatory dictionary. (howl- 1. A long drawn-out groan made by a dog, a wolf and some other animals. 2. Expand. Loud, prolonged crying.) ( ferocious - 1. Bloodthirsty, predatory, fierce (about an animal). 2. Hard, ruthless, vicious, harsh (about a person)).

(A.S. Pushkin does not explain the words "howled", "fierce", because they most fully and accurately convey the sound of the wind.)

As described "darkness" in excerpts? Aksakov: " I overcame everything white darkness, as impenetrable as the darkness of the darkest autumn night!"

Pushkin: ": All was darkness and whirlwind."

Why did Pushkin refuse epithets that complement the characterization of the word "darkness"? We turn to the explanatory dictionary: "Darkness is the complete absence of illumination, light; darkness, darkness."

Conclusion: the accuracy and brevity of Pushkin's descriptions is achieved by the correct selection of lexical units that do not require explanation. That is why, speaking about the prose of A.S. Pushkin, N.V. Gogol remarked: "Words are few, but they are so precise that they mean everything. In every word there is an abyss of space. Every word is boundless, like a poet." To feel "the abyss of space of Pushkin's word is not given to everyone, but only to a thoughtful reader.

Let us return to the texts of Aksakov and Pushkin. Compare the passages at the syntactic level. What syntactic constructions prevail in both texts? What types of predicates are present?

(In Aksakov's text there is an abundance of complex sentences, comparative phrases, homogeneous members of the sentence; Pushkin has mostly simple sentences with a minimum number of secondary members, there are non-union complex sentences. Simple verbal predicates in the form of the past perfect tense, they draw a change in the states of nature, give the description dynamism and tension).

Punctuation marks play an important role in Pushkin's text. Find sentences in the description of Buran that contain a dash ( "Fine snow began to fall - and suddenly it fell in flakes.", "The horses walked at a pace - and soon they began.").

Write down these sentences first with a dash, and then without a dash. What changed? (Without a dash, sentences lose their internal momentum. A dash indicates a conclusion, an end result.)

So, comparing the two descriptions of the snowstorm, we saw how skillfully and skillfully Pushkin handles the Russian language, how accurately he chooses the only right word, the most correct syntactic construction, and even the necessary punctuation marks.

3. Mastery of A.S. Pushkin in the ability to concisely convey shades in state of mind heroes. A student's presentation with the results of a micro-research on the topic: "The psychological duel of Grinev and Pugachev" (analysis of the dialogue of the characters in Chapter 12, in the episode of Shvabrin's discovery of Grinev's deception).

This is one of the dramatic moments in the story, in which Once again tested for strength "weird friendly relations"Grinev and Pugacheva. In the center of psychological research is the figure of Pugachev. Pushkin conveys the state of mind of the hero in succinct, concise words: "he fixed his fiery eyes on me," "whose face darkened." Behind these phrases lies a whole gamut of Pugachev's feelings: indignation, regret, offended feeling of a friend, resentment, bewilderment (The student draws a conclusion about the role of gestures, facial expressions, intonation in revealing the psychological state of the hero, about the laconism of means).

4. Linguistic experiment.

And now let's see how attentive and sensitive you are to the word of A.S. Pushkin. I suggest you restore the text as close as possible to the author's. (Students are offered a deformed text with omission of verbs).

I (rushed) out of the room, instantly (found myself) on the street and headlong (ran) to the priest's house, not seeing or feeling anything. There (there were) screams, laughter and songs. Pugachev (feasted) with his comrades. Broadsword (ran) there for me. I (sent) her to quietly summon Akulina Pamfilovna. A minute later, the priest (came out) to me in the hallway with an empty damask in her hands. (Chapter "The Uninvited Guest", Chapter 9).

Students' conclusion about the role of verbs in the text: verbs convey the feelings of the hero, as well as the sequence of actions, tell about the development of events, describe actions that characterize the behavior of the characters.

5. In creative laboratory writer. Group work.

In the words of the famous literary critic G.A. Gukovsky, "Pushkin's prose is primarily accurate, clear, logical:". But was it easy for Pushkin to maintain this style: to write accurately, clearly, concisely? Most likely no. Remember when Pushkin began work on The Captain's Daughter and when he completed this work (1833 - 1836). Three years of painstaking work on a work of art, on every word. Readers did not immediately get acquainted with the final text. Several versions of the manuscript of The Captain's Daughter have been preserved.

You now have a little research work to do: compare the initial and final versions of the fragments from the story "The Captain's Daughter". When completing a task, remember the main advantages Pushkin's prose.

Task: compare the text options. What explains the difference between the original and final versions? Answering the question, refer to the corresponding fragment in the story "The Captain's Daughter".

Task examples.

Performances of group members on the results of work.

6. Summing up the lesson.

What new did you learn in the lesson?

What did you learn in class?

Immersed in the language of A.S. Pushkin, we observed how a word, a simple sentence with verbal predicates, punctuation marks "work", helping the writer to achieve accuracy and brevity in describing nature, in describing the spiritual experiences of the characters, in conveying the swiftness of the development of events.

"The Captain's Daughter" is a universally recognized example of classical prose. The remarkable Russian poet of the 20th century A.T. Tvardovsky, when he met a bad writer or an ignorant reader, always said with a grin: “Yes, he didn’t read The Captain’s Daughter!” You've read The Captain's Daughter, immersed yourself in art world this work, and I hope that your reading experience is enriched.

7. Homework.

• Write a detailed answer to the question (optional):
• What new things have I discovered in myself as a reader by watching artistic language story "The Captain's Daughter"
• Why would I recommend (a) to my peers to read the story "The Captain's Daughter" by A.S. Pushkin?

About Russian prose

D’Alembert once said to La Harpe: “Don’t praise Buffon for me, this man writes: The noblest of all human acquisitions was this animal, proud, ardent and so on. Why not just say horse.

La Harpe is surprised at the dry reasoning of the philosopher. But d'Alembert is very clever man- and, I confess, I almost agree with his opinion.

Let me remark in passing that it was about Buffon, the great painter of nature. His style, flourishing, full, will always be a model of descriptive prose. But what can be said about our writers, who, considering it base to explain simply the most ordinary things, think of enlivening children's prose with additions and languid metaphors? These people will never say friendship without adding: this sacred feeling, of which the noble flame, etc. Should have said: early in the morning - but they write: barely the first rays rising sun lit up the eastern edges of the azure sky - oh, how new and fresh it all is, is it better just because it is longer.

I am reading the report of some theater lover: this young pet of Thalia and Melpomene, the generously gifted Apollo ... my God, put it: this young good actress- and continue - be sure that no one will notice your expressions, no one will thank you.

The contemptible Zoil, whose unsleeping envy pours its soporific poison on the laurels of the Russian Parnassus, whose tedious stupidity can only be compared with indefatigable anger ... my God, why not just say to the horse: is it not in short - Mr. publisher of such and such a magazine.

Voltaire can be considered the best example of a prudent style. He ridiculed in his "Micromegas" the sophistication of the subtle expressions of Fontenelle, who could never forgive him for that.

Accuracy and brevity are the first virtues of prose. It requires thoughts and thoughts - without them, brilliant expressions are of no use. Poetry is another matter (however, in them it would not hurt our poets to have a sum of ideas much more significant than they usually have. Our literature will not move far forward with memories of past youth).

The question is whose prose is the best in our literature. The answer is Karamzin. This is still not a big praise - let's say a few words about this venerable one. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1) Speaking of style, should I say in this case - I couldn’t forgive him for that - or couldn’t forgive him for that? It seems that these words do not depend on the verb could, ruled by the particle not, but on the indefinite inclination to forgive, requiring accusative. However, N. M. Karamzin writes differently. (Approx. Pushkin)

Twelfth chapter.

"ACCURACY and BRIEF - THESE ARE THE FIRST ADVANTAGES OF PROSE"

By 1830, a theory of the style of both writers was taking shape (the most important part of the aesthetics of Pushkin and Stendhal, reflecting not only their linguistic position, but also more general phenomena - philosophical views, visions of the world, ethical principles).

Brought up on the ideas of the French Enlightenment, rationalism and sensationalism, both writers strive for an objective depiction of life, and the literary language becomes, in their understanding, the most important guarantee of the truthfulness of the artistic picture of the world. This is why both writers place such high value on the precise and rigorous language of scientific inquiry.

The theory of style of Stendhal and Pushkin is formed in the struggle with the linguistic position of other literary movements, however, the critical approach did not at all exclude the creative assimilation of the best achievements in the field of style of the previous and modern literary tradition by both writers. Not accepting the "high" style of classicism, Stendhal and Pushkin highly appreciate the transparent and strict prose of the French moralists (Pascal, La Rochefoucauld, La Bruyère).

Artistic truth - the main ethical and aesthetic principle of both writers - dictates, first of all, the rejection of the false conventionality of existing literary styles. To say truthfully meant for them to say simply and clearly. These demands of rationalist poetics become for both writers at the moment of their struggle with the style of the Romantics the most important pledge of truth. "Simplicity is the first of my deities," states Stendhal (11, 285). Pushkin, in his note On Prose (1822), urges writers to "speak simply" (XI, 18). This is not about primitive "simplification", but about complex and enriched linguistic "simplicity". “Simplicity” and “clarity” are contrasted by both writers with “vagueness”, which they associate with lies. Stendhal admitted that his love for mathematics was determined by the "sincerity" of logical definitions: "I loved and still love mathematics for its own sake, as it does not allow hypocrisy and obscurity - two properties that disgust me to the extreme" (13, 86). In the eloquence of the romantics, Stendhal saw a reflection of "the most fashionable vice of the nineteenth century - hypocrisy" (11, 3). He wrote: "Everything vague is false" (11, 330). Stendhal, mentally “trying on” his works to the tastes of the readers of 1880 (his goal: “to be somewhat original in 1880” (15, 316), thinks through innovative poetics not only at the level of the plot and the structure of images, but also Thus, in a letter to Balzac dated October 16, 1840, he (alas, with unjustified optimism) wrote: “All political swindlers have always had a declamatory and eloquent tone, and in 1880 they will inspire disgust” (15 , 323). From the first steps of the prose writer, Stendhal willingly used the oppositions "truth - falsehood", "clear - vague" for political allusions. In the book History of Painting in Italy, which is replete with seditious and free-thinking allusions, he casually notes "the love of sovereigns for a vague style ". Later, he wrote: "The dark and pretentious style was chosen by those who defend a bad cause, and people who serve a just cause try to express their thoughts as clearly as possible" (11, 425). Pushkin, a master of political subtext, also knows how to connect the characteristic with political associations. Determining the style of one of his short, direct letters to E. M. Khitrovo, he recalls the style of the Jacobins: “Forgive my laconicism and Jacobin style” (XIV, 32). Yu. M. Lotman suggested that Pushkin was familiar with the speeches of Saint-Just and the revolutionary bulletins of the Jacobins. However, for them, it is still more important not the political, but the aesthetic aspect of the opposition "clear - dark": the demand for "simplicity" and "clarity" meant a resolute rejection of the stylistic norms of the era.

Struggling for a "truthful" style, both writers oppose the artificial "beautifulness" of the style: rhetorical paraphrases, non-objective metaphors, formal verbal embellishments. “But what can be said about our writers, who, considering it base to explain simply the most ordinary things, think to revive - children's prose with additions and sluggish metaphors? - Asked Pushkin. - These people will never say friendship - without adding: this sacred feeling, of which the noble flame, etc. ... "(XI, 13).

Both writers criticize the artificiality of both the “high” style of the classicists and the “new” style of the sentimentalists, but the style of the romantics becomes the main object of their criticism. “Ringing phrases”, “empty rhetoric”, “tortured pathos”, “petty affectation”, “inflated general words” - such pejorative definitions do not leave the pages of Stendhal's work on aesthetics. Chateaubriand especially gets from him, whose "magnificent" style, intended, according to Stendhal, "to hide the scarcity of thought", becomes the target of his constant ridicule.

The simplicity and clarity of prose are organically linked, according to Stendhal and Pushkin, with the saturation of thought: “prose requires thoughts, thoughts and thoughts - without it, brilliant expressions serve nothing” (XI, 18). The same requirement of verbal "asceticism" is put forward by Stendhal: "... I want to conclude as many thoughts as possible in the smallest possible number of words" (7, 196). The writer, Stendhal believes, is obliged to look for the "single" word that most correctly expresses the thought: "the exact, single, necessary, inevitable word" (11, 271). Pushkin's demand is the same: "Precision and brevity are the first virtues of prose" (X1, 18).

The principle of economy of artistic material put forward by them extends not only to lexical selection, but also to syntax. The rounded, smooth periods of the prose of the Romantics (especially Chateaubriand) irritate Stendhal. He will call his style “chopped” (“le style coupé”) and will be proud of the absence of affectation and prettiness in it: “... not a single magnificent phrase, style has never ignited paper<...>such words as terrible, majestic, terrible were never used” (11, 3). The attitude of both writers to the style of Rousseau is characteristic. From his youth, in love with the “Geneva hermit”, Stendhal, over time, became more and more intolerant of his exalted style, since 1804 he rejected the “language of ecstasy”. Later, he admits that it was not so easy for him: "I do my best to be dry." The demand for truth is associated by both writers with the concepts of "nationality" and "general accessibility" of the language. Like Courier, who declared in the Pamphlet on Pamphlets (1825) “truth is common,” Stendhal and Pushkin associate the concept of “truthfulness” of style with its closeness to the folk language. Already in his first work on the problem of style, On the Dangers that Threaten the Italian Language, Stendhal, speaking out against the demand of the Italian "purists" to clear the dictionary of "coarse" words, insisted on the need to link the literary language with live folk speech. “The main weapon of the national genius is its language,” he wrote. What good does it do a dumb man to be smart? And how much is a person who speaks a language understandable to him alone different from a dumb person? Later, in the treatise Racine and Shakespeare, Stendhal will criticize Racine for the fact that, pleasing the viewer, he artificially “cleared” the language of his tragedies from everything “common people”.

Pushkin also emphasizes the importance of a living connection between the literary language and folk speech, the beneficial effect of their mutual influence. It is curious that he, like Stendhal, refers to the example of the Italians: “The spoken language of the common people<...>also worthy of the deepest research. Alfieri studied Italian at the Florentine bazaar: it is not bad for us sometimes to listen to Moscow mallows. They speak an amazingly clear and correct language” (XI, 149).

From this point of view, for the artistic practice of Stendhal and Pushkin, it is of great importance to assimilate the traditions of writers who introduced the common element into the language of their works. For Stendhal, this is primarily Moliere and Lafontaine, for Pushkin - Fonvizin and Krylov. It is also important that they themselves are well aware of the common language, the language of the streets and oral anecdote.

Stendhal gave his “formula” of style in the treatise Racine and Shakespeare: “only that play can be called a “truly romantic tragedy”, “the language of which is simple, lively, sparkling with naturalness, devoid of tirades” (2, 270) And Pushkin, creating in the same the time of Boris Godunov, which he also, independently of Stendhal, called a "truly romantic" tragedy, embodied these requirements in the best possible way.

However, proximity in theory does not always mean similarity in artistic practice. Unlike Pushkin, who appreciates harmony in style (“noble simplicity”, XI, 73), “proportionality” (XI, 52), “conformity” (XI, 52), Stendhal does not strive for it; in his prose there are many "superfluous" service words, lexical repetitions. He is not at all preoccupied with finishing the style, deliberately allowing roughness and clumsy constructions. The principled position of "stylistic egotism" earned him a reputation as a "skimping" stylist. And yet there is an area where the similarity of the stylistic manner of Pushkin and Stendhal is striking: autobiographical prose (correspondence, diaries, travel essays), which is highly characteristic of the quality defined by Pushkin as “the charm of a free, careless story”. Otherwise, as artists-stylists, they differ markedly from one another. However, it is not this difference that is essential, but what unites them: both writers are the first in European and Russian literature to create a theory of realistic style and provide an example of its artistic embodiment.

"True Romanticism" - the direction of the transitional stage on the way to mastering the realistic method. In his poetics there is still much in common with romanticism. However, in the field of language and style, the break with the romantics is most noticeable, is of a fundamental nature, it is here that realism first of all consolidates its position.

Comparison with Stendhal helps to better understand the literary process in Russia. Pushkin's language reform opens a new stage in the development of the Russian literary style. If earlier all literary trends (classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism) followed the more developed European stylistic tradition in Russia, focusing on it and striving to catch up with it, then with Pushkin the stage begins when in the field of style Russian realism becomes on a par with the best European examples.