Literary history of the late 19th early 20th century. Literature of the late 19th - early 20th century general characteristics

Literature period under review was closely related to the previous period. Literary movement continues naturalism (biologism), in the work of E. Zola, acquiring new features in "physiological sketches" with Rudyard Kipling, whose reportage becomes a literary device in his short stories about India, and soldier's slang makes his ballads accessible to millions. lives out his last days symbolism.

Literary figures on turn of XIX and XX centuries worried not only creative problems but also social injustice, imperialism, colonialism, militarism and wars - the complexity and inconsistency of life. Criticism of injustices social order, human relations, fate creative personality writers were engaged in bourgeois society realistic direction.

critical realism receives further development in the work of major European writers:

• Anatole France,
• Romain Rolland,
• Bernard Shaw and others.

This is the time when creativity develops. great writers USA:

• Mark Twain (1835-1910; "Pamphlets" and others),
• Jack London (1876-1916; "Iron Heel", "Martin Eden"),
• Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945; "Sister Carey", "Trilogy of Desire"),
• E. Sinclair ("Jungle"),
• F. Norris ("Octopus"),

• Thomas Mann (1875-1955; Buddenbrooks, 1900; Death in Venice, 1911),
• Heinrich Mann (1871-1950; "Empire", 1900s; "Loyal", 1914),

• Boleslav Prus,
• Eliza Ozheshko,
• Maria Konopnitskaya,

• Jan Neruda, etc.

There are significant shifts in Western European novel. Along with traditional literary genres (psychological, everyday novel, everyday drama, etc.), writers of the 20th century. develop genre of philosophical novel(A. Frans "On the White Stone", T. Mann), giving new features to the art of everyday realism.

In an effort to sum up the development of bourgeois relations, writers create works that tell about the fate of several generations of their heroes, develop the genre of the novel in the form of a family chronicle (T. Mann's Buddenbrooks, D. Galsworthy's The Forsyte Saga).

John Galsworthy(1867-1933) "The Forsyte Saga" wrote for 40 years and created a brilliant work of literature of critical realism.

Each author, exposing the ugly forms of social life, had his own creative style. So, Anatole France(1844-1924) in anti-bourgeois pamphlet novels - "Penguin Island", "The Gods Thirst", "Rise of the Angels" - condemned violence, wars, religious fanaticism, hypocrisy of bourgeois morality. At the same time, Frans' work is permeated with love for man, nature and beauty. English writer G. Wells He wrote famous science fiction novels: "The Time Machine", "The Invisible Man", "War of the Worlds", etc. great place in the works of the above-mentioned writers, the theme of art occupies. The tragedy of the artist in the bourgeois world is captured in the novels of J. London ("Martin Eden"), Dreiser ("Genius"), in short stories and novels by T. Mann. The artist's conflict with the bourgeois world is revealed in its most complete form in R. Rolland's multi-volume novel Jean-Christophe.

At the turn of the century it happened drama renewal. The English playwright B. Shaw during these years brought English dramaturgy out of the ideological and artistic impasse. His play "Pygmalion" already bypassed the stages of all the leading theaters in the world.

The Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) was also an innovator, who gave the drama a problematic character.

Widely known in the world in the late XIX - early XX century. acquired the plays of the German playwright Gerhart Hauptmann (1862-1946). From Naturalism (Before Sunrise, 1889) to Themes social significance("Weavers", 1892), to conventionality and symbolism ("The Drowned Bell") and a satirical comedy of manners ("The Red Rooster", "Rats") - such is his creative path. By known reasons during this period is born socialist direction in art, whose founder is considered the poets of the Paris Commune, especially Eugene Pottier, the author of the famous "Internationale". In 1905-1909. in Denmark, Martin Andersen-Neske creates the epic "Pelle the Conqueror". During the First World War, A. Barbusse's novel "Fire" (1916) appeared, which truthfully reveals the essence of the war of 1914-1918. It should be noted that in this difficult period moods of disappointment, disbelief, despair, and death were common. We remember that the phenomenon is called decadence ("decadence" - "decline"). Decadence Ideas were reflected in all literary movements and affected the creative work of many writers of that time, including the largest ones (Maupassant, H. Mann, M. Maeterlinck, R. Rolland, and others). Many artists, hiding from the harsh reality, in their work went into a narrow personal world, and the human person was depicted in decline and destruction, descending to unscrupulousness, to admiration for vice. During this period, the process of mutual exchange of experience between artists noticeably intensified. various countries Europe, America and Asia. The recognition of the value of the civilization of the East was the award in 1913 of the Nobel Prize to the outstanding thinker and writer of India, Rabindranath Tagore.

The 20th century brings new events, new phenomena, new discoveries, new names. The most modern and most fashionable is considered avant-garde art:

• Italian Futurism (Tommaso Marinetti),
• German Expressionism (Bertholt Brecht, Johannes Becher),
• french cubism(Guillaume Apollinaire, 1880-1918)
• and surrealism (Paul Eluard, Louis Aragon).

Fragile rain holds the tiles
In balance. Ballerina
Will never learn
Pour and jump
Like rain.

Your orange hair in the void of the universe
In the void of numbing glasses of silence
And darkness where my naked your hands looking for a reflection.
your heart chimerical form,
And your love is similar to my departed desire.
O fragrant sighs, dreams and glances.
But you weren't always with me.
My memory
Keeps dejectedly the picture of your appearance
And care.
Time, like love, cannot do without words.

The cubist Apollinaire was fond of formal searches, strove for a form freed from reality. He cultivated automatic creativity - a record of associations that arbitrarily arise in the mind of the poet. But in the best poems the poet managed to express the bitterness of the era of the approaching world war.

Expressionists demanded "revolution of the spirit"- liberation of the soul from "self-pressing matter" (bourgeois way of life). They depicted modern reality in flashy forms. The boldness of denunciation was combined with moods of despair. And innovation, divorced from tradition, often turned out to be external and empty.

Enough and propaganda literature aimed at processing public consciousness in the context of preparations for a world war. But works filled with ideas of chauvinism and aggressive colonialism were on the sidelines of the literary process.

To get a clearer idea of ​​the literature of this period, it makes sense to dwell on the work of individual writers. We chose R. Rolland (Nobel Prize awarded in 1915), R. Kipling (Nobel Prize in 1907), R. Tagore (Nobel Prize in 1913).

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)

Rudyard Kipling- prose writer, children's writer, poet, essayist was born in 1865 in India, where his father, an unsuccessful decorator and sculptor, went with his young wife in search of permanent income, a quiet life and a solid position in society. Until the age of 6, the boy grew up in the circle of a friendly family, in home. Indian nannies and servants pampered their ward. The world of idyll collapsed when it was together with younger sister sent to England in the care of distant relatives, in their private boarding house. The hostess of the boarding house took a dislike to the independent boy. For Kipling, years of moral and physical torment began: interrogations with passion, prohibitions, sophisticated punishments, beatings, bullying. Rudhyar thoroughly studied the science of hatred and knew the impotence of the victim. Revenge for humiliation will take place only in literary creativity(the novel "The Light went out", the story "The Black Sheep"). After a humiliating punishment (for some insignificant offense the boy was forced to go to school with the inscription "liar" on his chest), he fell seriously ill, completely lost his sight for several months and was on the verge of insanity. He was saved by the arrival of his mother, who decided to pick up the children from the boarding house. After his mother left for India, Kipling continued his studies at the men's school. Here he encountered the violence of the organization. Teachers achieved the desired results by severity, and, if necessary, by flogging, the elders ruthlessly oppressed the younger, the strong - the weak; independence of behavior was punished as sacrilege. In his stories, Kipling justified the system of stick education ("Stokes and Company", 1899), since, from his point of view, it accustoms the individual to fulfill a certain social role, instills a sense of social duty, without which it is impossible to serve higher goals (in the West it is sometimes called one of the forerunners of totalitarianism).

After 5 years, Kipling graduated from school as a mature man beyond his years, with an established system of values. At the age of 17, he had already firmly decided to become a writer (the military career was closed due to poor health, and there were no funds to continue his education). He returns to India and gets a position as a correspondent in a newspaper in the city of Lahore. The nomadic life of a colonial newspaperman faced hundreds of people and situations, threw him into the most incredible adventures, forced him to risk his life. He wrote reports on wars and epidemics, conducted "gossip columns", interviewed, made many acquaintances. He turned into a great connoisseur of local life and customs, even the British commander in chief, Count Roberts of Kandahar, was interested in his opinion.

Kipling discovers the many-sided, multiform India, where two great cultures, "West and East," meet. His essays are written by an astute observer, a nameless reporter who conveys what he hears and sees with protocol accuracy.

Glory "people's poet" comes to Kipling after the release of his Barracks Ballads. His poems are original, they have Kipling's "iron" style with consistent "prosaicization" of the verse. Kipling's ballads are " simple stories"from life, told by a dispassionate reporter, or a native of the people's environment. These are monologues addressed to an invisible interlocutor, built on folklore and song patterns.

Ford through Kabul.
Kabul stood by the waters of Kabul ...
Get out the saber, blow the march! ..
Here half a platoon drowned,
The ford cost a friend his life,

When spilled, with a wide squadron, they will come out sideways
This ford through Kabul and darkness.
...
We were ordered to occupy Kabul...
Get out the saber, blow the march! ..
But tell me, do you
A friend will replace me ford,
Ford, ford, ford through Kabul,
Ford through Kabul and darkness.
Swim yes swim
Do not sleep in the grave for those who have been killed
Damn ford through Kabul and darkness.
Why the hell do we need Kabul?
Saber in, blow the campaign! ..
It's hard to live without those who are friendly,
Knew what to take, damned ford.
Ford, ford, ford through Kabul,
Ford through Kabul and darkness.
Oh Lord don't let me stumble
Too easy to choke
Here, where the ford through Kabul and darkness.
We are being taken away from Kabul...
Get out the saber, blow the march! ..
How many of us drowned?
How many lives did the ford cost?
Ford, ford, ford through Kabul,
Ford through Kabul and darkness.
The rivers become shallow in summer,
But friends do not emerge forever,
We know this, and the ford, and the darkness.
Translation by S. Kapilevich

In his writings, Kipling called his contemporaries to action, since in action he saw the only salvation from the meaninglessness of the world. The action must be purposeful and sanctified by the idea. Kipling's idea was the idea of ​​a higher moral law, i.e., the system of prohibitions and permissions dominating over a person, the violation of which is strictly punished ( "Law of the jungle"). Kipling saw the British Empire as such an idea, a law, a center of sanctioning truth; in it he found a legislator and leader leading the "chosen peoples" to salvation. Imperial messianism became his religion. To promote these ideas, he uses the high style of an ode, epistle, panegyric, parable, stylizing the verse as a church hymn.

Anthem before the battle
The earth trembles with anger
And dark ocean
Our paths are blocked
Swords of hostile countries:
When the wild flow
Enemies will press us, Jehovah,
Heavenly thunder, God of the Sich, help!...
From pride and revenge
From the low way
From fleeing the field of honor
Invisibly protect.
Let it be unworthy
Grace cover,
No anger and calm
Let me accept your death!...
Translation by A. Onoshkovich-Yatsyn

But life diverged from the legend. The poet was afraid that the Empire would not fulfill the mission entrusted to it, therefore, in the political poems of the 90s. he urged the country not to revel in easy victories, but to soberly look into its own weaknesses and understand its destiny as disinterested and selfless service to the "great goal". Kipling saw the “burden of the whites” in the subjugation of the lower races for their own good, not in robbery and reprisals, but in creative work, not in arrogant complacency, but in humility and patience.

white burden
Your lot is the burden of the Whites!
Like in exile, let's go
Your sons to serve
Dark tynam of the earth;
to hard labor,
I don't have her bad guys
Rule the stupid crowd
Either devils or children.
Your lot is the burden of the Whites!
endure patiently
Threats and insults
And do not ask for honors;
Be patient and honest
Don't be lazy a hundred times
For everyone to understand
Your repeat order.
...
Your lot is the burden of the Whites!
But this is not a throne, but work:
oiled clothes,
And aches and itching.
Roads and piers
Set the mood for the descendants
Put your life on it
And lie down in a foreign land.
...
Your lot is the burden of the Whites!
Forget how you decided
Achieve fast fame
Then you were a baby.
In a pitiless time
In a series of deaf years
It's time to step in as a man
To be judged by men!
Translation by V. Toporov

So, deluded, clinging to the outgoing ideals and values, to the historically doomed forms of statehood, Kipling nevertheless sincerely strove to serve " common man", sought to help him overcome suffering and loneliness, horror and despair, to teach courage and resilience in the face of the impending apocalypse.

Kipling's epitaph exposes the inhumanity of World War I:

Former clerk:
Do not Cry!
army gave
Freedom to the timid slave.
She dragged me by the collar
From office to destiny
Where is he, found out what death means,
plucked up the courage to love
And having fallen in love, he went to his death,
And died.
Fortunately, maybe.
Coward:
I did not dare to look at death in the attack among broad daylight,
And the people, blindfolded, took me to her at night.
Newbie:
They quickly put an end to me
On the first day, the first bullet in the forehead.
Children love to jump up from their seats in the theater
I forgot that this is a trench.
Two:
A - I was rich as a rajah.
B - I was poor.
Together:
- But to the next world without luggage
We are both going.
Translation by K. Simonov

In England in the 20th century, Kipling was considered the personification of everything retrograde and inhumane. After the First World War, others became the rulers of thoughts, "this is a laureate without laurels, a forgotten celebrity," - then ironically about him. In 1936, not a single major English writer- for culture, his death came a few decades earlier.

Only during the 2nd World War, in Hard times for England, he was remembered: his poetry for the glory of the British Empire turned out to be consonant with wartime.

Concluding the conversation about Kipling, it is necessary to note the enormous popularity of his work in the 20-30s. in Soviet Union. Many of the best poets and writers of that time were fond of his prose and poetry: Issac Babel, Eduard Bagritsky, Vladimir Lugovskoy, Yuri Olesha, Konstantin Simonov. In 1922, Nikolai Tikhonov wrote his best ballads, in which the intonations and rhythms of the "iron Rudyard" are clearly heard.

The Western world abandoned the model that made voluntary submission to the "higher law" a moral obligation, the senseless massacre on the fronts of World War I completely discredited the idea of ​​serving in the name of the fatherland, the state. But it was relevant for a country that wanted to implement great idea creation of a new type of state based on collectivism.

It is possible that it is precisely the Kiplingian beginning in the verses of the young Soviet poets captivated readers. He liked "his masculine style, his soldierly rigor, refinement and clearly expressed masculinity, masculine and soldierly," recalled K. Simonov. (Mostly Kipling was published in the second half of the 1930s.) During the Great Patriotic War, the image of the "iron Rudyard" quickly collapsed, military reality quickly destroyed the "romantic" illusions of young Soviet writers and poets. “On the very first day at the front in 1941, I suddenly fell out of love with some of Kipling’s poems once and for all,” wrote K. Simonov, “Kipling’s military romance in 1941 suddenly seemed distant, small and deliberately tense, like a breaking boyish bass ".

In the post-war years, we recognized Kipling only as the author of wonderful children's fairy tales and stories about Mowgli. Recently, when many prejudices about Kipling's work have been dispelled, interest in him has again been shown and it is again recognized that both in his prose and in his poetry there are many successes that have stood the test of time.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

Rabindranath Tagore(1861-1941) - the most prominent and influential personality of the 1st half of the 20th century. in India. This is the great humanist and literary genius of India. He was primarily a poet, but also a major prose writer and playwright. He is an original painter whose paintings have been exhibited in many countries of the world. He is a musician-composer whose songs are still being sung in India today. Tagore is a moral philosopher and political publicist, an educator.

How creator-artist Tagore is deeply intimate, like a thinker - he is all citizenship. “He was not a political figure,” Jawaharlal Nehru wrote about Tagore, “but he took the fate of the Indian people too close to his heart and was too devoted to their freedom to lock himself forever in his ivory tower with his poems and songs ... Contrary to normal course of development, as he grew older, he became more radical in his views and views.

creative way Tagore originates at the turn of the 70-80s. XIX century., When India was just beginning to emerge from the Middle Ages, and the British colonial power seemed unshakable. Tagore was destined to see the formation and rise of the national liberation movement, which, with his participation, grew from small top national liberal organizations into a powerful popular force. He wanted to see the Indian people free and happy. He called for the unity of all the peoples of India against the colonialists. He did a lot to educate the Indians, he condemned religious fanaticism, national and caste strife.

He did not focus only on Indian problems, maintained wide international relations, traveled to many countries of the East and West with public speaking about the culture of India and called for rapprochement and mutual enrichment of the cultures of various countries and peoples. At the age of seventy, he arrived in the USSR in 1930. His "Letters on Russia" were banned in India by the British authorities.

Tagore is perhaps the most widely read and popular writer East. His works have been translated into dozens of languages ​​around the world. In the actual poetic work of Tagore, with all the variety of themes, motives and moods, it is easy to detect two main and opposing themes. The prevailing and leading theme is the acceptance of life in its entirety, the theme of irrepressible admiration for the beauty of the world, high and lyrical glorification of happiness, love and good human feelings.

I contemplated the illumined face of the world, without closing my eyes,
Marvel at his perfection.

The second theme of dissatisfaction, protest and suffering was generated by reality.

We will stop at love lyrics poet. Tagore's poetry is characterized by a special penetration into the depths human feelings, combining artistic vision with philosophical reflection. His love lyrics are sometimes emotionally intense, sometimes subtly melodious, and sometimes this is a very simple poet's story about falling in love and love experiences, but the poet always easily and freely rises to a high generalization and comprehension of beauty. He knows how to show love as a whirlwind that swoops in and merges lovers together and takes them beyond the limits of everyday life:

Rage on the swing, element!
Rock again!
Again, my friend is with me, I can't take my eyes off her.
Wake her up, storm a violent voice...
Come on, hurricane, crush, stun.
Tear off all clothes, all covers from the soul!
Let her stand naked, not ashamed!
Rock us!...
I found my soul, today we are together
Let's get to know each other again without fear.
In crazy embraces we have merged now.
Rock us!

And here is a simple story about lovers:

The woman that was dear to me
I used to live in this village.
The path to the lake pier led,
To rotten footbridges on rickety steps...
Without the close participation of a friend,
who lived there at the time,
Probably, I would not know in the district
No lake, no grove, no village.
She took me to the Shiva temple,
Drowning in the dense forest shade.
Thanks to getting to know her, I'm alive
I remembered village wattle fences.
I would not know the lake, but this backwater
She swam across.
She loved to swim in this place,
In the sand are the footprints of her nimble feet.
Peasants are waiting on the shore of the ferry
And discuss rural affairs.
The crossing would not be familiar to me,
If only she didn't live here.

The poet can rap out his thought with masterful aphorism:

One is always one, and nothing more.
But two create the beginning of one.

The high humanity of Tagore's love lyrics is revealed with particular brightness in the image of a woman in love and beloved.

Woman,
You are not only a creation of God, you are not a product of the earth,
Men create you from their spiritual beauty.
For the poet, oh woman, dear weaved an outfit,
Golden threads of metaphors on your clothes are burning.
Painters have immortalized your feminine image on canvas.
In an unprecedented grandeur, in amazing purity.
How many all kinds of incense, colors were brought to you as a gift,
How many pearls from the abyss, how much gold from the earth.
How many delicate flowers have been plucked for you in spring days,
How many bugs have been exterminated to paint your feet.
In these saris and bedspreads, hiding his shy look,
Immediately you became more inaccessible and more mysterious a hundred times.
In a different way, your features shone in the fire of desires.
Being half you are, half imagination you are.

literary heritage Tagore is great and multifaceted, it proves the global significance of the culture of the peoples of the East.

Romain Rolland (1866-1944)

Romain Rolland(1866-1944) - great French writer, was born in Clamcy (Burgundy) in the family of a notary. He received an excellent, versatile education, studied philosophy, art history, and literature. Already at the historical department of the Higher Normal School, he dreamed of becoming a writer and made his first attempts at writing. In 1887, he plucked up courage and wrote to L. N. Tolstoy and received a detailed answer. Rolland also admired the literary genius of Tolstoy and listened to his thoughts about the nationality of art. The humanist and realist Romain Rolland began his literary activity from several plays about the Great French Revolution and a cycle of biographies of great people - titans in art ("The Life of Beethoven", "The Life of Michelangelo", "The Life of Tolstoy"). The main work of the initial period of creativity is a 10-volume novel "Jean Christophe"(1904-1912). This is a biography of the German composer Jean-Christoph Kraft, in his image the author conveyed some features of the innovator-rebel Beethoven. The action of the novel covers the last decades of the 19th - early 20th centuries. before the eve of World War I. Jean-Christophe grew up in the family of a court musician in a provincial German town and throughout his life he retained genuine democracy, sympathy for the common people.

Wilhelm's Germany has ceased to be the Germany of the great Goethe and Beethoven. Creativity of the humanist composer does not find recognition, and he comes into conflict with the environment, not wanting to subordinate his work to the tastes of the bourgeois public. Christophe feels lonely, breaks with the German philistine and leaves for Paris. In Paris, the same thing, but there he finds just like him, single humanists.

The strength of the novel lies in the merciless criticism of the bourgeois system, the creation of a vivid image goodie protesting against him with his art.

After a monumental story unfolding in several countries over several decades, Rolland created a small thing - its entire action fits within the framework of one year and one small town Clamcy is the story "Cola Breugnon" (1914, published in 1919). An epic novel about Rolland's contemporaries, "Cola Breugnon" about the distant past. In "Jean-Christophe" a gloomy color prevails, in "Cola Bryugnon" - bright, light colors. It is hard to believe that both of these works were written by the same author. The action takes place back in 1616, there is no longer Cervantes and Shakespeare, this is the decline of the Renaissance, in France - this is the time of senseless cruel bloodshed.

The middle-aged Burgundian Cola is one of the few, but at the same time the only one. He is not only a craftsman, but also an artist, he not only works, but also thinks. AT difficult conditions he does not lose his sense of humor and dignity. The image of Kol, at first glance uncomplicated, unambiguous, as events unfold, turns into different faces. It is full of internal contrasts - and at the same time harmonious. Many sorrows befall Kol: the soldiers of a hostile feudal lord attack the town of Klamsi and rob the inhabitants, the city is visited by a plague that nearly killed Kol himself, Kol's wife dies, a grumpy but faithful friend of life, the mother of his children, all Kol's property perishes together with a house burned down during an epidemic, the most precious thing that he had is dying - wooden sculptures. But, despite these disasters, Cola never loses optimism, faith in the future. Thus, Kola is the embodiment of the writer's faith in the people, able to endure all difficulties and keep an ever-living, cheerful soul.

M. Gorky called "Cola Bryugnon" an "excellent purely Galic poem", having read it in the first, less successful translation. The unique originality of the story into Russian was able to be reproduced in 1932 by M. L. Lozinsky. The aphorisms and comparisons of Cola Breugnon sounded juicy and unforgettable. "... As soon as you find yourself in a crowd, you immediately lose your mind. A hundred wise men will give birth to a fool, and a hundred rams - a biryuk"; "We danced; I was graceful as a pole"; "...for the sake of the spirit one should not forget the belly"; "How I feel sorry for the destitute poor fellows who are unfamiliar with the enjoyment of books!"; “Kum, you see someone else’s eye, but you don’t see your own,” etc. In the language of the story, one can feel the influence of Renaissance literature (F. Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”) and French folklore.

Throughout his life, Romain Rolland remained a humanist; during the years of the 1st and 2nd World Wars, he was one of the first to condemn the horrors of war. The anti-war theme was also reflected in his works.

The writing

Purpose: to acquaint students with the general characteristics and originality of Russian literature of the 19th century. in terms of history and literature; give an idea of ​​the main trends in the literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries; to show the significance of Russian literature of this period in the development of the Russian and world literary process; to cultivate a sense of belonging and empathy for the history of Russia, love for its culture. equipment: textbook, portraits of writers and poets of the turn of the century.

Projected

Results: students know the general characteristics and originality of Russian literature of the 19th century. in terms of history and literature; have an idea about the main trends in the literature of the late XIX - early XX centuries; determine the significance of Russian literature of this period in the development of the Russian and world literary process. lesson type: lesson learning new material.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Organizational stage

II. Update basic knowledge Checking homework (frontal)

III. Setting goals and objectives for the lesson.

Motivation learning activities

Teacher. The twentieth century began at zero o'clock on January 1, 1901 - this is its calendar beginning, from which it counts its history and world art 20th century However, it does not follow from this that at one moment a general upheaval took place in art, which established a certain new style 20th century some of the processes that are essential for the history of art originate in the last century.

The last decade of the 19th century opens a new stage in Russian, and in world culture. For about a quarter of a century - from the beginning of the 1890s to October 1917 - literally all aspects of life in Russia have changed radically: the economy, politics, science, technology, culture, art. Compared to the social and to some extent literary stagnation of the 1880s. a new stage of historical and cultural development was characterized by rapid dynamics and sharpest drama. By the pace and depth of change, as well as by catastrophic internal conflicts Russia at that time was ahead of any other country. Therefore, the transition from the era of classical Russian literature to the new literary time was accompanied by far from peaceful processes in general cultural and intra-literary life, unexpectedly fast - by the standards of the 19th century. - a change in aesthetic guidelines, a radical update literary devices.

Legacy of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. is not limited to the work of one or two dozen significant artists of the word, but logic literary development This pore cannot be reduced to a single center or the simplest scheme of successive directions. This legacy is a multi-tiered artistic reality in which individual writing talents, no matter how outstanding they may be, are only part of a grandiose whole. Starting to study the literature of the turn of the century, one cannot do without overview the social background and the general cultural context of this period (“context” is the environment, the external environment in which art exists).

IV. Work on the topic of the lesson 1. teacher's lecture

(Students write abstracts.)

Literature of the late XIX - early XX century. existed and developed under the powerful influence of the crisis, which covered almost all aspects of Russian life. His own feeling of tragedy and unsettledness of the Russian life of this time with great artistic power managed to convey the great 19th realist writers in., completing their creative and life path: l. N. tolstoy and a. P. Chekhov. The successors of the realistic traditions of I. a. Bunin, a. I. Kuprin, l. N. andreev, a. N. Tolstoy, in turn, created magnificent examples of realistic art. However, the plots of their works became more and more disturbing and gloomy from year to year, the ideals that inspired them became more and more obscure. The life-affirming pathos characteristic of the Russian classics XIX century, under the yoke of sad events gradually disappeared from their work.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX century. Russian literature, which previously had a high degree worldview unity, has become aesthetically multilayered.

Realism at the turn of the century continued to be a large-scale and influential literary movement.

The most striking talents among the new realists were the writers who united in the 1890s. in the Moscow circle "Wednesday", and in the early 1900s. who made up the circle of permanent authors of the Znanie publishing house (one of its owners and the actual leader was M. Gorky). In addition to the leader of the association in him in different years included l. N. Andreev, I. a. Bunin, V.V. Veresaev, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, a. I. Kuprin, I. S. Shmelev and other writers. With the exception of I. a. Bunin, there were no major poets among the realists; they showed themselves primarily in prose and, less noticeably, in dramaturgy.

The generation of realist writers of the early 20th century. inherited from a. P. Chekhov new principles of writing - with much greater than before, the author's freedom, with a much wider arsenal of artistic expression, with a sense of proportion, which is obligatory for the artist, which was provided by increased internal self-criticism.

In literary criticism, it is customary to call modernist, first of all, three literary movements that declared themselves in the period 1890–1917. These are symbolism, acmeism and futurism, which formed the basis of modernism as literary direction.

In general, Russian culture of the late XIX - early XX centuries. strikes with its brightness, wealth, abundance of talents in the most different areas. And at the same time, it was the culture of a society doomed to death, a premonition of which was traced in many of her works.

2. familiarization with the article of the textbook on the topic of the lesson (in pairs)

3. Heuristic conversation

Š What new styles and trends emerged in Russian culture at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries? How were they related to a particular historical setting?

♦ What historical events late XIX - early XX centuries. influenced the fate of Russian writers, reflected in the works of literature?

♦ What philosophical concepts influenced Russian literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries? what explains special interest writers to philosophy a. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche?

♦ How did the craving for irrationalism, mysticism, and religious quest manifest itself in Russian literature of that time?

♦ Is it possible to say that in the late XIX - early XX centuries. Is realism losing its dominant role in the literary process that belonged to it in the 19th century?

♦ How do traditions compare in the literature of the turn of the century classical literature and innovative aesthetic concepts?

♦ What is the originality of the late work of a. P. Chekhov? How justified is a. Bely that a. Is P. Chekhov “most of all a symbolist”? What features of Chekhov's realism allow modern researchers to call the writer the founder of the literature of the absurd?

♦ What character does the literary struggle take in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Which publishing houses, magazines, almanacs played especially important role in the development of Russian literature?

♦ How is the problem of the relationship between man and the environment solved in Russian literature at the turn of the century? What traditions of the "natural school" were developed in the prose of this time?

♦ What place did journalism occupy in the literature of this period? What problems were most actively discussed on the pages of magazines and newspapers during these years?

V. Reflection. Summing up the lesson

1. "Press" (in groups)

The generalizing word of the teacher - thus, the deep aspirations of those in conflict with each other modernist movements turned out to be very similar, despite the sometimes striking stylistic dissimilarity, the difference in tastes and literary tactics. That is why the best poets of the era rarely closed themselves within a certain literary school or currents. almost rule them creative evolution was the overcoming of narrow for the creator of direction frameworks and declarations. That's why real picture literary process in the late XIX - early XX centuries. determined to a much greater extent creative individuals writers and poets than the history of trends and trends.

VI. Homework

1. Prepare a message “the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. in the perception of ... (one of the representatives of Russian art of that time)”, using the memoirs of A. Bely, Yu. P. Annenkov, V. F. Khodasevich, Z. N. Gippius, M. I. Tsvetaeva, I. V. Odoevtseva, and other authors.

2. individual task (3 students). Prepare "literary business cards" about the life and work of M. Gorky:

Autobiographical trilogy(“Childhood”, “In People”, “My Universities”);

"Madness sing to the brave we glory! ("Song of the Falcon");

Advanced Russian literature has always come out in defense of the people, has always sought to truthfully illuminate the conditions of its life, to show its spiritual richness - and its role in the development of the self-consciousness of the Russian person was exceptional.

Since the 80s. Russian literature began to penetrate widely abroad, astonishing foreign readers with its love for man and faith in him, with his passionate denunciation of social evil, with his indestructible desire to make life more just. Readers were attracted by the inclination of Russian authors to create broad pictures of Russian life, in which the depiction of the fate of heroes was intertwined with the staging of many fundamental social, philosophical and moral problems.

By the beginning of the XX century. Russian literature began to be perceived as one of the powerful streams of the world literary process. Noting in connection with the centenary of Gogol the unusualness of Russian realism, English writers wrote: “... Russian literature has become a torch that shines brightly in the darkest corners of Russian national life. But the light of this torch spread far beyond the borders of Russia - it lit up the whole of Europe.

the highest art words Russian literature (in the person of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy) was recognized due to its peculiar attitude to the world and man, revealed by the original artistic means. Russian psychologism, the ability of Russian authors to show the interconnection and conditionality of social, philosophical and moral problems, the genre looseness of Russian writers who created the free form of the novel, and then the story and drama, were perceived as something new.

In the 19th century Russian literature took a lot from world literature, now it generously enriched it.

Having become the property of a foreign reader, Russian literature widely acquainted him with life activity little known to him. huge country, with the spiritual needs and social aspirations of its people, with its difficult historical fate.

The importance of Russian literature on the eve of the first Russian revolution increased even more - both for the Russian (who has grown significantly in his number) and for the foreign reader. The words of V. I. Lenin in the work “What is to be done?” are very significant. (1902) about the need to think "about the global significance that Russian literature is now acquiring."

And literature XIX century, and the latest literature helped to understand what exactly contributed to the brewing of the explosion popular anger and what general state modern Russian reality.

Ruthless criticism of the state and social foundations of Russian life by L. Tolstoy, Chekhov's depiction of the everyday tragedy of this life, Gorky's search true hero new story and his call "Let the storm blow harder!" - all this, despite the difference in writers' worldviews, indicated that Russia was at a sharp turning point in its history.

The year 1905 marked the beginning of the “end of the “eastern” immobility” in which Russia was, and the foreign reader was looking for an answer to the question of how it all happened in the source most accessible to him - Russian literature. And it is quite natural that special attention now began to attract the work of contemporary writers, reflecting the mood and social aspirations of Russian society. At the turn of the century translators fiction they follow with great attention which works are most successful in Russia, and rush to translate them into Western European languages. Exit in 1898–1899 three volumes of "Essays and Stories" brought Gorky all-Russian fame, in 1901 he was already a European famous writer.

At the beginning of the XX century. it was already beyond doubt that Russia, having learned a great deal from the historical experience of Europe, was itself beginning to play an enormous role in the world historical process, hence the ever-increasing role of Russian literature in revealing changes in all areas of Russian life and in the psychology of Russian people.

"Teenager" in the European family of peoples called liberated Russia Turgenev and Gorky; now this teenager was turning into a giant, calling after him.

V. I. Lenin's articles about Tolstoy show that the world significance of his work (Tolstoy was already recognized as a world genius during his lifetime) is inseparable from the world significance of the first Russian revolution. Considering Tolstoy as a spokesman for the moods and aspirations of the patriarchal peasantry, Lenin wrote that Tolstoy displayed with remarkable force "the features of the historical originality of the entire first Russian revolution, its strength and its weakness." At the same time, Lenin clearly outlined the boundaries of the material subject to the image of the writer. “The era to which L. Tolstoy belongs,” he wrote, “and which is remarkably vividly reflected both in his brilliant works of art, and in his teaching, there is an epoch after 1861 and before 1905.

The work of the greatest writer of the new century - Gorky, who reflected in his work the third stage of the liberation struggle of the Russian people, which led him to 1905, and then to the socialist revolution, was inextricably linked with the Russian revolution.

And not only Russian, but also foreign readers perceived Gorky as a writer who saw a true historical figure of the 20th century. in the person of the proletarian and who showed how the psychology of the working masses is changing under the influence of new historical circumstances.

Tolstoy depicted with amazing power Russia, already receding into the past. But, recognizing that the existing system is becoming obsolete and that the 20th century is a century of revolutions, he nevertheless remained true to ideological foundations his teaching, his preaching of non-resistance to evil by violence.

Gorky showed Russia going to replace the old one. He becomes a singer of young, new Russia. He is interested in the historical modification of the Russian character, the new psychology of the people, in which, unlike previous and a number of contemporary writers, he seeks and reveals anti-humble and strong-willed features. And this makes Gorky's work especially significant.

The confrontation between two great artists in this regard - Tolstoy, who has long been perceived as the pinnacle of realistic literature of the 19th century, and a young writer, reflecting in his work the leading trends of the new time, was caught by many contemporaries.

Quite characteristic is K. Kautsky's response to the novel The Mother, which he had just read in 1907. “Balzac shows us,” Kautsky wrote to Gorky, “more precisely than any historian, the character of young capitalism after French Revolution; and if, on the other hand, I succeeded to some extent in understanding Russian affairs, then I owe this not so much to Russian theorists, but, perhaps, to a greater extent, to Russian writers, above all Tolstoy and you. But if Tolstoy teaches me to understand the Russia that was, then your works teach me to understand the Russia that will be; understand the forces that nurture new Russia».

Later, saying that "Tolstoy, more than any of the Russians, plowed and prepared the ground for a violent explosion," S. Zweig will say that it was not Dostoevsky or Tolstoy, who showed the world an amazing Slavic soul, but Gorky allowed the astonished West to understand what and why happened in Russia in October 1917, and in this case he will especially single out Gorky's novel "Mother".

Giving a high appraisal of Tolstoy's work, V. I. Lenin wrote: "The era of the preparation of the revolution in one of the countries crushed by the feudal lords appeared, thanks to the ingenious coverage of Tolstoy, as a step forward in the artistic development of all mankind."

Gorky became a writer who illuminated with great artistic power the pre-revolutionary moods of Russian society and the era of 1905-1917, and thanks to this illumination, the revolutionary era, which ended with the October socialist revolution, in turn, was a step forward in the artistic development of mankind. Showing those who went to this revolution, and then made it, Gorky opened a new page in the history of realism.

New concept of man and Gorky's social romanticism, his new coverage of the problem of "man and history", the writer's ability to identify the sprouts of the new everywhere, the huge gallery of people he created, representing old and new Russia - all this contributed to both the expansion and deepening of artistic knowledge of life. New representatives of critical realism also contributed to this knowledge.

So, for the literature of the early XX century. the simultaneous development of critical realism, which at the turn of the century was undergoing its renewal, but without losing its critical pathos, and socialist realism became characteristic. Noting this remarkable feature of the literature of the new century, V. A. Keldysh wrote: “In the context of the revolution of 1905–1907. for the first time, that type of literary interrelations arose that was destined to play such a significant role later in the world literary process of the 20th century: “old”, critical realism develops simultaneously with socialist realism, and the appearance of signs of a new quality in critical realism is largely the result of this interaction.

Socialist realists (Gorky, Serafimovich) did not forget that the origins of the new image of life go back to the artistic searches of such realists as Tolstoy and Chekhov, while some representatives of critical realism began to master creative principles socialist realism.

Such coexistence would later be characteristic of other literatures during the years of the emergence of socialist realism in them.

The simultaneous flowering of a significant number of great and dissimilar talents, noted by Gorky as the originality of Russian literature of the last century, was also characteristic of the literature of the new century. The creativity of its representatives develops, as in the previous period, in close artistic relationships with Western European literature, while also revealing its artistic originality. Like literature 19th century, it has enriched and continues to enrich world literature. Especially indicative in this case is the work of Gorky and Chekhov. Under the sign of the artistic discoveries of the revolutionary writer, Soviet literature will develop; his artistic method will have a great influence also on creative development democratic writers foreign world. Chekhov's innovation was not immediately recognized abroad, but starting from the 1920s. it turned out to be in the sphere of intensive study and development. World fame first came to Chekhov the playwright, and then to Chekhov the prose writer.

Innovation was also noted by the work of a number of other authors. Translators, as we have already said, paid in the 1900s. attention both to the works of Chekhov, Gorky, Korolenko, and to the works of writers who came to the fore on the eve and during the years of the first Russian revolution. They especially followed the writers grouped around the Znanie publishing house. L. Andreev's responses to the Russian-Japanese war and the rampant tsarist terror ("Red Laughter", "The Story of the Seven Hanged Men") gained wide popularity abroad. Interest in Andreev's prose did not disappear even after 1917. The quivering heart of Sashka Zhegulev found an echo in distant Chile. A young student of one of the Chilean lyceums, Pablo Neruda, will sign his first great work"Celebration Song", which will receive an award at the "Spring Festival" in 1921.

Andreev's dramaturgy also gained fame, anticipating the emergence of expressionism in foreign literature. In "Letters on Proletarian Literature" (1914), A. Lunacharsky pointed to the echo of certain scenes and characters in E. Barnavol's play "Cosmos" with Andreev's play "Tsar Famine". Later, researchers will note the impact of Andreev's dramaturgy on L. Pirandello, O'Neill and other foreign playwrights.

Among the features of the literary process of the early XX century. should be attributed to the extraordinary variety of dramatic searches, the rise of dramatic thought. At the turn of the century, the Chekhov Theater appeared. And the viewer has not yet had time to master the innovation of the psychological Chekhovian drama that struck him, as a new, social drama Gorky, and then the unexpected expressionist drama of Andreev. Three special dramaturgies, three different stage systems.

Simultaneously with the great interest shown in Russian literature abroad at the beginning of the new century, there is also a growing interest in old and new Russian music, the art of opera, ballet, decorative painting. Big role concerts and performances organized by S. Diaghilev in Paris, performances by F. Chaliapin, the first trip of the Moscow Art Theater abroad played in arousing this interest. In the article "Russian Performances in Paris" (1913), Lunacharsky wrote: "Russian music has become a completely definite concept, including the characteristics of freshness, originality, and above all, tremendous instrumental skill."

The economic and political shaking at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century (the birth of the bourgeoisie, the abolition of serfdom) contributed to the emergence of new literary movements. Realism is replaced by proletarian literature, modernism (modern) appears.

Modernism includes: symbolism, acmeism and futurism.

Symbolism

Symbolism is the first major movement that arose in Russia. It was started by Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Valery Bryusov. Representatives of this trend gave the central importance in their work to the symbol.

In 1812, the first collection of poems by Russian symbolists was published.

Then came the second collection and the third. It was assumed that various poets were published in these collections. But it soon became clear that the author of all the poems in these collections was the novice poet Valery Bryusov, who signed the poems with various pseudonyms. His ploy succeeded and the Symbolists were noticed. And soon new symbolist authors began to appear.

Symbolists are divided into:

young symbolists - Vyacheslav Ivanov, Andrey Bely, Alexander Blok.

senior symbolists - Valery Bryusov, Solovyov, Balmont, Zinaida Gippius, Fedor Sologub.

They preached art for art's sake. But disputes arose between them. The elders defended the priority of religious and philosophical searches, and the young Symbolists were considered decoders.

Decode (translated from French - decline) - in literature, this is a crisis type of consciousness, which is expressed in a feeling of despair, impotence. Therefore, representatives of this trend have a lot of despondency and sadness.

Acmeism - originated in 1910 and is genetically associated with symbolism. Representatives of this trend are: Vyacheslav Ivanov, Sergei Gorodetsky, Nikolai Gumelev, Alexei Tolstoy. Soon they united in the circle "Workshop of poets", which was joined by Anna Akhmatova, Zinkeyvich, Mindelshpam. Acmeists, unlike the Symbolists, advocated showing the values ​​of life, abandoning the unchaste desire of the Symbolists to know the unknowable. According to acmeists, the purpose of poetry is the artistic development of the diverse world around us.

Futurism

Futurism (future) is an international literary phenomenon. The most extreme in terms of aesthetic radicalism that arose in Italy and almost immediately arose in Russia after the release of the futuristic society "Judges' Garden". Futurist authors were: Dmitry Burlyuk, Khlebnikov, Kamensky, Mayakovsky. Futurists were divided into three groups:

ego-futurists - Igor Ignatiev, Olympov, Gnedov, and others.

Cuba-futurists - Ivnev, Krisanf.

centrifuge - Boris Pasternak, Bobrov, Ageev, Bolshakov, etc.

Representatives of futurism called for cutting off everything old and creating new literature capable of transforming the world.

Futurists said:

"From the height of skyscrapers we look at their insignificance"

So they talked about Gorky, Gumilyov and Blok.

Effective preparation for the exam (all subjects) -