Classicism(from lat. classicus- exemplary), like baroque, turned out to be a phenomenon of a pan-European scale. The poetics of classicism began to take shape in the era late Renaissance in Italy. On the eve of classicism is the tragedy of the Italian playwright J. Trissino "Sofonisba" (1515), written in imitation of ancient tragedians. It outlined features that later became characteristic of classic dramaturgy - a logically built plot, reliance on the word, and not on stage action, rationalism and supra-individual character. actors. A significant influence on the formation of classicism in European countries was exerted by the "Poetics" (1561) by the Italian Yu. Ts. Scaliger, who successfully anticipated the taste of the next century, the century of logic and reason. Nevertheless, the formation of classicism stretched out for a whole century, and as an integral artistic system, classicism initially developed in France by the middle of the 17th century.
The development of classicism in France is closely connected with the establishment and flourishing of centralized royal power (absolute monarchy). Autocratic statehood limited the rights of the willful feudal aristocracy, sought to legislate and regulate the relationship between the individual and the state, and clearly distinguish between the spheres of private and personal life. The spirit of regulation and discipline extends to the sphere of literature and art, determining their content aspect and formal features. In order to control literary life, on the initiative of the first minister, Cardinal Richelieu, the French Academy was created, and the cardinal himself repeatedly intervened in literary disputes in the 1630s.
The canons of classicism evolved in sharp controversy with precision literature, as well as with Spanish playwrights (Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina). The latter ridiculed, in particular, the demand for the unity of time. ("As for your 24 hours, what could be more absurd than that love, which began in the middle of the day, would end in the evening with a wedding!") Continuing certain traditions of the Renaissance (admiration for antiquity, faith in reason, the ideal of harmony and measure), classicism was the Renaissance and a kind of antithesis, which made it related, for all their deep differences, with the baroque.
The humanists of the Renaissance saw the highest value in the freely manifesting natural nature of man. Their hero is a harmonious personality, freed from the power of a class corporation and unrestrained in his individualism. The humanists of the 17th century - the founders of classicism - due to the historical European experience, passions seemed to be a force destructive, anarchic, generated by egoism. Moral norms (virtues) now take precedence in the evaluation of a person. The main content of creativity in classicism is the contradiction between the natural nature of man and civic duty, between his passions and reason, which gave rise to tragic conflicts.
The classicists saw the goal of art in the knowledge of truth, which acts for them as an ideal of beauty. The classicists put forward a method to achieve it, based on the three central categories of their aesthetics: reason, model and taste (these concepts have also become objective criteria of artistry). To create a great work, according to the classicists, it is necessary to follow the dictates of reason, relying on "exemplary", i.e. classical, works of antiquity (antiquity) and guided by the rules of good taste ("good taste" is the supreme judge of "beautiful"). Thus, the classicists introduce elements of scientific activity into artistic creativity.
The principles of classic poetics and aesthetics are determined by the system of philosophical views of the era, which are based on the rationalism of Descartes. For him reason is the highest criterion of truth. Rational-analytically, one can penetrate into the ideal essence and purpose of any object or phenomenon, comprehend the eternal and unchanging laws that underlie the world order, and hence the basis of artistic creativity.
Rationalism contributed to the overcoming of religious prejudices and medieval scholasticism, but it also had its own weakness. The world in this philosophical system was considered from metaphysical positions - as unchanging and motionless.
This concept convinced the classicists that the aesthetic ideal is eternal and unchanged at all times, but with the greatest completeness and perfection it was embodied in the art of antiquity. In order to reproduce this ideal, it is necessary to turn to ancient art and thoroughly study its rules and laws. At the same time, in accordance with the political ideals of the 17th century, special attention was drawn to the art of imperial Rome (the era of concentration of power in the hands of one person - the emperor), the poetry of the "golden age" - the work of Virgil, Ovid, Horace. In addition to Aristotle's Poetics, Horace relied on the Epistle to the Pisons in his poetic treatise Poetic Art (1674), bringing together and generalizing theoretical principles classicism, summing up the artistic practice of their predecessors and contemporaries.
Trying to recreate the world of antiquity ("ennobled" and "corrected"), the classicists borrow only "clothes" from it. Although Boileau, referring to contemporary writers, writes:
And the customs of countries and years you need to study.
After all, the climate cannot but affect people.
But be afraid to soak in vulgar bad taste
French spirit of Rome... –
it is nothing more than a declaration. In the literary practice of classicism, people of the 17th–18th centuries are hidden under the names of ancient heroes, and ancient plots reveal, first of all, the most acute problems of our time. Classicism is fundamentally anti-historical, as it is guided by the "eternal and unchanging" laws of reason.
Classicists proclaim the principle of imitation of nature, but at the same time they do not at all strive to reproduce reality in its entirety. They are not interested in what is, but in what should be according to the ideas of their mind. Everything that does not correspond to the model and "good taste" is expelled from art, declared "indecent". In cases where it is necessary to reproduce the ugly, it is aesthetically transformed:
Embodied in art, and the monster and the reptile
We are still pleased with a wary look:
The artist's brush shows us transformation
Objects vile into objects of admiration...
Another key problem of classic poetics is the problem of truth and plausibility. Should the writer depict exceptional phenomena, incredible, out of the ordinary, but recorded by history ("truth"), or create images and situations that are fictitious, but corresponding to the logic of things and the requirements of reason (i.e., "plausible")? Boileau prefers the second group of phenomena:
Do not torment us with incredible things, disturbing the mind:
And the truth is sometimes not the truth.
Wonderful nonsense I will not admire:
The mind does not care what it does not believe.
The concept of plausibility also underlies the classic character: a tragic hero cannot be "petty and insignificant",
But still, without weaknesses, his character is false.
Achilles captivates us with his ardor,
But if he cries, I love him more.
After all, in these little things, nature comes to life,
And the truth is that our picture is amazing.
(N. Boileau, "Poetic Art")
Boileau is close to the position of J. Racine, who, relying on Aristotle's "Poetics", in the preface to the tragedy "Andromache" wrote about his heroes that "they should be average people in their spiritual qualities, in other words, have virtue, but be subject to weaknesses and misfortunes must fall on them as a result of some mistake that can arouse pity for them, and not disgust.
Not all classicists shared this concept. P. Corneille, the initiator of the French classic tragedy, tended to create exceptional characters. His heroes do not shed tears from the audience, but cause undeniable admiration for their stamina and heroism. In the preface to his tragedy "Nycomedes" Corneille declared: "Tenderness and passions, which should be the soul of tragedy, do not have a place here: only heroic greatness reigns here, throwing a glance full of contempt at its sorrows that it does not allow them to tear out of the heart the hero does not have a single complaint. It is faced with an insidious policy and opposes it only with noble prudence, marching with an open visor, it foresees danger without a shudder and does not expect help from anyone except from its valor and love ... "Corneille motivates the persuasiveness of the created them images with the concept of vital truth and historical authenticity: "History, which gave me the opportunity to show the highest degree of this greatness, was taken by me from Justin".
The cult of reason among the classicists also determines the principles of creating character - one of the central aesthetic categories of classicism. For the classicists, character does not imply a totality individual traits specific personality, but embodies a certain generic and at the same time eternal warehouse of human nature and psychology. Only in the aspect of the eternal, unchanging and universal human character became an object artistic research classic art.
Following the theorists of antiquity - Aristotle and Horace - Boileau believed that "art" should preserve "for each of his special feelings." These "special feelings" determine psychological warehouse a person, making one a vulgar dandy, another a miser, a third a spendthrift, etc. Character, thus, was reduced to one dominant trait. Even Pushkin noticed that the hypocrite Tartuffe even "asks for a glass of water, the hypocrite" in Moliere, and the stingy Harpagon is "stingy and nothing more." There is no point in looking for more psychological content in them. When Harpagon talks to his lover, he behaves like a miser, and with his children he behaves like a miser. "There is only one paint, but it is superimposed thicker and thicker and, finally, brings the image to the level of everyday, psychological implausibility." This principle of typification led to a sharp division of heroes into positive, virtuous and negative, vicious.
The characters of the characters in tragedies are also determined by some one leading feature. The one-line character of Corneille's heroes emphasizes their integrity, which substantiates the "core" of their character. Racine is more difficult: the passion that defines the character of his characters is contradictory in itself (usually it is love). It is in exhausting the whole gamut of psychological shades of passion that the method of Racine's characterization consists - a method, like that of Corneille, deeply rationalistic.
Embodying in the character the traits of the generic, "eternal", the classicist artist himself strove to speak not from his special, uniquely individual "I", but from the standpoint of a statesman. That is why "objective" genres predominate in classicism - primarily dramatic ones, and among the lyrical genres those dominated by those where the impersonal, universally significant orientation is obligatory (ode, satire, fable).
The normativity and rationality of classic aesthetics are also manifested in the strict hierarchy of genres. There are "high" genres - tragedy, epic, ode. Their sphere is public life, historical events, mythology; their heroes are monarchs, generals, historical and mythological characters. Such a choice of tragic heroes was determined not so much by the tastes and influence of the court, but by the measure of the moral responsibility of those people who were entrusted with the fate of the state.
"High" genres are opposed to "low" genres - comedy, satire, fable - turned into the sphere of private daily life of nobles and townspeople. An intermediate place is given to "middle" genres - elegy, idyll, message, sonnet, song. Depicting inner world individual, these genres in the heyday of classic literature, imbued with lofty civic ideals, did not take any noticeable place in the literary process. The time for these genres will come later: they will have a significant impact on the development of literature in the era of the crisis of classicism.
Prose, especially fiction, is valued by classicists much lower than poetry. “Love thought in verse,” Boileau exclaims at the beginning of his treatise and “raises to Parnassus” only poetic genres. Those prose genres that are primarily informational in nature - sermons, memoirs, letters - are spreading. At the same time, scientific, philosophical and epistolary prose, becoming in the era of the cult of science in the public domain, acquires the features of a truly literary work and already has value not only scientific or historical, but also aesthetic ("Letters of the Provincial" and "Thoughts" by B. Pascal, "Maxims, or Moral Reflections" by F. de La Rochefoucauld, "Characters" by J. de La Bruyère, etc.).
Each genre in classicism has strict boundaries and clear formal features. No mixture of the sublime and the base, the tragic and the comic, the heroic and the ordinary is allowed: what is allowed in satire is excluded in tragedy, what is good in comedy is unacceptable in epic. Here reigns "a peculiar law of the unity of style" (G. Gukovsky) - each genre unit has its own rigid formal-stylistic canon. Mixed genres, for example, tragicomedy, which was very popular in the first half of the 17th century, are being squeezed out of the boundaries of "real literature". "From now on, only the entire system of genres is capable of expressing the diversity of life."
The rationalistic approach also determined the attitude to the poetic form:
You learn to think, then write.
Speech follows the thought; clearer or darker
And the phrase is modeled after the idea;
What is clearly understood, it will sound clearly,
And the exact word will immediately come running.
(N. Boileau, "Poetic Art")
Each work must be strictly thought out, the composition must be logically built, the individual parts must be proportionate and inseparable, the style must be clear to the point of transparency, the language must be concise and precise. The concept of measure, proportion, symmetry is inherent not only in literature, but in all artistic culture classicism - architecture, painting, gardening art. Both scientific and artistic thinking of the era has a pronounced mathematical character.
In architecture, public buildings are beginning to set the tone, expressing the idea of statehood. The basis of planning schemes are regular geometric shapes (square, triangle, circle). Classicist architects mastered the construction of a huge complex, consisting of a palace and a park. They become subject to detailed, mathematically verified compositions. In France, for the first time, new trends were fully embodied in the grandiose ensemble of Versailles (1661–1689, architects L. Levo, A. Le Nôtre, J. Hardouin-Mansart, and others).
Clarity, logic, compositional harmony are also distinguished by the paintings of the classicists. N. Poussin - the creator and head of French classicism in painting - chose subjects that gave the mind food for thought, brought up virtue in a person and taught him wisdom. He found these plots primarily in ancient mythology and legendary history Rome. His paintings "The Death of Germanicus" (1627), "The Capture of Jerusalem" (1628), "The Rape of the Sabine Women" (1633) are devoted to the image of "heroic and unusual actions". The composition of these paintings is strictly ordered, it resembles the composition of ancient bas-reliefs (the actors are located in a shallow space, divided into a number of plans). Poussin clearly draws the volumes of the figures in an almost sculptural way, carefully calibrates their anatomical structure, puts their clothes in classic folds. The distribution of colors in the picture is subject to the same strict harmony.
Strict laws also reigned in verbal art. These laws were especially rigidly established for high genres, clothed in a mandatory poetic form. Thus, the tragedy, like the epic, must necessarily be expounded in the majestic Alexandrian verse. The plot of the tragedy, historical or mythological, was taken from ancient times and was usually known to the viewer (later the classicists began to draw material for their tragedies from Eastern history, while Russian classicists preferred plots from their own national history). The fame of the plot set the viewer not to perceive a complex and intricate intrigue, but to analyze the emotional experiences and opposing aspirations of the characters. According to the definition of G. A. Gukovsky, "classical tragedy is not a drama of action, but a drama of conversations; the classical poet is not interested in facts, but in analysis, directly formed in the word" .
The laws of formal logic determined the structure of dramatic genres, especially tragedy, which was supposed to consist of five acts. Comedies could also be three-act (one-act comedies would appear in the 18th century), but in no case four- or two-act ones. For dramatic genres, the classicists raised the principle of three unities - place, action and time, formulated in the treatises of J. Trissino and J. Scaliger, based on Aristotle's "Poetics", into an indisputable law. According to the rule of unity of place, all the action of the play must take place in one place - a palace, a house, or even a room. The unity of time required that the whole action of the play fit within no more than a day, and the more it corresponded to the time of the performance - three hours - the better. Finally, the unity of action assumed that the events depicted in the play must have their beginning, development and end. In addition, the play should not contain "extra" episodes or characters that are not directly related to the development of the main plot. Otherwise, theorists of classicism believed, the diversity of impressions prevented the viewer from perceiving the "reasonable basis" of life.
The requirement of three unities fundamentally changed the structure of the drama, as it forced the playwrights to depict not the entire system of events (as was the case, for example, in medieval mystery plays), but only the episode that completes this or that event. The events themselves were "taken off stage" and could cover a large period of time, but they were of a retrospective nature, and the viewer learned about them from the monologues and dialogues of the characters.
At first, the three unities were not formal. The principle of plausibility underlying them, the fundamental principle of classicism, developed in the struggle with the traditions of the medieval theater, with its plays, the action of which sometimes stretched over several days, covering hundreds of performers, and the plot was full of all kinds of miracles and naive naturalistic effects. But, elevating the principle of three unities into an unshakable rule, the classicists did not take into account the peculiarities of the subjective perception of art, which allows for artistic illusion, the non-identity of the artistic image with the reproduced object. The romantics, who discovered the "subjectivity" of the spectator, will begin the assault on the classical theater by overthrowing the rule of three unities.
Of particular interest on the part of writers and theorists of classicism was the genre epic, or heroic poem, which Boileau put even above tragedy. Only in the epic, according to Boileau, did the poet "gain space for himself / Captivate our mind and gaze with high fiction." Classical poets in the epic are also attracted by a special heroic theme based on major events past, and heroes of exceptional qualities, and the manner of narrating events, which Boileau formulated as follows:
Let your story be mobile, clear, concise,
And in the descriptions and magnificent and rich.
As in tragedy, the moral and didactic setting is important in the epic. Depicting heroic times, the epic, according to V. Trediakovsky, gives "a firm instruction to the human race, teaching this one to love virtue" ("Foretelling about the Heroic Poem", 1766).
In the artistic structure of the epic, Boileau assigns a decisive role to fiction ("Laying a myth as a basis, he lives by fiction ..."). Boileau's attitude to ancient and Christian mythology is consistently rationalistic - the ancient myth attracts him with the transparency of an allegory that does not contradict reason. Christian miracles, on the other hand, cannot be the subject of aesthetic embodiment, moreover, according to Boileau, their use in poetry can compromise religious dogma ("Christ's sacraments are not for fun"). In characterizing the epic, Boileau relies on the ancient epic, primarily Virgil's Aeneid.
Criticizing the "Christian epic" T. Tasso ("The Liberated Jerusalem"), Boileau also opposes the national heroic epic based on the material of the early Middle Ages ("Alaric" J. Scuderi, "Virgin" J. Chaplin). The classicist Boileau does not accept the Middle Ages as an era of "barbarism", which means that plots taken from this era cannot have aesthetic and didactic value for him.
The principles of the epic formulated by Boileau, focused on Homer and Virgil, did not receive a full and comprehensive embodiment in the literature of the 17th century. This genre has already outlived itself, and J. G. Herder, the theorist of the literary movement in Germany "Storm and Onslaught" (70s of the XVIII century), from the position of historicism explained the impossibility of its resurrection (he we are talking about the ancient epic): "The epic belongs to the childhood of mankind." In the 18th century, attempts to create a heroic epic based on national material within the framework of the classicist artistic system were all the more unsuccessful (Voltaire's Henriade, 1728; Rossiyada by M. Kheraskov, 1779).
Ode, one of the main genres of classicism, also has a strict form. Its obligatory feature is a "lyrical disorder", suggesting the free development of poetic thought:
Let Ode's tempestuous style strive at random:
Beautiful crumpled beautiful her outfit.
Away with timid rhymers whose minds are phlegmatic
In the passions themselves, a dogmatic order is observed...
(N. Boileau, "Poetic Art")
Nevertheless, this "dogmatic order" was strictly observed. The ode, like an oratorical word, consisted of three parts: an "attack", that is, an introduction to the topic, reasoning where this topic developed, and an energetic, emotional conclusion. The "lyrical disorder" is purely external: passing from one thought to another, introducing lyrical digressions, the poet subordinated the construction of the ode to the development of the main idea. The lyricism of the ode is not individual, but, so to speak, collective, it expresses "the aspirations and aspirations of the entire state organism" (G. Gukovsky).
In contrast to the "high" tragedy and epic, the classic "low genres" - comedy and satire - are turned into modern everyday life. The purpose of comedy is to educate, ridiculing shortcomings, "to correct temper with a mockery; / To laugh and use its direct charter" (A. Sumarokov). Classicism rejected the pamphlet (that is, directed against specific individuals) satirical comedy of Aristophanes. The comedian is interested in universal human vices in their everyday manifestation - laziness, extravagance, stinginess, etc. But this does not mean at all that the classic comedy is devoid of social content. Classicism is characterized by a clear ideological and moral-didactic orientation, and therefore the appeal to socially significant issues gave many classic comedies a public and even topical sound (Tartuffe, Don Giovanni, Misanthrope by Moliere; Brigadier, Undergrowth by D. Fonvizin, "Snake" by V. Kapnist).
In his judgments about the comedy, Boileau focuses on the "serious" moralizing comedy presented in antiquity by Menander and Terence, and in modern times by Molière. Boileau considers "The Misanthrope" and "Tartuffe" to be the highest achievement of Molière, but criticizes the comedian for using the traditions of the folk farce, considering them rude and vulgar (the comedy "The Tricks of Scapin"). Boileau advocates the creation of a comedy of characters as opposed to a comedy of intrigue. Later, this type of classic comedy, which touches on problems of social or socio-political significance, will be assigned the definition of "high" comedy.
Satire has much in common with comedy and fable. All these genres have a common subject of depiction - human flaws and vices, a common emotional and artistic assessment - ridicule. The compositional structure of satire and fable is based on the combination of the author's and narrative principles. The author of satire and fable often uses dialogue. However, unlike comedy, in satire the dialogue is not connected with the action, with the system of events, and the image of life phenomena, unlike the fable, is based in satire on a direct, and not on an allegorical image.
Being a poet-satirist by his talent, Boileau in theory retreats from ancient aesthetics, which attributed satire to "low" genres. He sees satire as a socially active genre. Giving a detailed description of satire, Boileau recalls the Roman satirists Lucilius, Horace, Persia Flaccus, who boldly denounced vices the mighty of the world this. But above all he puts Juvenal. And although the French theorist notes the "square" origins of the Roman poet's satire, his authority for Boileau is undeniable:
The terrible truth of his poems live,
And yet the beauty in them sparkle here and there.
The temperament of the satirist prevailed over Boileau's theoretical postulates in his defense of the right to personal satire directed against specific, well-known people ("Discourse on satire"; it is characteristic that Boileau did not recognize satire on faces in comedy). Such a technique brought a topical, journalistic color to the classic satire. The Russian classic satirist A. Kantemir also widely used the technique of satire on faces, giving his "supra-individualistic" characters, personifying some kind of human vice, a portrait resemblance to his enemies.
An important contribution of classicism to the further development of literature was the development of a clear and harmonious language. works of art("What is clearly understood, it will sound clearly"), freed from foreign vocabulary, capable of expressing various feelings and experiences ("Anger is proud - he needs arrogant words, / But the sorrows of the complaint are not so intense"), correlated with the characters and age of the characters ("So choose your language carefully: / Cannot speak like a young man, an old man").
The formation of classicism in both France and Russia begins with linguistic and poetic reforms. In France, this work was started by F. Malherbe, who was the first to put forward the concept of good taste as a criterion of artistic skill. Malherbe did a lot to cleanse the French language of numerous provincialisms, archaisms and the dominance of borrowed Latin and Greek words introduced into literary circulation by the poets of the Pleiades in the 16th century. Malherbe carried out the codification of the French literary language, which eliminated everything accidental from it, focused on the speech skills of the enlightened people of the capital, provided that literary language should be understood by all segments of the population. Malherbe's contribution to the field of French versification is also significant. The rules of metrics he formulated (the fixed place of the caesura, the prohibition of transfers from one poetic line to another, etc.) not only entered the poetics of French classicism, but were also assimilated by the poetic theory and practice of other European countries.
In Russia, M. Lomonosov carried out similar work a century later. Lomonosov's theory of "three calms" eliminated the variegation and disorder of literary forms of communication, characteristic of Russian literature of the late 17th - first third of the 18th centuries, streamlined literary word usage within a particular genre, determining the development literary speech up to Pushkin. No less important is the poetic reform of Trediakovsky-Lomonosov. Reforming versification on the basis of the syllabo-tonic system, which is organic to the Russian language, Trediakovsky and Lomonosov thus laid the foundation for the national poetic culture.
In the 18th century, classicism experienced its second heyday. The decisive influence on it, as well as on other stylistic directions, is exerted by enlightenment- an ideological movement that took shape in the conditions of an acute crisis of absolutism and directed against the feudal-absolutist system and the church supporting it. The ideas of enlightenment are based on the philosophical concept of the Englishman J. Locke, who proposed a new model of the process of cognition, based on feeling, sensation, as the only source human knowledge about the world ("Experience on the human mind", 1690). Locke resolutely rejected the doctrine of R. Descartes' "innate ideas", likening the soul of a born person to a clean slate (tabula rasa), where experience writes "its own letters" throughout life.
Such a view of human nature led to the idea of a decisive influence on the formation of the personality of the social and natural environment, which makes a person good or bad. Ignorance, superstition, prejudices, generated by the feudal social order, determine, according to the educators, social disorder, distort the original moral nature of man. And only general education can eliminate the discrepancy between existing social relations and the requirements of reason and human nature. Literature and art began to be regarded as one of the main instruments for the transformation and re-education of society.
All this determined fundamentally new features in the classicism of the 18th century. While maintaining the basic principles of classic aesthetics in the art and literature of enlightenment classicism, the understanding of the purpose and tasks of a number of genres is significantly changing. Especially clearly the transformation of classicism in the spirit of educational settings is visible in the tragedies of Voltaire. Remaining true to the basic aesthetic principles of classicism, Voltaire seeks to influence not only the mind of the audience, but also their feelings. He is looking for new themes and new means of expression. Continuing to develop the ancient theme familiar to classicism, in his tragedies Voltaire also refers to medieval plots ("Tancred", 1760), oriental ("Mohammed", 1742), associated with the conquest of the New World ("Alzira", 1736). He gives a new rationale for tragedy: "Tragedy is a moving painting, an animated picture, and the people depicted in it must act" (that is, dramaturgy is thought of by Voltaire not only as the art of words, but also as the art of movement, gesture, facial expressions).
Voltaire fills the classic tragedy with a sharp philosophical and socio-political content related to the actual problems of our time. The playwright focuses on the fight against religious fanaticism, political arbitrariness and despotism. Thus, in one of his most famous tragedies, Mohammed, Voltaire proves that any deification individual leads, in the end, to her uncontrolled power over other people. Religious intolerance leads the heroes of the tragedy "Zaire" (1732) to a tragic denouement, and merciless gods and treacherous priests push weak mortals to commit crimes ("Oedipus", 1718). In the spirit of high social issues, Voltaire rethinks and transforms the heroic epic and ode.
During the period of the French Revolution (1789–1794), the classicist trend in literary life is of particular importance. The classicism of this time not only generalized and assimilated the innovative features of Voltaire's tragedy, but also radically rebuilt high genres. M. J. Chenier refuses to denounce despotism in general, and that is why he takes as the subject of the image not only antiquity, but also Europe of modern times ("Charles IX", "Jean Calas"). The hero of the tragedies Chenier promotes the ideas of natural law, freedom and law, he is close to the people, and the people in the tragedy not only enter the stage, but also act along with the main character (Kai Gracchus, 1792). The concept of the state as a positive category, opposed to the personal, individualistic, is replaced in the playwright's mind by the category "nation". It is no coincidence that Chenier called his play "Charles IX" a "national tragedy."
Within the framework of the classicism of the era French Revolution created and new type odes. Preserving the classic principle of the priority of reason over reality, the revolutionary ode includes like-minded people of the lyrical hero in its world. The author himself no longer speaks on his own behalf, but on behalf of fellow citizens, using the pronoun "we". Rouget de Lisle in the Marseillaise pronounces revolutionary slogans, as it were, together with his listeners, thus prompting them and himself to revolutionary transformations.
The creator of classicism of a new type, corresponding to the spirit of the times, in painting was J. David. Together with his painting "The Oath of the Horatii" (1784), a new theme comes to French fine art - civil, journalistic in its straightforward expression, a new hero - a Roman republican, morally whole, above all putting duty to the motherland, new manner- severe and ascetic, opposed to the exquisite chamber style of French painting of the second half of the 18th century.
Under influence French literature in the 18th century, national models of classicism took shape in other European countries: in England (A. Pop, J. Addison), in Italy (V. Alfieri), in Germany (I. K. Gottsched). In the 1770s-1780s, such an original artistic phenomenon as "Weimar classicism" (J. W. Goethe, F. Schiller) appeared in Germany. Turning to the artistic forms and traditions of antiquity, Goethe and Schiller set themselves the task of creating a new high-style literature as the main means of aesthetic education of a harmonious person.
The formation and flourishing of Russian classicism fall on the years 1730-1750 and take place in quite similar conditions to the French conditions for the formation of an absolutist state. But, despite a number of common points in the aesthetics of Russian and French classicism (rationalism, normativity and genre regulation, abstractness and conventionality as the leading features of the artistic image, recognition of the role of an enlightened monarch in establishing a fair social order based on the law), Russian classicism has its own unique national traits.
The ideas of the Enlightenment have nourished Russian classicism from the very beginning. The assertion of the natural equality of people leads Russian writers to the idea of the extra-class value of a person. Already Cantemir in his second satire "Filaret and Eugene" (1730) declares that "the same blood flows in both free and slaves," and "noble" people "will show one virtue." Forty years later, A. Sumarokov, in his satire "On Nobility," will continue: "What is the difference between a master and a peasant? Both that and that animated lump of earth." Fonvizinsky Starodum ("Nedorosl", 1782) will determine the nobility of a person by the number of deeds performed for the fatherland ("without noble deeds, a noble state is nothing"), and the enlightenment of a person will be directly dependent on the education of virtue in him ("The main goal of all human knowledge - benevolence").
Seeing in education a "guarantee of the welfare of the state" (D. Fonvizin) and believing in the usefulness of an enlightened monarchy, Russian classicists begin a long process of educating autocrats, reminding them of their duties towards their subjects:
The gods did not make him king for his benefit;
He is the king, so that a man be to all people mutually:
He must give his people the whole time,
All your cares, everything and zeal for people ...
(V. Trediakovsky, "Tilemakhida")
If the king does not fulfill his duties, if he is a tyrant, he must be deposed from the throne. This can also happen through a popular uprising ("Dmitry the Pretender" by A. Sumarokov).
The main material for Russian classicists is not antiquity, but their own national history, from which they preferred to draw plots for high genres. And instead of the abstract ideal ruler, the “philosopher on the throne”, characteristic of European classicism, Russian writers, as an exemplary sovereign, “worker on the throne”, recognized a very specific historical personality- Peter I.
The theoretician of Russian classicism Sumarokov, relying in his Epistle on Poetry (1748) on Boileau's Poetic Art, introduces a number of new provisions into his theoretical treatise, pays tribute not only to the masters of classicism, but also to representatives of other trends. So, he erects on Helicon, along with Malherbe and Racine, Camões, Lope de Vega, Milton, Pop, the "unenlightened" Shakespeare, as well as contemporary writers - Detouche and Voltaire. Sumarokov speaks in sufficient detail about the heroic-comic poem and the epistle, not mentioned by Boileau, explains in detail the features of the fable "warehouse" on the example of the fables of the bypassed Boileau La Fontaine, and dwells on the genre of the song, which the French theorist mentions in passing. All this testifies not only to Sumarokov's personal aesthetic predilections, but also to the changes that are ripening in European classicism of the 18th century.
These changes are associated primarily with the growing interest in the literature on inner life individual personality, which ultimately led to a significant restructuring of the genre structures of classicism. A characteristic example here is the work of G. Derzhavin. Remaining "predominantly a classic" (V. Belinsky), Derzhavin introduces a strong personal element into his poetry, thereby destroying the law of the unity of style. Genre-complex formations appear in his poetry - an ode-satire (“Felitsa”, 1782), anacreontic poems written on an odic plot (“Poems for the birth of a porphyry-born child in the North”, 1779), an elegy with features of a message and an ode (“ On the death of Prince Meshchersky", 1779), etc.
Giving way to new literary trends, classicism does not leave literature without a trace. The turn to sentimentalism takes place within the framework of the "middle" classicist genres - elegies, messages, idylls. The poets of the early 19th century, K. Batyushkov and N. Gnedich, while remaining fundamentally faithful to the classical ideal (partly also to the canon of classicism), each went their own way to romanticism. Batyushkov - from " light poetry"to the psychological and historical elegy, Gnedich - to the translation of the Iliad and genres associated with folk art. Strict forms The classic tragedy of Racine was chosen by P. Katenin for his Andromache (1809), although he, as a romantic, is already interested in the very spirit of ancient culture. The high civic tradition of classicism found its continuation in the freedom-loving lyrics of the Radishchev poets, the Decembrists and Pushkin.
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Socio-political, philosophical and aesthetic views A.P. Sumarokov. "Two epistles" - Sumarokova - a manifesto of Russian classicism. The creative range of Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov is very wide. He wrote odes, satires, fables, eclogues, songs, but the main thing with which he enriched the genre composition of Russian classicism is tragedy and comedy. Sumarokov's worldview was formed under the influence of the ideas of the time of Peter the Great. But unlike Lomonosov, he focused on the role and duties of the nobility. A hereditary nobleman, a pupil of the gentry corps, Sumarokov did not doubt the legitimacy of noble privileges, but believed that a high position and possession of serfs must be confirmed by education and service useful to society. A nobleman must not humiliate human dignity peasant, burden him with unbearable requisitions. He sharply criticized the ignorance and greed of many members of the nobility in his satires, fables and comedies. Sumarokov considered the best form of government to be a monarchy. But the high position of the monarch obliges him to be just, generous, to be able to suppress bad passions in himself. In his tragedies, the poet depicted the disastrous consequences resulting from the oblivion of their civic duty by monarchs.
In general, in the middle of the 18th century. the formation of Russian classicism is necessary (in Europe, the heyday of classicism by this time was long in the past: Corneille died in 1684, Racine - in 1699.) V. Trediakovsky and M. Lomonosov tried their hand at classicist tragedy, but the founder of Russian classicism (and Russian literary drama in general) was A. Sumarokov. Sumarokov looked at his work as a kind of school of civic virtues. Therefore, they put forward moralistic functions in the first place. At the same time, Sumarokov was keenly aware of the purely artistic tasks that faced Russian literature. He outlined his thoughts on these issues in two epistles: “On the Russian language” and “On poetry”. Subsequently, he combined them in one work called "Instruction to those who want to be writers" (1774). Boileau's treatise The Art of Poetry served as a model for the Instruction, but in Sumarokov's work one can feel an independent position dictated by the urgent needs of Russian literature. Boileau's treatise does not raise the question of creating a national language, since in France XVII in. this issue has already been resolved. Sumarokov, on the other hand, begins his “Instruction” with this: “We need such a language as the Greeks had, // What the Romans had, And following them in that // As Italy and Rome now say.” The main place in the "Instruction" is given to the characteristics of genres new to Russian literature: idylls, odes, poems, tragedies, comedies, satires, fables. Most of the recommendations are related to the choice of style for each of them: “In poetry, know the difference in gender // And what you start, look for decent words for it.” But the attitude to individual genres for Boileau and Sumarokov it does not always coincide. Boileau speaks very highly of the poem. He puts it even above tragedy. Sumarokov says less about her, being content only with a description of her style. He never wrote a single poem in his entire life. His talent was revealed in tragedy and comedy, Boileau is quite tolerant of small genres - the ballad, rondo, madrigal. Sumarokov in the epistle "On poetry" calls them "trinkets", and in the "Instruction" he bypasses complete silence. In particular, in Epistle on poetry(1747) he defends principles similar to the classicist canons of Boileau: a strict division of genres of dramaturgy, observance "three unities". Unlike the French classicists, Sumarokov was based not on ancient stories, but on Russian chronicles ( Khorev, Sinav and Truvor) and Russian history ( Dmitry Pretender and etc.). The connection between Sumarokov's epistle and Lomonosov's Rhetoric is undeniable. For example, the author, following Lomonosov, solves the issue of the use of Church Slavonic words in Russian, where Mikhail Vasilyevich advises "to run away from old Slavic sayings" that are incomprehensible to the people, but in "solemn styles to preserve those whose meaning the people know." In the Epistle on Poetry, Sumarokov spoke out as a supporter of the equality of all genres provided for by the poetics of classicism, in contrast to Lomonosov, who affirms the value of only "high" literature:
Everything is laudable: drama, eclogue or ode -
Write down what your nature attracts you to ...
the concept of classicism as a creative method presupposes by its content a historically determined way of aesthetic perception and modeling of reality in artistic images: the picture of the world and the concept of personality, the most common for the mass aesthetic consciousness of a given historical era, are embodied in ideas about the essence of verbal art, its relationship with reality , its own internal laws.
Classicism rules
1) The division of literature into strictly defined genres of works
a) high - ode, heroic poem, tragedy
b) low genres - comedy, satire, fables, the world of the poem, the novel.
2) The actors were divided into positive and negative.
3) In dramatic works (comedy, tragedy), the requirement of 3 unities dominated.
a) time (day)
b) places (should be the same place)
c) actions (one main plot, 5 acts)
3 unity were supposed to give the play a special clarity, harmony, clarity.
The doctrine of plausibility is an essential part of the classic theory of imitation. Lomonosov understands the requirement of verisimilitude as an internally conditioned correlation of the individual aspects of the work. Reality is cognized by the mind of the poet in the aspect of the possible and probable, because the world of the possible is more reasonable and ideal than the everyday world with its unforeseen accidents. Fiction is the means most appropriate to this circumstance of elevating the actual as separate to the possible and probable as general.
The principle of likelihood is a consequence of the Aristotelian and Renaissance understanding of the differences between history and poetry: the first refers to the truth of a single fact, and the second to its appearance, to a reliable similarity with it.
8. Genre theory of classicism. The system of genres of Russian classicism.
Two periods are rightly seen in the development of the Russian genre theory of classicism. The first period associated with the names of Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, Sumarokov is the time of creating a clear and organized system of genres, taking into account both the achievements of French genre theory and the state of national Russian literature. The second period is associated with the activities of Derzhavin, Kheraskov, Lukin and Plavilshchikov. It is marked by the beginning of the destruction of strict genre-typological characteristics, the formation of genres that were born at the junction of traditional ones, which created the prerequisites for entering another literary era. genre system based on opposition: tragedy and comedy, ode to isatire
Poem and fable, etc. Each genre was assigned a certain range of phenomena, from which it was impossible to get out: “high” and “low” were never combined in one work.
Classicism favored poetic genres over prose ones. prosaic speech is practically oriented speech, in which much depends on chance, not foreseen by the mind. Prose occupied a limited and subordinate place: being considered a means of journalism and scientific speech, it, in fact, fell out of the literary ranks. Only "secondary" and "low" according to the views of the classicists literature - the novel - could exist in the form of prose.
The classicists are characterized by the desire to create monumental works, with problems of great public resonance, to depict active heroes, full of vital energy and capable, thanks to their will and ability to mercilessly analyze the passions boiling in the soul, to rise to the resolution of complex, tragic conflicts. Hence the preference given by the theory of classicism to monumental genres in literature - epic, tragedy
.Genre division is hierarchical and for one more reason. epic has the greatest value, because, referring to the distant past, the poet in this kind of creativity will be able to recreate the most abstract situations, which will make it possible to give fiction the most plausible form. In epic form compared to tragedy more opportunities to achieve the perfect ideal - heroic character. Because the basis epic poem lies, as a rule, the legendary truth, which has the highest degree of poetic truth, then to achieve plausibility, only the internal consistency of the actions of the heroes and the events depicted is sufficient. Region tragedy – historical era, which has a lower degree of truth, because it may meet an unintended, random event that violates the harmony of poetic fiction and the requirement of plausibility. That is why the truth tragedy appears to be less thorough than in epic poem. Comedy turns out to be even lower. epics and tragedy, because it is even more difficult to achieve plausibility in it. A simple experience of the public, a good knowledge of modern mores, can reveal the groundlessness of the plot of a comedy from the standpoint of plausibility.
The choice of means of emotional impact on a person was made dependent on the genre. AT tragedy is a pleasant horror and living compassion, in comedy- laughter in satire- anger in ode- delight. Each feeling had its own “language”, the content and purpose of the work should also correspond to its style.
Worldview foundations and aesthetics of classicism. The problem of the individual and the state in the classic system of values. Classicism as "the art of a united, all-powerful state that absorbs the individual" (G. A. Gukovsky). R. Descartes' rationalistic metaphysics and Gassendi's doctrine of two souls in man. The concept of personality and the typology of conflict in classic tragedy. Classicism as “the art of the “reasonable” discipline of man” (G. A. Gukovsky). The cult of state, civic virtues. Ethical pathos. "Abstraction of the state" (K. Marx). The principle of imitation of nature. Orientation to classical patterns. Classicism as a reception of antiquity (Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Horace, Pindar, Anacreon). Normativity of classicist poetics. The role of the "living face-canon" in classic art. "Poetic Art" N. Boileau. Regulation of the genre system. Logical clarity of style, the requirement of noble simplicity.
National originality of Russian classicism. chronological delay. Correlation between theory and practice. Reform of versification, stylistic and linguistic reforms, streamlining of the genre system. The requirement of equivalence of all genres. Synthetic character of Russian classicism (selectivity of mastering the European tradition "from the standpoint of results"). The organic nature of Russian classicism, its historically progressive character. Socially critical orientation, high teaching pathos. The tyrannical character of Russian tragedy. Classicism as the Art of the "Noble Fronde". Priority genres of comedy and satire. The nature of lyricism. The status of spiritual odes. Connection with folklore tradition.
Poetic creativity of A.P. Sumarokov (1717–1777). The main milestones of the biography. The role of the writer in the development of national education. Magazine "Hardworking bee" and its staff. Poetic school of Sumarokov. Political views artist. His relationship with government. Genre "encyclopedism" of poetry: laudatory odes, spiritual odes, idylls, eclogues, elegies, sonnets, stanzas, songs. Criticism of the aesthetic canons of Lomonosov's "rhetorical odes" (the polemical orientation of the poet's "absurd" odes). The emergence of emotional reflection. Psychologism in the construction of a lyrical image. The book "Spiritual Poems" (St. Petersburg, 1774). Motives of the frailty of human existence, religious understanding of life (“Ode to M. M. Kheraskov”, “Ode to the vanity of the world”, “To the vanity of man”, “Sonnet to despair”, “Last hour of life”). Role lyrics. The tragedy of the worldview (“The Last Judgment”, the sonnet “About creatures, the composition without an image is mixed ...”). The peculiarity of satire ("Crooked talk", "On nobility", "Instruction to the son"). Didacticism, pamphletery and frank parody. The main objects of satire in "Chorus to the Perverted Light". Innovation in the genre of fable (parable). Orientation towards the achievements of La Fontaine's poetic fable. The role of the image of the author-narrator. Specificity of the free iambic. Epigrams and verse tales.
Tragedy of Sumarokov. The theory of the tragic genre in the epistle "On Poetry". Russian tragedies as "heroic comedies" (G. A. Gukovsky): features of the conflict, the concept of personality. Tragedy "Khorev". An original interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The use of the found plot model (“This tragedy will show Shakespeare to Russia”) in the tragedy “Demetrius the Pretender” (1777). Static action, limited number of actors. Principles of building characters. The role of monologues. The image of a classic villain and an ideal citizen. specificity of the conflict. The role of love intrigue in conflict resolution. The meaning of referring to real historical material. Saturation of the plot with political allusions. Dispute on issues of freedom and honor. The role of the images of Parmen and George in the ideological structure of the play. Moral and political didacticism. The position of the author. Elements of reasoning in tragedy.
Sumarokov-comedian. Characteristics of the genre of comedy in the epistle "On poetry". National originality of the genre of Russian comedy. Features of composition, style and language. The problem of genre evolution. Traditions of Russian interlude and farcical theater, Italian comedy of masks in Tresotinius. Comedy-farce genre. Departure from national customs, the use of foreign names. pamphlet like feature genre. Elements of poetic and linguistic parody. From position comedy to character comedy. The image of the Outsider in the comedy "Guardian". "Language mask" of a bigot and a hypocrite. Collision of temporarily triumphant vice and suffering virtue. Turn to serious comedy. The peculiarity of the denouement, the mixture of comic and tragic in it. Strengthening the role of moralistic and everyday elements in "The Cuckold by Imagination". Genre of national comedy. Accounting for the comedy tradition of D. I. Fonvizin. Bright individualization of the portraits of the "old-world landowners" Vikula and Khavronya. Transmission of everyday speech, features of nationality and ethnography. The role of folk proverbs in the play.
Preclassicism
Reforms of Peter I
Handwritten stories
Love verses
Theater and dramaturgy
Feofan Prokopovich
The formation of Russian classicism
A. D. Kantemir
V. K. Trediakovsky
M. V. Lomonosov
A. P. Sumarokov
The development of Russian classicism and the beginning of its fundamental changes
Journal satire 1769-1774 N. I. Novikov
I. A. Krylov
Dramaturgy of the 60-90s of the XVIII century.
D. I. Fonvizin
N. P. Nikolev
Ya. B. Knyazhnin
V. V. Kapnist
M. M. Kheraskov
V. I. Maikov
I. F. Bogdanovich
G.R.Derzhavin
Mass prose literature of the late 18th century.
Sentimentalism
A. N. Radishchev
N. M. Karamzin
I. I. Dmitriev
Russian synchronism Literature XVII 1st century
Application
The textbook was written in accordance with the program for the course of the history of Russian literature of the XVIII century. (M., 1990). It reflects the principles of the internal development of literary trends and movements of the 18th century. The textbook is intended for students and graduate students of the philological faculties of universities.
In connection with the unexpected and sudden death of the author, Professor of the Department of the History of Russian Literature at Moscow University P. A. Orlov, the text of the manuscript was brought to the final stage by an employee of this department, Associate Professor A. A. Smirnov, who brought it into line with modern scientific data, added Control questions, expanding students' understanding of the development of Russian literature, compiled a synchronistic table designed to systematize the historical and philological knowledge of students.
Pavel Alexandrovich Orlov (1922-1990) - a prominent specialist in the history of Russian literature, Doctor of Philology, author of the capital monograph "Russian Sentimentalism" (M., 1977). This book- the fruit of scientific research and methodological developments of the author, his many years of pedagogical activity at the Department of the History of Russian Literature of Moscow State University, where the textbook received its first approbation.
The department expresses its gratitude for the careful and thorough review of the manuscript to the Gorky State University. N. I. Lobachevsky (Head of the Department of Russian Literature, Professor G. V. Moskvicheva) and the Head of the Department of Russian Literature of Tomsk State University, Doctor of Philology Professor F. Z. Kanunova, as well as the Head of the Department of Russian Literature of the 18th century. IRLI Academy of Sciences of the USSR to the candidate of philological sciences N. D. Kochetkova for a number of important clarifications of the dates of life and work of writers of the 18th century.
The staff of the department
INTRODUCTION
The eighteenth century opens a new page in the history of Russian fiction. The changes that have taken place in it in just a few decades can be compared in their importance with such events as the emergence of writing, the emergence of critical realism. There are always two interrelated tendencies in the literary process: continuity and innovation. Each of them is unthinkable without the other, but the relationship between them in different eras unequally. In the XVIII century. it took a radical renewal of all spheres of social and spiritual life, including literature. Reforms were the historical frontier between old and new Russia. Peter I, which affected the most diverse areas of the policy of the Russian state, including the ideological sphere. A culture was born that was very different from the previous one. Seven and a half centuries of ancient Russian literature created works for which the highest authority was in religious beliefs and ideas. “The dogmas of the church,” Engels wrote about medieval ideology, “became simultaneously political axioms, and the biblical texts received in any case the force of law ... This supreme dominance of theology in all areas of mental activity was at the same time a necessary consequence of the position that occupied the church as the most general synthesis and the most general sanction of the existing feudal system.
The reforms of Peter I undermined the authority of the church in the political life of the country, which, in turn, was reflected in fiction, which became a purely secular art. Lives, apocrypha, sermons, annals and military tales are replaced by odes, satires, comedies, tragedies, poems, and novels. This kind of renewal of almost the entire genre system of literature testified to profound changes in social thought itself. The secularization of consciousness also had an impact on the literary language; its basis is not Church Slavonic, but Russian. Church Slavonicisms are now used as style-forming means mainly in the so-called high genres. Innovations also penetrate into the field of poetry. The syllabic, inherited from the 17th century, is being replaced by a new type of versification - syllabic-tonic. In their searches, Russian writers used the experience of Western European authors as well. “Russia entered Europe,” wrote Pushkin, “like a lowered ship, with the sound of an ax and with the thunder of cannons ... European enlightenment landed on the banks of the conquered Neva ... New literature, the fruit of a newly formed society, was soon to be born.” But it was not imitation, not copying, but a bold, creative development of someone else's, secular heritage. Progress in art, as in science, is always achieved as a result of the joint efforts of different peoples. Any isolation leads to stagnation and backwardness. The renewal of Russian literature proceeded intensively and rapidly. The path from classicism to romanticism, which lasted more than a century and a half in France, was completed in Russia in eighty years. Of course, such drastic changes could not immediately bring the desired results.
In its historical development, Russian literature of the XVIII century. went through three stages. The first begins in 1700 and continues until the end of the 20s. Basically, it coincides with the reign of Peter I. It can be called pre-classic. The works of this period are notable for their great genre and stylistic diversity and in many respects are still connected with the previous period. Neither a common creative method nor a coherent genre system has yet been developed, but the main ideological prerequisites of Russian classicism are already ripening in it: the protection of state interests, the glorification of Peter I as an "enlightened" monarch. During this period, interest in ancient culture, an important part of the new artistic system, increased significantly.
The next stage refers to the 30-50s of the XVIII century. This is the time of the formation of Russian classicism. Its founders - Kantemir, Trediakovsky, Lomonosov, Sumarokov - belong entirely to the eighteenth century. They were born in the Petrine era, from childhood they breathed its air and with their creativity they strive to protect and approve the Petrine reforms in the years following the death of Peter I. Radical transformations are taking place in literature. New classicist genres are being created, the literary language and versification are being reformed, and theoretical treatises appearing to substantiate these innovations. But so far these are only the first steps of Russian classicism.
The final stage is associated with the final four decades of the 18th century. In the 1960s and 1990s, educational ideology began to play an important role. Under her influence, Russian classicism rises to a new stage in its ideological and artistic development. The representatives of the second generation of Russian classicism were Fonvizin, Derzhavin, Knyazhnin, Kapnist. But the heyday of classicism was at the same time the time of the beginning of its transformation. On the same educational basis, parallel to classicism in the last third of the 18th century. there is another direction - sentimentalism. It originates in the 60s and reaches its apogee in the 90s in the work of Radishchev and Karamzin.
PRECLASSICISM
Reforms of Peter I
History of Russia in the 18th century. opens with the reforms of Peter I. The transformations carried out by him were caused by urgent tasks that arose before the Russian state in the late 17th - early 18th centuries. For trade and defensive purposes, Russia had to go to its natural borders - to the shores of the Baltic and Black Seas. Meanwhile, in the west and south, she was threatened by strong and dangerous neighbors: Sweden, Poland, Turkey and Persia. It was necessary in the shortest possible time to eliminate the backlog from the advanced European countries in the military, economic and cultural fields. Therefore, factories, manufactories were opened, a fleet was built, a regular army was created. The state administration itself was also reorganized: instead of the boyar duma and orders, the Senate and its subordinate collegiums were established.
The question of the qualities that determine the dignity of a person and his place in society is solved in a new way. Boyar privileges are abolished. Promotion now depends not on the antiquity of the family, but on personal merit of a nobleman, from his mind, knowledge, diligence. In 1722, a "table of ranks" was introduced. All ranks, both civil and military, were divided into 14 degrees, or ranks. The passage of service in a mandatory order for all began with the lowest, 14th rank. Further promotion in ranks was directly dependent on the personal success of each. Peter himself did not indulge himself, starting his service with the rank of drummer and ending it with the rank of generalissimo.
A number of events were carried out by Peter I in the area of the church. In 1721 the patriarchate was abolished. Instead, a spiritual college is being created - the Holy Governing Synod. A special civilian person, the chief prosecutor, was introduced into the synod. Thus, the church and its actions were completely dependent on the government. For a clear delineation of secular and ecclesiastical literature, civil type was introduced, after which only theological and liturgical books were printed in the old type.
Fundamental changes have taken place in the field of education and science. In pre-Petrine Rus', enlightenment was purely ecclesiastical in nature and was designed to train the clergy and a few government officials. At the beginning of the XVIII century. the picture changes dramatically. The Moscow Zaikonospassky School is being transformed into the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy. great attention it is devoted to the study of ancient languages: Greek and Latin. Education in the vast majority of educational institutions is distinguished by a pronounced secular and even professional character. The country needed engineers, doctors, builders, sailors. To this end, an engineering school was opened in Moscow in 1712. Here, at the military hospital, the first medical school in Russia is being created. In 1715, the Maritime Academy was organized in St. Petersburg. Numerical schools appear in many cities. Textbooks are written for the needs of education. Magnitsky and Kopievsky were the authors of "Arithmetic", Polikarpov - "Grammar". The old letter designation of numbers has been replaced by Arabic numerals. Letters appear. Various scientific activities are carried out. A special expedition is being organized to survey Russia's natural resources. Geographic maps are being compiled, including the Caspian Sea. Bering is instructed to determine whether there is a strait between Asia and America. By Peter's order, the Kunstkamera was opened in St. Petersburg, where minerals, ancient weapons, clothes, and utensils were exhibited. Shortly before his death, Peter drew up a project for the organization of the Academy of Sciences in Russia, which opened after his death. Foreign, mostly German, scientists were also invited to work on it. For the training of domestic personnel, a gymnasium and a university were created at the Academy of Sciences.
New trends imperiously invaded not only the state and scientific field, but sometimes forcibly into the daily life of the nobility, into his way of life. Long-sleeved clothes are replaced by caftans sewn in European fashion. There was a special tax for wearing a beard. Domostroevsky tower orders are being destroyed. Young women and girls are required to appear in society. For this purpose, so-called assemblies were organized in private homes, where young people of both sexes met. Dancing in the main room. In the neighboring rooms they played chess and cards, smoked pipes. The norms of behavior were regulated by a special "politeness", for the violation of which appropriate punishments were imposed.
Manuals are published, designed to instill good manners. So, in the book “An Honest Mirror of Youth”, young people were given numerous advice: how to behave with parents, guests, servants, how to sit at the dinner table, use cutlery, etc. In another guide - “Butts, how to write compliments” contains samples of letters: official, intimate, congratulatory, “regretful” and other content. From the end of 1702, the first newspaper in Russia, Vedomosti, began to appear, which had an informational and propaganda character. In short notices, it reported information about the next successes of Russia in the economic, military and diplomatic fields.
New trends touched and visual arts. In ancient Rus', painting was represented only by icons, and only in the 17th century. so-called "parsuns" appear, that is, portraits. Improving the technique of painting. Tempera paint is replaced by oil paint, which opens up immeasurably greater opportunities for artists. Appear talented painters- A. Matveev, I. M. Nikitin. By order of Peter I, Nikitin was sent to Italy, where he studied with the best professors. Peter was pleased with his success and wrote that “there are also from our people good masters". Nikitin painted portraits of members of the royal family, representatives of the Russian aristocracy. He was also ordered to depict Peter I on his deathbed. In addition to portraits, Nikitin painted two battle paintings- image of the Poltava and Kulikovo battles.
Serious shifts are taking place in architecture. The ancient capital of the Russian state, Moscow, was decorated with churches, cathedrals, and monasteries. In the new capital - St. Petersburg - military and administrative buildings are being erected - the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty, the building of the twelve colleges. The music of the time of Peter the Great is also distinguished by its secular character: marches, victorious-patriotic "kants", dance melodies. Literature of the first third of the XVIII century. - a complex, contradictory phenomenon. Arising at a turning point in Russian history, it bears the imprint of two eras with a predominance of new trends. It is connected with Old Russian literature by the handwritten method of distribution and the anonymous nature of most of the works, the syllabic system of versification, some traditional genres: everyday story, school drama, panegyric, sermon. At the same time, in this motley, disordered literary material, ideological and artistic phenomena are formed that prepare Russian classicism. Among them, one should note the clearly expressed state pathos of many works. The idea of the state as the highest value was persistently promoted at that time in government documents, orders and letters of Peter I. A person's behavior was determined by the degree of his usefulness to society. Fiction actively supported these ideas. The image of Peter I occupies an important place in it. Folk songs are composed about him, school dramas and church sermons are dedicated to him. Thus, the theme of enlightened absolutism, characteristic of classicism, was gradually prepared. Antique culture begins to play a significant role at this time. A translation of Aesop's fables is published, printed from brief explanations illustrations for the "Metamorphoses" of Ovid, the medieval "History of the ruin of the city of Troy" is published. On the stage of a foreign theater in Moscow, plays are staged, the heroes of which were Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar. In 1725, the work of the ancient Greek writer Apollodorus "The Library, or On the Gods" was published, which contained a retelling of almost all ancient, mythological stories. In 1705, as one of the guides for painting and poetry, a book called "Symbola et emblemata" was published, containing 840 allegorical paintings - "symbols" and aphoristic inscriptions to them - "emblems". Subsequently, this kind of symbolism will be widely used, especially in odes, by classicist writers.
Handwritten stories
In the first decades of the 18th century handwritten everyday stories, known in Rus' since the 17th century, continue to spread. But under the influence of Peter's reforms, significant changes take place in their content. One of these works was "History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky and the beautiful princess Heraclius of the Florensky land." With the word "history" the unknown author emphasized the authentic, non-fictional nature of his narration. The hero of the story, Vasily Koriotsky, is a young nobleman, a representative of the class on which Peter I primarily relied in his transformations. The author endows him with industriousness, curiosity, resourcefulness, and fearlessness. The plot of the "History" absorbed a number of motifs drawn from handwritten stories of the 17th century, including the story of the gentry Doltorn, as well as the motifs of a folk tale. But in these traditional forms, the author managed to introduce content that was topical for the Petrine era.
First of all, the traditional theme of “fathers and children” is being solved in a new way. In the stories of the XVII century. about Grief-misfortune, about Savva Grudtsyn, the parental home was declared the keeper of not only material, but also moral values. The break with him led the hero to a complete collapse of life. In the story about Vasily Koriotsky there is a rethinking traditional theme. The parental home is ruined, and the representative younger generation acts as his savior. Vasily becomes a sailor. This choice was dictated by the new political situation, when Russia, having conquered the shores of the Baltic Sea, became a major maritime power. Unlike many young nobles who were burdened by the service, Vasily with great willingness and diligence fulfills all the assignments offered to him and wins the love of his comrades and the respect of his superiors. Vasily's trip to Holland is also marked by a time line. Here, at the shipyards, Peter I himself mastered shipbuilding.
The story reflected the growth in the early 18th century. the international prestige of Russia, which the author calls "Russian Europe", i.e., a country that has joined the circle of European states. The ruler of Austria - "Caesar" - honorably receives Vasily - a simple Russian sailor - in the palace and gives him all kinds of
help. The love theme is also treated in a new way. In the stories of the XVII century. love is generally considered a sinful feeling. Suffice it to recall Savva Grudtsyn, who is helped by a demon in his love affairs. In the story about Vasily Koriotsky, love is ennobled. She makes the hero, for the sake of saving Heraclius, the daughter of the “Florensky” king, neglect danger, risk his life. The dizzying transformation of the sailor Vasily into a king also conveys the originality of the Petrine era, which favored the promotion of people of humble origin. Rootless Menshikov became, in the words of Pushkin, "a semi-powerful ruler." Pastor Gluck's maid, Marta Skavronskaya, became the Russian Empress Catherine I. The language of the story is also stamped with novelty. It widely included the running expressions of Petrine Russia: “march”, “command”, “term”, “in front”, “fire”, etc.
A somewhat different version of the fate of the young nobleman of the time of Peter the Great is represented by the “History of the brave Russian cavalier Alexander and his lovers Tire and Eleanor”, written, according to G. N. Moiseeva, between 1719 and 1725. Unlike Vasily Koriotsky, Alexander - the son of wealthy parents, so his departure from home is motivated by the desire to get an education worthy of a nobleman. “... I ask you to teach me,” he declares, “equally with the like, because through your retention you can inflict eternal reproach on me. And what can I call myself and what can I boast of! Not only boast, but I will not be worthy of being called a nobleman. Unfortunately, Alexander's behavior is not distinguished by the purposefulness of Vasily Koriotsky. Arriving in France, instead of teaching, he gives himself to love interests. Noteworthy is the abundance of heroines in the story - Alexander's mistresses. Each of them is endowed with a special character: touching, defenseless Eleanor; resolute, aggressive Hedwig-Dorotea; devoted and patient Tyra. Of interest is a kind of dispute about female virtue, which is conducted among themselves by three foreign noblemen. The increased attention to the "women's issue" is explained primarily by the changed position of the Russian woman, who, having left the tower, entered society and aroused increased interest in herself,
The story of the nobleman Alexander reflected the influence of a wide variety of sources. In the first place among them is a love-adventurous novel, including "The Tale of Peter the Golden Keys." The love-adventurous tragedy is especially felt in the second part of the story. Alexander and Tyra, fleeing from their ill-wishers, end up in Egypt, China and even Florida, where, according to the author, “man-eaters”, that is, cannibals, lived. During their wanderings, the hero and heroine are separated and yet find each other. At the end of the story, Alexander's frivolity and love inconstancy receive a peculiar, albeit purely accidental, retribution. Just before returning to Russia, he drowned while swimming in the sea.
The fate of Alexander supplements our information about the Russian nobles of the first quarter of the 18th century. Among them were people like Vasily Koriotsky, who consistently and selflessly fulfilled their civic duty. At the same time, there were also people of a different warehouse who, having got abroad, succumbed to all sorts of temptations. It is this type that is bred in the "history" about the nobleman Alexander.
Under the influence of the first part of the story about the nobleman Alexander, the "Tale of the Merchant John" arose. This work reflects the changes that have taken place in the merchant environment. Unlike the merchants of pre-Petrine Rus', John's father conducts extensive trade with the West and sends his son to Paris himself to gain experience in trade. As in the “History” about Alexander, the plot of the story is connected with the love interest of the hero. However, the story of John is characterized by a calm and even playful content. There are no bloody, dramatic episodes and loud, pathetic phrases in it. It reflected the practical business thinking of the trading environment, to which, apparently, the author himself belonged.
Love verses
Love lyrics in pre-Petrine Rus' were represented only by folk songs. The reforms of the beginning of the century favored the emancipation of the individual, his liberation from church and home guardianship. The communication of young people at assemblies, the free expression of love feelings aroused the need for intimate lyrics. The spread of literacy made this task easier. So, along with the folklore song, handwritten love verses were created, which were influenced by European book literature. Love verses were written in both syllabic and tonic verses borrowed from folklore and German poetry. Love poems were composed, for example, by Peter I's adjutant Willim Mons, his secretary Stoletov, and a number of other distinguished persons. Authors love works could be not only men, but [and] women. Most of the love rhymes remained anonymous. Their content, as a rule, was minor. Unknown poets complained bitterly about the painful suffering that love causes them, or about the circumstances that prevent them from connecting with a loved one. Artistic images were drawn from both oral and book poetry. From ancient mythology came Cupida (i.e. Cupid), Fortune, Venus. “Fortune is evil that you are doing this, // You are almost parting me from my sweetheart,” we read in one of the poems. “Oh, if I have great joy, I have found it: // Cupid brought mercy to Venus,” says another work. Often reference is made to "arrows" that pierce the hearts of lovers. The suffering caused by love is likened to physical torment, compared to a “wound” or “ulcer”, while love itself is compared to a fire that burns the “heart” and even the “womb” of the lover. All these images, which later became literary patterns, were then perceived as a truly poetic discovery.
Theater and dramaturgy
Theatrical performances appeared in Russia in the 17th century, under the father of Peter I, Alexei Mikhailovich. But the theater of that time served only for the entertainment of the royal court. Peter set before him a completely different task. In an era of almost universal illiteracy, the theater had to become a source of knowledge, a propagandist for the policy pursued by the state. For this purpose, the German entrepreneur Johann Kunst was invited to Russia in 1702 with a troupe of artists. By order of Peter, a wooden building was built on Red Square - a "theatrical temple". To train Russian artists, clerks from various orders were attached to the Kunst troupe. Each of them was entitled to a salary corresponding to the importance of the assigned role. Entrance prices to the theater were low. Its doors were open to everyone. In 1703 Kunst died, and until 1707 Otto Furst, a resident of the German settlement in Moscow, continued his work. The repertoire of the Kunst theater consisted of the so-called "English comedies" brought from England to Germany at the end of the 16th century. itinerant actors. These plays represented an extremely helpless dramatization of chivalric novels, historical legends, fairy tales, short stories. The game was different in an exaggerated manner. The heroes shouted out pathetic monologues, gesticulating frantically. Bloody scenes side by side with rude buffoonery. The indispensable protagonist of the play was a comic character, who in Russia was called a “stupid person”, and in Germany Pikelgering or Ganswurst. The partially preserved repertoire of the Kunst Theater includes the following plays: "About Don-Yan and Don-Pedra" - one of the many adaptations of the plot about Don Juan, "About the fortress of Grubston, in which the first person is Alexander the Great", "Honest traitor, or Friederico von Popley and Aloysia, his wife”, “Two conquered cities, in which the first person is Julius Caesar”, “Prince Pikelgering, or Jodelette, his own prisoner” - a remake of the comedy by Tom Corneille, which, in turn, goes back to one from the comedies of Calderon, "About the Doctor with a Bit" - an adaptation of Moliere's play "The Doctor involuntarily".
The Kunst-Furst Theater did not justify the hopes of Peter I, who once said that he would like to see "a touching play, without this love, poured everywhere ... and a hilarious farce without buffoonery" .
In terms of content, Kunst's performances were very far from Russian reality and, because of this, they could not explain and propagate the events of Peter the Great. A serious drawback of these plays was their language, the speech of the characters looked especially helpless in love or pathetic remarks.
And at the same time, the plays of the Kunst theater played their positive role. The theater moved from the palace to the square. He contributed to the emergence of theater translators and Russian artists in Rus'. The plays staged by Kunst helped to "secularise" dramatic art. They introduced the Russian audience to great historical figures such as Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, to the plots of plays by European playwrights, including Moliere, and thus performed not only entertaining, but also educational tasks.
In the first quarter of the XVIII century. in Russia, the so-called school theaters were preserved. One of them existed at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, the other was opened in Moscow, at the Hospital, which had its own medical school. The Hospital was headed by a native of Holland, Nikolai Bidloo. Created on Russian soil, these theaters more successfully performed a task that was beyond the power of the Kunst theater. They zealously explained and propagated the policy of Peter I. In the plays school theater allegorical plots and images dominated. specific, real characters this dramaturgy does not know. The allegories were of two kinds: drawn from the Bible and having a completely secular character - Vengeance, Truth, Peace, Death, etc.
For better recognition, they were endowed with the appropriate attributes: Fortune - a wheel, Peace - an olive branch, Hope - an anchor, Anger - a sword. In the stage action, both in Russian and in foreign plays, different types of arts were combined: recitation, singing, music and dance.
In 1705, Russian troops captured the fortress of Narva and liberated native Russian lands illegally seized by Sweden. The response to this victory was the play "Liberation of Livonia and Ingermanland", staged at the Theological Academy. Political events were clothed in an allegorical story about the withdrawal of the Israelites from Egypt by Moses. At the same time, secular allegorical images also appeared in the play. The main characters were Russian Jealousy, which meant Peter I, and Unrighteous Theft - Sweden. Their allegorical meaning was explained with the help of two emblematic images - the “double-headed” Eagle and the “proud” Lion. Between Jealousy and Theft there was a struggle in which the Eagle and the Lion participated. Jealousy won. At the end of the play, Celebration placed a laurel wreath on Jealousy. The text of this play has not been preserved, only its lengthy program has been completely destroyed. events Northern war another play from the repertoire of the theological academy was also called up - “God's humiliation of the proud humiliators”, from which only the program has also survived. The battle of Poltava served as the immediate reason for its creation. As a biblical parallel, an unknown author reproduced the duel of the Israeli youth David with the Philistine warrior Goliath. The image of David was associated with the Russian army, Goliath - with the Swedish. The deciphering of the allegories was helped by familiar characters - the Eagle and the Lion. The meaning of the events was explained by special inscriptions. One of them - "Chrome, but fierce" - referred to Leo and hinted at Charles XII, who was wounded in the leg on the eve of the Battle of Poltava.
The plays of the surgical school also differed in propaganda and political content. In 1824, "Glory to Russia", written by F. Zhuravsky, was staged on its stage. The performance was attended by Peter I and his wife. The play was composed on the occasion of the coronation of Catherine, but its content went beyond the scope of this event. The performance, as it were, summed up the reign of Peter I. All images in Slava Rossiiskaya are allegorical, or, as the program says, they are represented by “invented persons”. These are either the names of countries, or abstract concepts - Wisdom, Truth, Reasoning. The content of the play is purely political and boils down to the fact that the states that were previously hostile to Russia - Turkey, Sweden, Poland, Persia - recognize its glory and greatness. The performance ends with a solemn scene: along the path, decorated with flowers, "Victoria of Russia on the lions is coming in triumph" . Closely adjacent to the "Glory of the Russian" is another dramatic work - "Sad Glory", written, perhaps, by the same Zhuravsky. The play was created in 1725 in connection with the death of Peter I. Numerous glorious deeds that marked the reign of Peter were put in the first place: his victories at sea and on land, the enlightenment of the country, the foundation of St. Petersburg and Kronstadt. Then mournful Russia announces the death of Peter and bitterly mourns his death. Russia's sadness is shared by other countries: Poland, Sweden, Persia. Thus, both works are very close to each other both in content and in form. The main goal of the author was to glorify the activities of Peter I and the successes of the Russian state.
In the first decades of the 18th century amateur court theaters appeared. One of them was created in the village of Preobrazhensky near Moscow at the court of Peter I's sister Natalia Alekseevna. The second is in Izmailovo in the palace of the dowager Empress Praskovya Feodorovna, the wife of the late Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich. The third - in Moscow, and then in St. Petersburg at the court of Princess Elizabeth Petrovna. The repertoire of the theater of Natalia Alekseevna was very colorful, eclectic. Along with the retelling of everyday stories, dramatizations of secular adventurous stories were created here: “The Comedy about the Beautiful Melusina”, “The Comedy of Olundin”, “The Comedy of Peter the Golden Springs”. The author of several plays was Natalya Alekseevna herself. Unlike poetry school dramas all these plays are written in prose and devoid of allegorical imagery. Little information has been preserved about the theaters of Praskovia Fedorovna and Elizaveta Petrovna and their repertoire. However, it is known that one of the best plays of that time - "Comedy about Count Farson". Its beginning echoes the handwritten stories of the Petrine era. A young Frenchman, Count Farson, asks his parents to let him go to foreign countries for a walk. And there foreigners learn to know. In the future, the plot of the "comedy" becomes very close to the plays of the Kunst theater, where a love affair often ended in a dramatic denouement. Count Farson arrives in Portugal. He was noticed and loved by the Portuguese queen. The successes of Count Farson aroused the envy of the senators, who managed to kill their dangerous favorite. The enraged queen executes the senators and stabs herself with a sword.
The comedy is written in rhyming syllabic verses of various lengths, which brings them closer to the raeshnik. The style of the play contrasts coarse, sometimes vulgar remarks with mannered phrases designed for sophistication. So, in a verbal skirmish with the captain who insulted him, Count Farson declares: “Shush you, invigorated! With my rod I will clear your snout. I will cut your lips that you can’t gather where your teeth lie. The queen's love confession addressed to Farson bears a completely different stylistic coloring: “Oh, my dear deomante. And a valuable diamond! .. My mind is confused. Cupid happen to me. Intermissions between acts were filled with interludes. So called in school theaters short pieces, performed in front of a closed curtain in the intervals between actions. The number of actors in them did not exceed three or four people.
The interludes were written in rhymed syllabic verse. The language of the heroes reproduced well the folk, often rude speech. Satirical interludes reflected the topical phenomena of the Petrine era. So, in one of the plays - "The Deacon and Sons" - the deacon was ridiculed, who did not want to send his children to the seminary. The deacon tries to bribe the clerks. And they take a bribe, but they take their sons away.
In the second half of the XVIII century. sideshows have gained an independent existence on a par with other small comic pieces.
Feofan Prokopovich (1681-1736)
In his transformational activities, Peter I sometimes tried to rely on the clergy, taking into account his influence on the masses. The reforms had an impact on some ministers of the church. One of them was the son of a Kyiv merchant, a talented preacher, public figure and writer Feofan Prokopovich. In the personality and work of Theophan, the transitional period of the beginning of the 18th century was clearly reflected. With the writers of Ancient Rus', he is brought together by belonging to the clergy. After graduating from the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, he took the vows as a monk, and later was ordained an archbishop. As a minister of the church, he composed and delivered sermons and achieved great success in this area.
But in his way of thinking, Theophanes was far from mysticism and orthodoxy. His mind was distinguished by a critical warehouse, his nature demanded not faith, but evidence. Theophan's poem in Latin is remarkable, in which he reproaches the Pope for the persecution of Galileo. Fluent in ancient languages, he reads ancient authors in the original. Along with theology, he is interested in exact sciences- physics, arithmetic, geometry, which he taught at the Kyiv Academy. With his characteristic perspicacity, Prokopovich quickly understood and appreciated the significance of Peter's reforms, with whom he was personally acquainted. Theophan fully shared the king's thoughts about the need to spread education. In a dispute between secular and ecclesiastical authorities, he unconditionally took the side of the government, causing a storm of indignation from the clergy. In 1718, Peter instructed him to write a charter called the "Spiritual Regulations", according to which the church was to be managed by a special board - the Synod. After the death of Peter, especially during the reign of Peter II, church reaction raised its head. A serious threat of reprisal hung over Feofan. But he managed to rally a small number of like-minded people around him - Tatishchev, Khrushchev, young Kantemir - into the so-called "Scientific Squad". The members of the "team" entered into the confidence of the new Empress Anna Ioannovna, and Theophan's position was strengthened again.
Sermons occupy a prominent place in Prokopovich's work. He managed to give a new sound to this traditional church genre. Sermon in ancient Rus' pursued mainly religious goals. Theophan subordinated her to topical political tasks. Many of his speeches are dedicated to Peter's military victories, including the Battle of Poltava. He glorifies not only Peter, but also his wife Catherine, who accompanied her husband in the Prut campaign in 1711. In his speeches, Theophan speaks about the benefits of education, about the need to visit foreign countries, admires St. Petersburg. Theophan's weapon in his sermons was reasoning, evidence, and in some cases a witty satirical word. Interesting are his arguments in the “Laudable Word about the Russian Fleet”. “We will discuss briefly,” he writes, “how exactly Russian state needy and useful is the navy. And in the first place, since this monarchy does not belong to the same sea, how is it not dishonorable for it not to have a fleet? We will not find a single village in the world that is located above the river or lake and would not have boats. And only a glorious and strong monarchy ... would not have ships ... it would be dishonorable and reproachful. We stand above the water and watch how guests come and go to us, but we ourselves do not know how. Word for word, just like in poetic stories a certain Tantalus stands in the water and thirsts.
Prokopovich is also known as a playwright. He wrote the play "Vladimir" in 1705 for the school theater at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy. The content for it was the adoption in 988 of Kyiv prince Vladimir of Christianity. The conflict of the drama is represented by Vladimir's struggle with the defenders of the old faith - the pagan priests Zherivol, Kuroyad and Piyar. Thus, the basis of the play is not the biblical, as was customary before, but historical event, although still associated with religion. The historical plot of the play "Vladimir" does not prevent it from remaining an acutely topical work. This happens because Prokopovich connects the spread of enlightenment with Christianity, and the triumph of ignorance, conservatism with paganism. Vladimir's struggle with the priests transparently hinted at the conflict between Peter I and the reactionary clergy. The superiority of Christianity over paganism is especially clearly shown in the third act, where there is a dispute between the Greek philosopher defending Christianity and the priest Zherivol. Zherivol responds to all the arguments of his opponent with rude abuse. After this dispute, Vladimir is even more convinced of the correctness of his decision. The play ends with the complete shame of the priests and the overthrow of pagan idols.
Prokopovich defined the genre of his play as "tragedo-comedy". In the treatise “On Poetic Art”, he wrote about her: “From these two genera (tragedy and comedy. -P.O.) a third, mixed genus is formed, called tragicomedy, or, as Plautus prefers to call it in Amphitryon, - tragico-comedy, since it was in him that the witty and funny were mixed with the serious and sad, and the insignificant faces with outstanding ones ”(S. 432). The "serious" theme is presented in Theophan's play by the image of Vladimir, in whose soul there is a painful struggle between old habits and the decision made. The temptations that tempt Vladimir are personified in the images of three demons - the demon of the flesh, the demon of blasphemy and the demon of the world. The carriers of the comedic beginning are the priests, whose names emphasize their base, carnal passions - gluttony and drunkenness. They are greedy, greedy, and hold on to the pagan faith only because it allows them to eat the sacrifices made to the gods. Zherivol's gluttony is depicted in the play in hyperbolic proportions. He is able to eat a whole bull in one day. Even in his sleep, Zherivol continues to move his jaws, continuing his favorite pastime. Exactly the same accusations of greed, drunkenness and depravity Prokopovich addressed in his sermons to the clergy of his day. Prokopovich's play is largely associated with the traditions of the Baroque. It presents two beginnings - the tragic and the comic, which the poetics of classicism categorically forbade to combine in one work. In addition to "high" and "low", Feofan's work also combines real and fantastic images. So, next to the priests and Prince Vladimir, the ghost of Yaropolk, demons, as well as "charm", that is, the temptation "with many others" appear. AT dramatic action introduced musical beginning, in which the same contrasts are present: the songs of Zherivol and Kuroyad are opposed by a choir of angels, in which the Apostle Andrew participates.
The third section of Prokopovich's artistic creativity is represented by lyrical poetic works. They are written in syllabic verse and are distinguished by a variety of subjects. Serious heroic genres include "Epinikion", or, as Theophanes himself explains this word, "the song of victory." This panegyric genre preceded the classical ode in Russia. "Epinikion" by Feofan is dedicated to the victory of the Russian army in the Battle of Poltava. The poem “Beyond the Pockmarked Grave” adjoins “Epinikion” in its military theme, which describes one of the episodes of the Prut campaign of Peter I, in which the author himself participated. It is notable for its light and rather rhythmic verses for that time and even later entered the song books of the 18th century: “Beyond the grave of the Ryaboi / / Above the Prutova river / / There was an army in a terrible battle” (p. 214). In the poem “The shepherd is crying in a long bad weather”, the author speaks in allegorical form about the difficult time that he had to endure after the death of Peter I. He likens himself to a shepherd caught in bad weather, whose flock has thinned out, and there is still no hope for “red” days . At the end of this five-year period, Theophan read Antiochus Kantemir's handwritten satire "To Your Mind". In its author, he immediately felt his like-minded person. He writes in syllabic octaves a message entitled "Theophanes Archbishop of Novgorod to the author of satire." Prokopovich hurries to congratulate the unknown poet in this poem and advises him not to be afraid of the enemies he ridiculed: “Spit on their thunderstorms! You are thrice blessed” (p. 217).
The transitional nature of Theophan's activity was also manifested in his theoretical works. This primarily applies to the course of lectures in Latin, which he read in 1705 for students of the Kyiv Academy and called "De arte poetica" ("On Poetic Art"). In his views, Feofan relies on ancient writers revered by the classicists - on Horace, Aristotle, as well as the French theorist of the 16th century, the predecessor of the classicists - Yu. Ts. Scaliger. He quotes Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Pindar, Catullus and other ancient writers. In creativity itself, an important place is given to the rules derived from "exemplary compositions". Along with the rules, “imitation of models” is highly recommended. It is impossible to become a good poet, Feofan argues, “if we do not have leaders, that is, authors excellent and famous in poetic art, following in whose footsteps we will achieve the same goal as them.” (p. 381). Feofan considered epic and tragedy to be the most serious and authoritative works. In dramatic works, according to him, there must be five acts. This number will later be legalized by the classicists. There is already a clear tendency to establish a unity of action and time. “In a tragedy,” Prokopovich writes, “one should not present a whole life in action ... but only one action that happened or could happen within two or at least three days” (p. 435). Thus, the artistic and theoretical activity of Feofan Prokopovich paved the way for Russian classicism.
Questions and tasks
1. Get acquainted with the book "Honest Mirror of Youth" (1717) and compare it with "Domostroy", a monument of the 16th century. What are the similarities and differences between these works?
2. Compare the fate of Vasily Koriotsky from "History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky" with the fate of the main characters from "The Tale of Grief-Misfortune" and "The Tale of Savva Gruddin". Motivate with historical conditions life paths heroes.
3. Write out the words from the stories about Vasily Koriotsky and the nobleman Alexander foreign origin. What caused their appearance?
4. Demonstrate the genre specifics of the "History of the Russian sailor Vasily Koriotsky" by clarifying the functions of historical realities, the traditions of an adventurous everyday fairy tale and a novel.
5. Designate the main historical sources of the tragic comedy "Vladimir" and determine the features of their use in its plot and system of images.
6. What rhetorical devices did Feofan Prokopovich use in the "Sermon on the Burial of Peter the Great"?
7. Show on several examples the transitional nature from ancient to new literature in the work of Feofan Prokopovich.
8. How do household and literary etiquette correlate in ancient Russian literature and in the Petrine era?
9. What is common and what distinguishes the aesthetic ideas of Avvakum Petrov and Feofan Prokopovich (compare "On icon painting" and "Poetic art")?
10. Determine the possibilities of the aesthetic impact of theater, poetry, masquerades, assemblies and triumphal processions on the minds of the public of the Petrine era.
11. Show on specific examples the principle of unmotivated mixing of styles in the dramatic texts of Peter the Great.
12. Under the influence of what factors did the artistic canons of the Middle Ages transform during the period of Peter the Great's transformations?
13. What are the main controversial issues of Russian literary baroque? Can Baroque be considered a pan-European style, devoid of national differences? What position do you take in modern disputes about the place of the baroque in the composition of the styles of Russian literature transition period from ancient to modern literature?
14. Highlight the stylistic signs of the Baroque in the process of analyzing the texts of Avvakum Petrov, Simeon Polotsky, Feofan Prokopovich.
16. What are the forms and methods of poetic approval of Peter's transformations in the stories of the early 18th century?
17. What do you see as the main features of the use of folklore traditions in the handwritten stories of the Petrine era?
18. Reveal the correlation of Western European and Old Russian traditions in the development of the motives "man and fate", "fathers and children", "love and matrimony" in the "Petrine" stories.
FORMATION OF RUSSIAN CLASSICISM
In the 30-50s, the struggle between supporters and opponents of the Petrine reforms did not stop. However, Peter's successors on the throne turned out to be extremely mediocre people. The stamp of growing self-interest marked in this era the behavior of the nobility, which, while retaining its privileges, seeks to throw off all duties.
Into the reign Peter III On February 18, 1762, the Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility was issued, which freed the nobles from compulsory service.
And yet, neither the inertia of the rulers, nor the predation of the favorites, nor the greed of the nobles could stop the progressive course of the development of Russian society. “After the death of Peter I,” Pushkin wrote, “the movement transmitted by a strong man still continued in the vast composition of the transformed state.” But now it was not the representatives of the authorities who became the bearers of progress, but the advanced noble and raznochintsy intelligentsia. The Academy of Sciences begins its activity. The first Russian professors appeared in it - V. K. Trediakovsky and M. V. Lomonosov. The Academy of Sciences publishes the journal "Monthly Works, for the benefit and amusement of employees." Future writers A.P. Sumarokov and M.M. Kheraskov studied in the Land Gentry Corps, established in 1732. In 1756, the first state theater was opened in St. Petersburg. Its core was an amateur troupe of Yaroslavl artists, headed by the merchant's son F. G. Volkov. The playwright A.P. Sumarokov was the first director of the theater. In 1755, thanks to the persistent efforts of Lomonosov and with the assistance of the prominent nobleman I. I. Shuvalov, Moscow University was opened and two gymnasiums were opened under it - for nobles and for raznochintsy. Serious changes are also taking place in the field of literature. It develops the first literary trend in Russia - classicism.
The name of this direction comes from the Latin word classicus, that is, exemplary. This was the name of ancient literature, which was widely used by the classicists. The most striking embodiment of classicism was in the 17th century. in France in the work of Corneille, Racine, Moliere, Boileau. ideological basis Literary trends are always served by a broad social movement. Russian classicism was created by a generation of European-educated young writers who were born in the era of the Petrine reforms and sympathized with them. “The basis of this artistic system,” G. N. Pospelov writes about Russian classicism, “was an ideological worldview, formed as a result of awareness strengths civil reforms of Peter I.
The main thing in the ideology of classicism is state pathos. The state, created in the first decades of the 18th century, was declared highest value. The classicists, inspired by the Petrine reforms, believed in the possibility of its further improvement. He © seemed to them a rationally arranged social organism, where each estate performs the duties assigned to it. “Peasants plow, merchants trade, warriors defend the fatherland, judges judge, scientists cultivate science,” wrote A.P. Sumarokov. The state pathos of the Russian classicists is a deeply contradictory phenomenon. It reflected progressive tendencies connected with the final centralization of Russia, and at the same time - utopian ideas coming from a clear overestimation of the social possibilities of enlightened absolutism.
Equally contradictory is the attitude of the classicists to the "nature" of man. Its basis, in their opinion, is selfish, but at the same time amenable to education, the influence of civilization. The key to this is the mind, which the classicists opposed to emotions, "passions". Reason helps to realize "duty" to the state, while "passions" distract from socially useful activities. “Virtue,” Sumarokov wrote, “we owe not to our nature. Morality and politics make us useful to the common good in terms of enlightenment, reason and purification of hearts. And without that, people would have long ago exterminated each other without a trace.
The originality of Russian classicism lies in the fact that in the era of its formation it combined the pathos of serving the absolutist state with the ideas of the early European Enlightenment. In 18th century France absolutism had already exhausted its progressive possibilities, and society was facing a bourgeois revolution, which was ideologically prepared by the French enlighteners. In Russia in the first decades of the XVIII century. absolutism was still at the head of progressive transformations for the country. Therefore, at the first stage of its development, Russian classicism adopted from the Enlightenment some of its social doctrines. These include primarily the idea of enlightened absolutism. According to this theory, the state should be headed by a wise, “enlightened” monarch, who in his ideas stands above the selfish interests of individual estates and requires each of them to serve honestly for the benefit of the whole society. An example of such a ruler was for the Russian classicists Peter I, a unique person in terms of mind, energy and broad state outlook.
In contrast to the French classicism of the XVII century. and in direct accordance with the Age of Enlightenment in Russian classicism of the 30-50s, a huge place was given to the sciences, knowledge, and enlightenment. The country has made the transition from church ideology to secular. Russia needed accurate, useful knowledge for society. Lomonosov spoke about the benefits of the sciences in almost all of his odes. The first satire of Kantemir “To your mind. On those who blaspheme the teaching." The very word "enlightened" meant not just an educated person, but a citizen who was helped by knowledge to realize his responsibility to society. "Ignorance" meant not only a lack of knowledge, but at the same time a lack of understanding of one's duty to the state. In the Western European educational literature of the 18th century, especially at the late stage of its development, "enlightenment" was determined by the degree of opposition to the existing order. In Russian classicism of the 30s-50s, "enlightenment" was measured by the measure of civil service to the absolutist state. The Russian classicists - Kantemir, Lomonosov, Sumarokov - were close to the struggle of the enlighteners against the church and church ideology. But if in the West it was about protecting the principle of religious tolerance, and in some cases atheism, then Russian enlighteners in the first half of the 18th century. denounced the ignorance and rude morals of the clergy, defended science and its adherents from persecution by church authorities. The first Russian classicists already knew the enlightening idea of the natural equality of people. “The flesh in your servant is one-sided,” Cantemir pointed out to a nobleman who was beating a valet. Sumarokov reminded the "noble" class that "born from women and from ladies / / Without exception, all forefather Adam." But this thesis at that time was not yet embodied in the demand for the equality of all classes before the law. Cantemir, based on the principles of "natural law", called on the nobles to humane treatment of the peasants. Sumarokov, pointing to the natural equality of nobles and peasants, demanded from the "first" members of the fatherland of education and service to confirm their "nobility" and command position in the country.
In the purely artistic realm, the Russian classicists faced such difficult tasks that their European counterparts did not know. French literature of the middle of the 17th century. already had a well-crafted literary language and secular genres that had developed over a long period of time. Russian literature at the beginning of the 18th century. had neither one nor the other. Therefore, the share of Russian writers of the second third of the XVIII century. the task was not only to create a new literary trend. They were supposed to reform the literary language, master genres unknown in Russia until that time. Each of them was a pioneer. Kantemir laid the foundation for Russian satire, Lomonosov legitimized the ode genre, Sumarokov acted as the author of tragedies and comedies. In the field of literary language reform the main role belonged to Lomonosov. The lot of Russian classicists also fell to such a serious task as the reform of Russian versification, the replacement of the syllabic system with a syllabic-tonic one.
The creative activity of Russian classicists was accompanied and supported by numerous theoretical works in the field of genres, literary language and versification. Trediakovsky wrote a treatise entitled "A New and Short Way to Add Russian Poetry", in which he substantiated the basic principles of a new, syllabic-tonic system. Lomonosov in his discussion “On the Usefulness of Church Books in Russian language"carried out a reform of the literary language and proposed the doctrine of the" three calms ". Sumarokov in his treatise "Instruction to those who want to be writers" gave a description of the content and style of classic genres.
As a result of persistent work, a literary movement was created, which had its own program, creative method and a harmonious system of genres. Artistic creativity was conceived by the classicists as a strict adherence to "reasonable" rules, eternal laws, created on the basis of studying the best examples of ancient authors and French literature of the 17th century. There were "correct" and "incorrect" works, that is, corresponding or not corresponding to the classic "rules". Even Shakespeare's best tragedies were considered "wrong". Rules existed for each genre and required precise implementation. The creative method of the classicists is formed on the basis of rationalistic thinking. Like the founder of rationalism, Descartes, they seek to decompose human psychology into its simplest compound forms. It is not social characters that are typified, but human passions and virtues. This is how the images of a miser, a hypocrite, a dandy, a braggart, a hypocrite, etc. are born. It was strictly forbidden to combine different “passions” in one character, and even more so “vice” and “virtue”. Genres differed in exactly the same “purity” and unambiguity. Comedy was not supposed to include "touching" episodes. The tragedy excluded the display of comic characters. As Sumarokov said, one should not irritate the muses “with their thin success: with Tears of Thalia, // and Melpomene with laughter” (p. 136).
The works of the classicists were represented by clearly opposed high and low genres. Here there was a rationalistic thoughtful hierarchy. The high genres included ode, epic poem, laudatory speech. To low - comedy, fable, epigram. True, Lomonosov also offered "medium" genres - tragedy and satire, but tragedy gravitated more to high, and satire to low genres. Each of the groups assumed its own moral and social significance. In high genres, "exemplary" heroes were depicted - monarchs, generals, who could serve as an example to follow. Among them, Peter the Great was the most popular.
Special rules existed in the classic "code" for dramatic works. They had to observe three "unities" - places, times and actions. These unities subsequently caused a lot of criticism. But, oddly enough, the demand for "unities" was dictated in the poetics of the classicists by the desire for verisimilitude. The classicists wanted to create a kind of illusion of life on stage. For this reason, they sought stage time approximate the time the audience spends in the theatre. “Try to measure my hours in the game with hours, / So that, forgetting, I can believe you” (p. 137), Sumarokov instructed novice playwrights. The maximum time allowed in classic plays was not to exceed twenty-four hours. The unity of the place was due to another rule. The theater, divided into an auditorium and a stage, gave the audience the opportunity to see someone else's life. Transferring the action to another place, the classicists believed, would break this illusion. Therefore, the best option was considered to be a performance with non-replaceable scenery, much worse, but acceptable - the development of events within the same house, castle, palace. And finally, the unity of action implied in the play the presence of only one storyline and the minimum number of actors participating in the events depicted.
Of course, such plausibility was too superficial. At that time, playwrights could not yet fully realize the fact that convention is one of the attributes of each of the types of creativity, without which it is impossible to create genuine works of art. “Credibility,” wrote Pushkin, “is still supposed to be the main condition and foundation of dramatic art ... What if they prove to us that the very essence of dramatic art excludes credibility? .. Where is credibility in a building divided into two parts, of which one is filled with spectators, who agreed etc.” .
And yet, in the stage laws proposed by the classicists, in the notorious "unities" there was also a rational kernel. It consisted in striving for a clear organization of a dramatic work, in concentrating the viewer's attention not on the external, entertaining side, but on the characters themselves, on their dramatic relationships. However, these demands were expressed in too harsh, categorical form.
Subsequently, in the era of romanticism, the indisputable rules of classic poetics caused ridicule. They were presented as shy bonds, holding down poetic inspiration. This reaction was absolutely correct for that time, since outdated norms interfered with the forward movement of Russian literature. But in the era of classicism, they were perceived as a saving principle created by enlightenment and the principles of state order.
It should be noted that, despite such regulation of creativity, the works of each of the classic writers had their own individual characteristics. So, Kantemir and Sumarokov great importance attached civic education. Both writers painfully perceived the selfishness and ignorance of the nobility, their forgetfulness of their public duty. As one of the means to achieve this goal, satire was used. Sumarokov, in his tragedies, subjected the monarchs themselves to severe judgment, appealing to their civic conscience.
Lomonosov and Trediakovsky are absolutely not concerned about the problem of educating the nobles. They are closer not to the estate, but to the national pathos of the Petrine reforms: the spread of sciences, military successes, and the economic development of Russia. Lomonosov, in his commendable odes, does not judge the monarchs, the heirs of Peter I, but seeks to captivate them with the tasks of further improving the Russian state. This determines the style of each of the writers. Thus, Sumarokov's artistic means are subject to didactic techniques. Hence the desire for clarity, clarity, unambiguity of the word, for the logical thoughtfulness of the composition of works. Lomonosov's style is distinguished by splendor, an abundance of bold metaphors and personifications, corresponding to the grandeur of state reforms.
Russian Classicism XVIII in. went through two stages in its development. The first of them refers to the 30-50s. This is the formation of a new direction, when genres unknown until that time in Russia are born one after another, the literary language and versification are being reformed. The second stage falls on the last four decades of the 18th century. and is associated with the names of such writers as Fonvizin, Kheraskov, Derzhavin, Knyazhnin, Kapnist. In their work, Russian classicism most fully and widely revealed its ideological and artistic possibilities.
Every major literary movement, leaving the stage, continues to live in later literature. Classicism bequeathed to her a high civic pathos, the principle of a person's responsibility to society, the idea of duty based on the suppression of a personal, selfish beginning in the name of common state interests.
A. D. Kantemir (1709-1744)
Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir - the first Russian writer-classicist, author of poetic satires. The son of the Moldavian sovereign, who accepted Russian citizenship in 1711, Cantemir was brought up in a spirit of sympathy for the Petrine reforms. During the years of reaction that came after the death of Peter, he boldly denounced the militant ignorance of noble nobles and churchmen. Kantemir owns nine satires: five written in Russia and four - abroad, where he was sent as an ambassador in 1732. satirical activity the writer clearly confirms the organic connection of Russian classicism with the needs of Russian society. Unlike previous literature, all the works of Cantemir are distinguished by a purely secular character.
satires
The early literary experience of the young writer was the "Symphony on the Psalter", that is, an alphabetical and thematic index to one of the books of the Bible. By the same time, his songs on love themes that have not come down to us, which were very popular with contemporaries, but the poet himself did not appreciate them, belong to this time. The best works of Cantemir were satires, the first of which is “On those who blaspheme the doctrine. To my own mind" was written in 1729.
The early satires of Cantemir were created in the era that came after the death of Peter I, in an atmosphere of struggle between the defenders and opponents of his reforms. One of the points of disagreement was the attitude towards the sciences and secular education. In this situation, according to one of the researchers of Cantemir, the first satire “was a product of great political resonance, since it was directed against ignorance as a certain social and political force, and not an abstract vice ... militant and triumphant ignorance, clothed with the authority of the state and ecclesiastical authority."
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