Baroque (from Italian barosso, French baroque - strange, wrong) - a literary style in Europe at the end of the 16th, 17th and part of the 18th centuries. The term "baroque" was transferred to literary criticism from art history due to the general similarity in the styles of the visual arts and literature of that era. It is believed that Friedrich Nietzsche was the first to use the term "baroque" in relation to literature. This artistic direction was common to the vast majority of European literatures. The Baroque replaced the Renaissance, but was not its objection. Moving away from the notions inherent in the Renaissance culture about the clear harmony and regularity of being and the unlimited possibilities of man, Baroque aesthetics was built on a collision between man and the outside world, between ideological and sensitive needs, mind and natural forces, which now personified the elements hostile to man.
For baroque as a style born of transitional eras, the destruction of the anthropocentric ideas of the Renaissance, the dominance of the divine principle in its artistic system, is characteristic. In baroque art one can feel the painful experience of personal loneliness, the “abandonment” of a person in association with the constant search for the “lost paradise”. In this quest, baroque artists constantly vacillate between asceticism and hedonism, heaven and earth, God and the devil. The characteristic features of this trend were also the revival of ancient culture and an attempt to combine it with the Christian religion. One of the dominant principles of baroque aesthetics was illusory.
The artist had to create an illusion with his works, the reader must literally be stunned, made to be surprised by introducing strange pictures, unusual scenes, accumulation of images, eloquence of heroes into the work. Baroque poetics is characterized by the unification of religiosity and secularism within one work, the presence of Christian and ancient characters, the continuation and objection to the traditions of the Renaissance. One of the main features of baroque culture is also the synthesis of different types and genres of creativity.
An important artistic tool in Baroque literature is a metaphor, which is the basis for expressing all the phenomena of the world and contributes to its knowledge. In the text of a Baroque work, there is a gradual transition from decorations and details to emblems, from emblems to allegories, from allegories to symbols. This process is combined with the vision of the world as a metamorphosis: the poet must penetrate the secrets of the continuous changes of life. The hero of baroque works is for the most part a bright personality with a developed strong-willed and even more developed rational principle, artistically gifted and very often noble in his actions.
The Baroque style absorbed philosophical and moral and ethical ideas about the world around and the place of the human person in it. Among the most prominent writers of the European Baroque are the Spanish playwright P. Calderon, the Italian poets Marino and Tasso, the English poet D. Donne, the French novelist O. D'urfe and some others. Baroque traditions found further development in European literatures of the 19th-20th centuries. In the XX century. the neo-baroque literary movement appeared, which is associated with the avant-garde literature of the early 20th century. and postmodern at the end of the 20th century.
The emergence of the Baroque was determined by a new worldview, the crisis of the Renaissance worldview, the rejection of its great idea of a harmonious and grandiose universal personality. By virtue of this alone, the emergence of the Baroque could not be associated only with the forms of religion or the nature of power. At the heart of the new ideas that determined the essence of the Baroque, there was an understanding of the complexity of the world, its deep inconsistency, the drama of being and the destiny of man, to some extent these ideas were influenced by the strengthening of the religious quest of the era. The features of the Baroque determined the differences in the attitude and artistic activity of a number of its representatives, and within the existing artistic system, artistic movements that were very little similar to each other coexisted.
Baroque literature, like the whole movement, is characterized by a tendency towards complexity of forms and a desire for stateliness and pomp. In baroque literature, the disharmony of the world and man, their tragic confrontation, as well as internal struggles in the soul of an individual, are comprehended. Because of this, the vision of the world and man is most often pessimistic. At the same time, the baroque in general and its literature in particular are permeated by faith in the reality of the spiritual principle, the greatness of God.
Doubt about the strength and steadfastness of the world led to its rethinking, and in the culture of the Baroque, the medieval doctrine of the frailty of the world and man was intricately combined with the achievements of the new science. The idea of the infinity of space has led to a radical change in the vision of the picture of the world, which is acquiring grandiose cosmic proportions. In the baroque, the world is understood as eternal and majestic nature, and man - an insignificant grain of sand - is simultaneously merged with it and opposes it. He seems to dissolve in the world and becomes a particle, subject to the laws of the world and society. At the same time, a person in the representation of the figures of the Baroque is subject to unbridled passions that lead him to evil.
Exaggerated affectation, extreme exaltation of feelings, the desire to know the beyond, elements of fantasy - all this is intricately intertwined in the worldview and artistic practice. The world, in the understanding of the artists of the era, is torn and disordered, a person is just a miserable toy in the hands of inaccessible forces, his life is a chain of accidents and, by virtue of this, is chaos. Therefore, the world is in a state of instability, an immanent state of change is inherent in it, and its laws are difficult to grasp, if at all comprehensible. Baroque, as it were, splits the world: in it, next to the heavenly, the earthly coexists, next to the sublime, the lowly. This dynamic, rapidly changing world is characterized not only by inconstancy and transience, but also by the extraordinary intensity of being and the intensity of disturbing passions, the combination of polar phenomena - the grandeur of evil and the greatness of good. The baroque was also characterized by another feature - it sought to identify and generalize the patterns of being. In addition to recognizing the tragedy and inconsistency of life, representatives of the Baroque believed that there was some higher divine intelligence and that there was a hidden meaning in everything. Therefore, we must come to terms with the world order.
In this culture, and especially in literature, in addition to focusing on the problem of evil and the frailty of the world, there was also a desire to overcome the crisis, to comprehend the highest rationality, combining both good and evil principles. Thus, an attempt was made to remove contradictions, the place of man in the vast expanses of the universe was determined by the creative power of his thought and the possibility of a miracle. With such an approach, God appeared as the embodiment of the idea of justice, mercy and higher reason.
These features were more clearly manifested in literature and fine arts. Artistic creativity gravitated towards monumentality, it strongly expresses not only the tragic beginning, but also religious motives, themes of death and doom. Many artists were characterized by doubts, a sense of the frailty of being and skepticism. Arguments are characteristic that the afterlife is preferable to suffering on sinful earth. These features of literature (and of the entire baroque culture) for a long time made it possible to interpret this phenomenon as a manifestation of the counter-reformation, to associate it with the feudal-Catholic reaction. Now this interpretation has been decisively rejected.
At the same time, in the Baroque, and above all in literature, various stylistic trends clearly manifested themselves, and individual trends diverged quite far. The rethinking of the nature of baroque literature (as well as baroque culture itself) in the latest literary criticism has led to the fact that two main stylistic lines stand out in it. First of all, an aristocratic baroque appears in literature, in which a tendency to elitism, to create works for the “chosen ones” manifested itself. There was another, democratic, so-called. "grassroots" baroque, which reflected the emotional shock of the broad masses of the population in the era under consideration. It is in the grassroots baroque that life is depicted in all its tragic contradictions, this trend is characterized by rudeness and often playing with base plots and motives, which often led to parody.
The idea of the variability of the world gave rise to an extraordinary expressiveness of artistic means. A characteristic feature of baroque literature is the mixing of genres. Internal inconsistency determined the nature of the image of the world: its contrasts were revealed, instead of the Renaissance harmony, asymmetry appeared. Emphasized attentiveness to the mental structure of a person revealed such a trait as exaltation of feelings, emphasized expressiveness, a display of the deepest suffering. Baroque art and literature are characterized by extreme emotional tension. Another important technique is the dynamics that followed from the understanding of the variability of the world. Baroque literature knows no peace and static, the world and all its elements are constantly changing. For her, the baroque becomes typical of a suffering hero, in a state of disharmony, a martyr of duty or honor, suffering turns out to be almost his main property, there is a feeling of the futility of earthly struggle and a sense of doom: a person becomes a toy in the hands of forces unknown and inaccessible to his understanding.
In literature, one can often find an expression of fear of fate and the unknown, an anxious expectation of death, a feeling of omnipotence of malice and cruelty. Characteristic is the expression of the idea of the existence of a divine universal law, and human arbitrariness is ultimately restrained by its establishment. Because of this, the dramatic conflict also changes in comparison with the literature of the Renaissance and Mannerism: it is not so much the struggle of the hero with the outside world as an attempt to comprehend divine plans in a collision with life. The hero turns out to be reflective, turned to his own inner world.
Baroque literature insisted on freedom of expression in creativity, it is characterized by an unbridled flight of fantasy. Baroque strove for excess in everything. Because of this, there is an accentuated, deliberate complexity of images and language, combined with the desire for beauty and affectation of feelings. The Baroque language is extremely complicated, unusual and even deliberate techniques are used, pretentiousness and even pomposity appear. The feeling of the illusory nature of life and the unreliability of knowledge led to the widespread use of symbols, complex metaphor, decorativeness and theatricality, and determined the appearance of allegories. Baroque literature constantly confronts the real and the imaginary, the desired and the real, the problem of "to be or to seem" becomes one of the most important. The intensity of passions led to the fact that feelings pressed the mind in culture and art. Finally, baroque is characterized by a mixture of very different feelings and the appearance of irony, "there is no phenomenon either so serious or so sad that it cannot turn into a joke." A pessimistic worldview gave rise not only to irony, but also to caustic sarcasm, grotesque and hyperbole.
The desire to generalize the world pushed the boundaries of artistic creativity: baroque literature, like fine art, gravitated towards grandiose ensembles, at the same time, one can notice a tendency towards the process of “cultivating” the natural principle in man and nature itself, subordinating it to the will of the artist.
The typological features of the Baroque also determined the genre system, which was characterized by mobility. Characteristic is the advancement, on the one hand, of the novel and dramaturgy (especially the genre of tragedy), on the other hand, the cultivation of poetry that is complex in concept and language. Pastoral, tragicomedy, novel (heroic, comic, philosophical) become predominant. A special genre is burlesque - a comedy parodying high genres, roughly grounding the images, conflict and plot moves of these plays. In general, a “mosaic” picture of the world was built in all genres, and imagination played a special role in this picture, and incompatible phenomena were often combined, metaphorical and allegory were used.
Russian baroque as a literary movement
Russian baroque can also be considered as one of the manifestations of the influence of a new type. Russian baroque is not only individual works translated from Polish or coming from Ukraine and Belarus. This is primarily a literary trend that emerged under the influence of the Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian influence. These are new ideological trends, new themes, new genres, new mental interests and, of course, a new style.
Any more or less significant influence from the outside is carried out only when their own, internal needs arise, which form this influence and include it in the historical and literary process. Baroque also came to us as a result of its rather powerful needs. Baroque, which in other countries replaced the Renaissance and was its antithesis, turned out to be close to the Renaissance in Russia in its historical and literary role. It was of an educational nature, in many ways contributed to the liberation of the individual and was associated with the process of secularization, in contrast to the West, where in some cases in the initial stages of its development, the baroque marked just the opposite - a return to churchliness.
And yet Russian baroque is not a Renaissance. It cannot equal the Western European Renaissance either in scale or in significance. Nor is it accidental that it was limited in time and socially - mainly by the tops of society. This is explained by the fact that preparations for the Russian Renaissance, which resulted in baroque forms, went on for too long. Separate Renaissance features began to appear in literature even before they could merge into a specific cultural movement. The Renaissance partially “lost” “its features on the way to its realization.
Therefore, the significance of the Russian Baroque as a kind of Renaissance - the transition to the literature of the new time - is limited to the role of the "last push" that brought Russian literature closer to the type of literature of the new time. The personal principle in literature, which before the Baroque manifested itself sporadically and in different spheres, in the Baroque is formed into a certain system.
The secularization of literature (i.e., its acquisition of a purely secular1 character), which took place throughout the entire 16th and the first half of the 17th century. and manifested in different aspects of literary creativity, only in the baroque it becomes complete. The accumulation of new genres and the change in the meaning of old genres in the Baroque leads to the formation of a new system of genres - the system of the new time.
The emergence of a new system of genres is the main sign of the transition of Russian literature from the medieval type to the modern type.
Not all of the historians and art historians recognize the presence in Rus' of the Pre-Renaissance and subsequent separate Renaissance phenomena. This happens mainly because the Italian Renaissance is taken as the "ideal model" of any Renaissance. It is considered the one and only. But the fact is that the Renaissance as an epoch or Renaissance phenomena that stretched over a long period of time is a natural transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age, a transition that is traditionally considered the final phase of the Middle Ages. There is not only the Italian Renaissance, but also the Northern European, Czech and Polish Renaissance and many others. In addition, the Renaissance (or Renaissance - we use these terms in the same sense) is not an evaluative category. Rus' in the era of its classical Middle Ages - in the XI - early XIII centuries. (before the Mongol-Tatar conquest) - stood at the level of other European cultures, while in the era of the Pre-Renaissance and the subsequent "slow Renaissance", when individual
When we talk about "secularization", about the acquisition of a "secular character" by literature and culture in general, this does not mean that literature and culture as a whole become atheistic or even non-religious. It is only a matter of acquiring secular forms, secular, non-religious aesthetics, a secular way of thinking. Raphael or Leonardo continue to write on religious subjects, but their works are paintings, not iconography, although they can serve as images.
Baroque literature created its own aesthetic and literary theory, which summarized the already existing artistic experience. The most famous works of B. Grasian are Wit or the Art of a Sophisticated Mind (1642) and Aristotle's Spyglass by E. Tesauro (1655). In the latter, in particular, the exceptional role of metaphor, theatricality and brightness, symbolism, and the ability to combine polar phenomena are noted.
Bibliography
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History of foreign literature in the 17th century. M., 1999
Silyunas V.Yu. Lifestyle and Art Styles (Spanish Mannerist and Baroque Theatre). St. Petersburg, 2000
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Chekalov K.A. Mannerism in French and Italian Literature. M., 2001
Baroque- a characteristic of European culture of the XVII-XVIII centuries, in the era of the Late Renaissance, the center of which was Italy. The Baroque style appeared in the XVI-XVII centuries in Italian cities: Rome, Mantua, Venice, Florence. The Baroque era is considered to be the beginning of the triumphal procession of "Western civilization". Baroque opposed classicism and rationalism.
Baroque features
Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (city and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres (concerto grosso, sonata, suites in instrumental music). The ideological foundations of the style were formed as a result of a shock, such as the Reformation and the teachings of Copernicus became for the 16th century. The notion of the world, established in antiquity, as a rational and permanent unity, as well as the Renaissance idea of man as a most rational being, has changed. According to Pascal, a person began to realize himself "something in between everything and nothing", "one who catches only the appearance of phenomena, but is not able to understand either their beginning or their end."
Baroque era
The Baroque era gives rise to a huge amount of time for entertainment: instead of pilgrimages, promenades (walks in the park); instead of knightly tournaments - "carousels" (horseback rides) and card games; instead of mysteries, theatrical masquerade. You can add the appearance of swings and "fiery fun" (fireworks). Portraits and landscapes took their place in the interiors, and the music turned from the spiritual into a pleasant play of sound.
The Baroque era rejects tradition and authority as superstition and prejudice. Everything that is “clear and distinct” is thought or has a mathematical expression is true, declares the philosopher Descartes. Therefore, the baroque is still the age of Reason and Enlightenment. It is no coincidence that the word "baroque" is sometimes raised to designate one of the types of inferences in medieval logic - to baroco. The first European park appears in the Palace of Versailles, where the idea of the forest is expressed extremely mathematically: linden alleys and canals seem to be drawn along a ruler, and the trees are trimmed in the manner of stereometric figures. In the armies of the Baroque era, which for the first time received uniforms, much attention is paid to the "drill" - the geometric correctness of constructions on the parade ground.
baroque man
Baroque man rejects naturalness, which is identified with savagery, arrogance, tyranny, brutality and ignorance - all that in the era of romanticism will become virtue. The baroque woman values the pallor of her skin, she has an unnatural, frilly hairstyle, corsets, an artificially expanded skirt on a whalebone frame. She is in heels.
And the gentleman becomes the ideal of a man in the Baroque era. gentle: “soft”, “gentle”, “calm”. Initially, he preferred to shave his mustache and beard, wear perfume and wear powdered wigs. Why force, if now they kill by pulling the trigger of a musket. In the Baroque era, naturalness is synonymous with atrocity, savagery, vulgarity and extravagance. For the philosopher Hobbes, the state of nature state of nature) is a state characterized by anarchy and war of all against all.
Baroque is characterized by the idea of ennobling nature on the basis of reason. The need is not tolerated, but “it is good to offer in pleasant and courteous words” (Youth, an honest mirror, 1717). According to the philosopher Spinoza, the instincts no longer constitute the content of sin, but "the very essence of man." Therefore, the appetite is made out in an exquisite table etiquette (it was in the Baroque era that forks and napkins appeared); interest in the opposite sex - in a courteous flirtation, quarrels - in a refined duel.
The baroque is characterized by the idea of a sleeping god-deism. God is conceived not as a Savior, but as a Great Architect who created the world just as a watchmaker creates a mechanism. Hence such a characteristic of the Baroque worldview as mechanism. The law of conservation of energy, the absoluteness of space and time are guaranteed by the word of God. However, having created the world, God rested from his labors and does not interfere in the affairs of the Universe in any way. It is useless to pray to such a God - one can only learn from Him. Therefore, the true guardians of the Enlightenment are not prophets and priests, but natural scientists. Isaac Newton discovers the law of universal gravitation and writes the fundamental work The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy (1689), and Carl Linnaeus systematizes biology (The System of Nature, 1735). Academies of Science and scientific societies are being established everywhere in European capitals.
The diversity of perception increases the level of consciousness - something like the philosopher Leibniz says. Galileo for the first time directs a telescope to the stars and proves the rotation of the Earth around the Sun (1611), and Leeuwenhoek discovers tiny living organisms under a microscope (1675). Huge sailboats plow the expanses of the world's oceans, erasing white spots on the geographical maps of the world. Travelers and adventurers become literary symbols of the era: Robinson Crusoe, ship's doctor Gullivery Baron Munchausen.
“In the Baroque era, the formation of a fundamentally new, different from medieval allegorical thinking took place. A spectator capable of understanding the language of the emblem has formed. Allegory has become the norm of artistic vocabulary in all types of plastic and spectacular arts, including such synthetic forms as festivities.
Baroque in painting
The Baroque style in painting is characterized by the dynamism of compositions, the “flatness” and pomp of forms, the aristocracy and originality of subjects. The most characteristic features of the Baroque are catchy flamboyance and dynamism; a striking example is the work of Rubensai Caravaggio.
Michelangelo Merisi (1571-1610), whose birthplace near Milan was called Caravaggio, is considered the most significant master among the Italian artists who created at the end of the 16th century. new style in painting. His paintings, painted on religious subjects, resemble realistic scenes of the author's contemporary life, creating a contrast between late antiquity and modern times. The heroes are depicted in twilight, from which the rays of light snatch out the expressive gestures of the characters, contrastingly writing out their specificity. The followers and imitators of Caravaggio, who were at first called caravaggists, and the very current of caravagism, such as Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) or Guido Reni (1575-1642), adopted the riot of feelings and the characteristic manner of Caravaggio, as well as his naturalism in depicting people and events.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) at the beginning of the 17th century. studied in Italy, where he learned the style of Caravaggio and Carraci, although he arrived there only after completing his course in Antwerp. He happily combined the best features of the painting schools of the North and the South, merging in his canvases the natural and the supernatural, reality and fantasy, scholarship and spirituality. In addition to Rubens, another master of the Flemish Baroque, Van Dyck (1599-1641), achieved international recognition. With the work of Rubens, the new style came to Holland, where it was picked up by Frans Hals (1580/85-1666), Rembrandt (1606-1669) and Vermeer (1632-1675). In Spain, Diego Velasquez (1599-1660) worked in the style of Caravaggio, and in France, Nicolas Poussin (1593-1665), who, not satisfied with the Baroque school, laid the foundations of a new trend - classicism in his work.
Architecture
Baroque architecture (L. Bernini, F. Borromin in Italy, B. F. Rastrelli in Russia, Jan Christoph Glaubits in the Commonwealth) is characterized by spatial scope, unity, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms. Large-scaled colonnades are often found, an abundance of sculptures on facades and in interiors, volutes, a large number of rake-outs, arched facades with a rake in the middle, rusticated columns and pilasters. Domes take on complex forms, they are often multi-tiered, like the Cathedral of St. Characteristic details of the Baroque - telamon (atlas), caryatid, mascaron.
In Italian architecture, the most prominent representative of Baroque art was Carlo Maderna (1556-1629), who broke with Mannerism and created his own style. His main creation is the facade of the Roman church of Santa Susanna (1603). The main figure in the development of baroque sculpture was Lorenzo Bernini, whose first masterpieces executed in the new style date back to around 1620. Bernini is also an architect. He owns the design of the square of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome and the interiors, as well as other buildings. Significant contributions were made by Carlo Fontana, Carlo Rainaldi, Guarino Guarini, Baldassare Longena, Luigi Vanvitelli, Pietro da Cortona. In Sicily, after a major earthquake in 1693, a new late baroque style appeared - Sicilian baroque. Light acts as a fundamentally important element of the Baroque space, entering the churches through the naves.
The quintessence of the Baroque, an impressive fusion of painting, sculpture and architecture, is the Coranaro Chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (1645-1652).
The Baroque style is spreading in Spain, Germany, Belgium (then Flanders), the Netherlands, Russia, France, the Commonwealth. Spanish baroque, or local churrigueresque (in honor of the architect Churriguera), which also spread to Latin America. His most popular monument is the Cathedral of St. James, which is also one of the most revered churches in Spain. In Latin America, baroque mixed with local architectural traditions, this is its most pretentious version, and they call it ultrabaroque.
In France, the baroque style is expressed more modestly than in other countries. Previously, it was believed that the style did not develop here at all, and baroque monuments were considered monuments of classicism. Sometimes the term "baroque classicism" is used in relation to the French and English versions of the baroque. Now, the Palace of Versailles, along with a regular park, the Luxembourg Palace, the building of the French Academy in Paris, and other works are considered French Baroque. They really have some features of classicism. A characteristic feature of the Baroque style is the regular style in landscape art, an example of which is the Versailles Park.
Later, at the beginning of the 18th century, the French developed their own style, a kind of baroque-rococo. It manifested itself not in the external design of buildings, but only in interiors, as well as in the design of books, clothing, furniture, and painting. The style was distributed throughout Europe and in Russia.
In Belgium, the Grand Place in Brussels is an outstanding baroque monument. The Rubens house in Antwerp, built according to the artist's own design, has Baroque features.
Baroque appeared in Russia as early as the 17th century (“Naryshkin baroque”, “Golitsyn baroque”). In the 18th century, during the reign of Peter I, he developed in St. Petersburg and the suburbs in the work of D. Trezzini is the so-called "Peter's baroque" (more restrained), and reaches its peak in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna in S. I. ChevakinskyiB. Rastrelli.
In Germany, the outstanding baroque monument is the New Palace in Sanssouci (authors - J. G. Bühring (German) Russian, H. L. Manter) and the Summer Palace in the same place (G. W. von Knobelsdorff).
The largest and most famous Baroque ensembles in the world: Versailles (France), Peterhof (Russia), Aranjuez (Spain), Zwinger (Germany), Schönbrunn (Austria).
In the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Sarmatian baroque and Vilen baroque styles became widespread, the largest representative was Jan Christoph Glaubitz. Among his famous projects are the rebuilt Church of the Ascension of the Lord (Vilnius), St. Sophia Cathedral (Polotsk), etc.
Baroque in sculpture
Sculpture is an integral part of the Baroque style. The greatest sculptor and recognized architect of the 17th century was the Italian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). Among his most famous sculptures are the mythological scenes of the abduction of Proserpina by the god of the underworld, Pluto, and the miraculous transformation into a tree of the nymph Daphne, pursued by the god of light, Apollo, as well as the altar group "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa" in one of the Roman churches. The last of them, with its clouds carved from marble and the clothes of the characters fluttering in the wind, theatrically exaggerated feelings, very accurately expresses the aspirations of the sculptors of this era.
In Spain, in the era of the Baroque style, wooden sculptures prevailed, for greater credibility they were made with glass eyes and even a crystal tear, real clothes were often put on the statue.
Baroque in literature
Writers and poets in the Baroque era perceived the real world as an illusion and a dream. Realistic descriptions were often combined with their allegorical depiction. Symbols, metaphors, theatrical techniques, graphic images (lines of poetry form a picture), saturation with rhetorical figures, antitheses, parallelisms, gradations, oxymorons are widely used. There is a burlesque-satirical attitude to reality. Baroque literature is characterized by the desire for diversity, for the summation of knowledge about the world, inclusiveness, encyclopedism, which sometimes turns into chaos and collecting curiosities, the desire to study being in its contrasts (spirit and flesh, darkness and light, time and eternity). Baroque ethics is marked by a craving for the symbolism of the night, the theme of frailty and impermanence, life-dream (F. de Quevedo, P. Calderon). Calderon's play "Life is a dream" is well-known. Such genres as the gallant-heroic novel (J. de Scuderi, M. de Scuderi), the real-life and satirical novel (Furetière, Ch. Sorel, P. Scarron) are also developing. Within the framework of the Baroque style, its varieties are born, directions: marinism (Italy), gongorism (culteranism) and conceptism (Spain), eufuism and metaphysical school (England), precision literature (France), macaronism, i.e. mixed Polish-Latin versification (Poland).
The actions of the novels are often transferred to the fictional world of antiquity, to Greece, court cavaliers and ladies are depicted as shepherdesses and shepherdesses, which is called the pastoral (Honoré d'Urfe, "Astrea"). Poetry flourishes pretentiousness, the use of complex metaphors. Such forms as a sonnet, rondo, concetti (a short poem expressing some witty thought), madrigals are common.
In the west, in the field of the novel, an outstanding representative is G. Grimmelshausen (the novel "Simplicissimus"), in the field of drama - P. Calderon (Spain). They became famous in poetry. Voiture (France), D. Marino (Italy), Don Luis de Gongora i Argote (Spain), D. Donn (England). In France, "precious literature" flourished during this period. It was then cultivated mainly in the Salon-madame de Rambouillet, one of the aristocratic salons of Paris, the most fashionable and famous. In Spain, the baroque trend in literature was called "gongorism" after the name of the most prominent representative (see above).
Baroque in Polish literature is represented by the poetry of the heroic and epic direction of Zbigniew Morsztyn, Vaclav Potocki, Vespasian Kochowski (the theme of whose poetry is largely due to the eventful military biography of all three), the courtier (the so-called macaronic style, popular at the end of the 17th century) Jan Andrzej Morsztyn, philosophical Stanislav Herakliusz Lubomirsky; in prose - mainly memoir literature (the most significant work is "Memoirs" by Jan Chrysostom Pasek).
In Russia, Baroque literature includes S. Polotsky, F. Prokopovich.
In German literature, the traditions of the Baroque style are still maintained by members of the literary community "Blumenorden". They gather in the summer for literary festivals in the Irrhain grove near Nuremberg. The society was organized in 1646 by Georg Philipp Harsdörffer with the aim of restoring and maintaining the German language, which had been badly damaged during the Thirty Years' War.
Theoretically, Baroque poetics was developed in the treatises "Wit, or the Art of the Sophisticated Mind" by Baltasar Gracian (1648) and "Aristotle's Spyglass" by Emanuele Tesauro (1655).
baroque music
Baroque music appeared at the end of the Renaissance and preceded the music of the Classical era. Representatives - Vivaldi, Bach, Handel. The leading position of genres cantata, oratorio, opera. The opposition of chorus and soloists, voices and instruments, a combination of large-scale forms, a gravitation towards the synthesis of art, with a simultaneous tendency to isolate music and words (the emergence of instrumental genres) are characteristic.
Baroque fashion
The fashion of the Baroque era corresponds in France to the reign of Louis XIV, the second half of the XVII century. This is the age of absolutism. Strict etiquette and complex ceremonial reigned at the court. The costume was subject to etiquette. France was a trendsetter in Europe, so other countries quickly adopted French fashion. This was the century when a general fashion was established in Europe, and national characteristics receded into the background or were preserved in the folk peasant costume. Before Peter I, European costumes were also worn in Russia by some aristocrats, although not everywhere.
The costume was characterized by stiffness, splendor, an abundance of jewelry. The ideal of a man was Louis XIV, the "sun king", a skilled rider, dancer, shooter. He was short, so he wore high heels.
First, when he was still a child (he was crowned at the age of 5), short jackets called bracer, richly decorated with lace. Then trousers came into fashion, regraves, similar to a skirt, wide, also richly decorated with lace, which lasted a long time. Later appeared justocor(from French it can be translated: "exactly in the body"). This is a type of caftan, knee length, in this era it was worn buttoned up, a belt was worn over it. Under kaftannadevalikamzol, sleeveless. The caftan and camisole can be compared with the later jacket and waistcoat, which they will become after 200 years. The Justocor collar was first turned-down, with semicircular ends stretched down. Later he was replaced by a toad. In addition to lace, there were many bows on the clothes, on the shoulders, on the sleeves and pants - a whole series of bows. In the previous era, under Louis XIII, boots were popular ( over the knee boots). This is a field type of footwear, they were usually worn by the military class. But at that time there were frequent wars, and boots were worn everywhere, even at balls. They continued to be worn under Louis XIV, but only for their intended purpose - in the field, in military campaigns. In a civilian setting, shoes came out on top. Until 1670, they were decorated with buckles, then the buckles were replaced by bows. The intricately decorated buckles were called agraph.
The women's dress, unlike the dress of the previous period, was not on a frame, but on a whalebone lining. It gradually expanded to the bottom, a train was worn at the back. A full women's costume consisted of two skirts, lower ( freepon) and top ( modest). The first is light, the second is darker. The underskirt was visible, the top diverges to the sides from the bottom of the bodice. Draperies decorated the sides of the skirt. Draperies were also on the edge of the neckline. The neckline was wide and opened the shoulders. The waist is narrow, a corset was worn under the dress. If under Louis XIII women wore men's hats (they then borrowed many elements of the costume from men), now hairstyles, light scarves or caps have come into fashion. In the 1660s, hairstyles were fashionable mancini And sevigne, named after the niece of Cardinal Mazarin, with whom the king was in love in his youth, and by the name of the famous writer. Later, hairstyle came into fashion fountain(not to be confused with the fontange cap), named after one of the king's mistresses. This is a high hairstyle, from a lot of curls. In the history of costume, hairstyle is also called coufura.
Men wore puffy wigs that stuck up high and flowed low over their shoulders. Wigs came into use even under Louis XIII, who was bald. Now they have become much more magnificent. Hats in the 1660s were wide-brimmed with a high crown. At the end of the century, they were replaced by a cocked hat, which remained popular in the next 18th century.
Umbrellas also came into fashion, for women - clutches, fans. Cosmetics were used without measure. Flies appeared, faces and wigs were powdered for whiteness, and a black fly created contrast. Wigs were so heavily powdered that hats were then often carried in the hands. Both men and women carried walking sticks. Bandage ( banduliera), on which swords were worn, came into fashion in the previous era. Even earlier, swords were worn on a sword belt, a thin strap fastened to a waist belt. The baldric was formerly leather, now it was also made of moire. Materials of that time: wool, velvet, satin, brocade, taffeta, moire, camlot, cotton.
Baroque in the interior
The baroque style is characterized by ostentatious luxury, although it retains such an important feature of the classical style as symmetry.
Wall painting (one of the types of monumental painting) has been used in decorating European interiors since early Christian times. In the Baroque era, it was most widely used. The interiors used a lot of color and large, richly decorated details: a ceiling decorated with frescoes, marble walls and parts of the decor, gilding. Color contrasts were characteristic - for example, the marble floor, decorated with tiles in a checkerboard pattern. Abundant gilded jewelry was a characteristic feature of this style.
Furniture was a piece of art, and was intended almost exclusively for interior decoration. Chairs, sofas and armchairs were upholstered in expensive, richly colored fabric. Huge beds with canopy and flowing down bedspreads, giant wardrobes were widespread. Mirrors were decorated with sculptures and stucco moldings with floral patterns. Southern walnut ebony was often used as furniture material.
Baroque style is not suitable for small spaces, as massive furniture and decorations take up a large amount of space. Reproducing the atmosphere of the Baroque style is currently possible with the help of stylization and the use of baroque details such as:
figurines and vases with floral ornaments;
tapestries on the walls;
mirror in a gilded frame with stucco;
chairs with carved backs, etc.
The parts used must be combined with each other in an artistic and aesthetic plan.
To the question what is baroque literature? very necessary!) set by the author Marat Qirimli the best answer is found only in Ukrainian
link
here's some more in Russian
Baroque in literature
Writers and poets in the Baroque era perceived the real world as an illusion and a dream. Realistic descriptions were often combined with their allegorical depiction. Symbols, metaphors, theatrical techniques, graphic images (lines of poetry form a picture), saturation with rhetorical figures, antitheses, parallelisms, gradations, oxymorons are widely used. There is a burlesque-satirical attitude to reality. Baroque literature is characterized by the desire for diversity, for the summation of knowledge about the world, inclusiveness, encyclopedism, which sometimes turns into chaos and collecting curiosities, the desire to study being in its contrasts (spirit and flesh, darkness and light, time and eternity). Baroque ethics is marked by a craving for the symbolism of the night, the theme of frailty and impermanence, life-dream (F. de Quevedo, P. Calderon). Calderon's play "Life is a dream" is well-known. Such genres as the gallant-heroic novel (J. de Scudery, M. de Scudery), the real-everyday and satirical novel (Furetière, C. Sorel, P. Scarron) are also developing. Within the framework of the Baroque style, its varieties, directions are born: marinism, gongorism (culteranism), conceptism (Italy, Spain), metaphysical school and euphuism (England) (See Precise Literature).
The actions of the novels are often transferred to the fictional world of antiquity, to Greece, court cavaliers and ladies are depicted as shepherdesses and shepherds, which is called the pastoral (Honoré d'Yurfe, "Astrea"). Poetry flourishes pretentiousness, the use of complex metaphors. Common forms such as sonnet, rondo, concetti (a short poem expressing some witty thought), madrigals.
In the west, in the field of the novel, an outstanding representative is G. Grimmelshausen (the novel "Simplicissimus"), in the field of drama - P. Calderon (Spain). In poetry, V. Vuatur (France), D. Marino (Italy), Don Luis de Gongora y Argote (Spain), D. Donne (England) became famous. In Russia, Baroque literature includes S. Polotsky, F. Prokopovich. In France, "precious literature" flourished during this period. It was then cultivated mainly in the salon of Madame de Rambouillet, one of the aristocratic salons of Paris, the most fashionable and famous. In Spain, the baroque trend in literature was called "gongorism" after the name of the most prominent representative (see above).
In German literature, the traditions of the Baroque style are still maintained by members of the literary community of Blumenorden. They gather in the summer for literary festivals in the Irrhain grove near Nuremberg. The society was organized in 1646 by the poet Philipp Harsdörfer with the aim of restoring and maintaining the German language, which had been badly damaged during the Thirty Years' War.
"High" literature continued to develop in the second half of the 17th century. alongside democratic literature. She was much more bound by tradition. The Baroque style - pompous and to a certain extent official, spread mainly in court poetry, in the court theater. He is deprived of inner freedom and is subject to the logic of the development of a literary plot. This style was transitional and, to a certain extent, eclectic: it stood, as it were, between the Middle Ages and modern times. The baroque style is best represented in the works of Simeon of Polotsk, Karion Istomin, Sylvester Medvedev, and in the dramaturgy of the late 17th century.
Simeon Polotsky strives to reproduce various concepts and ideas in his poems, he logicizes poetry, brings it closer to science. Collections of his poems resemble extensive encyclopedic dictionaries. He gives the reader "information" on his topic. From this, the themes of his poems are the most common.
The image of a person is subject to the plot of the story. In the poem, the main thing is not people, the main thing is the plot, entertaining and moralizing at the same time. The construction of an intricate plot, a collection of different topics occupy the writer in the first place.
The baroque form is an open form. It allows the attachment of countless details. It was an excellent school for the further movement of literature forward along the path of complicating the depiction of reality. Not only the man himself is depicted, but also the palaces belonging to him, his power, his deed, his life. That's why this style had a very great importance for the development of the landscape in literature, for the depiction of everyday life, for the growth of entertainment, plot completeness. The inner life of a person interested the writer only in its external manifestations.
Different types of people are described: a merchant, an ignoramus, a slanderer, biblical and historical characters, and on the other hand, individual psychological properties, character traits, actions: revenge, slander, love for subjects, thought, reason, abstinence, etc.
Baroque in the West came precisely to replace the Renaissance and was a partial return to the Middle Ages. In Russia, the Baroque replaced the Middle Ages and took over many of the functions of the Renaissance. It was associated in Russia with the development of secular elements in literature, with enlightenment. Therefore, the purity of Western Baroque forms was lost when they were transferred to Russia. At the same time, the Russian baroque did not capture all art, as in the West, but was only one of its directions.
Baroque has acquired a slightly different shade with us. We didn't have a revival. In the foreground - the desire to know the world, to describe the world (Simeon of Polotsk - a notebook a day). He appeared in verses and school theater.
What are baroque borders? Question not resolved. In addition to verses and school theater, new phenomena appear in the Passan environment (merchants, artisans, shushars of all kinds). Appears household moralizing story, parodies. These genres are not like the previous ones. But there is something that has in common with the high baroque. Baroque functioned in our country in two varieties (high and low), or maybe these are two different styles.
The main features of medieval literature are not observed: didacticism, seriousness, evidence.
"A Tale of Grief and Misfortune"(evil mind) and "The Tale of Savva Grudtsyn". The authors here still retain their didacticism. In “1” on folklore elements - there is no name, just well done. The parents are wonderful. They say a lot to their son, who eventually wakes up under a fence. Home ashamed, he gets out, begins to brag. Misfortune clings to him. He goes to a monastery to atone for all his sins. In "2" - for the first time a love theme, love languor. The theme of the double (the evil that is in each of us) appears. A father sends his son to visit, but the son behaves badly. Savva performs feats, prays to the Mother of God and goes to the monastery.
It seems that the heroes are in control of their own destiny, but then they are punished.
"The Tale of Frol Skobeev", poor, earns by petitioning for other people's affairs. But we are impeccably ambitious. "Either a colonel or a dead man." Come up with a scam. Stolypin's daughter, Annushka, lived in his city. Frolka decides to marry her. In the absence of her parents, he dressed up as a girl and dragged himself to her bachelorette party. Seduces her. He takes horses from Lovchikov, they leave. Anna to her aunt, and he is a carrier. Frolka begins to blackmail Lovchikov. Anna goes to bed and sends a message to her parents that she is dying (pretends to be punished). Parents send an icon with a blessing. As a result, the hero is not punished, but on the contrary, he succeeded.
IN “Tales about Karp Sutulov” and his wife Tatyana Karp leaves for the goods, and left a lot of money for his wife - 100 rubles. After the money is out, he goes to his friend. He can give her money, but only at the cost of his daughter. Honor saved and profit brought.
This is Passanian literature.
The second group of literature is comic literature. For the first time this concept - three books by Bakhtin M., who introduced the concept of "carnival laughter". This is a kind of discharge. Carnival is a time when everything is allowed, when everything is reversed, everything is changed. The process of rewriting/reversing is ridiculous. For a long time did not come to our literature.
When trade-wind people began to write stories, this laughter penetrated our literature and was reflected. There is an accusatory beginning in trade wind literature - those who have succeeded, who are richer, eat better, are ridiculed. There are much more works where it is intertwined with laughter or it does not exist at all.
There lived a hawker man (“The Tale of the Hawk Moth”), died and decided that he needed to go to heaven. Came to the door to heaven. Arguing with the apostles; or that, or that; goes to heaven, to the best place.
"Kalyazinskaya petition"- the lower classes of society always laugh at the monks.
"The Tale of the Shemyakin Court"- carnival story. Two brothers - poor and rich - are suing. The rich are fools, the poor are lucky. Here is the national - trade-wind psychology. The transition manifested itself in the emergence of versification and theater.
Baroque literature
The Baroque, which received its development and artistic expression in the literature of Spain, played a huge role in the history of world, and in particular European, culture. It covered various aspects of life, including painting, poetry, romance, drama. Z. I. Plavskin notes that “the formation of the Baroque drama took place in the context of an intensified ideological struggle around the theater. The most fanatically and irreconcilably inclined ideologists of the feudal-Catholic reaction declared the theater a hotbed of heretical ideas that contradicted the dogmas of religion and the ideals of loyalty. They repeatedly put forward the demand for a complete ban on theatrical performances. Three times during one century they managed to get their way for a while.
The painting of El Greco (Dominico Theotkopuli) can be considered the first manifestation of the spiritual crisis that has come. In his paintings, Christ and the saints appear in a state of religious ecstasy. Their ascetic figures, exhausted by fasting, are painted in yellow, waxy tones and resemble the fire of a candle. The expression of indifference on the faces, long arms raised to the sky, elongated forms of bodies, clothes - all testify to complete detachment from worldly fuss and merging with God. The state of mind captured on the paintings of El Greco is well illustrated by the “Sonnet to the Crucified Christ”, in which the unknown author not only worships Christ, but sympathizes with him as a person:
You are loved by me, Lord, not for the reason that I aspire to the promised rewards to paradise, But because of the fear of hell, Where offenders of the shrine are paid. But because I still see You condemned and crucified, And I see the body given to the katas, And the sweat of death, and the corpse on the cross. And I was bequeathed to love from God, Do not be rewards, with the same power, Do not be retribution, with the same guilt. Such love does not need a pledge, And if hope were extinguished, My love would not become different. (Translated by A. Teleskula)
Clerical lyrics played a special role in the development of baroque ideas. Her poets called for a solitary life, for humility, for reflections on the frailty of earthly existence. This lyric affirms the predominance of the spiritual over the material. Luis de Leon (1527–1591), one of the famous church leaders of the 17th century, who experienced all the “charms” of the Inquisition and prison confinement, in his poems called for a life in solitude, since, in his opinion, worldly fuss is just a moment :
With what joy the Sage will say goodbye to the restless light, To follow the secret path Following the chosen ones To go there, where the local noise is unknown, Where care does not torment About the superiority of the nobility of dignitary And the gilding is alien, Which covers the Halls with a colonnade of jade ... And that is enough for me, What is peaceful I drink from a modest glass, Let the luxury of the feast Behind a chased cup Boasts, who did not know the hurricane. Let others suffering a lot, captivated by the wrong share, Tormented by anxiety About glory and the throne, - I do not seek sorrow and bondage And, forever young laurel Crowned in secret peace, I lead my hand along the strings And with a grateful ring I meet the night descending on the slopes. (Translated by B. Dubina)
Among the sources of the Baroque are also the pastoral romance with its beautiful idyll, and the Moorish short story with the chivalrous exploits of the Arabs, with the love adventures of the characters.
The history of the Spanish Baroque is devoted to the book by A. L. Stein, which examines in detail the origins of this artistic phenomenon, discusses the specific features of Baroque literature. In particular, speaking of the very term "baroque", Stein points out that it has long been accepted to denote an artistic style in architecture. For a long time, the phenomena of literature, "which undoubtedly belong to this style, were designated as high or late Renaissance." But since the second half of the 20th century, baroque literature has been considered in Russian science as a special, new stage in comparison with the literature of the Renaissance.
Among the representatives of this literature are such famous poets as Luis de Gongora y Argote (1561–1627) and Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580–1645). They represent two trends in the Spanish Baroque, testifying to the intense literary struggle of those years - cultism and conceptism.
Cultism (culteranism) is more often called gongorism (after the name of the poet). Gongorists argued that only the elect could know the world. They turn to the traditions of the "dark style" of courtly poetry and deepen it. The complexity of the syntax, the variety of metaphors that often overload the work and make it obscure, numerous comparisons, fantastic images that are more reminiscent of symbols - all this has become a characteristic sign of baroque poetry. Gongora and his followers contrast the illusory world with reality. Their world resembled a scenery, life turned into fantasy, mystical moods and images prevailed. This was due to the representation of the Baroque writers about the world as a theatrical stage, on which a person plays a role that, as a rule, is not characteristic of him.
Gongora's poetry required a thoughtful reader, educated, familiar with mythology, history, knowing historicisms and aphorisms. For a modern reader, his poetry is, of course, more understandable, but for Gongora's contemporaries it seemed mysterious and unearthly:
Alkina sings - and cries. And crying is so bitter because joys are fleeting, but grief is eternal. Orpheus of Guadiana sings; The strings rumble on the zither, And the peaks melt in tune with them, And the stormy stream freezes. How sweetly he glorifies happiness! How bitterly adversity curses! And listen spellbound Tops of it and the water. “And hope dawns, but time does not wait: Good is beyond the mountains, and death is at the gates ...” Good is a one-day flower; It will bloom in the morning, Yes, it will fade at noon, It didn’t seem to bloom at all. And grief like a mighty oak Stubbornly raises the crown; His furrows of the green Century are not touched by gray hair. Life rushes like a wounded doe, And death is aiming under her heart ... Luck crawls like a snail - Can she catch it before death? “And hope dawns, but time does not wait: Good is just around the corner, and death is at the gates ...” (Translated by S. Toncharenko)
“The name of the second stylistic trend in Baroque art - conceptism (conceptismo), - writes Z. I. Plavskin, - comes from the word concepto, defined by the conceptist theorist Baltasar Gracian as follows: “concepto is an act of understanding that expresses the connections found between objects ". Revealing the deep and unexpected connections of various objects through word and thought is the task that conceptists set themselves. Representatives of this trend also widely used metaphor, symbolism, but at the same time they sought to combine the ultimate expressiveness with the ultimate laconism. A huge semantic role was played by the word, the phrase. The poetry of the Conceptists, like the Gongorists, was often reproached for formalism. Menendez Pidal called their style "difficult style". And indeed, the pun, the play on words and concepts, the frank destruction of established verbal clichés, reaching the point of parody, and much more confused the reader. Quevedo and his supporters reduced the contradictions of life to the point of grotesque and caricature. The very world of conceptist poetry was built on realities and their contrasts, which allowed researchers (for example, A. L. Stein) to classify this poetry as a democratic direction in the baroque.
Indicative for conceptists is the poetry of Quevedo. Already the titles of his sonnets and poems claimed a certain deep meaning embedded in each of their words - "The World from Within" or "The Book of Everything and Much More". N. Malinovskaya in the collection “Pearls of Spanish Lyrics” writes about the tragic genius of Quevedo: “... he is much sharper ... felt and realized the helplessness of a person in front of a hostile world order, the hopelessness of his fate in a country that until recently dominated the world, but now it is clearly declining ". Here is one of the sonnets expressing the mood of the poet:
I stand at the walls of my father's land - They surrendered, the former bastions; In the siege of years, tired of defense, He resisted age-old valor. I'm going to the fields - the sun burns, drinking the brook, snowed with spring snow, And the pasture slopes are drowned out by the thickets, Closing the sky to the sad sheep. I enter my house, a haven of adversity, Towards ruin and discord; I look how the wanderings have hunched the staff, How the years have blunted my sword, - And there is nothing to stop the look, Not seeing the seal of dying. (Translated by A. Teleskula)
The poetry of gonghorists and conceptists played a big role in the development of European lyric poetry. It already reflected such characteristic features of the Baroque as the desire for mysticism and fantasy, a symbol, on the one hand, and on the other, to express the contrasts and contradictions of reality, bringing them to the grotesque and parody.
Baroque writers saw a contrast between unreasonable human nature and a sober mind, between the prose and the poetic, the ugly and the beautiful, between the caricature and the lofty ideal. They saw that everything in life is changing, constantly moving. But this movement was perceived by them as chaotic, not leading to knowledge. The world for representatives of the Baroque is unknowable. Only imagination, driven by reason, is able to put together a mosaic picture of the world. The view of a person is merciless. Man for them is the embodiment of evil, selfishness. Deepening the critical views of humanist writers, baroque writers depart from the life-affirming beginning of this criticism. They discover a lot of contradictions and oddities in the world, the main of which is a person as a carrier of disharmony. Hence the peculiarity of understanding the essence of "beautiful" in the art of the Baroque. Unlike representatives of the Renaissance, who argued that the “beautiful” is contained in nature itself, and in particular in oral folk poetry, Baroque writers recognized that “beautiful” is the result of imagination driven by reason. That's why it's so weird and unique.
