Sentimentalism (prof. Gulyaev N.A.)
Historical roots of sentimentalism, its connection with the educational ideology
Sentimentalism in the countries of Western Europe was formed in the second half of the 18th century. It arose during the crisis of feudal society and the intensive development of capitalist relations. His homeland was England, where the shadow sides of bourgeois progress first emerged (the ruin of the broad masses of peasants and artisans in connection with the industrial revolution).
Sentimentalists are skeptical of the Enlightenment theories about the decisive role of reason in the historical process. They see that life has not confirmed the prediction of Enlightenment theorists about the rational course of history. Increasingly aggravated social contradictions gave rise to elegiac moods, undermined the historical optimism that was characteristic of the leaders of the enlightenment movement.
Even enlighteners of the eighteenth century. put forward the idea of the extra-class value of a person. In the era of sentimentalism, it became widespread, sounded like a leitmotif in many works of sentimental literature. By equalizing the feelings of the peasant and the aristocrat, and in some cases giving preference to the former (Rousseau), the sentimentalists thus aroused public self-awareness and instilled in the people respect for their own dignity.
Sentimentalism was marked by further democratization of art. Enlighteners, struggling with the class limitations of the subject of classicism, significantly expanded the boundaries of artistic creativity. They introduced a third-class person (merchant, official) into dramaturgy and narrative genres, but still they were little interested in the life of ordinary workers. The sentimentalists went further. They turned directly to the disclosure of the inner world of working people, to the depiction of their tragic situation in the conditions of the rapid penetration of capitalist relations into the countryside ("The Abandoned Village" by Holtsmit).
Two directions in sentimentalism
Despite a certain ideological commonality, sentimentalism is internally very contradictory. Its representatives are not homogeneous in their convictions. Some of them are active in their protest against inhuman forms of life, others, on the contrary, are more inclined to contemplation than to action. The active wing of sentimentalism is represented by Rousseau and his like-minded people, passive moods are especially characteristic of Stern, Goldsmith, Gray, Karamzin and the poets of his entourage.
Defending the interests of the masses, radical-minded Russoists oppose social oppression, they seek to remake society, bring it into line with the natural needs of man. Their doctrine led to revolutionary conclusions, which were later made by the leaders of the French Revolution of 1789-1794.
Admiring the working life of the peasantry, Zh.Zh. Rousseau strongly condemned feudal oppression. Expressing his admiration for rural nature, he wrote: “... The inexorable severity of the inhuman owner of the land greatly deprives these pictures of attractiveness. , their villages, their shacks, are a sad sight, not at all pleasing to the eye; and when you think of those unfortunate ones whose blood you have to drink, you almost regret that you are a man "*.
* (J.J. Rousseau. Selected works. In 3 volumes. T. 2. M., 1961, p. 527.)
These words of Rousseau, imbued with pain for the oppressed people, are reminiscent of Radishchev's well-known lines from the preface to Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow: "I looked around me - my soul became wounded by the sufferings of mankind." Depicting the lack of rights, the poverty of the masses, Rousseau and Radishchev (in whose works there are also elements of sentimentalism) sought to arouse a feeling of anger towards the stranglers of people's freedom. They raised the question of changing the social order.
English sentimentalists are far from the radical conclusions of Rousseau. They are passive socially, they believe in the possibility of re-educating a person while maintaining the foundations of the existing society. An example is O. Goldsmith. The hero of his well-known novel "The Weckfield Priest", Pastor Primrose, is deprived of any social activity whatsoever. He is fundamentally indifferent to questions of social organization. The focus of his attention is the family, the moral world of man. Primrose and Goldsmith along with him believe that one can be happy while living in poverty. One of the chapters of The Weckfield Priest is called: "Even with the most modest prosperity, happiness is possible, because it is inherent in ourselves and does not depend on external circumstances." The conflict of the novel is resolved idyllically. The natural ties between people, broken under the influence of the selfish age, are being restored. Squire Thornhill, the abuser of the Primrose family, marries the pastor's daughter, and the sad story ends with a prayer of thanksgiving to God, who has restored justice.
Moral criticism of society
In English sentimentalism, there is no direct reflection of the contradictions that have historically developed between the peasant masses, on the one hand, and the nobility and the “knights of profit,” on the other. Social motives here, as a rule, sound muffled, find a narrow-chamber, purely moral refraction. The works of Goldsmith and Stern in terms of the breadth of coverage of the phenomena of reality are clearly inferior to the best artistic achievements of the Enlightenment. True, the enlighteners tried to solve social problems by moral means. But their heroes - representatives of the most diverse classes - were not locked up in four walls. They wandered along the great roads of history, turned out to be participants or witnesses of events of great social significance.
Sentimentalists, on the contrary, as a rule, refused to widely reproduce the life of society. In the work of Stern, Goldsmith, the breath of the era is very weakly felt, its great aspirations and reflections are not felt. Sentimental heroes are mostly inhabitants of the provincial outback, principled opponents of all politics, guardians of patriarchal customs, resisting all changes, from which they do not expect anything good.
In sentimental literature, the human personality is revealed only in its moral quality. She is often excluded from social connections and relationships. But even where a social environment is given, it narrows to the limits of the family.
Withdrawal into family life, which was especially pronounced in English sentimentalism, is nothing more than a reaction to the sharp contradictions of reality. An apology for family existence as a refuge from the impending threat from the "outside world", a negative attitude towards politics in this case were also the result of the crisis of enlightenment thought, which did not justify the hopes placed on it to lead society. Hence the distrust of reason, which is remarkable for sentimental writers, and the exaggerated importance that they attach to feeling as a means of knowing reality and human communication.
The sensitive heroes of Stern and Goldsmith are extremely impractical people. They do not know how to live "according to reason", "like everyone else", and therefore fail on their life path. In a world of lies and violence, they look like naive eccentrics. Pastor Primroz is especially characteristic in this respect. He considers himself a great connoisseur of life, but every time he gets into trouble because of his complete ignorance in worldly affairs.
The eccentricities of many positive heroes of English sentimental literature are a means of a kind of protection against the corrupting influences of feudal and bourgeois society. Each of them has its own "eccentric", indicating its extreme impracticality. Pastor Primroz composes useless treatises on the monogamy of the clergy. Eccentricity is especially evident in the behavior of Stern's heroes. Walter Shandy (The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman) is fond of eloquence and classical antiquity. At every convenient and inconvenient occasion, he makes speeches, filling them with quotations from ancient authors. His brother Toby considers himself an expert in fortification. On the lawn in front of the house, he builds toy fortresses and directs their siege. Corporal Trim takes an active part in these amusements. The occupation of trifles here begins to grow into a kind of philosophy of life.
Heroes in the literature of sentimentalism
Sentimentalists portray their characters predominantly in a "human" capacity, and by no means in a "civilian" one. These are sweet, good-natured eccentrics who suffer resentment and failure because of their impracticality and gentleness. "Man" in the works of sentimentalists, as a rule, is revealed in a unique originality with great psychological penetration into his inner world. Such a tendency towards the maximum individualization of character had twofold consequences: it enriched literature, it was an antidote to schematism, the facelessness of characters, but it also led writers away from depicting the human person in its social connections and contradictions. The English sentimentalists evade the fundamental problems of their time. But, emphasizing the hostility of the feudal and bourgeois system to the development of the best aspects of the human personality, they thereby aroused social self-consciousness in passive people, detached from the ideological aspirations of their age. Their eccentric hero also had educational value. His moral code contained universal elements, as it was aimed at denying self-serving feudal and bourgeois morality.
The subject of the image in the works of sentimentalist writers is a person taken from the side of the life of the heart and soul. He does not indulge, like a romantic hero, in painful reflections on the fate of mankind. His reaction to the disorder of reality does not result in reflection, but in a heartfelt experience, in spiritual grief. Or he simply tries not to notice what is happening in the world, completely immersed in his private, family concerns, in his eccentricities.
A sentimentalist does not take a person in complex social relationships. He is not attracted to the analysis of social relations. He explores, first of all, the feelings, moral motives of people. Even the best works of sentimental literature bear the stamp of such narrow-mindedness.
Sentimental novel, its features
In Rousseau's New Eloise, which can serve as an example of a sentimental novel, the plot knot is tied around the unhappy love of the commoner Saint-Preux for the aristocrat Julia d'Etange. The specificity of the content of the "New Eloise" predetermined the peculiarity of its form. The novel consists of letters that are convenient for revealing inner experiences. The heroes in their long messages talk about a variety of topics: about rational housekeeping, about raising children, about theater and music, but mainly about their heartfelt joys and sufferings.
Social life in the "New Eloise" is in the background, it is not directly depicted, it is only talked about from time to time. Moreover, criticism of the negative phenomena of French reality is predominantly moral in nature. The heroes of the novel are weakly revealed in their connections with the social environment surrounding them. Traits of abstraction are especially characteristic of Saint Preux. He is a commoner, but the sources of his existence are not at all determined.
Rousseau is interested in the inner world of man. He defends the freedom of love from the shackles of class prejudice.
The writer's sympathies are completely on the side of Saint-Preux and Julia, who entered into an unmarried union. But at the same time, Rousseau, as an educator, demands from lovers the curbing of passions, the subordination of their virtue. The collision of the novel is based on the clash of feeling with reason and is resolved (but through the suffering of the heroes and the death of Yulia) by shaming the common truths of enlightenment morality.
In the literature of sentimentalism, concrete, real life is often replaced by the fate of an individual, which becomes the main subject of the image. Particularly indicative in this respect is Stern's "Sentimental Journey", which gave its name to the entire literary movement.
The novel does not contain descriptions of France, through which Iorik travels, in many ways reminiscent of the author himself. Stern is not attracted by the culture and life of the French people, but he captures in detail the moods and experiences of his hero. Yorick is a classic example of the sentimental traveler. He falls into a sensitive emotion on every occasion; any little things resonate in his soul, seem important and significant to him.
The very originality of the subject of the image in sentimental literature determined the specifics of its genres. The family, psychological novel, memoirs, travel notes, letters, diaries, confessions are widely used in it. The story is usually told in the first person.
In poetry, intimate lyrics, which, as you know, were not held in high esteem in the era of glorification of civil virtues, receive a genuine flowering. Sentimental poets are characterized by an affinity for elegy, for religious meditation (Gray's Meditations in a Rural Cemetery, Jung's Night Thoughts), which makes it possible to most fully express the idea of the frailty of everything earthly and longing for eternal afterlife bliss.
Russian sentimentalism
Sentimentalism in Russia was formed in the 60s of the XVIII century. In contrast to Western Europe, it is associated with noble opposition, with the protest of enlightened nobles against the inhumanity of serfdom. The leading role in Russian sentimental literature is played by writers whose worldview is marked by the stamp of noble liberalism (Karamzin, Kheraskov, Dmitriev, and others). They sometimes criticize contemporary reality, but this criticism is carried out exclusively on a moral plane and is ultimately aimed not at weakening, but at strengthening the social positions of the nobility.
Russian sentimentalism was the fruit of the crisis of the nobility's ideology. It became most widespread after the peasant war led by Pugachev, which shook the very foundations of the autocratic serf system. The Great French Revolution also had a certain influence on the strengthening of "sentimental trends" in Russian society. It was in the 90s of the XVIII century. sentimentalism, supported above all by Karamzin's talent, becomes a well-defined literary trend with its own program, with its own artistic method. Frightened by the Pugachev uprising, the liberal-minded circles of the Russian intelligentsia acted as champions of a humane attitude towards the people, propagandists of the idea of the extra-class value of the human person. The sentimentalists' appeals to humanity were of progressive significance, although they did not affect the foundations of the autocratic serf regime.
Sentimental writers in their program speeches focus on the need to portray not what is, but what is due. The subject of art for them is the beautiful, poetic moments of life. In this regard, they act as a kind of successor to the traditions of classicism. In the literature of sentimentalism, an edifying tone dominates. M. N. Karamzin and his like-minded people most often talk about how a person should behave, what moral standards he must be guided by in his behavior.
In the program poem "To the Poor Poet" (1796), Karamzin frankly opposes the reproduction of life as it is. He sees wisdom in reconciliation with reality. In his opinion, "to sigh, to grumble is the passion of fools." Karamzin sees the task of poetry in "glorifying love and friendship" and "captivating hearts with harmony." But what if modern life is not beautiful, poor in positive content? It is necessary to resort to skillful lies, Karamzin answers, to create a world of poetic dreams:
The poet is a cunning sorcerer: His living thought, like a fairy, Creates beauties from a flower; He produces roses on the pine, In the nettles he finds tender myrtle And builds castles of sand.
The writer, for Karamzin, is a "skillful liar", the creator of beautiful mirages, distracting with his creativity from the contradictions of society, replacing the harsh truth of life with the realm of bizarre poetic dreams. Karamzin tries in every possible way to devalue the real-life blessings. Truly happy, in his opinion, is not Croesus, but "he who, in poverty, knows how to amuse himself with wealth." Karamzin urges his readers to be content with little. True happiness, he assures, does not consist in acquiring ranks, not in enrichment, but in honest work, in harmony with oneself, c. humble life with family and true friends. The path to prosperity lies not through revolutions, but through moral education, the purpose of which is to teach a person to find sources of joy in his condition, and not to think about any social changes.
Sentimentalists, unlike romantics, are content with an idealized present. They do not deny modernity in the name of a new, ideal world. They take reality in static, at rest, with the preservation of all social institutions. In their work and aesthetic views, the movement of history is not felt. Their ideal is not connected with the idea of development, it is not correlated with the future.
Russian sentimentalism glorifies the moderate life of a humane, sensitive nobleman, who shuns the "big world", has a paternal attitude towards the peasants, lives in an idyllic merging with nature. Sentimental writers eschew the satirical depiction of the ugly phenomena of modernity; they break with accusatory traditions of the Enlightenment, concentrating on glorifying the delights of rural solitude.
Sentimentalists-preachers of humanity. However, they do not raise their voices of protest against serfdom, limiting themselves to appeals to the mercy of the landowners. Their social and political consciousness is characterized by contemplation. In "Message to Dmitriev" (1794) Karamzin states:
Let the thunders shake the sky, Villains oppress the weak, Crazy people praise their minds! My friend! It's not our fault. We didn't oppress the weak here And wished everyone the best, We don't have black hearts!
M. N. Karamzin considers the moral orientation of a writer's work to be a measure of evaluation. He sees the purpose of art in the moral ennoblement of man. In the poem "Poetry" from an ethical point of view, he examines the history of world literature. He highly appreciates Homer, Sophocles, Euripides because they knew how to "elevate the soul." Shakespeare is perceived by him only as a "friend of nature", as a heart expert, able to penetrate into the fatal secrets of the psyche, into the depths of human experiences. Shakespeare - a realist, a debunker of inhuman forms of life - is of no interest to Karamzin. Sentimentalists, anticipating the theorists of romanticism, rejected the understanding of art as a simple imitation of nature.
Karamzin was the first in Russia to emphasize the active role of the writer in the creative process. According to him, "the creator is always depicted in creation and often against his will." For Karamzin, artistic creativity is valuable primarily because it embodies the personality of the artist, his attitude to the world. The subjective side of the artistic reflection of reality is brought to the fore by him, to the detriment of the objective side. He requires the writer to express his feelings, his views, being a direct predecessor of the romantics.
Distancing himself from the civic pathos of the classicists and realists, Karamzin makes a principled installation on the depiction of the little things in life. He, like Stern, is interested in the inner world of a person far from social life and struggle. His first collection of poetry bore the meaningful title "My trifles" and was essentially a challenge not only to the aesthetics of classicism, but also to the social direction of literature for which Lomonosov, Fonvizin, Radishchev and Krylov fought.
Sentimentalism is a complex phenomenon. This is, first of all, a certain worldview, one of the varieties of enlightenment ideology based on the cult of the natural, sensitive person, critically pointed against the "outside world" in its feudal and bourgeois content. Rousseau and Goldsmith differ in the sharpness of criticism of their contemporary society (one calls for its alteration, the other is limited to moral protest), but nevertheless they are both sentimentalists in terms of their worldview, humanistic and anti-rationalistic at their core.
Sentimentalism as a form of ideology can be combined with various types of creativity - both realistic and romantic. For example, Goldsmith, Stern, Goethe, as the author of "The Suffering of Young Werther", being sentimental writers, use realistic methods of creating an image. Their characters are sentimental in the structure of their thoughts and feelings, but they are depicted completely, realistically, although not with the degree of completeness that is present in the novels of Fielding, Smollett, realists of the 19th century. Radishchev should also be included here. Combining sentimentalism with revolutionary democracy, he, as an artist, adheres to the realistic principle of depicting reality.
However, there is another group of sentimentalists, in whose works a sentimental understanding of life is combined with a romantic type of creativity (depicting a person outside social ties, exclusive attention to the analysis of his inner experiences, etc.). Karamzin, Kheraskov, Muravyov and other Russian poets who resorted to the romantic form of artistic generalization can serve as an example.
Despite the difference in their views, the best sentimental writers reflected the truth of life. With their work, they prepared not only romanticism, but also realistic art of the 19th century.
Classicism.
Sentimentalism
Romanticism
Satirical poetry of Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir. Problems of satire "On those who blaspheme the teaching, To their own mind." The personality and significance of Kantemir's work in essays and critical articles by N.I. Novikov, N.M. Karamzin, K.N. Batyushkov, V.G. Belinsky.
Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir was one of the first Russian writers who realized himself as a writer. Although literature was not at all the main business of his life. The poet, who opens the first page of the history of Russian book poetry, was an outstanding personality, the most educated, multi-talented person. He greatly raised the prestige of Russia in the West, where for the last twelve years of his life he served as a diplomatic representative of Russia in embassies - first in England, and then in France. He had an impeccable command of thought and word: the dispatches he sent were always clearly and talentedly composed. he was a famous person in Russia. His epigrams and love songs were extremely successful. He worked in the genre of scientific translation and has already written five of his nine satires. During the years of service in France, he finally established himself in advanced educational views. He was convinced that only "merit", and not class ancestry, distinguishes one person from another. “The same blood flows in both free and slaves, the same flesh, the same bones!” he wrote, insisting on the “natural equality” of people. Cantemir always remained a citizen of Russia: what he acquired, or, in his words, "adopted" from the French, was supposed to serve his homeland. With characteristic modesty, he wrote:
What Horace gave, he borrowed from the Frenchman.
Oh, how poor my muse is.
Yes, true; the mind, even though the limits are narrow,
What he took in Gallic, he paid in Russian.
And yet, Kantemir is first of all a national poet, who had the task of turning to the image of real Russian life. According to Belinsky, he was able to "connect poetry with life", "to write not only in the Russian language, but also with the Russian mind." By the way, it should be noted here that in close friendship with the Kantemirov family was Princess Praskovya Trubetskaya, who wrote songs in the folk spirit; perhaps it was she who was the author of the most popular song in those distant times, "Ah, my bitter light of my youth." Not only the famous "Poetics" of the French poet and theorist Boileau, not only educational studies, but the lively lyrical element of folk song, making its way into the book poetry of the beginning of the century, determined the formation of Cantemir's artistic manner.
Analysis of the satire by Antioch Cantemir "On those who blaspheme the teachings To their own mind." This is the first satire of Cantemir, he wrote it in 1729. Satire was originally written not for the purpose of publication, but for himself. But through friends, she came to the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan, who gave impetus to continue this cycle of satyrs.
Cantermire himself defines this satire as a mockery of the ignorant and despisers of science. At that time, this issue was very relevant. As soon as education became accessible to people, colleges and a university were established. It was a qualitative step in the field of sciences. And any qualitative step is, if not a revolution, then a reform. No wonder it caused so much controversy. The author refers, as follows from the title, to his own mind, calling it "the mind of an immature", because. the satire was written by him at the age of twenty, that is, still quite immature by those standards. Everyone strives for fame, and achieving it through science is the hardest thing. The author uses 9 muses and Apollo as an image of the sciences that make the road to glory difficult. It is possible, and to get fame, even if you are not known as a creator. Many paths, easy in our age, lead to it, On which the brave will not stumble; The most unpleasant of all is the one that the barefooted have cursed the Nine Sisters. Further, 4 characters appear in turn in the satire: Criton, Silvan, Luke and Medor. Each of them condemns science, explains in its own way its uselessness. Crito believes that those who are fond of science want to understand the reasons for everything that happens. And this is bad, because. they depart from faith in the Holy Scriptures. And indeed, in his opinion, science is harmful, you just have to blindly believe.
The schisms and heresies of science are children; Lies more, who was given more understanding; Whoever melts over a book comes to godlessness... Silvan is a stingy nobleman. He does not understand the monetary benefits of science, so he does not need it. For him, only that which can benefit him specifically has value. But science cannot provide this to him. After all, he lived without her, and he will still live! We can make sense of dividing the earth in quarters without Euclid, How many kopecks in a ruble - without algebra we can count Luke - a drunkard. In his opinion, science separates people, because it's not the place to sit alone over books, which he even moreover calls "dead friends." He praises wine as a source of good mood and other blessings and says that he will exchange a glass for a book only if time runs back, stars appear on the earth, etc. When they begin to lead the reins across the sky, And from the surface of the earth the stars already glimpse, When in Lent the black one becomes a vyazig, - Then, leaving the glass, I will take up the book. Medor is a dandy and a dandy. He is offended that the paper, with which at that time they curled their hair, is spent on books. For him, a glorious tailor and shoemaker is much more important than Virgil and Cicero. ... too much paper comes To the letter, to the printing of books, but it comes to him, That there is nothing to wrap curled curls in; He will not change a pound of good powder for Seneca. The author draws attention to the fact that two motives are possible for all deeds: benefit and praise. And there is an opinion that if science does not bring either one or the other, then why do it? People are not accustomed to the fact that it can be otherwise, that virtue is valuable in itself. ... When there is no benefit, praise encourages To labors - without that the heart is discouraged. Not everyone loves true beauty, that is, science. But anyone, having barely learned anything, demands a promotion or other status.
For example, a soldier, having barely learned to sign, wants to command a regiment. The author complains that the time when wisdom was valued has gone. The time has not come to us, in which wisdom presided over everything and shared the crowns alone, Being the only way to the highest sunrise.
Belinsky said that Cantemir would outlive many literary celebrities, classical and romantic. In an article about Kantemir, Belinsky wrote: “Kantemir does not so much begin the history of Russian literature as it ends the period of Russian writing. Kantemir wrote in so-called syllabic verses, a size that is completely uncharacteristic of the Russian language; this size existed in Rus' long before Kantemir ... Kantemir began the history of secular literature. that is why everyone, rightly considering Lomonosov the father of Russian literature, at the same time, not entirely without reason, begins its history with Kantemir.
Karamzin remarked: "His satires were the first experience of Russian wit and style."
6. The role of Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, M.V. Lomonosov, A.P. Sumarokov in the formation of aesthetic principles, the genre and stylistic system of Russian classicism, in the transformation of versification.
Trediakovsky in 1735 published "A new and short way to compose Russian poetry", offering a way to streamline syllabic 13 and 11-syllables and giving samples of poems composed in a new way of different genres. The need for such ordering was dictated by the need to more clearly contrast poetry with prose.
Trediakovsky acted as a reformer, not indifferent to the experience of his predecessors. Lomonosov went further. In the "Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry" (1739), he categorically declared that "our versification is only just beginning", thereby ignoring the almost century-old tradition of syllabic poetry. He, unlike Trediakovsky, allowed not only two-syllable, but also three-syllable and "mixed" meters (yambo-anapaests and dactylo-chorea), not only feminine rhymes, but also masculine and dactylic ones, and advised sticking to iambic as a size appropriate for tall objects. and important (the letter was accompanied by an "Ode ... to the capture of Khotin in 1739" written in iambs). The predominance of "choreic rhythms" in folk songs and book poetry of the 17th century, which Trediakovsky pointed out, thinking that "our ear" had "applied" to them, did not bother Lomonosov, since he had to start from scratch. The pathos of an uncompromising break with tradition corresponded to the spirit of the time, and Lomonosov's iambs themselves sounded completely new and were maximally opposed to prose. The problem of stylistic demarcation with church literacy receded into the background. New literature and syllabic-tonic poetry have become almost synonymous.
Trediakovsky eventually accepted the ideas of Lomonosov, in 1752 he published a whole treatise on syllabo-tonic versification ("A method for adding Russian poetry, corrected and multiplied against the one published in 1735") and in practice conscientiously experimented with different meters and sizes. Lomonosov, in practice, wrote almost exclusively in iambs, the only ones, in his opinion, suitable for high genres (his classification of high, "mediocre" and low genres and "calms" is set out in "Foreword on the Usefulness of Church Books in the Russian Language", 1757).
Trediakovsky and Lomonosov, who studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, were connected by many threads with pre-Petrine literacy and church scholarship. Sumarokov, a nobleman, a graduate of the land gentry cadet corps, shunned her. His literary knowledge, sympathies and interests were connected with French classicism. The leading genre in France was tragedy, and in the work of Sumarokov it became the main genre. Here his priority was undeniable. The first Russian classical tragedies belong to him: Khorev (1747), Hamlet (1747), Sinav and Truvor (1750) and others. Sumarokov also owns the first comedies - Tresotinus, Monsters (both 1750) and etc. True, these were "low" comedies, written in prose and being a pamphlet on faces (Trediakovsky is ridiculed in these comedies). That. Sumarokov rightfully claimed the titles of "northern Racine" and "Russian Molière", and in 1756 it was he who would be appointed the first director of the first permanent theater in Russia, created by F.G. Volkov. But Sumarokov could not be satisfied with the status of a playwright and theatrical figure. He claimed a leading and leading position in literature (much to the annoyance of his older brothers in writing). His "Two epistles" (1748) - "On the Russian language" and "On poetry" - were to receive a status similar to the status of Boileau's "Poetic Art" in the literature of French classicism (in 1774 their abridged version will be published under the title "Instruction to those who want to be writers). Sumarokov's ambitions also explain the genre universalism of his work. He tested his strength in almost all classical genres (only the epic was not given to him). As the author of didactic epistles about poetry and poetic satires, he was the "Russian Boileau", as the author of "parables" (i.e. fables) - the "Russian Lafontaine", etc.
However, Sumarokov pursued not so much aesthetic as educational goals. He dreamed of being a mentor to the nobility and an adviser to an "enlightened monarch" (like Voltaire under Frederick II). He considered his literary activity as socially useful. His tragedies were a school of civic virtue for the monarch and subjects, in comedies, satires and parables, vices were castigated (the rhyme "Sumarokov - the scourge of vices" generally became generally accepted), elegies and eclogues taught "fidelity and tenderness", spiritual odes (Sumarokov translated the entire Psalter) and philosophical poems instructed in reasonable concepts about religion, in the "Two epistles" the rules of poetry were proposed, etc. In addition, Sumarokov became the publisher of the first literary magazine in Russia - "Hardworking Bee" (1759) (it was also the first private magazine).
In general, the literature of Russian classicism is characterized by the pathos of state service (which makes it related to the literature of Peter the Great's time). The education of "private" virtues in a citizen was her second task, and her first task was to propagate the achievements of the "regular state" "created" by Peter and expose its opponents. That is why this new literature begins with satires and odes. Kantemir ridicules the champions of antiquity, Lomonosov admires the successes of the new Russia. They defend one thing - "Peter's case".
Publicly read on solemn occasions in huge halls, in a special theatrical atmosphere of the imperial court, the ode should "thunder" and amaze the imagination. She could best of all glorify the "cause of Peter" and the greatness of the empire, and in the best way corresponded to propaganda goals. Therefore, it was the solemn ode (and not tragedy, as in France, or the epic poem) that became the main genre in Russian literature of the 18th century. This is one of the distinguishing features of "Russian classicism". Others are rooted in the Old Russian, defiantly rejected by him, i.e. church tradition (which makes "Russian classicism" an organic phenomenon of Russian culture).
Russian classicism developed under the influence of the European Enlightenment, but its ideas were rethought. For example, the most important of them is the idea of "natural", natural equality of all people. In France, under this slogan, there was a struggle for the rights of the third estate. And Sumarokov and other Russian writers of the 18th century, proceeding from the same thought, instruct the nobles to be worthy of their rank and not to sully "estate honor", since fate has exalted them above their natural equals.
Romantic poem in the work of Ryleev. "Voinarovsky" - composition, principles of character creation, the specifics of a romantic conflict, the correlation between the fates of the hero and the author. Dispute between History and Poetry in Voinarovsky.
The originality of the Decembrist poetry was most fully manifested in the work of Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev (1795-1826). He created "active poetry, poetry of the highest intensity, heroic pathos" (39).
Among the lyrical works of Ryleev, the most famous was and, perhaps, still remains the poem “Citizen” (1824), banned at one time, but illegally distributed, well known to readers. This work is the fundamental success of Ryleev the poet, perhaps even the pinnacle of Decembrist lyrics in general. The image of a new lyrical hero is created in the poem:
Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev is one of the founders and classics of Russian revolutionary civil poetry, inspired by the progressive social movement and hostile to the autocracy. He more fully than others expressed the Decembrist worldview in poetry and developed the main themes of Decembristism. The most important moments in the history of the Decembrist movement in its most significant period, between 1820-1825, were reflected in Ryleev's work.
The name of Ryleev in our minds is surrounded by an aura of martyrdom and heroism. The charm of his personality as a fighter and revolutionary who died for his convictions is so great that for many it seemed to overshadow the aesthetic originality of his work. Tradition has preserved the image of Ryleev, which was created by his friends and followers, first in the memoirs of N. Bestuzhev, then in the articles of Ogarev and Herzen.
The search for ways to actively influence society led Ryleev to the genre of the poem. Ryleev's first poem was the poem "Voynarovsky" (1823-1824). The poem has much in common with "Duma", but there is also a fundamental novelty: in "Voinarovsky" Ryleev strives for reliable historical flavor, the truthfulness of psychological characteristics. Ryleev created a new hero: disappointed, but not in worldly and secular pleasures, not in love or glory, the Ryleev hero is a victim of fate that did not allow him to realize his mighty life potential. Resentment at fate, at the ideal of a heroic life that did not take place, alienates the Ryley hero from those around him, turning him into a tragic figure. The tragedy of the incompleteness of life, its non-realization in real actions and events will be an important discovery not only in Decembrist poetry, but also in Russian literature as a whole.
“Voynarovsky” is the only completed poem by Ryleev, although besides it he started several more: “Nalivaiko”, “Gaydamak”, “Paley”. “It so happened,” the researchers write, “that Ryleev’s poems were not only propaganda of Decembristism in literature, but also a poetic biography of the Decembrists themselves, including the December defeat and the years of hard labor. Reading a poem about Voinarovsky, the Decembrists involuntarily thought about themselves<…>Ryleev's poem was perceived both as a poem of heroic deeds and as a poem of tragic forebodings. The fate of a political exile, abandoned in distant Siberia, a meeting with a citizen wife - all this is almost a prediction” (43). Ryleev’s readers were especially struck by his prediction in “Nalivaika’s Confession” from the poem “Nalivaiko”:
<…>I know that death awaits
The one who rises first
On the oppressors of the people, -
Fate has already doomed me.
But where, tell me when was
Is freedom redeemed without sacrifice?
I will die for my native land, -
I feel it, I know...
And joyfully, holy father,
I bless my lot!<…> (44)
The fulfilled prophecies of Ryleev's poetry once again prove the fruitfulness of the romantic principle “life and poetry are one”.
Classicism.
Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Interest for classicism is only eternal, unchanging - in each phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual signs. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Horace).
Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined features, mixing of which is not allowed.
As a certain trend, classicism was formed in France in the 17th century.
In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the transformations of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of "three calms", which was essentially an adaptation of French classical rules to the Russian language. The images in classicism are devoid of individual features, as they are intended primarily to capture stable generic features that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.
Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been the focus of attention of Russian classic writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that imply a mandatory authorial assessment of historical reality have received great development: comedy (D. I. Fonvizin), satire (A. D. Kantemir), fable (A. P. Sumarokov, I. I. Khemnitser), ode (Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin).
Sentimentalism- mindset in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary trend. The works written in this genre are based on the feelings of the reader. In Europe, it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.
Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.
Sentimentalism in Russian literature
Nikolai Karamzin "Poor Lisa"
Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s-early 1790s thanks to the translations of Werther's novels by I.V. Goethe, Pamela, Clarissa and Grandison S. Richardson, New Eloise J.-J. Rousseau, Paul and Virginie J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).
His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther, he inherited the general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Masha" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( "The Story of Poor Marya"; "Unfortunate Margarita"; "Beautiful Tatyana"), etc.
Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to the Karamzin group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic grandiloquent style and obsolete genres.
Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of the translation of the Elegy written in the rural cemetery by E. Gray became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, for he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, he translated the genre of the elegy, and not the individual work of the English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E. G. Etkind). In 1809 Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story "Maryina Grove" in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.
Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.
It was one of the stages of the all-European literary development, which completed the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.
The main features of the literature of sentimentalism
So, taking into account all of the above, we can distinguish several main features of Russian literature of sentimentalism: a departure from the straightforwardness of classicism, an emphasized subjectivity of the approach to the world, a cult of feelings, a cult of nature, a cult of innate moral purity, uncorruptedness, a rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes is affirmed. Attention is paid to the spiritual world of a person, and in the first place are feelings, not great ideas.
Romanticism- a phenomenon of European culture in the XVIII-XIX centuries, which is a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific and technological progress stimulated by it; ideological and artistic direction in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of the 19th century. It is characterized by the assertion of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. It spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, everything that was strange, fantastic, picturesque, and existing in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism became the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism and the Enlightenment.
Romanticism in Russian literature
It is usually believed that in Russia romanticism appears in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky (although some Russian poetic works of the 1790-1800s are often attributed to the pre-romantic movement that developed from sentimentalism). In Russian romanticism, freedom from classical conventions appears, a ballad, a romantic drama, is created. A new idea of the essence and meaning of poetry is affirmed, which is recognized as an independent sphere of life, an expression of the highest, ideal aspirations of man; the old view, according to which poetry was an empty pastime, something completely serviceable, is no longer possible.
The early poetry of A. S. Pushkin also developed within the framework of romanticism. The poetry of M. Yu. Lermontov, the “Russian Byron”, can be considered the pinnacle of Russian romanticism. The philosophical lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev are both the completion and the overcoming of romanticism in Russia.
The genres of sentimentalism, in contrast to the classic ones, called the reader to the knowledge of simple human feelings, to the naturalness and kindness of the inner state, to merge with wildlife. And if classicism worshiped only reason, building the whole existence on logic, system (according to the theory of Boileau's poetry), the sentimentalist artist was free in feeling, expressing it, in flight of imagination. Born in protest against the dryness of reason, inherent in all genres of sentimentalism, they carry not what they got from culture, but what the depths of the soul get from their bottom.
Prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism
The absolutist regime of feudalism fell into the deepest crisis. Social values were replaced by values embodied in the human personality, and all-class ones at that. Sentimentalism is the definition in literature of the moods of the widest sections of society with the most powerful anti-feudal pathos.
The third estate, economically wealthy, but socially and politically disenfranchised, became more active against the aristocracy and the clergy. It was there, in the third estate, that the famous was born: - which became the slogan of all revolutions. The social culture of society demanded democratization.
The rationalist worldview postulated the primacy of the idea, hence the ideological nature of the crisis. Absolute monarchy as one of the forms of state structure fell into decay. The idea of monarchism was discredited, the idea of an enlightened monarch was discredited, too, since practically neither of them corresponded to the real needs of society.
Conquest of culture
By the second half of the 18th century, the possibilities of the bourgeoisie had grown so much that it began to dictate terms to all other classes, especially through culture. Being a supporter of the ideas of progress, she extended them to literature and art.
Moreover, she occupied them with representatives of her environment: Rousseau - from the family of a watchmaker, Voltaire - a notary, Diderot - an artisan ... There is no point in remembering the artists, since they are completely the third estate, one and only.
Although in all sectors of society in the 18th century, democratic sentiments grew by leaps and bounds, not only in the third estate. It was these moods that demanded other heroes from the late Enlightenment, a special atmosphere and new feelings. However, the genres of sentimentalism in literature were not newcomers. Elegiac lyrics, memoirs - all long-known forms were filled with new content.
The main features of sentimentalism in literature
As an alternative to the rationalistic principle of the Enlightenment, philosophy clarifies another means of world perception: not with the mind, but with the heart, that is, referring to the category of sensations and feelings. Literature is precisely the field where all genres of sentimentalism flourished.
Sentimentalists were sure that a person by nature should be alien to prudence and rationality, he is close to the natural environment, which, through the education of feelings, bestows inner harmony. Virtue must be natural, they wrote, and only with a high degree of sensitivity can mankind obtain real happiness. The main genres of sentimentalism in literature were therefore chosen according to the principle of intimacy: pastoral, idyll, travel, personal diaries or letters.
Reliance on natural principles and staying in the natural environment - in nature - these are the two pillars on which all genres of sentimentalism are based.
Technical and state, society, history, education - these words in line with sentimentalism are mostly abusive. Progress as the foundation on which Encyclopedic scientists built the Age of Enlightenment was considered superfluous and very harmful, and any manifestations of civilization were destructive for humanity. As a minimum, private rural life was raised to the cult, and as a maximum, primitive life and, as far as possible, wild.
The genres of sentimentalism did not contain the heroic stories of the past. Everyday life, simplicity of impressions filled them. Instead of bright passions, the struggle of vices and virtues, sentimentalism presented the purity of feelings and the richness of the inner world of an ordinary person. Most often a native of the third estate, the origin is sometimes very low. Sentimentalism, the definition of democratic pathos in the literature, completely denies the class differences imposed by civilization.
The inner world of man: a different view
Completing the Age of Enlightenment, the new direction, of course, did not go far from the principles of the Enlightenment. Nevertheless, sentimentalism is easy to distinguish: among the classic writers, the character is unambiguous, in character - the predominance of one trait, a mandatory moral assessment.
Sentimentalists, on the other hand, showed the hero as an inexhaustible and contradictory personality. He could combine both genius and villainy, since both good and evil are inherent in him from birth. Moreover, nature is a good beginning, civilization is evil. A monosyllabic assessment most often does not suit the actions of the hero of a sentimentalist work. He may well be a villain, but no one is absolute, because he always has the opportunity to listen to nature and return to the path of good.
It is this didacticism, and sometimes tendentiousness, that connects sentimentalism firmly, firmly with the era that gave birth to it.
The cult of feeling and subjectivism
The main genres of sentimentalism are highly subjective, and in this way they are most fully able to show the movements of the human heart. These are novels in letters, these are elegies, diaries, memoirs and everything that allows you to tell in the first person.
The author does not move away from the subject that he depicts, and his reflection is the most important element of the narrative. The structure is also freer, literary canons do not constrain the imagination, the composition is arbitrary, and there are as many lyrical digressions as you like.
Born in the 1910s on the shores of England, the main genres of sentimentalism had already flourished throughout Europe by the second half of the century. Most brightly - in England, France, Germany and Russia.
England
The lyrics were the first to let in the features of sentimentalism in literature into their lines. The most prominent representatives are: a follower of the classicist theorist Nicolas Boileau - James Thomson, who devoted his elegies full of pessimism to English nature; the founder of "graveyard" poetics Edward Jung; Scotsman Robert Blair supported the theme with the poem "The Grave" and Thomas Gray with an elegy composed in a rural cemetery. For all these authors, the main idea is the equality of people before Death.
Then - and most fully - the features of sentimentalism in literature manifested themselves in the genre of the novel. decisively broke with the traditions of the adventure, adventure and picaresque novel, writing a novel in letters. Lawrence Stern became the "father" of the direction after writing the novel "Mr. Yorick's Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy", which gave the name to the direction. The peak of critical English sentimentalism is rightfully considered the work of Oliver Goldsmith.
France
The most classical form of sentimentalism is observed in the first third of the eighteenth century in France. De Mariveau was at the very origins of such prose, describing the life of Marianne and the peasant who came out into the world. Abbot Prevost enriched the palette of feelings described by literature - a passion leading to disaster.
The culmination of sentimentalism in France is Jean-Jacques Rousseau with his epistolary novels. Nature in his writings is valuable in itself, man is natural. The novel "Confession" is the most frank autobiography in world literature.
De Saint-Pierre, a student of Rousseau, continued to substantiate the truth that the main genres of sentimentalism preach: the happiness of man in harmony with virtue and nature. He also anticipated the flowering of the "exotic" in romanticism, depicting tropical lands beyond distant seas.
He also did not give up the position of the followers of Rousseau and J.-S. Mercier, pushing together in the novel "The Savage" the primitive (ideal) and civilizational forms of existence. Mercier identified the fruits of civilization as a publicist in the "Picture of Paris".
The self-taught writer de La Bretonne (two hundred volumes of writings!) is one of the most devoted followers of Rousseau. He wrote about how destructive the urban environment is, turning a moral and pure young man into a criminal, and also discussed the ideas of pedagogy in terms of women's education and upbringing.
With the beginning of the revolutions, the features of sentimentalism in literature naturally disappeared. The genres of sentimentalism in literature were enriched with new realities.
Germany
A new view of literature in Germany was formed under the influence of G.-E. Lessing. It all started with a polemic between the professors of the University of Zurich Bodmer and Breutinger with an ardent adherent of classicism - the German Gottsched. The Swiss stood up for poetic fantasy, but the German did not agree.
F.-G. Klopstock strengthened the position of sentimentalism with the help of folklore: medieval German traditions were easily intertwined with the feelings of the German heart. But the heyday of German sentimentalism came only in the seventies of the 18th century in connection with the work on the creation of a national original literature by members of the Sturm und Drang movement.
I.-V. also belonged to this direction in his young years. Goethe. "The suffering of young Werther" Goethe poured provincial German literature into the pan-European. The dramas of I.-F. Schiller.
Russia
Russian sentimentalism was discovered by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin - "Letters from a Russian Traveler", "Poor Lisa" - masterpieces of sentimental prose. Sensitivity, melancholy, suicidal tendencies - the main features of sentimentalism in literature - were combined by Karamzin with many other innovations. He became the founder of a group of Russian writers who fought against the grandiloquent archaism of the style and for a new poetic language. I. I. Dmitriev, V. A. Zhukovsky and others belonged to this group.
The content of the article
SENTIMENTALISM(fr. Sentiment) - a trend in European literature and art of the second half of the 18th century, formed within the framework of the late Enlightenment and reflecting the growth of democratic sentiments in society. Originated in the lyrics and the novel; later, penetrating into theatrical art, he gave impetus to the emergence of the genres of "tearful comedy" and petty-bourgeois drama.
sentimentalism in literature.
The philosophical origins of sentimentalism go back to sensationalism, which put forward the idea of a “natural”, “sensitive” (cognizing the world with feelings) person. By the beginning of the 18th century ideas of sensationalism penetrate into literature and art.
The "natural" man becomes the protagonist of sentimentalism. Sentimentalist writers proceeded from the premise that man, being a creature of nature, from birth has the makings of "natural virtue" and "sensibility"; the degree of sensitivity determines the dignity of a person and the significance of all his actions. Achieving happiness as the main goal of human existence is possible under two conditions: the development of the natural beginnings of a person (“education of feelings”) and staying in the natural environment (nature); merging with it, he finds inner harmony. Civilization (city), on the contrary, is an environment hostile to it: it distorts its nature. The more a person is social, the more devastated and lonely. Hence the cult of private life, rural existence, and even primitiveness and savagery, characteristic of sentimentalism. Sentimentalists did not accept the idea of progress, fundamental to the encyclopedists, looking with pessimism at the prospects for social development. The concepts of "history", "state", "society", "education" had a negative meaning for them.
Sentimentalists, unlike the classicists, were not interested in the historical, heroic past: they were inspired by everyday impressions. The place of exaggerated passions, vices and virtues was occupied by familiar human feelings. The hero of sentimental literature is an ordinary person. Mostly this comes from the third estate, sometimes a low position (servant) and even an outcast (robber), in terms of the richness of his inner world and purity of feelings he is not inferior, and often superior to the representatives of the upper class. The denial of class and other differences imposed by civilization constitutes the democratic (egalitarian) pathos of sentimentalism.
Appeal to the inner world of man allowed sentimentalists to show its inexhaustibility and inconsistency. They abandoned the absolutization of any one character trait and the unambiguity of the moral interpretation of the character, characteristic of classicism: a sentimentalist hero can do both bad and good deeds, experience both noble and low feelings; sometimes his actions and inclinations are not amenable to a monosyllabic assessment. Since a good beginning is inherent in a person and evil is the fruit of civilization, no one can become a complete villain - he always has a chance to return to his nature. Retaining hope for the self-improvement of man, they remained, for all their pessimistic attitude towards progress, in line with enlightenment thought. Hence the didacticism and sometimes pronounced tendentiousness of their works.
The cult of feeling led to a high degree of subjectivism. This direction is characterized by an appeal to genres that most fully allow to show the life of the human heart - an elegy, a novel in letters, a travel diary, memoirs, etc., where the story is told in the first person. Sentimentalists rejected the principle of "objective" discourse, which implies the removal of the author from the subject of the image: the author's reflection on what is being described becomes their most important element of the narrative. The structure of the composition is largely determined by the will of the writer: he does not follow the established literary canons so strictly that fetter the imagination, rather arbitrarily builds the composition, and is generous with lyrical digressions.
Born on British shores in the 1710s, sentimentalism became Tue. floor. 18th century a pan-European phenomenon. It manifested itself most clearly in English, French, German and Russian literature.
Sentimentalism in England.
First of all, sentimentalism declared itself in the lyrics. Poet trans. floor. 18th century James Thomson abandoned the urban motifs traditional for rationalist poetry and made English nature the object of depiction. Nevertheless, he does not completely depart from the classicist tradition: he uses the genre of elegy, legitimized by the classicist theorist Nicolas Boileau in his poetic art(1674), however, replaces rhymed couplets with blank verse, characteristic of the Shakespearean era.
The development of lyrics goes along the path of strengthening the pessimistic motives already heard by D. Thomson. The theme of the illusiveness and futility of earthly existence triumphs in Edward Jung, the founder of "cemetery poetry". The poetry of the followers of E. Jung - the Scottish pastor Robert Blair (1699–1746), the author of a gloomy didactic poem grave(1743), and Thomas Gray, creator An elegy written in a rural cemetery(1749), - permeated with the idea of equality of all before death.
Sentimentalism expressed itself most fully in the genre of the novel. It was initiated by Samuel Richardson, who, breaking with the adventurous and picaresque and adventure tradition, turned to depicting the world of human feelings, which required the creation of a new form - a novel in letters. In the 1750s, sentimentalism became the mainstream of English Enlightenment literature. The work of Lawrence Sterne, considered by many scholars as the "father of sentimentalism", marks the final departure from classicism. (A satirical novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman(1760–1767) and novel Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick(1768), from which the name of the artistic movement came).
Critical English sentimentalism reaches its peak in the work of Oliver Goldsmith.
In the 1770s comes the decline of English sentimentalism. The genre of the sentimental novel ceases to exist. In poetry, the sentimentalist school gives way to the pre-romantic one (D. MacPherson, T. Chatterton).
Sentimentalism in France.
In French literature, sentimentalism expressed itself in a classical form. Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux stands at the origins of sentimental prose. ( Marianne's life, 1728–1741; And The peasant who went out into the people, 1735–1736).
Antoine-Francois Prevost d'Exil, or Abbé Prevost, opened up a new realm of feelings for the novel - an irresistible passion leading the hero to a life catastrophe.
The climax of the sentimental novel was the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).
The concept of nature and "natural" man determined the content of his works of art (for example, the epistolary novel Julie, or New Eloise, 1761).
J.-J. Rousseau made nature an independent (intrinsic) object of the image. His Confession(1766-1770) is considered one of the most outspoken autobiographies in world literature, where he brings to the absolute the subjectivist attitude of sentimentalism (a work of art as a way of expressing the author's "I").
Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814), like his teacher J.-J. Rousseau, considered the main task of the artist to affirm the truth - happiness consists in living in harmony with nature and virtuously. He expounds his concept of nature in a treatise Sketches about nature(1784–1787). This theme receives artistic expression in the novel. Paul and Virginie(1787). Depicting distant seas and tropical countries, B. de Saint-Pierre introduces a new category - "exotic", which will be in demand by romantics, primarily Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand.
Jacques-Sebastian Mercier (1740-1814), following the Rousseauist tradition, makes the central conflict of the novel Savage(1767) the collision of the ideal (primitive) form of existence (the "golden age") with the civilization that was decomposing it. In a utopian novel 2440, what little dream(1770), based on social contract J.-J. Rousseau, he constructs the image of an egalitarian rural community in which people live in harmony with nature. S. Mercier sets out his critical view of the “fruits of civilization” in a journalistic form - in an essay Painting of Paris(1781).
The work of Nicolas Retief de La Bretonne (1734–1806), a self-taught writer, author of two hundred volumes of essays, is marked by the influence of J.-J. Rousseau. In the novel The Depraved Peasant, or the Perils of the City(1775) tells the story of the transformation, under the influence of the urban environment, of a morally pure young man into a criminal. Utopian novel Southern opening(1781) treats the same theme as 2440 S. Mercier. IN New Emile, or Practical Education(1776) Retief de La Bretonne develops the pedagogical ideas of J.-J. Rousseau, applying them to women's education, and argues with him. Confession J.-J. Rousseau becomes the reason for the creation of his autobiographical work Mister Nikola, or The Unveiled Human Heart(1794–1797), where he turns the narrative into a kind of "physiological sketch".
In the 1790s, during the era of the French Revolution, sentimentalism was losing its position, giving way to revolutionary classicism.
Sentimentalism in Germany.
In Germany, sentimentalism was born as a national-cultural reaction to French classicism; the work of English and French sentimentalists played a certain role in its formation. A significant merit in the formation of a new view of literature belongs to G.E. Lessing.
The origins of German sentimentalism lie in the controversy of the early 1740s between the Zurich professors I.Ya. Bodmer (1698–1783) and I.Ya. the "Swiss" defended the poet's right to poetic fantasy. The first major exponent of the new trend was Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, who found common ground between sentimentalism and the Germanic medieval tradition.
The heyday of sentimentalism in Germany falls on the 1770s-1780s and is associated with the Sturm und Drang movement, named after the drama of the same name. Sturm and Drang F.M. Klinger (1752–1831). Its participants set themselves the task of creating an original national German literature; from J.-J. Rousseau, they adopted a critical attitude towards civilization and the cult of the natural. The theorist of Sturm und Drang, the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, criticized the “boastful and fruitless education” of the Enlightenment, attacked the mechanical use of classic rules, arguing that true poetry is the language of feelings, first strong impressions, fantasy and passion, such a language is universal. "Stormy geniuses" denounced tyranny, protested against the hierarchy of modern society and its morality ( tomb of the kings K.F. Schubart, To freedom F.L. Shtolberg and others); their main character was a freedom-loving strong personality - Prometheus or Faust - driven by passions and not knowing any barriers.
In his younger years, Johann Wolfgang Goethe belonged to the Sturm und Drang direction. His romance The suffering of young Werther(1774) became a landmark work of German sentimentalism, defining the end of the "provincial stage" of German literature and its entry into European literature.
The spirit of "Sturm und Drang" marks the dramas of Johann Friedrich Schiller.
Sentimentalism in Russia.
Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s-early 1790s thanks to the translations of novels. Werther I.V. Goethe , Pamela, Clarissa And Grandison S. Richardson, New Eloise J.-J. Rousseau Fields and Virginie J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin Letters from a Russian traveler (1791–1792).
His romance Poor Liza (1792) - a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited the general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared Poor Masha A.E. Izmailova (1801), Journey to Noon Russia (1802), Henrietta, or The Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( The story of poor Mary; Unhappy Margarita; Beautiful Tatiana) etc.
Evgenia Krivushina
Sentimentalism in the theater
(French sentiment - feeling) - a direction in European theatrical art of the second half of the 18th century.
The development of sentimentalism in the theater is associated with the crisis of the aesthetics of classicism, which proclaimed a strict rationalistic canon of dramaturgy and its stage embodiment. The speculative constructions of classicist dramaturgy are being replaced by the desire to bring the theater closer to reality. This affects almost all components of the theatrical action: in the themes of plays (reflection of private life, development of family psychological plots); in language (classic pathos poetic speech is replaced by prose, close to colloquial intonation); in the social affiliation of the characters (the heroes of theatrical works become representatives of the third estate); in determining the places of action (palace interiors are replaced by "natural" and rural views).
"Tearful Comedy" - an early genre of sentimentalism - appeared in England in the work of playwrights Colley Cibber ( Love's last trick 1696;Carefree spouse, 1704 etc.), Joseph Addison ( godless, 1714; Drummer, 1715), Richard Steele ( Funeral, or fashionable sadness, 1701; lover liar, 1703; conscientious lovers, 1722, etc.). These were moralistic works, where the comic principle was consistently replaced by sentimental and pathetic scenes, moral and didactic maxims. The moral charge of the "tearful comedy" is based not on the ridicule of vices, but on the chanting of virtue, which awakens to correct shortcomings - both individual heroes and society as a whole.
The same moral and aesthetic principles formed the basis of the French "tearful comedy". Its most prominent representatives were Philip Detouche ( Married Philosopher, 1727; Proud, 1732; Waster, 1736) and Pierre Nivelle de Lachosset ( Melanida, 1741; mothers school, 1744; Governess, 1747 and others). Some criticism of social vices was presented by the playwrights as temporary delusions of the characters, which they successfully overcome by the end of the play. Sentimentalism was also reflected in the work of one of the most famous French playwrights of that time, Pierre Carlet Marivaux ( Game of love and chance, 1730; Triumph of love, 1732; Inheritance, 1736; upright, 1739, etc.). Marivaux, while remaining a faithful follower of the salon comedy, at the same time constantly introduces into it features of sensitive sentimentality and moral didactics.
In the second half of the 18th century "tearful comedy", remaining within the framework of sentimentalism, is gradually being replaced by the genre of petty-bourgeois drama. Here the elements of comedy finally disappear; the basis of the plots are the tragic situations of everyday life of the third estate. However, the problem remains the same as in the "tearful comedy": the triumph of virtue, which overcomes all trials and tribulations. In this single direction, the petty-bourgeois drama is developing in all countries of Europe: England (J. Lillo, The London Merchant, or The Story of George Barnwell; E.Moore, Player); France (D. Diderot, Illegitimate Son, or the Trial of Virtue; M. Seden, Philosopher without knowing it); Germany (G.E. Lessing, Miss Sarah Sampson, Emilia Galotti). From the theoretical developments and dramaturgy of Lessing, which received the definition of "philistine tragedy", the aesthetic trend of "Storm and Onslaught" arose (F.M. Klinger, J. Lenz, L. Wagner, I.V. Goethe, etc.), which reached its peak development in the work of Friedrich Schiller ( Rogues, 1780; Deceit and love, 1784).
Theatrical sentimentalism was also widely spread in Russia. First appearing in the work of Mikhail Kheraskov ( Friend of the unfortunate, 1774; Persecuted, 1775), the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism were continued by Mikhail Verevkin ( So it should,Birthdays,Exactly the same), Vladimir Lukin ( Mot, corrected by love), Petr Plavilshchikov ( Bobyl,Sidelets and etc.).
Sentimentalism gave a new impetus to acting, the development of which, in a certain sense, was hampered by classicism. The aesthetics of the classic performance of roles required strict observance of the conditional canon of the entire set of means of acting expressiveness, the improvement of acting skills went more along a purely formal line. Sentimentalism gave the actors the opportunity to turn to the inner world of their characters, to the dynamics of the development of the image, the search for psychological persuasiveness and the versatility of characters.
By the middle of the 19th century. the popularity of sentimentalism came to naught, the genre of petty-bourgeois drama practically ceased to exist. However, the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism formed the basis for the formation of one of the youngest theatrical genres - melodrama.
Tatyana Shabalina
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Sentimentalism is a trend in Western European art that originated in the second half of the 18th century. The name comes from the Latin sentiment - "feeling". Sentimentalism in painting differed from other trends in that it proclaimed the life of a “little” person in the village as the main object, reflecting also the result of his thoughts in solitude. Civilized urban society, built on the triumph of reason, thus faded into the background.
The current of sentimentalism embraced such genres of art as literature and painting.
The history of sentimentalism
The named trend in art arose in the second half of the 18th century in England. James Thomson (England) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France) are considered to be its main ideologists in literature, who stood at the foundations. The development of the direction was also reflected in the appearance of sentimentalism in painting.
Sentimentalist artists in their paintings showed the imperfection of modern urban civilization, based only on a cold mind and not attaching great importance to the sensory perception of the world. During the heyday of this trend, it was believed that truth could be achieved not in the process of logical thinking, but with the help of emotional perception of the world around.
The emergence of sentimentalism was also an opposition to the ideas of the Enlightenment and classicism. The thoughts of the enlighteners of the previous period were completely revised and rethought.
Sentimentalism as a style in art lasted until the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, becoming widespread in Western Europe. At the dawn of its heyday, the direction appeared in Russia and was embodied in the works of Russian artists. At the beginning of the next century, romanticism became the successor of sentimentalism.
Features of sentimentalism
With the advent of sentimentalism in the painting of the 18th century, new subjects for paintings began to appear. Artists began to give preference to the simplicity of compositions on canvas, trying to convey not only high skill, but also lively emotions with their work. Canvases with landscapes showed the tranquility, serenity of nature, and portraits reflected the naturalness of the people depicted. At the same time, the paintings of the era of sentimentalism very often convey excessive moralizing, increased and feigned sensitivity of their heroes.
Sentimentalist painting
Painting created by artists in the described direction reflects reality, repeatedly enhanced through the prism of emotions and feelings: it is the emotional component in the paintings that is paramount. Representatives of this trend believed that the main task of art is to evoke strong emotions in the observer, to make them empathize and sympathize with the main character of the picture. This is how, according to sentimentalists, reality is perceived: with the help of emotions, not thoughts and reason.
On the one hand, this approach has advantages, but it is also not without disadvantages. The paintings of some artists cause the observer to be rejected by their excessive emotionality, sugaryness and the desire to forcefully evoke a feeling of pity.
Heroes of portraits in the style of sentimentalism
Despite the possible shortcomings, the features of the era of sentimentalism in painting make it possible to see the inner life of a simple person, his conflicting emotions and constant experiences. That is why during the 18th century, portraits became the most popular type of genre for paintings. The heroes were depicted on them without any additional interior elements and objects.
The most famous representatives of this genre were such artists as P. Babin and A. Mordvinov. The characters portrayed by them have a pacified state of mind that is well readable by the viewer, although without excessive psychologism.
Another representative of sentimentalism, I. Argunov, painted pictures with a different vision. The people on his canvases are more realistic and far from idealized. The main object of attention is the faces, while other parts of the body, for example, hands, may not be drawn at all.
At the same time, Argunov in his portraits always singled out the leading color as a separate spot for greater expressiveness. One of the prominent representatives of the trend was also V. Borovikovsky, who painted his paintings in accordance with the typology of English portrait painters.
Very often, sentimentalists chose children as heroes of paintings. They were portrayed as mythological characters in order to convey the sincere spontaneity and character traits characteristic of children.
Sentimentalist artists
One of the main representatives of sentimentalism in painting was the French artist Jean-Baptiste Greuze. His works are distinguished by the simulated emotionality of the characters, as well as excessive moralizing. The artist's favorite subject was a portrait of a girl suffering from dead birds. In order to emphasize the instructive role of the plot, Grez accompanied his paintings with explanatory comments.
Other representatives of sentimentalism in painting are S. Delon, T. Jones, R. Wilson. In their works, the main features of this art direction are also observed.
The French artist Jean-Baptiste Chardin also performed some of his work in the named style, while supplementing the existing typology with his own innovations. Thus, he introduced elements of social motives into the work of the direction.
His work "Prayer before dinner", in addition to the features of sentimentalism, has the features of the Rococo style and carries an instructive overtones. She shows the importance of female education for the formation of elevated emotions in children. With the help of the picture, the artist aims to evoke various feelings in the observer, which is typical for the sentimental style of painting.
But, in addition, the canvas is replete with a large number of small details, bright and numerous colors, and there is also a complex composition available. Everything depicted is distinguished by a special grace: the interior of the room, the poses of the characters, the clothes. All of the above are important elements of the Rococo style.
Sentimentalism in Russian painting
This style came to Russia belatedly along with the popularity of antique cameos, which came into fashion thanks to the Empress Josephine. In Russia, artists combined sentimentalism with another popular trend - neoclassicism, thus forming a new style - Russian classicism in the form of romanticism. Representatives of this direction were V. Borovikovsky, I. Argunov and A. Venetsianov.
Sentimentalism asserted the need to consider the inner world of a person, the value of each individual. This became achievable due to the fact that artists began to show a person in an intimate setting, when he is left alone with his experiences and emotions.
Russian sentimentalists in their paintings placed the central figure of the hero in the picture of the landscape. Thus, man remained in the company of nature alone, where the opportunity arose to manifest the most natural emotional state.
Famous Russian sentimentalists
In Russian painting, sentimentalism almost did not manifest itself in its pure form, usually combined with other popular trends.
One of the most famous works, one way or another made in the style of sentimentalism, is the painting by V. Borovitsky “Portrait of Maria Lopukhina”. It depicts a young woman in a dress leaning on a railing. In the background you can see a landscape with birches and cornflowers. The heroine's face expresses thoughtfulness, trust in the environment and, at the same time, in the viewer. This work is rightfully considered the most outstanding object of Russian painting art. At the same time, there are clear features of sentimentalism in the style.
Another well-known representative of sentimentalism in Russian painting can be called A. Venetsianov with his paintings on pastoral themes: "Reapers", "Sleeping Shepherd", etc. They depict peaceful peasants who have found harmony in unity with Russian nature.
The trace of sentimentalism in history
Sentimentalism in painting was not distinguished by a single style and integrity, but gave rise to some features by which you can easily recognize the works of this direction. These include smooth transitions, refinement of lines, airiness of plots, a palette of colors with a predominance of pastel shades.
Sentimentalism laid the foundation for the fashion for medallions with portraits, ivory items, and fine painting. As already mentioned, in the 19th century, thanks to the Empress Josephine, antique cameos became widespread.
The End of the Age of Sentimentalism
In the 18th century, the direction in painting, sentimentalism, marked the beginning of the spread of such a style as romanticism. It became a logical continuation of the previous direction, but it also had opposite features. Romanticism is distinguished by high religiosity and sublime spirituality, while sentimentalism promoted the self-sufficiency of inner experiences and the richness of the inner world of one person.
Thus, the era of sentimentalism in painting and in other forms of art ended with the advent of a new style.
