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Introduction
Critical realism (Greek kritike - judgment; sentencing, and lat. realis - real, real) - artistic direction, which is based on the principle of historicism, a truthful depiction of reality. In works critical realism writers tried not only to faithfully reproduce life in all its manifestations, but also to focus their attention on its social aspects, showing the injustice and immorality that reigns in society, thereby trying to actively influence it. Realism creates typical characters in typical circumstances. Literature is enriched in terms of genre: many varieties of the novel, the enrichment of the themes and structure of the short story, the rise of dramaturgy. One of the leading motives is the exposure of bourgeois society. Fight for freedom creative personality artist. Historical and revolutionary theme. The attention that realists pay to the individual helps them achieve success in portraying characters, and leads to a deepening of psychologism.
The desire to historically and scientifically substantiate their conclusions when depicting phenomena social life, the desire to always be at the level of the latest achievements of science, "to feel the pulse of your era," according to Balzac - that's what helped the realists to organize their artistic method.
1. How critical realism developed in the 19th century
The history of the development of critical realism in the literature of foreign countries:
The origin of critical realism dates back to the end of the 20s of the 19th century, its heyday - to the 30s-40s. Critical realism was born primarily in England and France, where such famous authors like: Balzac, Stendhal, Beranger, and in England - Dickens, Gaskell and Bronte.
Historical prerequisites for the development of critical realism. In the 30s years XIX century, there was a contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the working class. In Germany, France and England there is a wave of labor movement. In the enslaved countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic - the national liberation struggle is intensifying.
During these years, the rise of various areas of the culture of bourgeois society began. A powerful dawn of philosophy, natural, technical and historical sciences began. Already in the second half of the 19th century, natural science and biology were making great strides. It is no coincidence that Balzac, justifying his realistic method, sought support in natural science, recognized Cuvier and Saint-Hilaire as his teachers.
Historicism of Balzac, who conceived truthfulness to himself primarily as fidelity to history, its logic, is also a characteristic feature of realism, the development of which coincides with the period when historical sciences made huge strides.
It must be noted, however, that after the final consolidation of bourgeois society—after 1830—the same historians pass over to reactionary defensive positions, striving to strengthen the rule of the bourgeoisie, its undivided power over the exploited classes.
Hegel's dialectical method, already established in the first quarter XIX century.
Finally, in the 1940s, in the pre-revolutionary situation that had developed in a number of countries (France, Germany, Hungary), the scientific socialism of Marx and Engels arose, which was the greatest revolution in the history of human thought.
Those are in in general terms historical and cultural-philosophical prerequisites for the development of critical realism in foreign literature XIX century.
Critical Realism in Russian Literature:
Critical realism in Russia arose during a period of severe crisis in the autocratic-serf system, when the advanced circles of Russian society fought for the abolition of serfdom and democratic reforms. A feature of the historical aspect of the development of Russia mid-nineteenth century is the situation after the Decembrist uprising, as well as the emergence of secret societies and circles, the appearance of the works of A.I. Herzen, a circle of Petrashevites. This time is characterized by the beginning of the raznochin movement in Russia, as well as the acceleration of the process of formation of world artistic culture, including Russian.
2. Creativity of realist writers
Typical features of critical realism:
The object of the image of critical realists is human life in all its manifestations. Not only the spiritual and ideal activity of a person was depicted, but also everyday life, public affairs. In this regard, the boundaries of literature have greatly expanded - the prose of life has wedged into it. Everyday, everyday motives have become an indispensable companion realistic works. The main characters have also changed. Romantic characters living in a world of high spiritual values and ideals have been replaced by the image of an ordinary historical man in the present and natural world. The critical realist shows man not only in his ideal, but also in his concrete historical essence.
The characters behave in a completely ordinary way, doing ordinary things. daily affairs: go to the service, lie on the couch, think about the eternal and about where bread is cheaper. Through the interweaving of concrete human destinies a realist writer reveals certain patterns of society. And the wider his view, the deeper his generalization. And, conversely, the narrower his ideological outlook, the more he dwells on the external, empirical side of reality, unable to penetrate to its foundations.
And so, a typical feature of this style is the image of a “living” person. The real, in its entirety and vital manifestations. They did not avoid real images of time, places: urban slums, crises, revolutions. Realist writers, revealing the contrasts of society, raised the self-awareness of the people, sought to point out the main problems public life that time. Arguing with aestheticians who called for the display of only beauty, Belinsky wrote back in 1835: “We demand not the ideal of life, but life itself as it is. Is it bad or good, but we don’t want to decorate it, because in a poetic representation it is equally beautiful in both cases, and precisely because it is true, and because where there is truth, there is poetry.
It was necessary to prove that even negative characters can become artistically beautiful if they truly capture the objective content of reality, if the writer expressed his critical attitude towards them. Similar thoughts were expressed by Diderot and Lessing, but they received a particularly deep justification in the aesthetics of Belinsky and other Russian revolutionary democrats.
The principle of depicting a person and society:
Not wanting to be limited only by the external actions of a person, realist writers also revealed the psychological side, social conditioning. The principle was to describe the individual in unity with the environment. It `s naturally.
The character himself is a very specific person representing certain public circles with socio-historical concreteness. His thoughts, feelings, actions are typical because they are socially motivated.
The image of a person in social relations was not the discovery of Gogol or Balzac. In the work of Fielding, Lessing, Schiller, Goethe, the characters were also portrayed socially specifically. But there is still a difference. In the 19th century changed understanding of the social environment. It began to include not only the ideological superstructure, but also the economic relations of the era. Enlighteners of the 18th century focused on the manifestations of serfdom in the ideological sphere. Critical realists go further. They direct the fire of criticism at property inequality, at class contradictions, at the economic foundations of society. Artistic research penetrates here into the economic, class structure of life.
Writers of critical realism understand the objective laws of life, the real prospects for development. Society for them is an objective process that is being studied in search of the germs of the future. It is worth judging realists by the veracity of the image, the image of history and its understanding.
In the works of many writers realistic direction(Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and others), the real processes of life are captured not in their economic, but in their ideological, spiritual refraction, as a clash in the spiritual sphere of fathers and children, representatives of various ideological currents, etc., but the dialectics of living social development is reflected in here. Turgenev and Dostoevsky are made realists by not truthfully outlined sienna privacy Kirsanov or Marmeladov, but the ability to show the dialectics of history, its objective movement from lower to higher forms.
When depicting a person, the critical realist takes reality as the starting point, he carefully studies it in order to find the motives that determine the actions of his characters. His focus is on complex public relations personality. He is alien to the desire to endow actors works with their own subjective thoughts and experiences.
3. Realist writers of the 19th century and their critical realism
critical realism artistic herzen
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1993): he passionately, painfully hated the bourgeois world and everything connected with it. He painfully searched for antitheses to this world - and found it in the democratic strata of society, in the French people.
Works: short stories - "Dumbnut", "Old Sauvage", "Crazy", "Prisoners", "Chair Weaver", "Papa Simone".
Romain Rolland (1866-1944): the meaning of being and creativity initially consisted in faith in the beautiful, kind, bright, which never left the world - it is simply necessary to be able to see, feel and convey to people.
Works: the novel "Jean Christoff", the story "Pierre and Luce".
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880): His work indirectly reflected the contradictions of the French Revolution of the mid-nineteenth century. The desire for truth and hatred for the bourgeoisie were combined in him with social pessimism and distrust in the people.
Works: novels - "Madam Bovary", "Salambo", "Education of the Senses", "Bouvard and Pécuchet" (not finished), novels - "The Legend of Julian the Hospitable", "A Simple Soul", "Herodias", also created several plays and extravaganza.
Stendhal (1783-1842): The work of this writer opens the period classical realism. It is Stendhal who takes the lead in substantiating the main principles and programs for the formation of realism, theoretically stated in the first half of the 19th century, when romanticism still dominated, and soon brilliantly embodied in artistic masterpieces. eminent novelist that time.
Works: novels - "Parma Convent", "Armans", "Lucien Leven", stories - "Vittoria Accoramboni", "Duchess di Palliano", "Cenci", "Abbess of Castro".
Charles Dickens (1812-1870): Dickens's works are full of deep drama, social contradictions are sometimes tragic character, which they did not have in the interpretation of the writers of the XVIII century. Dickens also deals with the life and struggle of the working class in his work.
Works: "Nicholas Nickleby", "The Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewitt", "Hard Times", "Christmas Stories", "Dombey and Son", "The Antiquities Shop".
William Thackeray (1811-1863): Arguing with the Romantics, he demands strict truthfulness from the artist. "Let the truth not always be pleasant, but there is nothing better than the truth." The author is not inclined to depict a person as either a notorious scoundrel or an ideal being. unlike Dickens, he avoided happy endings. Thackeray's satire is riddled with skepticism: the writer does not believe in the possibility of changing life. He enriched the English realistic novel by introducing the author's commentary.
Works: The Book of Snobs, Vanity Fair, Pendennis, The Career of Barry Lyndon, The Ring and the Rose.
Pushkin A.S. (1799-1837): founder of Russian realism. Pushkin is dominated by the idea of the Law, the patterns that determine the state of civilization, social structures, the place and importance of a person, his independence and connection with the whole, the possibility of authorial sentences.
Works: "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter", "Dubrovsky", "Eugene Onegin", "Tales of Belkin".
Gogol N.V. (1809-1852): a world far from any ideas about the law, vulgar everyday life, in which all concepts of honor and morality, conscience are mutilated - in a word, Russian reality, worthy of grotesque ridicule: "to blame everything on the mirror, if the face is crooked" .
Works: "Dead Souls", "Notes of a Madman", "Overcoat".
Lermontov M.Yu. (1814-1841): sharp enmity with the divine world order, with the laws of society, lies and hypocrisy, all kinds of upholding the rights of the individual. The poet strives for a specific image of the social environment, life individual person: combining the features of early realism and mature romanticism into an organic unity.
Works: "Hero of Our Time", "Demon", "Fatalist".
Turgenev I.S. (1818-1883): Turgenev is interested in moral world people from the people. The main feature of the cycle of stories was truthfulness, which contained the idea of the liberation of the peasantry, presented the peasants as spiritually active people capable of independent activity. Despite his reverent attitude towards the Russian people, Turgenev the realist did not idealize the peasantry, seeing, like Leskov and Gogol, their shortcomings.
Works: "Fathers and Sons", "Rudin", " Noble Nest"," The day before.
Dostoevsky F.M. (1821-1881): Regarding Dostoevsky's realism, it was said that he had a "fantastic realism." D. believes that in exceptional, unusual situations, the most typical appears. The writer noticed that all his stories were not invented, but taken from somewhere. Main feature: creating a philosophical basis with the detective - there is a murder everywhere.
Works: "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot", "Demons", "Teenager", "The Brothers Karamazov".
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth saying that the development of realism in the 19th century was a revolution in the field of art. This direction opened the eyes of society, the era of revolutions and drastic changes began. Artworks writers of the 19th centuries, which absorbed the trends of that era, are relevant to this day. Getting your characters as close as possible to real images, writers have revealed a person from all sides, helping readers to find themselves, to solve those pressing problems that a person faces in everyday life, and which no romantic or classic writer will write about.
Why did I choose this particular style? Because I believe that of all literary movements, it is critical realism that has the power to turn society upside down and bring about changes both spiritually and political life of people. This is the kind of literature that is really worth reading.
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Realism (from late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is extraordinarily rich. The very idea of him changed to different stages artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a true depiction of reality.
Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Ch. Dickens " Posthumous notes Pickwick Club.
Illustration by O. Vereisky for Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina".
Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.
Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev".
B. Zaborov's illustration for M. Andersen-Neksø's novel Ditte is a Human Child.
However, the concept of truth, truth - one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theorist French classicism N. Boileau called to be guided by the truth, "to imitate nature." But the ardent opponent of classicism, the romantic V. Hugo, urged "to consult only with nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature." Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".
The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist's point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to catch the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.
The specific features of realism depend on those historical conditions where art develops. National-historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.
Realism is not something once and for all given and unchanging. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.
There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about realism rock paintings primitive people, about the realism of ancient sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of the ancient world and early medieval(in the folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as art system in European literatures It is customary to associate with the Renaissance (Renaissance), the greatest progressive upheaval. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church preaching of slavish obedience was reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After medieval churchmen preached for centuries that man is a "vessel of sin" and called for humility, the literature and art of the Renaissance glorified man as the highest creation of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the wealth of soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), poetization human personality, her ability to a great feeling (as in "Romeo and Juliet") and at the same time the high intensity of the tragic conflict, when the clash of the personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted.
The next stage in the development of realism is the Enlightenment (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument for the direct preparation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the enlighteners were supporters of classicism, their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the XVIII century. So-called Enlightenment realism is taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. The English realistic novel, the founder of which was D. Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), acquired world significance. A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy by P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy "Treachery and Love" by J. F. Schiller, and the images of peasants by A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners assessed all the phenomena of social life and the actions of people as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable, first of all, in all the old feudal orders and customs). From this they proceeded in the depiction of the human character; them goodies- this is primarily the embodiment of reason, negative - a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, barbarism of former times.
Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: "Let's say that a person ended up on a desert island ...". At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson's behavior not as it could be in reality (the prototype of his hero became wild, even lost articulate speech), but as he wants to present a person, fully armed with his physical and mental powers, as a hero, a conqueror of forces. nature. Just as conventional is Goethe's Faust, shown in the struggle for the affirmation of lofty ideals. The features of a well-known convention also distinguish the comedy of D. I. Fonvizin "Undergrowth".
A new type of realism takes shape in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its heyday in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov.
Critical realism portrays in a new way the relationship of man and environment. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The inner world of a person became the subject of deep social analysis; therefore, critical realism simultaneously becomes psychological. In preparation for this quality of realism big role played romanticism, seeking to penetrate the secrets of the human "I".
Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some absolute superiority over the previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.
The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation, characteristic of the enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.
The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. 19th century Marxism not only influenced the literature of critical realism, but also brought to life the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the standpoint of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, the author of the "Internationale" E. Pottier, new features are outlined, anticipating the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.
In Russia, the 19th century is a period of exceptional strength and scope for the development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, win it world recognition.
The richness and diversity of the Russian realism XIX in. allow us to talk about its different forms.
Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who brought Russian literature to wide way images of "the fate of the people, the fate of man." In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin, as it were, makes up for its former lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with its universality and optimism, turns out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. The foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school, are laid in Pushkin's work.
Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats, headed by N. G. Chernyshevsky, gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).
A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It is thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired global importance. Them psychological skill, penetration into the "dialectics of the soul" opened the way for the artistic searches of writers of the 20th century. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.
The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “the mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.
The creative scope of Russian social realism is reflected in the wealth of genres, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary publicistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of realistic storytelling and a kind of “lyrical drama”.
It is important to emphasize that Russian realism of the XIX century. did not develop in isolation from the world historical and literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, according to K. Marx and F. Engels, "the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become common property."
F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “ability for universality, all-humanity, all-response”. Here it is not so much about Western influences how much about the organic development in line with the European culture of its centuries-old traditions.
At the beginning of the XX century. the appearance of M. Gorky's plays "The Philistines", "At the Bottom" and in particular the novel "Mother" (and in the West - the novel by M. Andersen-Neksö "Pelle the Conqueror") testifies to the formation socialist realism. In the 20s. announces itself with great success Soviet literature and in the early 1930s in many capitalist countries there is a literature of the revolutionary proletariat. The literature of socialist realism is becoming an important factor world literary development. At the same time, it should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more ties with artistic experience XIX century than literature in the West (including socialist).
The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, acceleration revolutionary process around the world under the influence October revolution and the existence of the Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world socialist system - all this affected the fate of realism.
Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until October (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development, while undergoing significant changes. In the critical realism of the XX century. in the West, a wide variety of influences are more freely assimilated and crossed, including some features of the unrealistic trends of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.
From about the 20s. in the literatures of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of a “stream of consciousness”. There is a so-called intellectual novel by T. Mann; acquires special meaning subtext, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “ Quiet Don" M. A. Sholokhov, "Walking through the agony" by A. N. Tolstoy, "The dead remain young" by A. Zegers).
Unlike the realists of the XIX century. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Capek), to conventionality (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the XX century. triumphs document, fact. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.
So, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O "Casey, I. Becher are works of great generalizing meaning, such classic books socialist realism, such as Yu. Fuchik's "Report with a noose around his neck" and A. A. Fadeev's "Young Guard".
Realism is usually called a direction in art and literature, whose representatives strove for a realistic and truthful reproduction of reality. In other words, the world was portrayed as typical and simple, with all its advantages and disadvantages.
General features of realism
Realism in literature is distinguished by a number of common features. First, life was portrayed in images that corresponded to reality. Secondly, the reality for the representatives of this trend has become a means of knowing themselves and the world around them. Thirdly, the images on the pages of literary works were distinguished by the truthfulness of details, specificity and typification. It is interesting that the art of the realists, with their life-affirming positions, strove to consider reality in development. Realists discovered new social and psychological relations.
The emergence of realism
Realism in literature as a form artistic creation originated in the Renaissance, developed during the Enlightenment and proved to be independent direction only in the 30s of the 19th century. The first realists in Russia include the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin (he is sometimes even called the ancestor of this trend) and no less outstanding writer N.V. Gogol with his novel Dead Souls. Concerning literary criticism, then within its limits the term "realism" appeared thanks to D. Pisarev. It was he who introduced the term into journalism and criticism. Realism in 19th century literature hallmark of that time, having its own characteristics and characteristics.
Features of literary realism
Representatives of realism in literature are numerous. The most famous and outstanding writers include Stendhal, C. Dickens, O. Balzac, L.N. Tolstoy, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, F.M. Dostoevsky, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner and many others. All of them worked on the development of the creative method of realism and embodied in their works its most striking features in inseparable connection with their own unique features.
The founder of Russian realism, the discoverer of the "poetry of reality" is rightfully considered Pushkin - the creator of "Eugene Onegin" and "Boris Godunov", "Tales of Belkin", "Dubrovsky" and "The Bronze Horseman", " Queen of Spades" and " captain's daughter". In his work - for the first time - the line between the "high", "poetic" and "low" spheres of being was overcome, the view of society as a historically established integrity, subject to objective laws independent of man, was established. Under the pen of Pushkin the realist, Russian antiquity and Russian modernity appeared in their fullness and diversity, in the clash of opposing forces, the richness and complexity of characters, national historical types: “an extra person” (Onegin), a decisive, passionate and selfless female nature (Tatiana) , "little man" (Samson Vyrin), leader peasant uprising(Pugachev), an egoistic individual striving with all his might for self-affirmation and enrichment (Hermann). Pushkin's work in many ways anticipated the development of Russian literature in the 19th century.
At the same time, Pushkin's realism is still far from the socio-historical determinism characteristic of mature realistic art. This is partly due to the fact that it (like the realism of the first half of the century in general) matured and developed within romanticism. Romanticism and realism at that time moved in the same direction and were not isolated, separated from each other.
What determined, what was the basis for the coexistence of romanticism and realism in Pushkin's work?
Romanticism - in the understanding of Pushkin - is a synonym for freedom, the embodiment of rebellion and protest against the stagnation and immobility of life. In the first years of his stay in the South, the poet closely followed the course of revolutionary events in European countries, he had no doubt that the revolution would break out in Russia, and fervently believed in its success. All the more painfully did he perceive the news of the defeat of the national liberation movements, of the triumph - on a worldwide scale - of the forces of reaction.
Reflecting on the reasons for the failures of the liberation movement, Pushkin was more and more inclined to think that even if the greatest of people, even bright and strong personalities are not able to change and rebuild the world. The life of mankind is subject to some inevitable laws independent of man, which cannot be disregarded. The poet is now discovering the irresistible "force of things", the need to take into account real-life circumstances and the alignment of social forces, the inertia of age-old habits and traditions, and the uniqueness of the national-historical life of the people. In other words, the possibility of realizing lofty romantic ideals, which previously seemed achievable, turned for him into a sharp and painful problem. Search real ways to implement romantic ideal and make up the most important feature, the most important contradiction of Pushkin's creativity, which largely predetermined the conjugation, the solidarity of romantic and realistic principles in it.
If earlier, at the time of the “southern” poems, the poet, together with his heroes, dreamed of finding the realm of freedom outside the modern realistic society, now, having made sure that “the fate of people is the same everywhere”, he seeks to find the possibilities of freedom within the boundaries of existence - within the framework of the order of things, determined and approved by the logic of life circumstances and national-historical traditions. That is why in "Eugene Onegin" and "Boris Godunov", two of the greatest creations of the "post-crisis" era, Pushkin addresses the problem of human social existence and the problem of power - the main factors defining, regulating the boundaries and possibilities of personal freedom. Let's move on to Pushkin's novel in verse.
Realism is a trend in literature and art, truthfully and realistically reflecting the typical features of reality, in which there are no various distortions and exaggerations. This direction followed romanticism, and was the forerunner of symbolism.
This trend originated in the 30s of the 19th century and reached its peak by the middle of it. His followers strongly denied the use of literary works any sophisticated tricks, mystical trends and idealization of characters. The main feature of this trend in the literature is artistic display real life with the help of ordinary and well-known readers of images that for them are part of their daily lives (relatives, neighbors or acquaintances).
(Alexey Yakovlevich Voloskov "At the tea table")
The works of realist writers are distinguished by a life-affirming beginning, even if their plot is characterized by tragic conflict. One of the main features of this genre is the authors' attempt to consider surrounding reality in its development, to discover and describe new psychological, social and social relations.
Having replaced romanticism, realism has the characteristic features of art, seeking to find truth and justice, wishing to change the world in better side. The main characters in the works of realist authors make their discoveries and conclusions after much thought and deep introspection.
(Zhuravlev Firs Sergeevich "Before the wedding")
Critical realism is developing almost simultaneously in Russia and Europe (approximately 30-40s of the 19th century) and soon emerges as the leading trend in literature and art throughout the world.
In France, literary realism is primarily associated with the names of Balzac and Stendhal, in Russia with Pushkin and Gogol, in Germany with the names of Heine and Buchner. All of them are experiencing in their literary creativity the inevitable influence of romanticism, but gradually move away from it, abandon the idealization of reality and move on to depicting a wider social background, where the life of the main characters takes place.
Realism in Russian literature of the 19th century
The main founder of Russian realism in the 19th century is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. In his works " captain's daughter”, “Eugene Onegin”, “Tales of Belkin”, “Boris Godunov”, “ Bronze Horseman"He subtly captures and masterfully conveys the very essence of all important events in the life of Russian society, presented by his talented pen in all its diversity, colorfulness and inconsistency. Following Pushkin, many writers of that time came to the genre of realism, deepening the analysis of the emotional experiences of their heroes and depicting their complex inner world (Lermontov's Hero of Our Time, Gogol's The Inspector General and Dead Souls).
(Pavel Fedotov "The Picky Bride")
The tense socio-political situation in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I aroused a keen interest in life and fate common people progressive public figures that time. This is noted in later works Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol, as well as in the poetic lines of Alexei Koltsov and the works of the authors of the so-called " natural school»: I.S. Turgenev (a cycle of stories "Notes of a Hunter", stories "Fathers and Sons", "Rudin", "Asya"), F.M. Dostoevsky ("Poor People", "Crime and Punishment"), A.I. Herzen (“The Thieving Magpie”, “Who is to blame?”), I.A. Goncharova (" ordinary story”, “Oblomov”), A.S. Griboyedov "Woe from Wit", L.N. Tolstoy ("War and Peace", "Anna Karenina"), A.P. Chekhov (stories and plays "The Cherry Orchard", "Three Sisters", "Uncle Vanya").
Literary realism of the second half of the 19th century was called critical, main task his works were to highlight existing problems, touch upon the issues of interaction between a person and the society in which he lives.
Realism in Russian Literature of the 20th Century
(Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky "Evening")
The turning point in the fate of Russian realism was the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, when this trend was in crisis and a new phenomenon in culture, symbolism, loudly declared itself. Then a new updated aesthetics of Russian realism arose, in which the main environment that forms the personality of a person was now considered History itself and its global processes. The realism of the early 20th century revealed the complexity of the formation of a person's personality, it was formed under the influence of not only social factors, the story itself acted as the creator of typical circumstances, under the aggressive influence of which the protagonist fell.
(Boris Kustodiev "Portrait of D.F. Bogoslovsky")
There are four main currents in the realism of the early twentieth century:
- Critical: continues the tradition of classical realism of the mid-19th century. The works focus on the social nature of phenomena (creativity of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy);
- Socialist: displaying the historical and revolutionary development of real life, conducting an analysis of conflicts in the conditions of the class struggle, revealing the essence of the characters of the main characters and their actions committed for the benefit of others. (M. Gorky "Mother", "The Life of Klim Samgin", most of the works of Soviet authors).
- Mythological: display and rethinking of real life events through the prism of plots famous myths and legends (L.N. Andreev "Judas Iscariot");
- Naturalism: an extremely truthful, often unsightly, detailed depiction of reality (A.I. Kuprin "The Pit", V.V. Veresaev "Notes of a Doctor").
Realism in foreign literature of the 19th-20th centuries
The initial stage of the formation of critical realism in Europe in the middle of the 19th century is associated with the works of Balzac, Stendhal, Beranger, Flaubert, Maupassant. Merimee in France, Dickens, Thackeray, Brontë, Gaskell in England, the poetry of Heine and other revolutionary poets in Germany. In these countries, in the 30s of the 19th century, tension was growing between two irreconcilable class enemies: the bourgeoisie and the labor movement; various fields bourgeois culture, there are a number of discoveries in natural science and biology. In countries where a pre-revolutionary situation has developed (France, Germany, Hungary), the doctrine of scientific socialism of Marx and Engels arises and develops.
(Julien Dupre "Return from the fields")
As a result of a complex creative and theoretical debate with the followers of romanticism, critical realists took for themselves the best progressive ideas and traditions: interesting historical themes, democracy, trends folklore, progressive critical pathos and humanistic ideals.
Realism of the early 20th century that survived the struggle the best representatives"classics" of critical realism (Flaubert, Maupassant, France, Shaw, Rolland) with the trends of new unrealistic trends in literature and art (decadence, impressionism, naturalism, aestheticism, etc.) acquires new characteristic features. He refers to social phenomena real life, describes the social motivation of the human character, reveals the psychology of the individual, the fate of art. The modeling of artistic reality is based on philosophical ideas, the author's attitude is given, first of all, to the intellectually active perception of the work when reading it, and then to the emotional one. A classic example of intellectual realistic novel are the writings German writer Thomas Mann's "Magic Mountain" and "Confession of the Adventurer Felix Krul", dramaturgy by Bertolt Brecht.
(Robert Kohler "Strike")
In the works of the author-realists of the twentieth century, the dramatic line intensifies and deepens, there is more tragedy (creativity American writer Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby", "Tender is the Night"), appears special interest to inner world person. Attempts to depict the conscious and unconscious life moments of a person lead to the emergence of a new literary device, close to modernism called the "stream of consciousness" (works by Anna Zegers, W. Koeppen, Y. O'Neill). Naturalistic elements appear in the work of American realist writers such as Theodore Dreiser and John Steinbeck.
The realism of the twentieth century has a bright life-affirming color, faith in man and his strength, this is noticeable in the works of American realist writers William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Mark Twain. The works of Romain Rolland, John Galsworthy, Bernard Shaw, Erich Maria Remarque enjoyed great popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Realism continues to exist as a trend in modern literature and is one of the most important forms of democratic culture.
