Literature, like no other type of human creative activity, is connected with the social and historical life of people, being a bright and figurative source of its reflection. Fiction develops along with society, in a certain historical sequence, and we can say that it is a direct example of the artistic development of civilization. Each historical epoch is characterized by certain moods, views, worldview and worldview, which inevitably manifests itself in artistic literary works.
The commonality of worldview, supported by common artistic principles for creating a literary work among individual groups of writers, forms various literary trends. It is worth saying that the classification and selection of such areas in the history of literature is very conditional. Writers, creating their works in different historical eras, did not even suspect that literary critics would classify them as a literary trend over the years. However, for the convenience of historical analysis in literary criticism, such a classification is necessary. It helps to more clearly and structured to understand the complex processes of development of literature and art.
Major literary movements
Each of them is characterized by the presence of a number of well-known writers, who are united by a clear ideological and aesthetic concept set forth in theoretical works, and a general view of the principles of creating a work of art or an artistic method, which, in turn, acquires the historical and social features inherent in a certain direction.
In the history of literature, it is customary to distinguish the following main literary trends:
Classicism. It was formed as an artistic style and worldview by the 17th century. It is based on a passion for ancient art, which was taken as a role model. In an effort to achieve simplicity of perfection, similar to ancient models, the classicists developed strict canons of art, such as the unity of time, place and action in drama, which had to be strictly followed. The literary work was emphasized artificial, reasonably and logically organized, rationally built.
All genres were subdivided into high genres (tragedy, ode, epic), which sang heroic events and mythological plots, and low ones, depicting the everyday life of people of the lower classes (comedy, satire, fable). The classicists preferred dramaturgy and created a lot of works specifically for the theatrical stage, using not only words, but also visual images, a plot built in a certain way, facial expressions and gestures, scenery and costumes to express ideas. The entire seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries passed under the shadow of classicism, which was replaced by another direction after the destructive power of the French.
Romanticism is a comprehensive one that powerfully manifested itself not only in literature, but also in painting, philosophy and music, and in each European country it had its own specific features. Romantic writers were united by a subjective view of reality and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality, which forced them to construct other pictures of the world that lead away from reality. The heroes of romantic works are powerful extraordinary personalities, rebels who challenge the imperfection of the world, universal evil and perish in the struggle for happiness and universal harmony. Unusual heroes and unusual life circumstances, fantastic worlds and unrealistically strong deep feelings, the writers conveyed with the help of certain language of their works, very emotional, sublime.
Realism. The pathos and elation of romanticism changed this direction, the main principle of which was the depiction of life in all its earthly manifestations, very real typical heroes in real typical circumstances. Literature, according to realist writers, was supposed to become a textbook of life, so the characters were portrayed in all aspects of personality manifestation - social, psychological, historical. The main source that influences a person, shaping his character and worldview, is the environment, real life circumstances, with which the characters constantly come into conflict due to deep contradictions. Life and images are given in development, showing a certain trend.
Literary trends reflect the most general parameters and features of artistic creativity in a certain historical period in the development of society. In turn, within the framework of any direction, several trends can be distinguished, which are represented by writers with similar ideological and artistic attitudes, moral and ethical views, and artistic and aesthetic techniques. So, within the framework of romanticism, there were such currents as civil romanticism. Realist writers were also adherents of various currents. In Russian realism, it is customary to single out a philosophical and sociological trend.
Literary trends and currents - a classification created within the framework of literary theories. It is based on the philosophical, political and aesthetic views of epochs and generations of people at a certain historical stage in the development of society. However, literary trends can go beyond the boundaries of one historical era, so they are often identified with an artistic method common to a group of writers who lived at different times, but expressing similar spiritual and ethical principles.
The concepts of "direction", "flow", "school" refer to terms that describe the literary process - the development and functioning of literature on a historical scale. Their definitions are debatable in literary science.
In the 19th century, the direction was understood as the general nature of the content, ideas of all national literature or any period of its development. At the beginning of the 19th century, the literary trend was generally associated with the "mainstream of minds."
So, I. V. Kireevsky in the article “The Nineteenth Century” (1832) wrote that the dominant trend of the minds of the end of the XVIII century is destructive, and the new one consists in “the desire for a soothing equation of the new spirit with the ruins of old times ...
In literature, the result of this trend was the desire to harmonize imagination with reality, the correctness of forms with freedom of content ... in a word, what is called classicism in vain, with what is even more incorrectly called romanticism.
Even earlier, in 1824, V. K. Küchelbecker declared the direction of poetry as its main content in the article “On the direction of our poetry, especially lyric poetry, in the last decade.” Ks. A. Polevoi was the first in Russian criticism to use the word "direction" to certain stages in the development of literature.
In his article "On Directions and Parties in Literature" he called the direction "that inner striving of literature, often invisible to contemporaries, which gives character to all, or at least very many, works of literature in a certain given time... Its basis, in a general sense, is the idea of the modern era.
For "real criticism" - N. G. Chernyshevsky, N. A. Dobrolyubov - the direction was correlated with the ideological position of the writer or a group of writers. In general, the direction was understood as a variety of literary communities.
But the main feature that unites them is that the direction fixes the unity of the most general principles for the embodiment of artistic content, the commonality of the deep foundations of the artistic worldview.
This unity is often due to the similarity of cultural and historical traditions, often associated with the type of consciousness of the literary era, some scholars believe that the unity of direction is due to the unity of the writers' creative method.
There is no set list of literary trends, since the development of literature is associated with the specifics of the historical, cultural, social life of society, national and regional characteristics of a particular literature. However, traditionally there are such areas as classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, symbolism, each of which is characterized by its own set of formal and meaningful features.
For example, within the framework of a romantic worldview, general-purpose features of romanticism can be distinguished, such as the motives for the destruction of familiar boundaries and hierarchies, the ideas of “inspiring” synthesis that replaced the rationalistic concept of “connection” and “order”, awareness of man as the center and mystery of being , personality open and creative, etc.
But the concrete expression of these general philosophical and aesthetic foundations of the world outlook in the works of writers and their very outlook is different.
So, within romanticism, the problem of embodying universal, new, non-rational ideals was embodied, on the one hand, in the idea of rebellion, a radical reorganization of the existing world order (D. G. Byron, A. Mickiewicz, P. B. Shelley, K. F. Ryleev) , and on the other hand, in the search for one’s inner “I” (V. A. Zhukovsky), the harmony of nature and spirit (W. Wordsworth), religious self-improvement (F. R. Chateaubriand).
As we can see, such a commonality of principles is international, largely of different quality, and exists in a rather blurred chronological framework, which is largely due to the national and regional specifics of the literary process.
The same sequence of changes in direction in different countries usually serves as proof of their supranational character. This or that direction in each country acts as a national variety of the corresponding international (European) literary community.
According to this point of view, French, German, Russian classicism are considered varieties of the international literary trend - European classicism, which is a combination of the most common typological features inherent in all varieties of the trend.
But it should certainly be taken into account that often the national features of a particular direction can manifest themselves much more clearly than the typological similarity of varieties. In generalization, there is some schematism, which can distort the real historical facts of the literary process.
For example, classicism manifested itself most clearly in France, where it is presented as a complete system of both content and formal features of works, codified by theoretical normative poetics (The Poetic Art by N. Boileau). In addition, it is represented by significant artistic achievements that have influenced other European literature.
In Spain and Italy, where the historical situation developed differently, classicism turned out to be a direction largely imitative. Baroque literature turned out to be the leading one in these countries.
Russian classicism becomes the central trend in literature also not without the influence of French classicism, but acquires its own national sound, crystallizes in the struggle between the Lomonosov and Sumarok movements. There are many differences in the national varieties of classicism, and even more problems are connected with the definition of romanticism as a single pan-European trend, within which very different quality phenomena are often encountered.
Thus, the construction of pan-European and "world" models of trends as the largest units of the functioning and development of literature seems to be a very difficult task.
Gradually, along with “direction”, the term “flow” comes into circulation, often used synonymously with “direction”. So, D. S. Merezhkovsky in an extensive article “On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature” (1893) writes that “between writers with different, sometimes opposite temperaments, special mental currents, a special air, are established, as between opposite poles, brimming with creativity." It is he, according to the critic, that determines the similarity of "poetic phenomena", the works of different writers.
Often "direction" is recognized as a generic concept in relation to "flow". Both concepts denote the unity of leading spiritual-content and aesthetic principles arising at a certain stage of the literary process, covering the work of many writers.
The term "direction" in literature is understood as the creative unity of writers of a certain historical era, using common ideological and aesthetic principles for depicting reality.
The direction in literature is considered as a generalizing category of the literary process, as one of the forms of artistic worldview, aesthetic views, ways of displaying life, associated with a peculiar artistic style. In the history of national literatures of European peoples, such trends as classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, naturalism, and symbolism are distinguished.
Introduction to Literary Studies (N.L. Vershinina, E.V. Volkova, A.A. Ilyushin and others) / Ed. L.M. Krupchanov. - M, 2005
(Symbol - from the Greek. Symbolon - a conventional sign)- The central place is given to the symbol *
- The striving for the highest ideal prevails
- The poetic image is intended to express the essence of a phenomenon.
- Characteristic reflection of the world in two plans: real and mystical
- Elegance and musicality of the verse
Acmeism
(From the Greek "acme" - a point, the highest point). The literary current of acmeism arose in the early 1910s and was genetically associated with symbolism. (N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and V. Narbut.) M. Kuzmin's article "On Fine Clarity", published in 1910, had an influence on the formation. In the programmatic article of 1913, “The Legacy of Acmeism and Symbolism,” N. Gumilyov called symbolism “a worthy father,” but emphasized that the new generation had developed a “courageously firm and clear outlook on life”- Orientation towards classical poetry of the 19th century
- Acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness
- Objectivity and clarity of images, sharpness of details
- In rhythm, acmeists used dolnik (Dolnik is a violation of the traditional regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables. The lines coincide in the number of stresses, but stressed and unstressed syllables are freely located in the line.), which brought the poem closer to live colloquial speech
Futurism
Futurism - from lat. futurum, the future. Genetically, literary futurism is closely connected with the avant-garde groups of artists of the 1910s - primarily with the groups Jack of Diamonds, Donkey's Tail, and the Union of Youth. In 1909, in Italy, the poet F. Marinetti published the article "Manifesto of Futurism." In 1912, the manifesto “Slapping the Face of Public Taste” was created by Russian futurists: V. Mayakovsky, A. Kruchenykh, V. Khlebnikov: “Pushkin is more incomprehensible than hieroglyphs.” Futurism began to disintegrate already in 1915-1916.- Rebelliousness, anarchic worldview
- Rejection of cultural traditions
- Experiments in the field of rhythm and rhyme, figured arrangement of stanzas and lines
- Active word creation
Imagism
From lat. imago - image A literary trend in Russian poetry of the 20th century, whose representatives stated that the purpose of creativity was to create an image. The main expressive means of the Imagists is a metaphor, often metaphorical chains that compare various elements of two images - direct and figurative. Imagism arose in 1918, when the "Order of Imagists" was founded in Moscow. The creators of the "Order" were Anatoly Mariengof, Vadim Shershenevich and Sergei Yesenin, who was previously a member of the group of new peasant poets
Literary directions (theoretical material)
Classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism are the main literary trends.
The main features of literary movements :
· unite writers of a certain historical era;
· represent a special type of hero;
· express a certain worldview;
· choose characteristic themes and plots;
· use characteristic artistic techniques;
· work in certain genres;
· are distinguished by the style of artistic speech;
· put forward certain vital and aesthetic ideals.
Classicism
A trend in literature and art of the 17th - early 19th centuries, based on samples of ancient (classical) art. Russian classicism is characterized by national-patriotic themes associated with the transformations of the Petrine era.
Distinctive features:
· the significance of themes and plots;
· violation of the truth of life: utopianism, idealization, abstraction in the image;
· contrived images, schematic characters;
· edification of the work, strict division of heroes into positive and negative;
· the use of a language little understood by the common people;
· appeal to lofty heroic moral ideals;
· nationwide, civic orientation;
· the establishment of a hierarchy of genres: "high" (odes and tragedies), "medium" (elegies, historical writings, friendly letters) and "low" (comedies, satires, fables, epigrams);
· subordination of the plot and composition to the rules of the "three unities": time, space (place) and action (all events take place in 24 hours, in one place and around one storyline).
Representatives of classicism
Western European literature:
· P. Corneille - the tragedy "Sid", "Horace", "Cinna";
· J. Racine - the tragedy "Phaedra", "Midridat";
· Voltaire - the tragedy "Brutus", "Tancred";
· Molière - comedies "Tartuffe", "The tradesman in the nobility";
· N. Boileau - a treatise in verse "Poetic Art";
· J. Lafontaine - "Fables".
Russian literature
· M. Lomonosov - the poem "Conversation with Anacreon", "Ode on the day of accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, 1747";
· G. Derzhavin - ode to "Felitsa";
· A. Sumarokov - the tragedy "Khorev", "Sinav and Truvor";
· Y. Knyazhnin - the tragedy "Dido", "Rosslav";
· D. Fonvizin - comedies "Foreman", "Undergrowth".
Sentimentalism
Direction in literature and art of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. He declared that the dominant “human nature” was not reason, but feeling, and he sought the path to the ideal of a harmoniously developed personality in the release and improvement of “natural” feelings.
Distinctive features:
· disclosure of human psychology;
· feeling is proclaimed the highest value;
· interest in the common man, in the world of his feelings, in nature, in everyday life;
· idealization of reality, subjective image of the world;
· ideas of moral equality of people, organic connection with nature;
· the work is often written in the first person (the narrator is the author), which gives it lyricism and poetry.
Representatives of sentimentalism
· S. Richardson - the novel "Clarissa Harlow";
· - the novel "Julia, or New Eloise";
· - the novel "The suffering of young Werther".
Russian literature
· V. Zhukovsky - early poems;
· N. Karamzin - the story "Poor Lisa" - the pinnacle of Russian sentimentalism, "Bornholm Island";
· I. Bogdanovich - the poem "Darling";
· A. Radishchev (not all researchers attribute his work to sentimentalism, it is close to this trend only in its psychologism; travel notes “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”).
Romanticism
A trend in art and literature of the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries, reflecting the artist's desire to oppose reality and dream.
Distinctive features:
· unusual, exotic in the depiction of events, landscape, people;
· rejection of the prosaic nature of real life; expression of the worldview, which is characterized by daydreaming, idealization of reality, the cult of freedom;
· striving for the ideal, perfection;
· strong, bright, sublime image of a romantic hero;
· the image of a romantic hero in exceptional circumstances (in a tragic duel with fate);
· contrast in the mixture of high and low, tragic and comic, ordinary and unusual.
Representatives of romanticism
Western European literature
· J. Byron - poems "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", "Corsair";
· - drama "Egmont";
· I. Schiller - dramas "Robbers", "Cunning and Love";
· E. Hoffman - fantastic story "The Golden Pot"; fairy tales "Little Tsakhes", "Lord of Fleas";
· P. Merimee - short story "Carmen";
· V. Hugo - historical novel "Notre Dame Cathedral";
· W. Scott - historical novel "Ivanhoe".
Russian literature
The works of each era have similarities in figurative and thematic structure, repetition of plot moves, the unity of artistic thinking and the closeness of worldview views inherent only to them. Hence the main literary trends were formed.
Classicism
The name is given from the word "exemplary" in Latin. As an artistic style and literary movement, it appeared in Europe in the seventeenth century and dried up by the beginning of the nineteenth. Literary trends had no wider channel than this. Characteristics:
1. Appeal to antiquity - in images and forms - as an aesthetic standard.
2. Strict canons, harmony, logic: the inviolability of construction, like the universe.
3. Rationalism without individual signs and features, in the field of view only the eternal and unshakable.
4. Hierarchy: high and low genres (tragedy and comedy).
5. Unity of place, time and action, no side distracting lines.
Prominent representatives were Corneille, Lafontaine, Racine.
Romanticism
Literary trends usually grow out of each other, or a protest wave brings something new. The second is characteristic of the emergence at the end of the eighteenth century of romanticism, one of the largest movements in the history of literature. Romanticism was born in Europe and America almost simultaneously. Characteristic features: protest against the vulgarity of bourgeois life, for the poetry of everyday life and against prose, disappointment in the fruits of civilization. Cosmic pessimism and world sorrow. Confrontation between the individual and society, individualism. Separation of the real and ideal worlds, opposition. The romantic hero is highly spiritual, inspired and illuminated by the desire for the ideal. A new phenomenon appears in literature: local color, fairy tales, legends, beliefs flourish, the elements of nature are sung. The action often takes place in the most exotic places. Representatives: Byron, Keats, Schiller, Dumas père, Hugo, Lermontov, partly - Gogol.
Sentimentalism
In translation - "sensual". Literary trends consist of more or less noticeable currents. Sentimentalism is the essence of the current in line with pre-romanticism. It existed in Europe and America in the second half of the eighteenth century, ended by the middle of the nineteenth century. Not reason, but feeling extolled sentimentalism, not recognizing any rationalism, even enlightenment. Natural feeling and democracy are characteristic. For the first time there is an interest in the inner world of ordinary people. Unlike romanticism, sentimentalism rejected the irrational, it does not contain inconsistency, impulsiveness, impetuosity, inaccessible to rationalistic interpretation. He was strong in Russia and somewhat different from the Western one: the rational was nevertheless expressed quite clearly, moralizing and enlightening tendencies were present, the Russian language was improved and enriched through the use of vernacular. Favorite genres: message, epistolary novel, diaries - everything that helps confession. Representatives: Rousseau, young Goethe, Karamzin.
Naturalism
The literary currents that existed in Europe and North America during the last third of the nineteenth century include naturalism in their course. Characteristic features: objectivity, accurate depiction of the details and realities of human nature. Artistic and scientific knowledge were not separated in the methods of approach. Artistic text as a human document: the implementation of the act of cognition. Reality is a good teacher and without moralizing, there can be no bad plots and themes for a writer. Hence, in the works of naturalists there are quite a lot of purely literary shortcomings, such as plotlessness, indifference to public interests. Representatives: Zola, Maupassant, Dode, Dreiser, Norris, London, from Russians - Boborykin, in some works - Kuprin, Bunin, Veresaev.
Realism
Eternal. Born at the end of the nineteenth century, alive to this day. In priorities: the truth of life as the truth of literature. Images correspond to the essence of phenomena, literature as a means of knowing both oneself and the world around. Typification of characters through attention to detail. Life-affirming beginning, reality in the development of new phenomena, relationships, psychological types. Representatives: Balzac, Stendhal, Twain, Dickens. Russians - almost everything: Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Shukshin and so on.
Literary trends and currents not considered in the article, but having great representatives: symbolism - Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Rilke, Bryusov, Blok, Vyach. Ivanov; acmeism - Gumilyov, Gorodetsky, Mandelstam, Akhmatova, G. Ivanov; futurism - Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Burliuk, Severyanin, Shershenevich, Pasternak, Aseev; imagism - Yesenin, Klyuev.
