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 it changed at different stages of artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a truthful depiction of reality.
Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens "The Posthumous Papers of the 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. So, for example, the theoretician of French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth, "imitating 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 the historical conditions in which 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 the realism of cave paintings of 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 the early Middle Ages (in the folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as an artistic system in European literatures is usually associated 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 the images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), the poeticization of the human personality, its ability to have 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; their positive heroes are, first of all, the embodiment of reason, the negative ones are a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, the 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 the relationship between man and the environment in a new way. 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 preparing this quality of realism, romanticism played a large role, striving 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 Russian realism of the XIX century. allow us to talk about its different forms.
Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature to a wide path of depicting “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 world significance. Their 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 we are talking not so much about Western influences, but 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 "Pelle the Conqueror" by M. Andersen-Neksö) testifies to the formation of socialist realism. In the 20s. Soviet literature declares itself with major successes, 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 in world literary development. At the same time, it should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more links with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).
The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence of the 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. was further developed, 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; subtext acquires special significance, 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, “The Quiet Flows the Don” by M. A. Sholokhov, “Walking Through the Torments” 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, such classic books of socialist realism as Reportage with a noose around the neck by Y. Fuchik and The Young Guard by A. A. Fadeeva.
As you already know, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the aesthetic system of Russian realism was significantly updated. Traditional realism, in the form in which it had developed in the previous century, was engulfed by crisis phenomena. But the crisis was fruitful in this case, and realistic aesthetics came out of it renewed. The realism of the 20th century changed the traditional system of character motivation. The understanding of the environment that forms the personality has expanded to the utmost: history, global historical processes now acted as typical circumstances. The man (and the literary hero) was now face to face with history itself. This affected the confidence of realist artists in the individual. At the same time, in the process of artistic assimilation of the changing world, the dangers that confronted the personality were revealed. The most important thing for a person turned out to be under threat: his private being.
In the 20th century, the right to private life was questioned. A person turned out to be drawn by reality into the cycle of historical events - often against his own will. History itself, as it were, formed typical circumstances, the aggressive influence of which the literary hero was subjected to.
In the literature of the 19th century, the right of private existence was declared as natural and inalienable: after all, it was the “extra person” like Onegin or Pechorin who asserted it with his fate and social behavior; Ilya Ilyich Oblomov claimed it, preferring a sofa in a house on Gorokhovaya Street to the prospect of public service; it was claimed by Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, who retired to a noble nest from the hardships that befell him.
M. Gorky played an important role in the development of realism at the beginning of the 20th century. Perhaps for the first time in Russian literary history, this writer deprived his literary hero of the right to be Robinson - to be in society and at the same time out of society. Historical time has become the most important factor influencing the character in the Gorky epic. Interaction with him - sometimes positive, sometimes destructive - none of his heroes could avoid. Tolstoy also had characters who, as it were, did not notice the surroundings, stepping up the career ladder: Bergi, Drubetsky, Helen. But if the Bergis and Kuragins could close themselves within the limits of their social clan, then Gorky no longer left such a right to his heroes. His characters cannot escape reality, even if they really want to.
Klim Samghin, the hero of the four-volume epic "The Life of Klim Samghin", experiences the oppressive force of social circumstances, the real violence of the historical process, war, revolution. However, this historical "violence", studied by the writer, just became a factor that modified realism, giving it new and very powerful impulses of self-renewal. Having survived the painful crisis of the turn of the century, realism did not at all give up its positions in literature; on the contrary, it led to amazing artistic discoveries, without which not only Russian, but also European culture of the new century is inconceivable. Ho realism has become completely different than in the last century. The renewal of realism manifested itself primarily in the interpretation of the question of the interaction of characters and circumstances, which is primordial for this literary trend.
This interaction becomes truly bidirectional. Now not only the character experiences the influence of the environment: the possibility and even the necessity of a “reverse” influence - the hero on the environment - are affirmed. A new concept of personality is being formed: a person who is not reflective, but creative, who realizes himself not in the sphere of private intrigue, but in the public arena.
The prospects for a good re-creation of the world opened up before the hero and before the artist. But these hopes were not always destined to be realized. Perhaps future historians of Russian literature will call the period of the 1920s and 1930s a period of unfulfilled hopes, which were bitterly disappointed in the second half of the century. While asserting the rights of the individual to transform the world, the new literature also asserted the rights of the individual to violence in relation to this world - even if it was carried out for good purposes.
The bottom line is that revolution was conceived as the most accessible and natural form of this transformation. The next logical step was to justify revolutionary violence not only in relation to another person, but also in relation to the general foundations of being. Violence was justified by a high goal: on the ruins of the old unjust world, it was supposed to create a new, ideal world, a world based on goodness and justice.
Such a change in realistic aesthetics was associated with an attempt by realism to adapt to the worldview of a person of the 20th century, to new philosophical, aesthetic, and simply everyday realities. And renewed realism, as we will conditionally call it, coped with this task, became adequate to the thinking of a man of the 20th century. In the 1930s, he reached his artistic peak: the epics of M. Gorky “The Life of Klim Samgin”, M. Sholokhov “The Quiet Don”, A. Tolstoy “Walking Through the Pains”, novels by L. Leonov, K. Fedin and other realists appeared .
But next to renewed realism in the 1920s, an aesthetic different from it arises, genetically, however, also ascending to realism. In the 1920s, it did not yet dominate, but actively developed, as it were, in the shadow of a renewed realism, the formation of which gives undoubted artistic results. But it was the new direction that brought to literature, first of all, the anti-humanistic pathos of violence against the individual, society, the desire to destroy the whole world around him in the name of the revolutionary ideal.
Research functions, traditional for realism, give way to purely illustrative functions, when the mission of literature is seen in the creation of some ideal model of the social and natural world. Belief in tomorrow's ideal is so strong that a person struck by a utopian idea is ready to sacrifice the past and present just because they do not correspond to the ideal of the future. The principles of artistic typification are changing: it is no longer a study of typical characters in their interaction with a realistic environment, but the assertion of normative (should be from the standpoint of a certain social ideal) characters in normative circumstances. This aesthetic system, fundamentally different from the new realism, we will call normativism.
The paradox of the situation lay in the fact that neither in the public consciousness, nor in the literary-critical everyday life, these two tendencies did not differ. On the contrary, both renewed realism and normativism were comprehended in an undivided way - as a single Soviet literature. In 1934, this indistinguishability was consolidated by the general term - socialist realism. Since then, two different aesthetic systems, normative and realistic, in many respects opposed to each other, were conceived as an ideological and aesthetic unity.
Moreover, sometimes they coexisted in the work of the same author or even in the same work. An example of the latter is A. Fadeev's novel "The Rout" (1927).
Like Gorky's Pavel Vlasov, Fadeev's favorite characters are on the way to a moral rebirth. Having seen only bad and dirty things in life, Morozka joined the partisan detachment, as he himself says, not for the sake of the commander's beautiful eyes, but in order to build a better, righteous life. By the end of the novel, he gets rid of his inherent anarchism, for the first time he experiences an unexpected feeling of love for Vara. The team has become dear to him, and Frost, without hesitation, gives his life for his comrades, warning the detachment of the danger. The scout Metelitsa, who believed that people were deeply indifferent to him, stands up for the shepherd boy and, before his death, discovers for himself that he loves the people around him.
A. Fadeev trusts the role of an active educator of the masses to the detachment commander Levinson, behind whose frail appearance he sees spiritual strength, conviction in the need to transform the world in a revolutionary way.
It is quite traditional for Russian realistic literature that A. Fadeev debunks the individualist Mechi-ka. Mechik's romantic maximalism, his soaring above reality, his constant search for the exceptional - whether in private or social life - lead him to deny real life, show inattention to the essential, inability to appreciate it and see beauty. So he rejects Varya's love in the name of a beautiful stranger in the photograph, rejects the friendship of ordinary partisans and, as a result, remains a romantic in splendid isolation. In essence, the author punishes him with betrayal precisely for this (as well as, however, for his social alienation from ordinary partisans).
It is characteristic that the strongest passages of the novel contain a psychological analysis of the behavior of the characters. It is no coincidence that critics unanimously noted the influence of the traditions of L. Tolstoy on the young Soviet writer.
At the same time, the idea of "social humanism", when a person, a person can be sacrificed in the name of a higher goal, brings A. Fadeev's novel closer to normativism.
If the revolution is being made in the name and for the working people, then why does the arrival of Levinson's detachment promise starvation to the Korean peasant and his entire family? Because the highest social necessity (to feed the detachment and continue the journey to their own) is more important than "abstract humanism": the life of the members of the detachment means more than the life of one Korean (or even his entire family). Yes, there is arithmetic! - I want to exclaim after Raskolnikov.
Dr. Stashinsky and Levinson come to the idea of the need to finish off the wounded partisan Frolov. His death is inevitable: the wound is fatal, and it is impossible to carry him with you - this will slow down the movement of the detachment and can kill everyone. Leave - it will fall to the Japanese and take an even more terrible death. Facilitating his hero's decision, Fadeev forces Frolov himself to take poison, which looks almost like suicide.
In this part of the novel, Fadeev broke with the humanistic tradition of Russian realism, declaring a fundamentally new ethical system based on a rigidly rational attitude towards both man and the world as a whole.
The ending of the novel also sounds less ambiguous. Levinson will live "and fulfill his duties." In order to gather another detachment from the distant people whom he sees after the death of the detachment, people working on the ground, threshing bread. Levinson’s idea seems indisputable to Fadeev “to make [these peasants] as close as they were to those eighteen who silently followed” and lead them along the roads of the Civil War - to a new defeat, because in such a war there are no winners and the final general destruction is inevitable.
However, it is possible that the artist triumphed in Fadeev-politics. After all, the novel is called "Defeat", not "Victory".
If A. Fadeev's book bears both the features of genuine realism and normativism, then Y. Libedinsky's story "The Week" (1922) was written exclusively in the traditions of normativism and utopianism. One of its heroes, the Bolshevik Stelmakhov, utters the following monologue-confession: “I hated the revolution before I fell in love ... And only then, after I was beaten for Bolshevik agitation, after I was in Moscow, in October , stormed the Kremlin and shot the cadets, when I was not yet in the party and did not understand anything politically, then in moments of fatigue I began to imagine a distant rest ahead, that's how the kingdom of heaven for a Christian, distant, but certainly promised, if not to me, then to the future people, my sons or grandchildren... This is what communism will be... I don’t know what it will be like...”
The heroes of the story give all their strength to the service of a beautiful, but completely obscure mythical future. This idea gives them the strength to overcome natural human feelings, such as, for example, pity for a defeated enemy, disgust for cruelty, fear of murder: my warm word is communism, and exactly who will wave a red handkerchief to me.
Behind this monstrous confession, which the hero and the author perceive as sublimely romantic, stands a utopian worldview in its most terrible and cruel form. It was it that became the ideological justification for socialist realism.
Reality in the new aesthetics was perceived as a hostile, inert, conservative beginning, in need of a radical alteration. The highest value for the writer of the new direction was the future, ideal and devoid of contradictions, existing, of course, only in the project. This project was also poorly detailed, but justified any violence against the present.
How was the formation of a new view of the world in socialist realism? First of all, it should be noted that in the literature of the 1920s a new concept of personality emerged. The inclusion of a person in the historical process, the assertion of his direct contacts with the "macro environment" paradoxically devalues the hero, he seems to be deprived of intrinsic value and turns out to be significant only insofar as it contributes to the historical movement forward. Such a devaluation is possible because of the finalist concept of history, which is more and more spreading in society. History in this interpretation acquires meaning and significance only insofar as it moves towards a "golden age", localized somewhere far ahead.
Moreover, the hero himself is aware of the absolute value of the future and the very relative value of his own personality, he is ready to consciously and completely calmly sacrifice himself. The extreme form of such an anti-humanist position was embodied (quite sympathetically in relation to the ideas of the hero) by the writer A. Tarasov-Rodionov in the story “Chocolate”, which tells how the Chekist Zudin decides to sacrifice his life, but not to cast even a small shadow on the uniform of the Cheka. Accused of bribery, Zudin was sentenced to death. And for his comrades, confident in his innocence, but nevertheless sentenced to death, and for himself, this decision seems to be the only true one: it is better to sacrifice life than to give even the slightest reason for philistine rumors.
The romanticization of the future, its sharp opposition to the present, and ultimately the creation of the myth of the "golden age" are the most important features of the aesthetics of socialist realism. In the most naked form, this idea was stated by A. V. Lunacharsky in the article “Socialist Realism”.
Only the future, from the point of view of the Marxist theoretician, is the only worthy subject of depiction. “Imagine,” says A. V. Lunacharsky, as if substantiating the aesthetic principles of the “golden age,” that a house is being built, and when it is built, it will be a magnificent palace. But it is still unfinished, and you will draw it in this form and say: “Here is your socialism”, but there is no roof. You will, of course, be a realist, you will tell the truth: but it is immediately evident that this truth is in fact not true. The socialist truth can only be told by those who understand what kind of house is being built, how it is being built, who understands that it will have a roof. A person who does not understand development will never see the truth, because the truth is not like itself, it does not sit still, the truth flies, the truth is development, the truth is a conflict, the truth is a struggle, the truth is tomorrow, and it is necessary to see it in this way, and whoever does not see it in this way is a bourgeois realist, and therefore a pessimist, a whiner and often a swindler and a falsifier, and in any case a voluntary or involuntary counter-revolutionary and a pest.
This quote is very important for understanding the basic idea of socialist realism. First of all, new functions of art compared to traditional realism are affirmed: not the study of real conflicts and contradictions of the time, but the creation of a model of an ideal future, a model of a “magnificent palace”. The research, cognitive function of literature goes to the background or even to the third plan; the main function is to promote what a beautiful house will someday be built on the site of real, now existing dwellings.
These ideas, immediately embedded in the program of the new direction, awakening and developing more and more actively, turned out to be a kind of “cancer cells” of the new art. It was they who led to the rebirth of new realism into a normative non-realistic aesthetics during the 1920s and 1950s. It is the order to see not reality, but a project, not what is, but what should be, that leads to the loss of realistic principles of typification: the artist no longer explores characters, but creates them in accordance with the prescribed norm, and thereby turns them into primitive social masks (enemy, friend, communist, philistine, middle peasant, kulak, specialist, pest, etc.).
Normativity transforms the very concept of artistic truth. The monopoly on the truth now belongs to those who can see the "truth of tomorrow." And the one who cannot do this depicts reality as it is - "often a swindler and a falsifier, and in any case a voluntary or involuntary counter-revolutionary and saboteur." Normativity is interpreted not only as an aesthetic, but also as a political requirement.
Thus, art turns out to be a tool for creating an artistic myth capable of organizing society and distracting it from the real problems of life. Its goal is precisely defined: it is violence against reality with the aim of its reorganization, "education of a new person", because "art has not only the ability to orient, but also to form." Later, in 1934, this provision would be included in an amended form in the Charter of the Writers' Union of the USSR: "the task of ideologically reshaping and educating working people in the spirit of socialism" will be declared as the most important for socialist realism.
A special place in normative aesthetics was occupied by the question of the creative freedom of the artist. "Socialist realism provides artistic creativity with an exceptional opportunity for the manifestation of creative initiative, the choice of diverse forms, styles, genres," the Charter of the Writers' Union said. Characteristically, the artist's freedom is localized only in the sphere of form, but not in content. The content sphere is strictly regulated by ideas about the functions of art, which are seen in the creation of an idealized image of the future. Such a super-task determines the style of a particular work, its entire poetics. The conflict is predetermined, the ways of its resolution. The social roles of the characters are predetermined: a leader, a specialist, a communist, a sneaking enemy, a woman gaining her human dignity...
Realism (literature)
Realism in literature - a true image of reality.
In any work of belles-lettres, we distinguish two necessary elements: the objective one, the reproduction of phenomena given by the artist, and the subjective one, something that the artist himself put into the work. Stopping on a comparative assessment of these two elements, theory in different epochs attaches greater importance to one or the other of them (in connection with the course of development of art, and with other circumstances).
Hence the two opposite directions in the theory; one - realism- puts before art the task of faithfully reproducing reality; other - idealism- sees the purpose of art in "replenishing reality", in creating new forms. Moreover, the starting point is not so much the facts as the ideal representations.
This terminology, borrowed from philosophy, sometimes introduces non-aesthetic moments into the evaluation of a work of art: Realism is quite wrongly reproached for the absence of moral idealism. In common usage, the term "Realism" means the exact copying of details, mostly external ones. The untenability of this point of view, from which the preference for protocol over the novel and photography over the picture is a natural conclusion, is quite obvious; our aesthetic sense, which does not hesitate for a minute between a wax figure, reproducing the finest shades of living colors, and a deathly white marble statue, serves as a sufficient refutation of it. It would be pointless and pointless to create another world, completely identical with the existing one.
The copying of the outside world has never, in itself, even been the aim of art, even in the sharpest realistic theory. In a possibly faithful reproduction of reality, only a guarantee of the artist's creative originality was seen. In theory, idealism is opposed to realism, but in practice it is opposed by routine, tradition, the academic canon, the obligatory imitation of the classics - in other words, the death of independent creativity. Art begins with the actual reproduction of nature; but, once popular examples of artistic thinking are given, second-hand creativity appears, work according to a template.
This is a common occurrence of the school, under whatever banner it may appear for the first time. Almost every school makes claims to a new word precisely in the field of truthful reproduction of life - and each in its own right, and each is denied and replaced by the next in the name of the same principle of truth. This is especially characteristic in the history of the development of French literature, which is all an uninterrupted series of conquests of true Realism. The desire for artistic truth was at the heart of the same movements that, petrified in tradition and canon, later became a symbol of unreal art.
Such is not only Romanticism, which has been so fervently attacked in the name of truth by the doctrinaires of modern naturalism; so is classical drama. Suffice it to recall that the glorified three unities were adopted not at all out of slavish imitation of Aristotle, but only because they determined the possibility of stage illusion. “The establishment of unities was the triumph of Realism. These rules, which became the cause of so many inconsistencies during the decline of the classical theater, were at first a necessary condition for scenic plausibility. In the Aristotelian rules, medieval rationalism found a means to remove from the scene the last remnants of naive medieval fantasy. (Lanson).
The deep inner Realism of the classical tragedy of the French degenerated in the arguments of theoreticians and in the works of imitators into dead schemes, the oppression of which was thrown off by literature only at the beginning of the 19th century. From a broad point of view, every truly progressive movement in the field of art is a movement towards Realism. In this respect, there are no exceptions and those new trends that seem to be the reaction of Realism. In fact, they are only a reaction to routine, to obligatory artistic dogma - a reaction against realism in name, which has ceased to be a search and artistic recreation of the truth of life. When lyrical symbolism tries by new means to convey the mood of the poet to the reader, when neo-idealists, resurrecting the old conventional methods of artistic representation, draw stylized images, that is, as if intentionally deviating from reality, they strive for the same thing that is the goal of any - even arch-naturalistic - art: to the creative reproduction of life. There is no true work of art - from a symphony to an arabesque, from The Iliad to "Whisper, timid breathing" - which, with a deeper look at it, would not turn out to be a true image of the creator's soul, "a corner of life through the prism of temperament."
It is hardly possible, therefore, to speak of the history of Realism: it coincides with the history of art. One can only characterize individual moments in the historical life of art, when they especially insisted on a truthful depiction of life, seeing it mainly in emancipation from school conventions, in the ability to grasp and the courage to depict details that passed without a trace for the former artist or frightened him with inconsistency with dogmas. Such was Romanticism, such is the modern form of Realism - Naturalism. Literature about Realism is predominantly polemical about its modern form. Historical writings (David, Sauvageot, Lenoir) suffer from the uncertainty of the subject of research. In addition to the works indicated in the article Naturalism.
Russian writers who used realism
Of course, first of all, these are F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy. Outstanding examples of literature in this direction were also the works of the late Pushkin (rightfully considered the founder of realism in Russian literature) - the historical drama "Boris Godunov", the stories "The Captain's Daughter", "Dubrovsky", "Belkin's Tale", the novel by Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov "The Hero of Our time", as well as Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol's poem "Dead Souls".
The birth of realism
There is a version that realism originated in ancient times, during the time of the Ancient Peoples. There are several types of realism:
- "Antique Realism"
- "Renaissance Realism"
- "Realism of the XVIII-XIX centuries"
see also
Notes
Links
- A. A. Gornfeld// Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
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Realism as a method arose in Russian literature in the first third of the 19th century. The main principle of realism is the principle of life's truth, the reproduction of characters and circumstances explained socio-historically (typical characters in typical circumstances).
Realist writers deeply, truthfully depicted various aspects of contemporary reality, recreated life in the forms of life itself.
The realistic method of the early 19th century was based on positive ideals: humanism, sympathy for the humiliated and offended, the search for a positive hero in life, optimism and patriotism.
By the end of the 19th century, realism reached its peak in the works of such writers as F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov.
The 20th century set new tasks for realist writers, forced them to look for new ways of mastering life material. In the conditions of the rise of revolutionary sentiments, literature was increasingly imbued with forebodings and expectations of impending changes, "unheard of revolts."
The feeling of approaching social changes caused such an intensity of artistic life that Russian art had not yet known. Here is what L. N. Tolstoy wrote about the turn of the century: “The new century brings the end of one worldview, one faith, one way of communicating people and the beginning of another worldview, another way of communication. M. Gorky called the 20th century a century of spiritual renewal.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, they continued their search for the secrets of existence, the secrets of human existence and the consciousness of the classics of Russian realism L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, L.N. Andreev, I.A. Bunin and others.
However, the principle of the old "realism was increasingly criticized from different literary communities, demanding a more active intrusion of the writer into life and influence on it.
This revision was started by L. N. Tolstoy himself, who in the last years of his life called for strengthening the didactic, instructive, preaching principle in literature.
If A.P. Chekhov believed that the “court” (i.e., the artist) is only obliged to raise questions, draw the attention of the thinking reader to important problems, and the “jury” (public structures) are obliged to answer, then for realist writers of the early twentieth centuries, it seemed no longer enough.
So, M. Gorky bluntly stated that “for some reason, the luxurious mirror of Russian literature did not reflect outbreaks of popular anger ...”, and accused literature of the fact that “she was not looking for heroes, she loved to talk about people who were strong only in patience, meek soft, dreaming of heaven in heaven, silently suffering on earth.
It was M. Gorky, a realist writer of the younger generation, who was the founder of a new literary trend, later called "socialist realism".
The literary and social activities of M. Gorky played a significant role in uniting the new generation of realist writers. In the 1890s, on the initiative of M. Gorky, the literary circle "Environment" appeared, and then the publishing house "Knowledge". Around this publishing house, young, talented writers A.I. Kuprii, I.A. Bunin, L.N. Andreev, A. Serafimovich, D. Bedny and others.
The dispute with traditional realism was conducted at different poles of literature. There were writers who followed the traditional direction, seeking to update it. But there were those who simply rejected realism as an outdated trend.
In these difficult conditions, in the confrontation of polar methods and trends, the work of writers, traditionally called realists, continued to develop.
The originality of Russian realistic literature of the early twentieth century lies not only in the significance of the content, acute social themes, but also in artistic searches, the perfection of technology, and stylistic diversity.
Realism is a trend in literature and art that aims to faithfully reproduce reality in its typical features. The reign of realism followed the era of Romanticism and preceded Symbolism.
1. In the center of the work of realists is objective reality. In its refraction through the worldview of thin-ka. 2. The author subjects vital material to a fil-th processing. 3. the ideal is reality itself. Beautiful is life itself. 4. Realists move towards synthesis through analysis
5. The principle of the typical: typical hero, specific time, typical circumstances
6. Identification of causal relationships. 7. The principle of historicism. Realists address the problems of the present. The present is the convergence of the past and the future. 8. The principle of democracy and humanism. 9. The principle of objectivity of narratives. 10. Socio-political, philosophical issues prevail
11. psychologism
12. .. The development of poetry somewhat subsides 13. The novel is the leading genre.
13. An aggravated socially critical pathos is one of the main features of Russian realism - for example, The Inspector General, Dead Souls by N.V. Gogol
14. The main feature of realism as a creative method is increased attention to the social side of reality.
15. The images of a realistic work reflect the general laws of being, and not living people. Any image is woven from typical features, manifested in typical circumstances. This is the paradox of art. The image cannot be correlated with a living person, it is richer than a concrete person - hence the objectivity of realism.
16. “An artist should not be a judge of his characters and what they say, but only an impartial witness
Realist writers
The late A. S. Pushkin is the founder of realism in Russian literature (historical drama "Boris Godunov", the stories "The Captain's Daughter", "Dubrovsky", "Tales of Belkin", the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" back in 1820 - 1830s)
M. Yu. Lermontov ("A Hero of Our Time")
N. V. Gogol ("Dead Souls", "Inspector")
I. A. Goncharov ("Oblomov")
A. S. Griboyedov ("Woe from Wit")
A. I. Herzen (“Who is to blame?”)
N. G. Chernyshevsky (“What to do?”)
F. M. Dostoevsky ("Poor People", "White Nights", "Humiliated and Insulted", "Crime and Punishment", "Demons")
L. N. Tolstoy ("War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection").
I. S. Turgenev ("Rudin", "Noble Nest", "Asya", "Spring Waters", "Fathers and Sons", "Nov", "On the Eve", "Mu-mu")
A. P. Chekhov ("The Cherry Orchard", "Three Sisters", "Student", "Chameleon", "Seagull", "Man in a Case"
Since the middle of the 19th century, the formation of Russian realistic literature has been taking place, which is being created against the background of the tense socio-political situation that developed in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. A crisis in the serf system is brewing, and contradictions between the authorities and the common people are strong. There is a need to create a realistic literature that sharply reacts to the socio-political situation in the country.
Writers turn to the socio-political problems of Russian reality. The genre of the realistic novel is developing. Their works are created by I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, I.A. Goncharov. It is worth noting the poetic works of Nekrasov, who was the first to introduce social issues into poetry. His poem “Who is living well in Russia?” is known, as well as many poems, where the hard and hopeless life of the people is comprehended. End of the 19th century - The Realist tradition began to fade. It was replaced by the so-called decadent literature. . Realism becomes, to a certain extent, a method of artistic cognition of reality. In the 40s, a "natural school" arose - Gogol's work, he was a great innovator, discovering that even an insignificant event, such as the acquisition of an overcoat by a petty official, can become a significant event for understanding the most important issues of human existence.
The "Natural School" became the initial stage in the development of realism in Russian literature.
Topics: Life, customs, characters, events from the life of the lower classes became the object of study of "naturalists". The leading genre was the "physiological essay", which was based on the exact "photography" of the life of various classes.
In the literature of the “natural school”, the class position of the hero, his professional affiliation and the social function that he performs, decisively prevailed over his individual character.
Adjoining the "natural school" were: Nekrasov, Grigorovich, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Goncharov, Panaev, Druzhinin and others.
The task of truthfully showing and investigating life in realism involves many methods of depicting reality, which is why the works of Russian writers are so diverse both in form and content.
Realism as a method of depicting reality in the second half of the 19th century. was called critical realism, because his main task was to criticize reality, the question of the relationship between man and society.
To what extent does society influence the fate of the hero? Who is to blame for the fact that a person is unhappy? What can be done to change people and the world? - these are the main questions of literature in general, Russian literature of the second half of the 19th century. - in particular.
Psychologism - a characterization of the hero by analyzing his inner world, considering the psychological processes through which the self-consciousness of the individual is carried out and his attitude to the world is expressed - has become the leading method of Russian literature since the formation of a realistic style in it.
One of the remarkable features of Turgenev's works of the 1950s was the appearance in them of a hero embodying the idea of the unity of ideology and psychology.
The realism of the 2nd half of the 19th century reached its heights precisely in Russian literature, especially in the work of L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky, who became the central figures of the world literary process at the end of the 19th century. They enriched world literature with new principles for constructing a socio-psychological novel, philosophical and moral issues, new ways of revealing the human psyche in its deepest layers.
Turgenev is credited with the creation of literary types of ideologues - heroes, the approach to the personality and characterization of the inner world of which is in direct connection with the author's assessment of their worldview and the socio-historical meaning of their philosophical concepts. At the same time, the fusion of the psychological, historical-typological and ideological aspects is so complete in Turgenev's heroes that their names have become a common noun for a certain stage in the development of social thought, a certain social type representing the class in its historical state, and the psychological makeup of the personality (Rudin, Bazarov, Kirsanov , Mr. N. from the story "Asya" - "Russian man on rendez-vous").
The heroes of Dostoevsky are in the grip of an idea. Like slaves, they follow her, expressing her self-development. Having “accepted” a certain system into their soul, they obey the laws of its logic, go through all the necessary stages of its growth with it, bear the yoke of its reincarnations. So, Raskolnikov, whose concept grew out of the rejection of social injustice and a passionate desire for good, passing along with the idea that has taken possession of his whole being, all its logical stages, accepts murder and justifies the tyranny of a strong personality over the mute mass. In solitary monologues-reflections, Raskolnikov “strengthens” in his idea, falls under its power, gets lost in its sinister vicious circle, and then, having made an “experiment” and having suffered an internal defeat, he begins feverishly looking for a dialogue, the possibility of a joint assessment of the results of the experiment.
For Tolstoy, the system of ideas that the hero develops and develops in the process of life is a form of his communication with the environment and is derived from his character, from the psychological and moral characteristics of his personality.
It can be argued that all three great Russian realists of the middle of the century - Turgenev, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky - depict the mental and ideological life of a person as a social phenomenon and ultimately presupposes an obligatory contact between people, without which the development of consciousness is impossible.
