At the beginning of the 18th century, a completely new literary trend was born in Europe, which, first of all, focuses on the feelings and emotions of a person. Only at the end of the century it reaches Russia, but, unfortunately, it resonates with a small number of writers here ... All this is about the sentimentalism of the 18th century, and if you are interested in this topic, then continue reading.

Let's start with the definition of this literary trend, which determined new principles for highlighting the image and character of a person. What is "sentimentalism" in literature and art? The term comes from the French word "sentiment", which means "feeling". It means a direction in culture, where the artists of the word, notes and brushes emphasize the emotions and feelings of the characters. The time frame of the period: for Europe - the 20s of the XVIII - the 80s of the XVIII; For Russia, this is the end of the 18th century - the beginning of the 19th century.

For sentimentalism specifically in literature, the following definition is characteristic: it is a literary movement that came after classicism, in which the cult of the soul predominates.

The history of sentimentalism began in England. It was there that the first poems of James Thomson (1700-1748) were written. His works "Winter", "Spring", "Summer" and "Autumn", which were later combined into one collection, described simple rural life. Quiet, peaceful everyday life, incredible landscapes and fascinating moments from the life of peasants - all this is revealed to readers. The main idea of ​​the author is to show how good life is away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Some time later, another English poet, Thomas Gray (1716-1771), also tried to interest the reader in landscape poems. In order not to be like Thomson, he added poor, sad and melancholic characters that people should empathize with.

But not all poets and writers loved nature so much. Samuel Richarson (1689-1761) was the first symbolist to describe only the lives and feelings of his characters. No scenery!

Two favorite themes for England - love and nature - were combined in his work "Sentimental Journey" by Laurence Sterne (1713-1768).

Then sentimentalism "migrated" to France. The main representatives were Abbé Prevost (1697-1763) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The intense intrigue of love drinking in the works "Manon Lescaut" and "Julia, or New Eloise" forced all French women to read these touching and sensual novels.

This period of sentimentalism in Europe ends. Then it starts in Russia, but we will talk about this later.

Differences from classicism and romanticism

The object of our research is sometimes confused with other literary movements, between which it has become a kind of transitional link. So what are the differences?

Differences between sentimentalism and romanticism:

• In the first place, feelings are at the head of sentimentalism, and at the head of romanticism, the personality of a person has straightened up to its full height;
• Secondly, the sentimental hero is opposed to the city and the pernicious influence of civilization, and the romantic hero is opposed to society;
• And, thirdly, the hero of sentimentalism is kind and simple, love occupies the main role in his life, and the hero of romanticism is melancholy and gloomy, his love often does not save, on the contrary, plunges into irrevocable despair.

Differences between sentimentalism and classicism:

• Classicism is characterized by the presence of "speaking names", the relationship of time and place, the rejection of the unreasonable, the division into "positive" and "negative" heroes. While sentimentalism "sings" love for nature, naturalness, trust in man. The characters are not so unambiguous, their images are interpreted in two ways. Strict canons disappear (there is no unity of place and time, there is no choice in favor of duty or punishment for the wrong choice). The sentimental hero looks for the good in everyone and is not molded into a label instead of a name;
• Classicism is also characterized by its straightforwardness, ideological orientation: in the choice between duty and feeling, it is appropriate to choose the first. In sentimentalism, the opposite is true: only simple and sincere emotions are the criterion for evaluating the inner world of a person.
• If in classicism the main characters were noble or even had a divine origin, but in sentimentalism, representatives of the poor classes come to the fore: philistines, peasants, honest workers.

Main features

The main features of sentimentalism are usually attributed to:

• The main thing is spirituality, kindness and sincerity;
• Much attention is paid to nature, it changes in unison with the state of mind of the character;
• Interest in the inner world of a person, in his feelings;
• Lack of straightness and clear direction;
• Subjective view of the world;
• The lowest stratum of the population = a rich inner world;
• Idealization of the village, criticism of civilization and the city;
• The tragic love story is the author's focus;
• The style of the works is clearly replete with emotional remarks, lamentations and even speculations on the sensitivity of the reader.

Genres representing this literary movement:

• Elegy- a genre of poetry characterized by the sad mood of the author and a sad theme;
• Novel- a detailed narrative about any event or life of the hero;
• epistolary genre- works in the form of letters;
• Memoirs- a work where the author talks about the events in which he personally participated, or about his life in general;
• A diary- personal records with impressions of what is happening for a specific period of time;
• Travels- a travel diary with personal impressions of new places and acquaintances.

It is customary to distinguish two opposite directions within the framework of sentimentalism:

• Noble sentimentalism first considers the moral side of life, and then the social. Spiritual qualities come first;
• Revolutionary sentimentalism is mainly focused on the idea of ​​social equality. As a hero, we see a tradesman or peasant who suffered from a soulless and cynical representative of the upper class.

Features of sentimentalism in literature:

• Detailed description of nature;
• The beginnings of psychologism;
• Emotionally rich style of the author
• The theme of social inequality is gaining popularity
• The theme of death is considered in detail.

Signs of sentimentalism:

• The story is about the soul and feelings of the hero;
• The dominance of the inner world, "human nature" over the conventions of a hypocritical society;
• The tragedy of strong but unrequited love;
• Rejection of a rational view of the world.

Of course, the main theme of all works is love. But, for example, in the work of Alexander Radishchev "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" (1790), the key theme is the people and their lives. In Schiller's drama "Deceit and Love", the author speaks out against the arbitrariness of the authorities and class prejudices. That is, the theme of the direction can be the most serious one.

Unlike representatives of other literary movements, sentimentalist writers "included" in the life of their heroes. They denied the principle of "objective" discourse.

The essence of sentimentalism is to show the ordinary everyday life of people and their sincere feelings. All this takes place against the backdrop of nature, which complements the picture of events. The main task of the author is to make readers feel all the emotions along with the characters and empathize with them.

Features of sentimentalism in painting

We have already discussed the characteristic features of this trend in the literature earlier. Now it's time for painting.

Sentimentalism in painting is most vividly represented in our country. First of all, he is associated with one of the most famous artists, Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757-1825). Portraits predominate in his work. When depicting a female image, the artist tried to show her natural beauty and rich inner world. The most famous works are: “Lizonka and Dashenka”, “Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina" and "Portrait of E.N. Arsenyeva". Also worth noting is Nikolai Ivanovich Argunov, who was known for his portraits of the Sheremetevs. In addition to paintings, Russian sentimentalists also excelled in the technique of John Flaxaman, namely his painting on dishes. The most famous is the “Green Frog Service”, which can be seen in the St. Petersburg Hermitage.

Of the foreign artists, only three are known - Richard Brompton (3 years worked in St. in costumed portraits).

Representatives

1. James Thomson (1700 - 1748) - Scottish playwright and poet;
2. Edward Jung (1683 - 1765) - English poet, founder of "graveyard poetry";
3. Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771) - English poet, literary critic;
4. Lawrence Sterne (1713 - 1768) - English writer;
5. Samuel Richardson (1689 - 1761) - English writer and poet;
6. Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 - 1778) - French poet, writer, composer;
7. Abbé Prevost (1697 - 1763) - French poet.

Examples of works

1. A collection of The Seasons by James Thomson (1730);
2. The Rural Cemetery (1751) and Thomas Gray's Ode to Spring;
3. "Pamela" (1740), "Clarissa Garlo" (1748) and "Sir Charles Grandinson" (1754) by Samuel Richardson;
4. Tristram Shandy (1757-1768) and Sentimental Journey (1768) by Lawrence Sterne;
5. "Manon Lescaut" (1731), "Cleveland" and "Life of Marianne" by Abbé Prevost;
6. "Julia, or New Eloise" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1761).

Russian sentimentalism

Sentimentalism appeared in Russia around 1780-1790. This phenomenon gained popularity thanks to the translation of various Western works, among which were "The Sufferings of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the parable-story "Paul and Virginie" by Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, "Julia, or New Eloise" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and novels by Samuel Richardson.

"Letters of a Russian Traveler" - it was from this work of Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766 - 1826) that the period of sentimentalism in Russian literature began. But then the story was written, which became the most significant in the entire history of the existence of this movement. We are talking about "" (1792) Karamzin. In this work, all the emotions, the innermost movements of the souls of the characters are felt. The reader empathizes with them throughout the book. The success of "Poor Liza" inspired Russian writers to create similar works, but less successful (for example, "Unfortunate Margarita" and "The Story of Poor Mary" by Gavriil Petrovich Kamenev (1773-1803)).

We can also refer to sentimentalism the earlier work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky (1783 - 1852), namely his ballad "". Later, he also wrote the story "Maryina Grove" in the style of Karamzin.

Alexander Radishchev is the most controversial sentimentalist. His affiliation to this movement is still disputed. The genre and style of the work “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” speak in favor of his involvement in the movement. The author often used exclamations and tearful digressions. For example, the exclamation was heard from the pages as a refrain: “Oh, hard-hearted landowner!”.

The year 1820 is called the end of sentimentalism in our country and the birth of a new trend - romanticism.

The peculiarity of Russian sentimentalism is that each work tried to teach the reader something. It served as a mentor. Within the framework of the direction, a real psychologism was born, which was not there before. This era can still be called the "age of exceptional reading", since only spiritual literature could guide a person on the true path and help him understand his inner world.

Hero types

All sentimentalists portrayed ordinary people, not "citizens". Before us always appears a subtle, sincere, natural nature, which does not hesitate to show its real feelings. The author always considers it from the side of the inner world, testing it for strength with a test of love. He never puts her in any framework, but allows her to develop and grow spiritually.

The main meaning of any sentimental work was and will be only a person.

language feature

A simple, understandable and emotionally colored language is the basis of the style of sentimentalism. It is also characterized by voluminous lyrical digressions with appeals and exclamations of the author, where he indicates his position and the moral of the work. Almost every text uses exclamation marks, diminutive forms of words, vernacular, expressive vocabulary. Thus, the literary language at this stage approaches the language of the people, making reading accessible to a wider audience. For our country, this meant that the art of the word was reaching a new level. Recognition goes to secular prose, written lightly and artistically, and not to the ponderous and insipid works of imitators, translators, or fanatics.

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Sentimentalism in Russian Literature.

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s-early 1790s thanks to the translations of the novels "Werther" by I.V. Rousseau, "Paul and Virginie" by J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited the general atmosphere of sensibility, melancholy and themes of suicide.

The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Masha" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( "The Story of Poor Marya"; "Unfortunate Margarita"; "Beautiful Tatyana"), etc.

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to the Karamzin group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic grandiloquent style and obsolete genres.

Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of the translation of the Elegy written in the rural cemetery by E. Gray became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, for he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, he translated the genre of the elegy, and not the individual work of the English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E. G. Etkind). In 1809 Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story "Maryina Grove" in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of the all-European literary development, which completed the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

• departure from the straightforwardness of classicism
• emphasized subjectivity of the approach to the world
• cult of feeling
• cult of nature
• cult of innate moral purity, innocence
• approval of the rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes
• attention is paid to the spiritual world of a person, and in the first place are feelings, not reason and great ideas

Sentimentalism (from the French sentiment - feeling) - a trend in literature and art of the second half of the 18th century, characterized by an increased interest in human feelings and a heightened emotional attitude to the world around. ("Stern's Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy, Rousseau's "New Eloise", Karamzin's "Poor Lisa"). The innovation of sentimentalism lies in its exceptional attention to the state of mind of the individual and the appeal to the experiences of a simple, humble person. Karamzin owns remarkable words in this regard: "... And peasant women know how to love" ("Poor Liza"). Others argued that a commoner, close to nature, not perverted by aristocratic prejudices, is morally superior to any nobleman.

1. Sentimentalism(French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) - the mood in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. The works written in this genre are based on the feelings of the reader. In Europe, it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

If classicism is reason, duty, then sentimentalism is something lighter, these are the feelings of a person, his experiences.

The main theme of sentimentalism- love.

The main features of sentimentalism:

Moving away from straightness

Multifaceted characters, subjective approach to the world

The cult of feeling

Cult of nature

Revival of one's own purity

Affirmation of the rich spiritual world of the lower classes

The main genres of sentimentalism:

sentimental tale

Travels

Idyll or pastoral

Letters of a personal nature

Ideological basis- protest against the corruption of aristocratic society

The main property of sentimentalism- the desire to present the human personality in the movement of the soul, thoughts, feelings, the disclosure of the inner world of man through the state of nature

At the heart of the aesthetics of sentimentalism- imitation of nature

Features of Russian sentimentalism:

Strong didactic setting

Enlightenment character

Active improvement of the literary language through the introduction of literary forms into it

Sentimentalists:

Lawrence Stan Richardson - England

Jean Jacques Rousseau - France

M.N. Muraviev - Russia

N.M. Karamzin - Russia

V.V. Kapnist - Russia

ON THE. Lviv - Russia

Young V.A. Zhukovsky was a sentimentalist for a short time.

2.Biography of Rousseau

The most burning problems of the 18th century were social and political. Thinkers were interested in man as a social and moral being, conscious of his freedom, capable of fighting for it and a worthy life. Whereas previously only representatives of privileged social groups could afford to philosophize, now the voices of low-income and disadvantaged people who reject the established social order have begun to sound louder and louder. One of them was Jean Jacques Rousseau. The predominant theme of his works: the origin of social inequality and overcoming it. Jean Jacques was born in Geneva, the son of a watchmaker. Musical abilities, a thirst for knowledge and a desire for fame led him to Paris in 1741. Lacking a systematic education and influential acquaintances, he did not immediately achieve recognition. He brought a new notation system to the Paris Academy, but his proposal was rejected (later he wrote the comic opera The Village Sorcerer). Collaborating in the famous "Encyclopedia", he enriched himself with knowledge and at the same time - unlike other enlighteners - doubted that scientific and technological progress only benefits people. Civilization, in his opinion, exacerbates inequality between people. Both science and technology are good only if they are based on high morality, noble feelings and reverence for nature. For such a position, Rousseau was sharply criticized by the "progressives". (Only at the end of the 20th century did it become clear how true it was.) During his lifetime, he was both praised and condemned, and persecuted. For some time he hid in Switzerland, and died in seclusion and poverty. His major philosophical works: "Discourses on the Sciences and Arts", "Discourses on the origin and foundations of inequality between people", "On the social contract, or the Principles of political law". From philosophical and artistic works: "Julia, or New Eloise", "Confession". For Rousseau, the path of civilization is the consistent enslavement of man. With the advent of private property and the desire to have as many material goods as possible, "work became inevitable, and vast forests turned into cheerful fields that had to be watered with human sweat and on which slavery and poverty soon rose and flourished along with crops. This great revolution was made by the invention two arts: metalworking and agriculture. In the eyes of the poet - gold and silver, in the eyes of the philosopher - iron and bread civilized people and destroyed the human race. " With extraordinary insight, like an outside observer, he drew attention to two fundamental vices of civilization: the creation of ever new needs that are not necessary for normal life and the formation of an artificial personality that tries to "seem" and not "be". In contrast to Hobbes (and in accordance with historical truth), Rousseau believed that the state of discord and war in society intensified as property inequality increased, competition and the thirst to enrich themselves at the expense of others. State power, according to the social contract, was to become the guarantor of security and justice. But it has created a new form of dependency between those in power and those under them. If this state system deceives the expectations of the people and does not fulfill its obligations, then the people have the right to overthrow it. Rousseau's thoughts inspired the revolutionaries of different countries, especially France. His "Social Contract" became Robespierre's reference book. In those years, few people paid attention to the serious warning of the philosopher: "Peoples! Know once and for all that nature wanted to protect you from the sciences, just like a mother pulls a dangerous weapon out of the hands of her child. All the secrets she hides from you are evil" .

3. Relationship with Voltaire

This was joined by a quarrel with Voltaire and with the government party in Geneva. Rousseau once called Voltaire "touching", but in fact there could not be a greater contrast than between these two writers. The antagonism between them manifested itself in 1755, when Voltaire, on the occasion of the terrible Lisbon earthquake, renounced optimism, and Rousseau stood up for Providence. Fed up with glory and living in luxury, Voltaire, according to Rousseau, sees only grief on earth; he, unknown and poor, finds that everything is fine.

Relations escalated when Rousseau, in his Letter on Spectacles, strongly rebelled against the introduction of theater in Geneva. Voltaire, who lived near Geneva and who, through his home theater at Ferne, was developing a taste for dramatic performances among the Genevans, realized that the letter was directed against him and against his influence in Geneva. Knowing no measure in his anger, Voltaire hated Rousseau and either mocked his ideas and writings, or made him look crazy.

The controversy between them especially flared up when Rousseau was banned from entering Geneva, which he attributed to the influence of Voltaire. Finally, Voltaire published an anonymous pamphlet accusing Rousseau of intending to overthrow the Geneva constitution and Christianity, and claiming that he had killed Mother Teresa.

The peaceful villagers of Motiers were agitated; Rousseau began to be insulted and threatened; the local pastor delivered a sermon against him. One autumn night, a whole rain of stones fell on his house.

Sentimentalism originated in the late 1920s. 18th century in England, remaining in the 20-50s. closely associated with Enlightenment classicism and with the Enlightenment novel of Richardson's sentimentalism. French sentimentalism reaches its full development in the epistolary novel by J. J. Rousseau The New Eloise. The subjective-emotional nature of the letters was an innovation in French literature.

The novel "Julia, or New Eloise":

1) The bias of the work.

Published for the first time in Holland in 1761, the novel "Julia, or New Eloise" has the subtitle: "Letters of two lovers living in a small town at the foot of the Alps." And something else is said on the title page: "Collected and published by Jean-Jacques Rousseau." The purpose of this simple hoax is to create the illusion of complete authenticity of the story. Posing as a publisher, and not as a writer, Rousseau provides some pages with footnotes (there are 164 in total), with which he argues with his heroes, fixing their delusions due to violent experiences of love, corrects their views on issues of morality, art, poetry. In the shell of mild irony, the top of objectivity: the author allegedly has nothing in common with the characters in the novel, he is only an observer, an impartial judge standing over them. And at first, Rousseau got his way: he was asked whether these letters were really found, whether it was true or fiction, although he himself gave himself out as an epigraph to the novel and verse by Petrarch. "New Eloise" consists of 163 letters, divided into six parts. There are relatively few episodes in the novel compared to the huge add-on, consisting of lengthy discussions on a variety of topics: about a duel, about suicide, about whether a wealthy woman can help her beloved man with money, about housekeeping and social organization, about religion and helping the poor , about raising children, about opera and dancing. Rousseau's novel is filled with maxims, instructive aphorisms, and, in addition, there are too many tears and sighs, kisses and hugs, unnecessary complaints and inappropriate sympathies. In the 18th century, it was loved, at least in a certain environment; it seems to us today old-fashioned and often ridiculous. To read from beginning to end "New Eloise" with all the deviations from the plot, you need to have a fair dose of patience, but Rousseau's book is distinguished by its deep content. The "New Eloise" was studied with unflagging attention by such demanding thinkers and artists of the word as N. G. Chernyshevsky and L. N. Tolstoy. Tolstoy said about Rousseau's novel: "This beautiful book makes you think"

Instruction

Literary critics consider the philosophical direction, which received sensationalism, to be the sources of sentimentalism. His followers put forward the idea that the world around us is a reflection of human feelings. Only with the help of emotions can life be realized. Natural human feelings became for sentimentalists the basis on which the narrative was built.

At the center of sentimentalism is the "natural" person, the bearer of the whole variety of emotions. Sentimentalist authors believed that man is a creation of nature, and therefore from birth he has sensuality and virtue. The virtues of their heroes and the nature of their actions were derived by sentimentalists from a high degree of sensitivity to the events of the surrounding world.

Sentimentalism originated on British shores at the beginning of the 18th century, and by the middle of the century it had spread throughout the European continent, supplanting traditional classicism. The brightest of this new literary trend created their own in England, France and Russia.

Sentimentalism began its journey as a literary movement in English lyrics. One of the first to abandon the characteristic heavy urban motifs was James Thomson, who made the nature of the British Isles the subject of consideration. The subtle sentimental lyrics of Thomson and his followers followed the path of strengthening pessimism, reflecting the illusory nature of earthly existence.

Under the influence of the ideas of sentimentalism, Samuel Richardson broke with adventure-adventure works. In the middle of the 18th century, this English writer introduced sentimental traditions into the genre of the novel. One of Richardson's finds is the depiction of the world of feelings of the characters in the form of a novel in letters. This form of storytelling subsequently became very popular among those who sought to convey the full depth of human experience.

The most prominent representative of classical French sentimentalism was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The content of his literary creations was the combination of the concept of nature with the image of a "natural" hero. At the same time, Rousseau's nature was an independent object with its own value. To the absolute limit, the writer brought sentimentalism in his "Confession", which is considered one of the most frank autobiographies in literature.

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia later, towards the end of the 18th century. The basis for its development in Russian literature was the translations of the works of English, French and German sentimentalists. The heyday of this direction is traditionally associated with the work of N.M. Karamzin. His novel "Poor Liza", which was sensational at the time, is considered a true masterpiece of Russian "sensitive" prose.

Sentimentalism- the mindset in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary trend. The works written within the framework of this artistic direction focus on the reader's perception, that is, on the sensuality that arises when reading them. It existed in Europe from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.

Sentimentalism as a literary method developed in the literatures of Western European countries in the 1760s-1770s. For 15 years - from 1761 to 1774 - three novels were published in France, England and Germany, which created the aesthetic basis of the method and determined its poetics. "Julia, or New Eloise" J.-J. Rousseau (1761), “Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy” by L. Stern (1768), “The Suffering of Young Werther” by I.-V. Goethe (1774). And the artistic method itself got its name from the English word sentiment (feeling) by analogy with the title of the novel by L. Stern.

Sentimentalism as a literary movement

The historical prerequisite for the emergence of sentimentalism, especially in continental Europe, was the growing social role and political activity of the third estate, which by the middle of the 18th century. had a huge economic potential, but was significantly infringed in their socio-political rights in comparison with the aristocracy and the clergy. At its core, the political, ideological and cultural activity of the third estate expressed a tendency towards the democratization of the social structure of society. It is no coincidence that it was in the third estate environment that the slogan of the era was born - "Liberty, equality and fraternity", which became the motto of the Great French Revolution. This socio-political imbalance was evidence of the crisis of the absolute monarchy, which, as a form of government, no longer corresponded to the real structure of society. And it is far from accidental that this crisis has acquired a predominantly ideological character: the rationalist worldview is based on the postulate of the primacy of the idea; therefore, it is clear that the crisis of the real power of absolutism was supplemented by the discrediting of the idea of ​​monarchism in general and the idea of ​​an enlightened monarch in particular.

However, the very principle of a rationalistic worldview had significantly changed its parameters by the middle of the 18th century. The accumulation of empirical natural science knowledge, the increase in the sum of individual facts led to the fact that in the field of the very methodology of cognition there has been a revolution, foreshadowing a revision of the rationalist picture of the world. As we remember, it already included, along with the concept of reason as the highest spiritual ability of a person, the concept of passion, denoting the emotional level of spiritual activity. And since the highest manifestation of the rational activity of mankind - absolute monarchy - more and more demonstrated both its practical inconsistency with the real needs of society, and the catastrophic gap between the idea of ​​absolutism and the practice of autocratic rule, the rationalistic principle of world perception was revised in new philosophical teachings that turned to the category of feeling and sensations as alternative means of world perception and world modeling to mind.

The philosophical doctrine of sensations as the only source and basis of knowledge - sensationalism - arose at the time of the full viability and even flowering of rationalistic philosophical teachings. The founder of sensationalism is the English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), a contemporary of the English bourgeois-democratic revolution. In his main philosophical work, An Essay on the Human Mind (1690), a fundamentally anti-rationalist model of cognition is proposed. According to Descartes, general ideas were innate. Locke declared experience to be the source of general ideas. The external world is given to man in his physiological sensations - sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch; general ideas arise on the basis of the emotional experience of these sensations and the analytical activity of the mind, which compares, combines and abstracts the properties of things known in a sensitive way.

Thus, Locke's sensationalism offers a new model of the process of cognition: sensation - emotion - thought. The picture of the world produced in this way also differs significantly from the dual rationalistic model of the world as a chaos of material objects and a cosmos of higher ideas. A strong causal relationship is established between material reality and ideal reality, since ideal reality, a product of the activity of the mind, begins to be realized as a reflection of material reality, known through the senses. In other words, the world of ideas cannot be harmonious and regular if chaos and randomness reign in the world of things, and vice versa.

From the philosophical picture of the world of sensationalism, a clear and distinct concept of statehood follows as a means of harmonizing a natural chaotic society with the help of civil law, which guarantees each member of society the observance of his natural rights, while in a natural society only one law dominates - the right of force. It is easy to see that such a concept was a direct ideological consequence of the British bourgeois-democratic revolution. In the philosophy of the French followers of Locke - D. Diderot, J.-J. Rousseau and K.-A. Helvetia this concept became the ideology of the coming French Revolution.

The result of the crisis of absolutist statehood and the modification of the philosophical picture of the world was the crisis of the literary method of classicism, which was aesthetically conditioned by the rationalistic type of worldview, and ideologically connected with the doctrine of absolute monarchy. And above all, the crisis of classicism was expressed in the revision of the concept of personality - the central factor that determines the aesthetic parameters of any artistic method.

The concept of personality, which has developed in the literature of sentimentalism, is diametrically opposed to the classical one. If classicism professed the ideal of a reasonable and social person, then for sentimentalism the idea of ​​the fullness of personal being was realized in the concept of a sensitive and private person. The highest spiritual ability of a person, organically including him in the life of nature and determining the level of social ties, began to be recognized as a high emotional culture, the life of the heart. The subtlety and mobility of emotional reactions to the surrounding life is most manifested in the sphere of a person's private life, the least susceptible to rationalistic averaging, which dominates in the sphere of social contacts - and sentimentalism began to value the individual above the generalized and typical. The sphere where the individual private life of a person can be revealed with particular clarity is the intimate life of the soul, love and family life. And the shift in the ethical criteria for the dignity of the human person naturally turned the scale of the hierarchy of classic values. Passions ceased to be differentiated into reasonable and unreasonable, and a person's ability to true and devoted love, humanistic experience and sympathy, from the weakness and guilt of the tragic hero of classicism, turned into the highest criterion of the moral dignity of the individual.

As an aesthetic consequence, this reorientation from reason to feeling led to a complication of the aesthetic interpretation of the problem of character: the era of unambiguous classic moral assessments is forever gone under the influence of sentimentalist ideas about the complex and ambiguous nature of emotion, mobile, fluid and changeable, often even capricious and subjective. which combines different motives and opposite emotional affects. “Sweet flour”, “bright sadness”, “sad consolation”, “tender melancholy” - all these verbal definitions of complex feelings are generated precisely by the sentimentalist cult of sensitivity, the aestheticization of emotion and the desire to understand its complex nature.

The ideological consequence of the sentimentalist revision of the scale of classic values ​​was the idea of ​​the independent significance of the human personality, the criterion of which was no longer recognized as belonging to a high class. The starting point here was individuality, emotional culture, humanism - in a word, moral virtues, not social virtues. And it is precisely this desire to evaluate a person, regardless of his class affiliation, that gave rise to the typological conflict of sentimentalism, which is relevant to all European literatures.

At the same time. that in sentimentalism, as in classicism, the sphere of greatest conflict tension was the relationship of the individual with the collective, the individual with society and the state, obviously the diametrically opposite emphasis of the sentimentalist conflict in relation to the classicist. If in the classic conflict the social man triumphed over the natural man, then sentimentalism gave preference to the natural man. The conflict of classicism required the humility of individual aspirations in the name of the good of society; sentimentalism demanded from society respect for individuality. Classicism was inclined to blame the conflict on the egoistic person, sentimentalism addressed this accusation to an inhuman society.

In the literature of sentimentalism, stable outlines of a typological conflict have developed, in which the same spheres of personal and public life collide, which determined the structure of the classicist conflict, which was psychological in nature, but had an ideological character in the forms of expression. The universal conflict situation of sentimentalist literature is the mutual love of representatives of different classes, breaking up against social prejudices (the commoner Saint-Preux and the aristocrat Julia in Rousseau's "New Eloise", the bourgeois Werther and the noblewoman Charlotte in Goethe's "The Sorrows of Young Werther", the peasant woman Lisa and the nobleman Erast in "Poor Lisa" Karamzin), rebuilt the structure of the classic conflict in the opposite direction. The typological conflict of sentimentalism in the external forms of its expression has the character of a psychological and moral collision; in its deepest essence, however, it is ideological, since an indispensable condition for its emergence and implementation is class inequality, enshrined by law in the structure of absolutist statehood.

And in relation to the poetics of verbal creativity, sentimentalism is also a complete antipode of classicism. If at one time we had a chance to compare classic literature with the regular style of landscape gardening art, then the analogue of sentimentalism will be the so-called landscape park, carefully planned, but reproducing natural landscapes in its composition: irregularly shaped meadows covered with picturesque groups of trees, whimsical ponds and lakes dotted with islands, streams murmuring under the arches of trees.

The desire for the natural naturalness of feeling dictated the search for similar literary forms of its expression. And in place of the high "language of the gods" - poetry - prose comes in sentimentalism. The advent of the new method was marked by the rapid flourishing of prose narrative genres, first of all, the story and the novel - psychological, family, educational. The desire to speak the language of "feelings and heartfelt imagination", to know the secrets of the life of the heart and soul forced the writers to transfer the function of narration to the characters, and sentimentalism was marked by the discovery and aesthetic development of numerous forms of first-person narration. Epistolary, diary, confession, travel notes - these are typical genre forms of sentimentalist prose.

But, perhaps, the main thing that the art of sentimentalism brought with it is a new type of aesthetic perception. Literature that speaks to the reader in a rational language addresses the reader's mind, and his aesthetic enjoyment is of an intellectual nature. Literature that speaks the language of feelings addresses feelings, evokes emotional resonance: aesthetic pleasure takes on the character of an emotion. This revision of ideas about the nature of creativity and aesthetic pleasure is one of the most promising achievements of the aesthetics and poetics of sentimentalism. This is a kind of act of self-awareness of art as such, separating itself from all other types of human spiritual activity and defining the scope of its competence and functionality in the spiritual life of society.

The peculiarity of Russian sentimentalism

The chronological framework of Russian sentimentalism, like any other trend, is determined more or less approximately. If its heyday can be safely attributed to the 1790s. (the period of creation of the most striking and characteristic works of Russian sentimentalism), the dating of the initial and final stages ranges from the 1760s-1770s to the 1810s.

Russian sentimentalism was part of the all-European literary movement and, at the same time, a natural continuation of the national traditions that developed in the era of classicism. The works of major European writers associated with the sentimental trend (“The New Eloise” by Rousseau, “The Sufferings of Young Werther” by Goethe, “Sentimental Journey” and “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy” by Stern, “Nights” by Jung, etc.), very soon after their appearance at home, they become well known in Russia: they are read, translated, quoted; the names of the main characters gain popularity, become a kind of identifying marks: the Russian intellectual of the end of the 18th century. could not help knowing who Werther and Charlotte, Saint-Preux and Julia, Yorick and Tristram Shandy were. At the same time, Russian translations of numerous secondary and even tertiary contemporary European authors appeared in the second half of the century. Some works that left a not very noticeable mark in the history of their domestic literature were sometimes perceived with greater interest in Russia if they touched on problems that were relevant to the Russian reader, and were rethought in accordance with the ideas that had already developed on the basis of national traditions. Thus, the period of formation and flourishing of Russian sentimentalism is distinguished by an extremely creative activity in the perception of European culture. At the same time, Russian translators began to pay primary attention to modern literature, the literature of today.

Russian sentimentalism arose on national soil, but in a larger European context. Traditionally, the chronological boundaries of the birth, formation and development of this phenomenon in Russia are determined by 1760-1810.

Already since the 1760s. works of European sentimentalists penetrate into Russia. The popularity of these books causes a lot of their translations into Russian. According to G. A. Gukovsky, “already in the 1760s, Rousseau was being translated, since the 1770s there have been abundant translations of Gessner, Lessing’s dramas, Diderot, Mercier, then Richardson’s novels, then Goethe’s Werther and much, much more is being translated diverges and is successful. The lessons of European sentimentalism, of course, did not go unnoticed. The novel by F. Emin "Letters of Ernest and Doravra" (1766) is an obvious imitation of Rousseau's "New Eloise". In Lukin's plays, in "The Brigadier" by Fonvizin, one can feel the influence of European sentimental dramaturgy. Echoes of the style of "Sentimental Journey" by Stern can be found in the work of N. M. Karamzin.

The era of Russian sentimentalism is "the age of exceptionally diligent reading." “The book becomes a favorite companion on a lonely walk”, “reading in the bosom of nature, in a picturesque place acquires a special charm in the eyes of a“ sensitive person ”,“ the very process of reading in the bosom of nature gives a“ sensitive ”person aesthetic pleasure” - behind all this a new the aesthetics of the perception of literature not only and even not so much with the mind, but with the soul and heart.

But, despite the genetic connection of Russian sentimentalism with European, it grew and developed on Russian soil, in a different socio-historical atmosphere. The peasant revolt, which developed into a civil war, made its own adjustments both to the concept of “sensitivity” and to the image of a “sympathizer”. They acquired, and could not help but acquire, a pronounced social connotation. Radishchevskoe: “a peasant is dead in law” and Karamzin’s: “and peasant women know how to love” are not as different from each other as it might seem at first glance. The problem of the natural equality of people in their social inequality has a "peasant registration" in both writers. And this testified to the fact that the idea of ​​the moral freedom of the individual lay at the heart of Russian sentimentalism, but its ethical and philosophical content did not oppose the complex of liberal social concepts.

Of course, Russian sentimentalism was not homogeneous. Radishchevsky's political radicalism and the latent acuteness of the confrontation between the individual and society, which lies at the root of Karamzin's psychologism, brought their own original shade to it. But, I think, the concept of “two sentimentalisms” has already completely exhausted itself today. The discoveries of Radishchev and Karamzin are not only and not so much in the plane of their socio-political views, but in the field of their aesthetic conquests, educational position, expansion of the anthropological field of Russian literature. It was this position, associated with a new understanding of man, his moral freedom in the face of social unfreedom and injustice, that contributed to the creation of a new language of literature, the language of feeling, which became the object of writer's reflection. The complex of liberal-enlightenment social ideas was transferred to the personal language of feeling, thus moving from the plane of social civic position to the plane of individual human self-consciousness. And in this direction, the efforts and searches of Radishchev and Karamzin were equally significant: the simultaneous appearance in the early 1790s. Radishchev's Travels from Petersburg to Moscow and Karamzin's Letters from a Russian Traveler only documented this connection.

The lessons of the European journey and the experience of the Great French Revolution by Karamzin fully corresponded with the lessons of the Russian journey and the comprehension of the experience of Russian slavery by Radishchev. The problem of the hero and the author in these Russian "sentimental journeys" is, first of all, the story of the creation of a new personality, a Russian sympathizer. The hero-author of both journeys is not so much a real person as a personal model of a sentimental worldview. You can probably talk about a certain difference between these models, but as directions within the same method. The “sympathizers” of both Karamzin and Radishchev are contemporaries of turbulent historical events in Europe and Russia, and the reflection of these events in the human soul is at the center of their reflection.

Russian sentimentalism did not leave a complete aesthetic theory, which, however, most likely was not possible. A sensitive author shapes his worldview no longer in the rational categories of normativity and predetermination, but submits it through a spontaneous emotional reaction to the manifestations of the surrounding reality. That is why sentimentalist aesthetics is not artificially singled out from the artistic whole and does not develop into a certain system: it reveals its principles and even formulates them directly in the text of the work. In this sense, it is more organic and vital in comparison with the rigid and dogmatic rationalized system of classicism aesthetics.

Unlike European, Russian sentimentalism had a solid educational foundation. The crisis of enlightenment in Europe did not affect Russia to such an extent. The educational ideology of Russian sentimentalism adopted, first of all, the principles of the "educational novel" and the methodological foundations of European pedagogy. The sensitivity and sensitive hero of Russian sentimentalism were striving not only to reveal the "inner man", but also to educate, educate society on new philosophical foundations, but taking into account the real historical and social context. Didactics and teaching in this regard were inevitable: "The teaching, educational function, traditionally inherent in Russian literature, was also perceived by sentimentalists as the most important."

The consistent interest of Russian sentimentalism in the problems of historicism is also indicative: the very fact of the emergence from the depths of sentimentalism of the grandiose building “History of the Russian State” by N. M. Karamzin reveals the result of the process of understanding the category of the historical process. In the depths of sentimentalism, Russian historicism acquired a new style associated with ideas about the feeling of love for the motherland and the indissolubility of the concepts of love for history, for the Fatherland and the human soul. In the preface to The History of the Russian State, Karamzin puts it this way: “The feeling, we, ours, enlivens the narrative, and just as gross predilection, the result of a weak mind or a weak soul, is unbearable in a historian, so love for the fatherland gives his brush heat, strength , charm. Where there is no love, there is no soul.” The humanization and animation of historical feeling is, perhaps, what sentimentalist aesthetics has enriched Russian literature of modern times, which is inclined to cognize history through its personal incarnation: epochal character.