1. The place of Ostrovsky's creativity in Russian dramaturgy.
2. "People's drama" in the Ostrovsky theater.
3. New heroes.
He opened the world to a man of a new formation: an Old Believer merchant and a capitalist merchant, a merchant in an Armenian coat and a merchant in a “troika”, traveling abroad and doing his own business. Ostrovsky opened wide the door to the world, hitherto locked behind high fences from strange prying eyes.
V. G. Marantsman
Dramaturgy is a genre that involves the active interaction of the writer and reader in considering the social issues raised by the author. A. N. Ostrovsky believed that dramaturgy has a strong impact on society, the text is part of the performance, but the play does not live without staging. Hundreds and thousands will view it, and much less will read it. Nationality - main feature dramaturgy of the 1860s: heroes from the people, a description of the life of the lower strata of the population, the search for a positive folk character. Drama has always had the ability to respond to hot topics. Creativity Ostrovsky was at the center of the dramaturgy of this time, Yu. M. Lotman calls his plays the pinnacle of Russian drama. The creator of "," Russian national theater”called Ostrovsky I. A. Goncharov, and N. A. Dobrolyubov called his dramas “plays of life”, since in his plays private life The people are forming a picture modern society. In the first big comedy, Let's Settle Our Own People (1850), social contradictions are shown through intra-family conflicts. It was with this play that Ostrovsky's theater began, it was in it that new principles of stage action, the behavior of an actor, and theatrical entertainment first appeared.
Creativity Ostrovsky was new to Russian drama. His works are characterized by the complexity and complexity of conflicts, his element is a socio-psychological drama, a comedy of manners. His style features are speaking surnames, specific author's remarks, peculiar titles of plays, among which proverbs are often used, comedies on folklore motifs. The conflict of Ostrovsky's plays is mainly based on the incompatibility of the hero with the environment. His dramas can be called psychological, they contain not only external conflict, but also the inner drama of the moral principle.
Everything in the plays historically accurately recreates the life of society, from which the playwright takes his plots. The new hero of Ostrovsky's dramas - a simple man - determines the originality of the content, and Ostrovsky creates " folk drama". He accomplished a huge task - he did " little man» tragic hero. Ostrovsky saw his duty as a dramatic writer in making the analysis of what was happening the main content of the drama. “A dramatic writer ... does not compose what was - it gives life, history, legend; his main task is to show on the basis of what psychological data some event took place and why it was so and not otherwise” - this, according to the author, is the essence of the drama. Ostrovsky treated dramaturgy as a mass art that educates people, and defined the purpose of the theater as a "school of social morals." His very first performances shocked with their truthfulness and simplicity, honest heroes with a "hot heart". The playwright created, "combining the high with the comic", he created forty-eight works and invented more than five hundred heroes.
Ostrovsky's plays are realistic. AT merchant environment, which he observed day after day and believed that it combined the past and present of society, Ostrovsky reveals those social conflicts that reflect the life of Russia. And if in "The Snow Maiden" he recreates the patriarchal world, through which one can only guess contemporary issues, then his "Thunderstorm" is an open protest of the individual, a person's desire for happiness and independence. This was perceived by playwrights as an affirmation of the creative principle of love of freedom, which could become the basis new drama. Ostrovsky never used the definition of "tragedy", designating his plays as "comedies" and "dramas", sometimes providing explanations in the spirit of "pictures of Moscow life", "scenes from village life”, “scenes from the life of the outback”, indicating that we are talking about the life of the whole social environment. Dobrolyubov said that Ostrovsky created new type dramatic action: without didactics, the author analyzed the historical origins of modern phenomena in society.
Historical approach to family and social relations- the pathos of Ostrovsky's creativity. Among his heroes are people different ages divided into two camps - young and old. For example, as Yu. M. Lotman writes, in The Thunderstorm Kabanikha is the “keeper of antiquity”, and Katerina “carries the creative principle of development”, which is why she wants to fly like a bird.
The dispute between antiquity and novelty, according to the literary scholar, is important side dramatic conflict in Ostrovsky's plays. Traditional forms of everyday life are regarded as eternally renewing, and only in this the playwright sees their viability... The old enters into the new, into modern life, in which it can play the role of either a “fettering” element, oppressing its development, or stabilizing, ensuring the strength of the emerging novelty, depending on the content of the old that preserves folk life". The author always sympathizes with young heroes, poeticizes their desire for freedom, selflessness. The title of the article by A. N. Dobrolyubov “A ray of light in a dark kingdom” fully reflects the role of these heroes in society. They are psychologically similar to each other, the author often uses already developed characters. The theme of the position of a woman in the world of calculation is also repeated in "The Poor Bride", "Hot Heart", "Dowry".
Later, the satirical element intensified in the dramas. Ostrovsky refers to Gogol's principle of "pure comedy", bringing to the fore the characteristics of the social environment. The character of his comedies is a renegade and a hypocrite. Ostrovsky also refers to the historical-heroic theme, tracing the formation social phenomena, growth from "little man" to citizen.
Undoubtedly, Ostrovsky's plays will always have modern sound. Theaters constantly turn to his work, so it stands outside the time frame.
Lecture 11. A.N. Ostrovsky. Life and creative path. Social cultural novelty dramaturgy A.N. Ostrovsky.
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (1823–1886) is a talented Russian playwright and theatrical figure. For my creative life he wrote over 50 plays.
Ostrovsky was born in 1823 and spent his childhood in one of the districts of Moscow - Zamoskvorechye, where merchants and artisans lived.
His father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, had a private legal practice. Mother - Lyubov Ivanovna Savvina, the daughter of a Moscow priest, was distinguished by her beauty and high spiritual qualities.
In 1831, when Ostrovsky was not yet nine years old, his mother died, after her early death the stepmother took care of the upbringing and education of children.
In September 1835, Nikolai Fedorovich submitted a petition to the Moscow Provincial Gymnasium to accept his eldest son there. Ostrovsky studied at the gymnasium with moderate success, he did not shine with special abilities.
Ostrovsky successfully worked with music teachers, learned to read notes, knew how to pick up a melody on the piano and write it down. His passion is Pushkin, Griboyedov, Gogol.
In 1840, Ostrovsky successfully graduated from the prestigious First Moscow Gymnasium with a humanitarian focus and continued his studies at law school Moscow University.
But the future playwright was interested in art. He attended performances of the Moscow Maly Theatre, read and wrote a lot, and became interested in music. Having cooled off for studies, Ostrovsky left the university and decided to take up literature.
Since 1843, at the insistence of his father, Ostrovsky began to work as a clerk in the Moscow Conscientious Court, where criminal and civil cases were considered.
Since 1845, Ostrovsky has been in the service of the Moscow Commercial Court. Work in the courts enriched the life experience of the future playwright, gave knowledge of the language, life and psychology of various segments of the population.
1847–1851 - the beginning of literary activity, the formation of literary and aesthetic views Ostrovsky under the influence of articles by Belinsky and Herzen. Writing an essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident." The purpose of the essay is to describe the life and types of Zamoskvorechye. Ostrovsky begins to try his hand at dramaturgy. At the same time, 2 plays "A Petition" and "Insolvent Debtor" are being started.
On January 9, 1847, Scenes from the comedy The Insolvent Debtor were successfully published in the Moscow City List.
In his autobiographical notes, A. N. Ostrovsky wrote: “ The most memorable day of my life for me: February 14, 1847 From that day on, I began to consider myself a Russian writer». It was on this day that Ostrovsky read the first drafts of the comedy "Bankrupt", later called "Own people - let's settle!". The play was finished in 1849. Characteristic merchant types, life, environment were outlined exclusively with the help of the dialogues of the characters. The play was a success.
At the end of 1847, he met a woman who lived next door. Agafya Ivanovna, was a year or two older than Ostrovsky, but he could not decide to marry her; this would mean completely quarreling with his father and remaining in the blackest need. But Agafya Ivanovna did not demand anything from him. She patiently waited for him, loved, warmed him, and the further, the more difficult it was for him to part with her.
So, Ostrovsky's unmarried wife, she lived modestly and with dignity side by side with the great playwright for eighteen years.
1852–1854 - Muscovite period in the work of Ostrovsky. This is the time of the playwright's active participation in the Moskvityanin magazine. Creation of the plays “Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Do not live as you want”. The playwright approaches the depiction of the types of Russian merchants differently: he admires the patriarchal relations that have developed in merchant families between the owners and their servants and workers.
1855–1860 - the pre-reform period, when Ostrovsky approaches the editors of Sovremennik and publishes his works in the journals Sovremennik and Domestic notes”:“ We didn’t agree on the characters! ”,“ A profitable place ”and others. Best Artwork of this period - "Thunderstorm" (1859).
1861–1886 - the post-reform period, which lasted until the death of the playwright. Ostrovsky writes satirical plays reflecting the life of post-reform Russia: "Mad Money", "Dowry", "Talents and Admirers", "Guilty Without Guilt", "Forest", "Wolves and Sheep", the fairy tale "Snow Maiden".
Alexander Nikolayevich was not a revolutionary democrat; in his plays he did not directly touch upon political issues. But his path and views were quite contradictory.
The life of the playwright in his declining years was not happy and secure.
The hopelessness of the situation forced the playwright to give plays to the theater almost free of charge.
The plight of the Russian theatre, playwrights and actors led Ostrovsky to engage in social activities.
1865 - the initiator of the creation of the "Artistic Circle".
1874 - organizer of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Composers.
1881 - drafter of a note to the government on the creation of the Russian national theater.
1886 - head of the repertoire of Moscow theaters and director theater school.
But Ostrovsky's health is undermined. In the spring of 1886, the writer leaves for the village of Shchelykovo, Kostroma province. Ostrovsky died at his desk in Shchelykovo, working on a translation of Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra.
"BUT. N. Ostrovsky is the creator of the Russian national theater. Ostrovsky's place in Russian literature.
What is Russian dramaturgy before Ostrovsky?
In the 40s. nineteenth century pompous melodramas flourished on the stage (a dramatic work in which implausible horrors are combined with exaggerated sensitivity, and the heroes are either villains or examples of virtue), empty vaudevilles (a one-act comic play of light content, accompanied by songs and dances). In 1849, the young playwright A. N. Ostrovsky wrote the play “We'll Settle Our Own People!”. N. A. Dobrolyubov, recognizing Ostrovsky’s extraordinary talent, wrote: “Ostrovsky has a deep understanding of Russian life and a great ability to depict sharply and vividly its most essential aspects.” Ostrovsky's plays, the critic wrote, "these are not comedies of intrigue and not comedies of characters in fact, but something new, to which we would give the name "plays of life."
The behavior of the characters in Ostrovsky's plays is determined by their social and family status, each has its own individual traits which are manifested in the way he perceives his social and marital status how it works in given typical circumstances. The individuality and typicality of Ostrovsky's heroes is revealed not only in their behavior, but also in speech. The playwright with extraordinary skill characterizes people through dialogue.
Ostrovsky is a wonderful master of composition dramatic work. In the first act of the exposition, the drama acquaints the viewer with the previous events and the existing relationships between the characters. After the presentation of the exposition, the action develops at an ever-increasing pace and comes to a natural denouement. At the same time, the playwright makes his hero come into contact with different people, and each such meeting makes this denouement more and more inevitable.
To enhance the stage performance of plays, Ostrovsky skillfully uses contrast techniques, combines dramatic and comic moments. An important factor is also the choice of scene. Ostrovsky often takes the action from the premises to the street, introduces a random passerby, a crowd of townspeople. The socially acute and psychological drama of Ostrovsky was a great achievement in the history of the theater.
L. N. Tolstoy called Ostrovsky "a public writer." Indeed, the work of the playwright is close wide circles people. In his works, Ostrovsky depicted all layers of Russian society, gave a realistic picture of Russian life in the 40-80s of the 19th century, and in historical plays he showed the distant past of our Motherland. Along with dramaturgy, Ostrovsky devoted a lot of time and effort to social activities. He was the founder of the "Artistic Circle", the "Society of Russian Dramatic Writers", constantly helped young playwrights, directed the production of his plays at the Maly Theater, and was engaged in the education of artists. He wrote a large number of articles, letters, projects and proposals concerning the repertoire of the Russian stage and the revision of laws and regulations on the theater.
He struggled with the influx of vulgar, unprincipled plays and contributed to the formation of the Russian dramatic art. Ostrovsky dreamed all his life of founding a Russian folk theater. Ostrovsky was especially careful about the Maly Theater. “The Moscow stage,” he wrote, “should be a hotbed, national school art for Russian artists and for the Russian public. Neither before nor after Ostrovsky, not a single playwright in Russia established such close contacts with the theater.
The Maly Theatre, founded in 1824, is a special theatre. It is customary to call it "the second Moscow university". One could often hear: “There are two universities in Moscow on Mokhovaya (MSU) and on Teatralnaya”. “We studied at the university, and were brought up at the Maly Theater.”
A. N. Ostrovsky could say the same about himself. From his gymnasium years, he became a regular at the Maly Theater. He wrote about himself: "I knew the Moscow troupe since 1840..." great importance and another fact: the Maly Theater was the first to turn to the dramaturgy of a banned author (in 1853, the comedy Don’t Sit in Your Sleigh was staged, which was a great success).
The name "Ostrovsky's House" was assigned to the Maly Theater. He came here every day. The author always read his new plays to the artists himself, thereby setting the right tone for the performers. Ostrovsky was the stage director of his plays; he distributed the roles, he himself conducted rehearsals with the actors, brought up in them a new performing culture. “The school of natural and expressive acting on the stage, for which the Moscow troupe became famous and for which Martynov was a representative in St. Petersburg, was formed simultaneously with the appearance of my first comedies and not without my participation.”
This recognition of the playwright explains why exactly here, at the entrance to the Maly Theater, a monument to A. N. Ostrovsky was erected (sculptor N. A. Andreev, 1929). A. N. Ostrovsky is depicted sitting in an armchair, in a spacious dressing gown with squirrel fur, familiar from the portrait of Perov. In hand Notebook, pencil. The seal of deep concentration lies on the entire appearance of the playwright. Immersed in deep thought, every evening he meets spectators who come to Ostrovsky's House. Many actors with their authentic creative birth owe to A. N. Ostrovsky. This is Alexander Evstafievich Martynov (1816-1860), one of the best comic actors; Olga Osipovna Sadovskaya (1846-1919) a graduate of the Artistic Circle, a student of Ostrovsky, one of best actresses Maly Theatre; Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya (1827-1868) and others.
In the last year of Ostrovsky's life, under pressure from the public, his merits were officially recognized: he was appointed head of the repertoire of Moscow theaters and head of the theater school. But he did not have time to take up this work: on June 14 (2), 1886, the playwright died.
And today Ostrovsky's plays occupy a significant place in the repertoire of our theaters. Creativity Ostrovsky received worldwide recognition.
A.N. OSTROVSKY
(1823 – 1886)
Stages of the creative path
Early period, which is characterized by the influence of the "natural school"
1847 -1851
Focus on moral issues, social aspects of life are analyzed through the prism moral problems; family and domestic conflicts prevail; tense intrigue is combined with the unhurried development of events.
« family picture»,
"Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident"
"Own people - let's count!" and etc.
The period of enthusiasm for the ideas of Slavophilism (collaboration with the Moskvityanin magazine)
1852-1854
The idea of the national identity of the Russian person dominates, the patriarchal family is presented as a model of an ideal social structure, where relations between people should be based on the recognition of the authority of elders, their worldly experience, on popular ideas about morality: a person should not oppose himself to the general.
The plays are predominantly moral and domestic.
“Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Do not live as you want”, “Poverty is not a vice”, etc.
The pre-reform period, characterized by rapprochement with the revolutionary democrats
1855- 1860
The expansion of the coverage of society, depicting not only the merchants, but also representatives of the bureaucracy, etc. Ostrovsky's ideas about the world order are changing, he no longer believes in a patriarchal utopia. The rise of psychology.
“Profitable place”, “Pupil”, “Hangover in someone else's feast”, “Thunderstorm”, etc.
Late period of creativity, post-reform period
1861-1886
Development and expansion of trends of the previous period. During this period, social comedies from the life of the merchants, a cycle of plays “from the life of the outback”, a cycle of historical plays are created, there is an appeal to folklore tradition. The main merit is the development of the provisions of the psychological drama, the desire for the utmost concentration of action in plays.
“Enough simplicity for every sage”, “Mad money”, “Dowry”, “Snow Maiden”, “Forest”, “Wolves about sheep”, etc.
Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (1823-1886)
founder of the national theater
traditional theater
Ostrovsky Theater
the theater did not have a permanent troupe of professional actors;
the performance focused on one leading actor;
there was no directing, there was no close interaction between the author and the director;
the performance was not aimed at a democratic audience (at the people)
defends the principles of the author's theater;
organized on the model of the theaters of W. Shakespeare, J.-B. Moliere, I.-V. Goethe;
introduces a permanent composition of the troupe;
focused on the performance as a whole and the equality of all roles;
Ostrovsky becomes both an author and a stage director;
the playwright writes works with the expectation of their real stage production;
brings the merchant class to the stage;
targeting different segments of society. The spectator from the people learns to understand life, the sophisticated spectator receives "a whole perspective of thoughts that you cannot get rid of";
Ostrovsky makes the theater truly popular, creates a typical Russian repertoire for it
A. A. Grigoriev: “The theater, as a serious and popular matter, began with us also recently, it really began with Ostrovsky”
I. A. Goncharov: “We have our own Russian, national theater. It, in fairness, should be called: "The Ostrovsky Theater" "
1. The place of Ostrovsky's creativity in Russian dramaturgy.
2. "People's drama" in the Ostrovsky theater.
3. New heroes.
He opened the world to a man of a new formation: an Old Believer merchant and a capitalist merchant, a merchant in an Armenian coat and a merchant in a “troika”, traveling abroad and doing his own business. Ostrovsky opened wide the door to the world, hitherto locked behind high fences from strange prying eyes.
V. G. Marantsman
Dramaturgy is a genre that involves the active interaction of the writer and reader in considering the social issues raised by the author. A. N. Ostrovsky believed that dramaturgy has a strong impact on society, the text is part of the performance, but the play does not live without staging. Hundreds and thousands will view it, and much less will read it. Nationality is the main feature of the drama of the 1860s: heroes from the people, a description of the life of the lower strata of the population, the search for a positive national character. Drama has always had the ability to respond to topical issues. Creativity Ostrovsky was at the center of the dramaturgy of this time, Yu. M. Lotman calls his plays the pinnacle of Russian drama. I. A. Goncharov called Ostrovsky the creator of the “Russian national theater”, and N. A. Dobrolyubov called his dramas “plays of life”, since in his plays the private life of the people is formed into a picture of modern society. In the first big comedy, Let's Settle Our Own People (1850), social contradictions are shown through intra-family conflicts. It was with this play that Ostrovsky's theater began, it was in it that new principles of stage action, the behavior of an actor, and theatrical entertainment first appeared.
Creativity Ostrovsky was new to Russian drama. His works are characterized by the complexity and complexity of conflicts, his element is a socio-psychological drama, a comedy of manners. The features of his style are speaking surnames, specific author's remarks, peculiar titles of plays, among which proverbs are often used, comedies based on folklore motives. The conflict of Ostrovsky's plays is mainly based on the incompatibility of the hero with the environment. His dramas can be called psychological, they contain not only an external conflict, but also an internal drama of a moral principle.
Everything in the plays historically accurately recreates the life of society, from which the playwright takes his plots. The new hero of Ostrovsky's dramas - a simple man - determines the originality of the content, and Ostrovsky creates a "folk drama". He accomplished a huge task - he made the "little man" a tragic hero. Ostrovsky saw his duty as a dramatic writer in making the analysis of what was happening the main content of the drama. “A dramatic writer ... does not compose what was - it gives life, history, legend; his main task is to show on the basis of what psychological data some event took place and why it was so and not otherwise” - this, according to the author, is the essence of the drama. Ostrovsky treated dramaturgy as a mass art that educates people, and defined the purpose of the theater as a "school of social morals." His very first performances shocked with their truthfulness and simplicity, honest heroes with a "hot heart". The playwright created, "combining the high with the comic", he created forty-eight works and invented more than five hundred heroes.
Ostrovsky's plays are realistic. In the merchant environment, which he observed day after day and believed that the past and present of society were united in it, Ostrovsky reveals those social conflicts that reflect the life of Russia. And if in "The Snow Maiden" he recreates the patriarchal world, through which modern problems are only guessed, then his "Thunderstorm" is an open protest of the individual, a person's desire for happiness and independence. This was perceived by playwrights as an affirmation of the creative principle of love of freedom, which could become the basis of a new drama. Ostrovsky never used the definition of "tragedy", designating his plays as "comedies" and "dramas", sometimes providing explanations in the spirit of "pictures of Moscow life", "scenes from village life", "scenes from backwoods life", pointing out that that we are talking about the life of a whole social environment. Dobrolyubov said that Ostrovsky created a new type of dramatic action: without didactics, the author analyzed the historical origins of modern phenomena in society.
The historical approach to family and social relations is the pathos of Ostrovsky's work. Among his heroes are people of different ages, divided into two camps - young and old. For example, as Yu. M. Lotman writes, in The Thunderstorm Kabanikha is the “keeper of antiquity”, and Katerina “carries the creative principle of development”, which is why she wants to fly like a bird.
The dispute between antiquity and newness, according to the scholar of literature, is an important aspect of the dramatic conflict in Ostrovsky's plays. Traditional forms of everyday life are regarded as eternally renewing, and only in this the playwright sees their viability... The old enters into the new, into modern life, in which it can play the role of either a “fettering” element, oppressing its development, or stabilizing, ensuring the strength of the emerging novelty, depending on the content of the old that preserves the people's life. The author always sympathizes with young heroes, poeticizes their desire for freedom, selflessness. The title of the article by A. N. Dobrolyubov “A ray of light in a dark kingdom” fully reflects the role of these heroes in society. They are psychologically similar to each other, the author often uses already developed characters. The theme of the position of a woman in the world of calculation is also repeated in "The Poor Bride", "Hot Heart", "Dowry".
Later, the satirical element intensified in the dramas. Ostrovsky refers to Gogol's principle of "pure comedy", bringing to the fore the characteristics of the social environment. The character of his comedies is a renegade and a hypocrite. Ostrovsky also turns to the historical-heroic theme, tracing the formation of social phenomena, growth from a “little man” to a citizen.
Undoubtedly, Ostrovsky's plays will always have a modern sound. Theaters constantly turn to his work, so it stands outside the time frame.
Socio-ethical dramaturgy of Ostrovsky
Dobrolyubov said that Ostrovsky "extremely fully exposed two types of relations - family relations and property relations." But these relations are always given to them in a broad social and moral framework.
Ostrovsky's dramaturgy is socio-ethical. It raises and solves the problems of morality, human behavior. Goncharov rightly drew attention to this: “Ostrovsky is usually called a writer of everyday life, morals, but this does not exclude the mental side ... he does not have a single play where this or that purely human interest, feeling, life truth is not affected.” The author of "Thunderstorm" and "Dowry" has never been a narrow everyday worker. Continuing the best traditions of Russian progressive dramaturgy, he organically fuses in his plays family and everyday, moral and everyday motives with deeply social or even socio-political ones.
At the heart of almost any of his plays is the main, leading theme of great social resonance, which is revealed with the help of subordinate private themes, mostly everyday ones. Thus, his plays acquire a thematically complex complexity, versatility. So, for example, the leading theme of the comedy "Own people - let's settle!" - unbridled predation, which led to malicious bankruptcy - is carried out in an organic interweaving with its subordinate private topics: education, relationships between elders and younger, fathers and children, conscience and honor, etc.
Shortly before the appearance of "Thunderstorm" N.A. Dobrolyubov published the articles "Dark Kingdom", in which he argued that Ostrovsky "possesses a deep understanding of Russian life and is great at portraying its most essential aspects sharply and vividly."
The Thunderstorm served as new proof of the correctness of the propositions expressed by the revolutionary-democratic critic. In The Thunderstorm, the playwright so far showed with exceptional force the clash between old traditions and new trends, between the oppressed and the oppressors, between the aspirations of the oppressed people for the free manifestation of their spiritual needs, inclinations, interests and the social and family-household orders that dominated in the conditions of pre-reform life.
Solving the urgent problem of illegitimate children, their social powerlessness, Ostrovsky in 1883 created the play Guilty Without Guilt. This problem was touched upon in the literature both before and after Ostrovsky. Especially great attention she was given to democratic fiction. But in no other work did this theme sound with such penetrating passion as in the play Guilty Without Guilt. Confirming its relevance, a contemporary of the playwright wrote: "The question of the fate of the illegitimate is a question inherent in all classes."
In this play, the second problem is also loud - art. Ostrovsky skillfully, justifiably tied them into a single knot. He turned a mother looking for her child into an actress and unfolded all the events in an artistic environment. Thus, two heterogeneous problems merged into an organically inseparable life process.
Ways of creation artwork very varied. The writer can go from the one who struck him real fact or a problem, an idea that agitated him, from a glut of life experience or from imagination. A.N. Ostrovsky, as a rule, started from the concrete phenomena of reality, but at the same time he defended a certain idea. The playwright fully shared Gogol's judgment that “idea, thought governs the play. Without it, there is no unity in it.” Guided by this position, on October 11, 1872, he wrote to his co-author N.Ya. Solovyov: “I worked on “The Savage Woman” all summer, and I thought for two years, I not only have not a single character or position, but there is not a single phrase that would not strictly follow from the idea ... "
The playwright has always been an opponent of frontal didactics, so characteristic of classicism, but at the same time he defended the need for complete clarity of the author's position. In his plays, one can always feel the author-citizen, a patriot of his country, a son of his people, a champion of social justice, acting either as a passionate defender, lawyer, or as a judge and prosecutor.
Ostrovsky's social, ideological, and ideological position is clearly revealed in relation to the various depicted social classes and characters. Showing the merchants, Ostrovsky reveals with particular fullness his predatory egoism.
Along with selfishness, an essential feature of the bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky is acquisitiveness, accompanied by insatiable greed and shameless cheating. The acquisitive greed of this class is all-consuming. Kindred feelings, friendship, honor, conscience are exchanged here for money. The glitter of gold overshadows in this environment all the usual concepts of morality and honesty. Here, a wealthy mother gives her only daughter to an old man only because he “doesn’t peck for money” (“Family Picture”), and a rich father is looking for a groom for his, also only daughter, considering only that he has “ there were money and a smaller dowry ache "(" "Own people - let's settle!").
In the trading environment portrayed by Ostrovsky, no one takes into account other people's opinions, desires and interests, believing that the basis of their activity is only own will and personal arbitrariness.
An integral feature of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky is hypocrisy. The merchants strove to hide their fraudulent nature under the mask of sedateness and piety. The religion of hypocrisy professed by the merchants became their essence.
Predatory egoism, acquisitive greed, narrow practicality, a complete lack of spiritual inquiries, ignorance, tyranny, hypocrisy and hypocrisy - these are the leading moral and psychological features of the pre-reform commercial and industrial bourgeoisie portrayed by Ostrovsky, its essential properties.
Reproducing the pre-reform commercial and industrial bourgeoisie with its pre-construction way of life, Ostrovsky clearly showed that in life the forces opposing it were already growing, inexorably undermining its foundations. The ground under the feet of self-indulgent despots became more and more shaky, foreshadowing their inevitable end in the future.
The post-reform reality has changed a lot in the position of the merchant class. The rapid development of industry, the growth of the domestic market, the expansion of trade relations with foreign countries have turned the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie not only into an economic, but also into political power. The type of the old pre-reform merchant began to be replaced by a new one. A merchant of a different fold came to replace him.
Responding to the new that the post-reform reality introduced into the life and customs of the merchants, Ostrovsky even more sharply poses in his plays the struggle of civilization with patriarchy, of new phenomena with antiquity.
Following the changing course of events, the playwright in a number of his plays draws a new type of merchant, who was formed after 1861. Acquiring a European gloss, this merchant hides his selfish and predatory essence under external plausibility.
Drawing representatives of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie of the post-reform era, Ostrovsky exposes their utilitarianism, narrow-mindedness, spiritual poverty, preoccupation with the interests of hoarding and domestic comfort. “The bourgeoisie,” we read in the Communist Manifesto, “tore away their touchingly sentimental veil from family relations and reduced them to purely monetary relations.” We see a convincing confirmation of this position in the family and everyday relations of both the pre-reform and, in particular, the post-reform Russian bourgeoisie, depicted by Ostrovsky.
Marriage and family relations are subordinated here to the interests of entrepreneurship and profit.
Civilization, undoubtedly, streamlined the technique of professional relations between the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, instilled in it a gloss foreign culture. But the essence of the social practice of the pre-reform and post-reform bourgeoisie remained unchanged.
Comparing the bourgeoisie with the nobility, Ostrovsky prefers the bourgeoisie, but nowhere, except three plays- “Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Do not live as you want”, - does not idealize it as an estate. It is clear to Ostrovsky that the moral foundations of the representatives of the bourgeoisie are determined by the conditions of their environment, their social existence, which is a particular expression of the system, which is based on despotism, the power of wealth. The commercial and entrepreneurial activity of the bourgeoisie cannot serve as a source of spiritual growth human personality, humanity and morality. The social practice of the bourgeoisie can only disfigure the human personality, instilling in it individualistic, anti-social properties. The bourgeoisie, historically replacing the nobility, is vicious in its essence. But it has become a force not only economic, but also political. While the merchants of Gogol were afraid of the mayor like fire and wallowed at his feet, the merchants of Ostrovsky treat the mayor in familiarity.
Depicting the affairs and days of the commercial and industrial bourgeoisie, its old and young generation, the playwright showed a gallery of images full of individual originality, but, as a rule, without soul and heart, without shame and conscience, without pity and compassion.
Ostrovsky was also subjected to harsh criticism of the Russian bureaucracy of the second half of XIX century, with its inherent properties of careerism, embezzlement, bribery. Expressing the interests of the nobility and the bourgeoisie, it was in fact the dominant socio-political force. “Tsarist autocracy is,” Lenin said, “the autocracy of officials.”
The power of the bureaucracy, directed against the interests of the people, was uncontrolled. Representatives of the bureaucratic world are the Vyshnevskys ("Profitable Place"), the Potrokhovs ("Labor Bread"), the Gnevyshevs ("The Rich Bride") and the Benevolenskys ("The Poor Bride").
The concepts of justice and human dignity exist in the bureaucratic world in an egoistic, extremely vulgar sense.
Revealing the mechanics of bureaucratic omnipotence, Ostrovsky paints a picture of the terrible formalism that brought to life such dark businessmen as Zakhar Zakharych (“Hangover at a Strange Feast”) and Mudrov (“Hard Days”).
It is quite natural that the representatives of autocratic-bureaucratic omnipotence are stranglers of any free political thought.
Stealing from the treasury, taking bribes, perjury, whitewashing the evil and drowning the just cause in a paper stream of casuistic cunning gossip, these people are morally devastated, everything human in them is weathered, for them there is nothing cherished: conscience and honor are sold for profitable places, ranks, money.
Ostrovsky convincingly showed the organic merging of the bureaucracy, the bureaucracy with the nobility and the bourgeoisie, the unity of their economic and socio-political interests.
Reproducing the heroes of the conservative bourgeois bureaucratic life with their vulgarity and impenetrable ignorance, carnivorous greed and rudeness, the playwright creates a magnificent trilogy about Balzaminov.
Looking ahead in his dreams to the future, when he marries a rich bride, the hero of this trilogy says: “Firstly, I would sew myself a blue cloak with a black velvet lining ... I would buy myself a gray horse and a racing droshky and drive along the Hook, mother, and he ruled ... ".
Balzaminov is the personification of vulgar petty-bourgeois bureaucratic limitations. This is a type of great generalizing power.
But a significant part of the petty bureaucracy, being socially between a rock and a hard place, itself endured oppression from the autocratic-despotic system. Among the petty officials there were many honest workers who bent, and often fell under an unbearable burden. social injustices, deprivation and need. Ostrovsky treated these workers with ardent attention and sympathy. He dedicated a number of plays to the little people of the bureaucratic world, where they act as they were in reality: good and evil, smart and stupid, but both of them are destitute, deprived of the opportunity to reveal their best abilities.
More acutely felt their social infringement, more deeply felt their futility people in one way or another outstanding. And so their lives were mostly tragic.
Representatives of the working intelligentsia in the image of Ostrovsky are people of spiritual vivacity and bright optimism, goodwill and humanism.
fundamental directness, moral purity, a firm belief in the truth of one's deeds and the bright optimism of the working intelligentsia are found in Ostrovsky hot support. Portraying representatives of the working intelligentsia as true patriots of their fatherland, as carriers of light, designed to dispel the darkness dark kingdom based on the power of capital and privileges, arbitrariness and violence, the playwright puts into their speeches and his cherished thoughts.
Ostrovsky's sympathies belonged not only to the working intelligentsia, but also to ordinary working people. He found them among the philistinism - a motley, complex, contradictory estate. By their own aspirations, the petty-bourgeois are attached to the bourgeoisie, and by their labor essence, to the common people. Ostrovsky portrays from this estate mainly working people, showing obvious sympathy for them.
Usually simple people in Ostrovsky's plays they are carriers of a natural mind, spiritual nobility, honesty, innocence, kindness, human dignity and sincerity of the heart.
showing working people cities, Ostrovsky penetrates with deep respect for their spiritual merits and ardent sympathy for their plight. He acts as a direct and consistent defender of this social stratum.
Deepening the satirical tendencies of Russian dramaturgy, Ostrovsky acted as a merciless denunciator of the exploiting classes and, thereby, of the autocratic system. The playwright depicted a social system in which the value of the human personality is determined only by its material wealth in which poor workers experience heaviness and hopelessness, while careerists and bribe-takers prosper and triumph. Thus, the playwright pointed out his injustice and depravity.
That is why in his comedies and dramas everything goodies are predominantly in dramatic situations: they suffer, suffer and even perish. Their happiness is accidental or imaginary.
Ostrovsky was on the side of this growing protest, seeing in it a sign of the times, an expression of a nationwide movement, the beginnings of what was to change all life in the interests of working people.
Being one of the brightest representatives Russian critical realism, Ostrovsky not only denied, but also affirmed. Using all the possibilities of his skill, the playwright attacked those who oppressed the people and disfigured their souls. Permeating his work with democratic patriotism, he said: “As a Russian, I am ready to sacrifice everything I can for the fatherland.”
Comparing Ostrovsky's plays with contemporary liberal accusatory novels and short stories, Dobrolyubov in the article "A Ray of Light in dark kingdom”rightly wrote: “It is impossible not to admit that Ostrovsky’s case is much more fruitful: he captured such general aspirations and needs that permeate everything Russian society whose voice is heard in all the phenomena of our life, whose satisfaction is necessary condition our further development.
Independent work No. 1
Topic: Historical - cultural process and periodization of Russian literature of the 19th century.
Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century. The 19th century is called the "Golden Age" of Russian poetry and the century of Russian literature on a global scale. At the beginning of the century, art was finally separated from court poetry and "album" poems, in the history of Russian literature for the first time the features of a professional poet appeared, the lyrics became more natural, simpler, more humane. This century has given us such masters. It should not be forgotten that the literary leap that took place in the 19th century was prepared by the entire course of the literary process of the 17th and 18th centuries. The 19th century is the time of the formation of the Russian literary language. The 19th century began with the heyday of sentimentalism and the formation of romanticism. These literary trends found expression primarily in poetry. Sentimentalism: Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant feature of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Sentimentalism believed that the ideal of human activity was not the "reasonable" reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of "natural" feelings. His hero is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin and conviction, the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; rich spiritual world commoner - one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism. Romanticism: ideological and artistic direction in the culture of the end of the 18th century - the first half of the 19th century. It is characterized by the assertion of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. In the 18th century, everything that was strange, fantastic, picturesque, and existing in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. AT early XIX century, romanticism became the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism and the Enlightenment. Romanticism affirms the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man. The image of the “noble savage”, armed “ folk wisdom and not spoiled by civilization. Along with poetry began to develop prose. The prose writers of the beginning of the century were influenced by the English historical novels of W. Scott, whose translations were very popular. The development of Russian prose of the 19th century began with prose works A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol. Since the middle of the 19th century, the formation of Russian realistic literature has been taking place, which is created against the backdrop of a tense socio-political situation that developed in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. A crisis in the serf system is brewing, contradictions between the government and common people. 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. Socio-political and philosophical problems prevail. Literature is distinguished by a special psychologism. Realism in art, 1) the truth of life, embodied by the specific means of art. 2) The historically concrete form of the artistic consciousness of the new time, which originates either from the Renaissance ("Renaissance realism"), or from the Enlightenment ("Enlightenment realism"), or from the 30s. 19th century ("proper realism"). The leading principles of realism in the 19th - 20th centuries: an objective reflection of the essential aspects of life in combination with the height of the author's ideal; reproduction of typical characters, conflicts, situations with the completeness of their artistic individualization (i.e. concretization of both national, historical, social signs, and physical, intellectual and spiritual features
^ critical realism- an artistic method and literary direction that developed in the 19th century. Its main feature is the depiction of the human character in organic connection with social circumstances, along with a deep social analysis of the inner world of a person.
Independent work No. 2
Topic: Romanticism is the leading trend in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century.
Romanticism(- a phenomenon of European culture in the 18th-19th centuries, which is a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific and technological progress stimulated by it; the ideological and artistic direction in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of the 19th century. It is characterized by the assertion of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual , depicting strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. various areas human activity. In the 18th century, everything that was strange, fantastic, picturesque, and existing in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism became the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism and Enlightenment.
Romanticism replaces the Age of Enlightenment and coincides with the industrial revolution, marked by the appearance of the steam engine, the steam locomotive, the steamboat, photography, and factory outskirts. If the Enlightenment is characterized by the cult of reason and civilization based on its principles, then romanticism affirms the cult of nature, feelings and the natural in man. It was in the era of romanticism that the phenomena of tourism, mountaineering and picnics were formed, designed to restore the unity of man and nature. The image of the “noble savage”, armed with “folk wisdom” and not spoiled by civilization, is in demand. That is, the romanticists wanted to show an unusual person in unusual circumstances. In a word, the romanticists opposed progressive civilization.
It is usually believed that in Russia romanticism appears in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky (although some Russian poetic works of the 1790-1800s are often attributed to the pre-romantic movement that developed from sentimentalism). In Russian romanticism, freedom from classical conventions appears, a ballad, a romantic drama, is created. A new idea of the essence and meaning of poetry is affirmed, which is recognized as an independent sphere of life, an expression of the highest, ideal aspirations of man; the old view, according to which poetry was an empty pastime, something completely serviceable, is no longer possible.
The early poetry of A. S. Pushkin also developed within the framework of romanticism. The poetry of M. Yu. Lermontov, the “Russian Byron”, can be considered the pinnacle of Russian romanticism. The philosophical lyrics of F. I. Tyutchev are both the completion and the overcoming of romanticism in Russia.
The first decades of the 19th century passed under the sign of romanticism. Zhukovsky is popular, the genius of Pushkin flourishes, Lermontov declares himself, Gogol's creative path begins, and the critic Belinsky actively participates in the development of Russian literature. Literature is increasingly becoming an integral part of the spiritual life of society.
Youth, students create associations that have a socio-political orientation. Thus, at Moscow University, in the circle of N. V. Stankevich, V. G. Belinsky, M. A. Bakunin, K. S. Aksakov take part; in the circle of A. I. Herzen - N. P. Ogarev. As Herzen argued, "Russia of the future" existed precisely among these "boys who had just emerged from childhood" - they had "the heritage of universal science and purely folk Russia."
The autocratic power proclaims the ideological formula Russian society: “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationalism. It was voiced in 1833 in the circular of the Minister of Public Education, Count S. S. Uvarov, where it was said that “public education should be carried out in the united spirit of Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationality.”
For Russian literature of the 19th century, realism can be considered the leading direction. In the literature of different countries, it arose in parallel with the successes exact sciences. The position of a realist writer is close to the position of a scientist, since they consider the world around them as a subject of study, observation, research.
Romanticism gravitated towards depicting an extraordinary personality, unusual plots, spectacular contrasts and vivid forms of expression. Realism strives to depict the everyday existence of ordinary people, to reproduce the real course of life. “To accurately and strongly reproduce the truth, the reality of life, is the greatest happiness for a writer, even if this truth does not coincide with his own sympathies,” I. S. Typgenev argued.
Independent work No. 3
Topic: The main themes and motives in the lyrics of A.S. Pushkin.
Reading the lyrics of A. S. Pushkin, the great Russian writer N. V. Gogol asked himself the question: “What became the subject of A. S. Pushkin's poetry? : And he himself answered: "Everything has become an object." In his work, the poet turned to the themes of love and friendship, he was worried about the problems of freedom and the appointment of the poet. All the lyrics of A. S. Pushkin can be imagined as an endless novel in verse, the main subject of which is the inner world of the lyrical hero with his feelings, experiences and aspirations, whether it is a rush of passion, a premonition of love or disappointment in the ideal. One of the most important in the poet's work for me was the theme of love, which develops, like all the motives of his lyrics. In his youth, the lyrical hero of A. S. Pushkin sees joy and great universal value in love: ... Flow, streams of love, flow full of you. In the darkness, your eyes shine before me, They smile at me - and I hear the sounds: My friend, my tender friend ... love ... yours ... yours! .. But gradually, with the maturation of the lyrical hero, the theme of love is rethought, and now A. S. Pushkin become more important than feelings and the experiences of a beloved woman: But you tore your lips from the bitter kiss; From the land of gloomy exile You called me to another land. Lyrical hero Pushkin is able to appreciate any feeling and enjoy even the sadness of love: On the hills of Georgia lies the darkness of the night; Noisy Aragva before me. I'm sad and easy; my sadness is light; My sorrow is full of you...
Also in the work of A. S. Pushkin, one can see another understanding of freedom: the romantic perception of liberty. One of my favorite poems is the work "To the Sea", in which the principle of romantic duality is manifested. The lyrical hero thinks of himself as an extraordinary person, he cannot find anything equal to himself in society and therefore turns to the world of nature, to the elements: The limit of my soul is desirable! How often I wandered along your shores, quiet and foggy, I languish with a cherished intent! The pinnacle of the theme of freedom is the poem (From Pindemonti), which is a hymn to personal freedom. Especially close to me are the lines dedicated to the chanting of the honor and dignity of a person: Depend on the king, depend on the people - Is it all the same to us? God is with them. Do not give an Account to anyone, only yourself Serve and please, for power, for livery Do not bend your conscience, thoughts, or neck ... Since Pushkin in his work turned to the themes of the poet and poetry, time and eternity, we must not forget about philosophical lyrics of the poet. The young lyric poet perceived death very tragically, but he realized that life does not stop, since A. S. Pushkin thought of himself as a very important link in the chain of generations, he manages to overcome the tragedy of death: Hello, young, unfamiliar tribe! not I will see your mighty late age When you outgrow my acquaintances And you shield their old head From the eyes of a passerby. But let my grandson Hear your welcoming noise, when, Returning from a friendly conversation, Full of merry and pleasant thoughts, He will pass by you in the darkness of the night, And remember me. The problem of time and eternity, in my opinion, is one of the main problems in the philosophical lyrics of A. S. Pushkin.
The problem of time and eternity, in my opinion, is one of the main problems in the philosophical lyrics of A. S. Pushkin. The lyrical hero realizes that a person lives within the framework of time, and nature is eternal, and therefore it is indifferent to the tragedy of man: And let young life play at the coffin entrance, And indifferent nature Shine with eternal beauty.
At the end of his life, A. S. Pushkin returns to the theme of the poet and poetry in the poem "Monument", where the lyrics are concerned with the theme of poetic immortality. In this work, political freedom and the freedom of the creative person merge. The main meaning is contained in the lines: No, all of me will not die - the soul in the cherished lyre My ashes will survive and run away from decay - And I will be glorious, as long as at least one piit is alive in the sublunar world. The belief that the works will remain in the hearts and souls of generations fills the life of the poet with meaning and significance not only for A. S. Pushkin, but also for admirers of his talent. The older I get, the more the works of the great Russian lyricist acquire new and new meaning for me. Each time, re-reading familiar works from childhood, I discover a new Pushkin, because throughout his life the poet followed His moral ideals, which are so close to me.
Independent work No. 4
Topic: The main motives of the lyrics of M.O. Lermontov.
“Like any real, and even more so great poet, Lermontov confessed his poetry, and leafing through the volumes of his works, we can read the history of his soul and understand him as a poet and a person,” wrote Irakli Andronikov. Lermontov's talent flourished at a time when the revolution of the nobility was crushed, and new generations of fighters were still being formed. Therefore, the motives of bitterness, longing and loneliness occupy a considerable place in his work. Faith in the people, in their mighty forces, helped him in many ways to overcome these moods. Lermontov is a national poet. We are captivated by the beauty and humanity of Lermontov's poems. We hear in his poetry a stormy protest against "gloomy reality", a proud call for freedom and justice. The themes of Lermontov's lyrics are varied. Many of his works are a bitter thought about the fate of the younger generation of his era. One of the leading themes of Lermontov's poetry is the theme of hatred for autocracy. It illuminates the entire creative path of the poet. The heroic beginning of his struggle against the autocracy and the "light" was the poem "The Death of a Poet", written with heartache and anger. Lermontov castigates the "envious and stifling light", the "executioners of Freedom", the "greedy crowd" standing at the throne. He contrasts them with Pushkin, who rebelled against the "opinions of the world", whose death calls for vengeance. It was she who announced to Russia the emergence of a new poet, the successor to the great Pushkin. In Russia in the 1930s, Lermontov was one of the few poets who openly challenged ruling society. A vivid example of this is the poem “How often, surrounded by a motley crowd ...”. Forced to live among the secular mob, the poet deeply despises the intrigue, lies, emptiness and soullessness of these people. The poem ends with a challenge to the “light”: Oh, how I want to embarrass their gaiety, And boldly throw an iron verse in their eyes, Drenched in bitterness and anger! Even the best representatives of the youth of that time did not know how and where to apply their strength. In the end, many of them became indifferent to everything, became "superfluous people." The poem "Duma" is a civil judgment over one's generation. The author shows his passivity and emptiness of life in an era when the struggle is necessary. A large place in Lermontov's lyrics is occupied by the theme of the motherland (“Motherland”, “Borodino”). Lermontov opposes his “strange” love for the fatherland to the false patriotism of the ruling classes. In no other work did he achieve such poetic clarity as in the poem "Motherland". Broad lines, like the expanse of the steppe, accompany the poet's thoughts when his gaze turns to the Russian nature dear to his heart. At the sight of the occasional contentment and simple fun of hardworking peasants, the poet is seized by a feeling of joy, incomprehensible to “patriots” from the nobility, who cannot look “with joy, unfamiliar to many ...”. Lermontov is dear to his native nature, but the simple Russian people are even more dear. Belinsky called this poem "Pushkin's best" thing, referring to Pushkin's optimism, faith in life and the people, which Lermontov inherited. But now the dagger has turned into a “golden toy”, inglorious and harmless. Previously, the voice of the poet called for a fight: “It used to be that the measured sound of your mighty words / Inflamed a fighter for battle ...” But now Lermontov does not see such a singer among his contemporaries. The poem ends with an appeal: Will you wake up again, mocked prophet? Or never at the voice of vengeance From the golden scabbard will you pull out your blade, Covered with rust of contempt?.. Years of reaction lay like a heavy burden on the shoulders of advanced people. deep sadness and anxiety are heard in many of Lermontov's poems: “I go out alone on the road ...”, “An oak leaf came off a dear branch ...”, “Clouds”, “Cliff”. In the poem “And boring and sad,” the poet writes: And it’s boring and sad, and there’s no one to give a hand to In a moment of spiritual hardship ... Desire! best years! The poet is tired of following his “flinty path”. Nature, sounding in each of his poems, calls to rest (“The earth sleeps in the radiance of blue ...”). The sad tone of Lermontov's poems never turned into despair. The poet never resigned himself to fate. The rebellious spirit of poetry, its lyricism, depth of thought, amazing musicality and perfection of poetry put Lermontov among the greatest poets.
Independent work No. 5
Topic: The value of N.V. Gogol in Russian literature.
The merciless truth spoken by Gogol about contemporary society, the ardent love for the people, the artistic perfection of his works - all this determined the role that the great writer played in the history of Russian and world literature, in establishing the principles of critical realism, in the development of democratic public consciousness.
Relying on the creative achievements of his glorious predecessors (Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Krylov, Pushkin), Gogol blazed new trails in literature, continuing and developing its wonderful traditions: connection with life, nationality, humanism. In science recent years Increasingly, there are doubts about the validity of the judgments of the outstanding literary critic M. M. Bakhtin that Gogol’s laughter is “purely folk-festive laughter”, which has nothing to do with satire. Meanwhile, most of Gogol's works, as D. P. Nikolaev showed in a special study, are to some extent imbued with satirical pathos. Gogol acutely felt the unnaturalness of all the then existing social and social forms of life, their anti-humanistic essence.
This critical direction grew in Gogol from a belief in the unlimited spiritual possibilities of the individual, from the idea of moral values embedded in the people's consciousness, ideals, from the height of which the satirist opposed everything that disfigured and distorted the human personality. The concept of the ideal also existed in romantic literature. But there the ideal was often perceived as an unattainable dream opposed to reality.
For Gogol, the ideal is not divorced from reality, it is perceived by the writer as a norm of life that existed in the past (“Taras Bulba”) and, therefore, is possible and achievable in the present.
From this comes the power of satirical negation, which is organically connected with a passionate desire by means of fiction to achieve the speedy achievement of the public good, to affirm the lofty purpose of a person, to help him get rid of everything that can lead to moral death.
Harsh and wise lessons Gogol, so important and necessary for us today, these are lessons of love for the Motherland, respect and admiration for its history, nature, people, this is a warning about the formidable danger that the loss of moral criteria brings with it, the lack of spirituality that always accompanies acquirers, predators, people , absorbed in the pursuit of rank or wealth, alien to high spiritual interests.
Gogol's immortal work enriched the principles of artistic representation of reality, revealed the inexhaustible possibilities of using the grotesque, fantasy, and symbolism in realistic literature. “Gogol's range was unlimited,” wrote M. T. Rylsky.
Not only laughter, but also the terrible fantasy of "Terrible Revenge" and "Evenings on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", and the heroic pathos, patriotic solemnity of "Taras Bulba", and the poetic melodiousness of "May Night", and the deep emotion of "Portrait", and the grotesqueness of "The Nose "- one of the most fantastic and most realistic works of world literature, and boundless pity for the poor man, which manifested itself so strongly in The Overcoat and found its continuation in the early (and not only early) works of Dostoevsky, and in the works of Turgenev, Leskov , Gleb Uspensky, Garshin, Chekhov.
Independent work No. 6
Topic: Socio-cultural novelty of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy.
Dramaturgy is a genre that involves the active interaction of the writer and the reader in considering the social issues raised by the author. A. N. Ostrovsky believed that dramaturgy has a strong impact on society, the text is part of the performance, but the play does not live without staging. Hundreds and thousands will view it, and much less will read it. Nationality is the main feature of the drama of the 1860s: heroes from the people, a description of the life of the lower strata of the population, the search for a positive national character. Drama has always had the ability to respond to topical issues. Creativity Ostrovsky was at the center of the dramaturgy of this time, Yu. M. Lotman calls his plays the pinnacle of Russian drama. I. A. Goncharov called Ostrovsky the creator of “, the “Russian national theater”, and N. A. Dobrolyubov called his dramas “plays of life”, since in his plays the private life of the people is formed into a picture of modern society. In the first big comedy "Our People - Let's Settle" (1850), it is through intra-family conflicts that public contradictions are shown. It was with this play that Ostrovsky's theater began, it was in it that new principles of stage action, the behavior of an actor, and theatrical entertainment first appeared.
Creativity Ostrovsky was new to Russian drama. His works are characterized by the complexity and complexity of conflicts, his element is a socio-psychological drama, a comedy of manners. The features of his style are speaking surnames, specific author's remarks, peculiar titles of plays, among which proverbs are often used, comedies based on folklore motives. The conflict of Ostrovsky's plays is mainly based on the incompatibility of the hero with the environment. His dramas can be called psychological, they contain not only an external conflict, but also an internal drama of a moral principle. Everything in the plays historically accurately recreates the life of society, from which the playwright takes his plots. The new hero of Ostrovsky's dramas - a simple man - determines the originality of the content, and Ostrovsky creates a "folk drama". He accomplished a huge task - he made the "little man" a tragic hero. Ostrovsky saw his duty as a dramatic writer in making the analysis of what was happening the main content of the drama. “A dramatic writer ... does not compose what was - it gives life, history, legend; his main task is to show on the basis of what psychological data some event took place and why it was so and not otherwise ”- this, according to the author, is the essence of the drama. Ostrovsky treated dramaturgy as a mass art that educates people, and defined the purpose of the theater as a "school of social morals." His very first performances shocked with their truthfulness and simplicity, honest heroes with a "hot heart". The playwright created, "combining the high with the comic", he created forty-eight works and invented more than five hundred heroes.
Ostrovsky's plays are realistic. In the merchant environment, which he observed day after day and believed that the past and present of society were united in it, Ostrovsky reveals those social conflicts that reflect the life of Russia. And if in "The Snow Maiden" he recreates the patriarchal world, through which modern problems are only guessed, then his "Thunderstorm" is an open protest of the individual, a person's desire for happiness and independence. This was perceived by playwrights as an affirmation of the creative principle of love of freedom, which could become the basis of a new drama. Ostrovsky never used the definition of "tragedy", designating his plays as "comedies" and "dramas", sometimes providing explanations in the spirit of "pictures of Moscow life", "scenes from village life", "scenes from backwoods life", pointing out that that we are talking about the life of a whole social environment. Dobrolyubov said that Ostrovsky created a new type of dramatic action: without didactics, the author analyzed the historical origins of modern phenomena in society. The historical approach to family and social relations is the pathos of Ostrovsky's work. Among his heroes are people of different ages, divided into two camps - young and old. For example, as Yu. M. Lotman writes, in The Thunderstorm Kabanikha is the “keeper of antiquity”, and Katerina “carries the creative beginning of development”, which is why she wants to fly like a bird.
The dispute between antiquity and newness, according to the literary critic, is an important aspect of the dramatic conflict in Ostrovsky's plays. Traditional forms of everyday life are regarded as eternally renewing, and only in this the playwright sees their viability... The old enters into the new, into modern life, in which it can play the role of either a “fettering” element, oppressing its development, or stabilizing, ensuring the strength of the emerging novelty, depending on the content of the old that preserves the people's life. The author always sympathizes with young heroes, poeticizes their desire for freedom, selflessness. The title of the article by A. N. Dobrolyubov “A ray of light in a dark kingdom” fully reflects the role of these heroes in society. They are psychologically similar to each other, the author often uses already developed characters. The theme of the position of a woman in the world of calculation is also repeated in "The Poor Bride", "Hot Heart", "Dowry".
Independent work No. 7
Topic: Comprehension of the ideal of a person living in a transitional era (based on the novel by I.A. Goncharov "Oblomov").
The novel "Oblomov" was written by I.A. Goncharov in 1859 and immediately attracted the attention of critics with the problems posed in the novel. "Oblomov" is a socio-psychological novel depicting the destructive influence of the nobility and landlord environment on the human personality. The author with objective accuracy and completeness depicted Russian life in the first half of the 19th century, which he had observed since childhood. The main character of the novel is Ilya Ilyich Oblomov - a man of about thirty-two or three years old, of medium height, pleasant appearance, with dark gray eyes, but with the absence of any definite idea, any concentration in facial features. The plot of the novel is the life path of Ilya Ilyich, from childhood until his death. The main theme of the novel is "Oblomovism" - a way of life, a vital ideology; this is apathy, passivity, isolation from reality, contemplation of life around you, but the main thing is the absence of labor, practical inactivity. The concept of "Oblomovism" is far from applicable to Oblomovka alone with its inhabitants, it is a "reflection of Russian life", the key to unraveling many of its phenomena. In the 19th century, the life of many Russian landowners was similar to the life of the Oblomovites, and therefore "Oblomovism" can be called the "dominant disease" of that time. The essence of "Oblomovism" is revealed by Goncharov through the depiction of Oblomov's life, most of which the hero spends lying on the sofa, dreaming and making all kinds of plans. Education, the atmosphere in which little Oblomov grew up played a huge role in shaping his character and worldview. Ilya Ilyich was born in Oblomovka - this "blessed corner of the earth", where "there is nothing grandiose, wild and gloomy", there are no "neither terrible storms nor destruction", where deep silence, peace and imperturbable calm reign. At the Oblomov estate, the midday "all-consuming, invincible sleep, a true likeness of death" was traditional. And little Ilyusha grew up in this atmosphere, was surrounded by care and attention: his mother, nanny and the entire large retinue of the Oblomov family showered the boy with caresses and praises. The slightest attempt by the child to do something on his own was immediately suppressed: he was often forbidden to run anywhere, at the age of fourteen he was not even able to dress himself. Thus, Ilya Ilyich was more and more "impregnated with Oblomovism", the ideal of life was gradually formed in his mind. Already an adult, Oblomov was characterized, in my opinion, by a childish reverie. Life in his dreams seemed to him calm, measured, stable, and the beloved woman - in her qualities more reminiscent of a mother - loving, caring, sympathetic. Oblomov was so immersed in the world of his dreams that he completely broke away from reality, which he was unable to accept. But the habit of obtaining the satisfaction of his desires not from his own efforts, but from others, developed in him moral slavery. By the age of 32, Ilya Ilyich turned into a “baybaka” - an apathetic creature whose life is limited to an apartment on Gorokhovaya Street, a dressing gown made of Persian fabric and lying on a sofa. Why this struggle, when you can live on the money he receives from the estate. Gradually, he breaks with the service, and then with society. Lying down became his normal state. A bathrobe and a sofa replace all the joys of life for him. Sometimes Oblomov tried to read, but reading tired him. Such a state kills positive human qualities in Oblomov, of which there are many in him. He is honest, humane, smart. The writer repeatedly emphasizes in it "pigeon meekness." Stolz recalls that once, about ten years ago, he had spiritual ideals. He read Rousseau, Schiller, Goethe, Byron, did mathematics, studied English language, thought about the fate of Russia, wanted to serve the motherland. But Oblomov did not find an application for his enormous moral, spiritual potential, he turned out to be "an extra person." It seems to me that if it were not for the upbringing that gave rise to Oblomov’s inability to work, this person would benefit others and would not live his life in vain. But, as Ilya Ilyich himself says, "Oblomovism" ruined him, it was she who did not let him get up from the couch, start a new, full life. Stolz, Volkov, Sudbinsky, Penkin, Alekseev, Tarantiev - they all tried to bring Oblomov out of a state of dead rest, to include him in life. Unfortunately, nothing came of this, because Ilya Ilyich rooted too tightly to rest: "He has grown to this pit with a sore spot: try to tear it off - there will be death." Oblomov completely absorbed Ilya Ilyich, who surrounded him in childhood, she did not leave him until his death. A kind, intelligent man, Oblomov, lies on the sofa in a comfortable dressing gown, and life is gone forever. The wonderful girl Olga Ilyinskaya, who fell in love with Oblomov and tried in vain to save him, asks: "What ruined you? There is no name for this evil ... - There is ... "Oblomovism," our hero answers. look, lack of will and laziness. These are the pernicious properties of character that do not allow Oblomov to serve his ideals, work on himself. In his present position, he could not find something to his liking anywhere, because he did not understand the meaning of life at all, and could not reach a reasonable perspectives on one's relationship with others.
