Realism
Realism (- material, real) is an artistic direction in art and literature, which is established in the first third of the 19th century. I. A. Krylov, A. S. Griboyedov, A. S. Pushkin stood at the origins of realism in Russia (realism appeared somewhat later in Western literature, its first representatives were Stendhal and O. de Balzac).
features of realism. The principle of life's truth, which is guided by the realist artist in his work, trying to give the most complete reflection of life in its typical properties. The fidelity of the image of reality, reproduced in the forms of life itself, is the main criterion of artistry.
Social analysis, historicism of thinking. It is realism that explains the phenomena of life, establishes their causes and consequences on a socio-historical basis. In other words, realism is inconceivable without historicism, which involves the understanding of a given phenomenon in its conditionality, in its development and connection with other phenomena. Historicism is the basis of the worldview and artistic method of the realist writer, a kind of key to the knowledge of reality, allowing you to connect the past, present and future. In the past, the artist is looking for answers to topical issues of the present, and modernity comprehends as a result of previous historical development.
Critical portrayal of life. Writers deeply and truthfully show the negative phenomena of reality, focus on exposing the existing order. But at the same time, realism is not devoid of life-affirming pathos, because it is based on positive ideals - patriotism, sympathy for the masses, the search for a positive hero in life, faith in the inexhaustible possibilities of man, the dream of a bright future for Russia (for example, "Dead Souls"). That is why in modern literary criticism, instead of the concept of "critical realism", which was first introduced by N. G. Chernyshevsky, they most often talk about "classical realism". Typical characters in typical circumstances, that is, the characters were portrayed in close connection with the social environment that brought them up, formed them in certain socio-historical conditions.
The relationship between the individual and society is the leading problem posed by realistic literature. For realism, the drama of these relationships is important. As a rule, realistic works focus on outstanding personalities, dissatisfied with life, “breaking out” of their environment, people who are able to rise above society and challenge it. Their behavior and actions become the subject of close attention and research for realist writers.
The versatility of the characters' characters: their actions, deeds, speech, lifestyle and inner world, the "dialectic of the soul", which is revealed in the psychological details of her emotional experiences. Thus, realism expands the possibilities of writers in the creative development of the world, in the creation of a contradictory and complex personality structure as a result of the subtlest penetration into the depths of the human psyche.
Expressiveness, brightness, figurativeness, accuracy of the Russian literary language, enriched with elements of lively, colloquial speech, which realist writers draw from the national Russian language.
A variety of genres (epic, lyrical, dramatic, lyrical epic, satirical) in which all the richness of the content of realistic literature finds expression.
The reflection of reality does not exclude fiction and fantasy (Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Sukhovo-Kobylin), although these artistic means do not determine the main tone of the work.
Typology of Russian realism. The question of the typology of realism is connected with the disclosure of well-known patterns that determine the dominant of certain types of realism and their change.
In many literary studies there are attempts to establish typical varieties (trends) of realism: Renaissance, enlightenment (or didactic), romantic, sociological, critical, naturalistic, revolutionary-democratic, socialist, typical, empirical, syncretic, philosophical and psychological, intellectual, spiral, universal, monumental... Since all these terms are rather conditional (terminological confusion) and there are no clear boundaries between them, we propose to use the concept of "stages of development of realism". Let us trace these stages, each of which takes shape in the conditions of its time and is artistically justified in its uniqueness. The complexity of the problem of the typology of realism lies in the fact that typologically unique varieties of realism not only replace each other, but also coexist and develop simultaneously. Consequently, the concept of "stage" does not mean at all that within the same chronological framework there cannot be another kind of flow, earlier or later. That is why it is necessary to correlate the work of this or that realist writer with the work of other realist artists, while revealing the individual originality of each of them, revealing the closeness between groups of writers.
First third of the 19th century. Krylov's realistic fables reflect the real relations of people in society, live scenes are drawn, the content of which is diverse - they could be everyday, social, philosophical and historical.
Griboyedov created "high comedy" ("Woe from Wit"), that is, a comedy close to drama, reflecting in it the ideas that educated society lived in the first quarter of a century. Chatsky, in the fight against the serf-owners and conservatives, defends national interests from the standpoint of common sense and popular morality. The play presents typical characters and circumstances.
In Pushkin's work, problems and the methodology of realism have already been outlined. In the novel “Eugene Onegin”, the poet recreated the “Russian spirit”, gave a new, objective principle for depicting the hero, was the first to show the “extra person”, and in the story “The Stationmaster” - the “little person”. In the people, Pushkin saw the moral potential that determines the national character. In the novel "The Captain's Daughter" the historicism of the writer's thinking was manifested - both in the correct reflection of reality, and in the accuracy of social analysis, and in understanding the historical regularity of phenomena, and in the ability to convey the typical features of a person's character, to show him as a product of a certain social environment.
30s of the XIX century. In this era of "timelessness", public inaction, only the bold voices of A. S. Pushkin, V. G. Belinsky and M. Yu. Lermontov were heard. The critic saw in Lermontov a worthy successor to Pushkin. Man in his work bears the dramatic features of the time. in destiny
Pechorin, the writer reflected the fate of his generation, his “age” (“A Hero of Our Time”). But if Pushkin devotes the main attention to describing the actions, actions of the character, gives "character outlines", then Lermontov focuses on the inner world of the hero, on an in-depth psychological analysis of his actions and experiences, on the "history of the human soul".
40s of the XIX century. During this period, the realists received the name "natural school" (N. V. Gogol, A. I. Herzen, D. V. Grigorovich, N. A. Nekrasov). The works of these writers are characterized by accusatory pathos, rejection of social reality, increased attention to everyday life, everyday life. Gogol did not find the embodiment of his lofty ideals in the world around him, and therefore he was convinced that in the conditions of contemporary Russia, the ideal and beauty of life can be expressed only through the denial of ugly reality. The satirist explores the material, material and everyday basis of life, its "invisible" features and the spiritually wretched characters that arise from it, firmly confident in their dignity and right.
Second half of the 19th century. Creativity of writers of this time (I. A. Goncharov, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. S. Turgenev, N. S. Leskov, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, V G. Korolenko, A.P. Chekhov) distinguishes a qualitatively new stage in the development of realism: they not only critically comprehend reality, but also actively look for ways to transform it, show close attention to the spiritual life of a person, penetrate into the "dialectics of the soul", create a world populated by complex, contradictory characters, full of dramatic conflicts. The works of writers are characterized by subtle psychologism and great philosophical generalizations.
Turn of XIX-XX centuries. The features of the era were most clearly expressed in the works of A. I. Kuprin, I. A. Bunin. They sensitively captured the general spiritual and social atmosphere in the country, deeply and faithfully reflected the unique pictures of the life of the most diverse segments of the population, created an integral and truthful picture of Russia. They are characterized by such themes and problems as the continuity of generations, the legacy of centuries, the root ties of man with the past, the Russian character and features of national history, the harmonious world of nature and the world of social relations (devoid of poetry and harmony, personifying cruelty and violence), love and death , the fragility and fragility of human happiness, the mysteries of the Russian soul, loneliness and the tragic predestination of human existence, the path of liberation from spiritual oppression. The original and original work of writers organically continues the best traditions of Russian realistic literature, and above all a deep insight into the essence of the depicted life, disclosure of the relationship between the environment and the individual, attention to the social background, expression of the ideas of humanism.
pre-October decade. A new vision of the world in connection with the processes taking place in Russia in all areas of life determined the new face of realism, which differed significantly from classical realism in its "modernity". New figures came to the fore - representatives of a special trend within the realist trend - neorealism ("renewed" realism): I. S. Shmelev, L. N. Andreev, M. M. Prishvin, E. I. Zamyatin, S. N. Sergeev-Tsensky , A. N. Tolstoy, A. M. Remizov, B. K. Zaitsev and others. They are characterized by a departure from the sociological understanding of reality; mastering the sphere of the “earthly”, deepening the concrete sensory perception of the world, artistic study of the subtle movements of the soul, nature and man coming into contact, which eliminates alienation and brings them closer to the original, unchanging nature of being; a return to the hidden values of the folk-village element, capable of renewing life in the spirit of "eternal" ideals (pagan, mystical coloring of the depicted); comparison of the bourgeois urban and rural way of life; the idea of the incompatibility of the natural force of life, existential good with social evil; connection of the historical and metaphysical (next to the features of everyday or concrete historical reality, there is a “superreal” background, mythological overtones); the motif of cleansing love as a kind of symbolic sign of the all-human natural unconscious principle, bringing enlightened peace.
Soviet period. Distinctive features of the socialist realism that arose at that time were party spirit, nationality, the depiction of reality in its "revolutionary development", the propaganda of the heroism and romance of socialist construction. In the works of M. Gorky, M. A. Sholokhov, A. A. Fadeev, L. M. Leonov, V. V. Mayakovsky, K. A. Fedin, N. A. Ostrovsky, A. N. Tolstoy, A. T. Tvardovsky and others affirmed a different reality, a different person, different ideals, a different aesthetics, principles underlying the moral code of a fighter for communism. A new method was promoted in art, which was politicized: it had a pronounced social orientation, expressed the state ideology. In the center of the works was usually a positive hero, inextricably linked with the team, which constantly had a beneficial effect on the individual. The main sphere of application of the forces of such a hero is creative work. It is no coincidence that the production novel has become one of the most common genres.
20-30s of the XX century. Many writers, forced to live under a dictatorial regime, under conditions of severe censorship, managed to preserve their inner freedom, showed the ability to remain silent, be careful in their assessments, switch to allegorical language - they were devoted to the truth, the true art of realism. The genre of anti-utopia was born, in which severe criticism of a totalitarian society based on the suppression of the individual and individual freedom was given. The fates of A. P. Platonov, M. A. Bulgakov, E. I. Zamyatin, A. A. Akhmatova, M. M. Zoshchenko, O. E. Mandelstam were tragically destined for a long time to be deprived of the opportunity to publish in the Soviet Union.
The period of the "thaw" (mid-50s - first half of the 60s). At this historical time, young poets of the sixties (E. A. Yevtushenko, A. A. Voznesensky, B. A. Akhmadulina, R. I. Rozhdestvensky, B. Sh. Okudzhava, etc.) declared themselves loudly and confidently. "rulers of thoughts" of their generation, together with representatives of the "third wave" of emigration (V. P. Aksenov, A. V. Kuznetsov, A. T. Gladilin, G. N. Vladimov,
A.I. Solzhenitsyn, N.M. Korzhavin, S.D. Dovlatov, V.E. Maksimov, V.N. Voinovich, V.P. of the human soul under the conditions of the command-administrative system and internal opposition to it, confession, moral quest of heroes, their release, emancipation, romanticism and self-irony, innovation in the field of artistic language and style, genre diversity.
Last decades of the XX century. The new generation of writers, who already lived in somewhat relaxed political conditions within the country, came up with lyrical, urban and rural poetry and prose that did not fit into the rigid framework of socialist realism (N. M. Rubtsov, A. V. Zhigulin,
V. N. Sokolov, Yu. V. Trifonov, Ch. T. Aitmatov, V. I. Belov, F. A. Abramov, V. G. Rasputin, V. P. Astafiev, S. P. Zalygin, V. M. Shukshin, F. A. Iskander). The leading themes of their work are the revival of traditional morality and the relationship between man and nature, which manifested the closeness of the writers to the traditions of Russian classical realism. The works of this time are imbued with a sense of attachment to the native land, and hence responsibility for what is happening on it, a sense of irreparable spiritual losses due to the rupture of age-old ties between nature and man. Artists comprehend the turning point in the sphere of moral values, the shifts in society in which the human soul is forced to survive, reflect on the catastrophic consequences for those who are losing historical memory, the experience of generations.
The latest Russian literature. In the literary process of recent years, literary critics fix two trends: postmodernism (blurring of the boundaries of realism, awareness of the illusory nature of what is happening, a mixture of different artistic methods, style diversity, increased influence of avant-garde - A. G. Bitov, Sasha Sokolov, V. O. Pelevin, T. N Tolstaya, T. Yu. Kibirov, D. A. Prigov) and post-realism (traditional for realism attention to the fate of a private person, tragically lonely, in vain of everyday life that humiliates him, losing moral guidelines, trying to self-determine - V. S. Ma- Kanin, L. S. Petrushevskaya).
So, realism as a literary and artistic system has a powerful potential for continuous renewal, which manifests itself in one or another transitional era for Russian literature. In the work of writers who continue the traditions of realism, there is a search for new themes, heroes, plots, genres, poetic means, a new manner of talking with the reader.
The second half of the 19th century is characterized by the emergence of such a trend as realism. He followed immediately after romanticism, which appeared in the first half of this century, but at the same time radically different from it. Realism in literature showed a typical person in a typical situation and tried to reflect reality as plausibly as possible.
The main features of realism
Realism has a certain set of features that distinguish it from the romanticism that preceded it and from the naturalism that follows it.1. Typification in a way. The object of a work in realism is always an ordinary person with all his advantages and disadvantages. Accuracy in depicting human details is the key rule of realism. However, the authors do not forget about such nuances as individual characteristics, and they are harmoniously woven into an integral image. This distinguishes realism from romanticism, where the character is individual.
2. Typification of the situation. The situation in which the hero of the work finds himself should be characteristic of the time being described. The unique situation is more characteristic of naturalism.
3. Accuracy in the image. Realists have always described the world as it was, reducing the author's perception of the world to a minimum. Romantics acted quite differently. The world in their works was demonstrated through the prism of their own attitude.
4. Determinism. The situation in which the heroes of the works of realists find themselves is only the result of actions committed in the past. Heroes are shown in development, which is formed by the surrounding world. Interpersonal relationships play a key role in this. The personality of the character and his actions are influenced by many factors: social, religious, moral and others. Often in the work there is a development and change of personality under the influence of social factors.
5. Conflict: hero - society. This conflict is not unique. It is also characteristic of the currents preceding realism: classicism and romanticism. However, only realism considers the most typical situations. He is interested in the relationship between the crowd and the individual, the consciousness of the mass and the individual.
6. Historicism. Literature in the 19th century demonstrates a person inseparably from the environment and the period of history. The authors studied the lifestyle, the norms of behavior in society at a certain stage, before writing your works.
History of occurrence
It is believed that already in the Renaissance, realism begins to emerge. Heroes characteristic of realism include such large-scale images as Don Quixote, Hamlet and others. During this period, a person represents as the crown of creation, which is not typical for the later periods of its development. Enlightenment realism appeared during the Age of Enlightenment. The hero from the bottom acts as the main character.In the 1830s, people from the circle of romantics formed realism as a new literary trend. They strive not to portray the world in all its versatility and refuse the two worlds familiar to romantics.
By the 1940s, critical realism was becoming the leading trend. However, at the initial stage of the formation of this literary trend, the newly minted realists still use the residual features characteristic of romanticism.
They can be counted:
esoteric cult;
the image of bright atypical personalities;
the use of fantasy elements;
segregation of heroes into positive and negative.
That is why the realism of the writers of the first half of the century was often criticized by the writers of the end of the 19th century. However, it is at an early stage that the main features of this direction are formed. First of all, this is a conflict characteristic of realism. In the literature of the former romantics, the opposition of man and society is clearly traced.
In the second half of the 19th century, realism takes on new forms. And it is not for nothing that this period is called the "triumph of realism." The social and political situation contributed to the fact that the authors began to study the nature of man, as well as his behavior in certain situations. Social ties between individuals began to play an important role.
The science of that time had a huge influence on the development of realism. In 1859, Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. The positivist philosophy of Kant also makes its contribution to artistic practice. Realism in the literature of the 19th century acquires an analytical, studying character. At the same time, writers refuse to analyze the future, it was of little interest to them. The emphasis was on modernity, which became the key theme of reflecting critical realism.
Main Representatives
Realism in the literature of the 19th century left many works of genius. By the first half of the century Stendhal, O. Balzac, Merimee were creating. It was they who were criticized by their followers. Their works have a subtle connection with romanticism. For example, the realism of Merimee and Balzac is permeated with mysticism and esotericism, the heroes of Dickens are bright carriers of one pronounced character trait or quality, and Stendhal portrayed bright personalities.Later, the creative method was developed by G. Flaubert, M. Twain, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner. Each author brought individual features to his works. In Russian literature, realism is represented by the works of F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy and A. S. Pushkin.
Realism is usually called a direction in art and literature, whose representatives strove for a realistic and truthful reproduction of reality. In other words, the world was portrayed as typical and simple, with all its advantages and disadvantages.
General features of realism
Realism in literature is distinguished by a number of common features. First, life was portrayed in images that corresponded to reality. Secondly, the reality for the representatives of this trend has become a means of knowing themselves and the world around them. Thirdly, the images on the pages of literary works were distinguished by the truthfulness of details, specificity and typification. It is interesting that the art of the realists, with their life-affirming positions, strove to consider reality in development. Realists discovered new social and psychological relations.
The emergence of realism
Realism in literature as a form of artistic creation arose in the Renaissance, developed during the Enlightenment and emerged as an independent trend only in the 30s of the 19th century. The first realists in Russia include the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin (he is sometimes even called the founder of this trend) and no less outstanding writer N.V. Gogol with his novel Dead Souls. As for literary criticism, the term "realism" appeared within it thanks to D. Pisarev. It was he who introduced the term into journalism and criticism. Realism in the literature of the 19th century became a hallmark of that time, having its own characteristics and characteristics.
Features of literary realism
Representatives of realism in literature are numerous. The most famous and outstanding writers include Stendhal, C. Dickens, O. Balzac, L.N. Tolstoy, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, F.M. Dostoevsky, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner and many others. All of them worked on the development of the creative method of realism and embodied in their works its most striking features inextricably linked with their unique authorial features.
As you already know, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, the aesthetic system of Russian realism was significantly updated. Traditional realism, in the form in which it had developed in the previous century, was engulfed by crisis phenomena. But the crisis was fruitful in this case, and realistic aesthetics came out of it renewed. The realism of the 20th century changed the traditional system of character motivation. The understanding of the environment that forms the personality has expanded to the utmost: history, global historical processes now acted as typical circumstances. The man (and the literary hero) was now face to face with history itself. This affected the confidence of realist artists in the individual. At the same time, in the process of artistic assimilation of the changing world, the dangers that confronted the personality were revealed. The most important thing for a person turned out to be under threat: his private being.
In the 20th century, the right to private life was questioned. A person turned out to be drawn by reality into the cycle of historical events - often against his own will. History itself, as it were, formed typical circumstances, the aggressive influence of which the literary hero was subjected to.
In the literature of the 19th century, the right of private existence was declared as natural and inalienable: after all, it was the “extra person” like Onegin or Pechorin who asserted it with his fate and social behavior; Ilya Ilyich Oblomov claimed it, preferring a sofa in a house on Gorokhovaya Street to the prospect of public service; it was claimed by Fyodor Ivanovich Lavretsky, who retired to a noble nest from the hardships that befell him.
M. Gorky played an important role in the development of realism at the beginning of the 20th century. Perhaps for the first time in Russian literary history, this writer deprived his literary hero of the right to be Robinson - to be in society and at the same time out of society. Historical time has become the most important factor influencing the character in the Gorky epic. Interaction with him - sometimes positive, sometimes destructive - none of his heroes could avoid. Tolstoy also had characters who, as it were, did not notice the surroundings, stepping up the career ladder: Bergi, Drubetsky, Helen. But if the Bergis and Kuragins could close themselves within the limits of their social clan, then Gorky no longer left such a right to his heroes. His characters cannot escape reality, even if they really want to.
Klim Samghin, the hero of the four-volume epic "The Life of Klim Samghin", experiences the oppressive force of social circumstances, the real violence of the historical process, war, revolution. However, this historical "violence", studied by the writer, just became a factor that modified realism, giving it new and very powerful impulses of self-renewal. Having survived the painful crisis of the turn of the century, realism did not at all give up its positions in literature; on the contrary, it led to amazing artistic discoveries, without which not only Russian, but also European culture of the new century is inconceivable. Ho realism has become completely different than in the last century. The renewal of realism manifested itself primarily in the interpretation of the question of the interaction of characters and circumstances, which is primordial for this literary trend.
This interaction becomes truly bidirectional. Now not only the character experiences the influence of the environment: the possibility and even the necessity of a “reverse” influence - the hero on the environment - are affirmed. A new concept of personality is being formed: a person who is not reflective, but creative, who realizes himself not in the sphere of private intrigue, but in the public arena.
The prospects for a good re-creation of the world opened up before the hero and before the artist. But these hopes were not always destined to be realized. Perhaps future historians of Russian literature will call the period of the 1920s and 1930s a period of unfulfilled hopes, which were bitterly disappointed in the second half of the century. While asserting the rights of the individual to transform the world, the new literature also asserted the rights of the individual to violence in relation to this world - even if it was carried out for good purposes.
The bottom line is that revolution was conceived as the most accessible and natural form of this transformation. The next logical step was to justify revolutionary violence not only in relation to another person, but also in relation to the general foundations of being. Violence was justified by a high goal: on the ruins of the old unjust world, it was supposed to create a new, ideal world, a world based on goodness and justice.
Such a change in realistic aesthetics was associated with an attempt by realism to adapt to the worldview of a person of the 20th century, to new philosophical, aesthetic, and simply everyday realities. And renewed realism, as we will conditionally call it, coped with this task, became adequate to the thinking of a man of the 20th century. In the 1930s, he reached his artistic peak: the epics of M. Gorky “The Life of Klim Samgin”, M. Sholokhov “The Quiet Don”, A. Tolstoy “Walking Through the Pains”, novels by L. Leonov, K. Fedin and other realists appeared .
But next to renewed realism in the 1920s, an aesthetic different from it arises, genetically, however, also ascending to realism. In the 1920s, it did not yet dominate, but actively developed, as it were, in the shadow of a renewed realism, the formation of which gives undoubted artistic results. But it was the new direction that brought to literature, first of all, the anti-humanistic pathos of violence against the individual, society, the desire to destroy the whole world around him in the name of the revolutionary ideal.
Research functions, traditional for realism, give way to purely illustrative functions, when the mission of literature is seen in the creation of some ideal model of the social and natural world. Belief in tomorrow's ideal is so strong that a person struck by a utopian idea is ready to sacrifice the past and present just because they do not correspond to the ideal of the future. The principles of artistic typification are changing: it is no longer a study of typical characters in their interaction with a realistic environment, but the assertion of normative (should be from the standpoint of a certain social ideal) characters in normative circumstances. This aesthetic system, fundamentally different from the new realism, we will call normativism.
The paradox of the situation lay in the fact that neither in the public consciousness, nor in the literary-critical everyday life, these two tendencies did not differ. On the contrary, both renewed realism and normativism were comprehended in an undivided way - as a single Soviet literature. In 1934, this indistinguishability was consolidated by the general term - socialist realism. Since then, two different aesthetic systems, normative and realistic, in many respects opposed to each other, were conceived as an ideological and aesthetic unity.
Moreover, sometimes they coexisted in the work of the same author or even in the same work. An example of the latter is A. Fadeev's novel "The Rout" (1927).
Like Gorky's Pavel Vlasov, Fadeev's favorite characters are on the way to a moral rebirth. Having seen only bad and dirty things in life, Morozka joined the partisan detachment, as he himself says, not for the sake of the commander's beautiful eyes, but in order to build a better, righteous life. By the end of the novel, he gets rid of his inherent anarchism, for the first time he experiences an unexpected feeling of love for Vara. The team has become dear to him, and Frost, without hesitation, gives his life for his comrades, warning the detachment of the danger. The scout Metelitsa, who believed that people were deeply indifferent to him, stands up for the shepherd boy and, before his death, discovers for himself that he loves the people around him.
A. Fadeev trusts the role of an active educator of the masses to the detachment commander Levinson, behind whose frail appearance he sees spiritual strength, conviction in the need to transform the world in a revolutionary way.
It is quite traditional for Russian realistic literature that A. Fadeev debunks the individualist Mechi-ka. Mechik's romantic maximalism, his soaring above reality, his constant search for the exceptional - whether in private or social life - lead him to deny real life, show inattention to the essential, inability to appreciate it and see beauty. So he rejects Varya's love in the name of a beautiful stranger in the photograph, rejects the friendship of ordinary partisans and, as a result, remains a romantic in splendid isolation. In essence, the author punishes him with betrayal precisely for this (as well as, however, for his social alienation from ordinary partisans).
It is characteristic that the strongest passages of the novel contain a psychological analysis of the behavior of the characters. It is no coincidence that critics unanimously noted the influence of the traditions of L. Tolstoy on the young Soviet writer.
At the same time, the idea of "social humanism", when a person, a person can be sacrificed in the name of a higher goal, brings A. Fadeev's novel closer to normativism.
If the revolution is being made in the name and for the working people, then why does the arrival of Levinson's detachment promise starvation to the Korean peasant and his entire family? Because the highest social necessity (to feed the detachment and continue the journey to their own) is more important than "abstract humanism": the life of the members of the detachment means more than the life of one Korean (or even his entire family). Yes, there is arithmetic! - I want to exclaim after Raskolnikov.
Dr. Stashinsky and Levinson come to the idea of the need to finish off the wounded partisan Frolov. His death is inevitable: the wound is fatal, and it is impossible to carry him with you - this will slow down the movement of the detachment and can kill everyone. Leave - it will fall to the Japanese and take an even more terrible death. Facilitating his hero's decision, Fadeev forces Frolov himself to take poison, which looks almost like suicide.
In this part of the novel, Fadeev broke with the humanistic tradition of Russian realism, declaring a fundamentally new ethical system based on a rigidly rational attitude towards both man and the world as a whole.
The ending of the novel also sounds less ambiguous. Levinson will live "and fulfill his duties." In order to gather another detachment from the distant people whom he sees after the death of the detachment, people working on the ground, threshing bread. Levinson’s idea seems indisputable to Fadeev “to make [these peasants] as close as they were to those eighteen who silently followed” and lead them along the roads of the Civil War - to a new defeat, because in such a war there are no winners and the final general destruction is inevitable.
However, it is possible that the artist triumphed in Fadeev-politics. After all, the novel is called "Defeat", not "Victory".
If A. Fadeev's book bears both the features of genuine realism and normativism, then Y. Libedinsky's story "The Week" (1922) was written exclusively in the traditions of normativism and utopianism. One of its heroes, the Bolshevik Stelmakhov, utters the following monologue-confession: “I hated the revolution before I fell in love ... And only then, after I was beaten for Bolshevik agitation, after I was in Moscow, in October , stormed the Kremlin and shot the cadets, when I was not yet in the party and did not understand anything politically, then in moments of fatigue I began to imagine a distant rest ahead, that's how the kingdom of heaven for a Christian, distant, but certainly promised, if not to me, then to the future people, my sons or grandchildren... This is what communism will be... I don’t know what it will be like...”
The heroes of the story give all their strength to the service of a beautiful, but completely obscure mythical future. This idea gives them the strength to overcome natural human feelings, such as, for example, pity for a defeated enemy, disgust for cruelty, fear of murder: my warm word is communism, and exactly who will wave a red handkerchief to me.
Behind this monstrous confession, which the hero and the author perceive as sublimely romantic, stands a utopian worldview in its most terrible and cruel form. It was it that became the ideological justification for socialist realism.
Reality in the new aesthetics was perceived as a hostile, inert, conservative beginning, in need of a radical alteration. The highest value for the writer of the new direction was the future, ideal and devoid of contradictions, existing, of course, only in the project. This project was also poorly detailed, but justified any violence against the present.
How was the formation of a new view of the world in socialist realism? First of all, it should be noted that in the literature of the 1920s a new concept of personality emerged. The inclusion of a person in the historical process, the assertion of his direct contacts with the "macro environment" paradoxically devalues the hero, he seems to be deprived of intrinsic value and turns out to be significant only insofar as it contributes to the historical movement forward. Such a devaluation is possible because of the finalist concept of history, which is more and more spreading in society. History in this interpretation acquires meaning and significance only insofar as it moves towards a "golden age", localized somewhere far ahead.
Moreover, the hero himself is aware of the absolute value of the future and the very relative value of his own personality, he is ready to consciously and completely calmly sacrifice himself. The extreme form of such an anti-humanist position was embodied (quite sympathetically in relation to the ideas of the hero) by the writer A. Tarasov-Rodionov in the story “Chocolate”, which tells how the Chekist Zudin decides to sacrifice his life, but not to cast even a small shadow on the uniform of the Cheka. Accused of bribery, Zudin was sentenced to death. And for his comrades, confident in his innocence, but nevertheless sentenced to death, and for himself, this decision seems to be the only true one: it is better to sacrifice life than to give even the slightest reason for philistine rumors.
The romanticization of the future, its sharp opposition to the present, and ultimately the creation of the myth of the "golden age" are the most important features of the aesthetics of socialist realism. In the most naked form, this idea was stated by A. V. Lunacharsky in the article “Socialist Realism”.
Only the future, from the point of view of the Marxist theoretician, is the only worthy subject of depiction. “Imagine,” says A. V. Lunacharsky, as if substantiating the aesthetic principles of the “golden age,” that a house is being built, and when it is built, it will be a magnificent palace. But it is still unfinished, and you will draw it in this form and say: “Here is your socialism”, but there is no roof. You will, of course, be a realist, you will tell the truth: but it is immediately evident that this truth is in fact not true. The socialist truth can only be told by those who understand what kind of house is being built, how it is being built, who understands that it will have a roof. A person who does not understand development will never see the truth, because the truth is not like itself, it does not sit still, the truth flies, the truth is development, the truth is a conflict, the truth is a struggle, the truth is tomorrow, and it is necessary to see it in this way, and whoever does not see it in this way is a bourgeois realist, and therefore a pessimist, a whiner and often a swindler and a falsifier, and in any case a voluntary or involuntary counter-revolutionary and a pest.
This quote is very important for understanding the basic idea of socialist realism. First of all, new functions of art compared to traditional realism are affirmed: not the study of real conflicts and contradictions of the time, but the creation of a model of an ideal future, a model of a “magnificent palace”. The research, cognitive function of literature goes to the background or even to the third plan; the main function is to promote what a beautiful house will someday be built on the site of real, now existing dwellings.
These ideas, immediately embedded in the program of the new direction, awakening and developing more and more actively, turned out to be a kind of “cancer cells” of the new art. It was they who led to the rebirth of new realism into a normative non-realistic aesthetics during the 1920s and 1950s. It is the order to see not reality, but a project, not what is, but what should be, that leads to the loss of realistic principles of typification: the artist no longer explores characters, but creates them in accordance with the prescribed norm, and thereby turns them into primitive social masks (enemy, friend, communist, philistine, middle peasant, kulak, specialist, pest, etc.).
Normativity transforms the very concept of artistic truth. The monopoly on the truth now belongs to those who can see the "truth of tomorrow." And the one who cannot do this depicts reality as it is - "often a swindler and a falsifier, and in any case a voluntary or involuntary counter-revolutionary and saboteur." Normativity is interpreted not only as an aesthetic, but also as a political requirement.
Thus, art turns out to be a tool for creating an artistic myth capable of organizing society and distracting it from the real problems of life. Its goal is precisely defined: it is violence against reality with the aim of its reorganization, "education of a new person", because "art has not only the ability to orient, but also to form." Later, in 1934, this provision would be included in an amended form in the Charter of the Writers' Union of the USSR: "the task of ideologically reshaping and educating working people in the spirit of socialism" will be declared as the most important for socialist realism.
A special place in normative aesthetics was occupied by the question of the creative freedom of the artist. "Socialist realism provides artistic creativity with an exceptional opportunity for the manifestation of creative initiative, the choice of diverse forms, styles, genres," the Charter of the Writers' Union said. Characteristically, the artist's freedom is localized only in the sphere of form, but not in content. The content sphere is strictly regulated by ideas about the functions of art, which are seen in the creation of an idealized image of the future. Such a super-task determines the style of a particular work, its entire poetics. The conflict is predetermined, the ways of its resolution. The social roles of the characters are predetermined: a leader, a specialist, a communist, a sneaking enemy, a woman gaining her human dignity...
Realism (from late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is extraordinarily rich. The very idea of it changed at different stages of artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a truthful depiction of reality.
Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens "The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club".
Illustration by O. Vereisky for Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina".
Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.
Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev".
B. Zaborov's illustration for M. Andersen-Neksø's novel Ditte is a Human Child.
However, the concept of truth, truth - one of the most difficult in aesthetics. So, for example, the theoretician of French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth, "imitating nature." But the ardent opponent of classicism, the romantic V. Hugo, urged "to consult only with nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature." Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".
The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist's point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to catch the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.
The specific features of realism depend on the historical conditions in which art develops. National-historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.
Realism is not something once and for all given and unchanging. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.
There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about the realism of cave paintings of primitive people, about the realism of ancient sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of the ancient world and the early Middle Ages (in the folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as an artistic system in European literatures is usually associated with the Renaissance (Renaissance), the greatest progressive upheaval. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church preaching of slavish obedience was reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After medieval churchmen preached for centuries that man is a "vessel of sin" and called for humility, the literature and art of the Renaissance glorified man as the highest creation of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the wealth of soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of the images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), the poeticization of the human personality, its ability to have a great feeling (as in Romeo and Juliet) and at the same time the high intensity of the tragic conflict, when the clash of the personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted. .
The next stage in the development of realism is the Enlightenment (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument for the direct preparation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the enlighteners were supporters of classicism, their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the XVIII century. So-called Enlightenment realism is taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. The English realistic novel, the founder of which was D. Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), acquired world significance. A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy by P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy "Treachery and Love" by J. F. Schiller, and the images of peasants by A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners assessed all the phenomena of social life and the actions of people as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable, first of all, in all the old feudal orders and customs). From this they proceeded in the depiction of the human character; their positive heroes are, first of all, the embodiment of reason, the negative ones are a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, the barbarism of former times.
Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: "Let's say that a person ended up on a desert island ...". At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson's behavior not as it could be in reality (the prototype of his hero became wild, even lost articulate speech), but as he wants to present a person, fully armed with his physical and mental powers, as a hero, a conqueror of forces. nature. Just as conventional is Goethe's Faust, shown in the struggle for the affirmation of lofty ideals. The features of a well-known convention also distinguish the comedy of D. I. Fonvizin "Undergrowth".
A new type of realism takes shape in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its heyday in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov.
Critical realism portrays the relationship between man and the environment in a new way. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The inner world of a person became the subject of deep social analysis; therefore, critical realism simultaneously becomes psychological. In preparing this quality of realism, romanticism played a large role, striving to penetrate the secrets of the human "I".
Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some absolute superiority over the previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.
The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation, characteristic of the enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.
The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. 19th century Marxism not only influenced the literature of critical realism, but also brought to life the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the standpoint of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, the author of the "Internationale" E. Pottier, new features are outlined, anticipating the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.
In Russia, the 19th century is a period of exceptional strength and scope for the development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, win it world recognition.
The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the XIX century. allow us to talk about its different forms.
Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature to a wide path of depicting “the fate of the people, the fate of man”. In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin, as it were, makes up for its former lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with its universality and optimism, turns out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. The foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school, are laid in Pushkin's work.
Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats, headed by N. G. Chernyshevsky, gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).
A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It is thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired world significance. Their psychological skill, penetration into the "dialectics of the soul" opened the way for the artistic searches of writers of the 20th century. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.
The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “the mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.
The creative scope of Russian social realism is reflected in the wealth of genres, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary publicistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of realistic storytelling and a kind of “lyrical drama”.
It is important to emphasize that Russian realism of the XIX century. did not develop in isolation from the world historical and literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, according to K. Marx and F. Engels, "the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become common property."
F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “ability for universality, all-humanity, all-response”. Here we are talking not so much about Western influences, but about the organic development in line with the European culture of its centuries-old traditions.
At the beginning of the XX century. the appearance of M. Gorky's plays "The Philistines", "At the Bottom" and in particular the novel "Mother" (and in the West - the novel "Pelle the Conqueror" by M. Andersen-Neksö) testifies to the formation of socialist realism. In the 20s. Soviet literature declares itself with major successes, and in the early 1930s. in many capitalist countries there is a literature of the revolutionary proletariat. The literature of socialist realism is becoming an important factor in world literary development. At the same time, it should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more links with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).
The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence of the October Revolution and the existence of the Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world socialist system - all this affected the fate of realism.
Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until October (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. was further developed, while undergoing significant changes. In the critical realism of the XX century. in the West, a wide variety of influences are more freely assimilated and crossed, including some features of the unrealistic trends of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.
From about the 20s. in the literatures of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of a “stream of consciousness”. There is a so-called intellectual novel by T. Mann; subtext acquires special significance, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “The Quiet Flows the Don” by M. A. Sholokhov, “Walking Through the Torments” by A. N. Tolstoy, “The Dead Remain Young” by A. Zegers).
Unlike the realists of the XIX century. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Capek), to conventionality (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the XX century. triumphs document, fact. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.
So, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O "Casey, I. Becher, such classic books of socialist realism as Reportage with a noose around the neck by Y. Fuchik and The Young Guard by A. A. Fadeeva.
