It is the name of A. N. Ostrovsky that stands at the origins of the development of Russian drama theater. His dramas to this day are very popular due to the extraordinary flavor of his talent as a writer and playwright, who always felt what the secular audience expected from him. Therefore, it is interesting to know what kind of person Alexander Ostrovsky was. His books contain a huge creative legacy. Among his most famous works: “Guilty Without Guilt”, “Dowry”, “Thunderstorm”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Snow Maiden”, “Hangover at someone else's feast”, “What you go for, you will find”, “Your people - let's settle", "Mad money", etc.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky. short biography

Alexander Nikolaevich was born in the spring of March 31 (April 12), 1823. He grew up on Malaya Ordynka in Moscow. His father was the son of a priest, and his name was Nikolai Fedorovich. Having received a seminary education in Kostroma, he went to study at the Moscow Theological Academy. But he never became a priest, but began to practice as a lawyer in judicial institutions. Over time, he rose to the rank of titular adviser and received a title of nobility.

Ostrovsky's biography (short) says that Ostrovsky's mother, Lyubov Ivanovna, died when he was 7 years old. There are six children left in the family. In the future, their stepmother, Emilia Andreevna von Tesin, who was the daughter of a Swedish nobleman, took over the care of the family. The Ostrovsky family did not need anything, much attention was paid to the education and upbringing of children.

Childhood

Almost all of his childhood Ostrovsky spent in Zamoskvorechye. His father had a large library, the boy began to study Russian literature early and felt a craving for writing, but his father wanted his son to become a lawyer.

From 1835 to 1940 Alexander studied at the Moscow Gymnasium. Then he entered Moscow University and began to study as a lawyer. But a quarrel with a teacher did not allow him to finish his last year at the university. And then his father arranged for him to serve in the court. The first salary he received was 4 rubles, but then it grew to 15 rubles.

Creation

Further, Ostrovsky's biography (short) indicates that Alexander Ostrovsky's fame and popularity as a playwright was brought by the play “Our people - let's settle!”, Published in 1850. This play was approved by I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol. But the Moscow merchants did not like it, and the merchants complained to the sovereign. Then, on the personal order of Nicholas I, its author was dismissed from service and taken under police supervision, which was removed only under Alexander II. And in 1861, the play again saw the stage.

During the disgraced period of Ostrovsky, the first staged play in St. Petersburg was called "Do not get into your sleigh." Biography of Ostrovsky (short) includes information that for 30 years his plays were staged at the St. Petersburg Alexandrinsky and Moscow Maly Theaters. In 1856, Ostrovsky began working for the Sovremennik magazine.

Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich. Artworks

In 1859, Ostrovsky, with the support of G. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko, published the first collection of works in two volumes. At this point, the Russian critic Dobrolyubov will note that Ostrovsky is an accurate depiction of the "dark kingdom".

In 1860, after "Thunderstorm", Dobrolyubov will call him "a ray of light in dark kingdom».

Indeed, Alexander Ostrovsky knew how to captivate with his remarkable talent. Thunderstorm has become one of the most bright works playwright, with the writing of which his personal drama is also connected. Prototype main character the play was the actress Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya, with her for a long time had a close relationship, although they were both not free people. She was the first to play this role. Ostrov's image of Katerina made it tragic in its own way, so he reflected in it all the suffering and torment of the soul of a Russian woman.

Cradle of Talents

In 1863, Ostrovsky was awarded the Uvarov Prize and became an elected corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Later, in 1865, he organized the Artistic Circle, which became the cradle of many talents.

Ostrovsky received in his house such eminent guests as F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, P. I. Tchaikovsky, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. S. Turgenev, etc.

In 1874, the writer-playwright founded the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and opera composers, whose chairman remained Ostrovsky until his death. He also served on a commission related to the revision of the theater management regulations, which led to new changes, thanks to which the position of artists was significantly improved.

In 1881, a benefit performance of the opera The Snow Maiden by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov took place at the Mariinsky Theater. Biography of Ostrovsky (short) indicates that at that moment Ostrovsky was inexpressibly pleased musical arrangement great composer.

Last years

In 1885, the playwright became in charge of the repertoire of Moscow theaters and headed theater school. Ostrovsky almost always had financial problems, although he collected good fees from plays, and the pension was appointed by the emperor Alexander III. Ostrovsky had many plans, he literally burned at work, this affected his health and depleted his vitality.

On June 2, 1886, he died at his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. He was 63 years old. His body was buried next to the grave of his father at the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Kostroma province in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki.

The widow, actress Maria Andreevna Bakhmetyeva, three sons and daughter were granted a pension by Tsar Alexander III.

His estate in Shchelykovo is now a memorial and natural museum Ostrovsky.

Conclusion

Ostrovsky created his own theater school with its holistic concept theatrical production. The main component of his theater was that there were no extreme situations in it, but depicted life situations that go back to the everyday life and psychology of a person of that time, which Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky knew very well. short biography describes that there were many ideas in Ostrovsky's theater, but new stage aesthetics and new actors were needed to put them into practice. All this was later brought to mind by K. S. Stanislavsky and M. A. Bulgakov.

Ostrovsky's dramas served as the basis for film adaptations of films and television series. Among them is the film "Balzaminov's Marriage", filmed in 1964 based on the play "For what you follow, you will find" directed by K. Voinov, the film " Cruel romance”, Filmed in 1984 based on “Dowry” directed by Eldar Ryazanov. In 2005, Evgeny Ginzburg made the film Anna based on the play Guilty Without Guilt.

Ostrovsky created an extensive repertoire for the Russian theater stage, which included 47 very original plays. He worked in collaboration with talented young playwrights, including P. M. Nevezhin and N. Ya. Solovyov. Ostrovsky's dramaturgy became national due to its origins and traditions.

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky is a famous Russian writer and playwright who had a significant impact on the development of the national theater. He formed new school realistic game and wrote many wonderful works. This article will outline the main stages of Ostrovsky's work. As well as the most significant moments of his biography.

Childhood

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, whose photo is presented in this article, was born in 1823, on March 31, in Moscow, in the Malaya Ordynka area. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, grew up in the family of a priest, graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy himself, but did not serve in the church. He became a court lawyer, engaged in commercial and court cases. Nikolai Fedorovich managed to rise to the rank of titular adviser, and later (in 1839) to receive the nobility. The mother of the future playwright, Savvina Lyubov Ivanovna, was the daughter of a sexton. She died when Alexander was only seven years old. Six children grew up in the Ostrovsky family. Nikolai Fedorovich did everything to ensure that the children grew up in prosperity and received a decent education. A few years after the death of Lyubov Ivanovna, he married a second time. His wife was Emilia Andreevna von Tessin, baroness, daughter of a Swedish nobleman. The children were very lucky with their stepmother: she managed to find an approach to them and continued to educate them.

Youth

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky spent his childhood in the very center of Zamoskvorechye. His father had a very good library, thanks to which the boy got acquainted early with the literature of Russian writers and felt a penchant for writing. However, the father saw only a lawyer in the boy. Therefore, in 1835, Alexander was sent to the First Moscow Gymnasium, after studying in which he became a student at Moscow University. However, Ostrovsky did not succeed in obtaining a law degree. He quarreled with the teacher and left the university. On the advice of his father, Alexander Nikolaevich went to work in the court as a scribe and worked in this position for several years.

Attempt at writing

However, Alexander Nikolayevich did not leave attempts to prove himself in the literary field. In his first plays, he adhered to an accusatory, "moral-social" direction. The first were printed in a new edition, Moscow City Listk, in 1847. These were sketches for the comedy "Failed Debtor" and the essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident". Under the publication were the letters "A. ABOUT." and "D. G." The fact is that a certain Dmitry Gorev offered the young playwright cooperation. It did not progress beyond the writing of one of the scenes, but subsequently became a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky. Some ill-wishers later accused the playwright of plagiarism. In the future, many magnificent plays will come out from under the pen of Alexander Nikolaevich, and no one will dare to doubt his talent. Further, the table presented below will be detailed, which will allow systematizing the information received.

First success

When did it happen? Ostrovsky's work gained great popularity after the publication in 1850 of the comedy "Our people - let's settle!". This work received positive reviews from literary circles. I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol gave the play a positive assessment. However, an impressive fly in the ointment also fell into this barrel of honey. Influential representatives of the Moscow merchants, offended by the estate, complained to the highest authorities about the impudent playwright. The play was immediately banned for staging, the author was expelled from service and placed under the strictest police supervision. Moreover, this happened on the personal orders of Emperor Nicholas I himself. Supervision was abolished only after Emperor Alexander II ascended the throne. And the theatrical public saw the comedy only in 1861, after the ban on its production was lifted.

Early plays

The early work of A. N. Ostrovsky did not go unnoticed, his works were published mainly in the Moskvityanin magazine. The playwright actively collaborated with this publication both as a critic and as an editor in 1850-1851. Under the influence of the “young editors” of the magazine and the main ideologist of this circle, Alexander Nikolayevich composed the plays “Poverty is not a vice”, “Don’t get into your sleigh”, “Don’t live as you want”. The themes of Ostrovsky's work during this period are the idealization of patriarchy, Russian ancient customs and traditions. These moods slightly muffled the accusatory pathos of the writer's work. However, in the works of this cycle, the dramatic skill of Alexander Nikolayevich grew. His plays have become famous and in demand.

Collaboration with Sovremennik

Beginning in 1853, for thirty years, the plays of Alexander Nikolayevich were shown every season on the stages of the Maly (in Moscow) and Alexandrinsky (in St. Petersburg) theaters. Since 1856, Ostrovsky's work has been regularly covered in the Sovremennik magazine (works are published). During the social upsurge in the country (before the abolition of serfdom in 1861), the writer's works again acquired accusatory sharpness. In the play “A Hangover at a Strange Feast”, the writer created an impressive image of Bruskov Tit Titych, in which he embodied the rude and dark force home autonomy. Here, for the first time, the word "tyrant" was heard, which later became fixed for a whole gallery of Ostrovsky's characters. In the comedy "Profitable Place" the corruption of officials that has become the norm was ridiculed. The drama "The Pupil" was a living protest against violence against the person. Other stages of Ostrovsky's work will be described below. But the peak of the achievement of this period of his literary activity was the socio-psychological drama "Thunderstorm".

"Storm"

In this play, "bytovik" Ostrovsky painted a dull atmosphere provincial town with her hypocrisy, rudeness, the indisputable authority of the "senior" and rich. In opposition to the imperfect world of people, Alexander Nikolayevich depicts breathtaking pictures of the Volga nature. The image of Katerina is covered with tragic beauty and gloomy charm. The thunderstorm symbolizes the spiritual confusion of the heroine and at the same time personifies the burden of fear under which they constantly live. simple people. The kingdom of blind obedience is undermined, according to Ostrovsky, by two forces: common sense who preaches in the play Kuligin, and a pure soul Catherine. In his "Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom", the critic Dobrolyubov interpreted the image of the main character as a symbol of deep protest, gradually ripening in the country.

Thanks to this play, the work of Ostrovsky soared to an unattainable height. "Thunderstorm" made Alexander Nikolaevich the most famous and revered Russian playwright.

Historical motives

In the second half of the 1860s, Alexander Nikolayevich began to study the history of the Time of Troubles. He began to correspond with the famous historian and Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov. Based on the study of serious sources, the playwright created a whole cycle historical works: "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky", "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk", "Tushino". Problems national history were portrayed by Ostrovsky with talent and authenticity.

Other plays

Alexander Nikolaevich still remained true to his favorite topic. In the 1860s, he wrote many "everyday" dramas and plays. Among them: " hard days”, “Abyss”, “Jokers”. These works consolidated the motives already found by the writer. Since the late 1860s, Ostrovsky's work has been undergoing a period of active development. In his dramaturgy, images and themes of the “new” Russia that survived the reform appear: businessmen, acquirers, degenerate patriarchal moneybags and “Europeanized” merchants. Alexander Nikolayevich created a brilliant cycle of satirical comedies debunking the post-reform illusions of citizens: “Mad Money”, “Hot Heart”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”. moral ideal playwrights are pure in soul, noble people: Parasha from "Hot Heart", Aksyusha from "Forest". Ostrovsky's ideas about the meaning of life, happiness and duty were embodied in the play "Labor Bread". Almost all the works of Alexander Nikolayevich, written in the 1870s, were published in " Domestic notes».

"Snow Maiden"

The appearance of this poetic play was completely accidental. The Maly Theater was closed for repairs in 1873. His artists moved into the building Bolshoi Theater. In this regard, the commission for the management of the Moscow imperial theaters decided to create a performance in which three troupes will be involved: opera, ballet and drama. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky undertook to write a similar play. "The Snow Maiden" was written by the playwright for a very short term. As a basis, the author took a plot from the Russian folk tale. While working on the play, he carefully selected the sizes of the verses, consulted with archaeologists, historians, and connoisseurs of antiquity. The music for the play was composed by the young P. I. Tchaikovsky. The premiere of the play took place in 1873, on May 11, on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. K. S. Stanislavsky spoke of The Snow Maiden as a fairy tale, a dream told in sonorous and magnificent verse. He said that the realist and bytovik Ostrovsky wrote this play as if he had not been interested in anything before, except for pure romance and poetry.

Work in recent years

During this period, Ostrovsky composed significant socio-psychological comedies and dramas. They tell about tragic destinies sensitive, gifted women in a cynical and greedy world: "Talents and Admirers", "Dowry". Here the playwright developed new techniques of stage expression, anticipating the work of Anton Chekhov. Preserving the peculiarities of his dramaturgy, Alexander Nikolaevich sought to embody the "internal struggle" of the characters in an "intelligent fine comedy".

Social activity

In 1866, Alexander Nikolaevich founded the famous Artistic Circle. He subsequently gave the Moscow stage many talented figures. Ostrovsky was visited by D. V. Grigorovich, I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, P. M. Sadovsky, A. F. Pisemsky, G. N. Fedotova, M. E. Ermolova, P. I. Tchaikovsky , L. N. Tolstoy, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. E. Turchaninov.

In 1874, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was established in Russia. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was chosen as the chairman of the association. Photos of the famous public figure were known to every lover performing arts in Russia. The reformer made a lot of efforts to ensure that the legislation of the theater management was revised in favor of the artists, and thereby significantly improved their financial and social situation.

In 1885, Alexander Nikolayevich was appointed to the post of head of the repertoire and became the head of the theater school.

Ostrovsky Theater

The work of Alexander Ostrovsky is inextricably linked with the formation of a real Russian theater in its modern sense. The playwright and writer managed to create his own theater school and a special holistic concept for staging theater performances.

Features of Ostrovsky's work in the theater are the absence of opposition to the acting nature and extreme situations in the action of the play. In the works of Alexander Nikolaevich, ordinary events occur with ordinary people.

The main ideas of the reform:

• the theater should be built on conventions (there is an invisible “fourth wall” that separates the audience from the actors);
• when staging a performance, bet must be placed on more than one famous actor, but on a team of artists who understand each other well;
• the immutability of the attitude of actors to language: speech characteristics should express almost everything about the characters represented in the play;
• people come to the theater to watch the actors play, and not to get acquainted with the play - they can read it at home.

The ideas that the writer Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolayevich came up with were subsequently finalized by M. A. Bulgakov and K. S. Stanislavsky.

Personal life

The personal life of the playwright was no less interesting than his literary work. Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich lived in a civil marriage with a simple bourgeois for almost twenty years. Interesting Facts and the details of the marital relationship of the writer and his first wife are still of concern to researchers.

In 1847, in Nikolo-Vorobinovsky Lane, next to the house where Ostrovsky lived, a young girl, Agafya Ivanovna, settled with her thirteen-year-old sister. She had no relatives or friends. Nobody knows when she met Alexander Nikolayevich. However, in 1848 the young people had a son, Alexei. There were no conditions for raising a child, so the boy was temporarily placed in an orphanage. Ostrovsky's father was terribly angry that his son not only dropped out of a prestigious university, but also got in touch with a simple bourgeois woman living next door.

However, Alexander Nikolaevich showed firmness and, when his father, together with his stepmother, left for the recently purchased Shchelykovo estate in the Kostroma province, he settled with Agafya Ivanovna in his wooden house.

The writer and ethnographer S.V. Maksimov jokingly called Ostrovsky's first wife "Marfa Posadnitsa", because she was next to the writer in times of severe need and severe hardship. Ostrovsky's friends characterize Agafya Ivanovna as a very intelligent and cordial person by nature. She remarkably knew the manners and customs of merchant life and had an unconditional influence on Ostrovsky's work. Alexander Nikolaevich often consulted with her about the creation of his works. In addition, Agafya Ivanovna was wonderful and hospitable hostess. But Ostrovsky did not register an official marriage with her even after the death of his father. All the children born in this union died very young, only the eldest, Alexei, briefly survived his mother.

Over time, Ostrovsky had other hobbies. He was passionately in love with Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya-Nikulina, who played Katerina at the premiere of The Thunderstorm in 1859. However, a personal break soon occurred: the actress left the playwright for the sake of a rich merchant.

Then Alexander Nikolaevich had a connection with a young artist Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva. Agafya Ivanovna knew about this, but she steadfastly carried her cross and managed to maintain Ostrovsky's respect for herself. The woman died in 1867, March 6, after a serious illness. Alexander Nikolaevich did not leave her bed until the very end. The burial place of Ostrovsky's first wife is unknown.

Two years later, the playwright married Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva, who bore him two daughters and four sons. Alexander Nikolaevich lived with this woman until the end of his days.

Writer's death

Tense public and could not but affect the health of the writer. In addition, despite good fees from staging plays and an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, Money Alexander Nikolayevich missed all the time. Exhausted by constant worries, the writer's body eventually failed. In 1886, on June 2, the writer died at his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. The emperor granted 3,000 rubles for the playwright's burial. In addition, he assigned a pension of 3,000 rubles to the writer's widow, and another 2,400 rubles a year for the upbringing of Ostrovsky's children.

Chronological table

The life and work of Ostrovsky can be briefly displayed in a chronological table.

Ostrovsky's life and work were filled with such events. The table, which shows the main events in the life of the writer, will help to better study his biography. The dramatic heritage of Alexander Nikolaevich is difficult to overestimate. Even during the life of the great artist, the Maly Theater was called “Ostrovsky's house”, and this says a lot. Creativity Ostrovsky, short description which is presented in this article, it is worth studying it in more detail.

Parents. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, was the son of a priest, he himself graduated from the Kostroma Seminary, then the Moscow Theological Academy, but began to practice as a court lawyer, dealing with property and commercial matters; rose to the rank of titular councilor, and in 1839 received the nobility.

Education year - Alexander Ostrovsky was sent to the 1st Moscow gymnasium year - Ostrovsky graduated from the gymnasium and entered Faculty of Law Moscow University, but did not finish the courses. Father wants Alexander to become a lawyer, but the desire for literary creativity and passion for the theater are stronger.

1843 service in the office of the Moscow conscientious court. Work in the Moscow commercial court.

In 1853 he entered into a civil marriage with Agafya Ivanovna Ivanova, who had four children from him. In 1869, after the death of Agafya Ivanovna from tuberculosis, Ostrovsky entered into new marriage with Maly Theater actress Maria Vasilyeva. From his second marriage, the writer had five children.

After the death of the writer, the Moscow Duma set up a reading room named after A.N. Ostrovsky. May 27, 1929, in Moscow, on Theater Square a monument to Ostrovsky was unveiled in front of the Maly Theater building (sculptor N.A. Andreev, architect I.P. Mashkov). A.N. Ostrovsky is listed in Russian book records "Divo" as "the most prolific playwright" (1993).

Work in the judiciary helped Ostrovsky a lot as a writer, gave rich material for future creativity, because before him passed unimagined stories from privacy ordinary people. The result is 48 works in which 547 heroes act.

On January 14, 1853, the curtain went up at the first performance of the comedy Don't Get in Your Sleigh at the Maly Theatre.

First period () Time of the first literary experiments. He relied on Gogol's traditions and creative experience " natural school» 1840s During these years, the first dramatic works, including the comedy "Bankrupt" ("We'll count our people!"), for which the author was fired from service and placed under police supervision.

The second period () is called "Muscovite". Ostrovsky became close to the young employees of the Moskvityanin magazine: A.A. Grigoriev, T.I. Filippov, B.N. Almazov and E.N. Edelson. During this period, only three plays were written: “Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice” and “Do not live as you want”.

The third period () He became close to the leaders of the raznochinskaya democracy by the staff of the Sovremennik magazine. The creative result of this period was the plays “Hangover in someone else's feast”, “Profitable place” and “Thunderstorm”.

The fourth period () The genre range expanded, the poetics of his works became more diverse. 1) comedies from merchant life(“Not everything is a carnival for a cat”, “The truth is good, but happiness is better”, “The heart is not a stone”), 2) satirical comedies(“There is enough simplicity for every wise man”, “Hot Heart”, “Mad Money”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”), 3) plays about “little people” (“ old friend better than the new two”, “Hard Days”, “Jokers” and a trilogy about Balzaminov), 4) historical plays-chronicles (“Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Tushino”, etc.), 5) psychological dramas (“Dowry” , " Last victim" and etc.). The fairy-tale play "The Snow Maiden" stands apart.

Life and creative way Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky (1823-1886)

• 1. The beginning of the creative path of the writer. The nature of his plays
• 2. Dramaturgy Ostrovsky. Character Creation Features
• 3. The main features of the worldview and methods of their development in accordance with the development of literature and society
• 4. The value of the work of Ostrovsky the playwright

A.N. Ostrovsky is a great Russian playwright. Developing Traditions realistic dramaturgy of Griboyedov, Pushkin, Gogol, he completed the creation of the Russian national dramaturgy, approved realism on the Russian stage. His theater was the school of a number of generations of Russian actors. The significance of the activities of Ostrovsky, who for more than 40 years was published in the best magazines in Russia and staged plays on the stages of the imperial theaters of St. Petersburg and Moscow, many of which were an event in the literary and theater life era. It is briefly but very accurately described in Goncharov's famous letter to the playwright himself: "You brought a whole library as a gift to literature. works of art, created their own special world for the stage. You alone completed the building at the basis of which you laid cornerstones Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol. But only after you, we Russians can proudly say: "We have our own Russian national theater". It should rightly be called the "Ostrovsky Theater".

Ostrovsky began his career in the 40s during the lifetime of Gogol and Belinsky and completed it in the second half of the 80s, when Chekhov entered literature.

He was published in Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski; he had friendly relations with Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, Turgenev, Goncharov and other writers. He followed their work and listened to their opinion about his plays.

A.N. Ostrovsky was born on March 31, 1823 in the family of an official who lived in Zamoskvorechye. Ancestors belonged to the spiritual class.

Ostrovsky from the age of 6 had home teachers, and at the age of 12 he entered the 3rd grade of the first Moscow gymnasium.

After graduating with honors, at the request of his father, he entered the law faculty of Moscow University (without exams). I did not finish the 2nd course, because. received 1 in the history of law, filed a petition and was expelled. WITH early years he was fond of art, dreamed of literary activity, but out of necessity he had to deal with the affairs of a petty official. From 1843 to 1851 he served in court. This has brought many benefits.

Still a student to become a passionate theatergoer. In dramaturgy, he saw his vocation, and serving the theater became his cherished dream. His father rose in ranks and grew rich, he turned into an ordinary conservative. He did not like the eldest son's passion for theater and literature. But even greater displeasure of the father was caused by the fact that Alexander Nikolayevich, having fallen in love with simple girl from a bourgeois environment, he brought her into his home as a wife.

An angry father deprived his son of all financial assistance. For Ostrovsky, material insecurity began, which continued throughout his life.

In 1867, the first wife of the playwright Agafeya Ivanovna died and in 1869 he married an actress of the Moscow Maly Theater Maria Vasilievna Vasilyeva. Ostrovsky had 4 sons and 2 daughters. He died at his desk, as a sentry on duty, on June 14, 1886.

In the early 40s, Ostrovsky was carried away by Gogol's work and criticism. Gogol period, especially criticism of Belinsky, writes essays. Already in these years, he not only determines the range of topics for his future work, but also comes close to assessing moral sense phenomena they observe. Already in the mid-40s, the young Ostrovsky faced questions:

• 1) about the ratio of progress and strength inertia, numbness in the life of entire strata of Russian society and its individual representatives;
• 2) about true and imaginary enlightenment;
• 3) about living traditions and dead stereotypes of everyday life (the first aspects are reflected in the work of Fonvizin and Griboyedov).

Ostrovsky approached these problems as a keen observer, an original and deeply thinking person.

He turns his observations to Zamoskvorechye. In his Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident (1847), he reports that the subject of his image will be a certain part of life, limited territorially from the rest of the world (by the Moscow River) and fenced off by the conservative isolation of his way of life.

Ostrovsky correlates the customs of Zamoskvorechie with the rights of the rest of Moscow, opposing, but even more often bringing them closer. the main problem, which the young writer puts as the basis of his knowledge of the world of Zamoskvorechie - the correlation in this closed world of tradition, the stability of being and the active principle, the trend of development. Under the pen of Ostrovsky Zamoskvorechye turns into a symbol patriarchal life.

Ostrovsky exhibits special interest to mass psychology and worldview of the whole public environment. He comes to the conclusion that the continuous interaction of the patriarchal traditional way and the stable views formed in its bosom with the new needs of society and constructions that reflect the interests of historical progress, is the source of an endless variety of modern social and moral illusions and conflicts.

The dramatic form, according to Ostrovsky, most corresponded to the ideas about the peculiarities of the historical existence of Russian society and was consonant with the desire for enlightenment art of a special type.

Ostrovsky's interest in the aesthetics of drama and his view of the drama of Russian life bore fruit in his first major comedy, Our People - Let's Settle. It was perceived as a great event in art, a completely new phenomenon.

A.N.OSTROVSKY

(1823 – 1886)

Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky considered the beginning of his literary path 1847, when he read the play " family picture» in the house of professor and writer S.P. Shevyrev. His next play, "We'll Settle Our People!" ( original title"Bankrupt") made his name known to all reading Russia. From the beginning of the 50s. he actively collaborates in the journal of the historian M.P. Pogodin "Moskvityanin" and soon, together with A.A. Grigoriev, L.A. Meem and others formed the “young editorial board” of Moskvityanin, which attempted to make the journal an organ of a new trend in social thought, close to Slavophilism and anticipating the soil movement. The magazine promoted realistic art, interest in folk life and folklore, Russian history, especially the history of the underprivileged classes.

Ostrovsky came to literature as the creator of a nationally original theatrical style, based in poetics on folklore tradition. This turned out to be possible because he began with the image of the patriarchal layers of the Russian people, who preserved the pre-Petrine, almost non-Europeanized family and household and cultural setting. It was still a “prepersonal” environment, to depict it, the poetics of folklore could be used as widely as possible with its extreme generalization, with stable types, as if immediately recognizable by the listener and viewer, and even with a recurring main plot situation - the struggle of a young couple in love for their happiness. . On this basis, Ostrovsky's type of "folk comedy" was created.

Main milestones. In the creative path of Ostrovsky, the following periods can be distinguished:

early, 1847-1851, the period of searching for ways and entering into great literature with the play “Our people - let's settle!”;

"Muscovitian" 1852 – 1854, when are created folk comedies“Do not sit in your sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”;

pre-reform, 1855 – 1860, when the independent literary and ideological position of Ostrovsky is finally determined, the plays “Hangover in someone else’s feast”, “Profitable Place”, “Pupil”, “Thunderstorm” are created;

post-reform, 1861 – 1886.

Already in the comedy "Own people - let's settle!" the main features of the poetics of the Ostrovsky theater are taking shape: focus on moral issues through which the social aspects of life are analyzed; the resulting absolute predominance of family conflicts; the subordination of bright everyday writing elements to the task of depicting characters and the circumstances that form them.

In the next period, Ostrovsky turns to the search for positive principles. Like friends in the "young edition" of "Moskvityanin", the ideals folk morality he sees in the patriarchal forms of national life. But even in this period, Ostrovsky shows that the idyll patriarchal family fraught with drama. In the play "Poverty is not a vice", social conflict in the Tortsov family is brought to high voltage. poetic world folk culture and morality, created by Ostrovsky, opposes tyranny, but he is vulnerable in the face of modern "civilization". Only Lyubim Tortsov is able to protect him, having “broke out” of the patriarchal way of life, having gained bitter life experience outside of it and therefore managed to actively intervene in the course of events, directing them to a happy ending.

New stage Ostrovsky's path, caused by a general rise in anti-serfdom sentiments after the defeat in Crimean War and the death of Nicholas I, begins with the play "A hangover in someone else's feast", where he created classic look petty tyrant Tit Titych Bruskov, who became a household name. During this period, Ostrovsky, referring to traditional themes Russian literature, develops them in a completely original way. IN " profitable place»he not only denounces the extortion of officials, but also reveals deep social and historical roots bureaucratic philosophy (the image of Yusov), the illusory hopes for a new generation of educated officials, whom life itself inexorably pushes towards a compromise (Zhadov). In The Pupil, Ostrovsky depicts the life of a landowner's estate without the slightest lyricism, which is so common among noble writers when depicting local life. The highest achievement of this period was "Thunderstorm".

In the post-reform period, the thematic and genre range of Ostrovsky's drama continues to expand: from historical events and private life of the 17th century. (Chronicles, "Voevoda") to the most acute topicality; from the inhabitants of the outback, the poor bourgeois outskirts (“There was not a penny, but suddenly Altyn”, “ Late love”) to modern “civilized” entrepreneurs (“The Last Victim”, “Slaves”, “Dowry”), from noble living rooms disturbed by the reforms (“There is enough simplicity for every wise man”) to a forest road where the actors of Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev meet (“ Forest").

The early Ostrovsky does not have the hero-intellectual, nobleman, characteristic of most Russian classics. extra person". Appeal to this type in the late 60s. leads to the creation of a kind of satirical

cycle: “Enough simplicity for every sage”, “Mad Money”, “Forest”, later - “Wolves and Sheep”.

The rise in the feeling of personality caused by the reforms, which captured quite a wide section of the population, provides material for the creation of the genre of drama. The formation of this genre required the search for a hero who would be able to enter into a dramatic struggle and arouse the sympathy of the viewer, having a worthy goal. For Ostrovsky, who did not see such heroes in the post-reform reality, the center dramatic action becomes a woman. This, of course, shifts the emphasis from action in the proper sense to the feelings of the characters and creates the conditions for the development of precisely the psychological drama (“Dowry”, “The Last Victim”, “Talents and Admirers”, “Guilty Without Guilt”).