Introduction

Philosophy of literary criticism

1Relationship between philosophy and science

2Literary criticism in the system of scientific knowledge

2 US literature of the early 20th century

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

Romantic and socially acute, unique in its history and original approach to problems, persecuted at home and recognized in other countries - American literature is of particular interest for philosophical reflection.

Literary criticism as a scientific discipline considers not only creative methods, but also pays a lot of attention to the history of literature. This interest can be expressed in different ways: the history of a particular literary movement, the history of the literature of a particular country, and so on.

The turn of the 19th-20th centuries was in many ways a landmark moment for US literature - new authors gained recognition, the public's gaze fell on problems that had been hidden or hushed up for a long time, new cultural and literary trends emerged.

The relevance of this work is due to the need to obtain theoretical knowledge in the field of American literature.

The object of the study is the literature of the XIX - XX centuries. The subject is US literature of this period.

The purpose of the work: to structure knowledge about the literature of the United States of the specified period, fill in the gaps and identify the main development trends.

In the course of achieving this goal, the following tasks were identified and solved:

)Search for information on a given topic;

)Analysis and processing of the received information;

)Identification of the main features of American literature of the XIX-XX centuries.

The abstract consists of two chapters, introduction, conclusion and list of references.

1. Philosophy of literary criticism

1 Relationship between philosophy and science

For the most complete understanding of the connection between philosophy and science, it is necessary to define these concepts. Philosophy is a special form of social consciousness and knowledge of the world. It develops a system of knowledge about the fundamental principles and foundations of human existence, explores and generalizes the most essential characteristics of human relationships with the world. In the Modern Encyclopedia, the following definition of philosophy is given - it is a worldview, a system of ideas, views on the world and on the place of man in it. Philosophy explores various forms of human relationship with myoma: cognitive, socio-political, value, ethical and aesthetic. Based on theoretical and practical knowledge about these relationships, philosophy reveals the relationship between subject and object. Similar definitions can be found in other sources.

Summarizing many definitions, we can say that philosophy is a generalized knowledge about the world and about the place of man in it. Philosophy is engaged in the search and establishment of the most general laws and patterns in the world: in nature, in society, in relation to a person with the surrounding reality.

Science can be defined as a special kind of cognitive activity aimed at developing objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge about the world. In the Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary we find the following definition: science is a sphere of human activity, the main task of which is the development and theoretical schematization of objective knowledge about reality; a branch of culture that did not exist at all times and not among all peoples.

Particular sciences are turned to the phenomena and processes of real reality that exist objectively, independently of either man or mankind. They are not interested in the moral aspect of human life, in their search they do not take into account the categories of good and evil. Science formulates its conclusions in theories, laws and formulas, excluding from the spectrum of research the attitude of the scientist to the phenomena being studied and the social consequences that this or that discovery may lead to.

According to B. Russell, all private sciences are faced with unknown facts about the world, but "when a person enters the border areas or goes beyond them, he falls out of science into the sphere of speculation." The sciences are characterized by an orientation towards everyday life, the solution of specific issues that determine the quality of life. While philosophy considers the most general forms of human experience, not always giving specific practical results.

Obviously, no scientific discipline, including philosophy, can absorb the entire body of knowledge about the world. This fact determines the deep continuity between the particular sciences and philosophy. At a certain stage, philosophy has the characteristics of science: it forms its principles and patterns on the basis of specific scientific material obtained empirically from specific sciences; philosophy, in turn, forms the methodological foundation for further scientific growth. Special sciences, on the other hand, need a philosophical understanding of the knowledge accumulated by them.

In the XIX century there was a special direction of philosophical research, the so-called. philosophy of science. The need to develop a special philosophical methodological base for a particular science appears as the theoretical component of scientific knowledge grows. Elements of the problems of the philosophy of science are found already in ancient philosophy, but the own problems of this discipline are indicated only from the New Age.

The subject of studying the philosophy of science is the structure and development of scientific knowledge as a whole. The philosophy of science chooses as its basis the problems of science as an epistemological (epistemology - theory of knowledge) and sociocultural phenomenon.

The place of the philosophy of science in the structure of scientific knowledge is determined by the ability to realize the epistemological and sociocultural needs of science with the help of its internal, historically formed concepts and problems. The philosophy of science gives consciousness constructive-critical functions in relation to the existing scientific and cognitive practice.

The own problems of the philosophy of science, as a separate discipline, are formed in the works of W. Whewell, J.S. Mill, O. Comte, G. Spencer, J. Herschel. Due to the fact that in the 19th century the social role of scientific work increases so much that it becomes a form of professional activity, the works of these and other authors led to the formulation of a specific normative-critical task: to bring scientific and cognitive activity in line with some philosophical and methodological ideal.

The path traveled by the philosophy of science from the moment of self-determination as a separate scientific discipline has become the basis of the modern image of science. Its most important feature is that scientific knowledge, without differences in subject and method, turns out to be socially and culturally relative (relative), as well as historically changeable. On this basis, it is supposed to overcome the confrontation between the natural sciences and the humanities. The search for the unity of scientific knowledge is now taking place not only on the basis of the natural sciences, but also on the basis of the humanities. However, at the same time, such concepts as truth and objectivity practically disappear from the reasoning of philosophers of science. The main thing in the philosophy of science is the central concept of the methodology of the humanities - the concept of interpretation, and the role of a single methodological foundation of modern science, in this case, begins to claim philosophical hermeneutics.

The current state of the philosophy of science is determined by two reductionist tendencies. The naturalistic trend implies the dissolution of the philosophy of science in interdisciplinary research, such as synergetics, cognitive science, science of science. The humanitarian trend leads to the transformation of the discipline into literary criticism, anthropology, and cultural studies. Preservation of belonging to the sphere of philosophical research is possible only taking into account the heuristic potential of the scientific field, critical reflection against the background of a deeper development of those fundamental goals and values ​​that form the core of a rationalistic worldview.

2 History of literary criticism

As mentioned above, the development of the philosophy of science tends to expand the "functional field". Not only applied, natural sciences, but also the humanities are turning to the solution of global philosophical issues. In the system of philosophical knowledge about the humanities, such areas as the philosophy of consciousness and the philosophy of language can be distinguished separately. These areas stand apart because, due to the interdisciplinary approach, they are wider in scope than the philosophy of psychology and the philosophy of linguistics.

Within the framework of the philosophy of language, one can single out literary criticism as a discipline capable of forming philosophical knowledge. This scientific field is so authoritative that now it is often possible to find reference to literary works as the most striking examples in the field of sociology, political science, and history. The Great Soviet Encyclopedia gives the following definition of literary criticism: it is the science of fiction, its origin, essence and development. According to the authors of the encyclopedia, literary criticism is currently one of the most complex and dynamically developing systems of scientific knowledge. The composition of literary criticism includes the so-called. auxiliary disciplines: textual criticism, or text criticism, paleography, book science, bibliography.

It is worth saying that the boundaries of the science that studies literature are quite wide. In addition to general issues related to the process of development of literature, the work itself, the laws of its construction, the specifics of a particular text, etc., become the subject of research for literary critics. Literary criticism is conditionally divided into two main parts - theoretical and historical literary criticism. Theoretical literary criticism deals with the theory of literature, or poetics. It explores the main elements of fiction: image, genera and types, styles, etc.

The history of literature, on the other hand, is primarily interested in the specific elements of literary criticism. The subject of her research is the originality of various national literatures, literary periods, trends and trends, and the work of individual authors. The history of literature considers any literary phenomenon in historical development.

Features of the two above directions - the theory and history of literature - are possessed by historical poetics. Like literary theory, it has separate literary forms: genres, styles, types of plots and characters, etc. But unlike literary theory, historical poetics considers these forms in development (for example, changes in the novel as a genre are traced).

The history of literary criticism has its roots in the deep past. Arguments about art are found in the most ancient monuments that have come down to our days - in the Indian Vedas (10-2 centuries BC), in the Chinese "Book of Traditions" (12-5 centuries BC), in ancient Greek "Iliad" and "Odyssey" (8-7 centuries BC), etc. In Europe, the first concepts of art and literature were developed by ancient thinkers. Already in the works of Aristotle "Rhetoric" and "Metaphysics" there is a formation of literary disciplines proper - the theory of literature, stylistics and poetics. His work "On the Art of Poetry" contains the first systematic exposition of the foundations of poetics. It opened a centuries-old tradition of special treatises on poetics, which over time acquired an ever stronger normative character. In the XVIII century. the first historical and literary courses were published: "The History of Italian Literature" (1772-82) by G. Tiraboschi, "The History of English Poetry" (1774-81) by T. Wharton, as well as the "Lyceum, or Course" built on the historical consideration of the types of poetry ancient and modern literature” (1799-1805) J. Laharpe.

Over time, the large-scale field of literary criticism gives rise to a number of pan-European methodological schools. One of the first among them was the mythological school. Its philosophical basis was the works on aesthetics by F. Schelling and br. A. and F. Schlegel.

The influence of the romantic theory about art as a way of self-expression of the creative spirit served as the basis for the biographical method (Sh.O. Sainte-Beuve, Literary-Critical Portraits, 1836-39). It is worth noting that this method, to one degree or another, passes through all the latest literary criticism. The biographical method gave rise to the psychological theories of creativity that were widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 2nd half of the XIX century. especially influential was the cultural-historical school, which was based, among other factors, on determinism in literary criticism.

At the end of the XIX century. in Western European literary criticism, there are tendencies towards the emergence of a comparative approach in the study of literature. This is facilitated by the development of cultural-historical and psychological methods (“Scientific Criticism”, 1888, E. Enneken, France; “The Main Trends in European Literature of the 19th Century”, 1873-1890, G. Brandes, W. Wundt, D. N. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky).

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. a spiritual-historical (or cultural-philosophical) school took shape. In their theory, representatives of this school (W. Dilthey) neglected the social class motives of experience, developing the principle of "historicism" (in relation to the change of artistic styles and forms). The moments of the artistic structure were not taken into account either, since art was dissolved in the stream of the general worldview inherent in the era.

A special place in the Western literary tradition was occupied by currents based on the philosophy of existentialism. Existentialists interpreted a poetic work as a self-contained, self-contained truth; the existentialist "interpretation" avoids the traditional genetic approach, pulling the work out of the socio-historical context.

Modern literary criticism is a science that comprehensively studies fiction, its origin and social ties; the specifics of verbal-figurative artistic thinking, the nature and functions of artistic creativity, general and local patterns of the historical and literary process. In recent decades, research in the field of poetics has revived, which is characterized by a clear orientation towards the knowledge of the formative, content principles of literature; this brought to the fore the problem of the work as a complex system capable of being included in a changing historical and social context.

Modern literary criticism faces the main task - to develop mechanisms for an adequate interpretation of a literary text. A literary critic should be able to establish a dialogue with a work of verbal art and make this dialogue interesting for the reader or listener. Simply put, the researcher must see and understand something in a literary text that a non-specialist will not notice or be unable to explain. The level of qualification of a literary critic is precisely determined by the ability to solve these problems. The more extensive the knowledge, the more subtle and non-standard the comment, the higher the level of the philologist-literary critic.

US Literature at the Turn of the 19th-20th Centuries

In the beginning, I would like to make a short digression into the history of the United States of interest to us during the period. without knowledge of the main historical events, it is impossible to understand literary processes and analyze texts.

The United States of America is one of the youngest states. The development of the continent by Europeans began in the 16th century; before their appearance, the territory of the future world power was inhabited by Indian tribes. By the 18th century, the entire North American continent had been colonized by Europeans. In 1774, 13 British colonies began hostilities in the struggle for independence. The result of their victory on July 4, 1776 was the formation of a new sovereign state.

During the 19th century, the territory of the United States increased due to the acquisition of Louisiana from the French, Florida from the Spaniards and the conquest of other lands. The capture of local states was accompanied either by the forced eviction of the Indian people in the reservation, or by the complete destruction of the population.

In 1861, disagreements arose between the southern and northern states related to economic and cultural issues, as a result of which the Confederation of 11 southern states arose, declaring its separation. At the beginning of the civil war, the southerners won several victories, but in the end it ended with the victory of the northern states and the preservation of the federation.

The end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century is marked by a grandiose economic recovery in the United States due to the influx of immigrants from other continents. April 4, 1917 America entered the First World War. Until that time, the state preferred to take a neutral position in relation to events in Europe. At this point, the United States was engaged in the creation of zones of influence in the countries of the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean and Central America. After the war in 1929, a sharp jump in the country's economy gave way to a terrible crisis. During the Great Depression, production dropped significantly and unemployment increased. On December 7, 1941, as a result of the bombing of the American base at Pearl Harbor by Japanese fighters, the US Army entered World War II with Japan. After December 11, 1941, America entered into a military conflict with Italy and Germany. The Americans deployed all their military operations mainly in the Pacific. After the Tehran Conference on June 6, 1944, the US Army figured in the defeat of the German army on the Atlantic coast of France. The fighting against Japan successfully took place in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. On August 6, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and on August 9, a bomb was dropped on another Japanese city - Nagasaki. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito signed an act of surrender.

1 US literature of the late 19th century

Literary scholars call the end of the 19th century late American romanticism. During this period, a sharp division took place in the literary space of the country, caused by the Civil War between the North and the South. On the one hand, there is the literature of abolitionism, which, within the framework of romantic aesthetics, protests against slavery from ethical and general humanistic positions. On the other hand, the literature of the South, idealizing the traditions of the slave system, stands up for the historically doomed and reactionary way of life.

The motives of opposition to anti-humanistic laws occupy a significant place in the works of such writers as Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, and others. We can observe the same motives in the works of G. Beecher Stowe, D. G. and realistic elements is the work of the greatest American poet Walt Whitman. A romantic worldview - already outside the chronological framework of romanticism - is imbued with Dickinson's work. Romantic motifs organically enter the creative method of F. Bret Hart, M. Twain, A. Beers, D. London and other US writers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

It should be noted that American romanticism differs significantly from European romanticism. The assertion of national identity and independence, the search for a "national idea" run through all the art of American romanticism. The culture of the United States did not have the centuries-old experience that Europe had at that time - by the end of the 19th century, the new nation had not yet had time to “acquire” objects and realities that romantic associations could be attached to (such as the tulips of Holland and the roses of Italy). But gradually, in the books of Irving and Cooper, Longfellow and Melville, Hawthorne and Thoreau, phenomena and facts of American nature, history, and geography acquire a romantic flavor.

No less significant for American romanticism was the theme of the Indians. Indians in America from the very beginning a factor that is associated with a very complex psychological complex - admiration and fear, hostility and guilt. The image of the "noble savage", the life of the Indians, its freedom, naturalness, closeness to nature could become a romantic alternative to capitalist civilization in the books of Irving and Cooper, Thoreau and Longfellow. In the works of these authors, we see evidence that the conflict between the two races was not fatally inevitable, but the cruelty and greed of the white settlers were to blame for it. The work of American romantics makes the life and culture of the Indians an important component of the national literature of the United States, conveying its special imagery and coloring. The same applies to the perception of another ethnic minority - black Americans in the southern states.

Within American Romanticism, within a single creative method, there were notable regional differences. The main literary regions are New England (northeastern states), the middle states, the South.

The atmosphere of the American South is conveyed by the works of J. P. Kennedy and W. G. Simms. It is worth noting that the authors could not completely get rid of the stereotypes of glorifying the virtues of "southern democracy" and the advantages of the slave-owning order. With all these features of limitations, "southern" romanticism paves the way for the formation of a complex, multidimensional, but undoubtedly fruitful "southern tradition" in US literature, which in the 20th century. represented by the names of W. Faulkner, R. P. Warren, W. Styron, C. McCullers, S. E. Grau, and others. political reactionary positions, arguing that "joyfully, knowing no worries, the slave lives on the plantation."

The middle states are distinguished from the beginning by great ethnic and religious diversity and tolerance. Here American bourgeois democracy is being laid down and capitalist relations are developing especially rapidly. The work of Irving, Cooper, Paulding, and later Melville is associated with the middle states. The main themes in the work of the romantics of the middle states are the search for a national hero, interest in social issues, reflections on the path traveled by the country, a comparison of the past and present of America.

Romanticism in New England (Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Bryant, and others) is characterized primarily by the desire for a philosophical understanding of the American experience, for an analysis of the national past, its ideological and artistic heritage. Inherent in this literature is the exploration of complex ethical issues; An important place is occupied by the revision of the Puritan complex of religious and moral ideas of the Puritan colonists of the 17th-18th centuries, with which a deep successive connection is preserved. New English Romanticism has a strong tradition of moral-philosophical prose, rooted in America's Puritan colonial past. After the end of the Civil War in the literature of the United States, a realistic trend in literature began to develop. A new generation of writers is connected with a new region: it relies on the democratic spirit of the American West, on the elements of folk oral folklore and addresses its works to the widest, mass reader. From the point of view of the new aesthetics, romanticism ceased to meet the requirements of the times. Romantic "impulses" were sharply criticized by M. Twain, F. Bret Hart and other young realist writers. Their contradictions with the romantics are caused, first of all, by a different understanding of the truth of life and ways of expressing it in art. American realists of the second half of the 19th century. strive for maximum historical, social and everyday concreteness, they are not satisfied with the language of romantic allegories and symbols.

It must be said that this denial is purely dialectical in nature. In the literature of the USA of the XX century. there are romantic motives and they are associated, as a rule, with the search for lost high ideals and true spirituality, the unity of man and nature, with the moral utopia of extra-bourgeois human relations, with a protest against the transformation of the individual into a cog in the state machine. These motifs are clearly visible in the work of the greatest American word artists of our century - E. Hemingway and W. Faulkner, T. Wilder and D. Steinbeck, F. S. Fitzgerald and D. D. Salinger. They continue to be addressed by US writers of recent decades.

american literature novel realistic

2.2 US literature in the early 20th century

The beginning of the twentieth century was marked by significant artistic achievements of American literature, which received wide recognition throughout the world. In many ways, this was facilitated by the influx of immigrants from Europe and strong economic development. At the beginning of the century, the conflict between popular literature, philistine fiction and pseudo-romantic prose in the style of "exquisite tradition", on the one hand, and literature that seeks to convey life in its dynamics and contradictions, on the other, became more tangible. Important for the development of literature during this period was the growth of social movements: first - anti-war, then - anti-monopoly. Already in the first decades of the twentieth century, three new trends in American literature are distinguished: critical realism, experimental and socialist literature.

An important stage in the literary life of America was Dreiser's novel "Genius". This work shows the conflict between true creativity and external circumstances that prevent it from being realized. Dreiser believed that in American society the romance of profit prevails, the minds are confident that the existing system is the best. In his opinion, Hollywood has captured not only cinematography, but also literature: the heroes in American literature have stopped working, poverty has become a myth, and difficulties are resolved with the help of various intrigues.

The growing realist literature was represented by such authors as Mark Twain, E. Sinclair, J. London and others. Many of them supported the movement of the so-called. "scrappers of dirt". This group of writers became the founders of the American sociological novel, combining journalistic research with artistic reflection in their work.

In April 1917, the United States announced its entry into World War I. America never fought on its own territory, but its literature was also shaken by the theme of the “lost generation”. The problems associated with the war were included not only in the books of those writers who fought on the fronts of Europe, such as, for example, E. Hemingway. The war, intertwined with other semantic lines in different works, touches upon problems specific to America - big money and the collapse of the American dream - helps to see clearly and see the true value of things, the lies and selfish artificiality of official slogans. The economic crisis of the 20-30s. pulled all the contradictions into a single knot, exacerbating social conflicts: in the South and West, farms were ruined en masse, in the North and Northeast, fierce clashes unfolded in mines and factories. T. Dreiser writes about the disasters of the miners of Garlan, Steinbeck told the whole world about the tragedy of the farmers of California and the Far West. Its most truthful and profound reflection of the turbulent 30s. are found in the works of E. Hemingway, W. Faulkner, J. Steinbeck, A. Miller, S., Fitzgerald.

The beginning of the century was also marked by new trends in the development of ethnic cultures. Interest in the work of Indian writers is growing, the number of publications of works by black Americans is increasing, among which are William Dubois, P.L. Dunbar, C.W. Chesnut. They capture a wide American audience. The influx of immigrants to the United States gave rise to a kind of literature, both in English and in the languages ​​​​of immigrants who came to America from different countries. This phenomenon gave impetus to a new stage in the development of not only US literature, but also culture in general.

A characteristic feature of American realists was that, while borrowing some of the formal features of the modernist novel, they retain the aesthetic principles of critical realism: the ability to create types of great social significance, to show the circumstances of provincial and metropolitan life deeply typical of American reality; the ability to depict life as a contradictory process, as a constant struggle and action, in contrast to the decadent novel, which replaces the depiction of social contradictions with a retreat into the hero's inner world.

The masters of American prose of the early 20th century consciously created simple plots, depriving them of the elements of entertainment inherent in novels of the 19th century. In their opinion, such an approach to creativity is better able to emphasize the tragedy of the position of the protagonist. Traditional autobiographicalism continued to feed the realistic elements of American literature, such as factualism and documentaryism. The authors believed that in the 20th century the aesthetics of reading should become more intense, so they do not strive, like their predecessors, to tell in the exposition everything basic about their characters; an additional effort is required from the reader to assimilate and comprehend the components of the complex composition of the novel.

The beginning of the 20th century in the United States not only opened great names to the world community, but also became a difficult transition period for the country from the state of “arrogant youth” to a more mature understanding of things. The "Great Depression" of the 1930s was officially overcome in 1933, but its presence in literature goes far beyond the indicated limits. The experience of these difficult years has forever remained in Americans as immunity against complacency, carelessness and spiritual indifference. It formed the basis for the further development of the national formula for success, and contributed to the strengthening of the moral foundation of American business, which was reflected in the literature.

Conclusion

The literary life of the United States at the turn of the century was intense. Political events taking place in the world, social upheavals and cultural changes were soon reflected in fiction. It must be said that many reactionary works eventually laid the foundation for entire currents of literature.

I would like to note the main trends that developed in American literature at the beginning of the twentieth century. Three of them have been identified in this work.

The dissonance in writers' circles regarding themes, ideas and forms of works naturally led to a change in the period of romantic literature to realistic. The conflict between popular and "noble" literature, based on the rethinking of the nation itself, led to the formation of the American social novel.

The second trend in US literature was military prose. Despite the fact that the hostilities of the First World War did not affect the territory of America, the American public reacted sharply to them. The authors who touched on this topic have received recognition not only in their own country, but also abroad.

I would like to note another trend that emerged at the beginning of the 20th century and has been actively developed to this day - this is the recognition of ethnic authors. For a long time, this area of ​​literature was forgotten due to the internal policy of the United States regarding the colored population. The beginning of the century was marked by the "discovery" of ethnic literature. This fact greatly enriched the literary space of America. Many non-American writers are now world-famous.

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The development of English literature in the 19th century

In the English literature of the 19th century, as in other national literatures of this century, 2 trends are struggling: romanticism and realism. Romanticism came to England from France (influenced by the revolution of 1789-1794) and subjugated the first half of the 19th century, although some literary scholars believe that true romanticism existed for only a quarter of a century. The beginning of romanticism in England is associated with 1798, when W. Wordsworth and S. Coleridge published a book of poems "Lyrical Ballads". The decline of this direction causes numerous disputes. Some believe that Byron's death in 1824 drew a line under romanticism, others associate this phenomenon with the work of W. Hazlitt, W. Landor and T. Carlyle, and this is already the middle of the century. Romanticism as a method was most clearly manifested in poetry, and in prose both features of romanticism and features of realism were invariably present.

In English romanticism, 3 main currents (generations) can be distinguished:

• 1. poets of the "Lake School" ("leukists") - W. Wordsworth, S. Coleridge, R. Southey romanticism culture idealism being
• 2. revolutionary romantics - J.G. Byron, P.-B. Shelley, J. Keats
• 3. "London romantics" - C. Lam, W. Hazlitt, Lee Hunt

William Blake (1757-1827) is the father of English Romanticism. Blake created his main works back in the 18th century (“Songs of Innocence”, “Songs of Experience”, “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell”). In the 19th century, “Milton”, “The Ghost of Abel”, etc. were written. Blake is considered the founder of the cosmic worldview.

The development of French literature in the 19th century

Novelistics of Prosper Merimee

In his short stories, Merimee tries to embody the positive ideal that he wants to find among the people and in countries that have not yet been spoiled by bourgeois civilization (for example, in Corsica, in Spain). However, unlike the romantics, Merimee does not idealize the heroes and their way of life. He objectively portrays the heroes: on the one hand, he shows the heroic and noble sides of their character, on the other hand, he does not hide their negative sides, due to their savagery, backwardness and poverty. Thus, in Merimee, the character of the hero is determined by the external environment. And in this the writer continues the traditions of realism. At the same time, Merimee pays tribute to romanticism, and this is manifested in the fact that an exceptionally strong personality is always at the center of the writer's short stories.

Unlike the romantics, Merimee does not describe in detail the emotions of the characters. The writer is very concise and draws the psychology of a person, his experiences through external signs - gestures, facial expressions, actions. The narration is conducted on behalf of the narrator, who does it carelessly, reluctantly, as if bored, that is, the manner of narration is always somewhat detached.

The composition of the short stories is always very clear, logically built. As a realist writer, Merimee depicts not only the climax, but also tells the background of the events, gives concise but rich descriptions of the characters. The contrast in Merimee's short stories is manifested in the clash of reality and dramatic, extraordinary events unfolding against the backdrop of this reality. In general, all short stories are built on contrast: on the one hand, human vices and base interests, and on the other, disinterested feelings, the concept of honor, freedom, and nobility.

American literature of the 19th century

Creativity O "Henry (real name - William Sidney Porter)

The work of this writer begins to take shape in the late 90s. 19th century - early 20th century. Initially, O "Henry had nothing to do with literature - he worked as a bank teller, but already at that time he was interested in the people around him, and people were completely different. However, gradually the future writer's powers of observation and a good sense of humor lead to the fact that he begins to publish weekly comic magazine Rolling Stone. But soon the serene life of O "Henry was turned over by a shortage in the bank, and in order to avoid arrest, the writer sets off to travel and begins to professionally engage in journalistic activities. Subsequently, these materials will form the basis of the plots of many works. After some time, his wife's illness forces O "Henry to return, the jury finds the writer guilty and sends him to prison for 5 years. It is there that O" Henry is actively writing stories during night shifts.

The first story was written in 1899 under the title "Dick the Whistler's Christmas Stocking". In total, O "Henry wrote 287 stories, which were included in such collections as "4 Million" (1906), "Burning Lamp" (1907), "Voice of the City" (1908), "Business People" (1910), "The Rotation of Life "(1910). In 1904, he writes an adventurous and humorous novel "Kings and Cabbage".

The century before last was an interesting stage in the development of human history. The emergence of new technologies, faith in progress, the spread of enlightenment ideas, the development of new social relations, the emergence of a new bourgeois class that became dominant in many European countries - all this was reflected in art. The literature of the 19th century reflected all the turning points in the development of society. All shocks and discoveries are reflected in the pages of novels by eminent writers. 19th century literature– multifaceted, diverse and very interesting.

Literature of the 19th century as an indicator of public consciousness

The century began in the atmosphere of the Great French Revolution, the ideas of which captured all of Europe, America and Russia. Under the influence of these events, the greatest books of the 19th century appeared, a list of which you can find in this section. In Great Britain, with the coming to power of Queen Victoria, a new era of stability began, which was accompanied by a national upsurge, the development of industry and art. Public tranquility produced the best books of the 19th century, written in all sorts of genres. In France, on the contrary, there was a lot of revolutionary unrest, accompanied by a change in the political system and the development of social thought. Of course, this also influenced the books of the 19th century. The literary age ended with an era of decadence, which is characterized by gloomy and mystical moods and a bohemian lifestyle of representatives of art. Thus, the literature of the 19th century gave works that everyone needs to read.

Books of the 19th century on the site "KnigoPoisk"

If you are interested in 19th century literature, the list of the KnigoPoisk site will help you find interesting novels. The rating is based on the feedback from visitors to our resource. "Books of the 19th century" - a list that will not leave anyone indifferent.

Literary scholars call the end of the 19th century late American romanticism. During this period, a sharp division took place in the literary space of the country, caused by the Civil War between the North and the South. On the one hand, there is the literature of abolitionism, which, within the framework of romantic aesthetics, protests against slavery from ethical and general humanistic positions. On the other hand, the literature of the South, idealizing the traditions of the slave system, stands up for the historically doomed and reactionary way of life.

The motives of opposition to anti-humanistic laws occupy a significant place in the works of such writers as Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, and others. We can observe the same motives in the works of G. Beecher Stowe, D. G. and realistic elements is the work of the greatest American poet Walt Whitman. A romantic worldview - already outside the chronological framework of romanticism - is imbued with Dickinson's work. Romantic motifs organically enter the creative method of F. Bret Hart, M. Twain, A. Beers, D. London and other US writers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

It should be noted that American romanticism differs significantly from European romanticism. The assertion of national identity and independence, the search for a "national idea" runs through all the art of American romanticism. The culture of the United States did not have the centuries-old experience that Europe had at that time - by the end of the 19th century, the new nation had not yet had time to “acquire” objects and realities that romantic associations could be attached to (such as the tulips of Holland and the roses of Italy). But gradually, in the books of Irving and Cooper, Longfellow and Melville, Hawthorne and Thoreau, phenomena and facts of American nature, history, and geography acquire a romantic flavor.

No less significant for American romanticism was the theme of the Indians. Indians in America from the very beginning a factor that is associated with a very complex psychological complex - admiration and fear, hostility and guilt. The image of the "noble savage", the life of the Indians, its freedom, naturalness, proximity to nature could become a romantic alternative to capitalist civilization in the books of Irving and Cooper, Thoreau and Longfellow. In the works of these authors, we see evidence that the conflict between the two races was not fatally inevitable, but the cruelty and greed of the white settlers were to blame for it. The work of American romantics makes the life and culture of the Indians an important component of the national literature of the United States, conveying its special imagery and coloring. The same applies to the perception of another ethnic minority - black Americans in the southern states.

The atmosphere of the American South is conveyed by the works of J. P. Kennedy and W. G. Simms. It is worth noting that the authors could not completely get rid of the stereotypes of glorifying the virtues of "southern democracy" and the advantages of the slave-owning order. With all these features of limitations, "southern" romanticism paves the way for the formation of a complex, multidimensional, but undoubtedly fruitful "southern tradition" in US literature, which in the 20th century. represented by the names of W. Faulkner, R. P. Warren, W. Styron, C. McCullers, S. E. Grau, and others. political reactionary positions, arguing that "joyfully, knowing no worries, the slave lives on the plantation."

The middle states are distinguished from the beginning by great ethnic and religious diversity and tolerance. Here American bourgeois democracy is being laid down and capitalist relations are developing especially rapidly. The work of Irving, Cooper, Paulding, and later Melville is associated with the middle states. The main themes in the work of the romantics of the middle states are the search for a national hero, interest in social issues, reflections on the path traveled by the country, a comparison of the past and present of America.

The romanticism of New England (Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Bryant, and others) is characterized primarily by the desire for a philosophical understanding of the American experience, for an analysis of the national past, its ideological and artistic heritage. Inherent in this literature is the exploration of complex ethical issues; An important place is occupied by the revision of the Puritan complex of religious and moral ideas of the Puritan colonists of the 17th-18th centuries, with which a deep successive connection is preserved. New English Romanticism has a strong tradition of moral-philosophical prose, rooted in America's Puritan colonial past. After the end of the Civil War in the literature of the United States, a realistic trend in literature began to develop. A new generation of writers is connected with a new region: it relies on the democratic spirit of the American West, on the elements of folk oral folklore and addresses its works to the widest, mass reader. From the point of view of the new aesthetics, romanticism ceased to meet the requirements of the time. Romantic "impulses" were sharply criticized by M. Twain, F. Bret Hart and other young realist writers. Their contradictions with the romantics are caused, first of all, by a different understanding of the truth of life and ways of expressing it in art. American realists of the second half of the 19th century. strive for maximum historical, social and everyday concreteness, they are not satisfied with the language of romantic allegories and symbols.

It must be said that this denial is purely dialectical in nature. In the literature of the USA of the XX century. there are romantic motives and they are associated, as a rule, with the search for lost high ideals and true spirituality, the unity of man and nature, with the moral utopia of extra-bourgeois human relations, with a protest against the transformation of the individual into a cog in the state machine. These motifs are clearly visible in the work of the greatest American word artists of our century - E. Hemingway and W. Faulkner, T. Wilder and D. Steinbeck, F. S. Fitzgerald and D. D. Salinger. They continue to be addressed by US writers of recent decades.

american literature novel realistic

In the beginning, I would like to make a short digression into the history of the United States of interest to us during the period. without knowledge of the main historical events, it is impossible to understand literary processes and analyze texts.

The United States of America is one of the youngest states. The development of the continent by Europeans began in the 16th century; before their appearance, the territory of the future world power was inhabited by Indian tribes. By the 18th century, the entire North American continent had been colonized by Europeans. In 1774, 13 British colonies began hostilities in the struggle for independence. The result of their victory on July 4, 1776 was the formation of a new sovereign state.

During the 19th century, the territory of the United States increased due to the acquisition of Louisiana from the French, Florida from the Spaniards and the conquest of other lands. The capture of local states was accompanied either by the forced eviction of the Indian people in the reservation, or by the complete destruction of the population.

In 1861, disagreements arose between the southern and northern states related to economic and cultural issues, as a result of which the Confederation of 11 southern states arose, declaring its separation. At the beginning of the civil war, the southerners won several victories, but in the end it ended with the victory of the northern states and the preservation of the federation.

The end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century is marked by a grandiose economic recovery in the United States due to the influx of immigrants from other continents. April 4, 1917 America entered the First World War. Until that time, the state preferred to take a neutral position in relation to events in Europe. At this point, the United States was engaged in the creation of zones of influence in the countries of the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean and Central America. After the war in 1929, a sharp jump in the country's economy gave way to a terrible crisis. During the Great Depression, production dropped significantly and unemployment increased. On December 7, 1941, as a result of the bombing of the American base at Pearl Harbor by Japanese fighters, the US Army entered World War II with Japan. After December 11, 1941, America entered into a military conflict with Italy and Germany. The Americans deployed all their military operations mainly in the Pacific. After the Tehran Conference on June 6, 1944, the US Army figured in the defeat of the German army on the Atlantic coast of France. The fighting against Japan successfully took place in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. On August 6, 1945, the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and on August 9, a bomb was dropped on another Japanese city - Nagasaki. On September 2, 1945, the Japanese Emperor Hirohito signed an act of surrender.

US literature of the late 19th century

Literary scholars call the end of the 19th century late American romanticism. During this period, a sharp division took place in the literary space of the country, caused by the Civil War between the North and the South. On the one hand, there is the literature of abolitionism, which, within the framework of romantic aesthetics, protests against slavery from ethical and general humanistic positions. On the other hand, the literature of the South, idealizing the traditions of the slave system, stands up for the historically doomed and reactionary way of life.

The motives of opposition to anti-humanistic laws occupy a significant place in the works of such writers as Longfellow, Emerson, Thoreau, and others. We can observe the same motives in the works of G. Beecher Stowe, D. G. and realistic elements is the work of the greatest American poet Walt Whitman. A romantic worldview - already outside the chronological framework of romanticism - is imbued with Dickinson's work. Romantic motifs organically enter the creative method of F. Bret Hart, M. Twain, A. Beers, D. London and other US writers of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

It should be noted that American romanticism differs significantly from European romanticism. The assertion of national identity and independence, the search for a "national idea" run through all the art of American romanticism. The culture of the United States did not have the centuries-old experience that Europe had at that time - by the end of the 19th century, the new nation had not yet had time to “acquire” objects and realities that romantic associations could be attached to (such as the tulips of Holland and the roses of Italy). But gradually, in the books of Irving and Cooper, Longfellow and Melville, Hawthorne and Thoreau, phenomena and facts of American nature, history, and geography acquire a romantic flavor.

No less significant for American romanticism was the theme of the Indians. Indians in America from the very beginning a factor that is associated with a very complex psychological complex - admiration and fear, hostility and guilt. The image of the "noble savage", the life of the Indians, its freedom, naturalness, closeness to nature could become a romantic alternative to capitalist civilization in the books of Irving and Cooper, Thoreau and Longfellow. In the works of these authors, we see evidence that the conflict between the two races was not fatally inevitable, but the cruelty and greed of the white settlers were to blame for it. The work of American romantics makes the life and culture of the Indians an important component of the national literature of the United States, conveying its special imagery and coloring. The same applies to the perception of another ethnic minority - black Americans in the southern states.

Within American Romanticism, within a single creative method, there were notable regional differences. The main literary regions are New England (northeastern states), the middle states, the South.

The atmosphere of the American South is conveyed by the works of J. P. Kennedy and W. G. Simms. It is worth noting that the authors could not completely get rid of the stereotypes of glorifying the virtues of "southern democracy" and the advantages of the slave-owning order. With all these features of limitations, "southern" romanticism paves the way for the formation of a complex, multidimensional, but undoubtedly fruitful "southern tradition" in US literature, which in the 20th century. represented by the names of W. Faulkner, R. P. Warren, W. Styron, C. McCullers, S. E. Grau, and others. political reactionary positions, arguing that "joyfully, knowing no worries, the slave lives on the plantation."

The middle states are distinguished from the beginning by great ethnic and religious diversity and tolerance. Here American bourgeois democracy is being laid down and capitalist relations are developing especially rapidly. The work of Irving, Cooper, Paulding, and later Melville is associated with the middle states. The main themes in the work of the romantics of the middle states are the search for a national hero, interest in social issues, reflections on the path traveled by the country, a comparison of the past and present of America.

Romanticism in New England (Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Bryant, and others) is characterized primarily by the desire for a philosophical understanding of the American experience, for an analysis of the national past, its ideological and artistic heritage. Inherent in this literature is the exploration of complex ethical issues; An important place is occupied by the revision of the Puritan complex of religious and moral ideas of the Puritan colonists of the 17th-18th centuries, with which a deep successive connection is preserved. New English Romanticism has a strong tradition of moral-philosophical prose, rooted in America's Puritan colonial past. After the end of the Civil War in the literature of the United States, a realistic trend in literature began to develop. A new generation of writers is connected with a new region: it relies on the democratic spirit of the American West, on the elements of folk oral folklore and addresses its works to the widest, mass reader. From the point of view of the new aesthetics, romanticism ceased to meet the requirements of the times. Romantic "impulses" were sharply criticized by M. Twain, F. Bret Hart and other young realist writers. Their contradictions with the romantics are caused, first of all, by a different understanding of the truth of life and ways of expressing it in art. American realists of the second half of the 19th century. strive for maximum historical, social and everyday concreteness, they are not satisfied with the language of romantic allegories and symbols.

It must be said that this denial is purely dialectical in nature. In the literature of the USA of the XX century. there are romantic motives and they are associated, as a rule, with the search for lost high ideals and true spirituality, the unity of man and nature, with the moral utopia of extra-bourgeois human relations, with a protest against the transformation of the individual into a cog in the state machine. These motifs are clearly visible in the work of the greatest American word artists of our century - E. Hemingway and W. Faulkner, T. Wilder and D. Steinbeck, F. S. Fitzgerald and D. D. Salinger. They continue to be addressed by US writers of recent decades.

american literature novel realistic