Realism in the history of the 19th century. Realism as a literary movement: general characteristics

Realism in literature - truthful image real reality.

Realism did not come to Russian literature from somewhere outside. It developed in the course of the Russian literary process, and moreover in his main movement, as a result of his advanced achievements. Thus, in the work of the progressive figures of Russian classicism, from M. V. Lomonosov to G. R. Derzhavin, in spite of the idealization characteristic of their artistic method, some features of real Russian reality were reflected. This was especially evident in Derzhavin's poetry. Classicism, as a literary trend progressive for its time, became a “legacy” for Russian realism, the critical assimilation of the best achievements of which was necessary and useful. This is confirmed by the work of Pushkin.

Sentimentalism, reflecting the progressive development of Russian reality, at the time of the "Letters of a Russian Traveler" and " Poor Lisa» N. M. Karamzin managed to take some steps towards the convergence of literature and life. Progressive trends and this literary trend should take its own, albeit modest, place in the prehistory of Russian realism.

Highest value for the formation of realism had, of course, a romantic direction. The romanticism of V. A. Zhukovsky and K. N. Batyushkov enriched Russian literature with artistic and psychological discoveries, which was of direct importance for the realistic formulation of the problem of character in literature. Revolutionary romanticism drew the attention of literature to acute problems socio-political life and put forward the principle of nationality, thereby taking a new step towards realism. This was also facilitated by the critical attitude towards their own modernity, characteristic of revolutionary romantics, which eliminated for them the possibility of its romantic idealization. The Decembrists came especially close to reality in lyric poetry, which directly expressed the thoughts and feelings of the noble revolutionaries on the eve of December 14, 1825.

So during the first quarter of the XIX century. within the various romantic currents, the necessary prerequisites for a realistic artistic method were formed.

Of great importance for the establishment of the realistic trend was the process of the formation of realism, which began as early as the 18th century. and was not interrupted during the period of domination of sentimentalism and romanticism. N. I. Novikov, D. I. Fonvizin, A. N. Radishchev, I. A. Krylov - it is enough to recall at least these names to imagine the significance of this line of movement of Russian literature towards reality, towards realism. The emergence and development of realism in Russian literature is associated with the emergence and development of a critical attitude towards the autocratic-feudal system on the part of advanced social forces, which allowed them to come to a true understanding of its essential aspects and to the consciousness of the need to change it. To some extent, this is observed in Novikov's satirical magazines, and in Fonvizin's comedies, and in Narezhny's prose, and in Radishchev's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and in Krylov's fables. For these writers, a deep understanding of the essential aspects of Russian reality, social relations, social tasks became the basis of realistic tendencies in creativity. And this understanding of Russian feudal-serf reality became available to them as educators, as initiators and propagandists of an advanced ideological trend generated by the fundamental shifts that have emerged in Russian socio-economic life. From idealization, glorification of the existing socio-political system, even if presented in the form of enlightened absolutism, to its criticism, to attempts to expose its vices - this is the beginning of that turn in literature, which in the future was to lead to Pushkin's realism. Despite the presence of common tendencies in the artistic method of these writers, they cannot be considered as representatives of a single literary movement. The realism of the author of the revolutionary book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" and the realism of a radical fabulist are not the same thing. The everyday realism of A. E. Izmailov or V. T. Narezhny is far from the social realism of A. N. Radishchev. The formation of Russian realism (as well as his further development) was a complex process, not without serious contradictions.

The realistic direction of Russian literature developed not only national traditions, but also inherited the wealth accumulated by foreign literatures. Especially great importance in this regard, they had those stages of the formation of realism through which the advanced countries passed Western Europe: Renaissance and Enlightenment. The author of "Boris Godunov" recognized Shakespeare, this great representative of the English Renaissance, as his teacher in the artistic method. Pushkin's acquaintance with the ideas of the French Enlightenment is well known, which is also reflected in his work. However, by the 1920s the process of the formation of realism in the West has not yet been completed, and the realistic artistic method in its mature form took shape here somewhat later - in the works of Balzac and Stendhal, Dickens and Thackeray. Regardless of the founders realism XIX in. in French and English literature Pushkin is one of the first in Europe based on the historical and artistic development of his country in the second half of the 1920s, he asserts the finished form of the realistic method in art. The peculiarity of Russian historical conditions led to the fact that in the artistic method of Russian writers, starting with Pushkin, the features of critical realism clearly appeared.

Thus, the realistic trend that arose in Russian literature in the mid-1920s was prepared by the previous development of literature in its various directions and currents. However, for all the significance of the genetic links with classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism and, finally, with pre-Pushkin realism, the artistic method of the new literary trend was a qualitatively new phenomenon in literature. No matter how historically significant the realistic tendencies in Russian literature are, realism as an aesthetic system and as an artistic method fully developed only in the work of Pushkin.

39. Painting and literature. Painting and literature.“Painting is poetry that is seen, and poetry is painting that is heard” - Leonardo da Vinci. Art is one of the forms public consciousness, component culture of mankind. This is the process and outcome. meaningful expression feelings in the image. Literature and painting are among the main art forms. Kinds of art- these are historically established stable forms of creative activity, in which the artist realizes vital content Each type of art has a specific arsenal of visual and expressive means. The main types of art include 1) fine arts, 2) literature, 3) music, 4) architecture, arts and crafts. Literature(lat . lit(t)eratura, literally - written, from lit(t)era- letter) - in a broad sense, the totality of any verbal texts. Literature works with the word - its main difference from other arts. The word is the main element of literature, the link between the material and the spiritual. Figurativeness is transmitted in fiction indirectly, with the help of words. The visual culture- one that can be perceived visually. Painting belongs to this culture. Painting- the art of depicting objects on the surface with paints, with the aim of impressing the viewer similar to what he would receive from real objects of nature, also by the nature of the depicted objects to evoke a certain mood in the viewer or express some artistic idea. As we can see, the main difference between painting and literature lies in the difference in the means of influencing a person.

In different periods of the cultural development of mankind, literature was given a different place among other types of art - from the leading to one of the last. This is due to the dominance of one or another trend in literature, as well as the degree of development of technical civilization. For example, ancient thinkers, Renaissance artists and classicists were convinced of the advantages of sculpture and painting over literature. Romantics in the first place among all kinds of arts put poetry and music. However, already in the 18th century, a different trend arose in European aesthetics - the promotion of literature to the first place. Its foundations were laid by Lessing, who saw the advantages of literature over sculpture and painting. Subsequently, Hegel and Belinsky paid tribute to this trend.

Literature and painting as absolutely independent species arts recreate the phenomena of socio-historical reality independently of each other. Therefore, in order to understand the relationship between literature and painting, you need to find the points of contact between these two arts. However, later the artists and writers themselves were the first to speak about the connection between literature and painting. The artist Angelika Kaufmann (a Swiss artist who lived in the 18th century) expressed this connection most skillfully in the painting "Poetry and Painting", where poetry embraces painting. The largest art critic of the 19th century, V.V. Russian art embraced Russian literature so tightly<...>Our literature and art are like two inseparable twins, inseparable apart.” Russian painting and classic literature have always kept pace along the path of illuminating topical and universal problems life. Many Russian writers had outstanding talent painters (Pushkin, Lermontov, the Bestuzhev brothers, Batyushkov, Grigorovich), and artists (Kiprensky, Bryullov, Perov, Kramskoy, Repin, Ge) created an outstanding gallery of portraits of the classics of literature of the 19th century. The relationship between literature and painting took place at various creative levels: artistic direction (classicism, romanticism, realism, impressionism, symbolism), problems and functional orientation (populist writers - itinerant artists). Some artists recreated the plots of the Old Russian epic and folklore (V. Vasnetsov). Perhaps the most noticeable relationship between literature and painting is manifested in the existence of the art of illustration. In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian school of illustrators was formed. In their works, original artistic and graphic principles were developed, which confirmed the links between literature and painting on a fundamentally different level. Since that time, book illustration has become an integral part of literary and artistic culture.

And illustration(from lat. illustratio - lighting, visual image): 1) explanation with the help of illustrative examples. 2) An image that accompanies and supplements the text (drawings, engravings, photographs, reproductions, maps, diagrams, etc.). 3) The field of art associated with the pictorial interpretation of literary and scientific works.

The term "illustration" can be understood in both the broad and narrow sense of the word. AT broad meaning This is any image that explains the text. There are many drawings, paintings and sculptures that were performed on literary themes, but at the same time they had an independent artistic value. For example, paintings O. Daumier, based on the novel by M. Cervantes "Don Quixote", or drawings by V. Serov for the fables of I. A. Krylov. AT narrow In the strict sense, illustrations are works intended to be perceived in a certain unity with the text, that is, located in the book and participating in its perception in the process of reading. Illustrations for a literary work together with it represent a single whole. book illustrations, removed from the text, can sometimes become obscure and inexpressive. Illustrations are not independent and in terms of plot, they must correspond to the content of a literary work. They are able to enrich or impoverish it. The artist is required to become a co-author of the book, to make visible the ideas and images of the writer, thereby helping to better understand the content, more specifically imagine the era, life, environment of the characters in the book. But this does not mean at all that the illustration should be a simple pictorial and graphic retelling of the text.

However, the connection between literature and painting is not limited to illustration. In the historical aspect, two varieties can be distinguished in the creative relationships between literature and painting. The first is the purposeful development by means of painting of a plot built on literary material. An example is the painting by V.M. Vasnetsov "After the battle of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsy". The second is the creation artistic canvas on a cultural and historical basis, like the picture of the same V. Vasnetsov "Bayan", not directly related to the plot of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", but recreating the type of the ancient Russian singer-storyteller, as he has come down to us in the legends of centuries. There are works in which paintings play an important role in storyline: “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, story: “Portrait” by N. V. Gogol. In this work by Gogol, we see how strongly painting can influence a person. Certainly this fantasy story, but painting plays a key role in it. Thus, works in which painting and paintings play a key role are another point of intersection between painting and literature.

The last thing I would like to mention in the relationship between literature and painting is poster art. “A poster is a relatively large-sized image with text, in which the artistic image arises from the interaction of word and image” ( S.N. Artamonov) . Poster - one of the youngest forms of art, a kind of graphics - finally took shape at the end of the 19th century. This was due to the emerging opportunities for reproducing texts and images, at least in small print runs. The beginning of the poster can be seen in the so-called "flying sheets", engravings from the time of the Reformation and peasant wars in Germany of the sixteenth century or in political posters in France of the eighteenth century. The first posters in Russia can be considered popular prints from the time of 1812. They have already made an attempt to combine the image with the text. Only at the end of the 19th century was the poster officially recognized as a fact, if not " high art”, then culture. Oddly enough, Russia was the initiator. The main task is to convey to the viewer the meaning of the poster. The poster is given seconds of attention, and in these moments it must convey necessary information. It is precisely because of the lack of perception time in the poster that the short text, clear symbols and signs are often used. Any graphic technique, photography, painting, even sculpture elements can be used in it, since modern printing allows using relief on plastic. The image and text in the poster are interconnected and complement each other. Thus, we can say that the poster is a direct combination of literature and painting.

In conclusion, I would like to emphasize that the existence of various types of arts is due to the fact that none of them, by its own means, can give a comprehensive art picture peace. Such a picture can only be created by the entire artistic culture of mankind as a whole, consisting of certain types art. Despite significant differences, painting and literature constantly intersect, becoming essentially a single whole.

What is realism in literature? It is one of the most common areas, reflecting a realistic image of reality. The main task of this direction is reliable disclosure of phenomena encountered in life, with help detailed description depicted characters and those situations that happen to them, through typing. Important is the lack of embellishment.

In contact with

Among other areas, only in the realist special attention is paid to the correct artistic image life, and not the emerging reaction to certain life events, for example, as in romanticism and classicism. The heroes of realist writers appear before readers exactly as they were presented to the author's gaze, and not as the writer would like to see them.

Realism, as one of the most widespread trends in literature, settled closer to the middle of the 19th century after its predecessor, romanticism. The 19th century was subsequently designated as the era of realistic works, but romanticism did not cease to exist, it only slowed down in development, gradually turning into neo-romanticism.

Important! This term was first defined in literary criticism DI. Pisarev.

The main features of this direction are as follows:

1. Full compliance with reality depicted in any work of the picture.
2. True specific typing of all the details in the images of the characters.
3. The basis is the conflict situation between the individual and society.
4. Image in the work deep conflict situations the drama of life.
5. The author pays special attention to the description of all environmental phenomena.
6. A significant feature of this literary trend is the writer's considerable attention to the inner world of a person, his state of mind.

Main genres

In any of the areas of literature, including the realistic, a certain system of genres is being formed. It was the prose genres of realism that had a special influence on its development, due to the fact that more than others were suitable for a more correct artistic description new realities, their reflection in literature. The works of this direction are divided into the following genres.

1. A social novel that describes way of life and a certain type of characters inherent in this way of life. A good example of a social genre was Anna Karenina.
2. A socio-psychological novel, in the description of which you can see a full detailed disclosure human personality, his personality and inner world.
3. The realistic novel in verse is a special kind of novel. a wonderful example this genre is "", written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
4. A realistic philosophical novel contains age-old reflections on topics such as: the meaning of human existence, opposition of good and evil sides, a certain purpose human life. An example of a realistic philosophical novel is "", the author of which is Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov.
5. Story.
6. Tale.

In Russia, its development began in the 1830s and became a consequence of the conflict situation in various fields society, the contradictions of the highest ranks and the common people. Writers began to address the topical issues of their time.

Thus begins the rapid development of a new genre - a realistic novel, which, as a rule, described the hard life of the common people, their hardships and problems.

The initial stage in the development of the realistic trend in Russian literature is " natural school". During the period of the “natural school”, literary works were more inclined to describe the position of the hero in society, his belonging to any kind of profession. Among all genres, the leading place was occupied by physiological outline.

In the 1850s and 1900s, realism began to be called critical, as main goal became a criticism of what is happening, the relationship between certain person and areas of society. Such questions were considered as: the measure of society's influence on the life of an individual; actions that can change a person and the world around him; reason for the lack of happiness in human life.

This literary trend has become extremely popular in domestic literature, since Russian writers were able to make the world genre system richer. There were works from in-depth questions of philosophy and morality.

I.S. Turgenev created the ideological type of heroes, character, personality and internal state which directly depended on the author's assessment of the worldview, finding a certain meaning in the concepts of their philosophy. Such heroes are subject to ideas that are followed to the very end, developing them as much as possible.

In the works of L.N. Tolstoy, the system of ideas that develops during the life of the character determines the form of his interaction with the surrounding reality, depends on the morality and personal characteristics of the heroes of the work.

Founder of realism

The title of the initiator of this direction in Russian literature was rightfully awarded to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He is a generally recognized founder of realism in Russia. "Boris Godunov" and "Eugene Onegin" are considered a prime example realism in the domestic literature of those times. Also distinguishing examples were such works by Alexander Sergeevich as Belkin's Tales and Captain's daughter».

Classical realism gradually begins to develop in Pushkin's creative works. The depiction of the personality of each character of the writer is comprehensive in an effort to describe the complexity of his inner world and state of mind which unfold very harmoniously. Recreating the experiences of a certain personality, its moral character helps Pushkin to overcome the willfulness of describing passions inherent in irrationalism.

Heroes A.S. Pushkin speak to readers with open sides of your being. The writer pays special attention to the description of the sides of the human inner world, depicts the hero in the process of development and formation of his personality, which are influenced by the reality of society and the environment. This was served by his awareness of the need to depict a specific historical and national identity in the features of the people.

Attention! Reality in the image of Pushkin collects in itself an accurate concrete image of the details of not only the inner world of a certain character, but also the world that surrounds him, including his detailed generalization.

Neorealism in literature

New philosophical, aesthetic and everyday realities at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries contributed to a change in direction. Implemented twice, this modification acquired the name neorealism, which gained popularity during the 20th century.

Neorealism in literature consists of a variety of currents, since its representatives had a different artistic approach to depicting reality, including character traits realistic direction. It is based on appeal to the traditions of classical realism XIX century, as well as to problems in the social, moral, philosophical and aesthetic spheres of reality. A good example containing all these features is the work of G.N. Vladimov "The General and his army", written in 1994.

critical realism artistic herzen

Guy de Maupassant (1850-1993): he passionately, painfully hated the bourgeois world and everything connected with it. He painfully searched for antitheses to this world - and found it in the democratic strata of society, in the French people.

Works: short stories - "Dumbnut", "Old Sauvage", "Crazy", "Prisoners", "Chair Weaver", "Papa Simone".

Romain Rolland (1866-1944): the meaning of being and creativity initially consisted in faith in the beautiful, kind, bright, which never left the world - it is simply necessary to be able to see, feel and convey to people.

Works: the novel "Jean Christoff", the story "Pierre and Luce".

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880): His work indirectly reflected the contradictions french revolution mid nineteenth century. The desire for truth and hatred for the bourgeoisie were combined in him with social pessimism and distrust in the people.

Works: novels - "Madam Bovary", "Salambo", "Education of the Senses", "Bouvard and Pécuchet" (not finished), novels - "The Legend of Julian the Hospitable", "A Simple Soul", "Herodias", also created several plays and extravaganza.

Stendhal (1783-1842): The work of this writer opens the period of classical realism. It is Stendhal who takes the lead in substantiating the main principles and program for the formation of realism, theoretically stated in the first half of the 19th century, when romanticism still dominated, and soon brilliantly embodied in the artistic masterpieces of the outstanding novelist of that time.

Works: novels - "Parma Convent", "Armans", "Lucien Leven", stories - "Vittoria Accoramboni", "Duchess di Palliano", "Cenci", "Abbess of Castro".

Charles Dickens (1812-1870): Dickens's works are full of deep drama, social contradictions are sometimes tragic character, which they did not have in the interpretation writers XVIII in. Dickens also deals with the life and struggle of the working class in his work.

Works: "Nicholas Nickleby", "The Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewitt", " Hard times”, “Christmas stories”, “Dombey and son”, “Antiquities shop”.

William Thackeray (1811-1863): Arguing with the Romantics, he demands strict truthfulness from the artist. "Let the truth not always be pleasant, but there is nothing better than the truth." The author is not inclined to depict a person as either a notorious scoundrel or an ideal being. unlike Dickens, he avoided happy endings. Thackeray's satire is riddled with skepticism: the writer does not believe in the possibility of changing life. He enriched the English realistic novel by introducing the author's commentary.

Works: The Book of Snobs, Vanity Fair, Pendennis, The Career of Barry Lyndon, The Ring and the Rose.

Pushkin A.S. (1799-1837): founder of Russian realism. Pushkin is dominated by the idea of ​​the Law, of the patterns that determine the state of civilization, social ways, the place and significance of a person, his independence and connection with the whole, the possibility of author's sentences.

Works: "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter", "Dubrovsky", "Eugene Onegin", "Tales of Belkin".

Gogol N.V. (1809-1852): a world far from any ideas about the law, vulgar everyday life, in which all concepts of honor and morality, conscience are mutilated - in a word, Russian reality, worthy of grotesque ridicule: "to blame everything on the mirror, if the face is crooked" .

Works: "Dead Souls", "Notes of a Madman", "Overcoat".

Lermontov M.Yu. (1814-1841): sharp enmity with the divine world order, with the laws of society, lies and hypocrisy, all kinds of upholding the rights of the individual. The poet strives for a concrete image of the social environment, the life of an individual person: the combination of the features of early realism and mature romanticism into an organic unity.

Works: "Hero of Our Time", "Demon", "Fatalist".

Turgenev I.S. (1818-1883): Turgenev is interested in moral world people from the people. The main feature of the cycle of stories was truthfulness, which contained the idea of ​​the liberation of the peasantry, presented the peasants as spiritually active people capable of independent activity. Despite his reverent attitude towards the Russian people, Turgenev the realist did not idealize the peasantry, seeing, like Leskov and Gogol, their shortcomings.

Works: "Fathers and Sons", "Rudin", " Noble Nest"," The day before.

Dostoevsky F.M. (1821-1881): Regarding Dostoevsky's realism, they said that he had " fantastic realism". D. believes that in exceptional, unusual situations, the most typical appears. The writer noticed that all his stories were not invented, but taken from somewhere. Main feature: creating a philosophical basis with the detective - there is a murder everywhere.

Works: "Crime and Punishment", "Idiot", "Demons", "Teenager", "The Brothers Karamazov".

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The formation of critical realism occurs in European countries and in Russia almost at the same time - in the 20s - 40s XIX years century. In the literatures of the world, it becomes the leading direction.

True, this simultaneously means that the literary process of this period is irreducible only in a realistic system. And in European literatures, and - in particular - in the literature of the United States, the activities of romantic writers continue in full measure: de Vigny, Hugo, Irving, Poe, etc. Thus, the development of the literary process proceeds largely through the interaction of coexisting aesthetic systems, and the characteristic Both national literatures and the work of individual writers require that this circumstance be taken into account.

Speaking about the fact that since the 1930s and 1940s realist writers have occupied a leading place in literature, it is impossible not to note that realism itself is not a frozen system, but a phenomenon in constant development. Already within the 19th century, it becomes necessary to talk about “different realisms”, about the fact that Mérimée, Balzac and Flaubert equally answered the main historical questions that the era suggested to them, and at the same time their works are distinguished by their different content and originality. forms.

In the 1830s - 1840s, the most remarkable features of realism as a literary movement that gives a multifaceted picture of reality, striving for an analytical study of reality, appear in the work of European writers (primarily Balzac).

The literature of the 1830s and 1840s was fed largely by claims about the attractiveness of the age itself. Love to XIX century shared, for example, Stendhal and Balzac, never ceased to be amazed at his dynamism, diversity and inexhaustible energy. Hence the heroes of the first stage of realism - active, with an inventive mind, not afraid of a collision with adverse circumstances. These heroes were largely associated with the heroic era of Napoleon, although they perceived his duplicity and developed a strategy for their personal and social behavior. Scott and his historicism inspire the heroes of Stendhal to find their place in life and history through mistakes and delusions. Shakespeare forces Balzac to speak about the novel "Father Goriot" in the words of the great Englishman "Everything is true" and to see in the fate of the modern bourgeois echoes of the harsh fate of King Lear.

Realists of the second half of the 19th century will reproach their predecessors for "residual romanticism." It is difficult to disagree with such a reproach. Indeed, the romantic tradition is very tangibly represented in the creative systems of Balzac, Stendhal, Mérimée. It is no coincidence that Sainte-Beuve called Stendhal "the last hussar of romanticism." Traits of romanticism are revealed

- in the cult of the exotic (Merime's short stories of the type " Matteo Falcone”, “Carmen”, “Tamango”, etc.);

- in the passion of writers for the image bright personalities and exceptional passions (Stendhal's novel "Red and Black" or the short story "Vanina Vanini");

- in a passion for adventurous plots and the use of elements of fantasy (Balzac's novel " Shagreen leather"or the short story by Merimee" Venus Ilskaya ");

- in an effort to clearly divide the characters into negative and positive - the bearers of the author's ideals (Dickens' novels).

Thus, between the realism of the first period and romanticism there is a complex “family” connection, which manifests itself, in particular, in the inheritance of techniques characteristic of romantic art and even individual themes and motives (the theme of lost illusions, the motive of disappointment, etc.).

In Russian historical and literary science, “the revolutionary events of 1848 and those that followed them important changes in socio-political and cultural life bourgeois society" is considered to be what divides "realism foreign countries XIX century into two stages - realism of the first and second half of the XIX century "(" History of Foreign Literature of the XIX century / Edited by Elizarova M.E. - M., 1964). In 1848 folk performances turned into a series of revolutions that swept across Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Austria, etc.). These revolutions, as well as the riots in Belgium and England, took place on the "French model", as democratic protests against the class-privileged and not meeting the needs of the time of government, as well as under the slogans of social and democratic reforms. On the whole, 1848 marked one huge upheaval in Europe. True, as a result of it, moderate liberals or conservatives came to power everywhere, in some places even a more brutal authoritarian government was established.

This caused a general disappointment in the results of the revolutions, and, as a result, pessimistic moods. Many representatives of the intelligentsia became disillusioned with the mass movements, the active actions of the people on a class basis, and transferred their main efforts to the private world of the individual and personal relationships. Thus, the general interest was directed to an individual, important in itself, and only secondarily - to its relationship with other personalities and the surrounding world.

The second half of the 19th century is traditionally considered the "triumph of realism". By this time realism full voice declares itself in the literature not only of France and England, but also of a number of other countries - Germany (late Heine, Raabe, Storm, Fontane), Russia ("natural school", Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky), etc. P.

At the same time, from the 1950s new stage in the development of realism, which presupposes new approach to the image of both the hero and the society surrounding him. The social, political and moral atmosphere of the second half of the 19th century "turned" writers towards the analysis of a man who can hardly be called a hero, but in whose fate and character the main signs of the era are refracted, expressed not in a major deed, significant deed or passion, compressed and intensely conveying global shifts of time, not in large-scale (both in social and psychological) confrontation and conflict, not in typicality brought to the limit, often bordering on exclusivity, but in everyday, everyday everyday life. The writers who began to work at that time, like those who entered literature earlier, but created during the indicated period, for example, Dickens or Thackeray, certainly focused on a different concept of personality, which was not perceived and reproduced by them as a product of a direct relationship. social and psychological-biological principles and rigidly understood determinants. Thackeray's novel "Newcombs" emphasizes the specifics of "human science" in the realism of this period - the need for understanding and analytical reproduction of multidirectional subtle mental movements and indirect, not always manifested social connections: It's hard to imagine how much different reasons determines our every act or addiction, how often, analyzing my motives, I took one for another ... ". This phrase of Thackeray conveys, perhaps, main feature realism of the era: everything focuses on the image of a person and character, and not circumstances. Although the latter, as they should in realistic literature, "do not disappear," their interaction with character acquires a different quality, connected with the fact that circumstances cease to be independent, they become more and more characterologised; their sociological function is now more implicit than it was with the same Balzac or Stendhal.

Due to the changed concept of personality and the "human-centrism" of the entire art system(moreover, the "man - the center" was by no means necessarily a positive hero who conquered social circumstances or perished - morally or physically - in the fight against them) one might get the impression that the writers of the second half of the century abandoned the basic principle of realistic literature: dialectical understanding and depiction of relationships nature and circumstances and following the principle of socio-psychological determinism. Moreover, some of the most prominent realists of that time - Flaubert, J. Eliot, Trollot - in the case when they talk about the world around the hero, the term “environment” appears, often perceived more statically than the concept of “circumstances”.

An analysis of the works of Flaubert and J. Eliot convinces us that this "stakeout" of the environment is necessary for artists, first of all, so that the description of the environment surrounding the hero is more plastic. The environment often narratively exists in the inner world of the hero and through him, acquiring a different character of generalization: not poster-like sociologized, but psychologized. This creates an atmosphere of greater objectivity of the reproduced. In any case, from the point of view of the reader, who trusts such an objectified narrative about the era more, since he perceives the hero of the work as a close person, the same as himself.

The writers of this period do not in the least forget about another aesthetic setting of critical realism - the objectivity of what is reproduced. As you know, Balzac was so concerned about this objectivity that he was looking for ways to bring literary knowledge (understanding) and scientific closer together. This idea appealed to many realists of the second half of the century. For example, Eliot and Flaubert thought a lot about the use of scientific, and therefore, as it seemed to them, objective methods of analysis by literature. Flaubert thought about this especially a lot, who understood objectivity as a synonym for impartiality and impartiality. However, this was the trend of the entire realism of the era. Moreover, the work of the realists of the second half of the 19th century fell on a period of take-off in the development of the natural sciences and the flourishing of experimentation.

This was an important period in the history of science. Biology developed rapidly (Ch. Darwin's book "The Origin of Species" was published in 1859), physiology, psychology was developing as a science. O. Comte's philosophy of positivism, which later played an important role in the development of naturalistic aesthetics and artistic practice, became widespread. It was during these years that attempts were made to create a system of psychological understanding of man.

However, even at this stage in the development of literature, the character of the hero is not conceived by the writer outside of social analysis, although the latter acquires a slightly different aesthetic essence, different from that which was characteristic of Balzac and Stendhal. Of course, that in the novels of Flaubert. Eliot, Fontana and some others are striking "a new level of depiction of the inner world of a person, a qualitatively new mastery of psychological analysis, which consists in the deepest disclosure of the complexity and unforeseenness of human reactions to reality, the motives and causes of human activity" (History world literature. T.7. - M., 1990).

It is obvious that the writers of this era dramatically changed the direction of creativity and led literature (and the novel in particular) towards in-depth psychologism, and in the formula "socio-psychological determinism" the social and psychological, as it were, changed places. It is in this direction that the main achievements of literature are concentrated: writers began not only to draw complex inner world literary hero, but to reproduce a well-established, well-thought-out psychological “model of character”, in it and in its functioning, artistically combining the psychological-analytical and socio-analytical. The writers updated and revived the principle of psychological detail, introduced a dialogue with deep psychological overtones, found narrative techniques for conveying "transitional", contradictory spiritual movements that were previously inaccessible to literature.

This does not mean at all that realistic literature abandoned social analysis: the social basis of reproducible reality and reconstructed character did not disappear, although it did not dominate character and circumstances. It was thanks to the writers of the second half of the 19th century that literature began to find indirect ways of social analysis, in this sense continuing a series of discoveries made by writers of previous periods.

Flaubert, Eliot, the Goncourt brothers, and others "taught" literature to go to the social and what is characteristic of the era, characterizes its social, political, historical and moral principles, through the ordinary and everyday existence of an ordinary person. Social typification among writers of the second half of the century - the typification of "mass character, repetition" (History of World Literature. V.7. - M., 1990). It is not as bright and obvious as that of the representatives of the classical critical realism of the 1830s-1840s and most often manifests itself through the “parabola of psychologism”, when immersion in the inner world of the character allows you to ultimately immerse yourself in the era, in historical time as the writer sees it. Emotions, feelings, moods are not of an overtime, but of a concrete historical nature, although it is primarily ordinary everyday existence that is subjected to analytical reproduction, and not the world of titanic passions. At the same time, writers often even absolutized the dullness and wretchedness of life, the triviality of the material, the unheroism of time and character. That is why, on the one hand, it was an anti-romantic period, on the other, a period of craving for the romantic. Such a paradox, for example, is characteristic of Flaubert, the Goncourts, and Baudelaire.

There is one more important point associated with the absolutization of the imperfection of human nature and slavish subordination to circumstances: often writers perceived the negative phenomena of the era as a given, as something irresistible, and even tragically fatal. Therefore, in the work of realists of the second half of the 19th century, a positive beginning is so difficult to express: they are of little interest in the problem of the future, they are “here and now”, in their own time, comprehending it with the utmost impartiality, as an era, if worthy of analysis, then critical.

As noted earlier, critical realism is a worldwide literary trend. A notable feature of realism is also the fact that it has a long history. AT late XIX and in the 20th century, the works of such writers as R. Rolland, D. Golussource, B. Shaw, E. M. Remarque, T. Dreiser and others gained worldwide fame. Realism continues to exist up to the present time, remaining the most important form of world democratic culture.

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The chronological boundaries of the realistic trend in the works of various researchers are defined in different ways. Some see the beginnings of realism as early as antiquity, others attribute its emergence to the Renaissance, others date back to the 18th century, and others believe that realism as a trend arose no earlier than the first third of the 19th century.

The immediate forerunner of realism in European literature was romanticism. Having made the unusual the subject of the image, creating an imaginary world of special circumstances and exceptional passions, he (romanticism) at the same time showed a personality richer in spiritual, emotional terms, more complex and contradictory than was available to classicism, sentimentalism and other trends of previous eras. Therefore, realism developed not as an antagonist of romanticism, but as its ally in the struggle against idealization. public relations, for the national-historical originality of artistic images (the color of the place and time). It is not always easy to draw clear boundaries between romanticism and realism in the first half of the 19th century; in the work of many writers, romantic and realistic features merged together - the works of Balzac, Stendhal, Hugo, and partly Dickens.

However, the formation of realism as an artistic system in European literatures is usually associated with the Renaissance (Renaissance). A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church preaching of slavish obedience was reflected in the lyrics of Francesco Petrarca, the novels of Francois Rabelais ("Gargantua and Pantagruel") and Miguel Cervantes de Saavedra, in the tragedies and comedies of William Shakespeare. After medieval clerics preached for centuries that man is a "vessel of sin" and called for humility, the literature and art of the Renaissance glorified man as the highest creation of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the wealth of soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of the images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), the poeticization of the human personality, its ability to have a great feeling (as in Romeo and Juliet) and at the same time the high intensity of the tragic conflict, when the clash of the personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted. .

The next stage in the development of realism is enlightenment (Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument for the direct preparation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the enlighteners were supporters of classicism, their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the 18th century, so-called Enlightenment realism took shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot (the theoretical work "On Dramatic Literature") in France and G. Lessing ("Hamburg Dramaturgy") in Germany. English acquired world significance realistic novel, the founder of which was Daniel Defoe ("Robinson Crusoe", 1719). A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy by P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy "Treachery and Love" by I.F. Schiller, the images of peasants in A.N. Radishchev's "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow"), people in fables I.A. Krylova. Illuminators of all phenomena public life and the actions of people were assessed as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable first of all in all the old feudal orders and customs). From this they proceeded in the depiction of the human character: their positive characters are, first of all, the embodiment of reason, the negative ones are a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, the barbarism of former times. The realism of the Enlightenment often allowed for the conditionality of circumstances, the behavior of heroes.

A new type of realism takes shape in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its heyday in the West is associated with the names of F. Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin ("The Captain's Daughter"), N. V. Gogol ("The Dead Souls", "The Inspector General"), I.S. Turgenev ("Notes of a Hunter"), F.M. Dostoevsky ("The Brothers Karamazov", "Crime and Punishment"), L.N. Tolstoy ("Sunday", "War and the world"), A.P. Chekhov (stories, plays).

Critical realism portrays the relationship between man and the environment in a new way. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The inner world of a person has become the subject of deep social analysis; therefore, critical realism simultaneously becomes psychological. In preparing this quality of realism, romanticism played an important role, striving to penetrate the secrets of the human "I".

Deepening the knowledge of life and the complication of the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some absolute superiority over the previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses. The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation, characteristic of the enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.

In Russia, the 19th century is a period of development of realism. The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the 19th century allow us to speak of its various forms.

The formation of Russian realism of the 19th century is associated with the name of A.S. Pushkin, who brought Russian literature to wide way images of "the fate of the people, the fate of man." Thanks to L.N. Tolstoy and F.M. Dostoevsky, the Russian realistic novel acquired global importance. Their psychological mastery, penetration into the "dialectic of the soul" opened the way for the artistic searches of writers of the 20th century.

The creative scope of Russian social realism is reflected in the richness of the genre, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L.N. Tolstoy), revolutionary and journalistic (N.. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I.A. Goncharov). satirical (M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), psychological (L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of a realistic story and a kind of "lyrical drama".

F.M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its "ability for universality, all-humanity, all-response." Here we are talking not so much about Western influences, but about the organic development in line with the European culture of its centuries-old traditions.