Literature in the 19th century in Russia is associated with the rapid flowering of culture. Spiritual uplift and important are reflected in the immortal works of writers and poets. This article is dedicated to the representatives of the Golden Age of Russian literature and the main directions of this period.
Historical events
Literature in the 19th century in Russia gave rise to such great names as Baratynsky, Batyushkov, Zhukovsky, Lermontov, Fet, Yazykov, Tyutchev. And above all Pushkin. This period was marked by a number of historical events. The development of Russian prose and poetry was influenced by the Patriotic War of 1812, the death of the great Napoleon, and the death of Byron. The English poet, like the French commander, for a long time ruled the minds of revolutionary-minded people in Russia. and the Russo-Turkish war, as well as the echoes of the French Revolution, which were heard in all corners of Europe - all these events turned into a powerful catalyst for advanced creative thought.
While revolutionary movements were carried out in Western countries and a spirit of freedom and equality began to emerge, Russia strengthened its monarchical power, and suppressed uprisings. This could not be ignored by artists, writers and poets. The literature of the early 19th century in Russia is a reflection of the thoughts and experiences of the advanced strata of society.
Classicism
This aesthetic trend is understood as an artistic style that originated in the culture of Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Its main features are rationalism and adherence to strict canons. The classicism of the 19th century in Russia was also distinguished by the appeal to ancient forms and the principle of three unities. Literature, however, began to lose ground in this artistic style at the beginning of the century. Classicism was gradually superseded by such trends as sentimentalism, romanticism.
The masters of the artistic word began to create their works in new genres. Gained popularity works in the style of a historical novel, romantic story, ballad, ode, poem, landscape, philosophical and love lyrics.
Realism
Literature in the 19th century in Russia is associated primarily with the name of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Closer to the thirties, realistic prose took a strong position in his work. It should be said that the founder of this literary movement in Russia is precisely Pushkin.
Publicism and satire
Some features of the European culture of the 18th century were inherited by the literature of the 19th century in Russia. Briefly, you can outline the main features of poetry and prose of this period - satirical character and journalism. The tendency to depict human vices and shortcomings of society is observed in the work of writers who created their works in the forties. In literary criticism, it was later determined that united the authors of satirical and journalistic prose. "Natural school" - this was the name of this artistic style, which, incidentally, is also called "Gogol's school". Other representatives of this literary movement are Nekrasov, Dal, Herzen, Turgenev.
Criticism
The ideology of the "natural school" was substantiated by the critic Belinsky. The principles of the representatives of this literary movement became the denunciation and eradication of vices. Social issues have become a characteristic feature in their work. The main genres are essay, socio-psychological novel and social story.
Literature in the 19th century in Russia developed under the influence of the activities of various associations. It was in the first quarter of this century that there was a significant rise in the journalistic field. Belinsky had a huge influence on. This man possessed an extraordinary ability to feel a poetic gift. It was he who first recognized the talent of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky.
Pushkin and Gogol
The literature of the 19th and 20th centuries in Russia would be completely different and, of course, not so bright without these two authors. They had a huge impact on the development of prose. And many of the elements they introduced into literature have become classic norms. Pushkin and Gogol not only developed such a direction as realism, but also created completely new artistic types. One of them is the image of the "little man", which later received its development not only in the works of Russian authors, but also in foreign literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Lermontov
This poet also influenced the development of Russian literature. After all, it was he who created such a concept as a "hero of the time." With his light hand, it entered not only literary criticism, but also into public life. Lermontov also took part in the development of the genre of the psychological novel.
The entire period of the nineteenth century is famous for the names of talented great personalities who worked in the field of literature (both prose and poetry). Russian authors at the end of the eighteenth century took over some of the merits of their Western colleagues. But due to a sharp leap in the development of culture and art, as a result, it became an order of magnitude higher than the Western European one that existed at that time. The works of Pushkin, Turgenev, Dostoevsky and Gogol have become the property of world culture. The works of Russian writers became the model on which German, English and American authors later relied.
"Verily, this was the Golden Age of our literature,
the period of her innocence and bliss! .. "
M. A. Antonovich
M. Antonovich in his article called the "golden age of literature" the beginning of the 19th century — the period of creativity of A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol. Subsequently, this definition began to characterize the literature of the entire 19th century - up to the works of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy.
What are the main features of Russian classical literature of this period?
Sentimentalism, fashionable at the beginning of the century, gradually fades into the background - the formation of romanticism begins, and since the middle of the century, realism has ruled the ball.
New types of heroes appear in the literature: the "little man" who most often perishes under the pressure of the foundations adopted in society and the "extra man" is a string of images, starting with Onegin and Pechorin.
Continuing the tradition of satirical depiction, proposed by M. Fonvizin, in the literature of the 19th century, the satirical depiction of the vices of modern society becomes one of the central motives. Often, satire also takes grotesque forms. Vivid examples are Gogol's "The Nose" or "The History of a City" by ME Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Another distinctive feature of the literature of this period is its acute social orientation. Writers and poets are increasingly turning to social and political topics, often plunging into the field of psychology. This leitmotif permeates the works of I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy. A new form appears - the Russian realistic novel, with its deep psychologism, harsh criticism of reality, irreconcilable enmity with existing foundations and loud calls for renewal.
Well, the main reason that prompted many critics to call the 19th century the golden age of Russian culture: the literature of this period, despite a number of unfavorable factors, had a powerful influence on the development of world culture as a whole. By absorbing all the best that world literature had to offer, Russian literature was able to remain distinctive and unique.
Russian writers of the 19th century
V.A. Zhukovsky- a mentor of Pushkin and his Teacher. It is Vasily Andreevich who is considered the founder of Russian romanticism. We can say that Zhukovsky "paved the way" for Pushkin's courageous experiments, since he was the first to expand the scope of the poetic word. After Zhukovsky, the era of democratization of the Russian language began, which Pushkin brilliantly continued.
Selected Poems:
A.S. Griboyedov went down in history as the author of one work. But what a! Masterpiece! Phrases and quotes from the comedy "Woe from Wit" have long become winged, and the work itself is considered the first realistic comedy in the history of Russian literature.
Work:
A.S. Pushkin... He was called differently: A. Grigoriev asserted that "Pushkin is our everything!" Russia ". Quite simply, it's a Genius.
The greatest merit of Pushkin is that he radically changed the Russian literary language, saving it from pretentious abbreviations like "young, brag, sweet", from ridiculous "marshmallows", "Psyche", "Cupids" borrowings, which then abounded in Russian poetry. Pushkin brought colloquial vocabulary, craft slang, elements of Russian folklore to the pages of printed publications.
A. N. Ostrovsky also pointed out one more important achievement of this genius poet. Before Pushkin, Russian literature was imitative, stubbornly imposing traditions and ideals alien to our people. Pushkin, on the other hand, "gave the Russian writer the courage to be Russian," "he opened the Russian soul." In his stories and novels, for the first time, the theme of the morality of the social ideals of that time is raised so vividly. And the main character, with the light hand of Pushkin, now becomes an ordinary "little man" - with his thoughts and hopes, desires and character.
Selected works:
Selected Tales:
M.Yu. Lermontov- bright, mysterious, with a touch of mysticism and an incredible thirst for will. All his work is a unique fusion of romanticism and realism. Moreover, both directions do not oppose at all, but rather complement each other. This man went down in history as a poet, writer, playwright and artist. He wrote 5 plays: the most famous - the drama "Masquerade".
And among prose works, the novel Hero of Our Time, the first realistic novel in prose in the history of Russian literature, has become a real diamond of creativity, where for the first time a writer tries to trace the “dialectic of the soul” of his hero, mercilessly subjecting him to psychological analysis. This innovative creative method of Lermontov will be used by many Russian and foreign writers in the future.
Selected works:
N.V. Gogol known as a writer and playwright, but it is no coincidence that one of his most famous works - "Dead Souls" is considered a poem. There is no other such Master of the word in world literature. Gogol's language is melodious, incredibly bright and imaginative. This was most clearly manifested in his collection Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.
On the other hand, N. V. Gogol is considered the founder of the "natural school", with its satire bordering on the grotesque, accusatory motives and ridicule of human vices.
Selected works:
I.S. Turgenev- the greatest Russian novelist who established the canons of the classic novel. He continues the traditions established by Pushkin and Gogol. He often refers to the topic of "an extra person", trying to convey the relevance and significance of social ideas through the fate of his hero.
Turgenev's merit also lies in the fact that he became the first propagandist of Russian culture in Europe. He is a prose writer who opened the world of the Russian peasantry, intelligentsia and revolutionaries to the foreign countries. And the string of female images in his novels became the pinnacle of the writer's skill.
Selected works:
A.N. Ostrovsky- an outstanding Russian playwright. Most precisely, I. Goncharov expressed the merits of Ostrovsky, recognizing him as the creator of the Russian folk theater. The plays of this writer became the "school of life" for the next generation of playwrights. And the Moscow Maly Theater, where most of the plays of this talented writer were staged, proudly calls itself the "House of Ostrovsky".
Selected works:
I.A.Goncharov continued to develop the traditions of the Russian realistic novel. The author of the famous trilogy, who, like no one else, managed to describe the main vice of the Russian people - laziness. With the light hand of the writer, the term "Oblomovism" also appeared.
Selected works:
L.N. Tolstoy- a real lump of Russian literature. His novels are recognized as the pinnacle of novel art. The style of presentation and creative method of L. Tolstoy are still considered the standard of the writer's skill. And his ideas of humanism had a huge impact on the development of humanistic ideas around the world.
Selected works:
NS. Leskov- a talented follower of the traditions of N. Gogol. He made a huge contribution to the development of new genre forms in literature, such as pictures from life, rhapsodies, incredible events.
Selected works:
N.G. Chernyshevsky- an outstanding writer and literary critic who proposed his theory of the aesthetics of the relationship between art and reality. This theory became the reference for the literature of the next several generations.
Selected works:
F.M. Dostoevsky- a genius writer, whose psychological novels are known all over the world. Dostoevsky is often called the forerunner of such trends in culture as existentialism and surrealism.
Selected works:
M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin- the greatest satirist, who brought the art of exposure, ridicule and parody to the heights of skill.
Selected works:
A.P. Chekhov... With this name historians traditionally end the era of the golden age of Russian literature. Chekhov was recognized throughout the world during his lifetime. His stories have become a benchmark for novelist writers. And Chekhov's plays had a huge impact on the development of world drama.
Selected works:
Towards the end of the 19th century, the traditions of critical realism began to fade away. In a society permeated through and through with pre-revolutionary moods, mystical, partly even decadent moods have come into vogue. They became the forerunners of the emergence of a new literary trend - Symbolism and marked the beginning of a new period in the history of Russian literature - the Silver Age of poetry.
Now the current generation sees everything clearly, marvels at the delusions, laughs at the folly of their ancestors, not in vain that this chronicle is strewn with heavenly fire, that every letter shouts in it, that a piercing finger is directed at him, at him, at the current generation from everywhere; but the current generation laughs and arrogantly, proudly begins a series of new delusions, which the descendants will also laugh at later. "Dead Souls"
For what? As if inspiration
Will fall in love with the given subject!
As if a true poet
Sell your imagination!
I am a slave, a day laborer, I am a huckster!
I owe you, sinner, for gold,
For your insignificant piece of silver
Pay with divine payment!
"Improvisation I"
Literature is a language that expresses everything that a country thinks, what it wants, what it knows and what it wants and should know.
In the hearts of the simple, the feeling of the beauty and grandeur of nature is stronger, more alive a hundred times than in us, enthusiastic storytellers in words and on paper.
"Hero of our time"
And everywhere there is sound, and everywhere there is light,
And all the worlds have one beginning,
And there is nothing in nature,
That would not breathe love.
In the days of doubt, in the days of painful thoughts about the fate of my homeland - you alone are my support and support, oh great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! If it weren't for you, how not to fall into despair at the sight of everything that is happening at home? But one cannot believe that such a language was not given to a great people!
Poems in prose, "Russian language"
So, completing his dissolute escape,
Thorny snow flies from naked fields,
Driven by an early, violent blizzard,
And, stopping in the forest wilderness,
Gathers in silver silence
Deep and cold bed.
Listen: it's a shame!
It's time to get up! You know yourself
What time has come;
In whom the sense of duty has not cooled down,
Who is incorruptibly straight with his heart,
In whom is the gift, strength, accuracy,
Tom should not sleep now ...
"Poet and Citizen"
Really, here too, they will not allow and will not allow the Russian organism to develop nationally, by its organic strength, and certainly impersonally, servilely imitating Europe? But what to do with the Russian organism then? Do these gentlemen understand what an organism is? Separation, “split off” from their country leads to hatred, these people hate Russia, so to speak, naturally, physically: for the climate, for the fields, for the forests, for the order, for the liberation of the peasant, for Russian history, in a word, for everything, for everything they hate.
Spring! the first frame is exposed -
And the noise rushed into the room,
And the gospel of the nearby temple,
And the talk of the people, and the knock of the wheel ...
Well, what are you afraid of, please tell me! Now every grass, every flower rejoices, but we are hiding, we are afraid, just what a misfortune! The storm will kill! This is not a thunderstorm, but grace! Yes, grace! You are all thunderstorm! The northern lights will light up, one should admire and marvel at the wisdom: "dawn rises from midnight countries"! And you are horrified and come up with: for war or for pestilence. Whether a comet is coming, I would not take my eyes off! The beauty! The stars have already taken a closer look, they are all the same, and this is a new thing; Well, I would look and admire! And you are afraid even to look at the sky, you are trembling! You scared yourself out of everything. Eh, people! "Storm"
There is no more enlightening, soul-cleansing feeling than that which a person feels when meeting with a great work of art.
We know to handle loaded rifles with care. We don’t want to know that we must treat the word in the same way. The word can kill and make evil worse than death.
There is a well-known trick of an American journalist, who, in order to raise a subscription to his magazine, began to publish in other publications the most harsh, impudent attacks on himself from fictitious persons: some of them portrayed him as a swindler and perjurer, others a thief and a murderer, others a libertine on a colossal scale. He was not stingy to pay for such friendly advertisements, until everyone thought about it - yes, you can see this curious and remarkable person when everyone is shouting about him like that! - and began to buy up his own newspaper.
"Life in a Hundred Years"
I ... think that I know a Russian person in the very depths of him, and I do not take any credit for this. I did not study the people from conversations with Petersburg cabbies, but I grew up among the people, on the Gostomel pasture, with a cauldron in my hand, I slept with him on the dewy grass of the night, under a warm sheepskin sheepskin coat, and in the panin's wicked crowd behind circles of dusty habits ...
Between these two clashing titans - science and theology - there is a stunned public, quickly losing faith in the immortality of man and in any deity, quickly descending to the level of purely animal existence. Such is the picture of an hour illuminated by the shining midday sun of the Christian and scientific era!
"Isis Unveiled"
Sit down, I'm glad to see you. Throw away all fear
And you can keep yourself free
I give you permission. You know the other day
I was elected king by the people,
But it's all the same. Confuse my thought
All these honors, greetings, bows ...
"Crazy"
- But what do you want abroad? - I asked him at a time when in his room, with the help of the servants, was packing and packing his things to be sent to the Varshavsky railway station.
- Yes, just ... to feel! - he said bewildered and with a kind of dull expression on his face.
"Letters from the Road"
Is it really the point to go through life so as not to hurt anyone? This is not happiness. To touch, break, break, so that life is in full swing. I am not afraid of any accusations, but I am a hundred times more afraid of colorlessness than death.
Verse is the same music, only combined with the word, and it also needs a natural ear, a sense of harmony and rhythm.
You get a strange feeling when, by lightly pressing your hand, you make such a mass rise and fall at will. When such a mass obeys you, you feel the power of man ...
"A meeting"
The feeling of the Motherland should be strict, restrained in words, not spoken, not talkative, not "waving his arms" and not running forward (to appear). The feeling of the Motherland should be a great ardent silence.
"Solitary"
And what is the secret of beauty, what is the mystery and charm of art: whether in a conscious, inspired victory over torment, or in the unconscious longing of the human spirit, which sees no way out of the circle of vulgarity, squalor or thoughtlessness and is tragically condemned to seem complacent or hopelessly false.
"Sentimental Memory"
Since my birth I have lived in Moscow, but by God I do not know where Moscow came from, why it is, why, why, what it needs. In the Duma, at meetings, I, along with others, talk about the urban economy, but I do not know how many miles there are in Moscow, how many people there are, how many are born and die, how much we get and spend, how much and with whom we trade ... Which city is richer: Moscow or London? If London is richer, then why? And the jester knows him! And when a question is raised in the Duma, I shudder and the first to start shouting: “Transfer to the commission! To the commission! "
Everything is new in the old way:
The modern poet
Into a metaphorical outfit
Poetic speech is dressed.
But others are not an example for me,
And my charter is simple and strict.
My verse is a pioneer boy
Lightly dressed, bare-legged.
1926
Under the influence of Dostoevsky, as well as foreign literature, Baudelaire and Edgar Poe, my passion began not with decadence, but with symbolism (even then I already understood their difference). The collection of poems, published at the very beginning of the 90s, I titled "Symbols". It seems that I used this word before anyone else in Russian literature.
Running of changeable phenomena
By the soaring ones, speed up:
Merge into one sunset of accomplishments
With the first brilliance of gentle dawns.
From lower life to origins
Observe in a single moment:
In a single face with a clever eye
Take your doubles.
Unchanged and wonderful
Gift of the Blessed Muse:
In the spirit, the form of harmonious songs,
There is life and heat in the heart of the songs.
"Thoughts on Poetry"
I have a lot of news. And all are good. I'm lucky". It is written to me. I want to live, live, live forever. If you knew how many new poems I wrote! More than a hundred. It was crazy, a fairy tale, new. I am publishing a new book, not at all like the previous ones. She will surprise many. I changed my understanding of the world. No matter how funny my phrase sounds, I will say: I understood the world. For many years, perhaps forever.
K. Balmont - L. Vilkina
Man - that's the truth! Everything is in a person, everything is for a person! There is only man, all the rest is the work of his hands and his brain! Human! It's great! It sounds ... proud!
"At the bottom"
I am sorry to create something useless and unnecessary to anyone now. A collection, a book of poetry at this time is the most useless, unnecessary thing ... I do not want to say that poetry is not needed. On the contrary, I argue that poetry is necessary, even necessary, natural and eternal. There was a time when everyone seemed to need whole books of poetry, when they were read completely, everyone understood and accepted. Time is the past, not ours. The modern reader does not need a collection of poems!
Language is the history of a people. Language is the path of civilization and culture. That is why the study and preservation of the Russian language is not an idle occupation with nothing to do, but an urgent need.
What nationalists and patriots these internationalists become when they need it! And with what arrogance they mock "frightened intellectuals" - as if there is absolutely no reason to be frightened - or over "frightened philistines", as if they have some great advantages over "philistines." And who, in fact, are these ordinary people, "prosperous bourgeoisie"? And who and what do the revolutionaries care about, in general, if they so despise the average person and his welfare?
"Cursed Days"
In the struggle for their ideal of "freedom, equality and fraternity", citizens must use means that do not contradict this ideal.
"Governor"
“Let your soul be whole or split, let the world outlook be mystical, realistic, skeptical, or even idealistic (if you are so unhappy), let the creative techniques be impressionistic, realistic, naturalistic, the content - lyrical or fabulistic, let there be a mood, an impression - whatever you want, but, I beg you, be logical - may this cry of my heart be forgiven! - are logical in concept, in the construction of the work, in syntax. "
Art is born in homelessness. I wrote letters and stories addressed to a distant unknown friend, but when a friend came, art gave way to life. I'm talking, of course, not about home comfort, but about life, which means more art.
"We are with you. Love diary"
An artist cannot do more than open his soul to others. You can’t show him the rules drawn up in advance. He is a still unknown world, where everything is new. We must forget what captivated others, here is different. Otherwise, you will listen and you will not hear, you will look without understanding.
From the treatise by Valery Bryusov "On Art"
Well, let her rest, she was worn out - they tortured her, worried. And as soon as light rises, the shopkeeper starts to fold her goods, grabs the blanket, goes, pulls out this soft bedding from under the old woman: wakes the old woman up, wakes her up: not dawn, if you please get up. That's that. In the meantime - our grandmother, our Kostroma, our mother, Russia! "
"Swirling Russia"
Art never speaks to the crowd, to the masses, it speaks to the individual, in the deep and hidden recesses of his soul.
Mikhail Andreevich Osorgin (Ilyin) (1878 - 1942)
How strange / ... / How many cheerful and cheerful books there are, how many brilliant and witty philosophical truths - but there is nothing more consoling than Ecclesiastes.
Babkin dared, - read Seneca
And whistling the carcasses,
Took it to the library
Noting in the margins: "Nonsense!"
Babkin, friend, is a harsh critic,
Have you thought at least once
What a legless paralytic
A light chamois is not a decree? ..
"Reader"
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The critic's word about the poet must be objectively concrete and creative; the critic, while remaining a scientist, is a poet.
"Poetry of the word"
It is only worth thinking about the great, only the great tasks should be set by the writer; put it boldly, without being embarrassed by your personal small forces.
“It’s true, there are both devil and watery ones,” I thought, looking in front of me, “and maybe some other spirit lives here… A mighty northern spirit that enjoys this savagery; maybe real northern fauns and healthy, blond women wander in these forests, eating cloudberries and lingonberries, laughing and chasing each other. "
"North"
You need to be able to close a boring book ... leave a bad movie ... and part with people who do not value you!
Out of modesty, I hesitate to point out the fact that on my birthday the bells were rung and there was general popular rejoicing. Evil tongues associated this jubilation with some big holiday that coincided with the day of my birth, but I still don't understand why there is any other holiday here?
That was the time when love, good and healthy feelings were considered vulgar and a relic; no one loved, but everyone was thirsty and, like poisoned, fell to everything sharp, tearing the insides.
"The Road to Calvary"
- Well, what's wrong, - I say to myself, - at least in a short word for now? After all, exactly the same form of farewell to friends is also in other languages, and there it does not shock anyone. The great poet Walt Whitman, shortly before his death, said goodbye to his readers with a touching poem “So long!”, Which means “Bye!” In English. The French a bientot has the same meaning. There is no rudeness here. On the contrary, this form is filled with the most amiable courtesy, because this (approximately) meaning was compressed here: be well and happy until we see each other again.
"Alive as life"
Switzerland? This is a mountain pasture of tourists. I've traveled all over the world myself, but I hate these ruminant bipeds with a Badaker instead of a tail. They chewed up all the beauties of nature with their eyes.
"Island of the lost ships"
Everything that I have written and will write, I consider only mental rubbish and in no way respect my literary merits. And I am surprised and perplexed why seemingly smart people find some meaning and value in my poems. Thousands of poems, whether mine or those of the poets I know in Russia, are not worth one chant of my bright mother.
I am afraid that Russian literature has only one future: its past.
The article "I'm afraid"
For a long time we have been looking for such a task, similar to lentils, so that the combined rays of the labor of artists and the labor of thinkers directed by it to a common point would meet in common work and could light even the cold substance of ice to turn into a fire. Now such a task - the lentils that channel your stormy courage and the cold mind of thinkers together - has been found. This goal is to create a common written language ...
"Artists of the World"
He adored poetry, in his judgments he tried to be impartial. He was surprisingly young in soul, and perhaps also in mind. He always seemed like a child to me. There was something childish in his shaved head under a typewriter, in his bearing, more gymnasium than military. He liked to portray an adult, like all children. He loved to play "master", the literary leadership of his "humiliates", that is, the little poets and poetesses who surrounded him. The poetic kids loved him very much.
Khodasevich, "Necropolis"
I, I, I. What a wild word!
Is that one over there - is it me?
Did mom love this
Yellow-gray, semi-gray
And omniscient as a snake?
You have lost your Russia.
Did he oppose the element
Good for the elements of gloomy evil?
No? So shut up: led away
Your fate is not without reason
To the edges of an unkind foreign land.
What's the use of groaning and grieving -
Russia must be earned!
"What you need to know"
I never stopped writing poetry. For me, they are my connection with time, with the new life of my people. When I wrote them, I lived by the rhythms that sounded in the heroic history of my country. I am happy that I lived during these years and saw events that had no equal.
All people sent to us are our reflection. And they are sent so that we, looking at these people, correct our mistakes, and when we correct them, these people either also change or leave our lives.
In the wide field of Russian literature in the USSR, I was the only literary wolf. I was advised to dye the skin. Ridiculous advice. Whether a dyed wolf, a shorn wolf, he still does not look like a poodle. They treated me like a wolf. And for several years they drove me according to the rules of a literary cage in a fenced yard. I have no malice, but I am very tired ...
From a letter from M.A.Bulgakov to I.V.Stalin, May 30, 1931.
When I die, my descendants will ask my contemporaries: "Did you understand Mandelstam's poems?" - "No, we did not understand his poetry." "Did you feed Mandelstam, did you give him shelter?" - "Yes, we fed Mandelstam, we gave him shelter." - "Then you are forgiven."
Maybe go to the House of Press - there is one sandwich with chum salmon caviar and a debate about "proletarian choir reading", or to the Polytechnic Museum - there are no sandwiches, but twenty-six young poets read their poems about the "locomotive mass." No, I will sit on the stairs, shivering from the cold and dream that all this is not in vain, that, sitting here on the step, I am preparing the distant sunrise of the Renaissance. I dreamed both simply and in poetry, and it turned out boring iambics.
"The Extraordinary Adventures of Julio Jurenito and His Students"
XIX century. rightly called the "golden age" of Russian literature. Already in the first half of the century, literature made a giant step forward. At the beginning of the XIX century. classicism and sentimentalism were replaced by romanticism. In literature, this is most vividly reflected in the work of the poet V.A.Zhukovsky (1783-1852), as well as in the early poems of A.S. Pushkin (1799-1837). Romantics in their works turned to historical events, legends, oral folk poetry.
At the turn of the 20-30s. a new direction begins to develop - realism. One of the first realistic works was the comedy by AS Griboyedov (1795-1829) Woe from Wit. But the true founder of realism in Russian literature should be considered A.S. Pushkin, he was also the ancestor of the Russian literary language. The author of lyric poems and caustic epigrams, the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", the poems "The Bronze Horseman", "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter" and others, A.S. Pushkin not only showed himself as a great poet, but also managed to comprehend the essence of the most important phenomena of Russian history and reality, depicted by him in all its diversity, complexity and contradiction. Realism is largely inherent in the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov (1814-1841) "A Hero of Our Time". N. V. Gogol (1809-1852) developed critical realism, the purpose of which was to reveal the vulgarity of life, as well as social criticism ("The Inspector General", "Dead Souls"). Gogol deepened the theme of the "little man" ("The Overcoat"), introduced into Russian literature by A. S. Pushkin ("The Station Keeper").
In the 40s. a school of realist writers ("natural school"), rallied around V.G.Belinsky (1811-1848), was formed. Realists sought to portray everyday life truthfully. They described the details of everyday life, peculiarities of speech, emotional experiences of peasants, petty bourgeoisie, petty officials. The map of Moscow and its environs at that time already numbered thousands of objects used by writers as a scene of action in their works. The best works of that time include "Poor People" by F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881), "Notes of a Hunter" by I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883), "The Thief Magpie" by A. I. Herzen (1812-1870 ), "An Ordinary History" by I. A. Goncharov (1812-1891).
In the 1850s and 1870s. aphorisms, parodies and poems, signed by Kozma Prutkov, began to appear. Kozma Prutkov is a generalized image of an official-bureaucrat of the Nikolaev era, who considers himself a model of wisdom. Kozma Prutkov's aphorisms are a sharp satire on bureaucracy, stupidity, honor, vulgarity and careerism.
An ideological, political and literary struggle flared up around the peasant reform of 1861. The most radical of the "people's defenders" - the revolutionary democrats, whose leader was N. G. Chernyshevsky (1828-1889), and the main mouthpiece was the magazine "Sovremennik", even called for "Rus to the ax." In this atmosphere of intense struggle, such masterpieces of Russian literature as "Who Lives Well in Russia" by N.A.Nekrasov (1821-1877), "Past and Thoughts" by A.I. Herzen, "Crime and Punishment" by F.M. Dostoevsky, "Fathers and Sons" by I. S. Turgenev, "The Thunderstorm" by A. N. Ostrovsky (1823-1886), "What is to be done?" N. G. Chernyshevsky, “Oblomov” by I. A. Goncharov, “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy (1828-1910), “Lord Golovlevs” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889). In these, in the full sense of the word, classical works, and this series can still be significantly continued, the high civic consciousness, the depth of the image of life inherent in Russian literature are most vividly expressed. The dominant literary genre was the novel.
In the last decades of the XIX century. the talents of A.P. Chekhov (1860-1904), V.G. Korolenko (1853-1921), V.M. Garshin (1855-1888) were manifested. In their works, they were able to show that dissatisfaction with the autocratic reality is becoming widespread among the people, that protest is brewing even in the souls of the most downtrodden and humiliated "little" people. The melancholy of Chekhov's heroes, their characteristic sense of the strangeness and unreasonableness of life, acquired a global meaning. V.M. Garshin already outlined the overcoming of naturalistic tendencies and an attempt to unite romantic and realistic principles in lyric prose.
The 19th century is called the "Golden Age" of Russian poetry and the age of Russian literature on a global scale. Do not forget that the literary leap that took place in the 19th century was prepared by the entire course of the literary process of the 17th and 18th centuries. The 19th century is the time of the formation of the Russian literary language, which took shape largely thanks to A.S. Pushkin.
But the 19th century began with the flowering of sentimentalism and the emergence of romanticism. These literary trends found expression, first of all, in poetry. The poetic works of poets E.A. Baratynsky, K.N. Batyushkova, V.A. Zhukovsky, A.A. Feta, D.V. Davydova, N.M. Yazykov. The work of F.I. Tyutchev's "Golden Age" of Russian poetry was completed. Nevertheless, the central figure of this time was Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
A.S. Pushkin began his ascent to the literary Olympus with the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila" in 1920. And his novel in verse "Eugene Onegin" was called an encyclopedia of Russian life. Romantic poems by A.S. Pushkin's "The Bronze Horseman" (1833), "Bakhchisarai Fountain", "Gypsies" opened the era of Russian romanticism. Many poets and writers considered A.S. Pushkin as their teacher and continued the tradition of creating literary works laid down by him. One of these poets was M.Yu. Lermontov. Famous for his romantic poem "Mtsyri", the poetic story "The Demon", many romantic poems. It is interesting that Russian poetry of the 19th century was closely connected with the social and political life of the country. Poets tried to comprehend the idea of their special destiny. The poet in Russia was considered a conductor of divine truth, a prophet. Poets called on the authorities to listen to their words. The poems of A.S. Pushkin's The Prophet, the ode to Liberty, The Poet and the Crowd, poem by M.Yu. Lermontov's "To the death of a poet" and many others.
Along with poetry, prose began to develop. The prose writers of the beginning of the century were influenced by W. Scott's English historical novels, the translations of which were very popular. The development of Russian prose of the 19th century began with the prose works of A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol. Pushkin, under the influence of English historical novels, creates the story "The Captain's Daughter", where the action unfolds against the backdrop of grandiose historical events: during the Pugachev rebellion. A.S. Pushkin did a colossal work exploring this historical period. This work was largely political in nature and was directed to those in power.
A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol outlined the main artistic types that would be developed by writers throughout the 19th century. This is an artistic type of "superfluous person", an example of which is Eugene Onegin in the novel by A.S. Pushkin, and the so-called type of "little man", which is shown by N.V. Gogol in his story "The Overcoat", as well as A.S. Pushkin in the story "The Stationmaster".
Literature inherited its journalistic and satirical character from the 18th century. In the prose poem by N.V. Gogol's "Dead Souls" the writer in a sharp satirical manner shows a swindler who buys up dead souls, various types of landowners who are the embodiment of various human vices (the influence of classicism affects). The comedy "The Inspector General" is sustained in the same plan. The works of A.S. Pushkin are also full of satirical images. Literature continues to satirically portray Russian reality. The tendency to depict the vices and shortcomings of Russian society is a characteristic feature of all Russian classical literature. It can be traced in the works of almost all writers of the 19th century. At the same time, many writers implement the satirical tendency in a grotesque form. Examples of grotesque satire are the works of N. V. Gogol "The Nose", M. Ye. Saltykov-Shchedrin "Lord Golovlevs", "The history of one city."
Since the middle of the 19th century, the formation of Russian realistic literature has been taking place, which is created against the background of the tense socio-political situation that developed in Russia during the reign of Nicholas I. A crisis of the serf system is brewing, the contradictions between the government and the common people are strong. There is a need to create a realistic literature that sharply reacts to the socio-political situation in the country. Literary critic V.G. Belinsky denotes a new realistic trend in literature. His position is being developed by N.A. Dobrolyubov, N.G. Chernyshevsky. A dispute arises between the Westernizers and the Slavophiles about the paths of the historical development of Russia.
Writers turn to the socio-political problems of Russian reality. The genre of the realistic novel is developing. I.S. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, I.A. Goncharov. Socio-political and philosophical issues prevail. Literature is distinguished by a special psychologism.
The development of poetry dies down somewhat. It is worth noting the poetic works of Nekrasov, who was the first to introduce social issues into poetry. Known for his poem "Who Lives Well in Russia?"
The literary process of the late 19th century discovered the names of NS Leskov, A.N. Ostrovsky A.P. Chekhov. The latter proved to be a master of the small literary genre - the story, as well as an excellent playwright. Competitor A.P. Chekhov was Maxim Gorky.
The end of the 19th century was marked by the formation of pre-revolutionary sentiments. The realistic tradition was beginning to fade. It was replaced by the so-called decadent literature, the distinctive features of which were mysticism, religiosity, as well as a presentiment of changes in the socio-political life of the country. Subsequently, decadence developed into symbolism. This opens a new page in the history of Russian literature.