Works of realism in Russian literature of the 19th century. Realism in literature

Realism (from Late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is unusually rich. The very idea of ​​it changed at different stages of artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a truthful depiction of reality.

Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.”



Illustration by O. Vereisky for L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”.



Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”



Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev”.



Illustration by B. Zaborov for the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Ditte - Child of Man.”

However, the concept of truth, truth is one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theorist of French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth and “imitating nature.” But the romantic V. Hugo, an ardent opponent of classicism, urged “to consult only nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature.” Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".

The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist’s point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to grasp the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.

The specific features of realism depend on the historical conditions in which art develops. National historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.

Realism is not something given and unchangeable once and for all. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.

There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about the realism of cave paintings of primitive people, about the realism antique sculpture. The history of world literature reveals many features of realism in the works of the ancient world and early Middle Ages(in folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as artistic system in European literature it is customary to associate it with the era of the Renaissance (Renaissance), the greatest progressive revolution. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church sermon of slavish obedience is reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After centuries of medieval churchmen preaching that man is a “vessel of sin” and calling for humility, Renaissance literature and art glorified man as the supreme creature of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the richness of his soul and mind. Renaissance realism is characterized by large-scale images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), poeticization of the human personality, its ability to have great feelings (as in Romeo and Juliet) and at the same time high intensity tragic conflict, when the collision of a personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted.

The next stage in the development of realism is the educational stage (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument of direct preparation for the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the educators there were supporters of classicism; their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the 18th century. The so-called Enlightenment realism was also taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. The English realistic novel, whose founder was D. Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), acquired worldwide significance. In the literature of the Enlightenment, a democratic hero appeared (Figaro in the trilogy of P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy “Cunning and Love” by I. F. Schiller, images of peasants in A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners of all phenomena public life and people’s actions were assessed as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable primarily in all the old feudal orders and customs). They proceeded from this in their depiction of human character; their goodies- this is, first of all, the embodiment of reason, negative ones are a deviation from the norm, a product of unreason, the barbarism of former times.

Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: “Suppose a person finds himself on a desert island...”. At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson’s behavior not as it could actually be (the prototype of his hero went wild, even lost his articulate speech), but as he wants to present the person, fully armed with his physical and mental strength, as a hero, conqueror of forces nature. Faust in I. V. Goethe, shown in the struggle for the establishment of high ideals, is also conventional. Features of a well-known convention also distinguish D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.”

A new type of realism emerged in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its flourishing in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov.

Critical realism portrays the relationship between man and the environment in a new way. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. Subject of deep social analysis the inner world of man has become, critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological. Romanticism, which sought to penetrate the secrets of the human “I,” played a large role in the preparation of this quality of realism.

Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some kind of absolute superiority over previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.

The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation characteristic of the Enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.

The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. XIX century Marxism not only influence the literature of critical realism, but also give rise to the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the perspective of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, and the author of “The International” E. Pothier, new features are outlined that anticipate the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.

In Russia, the 19th century is a period of exceptional strength and scope in the development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, won it global recognition.

The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the 19th century. allow us to talk about its different forms.

Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature onto the broad path of depicting “the fate of the people, the fate of man.” In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin seems to be catching up with its previous lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with his universality and his optimism, turning out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. Pushkin’s work lays the foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school.

Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats led by N. G. Chernyshevsky gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).

A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It was thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired global significance. Their psychological mastery and insight into the “dialectics of the soul” opened the way for the artistic quests of 20th century writers. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.

The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “a mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.

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

It is important to emphasize that Russian realism of the 19th century. did not develop in isolation from the world historical literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, in the words of K. Marx and F. Engels, “the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become the common property.”

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

At the beginning of the 20th century. the appearance of M. Gorky’s plays “The Bourgeois”, “At the Depths” and especially the novel “Mother” (and in the West - the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Pelle the Conqueror”) testifies to the formation socialist realism. In the 20s Soviet literature declared itself with major successes, and in the early 30s. In many capitalist countries, a literature of the revolutionary proletariat is emerging. The literature of socialist realism is becoming an important factor in world literary development. It should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more connections with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).

The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence of the October Revolution and the existence of the Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world system of socialism - all this affected the fate of realism.

Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until the October Revolution (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development, while undergoing significant changes. In critical realism of the 20th century. in the West, a variety of influences are more freely assimilated and intersected, including some features of the unrealistic movements of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.

From about the 20s. In the literature of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of the “stream of consciousness”. The so-called intellectual novel of T. Mann arises; subtext takes on special significance, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “ Quiet Don"M. A. Sholokhov, "Walking through the Torment" by A. N. Tolstoy, "The Dead Remain Young" by A. Zegers).

Unlike the realists of the 19th century. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Chapek), to convention (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the 20th century. the document, the fact, triumphs. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.

Thus, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O'Casey, I. Becher, such classic books of socialist realism as “Report with a Noose Around the Neck” by Yu. Fuchik and “The Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeeva.

Realism is usually called a movement in art and literature, whose representatives strived for a realistic and truthful reproduction of reality. In other words, the world was portrayed as typical and simple, with all its advantages and disadvantages.

General features of realism

Realism in literature is distinguished by a number of common features. Firstly, life was depicted in images that corresponded to reality. Secondly, reality for representatives of this movement has become a means of understanding themselves and the world around them. Thirdly, the images on the pages of literary works were distinguished by the truthfulness of details, specificity and typification. It is interesting that the art of the realists, with their life-affirming principles, sought to consider reality in development. Realists discovered new social and psychological relationships.

The emergence of realism

Realism in literature as a form of artistic creation arose in the Renaissance, developed during the Enlightenment and manifested itself as an independent direction only in the 30s of the 19th century. The first realists in Russia include the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin (he is sometimes even called the founder of this movement) and the no less outstanding writer N.V. Gogol with his novel “Dead Souls”. As for literary criticism, the term “realism” appeared within it thanks to D. Pisarev. It was he who introduced the term into journalism and criticism. Realism in the literature of the 19th century became a distinctive feature of that time, having its own characteristics and characteristic features.

Features of literary realism

Representatives of realism in literature are numerous. The most famous and outstanding writers include such writers as Stendhal, Charles Dickens, O. Balzac, L.N. Tolstoy, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, F.M. Dostoevsky, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner and many others. All of them worked on the development of the creative method of realism and embodied in their works its most striking features in inextricable connection with their unique authorial characteristics.

Before the emergence of realism as a literary movement, most writers had a one-sided approach to depicting a person. The classicists portrayed a person mainly in terms of his duties to the state and showed very little interest in him in his everyday life, in family and private life. Sentimentalists, on the contrary, moved on to depicting a person’s personal life, his spiritual feelings. The Romantics were also interested mainly in the spiritual life of man, the world of his feelings and passions.

But they endowed their heroes with feelings and passions of exceptional strength, and placed them in unusual conditions.

Realist writers portray a person in many ways. They draw typical characters and at the same time show in what social conditions this or that hero of the work was formed.

This ability to give typical characters in typical circumstances is the main feature of realism.

We call typical images those in which the most vividly, fully and truthfully embodied the most important features characteristic of a particular historical period for a particular social group or phenomenon (for example, the Prostakovs-Skotinins in Fonvizin’s comedy are typical representatives of the Russian middle-class nobility of the second half XVIII century).

In typical images, a realist writer reflects not only those traits that are most common at a certain time, but also those that are just beginning to appear and develop fully in the future.

The conflicts underlying the works of classicists, sentimentalists and romantics were also one-sided.

Classical writers (especially in tragedies) depicted the clash in the hero’s soul of the consciousness of the need to fulfill his duty to the state with personal feelings and drives. For sentimentalists, the main conflict grew out of the social inequality of heroes belonging to different classes. In romanticism, the basis of the conflict is the gap between dream and reality. Among realist writers, conflicts are as diverse as in life itself.

Krylov and Griboyedov played a major role in the formation of Russian realism at the beginning of the 19th century. Krylov became the creator of the Russian realistic fable. Krylov's fables deeply truthfully depict the life of feudal Russia in its essential features. Ideological content his fables, democratic in their orientation, the perfection of their construction, wonderful verse and a living spoken language developed on a folk basis - all this was a major contribution to Russian realistic literature and influenced the development of the work of such writers as Griboyedov, Pushkin, Gogol and other.

Griboyedov, with his work “Woe from Wit,” gave an example of Russian realistic comedy.

But the true founder of Russian realistic literature, who gave perfect examples of realistic creativity in a wide variety of literary genres, was the great national poet Pushkin.

Realism- 19th - 20th centuries (from Latin realis- valid)

Realism can define heterogeneous phenomena united by the concept of vital truth: spontaneous realism of ancient literature, Renaissance realism, educational realism, “natural school” as the initial stage of the development of critical realism in the 19th century, realism of the 19th-20th centuries, “socialist realism”

Main features of realism:
• Depiction of life in images that correspond to the essence of life phenomena, through typing the facts of reality;
• A true reflection of the world, a wide coverage of reality;
• Historicism;
• The attitude towards literature as a means of a person’s knowledge of himself and the world around him;
• Reflection of the connection between man and environment;
• Typification of characters and circumstances.

Realist writers in Russia. Representatives of realism in Russia: A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, N. A. Nekrasov, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, I. A. Bunin and others.

Realism (lat. realis- material, real) - a direction in art, whose figures strive to understand and depict the interaction of a person with his environment, and the concept of the latter includes both spiritual and material components.

The art of realism is based on the creation of characters, understood as the result of the influence of socio-historical events, individually interpreted by the artist, as a result of which a living, unique and at the same time bearing generic characteristics appears. artistic image. "The cardinal problem of realism is the relationship credibility and artistic truth. The external resemblance of an image to its prototypes is in fact not the only form of expression of truth for realism. More importantly, such similarity is not enough for true realism. Although verisimilitude is an important and most characteristic form of realization of artistic truth for realism, the latter is ultimately determined not by verisimilitude, but by fidelity in comprehension and transmission essence life, the significance of the ideas expressed by the artist." It does not follow from what has been said that realist writers do not use fiction at all - without fiction, artistic creativity is generally impossible. Fiction is already necessary when selecting facts, grouping them, highlighting some characters and briefly characterizing others etc.

The chronological boundaries of the realistic movement are defined differently in the works of various researchers.

Some see the beginnings of realism in antiquity, others attribute its emergence to the Renaissance, others date back to the 18th century, and others believe that realism as a movement in art arose no earlier than the first third of the 19th century.

For the first time in Russian criticism, the term “realism” was used by P. Annenkov in 1849, however, without a detailed theoretical justification, and came into general use already in the 1860s. The French writers L. Duranty and Chanfleury were the first to attempt to comprehend the experience of Balzac and (in the field of painting) G. Courbet, giving their art the definition of “realistic”. “Realism” is the name of the journal published by Duranty in 1856–1857 and the collection of articles by Chanfleury (1857). However, their theory was largely contradictory and did not exhaust the complexity of the new artistic movement. What are the basic principles of the realistic movement in art?

Until the first third of the 19th century, literature created artistically one-sided images. In antiquity, this is the ideal world of gods and heroes and the limitedness of earthly existence opposed to it, the division of characters into “positive” and “negative” (echoes of such a gradation still make themselves felt in primitive aesthetic thinking). With some changes, this principle continues to exist in the Middle Ages, and during the period of classicism and romanticism. Only Shakespeare was far ahead of his time, creating “diverse and multifaceted characters” (A. Pushkin). It was in overcoming the one-sidedness of the image of man and his social connections that the most important shift in the aesthetics of European art lay. Writers are beginning to realize that the thoughts and actions of characters often cannot be dictated solely by the author’s will, since they depend on specific historical circumstances.

The organic religiosity of society, under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment, which proclaimed human reason as the supreme judge of all things, is being supplanted throughout the 19th century by a social model in which the place of God is gradually taken by supposedly omnipotent productive forces and class struggle. The process of forming such a worldview was long and complex, and its supporters, while declaratively rejecting the aesthetic achievements of previous generations, in their artistic practice relied heavily on them.

The share of England and France in late XVIII- The beginning of the 19th century saw especially a lot of social upheaval, and the rapid change of political systems and psychological states allowed the artists of these countries to realize more clearly than others that each era leaves its own unique imprint on the feelings, thoughts and actions of people.

For writers and artists of the Renaissance and classicism, biblical or ancient characters were only mouthpieces for the ideas of modernity. No one was surprised that the apostles and prophets in the paintings of the 17th century were dressed in the fashion of that century. Only at the beginning of the 19th century did painters and writers begin to monitor the correspondence of all everyday details of the depicted time, coming to the understanding that both the psychology of the heroes of a long time and their actions cannot be completely adequate in the present. It was precisely in capturing the “spirit of the times” that the first achievement of art at the beginning of the 19th century consisted.

The founder of literature in which the course was interpreted historical development society, there was an English writer W. Scott. His merit is not so much in the accurate depiction of the details of the life of past times, but in the fact that, according to V. Belinsky, he gave “historical direction to the art of the 19th century” and depicted the individual and all-human as an indivisible common thing. W. Scott's heroes, involved in the epicenter of turbulent historical events, are endowed with memorable characters and at the same time are representatives of their class, with its social and national characteristics, although in general he perceives the world from a romantic perspective. The outstanding English novelist also managed to find in his work that line that reproduces the linguistic flavor of past years, but does not literally copy archaic speech.

Another discovery of the realists was the discovery of social contradictions caused not only by the passions or ideas of “heroes,” but also by the antagonistic aspirations of estates and classes. The Christian ideal dictated sympathy for the humiliated and disadvantaged. Realistic art is also based on this principle, but the main thing in realism is the study and analysis of social relations and the very structure of society. In other words, the main conflict in a realistic work lies in the struggle between “humanity” and “inhumanity,” which is determined by a number of social patterns.

The psychological content of human characters is also explained by social reasons. When depicting a plebeian who does not want to come to terms with the fate destined for him from birth ("Red and Black", 1831), Stendhal abandons romantic subjectivism and analyzes the psychology of the hero, seeking a place in the sun, mainly in the social aspect. Balzac in the cycle of novels and stories “Human Comedy” (1829–1848) sets the grandiose goal of recreating a multi-figured panorama of modern society in its various modifications. Approaching his task like a scientist describing a complex and dynamic phenomenon, the writer traces the destinies of individuals over a number of years, revealing significant adjustments that the “spirit of the times” makes to the original qualities of the characters. At the same time, Balzac focuses attention on those socio-psychological problems that remain almost unchanged, despite the change in political and economic formations (the power of money, the moral decline of an extraordinary personality who pursued success at any cost, the disintegration of family ties not held together by love and mutual respect, and etc.). At the same time, Stendhal and Balzac reveal truly high feelings only among unnoticed, honest workers.

The moral superiority of the poor over the “high society” is also proven in the novels of Charles Dickens. The writer was not at all inclined to portray the “big world” as a bunch of scoundrels and moral monsters. “But the whole evil is,” wrote Dickens, “that this pampered world lives, as in a jewel case... and therefore does not hear the noise of the larger worlds, does not see how they revolve around the sun. This is a dying world, and the creation it is painful, because there is nothing to breathe in it.” In the work of the English novelist, psychological authenticity, along with a somewhat sentimental resolution of conflicts, is combined with gentle humor, sometimes developing into harsh social satire. Dickens outlined the main pain points of contemporary capitalism (the impoverishment of the working people, their ignorance, lawlessness and the spiritual crisis of the upper classes). No wonder L. Tolstoy was sure: “Sift through the world’s prose, what remains is Dickens.”

The main inspiring force of realism are the ideas of individual freedom and universal social equality. Realist writers denounced everything that interferes with the free development of the individual, seeing the root of evil in the unjust structure of social and economic institutions.

At the same time, most writers believed in the inevitability of scientific and social progress, which would gradually destroy the oppression of man by man and reveal his initially positive inclinations. A similar mood is characteristic of European and Russian literature, especially the latter. Thus, Belinsky sincerely envied the “grandchildren and great-grandchildren” who would live in 1940. Dickens wrote in 1850: “We strive to bring from the seething world around us, under the roofs of countless houses, a tale of many social miracles - both beneficent and harmful, but such as do not detract from our conviction and perseverance, indulgence towards each other, fidelity to the progress of mankind and gratitude for the honor given to us to live at the summer dawn of time." N. Chernyshevsky in "What to do?" (1863) painted pictures of a wonderful future, when everyone will have the opportunity to become a harmonious person. Even Chekhov's heroes, who belong to an era in which social optimism has already noticeably diminished, believe that they will see “the sky in diamonds.”

And yet, first of all, the new direction in art focuses on criticism of existing orders. Realism of the 19th century in Russian literary criticism of the 1930s - early 1980s was usually called critical realism(definition proposed M. Gorky). However, this term does not cover all aspects of the phenomenon being defined, since, as already noted, the realism of the 19th century was not at all devoid of affirmative pathos. In addition, the definition of realism as predominantly critical “is not entirely accurate in the sense that, while emphasizing the specific historical significance of the work and its connection with the social tasks of the moment, it leaves in the shadows the philosophical content and universal significance of the masterpieces of realistic art.”

A person in realistic art, unlike romantic art, is not considered as an autonomously existing individual, interesting precisely because of his uniqueness. In realism, especially at the first stage of its development, it is important to demonstrate the influence of the social environment on the individual; At the same time, realist writers strive to depict the characters’ way of thinking and feelings changing over time (“Oblomov” and “ An ordinary story"I. Goncharova). Thus, along with historicism, at the origins of which was W. Scott (transmission of the color of place and time and awareness of the fact that the ancestors saw the world differently than the author himself), the rejection of staticism, the depiction of the inner world of the characters depending on their living conditions and constituted the most important discoveries of realistic art.

No less significant for its time was the general movement towards the people of art. For the first time, the problem of nationality was raised by the romantics, who understood nationality as national identity, which was expressed in the transmission of customs, features of life and habits of the people. But Gogol already noticed that a truly folk poet remains so even when he looks at a “completely foreign world” through the eyes of his people (for example, England is depicted from the perspective of a Russian artisan from the provinces - “Lefty” by N. Leskov, 1883).

In Russian literature, the problem of nationality has played a particularly important role. This problem was substantiated in most detail in the works of Belinsky. Sample is authentic folk work the critic saw in Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, where “folk” paintings as such take up little space, but the moral atmosphere in society of the first third of the 19th century was recreated.

By the middle of this century, nationality in the aesthetic program of most Russian writers became a central point in determining social and artistic significance works. I. Turgenev, D. Grigorovich, A. Potekhin strive not only to reproduce and study various aspects of folk (i.e. peasant) life, but also directly address the people themselves. In the 60s, the same D. Grigorovich, V. Dal, V. Odoevsky, N. Shcherbina and many others published books for public reading, published magazines and brochures designed for people who had just started reading. As a rule, these attempts were not very successful, because the cultural level of the lower strata of society and its educated minority was too different, due to which the writers looked at the peasant as a “little brother” who should be taught wisdom. Only A. Pisemsky ("The Carpenter's Artel", "Piterschik", "Leshy" 1852–1855) and N. Uspensky (stories and tales of 1858–1860) were able to show genuine peasant life in its pristine simplicity and roughness, but Most writers preferred to glorify the people's "living soul."

In the post-reform era, the people and “nationality” in Russian literature are turning into a kind of fetish. L. Tolstoy sees in Platon Karataev the concentration of all the best human qualities. Dostoevsky calls for learning worldly wisdom and spiritual sensitivity from the “muddle man.” People's life is idealized in the works of N. Zlatovratsky and other writers of the 1870s–1880s.

Gradually, nationality, understood as addressing problems folk life from the point of view of the people themselves, it becomes a dead canon, which nevertheless remained unshakable for many decades. Only I. Bunin and A. Chekhov allowed themselves to doubt the object of worship of more than one generation of Russian writers.

By the middle of the 19th century, another feature of realistic literature was determined - bias, that is, the expression of the moral and ideological position of the author. And before, artists one way or another revealed their attitude towards their heroes, but basically they didactically preached the harmfulness of universal human vices, regardless of the place and time of their manifestation. Realist writers make their social, moral and ideological predilections an integral part of artistic idea, gradually leading the reader to understand his position.

Tendentiousness gives rise to a division in Russian literature into two antagonistic camps: for the first, the so-called revolutionary-democratic, the most important thing was criticism of the state system, the second demonstratively declared political indifference, proved the primacy of “artistry” over the “topic of the day” (“pure art”). The prevailing public mood is dilapidation serfdom and his morality was obvious - and the active offensive actions of the revolutionary democrats formed in the public the idea of ​​those writers who did not agree with the need to immediately break all “foundations” as anti-patriots and obscurantists. In the 1860s and 1870s, a writer’s “civic position” was valued higher than his talent: this can be seen in the examples of A. Pisemsky, P. Melnikov-Pechersky, N. Leskov, whose work was regarded negatively by revolutionary-democratic criticism or was hushed up.

This approach to art was formulated by Belinsky. “But I need poetry and artistry no more than enough for the story to be true...” he stated in a letter to V. Botkin in 1847. “The main thing is that it raises questions, makes a moral impression on society. If it achieves this goal and without poetry and creativity at all - for me it is nevertheless interesting..." Two decades later, this criterion in revolutionary-democratic criticism became fundamental (N. Chernyshevsky, N. Dobrolyubov, M. Antonovich, D. Pisarev). At the same time, the general nature of criticism and the entire ideological struggle in general with its fierce uncompromisingness, the desire to “destroy" those who disagree. Another six or seven decades will pass, and in the era of the dominance of socialist realism, this tendency is realized in the literal sense.

However, all this is still far ahead. In the meantime, new thinking is being developed in realism, a search is underway for new themes, images and style. The focus of realistic literature is alternately on the “little man,” “extra” and “new” people, folk types. “The Little Man,” with his sorrows and joys, first appeared in the works of A. Pushkin (“The Station Agent”) and N. Gogol (“The Overcoat”), and for a long time became an object of sympathy in Russian literature. Social humiliation" little man" redeemed all the narrowness of his interests. The property of the "little man" barely outlined in "The Overcoat" under favorable circumstances to turn into a predator (at the end of the story a ghost appears, robbing any passer-by without regard to rank and condition) was noted only by F. Dostoevsky ("The Double" ) and A. Chekhov ("The Triumph of the Winner", "Two in One"), but in general remained unexplained in literature. Only in the 20th century would M. Bulgakov devote an entire story to this problem (" dog's heart").

Following the “little one,” the “superfluous person” came to Russian literature, the “smart uselessness” of Russian life, not yet ready to perceive new social and philosophical ideas (“Rudin” by I. Turgenev, “Who is to Blame?” by A. Herzen, “Hero” of our time" by M. Lermontov and others). " Extra people“They have mentally outgrown their environment and time, but due to their upbringing and financial status they are not capable of everyday work and can only denounce self-righteous vulgarity.

As a result of thinking about the possibilities of the nation, a gallery of images of “new people” appears, most vividly presented in “Fathers and Sons” by I. Turgenev and “What is to be done?” N. Chernyshevsky. Characters of this type are presented as decisive subverters of outdated morality and government and are examples of honest work and zeal." common cause". These are, as their contemporaries called them, “nihilists,” whose authority is younger generation was very tall.

In contrast to works about “nihilists,” “anti-nihilistic” literature also appears. In works of both types, standard characters and situations are easily detected. In the first category, the hero thinks independently and provides himself with intellectual work, his bold speeches and actions make young people want to imitate authority, he is close to the masses and knows how to change their lives for the better, etc. In anti-nihilistic literature, “nihilists” " were usually portrayed as depraved and unscrupulous phrase-mongers who pursue their own narrowly selfish goals and crave power and worship; Traditionally, the connection between the “nihilists” and the “Polish rebels”, etc. has been noted.

There were not so many works about the “new people”, while among their opponents were such writers as F. Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy, N. Leskov, A. Pisemsky, I. Goncharov, although it should be admitted that, for with the exception of "Demons" and "Precipice", their books do not belong to the best creations of these artists - and the reason for this is their pointed tendentiousness.

Deprived of the opportunity to openly discuss the pressing problems of our time in representative government institutions Russian society concentrates his mental life in literature and journalism. The writer’s word becomes very significant and often serves as an impetus for making vital decisions. The hero of Dostoevsky's novel "The Teenager" admits that he left for the village in order to make life easier for the men under the influence of "Anton the Miserable" by D. Grigorovich. The sewing workshops described in “What to do?” gave rise to many similar establishments in real life.

At the same time, it is noteworthy that Russian literature has practically not created the image of an active and energetic person, busy with a specific task, but not thinking about a radical reorganization of the political system. Attempts in this direction (Kostanzhoglo and Murazov in “Dead Souls”, Stolz in “Oblomov”) were regarded by modern criticism as groundless. And if " dark kingdom“A. Ostrovsky aroused keen interest among the public and critics, but subsequently the playwright’s desire to paint portraits of entrepreneurs of a new formation did not find such a response in society.

The solution in literature and art to the “cursed questions” of the time required a detailed justification of a whole complex of problems that could only be solved in prose (due to its ability to address political, philosophical, moral and aesthetic problems at the same time). In prose, primary attention is paid to the novel, this “epic of modern times” (V. Belinsky), a genre that made it possible to create broad and multifaceted pictures of the life of various social strata. The realistic novel turned out to be incompatible with the plot situations that had already turned into cliches, which were so readily exploited by the romantics - the mystery of the hero’s birth, fatal passions, extraordinary situations and exotic locales in which the will and courage of the hero are tested, etc.

Now writers are looking for plots in the everyday existence of ordinary people, which becomes the object of close study in all details (interior, clothing, professional activities, etc.). Since the authors strive to give the most objective picture of reality, the emotional author-narrator either goes into the shadows or uses the mask of one of the characters.

Poetry, which has receded into the background, is largely oriented towards prose: poets master some features of prosaic storytelling (civilism, plot, description of everyday details), as this was reflected, for example, in the poetry of I. Turgenev, N. Nekrasov, N. Ogarev.

Portraiture of realism also gravitates towards detailed description, as was also observed among the romantics, but now it carries a different psychological load. "By examining facial features, the writer finds" main idea“Physion and conveys it in all the completeness and universality of a person’s inner life. A realistic portrait, as a rule, is analytical, there is no artificiality in it; everything in it is natural and conditioned by character.” In this case, the so-called “material characteristics” of the character (costume, home decoration) play an important role, which also contributes to an in-depth disclosure of the psychology of the characters. These are the portraits of Sobakevich, Manilov, Plyushkin in “Dead Souls”. In the future, the listing of details is replaced by some detail that gives scope to the reader’s imagination, calling him to “co-authorship” when familiarizing himself with the work.

The depiction of everyday life leads to the abandonment of complex metaphorical structures and refined stylistics. Vernacular, dialect and professional speech, which classicists and romanticists, as a rule, used only to create a comic effect, are gaining more and more rights in literary speech. In this regard, “Dead Souls”, “Notes of a Hunter” and a number of other works by Russian writers of the 1840s–1850s are indicative.

The development of realism in Russia proceeded at a very fast pace. In just less than two decades, Russian realism, starting with “physiological essays” of the 1840s, gave the world such writers as Gogol, Turgenev, Pisemsky, L. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky... Already in the middle of the 19th century, Russian literature became the focus of Russian social thoughts, going beyond the art of words among other arts. Literature “is imbued with moral and religious pathos, journalistic and philosophical, complicated by meaningful subtext; masters the “Aesopian language”, the spirit of opposition, protest; the burden of literature’s responsibility to society, and its liberating, analytical, generalizing mission in the context of the entire culture, becomes fundamentally different. Literature turns into self-forming factor of culture, and above all, this circumstance (that is, cultural synthesis, functional universality, etc.) ultimately determined the worldwide significance of Russian classics (and not its direct relationship to the revolutionary liberation movement, as Herzen, and after Lenin, almost all of them, tried to show Soviet criticism and the science of literature)".

Closely following the development of Russian literature, P. Merimee once said to Turgenev: “Your poetry seeks first of all the truth, and then beauty appears by itself.” Indeed, the main direction of Russian classics is represented by characters walking along the path of moral quest, tormented by the consciousness that they did not fully use the opportunities provided to them by nature. Such are Pushkin's Onegin, Lermontov's Pechorin, Pierre Bezukhov and L. Tolstoy's Levin, Turgenev's Rudin, such are Dostoevsky's heroes. “The hero, who gains moral self-determination on the paths given to man “from time immemorial,” and thereby enriches his empirical nature, is elevated by Russian classical writers to the ideal of a person involved in Christian ontologism.” Is it because the idea of ​​a social utopia at the beginning of the 20th century found such an effective response in Russian society because the Christian (specifically Russian) search for the “promised city”, transformed in the popular consciousness into a communist “bright future”, which is already visible over the horizon, had in Russia has such long and deep roots?

Abroad, the attraction to the ideal was much less pronounced, despite the fact that the critical principle in literature sounded no less significant. This is reflected in the general orientation of Protestantism, which considers success in business as fulfilling the will of God. The heroes of European writers suffer from injustice and vulgarity, but first of all they think about own happiness, while Turgenev's Rudin, Nekrasov's Grisha Dobrosklonov, Chernyshevsky's Rakhmetov are concerned not with personal success, but with general prosperity.

Moral problems in Russian literature are inseparable from political problems and, directly or indirectly, are associated with Christian dogmas. Russian writers often take on a role similar to the role of the Old Testament prophets - teachers of life (Gogol, Chernyshevsky, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy). “Russian artists,” wrote N. Berdyaev, “will have a thirst to move from creativity works of art to the creativity of a perfect life. The theme of religious-metaphysical and religious-social torments all significant Russian writers."

Strengthening the role fiction in public life also entails the development of criticism. And here the palm also belongs to Pushkin, who moved from taste and normative assessments to the discovery of general patterns of the contemporary literary process. Pushkin was the first to recognize the need for a new way of depicting reality, “true romanticism,” according to his definition. Belinsky was the first Russian critic who tried to create an integral historical and theoretical concept and periodization of Russian literature.

During the second half of the 19th century, it was the activity of critics (N. Chernyshevsky, N. Dobrolyubov, D. Pisarev, K. Aksakov, A. Druzhinin, A. Grigoriev, etc.) that contributed to the development of the theory of realism and the formation of domestic literary criticism (P. Annenkov, A. Pypin, A. Veselovsky, A. Potebnya, D. Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky, etc.).

As is known, the main direction in art is paved by the achievements of outstanding artists, whose discoveries are used by “ordinary talents” (V. Belinsky). Let us characterize the main milestones in the formation and development of Russian realistic art, the achievements of which made it possible to call the second half of the century “the century of Russian literature.”

At the origins of Russian realism are I. Krylov and A. Griboyedov. The great fabulist was the first in Russian literature to recreate the “Russian spirit” in his works. The lively colloquial speech of Krylov's fable characters, his thorough knowledge of folk life, and the use of popular common sense as a moral standard made Krylov the first truly “folk” writer. Griboedov expanded Krylov's sphere of interests, placing the center of attention on the “drama of ideas” that lived in educated society in the first quarter of the century. His Chatsky, in the fight against the “Old Believers,” defends national interests from the same positions of “common sense” and popular morality. Krylov and Griboyedov still use the dilapidated principles of classicism (the didactic genre of fables in Krylov, the “three unities” in “Woe from Wit”), but their creative power even within these outdated frameworks declares itself loudly.

In Pushkin’s work, the main problems, pathos, and methodology of realism have already been outlined. Pushkin was the first to depict the “superfluous man” in “Eugene Onegin”; he also outlined the character of the “little man” (“The Station Warden”), and saw in the people the moral potential that determines the national character (“ Captain's daughter", "Dubrovsky"). Under the poet's pen, such a hero as Hermann first appeared (" Queen of Spades"), a fanatic obsessed with one idea and not stopping at any obstacles to implement it; Pushkin also touched on the theme of emptiness and insignificance of the upper strata of society.

All these problems and images were picked up and developed by Pushkin’s contemporaries and subsequent generations of writers. “Superfluous people” and their capabilities are analyzed in “Hero of Our Time”, and in “Dead Souls”, and in “Who is to Blame?” Herzen, and in “Rudin” by Turgenev, and in “Oblomov” by Goncharov, depending on time and circumstances, acquiring new features and colors. "The Little Man" is described by Gogol ("The Overcoat"), Dostoevsky (Poor People). Tyrant landowners and "sky-smokers" were portrayed by Gogol ("Dead Souls"), Turgenev ("Notes of a Hunter"), Saltykov-Shchedrin ("The Golovlev Gentlemen" "), Melnikov-Pechersky ("Old Years"), Leskov ("The Stupid Artist") and many others. Of course, such types were supplied by Russian reality itself, but it was Pushkin who identified them and developed the basic techniques for depicting them. And folk types in their relations between themselves and the masters arose in objective light precisely in the work of Pushkin, subsequently becoming the object of close study by Turgenev, Nekrasov, Pisemsky, L. Tolstoy, and populist writers.

Having passed the period of romantic depictions of unusual characters in exceptional circumstances, Pushkin opened for the reader the poetry of everyday life, in which the place of the hero was taken by an “ordinary”, “little” person.

Pushkin rarely describes the inner world of the characters; their psychology is more often revealed through actions or commented on by the author. The characters depicted are perceived as a result of the influence of the environment, but most often they are not given in development, but as a kind of already formed reality. The process of formation and transformation of the psychology of characters will be mastered in literature in the second half of the century.

Pushkin’s role is also great in developing norms and expanding the boundaries of literary speech. The colloquial element of language, which clearly manifested itself in the works of Krylov and Griboedov, still has not yet fully established its rights; it is not without reason that Pushkin called for learning the language from the Moscow breadwinners.

The simplicity and accuracy, the “transparency” of Pushkin’s style at first seemed to be a loss of the high aesthetic criteria of previous times. But later “the structure of Pushkin’s prose, its style-forming principles were adopted by the writers who followed him - with all the individual originality of each of them.”

It is necessary to note one more feature of Pushkin’s genius - his universalism. Poetry and prose, drama, journalism and historical studies - there was no genre in which he did not say a significant word. Subsequent generations of artists, no matter how great their talent, still mainly gravitate towards one particular family.

The development of Russian realism was not, of course, a straightforward and unambiguous process, during which romanticism was consistently and inevitably replaced by realistic art. This can be seen especially clearly in the example of M. Lermontov’s work.

In their early works Lermontov creates romantic images, coming to the conclusion in “Hero of Our Time” that “the history of the human soul, at least the smallest soul, almost more curious and useful than the history of an entire people...". The object of close attention in the novel is not only the hero - Pechorin. With no less care, the author peers into the experiences of "ordinary" people (Maksim Maksimych, Grushnitsky). The method of studying Pechorin's psychology – confession – is associated with a romantic worldview, however, the author’s general focus on an objective portrayal of characters determines the constant comparison of Pechorin with other characters, which makes it possible to convincingly motivate those actions of the hero that would remain only declared for a romantic. different situations and in clashes with different people Pechorin opens up from new sides every time, revealing strength and tenderness, determination and apathy, selflessness and selfishness... Pechorin, like romantic hero, experienced everything, lost faith in everything, but the author is not inclined to either blame or justify his hero - an unacceptable position for a romantic artist.

In A Hero of Our Time, the dynamism of the plot, which would be quite appropriate in the adventure genre, is combined with deep psychological analysis. This is how Lermontov’s romantic attitude manifested itself here, as he embarked on the path of realism. And by creating “A Hero of Our Time,” the poet did not completely abandon the poetics of romanticism. The heroes of "Mtsyri" and "Demon", in essence, solve the same problems as Pechorin (achieving independence, freedom), only in the poems the experiment is carried out, as they say, in its pure form. Almost everything is available to the demon, Mtsyri sacrifices everything for the sake of freedom, but the sad result of the desire for an absolute ideal in these works is already summed up by the realist artist.

Lermontov completed “...the process of eliminating genre boundaries in poetry, begun by G. R. Derzhavin and continued by Pushkin. Most of his poetic texts are “poems” in general, often synthesizing the features of different genres.”

And Gogol began as a romantic (“Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”), however, even after “Dead Souls,” his most mature realistic creation, romantic situations and characters never cease to attract the writer (“Rome,” second edition of “Portrait”).

At the same time, Gogol refuses the romantic style. Like Pushkin, he prefers to convey the inner world of the characters not through their monologues or “confession.” Gogol's characters attest to themselves through actions or by means of “material” characteristics. Gogol's narrator plays the role of a commentator, allowing one to reveal shades of feelings or details of events. But the writer is not limited to only the visible side of what is happening. For him, what is hidden behind the outer shell – the “soul” – is much more important. True, Gogol, like Pushkin, mainly depicts already established characters.

Gogol marked the beginning of the revival of the religious and edifying tendency in Russian literature. Already in the romantic "Evenings" dark forces, demonism, retreat before kindness and religious fortitude. “Taras Bulba” is animated by the idea of ​​direct defense of Orthodoxy. And “Dead Souls,” populated by characters who neglected their spiritual development, were supposed, according to the author’s plan, to show the path to the revival of fallen man. The appointment of a writer in Russia for Gogol at the end of his creative path becomes inseparable from spiritual service to God and people, which cannot be limited only by material interests. Gogol’s “Reflections on the Divine Liturgy” and “Selected Passages from Correspondence with Friends” were dictated by a sincere desire to educate oneself in the spirit of highly moral Christianity. However, it was the last book that even Gogol’s admirers perceived as a creative failure, since social progress, as many believed then, was incompatible with religious “prejudices.”

The writers of the “natural school” also did not accept this side of Gogol’s work, having assimilated only his critical pathos, which in Gogol serves to affirm the spiritual ideal. The “natural school” was limited only, so to speak, to the “material sphere” of the writer’s interests.

And subsequently, the realistic trend in literature makes the main criterion of artistry the fidelity of the depiction of reality, reproduced “in the forms of life itself.” For its time, this was a huge achievement, since it made it possible to achieve such a degree of life-likeness in the art of words that literary characters begin to be perceived as really existing people and become an integral part of national and even world culture (Onegin, Pechorin, Khlestakov, Manilov, Oblomov, Tartarin, Madame Bovary, Mr. Dombey, Raskolnikov, etc.).

As already noted, the high degree of life-likeness in literature does not at all exclude fiction and science fiction. For example, in Gogol’s famous story “The Overcoat,” from which, according to Dostoevsky, all Russian literature of the 19th century came, there is a fantastic story of a ghost that terrifies passers-by. Realism does not abandon the grotesque, symbol, allegory, etc., although all these visual means do not determine the main tonality of the work. In those cases when the work is based on fantastic assumptions ("The History of a City" by M. Saltykov-Shchedrin), there is no place for the irrational principle, without which romanticism cannot do.

Focus on facts was a strong point of realism, but, as we know, “our shortcomings are a continuation of our advantages.” In the 1870–1890s, a movement called “naturalism” emerged within European realism. Under the influence of the success of the natural sciences and positivism (the philosophical teaching of O. Comte), writers want to achieve complete objectivity of the reproduced reality. “I don’t want, like Balzac, to decide what the structure of human life should be, to be a politician, a philosopher, a moralist... The picture I paint is a simple analysis of a piece of reality, such as it is,” said one of the ideologists of “naturalism” E. Zola.

Despite internal contradictions, the group of French naturalist writers that formed around Zola (Br. E. and J. Goncourt, C. Huysmans, etc.) professed a common view of the task of art: depicting the inevitability and invincibility of rough social reality and cruel human instincts that everyone is drawn in the stormy and chaotic “stream of life” into the abyss of passions and actions unpredictable in their consequences.

Human psychology among “naturalists” is strictly determined by the environment. Hence the attention to the smallest details of everyday life, recorded with the dispassion of a camera, and at the same time the biological predestination of the characters’ fate is emphasized. In an effort to write “under the dictation of life,” naturalists tried to eradicate any manifestation of a subjective vision of the problems and objects of the image. At the same time, pictures of the most unattractive aspects of reality appear in their works. A writer, naturalists argued, like a doctor, has no right to ignore any phenomenon, no matter how disgusting it may be. With this attitude, the biological principle involuntarily began to look more important than the social one. The books of naturalists shocked adherents of traditional aesthetics, but nevertheless, later writers (S. Crane, F. Norris, G. Hauptmann, etc.) used individual discoveries of naturalism - primarily the expansion of the field of view of art.

In Russia, naturalism did not receive much development. We can only talk about some naturalistic tendencies in the works of A. Pisemsky and D. Mamin-Sibiryak. The only Russian writer who declaratively professed the principles of French naturalism was P. Boborykin.

Literature and journalism of the post-reform era gave rise to the conviction among the thinking part of Russian society that the revolutionary reorganization of society would immediately lead to the flourishing of all best sides personality, because there will be no oppression and lies. Very few did not share this confidence, and first of all F. Dostoevsky.

The author of "Poor People" was aware that rejection of the norms of traditional morality and the covenants of Christianity would lead to anarchy and a bloody war of all against all. As a Christian, Dostoevsky knew that in every human soul the

God or the devil and it depends on everyone who he will give preference to. But the path to God is not easy. To get closer to him, you need to be imbued with the suffering of others. Without understanding and empathy for others, no one can become a full-fledged person. With all his work, Dostoevsky proved: “Man on the earth’s surface has no right to turn away and ignore what is happening on earth, and there are higher moral reasons for that."

Unlike his predecessors, Dostoevsky did not strive to capture established, typical forms of life and psychology, but to capture and identify emerging social conflicts and types. His works are always dominated by crisis situations and characters, outlined with large, sharp strokes. In his novels, the “dramas of ideas”, intellectual and psychological duels of characters are brought to the fore, and the individual is inseparable from the universal; behind a single fact there are “world issues”.

Discovering the loss of moral guidelines in modern society, powerlessness and fear of the individual in the grip of a spiritless reality, Dostoevsky did not believe that a person should capitulate to “external circumstances.” He, according to Dostoevsky, can and must overcome “chaos” - and then, as a result of the common efforts of everyone, “world harmony” will reign, based on overcoming unbelief, selfishness and anarchic self-will. A person who has embarked on the thorny road of self-improvement will face material deprivation, moral suffering, and misunderstanding of others (“Idiot”). The most difficult thing is not to become a “superman”, like Raskolnikov, and, seeing in others only a “rag”, to indulge any desire, but to learn to forgive and love, without demanding reward, like Prince Myshkin or Alyosha Karamazov.

Like no other leading artist of his time, Dostoevsky was close to the spirit of Christianity. In his work, the problem of the original sinfulness of man is analyzed in various aspects ("Demons", "Teenager", "The Dream of a Funny Man", "The Brothers Karamazov"). According to the writer, the result of the original Fall is world evil, which gives rise to one of the most acute social problems- the problem of fighting against God. “Atheistic expressions of unprecedented power” are contained in the images of Stavrogin, Versilov, Ivan Karamazov, but their throwings do not prove the victory of evil and pride. This is the path to God through His initial denial, proof of God's existence by contradiction. Dostoevsky's ideal hero must inevitably take as his model the life and teaching of the One who for the writer is the only moral guideline in a world of doubt and hesitation (Prince Myshkin, Alyosha Karamazov).

With the artist’s brilliant instinct, Dostoevsky felt that socialism, under the banner of which many honest and intelligent people are rushing, is the result of the decline of religion (“Demons”). The writer predicted that humanity would face severe upheavals on the path of social progress, and directly connected them with the loss of faith and its replacement with socialist teachings. The depth of Dostoevsky’s insight was confirmed in the 20th century by S. Bulgakov, who already had reason to assert: “...Socialism today acts not only as a neutral area of ​​social policy, but, usually, also as a religion based on atheism and man-theology, on self-deification of man and human labor and recognition of the elemental forces of nature and social life the only foundational principle of history." In the USSR, all this was realized in practice. All means of propaganda and agitation, among which literature played one of the leading roles, introduced into the consciousness of the masses that the proletariat, always led by the right leader and party in any undertakings, and creative work - forces called upon to transform the world and create a society of universal happiness (a kind of Kingdom of God on earth). The only thing Dostoevsky was wrong about was his assumption that the moral crisis and the subsequent spiritual and social cataclysms would break out primarily in Europe .

Along with the “eternal questions,” Dostoevsky the realist is also characterized by attention to the most ordinary and at the same time hidden from the mass consciousness facts of our time. Together with the author, these problems are given to the heroes of the writer’s works to solve, and comprehension of the truth is very difficult for them. The individual's struggle with the social environment and with himself determines the special polyphonic form of Dostoevsky's novels.

The author-narrator takes part in the action as an equal, or even a secondary character (“chronicler” in “Demons”). Dostoevsky's hero not only has an inner secret world that the reader has to know; he, according to M. Bakhtin’s definition, “most of all thinks about what others think and may think about him, he strives to get ahead of someone else’s consciousness, every other person’s thought about him, every point of view on him. With all his own moments of his confessions, he tries to anticipate a possible definition and assessment of him by others, to guess these possible other people’s words about him, interrupting his speech with imaginary someone else’s remarks.” Trying to guess other people's opinions and arguing with them in advance, Dostoevsky's heroes seem to bring to life their doubles, in whose speeches and actions the reader receives justification or denial of the characters' position (Raskolnikov - Luzhin and Svidrigailov in Crime and Punishment, Stavrogin - Shatov and Kirillov in "Demons").

The dramatic intensity of the action in Dostoevsky’s novels is also due to the fact that he brings events as close as possible to the “topic of the day,” sometimes drawing plots from newspaper articles. Almost always, in the center of Dostoevsky’s work there is a crime. However, behind the sharp, almost detective plot there is no desire to solve a tricky logical problem. The writer raises criminal events and motives to the level of capacious philosophical symbols ("Crime and Punishment", "Demons", "The Brothers Karamazov").

The setting of Dostoevsky’s novels is Russia, and often only its capital, and at the same time the writer received worldwide recognition, because for many decades to come he anticipated the general interest in global problems for the 20th century (“superman” and the rest of the masses, “man of the crowd” and state machine, faith and spiritual anarchy, etc.). The writer created a world populated by complex, contradictory characters, rich dramatic conflicts, for the solution of which there is not and cannot be simple recipes- one of the reasons that in Soviet times Dostoevsky’s work was either declared reactionary or kept silent.

Dostoevsky's work outlined the main direction of literature and culture of the 20th century. Dostoevsky inspired Z. Freud in many ways; A. Einstein, T. Mann, W. Faulkner, F. Fellini, A. Camus, Akutagawa and other outstanding thinkers and artists spoke about the enormous influence of the works of the Russian writer on them.

L. Tolstoy also made a huge contribution to the development of Russian literature. Already in his first story, “Childhood” (1852), which appeared in print, Tolstoy acted as an innovative artist.

His detailed and clear descriptions of everyday life are combined with a microanalysis of the complex and dynamic psychology of a child.

Tolstoy enjoys own method images of the human psyche, observing the “dialectics of the soul.” The writer strives to trace the development of character and does not emphasize its “positive” and “negative” sides. He argued that there was no point in talking about any "defining trait" of a character. “... In my life I have never met an evil, proud, kind or intelligent person. In humility I always find the suppressed desire of pride, in the smartest book I find stupidity, in the conversation of the stupidest person I find smart things, etc.” etc. etc."

The writer was sure that if people learn to understand the multi-layered thoughts and feelings of others, then most psychological and social conflicts will lose their severity. The task of a writer, according to Tolstoy, is to teach to understand another. And for this it is necessary that truth in all its manifestations become the hero of literature. This goal is already declared in “Sevastopol Stories” (1855–1856), which combines the documentary accuracy of what is depicted and the depth of psychological analysis.

The tendentiousness of art, propagated by Chernyshevsky and his supporters, turned out to be unacceptable for Tolstoy simply because the a priori idea was placed at the forefront of the work, determining the selection of facts and the angle of view. The writer almost demonstratively joins the camp of “pure art”, which rejects all “didactics”. But the position “above the fray” turned out to be unacceptable for him. In 1864, he wrote the play “The Infected Family” (it was not published and staged in the theater), in which he expressed his sharp rejection of “nihilism.” Subsequently, all of Tolstoy’s work was devoted to the overthrow of hypocritical bourgeois morality and social inequality, although he did not adhere to any specific political doctrine.

Already at the beginning of his creative career, having lost faith in the possibility of changing social orders, especially in a violent way, the writer seeks at least personal happiness in the family circle ("The Romance of a Russian Landowner", 1859), however, having constructed his ideal of a woman capable of self-sacrifice in the name of her husband and children, comes to the conclusion that this ideal is also unrealizable.

Tolstoy longed to find a model of life in which there would be no place for any artificiality, any falsehood. For a while, he believed that one could be happy among simple, undemanding people close to nature. You just need to completely share their way of life and be content with the little that forms the basis of a “correct” existence (free labor, love, duty, family ties - “Cossacks”, 1863). And Tolstoy strives in real life to be imbued with the interests of the people, but his direct contacts with the peasants and his work in the 1860s and 1870s reveal an ever-deepening gap between the peasant and the master.

Tolstoy tries to discover the meaning of modernity that eludes him by delving into the historical past, by returning to the sources of the national worldview. He came up with the idea of ​​a huge epic canvas, which would reflect and comprehend the most significant moments of the life of Russia. In “War and Peace” (1863–1869), Tolstoy’s characters painfully strive to comprehend the meaning of life and, together with the author, are imbued with the conviction that it is possible to comprehend the thoughts and feelings of people only at the cost of renouncing one’s own egoistic desires and gaining the experience of suffering. Some, like Andrei Bolkonsky, learn this truth before death; others - Pierre Bezukhov - find it, rejecting skepticism and defeating the power of the flesh with the power of reason, finding themselves in high love; the third - Platon Karataev - this truth is given from birth, since “simplicity” and “truth” are embodied in them. According to the author, Karataev’s life “as he himself looked at it, did not make sense as a separate life. It made sense only as a particle of the whole, which he constantly felt.” This moral position is illustrated by the example of Napoleon and Kutuzov. The gigantic will and passions of the French emperor give in to the actions of the Russian commander, devoid of external effect, for the latter expresses the will of the entire nation, united in the face of a terrible danger.

In his work and in life, Tolstoy strove for harmony of thought and feeling, which could be achieved with a universal understanding of individual particulars and the general picture of the universe. The path to such harmony is long and thorny, but it cannot be shortened. Tolstoy, like Dostoevsky, did not accept revolutionary teachings. Paying tribute to the selflessness of the faith of the “socialists,” the writer nevertheless saw salvation not in the revolutionary dismantling of the state structure, but in the unswerving adherence to the gospel commandments, no matter how simple, just as difficult to fulfill. He was sure that one cannot “invent life and demand its implementation.”

But Tolstoy’s restless soul and mind could not fully accept the Christian doctrine. At the end of the 19th century, the writer opposed the official church, which was in many ways akin to the state bureaucratic apparatus, and tried to correct Christianity, to create his own teaching, which, despite numerous followers ("Tolstoyism"), had no prospects in the future.

In his declining years, having become a “teacher of life” for millions in his fatherland and far beyond its borders, Tolstoy still constantly experienced doubts about his own righteousness. In only one thing was he unshakable: the custodian of the highest truth is the people, with their simplicity and naturalness. For the writer, the interest of the decadents in the dark and hidden twists of the human psyche meant a departure from art, which actively serves humanistic ideals. True, in last years In his life, Tolstoy was inclined to think that art is a luxury that not everyone needs: first of all, society needs to comprehend the simplest moral truths, the strict observance of which would eliminate many “damned questions.”

And one more name cannot be avoided when talking about the evolution of Russian realism. This is A. Chekhov. He refuses to recognize the complete dependence of the individual on the environment. “Chekhov’s dramatic conflict situations do not consist in the opposition of the volitional orientation of different parties, but in objectively caused contradictions, against which the individual will is powerless.” In other words, the writer is groping for those painful points of human nature that will later be explained by congenital complexes, genetic programming, etc. Chekhov also refuses to study the possibilities and desires of the “little man”; the object of his study is an “average” person in all respects. Like the characters of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, Chekhov's heroes are also woven from contradictions; their thoughts also strive to know the Truth, but they do this poorly, and almost none of them thinks about God.

Chekhov reveals a new type of personality generated by Russian reality - the type of an honest but limited doctrinaire who firmly believes in the power of social “progress” and judges living life using social and literary templates (Doctor Lvov in “Ivanov”, Lida in “House” with mezzanine" etc.). Such people talk a lot and willingly about duty and the need for honest work, about virtue, although it is clear that behind all their tirades there is a lack of genuine feeling - their tireless activity is akin to mechanical.

Those characters The people with whom Chekhov sympathizes do not like loud words and meaningful gestures, even if they are experiencing genuine drama. The tragic in the writer's understanding is not something exceptional. In modern times it is everyday and commonplace. A person gets used to the fact that there is no other life and cannot be, and this, according to Chekhov, is the most terrible social ailment. At the same time, the tragic in Chekhov is inseparable from the funny, satire is fused with lyricism, vulgarity is adjacent to the sublime, as a result of which an “undercurrent” appears in Chekhov’s works; the subtext becomes no less significant than the text.

Dealing with the “little things” of life, Chekhov gravitates towards an almost plotless narrative (“Ionych”, “Steppe”, “ The Cherry Orchard"), to the imaginary incompleteness of the action. The center of gravity in his works is transferred to the story of the spiritual hardening of the character ("Gooseberry", "Man in a Case") or, on the contrary, his awakening ("The Bride", "Duel").

Chekhov invites the reader to empathy, not expressing everything that the author knows, but pointing out the direction of the “search” only with individual details, which in his work often increase to symbols (a dead bird in “The Seagull”, a berry in “Gooseberry”). “Both symbols and subtext, combining opposing aesthetic properties (a concrete image and an abstract generalization, a real text and an “internal” thought in the subtext), reflect the general tendency of realism, which intensified in Chekhov’s work, towards the interpenetration of heterogeneous artistic elements.”

TO end of the 19th century century, Russian literature has accumulated enormous aesthetic and ethical experience, which has won worldwide recognition. And yet, to many writers this experience already seemed deadened. Some (V. Korolenko, M. Gorky) gravitate toward the fusion of realism with romance, others (K. Balmont, F. Sologub, V. Bryusov, etc.) believe that “copying” reality has become obsolete.

The loss of clear criteria in aesthetics is accompanied by a “crisis of consciousness” in the philosophical and social spheres. D. Merezhkovsky in the brochure “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature” (1893) comes to the conclusion that the crisis state of Russian literature is due to excessive enthusiasm for the ideals of revolutionary democracy, which requires art, first of all, to have civic acuity. The obvious failure of the sixties behests gave rise to public pessimism and a tendency towards individualism. Merezhkovsky wrote: " Newest theory knowledge erected an indestructible dam, which forever separated the solid land accessible to people from the boundless and dark ocean that lies beyond the boundaries of our knowledge. And the waves of this ocean can no longer invade the inhabited earth, the region of exact knowledge... Never before has the boundary line of science and faith been so sharp and inexorable... No matter where we go, no matter how we hide behind the scientific dam critics, with our whole being we feel the closeness of mystery, the closeness of the ocean. No barriers! We are free and alone! No enslaved mysticism of past centuries can compare with this horror. Never before have people felt so strongly the need to believe and have not so rationally understood the impossibility of believing." L. Tolstoy also spoke about the crisis of art in a somewhat different way: "Literature was a blank sheet of paper, but now it is all covered with writing. You need to turn it over or get another one."

Realism, which had reached its peak of flowering, seemed to many to have finally exhausted its possibilities. Symbolism, which originated in France, claimed a new word in art.

Russian symbolism, like all previous movements in art, dissociated itself from the old tradition. And yet, the Russian symbolists grew up on the soil prepared by such giants as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Chekhov, and could not ignore their experience and artistic discoveries. "...Symbolic prose actively involved ideas, themes, images, techniques of the great Russian realists in its own art world, forming with this constant juxtaposition one of the defining properties of symbolic art and thereby giving many themes of realistic literature of the 19th century century, a second reflected life in the art of the 20th century." And later, “critical” realism, which was declared abolished in Soviet times, continued to nourish the aesthetics of L. Leonov, M. Sholokhov, V. Grossman, V. Belov, V. Rasputin, F. Abramov and many other writers.

Bulgakov S. Early Christianity and modern socialism. Two hail. M., 1911.T. P.S. 36.

Skaftymov A. P. Articles about Russian literature. Saratov, 1958. P. 330.

Development of realism in Russian literature. T. 3. P. 106.

Development of realism in Russian literature. T. 3. P. 246.

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

In contact with

Among other directions, only in the realistic is special attention paid to the correct artistic depiction of life, and not to 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 widespread trends in literature, settled closer to the middle of the 19th century after its predecessor - romanticism. The 19th century is 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! The definition of this term was first introduced in literary criticism DI. Pisarev.

The main features of this direction are as follows:

1. Full compliance with the reality depicted in any work of the painting.
2. True specific typification of all the details in the images of the heroes.
3. The basis is a conflict situation between a person 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 movement is considered to be the writer’s significant attention to the inner world of a person, his state of mind.

Main genres

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

1. A social and everyday novel that describes lifestyle and a certain type of character inherent in a given way of life. A good example“Anna Karenina” became a social and everyday genre.
2. A socio-psychological novel, in the description of which one can see a complete detailed disclosure of the human personality, his personality and inner world.
3. A realistic novel in verse is a special type of novel. A remarkable example of this genre is “”, written by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.
4. A realistic philosophical novel contains eternal reflections on such topics as: the meaning of human existence, the confrontation between good and evil sides, a certain purpose of 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 was a consequence of the conflict situation in various spheres of society, the contradictions between higher ranks and ordinary people. Writers began to turn to current problems of its time.

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

The initial stage in the development of the realistic trend in Russian literature is the “natural school”. During the period of the “natural school,” literary works tended to a greater extent to describe the position of the hero in society, his belonging to some kind of profession. Among all genres, the leading place was occupied by physiological essay.

In the 1850s–1900s, realism began to be called critical, since the main goal was to criticize what was happening, the relationship between a certain person and spheres of society. Issues such as: the measure of the influence of society on the life of an individual were considered; actions that can change a person and the world around him; the reason for the lack of happiness in human life.

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

I.S. Turgenev created an ideological type of heroes, the character, personality and internal state of 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 they follow until the very end, developing them as much as possible.

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

Founder of realism

The title of pioneer of this trend in Russian literature was rightfully awarded to Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. He is the generally recognized founder of realism in Russia. “Boris Godunov” and “Eugene Onegin” are considered striking examples of realism in Russian literature of those times. Also distinguishing examples were such works by Alexander Sergeevich as “Belkin’s Tales” and “The Captain’s Daughter”.

Classical realism gradually begins to develop in Pushkin’s creative works. The writer’s portrayal of the personality of each character 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 person, his moral character helps Pushkin overcome the self-will of describing passions inherent in irrationalism.

Heroes A.S. Pushkin appear before readers with open sides of their being. The writer pays special attention to describing the aspects 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 due to his awareness of the need to depict a specific historical and national identity in the characteristics of the people.

Attention! Reality in Pushkin’s depiction collects 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 movements, since its representatives had different artistic approaches to depicting reality, including the characteristic features of the 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.

Representatives and works of realism

Like other literary movements, realism has many Russian and foreign representatives, most of whom have works of the realistic style in more than one copy.

Foreign representatives of realism: Honoré de Balzac - “The Human Comedy”, Stendhal - “The Red and the Black”, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Dickens - “The Adventures of Oliver Twist”, Mark Twain - “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”, Jack London – “The Sea Wolf”, “Hearts of Three”.

Russian representatives of this direction: A.S. Pushkin - “Eugene Onegin”, “Boris Godunov”, “Dubrovsky”, “The Captain’s Daughter”, M.Yu. Lermontov - “Hero of Our Time”, N.V. Gogol - “”, A.I. Herzen - “Who is to blame?”, N.G. Chernyshevsky - “What to do?”, F.M. Dostoevsky - “Humiliated and Insulted”, “Poor People”, L.N. Tolstoy - "", "Anna Karenina", A.P. Chekhov – “The Cherry Orchard”, “Student”, “Chameleon”, M.A. Bulgakov - “The Master and Margarita”, “Heart of a Dog”, I.S. Turgenev - “Asya”, “Spring Waters”, “” and others.

Russian realism as a movement in literature: features and genres

Unified State Exam 2017. Literature. Literary directions: classicism, romanticism, realism, modernism, etc.