VSEVOLOD SAKHAROV

Russian literature of the 19th (XIX) centuries

In the 19th century, Russian literature reached unprecedented heights, which is why this period is often called the “golden age”

One of the very first events was the reissue of the ATS. Following it, 4 volumes of the “Dictionary of Church Slavonic and Russian Language” were published. Over the course of a century, the world has learned about the most talented prose writers and poets. Their works have taken their rightful place in world culture and influenced the work of foreign writers.

Russian literature of the 18th century was characterized by very calm development. Throughout the century, poets praised the sense of human dignity and tried to instill in the reader high moral ideals. Only in the late 90s did more daring works begin to appear, the authors of which emphasized personality psychology, experiences and emotions.

Why did Russian literature of the 19th century achieve such development? This was due to events that took place in the political and cultural life countries. This is the war with Turkey, and the invasion of Napoleon’s army, and the public execution of oppositionists, and the eradication of serfdom... All this gave impetus to the emergence of completely different stylistic devices.

A prominent representative of Russian literature of the 19th century is Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. A comprehensively developed and highly educated person was able to reach the peak of enlightenment. By the age of 37 he was known throughout the world. He became famous thanks to the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila”. And “Eugene Onegin” is still associated with a guide to Russian life. Pushkin became the founder of traditions in writing literary works. His heroes, completely new and original for that time, won the hearts of millions of contemporaries. Take Tatyana Larina for example! Intelligence, beauty and characteristics inherent only in the Russian soul - all this was perfectly combined in her image.

Another author who forever entered the history of Russian literature of the 19th century is M. Lermontov. He continued the best traditions Pushkin. Like his teacher, he tried to understand his purpose. They really wanted to convey their principles to the authorities. Some compared the poets of that time to prophets. These writers also influenced the development of Russian literature of the 20th century. They gave her journalistic features.

It was in the 19th century that realistic literature began to emerge. Slavophiles and Westerners constantly argued about the features historical formation Russia. From this time on, the realistic genre began to develop. Writers began to endow their works with features of psychology and philosophy. The development of poetry in Russian literature of the 19th century begins to decline.

At the end of the century, writers such as A.P. made themselves known. Chekhov, A.N. Ostrovsky, N. S. Leskov, M. Gorky. Pre-revolutionary sentiments begin to be traced in most of the works. The realistic tradition begins to fade into the background. It was supplanted by decadent literature. Her mysticism and religiosity appealed to both critics and readers.

Style trends of Russian literature of the 19th century:

1. Romanticism. Romanticism has been known in Russian literature since the Middle Ages. But the 19th century gave it completely different shades. It originated not in Russia, but in Germany, but gradually penetrated into the works of our writers. Russian literature of the 19th century is characterized by romantic moods. They are reflected in the poems of Pushkin and can be traced in the very first works of Gogol.
2. Sentimentalism. Sentimentalism began to develop at the very beginning of the 19th century. He emphasizes sensuality. The first features of this trend were already visible in Russian literature of the 18th century. Karamzin managed to reveal it in all its manifestations. He inspired many authors and they followed his principles.
3. Satirical prose . In the 19th century, satirical and journalistic works began to appear in Russian literature, especially in the works of Gogol. At the very beginning of his journey, he tried to describe his homeland. The main features of his works are the unacceptability of lack of intelligence and parasitism. It affected all layers of society - landowners, peasants, and officials. He tried to draw the attention of readers to poverty spiritual world wealthy people.
   1. Realistic novel . In the second half of the 19th century, Russian literature recognized romantic ideals as completely untenable. The authors sought to show the real features of society. The best example is Dostoevsky's prose. The author reacted sharply to people's mood. Depicting the prototypes of friends, Dostoevsky tried to touch upon the most acute problems society. It is at this time that the image appears “ extra person" There is a revaluation of values. The fate of the people no longer means anything. Representatives of society come first.
4. Folk poem. In Russian literature of the 19th century, folk poetry occupied a secondary place. But, despite this, Nekrasov does not miss the opportunity to create works that combine several genres: revolutionary, peasant and heroic. His voice does not let you forget the meaning of the rhyme. The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is best example real life at that time.

Late 19th century

At the end of the 19th century, Chekhov was at the peak of popularity. At the very beginning of his career, critics repeatedly noted that he was indifferent to acute social topics. But his masterpieces were extremely popular. He followed Pushkin's principles. Each representative of Russian literature of the 19th century created a small artistic world. Their heroes wanted to achieve more, fought, worried... Some wanted to be needed and happy. Others set out to eradicate social failure. Still others experienced their own tragedy. But each work is remarkable in that it reflects the realities of the century.

© Vsevolod Sakharov. All rights reserved.

The 19th century gave birth to a large number of Russians talented prose writers and poets. Their works quickly burst into the world and took their rightful place in it. The work of many authors around the world was influenced by them. The general characteristics of Russian literature of the 19th century have become the subject of study in a separate section in literary criticism. Undoubtedly, the prerequisites for such a rapid cultural rise were events in political and social life.

Story

The main trends in art and literature are formed under the influence historical events. If in XVIII century social life in Russia was relatively measured, the next century included many important vicissitudes that influenced not only further development society and politics, but also on the formation of new trends and directions in literature.

The striking historical milestones of this period were the war with Turkey, the invasion of Napoleonic army, the execution of oppositionists, the abolition of serfdom and many other events. All of them are reflected in art and culture. A general description of Russian literature of the 19th century cannot do without mentioning the creation of new stylistic norms. The genius of the art of words was A.S. Pushkin. This great century begins with his work.

Literary language

The main merit of the brilliant Russian poet was the creation of new poetic forms, stylistic devices and unique, previously unused plots. Pushkin managed to achieve this thanks to his comprehensive development and excellent education. One day he set himself the goal of achieving all the peaks in education. And he achieved it by the age of thirty-seven. Pushkin's heroes became atypical and new for that time. The image of Tatyana Larina combines beauty, intelligence and characteristics of the Russian soul. This literary type There were no analogues in our literature before.

Answering the question: “What is the general characteristic of Russian literature of the 19th century?”, a person with at least basic philological knowledge will remember such names as Pushkin, Chekhov, Dostoevsky. But it was the author of “Eugene Onegin” who made a revolution in Russian literature.

Romanticism

This concept originates from Western medieval epic. But to 19th century it acquired new shades. Originating in Germany, romanticism penetrated into the work of Russian authors. In prose, this direction is characterized by a desire for mystical motives and folk legends. Poetry traces the desire to transform life for the better and the chanting folk heroes. The opposition and their tragic end became fertile ground for poetic creativity.

The general characteristics of Russian literature of the 19th century are marked by romantic moods in the lyrics, which were quite often found in the poems of Pushkin and other poets of his galaxy.

As for prose, new forms of the story have appeared here, including important place occupies a fantastic genre. Vivid examples romantic prose - early works Nikolai Gogol.

Sentimentalism

With the development of this direction, Russian literature of the 19th century begins. General prose- this is sensuality and emphasis on the reader's perception. Sentimentalism penetrated into Russian literature at the end of the 18th century. Karamzin became the founder of the Russian tradition in this genre. In the 19th century he gained a number of followers.

Satirical prose

It was at this time that satirical and journalistic works appeared. This trend can be traced primarily in the work of Gogol. Starting his creative career with a description of his small homeland, this author later moved on to all-Russian social topics. It is difficult today to imagine what Russian literature of the 19th century would have been like without this master of satire. The general characteristics of his prose in this genre come down not only to critical eye to the stupidity and parasitism of the landowners. The satirical writer “traversed” almost all layers of society.

A masterpiece of satirical prose was the novel “The Golovlevs,” dedicated to the theme of the poor spiritual world of landowners. Subsequently, the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, like the books of many other satirical writers, became the starting point for the emergence

Realistic novel

In the second half of the century, realistic prose developed. Romantic ideals turned out to be untenable. There was a need to show the world as it really is. Dostoevsky's prose - an integral part of such a concept as Russian literature of the 19th century. General characteristics briefly represent a list important features this period and the prerequisites for the occurrence of certain phenomena. As for Dostoevsky's realistic prose, it can be characterized as follows: the stories and novels of this author became a reaction to the mood that prevailed in society in those years. Depicting prototypes of people he knew in his works, he sought to consider and solve the most pressing issues of the society in which he moved.

In the first decades, the country glorified Mikhail Kutuzov, then the romantic Decembrists. This is clearly evidenced by Russian literature of the early 19th century. The general characteristics of the end of the century can be summed up in a few words. This is a revaluation of values. It was not the fate of the entire people, but its individual representatives that came to the fore. Hence the appearance in prose of the image of the “superfluous person.”

Folk poem

In the years when the realistic novel took a dominant position, poetry faded into the background. A general description of the development of Russian literature of the 19th century allows us to trace the long path from dreamy poetry to a truthful novel. In this atmosphere, Nekrasov creates his brilliant work. But his work can hardly be classified as one of the leading genres of the mentioned period. The author combined several genres in his poem: peasant, heroic, revolutionary.

End of the century

At the end of the 19th century, Chekhov became one of the most read authors. Despite the fact that at the beginning of his creative career, critics accused the writer of coldness towards current social topics, his works received undeniable public recognition. Continuing to develop the image of the “little man” created by Pushkin, Chekhov studied the Russian soul. Various philosophical and political ideas, which were developed in late XIX centuries, could not help but influence life individuals.

In the late XIX literature century, revolutionary sentiments prevailed. Among the authors whose work was at the turn of the century, one of the most prominent personalities was Maxim Gorky.

The general characteristics of the 19th century deserve closer attention. Each major representative of this period created his own artistic world, the heroes of which dreamed of the impossible, fought against social evil, or experienced their own small tragedy. And the main task of their authors was to reflect the realities of a century rich in social and political events.

Literature. XIX century turned out to be extremely fruitful and bright in the field cultural development Russia.

IN in a broad sense the concept of “culture” includes all examples of human achievements in various areas of life and activity. Therefore, it is quite justified and appropriate to use such definitions as “everyday culture”, “political culture”, “industrial culture”, “rural culture”, “ philosophical culture"and a number of others, indicating the level of creative achievements in certain forms of human society. And everywhere there were cultural changes in the 19th century. in Russia were great and amazing.

Second half of the 19th century. became a time of not just rapid flowering of all forms and genres of creativity, but also a period when Russian culture confidently and forever took a prominent place in the cultural arena of human achievements. Russian painting, Russian theater, Russian philosophy, Russian literature established their global positions thanks to the cohort of our outstanding compatriots who worked in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Nowadays, anywhere in the world, it is difficult to find a sufficiently educated person who would not be familiar with the names of F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov, F. I. Shalyapin, K. S. Stanislavsky, A. P. Pavlova, N. A. Berdyaev. These are just some of the most striking figures who will forever remain iconic in the field of Russian culture. Without them, the cultural baggage of humanity would be noticeably poorer.

The same applies to the end of that century, when a contemporary of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov was Rev. John Kronstadt (1829-1908).

Despite the spread of various forms of freethinking, skepticism and even atheism among the nobility, the bulk of the population of the Russian Empire remained faithful to Orthodoxy. This faith, to which the Russian people have been committed for many centuries, was not at all affected by the fashionable ideological hobbies that existed in high society. Orthodoxy was the essence of what modern political science defines with the borrowed term “mentality,” but which in Russian lexical circulation corresponds to the concept of “life understanding.”

The Orthodoxy of the people influenced one way or another on all sides creative activity the most remarkable domestic masters of culture, and without taking into account the Christian impulse, it is impossible to understand why in Russia, unlike other bourgeois countries, no reverent attitude has arisen either towards the entrepreneurs themselves or to their type of occupation. Although by the beginning of the 20th century. the triumph of capitalist relations in the country was beyond doubt, no one created literary or dramatic works, where the virtues and merits of characters from the world of capital would be sung and extolled. Even domestic periodicals, a considerable number of which were directly or indirectly financed by the “kings of business,” did not risk publishing enthusiastic praises addressed to them. Such newspapers or magazines would immediately become the object of angry vilification, would inevitably begin to lose readers, and their days would very quickly be numbered.

In a conversation about Russian cultural process Taking the above into account is extremely important in two main respects.

Firstly, to understand the spiritual structure of Russian people as a whole, its fundamental difference from social environment modern Russia.

Secondly, to understand why pity for the poor, sympathy for the “humiliated and insulted” were the core motives of the entire Russian artistic and intellectual culture - from the paintings of the Wanderers to the works of Russian writers and philosophers.

This non-bourgeois social consciousness further contributed to the establishment of communist power in the country, the ideology of which was the denial of private property and private interests.

This motif manifested itself most clearly in the works of the two most famous representatives of Russian culture of this period - the prophetic writers F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy.

The life paths and creative techniques of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are completely different. They were not like-minded people, they never had not only close, but even friendly relations, and although in various periods they briefly belonged to certain literary and social groups (parties), the very scale of their personalities did not fit within the framework of narrow ideological movements. In the turning points of their biographies, in their literary works, time was focused, spiritual quests were reflected, even throwing people XIX century, who lived in an era of constant social innovations and premonitions of the coming fatal eves.

F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy were not only “masters of belles-lettres”, brilliant chroniclers of times and morals. Their thought extended much further than the ordinary, deeper than the obvious. Their desire to unravel the mysteries of existence, the essence of man, to comprehend the true destiny of mortals reflected, in perhaps its highest manifestation, the disharmony between the mind and heart of man, the tremulous sensations of his soul and the coldly pragmatic hopelessness of the mind. Their sincere desire to resolve the “damned Russian questions” - what a person is and what his earthly purpose is - turned both writers into spiritual guides of restless natures, of which there have always been many in Russia. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, having expressed the Russian understanding of life, became not only the voices of the time, but also its creators.

F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born into a poor family of a military doctor in Moscow. He graduated from the boarding school, and in 1843 from the Main Engineering School in St. Petersburg, for some time he served as a field engineer in the engineering team of St. Petersburg. He retired in 1844, deciding to devote himself entirely to literature. Meets V. G. Belinsky and I. S. Turgenev, begins to move in the capital's literary environment. His first great work, the novel Poor People (1846), was a resounding success.

In the spring of 1847, Dostoevsky became a regular at the meetings of V. M. Petrashevsky’s circle, where acute social issues, including the need to overthrow the existing system. Among others, the aspiring writer was arrested in connection with the Petrashevites case. First, he was sentenced to death, and already on the scaffold Dostoevsky and the other accused were shown the royal mercy to replace the execution with hard labor. F. M. Dostoevsky spent about four years in hard labor (1850-1854). He described his stay in Siberia in a book of essays, Notes from the House of the Dead, published in 1861.

In the 1860-1870s. The largest literary works appeared - novels that brought Dostoevsky world fame: The Humiliated and Insulted, The Gambler, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov.

The writer completely broke with the revolutionary passions of his youth and realized the falsity and danger of theories for the violent reorganization of the world. His works are permeated with reflections on the meaning of life, on the search for life paths. Dostoevsky saw the possibility of comprehending the truth of existence only through the faith of Christ. Moralism developed from Christian socialism to Slavophilism. However, calling him a Slavophile can only be a stretch. He was one of the founders of the ideological movement called pochvenism. It made itself known in the 1860-1870s, just at the time when the work of F. M. Dostoevsky reached its peak.

The program of the magazine “Time”, which F. M. Dostoevsky began publishing in 1861, said: We are finally convinced that we are also a separate nationality, in highest degree original, and that our task is to create a form for ourselves, our own, native, taken from our soil. This position was fully consistent with the original Slavophil postulate. However, the universal universalism of Dostoevsky’s thinking was already evident at this time: We predict that the Russian idea may be a synthesis of all those ideas that Europe is developing.

This view found its highest embodiment in the writer’s famous speech at the 1880 celebrations of the opening of the monument to A.S. Pushkin in Moscow. It was in his Pushkin speech, which delighted the audience and then became the subject of fierce controversy in the press, that F. M. Dostoevsky formulated his vision of the future world. He derived his well-being from the fulfillment of Russia’s historical mission - to unite the people of the world in a fraternal union according to the covenants of Christian love and humility:

Yes, the purpose of the Russian person is undoubtedly pan-European and worldwide. To become a real Russian, to become completely Russian, perhaps, means only to become the brother of all people, an all-man, if you like. Oh, all this Slavophilism and Westernism of ours is just one great misunderstanding among us, although historically necessary. For a true Russian, Europe and the destiny of the entire great Aryan tribe are as dear as Russia itself, as is the destiny of its native land, because our destiny is universality, and not acquired by the sword, but by the power of brotherhood and our fraternal desire for the reunification of people.

Dostoevsky was not a philosopher in the exact sense this word, he thought like an artist, his ideas were embodied in the thoughts and actions of the heroes of literary works. The writer's worldview has always remained religious. Even in his youth, when he was carried away by the ideas of socialism, he remained in the bosom of the Church. One of the most important reasons his break with V. G. Belinsky, as F. M. Dostoevsky later admitted, was because he scolded Christ. Elder Zosima (“The Brothers Karamazov”) expressed an idea found in many literary and journalistic works of F. M. Dostoevsky: “We do not understand that life is paradise, for as soon as we want to understand, it will immediately appear before us in its entirety.” its beauty." The reluctance and inability to see the surrounding beauty stems from a person’s inability to master these gifts - “read F. M. Dostoevsky.

All his life the writer was worried about the mystery of personality; he was possessed by a painful interest in man, in the reserved side of his nature, in the depths of his soul. Reflections on this topic are found in almost all of his works of art. Dostoevsky with unsurpassed skill revealed dark sides the soul of man, the forces of destruction hidden in him, boundless egoism, denial of moral principles rooted in man. However, despite the negative aspects, the writer saw a mystery in each individual; he considered everyone, even in the form of the most insignificant, to be of absolute value. Not only was the demonic element in man revealed by Dostoevsky with unprecedented force; no less deeply and expressively are shown the movements of truth and goodness in the human soul, the angelic principle in it. Faith in man, triumphantly affirmed in all the writer’s works, makes F. M. Dostoevsky the greatest humanist thinker.

During his lifetime, Dostoevsky was awarded the title of a great writer among the reading public. However, his public position, his rejection of all forms of the revolutionary movement, his preaching of Christian humility caused attacks not only in radical, but also in liberal circles.

The heyday of Dostoevsky’s creativity occurred during the “riot of intolerance.” Everyone who did not share the passion for fashionable theories of a radical reorganization of society was branded as reactionaries. It was in the 1860s. the word “conservative” has become almost a dirty word, and the concept “liberal” has become synonymous with a social progressive. If before, any ideological dispute in Russia almost always carried emotional character, then now its indispensable attribute has become intolerance towards everything and everyone that did not correspond to the flat schemes “about the main path of development of progress.” They did not want to hear the voices of opponents. As the famous philosopher B.C. wrote. Soloviev about another outstanding Russian thinker K. N. Leontiev, he dared to “express his reactionary thoughts” at a time “when it could bring him nothing but ridicule.” Opponents were bullied, they were not objected to in essence, they served only as an object of ridicule.

Dostoevsky fully experienced the moral terror of liberalizing public opinion. The attacks on him, in fact, never stopped. They were started by V. G. Belinsky, who called the writer’s early literary and psychological experiments “nervous nonsense.” There was only one short period when the name of Dostoevsky enjoyed reverence among the “priests of social progress” - the end of the 1850s, when Dostoevsky became close to the circle of M. V. Petrashevsky and became a “victim of the regime.”

However, as it became clear that in his works the writer did not follow the theory of acute sociality, the attitude of liberal-radical criticism towards him changed. After appearing in print in 1871-1872. the novel “Demons”, where the author showed the spiritual squalor and complete immorality of the carriers revolutionary ideas, Dostoevsky became the target of systematic attacks. Capital newspapers and magazines regularly presented the public with critical attacks against “Dostoevsky’s social misconceptions and his caricature of the humanistic movement of the sixties.” However, the creative monumentality of the writer’s works, their unprecedented psychological depth, were so obvious that the attacks were accompanied by many routine recognitions of the master’s artistic talents.

Such endless neglect of the name had a depressing effect on the writer, and although his views and his own in a creative manner he did not change, but tried, as far as possible, not to give new reasons for attacks. A noteworthy episode in this regard dates back to the early 1880s, when populist terror was spreading in the country. It happened somehow that, together with the journalist and publisher A.S. Suvorin, the writer reflected on the topic: would he tell the police if he suddenly found out that the Winter Palace had been mined and that an explosion would soon occur and all its inhabitants would die. Dostoevsky answered this question: No. And, explaining his position, he noted: The liberals would not forgive me. They would exhaust me, drive me to despair.

Dostoevsky considered this situation with public opinion in the country to be abnormal, but to change the established methods social behavior was unable to. The great writer, an old, sick man, was afraid of being accused of collaborating with the authorities, and was unable to hear the roar of the educated mob.

Count L. N. Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born into a wealthy noble family. He received his primary education at home, then studied for some time at the Oriental and Law faculties of Kazan University. He didn’t finish the course; he wasn’t interested in science.

He left the university and went to the active army in the Caucasus, where the decisive phase of hostilities with Shamil unfolded. Here he spent two years (1851-1853). Service in the Caucasus enriched Tolstoy with many impressions, which he later reflected in his novels and short stories.

When the Crimean War began, Tolstoy volunteered to go to the front and took part in the defense of Sevastopol. After the end of the war, he retired, traveled abroad, then served in the administration of the Tula province. In 1861 he interrupted his service and settled on his estate Yasnaya Polyana not far from Tula.

There Tolstoy wrote major literary works - the novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection. In addition, he has written many novels, short stories, dramatic and journalistic works. The writer created a diverse panorama of Russian life, depicted the morals and way of life of people of dissimilar social status, and showed the complex struggle between good and evil in the human soul. The novel "War and Peace" still remains the most outstanding literary composition about the war of 1812

Many political and social problems attracted the attention of the writer, and he responded to them with his articles. Gradually their tone became more and more intolerant, and Tolstoy turned into a merciless critic of generally accepted moral norms and social foundations. It seemed to him that in Russia the government was not the same and the Church was not the same. The Church in general turned out to be the object of his vilification. The writer does not accept the church's understanding of Christianity. He is repulsed by religious dogmas and the fact that the Church has become part of social world. Tolstoy broke up with the Russian Orthodox Church. In response to this, in 1901 the Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the Church, but expressed the hope that he would repent and return to its fold. There was no repentance, and the writer died without a church ceremony.

From his youth, Tolstoy was strongly influenced by the views of Rousseau and, as he wrote later, at the age of 16 he destroyed traditional views in himself and began to wear a medallion with a portrait of Rousseau around his neck instead of a cross. The writer passionately embraced Rousseau's idea of ​​natural life, which determined much in Tolstoy's subsequent searches and re-evaluations. Like many other Russian thinkers, Tolstoy subjected all phenomena of the world and culture to harsh criticism from the position of subjective morality.

In the 1870s. the writer experienced a long spiritual crisis. His consciousness is fascinated by the mystery of death, before the inevitability of which everything around him takes on the character of insignificance. Wanting to overcome oppressive doubts and fears, Tolstoy tries to break his ties with his usual environment and strives for close communication with ordinary people. It seems to him that with them, beggars, wanderers, monks, peasants, schismatics and prisoners, he will gain true faith, knowledge of what the true meaning is human life and death.

The Yasnaya Polyana count begins a period of simplification. He rejects all manifestations of modern civilization. His merciless and uncompromising rejection concerns not only the institutions of the state, the Church, the court, the army, and bourgeois economic relations.

In his boundless and passionate nihilism, the writer reached maximalist limits. He rejects art, poetry, theater, science. According to his ideas, goodness has nothing to do with beauty; aesthetic pleasure is pleasure of a lower order. Art in general is just fun.

Tolstoy considered it blasphemous to put art and science on the same level as good. Science and philosophy, he wrote, talk about whatever you want, but not about that. how a person himself can be better and how he can live better. Modern science has a lot of knowledge that we do not need. But it cannot say anything about the meaning of life and even considers this question not within its competence.

Tolstoy tried to give his own answers to these burning questions. The world order of people, according to Tolstoy, should be based on love for one's neighbor, on non-resistance to evil through violence, on mercy and material selflessness. Tolstoy considered the most important condition for the reign of the light of Christ on earth to be the abolition of private property in general and private ownership of land in particular. Addressing Nicholas II in 1902, Tolstoy wrote: The abolition of the right to land ownership is, in my opinion, the immediate goal, the achievement of which the Russian government should make its task in our time.

L.N. Tolstoy's sermons did not go unanswered. Among the so-called enlightened public, where critical assessments and a skeptical attitude towards reality prevailed, the grafanihilist had many admirers and followers who intended to realize social ideas Tolstoy to life. They created small colonies, which were called cultural hermitages, and tried to change the world around them through moral self-improvement and honest work. The Tolstoyans refused to pay taxes, serve in the army, did not consider church consecration of marriage necessary, did not baptize their children, and did not send them to school. The authorities persecuted such communities, some active Tolstoyans were even brought to trial. At the beginning of the 20th century. The Tolstoyan movement in Russia almost disappeared. However, it gradually spread outside of Russia. Tolstoy farms originated in Canada, South Africa, USA, UK.

I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883) is credited with creating socio-psychological novels in which the personal fate of the heroes was inextricably linked with the fate of the country. He was an unsurpassed master in revealing the inner world of man in all its complexity. Turgenev's work had a huge influence on the development of Russian and world literature.

I. S. Turgenev came from a rich and ancient noble family. In 1837 he graduated from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. He continued his education abroad. Turgenev later recalled: I studied philosophy, ancient languages, history, and studied Hegel with particular zeal. For two years (1842-1844) Turgenev served as an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but showed no interest in a career. He was fascinated by literature. He wrote his first work, the dramatic poem Steno, in 1834.

At the end of the 1830s. The poems of the young Turgenev began to appear in the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski. These are elegiac reflections on love, permeated with motifs of sadness and longing. Most of these poems received high audience recognition (Ballad, Alone again, alone..., Foggy morning, gray morning...). Later, some of Turgenev's poems were set to music and became popular romances.

In the 1840s. Turgenev's first dramas and poems appeared in print, and he himself became an employee of the socio-literary magazine Sovremennik.

In the mid-1840s. Turgenev became close to a group of writers, figures of the so-called “ natural school" - N. A. Nekrasov, I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich and others, who tried to give literature a democratic character. These writers primarily made serfs the heroes of their works.

The first issue of the updated Sovremennik was published in January 1847. The true highlight of the magazine was Turgenev’s story “Khor and Kalinich,” which opened a whole series of works under the general title “Notes of a Hunter.

After their publication in 1847-1852. came to the writer All-Russian glory. The Russian people, Russian peasants are shown in the book with such love and respect as has never been seen in Russian literature.

In subsequent years, the writer created several novels and stories outstanding in their artistic merit - Rudin, The Noble Nest, On the Eve, Fathers and Sons, Smoke. They masterfully depict the way of life of the nobility and show the emergence of new social phenomena and figures, in particular the populists. The name Turgenev became one of the most revered names in Russian literature. His works were notable for their acute polemics; they raised the most important questions human existence, they outlined the writer’s deep view of the essence of the events taking place, the desire to understand the character and aspiration of new people (nihilists) who entered the arena of the country’s socio-political life.

The breadth of thinking, the ability to comprehend life and historical perspective, the belief that human life should be filled with the highest meaning, marked the work of one of the most remarkable Russian writers and playwrights - A. P. Chekhov (1860-1904), this most subtle psychologist and master subtext, which so uniquely combined humor and lyricism in his works.

A.P. Chekhov was born in the city of Taganrog into a merchant family. He studied at the Taganrog gymnasium. He continued his studies at the medical faculty of Moscow University, which he graduated in 1884. He worked as a doctor in the Moscow province. Literary activity He began with feuilletons and short stories published in humorous magazines.

Largest and most famous works Chekhov began to appear in the late 1880s. These are the stories and stories Steppe, “Lights”, House with a Mezzanine, A Boring Story, Chamber of MB, Men, In the Ravine, About Love, Ionych, Lady with a Dog, Jumping, Duel, books of essays From Siberia and Acute Sakhalin.

Chekhov is the author of wonderful dramatic works. His plays Ivanov, Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard are staged on stages all over the world. The writer's stories about the destinies of individual people contain a deep philosophical subtext. Chekhov's ability to sympathize, his love for people, his ability to penetrate into the spiritual nature of man, his interest in pressing problems of the development of human society made creative heritage writer is still relevant today. Art. In 1870, an event occurred in Russia that had a powerful impact on the development of fine arts: the Association of Traveling Art art exhibitions, who played important role in the development of democratic painting and its opposition to salon-academic art. It was a public organization that was not funded by the state. The partnership was organized by young artists, for the most part Graduates St. Petersburg Academy arts that did not share the aesthetic principles of the Academy’s leadership. They no longer wanted to depict “eternal beauty” or focus on “classical examples” of European art. Reflecting the general social upsurge of the 1860s, artists sought to express the complexity of the modern world, bring art closer to life, convey the aspirations and moods of wide public circles, and show living people, their concerns and aspirations. Almost everyone was creatively associated with the Association of Itinerants outstanding artists Russia.

Over the next decades, the Partnership of the Peredvizhniki (usually they were simply called the Peredvizhniki) organized many exhibitions, which were not only shown in some place, but also transported (moved) around different cities. The first exhibition of this kind took place in 1872.

The central figure of Russian art of the 1860s. teacher and writer V. G. Perov (1833-1882) became one of the organizers of the Association of Itinerants. He studied painting at the Arzamas Drawing School, then at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. After completing the course in 1869, he received a scholarship and improved his skills in Paris. Already in the 1860s. Perov declared himself to be a great realist artist; his paintings were distinguished by their acute social content. These are the Sermon in the Village Rural Procession of the Cross on

Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow Seeing off the deceased, “Troika. Apprentice artisans carrying water, “The last tavern at the outpost, etc. The artist’s painting subtly conveyed his compassion for people oppressed by need and experiencing grief.

Perov is a master of lyrical paintings (Birders and Hunters at Rest) and fairy tale images(Snow Maiden). The golden fund of Russian art includes portraits of the playwright A. N. Ostrovsky, the writer F. M. Dostoevsky, executed by the artist at the request of P. M. Tretyakov for the portrait gallery he conceived, representing “people dear to the nation.” Perov also addressed historical topics, his most famous such painting is the Court of Pugacheva.

I. N. Kramskoy (1837-1887) was born into a poor family. From 1857 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1863, he became a troublemaker at the Academy, leading a group of 14 graduate students who refused to participate in a competition that required the submission of paintings only on mythological themes. The protesters left the Academy and created the Mutual Aid Artel, which later became the basis of the Association of Itinerants.

Kramskoy was a remarkable master of portraiture and captured on his canvases many famous people of Russia, those who are usually called the rulers of the thoughts of their era.

These are portraits of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, N. A. Nekrasov. P. M. Tretyakov, S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin and others. Kramskoy also painted portraits of simple peasants.

In 1872, at the First Traveling Exhibition, Kramskoy’s painting Christ in the Desert appeared, which became the program not only for the artist himself, but also for all the Wanderers. The canvas depicts Jesus Christ in deep thought. The enlightened, calm gaze of Christ attracts the viewer’s attention.

A close interest in the gospel theme runs through the entire work of another of the founders of Russian Peredvizhniki - N. N. Ge (1831-1894). In the painting The Last Supper, a striking play of light and shadow achieves a contrast between the group of apostles and the figure of Judas, located in thick shadow. Gospel story allowed the artist to depict the conflict of different worldviews. This painting was followed by What is Truth?. Christ and Pilate, Judgment of the Sanhedrin, Guilty of Death!, Golgotha, Crucifixion, etc.

In the portrait of L.N. Tolstoy, the artist managed to convey the work of thought of the brilliant writer.

At the First Traveling Exhibition Ge exhibited the painting “Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in Peterhof. The viewer feels the tense silence of father and son. Peter is sure of the prince’s guilt. The conflict between the king and the heir to the throne is depicted at the moment of greatest intensity.

Famous battle painter BJB. Vereshchagin (1842-1904) more than once participated in the hostilities of that time. Based on his impressions of the events in the Turkestan region, he created the painting Apotheosis of War. The pyramid of skulls cut with sabers looks like an allegory of war. On the frame of the painting is the text: Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.

Vereshchagin owns a series of large battle paintings, in which he acted as a true reformer of this genre.

Vereshchagin found himself a participant in the Russian-Turkish campaign of 1877-1878. His famous “Balkan Series” was created based on sketches and sketches performed on the ground. In one of the paintings in this series (“Shipka - Sheinovo. Skobelev near Shipka”) the scene of Skobelev’s solemn greeting of the victorious Russian regiments is relegated to the background. In the foreground of the canvas, the viewer sees a snow-covered field strewn with dead people. This mournful image was intended to remind people of the bloody price of victory.

One of the most popular Russian landscape painters can be called I. I. Shishkin (1832-1898). A painter and a remarkable connoisseur of nature, he established the forest landscape in Russian art - luxurious mighty oak groves and pine forests, forest expanses, deep wilds. The artist’s canvases are characterized by monumentality and majesty. Expanse, space, land, rye. God's grace, Russian wealth - this is how the artist described his canvas Rye, in which the scale of Shishkin’s spatial solutions was especially clearly demonstrated. The ceremonial portraits of Russian nature were Pines illuminated by the sun, Forest distances, Morning in pine forest, Oaks, etc. The famous art historian V.V. Stasov called Ya. E. Repin (1844-1930) the Samson of Russian painting.

This is one of the most versatile artists, who was equally brilliant at portraits, genre scenes, landscapes and large canvases on historical themes.

I. B. Repin was born into a poor family of a military settler in the city of Chuguev, Kharkov province, and received his first drawing skills from local Ukrainian icon painters. In 1863, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of Arts, where Repin’s first mentor, V.I. Surik, turned out to be I.N. Kramskoy. Repin graduated from the Academy in 1871 and, as a capable graduate, received an execution scholarship for creative business trip to France and Italy.

Already in the 1870s. Repin's name becomes one of the largest, most popular Russian painters. Each of his new picture arouses keen public interest and heated debate. Among the most famous paintings artist include Barge Haulers on the Volga, Procession of the Cross in Kursk province, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581, Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan, Portrait of M. P. Mussorgsky, “ Ceremonial meeting State Council", Portrait of K. P. Pobedonostsev, They Didn’t Wait, etc. Repin captured a panorama of the life of the country on his canvases, showed bright folk characters, the mighty forces of Russia.

V. I. Surikov (1848-1916) proved himself to be a born historical painter. A Siberian by birth, Surikov studied in St. Petersburg at the Academy of Arts, and after graduating from the Academy he settled in Moscow. His first large canvas was the Morning Streletsky Execution. This was followed by Menshikov in Vera Zov, Boyarynya Morozova, Ermak’s Conquest of Siberia, Suvorov’s Crossing of the Alps in 1799, etc. The artist drew the subjects and images of these paintings from the depths of Russian history.

Russian national culture in the 19th century reached heights in art, literature, and in many areas of knowledge, defined by the word “classics.” Russian literature of the 19th century is deservedly called the “Golden Age”. Even those ignorant of literature cannot object. It became a trendsetter in literary fashion, quickly bursting into world literature. The “Golden Age” gave us many famous masters. The 19th century is the time of development of Russian literary language, which took shape mostly thanks to . It began with the flowering of sentimentalism and the gradual emergence of romanticism, especially in poetry. There were many poets during this period, but the main figure of that time was Alexander Pushkin. As they would now call him a “star.”

His ascent to the Olympus of literature began in 1820 with the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila.” And “Eugene Onegin,” a novel in verse, was called an encyclopedia of Russian life. The era of Russian romanticism was opened by his romantic poems “ Bronze Horseman", "Bakhchisarai Fountain", "Gypsies". For most poets and writers, A.S. Pushkin was a teacher. The traditions he laid down in the creation of literary works were continued by many of them. Among them was. Russian poetry of that time was closely connected with the socio-political life of the country. In their works, the authors tried to comprehend and develop the idea of ​​their special purpose. They called on the authorities to listen to their words. The poet of that time was considered a prophet, a conductor of divine truth. This can be seen in Pushkin’s poem “The Prophet”, in the ode “Liberty”, “The Poet and the Crowd”, in Lermontov’s “On the Death of the Poet” and many others. In the 19th century, English had a huge influence on all world literature. historical novels. Under their influence A.S. Pushkin writes the story "The Captain's Daughter".

Throughout the 19th century, the main artistic types There were the “little man” type and the “extra man” type.

From the 19th century, literature inherited a satirical character and journalistic style. This can be seen in " Dead Souls", "Nose", in the comedy "The Inspector General", by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”, “The Golovlevs”.

The formation of Russian realistic literature dates back to the mid-19th century. She reacted sharply to the socio-political situation in Russia. A dispute arises between Slavophiles and Westerners about the paths of historical development of the country.

The development of the genre begins realistic novel. A special psychologism can be traced in the literature; philosophical, socio-political issues predominate. The development of poetry is somewhat calming down, but, despite the general silence, the voice in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is not silent. illuminates the difficult and hopeless life of the people. -

The end of the century gave us... Pre-revolutionary sentiment runs like a red thread in literature. The realistic tradition began to fade away, which was replaced by decadent literature, with mysticism, religiosity, and also a premonition of changes in the socio-political life of Russia. Then everything turned into symbolism. And a new page opened in the history of Russian literature.

From the works of writers of that time, we learn humanity, patriotism, and study our... More than one generation of people - Humans - has grown up on this “classic”.

The beginning of the 19th century was a unique time for Russian literature. IN literary salons, on the pages of magazines there was a struggle between supporters of various literary movements: classicism and sentimentalism, the educational movement and emerging romanticism.

In the first years of the 19th century, the dominant position in Russian literature was occupied by sentimentalism, inextricably linked with the names of Karamzin and his followers. And in 1803, a book entitled “Discussions on the old and new syllable of the Russian language” was published, the author of which A. S. Shishkov very strongly criticized the “new syllable” of the sentimentalists. The followers of the Karamzin reform of the literary language give the classicist Shishkov a sharp rebuke. A long-term controversy begins, in which all the literary forces of that time were involved to one degree or another.

Why did polemics on a special literary issue acquire such public significance? First of all, because behind the discussions about the style there were more global problems: how to portray a person of modern times, who should be a positive and who should be a negative hero, what freedom is and what patriotism is. After all, these are not just words - this is an understanding of life, and therefore its reflection in literature.

Classicists with their very clear principles and rules brought into literary process such important qualities of the hero as honor, dignity, patriotism, without blurring space and time, thereby bringing the hero closer to reality. They showed it in “truthful language”, conveying sublime civic content. These features will remain in the literature of the 19th century despite the fact that classicism itself will leave the stage literary life. When you read “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov, see for yourself.

Close to the classicists educators, for which political and philosophical themes were undoubtedly leading, most often turned to the ode genre. But under their pen, the ode from the classic genre turned into a lyrical one. Because the most important task of the poet-educator is to show his civil position, to express the feelings that take possession of him. In the 19th century, the poetry of the Romantic Decembrists would be inextricably linked with educational ideas.

There seemed to be a certain affinity between the Enlightenmentists and the Sentimentalists. However, this was not the case. Enlightenmentists also reproach the sentimentalists for “feigned sensitivity,” “false compassion,” “loving sighs,” “passionate exclamations,” as did the classicists.

Sentimentalists, despite excessive (from a modern point of view) melancholy and sensitivity, they show sincere interest in a person’s personality, his character. They begin to be interested in an ordinary, simple person, his inner world. Appears new hero- a real person, interesting to others. And with him the everyday comes to the pages of works of art, everyday life. It is Karamzin who first makes an attempt to reveal this topic. His novel "A Knight of Our Time" opens a gallery of such heroes.

Romantic lyrics- These are mainly lyrics of moods. Romantics deny vulgar everyday life; they are interested in the mental and emotional nature of the individual, its aspiration towards the mysterious infinity of a vague ideal. The innovation of the romantics in the artistic cognition of reality consisted in polemics with the fundamental ideas of Enlightenment aesthetics, the assertion that art is an imitation of nature. The Romantics defended the thesis of the transformative role of art. The romantic poet thinks of himself as a creator creating his own new world, because the old way of life does not suit him. Reality, full of insoluble contradictions, was subjected to severe criticism by the romantics. The world of emotional unrest is seen by poets as enigmatic and mysterious, expressing a dream about the ideal of beauty, about moral and ethical harmony.

In Russia, romanticism takes on a pronounced national identity. Remember the romantic poems and poems of A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov, the early works of N. V. Gogol.

Romanticism in Russia is not only a new literary movement. Romantic writers not only create works, they are “creators” own biography, which will ultimately become their "moral story". In the future, the idea of unbreakable connection art and self-education, the artist’s lifestyle and his work. Gogol will reflect on this on the pages of his romantic story “Portrait”.

See how intricately intertwined styles and views are, artistic media, philosophical ideas and life...

As a result of the interaction of all these areas in Russia, a realism How new level knowledge of man and his life in literature. A. S. Pushkin is rightfully considered the founder of this trend. We can say that the beginning of the 19th century was the era of the birth and formation of two leading literary methods: romanticism and realism.

The literature of this period had another feature. This is the unconditional predominance of poetry over prose.

Once Pushkin, while still a young poet, admired the poems of one young man and showed them to his friend and teacher K.N. Batyushkov. He read and returned the manuscript to Pushkin, indifferently remarking: “Who doesn’t write smooth poetry now!”

This story speaks volumes. The ability to write poetry was then a necessary part noble culture. And against this background, Pushkin’s appearance was not accidental, it was prepared by the general high level culture, including poetic.

Pushkin had predecessors who prepared his poetry, and contemporary poets - friends and rivals. All of them represented the golden age of Russian poetry—the so-called 10-30s of the 19th century. Pushkin- starting point. Around him we distinguish three generations of Russian poets - the older, the middle (to which Alexander Sergeevich himself belonged) and the younger. This division is conditional, and of course simplifies the real picture.

Let's start with the older generation. Ivan Andreevich Krylov(1769-1844) belonged to the 18th century by birth and upbringing. However, he began to write the fables that made him famous only in the 19th century, and although his talent manifested itself only in this genre, Krylov became the herald of a new poetry, accessible to the reader by language, which opened the world to him folk wisdom. I. A. Krylov stood at the origins of Russian realism.

It should be noted that the main problem of poetry at all times, and at the beginning of the 19th century too, is the problem of language. The content of poetry is unchanged, but the form... Revolutions and reforms in poetry are always linguistic. Such a “revolution” occurred in the work of Pushkin’s poetic teachers - V. A. Zhukovsky and K. N. Batyushkov.
With works Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky(1783-1852) you have already met. You probably remember his “The Tale of Tsar Berendey...”, the ballad “Svetlana”, but perhaps you don’t know that many of the works of foreign poetry you read were translated by this lyricist. Zhukovsky is a great translator. He got used to the text he was translating so much that the result was an original work. This happened with many of the ballads he translated. However, our own poetic creativity the poet was of great importance in Russian literature. He abandoned the ponderous, outdated, pompous language of poetry of the 18th century, immersed the reader in the world of emotional experiences, and created new image a poet with a keen sense of the beauty of nature, melancholic, prone to tender sadness and reflections on the transience of human life.

Zhukovsky is the founder of Russian romanticism, one of the creators of the so-called “light poetry”. “Easy” not in the sense of frivolous, but in contrast to the previous, solemn poetry, created as if for palace halls. Zhukovsky's favorite genres are elegy and song, addressed to a close circle of friends, created in silence and solitude. Their contents are deeply personal dreams and memories. Instead of pompous thunder - melodiousness, musical sound verse that expresses the poet’s feelings more powerfully than written words. It is not for nothing that Pushkin, in his famous poem “I remember a wonderful moment...” used the image created by Zhukovsky - “the genius of pure beauty.”

Another poet of the older generation of the golden age of poetry - Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov(1787-1855). His favorite genre is a friendly message that celebrates the simple joys of life.

Pushkin highly valued the lyrics of the legendary Denis Vasilievich Davydov(1784-1839) - hero Patriotic War 1812, organizer partisan detachments. The poems of this author glorify the romance of military life and hussar life. Not considering himself a true poet, Davydov disdained poetic conventions, and this only made his poems gain in liveliness and spontaneity.

As for the middle generation, Pushkin valued it above others Evgeny Abramovich Baratynsky(Boratynsky) (1800-1844). He called his work “the poetry of thought.” This is a philosophical lyric. The hero of Baratynsky's poems is disappointed in life, sees in it a chain of meaningless suffering, and even love does not become salvation.

Lyceum friend of Pushkin Delvig gained popularity with songs “in the Russian spirit” (his romance “The Nightingale” to the music of A. Alyabyev is widely known). Languages became famous for the image he created of a student - a merry fellow and a freethinker, a kind of Russian vagante. Vyazemsky possessed a merciless irony that permeated his poems, which were mundane in theme and at the same time deep in thought.

At the same time, another tradition of Russian poetry continued to exist and develop - civil. It was connected with names Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev (1795—1826), Alexander Alexandrovich Bestuzhev (1797—1837), Wilhelm Karlovich Kuchelbecker(life years - 1797-1846) and many other poets. They saw in poetry a means of struggle for political freedom, and in the poet - not a “pet of the muses”, a “son of laziness”, avoiding public life, but a stern citizen calling for a battle for the bright ideals of justice.

The words of these poets did not diverge from their deeds: they were all participants in the uprising in Senate Square in 1825, convicted (and Ryleev executed) in the “case of December 14th”. “Bitter is the fate of poets of all tribes; Fate will execute Russia the hardest of all...” - this is how V. K. Kuchelbecker began his poem. It was the last one he wrote with his own hand: years in prison had deprived him of his sight.

Meanwhile, a new generation of poets was emerging. The first poems were written by the young Lermontov. A society arose in Moscow wise men- lovers of philosophy who interpreted German philosophy in the Russian manner. These were the future founders of Slavophilism Stepan Petrovich Shevyrev (1806—1861), Alexey Stepanovich Khomyakov(1804-1860) and others. The most gifted poet of this circle was the one who died early Dmitry Vladimirovich Venevitinov(1805—1827).

And one more interesting phenomenon of this period. Many of the poets we named turned in one way or another to folk poetic traditions, to folklore. But since they were nobles, their works “in the Russian spirit” were still perceived as stylization, as something secondary compared to the main line of their poetry. And in the 30s of the 19th century, a poet appeared who, both by origin and by the spirit of his work, was a representative of the people. This Alexey Vasilievich Koltsov(1809-1842). He spoke in the voice of a Russian peasant, and there was no artificiality, no game in this, it was his own voice, suddenly standing out from the nameless choir of Russian folk poetry.
Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century was so multifaceted.