Intraliterary connections. Innovation and epigonism.
Artistic method.
World literary process. Stages of development of literature.
Lecture outline
Literary direction, movement and school.
The literary process and its basic patterns.
Literary process – the historical existence, functioning and evolution of literature both in a certain era and throughout the history of a nation, country, region, world. "the literary process in every historical moment includes both the verbal works of art, socially, ideologically and aesthetically different in quality - from high examples to epigone, tabloid or mass literature, as well as the forms of their social existence: publications, publications, literary criticism, reader reactions captured in epistolary literature and memoirs” (Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary - M., 1987, p. 195).
An important aspect of the literary process is interaction fiction with other types of art, as well as with general cultural, linguistic, ideological phenomena.
The literary process on a global scale is part of the socio-historical process and depends on it. Often (especially in last centuries) there is a direct connection between literary creativity and socio-political movements (Decembrist literature, Chartist literature, etc.).
Scientists constantly emphasize that literature is actively influenced by social reality, that the literary process should be considered as conditioned by cultural and historical life. At the same time, it is noted that literature “cannot be studied outside the holistic context of culture (...) and directly (through the head of culture) correlated with socio-economic and other factors. The literary process is an integral part cultural process"(Bakhtin M.M. Aesthetics verbal creativity. – M., 1979, p. 344).
The literary process is correlated with the stages of social development of mankind(mythological archaic, antiquity, middle ages, modern times, modern times). It is stimulated primarily by the need of writers (not always conscious) to respond to shifts in historical life, participate in it, influence public consciousness. Thus, literature changes in historical time primarily under the influence of “impacts” from the outside. At the same time, the inheritance of literary traditions is of great importance for its evolution, which allows us to talk about the literary process as such: the development of literature is relatively independent, immanent principles are important in it.
The “path” of world literature is a kind of resultant of different “roads” of national, zonal, and regional literatures. At the same time, there are general, global trends, the presence of which allows us to identify a number of stages in the world literary process.
On the scale of world literature, its individual stages can be represented by different national literatures, at some historical moment more fully and deeply expressing the trends in the development of art (Italian literature at the beginning of the Renaissance, French - in the era of classicism, German - in the era early romanticism, Russian - in the era of mature realism (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov).
At the same time, historical poetics allows us to highlight deep processes that are localized at the level general principles aesthetic vision and artistic thinking, subjective architectonics works (relationships of the author, hero, listener-reader), archetypal forms image and plot, genders and genres. The formation and change of these phenomena takes centuries and even millennia. As historical poetics records, “literature at its historical stage came ready-made: the languages were ready, the basic forms of vision and thinking were ready. But they continue to develop, but slowly (within the confines of the era you cannot keep track of them" (Bakhtin M.M. From notes of 1970 - 1971 // Aesthetics of verbal creativity - M.. 1979, p. 344). The need to "keep track" of the extended slow development for centuries architectonic forms literature and generated a large-scale historicism of historical poetics. This science has developed the most generalized picture of the literary process to date and revealed three large stages in the development of world literature.
First stage in the history of poetics A.N. Veselovsky named the era of syncretism. There are also other names proposed by scientists later - the era of folklore, pre-reflective traditionalism, archaic, mythopoetic. According to modern ideas, this stage lasts from the ancient Stone Age to the 7th – 6th centuries. BC e. in Greece and the first centuries AD. e. in the East.
Veselovsky proceeded from the fact that the most obvious and simple and at the same time the most fundamental difference between archaic consciousness and modern consciousness is its indivisible-fused nature, or syncretism. It permeates everything ancient culture, starting from the direct sensory perceptions of its carriers to their ideological constructs - myths, religion, art.
Syncretism is an expression of a unique holistic view of the world characteristic of archaic consciousness, not yet complicated by abstract, differentiating and reflective thinking. In this consciousness, the very ideas of identity and difference have not yet taken shape in their separateness, and therefore it syncretically perceives man and nature, “I” and “other,” the word and the thing designated by it, life (including ritual) practice and art.
This vision of the world gave rise to the originality of archaic art, primarily its subjective architectonics: the most ancient choral forms, the absence of ideas about authorship and clear boundaries between those participants aesthetic event, which will later become author, hero and listener V literary work. And the initial figurative structure of art generated by such an aesthetic consciousness speaks “not about identification human life with nature and not about comparison, presupposing the consciousness of the separateness of the objects being compared, namely syncretism, which presupposes not confusion, but the absence of differences. The same relations of indivisibility in the bosom of syncretic rituals are connected different types arts, future literary genera(epic, lyric and drama) and genres.
In general, the poetics of the era of syncretism - and this is its very special place in the history of art - a time of slow development of the basic and primary principles of artistic thinking, subjective forms, figurative languages, plot archetypes, genders and genres, everything that will be given to subsequent stages of development literature as ready-made forms, without which everything further would have been impossible.
Second major stage The literary process begins in the 6th – 5th centuries BC. e. in Greece and the first centuries AD. e. in the East and lasts until the middle - the second half of the XVIII V. in Europe and the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. in the East. The generally accepted name for this stage has not yet been established; its most common definition is rhetorical .Other designations - era reflexive traditionalism, traditionalist, canonical, eidetic.
An external sign indicating the onset of this stage is the appearance of the first poeticist And rhetorician, in which aesthetic thought begins to separate from other forms of ideology and reflect on literature and, more broadly, on the emerging new (“rhetorical”) principles of culture. In Greece, these are Aristotle’s Poetics, ancient rhetoric (and even before them, Plato’s Symposium and Republic); in India - “Natyashastra” by Bharata (II – IV centuries AD), in China “Ode to an Elegant Word” by Lu Ji (III century), etc. In Europe, this stage of poetics is usually divided into two stages: antiquity and the Middle Ages (VI centuries BC – XIII – XIV centuries AD) and “early modern times” – Renaissance, Baroque, classicism (XIV – XVIII centuries).
This stage of poetics, very large and from the point of view of the history of literature, seems extremely heterogeneous and motley, is united by a new generative cultural and aesthetic principle, which replaced syncretism. Unfortunately, the sought-after principle in science has not yet been defined with sufficient clarity, which has led to different understandings of this era of artistic development.
In general, we can say that this period is marked by the predominance traditionalism artistic consciousness and “poetics of style and genre”: writers were guided by ready-made forms ( ready-made hero, genres and plots, verbal and figurative formulas etc.), were dependent on genre canons closely related to the traditionalist attitude.
In other words, the artistic phenomenon was focused not on the new, individually unique and original, but on the traditional and repetitive, on “common places” (“loci communes”). At the same time, the structure of a work of art is organized so that it meets the reader's expectations, and does not violate them.
Within the framework of the second stage, two stages are distinguished, the boundary between which was the Renaissance (we are talking mainly about European literature). In the second of these stages, which replaced the Middle Ages, literary consciousness takes a step forward from the impersonal principle to the personal (albeit still within the framework of traditionalism), literature becomes more secular.
Third stage poetics begins in the middle - second half of the 18th century in Europe and turn of the 19th century– XX centuries in the East and continues to the present day.
Researchers have described a “cultural turning point”, a “categorical break” at the turn of the 18th – 19th centuries. Its general cultural prerequisite was the birth of an autonomous personality and its new, “autonomous-participatory” (M. M. Bakhtin) relationship to the “other.” This discovery led to the birth art world; Individual creative artistic consciousness comes to the fore. The subjective sphere of art is being restructured, giving birth to new relationships between the author, hero and reader, ultimately making them relationships of autonomous subjects.
From now on, the “poetics of the author” dominates, freed from the omnipotence of genre and style forms. From the middle of the 18th century, the process of decanonization of genres began, which fundamentally updated literature and continues to update it to the present day.
Literature, as never before, comes extremely close to the immediate and concrete existence of a person, imbued with his concerns, thoughts, and feelings. The era of individual author's styles is coming; The literary process is closely linked simultaneously with the personality of the writer and the reality surrounding him. All this takes place in romanticism and realism XIX century, and to a large extent in the modernism of the 20th century.
The literary process of the era as a set of newly created (including masterpieces of verbal art, and mediocre, epigonic, mass literature), their publications and discussions (primarily literary criticism), creative programs, acts of literary struggle. The functioning of previously created works as an aspect of the literary process of a given era. The interaction of fiction with other types of art, its connections with non-artistic forms of culture (rites and rituals, everyday life with their corresponding objectivity and behavior), religious consciousness, currents of philosophical thought, socio-political movements as facets of the literary process in each era.
The literary process (the second meaning of the term) on a world-historical scale as a specific part of the socio-historical process. Experiences in correlating the development of literature with socio-economic formations. The specificity of the stages of literary creativity as cultural phenomena. Stages of development
verbal art. Folklore and mythological archaics. Ancient literatures, a special place in their ranks of European ancient literature. Medieval literature. The controversial distinction between ancient and medieval literatures outside Western Europe. Common features ancient and medieval literatures (synthesis of artistic and extra-artistic functions, traditional forms, the predominance of canonical genres and anonymity of creativity, instability of texts, lack of differentiation between translated and original literature). Literature of modern times in Western Europe and beyond; their personal character and intense historical dynamics; orientation of poets and writers towards the renewal of literature; their understanding of previous literature as a guide for original (innovative) solutions to modern creative problems. Distinction by scientists (S.S. Averintsev, A.V. Mikhailov, etc.) of three stages of literary development: ritual-mythological archaic (pre-reflective traditionalism); orientation of literature towards rhetorical culture (reflective traditionalism); free from genre and style canons, individual and personal creativity.
National and regional specificity of literature, determined by ethnic characteristics and paths of cultural and historical development of peoples and their groups. Repetitive and unique in the literature of different countries and regions. S. S. Averintsev on the difference between the paths of Middle Eastern literature and ancient Greek literature. Geographical boundaries of the Renaissance and specifics cultural development Western and Eastern regions as debatable problems of modern historical science and art history. The uniqueness of the Western European Renaissance. The works of N. I. Conrad and their discussion by historians and literary scholars. D. S. Likhachev on the significance of the Pre-Renaissance in the literature of the Eastern European region.
The main literary and artistic movements of modern times (from the Renaissance to realism and modernism). V. M. Zhirmunsky about international literary movements. D. S. Likhachev on the change of “great styles” in art and literature. Styles of traditional, canonical genres. Individual styles and stylistic trends in the literature of modern times. The term poetics as a designation for a totality artistic ideas and forms, creative principles, theoretical and literary concepts, characteristic either of a large-scale creative individual, or of a group of writers, or of national literature at a certain stage of its development. Distinction between the concepts of “artistic system” (an international and globally significant phenomenon) and “direction” (a group of writers from a particular country, united by a creative program).
Types of artistic reflection of life, the concept of creative method. The consolidation of this term in Soviet criticism of the early 30s. and further development of the corresponding concept. Realism as a creative method. Engels' definition of realism. The predominance of historically abstract principles of life reproduction in the literature of antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times (XVI-XVIII centuries). Realism in the broad sense (universal) in the literature of the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Realism of the 19th-20th centuries, its connection with the expansion of the subject area of literature, with the increased interest of writers in everyday life, everyday life, the “microenvironment”, the inner world of man, with the rooting of psychologism in art.
Specifics of the literary process in the 20th century. Modernism in avant-garde and “neo-traditionalist” variants. The ideological and artistic diversity of modernist literature, many directions within its framework. Socialist realism as a direction in Soviet literature, which took shape in the 30s. and his future fate. Renewal of realistic traditions in the literature of different countries and regions throughout the 20th century.
Recurrence of elements of literary creativity (themes, motifs, event patterns, compositional “moves”, etc.) in a large historical time and cultural-geographical space. The concept of topics.
Sources of commonality (repetition) in the literary development of different countries and regions. Convergence on the basis of cultural and historical development (typological convergence, convergence). Moments of similarity arising from international contacts (influences and borrowings). Interaction of literatures located at the same and different stages of cultural and historical development. Expanding and strengthening connections between the literatures of different countries and peoples as history moves forward. International literary connections as the most important source of enrichment of national literatures, as a condition for the full and broad identification of their original features.
World literature as a set of unique literatures from different regions, countries, peoples, fruitfully in contact with each other. The active influence of Western European literature on the literature of other regions as a feature of the culture of modern times. Accelerated development of literature (G. D. Gachev) in a number of
countries and regions. The threat of denationalization of literature in the process of its accelerated development and the further strengthening of its originality through the creative combination of other people's experience with one's own.
The evolution of meaningful forms (genre, plot, subject-shaped, stylistic), verbal and artistic motifs, literary consciousness and theoretical principles as the subject of historical poetics. A. N. Veselovsky as the creator of this scientific discipline. M. M. Bakhtin, D. S. Likhachev, S. S. Averintsev on the evolution of attitudes and forms of literary creativity. Modern problems of historical poetics and prospects for its development.
1. The literary process as part of the general historical process. Social conditioning and relative independence of literary development.
2. The problem of national identity of the historical and literary process. General and specific in the development of national literatures.
3. Intraliterary connections. Continuity. Traditions. Innovation.
Bibliography
1) Blagoy D.D.. The literary process and its patterns // D.D. Good. From Cantemir to the present day. – M., 1972. – T.1.
2) Zhirmunsky V.M. Introduction to literary criticism: a course of lectures. – St. Petersburg, 1996.
3) Historical and literary process: Problems and methods of study / ed. A.S. Bushmina. – L., 1974.
4) Literary encyclopedic dictionary / under general. ed. V.M. Kozhevnikov and P.A. Nikolaev. – M., 1987.
5) Literary process / ed. G.N. Pospelov. – M., 1981.
6) Literary encyclopedia terms and concepts / ed. A.N. Nikolyukina. – M., 2003.
7) Ozmitel E.K.. Theory of literature. – Frunze, 1986.
8) Palievsky P.V.. Literature and theory. – M., 1978.
9) Pospelov G.N.. Problems of the historical development of literature. – M., 1972.
10) encyclopedic Dictionary young literary critic / comp. IN AND. Novikov. – M., 1988.
The term “Literary process” arose at the turn of the 20-30s. XX century and became widely used since the 60s. The concept itself was formed during the 19th-20th centuries as literature was comprehended as a historically changing integrity (already in the 19th century the terminological expressions “literary evolution” and “ literary life era").
Literary process usually defined as a historical movement of national and world literature, developing in complex connections and interactions; historical existence, functioning and evolution of fiction. The literary process at every historical moment includes both the literary works themselves and the forms of their social existence: publications, editions, literary criticism, reader reactions, etc.
The fact that the world literary process is part of the socio-historical process, was already realized by the philosophers of the 18th century J. Vico (Italian) and J. Herder (German), subsequently G. Hegel and others.
According to V.E. Khalizev, the literary process is correlated with the stages of social development of mankind (mythological archaism, antiquity, the Middle Ages, modern times, modern times). It is stimulated by the need of writers (not always conscious) to respond to changes in historical life, to participate in it, and to influence public consciousness. Thus, literature changes in historical time primarily under the influence public life.
Literary scholar E.N. Kupreyanova explains the close relationship of literary development with the development of social consciousness as a whole and with the historical change of its leading forms (religious - in the Middle Ages, philosophical - in XVII-XVIII centuries, scientific and political – in XIX-XX centuries) also because main subject Images in fiction are the subject of all humanities, including philosophy.
Modern literary criticism considers the literary process as conditioned by cultural and historical life. At the same time, it is emphasized that literature “... cannot be studied outside the integral context of culture... and directly correlated with socio-economic and other factors... The literary process is an integral part of the cultural process.”
At the same time, most scientists note that the development of literature has relative independence and is characterized unevenness(the flourishing of art is not in accordance with the general development of society, as evidenced by Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, the works of Shakespeare, etc.).
As is known, history itself unfolds unevenly: common path In socio-economic development, some peoples come forward, others lag behind. This unevenness is one of the driving forces historical process. In every major era, a push forward is created in some one region of the world, and under the influence of this push, a corresponding movement arises in other regions. This happens in socio-economic history, and this happens in literary history.
The other side of the literary process is associated with the dialectic of similarities and differences between literatures different nations and nations. Modern literary criticism reveals both the features of typological similarity of literary evolution among all peoples and nations, and its essential diversity: general, world-historical tendencies of the literary process manifest themselves in individual literatures in different ways. In other words, the literary process is directed by two interacting factors: national cultural tradition and the influence of foreign culture. In the development of any national literature, we can identify both the general (characteristic of all literature) and the special (characteristic only of individual literature).
G.N. Pospelov, speaking about the laws of the historical development of literature, argues that different peoples go through in their social life, although not identical, but still similar stages of historical development. And it is natural that at these steps they social life in all its inconsistency, it reveals some common properties. Hence, in the views and ideals of different peoples, some general features, reflected in works of fiction. Pospelov calls these common features a stage community in the literature of different peoples. As an example of a stage-based community, he cites ancient literature created by the ancient Greeks and Romans. The scientist notes that, despite the political differences in the social life of Greece and Rome, their literature has significant common properties (mythological imagery, poetic form, civic worldview, abstract characteristics of heroes, predetermined resolutions of conflicts, etc.).
“Differences in each national literature, at one or another stage of its historical development,” the literary critic further asserts, “arise because the writers who create this national literature usually belong to different social strata And social movements. As a result, they have different social views, ideals, ideological aspirations, which, becoming “prerequisites” for their creativity, are expressed in different artistic ideas and lead to the creation of works that differ in content and form, in their style.” The idea expressed is confirmed by the following example: if Aeschylus and Sophocles created predominantly civil heroic tragedies based on legendary and mythological stories, then Euripides also used these plots, but created tragedies of personal family passions.
The unity of the national and international can also be shown by the example of the history of Mordovian literature, which in its development, on the one hand, took into account the experience of Russian classics, on the other hand, was based on the traditions of oral and poetic creativity of the Mordovian people.
All of the above leads to the conclusion that every national literature has a typological feature that makes it similar to other national literatures, and something special that distinguishes it. Both are in dialectical unity.
According to V.G. Belinsky, “...Each people borrows from another especially what is alien to its own nationality, giving in exchange to others what is the exclusive property of its historical life and what is alien to the historical life of others.”
Each nationality has its own special strengths, sides, and virtues with which it enriches the universal world. The originality of each of the national literatures and the originality of each stage in the historical development of literature opens up opportunities for multilateral and complex connections and interactions in time and space. According to literary critic B.G. Reizov, national literatures live common life only because they are unlike one another; the originality of some stimulates interest in them from other literatures and develops a system of international connections.
One of the laws of the literary process is the historical continuity or dialectical the relationship between tradition and innovation.
The problem of inheriting progressive and overcoming outdated traditions remains always relevant. According to literary critic A.S. Bushmina, to understand the process of development of literature, it is important to know not only what it takes from centuries past, but also what inheritance it refuses, with what and why it is at odds with this inheritance. Without mastering viable and without overcoming dilapidated traditions and replacing them with new ones dictated by the requirements of modernity, the very concept of a new historical stage, of forward movement, progress is unthinkable.
In different periods of the history of literature and literary criticism, the problem of continuity was solved in different ways. Theorists of classicism, for example, believed that the main goal of creativity is to follow classic designs antiquity; Sentimentalists and romantics, on the contrary, solving the problem of continuity, started from the dogmatic norms of classicism. Such approaches to the problem of continuity suffered from a lack of dialectics.
Bushmin A.S. argues that in relation to the past, the nihilistic formula “only rupture, enmity”, proclaimed, for example, by Russian futurists, Proletcultists and supporters of similar views in other literatures, and the epigonic formula “only acceptance, agreement”, which is adhered to by opponents of everything new, are equally unsuitable . The pseudo-innovation of some and the conservatism of others ultimately turn out to be a hopeless dispute with history: it goes on as usual, discarding the claims of individuals and groups trying to stop the operation of the objective law of historical continuity.
The entry of the traditions of the elders into the creativity of the younger ones is a complex process. Elements of a consciously or involuntarily perceived literary tradition enter into interaction in the artist’s thinking with his impressions life experience, are supplemented by the work of creative imagination, undergo deep transformation, and enter into unique relationships and poetic associations.
A writer's innovation is the combined result of talent, life experience, an interested attitude to the demands of the time, high general culture and professional skill based on knowledge of artistic examples.
Artistic creativity it never remains simply using ready-made forms. Including tradition, it is at the same time a new act every time artistic knowledge reality, carried out in new forms. Searching, creating, and improving forms for word artists is always a thought process.
Original work art is a highly integrated system into which the elements of tradition are included as its own internal elements.
The interaction of the inherited and the personal in a work of art turns out to be so complex and interpenetrating that it is always difficult to answer the question of what belongs to tradition and what to the author, and the more difficult it is, the larger the artist, the more powerful his creative power. And not because there is no tradition here or its role was insignificant, but because it was mastered deeply creatively, ceased to be just a tradition, becoming an organic element of the spiritual development of the society of a given time.
CONTROL QUESTIONS:
1. What is the “literary process”?
2. What patterns of the literary process are identified by modern literary scholars?
3. What are traditions and innovation in literature?
4. How is the unity of the national and international manifested in fiction?
What is the literary process?
This term, firstly, denotes the literary life of a certain country and era (in the entirety of its phenomena and facts) and, secondly, the centuries-old development of literature on a global, worldwide scale.
Literary process in the second meaning of the word is the subject of comparative historical literary criticism.
Literary process- the historical movement of national and world literature, developing in complex connections and interactions. The literary process is at the same time the history of the accumulation of aesthetic, spiritual and moral values, and the indirect, but steady expansion of humanistic concepts. Until a certain time, the literary process is relatively closed, national character; V bourgeois era, with the development of economic and cultural ties, “...one world literature is formed from many national and local literatures.”
The study of the literary process involves the formulation and solution of many complex, complex problems, the main of which is the clarification of the patterns of transition of some poetic ideas and forms to others, old to new, entailing a change in styles, literary trends, movements, methods, schools, etc. What changes in meaningful form of literature reflecting a life shift, a new historical situation?
Writers are involved in the literary process with new artistic discoveries that change the principles of studying man and the world. These discoveries are not made in a vacuum. The writer certainly relies on the traditions of both immediate and distant predecessors, participants in the literary process of the Russian and foreign literature, in one form or another using all the experience accumulated in artistic development humanity. We can say that the literary process is a struggle of artistic ideas, new with old, carrying within itself the memory of the old, the defeated. Each literary direction (current) puts forward its leaders and theorists who declare new creative principles and refuting the old ones, as exhausted by literary development.
So, in the 17th century. In France, the principles of classicism were proclaimed, strict rules were established " poetic art"in contrast to the willfulness of Baroque poets and playwrights. But at the beginning of the 19th century. Romantics sharply opposed all the norms and rules of classicism, declaring that rules are crutches and genius does not need them (see Romanticism). Soon the realists rejected the subjectivism of the romantics, putting forward the demand for an objective, truthful depiction of life. But even within one school (direction, trend) there is a change of stages. “So, for example, in Russian classicism the role of the initiator was played by Kantemir, whose work ended in the very beginning of the 40s. XVIII century In the works of M. V. Lomonosov, A. P. Sumarokov, V. K. Trediakovsky, classicism received its most complete and widespread development at the end of the first and beginning of the second half of the century, and, finally, in the works of G. R. Derzhavin, which has already passed V early XIX c., classicism reaches its completion and ceases to exist as a definite literary movement" “The change of stages of classicism was determined by the rapprochement of literature with reality” (L. I. Timofeev).
An even more complex picture is presented by the evolution of critical realism in Russian XIX literature in: A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. P. Chekhov. This is not just about different artistic individualities: the nature of realism itself, knowledge of man and the world, is changing and deepening. The “Natural School,” which opposed romanticism and created masterpieces of realistic art, was already in the second half of the century perceived as a kind of canon that constrained literary development. The deepening of psychological analysis by L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky indicated new stage realism compared to " natural school" It should be emphasized that, unlike the development of technology in the history of art and literature, new artistic discoveries do not cross out the old ones. Firstly, because great works created on the basis of the “old” principles of human studies continue to live on in new generations of readers. Secondly, because these “old” principles themselves find life in new eras. For example, folklore in “Quiet Don” by M. A. Sholokhov or the principles of the enlighteners of the 18th century. (see Enlightenment) in the dramaturgy of the German writer socialist realism B. Brecht. And finally, thirdly: even when the experience of predecessors is rejected in sharp polemics, the writer still absorbs some part of this experience. Yes, conquests psychological realism XIX century (Stendhal, Dostoevsky, L. Tolstoy) were prepared by the romantics (see Romanticism), their close attention to the individual and his experiences. In new discoveries, the memory of the previous ones seems to live on.
An important role for understanding the literary process is played by the study of the influence of foreign literature on literary process domestic (for example, the importance of J. G. Byron or I. F. Schiller for the development of literature in Russia) and Russian literature to foreign ones (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, M. Gorky in the literatures of the world).
The literary process is revealed very clearly in the history of different genres. Thus, if we consider the development of the novel on a European scale, we can trace the change artistic methods and directions (currents). For example, the novel by M. Cervantes “Don Quixote” is typical for the Renaissance, “Robinson Crusoe” by D. Defoe - for the Age of Enlightenment, “Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris» V. Hugo - for the era of romanticism, novels by Stendhal, O. de Balzac, C. Dickens, I. S. Turgenev, L. N. Tolstoy, F. M. Dostoevsky, N. G. Chernyshevsky represent critical realism XIX century And a completely new stage (and new types) of the novel is put forward by the literature of socialist realism: “ Quiet Don"M. A. Sholokhov or "The Seventh Cross" by A. Zegers, "Communists" by L. Aragon. It is essential to emphasize here that the literary process in different countries goes through similar stages and the development of genre, method, style reflects these stages.
11.1. The concept of the literary process
11.2. Continuity
11.3. Literary interactions and mutual influences
11.4. Literary tradition and innovation
The concept of the literary process
The basic law of life is his constant development. This law is also observed in the literature. In different historical eras her condition was constantly changing, she had achievements and losses. The works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Dante, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Pushkin, Shevchenko, Franko, Lesya Ukrainsky, Nikolai Khvylovy, Vinnychenko, Tychina, Rylsky, Gonchar give reason to talk about the progressive development of literature. However, the literary process is not only advancement, progress, evolution. B.-I. Antonich rightly noted that the concept of “development was transferred mechanically to the area of art ... according to the natural sciences,” the concept of “development”, “progress” must be used carefully. Of course, when the history of art is perceived as continuous progress, then the works modern writers should be considered perfect from the works of past eras.
The term “literary process” arose at the turn of the 20-30s of the XX century. and began to be widely used starting in the 60s. The concept itself was formed during the 19th-20th centuries. In the 19th century The terms “literary evolution” and “literary life” were used. "IN modern literary criticism a view on the history of literature as a change in types of artistic consciousness was established: mythopoetic, traditionalist, individual author. This typology takes into account structural changes in artistic thinking."
The literary process is an important subject in the history of literature. Cyst classes, romantics, and supporters of the biographical method studied best works geniuses. Literary criticism second half of the 19th century V. overcame selectivity in the study of literature, the subject of his research became all the works of writers, regardless of the level of artistry and ideological direction.
Scientists of the 20th century G. Pospelov and M. Khrapchenko opposed both the transformation of literary criticism into a “history of generals” and the history of literature “without names.”
The term “literary process,” notes V. Khalizev, “denotes the literary life of a certain country and era (in the totality of its phenomena and facts) and, secondly, the centuries-old development of literature on a global, worldwide scale. The literary process in the second sense of the word is the subject of comparative historical literary criticism."
The literary process consists not only of masterpieces, but also of low-quality, epigone works. Resnits includes literary and artistic publications, literary criticism, the development of movements, trends, styles, genera, types, genres, epistolary literature, and memoirs. There have been cases in the history of literature when significant works were underestimated and mediocre ones were overestimated. Soviet literary criticism, for example, underestimated the early lyrics of P. Tychina and overestimated works like “The Party Leads” and “The Tractor Driver’s Song.” The works of modernists, avant-garde artists, and diaspora writers were underestimated. There is often a disproportion between the popularity and cultural and aesthetic significance of works. Writers' works sometimes reach the reader after a long period of time. For many decades, the works of Elena Teliga, Oleg Olzhich, Ulas Samchuk, Yuri Klen, Oksana Lyaturinskaya, Ivan Irlyavsky were kept silent.
The development of literature is influenced by the socio-economic characteristics of society. Economic relationships can promote or harm the arts. However, one cannot directly link the development of literature with material production. The history of literature knows examples when, during periods of decline in socio-economic relations, outstanding works of art appeared. During the period of socio-political crisis in Russia (late 18th - early 19th centuries), A. Pushkin and M. Lermontov created; an era of deep political crisis times Alexandra III(XIX century) was the period of development of the creativity of P. Tchaikovsky, I. Levitan, V. Surikov; in feudal-fragmented Germany in the second half of the 18th century. the work of Goethe and Schiller developed; defeat of the Ukrainian national revolution of 1917-1920. coincided with the work of P. Tychina, M. Rylsky, Nikolai Khvylyov, M. Kulish, A. Dovzhenko, Les Kurbas. As we see, the connection between literature and reality is not direct, but complex and contradictory. Vulgar sociologists, in particular V. Shulyatikova, V. Fritsche, V. Pereverzev and proletkultists exaggerated the importance of material factors of life in the development of literature. They believed that art is completely dependent on material, socio-economic reality and directly reflects it. Socialist realists focused their attention on the socio-political meaning, underestimating the significance artistic form works. Guided by the vulgar sociological method, V. Koryak identified the following periods in the history of Ukrainian literature:
1) a day of family life;
2) the day of early feudalism;
3) Ukrainian Middle Ages;
4) the day of commercial capitalism;
5) the day of industrial capitalism;
6) day of financial capitalism.
A reaction to vulgar sociologism was the concept of art for art's sake, according to which art does not depend on reality and is not connected with it. Theory " pure art" found realization in the works of the "Young Muse" writers and avant-garde writers.
An aesthetic and stylistic approach to the periodization of fiction was proposed by D. Chizhevsky. He identified the following periods in the history of Ukrainian literature:
1. Old folk literature (folklore).
2. The era of monumental style.
3. Time of ornamental style.
4. transitions per day.
5. Renaissance and reformation.
6. Baroque.
7. Classicism.
8. Romanticism.
9. Realism.
10. Symbolism.
Aesthetic and stylistic periodization accurately reflects the development of literature. The style of the era combines ideological, historical-sociological and aesthete-cal facets of the existence of literature.
Literature has its own laws of development. It is influenced by philosophy, politics, religion, morality, law, science, mythology, folklore, ethnography, as well as the mentality of the people. The philosophy of rationalism, for example, affected classicism, the philosophy of sensationalism - on sentimentalism, existentialism - on the works of Camus, Sartre, Stefanik, Vinnichenko.
Each national literature has its own laws of development. The heyday of humanism in Italian literature occurred in the 15th century, in English - in the 17th century. Classicism in France actively developed in mid-17th century century, and in Russia - in the second half of the 18th century.
Internal factors play an important role in the development of literature, in particular continuity, mutual influence, traditions, and innovation.