Literary directions (theoretical material)
Classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism are the main literary trends.
Main features literary trends :
· unite writers of a certain historical era;
· represent a special type of hero;
· express a certain worldview;
· choose characteristic themes and plots;
· use characteristic artistic techniques;
· work in certain genres;
· stand out in style artistic speech;
· put forward certain life and aesthetic ideals.
Classicism
A movement in literature and art of the 17th – early 19th centuries, based on examples of ancient (classical) art. Russian classicism is characterized by national and patriotic themes associated with the transformations of the Peter the Great era.
Distinctive features:
· the significance of themes and plots;
· violation of the truth of life: utopianism, idealization, abstraction in the image;
· far-fetched images, schematic characters;
· the edifying nature of the work, the strict division of heroes into positive and negative;
· use of language that is poorly understood to the common people;
· appeal to the sublime heroic moral ideals;
· national, civil orientation;
· establishing a hierarchy of genres: “high” (odes and tragedies), “middle” (elegy, historical works, friendly letters) and “low” (comedies, satires, fables, epigrams);
· subordination of the plot and composition to the rules of the “three unities”: time, space (place) and action (all events take place in 24 hours, in one place and around one storyline).
Representatives of classicism
Western European literature:
· P. Corneille – tragedies “Cid”, “Horace”, “Cinna”;
· J. Racine – tragedies “Phaedra”, “Midridate”;
· Voltaire - tragedies “Brutus”, “Tancred”;
· Moliere - comedies “Tartuffe”, “The Bourgeois in the Nobility”;
· N. Boileau – treatise in verse “ Poetic art»;
· J. Lafontaine - “Fables”.
Russian literature
· M. Lomonosov - poem “Conversation with Anacreon”, “Ode on the day of the accession to the throne of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, 1747”;
· G. Derzhavin - ode “Felitsa”;
· A. Sumarokov – tragedies “Khorev”, “Sinav and Truvor”;
· Y. Knyazhnin - tragedies “Dido”, “Rosslav”;
· D. Fonvizin - comedies “The Brigadier”, “The Minor”.
Sentimentalism
Movement in literature and art of the second half of the 18th – early 19th centuries. He declared that the dominant “human nature” was not reason, but feeling, and sought the path to the ideal of a harmoniously developed personality in the release and improvement of “natural” feelings.
Distinctive features:
· revealing human psychology;
· feeling is proclaimed to be the highest value;
· interest in to the common man, to the world of his feelings, to nature, to everyday life;
· idealization of reality, subjective image of the world;
· ideas of moral equality of people, organic connection with nature;
· the work is often written in the first person (narrator - author), which gives it lyricism and poetry.
Representatives of sentimentalism
· S. Richardson – novel “Clarissa Garlow”;
· – novel “Julia, or the New Eloise”;
· - novel “The Sorrows of Young Werther.”
Russian literature
· V. Zhukovsky - early poems;
· N. Karamzin - stories " Poor Lisa" - the pinnacle of Russian sentimentalism, "Bornholm Island";
· I. Bogdanovich - poem “Darling”;
· A. Radishchev (not all researchers classify his work as sentimentalism; it is close to this trend only in its psychologism; travel notes “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”).
Romanticism
A movement in art and literature of the late 18th – first half of the 19th centuries, reflecting the artist’s desire to contrast reality and dreams.
Distinctive features:
· unusualness, exoticism in the depiction of events, landscapes, people;
· rejection of the prosaic real life; expression of a worldview characterized by daydreaming, idealization of reality, and the cult of freedom;
· striving for ideal, perfection;
· strong, bright, sublime image romantic hero;
· depiction of a romantic hero in exceptional circumstances (in a tragic duel with fate);
· contrast in the mixture of high and low, tragic and comic, ordinary and unusual.
Representatives of romanticism
Western European literature
· J. Byron - poems “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”, “The Corsair”;
· – drama “Egmont”;
· I. Schiller - dramas “Robbers”, “Cunning and Love”;
· E. Hoffman – fantastic story"Golden Pot"; fairy tales “Little Tsakhes”, “Lord of the Fleas”;
· P. Merimee - short story “Carmen”;
· V. Hugo – historical novel"Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris»;
· V. Scott - historical novel “Ivanhoe”.
Russian literature
literary trendsAndcurrents
XVII-X1X CENTURY
Classicism - direction in literature of the 17th - early 19th centuries, focusing on the aesthetic standards of ancient art. The main idea is the affirmation of the priority of reason. Aesthetics is based on the principle of rationalism: a work of art must be intelligently constructed, logically verified, and must capture the enduring, essential properties of things. Works of classicism are characterized by high civic themes, strict adherence to certain creative norms and rules, reflection of life in ideal images that gravitate towards a universal model (G. Derzhavin, I. Krylov, M. Lomonosov, V. Trediakovsky,D. Fonvizin).
Sentimentalism - a literary movement of the second half of the 18th century, which established feeling, rather than reason, as the dominant of the human personality. The hero of sentimentalism is a “feeling man”, his emotional world is diverse and mobile, and the wealth of the inner world is recognized for every person, regardless of his class affiliation (I. M. Karamzin.“Letters of a Russian Traveler”, “Poor Lisa” ) .
Romanticism - literary movement formed in early XIX century. Fundamental to romanticism was the principle of romantic dual worlds, which presupposes a sharp contrast between the hero and his ideal and the surrounding world. The incompatibility of ideal and reality was expressed in the departure of romantics from modern themes into the world of history, traditions and legends, dreams, dreams, fantasies, and exotic countries. Romanticism has a special interest in the individual. The romantic hero is characterized by proud loneliness, disappointment, a tragic attitude and, at the same time, rebellion and rebellion of spirit (A.S. Pushkin."KavKaz captive" « Gypsies»; M. Yu. Lermontov.« Mtsyri»; M. Gorky.« Song about the Falcon", "Old Woman Izergil").
Realism - a literary movement that established itself in Russian literature at the beginning of the 19th century and passed through the entire 20th century. Realism asserts the priority of the cognitive capabilities of literature, its ability to explore reality. The most important subject of artistic research is the relationship between character and circumstances, the formation of characters under the influence of the environment. Human behavior, according to realist writers, depends on external circumstances, which, however, does not negate his ability to oppose his will to them. This determined the central conflict - the conflict between personality and circumstances. Realist writers depict reality in development, in dynamics, presenting stable, typical phenomena in their unique individual embodiment (A.S. Pushkin."Eugene Onegin"; novels I. S. Turgeneva, L. N. TolStygo, F. M. Dostoevsky, A. M. Gorky,stories I. A. Bunina,A. I. Kuprina; N. A. Nekrasoviand etc.).
Critical Realism - The literary movement, which is a subsidiary of the previous one, existed from the beginning of the 19th century until its end. It bears the main signs of realism, but is distinguished by a deeper, critical, sometimes sarcastic author's view ( N.V. Gogol"Dead Souls"; Saltykov-Shchedrin)
XXVEC
Modernism - a literary movement of the first half of the 20th century, which opposed itself to realism and united many movements and schools with a very diverse aesthetic orientation. Instead of a rigid connection between characters and circumstances, modernism affirms the self-worth and self-sufficiency of the human personality, its irreducibility to a tedious series of causes and consequences.
Avant-garde - a direction in literature and art of the 20th century, uniting various movements, united in their aesthetic radicalism (surrealism, drama of the absurd, " new novel", in Russian literature -futurism). It is genetically related to modernism, but absolutizes and takes to the extreme its desire for artistic renewal.
Decadence (decadence) - a certain state of mind, a crisis type of consciousness, expressed in a feeling of despair, powerlessness, mental fatigue with the obligatory elements of narcissism and aestheticization of the self-destruction of the individual. Decadent in mood, the works aestheticize extinction, the break with traditional morality, and the will to death. The decadent worldview was reflected in the works of writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. F. Sologuba, 3. Gippius, L. Andreeva, and etc.
Symbolism - pan-European, and in Russian literature - the first and most significant modernist movement. Symbolism is rooted in romanticism, with the idea of two worlds. The symbolists contrasted the traditional idea of understanding the world in art with the idea of constructing the world in the process of creativity. The meaning of creativity is the subconscious-intuitive contemplation of secret meanings, accessible only to the artist-creator. The main means of transmitting secret meanings that are not rationally cognizable becomes the symbol (of signs) (“senior symbolists”: V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, F. Sologub;"Young Symbolists": A. Blok,A. Bely, V. Ivanov, dramas by L. Andreev).
Acmeism - a movement of Russian modernism that arose as a reaction to the extremes of symbolism with its persistent tendency to perceive reality as a distorted likeness of higher entities. The main significance in the work of Acmeists is the artistic exploration of the diverse and vibrant earthly world, the transfer of the inner world of man, the affirmation of culture as the highest value. Acmeistic poetry is characterized by stylistic balance, pictorial clarity of images, precisely calibrated composition, and precision of detail. (N. Gumilev, S. Gorodetscue, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut).
Futurism - an avant-garde movement that emerged almost simultaneously in Italy and Russia. The main feature is the preaching of the overthrow of past traditions, the destruction of old aesthetics, the desire to create new art, the art of the future, capable of transforming the world. The main technical principle is the principle of “shift”, manifested in lexical updating poetic language due to the introduction of vulgarisms, technical terms, neologisms, in violation of the laws of lexical compatibility of words, in bold experiments in the field of syntax and word formation (V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, I. Severyanin and etc.).
Expressionism - modernist movement that formed in the 1910s - 1920s in Germany. The expressionists sought not so much to depict the world as to express their thoughts about the troubles of the world and the suppression of the human personality. The style of expressionism is determined by the rationalism of constructions, the attraction to abstraction, the acute emotionality of the statements of the author and characters, and the abundant use of fantasy and the grotesque. In Russian literature, the influence of expressionism manifested itself in the works of L. Andreeva, E. Zamyatina, A. Platonova and etc.
Postmodernism - a complex set of ideological attitudes and cultural reactions in the era of ideological and aesthetic pluralism (late 20th century). Postmodern thinking is fundamentally anti-hierarchical, opposes the idea of ideological integrity, and rejects the possibility of mastering reality using a single method or language of description. Postmodern writers consider literature, first of all, a fact of language, and therefore do not hide, but emphasize the “literariness” of their works, combine the stylistics of different genres and different literary eras in one text (A. Bitov, Sasha Sokolov, D. A. Prigov, V. PeLevin, Ven. Erofeev and etc.).
Option 1
A. Classicism
B. Sentimentalism
B. Romanticism
G. Realism
1. Reflection of the idea of harmony, strict orderliness of the world, faith in the human mind.
2. Contains a contrast between reality and dreams.
3. Opposes the abstraction and rationality of the works of classicism. It reflects the desire to depict human psychology.
4. Main character lonely and not understood by others, opposed to society.
5. The actions and actions of the heroes are determined from the point of view of feelings, the sensitivity of the heroes is exaggerated.
6. The plot and composition obey accepted rules (the rule of three unities: place of time, action).
7. Portrayal of typical characters in typical circumstances.
8. Main genres - comedy, ode.
9. Idealization of the village way of life, the heroes are ordinary people.
10. The name of the direction in translation means “material, real.”
11. Replaces classicism.
12. Civil (educational) orientation of the works.
13. M.Yu. Lermontov "Mtsyri"
14. G.R. Derzhavin Ode "Felitsa"
15. N.V. Gogol "Dead Souls"
16. V.A. Zhukovsky "Svetlana"
17. M.V. Lomonosov
18. N.M. Karamzin
19. D.I. Fonvizin
20. L.N. Tolstoy
Test on the topic “Literary Directions”
Option 2
When answering test questions, indicate only the letter that corresponds to the literary direction.
A. Classicism
B. Sentimentalism
B. Romanticism
G. Realism
I. Which literary movement does the characteristic correspond to?
1. The actions and deeds of the heroes are determined from the point of view of reason.
2. Idealization of the natural world (a special landscape).
3. An exceptional hero acts in exceptional circumstances.
4. Main genres - elegy, ballad.
5. The hero is individual and at the same time embodies typical traits.
6. The name of the direction in translation means “Exemplary”
7. Representatives of the lower classes are endowed with a rich spiritual world.
8. Replaces romanticism and exists to this day.
9. Unusual and exotic depiction of events, landscapes, people.
10. Dividing comedy heroes into positive and negative.
11. The work shows a special interest in surrounding reality, the ideal world is opposed to the real one.
12. A hero is judged by how he can show feelings, and not by the benefit he brings to the state.
II. What literary movement do the works belong to?
13. V.A. Zhukovsky Elegy “Sea”
14. M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time"
15. M.V. Lomonosov “Ode on the day of Elizabeth Petrovna’s accession to the throne”
16. A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin"
III. Which literary movement does the writer's work belong to?
17. G.R. Derzhavin
18. A.P. Chekhov
19. M.V. Lomonosov
20. N.M. Karamzin
| Option 1 | Option 2 |
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Evaluation criteria
"5" - 18-20 points (90% correct answers)
"4" - 14-17 points (70%-89% correct answers)
"3" - 10-13 points (50%-69% correct answers)
"2" - 0-9 points (less than 49% correct answers)
The concepts of “direction”, “current”, “school” refer to terms that describe the literary process - the development and functioning of literature on a historical scale. Their definitions are debatable in literary studies.
In the 19th century, direction was understood as general character content, ideas of all national literature or any period of its development. At first XIX century the literary movement was generally associated with the “dominant trend of minds.”
Thus, I. V. Kireevsky in the article “The Nineteenth Century” (1832) wrote that the dominant direction of minds at the end of the 18th century is destructive, and the new consists in “the desire for a soothing equation of the new spirit with the ruins of old times...
In literature, the result of this trend was the desire to harmonize imagination with reality, correctness of forms with freedom of content... in a word, what is in vain called classicism, with what is even more incorrectly called romanticism.”
Even earlier, in 1824, V.K. Kuchelbecker declared the direction of poetry as its main content in the article “On the direction of our poetry, especially lyrical, in last decade" Ks. A. Polevoy was the first in Russian criticism to apply the word “direction” to certain stages in the development of literature.
In the article “On trends and parties in literature,” he called a direction “that internal striving of literature, often invisible to contemporaries, which gives character to all or at least very many of its works in the known given time...The basis of it, in in a general sense, there is an idea of the modern era.”
For " real criticism" - N. G. Chernyshevsky, N. A. Dobrolyubov - the direction correlated with the ideological position of the writer or group of writers. In general, the direction was understood as a variety of literary communities.
But the main feature that unites them is that the unity of the most general principles embodiment of artistic content, commonality of the deep foundations of artistic worldview.
This unity is often due to the similarity of cultural and historical traditions, often associated with the type of consciousness of the literary era; some scientists believe that the unity of direction is due to the unity creative method writers.
There is no set list of literary trends, since the development of literature is associated with the specifics of historical, cultural, social life society, national and regional characteristics of a particular literature. However, traditionally there are such trends as classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, symbolism, each of which is characterized by its own set of formal and content features.
For example, within the framework of the romantic worldview, general features of romanticism can be identified, such as the motives for the destruction of customary boundaries and hierarchies, the ideas of “spiritualizing” synthesis, which replaced the rationalistic concept of “connection” and “order”, the awareness of man as the center and mystery of existence , open and creative personality, etc.
But the concrete expression of these general philosophical and aesthetic foundations of worldview in the works of writers and their worldview itself are different.
Thus, within romanticism, the problem of the embodiment of universal, new, non-rational ideals was embodied, on the one hand, in the idea of rebellion, a radical reorganization of the existing world order (D. G. Byron, A. Mitskevich, P. B. Shelley, K. F. Ryleev) , and on the other hand, in the search for one’s inner “I” (V. A. Zhukovsky), harmony of nature and spirit (W. Wordsworth), religious self-improvement (F. R. Chateaubriand).
As we see, such a community of principles is international, largely of different quality, and exists in rather vague chronological framework, which is largely due to the national and regional specifics of the literary process.
The same sequence of changing directions in different countries usually serves as proof of their supranational character. This or that direction in each country acts as a national variety of the corresponding international (European) literary community.
According to this point of view, French, German, Russian classicism are considered varieties of an international literary movement - European classicism, which is a set of the most common typological features inherent in all varieties of the movement.
But you should definitely take into account that often national characteristics of one direction or another can manifest themselves much more clearly than the typological similarity of varieties. In generalization there is some schematism that can distort real historical facts literary process.
For example, classicism manifested itself most clearly in France, where it is presented as a complete system of both substantive and formal features of works, codified by theoretical normative poetics (“Poetic art” by N. Boileau). In addition, there are significant artistic achievements, which influenced other European literatures.
In Spain and Italy, where the historical situation was different, classicism turned out to be a largely imitative direction. Baroque literature turned out to be leading in these countries.
Russian classicism becomes a central trend in literature, also not without the influence of French classicism, but it acquires its own national sound and crystallizes in the struggle between the “Lomonosov” and “Sumarokov” movements. IN national varieties classicism has many differences, yet more problems is associated with the definition of romanticism as a single pan-European movement, within which very different phenomena often occur.
Thus, the construction of pan-European and “world” models of trends as the largest units of the functioning and development of literature seems to be a very difficult task.
Gradually, along with “direction”, the term “flow” comes into circulation, often used synonymously with “direction”. Thus, D. S. Merezhkovsky, in an extensive article “On the causes of the decline and new trends in modern Russian literature” (1893), writes that “between writers with different, sometimes opposite temperaments, special mental currents, a special air are established, like between opposite poles, full of creative trends." It is this, according to the critic, that accounts for the similarity of “poetic phenomena” and the works of different writers.
Often “direction” is recognized as a generic concept in relation to “flow”. Both concepts denote the unity of leading spiritual, meaningful and aesthetic principles, covering the work of many writers.
The term “direction” in literature is understood as the creative unity of writers of a certain historical era who use common ideological and aesthetic principles for depicting reality.
Direction in literature is considered as a general category of the literary process, as one of the forms of artistic worldview, aesthetic views, ways of displaying life associated with a peculiar artistic style. In the history of national literatures European peoples There are such trends as classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, naturalism, symbolism.
Introduction to literary criticism (N.L. Vershinina, E.V. Volkova, A.A. Ilyushin, etc.) / Ed. L.M. Krupchanov. - M, 2005