Literary movements and movements: classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, modernism (symbolism, acmeism, futurism)

Classicism(from Latin classicus - exemplary) - artistic direction in European art turn of XVII-ХVІІІ - early XIX century, formed in France at the end of the 17th century. Classicism asserted the primacy of state interests over personal interests, the predominance of civil, patriotic motives, cult moral duty. The aesthetics of classicism is characterized by the rigor of artistic forms: compositional unity, normative style and subjects. Representatives of Russian classicism: Kantemir, Trediakovsky, Lomonosov, Sumarokov, Knyazhnin, Ozerov and others.

One of the most important features of classicism is the perception of ancient art as a model, an aesthetic standard (hence the name of the movement). The goal is to create works of art in the image and likeness of ancient ones. In addition, the formation of classicism was greatly influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and the cult of reason (the belief in the omnipotence of reason and that the world can be reorganized on a rational basis).

Classicists (representatives of classicism) perceived artistic creativity as strict adherence to reasonable rules, eternal laws, created on the basis of studying the best examples of ancient literature. Based on these reasonable laws, they divided works into “correct” and “incorrect”. For example, even best plays Shakespeare. This was due to the fact that Shakespeare’s heroes combined positive and negative traits. And the creative method of classicism was formed on the basis of rationalistic thinking. There was a strict system of characters and genres: all characters and genres were distinguished by “purity” and unambiguity. Thus, in one hero it was strictly forbidden not only to combine vices and virtues (that is, positive and negative traits), but even several vices. The hero had to embody one character trait: either a miser, or a braggart, or a hypocrite, or a hypocrite, or good, or evil, etc.

The main conflict of classic works is the hero’s struggle between reason and feeling. At the same time, a positive hero must always make a choice in favor of reason (for example, when choosing between love and the need to completely devote himself to serving the state, he must choose the latter), and a negative one - in favor of feeling.

The same can be said about genre system. All genres were divided into high (ode, epic poem, tragedy) and low (comedy, fable, epigram, satire). At the same time, touching episodes were not supposed to be included in a comedy, and funny ones were not supposed to be included in a tragedy. In the high genres, “exemplary” heroes were depicted - monarchs, generals who could serve as role models. In the low genres, characters were depicted who were seized by some kind of “passion,” that is, a strong feeling.

Special rules existed for dramatic works. They had to observe three “unities” - place, time and action. Unity of place: classical dramaturgy did not allow a change of location, that is, throughout the entire play the characters had to be in the same place. Unity of time: the artistic time of a work should not exceed several hours, or at most one day. Unity of action implies the presence of only one storyline. All these requirements are related to the fact that the classicists wanted to create a unique illusion of life on stage. Sumarokov: “Try to measure the clock for me in the game for hours, so that I, having forgotten myself, can believe you.”

So, the characteristic features of literary classicism:

Purity of the genre (in high genres funny or everyday situations and heroes could not be depicted, and in low ones - tragic and sublime ones);

- purity of language (in high genres - high vocabulary, in low genres - colloquial);

Heroes are strictly divided into positive and negative, while goodies When choosing between feeling and reason, they give preference to the latter;

- compliance with the rule of “three unities”;

- The work must affirm positive values ​​and the state ideal.

Russian classicism is characterized by state pathos (the state (and not the person) was declared the highest value) combined with faith in the theory of enlightened absolutism. According to the theory of enlightened absolutism, the state should be headed by a wise, enlightened monarch, requiring everyone to serve for the good of society. Russian classicists, inspired by Peter's reforms, believed in the possibility of further improvement of society, which they saw as a rationally structured organism. Sumarokov: “Peasants plow, merchants trade, warriors defend the fatherland, judges judge, scientists cultivate science.” The classicists treated human nature in the same rationalistic way. They believed that human nature is selfish, subject to passions, that is, feelings that are opposed to reason, but at the same time amenable to education.

Sentimentalism (from English sentimental - sensitive, from French sentiment

Feeling) is a literary movement of the second half of the 18th century, which replaced classicism. Sentimentalists proclaimed the primacy of feeling, not reason. A person was judged by his capacity for deep experiences. Hence the interest in the hero’s inner world, the depiction of the shades of his feelings (the beginning of psychologism).

Unlike classicists, sentimentalists consider the highest value not the state, but the person. They contrasted the unjust orders of the feudal world with the eternal and reasonable laws of nature. In this regard, nature for sentimentalists is the measure of all values, including man himself. It is no coincidence that they asserted the superiority of the “natural”, “natural” person, that is, living in harmony with nature.

Sensitivity also underlies the creative method of sentimentalism. If classicists created generalized characters (prude, braggart, miser, fool), then sentimentalists are interested in specific people with individual fates. The heroes in their works are clearly divided into positive and negative. Positive people are endowed with natural sensitivity (responsive, kind, compassionate, capable of self-sacrifice). Negative - calculating, selfish, arrogant, cruel. The carriers of sensitivity, as a rule, are peasants, artisans, commoners, and rural clergy. Cruel - representatives of power, nobles, high clergy (since despotic rule kills sensitivity in people). Manifestations of sensitivity often acquire a too external, even exaggerated character in the works of sentimentalists (exclamations, tears, fainting, suicide).

One of the main discoveries of sentimentalism is the individualization of the hero and the image of the rich spiritual world of the commoner (the image of Liza in Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza”). The main character of the works was an ordinary person. In this regard, the plot of the work often represented individual situations of everyday life, while peasant life was often depicted in pastoral colors. New content required a new form. The leading genres were family novel, diary, confession, novel in letters, travel notes, elegy, epistle.

In Russia, sentimentalism originated in the 1760s (the best representatives are Radishchev and Karamzin). As a rule, in the works of Russian sentimentalism the conflict develops between the serf peasant and the serf-owner landowner, and the moral superiority of the former is persistently emphasized.

Romanticism is an artistic movement in European and American culture of the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. Romanticism arose in the 1790s, first in Germany, and then spread throughout Western Europe. The prerequisites for its emergence were the crisis of Enlightenment rationalism, the artistic search for pre-romantic movements (sentimentalism), the Great French Revolution, and German classical philosophy.

The emergence of this literary movement, like any other, is inextricably linked with the socio-historical events of that time. Let's start with the prerequisites for the formation of romanticism in Western European literature. The Great French Revolution of 1789-1899 and the associated revaluation of Enlightenment ideology had a decisive influence on the formation of romanticism in Western Europe. As you know, the 18th century in France passed under the sign of the Enlightenment. For almost a century, French educators led by Voltaire (Rousseau, Diderot, Montesquieu) argued that the world could be reorganized on a reasonable basis and proclaimed the idea of ​​natural equality of all people. It was these educational ideas that inspired the French revolutionaries, whose slogan was the words: “Liberty, equality and fraternity. The result of the revolution was the establishment of a bourgeois republic. As a result, the winner was the bourgeois minority, which seized power (previously it belonged to the aristocracy, the upper nobility), while the rest were left with nothing. Thus, the long-awaited “kingdom of reason” turned out to be an illusion, as were the promised freedom, equality and brotherhood. There was general disappointment in the results and results of the revolution, deep dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality, which became a prerequisite for the emergence of romanticism. Because at the heart of romanticism is the principle of dissatisfaction with the existing order of things. This was followed by the emergence of the theory of romanticism in Germany.

As you know, Western European culture, in particular French, had a huge influence on Russian. This trend continued into the 19th century, which is why the Great French Revolution also shocked Russia. But, in addition, there are actually Russian prerequisites for the emergence of Russian romanticism. First of all, this is the Patriotic War of 1812, which clearly showed the greatness and strength of the common people. It was to the people that Russia owed the victory over Napoleon; the people were the true heroes of the war. Meanwhile, both before the war and after it, the bulk of the people, the peasants, still remained serfs, in fact, slaves. What had previously been perceived as injustice by progressive people of that time now began to seem like a blatant injustice, contrary to all logic and morality. But after the end of the war, Alexander I not only did not abolish serfdom, but also began to pursue a much tougher policy. As a result, a pronounced feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction arose in Russian society. This is how the soil for the emergence of romanticism arose.

The term “romanticism” when applied to a literary movement is arbitrary and imprecise. In this regard, from the very beginning of its occurrence, it was interpreted in different ways: some believed that it comes from the word “romance”, others - from chivalric poetry created in countries speaking Romance languages. For the first time, the word “romanticism” as a name for a literary movement began to be used in Germany, where the first sufficiently detailed theory of romanticism was created.

The concept of romantic dual worlds is very important for understanding the essence of romanticism.. As already mentioned, rejection, denial of reality is the main prerequisite for the emergence of romanticism. All romantics reject the world around them, hence their romantic escape from existing life and the search for an ideal outside of it. This gave rise to the emergence of a romantic dual world. For romantics, the world was divided into two parts: here and there. “There” and “here” are an antithesis (opposition), these categories are correlated as ideal and reality. The despised “here” is modern reality, where evil and injustice triumph. “There” is a kind of poetic reality, which the romantics contrasted with real reality. Many romantics believed that goodness, beauty and truth, crowded out of public life, were still preserved in the souls of people. Hence their attention to the inner world of man, in-depth psychologism. The souls of people are their “there”. For example, Zhukovsky looked for “there” in other world; Pushkin and Lermontov, Fenimore Cooper - in the free life of uncivilized peoples (Pushkin's poem " Prisoner of the Caucasus", "Gypsies", Cooper's novels about Indian life).

Rejection and denial of reality determined the specificity of the romantic hero. This is a fundamentally new hero; previous literature has never seen anything like him. He is in a hostile relationship with the surrounding society and is opposed to it. This is an extraordinary person, restless, most often lonely and with a tragic fate. Romantic hero- the embodiment of a romantic rebellion against reality.

Realism(from the Latin realis - material, real) - a method (creative attitude) or literary direction that embodies the principles of a life-truthful attitude to reality, aimed at artistic knowledge man and the world. The term “realism” is often used in two meanings: 1) realism as a method; 2) realism as a direction formed in the 19th century. Both classicism, romanticism, and symbolism strive for knowledge of life and express their reaction to it in their own way, but only in realism does fidelity to reality become the defining criterion of artistry. This distinguishes realism, for example, from romanticism, which is characterized by a rejection of reality and the desire to “recreate” it, rather than display it as it is. It is no coincidence that, turning to the realist Balzac, the romantic George Sand defined the difference between him and herself: “You take a person as he appears to your eyes; I feel a calling within myself to portray him the way I would like to see him.” Thus, we can say that realists depict the real, and romantics depict the desired.

The beginning of the formation of realism is usually associated with the Renaissance. The realism of this time is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet) and the poeticization of the human personality, the perception of man as the king of nature, the crown of creation. Next stage - educational realism. In the literature of the Enlightenment, a democratic realistic hero appears, a man “from the bottom” (for example, Figaro in Beaumarchais’s plays “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro”). New types of romanticism appeared in the 19th century: “fantastic” (Gogol, Dostoevsky), “grotesque” (Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin) and “critical” realism associated with the activities of the “natural school”.

The main requirements of realism: adherence to the principles of nationality, historicism, high artistry, psychologism, depiction of life in its development. Realist writers showed the direct dependence of the social, moral, and religious ideas of heroes on social conditions, and paid great attention to the social and everyday aspect. Central problem realism - the relationship between plausibility and artistic truth. Plausibility, a plausible representation of life is very important for realists, but artistic truth is determined not by plausibility, but by fidelity in comprehending and conveying the essence of life and the significance of the ideas expressed by the artist. One of the most important features of realism is the typification of characters (the fusion of the typical and the individual, the uniquely personal). The persuasiveness of a realistic character directly depends on the degree of individualization achieved by the writer.

Realist writers create new types of heroes: the type of “little man” (Vyrin, Bashmachki n, Marmeladov, Devushkin), the type of “superfluous man” (Chatsky, Onegin, Pechorin, Oblomov), the type of “new” hero (nihilist Bazarov in Turgenev, “new people” of Chernyshevsky).

Modernism(from the French modern - the newest, modern) - a philosophical and aesthetic movement in literature and art that arose at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

This term has different interpretations:

1) denotes a number of non-realistic movements in art and literature at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries: symbolism, futurism, acmeism, expressionism, cubism, imagism, surrealism, abstractionism, impressionism;

2) is used as a symbol for the aesthetic searches of artists of non-realistic movements;

3) denotes a complex complex of aesthetic and ideological phenomena, including not only modernist movements themselves, but also the work of artists who do not completely fit into the framework of any movement (D. Joyce, M. Proust, F. Kafka and others).

The most striking and significant directions of Russian modernism were symbolism, acmeism and futurism.

Symbolism- a non-realistic movement in art and literature of the 1870s-1920s, focused mainly on artistic expression through the symbol of intuitively comprehended entities and ideas. Symbolism made itself known in France in the 1860-1870s in the poetic works of A. Rimbaud, P. Verlaine, S. Mallarmé. Then, through poetry, symbolism connected itself not only with prose and drama, but also with other forms of art. The ancestor, founder, “father” of symbolism is considered to be the French writer Charles Baudelaire.

The worldview of symbolist artists is based on the idea of ​​the unknowability of the world and its laws. They considered the spiritual experience of man and the creative intuition of the artist to be the only “tool” for understanding the world.

Symbolism was the first to put forward the idea of ​​​​creating art, free from the task of depicting reality. The symbolists argued that the purpose of art was not to depict the real world, which they considered secondary, but to convey a “higher reality.” They intended to achieve this with the help of a symbol. The symbol is an expression of the poet’s supersensible intuition, to whom in moments of insight the true essence of things is revealed. Symbolists developed a new poetic language, which does not directly name the subject, but hints at its content through allegory, musicality, color scheme, and free verse.

Symbolism is the first and most significant of the modernist movements that arose in Russia. The first manifesto of Russian symbolism was the article by D. S. Merezhkovsky “On the causes of decline and new trends in modern Russian literature,” published in 1893. It identified three main elements of the “new art”: mystical content, symbolization and “expansion of artistic impressionability”.

Symbolists are usually divided into two groups, or movements:

1) “senior” symbolists (V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, D. Merezhkovsky, 3. Gippius, F. Sologub

and others), which debuted in the 1890s;

2) “younger” symbolists who began their creative activity in the 1900s and significantly updated the appearance of the movement (A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ivanov and others).

It should be noted that the “senior” and “younger” symbolists were separated not so much by age as by the difference in worldviews and the direction of creativity.

The symbolists believed that art is, first of all, “comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways” (Bryusov). After all, only phenomena that are subject to the law of linear causality can be rationally comprehended, and such causality operates only in lower forms of life (empirical reality, everyday life). The symbolists were interested in the higher spheres of life (the area of ​​“absolute ideas” in terms of Plato or the “world soul”, according to V. Solovyov), not subject to rational knowledge. It is art that has the ability to penetrate into these spheres, and symbolic images with their endless polysemy are capable of reflecting the entire complexity of the world universe. The symbolists believed that the ability to comprehend the true, highest reality is given only to a select few who, in moments of inspired insight, are able to comprehend the “highest” truth, the absolute truth.

The image-symbol was considered by symbolists as more effective than artistic image, a tool that helps to “break through” the veil of everyday life (lower life) to a higher reality. A symbol differs from a realistic image in that it conveys not the objective essence of a phenomenon, but the poet’s own, individual idea of ​​the world. In addition, a symbol, as Russian symbolists understood it, is not an allegory, but, first of all, an image that requires creative response from the reader. The symbol, as it were, connects the author and the reader - this is the revolution brought about by symbolism in art.

The image-symbol is fundamentally polysemantic and contains the prospect of limitless development of meanings. This feature of his was repeatedly emphasized by the symbolists themselves: “A symbol is only a true symbol when it is inexhaustible in its meaning” (Vyach. Ivanov); “The symbol is a window to infinity” (F. Sologub).

Acmeism(from the Greek act - highest degree something, blooming power, peak) - a modernist literary movement in Russian poetry of the 1910s. Representatives: S. Gorodetsky, early A. Akhmatova, L. Gumilev, O. Mandelstam. The term “Acmeism” belongs to Gumilyov. The aesthetic program was formulated in the articles by Gumilyov “The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism”, Gorodetsky “Some Trends in Modern Russian Poetry” and Mandelstam “The Morning of Acmeism”.

Acmeism stood out from symbolism, criticizing its mystical aspirations towards the “unknowable”: “With the Acmeists, the rose again became good in itself, with its petals, smell and color, and not with its conceivable likenesses with mystical love or anything else” (Gorodetsky) . The Acmeists proclaimed the liberation of poetry from symbolist impulses towards the ideal, from polysemy and fluidity of images, complicated metaphors; they talked about the need to return to the material world, the object, the exact meaning of the word. Symbolism is based on rejection of reality, and the Acmeists believed that one should not abandon this world, one should look for some values ​​in it and capture them in their works, and do this with the help of precise and understandable images, and not vague symbols.

The Acmeist movement itself was small in number, did not last long - about two years (1913-1914) - and was associated with the “Workshop of Poets”. The “Workshop of Poets” was created in 1911 and at first united a fairly large number of people (not all of them later became involved in Acmeism). This organization was much more united than the scattered symbolist groups. At the “Workshop” meetings, poems were analyzed, problems of poetic mastery were solved, and methods for analyzing works were substantiated. The idea of ​​a new direction in poetry was first expressed by Kuzmin, although he himself was not included in the “Workshop”. In his article “On Beautiful Clarity,” Kuzmin anticipated many declarations of Acmeism. In January 1913, the first manifestos of Acmeism appeared. From this moment the existence of a new direction begins.

Acmeism proclaimed the task of literature to be “beautiful clarity,” or clarism (from the Latin clarus - clear). The Acmeists called their movement Adamism, associating with the biblical Adam the idea of ​​a clear and direct view of the world. Acmeism preached a clear, “simple” poetic language, where words would directly name objects and declare their love for objectivity. Thus, Gumilyov called for looking not for “shaky words”, but for words “with a more stable content.” This principle was most consistently implemented in Akhmatova’s lyrics.

Futurism- one of the main avant-garde movements (avant-garde is an extreme manifestation of modernism) in European art of the early 20th century, which received its greatest development in Italy and Russia.

In 1909, in Italy, the poet F. Marinetti published the “Manifesto of Futurism.” The main provisions of this manifesto: the rejection of traditional aesthetic values ​​and the experience of all previous literature, bold experiments in the field of literature and art. Marinetti names “courage, audacity, rebellion” as the main elements of futurist poetry. In 1912, Russian futurists V. Mayakovsky, A. Kruchenykh, and V. Khlebnikov created their manifesto “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste.” They also sought to break with traditional culture, welcomed literary experiments, sought to find new means of speech expression (proclamation of a new free rhythm, loosening of syntax, destruction of punctuation marks). At the same time, Russian futurists rejected fascism and anarchism, which Marinetti declared in his manifestos, and turned mainly to aesthetic problems. They proclaimed a revolution of form, its independence from content (“it is not what is important, but how”) and the absolute freedom of poetic speech.

Futurism was a heterogeneous movement. Within its framework, four main groups or movements can be distinguished:

1) “Gilea”, which united the Cubo-Futurists (V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, A. Krucheny

2) “Association of Ego-Futurists” (I. Severyanin, I. Ignatiev and others);

3) “Mezzanine of Poetry” (V. Shershenevich, R. Ivnev);

4) “Centrifuge” (S. Bobrov, N. Aseev, B. Pasternak).

The most significant and influential group was “Gilea”: in fact, it was it that determined the face of Russian futurism. Its members published many collections: “The Judges’ Tank” (1910), “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste” (1912), “Dead Moon* (1913), “Took” (1915).

The futurists wrote in the name of the crowd man. At the heart of this movement was the feeling of “the inevitability of the collapse of old things” (Mayakovsky), the awareness of the birth of a “new humanity.” Artistic creativity, according to the futurists, should have become not an imitation, but a continuation of nature, which through the creative will of man creates “ new world, today, iron...” (Malevich). This determines the desire to destroy the “old” form, the desire for contrasts, and the attraction to colloquial speech. Relying on living spoken language, futurists were engaged in “word creation” (creating neologisms). Their works were distinguished by complex semantic and compositional shifts - the contrast of the comic and tragic, fantasy and lyricism.

Futurism began to disintegrate already in 1915-1916.

The term literary movement usually denotes a group of writers connected by a common ideological position and artistic principles within the same direction or artistic movement. So, modernism - common name different groups in the art and literature of the 20th century, which distinguishes the departure from classical traditions, the search for new aesthetic principles, a new approach to the depiction of existence - includes such movements as impressionism, expressionism, surrealism, existentialism, acmeism, futurism, imagism, etc.

The fact that artists belong to one direction or current does not exclude their deep differences creative individuals. In turn, in the individual creativity of writers, the features of various literary movements and movements may appear. For example, O. Balzac, being a realist, creates a romantic novel “ Shagreen leather“, and M. Yu. Lermontov, along with romantic works, writes a realistic novel “A Hero of Our Time”.

Current - smaller unit literary process, often within a direction, is characterized by existence in a certain historical period and, as a rule, localization in certain literature. The movement is also based on a commonality of substantive principles, but the similarity of ideological and artistic concepts is more clearly manifested.

Often the community of artistic principles in a flow forms an “artistic system.” Thus, within the framework of French classicism, two movements are distinguished. One is based on the tradition of the rationalistic philosophy of R. Descartes (“Cartesian rationalism”), which includes the work of P. Corneille, J. Racine, N. Boileau. Another movement, based primarily on the sensualist philosophy of P. Gassendi, expressed itself in the ideological principles of such writers as J. Lafontaine and J. B. Moliere.

In addition, both movements differ in the system of artistic means used. In romanticism, two main movements are often distinguished - “progressive” and “conservative”, but there are other classifications.

The writer’s belonging to one or another direction or current (as well as the desire to remain outside the existing movements of literature) presupposes a free, personal expression of the author’s worldview, his aesthetic and ideological positions.

This fact is associated with the rather late emergence of directions and trends in European literature - the period of the New Age, when the personal, authorial principle becomes the leading one in literary creativity. This is the fundamental difference between the modern literary process and the development of literature of the Middle Ages, in which the content and formal features of texts were “predetermined” by tradition and “canon”.

The peculiarity of directions and trends is that these communities are based on the deep unity of philosophical, aesthetic and other substantive principles of largely different, individually authored artistic systems.

Directions and currents should be distinguished from literary schools(and literary groups).

Introduction to literary criticism (N.L. Vershinina, E.V. Volkova, A.A. Ilyushin, etc.) / Ed. L.M. Krupchanov. - M, 2005

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 the general character of the content and ideas of all national literature or any period of its development. At first XIX century the literary trend was generally associated with the “dominant trend of minds.”

Thus, I. V. Kireevsky in his 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 of the creative method of 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 motives for the destruction of customary boundaries and hierarchies, ideas of “spiritualizing” synthesis that replaced the rationalistic concept of “connection” and “order”, awareness of man as the center and mystery of existence , open and creative personality, etc.

But the specific 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 one should certainly take into account that often the national characteristics of a particular direction 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" 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. There are many differences in the national varieties of classicism; even more problems are associated with the definition of romanticism as a single pan-European movement, within which very different phenomena are often found.

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, substantive and aesthetic principles that arises at a certain stage of the literary process, covering the work of many writers.

The term “direction” in literature is understood as the creative unity of writers of a certain historical era, using general ideological and aesthetic principles of depicting reality.

A direction in literature is considered as a generalizing category of the literary process, as one of the forms of artistic worldview, aesthetic views, ways of displaying life, associated with a unique artistic style. In the history of the national literatures of European peoples, such trends as classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, naturalism, and symbolism are distinguished.

Introduction to literary criticism (N.L. Vershinina, E.V. Volkova, A.A. Ilyushin, etc.) / Ed. L.M. Krupchanov. - M, 2005

Literature, like no other type of human creative activity, is connected with social and historical life people, being a bright and imaginative source of its reflection. Fiction develops together with society, in a certain historical sequence and we can say that it is a direct example artistic development civilization. Each historical era is characterized by certain moods, views, attitudes and worldviews, which inevitably manifest themselves in literary works.

A common worldview, supported by common artistic principles creation of a literary work by certain groups of writers, forms different literary trends. It is worth saying that the classification and identification of such trends in the history of literature is very conditional. Writers, creating their works in different historical eras, did not even suspect that literary scholars would, over the years, classify them as belonging to any literary movement. However, for convenience historical analysis in literary criticism such a classification is necessary. It helps to understand more clearly and structuredly the complex processes of the development of literature and art.

Main literary trends

Each of them is characterized by the presence of a number famous writers, who are united by a clear ideological and aesthetic concept set out in theoretical works, and general view on the principles of creating a work of art or an artistic method, which, in turn, acquires historical and social features inherent in a certain direction.

In the history of literature, it is customary to distinguish the following main literary trends:

Classicism. It was formed as an artistic style and worldview to XVII century. It is based on a passion for ancient art, which was taken as a role model. In an effort to achieve simplicity of perfection, similar to ancient models, the classicists developed strict canons of art, such as the unity of time, place and action in drama, which had to be strictly followed. The literary work was emphasized as artificial, intelligently and logically organized, and rationally constructed.

All genres were divided into high genres (tragedy, ode, epic), which glorified heroic events and mythological stories, and low - depicting the everyday life of people of the lower classes (comedy, satire, fable). The classicists preferred drama and created a lot of works specifically for the theatrical stage, using not only words to express ideas, but also visual images, a structured plot in a certain way, facial expressions and gestures, scenery and costumes. The entire seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries passed under the shadow of classicism, which was replaced by another direction after the destructive power of the French.

Romanticism is a comprehensive concept that powerfully manifested itself not only in literature, but also in painting, philosophy and music, and in each European country it had its own specific features. Romantic writers were united by a subjective view of reality and dissatisfaction with the surrounding reality, which forced them to construct different pictures of the world that lead away from reality. The heroes of romantic works are powerful, extraordinary personalities, rebels who challenge the imperfections of the world, universal evil and die in the struggle for happiness and universal harmony. Unusual heroes and unusual life circumstances, fantasy worlds and unrealistically strong deep experiences the writers conveyed with the help certain language Their works are very emotional and sublime.

Realism. Pathos and elation of romanticism were replaced this direction, the main principle of which was the depiction of life in all its earthly manifestations, very real typical heroes in real typical circumstances. Literature, according to realist writers, was supposed to become a textbook of life, so heroes were depicted in all aspects of personality manifestation - social, psychological, historical. The main source influencing a person, shaping his character and worldview, becomes environment, real life circumstances with which the heroes constantly come into conflict due to deep contradictions. Life and images are given in development, showing a certain trend.

Literary trends reflect the most general parameters and features of artistic creativity in a certain historical period in the development of society. In turn, within any direction, several movements can be distinguished, which are represented by writers with similar ideological and artistic attitudes, moral and ethical views, and artistic and aesthetic techniques. Thus, within the framework of romanticism there were such movements as civil romanticism. Realist writers were also adherents of various movements. In Russian realism it is customary to distinguish philosophical and sociological movements.

Literary movements and movements are a classification created within the framework of literary theories. It is based on philosophical, political and aesthetic views eras and generations of people at a certain historical stage in the development of society. However, literary movements can go beyond the boundaries of one historical era, so they are often identified with artistic method, common to a group of writers who lived in different times, but expressing similar spiritual and ethical principles.