Russian national culture in the 19th century reached heights in art, literature, and in many areas of knowledge, defined by the word “classics.” Russian literature of the 19th century is deservedly called the “golden age.” Even those ignorant of literature cannot object. It became a trendsetter in literary fashion, quickly bursting into world literature. The "Golden Age" gave us many famous masters. The 19th century is the time of development of Russian literary language, which took shape mostly thanks to A.S. Pushkin. It began with the flowering of sentimentalism and the gradual emergence of romanticism, especially in poetry. There were many poets during this period, but the main figure of that time was Alexander Pushkin. As they would now call him a “star.”
His ascent to the Olympus of literature began in 1820 with the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila.” And “Eugene Onegin,” a novel in verse, was called an encyclopedia of Russian life. The era of Russian romanticism was discovered by him romantic poems « Bronze Horseman", "Bakhchisarai Fountain", "Gypsies". For most poets and writers, A.S. Pushkin was a teacher. The traditions he laid down in the creation of literary works were continued by many of them. Among them was M. Lermontov. Russian poetry of that time was closely connected with the socio-political life of the country. In their works, the authors tried to comprehend and develop the idea of their special purpose. They called on the authorities to listen to their words. The poet of that time was considered a prophet, a conductor of divine truth. This can be seen in Pushkin’s poem “The Prophet”, in the ode “Liberty”, “The Poet and the Crowd”, in Lermontov’s “On the Death of the Poet” and many others. In the 19th century, English had a huge influence on all world literature. historical novels. Under their influence A.S. Pushkin writes the story "The Captain's Daughter".
Throughout the 19th century, the main artistic types There were the “little man” type and the “extra man” type.
From the 19th century, literature inherited a satirical character and journalistic style. This can be seen in Gogol’s “ Dead souls", "Nose", in the comedy "The Inspector General", by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin “The History of a City”, “The Golovlevs”.
The formation of Russian realistic literature dates back to the mid-19th century. She reacted sharply to the socio-political situation in Russia. A dispute arises between Slavophiles and Westerners about the paths of historical development of the country.
The development of the realistic novel genre begins. A special psychologism can be traced in the literature; philosophical, socio-political issues predominate. The development of poetry is somewhat calming down, but, despite the general silence, the voice of Nekrasov, who in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'?” is not silent. illuminates the difficult and hopeless life of the people. -
The end of the century gave us A.P. Chekhova, A.N. Ostrovsky, N. S. Leskov, M. Gorky. Pre-revolutionary sentiment runs like a red thread in literature. The realistic tradition began to fade away, which was replaced by decadent literature, with mysticism, religiosity, and also a premonition of changes in the socio-political life of Russia. Then everything turned into symbolism. And a new page opened in the history of Russian literature.
From the works of writers of that time, we learn humanity, patriotism, and study our history. More than one generation of people - Humans - has grown up on this “classic”.
XIX century rightly called the “golden age” of Russian literature. Already in the first half of the century, literature took a giant step forward. At the beginning of the 19th century. Romanticism replaced classicism and sentimentalism. In literature, this was most clearly reflected in the work of the poet V. A. Zhukovsky (1783-1852), as well as in the early poems of A. S. Pushkin (1799-1837). Romantics in their works turned to historical events, legends, and oral folk poetry.
At the turn of the 20-30s. A new direction begins to develop - realism. One of the first realistic works was the comedy “Woe from Wit” by A. S. Griboyedov (1795-1829). But A. S. Pushkin should be considered the true founder of realism in Russian literature; he was also the founder of the Russian literary language. The author of lyrical poems and caustic epigrams, the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin", the poems "The Bronze Horseman", "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter" and others, A. S. Pushkin not only proved himself to be a great poet, but also managed grasp the essence the most important phenomena Russian history and reality, depicted by him in all its diversity, complexity and inconsistency. Realism is largely inherent in the novel by M. Yu. Lermontov (1814-1841) “A Hero of Our Time.” N.V. Gogol (1809-1852) developed critical realism, the purpose of which was to reveal the vulgarities of life, as well as social criticism (“The Inspector General,” “Dead Souls”). Gogol deepened the theme of the “little man” (“The Overcoat”), introduced into Russian literature by A. S. Pushkin (“The Station Agent”).
In the 40s a school of realist writers (“natural school”) was formed, rallying around V. G. Belinsky (1811-1848). Realists sought to depict truthfully daily life. They described details of everyday life, peculiarities of speech, emotional experiences of peasants, townspeople, and minor officials. The map of Moscow and the surrounding area in those days already included thousands of objects used by writers as settings in their works. TO the best works of that time include “Poor People” by F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881), “Notes of a Hunter” by I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883), “The Thieving Magpie” by A. I. Herzen (1812-1870), “ An ordinary story"I. A. Goncharova (1812-1891).
In the 1850-1870s. aphorisms, parodies and poems signed by Kozma Prutkov began to appear. Kozma Prutkov is a generalized image of an official-bureaucrat of the Nicholas era, who considers himself a model of wisdom. Kozma Prutkov's aphorisms are a sharp satire on bureaucracy, stupidity, veneration for rank, vulgarity and careerism.
An ideological, political and literary struggle broke out around the peasant reform of 1861. The most radical of the " people's intercessors"- revolutionary democrats, whose leader was N. G. Chernyshevsky (1828-1889), and whose main mouthpiece was the magazine Sovremennik, even called for “Rus to the axe.” In this atmosphere of intense struggle, such masterpieces of Russian literature are created as “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N. A. Nekrasov (1821-1877), “The Past and Thoughts” by A. I. Herzen, “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky, “Fathers and Sons” by I. S. Turgenev, “The Thunderstorm” by A. N. Ostrovsky (1823-1886), “What to do?” N. G. Chernyshevsky, “Oblomov” by I. A. Goncharov, “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy (1828-1910), “Lord Golovlevs” by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826-1889). In these, in the full sense of the word, classical works, and this series can be significantly continued, the high civic spirit and depth of depiction of life inherent in Russian literature are most clearly expressed. The dominant literary genre was the novel.
In the last decades of the 19th century. The talents of A.P. Chekhov (1860-1904), V.G. Korolenko (1853-1921), V.M. Garshin (1855-1888) appeared. In their works they were able to show that dissatisfaction with autocratic reality was becoming nationwide, that protest was brewing even in the souls of the most downtrodden and humiliated “little” people. The melancholy of Chekhov's heroes, their characteristic sense of the strangeness and unreasonableness of life, acquired a global meaning. V. M. Garshin is already planning to overcome naturalistic tendencies and attempt to combine romantic and realistic principles in lyrical prose.
In the 1890s. “Old” literature, in the words of the poetess Z. N. Gippius, “was at the end”; it was replaced by the literature of the “Silver Age” (the Art Nouveau era).
The nineteenth century is the golden age of Russian literature. During this period, a whole galaxy of literary geniuses, poets and prose writers was born, whose unsurpassed creative skill determined the further development of not only Russian literature, but also foreign literature.
The subtle interweaving of social realism and classicism in literature absolutely corresponded to the national ideas and canons of that time. In the 19th century, such acute social problems as the need to change priorities, rejection of outdated principles and confrontation between society and the individual began to arise for the first time.
The most significant representatives of Russian classics of the 19th century
Such word geniuses as A.A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky and A.S. Griboyedov, in their works openly demonstrated contempt for upper strata society for their selfishness, vanity, hypocrisy and immorality. V.A. Zhukovsky, on the contrary, with his works introduced dreaminess and sincere romance into Russian literature. He tried in his poems to get away from the gray and boring everyday life in order to show in all its colors the sublime world that surrounds man. Speaking about Russian literary classics, one cannot fail to mention the great genius A.S. Pushkin - poet and father of the Russian literary language. The works of this writer made a real revolution in the world literary art. Pushkin's poetry, story " Queen of Spades" and the novel "Eugene Onegin" became a stylistic presentation that was repeatedly used by many domestic and world writers.
Among other things, the literature of the nineteenth century was also characterized by philosophical concepts. They are most clearly revealed in the works of M.Yu. Lermontov. Throughout his creative career, the author admired the Decembrist movements and defended freedoms and human rights. His poems are imbued with criticism of imperial power and opposition calls. A.P. “lit up” in the field of drama. Chekhov. Using subtle but “prickly” satire, the playwright and writer ridiculed human vices and expressed contempt for the vices of representatives of the noble nobility. His plays from the moment of his birth to this day have not lost their relevance and continue to be staged on the stage of theaters all over the world. It is also impossible not to mention the great L.N. Tolstoy, A.I. Kuprina, N.V. Gogol, etc.
Group portrait of Russian writers - members of the editorial board of the Sovremennik magazine».
Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Goncharov, Leo Tolstoy, Dmitry Grigorovich, Alexander Druzhinin, Alexander Ostrovsky.
Features of Russian literature
In the nineteenth century, Russian realistic literature achieved an unprecedented level of artistic perfection. Its main distinctive feature there was originality. The second half of the 19th century in Russian literature passed with the idea of a decisive democratization of artistic creation and under the sign of intense ideological struggle. Among other things, during this time frame the pathos of artistic creativity was modified, as a result of which the Russian writer was faced with the need for an artistic understanding of the unusually mobile and impetuous elements of existence. In such a situation, literary synthesis arose in much narrow temporal and spatial periods of life: the need for a certain localization and specialization was dictated by the special state of the world, characteristic of the era of the second half of the nineteenth century.
The 19th century gave birth to a large number of talented Russian prose writers and poets. Their works quickly burst into the world and took their rightful place in it. The work of many authors around the world was influenced by them. General characteristics Russian literature of the 19th century has become the subject of study in a separate section in literary criticism. Undoubtedly, the prerequisites for such a rapid cultural rise were events in political and social life.
Story
The main trends in art and literature are formed under the influence historical events. If in the 18th century social life in Russia was relatively measured, the next century included many important vicissitudes that influenced not only the further development of society and politics, but also the formation of new trends and trends in literature.
The striking historical milestones of this period were the war with Turkey, the invasion of Napoleonic army, the execution of oppositionists, the abolition of serfdom and many other events. All of them are reflected in art and culture. A general description of Russian literature of the 19th century cannot do without mentioning the creation of new stylistic norms. The genius of the art of words was A.S. Pushkin. This great century begins with his work.
Literary language
The main merit of the brilliant Russian poet was the creation of new poetic forms, stylistic devices and unique, previously unused plots. Pushkin managed to achieve this thanks to his comprehensive development and excellent education. One day he set himself the goal of achieving all the peaks in education. And he achieved it by the age of thirty-seven. Pushkin's heroes became atypical and new for that time. The image of Tatyana Larina combines beauty, intelligence and characteristics of the Russian soul. This literary type There were no analogues in our literature before.
Answering the question: “What is the general characteristic of Russian literature of the 19th century?”, a person with at least basic philological knowledge will remember such names as Pushkin, Chekhov, Dostoevsky. But it was the author of “Eugene Onegin” who made a revolution in Russian literature.
Romanticism
This concept originates from Western medieval epic. But to 19th century it acquired new shades. Originating in Germany, romanticism penetrated into the work of Russian authors. In prose, this direction is characterized by a desire for mystical motives and folk legends. Poetry traces the desire to transform life for the better and the chanting folk heroes. The opposition and their tragic end became fertile ground for poetic creativity.
The general characteristics of Russian literature of the 19th century are marked by romantic moods in the lyrics, which were quite often found in the poems of Pushkin and other poets of his galaxy.
As for prose, new forms of the story have appeared here, among which the fantastic genre occupies an important place. Vivid examples of romantic prose are the early works of Nikolai Gogol.
Sentimentalism
With the development of this direction, Russian literature of the 19th century begins. General prose is sensual and focuses on the reader's perception. Sentimentalism penetrated into Russian literature at the end of the 18th century. Karamzin became the founder of the Russian tradition in this genre. In the 19th century he gained a number of followers.
Satirical prose
It was at this time that satirical and journalistic works appeared. This trend can be traced primarily in the work of Gogol. Starting your creative journey with a description small homeland, this author later moved to all-Russian social topics. It is difficult today to imagine what Russian literature of the 19th century would have been like without this master of satire. The general characteristics of his prose in this genre come down not only to a critical look at the stupidity and parasitism of the landowners. The satirical writer “traversed” almost all layers of society.
A masterpiece of satirical prose was the novel “The Golovlevs,” dedicated to the theme of the poor spiritual world of landowners. Subsequently, the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, like the books of many other satirical writers, became the starting point for the emergence
Realistic novel
In the second half of the century, realistic prose developed. Romantic ideals turned out to be untenable. There was a need to show the world as it really is. Dostoevsky's prose is an integral part of such a concept as Russian literature of the 19th century. The general description briefly represents a list of important features of this period and the prerequisites for the occurrence of certain phenomena. As for Dostoevsky's realistic prose, it can be characterized as follows: the stories and novels of this author became a reaction to the mood that prevailed in society in those years. Depicting prototypes of people he knew in his works, he sought to consider and solve the most pressing issues of the society in which he moved.
In the first decades, the country glorified Mikhail Kutuzov, then the romantic Decembrists. This is clearly evidenced by Russian literature of the early 19th century. The general characteristics of the end of the century can be summed up in a few words. This is a revaluation of values. It was not the fate of the entire people, but its individual representatives that came to the fore. Hence the appearance in prose of the image of the “superfluous person.”
Folk poem
In the years when the realistic novel took a dominant position, poetry faded into the background. A general description of the development of Russian literature of the 19th century allows us to trace the long path from dreamy poetry to a truthful novel. In this atmosphere, Nekrasov creates his brilliant work. But his work can hardly be attributed to one of the leading genres of the mentioned period. The author combined several genres in his poem: peasant, heroic, revolutionary.
End of the century
At the end of the 19th century, Chekhov became one of the most read authors. Despite the fact that at the beginning creative path critics accused the writer of being cold towards current social issues; his works received undeniable public recognition. Continuing to develop the image of the “little man” created by Pushkin, Chekhov studied the Russian soul. Various philosophical and political ideas that developed at the end of the 19th century could not help but influence the lives of individuals.
In the late XIX literature century, revolutionary sentiments prevailed. Among the authors whose work was at the turn of the century, one of the most prominent personalities was Maxim Gorky.
General characteristics of the 19th century deserve more close attention. Every major representative During this period he created his own artistic world, the heroes of which dreamed of the impossible, fought against social evil or experienced their own small tragedy. And the main task of their authors was to reflect the realities of a century rich in social and political events.
Literature. XIX century turned out to be extremely fruitful and bright in the field cultural development Russia.
In a broad sense, the concept of “culture” includes all examples of human achievements in various areas of life and activity. Therefore, it is quite justified and appropriate to use such definitions as “everyday culture”, “political culture”, “industrial culture”, “ rural culture", "philosophical culture" and a number of others, indicating the level of creative achievements in certain forms of human society. And everywhere there were cultural changes in the 19th century. in Russia were great and amazing.
Second half of the 19th century. became a time of not just rapid flowering of all forms and genres of creativity, but also a period when Russian culture confidently and forever took a prominent place in the cultural arena of human achievements. Russian painting, Russian theater, Russian philosophy, Russian literature established their global positions thanks to the cohort of our outstanding compatriots who worked in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Nowadays, anywhere in the world, it is difficult to find a sufficiently educated person who would not be familiar with the names of F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov, F. I. Shalyapin, K. S. Stanislavsky, A. P. Pavlova, N. A. Berdyaev. These are just some of the most striking figures who will forever remain iconic in the field of Russian culture. Without them, the cultural baggage of humanity would be noticeably poorer.
The same applies to the end of that century, when a contemporary of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov was the Monk John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).
Despite the spread among the nobility various forms freethinking, skepticism and even atheism, the bulk of the population of the Russian Empire remained faithful to Orthodoxy. This faith, to which the Russian people have been committed for many centuries, was not at all affected by the fashionable ideological hobbies that existed in high society. Orthodoxy was the essence of what modern political science defines with the borrowed term “mentality,” but which in Russian lexical circulation corresponds to the concept of “life understanding.”
The Orthodoxy of the people in one way or another influenced all aspects of the creative activity of the most remarkable domestic masters of culture, and without taking into account the Christian impulse it is impossible to understand why in Russia, unlike other bourgeois countries, no reverent attitude arose towards either entrepreneurs, nor to their occupation. Although by the beginning of the 20th century. the triumph of capitalist relations in the country was beyond doubt, no one created literary or dramatic works, where the virtues and merits of characters from the world of capital would be sung and extolled. Even domestic periodicals, a considerable number of which were directly or indirectly financed by the “kings of business,” did not risk publishing enthusiastic praises addressed to them. Such newspapers or magazines would immediately become the object of angry vilification, would inevitably begin to lose readers, and their days would very quickly be numbered.
When talking about the Russian cultural process, taking into account the above is extremely important in two main respects.
Firstly, to understand the spiritual structure of Russian people as a whole, its fundamental difference from the social environment of modern Russia.
Secondly, to understand why pity for the poor, sympathy for the “humiliated and insulted” were the core motives of all Russian artistic and intellectual culture - from the paintings of the Wanderers to the works of Russian writers and philosophers.
This non-bourgeois social consciousness further contributed to the establishment of communist power in the country, whose ideology was the denial of private property and private interests.
This motif manifested itself most clearly in the works of two of the most famous representatives national culture of the indicated period - the prophetic writers F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy.
The life paths and creative techniques of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are completely different. They were not like-minded people, they never had not only close, but even friendly relations, and although in various periods they briefly belonged to certain literary and social groups (parties), the very scale of their personalities did not fit within the framework of narrow ideological movements. In the turning points of their biographies, in their literary works, time was focused, reflecting the spiritual quest, even the throwing of people of the 19th century, who lived in an era of constant social innovations and premonitions of the coming fatal eves.
F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy were not only “masters of belles-lettres”, brilliant chroniclers of times and morals. Their thought extended much further than the ordinary, deeper than the obvious. Their desire to unravel the mysteries of existence, the essence of man, to comprehend the true destiny of mortals reflected, perhaps, highest manifestation disharmony between the mind and heart of a person, the tremulous sensations of his soul and the coldly pragmatic hopelessness of reason. Their sincere desire to resolve the “damned Russian questions” - what a person is and what his earthly purpose is - turned both writers into spiritual guides of restless natures, of which there have always been many in Russia. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, having expressed the Russian understanding of life, became not only the voices of the time, but also its creators.
F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born into a poor family of a military doctor in Moscow. He graduated from the boarding school, and in 1843 from the Main Engineering School in St. Petersburg, for some time he served as a field engineer in the engineering team of St. Petersburg. He retired in 1844, deciding to devote himself entirely to literature. Meets V. G. Belinsky and I. S. Turgenev, begins to move in the capital's literary environment. His first great work, the novel Poor People (1846), was a resounding success.
In the spring of 1847, Dostoevsky became a regular at the meetings of V. M. Petrashevsky’s circle, where pressing social issues were discussed, including the need to overthrow the existing system. Among others, the aspiring writer was arrested in the Petrashevites case. First, he was sentenced to death, and already on the scaffold Dostoevsky and the other accused were shown the royal mercy to replace the execution with hard labor. F. M. Dostoevsky spent about four years in hard labor (1850-1854). His stay in Siberia was described in the book of essays Notes from House of the Dead, published in 1861
In the 1860-1870s. The largest literary works appeared - novels that brought Dostoevsky world fame: The Humiliated and Insulted, The Gambler, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov.
The writer completely broke with the revolutionary passions of his youth and realized the falsity and danger of theories for the violent reorganization of the world. His works are permeated with reflections on the meaning of life, on the search for life paths. Dostoevsky saw the possibility of comprehending the truth of existence only through the faith of Christ. Moralism developed from Christian socialism to Slavophilism. However, calling him a Slavophile can only be a stretch. He was one of the founders of the ideological movement called pochvenism. It made itself known in the 1860-1870s, just at the time when the work of F. M. Dostoevsky reached its peak.
The program of the magazine “Time”, which F. M. Dostoevsky began publishing in 1861, said: We are finally convinced that we are also a separate nationality, highly original, and that our task is to create a form for ourselves, our own , native, taken from our soil. This position was fully consistent with the original Slavophil postulate. However, the universal universalism of Dostoevsky’s thinking was already evident at this time: We predict that the Russian idea may be a synthesis of all those ideas that Europe is developing.
This view found its highest embodiment in the writer’s famous speech at the 1880 celebrations of the opening of the monument to A.S. Pushkin in Moscow. It was in his Pushkin speech, which delighted the audience and then became the subject of fierce controversy in the press, that F. M. Dostoevsky formulated his vision of the future world. He derived his well-being from the fulfillment of Russia’s historical mission - to unite the people of the world in a fraternal union according to the covenants of Christian love and humility:
Yes, the purpose of the Russian person is undoubtedly pan-European and worldwide. To become a real Russian, to become completely Russian, perhaps, means only to become the brother of all people, an all-man, if you like. Oh, all this Slavophilism and Westernism of ours is just one great misunderstanding among us, although historically necessary. For a true Russian, Europe and the destiny of the entire great Aryan tribe are as dear as Russia itself, as is the destiny of our native land, because our destiny is universality, and not acquired by the sword, but by the power of brotherhood and our fraternal desire for the reunification of people.
Dostoevsky was not a philosopher in the strict sense of the word, he thought like an artist, his ideas were embodied in the thoughts and actions of the heroes of literary works. The writer's worldview has always remained religious. Even in his youth, when he was carried away by the ideas of socialism, he remained in the bosom of the Church. One of the most important reasons for his break with V. G. Belinsky, as F. M. Dostoevsky later admitted, was that he scolded Christ. Elder Zosima (“The Brothers Karamazov”) expressed an idea found in many literary and journalistic works of F. M. Dostoevsky: “We do not understand that life is paradise, for as soon as we want to understand, it will immediately appear before us in its entirety.” its beauty." The reluctance and inability to see the surrounding beauty stems from a person’s inability to master these gifts - “read F. M. Dostoevsky.
All his life the writer was worried about the mystery of personality; he was possessed by a painful interest in man, in the reserved side of his nature, in the depths of his soul. Reflections on this topic are found in almost all of his works of art. Dostoevsky with unsurpassed skill revealed dark sides the soul of man, the forces of destruction hidden in him, boundless egoism, denial of moral principles rooted in man. However, despite negative aspects, the writer saw a mystery in every individual; he considered everyone, even in the form of the most insignificant, to be an absolute value. Not only was the demonic element in man revealed by Dostoevsky with unprecedented force; no less deeply and expressively are shown the movements of truth and goodness in the human soul, the angelic principle in it. Faith in man, triumphantly affirmed in all the writer’s works, makes F. M. Dostoevsky the greatest humanist thinker.
Dostoevsky, already during his lifetime, was awarded the title of a great writer among the reading public. However, his public position, his rejection of all forms revolutionary movement, his preaching of Christian humility caused attacks not only in radical, but also in liberal circles.
The heyday of Dostoevsky’s creativity occurred during the “riot of intolerance.” Everyone who did not share the passion for fashionable theories of a radical reorganization of society was branded as reactionaries. It was in the 1860s. the word “conservative” has become almost a dirty word, and the concept “liberal” has become synonymous with a social progressive. If previously any ideological dispute in Russia was almost always of an emotional nature, now its indispensable attribute has become intolerance towards everything and everyone that did not correspond to the flat schemes “about the main path of development of progress.” They did not want to hear the voices of opponents. As I wrote famous philosopher B.C. Solovyov about another outstanding Russian thinker K. N. Leontiev, he dared to “express his reactionary thoughts” at a time “when it could bring him nothing but ridicule.” Opponents were bullied, they were not objected to in essence, they only served as an object of ridicule.
Dostoevsky fully experienced the moral terror of liberalizing public opinion. The attacks on him, in fact, never stopped. They were started by V. G. Belinsky, who called the writer’s early literary and psychological experiments “nervous nonsense.” There was only one short period when the name of Dostoevsky enjoyed reverence among the “priests of social progress” - the end of the 1850s, when Dostoevsky became close to the circle of M. V. Petrashevsky and became a “victim of the regime.”
However, as it became clear that in his works the writer did not follow the theory of acute sociality, the attitude of liberal-radical criticism towards him changed. After appearing in print in 1871-1872. novel “Demons,” where the author showed the spiritual squalor and complete immorality of the bearers of revolutionary ideas, Dostoevsky became a target of systematic attacks. Capital newspapers and magazines regularly presented the public with critical attacks against “Dostoevsky’s social misconceptions and his caricature of the humanistic movement of the sixties.” However, the creative monumentality of the writer’s works, their unprecedented psychological depth, were so obvious that the attacks were accompanied by many routine recognitions of the master’s artistic talents.
Such endless abuse of a name had a depressing effect on the writer, and although his views and his own in a creative manner he did not change, but tried, as far as possible, not to give new reasons for attacks. A noteworthy episode in this regard dates back to the early 1880s, when populist terror was spreading in the country. It happened somehow that, together with the journalist and publisher A.S. Suvorin, the writer reflected on the topic: would he tell the police if he suddenly found out that the Winter Palace had been mined and that an explosion would soon occur and all its inhabitants would die. Dostoevsky answered this question: No. And, explaining his position, he noted: The liberals would not forgive me. They would have tormented me, driven me to despair.
Dostoevsky considered this situation with public opinion in the country to be abnormal, but to change the established methods social behavior was unable to. The great writer, an old, sick man, was afraid of being accused of collaborating with the authorities, and was unable to hear the roar of the educated mob.
Count L. N. Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born into a wealthy noble family. He received his primary education at home, then studied for some time at the Oriental and Law faculties of Kazan University. He didn’t finish the course; he wasn’t interested in science.
He left the university and went to the active army in the Caucasus, where the decisive phase of hostilities with Shamil unfolded. Here he spent two years (1851-1853). Service in the Caucasus enriched Tolstoy with many impressions, which he later reflected in his stories.
When the Crimean War began, Tolstoy volunteered to go to the front and took part in the defense of Sevastopol. After the end of the war, he retired, traveled abroad, then served in the administration of the Tula province. In 1861 he interrupted his service and settled on his estate Yasnaya Polyana not far from Tula.
There Tolstoy wrote the largest literary works- novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection. In addition, he has written many novels, short stories, dramatic and journalistic works. The writer created a diverse panorama of Russian life, depicted the morals and way of life of people of dissimilar social status, and showed the complex struggle between good and evil in the human soul. The novel "War and Peace" still remains the most outstanding literary work about the War of 1812.
Many political and social problems attracted the attention of the writer, and he responded to them with his articles. Gradually their tone became more and more intolerant, and Tolstoy turned into a merciless critic of generally accepted moral norms and social foundations. It seemed to him that in Russia the government was not the same and the Church was not the same. The Church in general turned out to be the object of his vilification. The writer does not accept the church's understanding of Christianity. He is repulsed by religious dogmas and the fact that the Church has become part of the social world. Tolstoy broke up with the Russian Orthodox Church. In response to this, in 1901 the Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the Church, but expressed the hope that he would repent and return to its fold. There was no repentance, and the writer died without a church ceremony.
From his youth, Tolstoy was strongly influenced by the views of Rousseau and, as he wrote later, at the age of 16 he destroyed traditional views in himself and began to wear a medallion with a portrait of Rousseau around his neck instead of a cross. The writer passionately embraced Rousseau's idea of natural life, which determined much in Tolstoy's subsequent searches and re-evaluations. Like many other Russian thinkers, Tolstoy subjected all phenomena of the world and culture to harsh criticism from the position of subjective morality.
In the 1870s. the writer experienced a long spiritual crisis. His consciousness is fascinated by the mystery of death, before the inevitability of which everything around him takes on the character of insignificance. Wanting to overcome oppressive doubts and fears, Tolstoy tries to break his ties with his usual environment and strives for close communication with ordinary people. It seems to him that with them, beggars, wanderers, monks, peasants, schismatics and prisoners, he will gain true faith, knowledge of what the true meaning of human life and death is.
The Yasnaya Polyana count begins a period of simplification. He rejects all manifestations modern civilization. His merciless and uncompromising rejection concerns not only the institutions of the state, the Church, the court, the army, and bourgeois economic relations.
In his boundless and passionate nihilism, the writer reached maximalist limits. He rejects art, poetry, theater, science. According to his ideas, goodness has nothing to do with beauty; aesthetic pleasure is pleasure of a lower order. Art in general is just fun.
Tolstoy considered it blasphemous to put art and science on the same level as good. Science and philosophy, he wrote, talk about whatever you want, but not about that. how a person himself can be better and how he can live better. Modern science has a lot of knowledge that we do not need. But it cannot say anything about the meaning of life and even considers this question not within its competence.
Tolstoy tried to give his own answers to these burning questions. The world order of people, according to Tolstoy, should be based on love for one's neighbor, on non-resistance to evil through violence, on mercy and material selflessness. Tolstoy considered the most important condition for the reign of the light of Christ on earth to be the abolition of private property in general and private ownership of land in particular. Addressing Nicholas II in 1902, Tolstoy wrote: The abolition of the right to land ownership is, in my opinion, the immediate goal, the achievement of which the Russian government should make its task in our time.
L. N. Tolstoy's sermons did not go unanswered. Among the so-called enlightened public, where they dominated critical assessments and a skeptical attitude towards reality, the graphanihilist acquired many admirers and followers who intended to bring Tolstoy’s social ideas to life. They created small colonies, which were called cultural hermitages, and tried to change the world around them through moral self-improvement and honest work. The Tolstoyans refused to pay taxes, serve in the army, did not consider church consecration of marriage necessary, did not baptize their children, and did not send them to school. The authorities persecuted such communities, some active Tolstoyans were even brought to trial. At the beginning of the 20th century. The Tolstoyan movement in Russia almost disappeared. However, it gradually spread outside of Russia. Tolstoy farms originated in Canada, South Africa, USA, UK.
I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883) is credited with creating socio-psychological novels in which the personal fate of the heroes was inextricably linked with the fate of the country. He was an unsurpassed master in revealing inner world man in all his complexity. Turgenev's work had a huge influence on the development of Russian and world literature.
I. S. Turgenev came from a rich and ancient noble family. In 1837 he graduated from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. He continued his education abroad. Turgenev later recalled: I studied philosophy, ancient languages, history, and studied Hegel with particular zeal. For two years (1842-1844) Turgenev served as an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but showed no interest in a career. He was fascinated by literature. He wrote his first work, the dramatic poem Steno, in 1834.
At the end of the 1830s. The poems of the young Turgenev began to appear in the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski. These are elegiac reflections on love, permeated with motifs of sadness and longing. Most of these poems received high audience recognition (Ballad, Alone again, alone..., Foggy morning, gray morning...). Later, some of Turgenev's poems were set to music and became popular romances.
In the 1840s. Turgenev's first dramas and poems appeared in print, and he himself became an employee of the socio-literary magazine Sovremennik.
In the mid-1840s. Turgenev became close to a group of writers, figures of the so-called “natural school” - N. A. Nekrasov, I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich and others, who tried to give literature a democratic character. These writers primarily made serfs the heroes of their works.
The first issue of the updated Sovremennik was published in January 1847. The real highlight of the magazine was Turgenev’s story “Khor and Kalinich,” which opened a whole series of works under common name“Notes of a Hunter.
After their publication in 1847-1852. All-Russian fame came to the writer. The Russian people, Russian peasants are shown in the book with such love and respect as has never been seen in Russian literature.
In subsequent years, the writer created several novels and stories outstanding in their artistic merit - Rudin, Noble nest, The Day Before, Fathers and Sons, Smoke. They masterfully depict the way of life of the nobility and show the emergence of new social phenomena and figures, in particular populists. The name Turgenev became one of the most revered names in Russian literature. His works were distinguished by their acute polemics, they raised the most important questions of human existence, they outlined the writer’s deep view of the essence of current events, the desire to understand the character and aspiration of new people (nihilists) who entered the arena of the country’s socio-political life.
The breadth of thinking, the ability to comprehend life and historical perspective, the belief that human life should be filled with the highest meaning, marked the work of one of the most remarkable Russian writers and playwrights - A. P. Chekhov (1860-1904), this most subtle psychologist and master subtext, which so uniquely combined humor and lyricism in his works.
A.P. Chekhov was born in the city of Taganrog in merchant family. He studied at the Taganrog gymnasium. He continued his studies at the medical faculty of Moscow University, which he graduated in 1884. He worked as a doctor in the Moscow province. Literary activity He began with feuilletons and short stories published in humorous magazines.
Chekhov's major and most famous works began to appear in the late 1880s. These are the stories and stories Steppe, “Lights”, House with a Mezzanine, A Boring Story, Chamber of MB, Men, In the Ravine, About Love, Ionych, Lady with a Dog, Jumping, Duel, books of essays From Siberia and Acute Sakhalin.
Chekhov is the author of wonderful dramatic works. His plays Ivanov, Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard are staged on stages all over the world. The writer's stories about the destinies of individual people contain a deep philosophical subtext. Chekhov's ability to sympathize, his love for people, his ability to penetrate into the spiritual nature of man, and his interest in pressing problems of the development of human society have made the writer's creative legacy relevant today. Fine arts. In 1870, an event occurred in Russia that had a powerful impact on the development of fine arts: the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions arose, which played an important role in the development of democratic painting and its opposition to salon-academic art. It was public organization, which the state did not finance. The partnership was organized by young artists, mostly graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, who did not share the aesthetic principles of the Academy’s leadership. Depict “eternal beauty”, focus on “classical examples” European art they didn't want anymore. Reflecting the general social upsurge of the 1860s, artists sought to express the complexity modern world, to bring art closer to life, to convey the aspirations and moods of wide public circles, to show living people, their concerns and aspirations. Almost everyone was creatively associated with the Association of Itinerants outstanding artists Russia.
Over the next decades, the Partnership of the Peredvizhniki (usually they were simply called the Peredvizhniki) organized many exhibitions, which were not only shown in some place, but also transported (moved) to different cities. The first exhibition of this kind took place in 1872.
The central figure of Russian art of the 1860s. teacher and writer V. G. Perov (1833-1882) became one of the organizers of the Association of Itinerants. He studied painting at the Arzamas Drawing School, then at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. After completing the course in 1869, he received a scholarship and improved his skills in Paris. Already in the 1860s. Perov declared himself to be a great realist artist; his paintings were distinguished by their acute social content. These are the Sermon in the Village Rural Procession of the Cross on
Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow Seeing off the deceased, “Troika. Apprentice artisans carrying water, “The last tavern at the outpost, etc. The artist’s painting subtly conveyed his compassion for people oppressed by need and experiencing grief.
Perov is a master of lyrical paintings (Birders and Hunters at Rest) and fairy tale images(Snow Maiden). The golden fund of Russian art includes portraits of the playwright A. N. Ostrovsky, the writer F. M. Dostoevsky, executed by the artist commissioned by P. M. Tretyakov for the portrait gallery he conceived, representing “people dear to the nation.” Perov also addressed historical themes; his most famous such painting is the Court of Pugacheva.
I. N. Kramskoy (1837-1887) was born into a poor family. From 1857 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1863, he became a troublemaker at the Academy, leading a group of 14 graduate students who refused to participate in a competition that required the submission of paintings only on mythological themes. The protesters left the Academy and created the Mutual Aid Artel, which later became the basis of the Association of Itinerants.
Kramskoy was a remarkable master of portraiture and captured many famous people Russia, those who are usually called the rulers of the thoughts of their era.
These are portraits of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, N. A. Nekrasov. P. M. Tretyakov, S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin and others. Kramskoy also painted portraits of simple peasants.
In 1872 on the First traveling exhibition Kramskoy's painting Christ in the Desert appeared, which became the program not only for the artist himself, but also for all the Wanderers. The canvas depicts Jesus Christ in deep thought. The enlightened, calm gaze of Christ attracts the viewer’s attention.
Close interest in gospel theme runs through the entire work of another one of the founders of Russian Peredvizhniki - N.N.Ge (1831-1894). In the painting The Last Supper, a striking play of light and shadow achieves a contrast between the group of apostles and the figure of Judas, located in thick shadow. The gospel plot allowed the artist to depict the conflict of different worldviews. This painting was followed by What is Truth?. Christ and Pilate, Judgment of the Sanhedrin, Guilty of Death!, Golgotha, Crucifixion, etc.
In the portrait of L.N. Tolstoy, the artist managed to convey the work of thought of the brilliant writer.
At the First Traveling Exhibition Ge exhibited the painting “Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in Peterhof. The viewer feels the tense silence of father and son. Peter is sure of the prince’s guilt. The conflict between the king and the heir to the throne is depicted at the moment of greatest intensity.
Famous battle painter BJB. Vereshchagin (1842-1904) more than once participated in the hostilities of that time. Based on his impressions of the events in the Turkestan region, he created the painting Apotheosis of War. The pyramid of skulls cut with sabers looks like an allegory of war. On the frame of the painting is the text: Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.
Vereshchagin owns a series of large battle paintings, in which he acted as a true reformer of this genre.
Vereshchagin found himself a participant in the Russian-Turkish campaign of 1877-1878. His famous “Balkan Series” was created based on sketches and sketches performed on the ground. In one of the paintings in this series (“Shipka - Sheinovo. Skobelev near Shipka”) the scene of Skobelev’s solemn greeting of the victorious Russian regiments is relegated to the background. In the foreground of the canvas, the viewer sees a snow-covered field strewn with dead people. This mournful image was intended to remind people of the bloody price of victory.
One of the most popular Russian landscape painters can be called I. I. Shishkin (1832-1898). A painter and a remarkable connoisseur of nature, he established the forest landscape in Russian art - luxurious mighty oak groves and pine forests, forest expanses, deep wilds. The artist’s canvases are characterized by monumentality and majesty. Expanse, space, land, rye. God's grace, Russian wealth - this is how the artist described his canvas Rye, in which the scale of Shishkin’s spatial solutions was especially clearly demonstrated. The ceremonial portraits of Russian nature were Pines illuminated by the sun, Forest distances, Morning in pine forest, Oaks, etc. The famous art historian V.V. Stasov called Ya. E. Repin (1844-1930) the Samson of Russian painting.
This is one of the most versatile artists, who succeeded in portraits with equal brilliance. genre scenes, landscapes and large canvases on historical themes.
I. B. Repin was born into a poor family of a military settler in the city of Chuguev, Kharkov province, and learned his first drawing skills from local Ukrainian icon painters. In 1863, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of Arts, where Repin’s first mentor, V.I. Surik, turned out to be I.N. Kramskoy. Repin graduated from the Academy in 1871 and, as a capable graduate, received a scholarship for a creative trip to France and Italy.
Already in the 1870s. Repin's name becomes one of the largest, most popular Russian painters. Each of his new paintings arouses keen public interest and heated debate. Some of the artist’s most famous paintings include Barge Haulers on the Volga, Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581, Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan, Portrait of M. P. Mussorgsky, “Great Meeting of the State Council”, Portrait of K . P. Pobedonostsev, They Didn’t Wait, etc. Repin captured a panorama of the life of the country in his canvases, showing bright folk characters, the mighty forces of Russia.
V. I. Surikov (1848-1916) proved himself to be a natural historical painter. A Siberian by birth, Surikov studied in St. Petersburg at the Academy of Arts, and after graduating from the Academy he settled in Moscow. His first large canvas was the Morning Streletsky Execution. This was followed by Menshikov in Vera Zov, Boyarynya Morozova, Ermak's Conquest of Siberia, Suvorov's Crossing of the Alps in 1799, etc. The artist drew the subjects and images of these paintings from the depths of Russian history.