Realism (from Late Latin reālis - real) - artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is unusually rich. The very idea of him changed at different stages artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists for a truthful depiction of reality.
Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens “ Posthumous notes Pickwick Club.
Illustration by O. Vereisky for L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”.
Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”
Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev”.
Illustration by B. Zaborov for the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Ditte - Child of Man.”
However, the concept of truth, truth is one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theoretician of French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth and “imitating nature.” But the romantic V. Hugo, an ardent opponent of classicism, urged “to consult only with nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature.” Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".
The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist’s point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to grasp the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.
The specific features of realism depend on those historical conditions, in which art develops. National historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.
Realism is not something given and unchangeable once and for all. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.
Not in science consensus about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about realism rock paintings primitive people, about the realism of ancient sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of ancient world and early Middle Ages (in folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as artistic system V European literatures It is customary to associate it with the era of the Renaissance (Rebirth), the greatest progressive revolution. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church sermon of slavish obedience is reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After centuries of medieval churchmen preaching that man is a “vessel of sin” and calling for humility, the literature and art of the Renaissance glorified man as supreme being nature, trying to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the richness of his soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), poeticization human personality, her ability for great feeling (as in “Romeo and Juliet”) and at the same time high intensity tragic conflict, when the collision of a personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted.
The next stage in the development of realism is the educational stage (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument of direct preparation for the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the educators there were supporters of classicism; their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the 18th century. develops (in Europe) and the so-called educational realism, whose theorists were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. The English realistic novel, whose founder was D. Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719), acquired worldwide significance. A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy of P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy “Cunning and Love” by I. F. Schiller, images of peasants in A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners of all phenomena public life and people’s actions were assessed as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable primarily in all the old feudal orders and customs). They proceeded from this in their depiction of human character; their positive heroes are, first of all, the embodiment of reason, the negative ones are a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, the barbarism of former times.
Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: “Suppose a person finds himself on desert island...". At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson’s behavior not as it could actually be (the prototype of his hero went wild, even lost his articulate speech), but as he wants to present a person, fully armed with his physical and mental strength, as a hero, winner of forces nature. Faust in I. V. Goethe, shown in the struggle for the establishment of high ideals, is also conventional. Features of a well-known convention also distinguish D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.”
A new type of realism emerged in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its flourishing in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov.
Critical realism portrays in a new way the relationship between man and environment. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The subject of deep social analysis was inner world human, critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological. Romanticism, which sought to penetrate the secrets of the human “I,” played a large role in the preparation of this quality of realism.
Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some kind of absolute superiority over previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.
The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation characteristic of the Enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.
The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. XIX century Marxism not only influence the literature of critical realism, but also give rise to the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the perspective of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, and the author of “The International” E. Pothier, new features are outlined that anticipate the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.
IN Russia XIX century is a period of exceptional strength and scope of development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, won it worldwide recognition.
The richness and diversity of Russian realism XIX V. allow us to talk about its different forms.
Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature onto the broad path of depicting “the fate of the people, the fate of man.” In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin seems to be catching up with its previous lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with his universality and his optimism, turning out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. Pushkin’s work lays the foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school.
Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats led by N. G. Chernyshevsky gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).
A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It was thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired global significance. Their psychological mastery, penetration into the “dialectics of the soul” opened the way for the artistic quest of writers of the 20th century. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.
The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “a mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.
The creative scope of Russian social realism is reflected in the wealth of genres, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary journalistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, he was an innovator in the genre of realistic story and original “ lyrical drama"A.P. Chekhov speaks.
It is important to emphasize that Russian realism of the 19th century. did not develop in isolation from the world historical literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, according to K. Marx and F. Engels, “the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become the common property.”
F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “capacity for universality, all-humanity, all-response.” Here we are talking not so much about Western influences, but about organic development in line with European culture its centuries-old traditions.
At the beginning of the 20th century. the appearance of M. Gorky’s plays “The Bourgeois”, “At the Depths” and especially the novel “Mother” (and in the West - the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Pelle the Conqueror”) testifies to the formation socialist realism. In the 20s announces itself with major successes Soviet literature, and in the early 30s. In many capitalist countries, a literature of the revolutionary proletariat is emerging. The literature of socialist realism becomes important factor world literary development. It should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more connections with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).
The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence October Revolution and existence Soviet Union, and after 1945, the formation of the world system of socialism - all this affected the fate of realism.
Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until the October Revolution (I.A. Bunin, A.I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development, while undergoing significant changes. In critical realism of the 20th century. in the West, the most various influences, including some features of non-realistic movements of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.
From about the 20s. In the literature of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of the “stream of consciousness”. There is a so-called intellectual novel T. Manna; acquires special meaning subtext, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “ Quiet Don"M. A. Sholokhov, "Walking in the Torment" by A. N. Tolstoy, "The Dead Remain Young" by A. Zegers).
Unlike realists XIX V. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Chapek), to convention (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the 20th century. the document, the fact, triumphs. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.
Thus, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O'Casey, I. Becher are works of great general meaning, such classic books socialist realism, such as “Report with a Noose Around the Neck” by Yu. Fuchik and “Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeev.
Realism is usually called a movement in art and literature, whose representatives strived for a realistic and truthful reproduction of reality. In other words, the world was portrayed as typical and simple, with all its advantages and disadvantages.
General features of realism
Realism in literature is distinguished by a number of common features. Firstly, life was depicted in images that corresponded to reality. Secondly, reality for representatives of this movement has become a means of understanding themselves and the world around them. Thirdly, the images on the pages literary works were distinguished by the truthfulness of details, specificity and typification. It is interesting that the art of the realists, with their life-affirming principles, sought to consider reality in development. Realists discovered new social and psychological relationships.
The emergence of realism
Realism in literature as a form artistic creation arose during the Renaissance, developed during the Enlightenment and emerged as an independent movement only in the 30s of the 19th century. The first realists in Russia include the great Russian poet A.S. Pushkin (he is sometimes even called the founder of this movement) and no less outstanding writer N.V. Gogol with his novel " Dead souls" Regarding literary criticism, then within its limits the term “realism” appeared thanks to D. Pisarev. It was he who introduced the term into journalism and criticism. Realism in 19th century literature became distinctive feature of that time, having its own characteristics and characteristics.
Features of literary realism
Representatives of realism in literature are numerous. The most famous and outstanding writers include such writers as Stendhal, Charles Dickens, O. Balzac, L.N. Tolstoy, G. Flaubert, M. Twain, F.M. Dostoevsky, T. Mann, M. Twain, W. Faulkner and many others. All of them worked on the development of the creative method of realism and embodied in their works its most striking features in inextricable connection with their unique authorial characteristics.
The emergence of realism
In the 30s of the XIX century. Realism is becoming widespread in literature and art. The development of realism is primarily associated with the names of Stendhal and Balzac in France, Pushkin and Gogol in Russia, Heine and Buchner in Germany. Realism develops initially in the depths of romanticism and bears the stamp of the latter; not only Pushkin and Heine, but also Balzac experienced a strong fascination in their youth romantic literature. However, unlike romantic art, realism refuses the idealization of reality and the associated predominance of the fantastic element, as well as an increased interest in the subjective side of man. In realism, the prevailing tendency is to depict a broad social background against which the lives of the heroes take place (“ Human Comedy"Balzac, "Eugene Onegin" by Pushkin, "Dead Souls" by Gogol, etc.). Depth of understanding social life Realist artists sometimes surpass the philosophers and sociologists of their time.
Stages of development of realism of the 19th century
The formation of critical realism occurs in European countries and in Russia almost at the same time - in the 20s - 40s of the 19th century. It is becoming a leading trend in the literature of the world.
True, this simultaneously means that the literary process of this period is irreducible only in a realistic system. Both in European literatures, and - especially - in US literature, the activity of romantic writers continues in full measure. Thus, the development of the literary process occurs largely through the interaction of coexisting aesthetic systems, and the characteristics of both national literatures and the work of individual writers presuppose mandatory consideration of this circumstance.
Speaking of the fact that from the 30s - 40s leading place realist writers occupy a place in literature, it is impossible not to note that realism itself turns out to be not a frozen system, but a phenomenon located in constant development. Already within the 19th century, the need arises to talk about “different realisms”, that Merimee, Balzac and Flaubert equally answered the main historical questions that the era suggested to them, and at the same time their works are distinguished by different content and originality forms.
In the 1830s - 1840s, the most remarkable features of realism appeared in the works of European writers (primarily Balzac). literary direction, giving a multifaceted picture of reality, striving for an analytical study of reality.
The literature of the 1830s and 1840s was largely fueled by statements about the attractiveness of the century itself. Love for 19th century shared, for example, by Stendhal and Balzac, who never ceased to be amazed by its dynamism, diversity and inexhaustible energy. Hence the heroes of the first stage of realism - active, with an inventive mind, not afraid of facing unfavorable circumstances. These heroes were largely associated with the heroic era of Napoleon, although they perceived his two-facedness, developed a strategy for their personal and social behavior. Scott and his historicism inspire Stendhal's heroes to find their place in life and history through mistakes and delusions. Shakespeare makes Balzac say about the novel “Père Goriot” in the words of the great Englishman “Everything is true” and see echoes of the harsh fate of King Lear in the fate of the modern bourgeois.
Realists of the second half of the 19th century will reproach their predecessors for “residual romanticism.” It is difficult to disagree with such a reproach. Indeed, the romantic tradition is very noticeably represented in the creative systems of Balzac, Stendhal, and Merimee. It is no coincidence that Sainte-Beuve called Stendhal “the last hussar of romanticism.” Traits of romanticism are revealed
– in the cult of exoticism (Mérimée’s short stories like “ Matteo Falcone", "Carmen", "Tamango", etc.);
– in the writers’ predilection for depicting bright individuals and passions that are exceptional in their strength (Stendhal’s novel “Red and Black” or the short story “Vanina Vanini”);
– a passion for adventurous plots and the use of fantasy elements (Balzac’s novel “ Shagreen leather"or Merimee's short story "Venus of Il");
– in an effort to clearly divide heroes into negative and positive – carriers of the author’s ideals (Dickens’s novels).
Thus, between the realism of the first period and romanticism there is a complex “family” connection, manifested, in particular, in the inheritance of techniques and even individual themes and motifs characteristic of romantic art (the theme of lost illusions, the motif of disappointment, etc.).
In Russian historical and literary science, “the revolutionary events of 1848 and the important changes that followed them in the socio-political and cultural life bourgeois society" is considered to be what divides "realism foreign countries XIX century into two stages - realism of the first and second half of the 19th century" ("History foreign literature XIX century / Edited by Elizarova M.E. – M., 1964). In 1848, popular protests turned into a series of revolutions that swept across Europe (France, Italy, Germany, Austria, etc.). These revolutions, as well as the unrest in Belgium and England, followed the “French model”, as democratic protests against a class-privileged government that did not meet the needs of the time, as well as under the slogans of social and democratic reforms. Overall, 1848 marked one huge upheaval in Europe. True, as a result of it, moderate liberals or conservatives came to power everywhere, and in some places even a more brutal authoritarian government was established.
This caused general disappointment in the results of the revolutions, and, as a consequence, pessimistic sentiments. Many representatives of the intelligentsia became disillusioned with mass movements, active actions of the people on a class basis and transferred their main efforts to the private world of the individual and personal relationships. Thus, the general interest was directed towards the individual, important in itself, and only secondarily - towards his relationships with other individuals and the world around him.
The second half of the 19th century is traditionally considered the “triumph of realism.” By this time, realism was loudly making itself known in the literature of not only France and England, but also a number of other countries - Germany (late Heine, Raabe, Storm, Fontane), Russia (" natural school", Turgenev, Goncharov, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky), etc.
At the same time, since the 50s it begins new stage in the development of realism, which involves a new approach to the depiction of both the hero and the society around him. The social, political and moral atmosphere of the second half of the 19th century “turned” writers towards the analysis of a person who can hardly be called a hero, but in whose fate and character the main signs of the era are refracted, expressed not in a major deed, a significant act or passion, compressed and intensely conveying global shifts of time, not in large-scale (both social and psychological) confrontation and conflict, not in typicality taken to the limit, often bordering on exclusivity, but in everyday, everyday life. Writers who began working at this time, as well as those who entered literature earlier but worked during this period, for example, Dickens or Thackeray, certainly were guided by a different concept of personality. Thackeray’s novel “The Newcombs” emphasizes the specificity of “human studies” in the realism of this period - the need to understand and analytically reproduce multidirectional subtle mental movements and indirect, not always manifested social connections: “It’s hard to even imagine how many various reasons determines our every action or passion, how often, when analyzing my motives, I mistook one thing for another...” This phrase by Thackeray conveys, perhaps, main feature realism of the era: everything focuses on the depiction of man and character, and not circumstances. Although the latter, as they should in realistic literature, “do not disappear,” their interaction with character acquires a different quality, associated with the fact that circumstances cease to be independent, they become more and more characterologized; their sociological function is now more implicit than it was with Balzac or Stendhal.
Due to the changed concept of personality and the “man-centrism” of the entire artistic system (and “man is the center” was not necessarily positive hero, defeating social circumstances or perishing - morally or physically - in the fight against them) one may get the impression that the writers of the second half of the century abandoned the basic principle realistic literature: dialectical understanding and depiction of the relationships between character and circumstances and adherence to the principle of socio-psychological determinism. Moreover, some of the most prominent realists of this time - Flaubert, J. Eliot, Trollott - when talking about the world surrounding the hero, the term “environment” appears, often perceived more statically than the concept of “circumstances”.
An analysis of the works of Flaubert and J. Eliot convinces us that artists need this “stacking” of the environment primarily so that the description of the situation surrounding the hero is more plastic. The environment often narratively exists in the inner world of the hero and through him, acquiring a different character of generalization: not poster-sociologized, but psychologized. This creates an atmosphere of greater objectivity in what is being reproduced. In any case, from the point of view of the reader, who trusts such an objectified narrative about the era more, since he perceives the hero of the work as a person close to him, just like himself.
Writers of this period do not at all forget about one more aesthetic setting of critical realism - the objectivity of what is reproduced. As you know, Balzac was so concerned about this objectivity that he was looking for ways to bring closer literary knowledge(understanding) and scientific. This idea appealed to many realists of the second half of the century. For example, Eliot and Flaubert thought a lot about the use of scientific, and therefore, as it seemed to them, objective methods of analysis in literature. Flaubert thought especially a lot about this, who understood objectivity as synonymous with impartiality and impartiality. However, this was the spirit of the entire realism of the era. Moreover, the work of realists in the second half of the 19th century occurred during the period of takeoff in the development of natural sciences and the heyday of experimentation.
This was an important period in the history of science. Biology developed rapidly (C. Darwin’s book “The Origin of Species” was published in 1859), physiology, and the formation of psychology as a science took place. The philosophy of positivism by O. Comte became widespread, which later played an important role in the development of naturalistic aesthetics and artistic practice. It was during these years that attempts were made to create a system of psychological understanding of man.
However, even at this stage of the development of literature, the character of the hero is not conceived by the writer outside of social analysis, although the latter acquires a slightly different aesthetic essence, different from that which was characteristic of Balzac and Stendhal. Of course, in Flaubert's novels. Eliot, Fontana and some others are striking " new level images of a person’s inner world, a qualitatively new skill psychological analysis, which consists in the deepest revelation of the complexity and unforeseenness of human reactions to reality, the motives and causes of human activity" (History of World Literature. Vol. 7. - M., 1990).
It is obvious that the writers of this era sharply changed the direction of creativity and led literature (and the novel in particular) towards in-depth psychologism, and in the formula “social-psychological determinism” the social and psychological seemed to change places. It is in this direction that the main achievements of literature are concentrated: writers began not only to draw a complex inner world literary hero, but to reproduce a well-functioning, thoughtful psychological “character model”, in it and in its functioning, artistically combining the psychological-analytical and social-analytical. Writers updated and revived the principle of psychological detail, introduced dialogue with deep psychological overtones, and found narrative techniques for conveying “transitional,” contradictory spiritual movements that were previously inaccessible to literature.
This does not mean that realistic literature abandoned social analysis: social basis reproduced reality and reconstructed character did not disappear, although it did not dominate the character and circumstances. It was thanks to the writers of the second half of the 19th century that literature began to find indirect ways of social analysis, in this sense continuing a series of discoveries made by writers of previous periods.
Flaubert, Eliot, the Goncourt brothers and others “taught” literature to reach out to the social and what is characteristic of the era, characterizes its social, political, historical and moral principles, through the ordinary and everyday existence of an ordinary person. Social typification among writers of the second half of the century is the typification of “mass appearance, repetition” (History of World Literature. Vol. 7. - M., 1990). It is not as bright and obvious as among representatives of classical critical realism of the 1830s - 1840s and most often manifests itself through the “parabola of psychologism”, when immersion in the inner world of a character allows you to ultimately immerse yourself in the era, in historical time, as seen by writer. Emotions, feelings, and moods are not transtemporal, but of a specific historical nature, although it is primarily ordinary everyday existence that is subject to analytical reproduction, and not the world of titanic passions. At the same time, writers often even absolutized the dullness and wretchedness of life, the triviality of the material, the unheroic nature of time and character. That is why, on the one hand, it was an anti-romantic period, on the other, a period of craving for the romantic. This paradox, for example, is characteristic of Flaubert, the Goncourts, and Baudelaire.
There is one more important point, associated with the absolutization of the imperfection of human nature and slavish subordination to circumstances: often writers perceived the negative phenomena of the era as a given, as something insurmountable, and even tragically fatal. That is why in the works of realists of the second half of the 19th century the positive principle is so difficult to express: the problem of the future interests them little, they are “here and now”, in their time, comprehending it in an extremely impartial manner, as an era, if worthy of analysis, then critical.
As noted earlier, critical realism is a literary movement on a global scale. Another notable feature of realism is that it has a long history. IN late XIX and in the 20th centuries, the work of such writers as R. Rolland, D. Golusorsi, B. Shaw, E. M. Remarque, T. Dreiser and others gained worldwide fame. Realism continues to exist to this day, remaining the most important form of world democratic culture.
Each literary movement is characterized by its own characteristics, thanks to which it is remembered and distinguished in separate species. This happened in the nineteenth century, when some changes took place in the writing world. People began to comprehend reality in a new way, to look at it from an absolutely different perspective. The peculiarities of 19th century literature lie, first of all, in the fact that now writers began to put forward ideas that formed the basis of the direction of realism.
What is realism
Realism appeared in Russian literature at the beginning of the nineteenth century, when a radical revolution took place in this world. The writers realized that previous trends, such as romanticism, did not satisfy the expectations of the population, since their judgments lacked common sense. Now they tried to depict on the pages of their novels and lyrical works the reality that reigned around, without any exaggeration. Their ideas were now of the most realistic character, which existed not only in Russian literature, but also in foreign literature for more than one decade.
Main features of realism
Realism was characterized by the following features:
- depiction of the world as it is, truthful and natural;
- in the center of the novels is a typical representative of society, with typical problems and interests;
- the emergence of a new way of knowing surrounding reality- through realistic characters and situations.
Russian literature of the 19th century was of great interest to scientists, because through the analysis of works they were able to understand the very process in literature that existed at that time, as well as give it a scientific basis.
The emergence of the era of Realism
Realism was first created as a special form for expressing the processes of reality. This happened back in the days when such a movement as the Renaissance reigned in both literature and painting. During the Enlightenment, it was conceptualized in a significant way, and was fully formed at the very beginning of the nineteenth century. Literary scholars name two Russian writers, who have long been recognized as the founders of realism. These are Pushkin and Gogol. Thanks to them, this direction was comprehended, received theoretical justification and significant distribution in the country. With their help, Russian literature of the 19th century received great development.
It was no longer in the literature sublime feelings, which the direction of romanticism possessed. Now people were worried everyday problems, their methods of resolution, as well as the feelings of the main characters that overwhelmed them in a given situation. Features of literature of the 19th century are the interest of all representatives of the direction of realism in the individual character traits of each individual person for consideration in one or another life situation. As a rule, this is expressed in a clash between a person and society, when a person cannot accept and does not accept the rules and principles by which other people live. Sometimes in the center of the work there is a person with some internal conflict, which he is trying to cope with himself. Such conflicts are called personality conflicts, when a person understands that from now on he cannot live as he lived before, that he needs to do something to get joy and happiness.
Among the most important representatives of the movement of realism in Russian literature It is worth noting Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky. World classics gave us such realist writers as Flaubert, Dickens and even Balzac.
» » Realism and features of 19th century literature
Before the emergence of realism as a literary movement, most writers had a one-sided approach to depicting a person. The classicists portrayed a person mainly in terms of his duties to the state and showed very little interest in him in his everyday life, in family and private life. Sentimentalists, on the contrary, moved on to depicting a person’s personal life and his innermost feelings. The Romantics were also interested mainly in the spiritual life of man, the world of his feelings and passions.
But they endowed their heroes with feelings and passions of exceptional strength, and placed them in unusual conditions.
Realist writers portray a person in many ways. They draw typical characters and at the same time show in what social conditions this or that hero of the work was formed.
This ability to give typical characters in typical circumstances is main feature realism.
We call typical images those in which the most vividly, fully and truthfully embodied the most important features characteristic of a certain historical period for one or another social group or phenomenon (for example, the Prostakovs-Skotinins in Fonvizin’s comedy are typical representatives of the Russian middle-local nobility of the second half of the XVIII century).
In typical images, a realist writer reflects not only those traits that are most common at a certain time, but also those that are just beginning to appear and develop fully in the future.
The conflicts underlying the works of classicists, sentimentalists and romantics were also one-sided.
Classical writers (especially in tragedies) depicted the clash in the hero’s soul of the consciousness of the need to fulfill his duty to the state with personal feelings and drives. For sentimentalists, the main conflict grew out of the social inequality of heroes belonging to different classes. In romanticism, the basis of the conflict is the gap between dream and reality. Among realist writers, conflicts are as diverse as in life itself.
In the formation of Russian realism in early XIX centuries, Krylov and Griboyedov played a major role. Krylov became the creator of the Russian realistic fable. Krylov's fables deeply truthfully depict the life of feudal Russia in its essential features. Ideological content his fables, democratic in their orientation, the perfection of their construction, wonderful verse and living spoken language, developed in popular basis, - all this was a major contribution to Russian realistic literature and influenced the development of the work of such writers as Griboedov, Pushkin, Gogol and others.
Griboyedov, with his work “Woe from Wit,” gave an example of Russian realistic comedy.
But the true founder of Russian realistic literature, who gave perfect examples of realistic creativity in a wide variety of literary genres, was great folk poet Pushkin.
Realism- 19th - 20th centuries (from Latin realis- valid)
Realism can define heterogeneous phenomena united by the concept of life truth: the spontaneous realism of ancient literature, the realism of the Renaissance, educational realism, the “natural school” as initial stage development of critical realism in the 19th century, realism XIX-XX centuries, “socialist realism”
- Main features of realism:
- Depiction of life in images that correspond to the essence of life phenomena, through typing the facts of reality;
- A true reflection of the world, a wide coverage of reality;
- Historicism;
- The attitude towards literature as a means of a person’s knowledge of himself and the world around him;
- Reflection of the connection between man and environment;
- Typification of characters and circumstances.
Realist writers in Russia. Representatives of realism in Russia: A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, A. N. Ostrovsky, I. A. Goncharov, N. A. Nekrasov, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, I. A. Bunin and others.
Effective preparation for the Unified State Exam (all subjects) -