novel literary narrative genre

The term “novel,” which arose in the 12th century, has undergone a number of semantic changes over the nine centuries of its existence and covers an extremely diverse range of literary phenomena. Moreover, the forms called novels today appeared much earlier than the concept itself. The first forms of the novel genre go back to antiquity, but neither the Greeks nor the Romans left a special name for this genre. Using later terminology, it is usually called a novel. Bishop Yue at the end of the 17th century, in search of the predecessors of the novel, first applied this term to a number of phenomena of ancient narrative prose. This name is based on the fact that the ancient genre that interests us, having as its content the struggle of isolated individuals for their personal, private goals, represents a very significant thematic and compositional similarity with some types of the later European novel, in the formation of which antique novel played a significant role. The name “novel” arose later, in the Middle Ages, and initially referred only to the language in which the work was written.

The most common language of medieval Western European writing was, as is known, literary language ancient Romans - Latin. In the XII-XIII centuries. AD, along with plays, tales, stories written in Latin and existing mainly among the privileged classes of society, the nobility and clergy, stories and stories began to appear written in Romance languages ​​and distributed among democratic strata of society who do not know the Latin language, among trading bourgeoisie, artisans, villans (the so-called third estate). These works, unlike the Latin ones, began to be called: conte roman - a Romanesque story, a story. Then the adjective acquired an independent meaning. This is how a special name arose for narrative works, which later became established in the language and, over time, lost its original meaning. A novel began to be called a work in any language, but not just any one, but only one that is large in size, distinguished by certain features of theme, compositional structure, plot development, etc.

We can conclude that if this term, closest to its modern meaning, appeared in the era of the bourgeoisie - the 17th and 18th centuries, then the origin of the theory of the novel can logically be attributed to the same time. And although already in the 16th - 17th centuries. certain “theories” of the novel appear (Antonio Minturno “Poetic Art”, 1563; Pierre Nicole “Letter on the Heresy of Writing”, 1665), only together with classical German philosophy did the first attempts appear to create a general aesthetic theory of the novel, to include it in the system of artistic forms. “At the same time, the statements of great novelists about their own writing practice acquire greater breadth and depth of generalization (Walter Scott, Goethe, Balzac). The principles of the bourgeois theory of the novel in its classical form were formulated precisely during this period. But more extensive literature on the theory of the novel appeared only in the second half of the 19th century. Now the novel has finally established its dominance as a typical form of expression of bourgeois consciousness in literature.”

From a historical and literary point of view, it is impossible to talk about the emergence of the novel as a genre, since essentially “novel” is “an inclusive term, overloaded with philosophical and ideological connotations and indicating a whole complex of relatively autonomous phenomena that are not always genetically related to each other.” The “emergence of the novel” in this sense occupies entire eras, starting from antiquity and ending with the 17th or even 18th century.

The emergence and justification of this term was undoubtedly influenced by the history of the development of the genre as a whole. An equally important role in the theory of the novel is played by its formation in various countries.

LITERARY-HISTORICAL CONTEXT IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVEL

The historical development of the novel in different European countries reveals quite large differences caused by the unevenness of socio-economic development and the individual uniqueness of the history of each country. But along with this, the history of the European novel also contains some common, recurring features that should be emphasized. In all major European literatures, although each time in its own way, the novel goes through certain logical stages. In the history of the European novel of the Middle Ages and Modern times, priority belongs to the French novel. The representative of the French Renaissance in the field of the novel was Rabelais (the first half of the 16th century), who revealed in his “Gargantua and Pantagruel” the entire breadth of bourgeois freethinking and denial of the old society. “The novel originates in the fiction of the bourgeoisie in the era of the gradual disintegration of the feudal system and the rise of the commercial bourgeoisie. According to its artistic principle, this is a naturalistic novel, according to thematic-compositional one, it is an adventurous one, in the center of which “a hero who experiences all sorts of adventures, amuses readers with his clever tricks, a hero-adventurer, a rogue”; he experiences random and external adventures (a love affair, a meeting with robbers, a successful career, a clever money scam, etc.), without being interested in either deep social and everyday characteristics or complex psychological motivations. These adventures are interspersed with everyday scenes, expressing a penchant for crude jokes, a sense of humor, hostility towards the ruling classes, and an ironic attitude towards their morals and manifestations. At the same time, the authors failed to capture life in its deep social perspective, limiting themselves to external characteristics, showing a tendency to detail, to savoring everyday details. Its typical examples are “Lazarillo from Tormes” (XVI century) and “Gilles Blas” French writer Lesage (first half of the 18th century). From among the petty and middle bourgeoisie by the middle of the 18th century. an advanced petty-bourgeois intelligentsia is growing up, beginning an ideological struggle against the old order and using artistic creativity for this. On this basis, a psychological petty-bourgeois novel arises, in which the central place is no longer occupied by the adventure, but by the deep contradictions and contrasts in the minds of the heroes fighting for their happiness, for their moral ideals. The clearest example This may be called "The New Heloise" by Rousseau (1761). In the same era as Rousseau, Voltaire appeared with his philosophical and journalistic novel “Candide”. In Germany at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. There is a whole group of romantic writers who have created very vivid examples of psychological novels in different literary styles. Such are Novalis (“Heinrich von Ofterdingen”), Friedrich Schlegel (“Lucinda”), Tieck (“William Lovel”) and finally the famous Hoffmann. “Along with this, we find a psychological novel in the style of the patriarchal noble aristocracy, perishing along with the entire old regime and realizing its death in the plane of the deepest moral and ideological conflicts.” Such is Chateaubriand with his “Rene” and “Atala”. Other layers of the feudal nobility were characterized by a cult of graceful sensuality and boundless, sometimes unbridled epicureanism. From here they come out and noble novels Rococo with its cult of sensuality. For example, Couvray’s novel “The Love Affairs of the Chevalier de Fauble.”

English novel in the first half of the 18th century. puts forward such major representatives as J. Swift with his famous satirical novel “Gulliver’s Travels” and D. Defoe, author of the no less famous “Robinson Crusoe”, as well as a number of other novelists expressing the social worldview of the bourgeoisie.

In the era of the emergence and development of industrial capitalism, the adventurous, naturalistic novel is gradually losing its significance.” It is being replaced by the social novel, which arises and develops in the literature of those strata of capitalist society that turn out to be the most advanced, and in the conditions of a given country. In a number of countries (France, Germany, Russia), during the period of replacement of the adventurous novel with the social and everyday one, i.e., during the period of replacement of the feudal system with the capitalist one, the psychological novel with a romantic or sentimental orientation temporarily acquires great importance, reflecting the social imbalance of the transition period (Jean- Paul, Chateaubriand, etc.). The heyday of the social-everyday novel coincides with the period of growth and prosperity of industrial-capitalist society (Balzac, Dickens, Flaubert, Zola, etc.). A novel is created according to an artistic principle - realistic. In the middle of the 19th century. The English realistic novel is making significant progress. The pinnacle of the realistic novel are the novels of Dickens - “David Copperfield”, “Oliver Twist” and “Nicholas Nickleby”, as well as Thackeray with his “Vanity Fair”, which provides a more embittered and powerful criticism of the noble-bourgeois society. “The realistic novel of the 19th century is distinguished by its extremely acute formulation of moral problems, which now occupy a central place in artistic culture. This is due to the experience of a break with traditional ideas and the task of finding new moral guidelines for the individual in a situation of isolation, to develop moral regulators that do not ignore, but morally streamline the interests of the real practical activity of an isolated individual.”

A special line is represented by the novel of “mysteries and horrors” (the so-called “Gothic novel”), the plots of which, as a rule, are chosen in the sphere of the supernatural and the heroes of which are endowed with features of gloomy demonism. The largest representatives of the Gothic novel are A. Radcliffe and C. Maturin.

The gradual transition of capitalist society into the era of imperialism with its growing social conflicts leads to the degradation of bourgeois ideology. The cognitive level of bourgeois novelists is declining. In this regard, in the history of the novel there is a return to naturalism, to psychologism (Joyce, Proust). In the process of its development, the novel, however, not only repeats a certain logical line, but also retains some genre characteristics. The novel is historically repeated in different literary styles, and in different styles it expresses different artistic principles. And for all that, the novel still remains a novel: a huge number of the most diverse works of this genre have something in common, some repeating features of content and form, which turn out to be signs of the genre, which receives its classical expression in the bourgeois novel. “No matter how different the characteristics of historical class consciousness, those social sentiments, those specific artistic ideas that are reflected in the novel, the novel expresses a certain type of self-awareness, certain ideological demands and interests. The bourgeois novel lives and develops as long as the individualistic self-consciousness of the capitalist era is alive, as long as interest in individual destiny, in personal life, in the struggle of individuality for their personal needs, for the right to life continues to exist.” These features of the novel’s content also lead to the formal characteristics of this genre. Thematically, a bourgeois novel depicts private, personal, everyday life and, against the background of it, the clash and struggle of personal interests. The composition of the novel is characterized by a more or less complex, straight or broken line of a single personal intrigue, a single causal-temporal chain of events, a single course of the narrative, to which all and every descriptive moments are subordinated. In all other respects, the novel is "historically infinitely varied."

Any genre, on the one hand, is always individual, on the other, it is always based on literary tradition. The genre category is a historical category: each era is characterized not only by genre system in general, but also genre modifications or varieties in particular in relation to a particular genre. Today, literary scholars distinguish varieties of the genre on the basis of a set of stable properties (for example, the general nature of the theme, properties of imagery, type of composition, etc.).

Based on the above, the typology of the modern novel can be roughly represented as follows:

Themes vary between autobiographical, documentary, political, social; philosophical, intellectual; erotic, female, family and everyday life; historical; adventurous, fantastic; satirical; sentimental, etc.

According to structural characteristics: a novel in verse, a travel novel, a pamphlet novel, a parable novel, a feuilleton novel, etc.

Often the definition correlates a novel with an era in which one or another type of novel dominated: ancient, chivalric, enlightenment, Victorian, Gothic, modernist, etc.

In addition, the epic novel stands out - a work in which the center of artistic attention is the fate of the people, and not the individual (L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace", M.A. Sholokhov " Quiet Don").

A special type is the polyphonic novel (according to M. M. Bakhtin), which involves such a construction when the main idea of ​​the work is formed by the simultaneous sound of “many voices”, since none of the characters or the author has a monopoly on the truth and is not its carrier.

To summarize all of the above, we note once again that despite the long history of this term and the even older genre form, in modern literary criticism there is no unambiguous view of the problems associated with the concept of “novel”. It is known that it appeared in the Middle Ages, the first examples of novels were more than five centuries ago; in the history of the development of Western European literature, the novel had many forms and modifications.

Finishing the conversation about the novel as a whole, we cannot help but draw attention to the fact that, like any genre, it must have some features. Here we will remain in solidarity with the adherent of “dialogism” in literature – M.M. Bakhtin, who identifies three main features of the genre model of the novel, which fundamentally distinguish it from other genres:

“1) the stylistic three-dimensionality of the novel, associated with the multilingual consciousness realized in it; 2) a radical change in the time coordinates of the literary image in the novel; 3) a new zone for constructing a literary image in a novel, namely the zone of maximum contact with the present (modernity) in its incompleteness.”

DEFINITIONUTOPIA

Utopia is an idea of ​​an ideal society, uncritical confidence in the possibility of direct implementation of traditional, mythological, possibly modernized, ideological expectations and ideals. For example, U. are the desire to realize the ideals of building a large society by analogy with a rural community, the concept of socialism, the implementation of which cannot take place in the corresponding period of time, either due to the complete impossibility of accepting the corresponding ideas by broad layers of the population as real values ​​of their own activities, or as a result of the fact that the adoption of these values ​​leads to a dysfunctional system, violate the prohibitions of sociocultural law. W. Mora, Campanella, etc. give pictures of highly regulated societies, industries, personal life in cities and houses. They represent modernized traditional ideals that correspond neither to the past due to elements of modernization, nor to the future due to the burden of traditionalism. U. is an element of a certain stage in the development of any solution, since everything begins with the reproduction of some previously established need, which may turn out to be U. in a changed situation. The effectiveness of a decision depends on a person’s ability to critically rethink all its prerequisites and elements on the basis of changed conditions, the emergence of new means, the maturation of new goals, i.e. it is necessary to overcome the element U in the decision. Any ideas, projects, their implementation must pass the test for the presumption of utopia . An attempt to realize control, that is, first of all, to translate it into social relations, to obtain a result from it can be considered as the result of a miracle of inversion; if realized, it is replaced by a reverse inversion. For example, socialism as a society that immediately saves people from death, from labor, embodies universal equality, ultimately ends in the growth of a discomforting state, a reverse inversion. The death of the boy means that there is no communism in “Chevengur” (Platonov A., Chevengur).

Aesthetics of the pop genre

Rubber.

Completed:

4th year student 423 groups

Boboshko Margarita

Checked by: Professor

Andrachnikov S.G.

Moscow 2012.

Introduction

Rubber is initially considered a circus genre, but has long since occupied its niche on the stage. Let's figure out what is the appeal of this genre, what will allow it to exist outside the arena. According to scientific information, this genre is called contortion. English word contortion denotes flexibility in all its forms. It was from him that the name contortion came, which characterizes an amazing and truly stunning performing art. This original genre of stagecraft is based on unique abilities a person to transform his body: fold in half, twist into rings, bend in a bizarre way.

"Rubber" - (English caoutchouc) as a circus term is found in specialized literature only at the very end of the last century. One must think that its emergence is associated with the flourishing of the automotive and aviation industries, which required tires huge amount rubber. The thick, viscous sap of rubber plants became the most profitable of the colonial goods. The word "rubber" has become fashionable. Apparently because of the properties of this material, people who have perfect flexibility in their body began to be called this.

The history of the genre.

The earliest information about him dates back to very, very distant times.

IN ancient Egypt During the feasts of the Theban nobles and priests, acrobats performed, along with harpists and dancers with famous gladiators and hunters. Based on the drawings in the tombs, one can recreate a picture of the performance of acrobats of the past. It started with the fact that long board a string of swords was strengthened with their tips up. To show how sharp swords are, the acrobat threw an apple onto the tip of the sword. The halves of the cut apple were then presented to the public as a highly valued treat. The ancient monuments that have survived to this day - reliefs and wall paintings - contain various images of “bridges” - the main pose of the “rubber”.

Demonstration of body flexibility, like dance and pantomime, can be considered one of the origins of stage art, the forefather of all circus genres.

How did this type of acrobatics originate? There is no exact information on this matter. It seems that its beginnings go back to those distant times when ritual dances were performed in pagan temples. It is possible that during such a dance around the flames of the sacrificial fire, one of the priestesses leaned back deeply in ecstasy, beautifully arching her back in a pose that could attract with its unusualness and provoke imitation.

The flexible, trained human body, seemingly devoid of a bone base (which is why artists performing in this genre were advertised as “people without bones”), has always attracted attention. This, in fact, is the reason why the genre turned out to be so tenacious and has passed through centuries without fading to this day. IN ancient Rome on the amphoras we can see colorful images of flexible acrobats, here is a skilled artist, standing on her hands and abruptly arching her back, began to carefully move along the board, and not just move, not at a step, but with “front bridges,” or, as they say in professional circles, “stand with the bogen”, while trying not to touch the dangerous obstacle - the swords.

If it was traditional for Roman acrobats to demonstrate flexibility over the edges of swords, for the ancient Greeks - on a shield held in the hands of an athlete, then Chinese artists thousands of years ago they introduced an original style of plastic acrobatics that spread throughout the earth. Standing on a bench painted with national ornaments, the acrobat smoothly tilted his body back, sinking lower and lower, and now his head and shoulders passed behind his feet. But this is only the beginning, the main thing was that the acrobat had to bend in such a way as to lift the scarlet poppy flower from the carpet without the help of his hands and mouth. This climb, a slow, tense climb, in which the extraordinary elasticity of the body is expressively intertwined with the easily discernible strength of the legs, still looks with exciting interest.

The rooms were built somewhat differently, but also in their own nationally distinctive manner. Uzbek artists, flexible teenagers-muallaqchi. With a copper basin filled with water, the muallakchi walked around the spectators, who, as had been the custom since ancient times, threw coins into the basin. And although everyone knew well what would happen next, this nevertheless did not in the least affect close attention, with which hundreds of eyes watched all the preparations, how, having placed the basin on the ground, the muallakchi (most often they acted together with their teacher in twos or threes) began to make “bridges”, “wheels”, “rolls with elbows to feet." But this is just a “warm-up”. Then the main thing began - the most prepared of the muallakchi, standing with his back to the basin, trying it on again and again, lowered himself onto the “bridge”, immersed his face in the water and managed to remove the coin from the bottom with his eyelids.

fr. genre - genus, type) - a historically established, stable variety of a work of art, for example. – in painting – portrait, landscape, still life, etc.; in music – symphony, cantata, song, etc.; in literature - novel, poem, etc. The concept of genre generalizes the features characteristic of a vast group of works of any era, nation or world art in general.

Great definition

Incomplete definition ↓

GENRE

French genre - genus, type), type of work, which has its own characteristic features and divided into subtypes. A literary genre develops historically, summarizing the features that distinguish a group of works in a particular era. A literary genus is formed from the combination of several genres. A genre is divided into types (sometimes these terms are used in the opposite way: a type is a larger set, for example a poem, a genre is a specific type, for example. lyric poem). Overall theory literary families does not exhaust the entire wealth of genres. Other principles for classifying genres can be outlined. The genus unites genres mainly on a formal basis (prose, poetry or form of presentation of text for the stage) and on the basis of the general content text (personal feelings and experiences in the lyrics, events in the epic, dramatic plot in drama). Genres can also be divided according to the principle author's attitude to the subject of the image, the general intonation of the work - comic (comedy, comic poem, humorous story), satirical (pamphlet, epigram, feuilleton), tragic, elegiac, etc. Since antiquity, the division of genres into high, medium and low has been known. The high genres include those that tell in a sublime language about the deeds of gods and heroes (tragedy, ode), the low genres are those that ridicule the low actions of people in rude and common language (comedy, satire), the middle genres occupy an intermediate position - they tell about a person’s life without investing in it. neither heroic nor comic content and using the basic fund of words of the language (drama, story). This theory was developed by classicists (M.V. Lomonosov in Russia, who combined the doctrine of genres with the doctrine of three styles - high, medium and low). High genres use words of high and middle style, middle - middle and low, and in low genres words of high and low styles are combined, while “high” words are used in a reduced meaning. Sometimes this classification also includes mixed genres - tragicomic and parody works that combine elements of high and low genres.

Genres are distinguished based on a set of characteristics. In addition to the general content and belonging to a specific literary family, the volume of the work, its composition and the richness of ideological content are important. So, for example, a novel and a story differ from each other in volume (the volume of a novel is, as a rule, larger) and the number of problems, themes, and ideas covered (there are more of them in a novel). The same difference exists between a novel and an epic, which is an even larger work designed to convey the life and flavor of an entire era. In some cases, it is difficult to draw a line between genres (for example, many researchers consider the novels of I. S. Turgenev to be stories). It is easier to distinguish genres on a formal basis. Such criteria are common in poetry. For example, a sonnet is distinguished solely on the basis of external features - a poem of 14 lines, consisting of two quatrains and two tercets. The criteria for distinguishing rondo, triolet, ghazal, etc. are also formal. It is difficult to introduce such a criterion in prose, due to its freer nature, and therefore prose genres often differ not in form, but in content. For example, the difference between a story and a novella is an unexpected ending, which is mandatory for a novella, at least in modern interpretation this term.

On the other hand, what is important for a genre is its ideological content. On this basis inside general genre or type of novel or story, one can distinguish utopian (about non-existent ideal countries and cities, written for didactic purposes), adventure (about the adventures of a hero), detective (about the search for a criminal), psychological (dedicated to revealing the psychology of heroes) and other novels (or corresponding story).

The genre develops and changes historically. At different times there arose different theories, devoted to the criteria for separating one genre from another and the norms for creating text of various genres. The most famous theories belong to the era of antiquity and classicism.

Not only the content of each genre changes, but also the composition of genres as a whole. Thus, the solemn ode, which originated in the poetry of Pindar, went to the periphery of literature for some time, then was revived in the 18th century, during the era of classicism, and after that it gradually faded away. Genres can arise in a certain era, in the work of a certain writer - for example, with the novel by P. Abelard “The History of My Disasters” a genre arose literary confession. A one-act drama appeared in the work of playwright M. Maeterlinck. Other genres, such as fable and comedy, which arose in antiquity, continue to exist throughout all periods of literary history, right up to modern times, and are constantly filled with new content.

Different eras in the history of literature differ from each other not only in the composition of genres, but also in their number. For literature of the 20th century. characterized by a large number of genres and their interpenetration. At the intersection of several genres there is new type literary work. In previous periods, literature tended to emphasize several genres (eg, tragedy, ode, epic poem in classicism; lyric poem, ballad, elegy in romanticism). In this regard, statements about the disappearance of genres have appeared in modern literature - their boundaries have expanded to such an extent. Anti-genres appeared - anti-novel, anti-drama.

Genre originality is considered not only in relation to an era or movement in literature, but also in relation to an individual writer. Specific forms always appear in the work of each writer, and their genre affiliation is usually a subject of debate for researchers. Thus, “Crime and Punishment” by F. M. Dostoevsky combines the features of a psychological, social, detective and adventure novel.

Great definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Just like a historian, a writer can recreate the appearance and events of the past, although artistic reproduction of them, of course, differs from scientific reproduction. The author, based on historical data, also includes creative fiction in his works - he depicts what could have been, and not just what actually happened.

The best works representing the historical genre have not only aesthetic value, but also historical and educational value. Fiction can paint a bygone era in its entirety, reveal ideology, social activity, psyche, and life in living images. Historical and everyday genres are closely related, since everyday life is part of history. Let us consider the history of the formation of historical genres in literature.

Historical Adventures

Not every work that describes past events seeks to recreate them as they really were. Sometimes this is just material for colorful paintings, a sharp plot, a special flavor - exotic, sublime, etc. This characterizes historical adventures (for example, the works of A. Dumas “Ascanio”, “Erminia”, “Black”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, “The Corsican Brothers” and others). Their main task is to create an entertaining story.

The emergence of the historical genre

It began to take shape at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. At this time, a historical novel was created - a special genre that sets itself the goal of directly depicting the life of past eras. It (like the historical drama that appeared later) is fundamentally different from the works dedicated to events previous eras. Fictional historical literature begins to take shape in connection with a significant turning point in historical knowledge, that is, the process of its formation as a science. It is thanks to this that these types of genres appear.

The first authors who worked in new genres

The first writer who began to create works on subjects that interest us is W. Scott. Before this, J. Goethe and F. Schiller, the greats, made their contribution to the development of literature. In the work of the former, historical drama is represented by the works “Egmont” (1788) and “Götz von Berlichingen” (1773). The second created “Wallenstein” (1798-1799), “William Tell” in 1804, as well as “Mary Stuart” in 1801. However, the real milestone was the work of Walter Scott, who is considered the founder of the genre historical novel.

He owns a whole series of works depicting the period of the Crusades ("Richard the Lionheart", "Ivanhoe", "Robert, Count of Paris"), as well as the time of the formation of national monarchies in Europe ("Quentin Dorward"), in England ("Woodstock" , “The Puritans”), the collapse of the clan system in Scotland (“Rob Roy”, “Waverley”), etc. For the first time in his works, the reconstruction of the past by the writer’s pen is based on the study of historical sources (while formerly an artist mainly limited to reproducing the general course of events and the most characteristic features of past figures). The work of this writer influenced the further development that the various types genres.

Many classic writers turn to historical themes. These include V. Hugo, who wrote various books. Historical novels created by this author - "Cromwell", "Ninety-third", "Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris" and others.

A. de Vigny (“Saint-Mars”), Manzoni, who created “The Betrothed” in 1827, as well as F. Cooper, M. Zagoskin, I. Lazhechnikov and others were interested in this topic.

Features of works created by romantics

The historical genre, represented by the works of the romantics, does not always have historical value. This is hampered by the subjective interpretation of events and the replacement of actual social conflicts the fight between good and evil. Most often, the main characters of novels are only the embodiment of the writer’s ideal (for example, Esmeralda in Hugo’s work), and not specific historical types. The political beliefs of the creator also play a role. Thus, A. de Vigny, who sympathized with the aristocracy, made the representative of the so-called feudal front the program hero of his work.

Realistic direction

But one should not evaluate the merits of these works by the degree of historical accuracy. For example, Hugo's novels have enormous emotional power. However, an important stage in the further development of the historical genre in the literature of the 19th century was associated with the victory of realistic principles in it. Realistic works began to depict social characters, the role of the people in the historical process, and insight into the difficult process of struggle between the various forces involved in it. These aesthetic moments were largely prepared by the school of Walter Scott (Mérimée's "Jacquerie", Balzac's "Chouans"). The historical genre in a realistic refraction in Russia won a victory in the work of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin ("The Blackamoor of Peter the Great", "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter").

Deepening psychological analysis

In the 19th century, in the 30-40s, the deepening of psychological analysis in works became new (for example, the depiction of Waterloo in the work The pinnacle of the historical genre in the 19th century is the epic “War and Peace” by L. N. Tolstoy. In this work, historicism is manifested in the creation of various historical types, a large-scale awareness of the course of history, as well as the accurate transmission of everyday, social, linguistic, psychological and ideological features of the depicted time.

Historical genre in the mid-19th century

In the middle of the 19th century, after numerous achievements of the realistic school, the most outstanding of which, based on historical material, raised questions about the fate of the nation and folk life, there is a regression in the further development of historical fiction. This is mainly due to the general tendency of bourgeois ideology towards increased reactionism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as an increasingly strong departure from the historicism of social thought. The authors of various historical novels modernize history. For example, A. France, in his work “The Gods Thirst,” written in 1912, dedicated to the period of the French Revolution, conveys the idea that humanity is marking time in its development.

The so-called symbolic literature sometimes claiming deep understanding historical process, but in reality creating only subjectivist constructions that have a mystical character. The following examples can be given: the work “Beatrice’s Bedspread” created in 1901 by A. Schnitzler; in 1908, Merezhkovsky created “Paul I” and “Alexander I”.

Historical genre in the East

In some countries of Eastern Europe, on the contrary, at this time the historical genre acquired great social resonance and significance. This is due to the fact that in this period the liberation struggle. Sometimes historical literature takes on romantic character. For example, in the works of the Polish novelist: “The Flood”, “With Fire and Sword”, “Camo is Coming”, “Pan Volodyevsky”, “The Crusaders”.

In many countries of the East, the national liberation movement was the basis for the formation of the historical novel. In India, for example, its creator is B.C. Chottopadhyay.

Development of the genre after the October Revolution

After the October Revolution, a new round of development of the historical realistic novel begins. It allowed Western realists to write a number of works that are outstanding examples of historical fiction. Turning to the past was associated with the need to protect traditions and cultural heritage, with speeches against fascists by humanist writers. For example, this is T. Mann's story "Lotte in Weimar", written in 1939, and numerous novels by Feuchtwanger. These works, distinguished by their democratic, humanistic orientation and closely connected with modernity, are characterized at the same time by the author’s painstaking work on various historical sources. But even in them sometimes there is an imprint of concepts characteristic of historical bourgeois science. For example, Feuchtwanger sometimes has an idea of ​​the progress of history as a struggle between inertia and reason; he also underestimates the role of the people, and sometimes subjectivism appears.

Socialist realism

WITH socialist realism connected new stage, which enters historical genre in literature. His philosophy argued that historical existence is the collective creativity of the people, therefore literature at that time had all the conditions for development, based on the principles of historicism. Along this path, she achieved outstanding results. The most important themes were the depiction of significant, turning-point eras. Characteristic of historical literature of that time was the desire for great generalizations and epicness. As an example, we can cite the novel by A. N. Tolstoy, which depicts the image of this ruler, but at the same time tells about the fate of the people of our country during a critical period of development.

The most important topics Soviet literature was the struggle against the monarchy, the fate of advanced culture in Tsarist Russia, as well as the period of preparation for the revolution and a description of it itself. TO historical literature largely belongs to the work “The Life of Klim Samgin” created by M. Gorky, “Quiet Don” by M. A. Sholokhov, A.N. Tolstoy - “Walking through Torment” and others.

Today, the historical detective story is becoming very popular - a genre represented in the works of Boris Akunin, Umberto Eco, Agatha Christie, Alexander Bushkov and other authors.

Opera originated in Italy. It “grew up” from theatrical mysteries - spiritual performances in which it served as a background, shading the actors’ performances. In such performances, music was played from time to time, emphasizing important dramatic moments. Subsequently, she became more and more important in such mysteries. From some point on, throughout the entire performance, the music sounded without any pauses. The first prototype of the opera is considered to be a comedy on a spiritual theme called “The Conversion of St. Paul”, which was written by Beverini. In this comedy, music sounds from the very beginning to the end, but still plays the role of accompaniment.

In the sixteenth century, pastorals became fashionable and featured choral performances of motets or madrigals (musical and poetic plays). At the end of the sixteenth century, solo vocal numbers appeared in pastorals. This was the beginning of the birth of opera in the usual to modern man form. This genre was called drama in musica, and “opera” appeared only in the first half of the seventeenth century. It should be noted that a number of people continued to call their works musical dramas even after the appearance and consolidation of “opera”.

There are several types of opera. The main one is rightfully considered the “Grand Opera” or lyrical tragedy. It arose after the Great French Revolution and in fact became the main musical movement of the nineteenth century.

History of opera houses

The first opera house opened in 1637 in Venice. Opera served the entertainment of aristocrats and was not accessible to ordinary people. The first major opera is considered to be Daphne by Jacopo Peri, which was first performed in 1597.

Opera has gained great popularity, becoming the favorite art form. Literary subjects operas make them accessible and understandable musical art, because it is much easier to perceive than traditional ones without a plot.

Nowadays, about twenty thousand opera performances are given per year. This means that more than fifty operas are performed around the world every day.

From Italy, opera quickly spread to other European countries. Over the years, it became publicly available, ceasing to serve exclusively as entertainment for aristocrats. IN opera houses“galleries” began to appear, from which ordinary townspeople could sing delightfully.

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Tip 2: The history of the “herring under a fur coat” salad

Few people know that the traditional “herring under a fur coat” salad, beloved by thousands of people, has political overtones. This dish was invented back in 1918, which, as you know, was a turning point for Russia. If you believe the folk legend, “fur coat” is not the name of a type of clothing, but an abbreviation.

The ingenious invention of an ordinary chef

Since the mid-19th century, taverns have been a favorite vacation spot for city residents. Here they drank, swore, talked and sought the truth in every way. Often visitors smashed dishes, started fights, accused each other of harboring revolutionary ideas and sang “The Internationale” in a discordant chorus. One day, Anastas Bogomilov, a merchant and owner of several very popular eateries, decided that it was necessary to calm down the visitors and make the atmosphere in his establishments more relaxed. This happened in 1918. One of Anastas’s employees, cook Aristarkh Prokoptsev, decided that the easiest way to calm the rebels was to satiate their stomachs. But not just like that, but with hidden subtext.

According to legend, it was Prokoptsev who came up with the idea of ​​​​creating the “herring” dish. Herring was a symbol of the proletariat (a widely distributed, affordable and popular product among the people), vegetables (potatoes, onions and carrots) personified the peasantry, and beets represented the red revolutionary banner. The popular French cold sauce "mayonnaise" served as a binder. It is not known exactly why he was chosen. According to one version, this was a sign of respect for those who committed the Great French Revolution. bourgeois revolution, on the other - a reminder of the Entente.

The Entente, which included France, was considered the main external enemy of Bolshevism.

Why a fur coat? SHUBA is an abbreviation that stands for: “Boycott and Anathema to Chauvinism and Decadence.”
Tavern visitors quickly appreciated the revolutionary salad. First of all, it was delicious. Secondly, inexpensive. And thirdly, it was an excellent snack for strong alcoholic drinks. Due to the large amount of mayonnaise, people became less drunk, which meant there were fewer fights. For the first time, salad appeared on the menu of Bogomilov’s taverns before the New Year of 1919. Maybe that’s why “herring under a fur coat” has become a traditional dish for the New Year’s table.

The history of the salad is beautiful. How true it is, no one will ever know.

Classic salad recipe

To prepare the traditional salad “herring under a fur coat” you will need boiled vegetables (except onions), fresh apple, herring and mayonnaise.

It is advisable that the mayonnaise be homemade. If you have to use store-bought, it is better to take the one with a higher fat content.

You will need:
- 200 g herring fillet;
- 200 g apples;
- 200 g beets;
- 200 g boiled potatoes;
- 200 g;
- 100 g of onion;
- mayonnaise.

After the vegetables are cooked, they need to be cooled, peeled and grated one by one on a coarse grater. The onion is cut as finely as possible. Herring fillets should be cut into small cubes: no more than 1x1 cm. The apple must be peeled and grated on a fine grater. It is better to place the dish on a flat salad bowl. The first layer in classic recipe comes potatoes, then herring, onions, carrots, apples and beets. Each layer is smeared with fatty mayonnaise.

The classic one is known to many, but each housewife still makes “herring under a fur coat” in her own way. Some people put a cucumber instead of an apple, others exclude onions from the ingredients, and still others put cheese in one of the layers. Some chefs try to “ennoble” the dish and instead of herring they put salmon, salmon and even seafood like shrimp. Housewives also enjoy experimenting. You can find a lot on the Internet original recipes based on the classic: “Herring in a sheepskin coat”, “Fur coat without herring”, “Herring in a new fur coat”, “Herring in a cloak”.

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How to prepare salad "Herring under a fur coat"

Matryoshka dolls are considered an original Russian souvenir and therefore are so popular among tourists coming to the Russian Federation from different countries. All the more interesting is the fact that these wooden painted figurines of elegant beauties, nested inside each other, have far from Russian roots.

The first Russian nesting doll

The prototype of a cheerful, round-faced Russian girl, embodied in classic nesting dolls, was brought to Russia from Japan at the beginning XIX century. The souvenir from the land of the sun consisted of wooden figurines of the Japanese old sage Fukuruma, nested inside each other. They were beautifully painted and stylized in the spirit of the traditions of the ancestor country of the modern nesting doll.

Once in the Moscow Toy Workshop, the Japanese souvenir inspired local turner Vasily Zvezdochkin and artist Sergei Malyutin to create similar toys. The craftsmen carved and painted similar figures nested inside one another. The first analogue of a Japanese souvenir was a girl in a headscarf and sundress; subsequent nesting dolls depicted cute funny children - boys and girls; on the last, eighth nesting doll, a swaddled baby was drawn. Most likely, it got its name in honor of the widespread at that time female name Matryona.

Sergiev Posad nesting dolls

After the closure of the workshop in Moscow, in 1900 craftsmen in Sergiev Posad, in a training and demonstration workshop, began making nesting dolls. This type folk crafts became widespread; workshops of the Bogoyavlenskys, Ivanovs, and Vasily Zvezdochkin, who moved to Posad from Moscow, appeared not far from the capital.

Over time, this souvenir toy gained such popularity that foreigners began to order it from Russian craftsmen: the French, Germans, etc. Such nesting dolls were not cheap, but there was something to admire! The painting of these wooden toys became colorful, ornate, and varied. Artists depicted Russian beautiful girls in long sundresses and painted scarves, with bouquets of flowers, baskets and bundles. At the beginning of the twentieth century, mass production of nesting dolls for foreign countries was established.

Later matryoshka dolls appeared masculine, for example, depicting shepherds with pipes, mustachioed grooms, bearded old men with sticks, etc. Arranged wooden toys according to a variety of principles, but a pattern, as a rule, was necessarily traced - for example, matryoshka grooms were paired with matryoshka brides and relatives.

Matryoshka dolls of Nizhny Novgorod province

Towards the middle of the 20th century, the nesting doll spread far beyond the borders of Sergiev Posad. Thus, in the Nizhny Novgorod province craftsmen appeared who made nesting dolls in the form of slender, tall girls in bright shawls. And Sergiev Posad craftsmen made these toys in the form of squat and curvaceous young ladies.

Modern dolls

The matryoshka doll is still considered one of the symbols of Russian culture. Modern nesting dolls are made in the most various genres: in addition to classical drawings, they contain portraits of famous political figures, TV presenters, movie and pop stars.

In Sergiev Posad, in the Toy Museum, there are collections of nesting dolls from various masters of the early and mid-20th century, as well as the first doll painted famous artist Sergei Malyutin.

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