Romanticism (1790-1830) is a trend in world culture that emerged as a result of the crisis of the Age of Enlightenment and its philosophical concept of “Tabula rasa,” which translated means “blank slate.” According to this teaching, a person is born neutral, pure and empty, like a white sheet of paper. This means that if you engage in his education, you can raise an ideal member of society. But the flimsy logical structure collapsed when it came into contact with the realities of life: the bloody Napoleonic wars, french revolution 1789 and other social upheavals destroyed people's faith in the healing powers of the Enlightenment. During the war, education and culture did not play a role: bullets and sabers still spared no one. The powers that be studied hard and had access to everyone famous works art, but this did not prevent them from sending their subjects to death, did not prevent them from cheating and cunning, did not prevent them from indulging in those sweet vices that from time immemorial have corrupted humanity, regardless of who and how they are educated. No one stopped the bloodshed, preachers, teachers and Robinson Crusoe with their blessed work and “God’s help” did not help anyone.
People are disappointed and tired of social instability. The next generation was “born old.” “Young people found use for their idle powers in desperation.”- as Alfred de Musset wrote, the author who wrote the brightest romantic novel"Confession of the son of the century." State young man He described his time as follows: “Denial of everything heavenly and everything earthly, if you like, hopelessness”. Society has become imbued with world grief, and the main postulates of romanticism are a consequence of this mood.
The word "romanticism" comes from the Spanish musical term"romance" (musical work).
Main features of romanticism
Romanticism is usually characterized by listing its main characteristics:
— Romantic dual world- This is a sharp contrast between ideal and reality. The real world is cruel and boring, and the ideal is a refuge from the hardships and abominations of life. A textbook example of romanticism in painting: Friedrich’s painting “Two Contemplating the Moon.” The eyes of the heroes are directed towards the ideal, but the black hooked roots of life do not seem to let them go.
— Idealism– this is the presentation of maximum spiritual demands on oneself and on reality. Example: Shelley's poetry, where the grotesque pathos of youth is the main message.
— Infantilism– this is an inability to bear responsibility, frivolity. Example: the image of Pechorin: the hero does not know how to calculate the consequences of his actions, he easily injures himself and others.
— Fatalism (evil fate)- This tragic character relationship between man and evil fate. Example: " Bronze Horseman"Pushkin, where the hero is pursued by evil fate, having taken away his beloved, and with her all hopes for the future.
— Many borrowings from the Baroque era: irrationality (fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, stories of Hoffmann), fatalism, gloomy aesthetics (mystical stories of Edgar Allan Poe), fight against God (Lermontov, poem “Mtsyri”).
— Cult of individualism– the clash between personality and society is the main conflict in romantic works (Byron, “Childe Harold”: the hero contrasts his individuality with an inert and boring society, setting off on an endless journey).
Characteristics of a Romantic Hero
- Disappointment (Pushkin “Onegin”)
- Nonconformism (rejected existing value systems, did not accept hierarchies and canons, protested against rules) –
- Shocking behavior (Lermontov “Mtsyri”)
- Intuition (Gorky “Old Woman Izergil” (the legend of Danko))
- Denial of free will (everything depends on fate) - Walter Scott "Ivanhoe"
Themes, ideas, philosophy of romanticism
The main theme in Romanticism is the exceptional hero in exceptional circumstances. For example, a highlander captive since childhood, miraculously saved and ending up in a monastery. Usually children are not taken captive in order to take them to monasteries and replenish the staff of monks; the case of Mtsyri is a unique precedent of its kind.
The philosophical basis of romanticism and the ideological and thematic core is subjective idealism, according to which the world is a product of the subject’s personal feelings. Examples of subjective idealists are Fichte, Kant. A good example of subjective idealism in literature is Alfred de Musset's Confessions of a Son of the Century. Throughout the entire narrative, the hero immerses the reader in subjective reality, as if he were reading personal diary. Describing his love conflicts and complex feelings, he shows not the surrounding reality, but the inner world, which, as it were, replaces the outer one.
Romanticism dispelled boredom and melancholy - typical feelings in society of that period. The secular game of disappointment was brilliantly played out by Pushkin in the poem “Eugene Onegin.” Main character plays to the public when he imagines himself beyond the understanding of mere mortals. A fashion arose among young people to imitate the proud loner Childe Harold, the famous romantic hero from Byron's poem. Pushkin chuckles at this trend, portraying Onegin as a victim of yet another cult.
By the way, Byron became an idol and icon of romanticism. Distinguished by his eccentric behavior, the poet attracted the attention of society, and won recognition with his ostentatious eccentricities and undeniable talent. He even died in the spirit of romanticism: in an internecine war in Greece. An exceptional hero in exceptional circumstances...
Active Romanticism and Passive Romanticism: What's the Difference?
Romanticism is by its nature heterogeneous. Active romanticism- this is a protest, a rebellion against that philistine, vile world that has such a detrimental effect on the individual. Representatives of active romanticism: poets Byron and Shelley. An example of active romanticism: Byron's poem "Childe Harold's Travels".
Passive romanticism- this is reconciliation with reality: embellishing reality, withdrawing into oneself, etc. Representatives of passive romanticism: writers Hoffman, Gogol, Scott, etc. An example of passive romanticism is Hoffmann's The Golden Pot.
Features of Romanticism
Ideal- this is a mystical, irrational, unacceptable expression of the world spirit, something perfect that we must strive for. The melancholy of romanticism can be called “longing for an ideal.” People crave it, but cannot receive it, otherwise what they receive will cease to be an ideal, since from an abstract idea of beauty it will turn into a real thing or a real phenomenon with errors and shortcomings.
Features of romanticism are...
- creation comes first
- psychologism: the main thing is not events, but people’s feelings.
- irony: raising oneself above reality, making fun of it.
- self-irony: this perception of the world reduces tension
Escapism is an escape from reality. Types of escapism in literature:
- fantasy (travel into fictional worlds) – Edgar Allan Poe (“The Red Mask of Death”)
- exoticism (going to an unusual area, into the culture of little-known ethnic groups) - Mikhail Lermontov (Caucasian cycle)
- history (idealization of the past) – Walter Scott (“Ivanhoe”)
- folklore ( folk fiction) – Nikolai Gogol (“Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”)
Rational romanticism originated in England, which is probably explained by the unique mentality of the British. Mystical romanticism appeared precisely in Germany (the Brothers Grimm, Hoffmann, etc.), where the fantastic element is also due to the specifics of the German mentality.
Historicism- this is the principle of considering the world, social and cultural phenomena in a natural historical development.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!General specific features of figurative content fiction remain unchanged for thousands of years historical development. At the same time, the literature is constantly changing, revealing specific features at each stage.
Therefore, considering certain works artistic creativity, it is necessary to take into account that this requires a kind of methodological basis, which is created taking into account theoretical principles formulated by literary scholars.
There is no doubt that the work of every significant writer is original and unique. But at the same time, they are often brought together not only by the ideological orientation of the works, but also by the general principles of depicting life. This allowed scientists to use the term “literary movement” to characterize the work of groups of writers who lived in a certain era. A literary movement is understood as a union of groups of writers “similar in the type of artistic thinking, but not always coinciding in their ideological views” [Gulyaev 1977: 190]. “We can talk about direction where writers are aware of the theoretical foundations of their activity, proclaim it in their manifestos, program speeches, and defend it in the fight against adherents of other aesthetic beliefs” [Gulyaev 1977: 190 - 191].
Literary works that arose on the basis of one type of artistic thinking unite writers who are characterized by similar ideas about the creative process.
When approaching romantic art from such a position, it should be borne in mind that it must be studied and evaluated, taking into account its aesthetic nature and the goals that specific writers set for themselves.
Romanticism as a literary movement emerges and develops in a number of literatures at the end of the 18th - first decades of the 19th century and is the product of those “revolutionary” shifts that were taking place at that time in public life.
The dominance of romanticism is clear evidence of the staged community of literatures, each of which simultaneously reveals its own nationally distinctive features. Romantic literature Each state (European countries, USA, Russia, etc.) was distinguished by its own unique features generated by the difference in social positions and views of writers. Their interest in creating program documents that fixed the basic ideological and aesthetic principles of the new literary movement was also different.
Germany is rightfully considered the birthplace of romanticism. In this country, elegiac romanticism first arose, represented by the work of Novalis (F. Hardenberg). This writer appeared back in the 1890s with the lyrical “Hymns of the Night” and the novel “Heinrich von Ofterdingen.”
In creating their own literary program, the German romantics turned out to be more active than the English and French. Already at the end of the 18th century, writers of the “Jena school”, headed by F. Schlegel, first proposed their understanding of romanticism.
Artistic works of the "Jenians" - Novalis, L. Tieck, A. Schlegel - idealizing chivalry and ecclesiastical middle ages and interpreting art as “infinite” did not have a serious influence on the subsequent development of literature. But theoretically, in creating a program romantic creativity, the members of this circle turned out to be quite strong. This especially applies to the Schlegel brothers - August and Friedrich.
The theory of romanticism created by the Schlegels did not pretend to be academically harmonious, but contained a number of provisions that were important for the emerging literary movement.
According to the Schlegel theory, romanticism, in contrast to classicism as a rational attempt to revive the creative principles of antiquity, is a natural desire to return to the traditions of European medieval art and is sublimely spiritualized poetry addressed to human soul. A writer is a “genius” who creates not according to “frozen rules”, but organically, like “nature”. The essence of “romantic poetry” is that it is “capable of soaring on the wings of poetic reflection between the depicted and the depicter, free from any real and ideal interest” [Schlegel 1976: 19]. According to F. Schlegel, such poetry “is infinite and free and its main law recognizes the arbitrariness of the poet, who should not obey any law” [Schlegel 1976: 20].
The essence of the romantic is that it presents “sentimental content in a fantastic form” [Schlegel 1976: 19]. From this position, the Schlegels deny the generic and genre distinctions of works, which the classicists so valued.
The main provisions of the theorists of the “Jena school” include the affirmation of the principle of creative subjectivity of fiction, the protection of the writer’s right to completely subordinate the depiction of life to his artistic concepts.
An important aspect of the Schlegel theory was the desire to identify the fundamental principles on which “romantic poetry” should be based. A strong, although little developed side of the romantic program of the theorists of the “Jena School” was the idea of the national uniqueness of fiction. “We need,” wrote F. Schlegel, “to return to the roots native language and native poetry, liberating the former truth and the former sublime spirit... which sleeps in the monuments of national antiquity... Then this poetry, which was as original as that of any modern nation... will again become among the same Germans... the true art of inventive poets, will become will remain so" [Schlegel 1976: 20]. In his own words, "the core, the center of poetry should be sought in mythology and in the ancient mysteries." [Schlegel 1976: 20].
A. Schlegel also took similar positions, noting that it was “in early eras culture in language and from language, as necessarily and arbitrarily as it, a poetic worldview is born, that is, one in which fantasy dominates. This is mythology" [Schlegel 1976: 27]. Therefore, he called for the revival of poetry, "for which myth again becomes the material" [Schlegel 1976: 27].
These calls were responded to in their own way already at the beginning XIX century members of another circle of German romantics, called the “Heidelberg School”. These were C. Brentano, L. Arnim, brothers J. and V. Grimm, who were involved in collecting and publishing folk songs and fairy tales.
Representatives of “Heidelberg romanticism” (especially the Brothers Grimm) actively introduced their contemporaries to folk culture. Through their works, a mythological school was created, which recognized myth as the fundamental basis of poetry, and then folklore that developed from it, which was considered as the unconscious and impersonal creativity of the collective folk soul.
A special place in the development of German romanticism was occupied by the work of E.T.A. Hoffman. In the 1810s - 1820s, he wrote a number of works ("The Elixir of Satan", "The Golden Pot", "The Sandman", etc.), where he gave a grotesque image of stupid and self-righteous philistines, to whom he contrasted sensitive "enthusiasts" - poets, artists, musicians, striving in their creativity towards the “infinite”. In Hoffmann's fairy tales and short stories, fantastic images created by his imagination often appeared, becoming the material embodiment of those dark and light principles that he saw in reality.
Hoffmann's work acquired world fame and influenced the romantics of other countries, including Russia. But in general, we can say that German romanticism entered the world literary arena, mainly in the form of the romantic theories of the “Jena school.” These theories gradually became widespread and influenced the creative thinking of representatives of various romantic movements in other countries.
In England, romanticism was represented primarily by the works of poets of the "Lake School". The early English romantics, W. Wordsworth, S. Coleridge and R. Southey, who spoke back in the 1790s, looked for their ideals in the historical past, idealized the old patriarchal way of life English village. In terms of social issues, representatives of the “lake school” were successors of the sentimentalists, and the romantic pathos of their works stemmed from religious and moralistic aspirations, sometimes reaching the point of mysticism.
From a different perspective, V. Scott was interested in the past. He acted as one of the active collectors of folklore texts, who compiled three volumes of collections of ballads, Songs of the Scottish Border. In addition, Scott entered world literature as the creator of the genre of historical novel, in which he captured the most important points history of England and other European countries.
The work of D.G. had a completely different ideological orientation. Byron and P.B. Shelley, who began creating their works in the 1800s - early 1810s. They expressed in their work the motives of romantic rebellion and the desire for civil freedom, which they saw in the future. The civil romanticism of Byron and Shelley was the most progressive movement in English literature early XIX centuries. But in general, it should be noted that representatives of various movements of English romanticism, despite their creative activity, did not create a corresponding literary program.
In France, the history of romanticism begins in the 1880s. R. A. Chateaubriand, with his stories “Atala” and “Rene,” and in the 1820s, A. Lamartine, with his lyrics, created the religious and moralistic movement of French romanticism. The main motives of their creativity were a feeling of doom, despair, denial of the meaning of earthly existence, and the desire to go to the other world. Along with this trend, associated with retrospective ideals, active romanticism developed in France, the prominent representatives of which were A. de Musset, George Sand and others.
The largest representative of civil romanticism was V. Hugo. The writer built the plots of his dramas (Hernani, Marion Delorme, The King Amuses himself) and novels (The Cathedral Notre Dame of Paris", "The Man Who Laughs") on the sharp contrasts between the cruel and arrogant representatives of the royal power and nobility and people from the democratic lower classes - bearers of high moral principles.
Hugo was not only the largest representative of French romanticism, but also its prominent theoretician. At the end of the 1820s, in the preface to his historical drama “Cromwell,” he formulated a number of the most important provisions of the creative program of the new literary movement. Hugo opposed classicism with its rational “rules” and proclaimed the principle of freedom of creativity. “The poet,” noted Hugo, “should consult only nature, truth, his inspiration...” [Hugo 1979: 275]. The writer demanded that literature reproduce characters in their national-historical originality and depict “local color.” He insisted on the need to “combine the grotesque with the sublime, merge tragedy with comedy” [Hugo 1979: 275]. From here flowed the idea of the need to mix “high” and “low” genres and the idea of the artist’s complete freedom of speech.
In the USA, romanticism will begin to develop somewhat later than in European countries. In the 1820s it was represented by such writers as W. Irving and D. F. Cooper. Later the works of E. Poe, G. Melville, and N. Hawthorne would become famous.
By the beginning of the 19th century, Russian literature had caught up in its ideological and artistic development with the literature of advanced countries Western Europe. In the emergence of classicism and sentimentalism, it lagged significantly behind France and England. During the era of romanticism, Russian writers appeared almost simultaneously with English and German ones - at the beginning of the 19th century.
Russian romanticism was formed over quite a long time . Its origins should be sought back in XVIII literature centuries, first of all - in sentimentalism with its cult of emotional reflection and interest in people's life.
Naturally, when creating their works, Russian romantics were guided by the experience of European writers. But, as rightly noted by one of the most famous representatives of Russian romanticism V.F. Odoevsky, “our imaginary imitation was only a school, leaving which we overtook the teachers” [Odoevsky 1982: 63].
V.A. Zhukovsky is rightfully considered the first Russian romantic. The history of Russian romanticism, in fact, begins with his “Lyudmila,” which was published in 1808. Despite the fact that “Lyudmila” is an imitation of “Lenora” by the 18th century German poet G.A. Burger, the work was published in the "Bulletin of Europe" with the subtitle "Russian ballad". Its appearance indicated a growing interest in folk poetry. The work clearly reveals all those features that will later prove to be characteristic of the romantic consciousness and will concentrate its most essential features. The author makes the scene medieval Rus', introduces images of the living dead into the work. According to V.G. Belinsky, “the romanticism of this ballad” lies not only in its content, but also “in the fantastic color scheme with which this childishly simple-minded legend is enlivened in places” [Belinsky 1982: 29].
Subsequently, Zhukovsky will write another ballad on the same plot - “Svetlana” (1913), which, even more than “Lyudmila,” will acquire a national coloring, thereby meeting one of the most important requirements of romanticism. Along with this, Zhukovsky created poems and ballads based on plots borrowed from the works of romantics in other countries. Based on examples of English and German religious-moralistic romanticism, the poet idealized patriarchal antiquity, spoke of the desire for something wonderful and mysterious that lures the human soul into an unknown distance (“Theon and Aeschines”, “The Ineffable”, “Aeolian Harp”, "Castle Smalholm, or Midsummer's Eve" etc.)
During the first two decades of the 19th century, Russian romantics created predominantly poetic works. Among the most famous of them are numerous “Dumas” and the poem “Voinarovsky” by K.F. Ryleev, poems " Caucasian prisoner" and "Bakhchisarai Fountain" by A.S. Pushkin, poems by K.N. Batyushkov and E.A. Baratynsky.
But domination poetic works turns out to be short-lived. Already in the 1820s, prose, primarily represented by stories, gradually came to the fore.
During the first third of the 19th century, the story occupied a special position in Russian literature, where the genre of the novel had not yet actually emerged. It is developing rapidly, filling with new content. “The story is now considered to be a joint endeavor with all areas of activity, with all degrees of intelligence, with all types of genius,” wrote critic N.I. Nadezhdin [ Literary criticism. Aesthetics. 1972: 320].
The romantic story for some time, as it were, replaces the novel and turns into the dominant one. epic genre. Moreover, in the 1830s it also replaced poetry, which was so influential in the first two decades of the 19th century, becoming the main phenomenon of Russian literature. "The story is a sign modern literature"- rightly noted in 1835 the critic S.P. Shevyrev [quoted from Sakharov 1992: 5]. It was during this period that A. Pogorelsky, A.A. Bestuzhev (Marlinsky), V.F. created their romantic stories Odoevsky, M.F. Pogodin and others.
Russian romantics were quite active in creating their literary program. In the first half of the 1820s, it was developed in articles by O.M. Somova, P.A. Vyazemsky, V.K. Kuchelbecker.
When developing their program, the theorists of Russian romanticism took into account those ideas that had already penetrated the consciousness of many writers by that time and were partly entrenched in literary texts. The search for new aesthetic ideals was carried out by representatives of the Friendly Literary Society, organized in 1801 by former students of the Moscow University Noble Boarding School. One of the recognized leaders of this society was V.A. Zhukovsky’s friend A.I. Turgenev, who in his speeches repeatedly spoke about the need to create nationally original art. Particularly noteworthy in this regard is the speech “On Russian Literature,” delivered on March 22, 1801. In his speech, Turgenev says that the works of the most famous Russian writers - M.V. Lomonosov, A.P. Sumarokova, N.M. Karamzin - tell the reader practically nothing about the Russians as a distinctive nation. “Now only in fairy tales and songs do we find the remains of Russian literature... and we still feel the character of our people,” he asserts [Turgenev 2000: 16]. And then, putting forward a position that would later be reflected in romantic aesthetics, he demands that writers turn “to Russian originality” “in customs, in lifestyle, and in character” [Turgenev 2000: 16].
Later P.A. Vyazemsky, O.M. Somov and V.K. Kuchelbecker, who acted as the most prominent theoreticians of romanticism, will pick up and develop this idea. Their works were published in those years when the national upsurge caused by the victory in Patriotic War 1812, contributed to the rapid maturation of new artistic views, which were reflected in print. The feeling of love for the motherland and national pride, strengthened by the difficult trials of the war, strengthened the desire to liberate domestic literature from imitation of everything foreign, forced writers to advocate for the creation of nationally original art.
As a supporter of such views on art, P.A. declared himself already in the articles of 1816 - 1817. Vyazemsky. He expressed the idea of a poet-genius, the creator of new literary genres unknown to classicists, and highly praised Russian folk poetry, which, in his opinion, is in no way inferior to the folklore of other peoples. In a letter to A.I. Turgenev dated November 22, 1818, Vyazemsky, noting the “Russian color” that he tried to give to his short descriptive poem “The First Snow,” suggested using the word “nationality” to denote this feature of artistic creativity [cit. according to Sokolov 1970: 180]. Thus, one of the the most important ideas romantic aesthetics.
In 1821, general attention was attracted by an article by O.M. Somov, dedicated to the analysis of the ballad by V.A. Zhukovsky “Fisherman”, which is a free adaptation of the poem by I.V. Goethe. During the controversy surrounding the publication of the article, the critic emphasized that he was trying to encourage the “excellent poet” and his students to abandon “Western foreign mists and glooms,” for “true talent must belong to one’s own fatherland” [cit. according to Petunina 1984: 6]. This programmatic attitude of Somov was further developed in his articles “On Romantic Poetry” (1823). The critic wrote that he was not satisfied with German poetry, which was dominated by “an inclination towards abstract concepts, sad daydreaming and the desire for a better, more blissful world” [Somov 2000: 30]. He sees the main goal of romantic poetry in providing the poet with “complete freedom of choice and presentation,” and the “main charm” is in the “nationality and locality” [Somov 2000: 31]. Somov emphasizes that “the Russian people... need to have their own folk poetry, inimitable and independent of the traditions of others”; the most the right way He considers the creation of original Russian literature to be an appeal to living sources of folk poetry, “mores, concepts and ways of thinking” [Somov 2000: 32]. Thus, Somov proclaims the principle of nationality, which he views as loyalty to national identity - morals, customs and language.
V.K. took a similar position. Kuchelbecker, who most clearly expressed his views in the article “On the direction of our poetry, especially lyrical, in last decade"(1824). Kuchelbecker speaks with disapproval of the Russian "Childe Harolds", for whom "a feeling of despondency has swallowed up all others" [Kuchelbecker 1981: 16]. Attacking elegiac romanticism, the critic opposes the mood of disappointment and pessimism, "world sorrow" , which, under the influence of Byron and the early German romantics, became widespread among some Russian poets. Kuchelbecker perceives the appeal to such topics as an attempt to impose “the shackles of German or English rule” on Russian poetry [Kuchelbecker 1981: 17]. to other examples: “The faith of our forefathers, domestic morals, chronicles and folk tales are the best, purest, most reliable sources for our literature” [Kuchelbecker 1981: 17].
A.S. also expressed his attitude to the problem. Pushkin in an article entitled “On the Nationality of Literature.” Pushkin noted that nationality does not only consist in “the selection of objects from Russian history” or the use of Russian expressions in speech. It is much more important to take into account something else: “Climate, mode of government, faith give each people a special physiognomy, which is more or less reflected in the mirror of poetry. There is a way of thinking and feeling, there is a darkness of customs, beliefs and habits belonging to any people” [ Pushkin: 1998: 35].
Thus, the idea of the nationality of literature occupied an important place in Russian romantic aesthetics. In print, this term was established in the 20s of the 19th century. The problem of nationality as an ideological and aesthetic category was realized gradually. In the 1820s - 1830s, the content of the concept of “nationality” included the idea of national independence and the originality of literature, and its democratic foundations. The fundamental connection between these two concepts is obvious: romantics come to the conclusion that only literature that reflects the consciousness of the broad masses can be nationally unique. Appeal to folk morals and customs, use folklore elements are beginning to be considered as the most important conditions for the creation of works that correspond to the spirit of the times.
Considering the history of the formation and development of foreign and Russian romanticism as a whole, it should be said that this direction covers a very heterogeneous phenomena. At the same time romantic works, which arose on the basis of one type of artistic thinking, have a number of common features. Such commonality testifies to the closeness of the writers (often distant in their ideological views) in artistic principles images of life and techniques for creating images.
The similarity of romantic works is determined, first of all, by the fact that their authors consider the creative act as a process of self-expression. Therefore, romantics do not strive to reproduce objective reality in exact accordance with the qualities of the depicted phenomena. For them, something else is much more important: to reflect the world of their subjective feelings and experiences. Romantic images always bear a vivid imprint of the author’s perception of life.
The Romantics opposed any “rules” that limited the freedom of creativity, invention, and inspiration. Creation works of art They considered it as a process of self-expression of their creator-writer.
Basing their work on the fundamental rejection of the reality they denied, the writers sought to contrast it with the world created by their imagination, which took different shapes in the works of different authors. Some of the writers turned their gaze to the other world, others looked for their ideals in the national past, idealized the Middle Ages, or created their own “reality”, close to reality, but full of mystery and mystery.
The artistic thinking of the romantics is characterized by a tendency towards contrasts, towards the depiction of exceptional heroes acting in extraordinary life circumstances and exhibiting unusually strong passions. Appearance and the characters of the heroes in the works of the romantics were predominantly antithetical: the good and beautiful were contrasted with the evil and “ugly,” the ideal “creatures of heaven” were contrasted with the heartless and cold “fiends of hell.”
The works are replete with symbols, fantasy, hyperbole and other conventional forms of artistic representation.
One of the leading principles in romantic aesthetics was the principle of nationality, according to which writers had to widely turn to nationally distinctive folk themes, to folk images and motifs. In this regard, they quite often painted in their works images of creatures of folk demonology, generated by the imagination of the masses and reflected in such genres of folk art as fairy tales, epic tales, and legends.
Thus, according to the law of stage community, romantic works appear in leading national European literatures almost at the same time. The authors of these works created appropriate programs and thereby shaped the literary direction. The German romantics showed the greatest activity and originality in this regard, followed by French and Russian writers and literary critics.
Romanticism was extremely contradictory in its ideological nature: it united writers of different public views, but related in their aesthetic aspirations. Romantics (both progressive and conservative) considered the process of creation literary works as an act of self-expression of creative subjects. Therefore, creating artistic images, writers took into account not so much the objective phenomena of reality, but their perception of these phenomena and their emotional attitude towards them. To one degree or another, not accepting modernity, being at odds with the surrounding reality, representatives of the romantic movement contrasted it with a fictional world, different from everyday life in its brightness and multicoloredness. Writers populated this world with exceptional characters, whose lives were full of turbulent events and seething passions.
The Romantics actively defended the principle of nationality, according to which they advocated the creation of nationally distinctive art that reflected the morals of the broad masses, their beliefs and customs. Implementing this principle, writers often turned to folklore texts, which, in their opinion, captured the spirit of the people. As a result, in the works of representatives of the romantic movement, readers were often presented with a peculiar artistic reality. It was filled with fantastic creatures, the images of which went back to popular ideas or were created by the writers themselves, relying on the experience of their predecessors or contemporaries.
Artistic culture of the 19th century.
Century in history artistic culture occupies a special place.
I is the era cultural takeoff, affecting all areas public consciousness:science, philosophy and art.
II is one of the most dramatic periods in the history of Europe, which experienced deep social upheavals, numerous revolutions and wars.
III - 19th century is very polyphonic, complex and contradictory. Wide spectrum philosophical ideas – from idealism to Marxism, and everything variety of artistic movements and styles – from classicism to modernity.
This century is a time of amazing coexistence of strong and unshakable traditions and unfettered experimentation in both the cultural and social spheres.
Century - the foundations of modern post-industrial civilization are laid and formed.
Romanticism.
History of the origin of the term.
The word "romanticism" comes from Latin Romanus- Roman, which arose on the basis of Roman culture. Later, this word began to be used to describe a wide range of different phenomena: it was correlated with the concept of the novel genre, which described the sublime, fantastically implausible feelings of the heroes. The words “romantic” or “romantic” were perceived as synonyms.
Over time, the word “romanticism” completely separated from its entire historical root and began to live independent life. So at the end of the 18th century. It was picked up by the young German writers and became the name of the new literary school, which replaced sentimentalism and classicism.
The concept of romanticism was sometimes replaced by the concept of romance, which is essentially incorrect. Romance is the basis of romanticism in art, and therefore it is a more capacious and broader concept compared to romanticism.
A romantic view of life often determines the artist’s worldview and forms the basis for the creation of his works. In this sense, romanticism can be considered as a kind of universal quality that permeates various historical eras(Antiquity, Middle Ages, Renaissance) and artistic styles (Gothic, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Symbolism, Art Nouveau).
Romanticism is not only artistic style art, but also special way knowledge of reality and reflection of the world.
For the romantics important not so much the idea itself, how much power and means of its expression. It was at this time that the first theoretical and philosophical programs of the Romantics appeared.
The path to freedom through beauty": philosophy and aesthetics of romanticism.
The historical roots of romanticism should be sought in the works of German philosophers: Kant, Schelling, Hegel. The whole world, nature and man are like the eternal movement of the creative spirit, reviving dead nature.
The old classical art must be replaced by a new one, boldly violating previous laws and principles. To capture the free impulse of a free spirit, the uniqueness and exclusivity of one’s own Self, an individual vision of the picture of the world.
With a clear diversity of creative manners and ideological movements within romanticism, it represented uniform style artistic culture that meets general aesthetic requirements and principles.
Aesthetic principles romanticism
1.Rejection real life, the desire to know the unknown.
Dissatisfaction with reality and the crisis of the ideals of classicism caused a desire to escape into the world of ideal ideas, utopian dreams of a perfect world. The new, unknown becomes the main subject of the image.
The era of romanticism occupies an important place in world art. This trend existed for a fairly short amount of time in the history of literature, painting and music, but left a big mark in the formation of trends, the creation of images and plots. We invite you to take a closer look at this phenomenon.
Romanticism is artistic direction in culture, characterized by the image of strong passions, an ideal world and the struggle of the individual with society.
The word “romanticism” itself initially had the meaning of “mystical”, “unusual”, but later acquired a slightly different meaning: “different”, “new”, “progressive”.
History of origin
The period of romanticism dates back to the end of the 18th century and the first half of XIX century. The crisis of classicism and the excessive journalisticism of the Enlightenment led to a transition from the cult of reason to the cult of feeling. The connecting link between classicism and romanticism was sentimentalism, in which feeling became rational and natural. He became a kind of source of a new direction. The romantics went further and completely immersed themselves in irrational thoughts.
The origins of romanticism began to emerge in Germany, where by that time the literary movement “Storm and Drang” was popular. Its adherents expressed quite radical ideas, which contributed to the development of a romantic rebellious attitude among them. The development of romanticism continued in France, Russia, England, the USA and other countries. Caspar David Friedrich is considered the founder of romanticism in painting. The founder of Russian literature is Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky.
The main trends of romanticism were folklore (based on folk art), Byronic (melancholy and loneliness), grotesque-fantastic (the image is not real world), utopian (search for an ideal) and Voltairean (description of historical events).
Main features and principles
The main characteristic of romanticism is the predominance of feeling over reason. From reality, the author takes the reader to ideal world or he himself yearns for it. Hence another sign - dual worlds, created according to the principle of “romantic antithesis”.
Romanticism can rightfully be considered an experimental movement in which fantastic images are skillfully woven into works. Escapism, that is, escape from reality, is achieved by motives of the past or immersion in mysticism. The author chooses fantasy, the past, exoticism or folklore as a means of escaping reality.
Displaying human emotions through nature is another feature of romanticism. If we talk about originality in the depiction of a person, then often he appears to the reader as lonely, atypical. The motive appears " extra person", a rebel disillusioned with civilization and fighting against the elements.
Philosophy
The spirit of romanticism was imbued with the category of the sublime, that is, the contemplation of beauty. Followers new era they tried to rethink religion, explaining it as a feeling of infinity, and put the idea of the inexplicability of mystical phenomena above the ideas of atheism.
The essence of romanticism was the struggle of man against society, the predominance of sensuality over rationality.
How did romanticism manifest itself?
In art, romanticism manifested itself in all areas except architecture.
In music
Romantic composers looked at music in a new way. The melodies sounded the motif of loneliness, much attention was paid to conflict and dual worlds, with the help of a personal tone, the authors added autobiography to their works for self-expression, new techniques were used: for example, expanding the timbre palette of sound.
As in literature, interest in folklore appeared here, and fantastic images were added to operas. The main genres in musical romanticism were the previously unpopular song and miniature, which were transferred from classicism to opera and overture, as well as poetic genres: fantasy, ballad and others. The most famous representatives of this movement are Tchaikovsky, Schubert and Liszt. Examples of works: Berlioz “A Fantastic Story”, Mozart “The Magic Flute” and others.
In painting
The aesthetics of romanticism has its own unique character. The most popular genre in Romanticism paintings is landscape. For example, for one of the most famous representatives of Russian romanticism, Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky, this is the stormy sea element (“Sea with a ship”). One of the first romantic artists, Caspar David Friedrich, introduced third-person landscape into painting, showing a person from the back against the backdrop of mysterious nature and creating the feeling that we are looking through the eyes of this character (examples of works: “Two Contemplating the Moon”, “Rocky Mountains”) shores of Ryugin Island"). The superiority of nature over man and his loneliness is especially felt in the painting “Monk on the Seashore.”
Fine art in the era of romanticism became experimental. William Turner preferred to create canvases with sweeping strokes, with almost imperceptible details (“Blizzard. Steamboat at the entrance to the harbor”). In turn, the harbinger of realism Theodore Gericault also painted paintings that bear little resemblance to images of real life. For example, in the painting “The Raft of Medusa,” people dying of hunger look like athletic heroes. If we talk about still lifes, then all the objects in the paintings are staged and cleaned (Charles Thomas Bale “Still Life with Grapes”).
In literature
If in the Age of Enlightenment, with rare exceptions, lyrical and lyric epic genres were absent, then in romanticism they play main role. The works are distinguished by their imagery and originality of plot. Either this is an embellished reality, or these are completely fantastic situations. The hero of romanticism has exceptional qualities that influence his fate. Books written two centuries ago are still in demand not only among schoolchildren and students, but also among all interested readers. Examples of works and representatives of the movement are presented below.
Abroad
Among the poets of the early 19th century are Heinrich Heine (the collection “The Book of Songs”), William Wordsworth (“Lyrical Ballads”), Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, as well as George Noel Gordon Byron, the author of the poem “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage.” Gained great popularity historical novels Walter Scott (for example, "", "Quentin Durward"), novels by Jane Austen (""), poems and stories by Edgar Allan Poe ("", ""), stories by Washington Irving ("The Legend of Sleepy Hollow") and fairy tales of one one of the first representatives of romanticism Ernest Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (“The Nutcracker and Mouse King», « »).
Also known are the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge (“Tales of the Ancient Mariner”) and Alfred de Musset (“Confessions of a Son of the Century”). It is remarkable with what ease the reader gets from the real world to the fictional one and back, as a result of which they both merge into one whole. This is partly achieved by the simple language of many works and the relaxed narration of such unusual things.
In Russia
Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky is considered the founder of Russian romanticism (elegy "", ballad ""). Co school curriculum everyone is familiar with Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov’s poem “”, where special attention is given to the motive of loneliness. It was not for nothing that the poet was called the Russian Byron. Philosophical lyrics Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, the early poems and poems of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, the poetry of Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov and Nikolai Mikhailovich Yazykov - all this had a great influence on the development of domestic romanticism.
The early work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is also presented in this direction (for example, mystical stories from the “”) cycle. It is interesting that romanticism in Russia developed in parallel with classicism and sometimes these two directions did not contradict each other too sharply.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Romanticism is a movement in art and literature that arose at the end of the 18th century in Germany and spread throughout Europe and America.
Signs of romanticism:
Emphasized attention to human personality, individuality, inner world person.
A depiction of an exceptional character in exceptional circumstances, a strong, rebellious personality, irreconcilable with the world. This person is not only free-spirited, but also special and unusual. Most often he is a loner who is not understood by most other people.
The cult of feelings, nature and the natural state of man. Denial of rationalism, the cult of reason and orderliness.
The existence of “two worlds”: the world of the ideal, dreams and the world of reality. There is an irreparable discrepancy between them. This leads romantic artists into a mood of despair and hopelessness, “world sorrow.”
Appeal to folk stories, folklore, interest in the historical past, search for historical consciousness. Active interest in the national, popular. Raising national consciousness, focusing on identity among creative circles European peoples.
In literature and painting, detailed descriptions of exotic nature, stormy elements, as well as images of “natural” people, “not spoiled” by civilization, are becoming popular.
Romanticism completely abandoned the use of stories about antiquity, popular in the era of classicism. It led to the emergence and approval of new literary genres - song ballads based on folklore, lyrical song, romances, historical novels.
Outstanding representatives of romanticism in literature: George Gordon Byron, Victor Hugo, William Blake, Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann, Walter Scott, Heinrich Heine, Friedrich Schiller, George Sand, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Pushkin, Adam Mickiewicz.
