1. Sociocultural situation and historical landmarks that determined the nature of the development of German culture. The formation of the world system of monopoly capitalism in Germany was belated, by the beginning of the 20th century. the transition is complete. Germany has surpassed England in economics. With the reign of Wilhelm II from 1888, an aggressive policy was established under the slogan - “to achieve a place in the sun for Germany.” It was also a slogan that united the empire. Ideological foundations - the teachings of German philosophers (Nietzsche, Spengler, Schopenhauer)
In the popular social democratic movement there is a tendency towards gradual peaceful resolution of conflicts, opposed to the revolutionary theory of Marxism. For a short period of time, apparent calm was established, but in literature there was a premonition of the apocalypse. Impact of the 1905 revolution led to the strengthening of social democratic ideology and the growth of the labor movement in 1911. - a clash of interests between France and Germany in North America, which almost led to war.
The Balkan crisis and the First World War of 1914, the revolution of 1917 in Russia led to mass strikes and the November people's revolution in Germany (1918). The revolutionary situation was finally suppressed in 1923. The post-war revolutionary upsurge gave way... to the stabilization of capitalism.
1925 - Weimar bourgeois republic, Germany is actively involved in the process of Americanization of Europe. After the need and disasters of the war, the need for entertainment was natural (which caused the development of the corresponding industry, the cultural market, and the emergence of mass culture). General characteristics period - the "golden twenties".
The 1930s that followed were called the “black” years. 1929 - crisis of overproduction in America, paralyzing the world economy. In Germany there is an economic and political crisis - a change of governments that have no control over the situation. Unemployment is massive. The National Socialist Party is gaining strength. The confrontation between the forces of the developed KPD (Communist Party of Germany) and the NSP (National Socialist Party) ended in victory for the latter. 1933 - Hitler came to power. The militarization of the economy has become the main means of social stability. At the same time, cultural life became politicized. The era of literary isms is over. The era of reaction and the fight against the undesirable began. From this period, German literature developed in anti-fascist emigration. Second world war.
2. Literature of the turn of the century and the 1st half of the 20th century was marked by a crisis of bourgeois culture, the spokesman of which was F. Nietzsche.
In the 1890s, there was a move away from naturalism. 1894 - Hauptmann’s naturalistic drama “The Weavers”. A feature of German naturalism is “Consistent naturalism,” which required a more accurate reflection of objects that changed along with lighting and position. The “second style,” developed by Schlaf, involves dividing reality into many momentary perceptions. “a photographic image of the era” could not reveal the invisible signs of the approaching new AGE. In addition, a sign of the new times was a protest against the concept of a person’s complete dependence on the environment. Naturalism fell into decline, but its techniques were preserved in critical realism
Impressionism did not gain distribution in Germany. German writers were almost not attracted to the analysis of infinitely variable states. Neo-romantic research into specific psychological states has not often been undertaken. German neo-romanticism included features of symbolism, but there was almost no mystical symbolism. Usually the romantic duality of the conflict between the eternal and the everyday, the explicable and the mysterious was emphasized.
The predominant direction in the first half of the 20th century. was expressionism. The leading genre is “scream drama”
Along with the “-isms” at the turn of the century to the end of the 20s. A layer of proletarian literature was actively taking shape. Later (in the 30s) socialist prose developed in emigration (A. Segers and Becher's poetry).
A popular genre at this time was the novel. Besides intellectual novel in German literature there were historical and social novels, which developed a technique close to the intellectual novel, and also continued the traditions of German satire.
Heinrich Mann(1871 - 1950) worked in the genre of socially revealing novel (influence of French literature). The main period of creativity is 1900-1910. The novel “The Loyal Subject” (1914) brought fame to the writer. In the author’s own words, “The novel depicts the previous stage of that leader who then achieved power.” The hero is the embodiment of loyalty, the essence of the phenomenon, embodied in a living character.
The novel is the biography of a hero who has worshiped power since childhood: father, teacher, policeman. The author uses biographical details to enhance the properties of the hero’s nature; He is a slave and a despot at the same time. The basis of his psychology is sycophancy and a thirst for power to humiliate the weak. The story about the hero records his constantly changing social position (second style!). The mechanical nature of the hero’s actions, gestures, and words conveys the automatism and mechanical nature of society.
The author creates an image according to the laws of caricature, deliberately shifting the proportions, sharpening and exaggerating the characteristics of the characters. The heroes of G. Mann are characterized by the mobility of masks = caricature. All of the above together is G. Mann’s “geometric style” as one of the variants of convention: the author balances on the brink of authenticity and implausibility.
Lion Feuchtwanger(1884 - 1954) - philosopher interested in the East. He became famous for his historical and social novels. In his work the historical novel is more than social novel, depended on the technique of the intellectual novel. General features
* Transferring modern problems that concern the writer to the setting of the distant past, modeling them in a historical plot - modernization of history (the plot, facts, descriptions of everyday life, national color are historically accurate, the relationships of the characters are included modern problems).
* Historically costumed modernity, a novel of indirections and allegories, where modern events and persons are depicted in a conventional historical shell “False Nero” - L. Feuchtwanger, “The Cases of Mr. Julius Caesar” by B. Brecht).
Basic literary phenomena 2nd half of XX century
World literature in the second half of the 20th century. characterized mainly by the development of trends that formed during the period between the First and Second World Wars - realistic and avant-garde tendencies, as well as to a greater extent their interpenetration. At the same time, the realistic artistic method itself has changed in such a way that, according to the fair remark of L.G. Andreeva, “sometimes the very use of the term “realistic” is difficult, despite the fact that we're talking about about non-modernist art..." (1, 16).
However, even in fairly traditional artistic forms realistic art of words did not cease to exist in the 2nd half of the 20th century, especially in the first post-war decades, when a whole wave of epic works appeared like a flash literary works. To name just a few of them: the trilogy of the Slovak writer Vladimir Minach “The Time of Long Waiting” (1958), “The Living and the Dead” (1959), “The Bells Announce the Day” (1961) and his compatriot Vincent Schikula’s “The Masters” (1976); a series of novels by the Serbian prose writer Ivo Andric “Bridge on the Drina”, “Travnica Chronicle”, “The Young Lady” (all – 1945); the epic novel by the Polish writer Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz “Praise and Glory” (1956–1962); trilogy of German writers Yuri Brezan “Gymnasium Student” (1958), “Semester of Lost Time” (1960), “Years of Manhood” (1964) and Willy Bredel “Relatives and Friends” (“Fathers, 1941; “Sons”, 1949; “Grandchildren ", 1953); final novels of the trilogy American writer William Faulkner's "The City" (1957) and "The Mansion" (1959) (the first part, the novel "The Village", was published in 1940), etc.
The attention of realist writers in the first post-war decades was focused on anti-fascist, anti-war issues. Works of post-war literature were united by the desire of the authors to reveal the essence of fascism, its socio-historical roots and philosophical origins. At the same time, the multidimensionality of the concept of “fascism” was taken into account, its socio-political and philosophical-psychological aspects, all the countless shades of them, the deep comprehension of which is possible precisely artistic means, and most of all – literary. East German writer Franz Fuemann gave, for example, the following summary description of fascism: “In the field of ideology (in all forms of manifestation in the recent past and present), the following features seem fascist to me: elitist contempt for the masses and at the same time the desire to dissolve in the faceless (“the magic of the soldier’s system” ); ...frozen thinking - there is only black or white; glorification of everything cruel, terrible, bloody, prehistoric with simultaneous admiration for the technical and industrial; demand for militarization of all public life, right down to personal life, while simultaneously approving the anarchic struggle of all against all; slander of reason, conscience and consciousness; the Fuhrer principle; demagoguery, fanaticism... - and all this together, not isolated from one another.” Word artists showed the various components of fascism in thinking and reality.
In the first post-war decades, writers who addressed the topic of fascism and war often relied on their own everyday experience, giving preference detailed description events. It is worth emphasizing the specificity of German anti-fascist literature: while writers from other countries revealed in their works the historical guilt of Nazi Germany before the whole world, the Germans set themselves the goal of recognizing the guilt and responsibility of the Nazis not only before foreign peoples, but also before their own. Hence the problematic and thematic features German literature (main character, as a rule, is not a hero, in other words, not positive face, and, at best, a victim of Nazi ideology), and plot: for example, a front-line soldier is rarely depicted directly in battle. Obviously, this is explained by the writers’ interest not in the external side of the character’s behavior, but in his consciousness, in the motivation of his actions, in the desire to understand what prepared the character’s arrival to fascism, how he personally relates to the events in which he found himself drawn into by Hitler’s military machine.
Since the beginning of the 1960s, literature about fascism and war has acquired new features. Later, in the 1970s-1980s, the art of words would open additional facets to the anti-fascist theme, looking into its very essence, but the key to truly understanding this most important vital material was found, of course, in the 1960s. What’s new has made itself felt in the fact that the broad narrative is giving way to the personal, the moral and spiritual side of the conflict is increasingly being emphasized, and the characters’ characters are becoming more full-blooded. The turn from event to person was also reflected in artistic structure works, on genre and style decisions. Anti-fascist literature is gradually turning from a black and white engraving into an increasingly multi-colored picture. The study of human behavior in an extreme situation is accompanied by a deepening of psychologism; the principles of editing, multiple points of view, convention, and plot incompleteness are widely used. It is difficult to even list the major representatives of world literature of the 2nd half of the 20th century who wrote about fascism and war; let's name such as Norman Mailer, William Styron (USA); Heinrich Böll, Hans Werner Richter, Alfred Andersch, Wolfgang Koeppen, Siegfried Lenz, Günter Grass, Anna Segers, Hermann Kant, Franz Fuemann, Max Walter Schulz, Dieter Noll (Germany); Jerzy Putrament, Jerzy Andrzejewski, Zofia Nalkowska (Poland); Jan Otcenashek, Vincent Schikula, Ciril Kosmac (Czechoslovakia); Robert Merle, Louis Aragon, Paul Eluard (France) and many others.
A significant phenomenon in realistic literature XX century, especially its second half, became a political novel, the authors of which continued the traditions of the biography genres, historical novel, memoirs. The wide spread of the political novel in the 2nd half of the 20th century was due to reality itself with its political events - wars and coups, national liberation movements, neo-fascism and terrorism, organized crime, etc. Literary scholars consider the political novel extremely promising and indicative of our era. Writers from England, where the so-called anti-colonial novel (Graham Green, James Aldridge), as well as France, the USA, and Latin America worked in its vein.
Dystopia is formed as a kind of artistic amendment to utopian thinking. Originating at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries. and developed during the interwar period, it became especially popular after the Second World War. If utopia is a work about the best state structure, about a perfect, harmonious person, then dystopia is a categorical, radical denial of not only the possibility, but also the very desirability of focusing on utopian ideas. Moreover, this negation is carried out primarily by the same artistic means as in utopia - through an invented model designed to convince the reader that any attempt to put utopia into practice inevitably leads to despotism, violence against the laws of nature and history, and, finally, against the individual. IN last decades century, the themes of dystopian literature have expanded significantly: not only socio-political transformations have become the object of depiction in it, but also the danger of atomic or nuclear war, technical and environmental disasters, lack of spirituality, lack of historical memory, terrorism. In the form of dystopia after the Second World War, Anthony Burgess (England), Stanislaw Lem (Poland), Kurt Vonnegut, Ray Douglas Bradbury (USA), Robert Merle (France), Günther Grass (Germany) and others are working.
Great value philosophical issues in world realistic literature of the 2nd half of the 20th century; It should be taken into account that the writers who addressed this issue were quite strongly influenced by the philosophy of existentialism (Iris Murdoch and William Golding in England, Kobo Abe in Japan, Robert Merle in France, Hans Erich Nossack in Germany, etc.).
Sources
1. Andreev L.G., Karelsky A.V., Pavlova N.S. etc. Foreign literature of the 20th century. M., 1996.
From the book Russian poets second half of the 19th century century author Orlitsky Yuri BorisovichRussian poets of the second half of the 19th century
From the book World artistic culture. XX century Literature author Olesina EDiscoveries of philologists of the first half of the 20th century in Ars poetica Ars poetica in Latin means “poetic art”. This ancient expression is attributed to Horace, who has a treatise with a similar title. Perception work of art resembles a kaleidoscope: it
From the book Find What the Sailor Hid: Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov author Meyer PriscillaRussian poetry of the second half of the 20th century in Difficulties of comprehension History of Russian poetry of the 20th century. has not yet been written, although much has been done on the approaches to solving this important problem. The middle and second half of the century were especially “unlucky”, which, if inferior to the beginning of the century,
From the book Thought Armed with Rhymes [Poetic anthology on the history of Russian verse] author Kholshevnikov Vladislav EvgenievichNatural phenomena In the forest of thousands of names, words indicating natural phenomena flash. Krummholtz On the way to America, Gradus meets young Gordon Krummholtz at Joseph Lavender's villa. Krummholz means crooked tree, also known as elfinwood (dwarf pine, or,
From the book OPENENESS TO THE ABYSS. MEETINGS WITH DOSTOEVSKY author Pomerants Grigory SolomonovichVerse of the first half of the 19th century. Metrics and rhythm. Since the 90s of the 18th century. in Russian literature the “Karamzin school” develops, and then romanticism. Privacy man, his spiritual world become the subject of an image - and new genres blossom in poetry: a friendly message,
From the book “Centuries will not be erased...”: Russian classics and their readers author Eidelman Nathan YakovlevichVerse of the second half of the 19th century Metrics. The main achievements of this period in the field of metrics were the widespread use of 3-syllable meters (III, 19, 24, 26, 36, 38, 51, 52, 55, 56, 60, etc.) and dactylic rhymes. If previously 3-syllables were used only in small genres, then Nekrasov and others
From the book Foreign Literature of the 20th Century. Educational and methodological manual author Gil Olga Lvovna From the book German Literature of the Twentieth Century. Germany, Austria: training manual author Leonova Eva Alexandrovna4. "...THERE IS NOT A SINGLE CONSOLIATING PHENOMENON" Work on " Dead souls"went through several stages. The initial stage was before leaving St. Petersburg abroad. By the first days of October 1835, two chapters had already been written in rough form, the third was being written. In the next six to seven months
From the book German-language literature: a textbook author Glazkova Tatyana YurievnaForeign literature of the first half of the 20th century Purpose and objectives of the course The purpose of the course is to develop students’ understanding of the literature of the 20th century. as a cultural and historical phenomenon, about the inextricable connection of modernism with the crisis of pan-European consciousness and culture at the beginning of the past
From the book of Litra author Kiselev AlexanderForeign literature of the second half of the 20th century Purpose and objectives of the course The purpose of the course is to develop students’ understanding of the literature of the 20th century. as a cultural and historical phenomenon, about the deep connection of postmodernism with modernism, about the specifics of neorealism, about the features of mass
From the book History of St. Petersburg in traditions and legends author Sindalovsky Naum AlexandrovichThe main literary phenomena at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries Realism In the 2nd half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The development of realism continued. The picture of his incarnation during this period is very heterogeneous: if in English and French literature realism in its classic form has developed
From the author's bookThe main literary phenomena of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Realism World literature in the second half of the 20th century. characterized mainly by the development of trends that formed during the period between the First and Second World Wars - realistic and avant-garde tendencies, as well as
From the author's bookLiterature of the second half of the 20th century Literature of Germany The division of Germany and the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR in 1949 led to the existence of two different literatures. Differences in scope cultural policy appeared immediately, including in relation to returning emigrants.
From the author's bookSwiss literature of the second half of the 20th century One of the most famous Swiss writers of this period is Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990) - prose writer, playwright, author of a psychological detective story. Writing dramas, including for radio shows, he
From the author's bookRussian literature of the first half of the 19th century “Dear Guest Romanticism” (A. Bestuzhev) speaks Russian The major events of the 19th century that Russian literature reflected were Patriotic War 1812, Decembrist uprising in 1825, Crimean War (mid-50s)
From the author's bookSt. Petersburg in the second half of the 19th century ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT events in the economic, economic, and political life of Russia mid-19th construction has become a century railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The road was in the full sense of the word straight, or
From the book World Art Culture. XX century Literature author Olesina EThe latest trends in Russian literature at the turn of the XX-XXI centuries The road becomes numb under your feet. The millennium is coming to an end. I. N. Zhdanov. Let's go there dear
From the book About Art [Volume 2. Russian Soviet Art] author From the book About Art [Volume 1. Art in the West] author Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilievich From the book Foreign History literature XVII century author Stupnikov Igor VasilievichChapter 15. Poetry of Germany In German literature, the first half XVII V. the main place undoubtedly belongs to lyric poetry. Its heyday in the 1620s–1650s was marked by the appearance of many outstanding creative individuals, and, on the other hand, poetry circles and schools,
From the book History of Russian Literature of the 19th Century. Part 2. 1840-1860 author Prokofieva Natalya NikolaevnaLiterary and social struggle at the turn of the 50s and 60s 1858 is the year of a sharp demarcation between revolutionary democracy and the liberal nobles, who were once together. Sovremennik magazine comes to the fore. The ideological gap between his employees was caused by the arrival here in 1855.
From the book German Literature of the Twentieth Century. Germany, Austria: textbook author Leonova Eva AlexandrovnaThe main literary phenomena at the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries Realism In the 2nd half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. The development of realism continued. The picture of its implementation during this period is very heterogeneous: if in English and French literature realism in its classical form took shape
From the book German-language literature: a textbook author Glazkova Tatyana YurievnaLiterature of Austria at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries
From the book History of Russian Literature of the 20th Century. Volume I. 1890s - 1953 [In the author's edition] author Petelin Viktor VasilievichCreativity of writers of Germany and Austria in the 2nd half of the 20th century
From the book Mark Twain author Bobrova Maria NesterovnaRenaissance in Germany The Birth of Humanism Compared to the rest of Europe, the Renaissance came to Germany quite late, at the end of the 15th - first half of the 16th century. Vagant poets who visited Italy played a certain role in its spread. Partly under their influence,
From the book History of St. Petersburg in traditions and legends author Sindalovsky Naum AlexandrovichLiterature of Germany late XIX– beginning of the 20th century. Turn of the 19th–20th centuries. It is customary to call the era of decadence in Europe, that is, a tragic worldview. The pessimism of decadence is closely connected with the experience of a global crisis in the system of European values, with the positivism of the 20th century,
From the author's bookLiterature of Germany in the mid-20th century The economically difficult 20-30s did not allow German-language literature to get rid of the pessimism of the First World War. At this time, in European countries they continue to exist in a slightly modified form.
From the author's bookLiterature of Germany The partition of Germany and the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany and the GDR in 1949 led to the existence of two different literatures. Differences in the sphere of cultural policy emerged immediately, including in relation to returning emigrants. The overwhelming number of anti-fascist writers (B.
From the author's bookLiterature of the Federal Republic of Germany and a united Germany The culture of the Federal Republic of Germany absorbed trends that developed in Western countries. It spreads modernist movements, a second wave of expressionism and existentialism emerges. At the same time, a number of outstanding writers, on the contrary,
From the author's bookPart one. At the turn of two centuries
From the author's bookChapter I. At the turn of two centuries B recent years In his life, Mark Twain had to fight in a particularly difficult, politically tense situation, when American workers had to confront an unprecedentedly strong and merciless enemy - the imperialist
From the author's bookAt the turn of the century, little was said in the world about the heir to the throne, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich, the future Emperor Nicholas II. Occasionally there were sad rumors. They said that he was sick, weak-willed and even weak-minded; they gossiped about his connection with the ballerina Kshesinskaya and that the connection
German literature at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century
In the 70s of the XIX century. profound changes took place in German social life. Instead of a number of small, semi-feudal states, a united Prussian dynasty grew up. German Empire with a booming industry. The majority of the German people gained nothing from this. The peasantry was in poverty, especially in Prussia, the petty bourgeoisie was going bankrupt, workers received miserable wages, working 12 hours a day.
Marx and Engels led the German labor movement. In 1875, the Social Democratic Party was organized, which at this stage led the struggle of the German workers. At the beginning of the 20th century. There was a series of labor unrest, which especially intensified after the Russian Revolution of 1905. But opportunist elements began to play a leading role in the Social Democratic Party. Therefore, at the beginning of the First World War, the leaders of the German Social Democrats voted for war loans.
The rise of German social life, which began in the 70s, made itself felt in literature. In a difficult situation, in constant struggle, the German critical realism. Its opposite was the various movements of naturalism and decadence, which in Germany, as well as throughout Europe, became widespread at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
Naturalism
In Germany, Zola's theories were well known, and a number of writers sought to follow them. There were also their own, German theorists of naturalism. Fascinated by the theory of heredity, German naturalists abandoned generalizations and the creation of deep characters. The “leaders” of German naturalism were Arno Goltz and Johannes Schlaf, who wrote stories under the common pseudonym of Peter Holmsen. In his work “Art, Its Essence and Laws” (1891), Goltz stated that “art must strive to become nature,” demanding careful copying of nature. The works of Goltz and Schlaf recorded the smallest facts, experiences and impressions of the heroes. This tendency led away from the big problems of life.
Symbolism
Symbolism also developed in German-speaking countries. The talented Austrian poet, soulful lyricist and great master of form, Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), was close to symbolism. Rilke has a subtle understanding of nature; he knew how to talk about the most intimate and pure feelings. These are many of the poems in the series “Prayers of Girls,” which poetically reveal female psychology. Rilke was also a talented translator. He studied the Russian language well and for the first time translated “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” into German.
But in Rilke’s work there was a tendency towards vague symbolism and a certain touch of mysticism. He wrote a lot about suffering and death, often using biblical and evangelical motifs; it is characterized by submission to fate and a morbid fear of life.
Rilke visited Russia twice (in 1899 and 1900), saw Tolstoy, these trips made a strong impression on him. But he developed incorrect ideas about Russia. He saw in the Russian people only boundless submission to fate, God-seeking, humility. These features were reflected in his collection “Book of Hours,” written in 1899–1903, after visits to Russia. The heroes of the collection are Russian monks offering prayers from the depths of their cells. The psychological sophistication of these images, the preaching of blind submission to Providence, and a certain sophistication of form characterize this book.
Not all decadents who wrote in German, were inclined to preach submission and humility. Many of them were significantly influenced by Nietzsche.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Nietzsche outlined his philosophical ideas in works of unusual, aphoristic form, under original and unexpected headings; “The Gay Science”, “The Birth of Tragedy from the Spirit of Music”, “Human, All Too Human”, “Beyond Good and Evil”, “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”. His philosophy was of a voluntarist nature and was imbued with anti-democratic tendencies. Nietzsche put forward the reactionary and amoral ideal of the “superman”, standing above good and evil. He considered the northern, Germanic, and the best remedy education of the race recognized war as a cure for the “illusions” of pity and humanism. These ideas of Nietzsche later gained great popularity in German militaristic circles and formed the basis of the monstrous racial theory of fascism with its cult of war. At the same time, the contempt for the petty-bourgeois ideology that Nietzsche promoted, his criticism of Christianity, and the preaching of “heroic pessimism” attracted many writers in Europe and the United States to him, who tried not to notice the dangerous and reactionary essence of his teaching.
In the field of art, Nietzsche was an opponent of realism. He believed that art is driven by geniuses, strong, lonely individuals, that it should glorify tragic heroes, far from the crowd. At the same time, he ridiculed the decadents for their weakness and passivity (which did not stop him from writing decadent poetry). *
Most of the German decadents combined the positions of aestheticism and sophistication with the Nietzschean preaching of war and violence.
Stefan George (1863-1933), the head of the circle of aesthetes who published the magazine Leaflets of Art, was strongly influenced by Nietzsche. This subtle esthete, who wrote poems that were very complex in form (the collections “Carpet of Life”, “The Seventh Ring”, 1907), idealized strong personality; in the poem “Alga-Bal” he portrayed the Roman emperor Heliogabalus, who did not stop at crime in order to satisfy his lust for power. Gheorghe's Algabal kills sibling, but, fearing everything “low”, is afraid to stain his snow-white clothes with his blood.
Lili-enkron (1844-1909) preached war and nationalism; he glorified German officers and landowners in his military short stories (collections “Summer Battle”, “War and Peace”) dedicated to the Franco-Prussian War, glorified the victory over the French, and he also gave examples of purely impressionistic lyrics.
Realists
Naturalism and decadence did not represent all of German literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In its depths, critical realism developed with new features characteristic of the 20th century. This direction was most clearly revealed in the works of G. Mann, T. Mann and G. Hauptmann.
In a number of other, less significant writers, we can also see a sincere desire for deep and relevant issues.
The novels of Kretzer and Polenz enjoyed well-deserved fame. Kretzer, in the novels “The Dispossessed” (1883) and “The Deceived” (1882), shows the plight of workers oppressed by exploitation. His most successful novel is Master Timpe (1888). Here the writer shows the ability to stage big problems, create typical images ‘and take a critical approach to modernity. Kretzer talks about the absorption of small enterprises by large enterprises, which was very important in the 80s. The honest, conscientious master Timpe, the owner of a small turning workshop, must inevitably die in a clash with Urban, the owner of a large factory, a clever businessman who does not stop even at crime.
Polenets's works were distinguished by significant social intensity and poignancy. He knew the German village well and dedicated many stories and novels to it. The novel “The Peasant” (1895) was highly praised by L. Tolstoy. In the preface to the Russian translation, L. Tolstoy called Polenets’s novel a real example artistic creativity and contrasted it with “many modern” works. In the novel “The Peasant,” as Tolstoy says, the development of action follows directly from the character of the hero, Byutner, who came into conflict with environment. The novel shows well the life of a German village and the tragedy of its darkness.
Polenz, perhaps unwittingly, rose in his work to the idea that the peasant, in order to avoid destruction, must abandon the small-proprietor ideology and keep pace with the proletariat. This idea especially pleased Plekhanov, who, like Tolstoy, gave a flattering review of this novel by Polents.
TO realistic direction also belonged to Theodore Fontana (1819-1898) with his socio-psychological stories and novels (“The Sinner”, 1882, “Effie Brist”, 1895, etc.).
Expressionists
Noteworthy is the unique and significant literary movement in Germany - expressionism. Much in common with decadence - extreme subjectivism, idealism, a tendency towards abstraction. Expressionism received intensive development during the First World War and after it. Expressionists expressed a violent protest against wars, violence, exploitation, recognized the need for revolution, but understood it in their own way. Thus, the expressionist theorist Rubiner imagined it as a revolution of the human spirit. In general, the revolution emphasized in every possible way the moment of spiritual liberation, and many expressionists thought of it as occurring without any violence. They believed that what is essential lies not in the reality depicted by the artist, but in himself. Art serves only as an expression of his inner self. Hence the name “expressionism*—from the French word expression—“expression.”
The Expressionists overestimated the role of the intelligentsia in the revolution. According to the Expressionists, the fate of the revolution is decided not by the masses, but by individuals. An artist can do especially much with his inspired word. The left-wing expressionists—Kaiser, Toller, Rubiner, Hasenclever, as well as the early J. Becher—took similar positions. The organ of the left expressionists was the magazine Aktsion (Action), founded in 1910, but developed active work during the First World War. Drama became the favorite genre of the expressionists, since it was precisely this that gave scope for the passionate emotional expression of the artist’s thoughts and feelings.
The Expressionists were opponents of war. But while protesting against violence, they saw violence in any just war and in class struggle. They are characterized by non-resistance tendencies.
E. Toller
Toller's work is typical in this regard. Having gone to war as a volunteer in 1914, he quickly got rid of his chauvinistic frenzy and became an ardent opponent of the Kaiser’s monarchy. Before the end of the war, he ended up in a military prison. After the fall of the empire, Toller participated in the creation of the Social Democratic Munich government. But with his good-naturedness and fear of violence, he accelerated the capitulation of the republican troops to the forces of counter-revolutions
Toller himself spent five years in prison and wrote the plays “Mass Man” and “Machine Destroyers” there, which were performed in the 1920s in the Soviet Union. At the first performance of the play “Mass Man” in 1920 in Munich, Toller was present under escort. After leaving prison, he withdrew from political life. After the fascist’ coup, Toller emigrated.
Toller's work is typical of the spontaneous rebellion of the Expressionists. In the drama “Man-Mass”, a woman from the world of oppressors came to the people to be with them to the end. For this she sacrificed her happiness, her beloved, who turned away from her. During the uprising, the Woman protects prisoners and hostages, begs the rebels not to take revenge, to insist that they are a “loving people.” They suspect her of treason and want to arrest her, but the troops remaining on the side of the bourgeoisie defeat the rebels with a surprise attack, and the female leader is already arrested by her enemies. Nameless (the personification of the “mass” of workers) arrives and invites her to escape. But to do this you need to kill the guard. The woman refuses. The words of the Nameless One that people need her are in vain.
In another work by Toller - "Machine Destroyers" - England is shown early XIX V. and a revolt of workers against the replacement of their labor by machine labor. But they themselves are dark, and their rebellion is meaningless; they destroy machines and kill the person who stood for them. Toller constantly emphasizes the organizing role of the intelligentsia, gives interesting image Byron giving a speech against the law on execution for machine destroyers.
G. Kaiser
Another expressionist, Georg Kaiser (plays "Coral" - 1918, "Gas I" and "Gas II" - 1918-1920), gives tragic picture the position of workers in capitalist society - they are turned into some kind of appendages to machines. But he contrasts capitalism with patriarchal life in the lap of nature, far from the city with its noisy culture.
The formal features of the expressionists' work are very unique. In their works, instead of specific images, there are often generalized concepts that express the “essence” of what they want to depict. Instead of their own faces - Woman, Warrior, Worker. Expressionist dramas were usually staged without decorations, only in cloth; directors refused to depict everyday life and emphasized the abstract essence of the images.
The expressionists, with all their inherent shortcomings, were able to express a protest against the war and responded vigorously to the events of our time. They had a certain influence on the development of Western European drama.
In those same years (in the first decades of the 20th century), critical realism in German literature continued to develop. The activities of a group of critics—left Social Democrats F. Mehring, K. Zetkin, K. Liebknecht and R. Luxemburg—played a significant role in the development of German literature. Close in their views to Bolshevism, they basically correctly posed and resolved the most important issues of party membership and nationality of literature, defended the place of the classical heritage in the new, proletarian culture, fought against the reactionary falsification of the work of great writers. Works of German left-wing Social Democrats on the history and theory of literature (especially “The Legend of Lessing” by F. Mehring, written in 1892, as well as articles by K. Zetkin on Schiller, Ibsen and Bjornson, articles by R. Luxemburg on Mickiewicz and creativity L.N. Tolstoy) were of fundamental importance for the development of Marxist aesthetic thought and were directed against revisionism and reformism.
1. General characteristics of German literature of the 20th century. The concept of "lost generation".
2. Vital and creative path EM. Remark.
3. G. Bell - “the conscience of the German nation.” The theme of the Second World War in the works of G. Böll.
General characteristics of German literature of the 20th century. The concept of "lost generation"
German literature began to develop from the time of Lessing, who was also considered the founder. Disunity in the country did not allow the development of culture and literature in particular. In 1871, the long-standing dream of the German people finally came true: the country was united not as a result of a democratic movement, but with “iron and blood,” an agreement of princes and kings, around the strongest of them, the King of Prussia.
At the beginning of the 20th century, industry developed rapidly in Germany. In the 1970s, profound changes occurred in social life. Instead of small, semi-feudal states, the German Empire grew. This rise in social life left its mark on literature. New ones developed artistic directions: critical realism, naturalism, expressionism.
The fight for democratic and socialist literature was led by anti-fascist writers who returned from emigration: I. Becher, B. Brecht, A. Zegers. There were also those who remained emigrants for life (E.M. Remarque). Anti-fascist became the leading theme in literature.
During this period, a special dramaturgy began, at the origins of which was B. Brecht. He became the founder of the "epic" theater.
With the proclamation of the GDR began new stage literary development. A feature of the development of new literature was its educational character. There was a rapid development of journalism and the essay genre. The poetry of this period was addressed to a wide circle readers and acquired song form. Central theme Literature became the theme of responsibility, spiritual revival, “two Germanys.” Leading artistic method turned out to be socialist realism.
One of the biggest tragedies was the war. Depreciating highest value on earth - human life, it was a tragedy for both the vanquished and the victors.
The First World War was a cynical squabble for colonies and spheres of influence, primarily between England and Germany. The whole world was involved in this war one way or another. The Second World War is the undisguised desire of Hitler and his fascist supporters to take over the world. To those who knew about the Second World War, the first might seem too scary. But in terms of the significance of some of its socio-psychological consequences, the First World War was not inferior to the Second, and perhaps even surpassed it. At least by the destruction of deep-rooted ideals. Both world wars are simply incomparable in terms of the number of victims, the scale of destruction, and the level of cruelty. Whatever the war, it always felt like a heavy pain in human souls.
Writers perceived the war differently: the slogans in each of the warring countries were too loud, too high, sacred interests were proposed to be defended. And Romain Rolland, Leonard Frank, Stefan Zweig, Bertolt Brecht immediately and unequivocally denied the war. For many, the understanding of the inhumanity of war and the falsity of military propaganda came later. The tragic experience of the First World War was conveyed in their own way in the works of those writers who came to the war young, full of hope, and returned with destroyed, destroyed old ideals, without acquiring new ones. Among those who went through the fire of the First World War were Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Miller Hemingway, Richard Aldington, William Faulkner and others.
These were different people in my own way social status and personal destiny. What they had in common was a worldview, a denial of war and militarism; unfortunately, they had no hope for the possible better life. These anti-fascist writers told readers about the pain of loss and the despair of people during the First World War. their works were included in the literature of the “lost generation”, which appeared in the 20-30s of the 20th century, almost a decade after its end. And this is no coincidence. Desperate former front-line soldiers, who became victims of a senseless war, could not find a place for themselves in post-war life. The consequence of this was the emergence of a new generation - the “lost generation”, and subsequently literature about it.
The writers who started this literature themselves belonged to the “lost generation”: they, like the characters in their works, participated in that war and suffered from it. They condemned the war, created vivid images young people who were spiritually and physically crippled by the war. Love, front-line friendship, oblivion - that’s what they opposed to war. However, this was an illusory approach, and hence pessimism, awareness of the meaninglessness of life. All of them were not engaged in researching the nature of the war, its causes, or finding out the facts - they were interested in the fate younger generation, became a “lost generation” for humanity; the story of the emotional turmoil that the war caused in the hearts of these people.
Born for life, hundreds of thousands of young men experienced death unnaturally early, and those who remained to live were doomed to mental anguish. Having lost illusions and not gaining new ones, horrified by the emptiness of life, the “lost generation” frantically sought a way out in drunkenness and debauchery, in extreme sensations. It seemed that there were no more in the world moral values, no ideals, but they loved life: “Life is life. It didn’t cost anything and it cost a lot.”
It is known that the term “lost generation” came into widespread use with light hand Ernest Hemingway. The owner of a Parisian garage called his mechanic, a former soldier, who did not repair the car of the writer Gertrude Stein in time, a man of the “lost generation.” She gave these words a broader meaning and said to Hemingway, who came with her to the garage: “And what kind of people are these, you young people! You hate the past, you neglect the present, and you are indifferent to the future! You are all a lost generation.” And Hemingway used this aphorism as an epigraph to the novel Fiesta (1926).
Already literature XIX c., at least starting with O. de Balzac, clearly realized life as a process of damage to illusions. These could be any kind of illusions, from a successful marriage to a rationally arranged Universe, but their common feature remained that they were all lost sooner or later. Subsequently, the genius of the transition period from
XIX to XX centuries - M. Proust called life a waste of time. Finally, with the phrase of Gertrude Stein, picked up by Hemingway, the world started talking about the “lost generation”. The “waste” of the generation was traditionally explained by the war, which destroyed young people’s faith in positive ideals and the like. The great illusion of heroism and romance was shot down by the war, leaving behind a great void of unbelief, hopelessness, emptiness and empty hopes.
At the origins of the literature of the “lost generation” stood two titans of world literature - Erich Maria Remarque and Ernest Hemingway. However, Remarque, unlike Hemingway, probably had no idea about this. In their works they captured the non-perception of the surrounding reality, the alienation of man from man, and the deep pessimism caused by the cruel reality.
Peculiarities:
IN Showing how war destroys the bodies and souls of people, their destinies,
T writers turned their novels into protest novels.
R Main topic works - the fate of the younger generation, has become
A victim of the First World War.
H Hatred of militarism and fascism, to state structure, which
E gives rise to terrible wars.
Worldwide writers representing German literature
XX century, steel, Brecht E.M., Remarque G., Bell.
