Realism (from Late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is unusually rich. The very idea of him changed at different stages artistic development, reflecting the artists’ persistent desire to true portrayal reality.
Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Charles Dickens “ Posthumous notes Pickwick Club.
Illustration by O. Vereisky for L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina”.
Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “Crime and Punishment.”
Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev”.
Illustration by B. Zaborov for the novel by M. Andersen-Nexo “Ditte - Child of Man.”
However, the concept of truth, truth is one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theorist French classicism N. Boileau called for being guided by the truth and “imitating nature.” But the romantic V. Hugo, an ardent opponent of classicism, urged “to consult only with nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature.” Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".
The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist’s point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to grasp the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.
The specific features of realism depend on those historical conditions, in which art develops. National historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.
Realism is not something given and unchangeable once and for all. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.
There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about realism rock paintings primitive people, about realism antique sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of ancient world And early Middle Ages(V folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as artistic system V European literatures It is customary to associate it with the era of the Renaissance (Rebirth), the greatest progressive revolution. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church sermon of slavish obedience is reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After centuries of medieval churchmen preaching that man is a “vessel of sin” and calling for humility, Renaissance literature and art glorified man as the supreme creature of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the richness of his soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), poeticization human personality, her ability for great feeling (as in “Romeo and Juliet”) and at the same time high intensity tragic conflict, when the collision of a personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted.
The next stage in the development of realism is the educational stage (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument of direct preparation for the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the educators there were supporters of classicism; their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the 18th century. The so-called Enlightenment realism was also taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. English has gained global importance realistic novel, the founder of which was D. Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe (1719). A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy of P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy “Cunning and Love” by I. F. Schiller, images of peasants in A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners of all phenomena public life and people’s actions were assessed as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable primarily in all the old feudal orders and customs). They proceeded from this in their depiction of human character; their goodies- this is, first of all, the embodiment of reason, negative ones are a deviation from the norm, a product of unreason, the barbarism of former times.
Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: “Suppose a person finds himself on a desert island...”. At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson’s behavior not as it could actually be (the prototype of his hero went wild, even lost his articulate speech), but as he wants to present the person, fully armed with his physical and mental strength, as a hero, conqueror of forces nature. Faust in I. V. Goethe, shown in the struggle for the establishment of high ideals, is also conventional. Features of a well-known convention also distinguish D. I. Fonvizin’s comedy “The Minor.”
A new type of realism emerged in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its flourishing in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov.
Critical realism portrays in a new way the relationship between man and environment. Human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. Subject of deep social analysis became inner world human, critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological. Romanticism, which sought to penetrate the secrets of the human “I,” played a large role in the preparation of this quality of realism.
Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some kind of absolute superiority over previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.
The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation characteristic of the Enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.
The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. XIX century Marxism not only influence the literature of critical realism, but also give rise to the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the perspective of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, the author of the Internationale E. Pothier, new features are outlined that anticipate artistic discoveries socialist realism.
IN Russia XIX century is a period of exceptional strength and scope of development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic achievements of realism, bringing Russian literature to the international arena, won it worldwide recognition.
The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the 19th century. allow us to talk about its different forms.
Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who brought Russian literature to wide path images of “the fate of the people, the fate of man.” In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin seems to be catching up with its previous lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with his universality and his optimism, turning out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. Pushkin’s work lays the foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school.
Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats led by N. G. Chernyshevsky gives new features to Russian critical realism (the revolutionary nature of criticism, images of new people).
A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It was thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired global significance. Their psychological mastery and insight into the “dialectics of the soul” opened the way for the artistic quests of 20th century writers. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.
The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “a mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.
The creative scope of the Russian social realism is reflected in the richness of the genre, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary journalistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin ), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of realistic stories and a kind of “lyrical drama”.
It is important to emphasize that Russian realism XIX V. did not develop in isolation from the world historical and literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, according to K. Marx and F. Engels, “the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become the common property.”
F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “capacity for universality, all-humanity, all-response.” Here we're talking about not so much about Western influences, but about organic development in line with European culture its centuries-old traditions.
At the beginning of the 20th century. The appearance of M. Gorky's plays "The Bourgeois", "At the Demise" and especially the novel "Mother" (and in the West - the novel "Pelle the Conqueror" by M. Andersen-Nexo) testifies to the formation of socialist realism. In the 20s announces itself with major successes Soviet literature, and in the early 30s. In many capitalist countries, a literature of the revolutionary proletariat is emerging. The literature of socialist realism becomes important factor world literary development. It should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more connections with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).
The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence October Revolution and existence Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world system of socialism - all this affected the fate of realism.
Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until the October Revolution (I.A. Bunin, A.I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development, while undergoing significant changes. In critical realism of the 20th century. in the West, a variety of influences are more freely assimilated and intersected, including some features of the unrealistic movements of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.
From about the 20s. In the literature of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of the “stream of consciousness”. The so-called intellectual novel of T. Mann arises; acquires special meaning subtext, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and his spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “ Quiet Don"M. A. Sholokhov, "Walking in the Torment" by A. N. Tolstoy, "The Dead Remain Young" by A. Zegers).
Unlike realists XIX V. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Chapek), to convention (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the 20th century. the document, the fact, triumphs. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.
Thus, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O'Casey, I. Becher are works of great general meaning, such classic books socialist realism, such as “Report with a Noose Around the Neck” by Yu. Fuchik and “Young Guard” by A. A. Fadeev.
Presentation on the topic "Realism as a movement in literature and art" on literature in powerpoint format. A voluminous presentation for schoolchildren contains information about the principles, features, forms, and stages of development of realism as a literary movement.
Fragments from the presentation
Literary methods, directions, trends
- Artistic method- this is the principle of selection of phenomena of reality, the features of their assessment and the originality of their artistic embodiment.
- Literary direction- this is a method that becomes dominant and acquires more specific features associated with the characteristics of the era and trends in culture.
- Literary movement- manifestation of ideological and thematic unity, homogeneity of plots, characters, language in the works of several writers of the same era.
- Literary methods, directions and movements: classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism, realism, modernism (symbolism, acmeism, futurism)
- Realism- a direction of literature and art that arose in the 18th century, reached its full development and flowering in the critical realism of the 19th century and continues to develop in struggle and interaction with other directions in the 20th century (up to the present).
- Realism- a truthful, objective reflection of reality using specific means inherent in a particular type of artistic creativity.
Principles of realism
- Typification of the facts of reality, i.e., according to Engels, “in addition to the truthfulness of details, the truthful reproduction of typical characters in typical circumstances.”
- Showing life in development and contradictions, which are primarily of a social nature.
- The desire to reveal the essence of life phenomena without limiting topics and plots.
- Aspiration towards moral quest and educational influence.
The most prominent representatives of realism in Russian literature:
A.N. Ostrovsky, I.S. Turgenev, I.A. Goncharov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky, A.P. Chekhov, M. Gorky, I. Bunin, V. Mayakovsky, M. Bulgakov, M. Sholokhov, S. Yesenin, A. I. Solzhenitsyn and others.
- Main property– through typification, reflect life in images that correspond to the essence of the phenomena of life itself.
- Leading criterion of artistry– fidelity to reality; the desire for immediate authenticity of the image, the “recreation” of life “in the forms of life itself.” The artist’s right to illuminate all aspects of life without any restrictions is recognized. Wide variety of art forms.
- The task of the realist writer– try not only to grasp life in all its manifestations, but also to understand it, to understand the laws by which it moves and which do not always come out; through the play of chance one must achieve types - and with all this, always remain faithful to the truth, not be content with superficial study, and shun effects and falsehood.
Features of realism
- The desire for a broad coverage of reality in its contradictions, deep patterns and development;
- Gravity towards the image of a person in his interaction with the environment:
- the inner world of the characters, their behavior bear the signs of the times;
- much attention is paid to the social and everyday background of the time;
- Versatility in depicting a person;
- Social and psychological determinism;
- Historical point of view on life.
Forms of realism
- educational realism
- critical realism
- socialist realism
Stages of development
- Enlightenment realism(D.I. Fonvizin, N.I. Novikov, A.N. Radishchev, young I.A. Krylov); “syncretistic” realism: a combination of realistic and romantic motifs, with the dominance of the realistic (A.S. Griboyedov, A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov);
- Critical realism– accusatory orientation of the works; decisive break with romantic tradition(I.A. Goncharov, I.S. Turgenev, N.A. Nekrasov, A.N. Ostrovsky);
- Socialist realism- imbued with revolutionary reality and a feeling of socialist transformation of the world (M. Gorky).
Realism in Russia
Appeared in the 19th century. Rapid development and special dynamism.
Features of Russian realism:
- Active development of socio-psychological, philosophical and moral issues;
- Pronounced life-affirming character;
- Special dynamism;
- Syntheticity (closer connection with previous literary eras and directions: enlightenment, sentimentalism, romanticism).
18th century realism
- imbued with the spirit of educational ideology;
- affirmed primarily in prose;
- the novel becomes the defining genre of literature;
- behind the novel a bourgeois or bourgeois drama arises;
- recreated the everyday life of modern society;
- reflected his social and moral conflicts;
- the portrayal of characters in it was straightforward and subject to moral criteria that sharply distinguished between virtue and vice (only in individual works the depiction of personality was distinguished by complexity and dialectical inconsistency (Fielding, Stern, Diderot).
Critical realism
Critical realism- a movement that arose in Germany at the end of the 19th century (E. Becher, G. Driesch, A. Wenzl, etc.) and specialized in the theological interpretation of modern natural science (attempts to reconcile knowledge with faith and prove the “failure” and “limitations” of science) .
Principles of Critical Realism
- critical realism portrays the human-environment relationship in a new way
- human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances
- The subject of deep social analysis has become the inner world of man (critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological)
Socialist realism
Socialist realism- one of the most important artistic movements in the art of the 20th century; a special artistic method (type of thinking) based on knowledge and understanding of the vital reality of the era, which was understood as dynamically changing in its “revolutionary development”.
Principles of socialist realism
- Nationality. The heroes of the works must come from the people. As a rule, the heroes of socialist realist works were workers and peasants.
- Party affiliation. Reject the truth empirically found by the author and replace it with party truth; show heroic deeds, the search for a new life, the revolutionary struggle for a bright future.
- Specificity. Show the process in reality historical development, which in turn must correspond to the doctrine of historical materialism (matter is primary, consciousness is secondary).
REALISM (from Latin realis - material, real) - a method (creative attitude) or literary direction that embodies the principles of a life-truthful attitude to reality, aimed at artistic knowledge of man and the world. The term “realism” is often used in two meanings: 1) realism as a method; 2) realism as a direction formed in the 19th century. Both classicism, romanticism, and symbolism strive for knowledge of life and express their reaction to it in their own way, but only in realism does fidelity to reality become the defining criterion of artistry. This distinguishes realism, for example, from romanticism, which is characterized by rejection of reality and the desire to “recreate” it, rather than display it as it is. It is no coincidence that, turning to the realist Balzac, the romantic George Sand defined the difference between him and herself: “You take a person as he appears to your eyes; I feel a calling within myself to portray him the way I would like to see him.” Thus, we can say that realists depict the real, and romantics depict the desired.
The beginning of the formation of realism is usually associated with the Renaissance. The realism of this time is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet) and the poeticization of the human personality, the perception of man as the king of nature, the crown of creation. The next stage is educational realism. In the literature of the Enlightenment, a democratic realistic hero appears, a man “from the bottom” (for example, Figaro in Beaumarchais’s plays “The Barber of Seville” and “The Marriage of Figaro”). New types of romanticism appeared in the 19th century: “fantastic” (Gogol, Dostoevsky), “grotesque” (Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin) and “critical” realism associated with the activities of the “natural school”.
The main requirements of realism: adherence to the principles of nationality, historicism, high artistry, psychologism, depiction of life in its development. Realist writers showed the direct dependence of the social, moral, and religious ideas of heroes on social conditions, and paid great attention to the social and everyday aspect. Central problem realism - the relationship between plausibility and artistic truth. Plausibility, a plausible representation of life is very important for realists, but artistic truth is determined not by plausibility, but by fidelity in comprehending and conveying the essence of life and the significance of the ideas expressed by the artist. One of the most important features realism is the typification of characters (the fusion of the typical and the individual, the uniquely personal). The persuasiveness of a realistic character directly depends on the degree of individualization achieved by the writer.
Realist writers create new types of heroes: the “ little man"(Vyrin, Bashmachki n, Marmeladov, Devushkin), type " extra person"(Chatsky, Onegin, Pechorin, Oblomov), the type of “new” hero (Turgenev’s nihilist Bazarov, Chernyshevsky’s “new people”).
…for me, imagination has always beenabove existence, and the strongest loveI experienced it in a dream.
L.N. Andreev
Realism, as we know, appeared in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century and throughout the century existed within the framework of its critical movement. However, symbolism, which declared itself in the 1890s, was the first modernist movement in Russian literature - sharply opposed himself to realism. Following symbolism, other non-realistic trends arose. This inevitably led to qualitative transformation of realism as a method of depicting reality.
Symbolists expressed the opinion that realism only skims the surface of life and is not able to penetrate to the essence of things. Their position was not infallible, but since then it began in Russian art confrontation and mutual influence of modernism and realism.
It is noteworthy that modernists and realists, while outwardly striving for demarcation, internally had a common desire for a deep, essential knowledge of the world. It is not surprising, therefore, that the writers of the turn of the century, who considered themselves realists, understood how narrow the framework of consistent realism was, and began to master syncretic forms of storytelling that allowed them to combine realistic objectivity with romantic, impressionistic and symbolist principles.
If the realists of the 19th century paid close attention social human nature, then realists of the twentieth century correlated this social nature with psychological, subconscious processes, expressed in the clash of reason and instinct, intellect and feeling. Simply put, the realism of the early twentieth century pointed to the complexity of human nature, which is by no means reducible only to his social existence. It is no coincidence that in Kuprin, and in Bunin, and in Gorky, the plan of events and the surrounding situation are barely outlined, but a sophisticated analysis is given mental life character. The author's gaze is always directed beyond the spatial and temporal existence of the heroes. Hence the emergence of folklore, biblical, cultural motifs and images, which made it possible to expand the boundaries of the narrative and attract the reader to co-creation.
At the beginning of the 20th century, within the framework of realism, four currents:
1) critical realism continues the traditions of the 19th century and assumes an emphasis on the social nature of phenomena (at the beginning of the 20th century these were the works of A.P. Chekhov and L.N. Tolstoy),
2) socialist realism - a term by Ivan Gronsky, denoting an image of reality in its historical and revolutionary development, an analysis of conflicts in the context of class struggle, and the actions of heroes in the context of benefits for humanity ("Mother" by M. Gorky, and subsequently most of the works of Soviet writers),
3) mythological realism took shape back in ancient literature, however, in the 20th century under M.R. began to understand the depiction and understanding of reality through the prism of well-known mythological plots (in foreign literature a shining example serves as the novel "Ulysses" by J. Joyce, and in Russian literature of the early 20th century - the story "Judas Iscariot" by L.N. Andreeva)
4) naturalism involves depicting reality with the utmost plausibility and detail, often unsightly ("The Pit" by A.I. Kuprin, "Sanin" by M.P. Artsybashev, "Notes of a Doctor" by V.V. Veresaev)
The listed features of Russian realism caused numerous disputes about the creative method of writers who remained faithful to realistic traditions.
Bitter begins with neo-romantic prose and comes to the creation of social plays and novels, becoming the founder of socialist realism.
Creation Andreeva was always in a borderline state: modernists considered him a “despicable realist,” and for realists, in turn, he was a “suspicious symbolist.” At the same time, it is generally accepted that his prose is realistic, and his dramaturgy gravitates toward modernism.
Zaitsev, showing interest in the microstates of the soul, created impressionistic prose.
Attempts by critics to define artistic method Bunina led to the writer himself comparing himself to a suitcase covered with a huge amount shortcuts.
The complex worldview of realist writers and the multidirectional poetics of their works testified to the qualitative transformation of realism as artistic method. Thanks to a common goal - the search for the highest truth - at the beginning of the 20th century there was a rapprochement between literature and philosophy, which began in the works of Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy.
Realism remained large-scale and influential at the turn of the century literary direction. Suffice it to say that in the 1900s L. Tolstoy and A. Chekhov still lived and worked.
The most brilliant talents among the new realists belonged to the writers who united in the Moscow circle “Sreda” in the 1890s, and who in the early 1900s formed the circle of regular authors of the publishing house “Znanie” (one of its owners and de facto leader was M. Gorky). In addition to the leader of the association, over the years it included L. Andreev, I. Bunin, V. Veresaev, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, A. Kuprin, I. Shmelev and other writers. With the exception of I. Bunin, there were no major poets among the realists; they showed themselves primarily in prose and, less noticeably, in drama.
The influence of this group of writers was largely due to the fact that it was they who inherited the traditions of the great Russian literature of the 19th century century. However, the immediate predecessors of the new generation of realists seriously updated the appearance of the movement already in the 1880s. The creative searches of the late L. Tolstoy, V. Korolenko, A. Chekhov introduced into artistic practice a lot of things that were unusual by the standards of classical realism. The experience of A. Chekhov turned out to be especially important for the next generation of realists.
Chekhov's world includes many different human characters, but for all their originality, his heroes are similar in that they all lack something most important. They try to join true life, but, as a rule, they never find the desired spiritual harmony. Neither love nor passionate service to science or social ideals, nor faith in God - none of the previously reliable means of gaining integrity can help the hero. The world in his perception has lost a single center; this world is far from hierarchical completeness and cannot be embraced by any of the worldview systems.
That is why life according to any ideological template, a worldview based on a fixed system of social and ethical values, is interpreted by Chekhov as vulgarity. Life turns out to be vulgar, repeating patterns set by tradition, devoid of spiritual independence. None of them Chekhov's heroes there is no unconditional rightness, so the Chekhovian type of conflict looks unusual. When comparing heroes on one or another basis, Chekhov most often does not give preference to any of them. What is important to him is not “moral investigation,” but rather finding out the reasons for mutual misunderstanding between people. This is why the writer refuses to be the accuser or lawyer of his heroes.
Outwardly mild plot situations in his mature prose and drama are designed to reveal the delusions of the characters, determine the degree of development of their self-awareness and the associated degree of personal responsibility. In general, various moral, ideological and stylistic contrasts in Chekhov’s world lose their absolute character and become relative.
In a word, Chekhov's world is a world of moving relationships, where different subjective truths interact. In such works, the role of subjective reflection (self-analysis, reflections of the characters, their understanding of their actions) increases. The author has good control over the tone of his assessments: it cannot be unconditionally heroic or recklessly satirical. Subtle lyrical irony is perceived by the reader as a typically Chekhovian tone.
Thus, the generation of realist writers of the early 20th century inherited from Chekhov new principles of writing - with much greater authorial freedom than before; with a much wider arsenal artistic expression; with a sense of proportion obligatory for the artist, which was ensured by increased internal self-criticism and self-reflection.
While generously using some of Chekhov's findings, realists of the turn of the century did not always possess the last of the mentioned qualities of an artist. Where Chekhov saw a variety and relative equivalence of life behavior options, his young followers were carried away by one of them. If Chekhov, say, shows how strong the inertia of life is, often nullifying the hero’s initial desire to change, then the realist of Gorky’s generation sometimes absolutizes the very volitional impulse of a person, without testing it for strength and therefore replacing the real complexity of a person with a dream of “strong people.” Where Chekhov predicted a long-term perspective, calling on him to “squeeze out a slave drop by drop,” the writer-“Knowledge” gave a much more optimistic forecast of “the birth of man.”
Nevertheless, it is extremely important that the generation of realists of the early 20th century inherited from Chekhov constant attention to a person’s personality, his individuality. What are the main features of realism? late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century?
Themes and heroes of realistic literature. The thematic range of works by turn-of-the-century realists is wider than that of their predecessors; For most writers at this time, thematic constancy is uncharacteristic. Rapid changes in Russia forced them to vary themes and invade previously reserved thematic layers. In Gorky’s writing circle at that time, the spirit of the artel was strong: through joint efforts, the “Znanievites” created a wide panorama of the country undergoing renewal. Large-scale thematic capture was noticeable in the titles of the works that made up the “Knowledge” collections (it was this type of publication - collections and almanacs - that spread in the literature of the beginning of the century). For example, the table of contents of the 12th collection “Knowledge” resembled the sections of some sociological study: the same type of titles “In the city”, “In the family”, “In prison”, “In the village” designated the areas of life being examined.
Elements of sociological descriptiveness in realism are the not yet overcome legacy of social essay prose of the 60-80s, in which there was a strong focus on the empirical study of reality. However, the prose of the “Znanievites” was more acute artistic issues. The crisis of all forms of life - most of their works brought readers to this conclusion. What was important was the changed attitude of realists to the possibility of transforming life. In the literature of the 60-80s, the living environment was depicted as sedentary, possessing a terrible force of inertia. Now the circumstances of a person's existence are interpreted as devoid of stability and subject to his will. In the relationship between man and the environment, realists at the turn of the century emphasized man’s ability not only to withstand the adverse effects of the environment, but also to actively rebuild life.
The typology of characters has also been noticeably updated in realism. Outwardly, the writers followed tradition: in their works one could find recognizable types of the “little man” or the intellectual who survived the spiritual drama. One of central figures the peasant remained in their prose. But even the traditional “peasant” characterology has changed: more and more often a new type of “thoughtful” man appeared in stories and tales. Characters got rid of sociological averageness and became more diverse in psychological characteristics and attitude. “The diversity of the soul” of the Russian person is a constant motif in I. Bunin’s prose. He was one of the first in realism to widely use foreign material in his works (“Brothers”, “Chang’s Dreams”, “The Mister from San Francisco”). The use of such material became characteristic of other writers (M. Gorky, E. Zamyatin).
Genres and stylistic features of realistic prose. The genre system and stylistics of realistic prose were significantly updated at the beginning of the 20th century.
At this time, the most mobile stories and essays occupied a central place in the genre hierarchy. The novel has practically disappeared from the genre repertoire of realism: the largest epic genre became a story. Not a single novel in exact value This term was not written by the most significant realists of the early 20th century - I. Bunin and M. Gorky.
Starting with the work of A. Chekhov, the importance of the formal organization of the text has noticeably increased in realistic prose. Individual techniques and elements of form received greater independence in the artistic structure of the work than before. For example, it was used more variably artistic detail, at the same time, the plot increasingly lost its significance as the main compositional device and began to play a subordinate role. The expressiveness in conveying the details of the visible and audible world has deepened. In this regard, I. Bunin, B. Zaitsev, I. Shmelev especially stood out. Specific feature Bunin's style, for example, had an amazing unity of visual and auditory, olfactory and tactile characteristics in conveying the surrounding world. Realist writers attached greater importance to the use of rhythmic and phonetic effects of artistic speech, the transmission individual characteristics oral speech characters (masterful control of this element of form was characteristic of I. Shmelev).
Having lost, in comparison with the classics of the 19th century, the epic scale and integrity of their vision of the world, the realists of the beginning of the century compensated for these losses with a keener perception of life and greater expression in expression. author's position. The general logic of the development of realism at the beginning of the century was to strengthen the role of highly expressive forms. What was important to the writer now was not so much the proportionality of the proportions of the reproduced fragment of life, but rather the “power of the cry”, the intensity of the expression of the author’s emotions. This was achieved by sharpening plot situations when close up extremely dramatic, “borderline” states in the lives of the characters were described. The figurative series of works was built on contrasts, sometimes extremely sharp, “screaming”; Leitmotif principles of narration were actively used: the frequency of figurative and lexical repetitions increased.
Stylistic expression was especially characteristic of L. Andreev and A. Serafimovich. It is also noticeable in some of M. Gorky’s works. The works of these writers contain many journalistic elements - “montage” joining of statements, aphorism, rhetorical repetitions; the author often comments on what is happening, intrudes into the plot with lengthy journalistic digressions (you will find examples of such digressions in M. Gorky’s stories “Childhood” and “In People”). In L. Andreev's stories and dramas, the plot and arrangement of characters were often deliberately schematic: the writer was attracted by universal, “eternal” types and life situations.
However, within the work of one writer, a single stylistic manner was rarely maintained: more often, wordsmiths combined several stylistic options. For example, in the works of A. Kuprin, M. Gorky, L. Andreev, precise depiction coexisted with generalized romantic imagery, elements of life-likeness - with artistic conventions.
Stylistic duality, an element of artistic eclecticism - a characteristic feature of the realism of the beginning
XX century. Of the major writers of that time, only I. Bunin avoided diversity in his work: both his poetic and prosaic works maintained the harmony of precise descriptiveness and authorial lyricism. The stylistic instability of realism was a consequence of the transitivity and well-known artistic compromise of the direction. On the one hand, realism remained true to its bequest the previous century traditions, on the other hand, he began to interact with new trends in art.
Realist writers gradually adapted to new forms of artistic search, although this process was not always peaceful. Those who went further along the path of rapprochement with modernist aesthetics were L. Andreev, B. Zaitsev, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, and somewhat later - E. Zamyatin. Most of them were often reproached by critics who were adherents of former traditions for artistic apostasy, or even ideological desertion. However, the process of updating realism as a whole was artistically fruitful, and its total achievements at the turn of the century were significant.
