1. Literary direction - often identified with the artistic method. It denotes a set of fundamental spiritual and aesthetic principles of many writers, as well as a number of groupings and schools, their programmatic and aesthetic attitudes, the means used. In the struggle and change of direction, the laws of the literary process are most clearly expressed.

It is customary to single out the following literary trends:

a) Classicism,
b) Sentimentalism,
c) Naturalism,
d) Romanticism,
e) Symbolism,
f) Realism.

1. Literary movement - is often identified with a literary group and school. Denotes a set of creative personalities, which are characterized by ideological and artistic closeness and programmatic and aesthetic unity. Otherwise, a literary movement is a kind (sort of a subclass) of a literary movement. For example, in relation to Russian romanticism, they speak of "philosophical", "psychological" and "civic" trends. In Russian realism, some distinguish "psychological" and "sociological" trends.

Classicism

Artistic style and direction in European literature and art of the 17th-early 20th century XIX centuries. The name is derived from the Latin "classicus" - exemplary.

Features of classicism:

1. The appeal to the images and forms of ancient literature and art as an ideal aesthetic standard, the advancement of the principle of "imitation of nature" on this basis, which implies strict adherence to unshakable rules drawn from ancient aesthetics (for example, in the person of Aristotle, Horace).
2. The aesthetics are based on the principles of rationalism (from the Latin "ratio" - reason), which affirms the view of a work of art as an artificial creation - consciously created, reasonably organized, logically constructed.
3. Images in classicism are devoid of individual traits, since they are called upon, first of all, to capture stable, generic, lasting signs that appear over time as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.
4. Social educational function of art. Education of a harmonious personality.
5. A strict hierarchy of genres has been established, which are divided into "high" (tragedy, epic, ode; their sphere is state life, historical events, mythology, their heroes - monarchs, generals, mythological characters, religious devotees) and "low" (comedy, satire , a fable that depicted the private daily life of middle-class people). Each genre has strict boundaries and clear formal features, no mixing of the sublime and the low, tragic and comic, heroic and ordinary was allowed. The leading genre is tragedy.
6. Classicistic drama approved the so-called principle of "unity of place, time and action", which meant: the action of the play should take place in one place, the duration of the action should be limited by the duration of the performance (possibly more, but the maximum time about which the play was supposed to be told is one day), the unity of action meant that the play should reflect one central intrigue, not interrupted by side effects.

Classicism originated and developed in France with the assertion of absolutism (classicism with its concepts of "exemplary", strict hierarchy of genres, etc., in general, is often associated with absolutism and the flourishing of statehood - P. Corneille, J. Racine, J. La Fontaine, J. B. Moliere, etc. Having entered a period of decline at the end of the 17th century, classicism was revived in the Age of Enlightenment - Voltaire, M. Chenier, etc. After the Great French Revolution, with the collapse of rationalist ideas, classicism fell into decay, the dominant style of European art becomes romanticism.

Classicism in Russia:

Russian classicism arose in the second quarter of the 18th century in the works of the founders of new Russian literature - A.D. Kantemir, V.K.Trediakovsky and M.V. Lomonosov. In the era of classicism, Russian literature mastered the genre and stylistic forms that had developed in the West, merged with the general European literary development, while retaining its national identity. Characteristic features of Russian classicism:

but) Satirical orientation - an important place is occupied by such genres as satire, fable, comedy, directly addressing specific phenomena of Russian life;
b) The predominance of national-historical themes over ancient ones (the tragedies of A.P. Sumarokov, Ya. B. Knyazhnin, etc.);
in) A high level of development of the ode genre (at M. V. Lomonosov and G. R. Derzhavin);
G) General patriotic pathos of Russian classicism.

At the end of the XVIII - beginning. XIX century Russian classicism is influenced by sentimental and pre-romantic ideas, which is reflected in the poetry of G.R.Derzhavin, the tragedies of V.A.Ozerov and the civil lyrics of the Decembrist poets.

Sentimentalism

Sentimentalism (from the English sentimental - "sensitive") - a trend in European literature and art of the XVIII century. Was prepared by the crisis of educational rationalism, was the final stage of the Enlightenment. Chronologically, he mainly preceded romanticism, passing on a number of his features to it.

The main signs of sentimentalism:

1. Sentimentalism has remained true to the ideal of the normative personality.
2. In contrast to classicism with its educational pathos, the dominant of "human nature" was declared by feeling, not reason.
3. He considered the liberation and improvement of “natural feelings” to be the condition for the formation of an ideal personality.
4. The hero of the literature of sentimentalism is more individualized: by origin (or beliefs) he is a democrat, the rich spiritual world of a commoner is one of the conquests of sentimentalism.
5. However, unlike romanticism (pre-romanticism), sentimentalism is alien to the "irrational": the contradictory moods, the impulsiveness of emotional impulses, he perceived as accessible to rationalistic interpretation.

Sentimentalism took the most complete expression in England, where the ideology of the third estate was formed earlier - the works of J. Thomson, O. Goldsmith, J. Crabbe, S. Richardson, JI. Stern.

Sentimentalism in Russia:

In Russia, the representatives of sentimentalism were: M. N. Muravyov, N. M. Karamzin (naib, famous work - "Poor Liza"), I. I. Dmitriev, V. V. Kapnist, N. A. Lvov, young V. A. Zhukovsky.

Characteristic features of Russian sentimentalism:

a) Rationalistic tendencies are clearly expressed;
b) The didactic (moralizing) attitude is strong;
c) Educational tendencies;
d) Improving the literary language, Russian sentimentalists turned to colloquial norms, introduced vernacular.

The favorite genres of sentimentalists are elegy, message, epistolary novel (novel in letters), travel notes, diaries and other types of prose, in which confessional motives prevail.

Romanticism

One of the largest trends in European and American literature of the late 18th and first half of the 19th century, which gained worldwide significance and distribution. In the 18th century everything that was fantastic, unusual, strange, found only in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. A new literary movement began to be called "romanticism".

The main signs of romanticism:

1. Anti-enlightenment orientation (i.e., against the ideology of the Enlightenment), which manifested itself in sentimentalism and pre-romanticism, and reached its highest point in romanticism. Socio-ideological prerequisites - disillusionment with the results of the Great French Revolution and the fruits of civilization in general, a protest against the vulgarity, routine and prosaic nature of bourgeois life. The reality of history turned out to be beyond the control of "reason", irrational, full of secrets and unpredictability, and the modern world order - hostile to human nature and his personal freedom.
2. The general pessimistic orientation is the ideas of "cosmic pessimism", "world sorrow" (the heroes of the works of F. Chateaubriand, A. Musset, J. Byron, A. Vigny, etc.). The theme of “lying in evil” of the “terrible world” was especially vividly reflected in the “drama of rock” or “tragedy of rock” (G. Kleist, J. Byron, E. TA Hoffman, E. Poe).
3. Belief in the omnipotence of the human spirit, in its ability to renew itself. Romantics discovered an extraordinary complexity, an inner depth of human individuality. For them, man is a microcosm, a small universe. Hence - the absolutization of the personal principle, the philosophy of individualism. In the center of a romantic work there is always a strong, exceptional personality opposed to society, its laws or moral and ethical standards.
4. "Duality", that is, the division of the world into real and ideal, which are opposed to each other. Spiritual illumination, inspiration, which are subject to the romantic hero, is nothing more than penetration into this ideal world (for example, the works of Hoffmann, especially vividly in: "The Golden Pot", "The Nutcracker", "Little Tsakhes nicknamed Zinnober") ... The romantics contrasted the classicist "imitation of nature" with the artist's creative activity with his right to transform the real world: the artist creates his own, special world, more beautiful and true.
5. "Local flavor". A person opposing society feels a spiritual closeness to nature, its elements. That is why romantics so often have exotic countries and their nature (the East) as a place of action. Exotic wilderness was in keeping with the spirit of the out-of-the-ordinary romantic personality. Romantics are the first to pay close attention to the creative heritage of the people, to its national, cultural and historical features. National and cultural diversity, according to the philosophy of the Romantics, was part of one large single whole - the "universe". This was clearly realized in the development of the genre of the historical novel (such authors as W. Scott, F. Cooper, W. Hugo).

Romantics, absolutizing the creative freedom of the artist, denied the rationalistic regulation in art, which, however, did not prevent them from proclaiming their own romantic canons.

Genres have developed: a fantastic story, a historical novel, a lyric-epic poem, the lyrics reach an extraordinary heyday.

Classic countries of romanticism - Germany, England, France.

Beginning in the 1840s, romanticism in the main European countries gave way to critical realism and faded into the background.

Romanticism in Russia:

The rise of romanticism in Russia is associated with the social and ideological atmosphere of Russian life - the nationwide upsurge after the war of 1812. All this determined not only the formation, but also the special character of the romanticism of the Decembrist poets (for example, K.F. Ryleev, V.K.Kyukhelbeker, A.I. fight.

Characteristic features of romanticism in Russia:

but) The accelerated development of literature in Russia at the beginning of the 19th century led to the "runaway" and combination of various stages, which in other countries were experienced in stages. In Russian romanticism, pre-romantic tendencies were intertwined with the tendencies of classicism and the Enlightenment: doubts about the omnipotent role of reason, the cult of sensitivity, nature, elegiac melancholism were combined with the classicistic ordering of styles and genres, moderate didactism (edification) and the struggle with excessive metaphor for the sake of "harmonic precision" A.S. Pushkin).

b) A more pronounced social orientation of Russian romanticism. For example, the poetry of the Decembrists, the works of M. Yu. Lermontov.

In Russian romanticism, genres such as elegy and idyll are especially developed. The development of the ballad (for example, in the works of V.A.Zhukovsky) was very important for the self-determination of Russian romanticism. Most sharply, the contours of Russian romanticism were defined with the emergence of the genre of lyric-epic poem (southern poems by A.S. Pushkin, works by I.I.Kozlov, K.F.Ryleev, M.Yu. Lermontov, and others). The historical novel is developing as a large epic form (MN Zagoskin, II Lazhechnikov). A special way of creating a large epic form is cyclization, that is, the unification of externally independent (and partially printed separately) works ("The Double or My Evenings in Little Russia" by A. Pogorelsky, "Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka" by N. V. Gogol, "Our Hero time "M. Yu. Lermontov," Russian Nights "VF Odoevsky).

Naturalism

Naturalism (from the Latin natura - "nature") is a literary movement that developed in the last third of the 19th century in Europe and the United States.

Characteristic features of naturalism:

1. Striving for an objective, accurate and dispassionate depiction of reality and human character, due to the physiological nature and environment, understood primarily as a direct everyday and material environment, but does not exclude socio-historical factors. The main task of naturalists was to study society with the same completeness with which a natural scientist studies nature; artistic knowledge was likened to scientific knowledge.
2. A work of art was viewed as a "human document", and the completeness of the cognitive act carried out in it was considered the main aesthetic criterion.
3. Naturalists refused to moralize, believing that the reality portrayed with scientific impartiality is itself quite expressive. They believed that literature, like science, has no right in the choice of material, that there are no unsuitable plots or unworthy topics for a writer. Hence, plotlessness and social indifference often arose in the works of naturalists.

Naturalism was especially developed in France - for example, naturalism includes the work of such writers as G. Flaubert, brothers E. and J. Goncourt, E. Zola (who developed the theory of naturalism).

In Russia, naturalism did not become widespread; it played only a certain role at the initial stage of the development of Russian realism. Naturalistic tendencies can be traced among the writers of the so-called "natural school" (see below) - V. I. Dal, I. I. Panaev, and others.

Realism

Realism (from the late Latin realis - material, real) - literary and artistic direction of the XIX-XX centuries. It originates in the Renaissance (the so-called "Renaissance realism") or in the Enlightenment ("enlightenment realism"). Features of realism are noted in ancient and medieval folklore and antique literature.

The main features of realism:

1. The artist depicts life in images that correspond to the essence of the phenomena of life itself.
2. Literature in realism is a means of a person's knowledge of himself and the world around him.
3. Cognition of reality is carried out with the help of images created by typing the facts of reality ("typical characters in a typical setting"). The typification of characters in realism is carried out through the "truthfulness of details" in the "concreteness" of the conditions of the characters' existence.
4. Realistic art is life-affirming art, even with a tragic resolution of the conflict. The philosophical basis for this is gnosticism, belief in cognizability and adequate reflection of the surrounding world, in contrast, for example, to romanticism.
5. Realistic art is characterized by the desire to consider reality in development, the ability to detect and capture the emergence and development of new forms of life and social relations, new psychological and social types.

Realism as a literary trend took shape in the 1830s. Romanticism was the immediate predecessor of realism in European literature. Making the subject of the image unusual, creating an imaginary world of special circumstances and exceptional passions, he (romanticism) at the same time showed a personality richer in spirit, emotion, more complex and contradictory than was available to classicism, sentimentalism and other directions of previous eras. Therefore, realism developed not as an antagonist of romanticism, but as its ally in the struggle against the idealization of social relations, for the national-historical uniqueness of artistic images (color of place and time). It is not always easy to draw clear boundaries between romanticism and realism of the first half of the 19th century; in the work of many writers, romantic and realistic features have merged together - for example, the works of O. Balzac, Stendhal, V. Hugo, and partly C. Dickens. In Russian literature, this is especially clearly reflected in the works of A. S. Pushkin and M. Yu. Lermontov (southern poems by Pushkin and "A Hero of Our Time" by Lermontov).

In Russia, where the foundations of realism were back in the 1820s and 30s. laid down by the work of A.S. Pushkin ("Eugene Onegin", "Boris Godunov", "The Captain's Daughter", late lyrics), as well as some other writers ("Woe from Wit" by A.S. Griboyedov, fables by I.A.Krylov ), this stage is associated with the names of I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, A. N. Ostrovsky, etc. socially critical. The heightened social-critical pathos is one of the main distinguishing features of Russian realism - for example, "The Inspector General", "Dead Souls" by N. V. Gogol, the activities of the writers of the "natural school". Realism of the second half of the 19th century reached its heights precisely in Russian literature, especially in the works of L.N. Tolstoy and F.M.Dostoevsky, who at the end of the 19th century became the central figures of the world literary process. They have enriched world literature with new principles of constructing a socio-psychological novel, philosophical and moral issues, new ways of revealing the human psyche in its deepest layers.

The European direction of classicism was based on the ideas of rationalism and the canons of ancient art. It presupposes strict rules for creating a work of art, which give it conciseness and consistency. Attention is paid only to a clear study of the main part, without splashing on the details. The priority goal of this trend is to fulfill the social and educational function of art.

The formation of classicism takes place in each united territory, but at different time periods. The need for this direction is felt in the historical period of the transition from feudal fragmentation to territorial statehood under an absolute monarchy. In Europe, the formation of classicism took place primarily in Italy, but one cannot fail to note the significant influence of the nascent French and English bourgeoisie.

Classicism in painting

(Giovanni Battista Tiepolo "The Feast of Cleopatra")

In their creative search, sculptors and artists turned to ancient art and transferred its features into their works. This generated a wave of public interest in art. Despite the fact that the views of classicism imply a natural depiction of everything that is presented in the picture, the masters of the Renaissance, like the ancient creators, idealized human figures. People depicted in the paintings are more like sculptures: they "freeze" in eloquent poses, male bodies are athletic, and female figures are hyperbolized feminine, even the heroes of old age have skin tightened and elastic. This tendency, borrowed from the ancient Greek sculptors, is explained by the fact that in ancient times man was presented as an ideal creation of God without flaws and shortcomings.

(Claude Lorrain "Noon. Rest on the Flight to Egypt")

Ancient mythology also had a significant impact on the formation of the style. At the initial stages, it was expressed literally, in the form of mythical plots. Over time, manifestations became more veiled: mythology was represented by ancient buildings, creatures or objects. The later period was marked by a symbolic interpretation of myths: through individual elements, artists conveyed their own thoughts, emotions and moods.

(Fedor Mikhailovich Matveev "View of Rome. Colosseum")

The function of classicism in the bosom of world artistic culture is moral social education, the formation of ethical norms and rules. The regulation of creative laws held a strict hierarchy of genres, each of which contained formal boundaries:

• Low(still life, landscape, portrait);
• High(historical, mythological, religious).

(Nicolas Poussin "Arcadian Shepherds")

The painter Nicolas Poussin is considered to be the founder of the style. His works are built on sublime philosophical subjects. From a technical point of view, the structure of the canvases is harmonious and complemented by a rhythmic flavor. Vivid examples of the master's works: "Finding Moses", "Rinaldo and Armida", "Death of Germanicus" and "Arcadian Shepherds".

(Ivan Petrovich Argunov "Portrait of an Unknown Woman in a Dark Blue Dress")

In the Russian art of classicism, portrait images prevail. Admirers of this style are A. Agrunov, A. Antropov, D. Levitsky, O. Kiprensky, F. Rokotov.

Classicism in architecture

The basic features of the style are clarity of lines, clear, uncomplicated forms, lack of abundance of details. Classicism sought to rationally use every square meter of space. Over time, the style has been influenced by different cultures and worldviews of masters from all over Europe. The following directions are distinguished in the architecture of classicism:

• palladianism

The initial form of manifestation of classicism, the founder of which is the architect Andrea Palladio. In the absolute symmetry of the buildings, the spirit of the architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome is guessed;

• empire

The direction of high (late) classicism, whose homeland is considered to be France during the reign of Napoleon I. The royal style combines theatricality and classical elements (columns, stucco, pilasters), arranged in accordance with clear rules and perspective;

• non-Greek

"Return" of ancient Greek images with features of the Italian Renaissance in the 1820s. The founders of the direction are Henri Labrouste and Leo von Klenze. The uniqueness lies in the detailed reproduction of the classics on the buildings of parliament, museums, temples;

• regency

In the years 1810-1830. a style developed that combined classic trends with French design. Particular attention is paid to the decoration of the facades: geometrically correct patterns and wall ornaments are complemented by decorated window openings. The emphasis is on the decorative elements framing the front door.

(Stupinigi - country residence of the monarchs of the House of Savoy, province of Turin, Italy)

The main features of classicism in architecture:

• Majestic simplicity;
• The minimum number of parts;
• Laconicism and severity of both external and internal finishing of structures;
• A dull color palette dominated by milky, beige, light gray shades;
• High ceilings decorated with stucco;
• The interior included items exclusively with a functional purpose;
• Of the decor elements, regal columns, arches, exquisite stained-glass windows, openwork railings, lamps, carved fireplace grates, light curtains made of uncomplicated materials were used.

(Bolshoi Theater, Moscow)

Classicism is recognized as one of the most widespread styles throughout the world. In Europe, the vector of development of this direction was influenced by the works of masters Palladio and Scamozzi. And in France, the architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot was the author of the basic structural solutions for the style. Germany acquired several classical-style administrative buildings thanks to the craftsmen Leo von Klenze and Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Andreyan Zakharov, Andrei Voronikhin and Karl Rossi made an invaluable contribution to the development of this direction in Russia.

Conclusion

The era of classicism left behind many magnificent creations of artists and architects, which can be observed throughout Europe to this day. The most ambitious projects of the late 17th and early 19th centuries were held under the auspices of classicism: city parks, resorts and even new cities were rebuilt. By the 20s of the 19th century, the austere style was diluted with elements of the luxurious Baroque and Renaissance.

1. Introduction.Classicism as an artistic method...................................2

2. Aesthetics of classicism.

2.1. Basic principles of classicism .......................... ……………. ... ..... 5

2.2. Picture of the world, the concept of personality in the art of classicism ... ... ... 5

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism ............................................... ........nine

2.4. Classicism in painting ............................................... .........................fifteen

2.5. Classicism in sculpture ............................................... .......................sixteen

2.6. Classicism in architecture ............................................... .....................18

2.7. Classicism in literature ............................................... .......................twenty

2.8. Classicism in music ............................................... .............................. 22

2.9. Classicism in the theater ............................................... ............................... 22

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism ............................................... .... 22

3. Conclusion……………………………………...…………………………...26

Bibliography..............................…….………………………………….28

Applications ........................................................................................................29

1. Classicism as an artistic method

Classicism is one of the artistic methods that really existed in the history of art. It is sometimes referred to by the terms "direction" and "style". Classicism (fr. classicisme, from lat. classicus- exemplary) - the artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art of the 17th-19th centuries.

Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism, which were formed simultaneously with the same ideas in the philosophy of Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and consistency of the universe itself. Interest for classicism is only eternal, unchanging - in each phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual features. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Horace).

Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined features, the mixing of which is not allowed.

The concept of classicism as a creative method presupposes by its content a historically conditioned method of aesthetic perception and modeling of reality in artistic images: the picture of the world and the concept of personality, which are most common for the mass aesthetic consciousness of a given historical era, are embodied in ideas about the essence of verbal art, its relationship with reality , its own internal laws.

Classicism arises and is formed in certain historical and cultural conditions. The most widespread research belief connects classicism with the historical conditions of the transition from feudal fragmentation to a single national-territorial statehood, in the formation of which the centralizing role belongs to the absolute monarchy.

Classicism is an organic stage in the development of any national culture, despite the fact that different national cultures pass the classical stage at different times, due to the individuality of the national version of the formation of a general social model of a centralized state.

The chronological framework of the existence of classicism in different European cultures is defined as the second half of the 17th - the first thirty years of the 18th century, despite the fact that the early classicist trends are felt at the end of the Renaissance, at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Within these chronological limits, French classicism is considered the standard embodiment of the method. Closely associated with the flourishing of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century, it gave European culture not only great writers - Corneille, Racine, Molière, Lafontaine, Voltaire, but also the great theoretician of classicist art - Nicolas Boileau-Depreo. Being himself a practicing writer who earned a lifetime fame for his satyrs, Boileau was mainly famous for the creation of the aesthetic code of classicism - the didactic poem Poetic Art (1674), in which he gave a coherent theoretical concept of literary creativity, derived from the literary practice of his contemporaries. Thus, classicism in France became the most self-conscious embodiment of the method. Hence its reference value.

The historical prerequisites for the emergence of classicism link the aesthetic problems of the method with the era of exacerbation of the relationship between the individual and society in the process of the formation of an autocratic statehood, which, replacing the social permissiveness of feudalism, seeks to regulate by law and clearly distinguish between the spheres of public and private life and the relationship between the individual and the state. This defines the content aspect of art. Its main principles are motivated by the system of philosophical views of the era. They form the picture of the world and the concept of personality, and already these categories are embodied in the totality of artistic techniques of literary creativity.

The most general philosophical concepts present in all philosophical trends in the second half of the 17th - end of the 18th century. and directly related to the aesthetics and poetics of classicism - these are the concepts of "rationalism" and "metaphysics", relevant for both idealistic and materialistic philosophical teachings of this time. The founder of the philosophical doctrine of rationalism is the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650). The fundamental thesis of his doctrine: "I think, therefore I exist" - was realized in many philosophical movements of that time, united by the common name "Cartesianism" (from the Latin version of the name Descartes - Cartesius). In essence, this thesis is idealistic, since it deduces the material existence from an idea. However, rationalism, as an interpretation of reason as the primary and highest spiritual ability of man, is to the same extent characteristic of the materialistic philosophical currents of the era - such as, for example, the metaphysical materialism of the English philosophical school of Bacon-Locke, which recognized experience as a source of knowledge, but put it below the generalizing and analytical activity of the mind, which extracts the highest idea from the multitude of facts obtained by experience, the means of modeling the cosmos - the highest reality - from the chaos of individual material objects.

The concept of "metaphysics" is equally applicable to both varieties of rationalism - idealistic and materialistic. Genetically, it goes back to Aristotle, and in his philosophical doctrine it denoted a branch of knowledge that explores the higher and unchanging principles of all things inaccessible to the senses and only rationally and speculatively comprehended. Both Descartes and Bacon used the term in the Aristotelian sense. In modern times, the concept of "metaphysics" has acquired additional meaning and began to denote an anti-dialectical way of thinking, perceiving phenomena and objects outside their interconnection and development. Historically, this very accurately characterizes the peculiarities of thinking of the analytical era of the 17th-18th centuries, the period of differentiation of scientific knowledge and art, when each branch of science, standing out from the syncretic complex, acquired its own separate subject, but at the same time lost its connection with other branches of knowledge.

2. Aesthetics of classicism

2.1. Basic principles of classicism

1. The cult of reason 2. The cult of civic duty 3. The appeal to medieval subjects 4. Abstraction from the image of everyday life, from the historical national originality 5. Imitation of ancient models 6. Compositional harmony, symmetry, unity of a work of art 7. Heroes are carriers of one main feature, given beyond development 8. Antithesis as the main method of creating a work of art

2.2. World picture, personality concept

in the art of classicism

The picture of the world generated by the rationalistic type of consciousness clearly divides reality into two levels: empirical and ideological. The external, visible and tangible material-empirical world consists of a multitude of separate material objects and phenomena, which are in no way connected with each other - this is a chaos of separate private entities. However, above this disorderly multitude of separate objects there is their ideal hypostasis - a harmonious and harmonious whole, the universal idea of ​​the universe, which includes the ideal image of any material object in its highest, purified from particulars, eternal and unchanging form: in the way it should be according to the original intention of the Creator. This general idea can be comprehended only through a rational-analytical way of gradual cleansing of an object or phenomenon from its specific forms and appearance and penetration into its ideal essence and purpose.

And since design precedes creation, and thinking is an indispensable condition and source of existence, this ideal reality has a supreme primary nature. It is easy to see that the basic laws of such a two-level picture of reality are very easily projected onto the main sociological problem of the period of transition from feudal fragmentation to autocratic statehood - the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. The world of people is the world of separate private human beings, chaotic and disorderly, the state is an all-encompassing harmonious idea that creates a harmonious and harmonious ideal world order out of chaos. It is this philosophical picture of the world of the 17th-18th centuries. determined such substantial aspects of classicism aesthetics as the concept of personality and the typology of conflict, universally characteristic (with the necessary historical and cultural variations) for classicism in any European literature.

In the field of human relations with the outside world, classicism sees two types of connections and positions - the same two levels from which the philosophical picture of the world is formed. The first level is the so-called "natural man", a biological being that stands alongside all the objects of the material world. It is a private entity, possessed by selfish passions, disorderly and unlimited in its desire to ensure its personal existence. At this level of human ties with the world, the leading category that determines the spiritual appearance of a person is passion - blind and unrestrained in its striving for realization in the name of achieving individual good.

The second level of the concept of personality is the so-called "social person", harmoniously included in society in his highest, ideal image, realizing that his good is an integral part of the common good. The "public man" is guided in his worldview and actions not by passions, but by reason, since it is reason that is the highest spiritual ability of a person, which gives him the opportunity to positive self-determination in the conditions of human community, based on ethical norms of a consistent community. Thus, the concept of the human personality in the ideology of classicism turns out to be complex and contradictory: a natural (passionate) and social (reasonable) person is one and the same character, torn apart by internal contradictions and in a situation of choice.

Hence - the typological conflict of the art of classicism, directly arising from such a concept of personality. It is quite obvious that the source of a conflict situation is precisely the character of a person. Character is one of the central aesthetic categories of classicism, and its interpretation differs significantly from the meaning that modern consciousness and literary criticism puts into the term "character". In the understanding of the aesthetics of classicism, character is precisely the ideal hypostasis of a person - that is, not an individual make-up of a particular human personality, but a certain universal form of human nature and psychology, timeless in its essence. Only in this form of an eternal, unchanging, universal attribute could character be the object of classicistic art, which is uniquely attributed to the highest, ideal level of reality.

The main components of character are passions: love, hypocrisy, courage, stinginess, a sense of duty, envy, patriotism, etc. It is by the predominance of any one passion that the character is determined: "in love", "stingy", "envious", "patriot". All these definitions are precisely "characters" in the understanding of the classicist aesthetic consciousness.

However, these passions are unequal to each other, although according to philosophical concepts of the 17th-18th centuries. all passions are equal, since they are all from human nature, they are all natural, and it is impossible for a single passion to decide which passion is consistent with the ethical dignity of a person and which is not. These decisions are made only by reason. Despite the fact that all passions are equally categories of emotional spiritual life, some of them (such as love, stinginess, envy, hypocrisy, etc.) are less and more difficult to agree with the dictates of reason and are more associated with the concept of selfish good. Others (courage, a sense of duty, honor, patriotism) are more subject to rational control and do not contradict the idea of ​​the common good, the ethics of social ties.

So it turns out that in the conflict, passions collide reasonable and unreasonable, altruistic and egoistic, personal and social. And reason is the highest spiritual ability of a person, a logical and analytical tool that allows you to control passions and distinguish good from evil, truth from falsehood. The most common type of classicist conflict is a conflict situation between personal inclination (love) and a sense of duty to society and the state, which for some reason excludes the possibility of realizing love passion. It is quite obvious that by its nature this conflict is psychological, although a necessary condition for its implementation is a situation in which the interests of a person and society collide. These most important worldview aspects of the aesthetic thinking of the era found their expression in the system of ideas about the laws of artistic creation.

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism

The aesthetic principles of classicism have undergone significant changes during its existence. A characteristic feature of this trend is admiration for antiquity. The art of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome was considered by the classicists as an ideal model of artistic creation. "Poetics" by Aristotle and "The Art of Poetry" by Horace had a tremendous influence on the formation of the aesthetic principles of classicism. Here there is a tendency to create sublimely heroic, ideal, rationalistically clear and plastically complete images. As a rule, in the art of classicism, modern political, moral and aesthetic ideals are embodied in characters, conflicts, situations borrowed from the arsenal of ancient history, mythology, or directly from ancient art.

The aesthetics of classicism guided poets, artists, composers to create works of art that are distinguished by clarity, consistency, strict balance and harmony. All this, according to the classicists, was fully reflected in the ancient art culture. For them, reason and antiquity are synonyms. The rationalistic nature of the aesthetics of classicism manifested itself in the abstract typification of images, strict regulation of genres, forms, in the interpretation of the ancient artistic heritage, in the appeal of art to reason, and not to feelings, in an effort to subordinate the creative process to unshakable norms, rules and canons (the norm is from lat. norma - guiding principle, rule, pattern; generally accepted rule, pattern of behavior or action).

As in Italy the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance found the most typical expression, so in France in the 17th century. - the aesthetic principles of classicism. By the 17th century. the artistic culture of Italy has largely lost its former influence. But the innovative spirit of French art was clearly evident. At this time, an absolutist state was formed in France, which united society and centralized power.

The consolidation of absolutism meant the victory of the principle of universal regulation in all spheres of life, from economics to spiritual life. Debt is the main regulator of human behavior. The state embodies this duty and acts as a kind of entity alienated from the individual. Submission to the state, the fulfillment of the public duty is the highest virtue of the individual. A person is no longer thought of as free, as was typical of the Renaissance worldview, but subordinate to norms and rules alien to him, limited by forces beyond his control. The regulating and limiting force appears in the form of an impersonal mind, to which the individual must obey and act in accordance with his dictates and prescriptions.

The high rise in production contributed to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics, and this, in turn, led to the victory of rationalism (from the Latin ratio - reason) - a philosophical trend that recognizes reason as the basis of knowledge and behavior of people.

Ideas about the laws of creativity and the structure of a work of art are as much due to the epochal type of worldview as the picture of the world and the concept of personality. Reason, as the highest spiritual ability of a person, is conceived not only as an instrument of cognition, but also as an organ of creativity and a source of aesthetic pleasure. One of the most striking leitmotifs of Boileau's Poetic Art is the rational nature of aesthetic activity:

French classicism asserted the personality of a person as the highest value of being, freeing him from religious and church influence.

Interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome manifested itself back in the Renaissance, which, after centuries of the Middle Ages, turned to the forms, motives and subjects of antiquity. The greatest theorist of the Renaissance, Leon Batista Alberti, back in the 15th century. expressed ideas that foreshadowed certain principles of classicism and were fully manifested in Raphael's fresco "School of Athens" (1511).

The systematization and consolidation of the achievements of the great Renaissance artists, especially the Florentine ones, led by Raphael and his student Giulio Romano, formed the program of the Bologna school at the end of the 16th century, the most characteristic representatives of which were the Carracci brothers. In their influential Academy of Arts, the Bolognese preached that the path to the heights of art lies through a scrupulous study of the heritage of Raphael and Michelangelo, imitation of their mastery of line and composition.

Following Aristotle, classicism considered art to be an imitation of nature:

However, nature was understood by no means as a visual picture of the physical and moral world, presented to the senses, but precisely as the highest intelligible essence of the world and of man: not a specific character, but his idea, not a real-historical or modern plot, but a universal human conflict situation, not given landscape, but the idea of ​​a harmonious combination of natural realities in an ideal-perfect unity. Classicism found such an ideal and beautiful unity in ancient literature - it was she who was perceived by classicism as the already reached peak of aesthetic activity, an eternal and unchanging standard of art, which recreated in its genre models that very high ideal nature, physical and moral, which art should imitate. It so happened that the thesis about imitation of nature turned into a prescription to imitate ancient art, from where the term "classicism" came from (from Latin classicus - exemplary, studied in class):

Thus, nature in classical art appears not so much reproduced as modeled after a high model - “decorated” with the generalizing analytical activity of the mind. By analogy, one can recall the so-called “regular” (ie, “correct”) park, where trees are trimmed in the form of geometric shapes and symmetrically planted, paths with regular shapes are strewn with colored pebbles, and water is enclosed in marble pools and fountains. This style of gardening art reached its peak in the era of classicism. The desire to present nature “decorated” also implies the absolute predominance of poetry over prose in the literature of classicism: if prose is identical to simple material nature, then poetry, as a literary form, is undoubtedly the ideal “decorated” nature. "

In all these ideas about art, namely as a rational, ordered, normalized, spiritual activity, the hierarchical principle of thinking of the 17th-18th centuries was realized. Within itself, literature also turned out to be divided into two hierarchical rows, low and high, each of which thematically and stylistically was associated with one - material or ideal - level of reality. Low genres included satire, comedy, fable; to the high - ode, tragedy, epic. In low genres, everyday material reality is depicted, and a private person appears in social relations (in this case, of course, both a person and reality are all the same ideal conceptual categories). In high genres, a person is presented as a spiritual and social being, in the existential aspect of his existence, alone and along with the eternal foundations of the issues of being. Therefore, for high and low genres, not only thematic, but also class differentiation on the basis of a character's belonging to a particular social stratum turned out to be relevant. The hero of low genres is a middle-class person; the hero of the tall - a historical person, a mythological hero or a fictional high-ranking character - as a rule, a ruler.

In low genres, human characters are formed by low everyday passions (avarice, hypocrisy, hypocrisy, envy, etc.); in high genres, passions acquire a spiritual character (love, ambition, vindictiveness, a sense of duty, patriotism, etc.). And if everyday passions are unambiguously unreasonable and vicious, then existential passions are divided into reasonable - social and unreasonable - personal, and the hero's ethical status depends on his choice. He is unequivocally positive if he chooses a rational passion, and unequivocally negative if he chooses an unreasonable one. Classicism did not allow halftones in its ethical assessment - and this also reflected the rationalistic nature of the method, which excluded any mixture of high and low, tragic and comic.

Since in the genre theory of classicism those genres that reached the greatest flourishing in ancient literature were legalized as the main ones, and literary creativity was thought of as a reasonable imitation of high models, the aesthetic code of classicism acquired a normative character. This means that the model of each genre was established once and for all in a clear set of rules, which were unacceptable to deviate from, and each specific text was aesthetically evaluated according to the degree to which it corresponded to this ideal genre model.

Ancient examples became the source of the rules: the epic of Homer and Virgil, the tragedy of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Seneca, the comedy of Aristophanes, Menander, Terentius and Plautus, the ode of Pindar, the fable of Aesop and Phaedrus, the satire of Horace and Juvenal. The most typical and indicative case of such a genre regulation is, of course, the rules for the leading classicist genre, tragedies drawn from both the texts of ancient tragedians and from Aristotle's Poetics.

For the tragedy, a poetic form was canonized ("Alexandrian verse" - a six-foot iambic with a paired rhyme), a mandatory five-act construction, three unities - time, place and action, high style, historical or mythological plot and conflict, which presupposes a mandatory situation of choosing between reasonable and unreasonable passion, and the very process of choice was to constitute the action of the tragedy. It was in the dramatic section of the aesthetics of classicism that rationalism, hierarchy and normativity of the method were expressed with the greatest completeness and obviousness:

Everything that has been said above about the aesthetics of classicism and the poetics of classicist literature in France applies equally to almost any European variety of the method, since French classicism was historically the earliest and aesthetically most authoritative embodiment of the method. But for Russian classicism, these general theoretical positions found a kind of refraction in artistic practice, since they were conditioned by the historical and national characteristics of the formation of the new Russian culture of the 18th century.

2.4. Classicism in painting

At the beginning of the 17th century, young foreigners flock to Rome to get acquainted with the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. The most prominent place among them was occupied by the Frenchman Nicolas Poussin, in his paintings, mainly on the themes of ancient antiquity and mythology, who gave unsurpassed examples of geometrically accurate composition and thoughtful correlation of color groups. Another Frenchman, Claude Lorrain, in his antiquated landscapes of the surroundings of the "eternal city" ordered pictures of nature by harmonizing them with the light of the setting sun and introducing peculiar architectural curtains.

Poussin's cold-minded normativeism won the approval of the Versailles court and was continued by court artists like Lebrun, who saw in classicist painting the ideal artistic language for praising the absolutist state of the "sun king." Although private clients preferred various options for Baroque and Rococo, the French monarchy kept Classicism afloat by funding academic institutions such as the School of Fine Arts. The Rome Prize provided the most talented students with the opportunity to visit Rome for a first-hand acquaintance with the great works of antiquity.

The discovery of "genuine" antique painting during the excavations of Pompeii, the deification of antiquity by the German art critic Winckelmann and the cult of Raphael, preached by an artist close to him in his views, Mengs, breathed new breath into classicism in the second half of the 18th century (in Western literature, this stage is called neoclassicism). The largest representative of the "new classicism" was Jacques-Louis David; his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals of the French Revolution ("Death of Marat") and the First Empire ("Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I").

In the 19th century, the painting of classicism enters a period of crisis and becomes a force that holds back the development of art, not only in France, but also in other countries. The artistic line of David was successfully continued by Ingres, while preserving the language of classicism in his works he often turned to romantic plots with an oriental flavor ("Turkish Baths"); his portraits are marked by a subtle idealization of the model. Artists in other countries (like, for example, Karl Bryullov) also filled the works of classicism in form with the spirit of romanticism; this combination is called academicism. Numerous art academies served as its breeding grounds. In the middle of the 19th century, the younger generation gravitating towards realism, represented in France by the Courbet circle, and in Russia by the Itinerants, rebelled against the conservatism of the academic establishment.

2.5. Classicism in sculpture

The impetus for the development of classicist sculpture in the middle of the 18th century was the works of Winckelmann and archaeological excavations of ancient cities, which expanded the knowledge of contemporaries about ancient sculpture. Sculptors such as Pigalle and Houdon fluctuated on the verge of Baroque and Classicism in France. Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the field of plastic in the heroic and idyllic works of Antonio Canova, who drew inspiration mainly from the statues of the Hellenistic era (Praxitel). In Russia, Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, Ivan Martos gravitated towards the aesthetics of classicism.

Public monuments, which became widespread in the era of classicism, gave sculptors the opportunity to idealize the military valor and wisdom of statesmen. Fidelity to the ancient model required sculptors to depict models naked, which contradicted accepted moral norms. To resolve this contradiction, contemporary figures were initially depicted by sculptors of classicism in the form of naked ancient gods: Suvorov in the form of Mars, and Pauline Borghese in the form of Venus. Under Napoleon, the issue was resolved by switching to the image of contemporary figures in antique togas (such are the figures of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the Kazan Cathedral).

Private customers of the era of classicism preferred to immortalize their names in tombstones. The popularity of this sculptural form was facilitated by the arrangement of public cemeteries in the main cities of Europe. In accordance with the classicist ideal, figures on tombstones tend to be in a state of deep rest. The sculpture of classicism is generally alien to sharp movements, external manifestations of such emotions as anger.

Late, Empire Classicism, represented primarily by the prolific Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, is imbued with a dryish pathos. Purity of lines, restraint of gestures, dispassionateness of expressions are especially appreciated. In the choice of role models, the emphasis shifts from Hellenism to the archaic period. Religious images are coming into fashion, which, as interpreted by Thorvaldsen, make a somewhat chilling impression on the viewer. The gravestone sculpture of late classicism often carries a slight touch of sentimentality.

2.6. Classicism in architecture

The main feature of the architecture of classicism was the appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as a standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by regularity of planning and clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. For classicism, symmetric-axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning are characteristic.

The architectural language of classicism was formulated at the close of the Renaissance by the great Venetian master Palladio and his follower Scamozzi. The Venetians made the principles of ancient temple architecture so absolute that they applied them even in the construction of such private mansions as Villa Capra. Inigo Jones brought Palladianism north to England, where local Palladian architects followed the Palladian precepts with varying degrees of fidelity until the mid-18th century.

By that time, a satiety of late Baroque and Rococo "whipped cream" began to accumulate among the intellectuals of continental Europe. Born by the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini, the Baroque thinned out in the Rococo, predominantly chamber style with an emphasis on interior decoration and arts and crafts. For the solution of large urban planning problems, this aesthetics was of little use. Already under Louis XV (1715-74), urban planning ensembles in the "ancient Roman" taste were built in Paris, such as the Place de la Concorde (architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel) and the Church of Saint-Sulpice, and under Louis XVI (1774-92) a similar "noble laconicism ”is already becoming the main architectural direction.

The most significant interiors in the classicist style were designed by the Scotsman Robert Adam, who returned to his homeland from Rome in 1758. He was greatly impressed by both the archaeological research of Italian scientists and the architectural fantasies of Piranesi. In Adam's interpretation, classicism appeared as a style that was hardly inferior to rococo in terms of sophistication of interiors, which earned him popularity not only among democratically minded circles of society, but also among the aristocracy. Like his French counterparts, Adam preached a complete rejection of details lacking a constructive function.

The Frenchman Jacques-Germain Soufflot, during the construction of the Saint-Genevieve church in Paris, demonstrated the ability of classicism to organize vast urban spaces. The massive grandeur of his projects foreshadowed the megalomania of Napoleonic Empire and late classicism. In Russia, Bazhenov was moving in the same direction as Soufflot. The Frenchmen Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and Etienne-Louis Bull went even further towards developing a radical visionary style with a bias towards abstract geometrization of forms. In revolutionary France, the ascetic civic pathos of their projects was in little demand; Ledoux's innovation was fully appreciated only by modernists of the 20th century.

The architects of Napoleonic France drew inspiration from the majestic images of military glory left behind by imperial Rome, such as the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus and Trajan's Column. By order of Napoleon, these images were transferred to Paris in the form of the triumphal arch of Carrousel and the Vendome Column. With reference to the monuments of military greatness of the era of the Napoleonic wars, the term "imperial style" is used - Empire. In Russia, Karl Rossi, Andrei Voronikhin and Andreyan Zakharov showed themselves to be outstanding masters of the Empire style. In Britain, the Empire style corresponds to the so-called. "Regency style" (the largest representative is John Nash).

The aesthetics of classicism favored large-scale urban planning projects and led to the ordering of urban development on the scale of entire cities. In Russia, practically all provincial and many uyezd cities were redesigned in accordance with the principles of classicist rationalism. Such cities as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh and a number of others have turned into genuine open-air classicism museums. The entire space from Minusinsk to Philadelphia was dominated by a single architectural language dating back to Palladio. Ordinary development was carried out in accordance with the albums of standard projects.

In the period following the Napoleonic wars, classicism had to coexist with romantically colored eclecticism, in particular with the return of interest in the Middle Ages and the fashion for architectural neo-Gothic. In connection with the discoveries of Champollion, Egyptian motives are gaining popularity. Interest in ancient Roman architecture gives way to reverence for everything ancient Greek ("neo-Greek"), which was especially clearly manifested in Germany and the United States. German architects Leo von Klenze and Karl Friedrich Schinkel are building up Munich and Berlin, respectively, with grandiose museums and other public buildings in the spirit of the Parthenon. In France, the purity of classicism is diluted with free borrowing from the architectural repertoire of the Renaissance and the Baroque (see Beauz-ar).

2.7. Classicism in literature

The founder of the poetics of classicism is considered the Frenchman François Malherbe (1555-1628), who carried out the reform of the French language and verse and developed poetic canons. The leading representatives of classicism in drama were the tragedians Corneille and Racine (1639-1699), whose main subject of creativity was the conflict between public duty and personal passions. "Low" genres also reached high development - fable (J. La Fontaine), satire (Boileau), comedy (Molière 1622-1673).

Boileau became famous throughout Europe as the "legislator of Parnassus", the largest theorist of classicism, who expressed his views in the poetic treatise "Poetic Art". Under his influence in Great Britain were the poets John Dryden and Alexander Pope, who made the main form of English poetry Alexandrina. For English prose of the era of classicism (Addison, Swift), Latinized syntax is also characteristic.

Classicism of the 18th century developed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The work of Voltaire (1694-1778) is directed against religious fanaticism, absolutist oppression, filled with the pathos of freedom. The goal of creativity is to change the world for the better, to build society itself in accordance with the laws of classicism. From the standpoint of classicism, the Englishman Samuel Johnson surveyed contemporary literature, around whom a brilliant circle of like-minded people formed, including the essayist Boswell, the historian Gibbon and the actor Garrick. Three unities are characteristic of dramatic works: the unity of time (the action takes place one day), the unity of the place (in one place) and the unity of the action (one plot line).

In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the transformations of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of "three calmness", which was essentially an adaptation of the French classical rules to the Russian language. Images in classicism are devoid of individual traits, since they are called upon, first of all, to capture stable generic signs that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been in the focus of attention of Russian classicist writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that presuppose a mandatory author's assessment of historical reality have received great development: comedy (D.I.Fonvizin), satire (A.D. Kantemir), fable (A.P. Sumarokov, I.I. (Lomonosov, G.R.Derzhavin).

In connection with the call proclaimed by Rousseau for closeness to nature and naturalness, crisis phenomena are growing in classicism at the end of the 18th century; the absolutization of reason is replaced by the cult of tender feelings - sentimentalism. The transition from classicism to pre-romanticism was most vividly reflected in the German literature of the era of "Storm and Onslaught", represented by the names of J. V. Goethe (1749-1832) and F. Schiller (1759-1805), who, following Rousseau, saw in art the main force of education person.

2.8. Classicism in music

The concept of classicism in music is consistently associated with the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, called Viennese classics and determined the direction of further development of musical composition.

The concept of "music of classicism" should not be confused with the concept of "classical music", which has a more general meaning as the music of the past that has stood the test of time.

The music of the era of Classicism glorifies the actions and deeds of a person, the emotions and feelings experienced by him, an attentive and holistic human mind.

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism

Russian classicism arose in similar historical conditions - its prerequisite was the strengthening of autocratic statehood and the national self-determination of Russia since the era of Peter I. Europeanism of the ideology of Peter's reforms aimed Russian culture at mastering the achievements of European cultures. But at the same time, Russian classicism arose almost a century later than French: by the middle of the 18th century, when Russian classicism was just beginning to gain strength, in France it reached the second stage of its existence. The so-called "Enlightenment classicism" - a combination of classicist creative principles with the pre-revolutionary ideology of the Enlightenment - flourished in the works of Voltaire in French literature and acquired an anticlerical, socially critical pathos: a few decades before the Great French Revolution, the times of apology for absolutism were already a distant history. Russian classicism, due to its strong connection with secular cultural reform, firstly, initially set itself educational tasks, trying to educate its readers and instruct monarchs on the path of public good, and secondly, it acquired the status of a leading trend in Russian literature towards at the time when Peter I was no longer alive, and the fate of his cultural reforms was jeopardized in the second half of the 1720s - 1730s.

Therefore, Russian classicism begins "not with the fruit of the spring - an ode, but with the fruit of the autumn - satire," and socially-critical pathos is characteristic of it from the very beginning.

Russian classicism also reflected a completely different type of conflict than Western European classicism. If in French classicism the socio-political beginning is only the soil on which the psychological conflict of reasonable and unreasonable passion develops and the process of free and conscious choice between their decrees is carried out, then in Russia, with its traditionally anti-democratic collegiality and the absolute power of society over the individual, the matter was completely otherwise. For the Russian mentality, which had just begun to comprehend the ideology of personalism, the need for the humility of the individual in front of society, the personality in front of the authorities was not at all such a tragedy as it was for the Western worldview. The choice, which is relevant for the European consciousness as an opportunity to prefer one thing, in Russian conditions turned out to be imaginary, its outcome was predetermined in favor of society. Therefore, the very situation of choice in Russian classicism has lost its conflict-forming function, and another has come to replace it.

The central problem of Russian life in the 18th century. there was a problem of power and its continuity: not a single Russian emperor after the death of Peter I and before the accession of Paul I in 1796 came to power in a legal way. XVIII century - this is an age of intrigues and palace coups, which too often led to the absolute and uncontrolled power of people who did not correspond not only to the ideal of an enlightened monarch, but also to the idea of ​​the role of the monarch in the state. Therefore, Russian classicist literature immediately took a political and didactic direction and reflected this problem as the main tragic dilemma of the era - the inconsistency of the ruler with the duties of the autocrat, the conflict of experiencing power as an egoistic personal passion with the idea of ​​power exercised for the benefit of his subjects.

Thus, the Russian classicist conflict, while retaining the situation of a choice between rational and unreasonable passion as an external plot drawing, was fully realized as a socio-political in nature. The positive hero of Russian classicism does not humble his individual passion in the name of the common good, but insists on his natural rights, defending his personalism from tyrannical encroachments. And the most important thing is that this national specificity of the method was well understood by the writers themselves: if the plots of French classicistic tragedies were drawn mainly from ancient mythology and history, then Sumarokov wrote his tragedies on the subjects of Russian chronicles and even on the subjects of not so distant Russian history.

Finally, another specific feature of Russian classicism was that it did not rely on such a rich and continuous tradition of national literature as any other national European variety of method. What any European literature had at the time of the emergence of the theory of classicism - namely, a literary language with an ordered style system, the principles of versification, a defined system of literary genres - all this had to be created in Russian. Therefore, in Russian classicism, literary theory has outstripped literary practice. The normative acts of Russian classicism - the reform of versification, the reform of the style and the regulation of the genre system - were implemented between the mid-1730s and the end of the 1740s. - that is, basically before a full-fledged literary process unfolded in Russia in the mainstream of classicist aesthetics.

3. Conclusion

For the ideological prerequisites of classicism, it is essential that the individual's striving for freedom is assumed here to be just as legitimate as the need of society to bind this freedom with laws.

The personal principle continues to retain that immediate social significance, that independent value, which it was first endowed with by the Renaissance. However, in contrast to him, now this beginning belongs to the individual, along with the role that society now receives as a social organization. And this implies that any attempt by the individual to defend his freedom in spite of society threatens him with the loss of the fullness of life ties and the transformation of freedom into a devastated subjectivity devoid of any support.

The category of measure is a fundamental category in the poetics of classicism. It is unusually multifaceted in content, has both a spiritual and a plastic nature, touches but does not coincide with another typical concept of classicism - the concept of a norm - and is closely connected with all aspects of the ideal affirmed here.

The classicist mind as a source and guarantor of balance in nature and human life bears the stamp of poetic faith in the original harmony of all that exists, trust in the natural course of things, confidence in the presence of an all-encompassing correspondence between the movement of the world and the formation of society, in the humanistic, human-oriented nature of this communication.

I am close to the period of classicism, its principles, poetry, art, creativity in general. The conclusions that classicism makes about people, society, and the world seem to me to be the only true and rational. Measure, as the middle line between opposites, the order of things, systems, and not chaos; strong relationship of a person with society against their rupture and enmity, excessive genius and selfishness; harmony against extremes - in this I see the ideal principles of being, the foundations of which are reflected in the canons of classicism.

List of sources

In literature, classicism originated and became widespread in France in the 17th century. Nicolas Boileau is considered the theorist of classicism, who formed the basic principles of the style in the article "Poetic Art". The name comes from the Latin "classicus" - exemplary, which emphasizes the artistic basis of the style - the images and forms of antiquity, which began to be of particular interest at the end of the Renaissance. The emergence of classicism is associated with the formation of the principles of a centralized state and the ideas of "enlightened" absolutism in it.

Classicism praises the concept of reason, believing that only with the help of the mind it is possible to obtain and order the picture of the world. Therefore, the main thing in the work becomes its idea (that is, the main idea and form of the work should be in harmony), and the main thing in the conflict of reason and feelings is reason and duty.

The basic principles of classicism, characteristic of both foreign and domestic literature:

• Forms and images from antique (ancient Greek and ancient Roman) literature: tragedy, ode, comedy, epic, poetic odic and satirical forms.
• A clear division of genres into "high" and "low". The "high" are ode, tragedy and epic, the "low", as a rule, funny - comedy, satire, fable.
• A distinctive division of heroes into good and bad.
• Compliance with the principle of the trinity of time, place, action.

Classicism in Russian literature

XVIII century

In Russia, classicism appeared much later than in European states, since it was "brought" along with European works and education. The existence of the style on Russian soil is customary to fit into the following framework:

1. The end of the 1720s, the literature of Peter the Great's time, secular literature, which differs from the church literature, which until then dominated in Russia.

The style began to develop first in translated, then in original works. The names of A.D. Kantemir, A.P. Sumarokov and V.K. Trediakovsky are associated with the development of the Russian classical tradition (reformers and developers of the literary language, they worked on poetic forms - on odes and satire).

1. 1730-1770 - the heyday of the style and its evolution. Associated with the name of M. V. Lomonosov, who wrote tragedies, odes, poems.
2. The last quarter of the 18th century is the appearance of sentimentalism and the beginning of the crisis of classicism. The time of late classicism is associated with the name of DI Fonvizin, the author of tragedies, dramas and comedies; G.R.Derzhavin (poetic forms), A.N. Radishchev (prose and poetic works).

(A. N. Radishchev, D. I. Fonvizin, P. Ya. Chaadaev)

DI Fonvizin and AN Radishchev became not only developers, but also destroyers of the stylistic unity of classicism: Fonvizin in comedies violates the principle of trinity, introduces ambiguity in the assessment of heroes. Radishchev becomes a harbinger and developer of sentimentalism, providing psychologism to the narrative, rejecting its conventions.

(Representatives of classicism)

19th century

It is believed that classicism existed by inertia until the 1820s, but during late classicism, the works created within its framework were classical only formally, or its principles were used deliberately to create a comic effect.

Russian classicism of the early 19th century departs from its breakthrough features: the assertion of the primacy of reason, civic pathos, opposition to the arbitrariness of religion, against its oppression over reason, criticism of the monarchy.

Classicism in foreign literature

The original classicism was based on the theoretical developments of ancient authors - Aristotle and Horace ("Poetics" and "Epistle to the Pisons").

In European literature, with identical principles, the style ends its existence since the 1720s. Representatives of classicism in France: François Malherbe (poetry, reformation of the poetic language), J. La Fontaine (satirical works, fable), J.-B. Moliere (comedy), Voltaire (drama), J.-J. Rousseau (late classicist prose writer, forerunner of sentimentalism).

There are two stages in the development of European classicism:

• The development and flourishing of the monarchy, contributing to the positive development of the economy, science and culture. At this stage, the representatives of classicism see their task as glorifying the monarch, asserting its inviolability (François Malherbe, Pierre Corneille, leading genres - ode, poem, epic).
• The crisis of the monarchy, the discovery of shortcomings in the political system. Writers do not glorify, but rather criticize the monarchy. (J. La Fontaine, J.-B. Moliere, Voltaire, leading genres - comedy, satire, epigram).

Instructions

Classicism as a literary movement originated in the 16th century, in Italy. First of all, theoretical developments concerned drama, a little less - poetry, and last of all prose. The current was most developed a hundred years later in France, and it is associated with such names as Cornel, Racine, La Fontaine, Moliere and others. An orientation toward antiquity is characteristic of classicism. Authors of that time believed that a writer should be guided not by inspiration, but by rules, dogmas, and proven models. The text should be coherent, logical, clear and precise. How to determine if the text in front of you belongs to the direction of "classicism".

For classicism, the position of "trinity" is fundamentally important. There is only one action, and it takes place in one place and at the same time. The only storyline unfolds in one place in - it came to classicism from antiquity.

Definition of the conflict. The works of the era of classicism are characterized by the opposition of reason and feeling, duty and passion. At the same time, negative characters are guided by emotions, and positive ones live by reason, therefore they win. At the same time, the positions of the heroes are very clear, only white and black. The main concept is the concept of duty, civil service.

When working with heroes, the presence of stable masks attracts attention. Necessarily present: a girl, her girlfriend, father, several suitors (at least three), while one of the suitors is a positive, positive hero, reflecting morality. The images are devoid of individuality, because their purpose is to capture the basic, generic characteristics of the heroes.

Definition of composition. Classicism presupposes the presence of exposure, setting, plot development, culmination and denouement. At the same time, a certain one is necessarily interwoven into the plot, as a result of which the girl plays a wedding with a "positive" groom.

Evidence of the text's belonging to classicism reinforces the methods of catharsis and unexpected denouement. In the first case, through negative characters who find themselves in a difficult situation, the reader is cleared spiritually. In the second, the conflict is resolved by outside interference. For example, a command from above, the manifestation of divine will.

Classicism portrays life in an idealized way. In this case, the task of the work is to improve society and its mores. The texts were designed for the largest possible audience, which is why the authors paid special attention to the genres of drama.

One of the most important elements in the composition of any literary work is the climax. The climax, as a rule, is located before the very denouement in the work.

The term "culmination" in literary criticism

This term comes from the Latin word "culminatio", which means the highest point of tension of any forces within the work. Most often the word "culminatio" is translated as "top", "peak", "sharpening". In a literary work, an emotional peak is most often implied.

In literary criticism, the word "culmination" is customary to denote the moment of the highest tension within the development of an action in a work. This is the moment when an important clash (even decisive) occurs between characters in the most difficult circumstances. After this collision, the plot of the work is rapidly moving towards a denouement.

It is important to understand that through characters, the author usually confronts ideas, the carriers of which are the characters of the works. Each of them appears in the work not by chance, but precisely with the purpose of moving their idea and opposing the main idea (it can often coincide with the author's idea).

Difficult climax in the work

Depending on the complexity of the work, the number of characters, the underlying ideas, the conflicts created, the culmination of the work may become more complicated. In some voluminous novels, there are several climaxes. As a rule, this applies to epic novels (those that describe the life of several generations). The novels "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy, "Quiet Don" by Sholokhov.

Not only an epic novel can have a complex culmination, but also less voluminous works. Their compositional complexity can be explained by their ideological content, a large number of plot lines and characters. In any case, the climax always plays a significant role in the reader's perception of the text. The climax can radically change the relationships within the text and the reader's attitude to the characters and the development of the story.

The climax is an integral part of the composition of any story

The climax usually follows one or more complications of the text. The climax may be followed by a denouement, or the ending may coincide with the climax. This ending is often called "open". The culmination reveals the essence of the problem of the whole work. This rule applies to all types of literary text, from fairy tales, fables and ending with large literary works.

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Tip 3: How to highlight the key features of the hero image in the novel

The ability to highlight the key features of the heroes of the works helps when writing essays at school, serves as a good preparation for the exam in literature. To analyze an artistic image, it is important to follow a certain order of actions and draw up a plan correctly. Careful observation of the means of creating images used by the author, competent generalization of the collected material will help to most fully and accurately characterize the literary characters.

Significant means of image depiction

The artistic image is created by the author through a variety of image means. Start highlighting key features by defining the hero's place in the system of other characters in the novel: main, secondary, or off-stage. Minor characters make it possible to reveal the main character and are in the background. Off-stage perform service functions.

Literary images often have prototypes. It is known that the beloved brother of L.N. became the prototype of the young charming Natasha Rostova. Tolstoy Tanechka Bers. Ostap Bender Ilf and Petrova appeared thanks to the adventurous Odessa resident Osip Shor. Establish the presence of a prototype of the character of the analyzed novel.

Observe the main means of depicting the hero, thanks to which you get an idea of ​​the key features of the image. These include:

1. Portrait characteristics - a description of the appearance (face, figure, gait, etc.). Dress, manner of speaking, and demeanor indicate social status. Changes in facial expressions, posture and gestures are evidence of emotional experiences. The portrait expresses the attitude of the writer to his hero.


2. The main features are revealed in actions, attitudes towards the environment. The character can be simple: negative or positive. The complex is contradictory and paradoxical, it has various features. The owner of this character is constantly developing spiritually, is in search of his own life path. Behavior indicates humanity or inhumanity, deserves condemnation or empathy. Living conditions are directly related to the manifestation of various character traits.


3. Speech in classical versions of works embodies the thoughts of the character and serves as a means of communication with others. It helps establish social origins. Indicates mental abilities and inner qualities.


4. An artistic detail is very precise and vividly capable of replacing large descriptions. The artist of the word endows this detail with an emotional and semantic load. For example, M.A. To reveal the state of mind of his hero Andrei Sokolov, Sholokhov pays his main attention to "eyes, as if sprinkled with ashes."


5. The choice of a first and last name by a writer is usually not accidental. The name can indicate a human essence, prejudge actions and fate. Various options indicate personal qualities, contain a hint for understanding key character traits (Anna, Anka and Nyuska). The surname of the protagonist of the novel F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" - Raskolnikov. The schismatics are people who have separated, rejected the mainstream. Initially, the theory of Rodion Raskolnikov contradicted the laws of life and morality, therefore, separated him from those around him.


6. Direct and indirect author's characteristics of the hero of the novel also indicate the key features of the image he created.

Literary types

For a more complete understanding of the character's image, determine his relationship to a certain literary type. The classic ones are characterized by maximum typicality. Heroes are strictly divided into positive and negative. Such types are usually found in tragedies and comedies of the era of classicism. The ability to experience, introspection and emotional contemplation is inherent in sentimental heroes. An example is the young Werther from Goethe's novel. The romantic image appeared as a result of the reflection of the rebellious human spirit in art. Romantic heroes do not live by reality, they are characterized by strong feelings and secret desires. Fiery passion is the main engine of action. The most striking realistic types should be considered "little man", "superfluous man." Circumstances and environments have a strong influence on the behavior of characters in realistic novels.