Natural school. Natural school "in Russian literature

N. V. Gogol was the head and founder of the "natural school", which became the cradle of a whole galaxy of great Russian writers: A., I. Herzen, I. S. Turgenev, N. A. Nekrasov, I. A. Goncharov, M.E.-Saltykov-Shchedrin and others. FM Dostoevsky wrote: “We all came out of Gogol’s Overcoat,” underlining the leading role of the writer in the “natural school”. Author " Dead souls"Was the successor of A.S. Pushkin, continued the work begun in the" Station superintendent "and" The Bronze Horseman"The theme of the" little "person. We can say that throughout its entire creative path NV Gogol consistently revealed two themes: love for a "little" person and exposure of the vulgarity of a vulgar person.

The famous "Overcoat" can serve as an example of the reflection of the first of these themes. In this work, which was completed in 1842. Go-gol showed the whole tragedy of the situation of the poor raznochinets, "little" person, for whom the purpose of life, the only dream is the acquisition of things. In "The Overcoat" sounds the author's angry protest against the humiliation of the "little" person, against injustice. Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is the quietest and most inconspicuous man, a zealous worker, he suffers constant humiliation and insults from various " significant persons”, Younger and more successful colleagues. New overcoat for this insignificant official, a dream and a heavy concern are unattainable. Denying himself everything, Bashmachkin acquires an overcoat. But the joy was short-lived, he was robbed. The hero was shocked, he fell ill and died. The author emphasizes the typical character of the character, at the beginning of the work he writes: "So, one official served in one department." Nikolai Gogol's story is built on the contrast between the inhuman environment and its victim, to which the author treats with love and sympathy. When Bashmach-kin asks young officials not to laugh at him, other words rang in his "penetrating words: I am your brother." It seems to me that with this phrase, Gogol not only expresses his own life position but also tries to show inner world character. In addition, it is also a reminder to readers of the need for a human relationship to others. Akaki Akakievich is not able to fight injustice, only in unconsciousness, practically in delirium, he was able to show dissatisfaction with people who so grossly humiliated him, trampled on his dignity. The author speaks in defense of the offended "little" person. The ending of the story is fantastic, although it also has real motivations: "a significant person" is driving along an unlit street after drinking champagne, and he could have seen anything. The finale of this work made an indelible impression on the readers. For example, S. P. Stroganov said: "What a terrible story by Gogolev" The Overcoat ", after all, this ghost on the bridge simply drags an overcoat from each of us's shoulders." A ghost tearing off an overcoat on a bridge is a symbol of the protest of a humiliated person, which is neo-existent in reality, and impending vengeance.

The theme of the "little" person is also revealed in the "Diary of a Madman". This work tells the typical story of a modest official Poprishchina, spiritually crippled by life, in which “everything that is best in the world, everything goes either to the kamer-junkers or to the generals. If you find yourself a poor wealth, you think to get it with your hand - the chamber-cadet or the general rips off you. " The hero did not bear injustice, endless humiliation and went mad. The titular councilor Poprishchin is aware of his own insignificance and suffers from this. Unlike the protagonist of "The Overcoat", he is a loving person, even ambitious, he wants to be noticed, to play any prominent role in society. The sharper his torment, the stronger the humiliation he experiences, the freer from the power of reason his dream becomes. Thus, in the story "Notes of a Madman Walking" is presented a terrifying discord between reality and the dream, which leads the hero to madness, the death of a person .. Akaki Bashmachkin and Poprishchin are victims of the system that existed at that time in Russia. But we can say that such people always fall prey to any bureaucratic machine. , The second theme of Nikolai Gogol's creativity is reflected in such works of his as "Old-world landowners", "How Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich", in the wonderful poem " Dead Souls"And many others.

The exposure of the vulgarity of society, begun in the Petersburg Tales, was later continued in the collection Mirgorod and in Dead Souls. All these works are characterized by such a depiction method as a sharp contrast between the external goodness and the internal ugliness of the heroes. Suffice it to recall the image of Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov or Ivan Ivanovich. In his creations, N.V. Gogol tried to ridicule everything that was bad around him. He wrote that "even those who are no longer afraid of anything are afraid of laughter." At the same time, he tried to show the influence of the environment on the formation of a person, his formation as a person.

We can say that N.V. Gogol was a writer-moralist, believing that literature should help people understand life, determine their place in it. He strove to show the readers that things are unfair in the world around you, just as A.S. Pushkin encouraged "good feelings" in people.

The themes started by N. V. Gogol "were later continued in different ways by the writers of the" natural school ".

Natural school, literary direction 40s 19th century, which arose in Russia as the "school" of N. V. Gogol (A. I. Herzen, D. V. Grigorovich, V. I. Dal, A. V. Druzhinin, N. A. Nekrasov, I. S . Turgenev, etc.). Theorist V.G.Belinsky.

The main editions of the almanac: "Physiology of Petersburg" (parts 1-2, 1845) and "Petersburg collection" (1846).

The emergence of the "natural school" is due historically, the convergence of literature with life in the first decade of the 19th century. The creativity of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol prepared the development in the "natural school" and its successes. The famous 19th century critic Apollo Grigoriev saw the origins of the "natural school" in the appeal of Pushkin and Gogol to folk life... A critical portrayal of reality becomes main goal Russian writers. On the basis of Dead Souls, Belinsky formulated the basic principles of the aesthetics of the “natural school”. He outlined the path of development of Russian literature as a reflection of the social side of life, a combination of the "spirit" of analysis and the "spirit" of criticism. Belinsky's activities as an ideological inspirer were aimed at providing all-round support to writers following Gogol's path. Belinsky welcomed the appearance in literature of Herzen, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, immediately identifying the features of their talent. Belinsky supported Koltsov, Grebenok, Dal, Kudryavtsev, Kokarev and saw in their work the triumph and values ​​of the "natural school". The work of these writers made up an entire era in the development of Russian literature in the second half of the 19th century, but the origins date back to the 40s of the 19th century. These writers published their first works in the magazine “ Domestic notes". They formed a "natural school". Empathy and compassion for the poor and humiliated person, disclosure the spiritual world little man(peasants, petty officials), anti-serfdom and anti-noble motives are the main features of the "natural school". Poetry in the 40s makes the first steps towards a rapprochement with life. Nekrasov speaks in the spirit of the "natural school" with poems about the poor and humiliated people. The term "natural school" was put forward by Fadel Bulgarin in order to humiliate the writers of the Gogol school. Belinsky picked up this term and assigned realism to the writers. The influence of the "natural school" has been felt in recent decades.

1840-1849 (2 stages: from 1840 to 1846 - until Belinsky left the journal Otechestvennye zapiski and from 1846 to 1849)

Literary and social movements in the 60s of the 19th century.

The reign of Nicholas I is characterized by bureaucracy.

Nikitenko helped Gogol publish Dead Souls when Moscow censorship refused Gogol.

1848-1855 - gloomy seven years

Nicholas I dies in 1855

The first period of the reign of Alexander II is called the "Liberal Spring". The society is seized with optimism, a dispute arises about the ways of development of literature on the Pushkin and Gogol trends.

3 trends: liberal democracy and liberal aristocracy (landlord class), revolutionary democracy.

Rent - on non-chernozem lands

Corvee - the peasants work for the landowner

Literature development

60s of the 19th century - a decisive democratization of artistic consciousness. The pathos itself changes qualitatively in these years. From the question "who is to blame?" literature addresses the question "what to do?"

Complicated public life there is a differentiation with an increase in the political struggle.

Pushkin's artistic universe turned out to be unique. A sharper specialization of literature is taking place. Tolstoy entered literature as the creator of War and Peace. Ostrovsky is realized in drama. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, a poet, lyricist, epic, realist, author of stories, dramas, and prose poems, tried to preserve the Pushkin universe, but Turgenev was forced to limit his psychological analysis.

Attention to the "little man"

Almost always, people who are forgotten and humiliated by all do not attract special attention of those around them. Their life, their little joys and big troubles seemed to everyone insignificant, unworthy of attention. Such people and such an attitude towards them were produced by the era. The cruel time and the royal injustice forced the “little people” to withdraw into themselves, go completely into their soul, which suffered, with the painful problems of that period, they lived an imperceptible life and also imperceptibly dying. But it was precisely such people who sometimes, by the will of circumstances, obeying the cry of the soul, began to fight against the mighty of the world this, to appeal to justice, ceased to be a rag. Therefore, nevertheless, they became interested in their life, the writers, gradually, began to devote some scenes in their works to just such people, their lives. With each work, the life of the people of the "lower" class was shown more clearly and truthfully. Little officials station keepers, “Little people”, who went crazy, not of their own free will, began to emerge from the shadows, surrounding the world resplendent hall.

Karamzin laid the foundation for a huge cycle of literature about "little people", took the first step into this previously unknown topic. It was he who opened the way for such classics of the future as Gogol, Dostoevsky and others.

It took a lot of effort for the writers to resurrect the "little man" for the readers in their books. The traditions of the classics, the titans of Russian literature, were continued by the writers of the urban direction of prose, those who wrote about the fate of the village during the years of the oppression of totalitarianism and those who told us about the world of camps. There were dozens of them. It is enough to name the names of several of them: Solzhenitsyn, Trifonov, Tvardovsky, Vysotsky, in order to understand how enormous the literature about the fate of the “little man” of the twentieth century has reached.

designation that arose in the 1840s. in Russia literary movement associated with the creative traditions of N. V. Gogol and the aesthetics of V. G. Belinsky. The term "natural school" was first used by F.V. Bulgarin as a negative, dismissive characteristic of the work of young writers, but then it was picked up by V.G.Belinsky himself, who polemically rethought its meaning, proclaiming the main goal of the school "natural", that is not a romantic, strictly truthful depiction of reality.

The formation of the natural school dates back to 1842–45, when a group of writers (N. A. Nekrasov, D. V. Grigorovich, I. S. Turgenev, A. I. Herzen, I. I. Panaev, E. P. Grebenka , V. I. Dal) united under the ideological influence of Belinsky in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. Somewhat later, F. M. Dostoevsky and M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin were published there. Soon, young writers published their program collection "Physiology of St. Petersburg" (1845), which consisted of "physiological sketches" representing live observations, sketches from nature - the physiology of life big city, mainly the life of workers and the poor Petersburg peasants (for example, "Petersburg janitor" by D. V. Grigorovich, "St. Petersburg organ-grinders" by V. I. Dal, "St. Petersburg corners" by N. A. Nekrasov). The essays expanded the reader's understanding of the boundaries of literature and were the first experience of social typification, which became a consistent method of studying society, and at the same time represented a holistic materialistic worldview, with the assertion of the primacy of socio-economic relations in the life of an individual. The collection was opened by an article by Belinsky, explaining the creative and ideological principles natural school. The critic wrote about the need for mass realistic literature, which would “in the form of travel, trips, essays, stories, and acquaint with various parts boundless and diverse Russia ... ". Writers should, according to Belinsky, not only know Russian reality, but also correctly understand it, "not only observe, but also judge." The success of the new association was consolidated by the "Petersburg Collection" (1846), which was distinguished genre diversity, included artistically more significant things and served as a kind of introduction to readers of new literary talents: the first story of F. M. Dostoevsky "Poor People", the first poems of Nekrasov about the peasants, the stories of Herzen, Turgenev, etc. were published there. Since 1847, the organ of the natural school the Sovremennik magazine became the editors of which were Nekrasov and Panaev. It publishes "Notes of a Hunter" Turgenev, " An ordinary story"I. A. Goncharova," Who is to blame? " Herzen, "The Confused Affair" by M. Ye. Saltykov-Shchedrin and others. The principles of the natural school are also described in Belinsky's articles: "Answer to the Moskvityan", "A Look at Russian Literature of 1840", "A Look at Russian Literature of 1847 . ". Not limiting themselves to describing the urban poor, many authors of the natural school also took up the depiction of the village. The first to open this topic was D. V. Grigorovich with his novellas “The Village” and “Anton-Goremyka”, which were very vividly perceived by readers, then followed by “Notes of a Hunter” by Turgenev, peasant verses by N. A. Nekrasov, and stories by Herzen.

Propagating Gogol's realism, Belinsky wrote that the natural school was more conscious than before, used the method critical image reality inherent in Gogol's satire. At the same time, he noted that this school "was the result of the entire past development of our literature and a response to the modern needs of our society." In 1848 Belinsky already asserted that the natural school occupies a leading position in Russian. literature.

The striving for facts, for accuracy and reliability put forward new principles of plot formation - not novelistic, but sketchy ones. Popular genres in the 1840s. there are essays, memoirs, travels, stories, social and social and socio-psychological stories. The socio-psychological novel also begins to occupy an important place (the first, wholly belonging to the natural school, are “Who is to blame?” By A. I. Herzen and “An Ordinary History” by I. A. Goncharov), which flourished in the second half. 19th century predetermined the glory of the Russian. realistic prose. At the same time, the principles of the natural school are transferred to poetry (verses by N. A. Nekrasov, N. P. Ogarev, poems by I. S. Turgenev) and drama (I. S. Turgenev). The language of literature is enriched at the expense of the language of newspapers, journalism and professionalism and is reduced due to the widespread use of vernacular and dialectic by writers.

The natural school was subjected to the most diverse criticism: it was accused of addiction to "low people", of "filthiness", of political unreliability (Bulgarin), of a one-sided negative approach to life, of imitation of the modern French literature. Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Turgenev and Dostoevsky, Grigorovich, Herzen, Goncharov, Nekrasov, Panaev, Dahl, Chernyshevsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin and others were ranked as "natural school".

The term "Natural school" was first used by Faddey Bulgarin as a dismissive characterization of the work of young followers of Nikolai Gogol in The Northern Bee of January 26, but was polemically rethought by Vissarion Belinsky in his article "A Look at Russian Literature of 1846": "natural", that is an artless, strictly truthful depiction of reality.

The formation of the "Natural School" dates back to 1842-1845, when a group of writers (Nikolai Nekrasov, Dmitry Grigorovich, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Ivan Panaev, Evgeny Grebenka, Vladimir Dal) united under the ideological influence of Belinsky in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. Somewhat later, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Saltykov were published there. These writers also appeared in the collections Physiology of Petersburg (1845), Petersburg Collection (1846), which became programmatic for the Natural School.

The most common signs, on the basis of which the writer was considered to belong to the Natural School, were the following: socially significant topics that captured more wide circle than even the circle of social observations (often in the "lower" strata of society), critical attitude to social reality, the realism of artistic expression, which fought against the embellishment of reality, aesthetics in itself, and romantic rhetoric.

"Thief Magpie" is the most famous story Herzen with a very complex internal theatrical structure. The story was written in the midst of disputes between Westerners and Slavophiles. Herzen brought them to the stage as the most characteristic types time. And he provided an opportunity for everyone to express themselves in accordance with their character and beliefs. Herzen, like Gogol, believed that the disputes between Westernizers and Slavophiles are "passions of the mind" raging in abstract spheres, while Life is going in your own way; and while they argue about national character and about whether it is decent or indecent for a Russian woman to be on stage, somewhere in the wilderness, in a serf theater dies great actress, and the prince shouts to her: "You are my serf girl, not an actress." The story is dedicated to M. Shchepkin, and he appears on the "stage" under the name of a "famous artist". This gives the "Thief Magpie" a special poignancy. After all, Shchepkin was a serf; his case freed him from slavery. "You know the legend about the" Thief Magpie "; - says" famous artist", - reality is not as faint of heart as dramatic writers, it goes to the end: Aneta was executed." And the whole story about the serf actress was a variation on the theme of "Thief Magpies", a variation on the theme of the guilty without guilt ... "The Thief Forty" continues the anti-serfdom theme of all the previous works of the writer. Very original in structure, this story combines journalism and bright artistry. In the story, Herzen showed spiritual beauty Russian man, Russian woman and tremendous power moral protest against the inhuman way of life.

The story "The Thief Magpie" is only a small part of the huge and versatile creative heritage Alexander Ivanovich Herzen. Among the stories of the mid-40s that revealed the inner, moral life people, this story took a special place. Like Turgenev, Nekrasov, Herzen in her drew the attention of Russian society to the especially difficult, powerless position of a serf woman. Herzen, full of interest in ideological development oppressed personality, discovered in the character of a Russian woman from the people the possibilities of independent mental growth and artistic creation that put a woman on such an intellectual and moral level that is already completely incompatible with her position as a forced slave.

Herzen being a true artist, raised a life episode to an enormous generalization. His story about the fate of the serf actress develops into a criticism of the entire serf system. Drawing in the story the sad story of an outstanding serf actress who retained her human pride even in humiliation, in slavery, the writer affirms the genius talent, inexhaustible creative possibilities, the spiritual greatness of the enslaved Russian people. Against serfdom, for personal freedom, for the emancipation of women - this is the main ideological orientation of the story. "Herzen," wrote Gorky, "was the first in his story" The Thief Magpie "to boldly speak out against serfdom in the 1940s." Herzen as a writer was unusually musical. "One false note and the orchestra perished, "he said. Hence his striving for completeness and inner integrity of each character and episode. Some of these characters contained the possibility of new variations, changes and development. And then Herzen returned to them in new works.

In the story The Thief Forty, with the current ideological battles of the time, another vital plot of national reality is mated, which also has to grow into an essential branch of the problems of the "NATURAL SCHOOL" This is the life of the peasantry in landlord captivity

Here story story the death of the serf actress is framed by a philosophical dialogue from the outside. The characters of its participants are not developed, in the portraits not individual features are highlighted, but, it would seem, external strokes, in reality, ironic metonymy signs public positions: "A young man with a comb cut", "another, cut in a circle", "a third, not at all cut." The antagonistic systems of views of the second ("Slav") and third ("European") develop freely and in detail. The first, touching in his opinions partly with the third, takes a special position, closest to the author's, and plays the role of the conductor of the dispute: puts forward its theme - "why we have rare actresses", outlines its relative boundaries. It is he who notices in the course of the dispute that life is not captured by "general formulas", that is, as if prepares the need to transfer the dialogue to a different level - artistic evidence ..

The two levels of the development of the story's problems - "a talk about the theater" in the capital's living room and events in the estate of Prince Skalinsky - are combined in the image " famous artist". He introduces into the dialogue taking place "here and now" his memories of a long-term "meeting with an actress", which become a decisive argument in a dispute about the prospects of art, culture in general in Russia and Europe, historical paths nation. The artistic result of the tragic plot: the "climate" of lawlessness and lawlessness of millions "is not healthy for an artist." However, this response of the Artist-Narrator, full of “bilious malice,” is also complicated in the Thief Magpie by means specific to Herzen, thanks to which the tragic denouement acquires special depth - and openness.

The fate of a peasant woman dying in slavery correlates directly with the fate of a culture and a people. But, moreover, the very chosen character of the serf intellectual, shown in Herzen's perspective of intense activity of feelings and intellect, “the aesthetics of actions,” gives rise to hope. High artistry of the heroine, incompatible with humiliation human dignity, thirst for emancipation, impulse to freedom bring social conflict in the plot to the utmost acuteness, to open protest in the only form possible for the heroine: she is freed at the cost of her own death.

The main plot action is enlarged, in addition, as if by additional "illumination" in two more planes. On the one hand, by the inclusion of "drama in drama" it is brought to new stage creative condensation: in the image of Aneta, created by the heroine, the beauty and dignity of man, “unyielding pride that develops on the edge of humiliation” (IV: 232), grows to a “soul-tearing” symbol. On the other hand, in the confessions of the “artist” about his and his friend-artist's act of solidarity with the actress (refusal to join the troupe, despite the “favorable conditions” of the prince: “Let him know that not everything in the world is bought” - IV: 234) the conflict is transferred to one more register, bringing it closer to the tangible truth of the fact. The inspirational and angry art of the actress, Herzen shows, is directed towards people, towards their "fraternal sympathy", just as her tragic confession itself is addressed to the human mind and feeling ("I saw you on stage: you are an artist," - with hope she speaks for understanding.). The heroine longs for spiritual unity and really finds it in the Narrator. All three gradations of conflict are united, thus, height and irreconcilability human spirit and are open to the living reality of being, they appeal to life, not speculative decisions. Thus, the traditions of a philosophical story-dialogue and a romantic “novella about an artist” are transformed into a work that reflects the cruel truth of Russian reality, filled with a powerful anti-serfdom feeling. The artistic outcome of the art dispute acquires multidimensionality and perspective. The "unhealthy climate" of despotism is fatal to talent. But at the same time, even in such conditions offending personality, art receives - in the very indignation of the creator, in the inflexibility of the human spirit - the impulse of true beauty and strength that unites people - and therefore, the guarantee of indestructibility. The future of culture, of the nation itself, lies in the liberation of its spiritual energy, in the liberation of the development of self-awareness of the people.

History of the "Natural School"

Vissarion Belinsky

The term "Natural school" was first used by Faddey Bulgarin as a dismissive characterization of the work of young followers of Nikolai Gogol in "The Northern Bee" of January 26, but was polemically rethought by Vissarion Belinsky in his article "A Look at Russian Literature of 1847": "natural", then there is an artless, strictly truthful depiction of reality. Belinsky developed the idea of ​​the existence of Gogol's literary "school" expressing the movement of Russian literature towards realism earlier: in his article "On the Russian Story and the Stories of Mr. Gogol" in 1835. The main doctrine of the "natural school" proclaimed the thesis that literature should be an imitation of reality. Here one cannot but see analogies with the philosophy of the leaders of the French Enlightenment, who proclaimed art as a "mirror of public life", whose duties were to "denounce" and "eradicate" vices.

The formation of the "Natural School" dates back to -1845, when a group of writers (Nikolai Nekrasov, Dmitry Grigorovich, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Herzen, Ivan Panaev, Evgeny Grebenka, Vladimir Dal) united under the ideological influence of Belinsky in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski. Somewhat later, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Mikhail Saltykov were published there. These writers also appeared in the collections Physiology of Petersburg (1845), Petersburg Collection (1846), which became programmatic for the Natural School.

The natural school in the extended application of the term as it was used in the 40s does not denote a single direction, but is a largely conventional concept. The Natural School included such diverse writers as Turgenev and Dostoevsky, Grigorovich, Goncharov, Nekrasov, Panaev, Dal and others. The most common features on the basis of which the writer was considered to belong to the Natural School were the following: socially significant topics that captured a wider circle than even the circle of social observations (often in the "lower" strata of society), a critical attitude to social reality, realism of the artistic expressions, who fought against embellishment of reality, aesthetics in itself, and romantic rhetoric.

Belinsky highlights the realism of the "natural school", arguing the most important feature The "truth" and not the "falsehood" of the image; he pointed out that "our literature ... from rhetorical aspired to become natural, natural." Belinsky emphasized the social orientation of this realism as its feature and task, when, protesting against the self-purpose of “art for art,” he argued that “in our time, art and literature more than ever have become an expression public affairs". The realism of the natural school in Belinsky's interpretation is democratic. The natural school does not address ideal, invented heroes - "pleasant exceptions to the rules", but to the "crowd", to the "mass", to ordinary people and most often to people of "low rank". All sorts of "physiological" sketches widespread in the 1840s satisfied this need for a reflection of a different, non-noble life, if only in an outward, everyday, superficial reflection. Chernyshevsky especially sharply emphasizes as an essential and basic feature of the "literature of the Gogol period" its critical, "negative" attitude to reality - "literature of the Gogol period" is here another name for the same natural school: it is to Gogol - the author of "Dead Souls", "The Inspector General "," The Overcoat "- how the natural school was erected by Belinsky and a number of other critics. Indeed, many writers who belong to the natural school have experienced the powerful influence of various aspects of Gogol's work. Such is his exceptional power as a satire on the "vile rassian reality", the acuteness of his presentation of the problem of the "small man", his gift to portray "the prosaic essential squabble of life." In addition to Gogol, such representatives of Western European literature as Dickens, Balzac, Georges Sand influenced the writers of the natural school.

"Natural School" drew criticism from representatives different directions: she was accused of addiction to "low people", of "filthiness", of political unreliability (Bulgarin), of a one-sided negative approach to life, of imitation of the latest French literature. "Natural School" was ridiculed in Petr Karatygin's vaudeville "Natural School" (1847). After Belinsky's death, the very name "natural school" was banned by the censors. In the 1850s, the term "Gogol's direction" was used (the title of N. G. Chernyshevsky's work "Essays on the Gogol period of Russian literature" is characteristic). Later, the term "Gogol's direction" began to be understood more broadly than the "natural school" itself, using it as a designation critical realism.

Directions

In the view of contemporary criticism, the natural school was thus a single group united by the above common features... However, the specific socio-artistic expression of these features, and hence the degree of consistency and relief of their manifestation, were so different that the natural school as a whole turns out to be a convention. Among the writers who were reckoned to her, the Literary Encyclopedia identifies three trends.

In the 1840s, disagreements had not yet sharpened to the limit. So far, the writers themselves, united under the name of the natural school, did not clearly realize the full depth of the contradictions separating them. Therefore, for example, in the collection "Physiology of St. Petersburg", one of the characteristic documents of the natural school, the names of Nekrasov, Ivan Panaev, Grigorovich, Dahl are next to each other. Hence the rapprochement in the minds of contemporaries of urbanistic essays and stories by Nekrasov with the bureaucratic stories of Dostoevsky. By the 1860s, the demarcation between writers classified as natural school would sharply sharpen. Turgenev will take an irreconcilable position in relation to "Sovremennik" by Nekrasov and Chernyshevsky and will define himself as an artist-ideologist of the "Prussian" way of capitalism development. Dostoevsky will remain in the camp that maintains the prevailing order (although democratic protest was also characteristic of Dostoevsky in the 1840s, in Poor People, for example, and in this regard he had threads that tie with Nekrasov). And finally, Nekrasov, Saltykov, Herzen, whose works will pave the way for the wide literary production of the revolutionary part of the commoners of the 1860s, reflect the interests of "peasant democracy" fighting for the "American" path of development of Russian capitalism, for the "peasant revolution."