Romanticism in Russian literature is short and clear. Romanticism concept

As you know, art is extremely versatile. Great amount genres and trends allows each author to realize their creative potential to the greatest extent, and the reader is given the opportunity to choose exactly the style that he likes.

One of the most popular and, without a doubt, beautiful art movements is romanticism. This direction has become widespread in late XVIII century, covering European and American culture, but later reaching Russia. The main ideas of romanticism are the pursuit of freedom, perfection and renewal, as well as the proclamation of the right of human independence. This trend, oddly enough, has spread widely in absolutely all major forms of art (painting, literature, music) and has acquired a truly massive character. Therefore, you should consider in more detail what romanticism is, and also mention its most famous figures, both foreign and domestic.

Romanticism in literature

In this area of ​​art, a similar style originally appeared in Western Europe, after the bourgeois revolution in France in 1789. The main idea of ​​romantic writers was the denial of reality, dreams of a better time and a call for the struggle to change values ​​in society. As a rule, the main character is a rebel, acting alone and looking for the truth, which, in turn, made him defenseless and confused in front of the world around him, therefore, the works of romantic authors are often saturated with tragedy.

If we compare this direction, for example, with classicism, then the era of romanticism was distinguished by complete freedom of action - writers did not hesitate to use the most different genres mixing them together and creating unique style, which, in one way or another, was based on the lyrical principle. The acting events of the works were filled with extraordinary, sometimes even fantastic events, in which he directly manifested inner world characters, their experiences and dreams.

Romanticism as a genre of painting

The fine arts also fell under the influence of romanticism, and its movement here was based on the ideas of famous writers and philosophers. Painting as such was completely transformed with the arrival of this trend, new, completely unusual images began to appear in it. Themes of romanticism touched upon the unknown, including distant exotic lands, mystical visions and dreams, and even the dark depths of human consciousness. In their work, artists largely relied on the heritage of ancient civilizations and eras (the Middle Ages, the Ancient East, etc.).

The direction of this flow in tsarist Russia was also different. If European authors touched upon anti-bourgeois topics, then Russian masters wrote on the topic of anti-feudalism.

The craving for mysticism was much weaker than that of Western representatives. Domestic leaders had a different idea of ​​what romanticism is, what can be traced in their work in the form of partial rationalism.

These factors became fundamental in the process of the emergence of new trends in art on the territory of Russia, and thanks to them the world cultural heritage knows Russian romanticism just like that.

Romanticism

In literature, the word "romanticism" has several meanings.

The artistic method presupposes a certain way of comprehending the world in art, that is, the basic principles of selection, depiction and evaluation of the phenomena of reality. The originality of the romantic method as a whole can be defined as artistic maximalism, which, being the basis of the romantic worldview, is found at all levels of the work - from the problematic and the system of images to the style.

The romantic picture of the world is hierarchical; the material in it is subordinated to the spiritual. The struggle (and the tragic unity) of these opposites can take on different guises: divine - devilish, sublime - base, heavenly - earthly, true - false, free - dependent, internal - external, eternal - transitory, natural - accidental, desired - real, exclusive - everyday. The romantic ideal, in contrast to the ideal of the classicists, concrete and accessible for embodiment, is absolute and therefore is in eternal conflict with transient reality. The artistic worldview of the romantic, thus, is based on the contrast, collision and fusion of mutually exclusive concepts - according to the researcher A.V. Mikhailov, it is "a carrier of crises, something transitional, internally in many respects terribly unstable, unbalanced." The world is perfect as a design - the world is imperfect as an embodiment. Can the irreconcilable be reconciled?

This is how a double world arises, a conventional model of a romantic universe, in which reality is far from ideal, and the dream seems unrealizable. Often the connecting link between these worlds is the inner world of the romantic, in which the desire from the dull “HERE” to the beautiful “THERE” lives. When their conflict is insoluble, the motive of flight sounds: the escape from imperfect reality to otherness is thought of as salvation. The belief in the possibility of a miracle lives on in the XX century: in the story of A. S. Green “ Scarlet Sails", In the philosophical tale of A. de Saint-Exupery" The Little Prince "and in many other works.

The events that make up romantic plot usually bright and unusual; they are a kind of "peaks" on which the narrative is built (amusement in the era of romanticism becomes one of the important artistic criteria). At the event level of the work, the desire of romantics to "throw off the chains" of classicistic plausibility is clearly traced, opposing it with the author's absolute freedom, including in plotting, and this construction can leave the reader with a feeling of incompleteness, fragmentariness, as if calling for independent replenishment of the "white spots ". An external motivation for the extraordinary nature of what is happening in romantic works can be a special place and time of action (for example, exotic countries, the distant past or the future), as well as folk superstitions and legends. The portrayal of “exceptional circumstances” is primarily aimed at revealing the “exceptional personality” acting in these circumstances. The character as the engine of the plot and the plot as a way of "realizing" the character are closely related, therefore, each eventual moment is a kind of external expression of the struggle between good and evil taking place in the soul romantic hero.

One of the artistic achievements of romanticism is the discovery of the value and inexhaustible complexity of the human person. Romantics perceive a man in a tragic contradiction - as the crown of creation, "the proud lord of fate" and as a weak-willed toy in the hands of forces unknown to him, and sometimes his own passions. Freedom of the individual presupposes its responsibility: having made the wrong choice, one must be prepared for the inevitable consequences. Thus, the ideal of liberty (both politically and philosophically), which is an important component in the romantic hierarchy of values, should not be understood as preaching and poeticizing self-will, the danger of which has been repeatedly revealed in romantic works.

The image of the hero is often inseparable from the lyrical element of the author's "I", turning out to be either in tune with him, or alien. In any case, the author-narrator takes an active position in a romantic work; the narrative tends to be subjective, which can also be manifested at the compositional level - in the use of the “story within a story” technique. However, subjectivity as a general quality of romantic storytelling does not imply the author's arbitrariness and does not abolish the "system of moral coordinates." It is from the moral standpoint that the exclusiveness of the romantic hero is assessed, which can be both evidence of his greatness and a signal of his inferiority.

The "strangeness" (mysteriousness, dissimilarity to others) of the character is emphasized by the author, first of all, with the help of a portrait: spiritualized beauty, painful pallor, expressive look - these signs have long become stable, almost cliches, which is why comparisons and reminiscences are so frequent in descriptions, as if "citing" the previous samples. Here is a typical example of such an associative portrait (N.A. thoughtfully charming, resembled the face of Albrecht Durer's Madonnas ... Adelheide seemed to be the spirit of that poetry that inspired Schiller when he described his Tekla, and Goethe when he portrayed his Minion. "

The behavior of a romantic hero is also evidence of his exclusivity (and sometimes - "excluded ™" from society); often it “does not fit” into generally accepted norms and violates the conventional “rules of the game” by which all other characters live.

Society in romantic works is a kind of stereotype of collective existence, a set of rituals that does not depend on the personal will of everyone, therefore the hero here is "like a lawless comet in a circle of calculated stars." He is formed as if "in spite of the environment," although his protest, sarcasm or skepticism was born precisely by the conflict with others, that is, to some extent, due to society. The hypocrisy and deadness of the "secular rabble" in the romantic image are often correlated with the devilish, base beginning, trying to gain power over the soul of the hero. The human in the crowd becomes indistinguishable: instead of faces - masks (the motive of the masquerade - E. A. Po. "Mask of the Red Death", V. N. Olin. "Strange Ball", M. Yu. Lermontov. "Masquerade",

Antithesis as a favorite structural device of romanticism is especially evident in the confrontation between the hero and the crowd (and more broadly, the hero and the world). This external conflict can take various forms, depending on the type of romantic personality created by the author. Let's turn to the most typical of these types.

The hero is a naive eccentric who believes in the possibility of the realization of ideals, is often comical and absurd in the eyes of "sane". However, he favorably differs from them in his moral integrity, childish striving for truth, ability to love and inability to adapt, that is, to lie. The heroine of A. Green's story "Scarlet Sails" Assol, who knew how to believe in a miracle and wait for its appearance, in spite of the mockery and ridicule of "adults", was also awarded with the happiness of a dream come true.

For romantics, childishness is generally synonymous with the genuine - not burdened with conventions and not killed by hypocrisy. The discovery of this topic is recognized by many scientists as one of the main merits of romanticism. “The 18th century saw only a small adult in a child.

The hero is a tragic loner and dreamer, rejected by society and realizing his alienation to the world, is capable of open conflict with others. They seem to him limited and vulgar, living exclusively by material interests and therefore personifying some kind of world evil, powerful and destructive for the spiritual aspirations of the romantic. H

The opposition "personality - society" acquires the most acute character in the "marginal" version a hero - a romantic vagabond or a robber who takes revenge on the world for his desecrated ideals. As examples, we can name the characters of the following works: “Les Miserables” by V. Hugo, “Jean Sbogard” by Ch. Nodier, “Le Corsaire” by D. Byron.

The hero is a disappointed, "superfluous" person, who did not have the opportunity and no longer wants to realize his talents for the good of society, has lost his former dreams and faith in people. He turned into an observer and analyst, passing judgment on imperfect reality, but not trying to change it or change himself (for example, Octave in "Confessions of the Son of the Century" by A. Musset, Lermontovsky Pechorin). The fine line between pride and egoism, the consciousness of one's own exclusiveness and disdain for people can explain why so often in romanticism the cult of a lonely hero merges with his debunking: Aleko in Alexander Pushkin's poem "Gypsies" and Larra in M. Gorky's story "The Old Woman Izergil "are punished by loneliness precisely for their inhuman pride.

The hero is a demonic personality, which challenges not only society, but also the Creator, is doomed to a tragic discord with reality and with oneself. His protest and despair are organically linked, since the Truth, Goodness, and Beauty that he rejects have power over his soul. According to the researcher of Lermontov's creativity V. I. Korovin, “... a hero inclined to choose demonism as moral position, thereby abandoning the idea of ​​good, since evil does not give rise to good, but only evil. But this is a "high evil", since it is dictated by the desire for good. " The rebellion and cruelty of such a hero often becomes a source of suffering for those around him and does not bring joy to him. Acting as the "viceroy" of the devil, tempter and punisher, he himself is sometimes humanly vulnerable, for he is passionate. It is no coincidence that the motive of the "devil in love", named after the story of the same name by J. Casot, has become widespread in romantic literature. "Echoes" of this motif are heard in Lermontov's "The Demon", and in the "Secluded House on Vasilievsky" by V. P. Titov, and in the story "Who is he?" By N. A. Melgunov.

The hero is a patriot and a citizen, who is ready to give his life for the good of the Fatherland, most often does not meet with the understanding and approval of his contemporaries. In this image, pride, traditional for romance, is paradoxically combined with the ideal of selflessness - the voluntary atonement of collective sin by a lonely hero (literally, not literary sense of this word). The theme of sacrifice as a heroic deed is especially characteristic of the “civil romanticism” of the Decembrists.

Ivan Susanin from the thought of the same name of Ryleev and Gorky's Danko from the story "The Old Woman Izergil" can say the same about himself. In the works of M. Yu. Lermontov, this type is also widespread, which, according to V. I. Korovin, “... became for Lermontov the starting point in his dispute with the century. But it is no longer the concept of only the public good, rather rationalistic among the Decembrists, and not civic feelings inspire a person to heroic behavior, but his entire inner world. "

Another common type of hero can be called autobiographical, since it represents an understanding of the tragic fate of a man of art, who is forced to live, as it were, on the border of two worlds: the sublime world of creativity and the everyday world of creation. In the romantic frame of reference, a life devoid of craving for the impossible becomes an animal existence. It is this kind of existence aimed at achieving the attainable that is the basis of a pragmatic bourgeois civilization, which romantics actively reject.

Only the naturalness of nature can save from the artificiality of civilization - and in this, romanticism is consonant with sentimentalism, which discovered its ethical and aesthetic significance ("mood landscape"). For a romantic, inanimate nature does not exist - it is all spiritualized, sometimes even humanized:

It has a soul, it has freedom, it has love, it has a language.

(F.I. Tyutchev)

On the other hand, the closeness of man to nature means his "self-identity", that is, reunification with his own "nature", which is a guarantee of his moral purity(here the influence of the concept of "natural man" belonging to J. Zh. Rousseau is noticeable).

Nevertheless, the traditional romantic landscape is very different from the sentimental: instead of idyllic rural spaces - groves, oak groves, fields (horizontal) - there are mountains and the sea - height and depth, always warring "wave and stone". According to the literary critic, “... nature is recreated in romantic art as a free element, free and wonderful world, not subject to human arbitrariness "(NP Kubareva). A storm and a thunderstorm set in motion a romantic landscape, emphasizing the inner conflict of the universe. It corresponds passionate nature romantic hero:

Oh i'm like a brother

A hug with a storm would be glad!

With the eyes of the clouds I followed

I caught lightning with my hand ...

(M. Yu. Lermontov. "Mtsyri")

Romanticism, like sentimentalism, opposes the classicist cult of reason believing that "there is much in the world, friend of Horatio, that our sages never dreamed of." But if the sentimentalist considers feeling to be the main antidote to rational narrow-mindedness, then the romantic maximalist goes further. The feeling is replaced by passion - not so much human as superhuman, uncontrollable and spontaneous. It raises the hero above the ordinary and connects him with the universe; it reveals to the reader the motives of his actions, and often becomes an excuse for his crimes.

Romantic psychologism is based on the desire to show the inner regularity of the words and deeds of the hero, at first glance inexplicable and strange. Their conditionality is revealed not so much through the social conditions of character formation (as it will be in realism), but through the clash of the overwhelming forces of good and evil, the battlefield of which is the human heart (this idea sounds in the novel by E. T. A. Hoffman “Elixirs Satan "). ...

Romantic historicism is based on understanding the history of the Fatherland as the history of the family; the genetic memory of the nation lives in each of its representatives and explains a lot in his character. Thus, history and modernity are closely related - an appeal to the past for most romantics becomes one of the ways of national self-determination and self-knowledge. But unlike the classicists, for whom time is nothing more than a convention, the romantics try to correlate the psychology of historical characters with the customs of the past, to recreate the “local flavor” and “spirit of the times” not as a masquerade, but as a motivation for the events and actions of people. In other words, there must be a "immersion in the era", which is impossible without a thorough study of documents and sources. “Facts colored by the imagination” is the basic tenet of romantic historicism.

Concerning historical figures, then in romantic works they rarely correspond to their real (documentary) appearance, idealizing depending on author's position and its artistic function - to set an example or to warn. It is characteristic that in his warning novel "Prince of Silver" A. K. Tolstoy shows Ivan the Terrible only as a tyrant, not taking into account the inconsistency and complexity of the tsar's personality, and Richard the Lionheart in reality did not at all look like the exalted image of the knight king , as shown by W. Scott in the novel "Ivanhoe".

In this sense, the past is more convenient than the present for creating an ideal (and at the same time, as if real in the past) model of national existence, opposing the wingless modernity and degraded compatriots. The emotion expressed by Lermontov in the poem "Borodino" -

Yes, there were people in our time,

Mighty, dashing tribe:

Bogatyrs are not you, -

is very characteristic of many romantic works. Belinsky, speaking about Lermontov's "Song about ... the merchant Kalashnikov", stressed that it "... testifies to the state of mind of the poet, dissatisfied with modern reality and transported from it to the distant past, in order to look for life there, which he does not see in the present ”.

Romantic poem characterized by the so-called summit composition, when the action is built around one event in which the character of the protagonist is most clearly manifested and his further - most often tragic - fate is determined. This is the case in some of the "eastern" poems of the English romanticist D. G. Byron ("Gyaur", "Corsair"), and in the "southern" poems of A. S. Pushkin (" Prisoner of the Caucasus"," Gypsies "), and in Lermontov's" Mtsyri "," Song about ... the merchant Kalashnikov "," The Demon ".

Romantic drama seeks to overcome classic conventions (in particular, the unity of place and time); she does not know the speech individualization of the characters: her characters speak "the same language." It is extremely conflictual, and most of all this conflict is associated with the irreconcilable confrontation between the hero (internally close to the author) and society. Because of the inequality of forces, a collision rarely ends in a happy ending; the tragic ending can also be associated with contradictions in the soul of the protagonist, his internal struggle... Typical examples of romantic drama are Lermontov's Masquerade, Byron's Sardanapalus, and Hugo's Cromwell.

One of the most popular genres in the era of romanticism was the story (most often the romantics themselves called the story or novella with this word), which existed in several thematic varieties. The plot of a secular story is based on the discrepancy between sincerity and hypocrisy, deep feelings and social conventions (EP Rostopchina. "The Duel"). Household story subordinated to moral-descriptive tasks, depicting the life of people, in some ways unlike the others (MP Pogodin. "Black sickness"). In a philosophical story, the basis of the problematics are "damned questions of life", the answers to which are offered by the heroes and the author (M. Yu. Lermontov. "Fatalist"), Satirical tale is aimed at debunking triumphant vulgarity, in different guises representing the main threat to the spiritual essence of man (VF Odoevsky. "The Tale of a Dead Body Who Does Not Know Who Belongs to"). Finally, fantastic story built on plot penetration supernatural characters and events that are inexplicable from the point of view of everyday logic, but natural from the point of view of the higher laws of being, which have a moral nature. Most often, quite real actions of the character: careless words, sinful actions become the cause of miraculous retribution, reminiscent of the responsibility of a person for everything he does (A.S. Pushkin. " The Queen of Spades", N. V. Gogol. "Portrait").

Romantics breathed new life into folklore genre fairy tales, not only contributing to the publication and study of monuments of oral folk art but also creating their own original works; one can recall the brothers Grimm, V. Hauf, A.S. Pushkin, P.P. Ershov, and others. Moreover, the tale was understood and used quite widely - from the way of recreating the folk (children's) view of the world in stories with so-called folk fiction (for example , "Kikimora" by O. M. Somov) or in works addressed to children (for example, "Town in a Snuffbox" by V. F. Odoevsky) to the general quality of truly romantic creativity, a universal "canon of poetry": "Everything poetic should be fabulous, ”argued Novalis.

The peculiarity of the romantic artistic world manifests itself at the linguistic level. Romantic style, of course, heterogeneous, appearing in many individual varieties, has some common features. It is rhetorical and monologic: the heroes of the works are the “linguistic counterparts” of the author. The word is valuable to him for its emotionally expressive capabilities - in romantic art it always means immeasurably more than in everyday communication. Associativity, saturation with epithets, comparisons and metaphors becomes especially evident in portrait and landscape descriptions, where the main role assimilations play, as it were, replacing (obscuring) a specific image of a person or a picture of nature. Romantic symbolism is based on the endless "expansion" of the literal meaning of some words: the sea and the wind become symbols of freedom; morning dawn - hopes and aspirations; blue flower (Novalis) - an unattainable ideal; night - the mysterious essence of the universe and human soul etc.

The history of Russian romanticism began in the second half of the 18th century. Classicism, excluding the national as a source of inspiration and the subject of depiction, contrasted high samples of artistry with the "rough" common people, which could not but lead to the "monotony, limitation, convention" (A. Pushkin) of literature. Therefore, gradually the imitation of ancient and European writers gave way to the desire to focus on the best examples of national creativity, including folk.

The formation and formation of Russian romanticism is closely connected with the most important historical event of the 19th century - the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. The rise of national consciousness, belief in the great purpose of Russia and its people stimulate interest in what previously remained outside the boundaries of fine literature. Folklore, domestic legends are beginning to be perceived as a source of originality, independence of literature, which has not yet completely freed itself from the student's imitation of classicism, but has already taken the first step in this direction: if you learn, then from your ancestors. This is how O. M. Somov formulates this task: “... The Russian people, glorious in military and civil virtues, formidable in strength and magnanimous in victories, inhabiting a kingdom, the largest in the world, rich in nature and memories, must have their own folk poetry, inimitable and independent of alien legends. "

From this point of view, the main merit of V. A. Zhukovsky lies not in the "discovery of America of romanticism" and not in the acquaintance of Russian readers with the best Western European examples, but in a deeply national understanding of world experience, in combining it with the Orthodox world outlook, which asserts:

Our best friend in this life is Faith in Providence, the Law of the Creator's Blessings ...

("Svetlana")

The romanticism of the Decembrists KF Ryleev, AA Bestuzhev, VK Kuchelbecker is often called "civil" in the science of literature, since in their aesthetics and creativity the pathos of serving the Fatherland is fundamental. References to the historical past are called upon, according to the authors, "to excite the valor of fellow citizens by the exploits of their ancestors" (A. Bestuzhev's words about K. Ryleev), that is, to contribute to a real change in reality, far from ideal. It was in the poetics of the Decembrists that such common features of Russian romanticism as anti-individualism, rationalism and civicism were clearly manifested - features that indicate that in Russia romanticism is more likely the heir of the ideas of the Enlightenment than their destroyer.

After the tragedy of December 14, 1825, the romantic movement enters a new era - the civic optimistic pathos is replaced by a philosophical orientation, self-deepening, attempts to learn the general laws that govern the world and man. Russian romantics-wisdom (D. V. Venevitinov, I. V. Kireevsky, A. S. Khomyakov, S. V. Shevyrev, V. F. Odoevsky) turn to German idealistic philosophy and seek to "graft" it into their native soil. The second half of the 20s - 30s is a time of fascination with the miraculous and supernatural. A. A. Pogorelsky, O. M. Somov, V. F. Odoevsky, O. I. Senkovsky, A. F. Veltman turned to the genre of the fantastic story.

V general direction from romanticism to realism, the work of the great classics of the 19th century - A.S. Pushkin, M.Yu. Lermontov, N.V. Gogol develops, and we should not talk about overcoming the romantic principle in their works, but about transforming and enriching it with a realistic method of comprehending life in art. It is precisely on the example of Pushkin, Lermontov and Gogol that one can see that romanticism and realism as the most important and deeply national phenomena in Russian culture XIX centuries do not oppose each other, they are not mutually exclusive, but mutually complementary, and only in their combination is the unique appearance of our classical literature born. Soulful romantic look on the world, the correlation of reality with the highest ideal, the cult of love as an element and the cult of poetry as insight, we can find in the works of the remarkable Russian poets F.I.Tyutchev, A.A.Fet, A.K. Tolstoy. Intense attention to the mysterious sphere of being, the irrational and the fantastic is characteristic of the late Turgenev's work, which develops the traditions of romanticism.

In Russian literature at the turn of the century and at the beginning of the 20th century, romantic tendencies are associated with the tragic outlook of a person of the "transitional era" and with his dream of transforming the world. The concept of the symbol, developed by the romantics, was developed and embodied in the art of Russian Symbolists (D. Merezhkovsky, A. Blok, A. Bely); love for the exoticism of distant wanderings was reflected in the so-called neo-romanticism (N. Gumilev); the maximalism of artistic aspirations, the contrasting perception of the world, the desire to overcome the imperfection of the world and man are integral components of M. Gorky's early romantic work.

In science, the question of chronological boundaries is still open, which put a limit to the existence of romanticism as an artistic direction. Traditionally they call the 40s of the XIX century, but more and more often in modern research it is proposed to move these boundaries - sometimes significantly, until the end of the 19th or even up to the beginning of the 20th century. One thing is indisputable: if romanticism as a direction and left the stage, giving way to realism, then romanticism as an artistic method, that is, as a way of knowing the world in art, retains its vitality to this day.

Thus, romanticism in broad sense this word is not a historically limited phenomenon left in the past: it is eternal and still represents something more than a literary phenomenon. "Where there is a person, there is romanticism ... His sphere ... is the entire inner, soulful life of a person, that mysterious soil of the soul and heart, from which all indefinite aspirations for the best and the sublime rise, striving to find satisfaction in the ideals created by fantasy." ... “Genuine romanticism is by no means only literary movement... He aspired to become and became ... new form feeling, a new way of experiencing life ... Romanticism is nothing more than a way to arrange, organize a person, a bearer of culture, for a new connection with the elements ... Romanticism is a spirit that strives under any solidified form and ultimately explodes it. .. "These statements by VG Belinsky and AA Blok, pushing the boundaries of the familiar concept, show its inexhaustibility and explain its immortality: as long as a person remains a person, romanticism will exist both in art and in everyday life.

Representatives of romanticism

Currents 1. Subjective-lyrical romanticism, or ethical and psychological (includes the problems of good and evil, crime and punishment, the meaning of life, friendship and love, moral duty, conscience, retribution, happiness): V. A. Zhukovsky (ballads "Lyudmila", "Svetlana", "Twelve sleeping virgins", "Forest Tsar", "Aeolian harp"; elegies, songs, romances, messages; poems "Abbadon", "Undine", "Nal and Damayanti"), K. N. Batyushkov (messages, elegies, poetry).

2. Social and civic romanticism: K. F. Ryleev (lyric poems, "Dumas": "Dmitry Donskoy", "Bogdan Khmelnitsky", "Death of Ermak", "Ivan Susanin"; poems "Voinarovsky", "Nalivaiko"),

A. A. Bestuzhev (pseudonym - Marlinsky) (poems, stories "The frigate" Nadezhda "", "Sailor Nikitin", "Ammalat-Bek", " Terrible fortune-telling"," Andrey Pereyaslavsky "),

B. F. Raevsky (civil lyrics),

A. I. Odoevsky (elegies, historical poem "Vasilko", response to Pushkin's "Message to Siberia"),

D. V. Davydov (civil lyrics),

B. K. Küchelbecker (civil lyrics, drama "Izhora"),

3. "Byronic" romanticism: A. Pushkin(the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", civil lyrics, a cycle of southern poems: "Prisoner of the Caucasus", "Brothers-robbers", "Bakhchisarai fountain", "Gypsies"),

M. Yu. Lermontov (civil lyrics, poems "Ismail-Bey", "Haji Abrek", "Fugitive", "Demon", "Mtsyri", drama "Spaniards", historical novel "Vadim"),

I. I. Kozlov (poem "Chernets").

4. Philosophical romanticism: D.V. Venevitinov (civil and philosophical lyrics),

V. F. Odoevsky (collection of short stories and philosophical conversations "Russian Nights", romantic stories "The Last Quartet of Beethoven", "Sebastian Bach"; fantastic stories "Igosha", "Sylphide", "Salamander"),

F.N. Glinka (songs, poems),

V.G. Benediktov (philosophical lyrics),

F. I. Tyutchev (philosophical lyrics),

E. A. Baratynsky (civil and philosophical lyrics).

5. People's historical romanticism: M. N. Zagoskin (historical novels "Yuri Miloslavsky, or Russians in 1612", "Roslavlev, or Russians in 1812", "Askold's grave"),

I. I. Lazhechnikov (historical novels "Ice House", "Last Novik", "Basurman").

Features of Russian romanticism... The subjective romantic image contained an objective content, which was expressed in the reflection of the social moods of the Russian people of the first third of XIX century - disappointment, a premonition of change, rejection of both the Western European bourgeoisie and the Russian despotically autocratic, feudal foundations.

Striving for nationality. It seemed to Russian romantics that, comprehending the spirit of the people, they were familiar with the ideal beginnings of life. At the same time, understanding “ folk soul”And the content of the very principle of nationality among representatives of various trends in Russian romanticism was different. Thus, among Zhukovsky, nationality meant a humane attitude towards the peasantry and, in general, towards poor people; he found her in folk ritual poetry, lyric songs, folk signs, superstitions, legends. In the work of the romantic Decembrists, the folk character is not just positive, but heroic, nationally distinctive, which is rooted in the historical traditions of the people. They found such a character in historical, predatory songs, epics, heroic tales.

Romanticism(Romanticism) is an ideological and artistic trend that arose in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of the 19th century, as a reaction to the aesthetics of classicism. Originally formed (1790s) in philosophy and poetry in Germany, and later (1820s) spread to England, France and other countries. He predestinated latest development art, even those of its directions that opposed it.

Freedom of expression became the new criteria in art, increased attention to the individual, unique features of a person, naturalness, sincerity and relaxedness, which replaced the imitation of the classic models of the 18th century. Romantics rejected the rationalism and practicality of the Enlightenment as mechanistic, impersonal, and artificial. Instead, they prioritized the emotionality of expression, inspiration.

Feeling free from the declining system of aristocratic government, they strove to express their new views, revealed by them the truth. Their place in society has changed. They found their readers among the growing middle class, ready to emotionally support and even bow to the artist - a genius and a prophet. Restraint and humility were rejected. They were replaced by strong emotions, often reaching extremes.

Young people were especially influenced by romanticism, having received the opportunity to study and read a lot (which is facilitated by the rapid development of printing). She is inspired by the ideas of individual development and self-improvement, the idealization of personal freedom in the worldview, combined with the rejection of rationalism. Personal development was placed above the standards of a vain and already fading aristocratic society. The romanticism of educated youth changed the class society of Europe, marking the beginning of the emergence of an educated "middle class" in Europe. And the picture " Wanderer over the sea of ​​fog"with good reason can be called a symbol of the period of romanticism in Europe.

Some romantics have turned to the mysterious, enigmatic, even terrible, folk beliefs, fairy tales. Romanticism was in part associated with democratic, national and revolutionary movements, although the "classical" culture of the French Revolution actually slowed down the arrival of Romanticism in France. At this time, several literary movements, the most important of which - "Storm and Onslaught" in Germany, primitivism in France, led by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Gothic novel, there is an increased interest in the sublime, ballads and old romances (from which the term "Romanticism" actually originated). The source of inspiration for German writers, theorists of the Jena school (brothers Schlegel, Novalis and others), who declared themselves romantics, was the transcendental philosophy of Kant and Fichte, which put at the forefront creative possibilities mind. These new ideas, thanks to Coleridge, penetrated England and France, and also determined the development of American transcendentalism.

Thus, Romanticism began as a literary movement, but had a significant impact on music and less on painting. V fine arts Romanticism manifested itself most vividly in painting and graphics, less in architecture. In the 18th century, the favorite motives of artists were mountain landscapes and picturesque ruins. Its main features are dynamic composition, volumetric spatiality, rich color, chiaroscuro (for example, the works of Turner, Gericault and Delacroix). Other romantic artists include Fuseli and Martin. Creativity of the Pre-Raphaelites and neo-gothic style in architecture can also be seen as a manifestation of Romanticism.

a period in the history of literature of the late 18th - first half of the 19th century, as well as a trend in art and literature that arose in Europe and America at that time with uniform artistic ideas and literary style, distinguished by a certain set of themes, images and techniques. Romantic works are characterized by a rejection of the rationalism and rigid literary rules inherent in classicism, the literary movement from which romanticism was based. Romanticism contrasts the strict rules of classicism with the freedom of the writer-creator. The individuality of the author, his peculiar inner world are the highest values ​​for romantics. The romantic worldview is characterized by the so-called double world - the opposition of the ideal to a meaningless, boring or vulgar reality. The ideal beginning in romanticism can be either the creation of the imagination, the artist's dream, or the distant past, or the way of life of peoples and people "natural", free from the chains of civilization, or the other world. Melancholy, sadness, inescapable grief, despair are the moods that distinguish romantic literature.

The word "romantic" existed in European languages ​​long before the era of romanticism. It meant, firstly, belonging to the genre of the novel, and secondly, belonging to the literature in the Romance languages ​​that developed in the Middle Ages - Italian, French, Spanish. Thirdly, the most expressive and exciting (sublime and picturesque) in life and literature was called romantic. The word "romantic" as a characteristic of medieval poetry, in many respects unlike ancient poetry, spreads after the publication in England of T. Wharton's treatise "On the origin of romantic poetry in Europe" (1774). Defining a new era in European literature and the new ideal of beauty, the word "romantic" became in aesthetic treatises and literary-critical articles of the late 1790s. German writers and thinkers belonging to the so-called. "Jena school" (named after the city of Jena). The works of the brothers F. and A. Schlegel, Novalis (the poetic cycle "Hymns to the Night", 1800; the novel "Heinrich von Ofterdingen", 1802), L. Tieck (the comedy "Puss in Boots", 1797; the novel "The Wanderings of Franz Sternbald" , 1798) expressed such features of romanticism as an orientation towards folk poetry and medieval literature, an orientation towards the connection between literature and philosophy and religion. They own the concept of "romantic irony", meaning irony caused by the discrepancy between the lofty ideal and reality: romantic irony is outwardly directed at an abstract ideal, but in essence its subject is an ordinary, dull or vicious reality. In the work of the late romantics: the prose writer E. T. A. Hoffmann (cycle of fantastic short stories and fairy tales "The Serapion Brothers", 1819–21; novel " Worldly views cat Moore ... ", 1819-21, not finished), poet and prose writer G. Heine (poetic" Book of Songs ", 1827; poem" Germany, winter's tale", 1844; prosaic "Travel Pictures", 1829-30) - the motive of the gap between the dream and everyday reality prevails, grotesque techniques are abundantly used, including for satirical purposes.

V English literature romanticism was expressed primarily in the writings of the so-called poets. "Lake school" W. Wordsworth, ST Coleridge, R. Southey, in the poetry of PB Shelley and J. Keats. Like German, English romanticism cultivates national antiquity, but it is less philosophical and religious. In Europe, the most famous of the English romantics was J.G. Byron, who created examples of the genre romantic poem("Gyaur", 1813, "The Abydos Bride", 1813; "Lara", 1814). The poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–21) enjoyed particular success. Byron created the sublime images of individualistic heroes who challenge the world, in his poetry God-fighting motives and criticism are strong modern civilization... In prose, the English romantic W. Scott created the genre of the historical novel, and Charles R. Maturin - the adventure fantasy novel Melmot the Wanderer (1820). The term "romanticism" as a designation of a new literary period began to be used in England quite late, in the 1840s.

French romanticism clearly manifested itself in the genre of the novel dedicated to selfishness and the "disease of the century" - disappointment: "Adolphe" (1815) B. Constant, Stendhal's novels, "Confessions of the Son of the Century" (1836) by A. de Musset. French romantics turn to the exotic material of the life of the social bottom, as, for example, the early O. de Balzac, like J. Jeanin in the novel Dead Donkey and the Guillotined Woman (1829). The prose of Balzac, V. Hugo, J. Janin, dedicated to the depiction of strong passions, full of vivid contrasts and spectacular images, was called "frenzied literature." In French drama, romanticism is affirmed in a fierce struggle with classicism (dramas by V. Hugo).

In US literature, romanticism is represented by prose: novels from the history of North America by J.F. Cooper, novels and short stories by W. Irving, fantastic and detective stories by E.A. Poe.

The first in Russia romantic works lyric poems and ballads by V.A.Zhukovsky, inspired by Western European romanticism, became. The influence of J.G. Byron is noticeable in the work of A.S. Pushkin, especially in the works of the first half. 1820s (Russian version of the Byronic romantic poem). Romantic traits characteristic of the lyrics and poems of E. A. Baratynsky and other poets. The prose of Russian romanticism is dominated by the so-called. secular, fantastic, philosophical and historical stories (A. A. Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, V. F. Odoevsky, N. V. Gogol, etc.). Romantic motives of loneliness are presented in the works of M. Yu. Lermontov. Romantic symbolism of dissonance, discord between man and the natural world, being as an unstable combination of two principles: harmony and chaos - the motives of F.I.Tyutchev's poetry.

The term "romanticism" is also used to refer to the artistic method, which includes works created after the end of romanticism as a literary period. Thus, researchers attribute many works of literature of the 20th century to romanticism, for example, the prose of A. Green and K.G. Paustovsky. As a variant of romanticism, such a literary movement as symbolism is sometimes considered.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

ROMANTISM is an artistic method and an international literary movement that arose in Western Europe at the end of the 18th century, and in Russia in early XIX and remained productive and leading up to the 40s, among some authors (like V. Hugo) and later.

The word "romantic" is earlier. It, “appeared in the second half of the 17th century. in England, then, several decades later, in France and Germany, it meant a reference to the novel (“as in a novel”), and the concept of the latter went back to the chivalrous genre, which assumed an extraordinary picture of the world, different from the one perceived in everyday life ”. That is, initially everything fantastic was called romantic.<еское>, unusual, strange, found only in books, and not in reality ”. Rationalistic classicism claimed plausibility (this motivated the rule of "three unities" in drama - the unity of place, time and action), especially the Western European educational literature XVIII v. Meanwhile, the historical events at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. caused disappointment in the illusions of the enlighteners about a reasonable device public life, the vicissitudes of history and the fate of its most prominent figures contributed to the spread of irrationalism and increased emotionality of perception of the environment. An extraordinary person with powerful passions, completely independent, equalized with the whole world, opposed to everything outside of her, began to appear as the highest value. Romanticism became an expression of this attitude in art.

“Romantics reproduced the characters of their time - the characters of people who had departed from their old connections and were just entering a new system of relationships. But they mastered these characters, artistically typed them in such a way that a break with the old conditions of life was absolutized by them in the form of complete independence of the individual from anyone or anything: neither from God, nor from generic human nature, nor from the circumstances surrounding him, in the form of an absolute value in itself of a separate human person ”.

The confrontation between an exceptional personality and a base (in its scale) world leads to “world sorrow” (“disease of the century”) of the characters and lyrical heroes of romantic literature, which was especially acutely manifested in the work of J.G.N. Byron, who significantly influenced Russian literature (Pushkin of the period of southern exile and especially Lermontov). The reaction to the imperfection of the world was daydreaming in the ‘‘ passive ”and“ active ”(rebellious) versions and its consequence - romantic“ dual world ”. The first Russian romantic V.A. Zhukovsky wrote about the impossibility of conveying in earthly language the divine essence of life, “this is the presence of the Creator in creation” (“The Ineffable”, 1819). Young Lermontov, who, as it were, kept a kind of poetic diary, admitted: “My soul, I remember, from childhood / Wonderful was looking for” (“June 1831, 11 days”) - and even earlier: “In my mind I created another world / And images of other existence; / I tied them together with a chain, / I gave them a look, but did not give them a name ... ”(“ Russian Melody ”, 1829). The "active", recalcitrant romanticist Lermontov was no less a dreamer than the "passive", meek Zhukovsky, who created a deliberately conventional fantasy world"Scary" ballads. In 1840, Lermontov recalled his early years: “So the kingdom of the wondrous omnipotent master - / I sat alone for long hours, / And their memory is still alive / Under a storm of painful doubts and passions ...” (“As often, surrounded by a motley crowd. .. ”). In dreams I have exhausted my mental strength and his hero Pechorin, whose still largely romantic character is shown in many respects realistically. Grushnitsky is an epigone of truly romantic consciousness and behavior, vulgarizing what began as a protest against the vulgarity, ordinariness of people and the surrounding reality.

Among the romantic "other worlds" there were other historical epochs. It was in romanticism that historicism appeared, which later became one of the foundations of realism, and Walter Scott created the genre of the historical novel, in which the adventures of fictional characters, often between two warring camps, come to a successful conclusion with the participation of historical characters, not the main ones, but playing in the plot crucial role(The scheme of Walterscott's novel is preserved in Pushkin's The Captain's Daughter, a work that is already in many respects realistic). Awareness of the differences historical eras happened against the background of the realization of stable national characteristics life and consciousness of every nation, so that the romantics were the first artists who consciously reproduced the national specifics (in Russia, initially under the name of “nationality”), both of their own people and others: exotic, especially Caucasian, became one of the hallmarks of Russian romanticism and in verse (poems by Pushkin, Lermontov), ​​and in prose (the story of A.A. Bestuzhev, who wrote under the pseudonym Marlinsky). Romantic historical novels were created by M.N. Zagoskin, I.I. Lazhechnikov. Romantic type Historicism, which sharply opposed different epochs, and did not link them with a chain of natural development (“Yes, there were people in our time ...”), remained in poetic works that acquired noticeable realistic features (“Borodino”, “Song about Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich ... ”,“ Duma ”by Lermontov).

In general, the peculiarity of Russian romanticism is that it was not “pure” at sunrise and sunset. In the lyrics of Zhukovsky, mainly early, the influence of sentimentalism ( hypersensitivity in the poeticization of simple, ordinary human relations), in the verses of K.N. Batyushkova - epicureanism (glorification of the joys of life) of the 18th century, in the poetry of the Decembrists K.F. Ryleeva, V.K. Kuchelbecker, as well as Pushkin of the Petersburg (post-Lyceum) period - the high style of classicism. At the same time, Russian literature passed from romanticism to realism in the person of its highest geniuses not later, and even somewhat earlier than Western European ones. On the other hand, in general, within the framework of romanticism, the poetry of its most prominent representatives E.A. Baratynsky and F.I. Tyutchev (the latter lived to 1873), the lyric poetry of A.A. Fet, in general, romanticism dominates and in the multi-genre work of A.K. Tolstoy.

Nevertheless, in the 1890s. the impression of absolute novelty made early works M. Gorky, clothed in the form of exotic stories, legends and "songs". They are also called romantic for lack of a more suitable definition, but this is already another, obviously conventional, as if stylized “romanticism” created by a realist artist: Gorky not only wrote in the same 90s. quite realistic works, but also in “romantic” ones he indirectly reproduced modern socio-historical problems (in “The Old Woman Izergil” Larra and Danko indirectly express the ideas of bourgeois individualism and civil service, including revolutionary sacrifice, and at the same time the story quite convincingly recreates the features of archaic consciousness and behavior). To the literature of the 20th century, for example, the work of A. Green, the concept of "romanticism" is also applied by inertia, due to the lack of terms to designate similar, but still different phenomena. At the same time, the term “neo-romanticism” is quite acceptable, especially in relation to symbolism (see: Modernism).

Romance should be distinguished from romanticism - a kind of sublime attitude to life, deeply personal, especially emotional, inspired by the desire for certain ideals, often vague, resulting from dissatisfaction with everyday life. The corresponding type of content in art may be inherent not only to romanticism. From the number realists XIX v. I.S. Turgenev. V Soviet time romance as a kind of enthusiasm was imposed, at first successfully, on both literature and the consciousness of people, especially young people.