The 19th century gave birth to a large number of talented Russian prose writers and poets. Their works quickly burst into the world and took their rightful place in it. The work of many authors around the world was influenced by them. general characteristics Russian literature of the 19th century has become the subject of study in a separate section in literary criticism. Undoubtedly, the prerequisites for such a rapid cultural rise were events in political and social life.
Story
The main trends in art and literature are formed under the influence historical events. If in the 18th century social life in Russia was relatively measured, then the next century included many important vicissitudes that influenced not only further development society and politics, but also on the formation of new trends and trends in literature.
The striking historical milestones of this period were the war with Turkey, the invasion of Napoleonic army, the execution of oppositionists, the abolition of serfdom and many other events. All of them are reflected in art and culture. A general description of Russian literature of the 19th century cannot do without mentioning the creation of new stylistic norms. The genius of the art of words was A.S. Pushkin. This great century begins with his work.
Literary language
The main merit of the brilliant Russian poet was the creation of new poetic forms, stylistic devices and unique, previously unused plots. Pushkin managed to achieve this thanks to his comprehensive development and excellent education. One day he set himself the goal of achieving all the peaks in education. And he achieved it by the age of thirty-seven. They became atypical and new for that time Pushkin's heroes. The image of Tatyana Larina combines beauty, intelligence and characteristics of the Russian soul. This literary type There were no analogues in our literature before.
Answering the question: “What is the general characteristic of Russian literature of the 19th century?”, a person with at least basic philological knowledge will remember such names as Pushkin, Chekhov, Dostoevsky. But it was the author of “Eugene Onegin” who made a revolution in Russian literature.
Romanticism
This concept originates from Western medieval epic. But to 19th century it acquired new shades. Originating in Germany, romanticism penetrated into the work of Russian authors. In prose, this direction is characterized by a desire for mystical motives and folk legends. The poetry traces the desire to transform life for the better and the glorification of folk heroes. The opposition and their tragic end became fertile ground for poetic creativity.
The general characteristics of Russian literature of the 19th century are marked by romantic moods in the lyrics, which were quite often found in the poems of Pushkin and other poets of his galaxy.
As for prose, new forms of the story have appeared here, including important place occupies a fantastic genre. Vivid examples romantic prose - early works Nikolai Gogol.
Sentimentalism
With the development of this direction, Russian literature of the 19th century begins. General prose is sensual and focuses on the reader's perception. Sentimentalism penetrated into Russian literature as early as late XVIII century. Karamzin became the founder of the Russian tradition in this genre. In the 19th century he gained a number of followers.
Satirical prose
It was at this time that satirical and journalistic works appeared. This trend can be traced primarily in the work of Gogol. Starting your creative journey with a description small homeland, this author later moved to all-Russian social topics. It is difficult today to imagine what Russian literature of the 19th century would have been like without this master of satire. The general characteristics of his prose in this genre come down not only to a critical look at the stupidity and parasitism of the landowners. The satirical writer “traversed” almost all layers of society.
A masterpiece of satirical prose was the novel “The Golovlevs,” dedicated to the theme of the poor spiritual world of landowners. Subsequently, the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, like the books of many other satirical writers, became the starting point for the emergence
Realistic novel
In the second half of the century, realistic prose developed. Romantic ideals turned out to be untenable. There was a need to show the world as it really is. Dostoevsky's prose is an integral part of such a concept as Russian literature of the 19th century. The general description briefly represents a list of important features of this period and the prerequisites for the occurrence of certain phenomena. As for Dostoevsky's realistic prose, it can be characterized as follows: the stories and novels of this author became a reaction to the mood that prevailed in society in those years. Depicting prototypes of people he knew in his works, he sought to consider and solve the most pressing issues of the society in which he moved.
In the first decades, the country glorified Mikhail Kutuzov, then the romantic Decembrists. This is clearly evidenced by Russian literature of the early 19th century. The general characteristics of the end of the century can be summed up in a few words. This is a revaluation of values. It was not the fate of the entire people, but its individual representatives that came to the fore. Hence the appearance in prose of the image of the “superfluous person.”
Folk poem
In the years when the realistic novel took a dominant position, poetry faded into the background. A general description of the development of Russian literature of the 19th century allows us to trace the long path from dreamy poetry to a truthful novel. In this atmosphere, Nekrasov creates his brilliant work. But his work can hardly be attributed to one of the leading genres of the mentioned period. The author combined several genres in his poem: peasant, heroic, revolutionary.
End of the century
At the end of the 19th century, Chekhov became one of the most read authors. Despite the fact that at the beginning of his creative career, critics accused the writer of coldness towards current social topics, his works received undeniable public recognition. Continuing to develop the image of the “little man” created by Pushkin, Chekhov studied the Russian soul. Various philosophical and political ideas, which developed at the end of the 19th century, could not help but influence the lives of individual people.
Late literature of the 19th century was dominated by revolutionary sentiments. Among the authors whose work was at the turn of the century, one of the most bright personalities became Maxim Gorky.
The general characteristics of the 19th century deserve closer attention. Each major representative of this period created his own artistic world, the heroes of which dreamed of the impossible, fought against social evil, or experienced their own small tragedy. And the main task of their authors was to reflect the realities of a century rich in social and political events.
Literature. XIX century turned out to be extremely fruitful and bright in the field of cultural development of Russia.
In a broad sense, the concept of “culture” includes all examples of human achievements in various areas of life and activity. Therefore, it is quite justified and appropriate to use such definitions as “everyday culture”, “political culture”, “ industrial culture", "rural culture", " philosophical culture"and a number of others, indicating the level of creative achievements in certain forms of human society. And everywhere there were cultural changes in the 19th century. in Russia were great and amazing.
Second half of the 19th century. became a time of not just rapid flowering of all forms and genres of creativity, but also a period when Russian culture confidently and forever took a prominent place in the cultural arena of human achievements. Russian painting, Russian theater, Russian philosophy, Russian literature established their global positions thanks to the cohort of our outstanding compatriots who worked in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Nowadays it is difficult to find enough anywhere in the world educated person, who would not know the names of F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov, F. I. Chaliapin, K. S. Stanislavsky, A. P. Pavlova, N. A. Berdyaev. These are just some of the most striking figures who will forever remain iconic in the field of Russian culture. Without them, the cultural baggage of humanity would be noticeably poorer.
The same applies to the end of that century, when a contemporary of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov was the Monk John of Kronstadt (1829-1908).
Despite the spread among the nobility various forms freethinking, skepticism and even atheism, the bulk of the population Russian Empire remained faithful to Orthodoxy. This faith, to which the Russian people have been committed for many centuries, was not at all affected by the fashionable ideological hobbies that existed in high society. Orthodoxy was the essence of what modern political science defines with the borrowed term “mentality,” but which in Russian lexical circulation corresponds to the concept of “life understanding.”
The Orthodoxy of the people influenced one way or another on all sides creative activity the most remarkable domestic masters of culture, and without taking into account the Christian impulse, it is impossible to understand why in Russia, unlike other bourgeois countries, no reverent attitude arose either to the entrepreneurs themselves or to their type of occupation. Although by the beginning of the 20th century. the triumph of capitalist relations in the country was beyond doubt; no one created literary or dramatic works in which the virtues and merits of characters from the world of capital were glorified and extolled. Even domestic periodicals, a considerable number of which were directly or indirectly financed by the “kings of business,” did not risk publishing enthusiastic praises addressed to them. Such newspapers or magazines would immediately become the object of angry vilification, would inevitably begin to lose readers, and their days would very quickly be numbered.
When talking about the Russian cultural process, taking into account the above is extremely important in two main respects.
Firstly, to understand the spiritual structure of Russian people as a whole, its fundamental difference from social environment modern Russia.
Secondly, to understand why pity for the poor, sympathy for the “humiliated and insulted” were the core motives of the entire Russian artistic and intellectual culture - from the paintings of the Wanderers to the works of Russian writers and philosophers.
This unbourgeoisness public consciousness contributed to the further establishment of communist power in the country, the ideology of which was the denial of private property and private interests.
This motif manifested itself most clearly in the works of two of the most famous representatives national culture of this period - the prophetic writers F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy.
Life paths and creative techniques Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are completely different. They were not like-minded people, they never had not only close, but even friendly relations, and although in different periods briefly belonged to certain literary and social groups (parties), but the sheer scale of their personalities did not fit within the framework of narrow ideological movements. In the turning points of their biographies, in their literary works, time was focused, spiritual quests were reflected, even throwing people XIX century, who lived in an era of constant social innovations and premonitions of the coming fatal eves.
F. M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy were not only “masters of belles-lettres”, brilliant chroniclers of times and morals. Their thought extended much further than the ordinary, deeper than the obvious. Their desire to unravel the mysteries of existence, the essence of man, to comprehend the true destiny of mortals reflected, in perhaps its highest manifestation, the disharmony between the mind and heart of man, the tremulous sensations of his soul and the coldly pragmatic hopelessness of the mind. Their sincere desire to resolve the “damned Russian questions” - what a person is and what his earthly purpose is - turned both writers into spiritual guides of restless natures, of which there have always been many in Russia. Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, having expressed the Russian understanding of life, became not only the voices of the time, but also its creators.
F. M. Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was born into a poor family of a military doctor in Moscow. He graduated from the boarding school, and in 1843 from the Main Engineering School in St. Petersburg, for some time he served as a field engineer in the engineering team of St. Petersburg. He retired in 1844, deciding to devote himself entirely to literature. Meets V. G. Belinsky and I. S. Turgenev, begins to move in the capital's literary environment. His first great work, the novel Poor People (1846), was a resounding success.
In the spring of 1847, Dostoevsky became a regular at the meetings of V. M. Petrashevsky’s circle, where pressing social issues were discussed, including the need to overthrow the existing system. Among others, the aspiring writer was arrested in the Petrashevites case. He was first sentenced to death penalty, and already on the scaffold Dostoevsky and the other accused were shown the royal mercy to replace the execution with hard labor. F. M. Dostoevsky spent about four years in hard labor (1850-1854). He described his stay in Siberia in a book of essays, Notes from the House of the Dead, published in 1861.
In the 1860-1870s. The largest literary works appeared - novels that brought Dostoevsky world fame: The Humiliated and Insulted, The Gambler, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov.
The writer completely broke with the revolutionary passions of his youth and realized the falsity and danger of theories for the violent reorganization of the world. His works are permeated with reflections on the meaning of life, on the search for life paths. Dostoevsky saw the possibility of comprehending the truth of existence only through the faith of Christ. Moralism developed from Christian socialism to Slavophilism. However, calling him a Slavophile can only be a stretch. He was one of the founders of the ideological movement called pochvenism. It made itself known in the 1860-1870s, just at the time when the work of F. M. Dostoevsky reached its peak.
The program of the magazine “Time”, which F. M. Dostoevsky began publishing in 1861, said: We are finally convinced that we are also a separate nationality, in highest degree original, and that our task is to create a form for ourselves, our own, native, taken from our soil. This position was fully consistent with the original Slavophil postulate. However, the universal universalism of Dostoevsky’s thinking was already evident at this time: We predict that the Russian idea may be a synthesis of all those ideas that Europe is developing.
This view found its highest embodiment in the writer’s famous speech at the 1880 celebrations of the opening of the monument to A.S. Pushkin in Moscow. It was in his Pushkin speech, which delighted the audience and then became the subject of fierce controversy in the press, that F. M. Dostoevsky formulated his vision of the future world. He derived his well-being from the fulfillment of Russia’s historical mission - to unite the people of the world in a fraternal union according to the covenants of Christian love and humility:
Yes, the purpose of the Russian person is undoubtedly pan-European and worldwide. To become a real Russian, to become completely Russian, perhaps, means only to become the brother of all people, an all-man, if you like. Oh, all this Slavophilism and Westernism of ours is just one great misunderstanding among us, although historically necessary. For a true Russian, Europe and the destiny of the entire great Aryan tribe are as dear as Russia itself, as is the destiny of its native land, because our destiny is universality, and not acquired by the sword, but by the power of brotherhood and our fraternal desire for the reunification of people.
Dostoevsky was not a philosopher in the strict sense of the word, he thought like an artist, his ideas were embodied in the thoughts and actions of the heroes of literary works. The writer's worldview has always remained religious. Even in his youth, when he was carried away by the ideas of socialism, he remained in the bosom of the Church. One of the most important reasons for his break with V. G. Belinsky, as F. M. Dostoevsky later admitted, was that he scolded Christ. Elder Zosima (“The Brothers Karamazov”) expressed an idea found in many literary and journalistic works of F. M. Dostoevsky: “We do not understand that life is paradise, for as soon as we want to understand, it will immediately appear before us in its entirety.” its beauty." The reluctance and inability to see the surrounding beauty stems from a person’s inability to master these gifts - “read F. M. Dostoevsky.
All his life the writer was worried about the mystery of personality; he was possessed by a painful interest in man, in the reserved side of his nature, in the depths of his soul. Reflections on this topic are found in almost all of his works of art. Dostoevsky with unsurpassed skill revealed dark sides the soul of man, the forces of destruction hidden in him, boundless egoism, denial of moral principles rooted in man. However, despite the negative aspects, the writer saw a mystery in each individual; he considered everyone, even in the form of the most insignificant, to be an absolute value. Not only was the demonic element in man revealed by Dostoevsky with unprecedented force; no less deeply and expressively are shown the movements of truth and goodness in the human soul, the angelic principle in it. Faith in man, triumphantly affirmed in all the writer’s works, makes F. M. Dostoevsky the greatest humanist thinker.
Dostoevsky, already during his lifetime, was awarded the title of a great writer among the reading public. However, his social position, his rejection of all forms of the revolutionary movement, his preaching of Christian humility caused attacks not only in radical, but also in liberal circles.
The heyday of Dostoevsky’s creativity occurred during the “riot of intolerance.” Everyone who did not share the passion for fashionable theories of a radical reorganization of society was branded as reactionaries. It was in the 1860s. the word “conservative” has become almost a dirty word, and the concept “liberal” has become synonymous with a social progressive. If before, any ideological dispute in Russia was almost always of an emotional nature, now its indispensable attribute has become intolerance towards everything and everyone that did not correspond to the flat schemes “about the main path of development of progress.” They did not want to hear the voices of opponents. As the famous philosopher B.C. wrote. Soloviev about another Russian outstanding thinker K.N. Leontyev, he dared to “express his reactionary thoughts” at a time “when it could bring him nothing but ridicule.” Opponents were bullied, they were not objected to in essence, they served only as an object of ridicule.
Dostoevsky fully experienced the moral terror of liberalizing public opinion. The attacks on him, in fact, never stopped. They were started by V. G. Belinsky, who called the writer’s early literary and psychological experiments “nervous nonsense.” There was only one short period when the name of Dostoevsky enjoyed reverence among the “priests social progress" - the end of the 1850s, when Dostoevsky became close to the circle of M. V. Petrashevsky and became a “victim of the regime.”
However, as it became clear that in his works the writer did not follow the theory of acute sociality, the attitude of liberal-radical criticism towards him changed. After appearing in print in 1871-1872. novel “Demons,” where the author showed the spiritual squalor and complete immorality of the bearers of revolutionary ideas, Dostoevsky became a target of systematic attacks. Capital newspapers and magazines regularly presented the public with critical attacks against “Dostoevsky’s social misconceptions and his caricature of the humanistic movement of the sixties.” However, the creative monumentality of the writer’s works, their unprecedented psychological depth, were so obvious that the attacks were accompanied by many routine recognitions of the master’s artistic talents.
Such endless abuse of a name had a depressing effect on the writer, and although he did not change his views and his creative style, he tried, as far as possible, not to give new reasons for attacks. A noteworthy episode in this regard dates back to the early 1880s, when populist terror was spreading in the country. It happened somehow that, together with the journalist and publisher A.S. Suvorin, the writer reflected on the topic: would he tell the police if he suddenly found out that Winter Palace mined and soon there will be an explosion and all its inhabitants will die. Dostoevsky answered this question: No. And, explaining his position, he noted: The liberals would not forgive me. They would exhaust me, drive me to despair.
Dostoevsky considered this situation with public opinion abnormal in the country, but change established practices social behavior was unable to. Great writer, an old, sick man was afraid of accusations of collaborating with the authorities, was unable to hear the roar of the educated mob.
Count L. N. Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born into a wealthy noble family. Received elementary education at home, then studied for some time at the Oriental and Law faculties of Kazan University. He didn’t finish the course; he wasn’t interested in science.
He left the university and went to the active army in the Caucasus, where the decisive phase of hostilities with Shamil unfolded. Here he spent two years (1851-1853). Service in the Caucasus enriched Tolstoy with many impressions, which he later reflected in his novels and short stories.
When the Crimean War began, Tolstoy volunteered to go to the front and took part in the defense of Sevastopol. After the end of the war, he retired, traveled abroad, then served in the administration of the Tula province. In 1861 he interrupted his service and settled on his estate Yasnaya Polyana near Tula.
There Tolstoy wrote major literary works - the novels War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection. In addition, he has written many novels, short stories, dramatic and journalistic works. The writer created a diverse panorama of Russian life, depicted the customs and life of dissimilar people social status, showed the complex struggle between good and evil in the human soul. The novel "War and Peace" still remains the most outstanding literary composition about the war of 1812
Many political and social problems attracted the attention of the writer, and he responded to them with his articles. Gradually their tone became more and more intolerant, and Tolstoy turned into a merciless critic of generally accepted moral norms and social foundations. It seemed to him that in Russia the government was not the same and the Church was not the same. The Church in general turned out to be the object of his vilification. The writer does not accept the church's understanding of Christianity. He is repulsed by religious dogmas and the fact that the Church has become part of the social world. Tolstoy broke with the Russian Orthodox Church. In response to this, in 1901 the Holy Synod excommunicated Tolstoy from the Church, but expressed the hope that he would repent and return to its fold. There was no repentance, and the writer died without a church ceremony.
From his youth, Tolstoy was strongly influenced by the views of Rousseau and, as he wrote later, at the age of 16 he destroyed traditional views in himself and began to wear a medallion with a portrait of Rousseau around his neck instead of a cross. The writer passionately embraced Rousseau's idea of natural life, which determined much in Tolstoy's subsequent searches and re-evaluations. Like many other Russian thinkers, Tolstoy subjected all phenomena of the world and culture to harsh criticism from the position of subjective morality.
In the 1870s. the writer experienced a long spiritual crisis. His consciousness is fascinated by the mystery of death, before the inevitability of which everything around him takes on the character of insignificance. Wanting to overcome oppressive doubts and fears, Tolstoy tries to break his ties with his usual environment and strives for close communication with ordinary people. It seems to him that with them, beggars, wanderers, monks, peasants, schismatics and prisoners, he will gain true faith, knowledge of what the true meaning is human life and death.
The Yasnaya Polyana count begins a period of simplification. He rejects all manifestations of modern civilization. His merciless and uncompromising rejection concerns not only the institutions of the state, the Church, the court, the army, and bourgeois economic relations.
In his boundless and passionate nihilism, the writer reached maximalist limits. He rejects art, poetry, theater, science. According to his ideas, goodness has nothing to do with beauty; aesthetic pleasure is pleasure of a lower order. Art in general is just fun.
Tolstoy considered it blasphemous to put art and science on the same level as good. Science and philosophy, he wrote, talk about whatever you want, but not about that. how a person himself can be better and how he can live better. Modern science has a lot of knowledge that we do not need. But it cannot say anything about the meaning of life and even considers this question not within its competence.
Tolstoy tried to give his own answers to these burning questions. The world order of people, according to Tolstoy, should be based on love for one's neighbor, on non-resistance to evil through violence, on mercy and material selflessness. Tolstoy considered the most important condition for the reign of the light of Christ on earth to be the abolition of private property in general and private ownership of land in particular. Addressing Nicholas II in 1902, Tolstoy wrote: The abolition of the right to land ownership is, in my opinion, the immediate goal, the achievement of which the Russian government should make its task in our time.
L. N. Tolstoy's sermons did not go unanswered. Among the so-called enlightened public, where critical assessments and a skeptical attitude towards reality dominated, the graphanihilist acquired many admirers and followers who intended to bring Tolstoy’s social ideas to life. They created small colonies, which were called cultural hermitages, and tried to change the world around them through moral self-improvement and honest work. The Tolstoyans refused to pay taxes, serve in the army, did not consider church consecration of marriage necessary, did not baptize their children, and did not send them to school. The authorities persecuted such communities, some active Tolstoyans were even brought to trial. At the beginning of the 20th century. The Tolstoyan movement in Russia almost disappeared. However, it gradually spread outside of Russia. Tolstoy farms originated in Canada, South Africa, USA, UK.
I. S. Turgenev (1818-1883) is credited with creating socio-psychological novels in which the personal fate of the heroes was inextricably linked with the fate of the country. He was an unsurpassed master in revealing inner world man in all his complexity. Turgenev's work had a huge influence on the development of Russian and world literature.
I. S. Turgenev came from a rich and ancient noble family. In 1837 he graduated from the philological faculty of St. Petersburg University. He continued his education abroad. Turgenev later recalled: I studied philosophy, ancient languages, history, and studied Hegel with particular zeal. For two years (1842-1844) Turgenev served as an official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but showed no interest in a career. He was fascinated by literature. He wrote his first work, the dramatic poem Steno, in 1834.
At the end of the 1830s. The poems of the young Turgenev began to appear in the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski. These are elegiac reflections on love, permeated with motifs of sadness and longing. Most of these poems received high audience recognition (Ballad, Alone again, alone..., Foggy morning, gray morning...). Later, some of Turgenev's poems were set to music and became popular romances.
In the 1840s. Turgenev's first dramas and poems appeared in print, and he himself became an employee of the socio-literary magazine Sovremennik.
In the mid-1840s. Turgenev became close to a group of writers, figures of the so-called “ natural school" - N. A. Nekrasov, I. A. Goncharov, D. V. Grigorovich and others, who tried to give literature a democratic character. These writers primarily made serfs the heroes of their works.
The first issue of the updated Sovremennik was published in January 1847. The true highlight of the magazine was Turgenev’s story “Khor and Kalinich,” which opened a whole series of works under the general title “Notes of a Hunter.
After their publication in 1847-1852. All-Russian fame came to the writer. The Russian people, Russian peasants are shown in the book with such love and respect as has never been seen in Russian literature.
In subsequent years, the writer created several novels and stories outstanding in their artistic merit - Rudin, The Noble Nest, On the Eve, Fathers and Sons, Smoke. They masterfully depict the way of life of the nobility and show the emergence of new social phenomena and figures, in particular the populists. The name Turgenev became one of the most revered names in Russian literature. His works were notable for their acute polemical nature; they raised critical issues human existence, they outlined the writer’s deep view of the essence of current events, the desire to understand the character and aspiration of new people (nihilists) who entered the arena of the country’s socio-political life.
Breadth of thinking, the ability to comprehend life and historical perspective, the belief that a person’s life should be fulfilled higher meaning, the work of one of the most remarkable Russian writers and playwrights - A. P. Chekhov (1860-1904), this subtle psychologist and master of subtext, who so uniquely combined humor and lyricism in his works, is noted.
A.P. Chekhov was born in the city of Taganrog into a merchant family. He studied at the Taganrog gymnasium. He continued his studies at the medical faculty of Moscow University, which he graduated in 1884. He worked as a doctor in the Moscow province. Literary activity He began with feuilletons and short stories published in humorous magazines.
Largest and most famous works Chekhov began to appear in the late 1880s. These are the stories and stories Steppe, “Lights”, House with a Mezzanine, A Boring Story, Chamber of MB, Men, In the Ravine, About Love, Ionych, Lady with a Dog, Jumping, Duel, books of essays From Siberia and Acute Sakhalin.
Chekhov is the author of wonderful dramatic works. His plays Ivanov, Uncle Vanya, The Seagull, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard are staged on stages all over the world. The writer's stories about the destinies of individual people contain a deep philosophical subtext. Chekhov's ability to sympathize, his love for people, his ability to penetrate into the spiritual nature of man, and his interest in pressing problems of the development of human society have made the writer's creative legacy relevant today. Art. In 1870, an event occurred in Russia that had a powerful impact on the development of visual arts: the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions arose, which played an important role in the development of democratic painting and its opposition to salon-academic art. It was public organization, which the state did not finance. The partnership was organized by young artists, mostly graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, who did not share the aesthetic principles of the Academy’s leadership. They no longer wanted to depict “eternal beauty” or focus on “classical examples” of European art. Reflecting the general social upsurge of the 1860s, artists sought to express the complexity modern world, to bring art closer to life, to convey the aspirations and moods of wide public circles, to show living people, their concerns and aspirations. Almost everyone was creatively associated with the Association of Itinerants outstanding artists Russia.
Over the next decades, the Partnership of the Peredvizhniki (usually they were simply called the Peredvizhniki) organized many exhibitions, which were not only shown in some place, but also transported (moved) to different cities. The first exhibition of this kind took place in 1872.
The central figure of Russian art of the 1860s. teacher and writer V. G. Perov (1833-1882) became one of the organizers of the Association of Itinerants. He studied painting at the Arzamas Drawing School, then at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. After completing the course in 1869, he received a scholarship and improved his skills in Paris. Already in the 1860s. Perov declared himself to be a great realist artist; his paintings were distinguished by their acute social content. These are the Sermon in the Village Rural Procession of the Cross on
Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow Seeing off the deceased, “Troika. Apprentice artisans carrying water, “The last tavern at the outpost, etc. The artist’s painting subtly conveyed his compassion for people oppressed by need and experiencing grief.
Perov is a master of lyrical paintings (Birders and Hunters at Rest) and fairy-tale images (Snegurochka). The golden fund of Russian art includes portraits of the playwright A. N. Ostrovsky, the writer F. M. Dostoevsky, executed by the artist commissioned by P. M. Tretyakov for his planned portrait gallery, representing “the people dear to the nation.” Perov also addressed historical topics, his most famous such painting is the Court of Pugacheva.
I. N. Kramskoy (1837-1887) was born in poor family. From 1857 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1863, he became a troublemaker at the Academy, leading a group of 14 graduate students who refused to participate in a competition that required the submission of paintings only on mythological themes. The protesters left the Academy and created the Mutual Aid Artel, which later became the basis of the Association of Itinerants.
Kramskoy was a remarkable master of portraiture and captured many famous people Russia, those who are usually called the rulers of the thoughts of their era.
These are portraits of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L. N. Tolstoy, N. A. Nekrasov. P. M. Tretyakov, S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin and others. Kramskoy also painted portraits of simple peasants.
In 1872, at the First Traveling Exhibition, Kramskoy’s painting Christ in the Desert appeared, which became the program not only for the artist himself, but also for all the Wanderers. The canvas depicts Jesus Christ in deep thought. The enlightened, calm gaze of Christ attracts the viewer’s attention.
A close interest in the gospel theme runs through the entire work of another of the founders of Russian Peredvizhniki - N. N. Ge (1831-1894). In the picture last supper The striking play of light and shadow achieves the contrast between the group of apostles and the figure of Judas, located in thick shadow. Gospel story allowed the artist to depict the conflict of different worldviews. This painting was followed by What is Truth?. Christ and Pilate, Judgment of the Sanhedrin, Guilty of Death!, Golgotha, Crucifixion, etc.
In the portrait of L.N. Tolstoy, the artist managed to convey the work of thought of the brilliant writer.
At the First Traveling Exhibition Ge exhibited the painting “Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in Peterhof. The viewer feels the tense silence of father and son. Peter is sure of the prince’s guilt. The conflict between the king and the heir to the throne is depicted at the moment of greatest intensity.
Famous battle painter BJB. Vereshchagin (1842-1904) more than once participated in the hostilities of that time. Based on his impressions of the events in the Turkestan region, he created the painting Apotheosis of War. The pyramid of skulls cut with sabers looks like an allegory of war. On the frame of the painting is the text: Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future.
Vereshchagin owns a series of large battle paintings, in which he acted as a true reformer of this genre.
Vereshchagin found himself a participant in the Russian-Turkish campaign of 1877-1878. His famous “Balkan Series” was created based on sketches and sketches performed on the ground. In one of the paintings in this series (“Shipka - Sheinovo. Skobelev near Shipka”) the scene of Skobelev’s solemn greeting of the victorious Russian regiments is attributed to long shot. In the foreground of the canvas, the viewer sees a snow-covered field strewn with dead people. This mournful image was intended to remind people of the bloody price of victory.
One of the most popular Russian landscape painters can be called I. I. Shishkin (1832-1898). A painter and a remarkable connoisseur of nature, he established the forest landscape in Russian art - luxurious mighty oak groves and pine forests, forest expanses, deep wilds. The artist’s canvases are characterized by monumentality and majesty. Expanse, space, land, rye. God's grace, Russian wealth - this is how the artist described his canvas Rye, in which the scale of Shishkin’s spatial solutions was especially clearly demonstrated. The ceremonial portraits of Russian nature were Pines illuminated by the sun, Forest distances, Morning in pine forest, Oaks, etc. The famous art historian V.V. Stasov called Ya. E. Repin (1844-1930) the Samson of Russian painting.
This is one of the most versatile artists, who succeeded with equal brilliance in portraits, genre scenes, landscapes and large canvases on historical themes.
I. B. Repin was born into a poor family of a military settler in the city of Chuguev, Kharkov province, and received his first drawing skills from local Ukrainian icon painters. In 1863, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of Arts, where Repin’s first mentor, V.I. Surik, turned out to be I.N. Kramskoy. Repin graduated from the Academy in 1871 and, as a capable graduate, received a scholarship for a creative trip to France and Italy.
Already in the 1870s. Repin's name becomes one of the largest, most popular Russian painters. Each of his new paintings arouses keen public interest and heated debate. Among the most famous paintings The artist includes Barge Haulers on the Volga, Procession of the Cross in the Kursk Province, Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581, Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan, Portrait of M. P. Mussorgsky, “Creational Meeting State Council", Portrait of K. P. Pobedonostsev, They Didn’t Expect, etc. Repin on his canvases captured a panorama of the life of the country, showed bright national characters, the mighty forces of Russia.
V. I. Surikov (1848-1916) proved himself to be a born historical painter. A Siberian by birth, Surikov studied in St. Petersburg at the Academy of Arts, and after graduating from the Academy he settled in Moscow. His first large canvas was the Morning Streletsky Execution. This was followed by Menshikov in Vera Zov, Boyarynya Morozova, Ermak's Conquest of Siberia, Suvorov's Crossing of the Alps in 1799, etc. The artist drew the subjects and images of these paintings from the depths of Russian history.
The century before last became an interesting stage in the development of human history. The emergence of new technologies, faith in progress, the spread of educational ideas, the development of new public relations, the emergence of a new bourgeois class, which became dominant in many European countries - all this was reflected in art. 19th century literature reflected everything turning points development of society. All shocks and discoveries were reflected on the pages of novels by famous writers. Literature of the 19th century– multifaceted, varied and very interesting.
Literature of the 19th century as an indicator of social consciousness
The century began in the atmosphere of the Great French Revolution, the ideas of which captured all of Europe, America and Russia. Under the influence of these events there appeared greatest books 19th century, a list of which you can find in this section. In Great Britain, with the coming to power of Queen Victoria, new era stability, which was accompanied by national growth, development of industry and art. Public peace produced the best books of the 19th century, written in every genre. In France, on the contrary, there was a lot of revolutionary unrest, accompanied by a change in the political system and the development of social thought. Of course, this also influenced 19th century books. The literary age ended with an era of decadence, characterized by gloomy and mystical moods and a bohemian lifestyle of representatives of art. Thus, the literature of the 19th century presented works that everyone needs to read.
Books of the 19th century on the KnigoPoisk website
If you are interested in 19th-century literature, the list of the KnigoPoisk website will help you find interesting novels. The rating is based on reviews from visitors to our resource. “Books of the 19th century” is a list that will not leave anyone indifferent.
Russian prose in the last decades of the 19th century. experienced a difficult and complex, but not stagnant period of its development. It was in prose that, first of all, the uniqueness of the time was reflected with its characteristic social contrasts and conflicts, with contradictions and ideological disputes.
The best figures of Russian culture of the 70s, as before, sought support among the people. But during the period of accelerated post-reform development, attention to the individual person increases, the sense of personal responsibility for everything that happens in the world, for the severity of people’s life, for the tragic separation of the Russian intelligentsia from the peasantry becomes more acute. Hence the appearance of Nekrasov’s “repentant” lyrics, the tragic worldview of Dostoevsky’s heroes, and the turning point in L. Tolstoy’s worldview.
In the 80s it is L. Tolstoy who finds himself in the center literary life. (Remember: Dostoevsky died in 1881, Turgenev - in 1883) It was during this period that decisive changes occurred in the views and work of the great writer. The final and irrevocable transition to the position of the oppressed peasantry predetermined his decisive criticism of all official, bureaucratic structures in the state. L. Tolstoy was firmly convinced that the reconstruction of life is possible not through revolutionary upheavals, but through moral cleansing. Evil cannot be resisted with violence, the writer said, because this will only increase the amount of evil in the world.
L. Tolstoy transferred the solution of many life problems to the moral and ethical sphere, and raised the most important problems of human responsibility for himself and for others. This helped him to penetrate with enormous artistic power into the psychological depths of the individual. Therefore, the call for self-improvement is not at all a reactionary theory, as many believed until recently. Start with yourself- this is the main testament of L. Tolstoy to any of us if we are concerned about the fate of the people and the country.
In the 80s a new generation of writers appears: V. G. Korolenko, V. M. Garshin, D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, N. G. Garin-Mikhailovsky, A. P. Chekhov. Material from the site
Writers at the end of the 19th century. they are turning more and more strongly and consistently to the philosophical aspects of existence (and not just everyday life), to the artistic study of the spiritual essence of man. Therefore, romantic tendencies are noticeably increasing in literature. This is manifested in a wide variety of writers, in the most various genres, in prose and poetry. It's about not only about “young people”. One can recall Turgenev’s last works, his so-called “mysterious stories”: “Song of Triumphant Love”, “Klara Milich”, as well as “Prose Poems”.
What is this - a simple return to the past? You know that traditionally the first third of the 19th century is considered the heyday of Romanticism. Then comes the era of realism. Spiral development? Or does the strengthening of romantic tendencies mean the end of the era of classical realism? Or is this just one of the forms of its existence? Questions of this kind have not yet found a generally accepted solution in literary scholarship.
The nineteenth century is the heyday of Russian literature. It was prepared by the rapid cultural growth of Russia after the reforms of Peter the Great. The brilliant reign of Catherine raised the question of creating national art for the new, great-power Russia. Among the galaxy of Catherine’s court heroes rises the majestic figure of the “singer Felitsa” - Derzhavin. The development of artistic language and literary forms occurs at an unusually fast pace. In 1815, at the Lyceum exam, Pushkin read poetry in the presence of Derzhavin. In "Eugene Onegin" he recalls this:
Old man Derzhavin noticed us
And going into the grave he blessed.
The evening dawn of the glorious Catherine's era meets the morning dawn of Pushkin's time. “The Sun of Russian Poetry,” Pushkin is still at its zenith when Tolstoy is born. Thus, over the course of one century, Russian literature was born, ascended to the pinnacle of artistic development and won world fame. In one century, Russia, awakened from a long sleep by the “mighty genius of Peter,” strains the forces hidden in it and not only catches up with Europe, but on the verge of the 20th century becomes the ruler of its thoughts.
Dunaev M.M. Russian literature of the 19th century
The nineteenth century lives at a feverish pace; directions, currents, schools and fashions change with dizzying speed. The sentimentalism of the tenths gives way to the romanticism of the twenties and thirties; the forties see the birth of Russian idealistic “philosophy” and Slavophile teaching; fifties - the appearance of the first novels by Turgenev, Goncharov, Tolstoy; the nihilism of the sixties gives way to the populism of the seventies; the eighties were filled with the glory of Tolstoy, artist and preacher; in the nineties, a new flowering of poetry began: the era of Russian symbolism.
The preparatory period ends. The luminary of Pushkin rises, surrounded by a galaxy of satellites. Delvig, Venevitinov, Baratynsky , Yazykov , Odoevsky, Vyazemsky, Denis Davydov - all these stars shine with their pure and even light; they seem less bright to us only because they are overshadowed by the brilliance of Pushkin. The appearance of this genius cannot be explained by any continuity of literary forms. Pushkin is a miracle of Russian literature, a miracle of Russian history. At the height to which he elevates Russian verbal art, all lines of development break off. You cannot continue Pushkin, you can only be inspired by him in search of other paths. Pushkin does not create schools.
Gogol's magical verbal art brings to life a whole generation of storytellers, everyday life writers and novelists. All the great writers of the 1850s – 1880s came from Gogol’s “natural school”. “We all came out of Gogol’s “The Overcoat,” says Dostoevsky. From “Dead Souls” comes the line of development of the novel, the victorious march of which fills the second half of the century. In 1846, Dostoevsky’s first story “Poor People” appeared; in 1847 - Turgenev’s first story “Khor and Kalinich”, Goncharov’s first novel “An Ordinary Story”, Aksakov’s first work of fiction “Notes on Fishing”, the first big story
