Sentimentalism year of origin. Main features of the literature of sentimentalism

Sentimentalism in Russian literature.

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s and early 1790s thanks to translations of the novels “Werther” by J.V. Goethe, “Pamela,” “Clarissa” and “Grandison” by S. Richardson, “The New Heloise” by J.-J. Rousseau, "Paul and Virginie" by J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with “Letters of a Russian Traveler” (1791–1792).

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited general atmosphere sensitivity, melancholy and themes of suicide.

The works of N.M. Karamzin gave rise to a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Masha" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G. P. Kamenev ( “The Story of Poor Marya”; “Unhappy Margarita”; “Beautiful Tatiana”), etc.

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to Karamzin’s group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic pompous style and outdated genres.

Marked by sentimentalism early work Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of a translation of Elegy written in the rural cemetery of E. Gray became a phenomenon in artistic life Russia, because he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, translated the genre of elegy, and not an individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E.G. Etkind). In 1809, Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story “Maryina Roshcha” in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of pan-European literary development that completed the Age of Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

departure from the straightforwardness of classicism
emphasized subjectivity of approach to the world
cult of feeling
cult of nature
cult of innate moral purity, innocence
affirmation of the rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes
attention is paid to the spiritual world of a person, and feelings come first, not reason and great ideas

Sentimentalism (from the French sentiment - feeling) - a movement in literature and art of the second half of the XVIII century, characterized by an increased interest in human feelings and a heightened emotional attitude to the surrounding world. (“A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Stern, “The New Heloise” by Rousseau, “Poor Liza” by Karamzin). The innovation of sentimentalism lies in its exclusive attention to the mental state of the individual and appeal to the experiences of a simple, humble person. Karamzin owns remarkable words in this regard: “...And peasant women know how to love” (“Poor Liza”) Others argued that a commoner, close to nature, not perverted by aristocratic prejudices, is morally superior to any nobleman.

The main representatives of this trend in Russia are Karamzin and Dmitriev. Sentimentalism appeared in Europe as a counterweight to French philosophical rationalism (Voltaire). The sentimental trend originates in England, then spreads to Germany, France and penetrates into Russia.

In contrast to the false-classical school, the authors of this movement choose subjects from ordinary, everyday life, with heroes of simple, middle or lower class people. The interest of sentimental works lies not in the description of historical events or the actions of heroes, but in the psychological analysis of the experiences and feelings of an ordinary person in the setting Everyday life. The authors set out to pity the reader by showing the deep and touching experiences of ordinary, unnoticed people, drawing attention to their sad, often dramatic fate.

Sentimentalism in literature

From constant appeal to the experiences and feelings of the heroes, the authors of this direction developed cult of feeling , – this is where the name of the entire direction (feeling – sentiment) comes from. sentimentalism . Along with the cult of feelings develops cult of nature , descriptions of pictures of nature appear that dispose the soul to sensitive reflections.

Sentimentalism in Russian poetry. Video lecture

In literature, sentimentalism is expressed mainly in the form of sensitive novels, sentimental travels and so-called bourgeois dramas; in poetry, - in elegies. The first author of sentimental novels was an English writer Richardson. Pushkin’s Tatyana became engrossed in his novels, “Charles Grandison”, “Clarissa Garlow”. In these novels, types of simple, sensitive heroes and heroines are developed, and next to them are bright types of villains, highlighting their virtue. The disadvantage of these novels is their extraordinary length; in the novel “Clarissa Garlow” – 4,000 pages! (The full title of this work in Russian translation: “The Remarkable Life of the Maiden Clarissa Garlov, a True Tale”). In England, the first author of so-called sentimental travels was Stern. He wrote. “A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy”; in this work, attention is drawn mainly to the hero’s experiences and feelings in connection with the places through which he passes. In Russia, Karamzin wrote his "Letters of a Russian Traveler" under the influence of Stern.

Sentimental bourgeois dramas, nicknamed “Tearful Comedies” (Comedies larmoyantes), which also first appeared in England, spread to Germany and France and appeared in translations in Russia. Even at the beginning of the reign of Catherine the Great, Beaumarchais’s play “Eugene”, translated by Pushnikov, was staged in Moscow. Sumarokov, a convinced supporter of false classicism, was indignant at the production of this “tearful comedy” and sought Voltaire’s sympathy and support.

In poetry, sentimentalism was expressed mainly in elegies . These are lyrical poems and reflections, most often sad. "Sensitivity", sadness, melancholy - these are the main distinctive features sentimental elegies. The authors of elegies often described the night, the moonlight, the cemetery - anything that could create a mysterious, dreamy atmosphere that matched their feelings. In England one of the most famous poets sentimentalism was Gray, who wrote “Rural Cemetery,” which was subsequently so successfully translated by Zhukovsky.

The main representative of Russian sentimentalism was Karamzin. In the spirit of this literary movement, he wrote “Letters of a Russian Traveler”, “Poor Liza” (see summary and full text) and other stories.

It should be noted that every artistic and literary “school” most clearly expresses its characteristic features in the works of “imitation students”, since major artists, the founders of the “school”, the pioneers of the “direction”, are always more diverse and broader than their students. Karamzin was not exclusively a “sentimentalist” - even in his early works, he gave pride of place to “reason”; in addition, it has traces of future romanticism (The Island of Bornholm) and neoclassicism (The Life of Athens). Meanwhile, his numerous students did not notice this breadth of Karamzin’s creativity and took his “sensitivity” exclusively to a ridiculous extreme. Thus, they emphasized the shortcomings of sentimentalism and led this trend to gradual disappearance.

Of Karamzin’s students, the most famous are V.V. Izmailov, A.E. Izmailov, Prince. P. I. Shalikov, P. Yu. Lvov. V. Izmailov wrote in imitation of Karamzin’s “Letters of a Russian Traveler” - “Journey to Midday Russia.” A. Izmailov composed the story “Poor Masha” and the novel “Eugene, or the harmful consequences of spiritual education and community.” However, this talented work is distinguished by such realism that it can also be classified as “ realistic"the direction of this era. Prince Shalikov was the most typical sentimentalist: he wrote both sensitive poems (the collection “The Fruit of Free Feelings”) and stories (two “Travel to Little Russia”, “Travel to Kronstadt”), distinguished by extreme sensitivity. L. Lvov was a more talented novelist - several stories remained from him: “Russian Pamela”, “Rose and Love”, “Alexander and Julia”.

You can name other then literary works, written in imitation of “Poor Liza”: “Seduced Henrietta, or the Triumph of deception over weakness and delusion”, “Beautiful Tatiana, living at the foot of the Sparrow Hills”, “The Story of Poor Maria”, “Inna”, “Maryina Roshcha” by Zhukovsky, A Popov “Lily” (1802), “Poor Lilla” (1803), A. Kropotov “The Spirit of the Russian Woman” (1809), A. E. “Sweet and Tender Hearts” (1800), Svechinsky “Ukrainian Orphan” (1805) , “The Romance of My Neighbors” (1804), Prince Dolgorukov’s “Unfortunate Liza” (1811).

The galaxy of sensitive poets among the Russian public had fans, but also had many enemies. She was ridiculed by both old pseudo-classical writers and young realist writers.

The theorist of Russian sentimentalism was V. Podshivalov, a contemporary and literary ally of Karamzin, who at the same time published magazines with him (“Reading for Taste and Reason”, “Pleasant Pastime of Time”). Using the same program as Karamzin, in 1796 he published an interesting argument: “Sensitivity and whimsicality,” in which he tried to determine the difference between real “sensitivity” and false “mannerness,” “bizarreness.”

Sentimentalism also affected us at this time in the prosperity of “philistine drama.” The efforts of the pseudo-classics to fight this “illegal” child of drama were in vain - the public defended their favorite plays. Particularly popular were Kotzebue's translated dramas ("Hatred of People and Repentance", "Son of Love", "The Hussites near Naumburg"). Over the course of several decades, these touching works were readily watched by the Russian public and provoked numerous imitations in the Russian language. N. Ilyin wrote the drama: “Liza, or the Triumph of Gratitude”, “Generosity, or Recruitment”; Fedorov – drama: “Lisa, or the Consequence of Pride and Seduction”; Ivanov: “The Starichkov Family, or Prayer for God, but service for the Tsar is not lost”, etc.

Sentimentalism is one of the main, along with classicism and rococo, artistic movements in European literature of the 18th century. Like Rococo, sentimentalism arises as a reaction to the classicist trends in literature that dominated the previous century. Sentimentalism received its name after the publication of the unfinished novel “A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy” (1768) English writer L. Stern, who, as modern researchers believe, consolidated the new meaning of the word “sentimental” in English language. If earlier (the first use of this word by the Great Oxford Dictionary dates back to 1749) it meant either “reasonable”, “sensible”, or “highly moral”, “edifying”, then by the 1760s it intensified the connotation associated not so much with belonging to to the area of reason, as much as to the area of feeling. Now “sentimental” also means “capable of sympathy,” and Stern finally assigns to it the meaning of “sensitive,” “capable of experiencing sublime and subtle emotions” and introduces it into the circle of the most fashionable words of his time. Subsequently, the fashion for “sentimental” passed, and in the 19th century the word “sentimental” in English acquired a negative connotation, meaning “prone to indulging in excessive sensitivity”, “easily succumbing to an influx of emotions.”

Modern dictionaries and reference books already distinguish between the concepts of “sentiment” and “sensitivity”, “sentimentality”, contrasting them with each other. However, the word “sentimentalism” in English, as well as in other Western European languages, where it came under the influence of the success of Stern’s novels, never acquired the character of a strictly literary term that would cover an entire and internally unified artistic movement. English-speaking researchers still mainly use such concepts as “sentimental novel”, “sentimental drama” or “sentimental poetry”, while French and German critics rather highlight “sentimentality” (French sentimentalite, German sentimentalitat) as a special category, to one degree or another inherent works of art of various eras and trends. Only in Russia, starting from the end of the 19th century, were attempts made to comprehend sentimentalism as an integral historical and literary phenomenon. The main feature sentimentalism, all domestic researchers recognize the “cult of feeling” (or “heart”), which in this system of views becomes the “measure of good and evil.” Most often, the appearance of this cult in Western literature of the 18th century is explained, on the one hand, by a reaction to Enlightenment rationalism (with feeling directly opposed to reason), and on the other, by a reaction to the previously dominant aristocratic type of culture. The fact that sentimentalism as an independent phenomenon first appeared in England in the late 1720s - early 1730s is usually associated with social changes, which came to this country in the 17th century, when, as a result of the revolution of 1688-89, the third estate became an independent and influential force. All researchers call the concept of “natural,” which is generally very important for the philosophy and literature of the Enlightenment, one of the main categories that determines the attention of sentimentalists to the life of the human heart. This concept unites external world nature with inner peace human soul, which, from the point of view of sentimentalists, are consonant and essentially involved in each other. Hence, firstly, the special attention of the authors of this movement to nature - its external appearance and the processes occurring in it; secondly, intense interest in the emotional sphere and experiences of an individual person. At the same time, a person is of interest to sentimentalist authors not so much as a bearer of a rational volitional principle, but as a focus of the best natural qualities inherent in his heart from birth. The hero of sentimentalist literature appears as a feeling person, and therefore psychological analysis The authors of this direction are most often based on the subjective outpourings of the hero.

Sentimentalism “descends” from the heights of majestic upheavals, unfolding in an aristocratic environment, to everyday life ordinary people, unremarkable except for the strength of their experiences. The sublime principle, so beloved by the theorists of classicism, is replaced in sentimentalism by the category of the touching. Thanks to this, researchers note, sentimentalism, as a rule, cultivates compassion for one’s neighbor, philanthropism, and becomes a “school of philanthropy,” as opposed to “cold-rational” classicism and, in general, the “dominance of reason” in the initial stages of the development of the European Enlightenment. However, the too direct opposition of reason and feeling, “philosopher” and “sensitive person,” which is found in the works of a number of domestic and foreign researchers, unjustifiably simplifies the idea of sentimentalism. Often, “mind” is associated exclusively with educational classicism, and the entire area of “feelings” falls to the lot of sentimentalism. But such an approach, which is based on another very common opinion - that the basis of sentimentality is entirely derived from the sensualist philosophy of J. Locke (1632-1704) - obscures the much more subtle relationship between "reason" and "sense" in the 18th century, and moreover, it does not explain the essence of the discrepancy between sentimentalism and such independent artistic direction this century, like Rococo. The most controversial problem in the study of sentimentalism remains its relation, on the one hand, to other aesthetic movements of the 18th century, and on the other, to the Enlightenment as a whole.

Prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism

The prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism were already contained in the newest way of thinking, which distinguished the philosophers and writers of the 18th century and determined the entire structure and spirit of the Enlightenment. In this thinking, sensitivity and rationality do not appear and do not exist without each other: in contrast to the speculative rationalistic systems of the 17th century, the rationalism of the 18th century is limited to the framework of human experience, i.e. within the framework of the perception of the sentient soul. A person with his inherent desire for happiness in this earthly life becomes the main measure of the consistency of any views. Rationalists of the 18th century not only criticized certain phenomena of reality that were unnecessary, in their opinion, but also put forward an image of an ideal reality, conducive to human happiness, and this image ultimately turns out to be suggested not by reason, but by feeling. The ability for critical judgment and a sensitive heart are two sides of a single intellectual tool that helped the writers of the 18th century develop A New Look on a person who has given up feeling original sin and tried to justify his existence based on his innate desire for happiness. Various aesthetic directions The 18th century, including sentimentalism, tried to paint the image of a new reality in their own way. As long as they remained within the framework of Enlightenment ideology, they were equally close to the critical views of Locke, who denied the existence of so-called “innate ideas” from the standpoint of sensationalism. From this point of view, sentimentalism differs from Rococo or Classicism not so much in the “cult of feeling” (because in this specific understanding, feeling played an equally important role in other aesthetic movements) or the tendency to depict mainly representatives of the third estate (all literature of the Enlightenment era in one way or another was interested in human nature “in general”, leaving out questions of class differences), how many special ideas about the possibilities and ways for a person to achieve happiness. Like Rococo art, sentimentalism professes a sense of disappointment in " great history", refers to the private sphere, intimate life individual person, gives it a “natural” dimension. But if rocaille literature interprets “naturalness” primarily as the possibility of going beyond traditionally established moral norms and, thus, covers mainly the “scandalous”, behind-the-scenes side of life, condescending to the forgivable weaknesses of human nature, then sentimentalism strives for the reconciliation of the natural and moral began, trying to present virtue not as an imported, but as an innate property of the human heart. Therefore, the sentimentalists were closer not to Locke with his decisive denial of all “innate ideas”, but to his follower A.E.K. Shaftesbury (1671-1713), who argued that the moral principle lies in the very nature of man and is connected not with reason, but with a special a moral feeling which alone can point the way to happiness. What motivates a person to act morally is not the awareness of duty, but the dictates of the heart. Happiness, therefore, does not lie in the craving for sensual pleasures, but in the craving for virtue. Thus, the “naturalness” of human nature is interpreted by Shaftesbury, and after him by the sentimentalists, not as its “scandalousness,” but as a need and possibility of virtuous behavior, and the heart becomes a special supra-individual sense organ, connecting a specific person with the general harmonious and morally justified structure of the universe.

Poetics of sentimentalism

The first elements of the poetics of sentimentalism penetrate into English literature in the late 1720s, when the genre of descriptive and didactic poems dedicated to work and leisure against the backdrop of rural nature (georgics) becomes especially relevant. In J. Thomson's poem “The Seasons” (1726-30) one can already find a completely “sentimentalist” idyll, built on a feeling of moral satisfaction arising from the contemplation of rural landscapes. Subsequently, similar motifs were developed by E. Jung (1683-1765) and especially by T. Gray, who discovered elegy as a genre most suitable for sublime meditations against the backdrop of nature (the most famous work is “Elegy Written in a Country Cemetery”, 1751). A significant influence on the development of sentimentalism was exerted by the work of S. Richardson, whose novels (“Pamela”, 1740; “Clarissa”, 1747-48; “The History of Sir Charles Grandisson”, 1754) not only introduced for the first time heroes who were in every way consistent with the spirit of sentimentalism, but and popularized a special genre form epistolary novel, so beloved later by many sentimentalists. Among the latter, some researchers include Richardson’s main opponent, Henry Fielding, whose “comic epics” (“The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews,” 1742, and “The History of Tom Jones, Foundling,” 1749) are largely built on sentimentalist ideas about human nature. In the second half of the 18th century, the tendencies of sentimentalism in English literature grew stronger, but now they increasingly came into conflict with the actual educational pathos of life-building, improving the world and educating people. The world no longer seems to be the center of moral harmony to the heroes of the novels by O. Goldsmith “The Priest of Wakefield” (1766) and G. Mackenzie “The Man of Feeling” (1773). Sterne's novels "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" (1760-67) and "A Sentimental Journey" are an example of caustic polemics against the sensationalism of Locke and many of the conventional views of the English Enlightenment. Among the poets who developed sentimentalist tendencies on folklore and pseudo-historical material are the Scots R. Burns (1759-96) and J. Macpherson (1736-96). By the end of the century, English sentimentalism, increasingly leaning towards “sensibility,” breaks with the Enlightenment harmony between feeling and reason and gives rise to the genre of the so-called Gothic novel (H. Walpole, A. Radcliffe, etc.), which some researchers correlate with an independent artistic flow - pre-romanticism. In France, the poetics of sentimentalism comes into conflict with Rococo already in the work of D. Diderot, who was influenced by Richardson (The Nun, 1760) and, partly, Sterne (Jacquefatalist, 1773). The principles of sentimentalism turned out to be most consonant with the views and tastes of J. J. Rousseau, who created the exemplary sentimentalist epistolary novel “Julia, or the New Heloise” (1761). However, already in his “Confession” (published 1782-89) Rousseau departs from the important principle of sentimentalist poetics - the normativity of the depicted personality, proclaiming the intrinsic value of his one and only “I”, taken in individual originality. Subsequently, sentimentalism in France is closely linked with the specific concept of “Rousseauism”. Having penetrated into Germany, sentimentalism first influenced the work of H. F. Gellert (1715-69) and F. G. Klopstock (1724-1803), and in the 1870s, after the appearance of Rousseau’s “New Heloise,” it gave birth to a radical version of the German sentimentalism, called the “Storm and Drang” movement, to which young I. belonged. W. Goethe and F. Schiller. Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), although considered the pinnacle of sentimentalism in Germany, actually contains a hidden polemic against the ideals of Sturmerism and does not amount to glorifying the “sensitive nature” of the protagonist. The “last sentimentalist” of Germany, Jean Paul (1763-1825), was particularly influenced by Stern’s work.

Sentimentalism in Russia

In Russia, all the most significant examples of Western European sentimentalist literature were translated back in the 18th century, influencing F. Emin, N. Lvov, and partly A. Radishchev (“Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” 1790). Russian sentimentalism reached its highest flowering in the works of N. Karamzin(“Letters of a Russian Traveler”, 1790; “Poor Liza”, 1792; “Natalia, Boyar’s Daughter”, 1792, etc.). Subsequently, A. Izmailov, V. Zhukovsky and others turned to the poetics of sentimentalism.

The word sentimentalism comes from English sentimental, which means sensitive; French sentiment - feeling.

Sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not the “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of educational literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize and sensitively respond to what is happening around him. By origin (or by conviction) the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common people is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.

The most prominent representatives of sentimentalism are James Thomson, Edward Jung, Thomas Gray, Laurence Stern (England), Jean Jacques Rousseau (France), Nikolai Karamzin (Russia).

Sentimentalism in English literature

Thomas Gray

England was the birthplace of sentimentalism. At the end of the 20s of the 18th century. James Thomson, with his poems “Winter” (1726), “Summer” (1727) and Spring, Autumn., subsequently combined into one whole and published () under the title “The Seasons,” contributed to the development of a love of nature in the English reading public by drawing simple, unpretentious rural landscapes, following step by step the various moments of the life and work of the farmer and, apparently, striving to place the peaceful, idyllic country situation above the vain and spoiled city.

In the 40s of the same century, Thomas Gray, author of the elegy “The Country Cemetery” (one of famous works cemetery poetry), ode “Towards Spring”, etc., like Thomson, tried to interest readers village life and nature, to awaken in them sympathy for simple, unnoticed people with their needs, sorrows and beliefs, while at the same time giving their creativity a thoughtful and melancholy character.

Richardson's famous novels - "Pamela" (), "Clarissa Garlo" (), "Sir Charles Grandison" () - are also of a bright and typical product of English sentimentalism. Richardson was completely insensitive to the beauties of nature and did not like to describe it, but he put psychological analysis in the first place and made the English, and then the entire European public, keenly interested in the fate of the heroes and especially the heroines of his novels.

Laurence Sterne, author of “Tristram Shandy” (-) and “A Sentimental Journey” (; after the name of this work the direction itself was called “sentimental”), combined Richardson’s sensitivity with a love of nature and a peculiar humor. Stern himself called the “sentimental journey” “a peaceful journey of the heart in search of nature and all spiritual desires that can inspire us more love to our neighbors and to the whole world than we usually feel.”

Sentimentalism in French literature

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

Having moved to the continent, English sentimentalism found somewhat prepared soil in France. Quite independently of the English representatives of this trend, Abbé Prévost (“Manon Lescaut,” “Cleveland”) and Marivaux (“Life of Marianne”) taught the French public to admire everything touching, sensitive, and somewhat melancholic.

Under the same influence, Rousseau's "Julia" or "New Heloise" was created, who always spoke of Richardson with respect and sympathy. Julia reminds many of Clarissa Garlo, Clara reminds her of her friend, miss Howe. The moralizing nature of both works also brings them closer to each other; but in Rousseau’s novel nature plays a prominent role; the shores of Lake Geneva - Vevey, Clarens, Julia’s grove - are described with remarkable art. Rousseau's example did not remain without imitation; his follower, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in his famous work “Paul and Virginie” () transfers the scene of action to South Africa, accurately foreshadowing best essays Chateaubrean makes his heroes a charming couple of lovers living far from city culture, in close communication with nature, sincere, sensitive and pure in soul.

Sentimentalism in Russian literature

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther he inherited a general atmosphere of sensitivity, melancholy and the theme of suicide.

The works of N.M. Karamzin gave rise to a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Liza" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( “The Story of Poor Marya”; “Unhappy Margarita”; “Beautiful Tatiana”), etc.

Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to Karamzin’s group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic pompous style and outdated genres.

Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of a translation of Elegy, written in a rural cemetery by E. Gray, became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, for he translated the poem “into the language of sentimentalism in general, translated the genre of elegy, and not an individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E. G. Etkind). In 1809, Zhukovsky wrote a sentimental story “Maryina Roshcha” in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of pan-European literary development that completed the Age of Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

Main features of the literature of sentimentalism

So, taking into account all of the above, we can identify several main features of Russian literature of sentimentalism: a departure from the straightforwardness of classicism, an emphasized subjectivity of the approach to the world, a cult of feeling, a cult of nature, a cult of innate moral purity, innocence, the rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes is affirmed. Attention is paid to the spiritual world of a person, and feelings come first, not great ideas.

In painting

Direction Western art the second half of the 18th century, expressing disappointment in “civilization” based on the ideals of “reason” (the ideology of the Enlightenment). S. proclaims feeling, solitary reflection, simplicity rural life “little man" J.J.Russo is considered the ideologist of S.

One of characteristic features Russian portrait art of this period was civic-minded. The heroes of the portrait no longer live in their own closed, isolated world. The consciousness of being necessary and useful to the fatherland, caused by the patriotic upsurge in the era Patriotic War 1812, the flowering of humanistic thought, which was based on respect for the dignity of the individual, the expectation of imminent social changes restructured the worldview advanced man. The portrait of N.A., presented in the hall, is adjacent to this direction. Zubova, granddaughters A.V. Suvorov, copied by an unknown master from a portrait of I.B. Lumpy the Elder depicting a young woman in a park, away from convention social life. She looks at the viewer thoughtfully with a half-smile; everything about her is simplicity and naturalness. Sentimentalism is opposed to straightforward and overly logical reasoning about the nature of human feeling, emotional perception that directly and more reliably leads to the comprehension of the truth. Sentimentalism expanded the idea of human mental life, coming closer to understanding its contradictions, the very process of human experience. At the turn of two centuries, the work of N.I. developed. Argunov, a gifted serf of the Sheremetyev counts. One of the significant trends in Argunov’s work, which was not interrupted throughout the 19th centuries, is the desire for concreteness of expression, an unpretentious approach to a person. A portrait of N.P. is presented in the hall. Sheremetyev. It was donated by the Count himself to the Rostov Spaso-Yakovlevsky Monastery, where the cathedral was built at his expense. The portrait is characterized by realistic simplicity of expression, free from embellishment and idealization. The artist avoids painting the hands and focuses on the model’s face. The coloring of the portrait is based on the expressiveness of individual spots of pure color, colorful planes. In the portrait art of this time, a type of modest chamber portrait was emerging, completely freed from any features of the external environment, demonstrative behavior of models (portrait of P.A. Babin, P.I. Mordvinov). They do not pretend to be deeply psychologistic. We are dealing only with a fairly clear fixation of models, calm state of mind. A separate group consists of children's portraits presented in the hall. What is captivating about them is the simplicity and clarity of the interpretation of the image. If in the 18th century children were most often depicted with the attributes of mythological heroes in the form of cupids, Apollos and Dianas, then in the 19th century artists strive to convey the direct image of a child, the warehouse of a child’s character. The portraits presented in the hall, with rare exceptions, come from noble estates. They were part of estate portrait galleries, the basis of which were family portraits. The collection was of an intimate, predominantly memorial nature and reflected the personal attachments of the models and their attitude towards their ancestors and contemporaries, the memory of whom they tried to preserve for posterity. Studying portrait galleries deepens the understanding of the era, allows you to more clearly sense the specific environment in which the works of the past lived, and understand a number of features of their artistic language. Portraits provide rich material for studying the history of Russian culture.

V.L. experienced a particularly strong influence of sentimentalism. Borovikovsky, who depicted many of his models against the background of an English park, with a soft, sensually vulnerable expression on his face. Borovikovsky was connected with the English tradition through the circle of N.A. Lvova - A.N. Venison. He knew well the typology of English portraiture, in particular from the works of the German artist A. Kaufmann, fashionable in the 1780s, who was educated in England.

English landscape painters also had some influence on Russian painters, for example, such masters of idealized classicist landscape as Ya.F. Hackert, R. Wilson, T. Jones, J. Forrester, S. Dalon. In the landscapes of F.M. Matveev, the influence of “Waterfalls” and “Views of Tivoli” by J. Mora can be traced.

In Russia, the graphics of J. Flaxman (illustrations to Gormer, Aeschylus, Dante), which influenced the drawings and engravings of F. Tolstoy, and the small plastic works of Wedgwood were also popular - in 1773, the Empress made a fantastic order for the British manufactory for “ Service with green frog"of 952 objects with views of Great Britain, now stored in the Hermitage.

Miniatures by G.I. were performed in English taste. Skorodumov and A.Kh. Rita; The genre “Pictorial Sketches of Russian Manners, Customs and Entertainments in One Hundred Colored Drawings” (1803-1804) performed by J. Atkinson were reproduced on porcelain.

There were fewer British artists working in Russia in the second half of the 18th century than French or Italian ones. Among them, the most famous was Richard Brompton, the court artist of George III, who worked in St. Petersburg in 1780 - 1783. He owns portraits of the Grand Dukes Alexander and Konstantin Pavlovich, and Prince George of Wales, which became examples of the image of heirs at a young age. Brompton's unfinished image of Catherine against the backdrop of the fleet was embodied in the portrait of the Empress in the Temple of Minerva by D.G. Levitsky.

French by birth P.E. Falcone was a student of Reynolds and therefore represented English school painting. The traditional English aristocratic landscape presented in his works, dating back to Van Dyck of the English period, did not receive wide recognition in Russia.

However, Van Dyck's paintings from the Hermitage collection were often copied, which contributed to the spread of the genre of costume portraiture. The fashion for images in the English spirit became more widespread after the return from Britain of the engraver Skorodmov, who was appointed “Engraver of Her Imperial Majesty’s Cabinet” and elected Academician. Thanks to the work of the engraver J. Walker, engraved copies of paintings by J. Romini, J. Reynolds, and W. Hoare were distributed in St. Petersburg. The notes left by J. Walker talk a lot about the advantages of the English portrait, and also describe the reaction to the acquired G.A. Potemkin and Catherine II of Reynolds's paintings: "the manner of thickly applying paint... seemed strange... for their (Russian) taste it was too much." However, as a theorist Reynolds was accepted in Russia; in 1790 his “Speeches” were translated into Russian, in which, in particular, the right of the portrait to belong to a number of the “highest” types of painting was substantiated and the concept of “portrait in the historical style” was introduced.

Literature

E. Schmidt, “Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe” (Jena, 1875).
Gasmeyer, “Richardson’s Pamela, ihre Quellen und ihr Einfluss auf die englische Litteratur” (Lpc., 1891).
P. Stapfer, “Laurence Sterne, sa personne et ses ouvrages” (P., 18 82).
Joseph Texte, “Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les origines du cosmopolitisme littéraire” (P., 1895).
L. Petit de Juleville, “Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française” (Vol. VI, issue 48, 51, 54).

“History of Russian Literature” by A. N. Pypin, (vol. IV, St. Petersburg, 1899).
Alexey Veselovsky, “Western influence in new Russian literature” (M., 1896).
S. T. Aksakov, “Various Works” (M., 1858; article about the merits of Prince Shakhovsky in dramatic literature).

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Synonyms
Luchko, Klara Stepanovna

Stern, Lawrence

See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries: - Sentimentalism literary direction in the West Europe and Russia XVIII beginning 19th century I. SENTIMENTALISM IN THE WEST. The term "S." formed from the adjective “sentimental” (sensitive), to swarm is already found in Richardson, but gained particular popularity after ...

See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries: Literary encyclopedia - SENTIMENTALISM. By sentimentalism we understand that direction of literature that developed in late XVIII Dictionary of literary terms

sentimentalism- a, m. sentimentalisme m. 1. The literary movement of the second half of the 18th and early 19th centuries, which replaced classicism, characterized by special attention to the spiritual world of man, to nature and partly idealizing reality. BAS 1.… … Historical Dictionary Gallicisms of the Russian language

SENTIMENTALISM- SENTIMENTALISM, SENTIMENTALISM sensitivity. A complete dictionary of foreign words that have come into use in the Russian language. Popov M., 1907. sentimentalism (French sentimentalisme sentiment feeling) 1) European literary movement of the late 18th… Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SENTIMENTALISM- (from the French sentiment), a current in European and American literature and art of the 2nd half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. Starting from enlightenment rationalism (see Enlightenment), he declared that the dominant of human nature is not reason, but... Modern encyclopedia

At the end of the 18th century, Russian nobles experienced two major historical events - the peasant uprising led by Pugachev and the French bourgeois revolution. Political oppression from above and physical destruction from below - these were the realities facing the Russian nobles. Under these conditions, the former values of the enlightened nobility underwent profound changes.

A new philosophy is born in the depths of Russian enlightenment. Rationalists, who believed reason to be the main engine of progress, tried to change the world through the introduction of enlightened concepts, but at the same time they forgot about a specific person, his living feelings. The idea arose that it was necessary to enlighten the soul, to make it heartfelt, responsive to other people’s pain, other people’s suffering and other people’s concerns.

N.M. Karamzin and his supporters argued that the path to people’s happiness and the common good is in the education of feelings. Love and tenderness, as if flowing from person to person, turn into kindness and mercy. “Tears shed by readers,” wrote Karamzin, “always flow from love for good and nourish it.”

On this basis, the literature of sentimentalism arose.

See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries:- a literary movement that aimed to awaken sensitivity in a person. Sentimentalism turned to the description of a person, his feelings, compassion for his neighbor, helping him, sharing his bitterness and sadness, he can experience a feeling of satisfaction.

So, sentimentalism is a literary movement where the cult of rationalism and reason is replaced by the cult of sensuality and feeling. Sentimentalism emerged in England in the 30s of the 18th century in poetry as a search for new forms and ideas in art. Sentimentalism reaches its greatest flowering in England (Richardson’s novels, in particular “Clarissa Harlow”, Laurence Sterne’s novel “A Sentimental Journey”, Thomas Gray’s elegies, for example “The Country Cemetery”), in France (J.J. Rousseau), in Germany ( J. W. Goethe, the Sturm and Drang movement) in the 60s of the 18th century.

Main features of sentimentalism as a literary movement:

1) Image of nature.

2) Attention to the inner world of a person (psychologism).

3) The most important topic sentimentalism - the theme of death.

4) Ignoring environment, circumstances are given secondary importance; relying only on the soul of a simple person, on his inner world, feelings that are always initially beautiful.

5) The main genres of sentimentalism: elegy, psychological drama, psychological novel, diary, travel, psychological story.

See what “Sentimentalism” is in other dictionaries:(French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) - a state of mind in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. Works written in this genre are based on the reader's feelings. In Europe it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

If classicism is reason, duty, then sentimentalism is something lighter, these are the feelings of a person, his experiences.

The main theme of sentimentalism- love.

The main features of sentimentalism:

Avoiding straightness
Multifaceted characters, subjective approach to the world
Cult of feeling
Cult of nature
Revival of one's own purity
Affirmation of the rich spiritual world of the low classes

The main genres of sentimentalism:

Sentimental story
Trips
Idyll or pastoral
Letters of a personal nature

Ideological basis- protest against the corruption of aristocratic society

The main property of sentimentalism- desire to present human personality in the movement of the soul, thoughts, feelings, revelation of the inner world of man through the state of nature

The aesthetics of sentimentalism is based- imitation of nature

Features of Russian sentimentalism:

Strong didactic setting
Educational character
Active improvement of the literary language through the introduction of literary forms into it

Representatives of sentimentalism:

Lawrence Stan Richardson - England
Jean Jacques Rousseau - France
M.N. Muravyov - Russia
N.M. Karamzin - Russia
V.V. Kapnist - Russia
ON THE. Lviv - Russia

Socio-historical foundations of Russian romanticism

But the main source of Russian romanticism was not literature, but life. Romanticism as a pan-European phenomenon was associated with enormous upheavals caused by the revolutionary transition from one social formation to the other - from feudalism to capitalism. But in Russia indicated general pattern manifests itself in a unique way, reflecting the national characteristics of the historical and literary process. If in Western Europe romanticism arose after the bourgeois-democratic revolution as a kind of expression of dissatisfaction with its results on the part of various social strata, then in Russia the romantic movement arose at that time historical period, when the country was just moving towards the revolutionary clash of new principles, capitalist in its essence, with the feudal-serf system. This was the reason for the uniqueness in the relationship between progressive and regressive tendencies in Russian romanticism in comparison with Western European. In the West, romanticism, according to K. Marx, arose as “the first reaction to the French Revolution and the Enlightenment associated with it.” Marx considers it natural that under these conditions everything was seen “in a medieval, romantic light.” Hence the significant development in Western European literature of reactionary-romantic movements with their affirmation of an isolated personality, a “disappointed” hero, medieval antiquity, an illusory supersensible world, etc. Progressive romantics had to fight such movements.

Russian romanticism, generated by the impending socio-historical turning point in the development of Russia, became mainly an expression of new, anti-feudal, liberation tendencies in public life and worldview. This determined the progressive significance for Russian literature of the romantic movement as a whole. early stage its formation. However, Russian romanticism was not free from deep internal contradictions, which became more and more clear over time. Romanticism reflected the transitional, unstable state of the socio-political structure, the maturation of profound changes in all areas of life. In the ideological atmosphere of the era, new trends are felt, new ideas are born. But there is still no clarity, the old resists the new, the new is mixed with the old. All this gives early Russian romanticism its ideological and artistic originality. Trying to understand the main thing in romanticism, M. Gorky defines it as “a complex and always more or less unclear reflection of all the shades, feelings and moods that embrace society in transitional eras, but its main note is the expectation of something new, anxiety before the new, hasty , a nervous desire to learn this new thing.”

Romanticism(fr. romanticism, from medieval fr. romantic, novel) is a direction in art that was formed within the framework of a general literary movement at the turn of the 18th–19th centuries. in Germany. It has become widespread in all countries of Europe and America. The highest peak of romanticism occurred in the first quarter of the 19th century.

French word romanticism goes back to Spanish romance (in the Middle Ages, this was the name given to Spanish romances, and then to chivalric romance), English romantic, which turned into the 18th century. V romantic and then meaning “strange”, “fantastic”, “picturesque”. At the beginning of the 19th century. Romanticism becomes the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism.

A vivid and meaningful description of romanticism was given by Turgenev in a review of the translation of Goethe’s Faust, published in Otechestvennye zapiski for 1845. Turgenev proceeds from a comparison of the romantic era with the adolescence of a person, just as antiquity is correlated with childhood, and the Renaissance can be correlated with the adolescence of the human race. And this ratio, of course, is significant. “Every person,” writes Turgenev, “in his youth experienced an era of “genius,” enthusiastic self-confidence, friendly gatherings and circles... He becomes the center of the world around him; he (without realizing his good-natured egoism) does not indulge in anything; he forces himself to indulge in everything; he lives with his heart, but alone, his own, not someone else’s heart, even in love, about which he dreams so much; he is a romantic - romanticism is nothing more than the apotheosis of personality. He is ready to talk about society, about social issues, about science; but society, like science, exists for him - not he for them.”

Turgenev believes that the Romantic era began in Germany during the period of Sturm und Drang and that Faust was its most significant artistic expression. “Faust,” he writes, “from the beginning to the end of the tragedy cares about only himself. The last word everything earthly for Goethe (as well as for Kant and Fichte) was the human self... For Faust, society does not exist, the human race does not exist; he completely immerses himself in himself; he expects salvation from himself alone. From this point of view, Goethe’s tragedy is for us the most decisive, sharpest expression of romanticism, although this name came into fashion much later.”

Entering into the antithesis of “classicism - romanticism,” the movement suggested contrasting the classicist demand for rules with romantic freedom from rules. This understanding of romanticism persists to this day, but, as literary critic Yu. Mann writes, romanticism “is not simply a denial of the “rules”, but the following of “rules” that are more complex and whimsical.”

Center artistic system romanticism- personality, and his main conflict- individuals and society. The decisive prerequisite for the development of romanticism were the events of the Great french revolution. The emergence of romanticism is associated with the anti-enlightenment movement, the reasons for which lie in disappointment in civilization, in social, industrial, political and scientific progress, the result of which was new contrasts and contradictions, leveling and spiritual devastation of the individual.

The Enlightenment preached the new society as the most “natural” and “reasonable”. The best minds of Europe substantiated and foreshadowed this society of the future, but reality turned out to be beyond the control of “reason”, the future was unpredictable, irrational, and modern social order began to threaten human nature and personal freedom. Rejection of this society, protest against lack of spirituality and selfishness is already reflected in sentimentalism and pre-romanticism. Romanticism expresses this rejection most acutely. Romanticism also opposed the Age of Enlightenment in verbal terms: the language of romantic works, striving to be natural, “simple”, accessible to all readers, was something opposite to the classics with its noble, “sublime” themes, characteristic, for example, of classical tragedy.

Among the late Western European romantics, pessimism towards society acquires cosmic proportions and becomes the “disease of the century.” The heroes of many romantic works (F.R. Chateaubriand, A. de Musset, J. Byron, A. de Vigny, A. Lamartine, G. Heine, etc.) are characterized by moods of hopelessness and despair, which acquire a universal character. Perfection is lost forever, the world is ruled by evil, ancient chaos is resurrected. The theme of a “scary world”, characteristic of all romantic literature, most vividly embodied in the so-called “black genre” (in the pre-romantic “Gothic novel” - A. Radcliffe, C. Maturin, in the “drama of rock”, or “tragedy of rock” - Z. Werner, G. Kleist, F. Grillparzer), as well as in the works of J. Byron, C. Brentano, E.T.A. Hoffman, E. Poe and N. Hawthorne.

At the same time, romanticism is based on ideas that challenge the “terrible world” - above all, the ideas of freedom. The disappointment of romanticism is a disappointment in reality, but progress and civilization are only one side of it. Rejection of this side, lack of faith in the possibilities of civilization provide another path, the path to the ideal, to the eternal, to the absolute. This path must resolve all contradictions and completely change life. This is the path to perfection, “towards a goal, the explanation of which must be sought on the other side of the visible” (A. De Vigny). For some romantics, the world is dominated by incomprehensible and mysterious forces that must be obeyed and not try to change fate (poets of the “lake school”, Chateaubriand, V.A. Zhukovsky). For others, “world evil” caused protest, demanded revenge and struggle. (J. Byron, P.B. Shelley, S. Petofi, A. Mickiewicz, early A.S. Pushkin). What they had in common was that they all saw in man a single essence, the task of which is not at all limited to solving everyday problems. On the contrary, without denying everyday life, the romantics sought to unravel the mystery human existence, turning to nature, trusting your religious and poetic feelings.

Romantics turned to various historical eras, they were attracted by their originality, attracted by exotic and mysterious countries and circumstances. Interest in history became one of the enduring achievements of the artistic system of romanticism. He expressed himself in the creation of the genre of the historical novel (F. Cooper, A. de Vigny, V. Hugo), the founder of which is considered to be W. Scott, and the novel in general, which acquired a leading position in the era under consideration. Romantics reproduce in detail and accurately historical details, background, coloring of a particular era, but romantic characters are given outside of history, they are, as a rule, above circumstances and do not depend on them. At the same time, the romantics perceived the novel as a means of comprehending history, and from history they moved towards penetration into the secrets of psychology, and, accordingly, modernity. Interest in history was also reflected in the works of historians of the French romantic school (A. Thierry, F. Guizot, F. O. Meunier).

Exactly in the era of Romanticism, the discovery of the culture of the Middle Ages occurs, and the admiration for antiquity characteristic past era, also does not weaken at the end of the XVIII - beginning. XIX centuries The diversity of national, historical, and individual characteristics also had a philosophical meaning: the wealth of a single world whole consists of the combination of these individual features, and the study of the history of each people separately makes it possible to trace uninterrupted life through new generations succeeding one after another.

The era of Romanticism was marked by the flourishing of literature, one of the distinctive properties of which was a passion for social and political problems. Trying to comprehend the role of man in ongoing historical events, romantic writers gravitated toward accuracy, specificity, and authenticity. At the same time, the action of their works often takes place in an unusual setting for a European - for example, in the East and America, or, for Russians, in the Caucasus or Crimea. Thus, romantic poets are primarily lyricists and poets of nature, and therefore in their work (as well as in many prose writers), landscape occupies a significant place - first of all, the sea, mountains, sky, stormy elements with which the hero is associated complex relationships. Nature can be akin to the passionate nature of a romantic hero, but it can also resist him, turn out to be a hostile force with which he is forced to fight.