Sentimentalism in Russian Literature. Features of Russian sentimentalism and its meaning Characteristic features of sentimentalism

Sentimentalism is a trend in art and literature that became widespread after classicism. If the cult of reason dominated in classicism, then in sentimentalism the cult of the soul comes to the fore. Authors of works written in the spirit of sentimentalism appeal to the reader's perception, try to awaken certain emotions and feelings with the help of the work.

Sentimentalism originated in Western Europe in the early 18th century. This direction reached Russia only by the end of the century and took a dominant position at the beginning of the 19th century.

A new direction in literature demonstrates completely new features:

• Authors of works assign the main role to feelings. The most important personality trait is the ability to empathize and empathize.
• If in classicism the main characters were mainly nobles and rich people, then in sentimentalism they are ordinary people. Authors of works of the era of sentimentalism promote the idea that the inner world of a person does not depend on his social status.
• Sentimentalists wrote about fundamental human values: love, friendship, kindness, compassion
• The authors of this trend saw their vocation in comforting ordinary people, crushed by deprivation, hardship and lack of money, and to open their souls towards virtue.

Sentimentalism in Russia

Sentimentalism in our country had two currents:

• Noble. This direction was quite loyal. Speaking about feelings and the human soul, the authors did not advocate the abolition of serfdom. Within the framework of this direction, the famous work of Karamzin "Poor Liza" was written. The story was based on a class conflict. As a result, the author puts forward the human factor, and only then looks at social differences. Nevertheless, the story does not protest against the existing order of things in society.
• Revolutionary.Unlike “noble sentimentalism,” the works of the revolutionary movement advocated the abolition of serfdom. In them, the person with his right to a free life and a happy existence is put in the first place.

Sentimentalism, unlike classicism, did not have clear canons for writing works. That is why the authors working in this direction have created new literary genres, and also skillfully mixed them within the framework of one work.

(Sentimentalism in Radishchev's "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow")

Russian sentimentalism is a special trend, which, due to the cultural and historical characteristics of Russia, differed from a similar trend in Europe. The main distinguishing features of Russian sentimentalism are the following: the presence of conservative views on the social structure and tendencies towards enlightenment, instruction, teaching.

The development of sentimentalism in Russia can be divided into 4 stages, 3 of which date back to the 18th century.

XVIII century

• Stage I

In 1760-1765, the magazines Useful Entertainment and Free Hours began to appear in Russia, which rallied a group of talented poets headed by Kheraskov. It is believed that it was Kheraskov who laid the foundation for Russian sentimentalism.

In the works of poets of this period, nature and sensitivity begin to act as criteria of social values. The authors focus on the individual and his soul.

• Stage II (from 1776)

This period saw the flowering of Muravyov's creativity. Muravyov pays great attention to the soul of a person, his feelings.

An important event in the second stage was the release of the comic opera Rosana and Lyubim by Nikolayev. It was in this genre that many works of Russian sentimentalists were subsequently written. The basis of these works was the conflict between the tyranny of the landowners and the powerless existence of serfs. Moreover, the spiritual world of the peasants is often revealed as richer and richer than the inner world of rich landowners.

• Stage III (late 18th century)

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This period is considered the most fruitful for Russian sentimentalism. It was at this time that Karamzin created his famous works. Magazines are beginning to appear that promote the values \u200b\u200band ideals of the sentimentalists.

19th century

• Stage IV (early 19th century)

A crisis stage for Russian sentimentalism. The direction is gradually losing its popularity and relevance in society. Many modern historians and literary scholars believe that sentimentalism was a fleeting transitional stage from classicism to romanticism. Sentimentalism as a literary direction quickly exhausted itself, however, the direction opened the way for the further development of world literature.

Sentimentalism in Foreign Literature

England is considered the birthplace of sentimentalism as a literary movement. The starting point is Thomson's The Four Seasons. This collection of poems reveals to the reader the beauty and splendor of the surrounding nature. With his descriptions, the author tries to evoke certain feelings in the reader, to instill in him a love for the amazing beauties of the world around him.

After Thomson, Thomas Gray began to write in a similar style. In his works, he also paid great attention to the description of natural landscapes, as well as reflections on the hard life of ordinary peasants. Important figures in this movement in England were Lawrence Stern and Samuel Richardson.

The development of sentimentalism in French literature is associated with the names of Jean Jacques Rousseau and Jacques de Saint-Pierre. The peculiarity of the French sentimentalists was that they described the feelings and experiences of their heroes against the background of beautiful natural landscapes: parks, lakes, forests.

European sentimentalism as a literary trend also quickly exhausted itself, however, the trend opened the way for the further development of world literature.

In the second half of the 18th century. in European literature, a trend emerges that is called sentimentalism (from the French word sentimentalism, which means sensitivity). The name itself gives a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe essence and nature of the new phenomenon. The main feature, the leading quality of the human personality, was proclaimed not to be reason, as it was in classicism and in the era of the Enlightenment, but feeling, not the mind, but the heart.

What happened? Two ideas that argued that the world can be rebuilt according to the laws of reason, or that the enlightened monarch, the enlightened nobles, who put the good of the fatherland above all else and set an example in this respect for all other estates, can transform life in accordance with the ideals of good and justice, have suffered defeat. Reality has been and remains cruel and unjust. Where can a person go, how to preserve his unique personality, his individuality from evil, universal enmity, from ignorance and recklessness that reign in the world? Only one thing remains - to withdraw into oneself, to proclaim the only value not to the state, but to a person with his feelings, dreams, subtle feelings, with his soul and heart. Only heartfelt impulses are true and immutable; they alone are the sure compass in the ocean of life.

The sentimentalists had a lot in common with the Enlightenment. And above all, democratic tendencies, their sympathy for simple, ordinary people (usually they were opposed to the depraved nobility). But reason they are no longer based only on rationalism. [A striking example of this is the opposition of the city (civilization) to the village (the embodiment of simplicity and naturalness).

The development of European sentimentalism was influenced by the work of the French writer Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). According to him, every person is born kind and good. He becomes vicious and wicked under the influence of a depraved society. Therefore, a natural person who lives according to the laws of nature is invariably more moral than a “person created by society”. In a primitive state, all people were happy. Civilization gave rise to social inequality, luxury and poverty, arrogance, debauchery ...

It is impossible to change this world using only reason. It is necessary to turn to the best qualities of a person inherent in nature, to his natural aspirations, mental impulses. This is how a new hero (heroine) appears in literature - a simple and ignorant person, endowed with high spiritual qualities, guided by the dictates of the heart, alien to civilization. The value of a person is now determined not by his noble origin or wealth, but by purity of thoughts, self-esteem.

Substantial changes are also taking place in the genre system. Now there is no clear division into higher and lower genres. Sentimentalists give preference to diaries, letters, travel notes, memories - in other words, genres in which the story is told in the first person and where the person could express himself most fully. The intense interest in the inner world of a person, the desire to understand their own soul, which, in their opinion, is an absolute value, predetermined both genre searches, and features of the narrative manner, and the originality of the language.

Sentimentalists fundamentally abandoned the strict literary rules that were so characteristic of classicism. The defense of individual freedom led to a decisive affirmation of the freedom of literary creation. There is such an "I" that the classicists simply were not interested in. Remember the work of Lomonosov - there was no personal principle in his works. Derzhavin's poetic "I" is already quite perceptible. With sentimentalists, the image of the author is highlighted.

The features of sentimentalism were very clearly manifested in the work of the English writer L. Stern: his Sentimental Journey (1768) gave the name to the new movement. In France, a prominent representative of sentimentalism was Jean-Jacques Rousseau (although, as you already know, there were also educational ideas in his work); in Germany, sentimentalism influenced the early work of Goethe and Schiller.

In Russia, sentimentalism is associated primarily with the name of N.M. Karamzin.

In the history of literature (and not only literature, but also other arts, painting, music) sentimentalism has played a very important role. Attention to the world of a person's personal experiences, his inner world, the emergence of a new hero, the strengthening of the author's principle, the renewal of the genre system, the overcoming of classicist normativity - all this was preparation for those decisive changes that took place in the literature of the 19th century.

What is Sentimentalism?

Sentimentalism is a trend in literature and art of the second half of the 18th century. in Western Europe and Russia, prepared by the crisis of educational rationalism. It received its most complete expression in England, where the ideology of the third estate was formed earlier and its internal contradictions were revealed. Sentimentalism declared the dominant of "human nature" to feel, and not reason, compromised by bourgeois practice. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, however, it believed that the condition for its implementation was not a "rational" 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 with the ability to empathize, responsive to what is happening around him. By origin (or by conviction) the sentimental hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the commoner is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism. For the first time sentimental moods (idyll in the bosom of nature, melancholic contemplation) were revealed in the poetry of J. Thomson ("The Seasons", 1730), E. Jung ("Night Thoughts", 1742-45) and T. Gray ("Elegy, written in rural cemetery ", 1751). The elegiac tone of sentimental poetry is inseparable from patriarchal idealization; only in the poetry of the late sentimentalists (70-80-ies) O. Goldsmith, W. Cooper and J. Crabb contains a socially concrete disclosure of the "rural" theme - the massive impoverishment of peasants, abandoned villages. Sentimental motives sounded in the psychological novels of S. Richardson, in the late G. Fielding ("Amelia", 1752). However, sentimentalism finally took shape in the work of L. Stern, whose unfinished Sentimental Journey (1768) gave its name to the entire movement. Following D. Hume, Stern showed a person's “non-identity” with himself, his ability to be “different”. But, unlike pre-romanticism, which developed in parallel with it, sentimentalism is alien to the "irrational": the contradictory moods, the impulsive nature of emotional impulses are available to rationalist interpretation, the dialectic of the soul is perceptible. The main features of English sentimentalism (Goldsmith, the late Smollett, G. Mackenzie, etc.) are "sensitivity", not devoid of exaltation, and most importantly - irony and humor, which provided a parody debunking of the educational canon and
at the same time admitting a skeptical attitude of sentimentalism to its own capabilities (in Stern). Pan-European cultural communication and typological proximity in the development of literatures (psychological novels by P. Marivaux and A. Prevost, "philistine dramas" by D. Diderot, "Mother" by Beaumarchais - in France; "serious comedy" by K. F. Gellert, rationally sensitive poetry F.G. Klopstock - in Germany) caused the rapid spread of sentimentalism. However, it is characteristic that in Germany and especially in pre-revolutionary France the democratic tendencies of sentimentalism received the most radical expression (J. J. Rousseau, the "storm and onslaught" movement). Creativity Rousseau ("New Eloise", 1761) - the pinnacle of European sentimentalism. As JV Goethe later in "Werther", Rousseau determines the sentimental hero by the social environment ("Confession"). Diderot's sentimental heroes ("Jacques the Fatalist", "Rameau's Nephew") are also included in the social context. Under the influence of sentimentalism, the dramaturgy of G.E. Lessing developed. At the same time, French and German literature is overwhelmed by a wave of direct imitations of Stern.

In Russia, representatives of sentimentalism were M. N. Muravyov, N. M. Karamzin (Poor Liza, 1792), I. I. Dmitriev, V. V. Kapnist, N. A. Lvov, young V. A. Zhukovsky and others. Mostly noble in nature, Russian sentimentalism is largely rationalistic, it has a strong didactic attitude ("Letters of a Russian traveler" Karamzin, part 1, 1792). In the conditions of Russia, educational tendencies in sentimentalism turned out to be more important. The perfection of the literary language, Russian sentimentalists also turned to colloquial norms, introduced the vernacular. Researchers find unconditional features of sentimentalist poetics in the work of A.N. Radishchev.

Karamzin as the brightest representative of classicism. "Peter gave the body to Ross, Catherine the soul." Thus, in a well-known verse, the mutual relationship of the two creators of the new Russian civilization was determined. The creators of the new Russian literature, Lomonosov and Karamzin, have approximately the same attitude. Lomonosov prepared the material from which literature is formed; Karamzin breathed a living soul into him and made the printed word the spokesman for spiritual life and, in part, the leader of Russian society. Belinsky says that Karamzin created a Russian public, which did not exist before him, created readers - and since literature is unthinkable without readers, we can safely say that literature, in the modern sense of the word, began with us from the era of Karamzin and began precisely thanks to his knowledge, energy, delicate taste and extraordinary talent. Karamzin was not a poet: he is deprived of
creative imagination, its taste is one-sided; the ideas he pursued do not differ in depth and originality; he owes his great importance most of all to his active love for literature and the so-called humane sciences. Karamzin's preparation was broad, but it was incorrect or the way it was based on solid foundations; according to Groth, he "read more than he studied." Its serious development begins under the influence of the Friendly Society. A deep religious feeling inherited from his mother, philanthropic aspirations, dreamy humanity, platonic love for freedom, equality and brotherhood on the one hand and selflessly humble submission to the powers that be - on the other, patriotism and admiration for European culture, high respect for enlightenment in all its types, but at the same time a reluctance to Gallomania and a reaction against a skeptical, cold attitude towards life and against a mocking disbelief, a desire to study the monuments of his native antiquity - all this is either borrowed by Karamzin from Novikov and his comrades, or strengthened by their influence. Novikov's example showed Karamzin that outside the civil service one can be of benefit to his fatherland, and outlined for him the program of his own life. Under the influence of A. Petrov and, probably, the German poet Lenz, Karamzin's literary tastes developed, which represented a major step forward in comparison with the views of his older contemporaries. Proceeding from Rousseau's views on the delights of the "natural state" and on the rights of the heart, Karamzin, following Herder, first of all demands from poetry sincerity, originality and liveliness.
Homer, Ossian, Shakespeare are in his eyes the greatest poets; the so-called neo-classical poetry seems cold to him and does not touch his soul; Voltaire in his eyes is only a "famous sophist"; innocent folk songs arouse his sympathy. In Children's Reading, Karamzin follows the principles of the humane pedagogy that Emil Russo introduced into everyday life, and which fully coincided with the views of the founders of the Friendly Society. At this time, the literary language of Karamzin was gradually developed, which most of all contributed to the great reform. In the preface to the translation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, he also writes: “His spirit hovered like an eagle, and could not measure his soaring”, “great spirits” (instead of genius), etc. But Petrov laughed at “long-lasting, lingering "In Slavic words, and" Children's reading "by its very purpose forced Karamzin to write in an easy and colloquial language and in every possible way to avoid" Slavic "and Latin-German construction. At the same time, or soon after leaving the country, Karamzin begins to test his strength in poetry; it was not easy for him to rhyme, and in his poems there was no so-called hovering at all, but even here his syllable is clear and simple; he knew how to find new themes for Russian literature and borrow original and beautiful dimensions from the Germans. His "ancient Gishpan historical song": "Count Guinos", written in 1789, is the prototype of Zhukovsky's ballads; his "Autumn" at one time amazed with its extraordinary simplicity and grace. Karamzin's journey abroad and the resulting "Letters of a Russian Traveler" are a fact of great importance in the history of Russian enlightenment. About "Letters" Buslaev says: "their numerous readers were insensitively brought up in the ideas of European civilization, as if they matured together with the maturation of the young Russian traveler, learning to feel his noble feelings, dream of his beautiful dreams." According to Galakhov's calculation, in letters from Germany and Switzerland, news of a scientific and literary character occupies a fourth part, and if science, art and theater are excluded from Paris letters, significantly less than half will remain. Karamzin says that the letters were written "as it happened, dear, on scraps in pencil"; and yet it turned out that they contain a lot of literary borrowings - therefore, they were written, although partly "in the silence of the study." In any case, Karamzin really collected a significant part of the material on the road and wrote it down "on scraps." Another contradiction is more significant: how can an ardent friend of freedom, a disciple of Rousseau, ready to kneel before Fiesco, can speak so contemptuously of the events in Paris of that time and does not want to see in them anything but a riot organized by the party of "ravenous wolves"? Of course, a pupil of the Friendly Society could not sympathize with an open uprising, but fearful caution also played a significant role here: it is known how Catherine sharply changed her attitude towards French journalism and the activities of the States General after July 14. The most careful treatment of the periods in the April letter of 1790 testifies, apparently, to the fact that tirades in praise of the old order in France were written for display. - Karamzin worked hard abroad (by the way, he learned English); his love for literature grew stronger, and immediately upon returning to his homeland he became a journalist. His "Moskovsky Zhurnal" is the first Russian literary magazine that truly delighted its readers. There were examples of both literary and theatrical criticism, excellent for that time, beautifully, generally understandable and extremely delicately presented. In general, Karamzin was able to adapt our literature to the needs of the best, that is, more educated Russian people, and, moreover, of both sexes: until then the ladies had not read Russian magazines. In the "Moscow Journal" (as well as later in the "Vestnik Evropy") Karamzin had no collaborators in the modern sense of the word: his friends sent him their poems, sometimes very valuable (in 1791 Derzhavin's "Vision of Murza" appeared here, in 1792 Dmitriev's "Fashionable Wife", the famous song "The Blue Dove Moans" by him, plays by Kheraskov, Neledinsky-Meletsky and others), but he had to fill all sections of the magazine himself; this was only possible because he brought from abroad a whole portfolio filled with translations and imitations. Two stories by Karamzin appear in the "Moscow Journal": "Poor Liza" and "Natalia, the boyar's daughter", which serve as the most vivid expression of his sentimentalism. The first was especially successful: the poets praised the author or composed elegies to the ashes of poor Liza. Epigrams appeared, of course. Karamzin's sentimentalism proceeded from his natural inclinations and the conditions of his development, as well as from his sympathy for the literary school that arose at that time in the West. In Poor Lisa, the author frankly declares that he “loves those objects that touch the heart and make us shed tears of great sorrow”. In the story, apart from the locality, there is nothing Russian; but the vague desire of the public to have poetry close to life was so far satisfied with this very few. In "Poor Liza" there are no characters either, but there is a lot of feeling, and most importantly, she touched the soul with all the tone of the story and brought the readers into the mood in which they imagined the author. Now "Poor Liza" seems cold and fake, but in theory it is the first link in the chain that, through Pushkin's romance: "Towards a rainy autumn evening", stretches to Dostoevsky's "The Humiliated and Insulted". It is with Poor Liza that Russian literature takes on the philanthropic direction that Kireevsky speaks of. The imitators took Karamzin's tearful tone to an extreme, which he did not sympathize at all: already in 1797 (in the preface to Book 2 of Aonides) he advises “not to talk about tears incessantly ... this way of touching is very unreliable”. “Natalia, Boyar's Daughter” is important as the first experience of sentimental idealization of our past, and in the history of Karamzin's development - as the first and timid step of the future author of “History of the Russian State”. "Moskovsky Zhurnal" was a success, at that time very significant (already in the first year it had 300 "sub-scribes"; later, its second edition was needed), but Karamzin reached especially wide popularity in 1794, when he collected all the articles from it his own and reprinted in a special collection: "My trinkets" (2nd ed., 1797; 3rd - 1801). From that time on, his significance as a literary reformer is quite clear: a few lovers of literature recognize him as the best prose writer, the large public only reads him with pleasure. In Russia at that time, all thinking people lived so badly that, in the words of Karamzin, "a generous frenzy against the abuse of power drowned out the voice of personal caution" ("Note on Ancient and New Russia"). Under Paul I, Karamzin was ready to leave literature and was looking for mental rest in the study of the Italian language and in the reading of ancient monuments. From the beginning of the reign of Alexander I, Karamzin, still remaining a writer, occupied an unparalleled high position: he became not only “Alexander's singer” in the sense that Derzhavin was “Catherine's singer”, but he was an influential publicist, whose voice was also listened to. government, and society. His Vestnik Evropy is a literary and artistic publication just as wonderful for its time as Moskovsky Zhurnal, but at the same time an organ of moderate liberal views. Still, however, Karamzin has to work almost exclusively alone; so that his name does not dazzle in the eyes of readers, he is forced to invent a lot of pseudonyms. Vestnik Evropy earned its name with a number of articles on European intellectual and political life and a host of well-chosen translations (Karamzin subscribed to the 12 best foreign journals for the editorial board). Of Karamzin's works of art in the "Bulletin of Europe" more important than others is the autobiography story "A Knight of Our Time", which noticeably reflects the influence of Jean-Paul Richter, and the famous historical story "Martha the Posadnitsa". In the leading articles of the magazine, Karamzin expresses "pleasant views, hopes and desires of the present time", shared by the best part of the then society. It turned out that the revolution, which threatened to swallow civilization and freedom, brought them great benefit: now "the sovereigns, instead of condemning reason to silence, incline it to their side"; they "feel the importance of union" with the best minds, respect public opinion, and try to win the love of the people by destroying abuses. In relation to Russia, Karamzin wants education for all classes, and above all literacy for the people ("the establishment of rural schools is incomparably more useful than all lyceums, being a true public institution, the true foundation of state education"); he dreams of the penetration of science into high society. In general, for Karamzin, "enlightenment is a palladium of good manners," by which he means the manifestation in private and public life of all the best sides of human nature and the taming of selfish instincts. Karamzin also uses the form of the story to carry his ideas into society: in "My Confession" he denounces the absurd secular upbringing given to the aristocracy and the unfair favors shown to it. The weak side of Karamzin's journalistic activities is his attitude to serfdom; he, as N.I. Turgenev, skims on this issue (in the "Letter of a Rural Resident" he
directly opposes giving the peasants the opportunity to independently manage their farming under the conditions of the time). The department of criticism in the Vestnik Evropy is almost non-existent; Karamzin now does not have such a high opinion of her as before, he considers her a luxury for our, still poor, literature. In general, Vestnik Evropy does not coincide in everything with the Russian Traveler. Far from being the same as before, Karamzin reveres the West and finds that it is not good for both man and people to remain in the position of a disciple forever; he attaches great importance to national self-awareness and rejects the idea that "everything national is nothing before human." At this time, Shishkov began a literary war against Karamzin and his supporters, which comprehended and finally consolidated Karamzin's reform in our language and partly in the very direction of Russian literature. In his youth, Karamzin recognized as his teacher in the literary style Petrov, the enemy of the Slavism; in 1801 he expresses the conviction that only since his time in the Russian syllable has been noticed “a pleasantness, called by the French“ elegance ”. Even later (1803), he says this about the literary style: “A Russian candidate for authorship, dissatisfied with books, must close them and listen to conversations around him in order to completely learn the language. Here is a new misfortune: in our best houses they speak more French ... What is left for the author to do? Make up, compose expressions, guess the best choice of words. " Shishkov rebelled against all innovations (moreover, he takes examples from both inept and extreme imitators of Karamzin), sharply separating the literary language, with its strong Slavic element and three styles, from the spoken language. Karamzin did not accept the challenge, but Makarov, Kachenovsky and Dashkov entered the struggle for him, and pressed Shishkov, despite the support of the Russian academy and the foundation of Conversations of Russian Literature Lovers to help his cause. The dispute can be considered over after the founding of Arzamas and Karamzin's entry into the academy in 1818. In his opening speech, he expressed the bright idea that “words are not invented by academies; they are born with thoughts. " In the words of Pushkin, "Karamzin freed the language from an alien yoke and returned it freedom, turning it to the living sources of the folk word." This living element lies in the brevity of periods, in the colloquial structure and in a large number of new words (such are, for example, moral, aesthetic, era, scene, harmony, disaster, future, influence who or what, focus, touching, entertaining, industry ). Working on history, Karamzin was aware of the good sides of the language of monuments and was able to introduce many beautiful and powerful expressions into everyday life. When collecting material for "History" Karamzin rendered a great service to the study of ancient Russian literature; according to Sreznevsky, "the first word was said about many of the ancient monuments to the Karamzins, and a word was not said about a single one inappropriately and without criticism." "The Lay of Igor's Campaign", "The Teaching of Monomakh" and many other literary works of ancient Russia became known to the large public only thanks to the "History of the Russian State". In 1811, Karamzin was distracted from his main work by compiling the famous note "On ancient and new Russia in its political and civil relations" (published together with a note on Poland, in Berlin, in 1861; in 1870 - in " Russian Archive "), which Karamzin's panegyrists consider a great civil feat, and others" an extreme manifestation of his fatalism, "strongly inclined towards obscurantism. Baron Korf (Life of Speransky, 1861) says that this note is not a statement of Karamzin's individual thoughts, but "a skillful compilation of what he heard around him." It is impossible not to notice the obvious contradiction between many of the provisions of the note and those humane and liberal thoughts that Karamzin expressed, for example, in "Historical Praise to Catherine" (1802) and other journalistic and literary works of his. The note, like the "Opinion of a Russian Citizen" about Poland submitted by Karamzin in 1819 to Alexander I (published in 1862 in the book "Unpublished Works"; cf. "Russian Archive" 1869), testifies to a certain civic courage of the author, since in their sharply frank tone, they should have aroused the displeasure of the sovereign; but Karamzin's courage could not be seriously blamed on him, since his objections were based on his respect for absolute power. Opinions about the results of Karamzin's activities differed greatly during his life (his supporters, back in 1798 - 1800, considered him a great writer and placed him in collections next to Lomonosov and Derzhavin, and even in 1810 his enemies insisted that he was pouring in his writings “ Jacobin poison "and clearly preaches godlessness and rulelessness); they cannot be brought to unity at the present time. Pushkin recognized him as a great writer, a noble patriot, a wonderful soul, took him as an example of firmness in relation to criticism, resented attacks on his history and the coldness of articles about his death. Gogol speaks of him in 1846: “Karamzin is an extraordinary phenomenon. About one of our writers we can say that he fulfilled his entire duty, did not bury anything in the ground, and for the five talents given to him, he truly brought five other talents. " Belinsky holds just the opposite opinion and proves that Karamzin did less than he could. However, the enormous and beneficial influence of Karamzin on the development of the Russian language and literary form is unanimously recognized by everyone.

Prose by N.M. Karamzin

The "Letters of a Russian Traveler", which the author himself called the "mirror of the soul" of his story ("Natalya, the Boyar's Daughter", "Martha Posadnitsa", "Bornholm Island") marked the beginning of a new stage in literary development. (Recall that classicism essentially did not know the artistic
prose.)

The last years of his life Karamzin devoted to the creation of a magnificent work - "History of the Russian State". For many readers of that time, the writer became, as it were, the discoverer of Russian history, Columbus, as Pushkin called him. Unfortunately, death did not allow Karamzin to complete his plan, but what he managed to write is ‘enough to make his name forever remain not only in the history of Russian literature, but also in Russian culture.

Of Karamzin's stories, Poor Liza was especially popular. The story tells how a poor peasant girl was deceived by a noble master. A common story, a common plot. How many times this plot has been used in literature (in theater, cinema, television series) is incomprehensible to the mind! But why exactly “Poor Liza” has not left the readers indifferent for over two centuries? Obviously, it's not about the plot. Most likely, we are influenced by the very narrative manner of the writer, his profound interest in the details of feelings, emotional experiences, his love for lyrical digressions that characterize not only the characters, but first of all the author himself - humane, kind, capable of penetrating the inner world of his heroes , understand them and ultimately forgive ...

The image of the author. In one of his programmatic articles ("What an author needs"), Karamzin argued that "the creator is always depicted in the creation", that any work of art is "a portrait of the soul and heart of a writer." And in the stories of Karamzin himself (including in "Poor Liza"), the personality of the author-narrator comes to the fore. In other words, reality itself is portrayed by Karamzin not by itself, completely objectively, but through the prism of the author's perception, through the author's emotions. So it was in "Letters of a Russian Traveler", so it is
the narration is also in Poor Liza.

“Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the surroundings of this city as well as I do, because no one is more often than mine in the field, no one more than mine wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal — aimlessly — through the meadows and groves, hills and plains ... "

Of course, you can say: we are not interested in the author with his aimless walks, it is much more interesting for us to read about the unhappy love of a poor girl and quickly find out how it all ended.

Do not hurry. Karamzin writes not an adventure novel, but a subtle psychological story, one of the first in Russian literature. Her interest lies, as we have already said, not so much in the plot itself, but in the gradual disclosure of the entire complexity of the feelings and experiences of both the heroes and the author himself.

Karamzin writes: “But most often I am attracted to the walls of the Simonov Monastery - memories of the deplorable fate of Liza, poor Liza. Oh! I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow! "Pay attention to the emotionality of the style: an exclamation sentence, an unusual dash, placed outside any rules (and what is its function?), The agitated and often used interjection by Karamzin" Ah! ", His usual mentions of heart, tears, sorrow ...

The general narrative tone of Poor Lisa is filled with sadness. From the very beginning, the story sets us up for a tragic denouement. We learn that the author's heart "shudders and trembles," "bleeds." And his appeals to his heroes also contain sad prophecies: “Reckless young man! Do you know your heart? "Or:" Oh, Liza, Liza! where is your guardian angel? "- and so on. Until relatively recently it was customary to reproach Karamzin for not reflecting in his story all the horrors of serfdom, not showing the glaring poverty of Liza and her mother, idealizing their life. All this should have confirmed us in the idea that Karamzin could not overcome his noble limitations, that he failed to paint a true picture of peasant life.

So it really is. Alas, Karamzin is not a democrat in terms of socio-political views, not a realist in terms of aesthetic concepts. But he did not strive to be either a realist or a democrat. He lived at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries - what do we actually want from him? He has his own view of reality, people, art. Real life and literature have nothing in common - this is the position of Karamzin. We have already spoken about this when it came to his poetry. That is why the social predetermination of the feelings and actions of the heroes is of little interest to him. Liza's dramatic story is primarily the result not of social inequality, but of the tragic inconsistency of the psychological natures of Liza and Erast.

Poor Lisa

"Poor Liza" (1792), which is based on the enlightenment idea of \u200b\u200bthe out-of-word value of the human person, is rightly recognized as the best story of Karamzin. The problematic of the story is of a social moral character: the peasant woman Liza is opposed by the nobleman Erast. The characters are revealed in the attitude of the heroes to love. Liza's feelings are marked by depth, constancy of unselfishness: she understands perfectly well that she is not destined to be Erast's wife. Twice throughout the story she says this, for the first time to her mother: “Mother! Mother! How can this be? He is a master, and between the peasants Liza did not finish her speech. " The second time to Erast: "However, you cannot be my husband! "-" Why? "-" I am a peasant woman ... ". Liza loves Erast selflessly, not thinking about the consequences of her passion, "What belongs to Liza, writes Karamzin, she completely surrendered to him, she only lived and breathed and put her happiness in his pleasure." This feeling cannot be prevented by any selfish calculations. During one of the dates, Lisa informs Erast that
the son of a rich peasant from a neighboring village is wooing her and that her mother really wants this marriage. ”And you agree? "- Erast is alarmed. "Cruel! Can you ask about this? "- Liza soothes him.

Erast is depicted in the story not as a treacherous deceiver - as a seducer. Such a solution to a social problem would be too rough and straightforward. He was, according to Karamzin, "a rather rich nobleman" with a "naturally kind" heart "but weak and windy ... He led an absent-minded life, thought only of his own pleasure ..." Thus, the whole, selfless character of the peasant woman is opposed to the character of the good, but a gentleman spoiled by an idle life, unable to think about the consequences of his actions. The intention to seduce a gullible girl was not part of his plans. At first, he thought about "pure joys", intended to "live with Lisa as a brother and sister." But Erast did not know his characters well, and too overestimated his moral strength. Soon, according to Karamzin, he “could no longer be content to be alone with pure hugs. He wanted more, more and, finally, he could not desire anything. " Satiety sets in and desires will be freed from the boring connection.

It should be noted that the image of Erast is accompanied by a very prosaic leitmotif - money, which in sentimental literature has always evoked a condemnatory attitude towards itself.

Erast, at the very first meeting with Lisa, seeks to amaze her imagination with his generosity, offering a whole ruble for a lily of the valley instead of five kopecks. Lisa resolutely refuses this money, which causes full approval of her mother. Erast, wishing to win over the girl's mother, asks only him to sell her products and always seeks to pay ten times more, but "the old woman never took too much." Liza, loving Erast, refuses a prosperous peasant who has wooed her. Erast, for the sake of money, marries a rich elderly widow. At the last meeting with Lisa, Erast tries to buy her off with "ten imperials". “I love you,” he justifies, and now I love you, that is, I wish you all the best. Take them a hundred rubles. "

This scene is perceived as blasphemy, as an outrage - all life, thoughts, hopes, for others - “ten imperials. A hundred years later, it was repeated by Leo Tolstoy in his novel "Sunday".

For Lisa, the loss of Erast is tantamount to the loss of life. Further existence becomes meaningless, and she lays hands on herself. The tragic ending of the story testified to the creative death of Karamzin, who did not want to reduce the significance of the social and ethical problem put forward by him by a successful outcome. Where a big, strong feeling came into conflict with the foundations of the feudal world, Yiddish
could not be.

For the sake of maximum plausibility, Karamzin linked the plot of his story with specific places in the then Moscow region. Liza's house is located on the banks of the Moscow River, not far from the Simonov Monastery. The meeting between Liza and Erast took place near Simonov's pond, which after the release of the story was named "Lizin's Pond". In the story "Poor Liza" Karamzin showed himself to be a great psychologist. He was able to masterfully reveal the inner world of his heroes, primarily their love experiences. Karamzin's most important service to literature, writes F.Z.

Erast, having visited Lisa's house for the first time, enters into a conversation with her mother. He promises to enter their hut beforehand. We can guess what is happening in Liza's soul from the pure external details: “Here in Liza's eyes a glimmer of joy flashed, which she carefully wanted to hide; her cheeks glowed, dawn on a clear summer evening; she looked at her left sleeve and pinched it with her right hand. " The next day, Lisa goes to the banks of the Moscow River, hoping to meet Erast. Painful waiting hours. “Suddenly Liza heard the sound of oars and saw a boat, and Erast was in the boat. All the veins in her were hammered, and of course not from fear. She got up, wanted to go, but could not. Erast jumped ashore, looked at her with an affectionate air, took her hand. And Liza stood with downcast eyes, with fiery cheeks, with a fluttering heart "Liza becomes Erast's mistress, and her mother, unaware of their closeness, dreams aloud:" When Liza has children, know, master, that you must baptize them ... Liza stood beside her mother and did not dare to look at her. The reader can easily imagine what she felt at that moment, "adds Karamzin. The lyrical content of the story is reflected in its style. In a number of cases, Karamzin's prose becomes rhythmic, approaching poetic speech. This is how Liza's love confessions to Erast sound like: “Without your eyes the bright month is dark, without your voice the singing nightingale is boring; without your breath the breeze is not pleasant to me. "

The popularity of "Poor Lisa" was not least due to the simplicity of the plot, the clarity of the composition, and the swiftness of the development of the action. Sometimes a series of rapidly changing pictures resembles a 20th century film script. with the distribution of events for individual frames. Any filmmaker could take as a gift such, for example, an excerpt from Karamzin (the farewell of Liza and Erast is described):

“Liza sobbed - Erast cried - left her - she fell - knelt down, raised her hands to the sky and looked at Erast, who was moving away, further, further, and finally disappeared - the sun shone, and Liza, left, poor, lost feelings and memory ".

The story "Poor Liza" marked a new period in the development of Russian literature. Even though much of it today seems naive, maybe even a little funny, it is necessary to evaluate the work taking into account the time when it was created.

The legacy of Karamzin, a poet, writer, journalist, historian, was great and diverse. Not all contemporaries agreed with him: not everyone, in particular, accepted his language reform, certain historical views. But rarely did anyone doubt the role that Karamzin was destined to play in the history of Russian culture. Its significance can be judged by the dedication preceded by the tragedy "Boris Godunov":

"This work, inspired by his genius, is devoted to Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin's precious memory for Russians, with reverence and gratitude, is dedicated by Alexander Pushkin."

FEATURES OF RUSSIAN SENTIMENTALISM AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

At the end of the 18th century, a new trend emerged in Russian literature to replace the dominant trend of classicism, which was called sentimentalism, which came from the French word sens, meaning feeling.

Sentimentalism, as an artistic trend, generated by the process of the struggle against absolutism, appeared in the second half of the 18th century in a number of Western European countries, primarily in England (poetry by D. Thomson, prose by L. Stern and Richardson), then in France (works by J.-J. Rousseau) and Germany (the early works of JV Goethe, F. Schiller.) The sentimentalism that emerged on the basis of the new socio-economic relations was alien to the glorification of statehood and class limitations inherent in classicism. , the cult of sincere pure feelings and nature. The empty social life, the depraved morals of high society, sentimentalists opposed the idyll of country life, disinterested friendship, touching love at the hearth, in the lap of nature. These feelings were reflected in the numerous "Travels" that became fashionable after Stern's novel Sentimental Journey, which gave the name to this literary movement. one of the first works of this kind was the famous "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" by AN Radishchev (1790). Paid tribute to this fashion and Karamzin, who published in 1798 "Letters of a Russian Traveler", followed by "Travel in the Crimea and Bessarabia" P. Sumarokov (1800), "Travel to noon Russia." Izmailov and Shalikov's Another Journey to Little Russia (1804). The popularity of this genre was explained by the fact that the author could freely express thoughts here that gave rise to new cities, meetings, landscapes. These reflections were for the most part distinguished by increased sensitivity and moralism.

But, in addition to this "lyrical" orientation, sentimentalism also had a certain social order. Having arisen in the Age of Enlightenment, with its inherent interest in the personality and the spiritual world of a person, moreover, an ordinary, "little" person, sentimentalism also took on some features of the ideology of the "third estate", especially since during this period representatives of this class also appear in Russian literature - - writers of commoners. Thus, sentimentalism brings a new concept of honor into Russian literature; this is no longer the antiquity of the family, but the high moral dignity of a person. In one of the stories, the "villager" notes that only a person with a clear conscience can have a good name. “For a 'little' person - both a hero and a commoner writer who has come to literature, the problem of honor acquires special significance; it is not easy for him to defend his dignity in a society where class prejudices are so strong. ”3 Sentimentalism is also characteristic of the assertion of the spiritual equality of people, regardless of their position in society. NS Smirnov, a former fugitive serf, then a soldier, the author of the sentimental story "Zara", prefaced her with an epigraph from the Bible: "And I have a heart, as you do." sentimentalism karamzin story

The most complete expression of Russian sentimentalism was found in the work of Karamzin. His "Poor Lisa", "Notes of a Traveler", "Julia" and a number of other stories are distinguished by all the features characteristic of this movement. Like the classic of French sentimentalism J.-J. Rousseau, in whose works Karamzin, by his own admission, was attracted by "sparks of passionate philanthropy" and "sweet sensitivity", his works are saturated with humane moods. Karamzin aroused the sympathy of readers for his heroes, excitedly conveying their experiences. Karamzin's heroes are moral people, gifted with great sensitivity, selfless, for whom attachment is more important than worldly well-being. So, the heroine of Karamzin's story "Natalia, the boyar's daughter" accompanies her husband to the war, so as not to part with her beloved. Love for her is higher than danger or even death. Alois from the story "Sierra Morena" takes his own life, unable to bear the betrayal of the bride. In the traditions of sentimentalism, the spiritual life of the characters in Karamzin's literary works proceeds against the background of nature, the phenomena of which (thunderstorm, storm or gentle sun) accompany people's experiences as an accompaniment.

Sentimentalism is understood as the direction of literature that developed at the end of the 18th century and colored the beginning of the 19th century, which was distinguished by the cult of the human heart, feeling, simplicity, naturalness, special attention to the inner world, a living love for nature. In contrast to classicism, which worshiped reason, and only reason, and which as a result of this in its aesthetics built everything on strictly logical principles, on a carefully thought out system (Boileau's theory of poetry), sentimentalism gives the artist freedom of feeling, imagination and expression and does not require him of impeccable correctness in the architectonics of literary creations. Sentimentalism is a protest against the dry rationality that characterized the Age of Enlightenment; he appreciates in a person not what culture has given him, but what he brought with him in the depths of his nature. And if classicism (or, as it is in our country, in Russia, is more often called - false classicism) was interested exclusively in representatives of the highest social circles, royal leaders, the sphere of the court and all kinds of aristocracy, then sentimentalism is much more democratic and, recognizing the fundamental equivalence of all people, is omitted in the valleys of everyday life - in that environment of the bourgeoisie, the middle class, which at that time had just come to the fore in a purely economic sense, began - especially in England - to play an outstanding role on the historical stage.

For the sentimentalist, everyone is interesting, because in everything the intimate life glimmers, shines and warms; and no special events, stormy and vivid efficacy are needed in order to qualify to get into literature: no, it turns out to be hospitable in relation to the most ordinary inhabitants, to the most ineffective biography, it depicts the slow passage of ordinary days, peaceful backwaters of nepotism, quiet a trickle of everyday worries. Sentimental literature is in no hurry; its favorite form is the "long, moralizing and dignified" novel (in the style of the famous works of Richardson: "Pamela", "Clarissa Garlow", "Sir Charles Grandison"); heroes and heroines keep diaries, write endless letters to each other, indulge in heartfelt outpourings. It is in this connection that sentimentalists have acquired the merit in the field of psychological analysis: they have shifted the center of gravity from the external to the internal; in fact, this is precisely the main meaning of the term "sentimental" itself: the whole direction got its name from Daniel Stern's "Sentimental Journey", that is, a description of the journey that focuses on impressions x the traveler, not so much on what he meets as on what he experiences.

Sentimentalism directs its quiet rays not to the objects of reality, but to the subject perceiving them. He puts a feeling person at the forefront and not only is not ashamed of sensitivity, but, on the contrary, exalts it as the highest value and dignity of the spirit. Of course, this had its downside, since the cherished sensitivity passed due boundaries, became cloying and sugary, broke away from the courageous will and reason; but the very essence, the very principle of sentimentalism does not necessarily include the fact that a feeling should be so exaggerated and take on an illegitimate self-sufficing character. True, in practice, many of the confessors of this school suffered from a similar expansion of the heart. Be that as it may, sentimentalism knew how to be touching, touched the tender strings of the soul, caused tears, and brought undoubted softness, tenderness, kindness into the environment of readers and, mainly, readers. It is indisputable that sentimentalism is philanthropism, it is a school of philanthropy; it is indisputable that, for example, in Russian literature to Dostoevsky's "Poor People" the line of succession goes from "Poor Liza" Karamzin, who is our most notable representative of sentimentalism (especially as the author of stories and "Letters of a Russian Traveler"). Naturally, sentimentalist writers, sensitively listening, so to speak, to the beating of the human heart, should, among other feelings that make up the content of his inner life, especially perceive the gamut of mournful moods - sadness, sadness, disappointment, melancholy. That is why the coloring of many sentimental works is melancholy. Sensitive souls were nourished by its sweet streams. A typical example in this sense is Gray's elegy "The Village Cemetery", translated by Zhukovsky from English; and I must say that in the cemetery, in the gloomy atmosphere of death, crosses and monuments, the sentimentalist writer generally liked to lead his reader - following the English poet Jung, the author of Nights. It is also understandable that the primordial source of suffering, unhappy love, also gave sentimentalism a gracious opportunity to draw abundantly from its water-tears. Goethe's famous novel The Suffering of Young Werther is filled with this moisture of the heart.

Moralism is also a typical feature of sentimentalism. It is about sentimental novels that Pushkin says: "and at the end of the last part, a vice was always punished, a wreath was worthy of good." In their vague dreaminess, the writers of this trend were inclined to see a certain moral order in the world. They taught, they instilled "good feelings." In general, the idyllization and idealization of things, even though covered with a mourning haze of sadness, is an essential sign of sentimentalism. And he most of all extends this idyllization and idealization to nature. Here the influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau, with his rejection of culture and the exaltation of nature, was felt. If Boileau demanded that the city and the courtyard serve as the main scene of action in literary works, then sentimentalists often resettled their heroes, and with them their readers, to the countryside, to the primitive bosom of nature, within the framework of patriarchal artlessness.

In sentimental novels, nature takes a direct part in heart dramas, in the vicissitudes of love; a lot of enthusiastic colors are lavished on descriptions of nature, and with tears in their eyes they kiss the earth, admire the moonlight, are touched by birds and flowers. In general, it is necessary in sentimentalism to carefully distinguish its distortions from its healthy core, which consists in admiration for naturalness and simplicity and in the recognition of the highest rights of the human heart. For acquaintance with sentimentalism, the book by Alexander N. Veselovsky "VA Zhukovsky. Poetry of Feelings and Heart Imagination" is important.

Thus, Russian sentimentalism introduced into literature - and through it into life - new moral and aesthetic concepts that were warmly received by many readers, but, unfortunately, were at odds with life. Readers brought up on the ideals of sentimentalism, proclaiming human feelings as the highest value, with bitterness discovered that the measure of attitudes towards people was still nobility, wealth, and position in society. However, the beginnings of this new ethics, expressed at the beginning of the century in such seemingly naive creations of sentimental writers, will eventually develop in the public consciousness and will contribute to its democratization. In addition, sentimentalism has enriched Russian literature with linguistic transformations. Karamzin's role was especially significant in this respect. However, the principles of the formation of the Russian literary language proposed by him provoked fierce criticism from conservative writers and served as a pretext for the emergence of the so-called "language disputes" that captured Russian writers at the beginning of the 19th century.

Introduction

Sentimentalism (French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) is a mentality in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. 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.

The dominant of "human nature" sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, however, it believed that the condition for its implementation was not a "rational" 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 with the ability to empathize, responsive to what is happening around him. By origin (or by conviction) the sentimental hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the commoner is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.

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

Thomas Gray

The birthplace of sentimentalism was England. At the end of the 20s of the XVIII century. James Thomson, with his poems Winter (1726), Summer (1727), etc., later combined into one and published (1730) under the title The Seasons, contributed to the development of love for nature in the English reading public. painting simple, unassuming rural landscapes, following step by step the various moments of the life and work of the farmer and, apparently, striving to put the peaceful, idyllic rural setting above the hectic and spoiled city.

In the 40s of the same century, Thomas Gray, the author of the rural cemetery elegy (one of the most famous works of cemetery poetry), the ode To Spring, etc., like Thomson, tried to interest readers in rural life and nature, to awaken sympathy in them to simple, imperceptible people with their needs, sorrows and beliefs, at the same time giving their creativity a pensive-melancholic character.

Richardson's famous novels - Pamela (1740), Clarissa Garlo (1748), Sir Charles Grandison (1754) - are also of a different character; they are also a striking 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.

Lawrence Stern, author of Tristram Shandy (1759-1766) and Sentimental Journey (1768; after this work, and the direction itself was called "sentimental") combined Richardson's sensitivity with love for nature and a kind of humor. Stern himself called the "sentimental journey" "a peaceful journey of the heart in search of nature and for all the emotional impulses capable of instilling in us more love for our neighbors and for the whole world than we usually feel."

Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre

Having crossed over to the continent, English sentimentalism found a somewhat prepared ground in France. Quite independently of the English representatives of this trend, Abbot Prevost (Manon Lescaut, Cleveland) and Marivaux (The Life of Marianne) taught the French public to admire everything touching, sensitive, somewhat melancholy.

Under the same influence, Rousseau's "Julia" or "New Eloise" (1761) was created, who always spoke of Richardson with respect and sympathy. Julia reminds many of Clarissa Garlo, Clara - her friend, miss Howe. The moralizing character of both works also brings them closer together; but in Rousseau's novel nature plays a prominent role, the shores of Lake Geneva - Vevey, Clarane, Julia's grove are described with remarkable art. Rousseau's example was not left without imitation; his follower, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, in his famous work "Paul and Virginie" (1787) transfers the scene to South Africa, as if heralding the best works of Chateaubriand, makes his heroes a charming couple of lovers who live far from urban culture, in close communication with nature, sincere, sensitive and pure in soul.

Nikolay Karamzin "Poor Liza"

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

His novel Poor Liza (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther, he inherited a general atmosphere of sensitivity and 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. Poor Masha A.E. Izmailova (1801), Journey to Midday Russia (1802), Henrietta, or the Triumph of deception over the weakness or delusion of I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev (The story of poor Marya; Unhappy Margarita ; Beautiful Tatiana), etc.

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

The early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky is marked by sentimentalism. The publication in 1802 of the translation of the Elegy, written in the rural cemetery of 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 elegy genre, and not an individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style" (E. G. Etkind). In 1809 Zhukovsky wrote the sentimental story of Maryina Roshcha in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

He was one of the stages of the general European literary development, which ended the era of the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

4. The main features of the literature of sentimentalism

So, taking into account all of the above, we can single out several main features of the Russian literature of sentimentalism: a departure from the straightforwardness of classicism, an emphasized subjectivity of approach to the world, a cult of feelings, a cult of nature, a cult of innate moral purity, integrity, a rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes is affirmed.

5. In painting

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 litteraire" (P., 1895).

L. Petit de Juleville, "Histoire de la langue et de la littérature française" (vol. VI, no. 48, 51, 54).

H. Kotlyarevsky, "World Sorrow at the End of the Last and the Beginning of Our Century" (St. Petersburg, 1898).

"History of German Literature" by V. Sherer (Russian translation edited by A. N. Pypin, vol. II).

A. Galakhov, “The History of Russian Literature, Ancient and New” (vol. I, sect. II, and vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1880).

M. Sukhomlinov, “A. N. Radishchev "(St. Petersburg, 1883).

V. V. Sipovsky, "To the literary history of the Letters of the Russian Traveler" (St. Petersburg, 1897-98).

"History of Russian Literature" by A. N. Pypin, (vol. IV, St. Petersburg, 1899).

Alexey Veselovsky, "Western influence in the new Russian literature" (Moscow, 1896).

ST Aksakov, "Various Works" (Moscow, 1858; article on the merits of Prince Shakhovsky in dramatic literature).

When writing this article, material was used from the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (1890-1907).

§ 1. The emergence and development of sentimentalism in Europe

Literary trends should not always be judged by their name, especially since the meaning of the words that denote them changes over time. In modern language, "sentimental" - easily coming into affection, capable of quickly feeling; sensitive. In the 18th century, the words "sentimentality", "sensitivity" were understood differently - receptivity, the ability to respond with the soul to everything that surrounds a person.Sensitive they called someone who admired virtue, the beauties of nature, the creations of art, who sympathized with human sorrows. The first work in the title of which the word appeared was "A Sentimental JourneybyFrance and Italy ”by Englishman Laurence Stern(1768). The most famous writer of sentimentalism, Jean Jacques Rousseau, is the author of the touching novel "Julia, or New Eloise"(1761).

Sentimentalism (from French.sentiment- "feeling"; from the English.sentimental- "sensitive") - a literary trend in European art of the second half of the 18th century, prepared by the crisis of educational rationalism and proclaiming the basis of human nature not reason, but feeling. An important event in the spiritual life of Europe was the discovery in man of the ability to enjoy the contemplation of his own emotions. compassionate neighbor, sharing his sorrows, helping him, you can experience sincere joy. To do virtuous deeds means not to follow an external duty, but to your own nature. Developed sensitivity in itself is able to distinguish good from evil, and therefore there is no need for morality. Accordingly, a work of art was valued for how much it could disrupt a person, touch his heart, and it was on the basis of these views that the artistic system of sentimentalism grew.

Like its predecessor, classicism, sentimentalism is thoroughly didactic, subordinated to educational tasks. But this is didacticism of a different kind. If classicist writers sought to influence the mind of readers, to convince them not to

Bypassing adherence to the immutable laws of morality, sentimental literature turns to feeling. She describes the majestic beauties of nature, the solitude in the bosom of which becomes an affinity for the education of sensitivity, turns to religious feeling, sings the joys of family life, often opposed to the state virtues of classicism, depicts various touching situations that at the same time evoke in readers both compassion for the heroes and the joy of feeling their own mental sensitivity. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained faithful to the ideal of a normative personality, however, it believed that the condition for its implementation was not a "rational" reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of "natural" feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, he is a democrat in origin or convictions, there is no straightforwardness inherent in classicism in depicting and evaluating characters. The rich spiritual world of the commoner, the assertion of the innate moral purity of the representatives of the lower classes are one of the main discoveries and conquest of sentimentalism.

The literature of sentimentalism was drawn to everyday life. Choosing ordinary people as her heroes and assigning herself an equally simple reader, not experienced in book wisdom, she demanded the immediate embodiment of her values \u200b\u200band ideals. She strove to show that these ideals were extracted from everyday life, putting on her works in forms.travel notes, letters, diarieswritten but hot on the heels of events. Accordingly, the narrative in sentimental literature comes from the person of the participant or witness of what is being described; at the same time, everything that happens in the mind of the narrator comes to the fore. Sentimental writers seek above all to educateemotional culture their readers, therefore, the description of spiritual reactions to certain phenomena of life sometimes overshadows the phenomena themselves. The prose of sentimentalism is overflowing with digressions, outlining the nuances of the characters' feelings, reasoning on moral themes, while the storyline is gradually weakening. In poetry, the same processes lead to the advancement of the author's personality and the collapse of the genre system of classicism.

Sentimentalism received its most complete expression in England, developing from melancholic contemplation and patriarchal idyll in the bosom of nature to a socially concrete disclosure of the topic. The main features of English sentimentalism are sensitivity, not devoid of exaltation, irony and humor,

yskogo canon, and the skeptical attitude of sentimentalism to its own capabilities. Sentimentalists have shown that man is not divine to himself, his ability to be different. But unlike pre-romanticism, which developed in parallel with it, sentimentalism is alien to the irrational - the contradictory moods, the impulsive nature of emotional impulses, he perceived as accessible to rationalistic interpretation.

Pan-European cultural communication and typological closeness in the development of literature led to the rapid spread of sentimentalism in Germany, France, and Russia. In Russian literature, representatives of a new trend in the 60-70s of the 18th century. steel MN Muravyov, NP Karamzin, VV Kapnist, NA Lvov, VA Zhukovsky, AI Radishchev.

The first sentimental trends in Russian literature appeared in the mid-1870s. in the poetry of the still young MN Muravyov (1757-1807). At first he wrote poetry on themes bequeathed by classicist teachers. A person, according to the poets of Russian classicism, must always maintain internal balance, or, as they said, “peace.” Reflecting and reading European authors, MN Muravyov came to the conclusion that such peace cannot exist, since a person is “sensitive , he is passionate, he is subject to influences, he is born to feel ”. This is how the most important words for sentimentalism sounded: sensitivity (in the sense of susceptibility) and influence (now they say “impressionability.”) Influences cannot be avoided, they determine the entire course of human life.

The role of MN Muravyov in the history of Russian literature is great. In particular, he was the first to describe the inner world of a person in development, examining in detail his mental movements. The poet also worked a lot on the improvement of poetic technique, and in some later poems his verse is already approaching the clarity and purity of Pushkin's poetry. But, having published two collections of poetry in his early youth, M. II. Muravyov was then published sporadically, and later completely abandoned literature for the sake of pedagogical activity.

Predominantly aristocratic in nature, Russian sentimentalism is largelyrationalistic strong in himdidactic attitude andeducational trends. Improving the literary language, Russian sentimentalists turned to colloquial norms, introduced vernacular. IN

the basis of aesthetics is sentimentalism, kyak and classicism, imitation of nature, idealization of patriarchal life, the spread of elegiac moods. The favorite genres of sentimentalists were the message, elegy, epistolary novel, travel notes, diaries and other types of prose. in which confessional motives prevail.

The ideal of sensitivity, proclaimed by sentimentalists, has influenced an entire generation of educated people in Europe. Sensitivity was reflected not only in literature, but also in painting, in the decoration of interiors, especially in park art, the newfangled landscape (English) park with every turn of its paths had to show nature in an unexpected way and thus give food for the senses. Reading sentimental novels was part of the norm for an educated person. Pushkinskaya Tatyana Larina, who “fell in love with the deceptions of both Richardson and Russo” (Samuel Richardson is a famous English sentimental novelist), in this sense received the same upbringing in the Russian wilderness as all European young ladies. them.

In general, the sentimental upbringing has brought a lot of good. People who received it learned to appreciate more the most insignificant details of the life around them, to listen to every movement of their souls. The hero of sentimental works and the person brought up on them are close to nature, perceive themselves as its product, admire nature itself, and not that. how people changed it. Thanks to sentimentalism, some writers of past centuries, whose work did not fit into the framework of the theory of classicism, became loved again. Among them are such great names as W. Shakespeare and M. Cervantes. In addition, the sentimental direction is democratic, the disadvantaged became the subject of compassion, and the simple life of the middle stratum of society was considered favorable for tender, poetic feelings.

In the 80-90s of the XVIII century. there is a crisis of sentimentalism associated with the rupture of sentimental literature with its didactic tasks. After the French Revolution 1<85) 179<1 гг. сентиментальные веяния в европейских литерату­рах сходят на нет, уступая место романтическим тенденциям.

1. Where and where did sentimentalism begin?

2. What are the causes of sentimentalism?

3. What are the basic principles of sentimentalism?

4. What features of the Age of Enlightenment did sentimentalism inherit?

5. Who became the hero of sentimental literature?

6. In which countries has sentimentalism spread?

7. What are the main contributors to English sentimentalism?

8. What was the difference between sentimentalistic moods and pre-romantic ones?

9. When did sentimentalism appear in Russia? Catch his representativesin Russian literature.

10.What are the hallmarks of Russian sentimentalism?Name it genres.

Key concepts:sentimentalism, feeling, feeling- fitness. didacticism, enlightenment, patriarchal way of life. elegy, message, travel notes, epistolary novel