The main idea of sentimentalism is expressed. Features of Russian sentimentalism and its significance

Classicism.

Sentimentalism

Romanticism

satirical poetry Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir. Problems of satire "On those who blaspheme the teaching, To their own mind." The personality and significance of Kantemir's work in essays and critical articles by N.I. Novikov, N.M. Karamzin, K.N. Batyushkov, V.G. Belinsky.

Antioch Dmitrievich Kantemir was one of the first Russian writers who realized himself as a writer. Although literature was not at all the main business of his life. The poet, who opens the first page of the history of Russian book poetry, was an outstanding personality, the most educated, multi-talented person. He greatly raised the prestige of Russia in the West, where for the last twelve years of his life he served as a diplomatic representative of Russia in embassies - first in England, and then in France. He had an impeccable command of thought and word: the dispatches he sent were always clearly and talentedly composed. he was a famous person in Russia. His epigrams and love songs were extremely successful. He worked in the genre of scientific translation and has already written five of his nine satires. During the years of service in France, he finally established himself in advanced educational views. He was convinced that only "merit", and not class ancestry, distinguishes one person from another. “The same blood flows in both free and slaves, the same flesh, the same bones!” he wrote, insisting on the “natural equality” of people. Cantemir always remained a citizen of Russia: what he acquired, or, in his words, "adopted" from the French, was supposed to serve his homeland. With characteristic modesty, he wrote:

What Horace gave, he borrowed from the Frenchman.

Oh, how poor my muse is.

Yes, true; the mind, even though the limits are narrow,

What he took in Gallic, he paid in Russian.
And yet, Kantemir is first of all a national poet, who had the task of turning to the image of real Russian life. According to Belinsky, he was able to "connect poetry with life", "to write not only in the Russian language, but also with the Russian mind." By the way, it should be noted here that in close friendship with the Kantemirov family was Princess Praskovya Trubetskaya, who wrote songs in folk spirit; perhaps it was she who was the author of the most popular song in those distant times, "Ah, my bitter light of my youth." Not only the famous "Poetics" of the French poet and theorist Boileau, not only educational studies, but the living lyrical element of folk song, making its way into the book poetry of the beginning of the century, determined the formation artistic manner Cantemir.
Analysis of the satire by Antioch Cantemir "On those who blaspheme the teachings To their own mind." This is the first satire of Cantemir, he wrote it in 1729. Satire was originally written not for the purpose of publication, but for himself. But through friends, she came to the Archbishop of Novgorod Feofan, who gave impetus to continue this cycle of satyrs.
Cantermire himself defines this satire as a mockery of the ignorant and despisers of science. At that time, this issue was very relevant. As soon as education became accessible to people, colleges and a university were established. It was a qualitative step in the field of sciences. And any qualitative step is, if not a revolution, then a reform. No wonder it caused so much controversy. The author refers, as follows from the title, to his own mind, calling it "the mind of an immature", because. the satire was written by him at the age of twenty, that is, still quite immature by those standards. Everyone strives for fame, and achieving it through science is the hardest thing. The author uses 9 muses and Apollo as an image of the sciences that make the road to glory difficult. It is possible, and to get fame, even if you are not known as a creator. Many paths, easy in our age, lead to it, On which the brave will not stumble; The most unpleasant of all is the one that the barefooted have cursed the Nine Sisters. Further, 4 characters appear in turn in the satire: Criton, Silvan, Luke and Medor. Each of them condemns science, explains in its own way its uselessness. Crito believes that those who are fond of science want to understand the reasons for everything that happens. And this is bad, because. they depart from faith in the Holy Scriptures. And indeed, in his opinion, science is harmful, you just have to blindly believe.
The schisms and heresies of science are children; Lies more, who was given more understanding; Whoever melts over a book comes to godlessness... Silvan is a stingy nobleman. He does not understand the monetary benefits of science, so he does not need it. For him, only that which can benefit him specifically has value. But science cannot provide this to him. After all, he lived without her, and he will still live! We can make sense of dividing the earth in quarters without Euclid, How many kopecks in a ruble - without algebra we can count Luke - a drunkard. In his opinion, science separates people, because it's not the place to sit alone over books, which he even moreover calls "dead friends." He praises wine as a source of good mood and other blessings and says that he will exchange a glass for a book only if time runs back, stars appear on the earth, etc. When they begin to lead the reins across the sky, And from the surface of the earth the stars already glimpse, When in Lent the black one becomes a vyazig, - Then, leaving the glass, I will take up the book. Medor is a dandy and a dandy. He is offended that the paper, with which at that time they curled their hair, is spent on books. For him, a glorious tailor and shoemaker is much more important than Virgil and Cicero. ... too much paper comes To the letter, to the printing of books, but it comes to him, That there is nothing to wrap curled curls in; He will not change a pound of good powder for Seneca. The author draws attention to the fact that two motives are possible for all deeds: benefit and praise. And there is an opinion that if science does not bring either one or the other, then why do it? People are not accustomed to the fact that it can be otherwise, that virtue is valuable in itself. ... When there is no benefit, praise encourages To labors - without that the heart is discouraged. Not everyone loves true beauty i.e. science. But anyone, having barely learned anything, demands a promotion or other status.

For example, a soldier, having barely learned to sign, wants to command a regiment. The author complains that the time when wisdom was valued has gone. The time has not come to us, in which wisdom presided over everything and shared the crowns alone, Being the only way to the highest sunrise.

Belinsky said that Cantemir would outlive many literary celebrities, classical and romantic. In an article about Kantemir, Belinsky wrote: “Kantemir does not so much begin the history of Russian literature as it ends the period of Russian writing. Kantemir wrote in so-called syllabic verses, a size that is completely uncharacteristic of the Russian language; this size existed in Rus' long before Kantemir ... Kantemir began the story secular literature. that is why everyone, rightly considering Lomonosov the father of Russian literature, at the same time, not entirely without reason, begins its history with Kantemir.
Karamzin remarked: "His satires were the first experience of Russian wit and style."

6. The role of Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, M.V. Lomonosov, A.P. Sumarokov in the formation of aesthetic principles, the genre and stylistic system of Russian classicism, in the transformation of versification.

Trediakovsky in 1735 published "A New and Brief Method for the Composition of Russian Poetry", proposing a method for ordering the syllabic 13 and 11-syllables and giving samples of poems composed in a new way of different genres. The need for such ordering was dictated by the need to more clearly contrast poetry with prose.
Trediakovsky acted as a reformer, not indifferent to the experience of his predecessors. Lomonosov went further. In the "Letter on the Rules of Russian Poetry" (1739), he categorically declared that "our versification is only just beginning", thereby ignoring the almost century-old tradition of syllabic poetry. He, unlike Trediakovsky, allowed not only two-syllable, but also three-syllable and "mixed" meters (yambo-anapaests and dactylo-chorea), not only feminine rhymes, but also masculine and dactylic ones, and advised sticking to iambic as a size appropriate for tall objects. and important (the letter was accompanied by an "Ode ... to the capture of Khotin in 1739" written in iambs). The predominance of "choreic rhythms" in folk songs and book poetry of the 17th century, which Trediakovsky pointed out, thinking that "our hearing" was "applied" to them, did not bother Lomonosov, since he should have started with clean slate. The pathos of an uncompromising break with tradition corresponded to the spirit of the time, and Lomonosov's iambs themselves sounded completely new and were maximally opposed to prose. The problem of stylistic demarcation with church literacy receded into the background. New literature and syllabic-tonic poetry have become almost synonymous.
Trediakovsky eventually accepted the ideas of Lomonosov, in 1752 he published a whole treatise on syllabo-tonic versification ("A method for adding Russian poetry, corrected and multiplied against the one published in 1735") and in practice conscientiously experimented with different meters and sizes. Lomonosov, in practice, wrote almost exclusively in iambs, the only, in his opinion, suitable for high genres(his classification of high, "mediocre" and low genres and "calms" is set out in the "Preface on the Usefulness of Church Books in the Russian Language", 1757).
Trediakovsky and Lomonosov, who studied at the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy, were connected by many threads with pre-Petrine literacy and church scholarship. Sumarokov, a nobleman, a graduate of the land gentry cadet corps, shunned her. His literary knowledge, sympathies and interests were associated with French classicism. The leading genre in France was tragedy, and in the work of Sumarokov it became the main genre. Here his priority was undeniable. The first Russian classical tragedies belong to him: Khorev (1747), Hamlet (1747), Sinav and Truvor (1750) and others. Sumarokov also owns the first comedies - Tresotinus, Monsters (both 1750) and etc. True, these were "low" comedies, written in prose and being a pamphlet on faces (Trediakovsky is ridiculed in these comedies). That. Sumarokov rightfully claimed the titles of "northern Racine" and "Russian Moliere", and in 1756 it was he who would be appointed the first director of the first in Russia permanent theater, created by F.G.Volkov. But the status of a playwright and theatrical figure Sumarokov could not be satisfied. He claimed a leading and leading position in literature (much to the annoyance of his older brothers in writing). His "Two epistles" (1748) - "On the Russian language" and "On poetry" - were to receive a status similar to the status of Boileau's "Poetic Art" in the literature of French classicism (in 1774 their abridged version will be published under the title "Instruction to those who want to be writers). Sumarokov's ambitions also explain the genre universalism of his work. He tested his strength in almost all classical genres(only the epic was not given to him). As the author of didactic epistles about poetry and poetic satires, he was the "Russian Boileau", as the author of "parables" (i.e. fables) - the "Russian Lafontaine", etc.
However, Sumarokov pursued not so much aesthetic as educational goals. He dreamed of being a mentor to the nobility and an adviser to an "enlightened monarch" (like Voltaire under Frederick II). He considered his literary activity as socially useful. His tragedies were a school of civic virtue for the monarch and subjects, in comedies, satires and parables vices were scourged (the rhyme "Sumarokov - the scourge of vices" became generally accepted), elegies and eclogues taught "fidelity and tenderness", spiritual odes (Sumarokov translated the entire Psalter) and philosophical poems instructed in reasonable concepts about religion, in the "Two epistles" the rules of poetry were proposed, etc. In addition, Sumarokov became the publisher of the first literary magazine in Russia - "Hardworking Bee" (1759) (it was also the first private magazine).
In general, the literature of Russian classicism is characterized by the pathos of state service (which makes it related to the literature of Peter the Great's time). The education of "private" virtues in a citizen was her second task, and her first task was to propagate the achievements of the "regular state" "created" by Peter and expose its opponents. That's why this one starts new literature with satire and od. Kantemir ridicules the champions of antiquity, Lomonosov admires the successes new Russia. They defend one thing - "Peter's case".
Publicly read on solemn occasions in huge halls, in a special theatrical setting imperial court, the ode should "thunder" and amaze the imagination. She could best of all glorify the "cause of Peter" and the greatness of the empire, and in the best way corresponded to propaganda goals. Therefore, it was the solemn ode (and not tragedy, as in France, or the epic poem) that became the main genre in Russian literature of the 18th century. This is one of distinctive features"Russian classicism". Others are rooted in the Old Russian, defiantly rejected by him, i.e. church tradition (which makes "Russian classicism" an organic phenomenon of Russian culture).
Russian classicism developed under the influence of the European Enlightenment, but its ideas were rethought. For example, the most important of them is the idea of "natural", natural equality of all people. In France, under this slogan, there was a struggle for the rights of the third estate. And Sumarokov and other Russian writers of the 18th century, proceeding from the same thought, instruct the nobles to be worthy of their rank and not to tarnish "estate honor", since fate has exalted them above their natural equals.

Romantic poem in the work of Ryleev. "Voinarovsky" - composition, principles of character creation, the specifics of a romantic conflict, the correlation between the fates of the hero and the author. Dispute between History and Poetry in Voinarovsky.

The originality of the Decembrist poetry was most fully manifested in the work of Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev (1795-1826). He created "active poetry, poetry of the highest intensity, heroic pathos" (39).

Among lyrical works Ryleev’s most famous was and, perhaps, still remains the poem “Citizen” (1824), which was banned at one time, but illegally distributed, well known to readers. This work is the fundamental success of Ryleev the poet, perhaps even the pinnacle of Decembrist lyrics in general. The image of a new lyrical hero is created in the poem:

Kondraty Fedorovich Ryleev is one of the founders and classics of Russian revolutionary civil poetry, inspired by the progressive social movement and hostile to the autocracy. He more fully than others expressed the Decembrist worldview in poetry and developed the main themes of Decembristism. The most important moments of history are reflected in the work of Ryleev Decembrist movement in its most significant period, between 1820-1825.

The name of Ryleev in our minds is surrounded by an aura of martyrdom and heroism. The charm of his personality as a fighter and revolutionary who died for his convictions is so great that for many it seemed to overshadow aesthetic originality his creativity. Tradition has preserved the image of Ryleev, which was created by his friends and followers, first in the memoirs of N. Bestuzhev, then in the articles of Ogarev and Herzen.

The search for ways to actively influence society led Ryleev to the genre of the poem. Ryleev's first poem was the poem "Voynarovsky" (1823-1824). The poem has much in common with "Duma", but there is also a fundamental novelty: in "Voinarovsky" Ryleev strives for reliable historical flavor, truthfulness psychological characteristics. Ryleev created a new hero: disappointed, but not in worldly and secular pleasures, not in love or glory, the Ryleev hero is a victim of fate that did not allow him to realize his mighty life potential. Resentment at fate, at the ideal of a heroic life that did not take place, alienates the Ryley hero from those around him, turning him into a tragic figure. The tragedy of the incompleteness of life, its non-realization in real actions and events will be an important discovery not only in Decembrist poetry, but also in Russian literature as a whole.

“Voynarovsky” is the only completed poem by Ryleev, although besides it he started several more: “Nalivaiko”, “Gaydamak”, “Paley”. “It so happened,” the researchers write, “that Ryleev’s poems were not only propaganda of Decembristism in literature, but also a poetic biography of the Decembrists themselves, including the December defeat and the years of hard labor. Reading a poem about Voinarovsky, the Decembrists involuntarily thought about themselves<…>Ryleev's poem was perceived both as a poem of heroic deeds and as a poem of tragic forebodings. The fate of a political exile, abandoned in distant Siberia, a meeting with a citizen wife - all this is almost a prediction” (43). Ryleev’s readers were especially struck by his prediction in “Nalivaika’s Confession” from the poem “Nalivaiko”:

<…>I know that death awaits

The one who rises first

On the oppressors of the people, -

Fate has already doomed me.

But where, tell me when was

Is freedom redeemed without sacrifice?

I will die for my native land, -

I feel it, I know...

And joyfully holy father,

I bless my lot!<…> (44)

The fulfilled prophecies of Ryleev's poetry once again prove the fruitfulness romantic principle"life and poetry are one."

Classicism.

Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Interest for classicism is only eternal, unchanging - in every phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual features. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art(Aristotle, Horace).
Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined features, mixing of which is not allowed.
How certain direction Classicism was formed in France in the 17th century.
In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the transformations of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of "three calms", which was essentially an adaptation of French classical rules to the Russian language. The images in classicism are devoid of individual features, as they are intended primarily to capture stable generic features that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been the focus of attention of Russian classic writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism received great development genres requiring mandatory author's assessment historical reality: comedy (D. I. Fonvizin), satire (A. D. Kantemir), fable (A. P. Sumarokov, I. I. Khemnitser), ode (Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin).

Sentimentalism- mindset in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary trend. The works written in this genre are based on the feelings of the reader. Existed in Europe from the 20s to the 80s XVIII years century, in Russia - from late XVIII until the beginning of the 19th century.
Dominant " human nature Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.
Sentimentalism in Russian literature

Nikolai Karamzin "Poor Lisa"

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia in the 1780s-early 1790s thanks to the translations of Werther's novels by 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 Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).

His story "Poor Lisa" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther, he inherited the general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life 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"; "Unfortunate Margarita"; "Beautiful Tatyana"), etc.

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

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

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

It was one of the stages of the all-European literary development, which completed the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.

The main features of the literature of sentimentalism

So, taking into account all of the above, we can distinguish 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 feelings, a cult of nature, a cult of innate moral purity, uncorruptedness, a rich spiritual world of representatives of the lower classes is affirmed. Attention is paid to the spiritual world of a person, and in the first place are feelings, not great ideas.
Romanticism- phenomenon European culture in the XVIII-XIX centuries, which is a reaction to the Enlightenment and the scientific and technological progress stimulated by it; ideological and artistic direction in European and American culture of the late 18th century - the first half of XIX century. It is characterized by the assertion of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. It spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, everything that was strange, fantastic, picturesque, and existing in books, and not in reality, was called romantic. At the beginning of the 19th century, romanticism became the designation of a new direction, opposite to classicism and the Enlightenment.
Romanticism in Russian literature

It is usually believed that in Russia romanticism appears in the poetry of V. A. Zhukovsky (although some Russians often refer to the pre-romantic movement that developed from sentimentalism). poetic works 1790-1800s). In Russian romanticism, freedom from classical conventions appears, a ballad, a romantic drama, is created. A new idea of the essence and meaning of poetry is affirmed, which is recognized as an independent sphere of life, an expression of the highest, ideal aspirations of man; the old view, according to which poetry was an empty pastime, something completely serviceable, is no longer possible.

The early poetry of A. S. Pushkin also developed within the framework of romanticism. The poetry of M. Yu. Lermontov, the “Russian Byron”, can be considered the pinnacle of Russian romanticism. Philosophical lyrics F. I. Tyutchev is both the completion and overcoming of romanticism in Russia.

The content of the article

SENTIMENTALISM(fr. Sentiment) - a trend in European literature and art of the second half of the 18th century, formed within the framework of the late Enlightenment and reflecting the growth of democratic sentiments in society. Originated in the lyrics and the novel; later, penetrating into theatrical art, he gave impetus to the emergence of the genres of "tearful comedy" and petty-bourgeois drama.

sentimentalism in literature.

The philosophical origins of sentimentalism go back to sensationalism, which put forward the idea of a “natural”, “sensitive” (cognizing the world with feelings) person. By the beginning of the 18th century ideas of sensationalism penetrate into literature and art.

The "natural" man becomes the protagonist of sentimentalism. Sentimentalist writers proceeded from the premise that man, being a creature of nature, from birth has the makings of "natural virtue" and "sensibility"; the degree of sensitivity determines the dignity of a person and the significance of all his actions. Achieving happiness as the main goal of human existence is possible under two conditions: the development of the natural beginnings of a person (“education of feelings”) and staying in natural environment(nature); merging with her, he acquires inner harmony. Civilization (city), on the contrary, is an environment hostile to it: it distorts its nature. The more a person is social, the more devastated and lonely. Hence the cult of private life, rural existence, and even primitiveness and savagery, characteristic of sentimentalism. Sentimentalists did not accept the idea of progress, fundamental to the encyclopedists, looking at the prospects with pessimism. community development. The concepts of "history", "state", "society", "education" had a negative meaning for them.

Sentimentalists, unlike the classicists, were not interested in the historical, heroic past: they were inspired by everyday impressions. The place of exaggerated passions, vices and virtues was occupied by familiar human feelings. The hero of sentimental literature is an ordinary person. Mostly it comes from the third estate, sometimes low position(servant) and even an outcast (robber), in terms of the richness of his inner world and purity of feelings he is not inferior, and often superior to the representatives of the upper class. The denial of class and other differences imposed by civilization constitutes the democratic (egalitarian) pathos of sentimentalism.

Appeal to the inner world of man allowed sentimentalists to show its inexhaustibility and inconsistency. They abandoned the absolutization of any one character trait and the unambiguity of the moral interpretation of the character, characteristic of classicism: a sentimentalist hero can do both bad and good deeds to experience both noble and low feelings; sometimes his actions and inclinations are not amenable to a monosyllabic assessment. Since it is inherent in man by nature good start and evil is the fruit of civilization, no one can become a complete villain - he always has a chance to return to his nature. Retaining hope for the self-improvement of man, they remained, for all their pessimistic attitude towards progress, in line with enlightenment thought. Hence the didacticism and sometimes pronounced tendentiousness of their works.

The cult of feeling led to a high degree of subjectivism. This direction is characterized by an appeal to genres that most fully allow to show the life of the human heart - an elegy, a novel in letters, a travel diary, memoirs, etc., where the story is told in the first person. Sentimentalists rejected the principle of "objective" discourse, which implies the removal of the author from the subject of the image: the author's reflection on what is being described becomes their most important element of the narrative. The structure of the composition is largely determined by the will of the writer: he does not follow the established literary canons so strictly that fetter the imagination, rather arbitrarily builds the composition, and is generous with lyrical digressions.

Born on British shores in the 1710s, sentimentalism became Tue. floor. 18th century a pan-European phenomenon. It manifested itself most clearly in English, French, German and Russian literature.

Sentimentalism in England.

First of all, sentimentalism declared itself in the lyrics. Poet trans. floor. 18th century James Thomson abandoned the urban motifs traditional for rationalist poetry and made English nature the object of depiction. Nevertheless, he does not completely depart from the classicist tradition: he uses the genre of elegy, legitimized by the classicist theorist Nicolas Boileau in his poetic art(1674), however, replaces rhymed couplets with blank verse, characteristic of the Shakespearean era.

The development of lyrics goes along the path of strengthening the pessimistic motives already heard by D. Thomson. The theme of the illusiveness and futility of earthly existence triumphs in Edward Jung, the founder of "cemetery poetry". The poetry of the followers of E. Jung - the Scottish pastor Robert Blair (1699–1746), the author of a gloomy didactic poem grave(1743), and Thomas Gray, creator An elegy written in a rural cemetery(1749), - permeated with the idea of equality of all before death.

Sentimentalism expressed itself most fully in the genre of the novel. It was initiated by Samuel Richardson, who, breaking with the adventurous and picaresque and adventure tradition, turned to the image of the world human feelings, which required the creation of a new form - a novel in letters. In the 1750s, sentimentalism became the mainstream of English Enlightenment literature. The work of Lawrence Sterne, considered by many scholars as the "father of sentimentalism", marks the final departure from classicism. ( satirical novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman(1760–1767) and novel Sentimental Journey through France and Italy by Mr. Yorick(1768), from which the name of the artistic movement came).

Critical English sentimentalism reaches its peak in the work of Oliver Goldsmith.

In the 1770s comes the decline of English sentimentalism. Ends the genre sentimental romance. In poetry, the sentimentalist school gives way to the pre-romantic one (D. MacPherson, T. Chatterton).

Sentimentalism in France.

In French literature, sentimentalism expressed itself in a classical form. Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux stands at the origins of sentimental prose. ( Marianne's life, 1728–1741; And The peasant who went out into the people, 1735–1736).

Antoine-Francois Prevost d'Exil, or Abbé Prevost, opened up a new realm of feelings for the novel - an irresistible passion leading the hero to a life catastrophe.

The climax of the sentimental novel was the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778).

The concept of nature and "natural" man determined the content of his works of art (for example, the epistolary novel Julie, or New Eloise, 1761).

J.-J. Rousseau made nature an independent (intrinsic) object of the image. His Confession(1766-1770) is considered one of the most outspoken autobiographies in world literature, where he brings to the absolute the subjectivist attitude of sentimentalism (a work of art as a way of expressing the author's "I").

Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814), like his teacher J.-J. Rousseau, considered the main task of the artist to affirm the truth - happiness consists in living in harmony with nature and virtuously. He expounds his concept of nature in a treatise Sketches about nature(1784–1787). This topic gets artistic expression in the novel Paul and Virginie(1787). Depicting distant seas and tropical countries, B. de Saint-Pierre introduces new category- "exotic", which will be in demand by romantics, primarily by Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand.

Jacques-Sebastian Mercier (1740–1814), following the Rousseauist tradition, makes central conflict novel Savage(1767) the collision of the ideal (primitive) form of existence (the "golden age") with the civilization that was decomposing it. In a utopian novel 2440, what little dream(1770), based on social contract J.-J. Rousseau, he constructs the image of an egalitarian rural community in which people live in harmony with nature. S. Mercier sets out his critical view of the “fruits of civilization” in a journalistic form - in an essay Painting of Paris(1781).

The work of Nicolas Retief de La Bretonne (1734–1806), a self-taught writer, author of two hundred volumes of essays, is marked by the influence of J.-J. Rousseau. In the novel The Depraved Peasant, or the Perils of the City(1775) tells the story of the transformation, under the influence of the urban environment, of a morally pure young man into a criminal. Utopian novel Southern opening (1781) treats the same theme as 2440 S. Mercier. IN New Emile, or Practical Education(1776) Retief de La Bretonne develops pedagogical ideas J.-J. Rousseau, applying them to women's education, and argues with him. Confession J.-J. Rousseau becomes the reason for the creation of his autobiographical work Mister Nikola, or The Unveiled Human Heart(1794–1797), where he turns the narrative into a kind of "physiological sketch".

In the 1790s, during the era of the Great French Revolution sentimentalism is losing its positions, giving way to revolutionary classicism.

Sentimentalism in Germany.

In Germany, sentimentalism was born as a national-cultural reaction to French classicism; the work of English and French sentimentalists played a certain role in its formation. A significant merit in the formation of a new view of literature belongs to G.E. Lessing.

The origins of German sentimentalism lie in the controversy of the early 1740s between the Zurich professors I.Ya. Bodmer (1698–1783) and I.Ya. the "Swiss" defended the poet's right to poetic fantasy. The first major exponent of the new trend was Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, who found common ground between sentimentalism and the Germanic medieval tradition.

The heyday of sentimentalism in Germany falls on the 1770s-1780s and is associated with the Sturm und Drang movement, named after the drama of the same name. Sturm and Drang F.M. Klinger (1752–1831). Its participants set themselves the task of creating an original national German literature; from J.-J. Rousseau, they adopted a critical attitude towards civilization and the cult of the natural. The Sturm und Drang theorist, philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, criticized the Enlightenment's "boastful and fruitless education" and attacked the mechanical use of classicist rules, arguing that true poetry is the language of the senses, the first strong impressions, fantasies and passions, such a language is universal. "Stormy geniuses" denounced tyranny, protested against hierarchy modern society and his morals tomb of the kings K.F. Schubart, To freedom F.L. Shtolberg and others); their main character was a freedom-loving strong personality - Prometheus or Faust - driven by passions and not knowing any barriers.

In his younger years, Johann Wolfgang Goethe belonged to the Sturm und Drang direction. His novel suffering young Werther (1774) became a landmark work of German sentimentalism, defining the end of the "provincial stage" of German literature and its entry into European literature.

The spirit of "Sturm und Drang" marks the dramas of Johann Friedrich Schiller.

Sentimentalism in Russia.

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

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

The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared Poor Masha A.E. Izmailova (1801), Journey to Noon Russia (1802), Henrietta, or The Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( The story of poor Mary; Unhappy Margarita; Beautiful Tatiana) etc.

Evgenia Krivushina

Sentimentalism in the theater

(French sentiment - feeling) - direction in European theatrical art second half of the 18th century.

The development of sentimentalism in the theater is associated with the crisis of the aesthetics of classicism, which proclaimed a strict rationalistic canon of dramaturgy and its stage embodiment. The speculative constructions of classicist dramaturgy are being replaced by the desire to bring the theater closer to reality. This affects almost all components of the theatrical action: in the themes of plays (reflection of private life, development of family psychological plots); in language (classic pathos poetic speech is replaced by prose, close to colloquial intonation); in the social affiliation of characters (heroes theatrical works become representatives of the third estate); in determining the places of action (palace interiors are replaced by "natural" and rural views).

"Tearful Comedy" - an early genre of sentimentalism - appeared in England in the work of playwrights Colley Cibber ( Love's last trick 1696;Carefree spouse, 1704 etc.), Joseph Addison ( godless, 1714; Drummer, 1715), Richard Steele ( Funeral, or fashionable sadness, 1701; lover liar, 1703; conscientious lovers, 1722, etc.). These were moralistic works, where the comic principle was consistently replaced by sentimental and pathetic scenes, moral and didactic maxims. The moral charge of the "tearful comedy" is based not on the ridicule of vices, but on the chanting of virtue, which awakens to correct shortcomings - both individual heroes and society as a whole.

the same moral and aesthetic principles were the basis of the French "tearful comedy". Her most prominent representatives were Philip Detouche ( Married Philosopher, 1727; Proud, 1732; Waster, 1736) and Pierre Nivelle de Lachosset ( Melanida, 1741; mothers school, 1744; Governess, 1747 and others). Some criticism of social vices was presented by the playwrights as temporary delusions of the characters, which they successfully overcome by the end of the play. Sentimentalism was also reflected in the work of one of the most famous French playwrights of that time, Pierre Carlet Marivaux ( Game of love and chance, 1730; Triumph of love, 1732; Inheritance, 1736; upright, 1739, etc.). Marivaux, while remaining a faithful follower of the salon comedy, at the same time constantly introduces into it features of sensitive sentimentality and moral didactics.

In the second half of the 18th century "tearful comedy", remaining within the framework of sentimentalism, is gradually being replaced by the genre of petty-bourgeois drama. Here the elements of comedy finally disappear; Tragic situations are the basis of the plots Everyday life third estate. However, the problem remains the same as in the "tearful comedy": the triumph of virtue, which overcomes all trials and tribulations. In this single direction, the petty-bourgeois drama is developing in all countries of Europe: England (J. Lillo, The London Merchant, or The Story of George Barnwell; E.Moore, Player); France (D. Diderot, Illegitimate Son, or the Trial of Virtue; M. Seden, Philosopher without knowing it); Germany (G.E. Lessing, Miss Sarah Sampson, Emilia Galotti). From the theoretical developments and dramaturgy of Lessing, which received the definition of "philistine tragedy", arose aesthetic flow“Storm and Onslaught” (F.M. Klinger, J. Lenz, L. Wagner, J.W. Goethe and others), which reached its peak in the work of Friedrich Schiller ( Rogues, 1780; Deceit and love, 1784).

Theatrical sentimentalism was also widely spread in Russia. First appearing in the work of Mikhail Kheraskov ( Friend of the unfortunate, 1774; Persecuted, 1775), the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism were continued by Mikhail Verevkin ( So it should,Birthdays,Exactly the same), Vladimir Lukin ( Mot, corrected by love), Petr Plavilshchikov ( Bobyl,Sidelets and etc.).

Sentimentalism gave a new impetus to acting, the development of which in in a certain sense was stymied by classicism. The aesthetics of the classic performance of roles required strict observance of the conditional canon of the entire set of means of acting expressiveness, the improvement of acting skills went more along a purely formal line. Sentimentalism gave the actors the opportunity to turn to the inner world of their characters, to the dynamics of the development of the image, the search for psychological persuasiveness and the versatility of characters.

By the middle of the 19th century. the popularity of sentimentalism came to naught, the genre of petty-bourgeois drama practically ceased to exist. However, the aesthetic principles of sentimentalism formed the basis for the formation of one of the youngest theatrical genres - melodrama.

Tatyana Shabalina

Literature:

Bentley E. Drama life. M., 1978
Palaces A.T. Jean Jacques Rousseau. M., 1980
Atarova K.N. Lawrence Stern and his "Sentimental Journey". M., 1988
Dzhivilegov A., Boyadzhiev G. History of the Western European theatre. M., 1991
Lotman Yu.M. Rousseau and Russian culture of the 18th – early 19th centuries. - In the book: Lotman Yu. M. Selected articles: In 3 vols., v. 2. Tallinn, 1992
Kochetkova I.D. Literature of Russian sentimentalism. St. Petersburg, 1994
Toporov V.N. "Poor Liza" Karamzin. Reading experience. M., 1995
Bent M. "Werther, rebellious martyr ...". Biography of one book. Chelyabinsk, 1997
Kurilov A.S. Classicism, Romanticism and Sentimentalism (To the question of the concepts and chronology of literary and artistic development). – Philological sciences. 2001, № 6
Zykova E.P. Epistolary culture of the XVIII century. and Richardson novels. - The world tree. 2001, No. 7
Zababurova N.V. Poetic as Sublime: Abbé Prevost Translator of Richardson's Clarissa. In the book: - XVIII century: the fate of poetry in the era of prose. M., 2001
Western European theater from the Renaissance to the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Essays. M., 2001
Krivushina E.S. The union of the rational and the irrational in the prose of J.-J. Rousseau. In the book: - Krivushina E.S. French literature XVII-XX centuries: Poetics of the text. Ivanovo, 2002
Krasnoshchekova E.A. "Letters of a Russian Traveler": Problems of Genre(N.M. Karamzin and Lawrence Stern). - Russian literature. 2003, No. 2

Sentimentalism(French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) - the mood in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. It existed in Europe 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.

Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man 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).

Sentimentalism in English Literature

Thomas Gray

England was the birthplace of sentimentalism. At the end of the 20s of the XVIII century. James Thomson, with his poems "Winter" (1726), "Summer" (1727), etc., subsequently combined into one and published () under the title "The Seasons", contributed to the development of a love of nature in the English reading public, 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 setting above the bustling and spoiled city.

In the 40s of the same century, Thomas Gray, the author of the elegy "Rural Cemetery" (one of the most famous works of cemetery poetry), the ode "To Spring", etc., like Thomson, tried to interest readers village life and nature, to awaken in them sympathy for simple, inconspicuous people with their needs, sorrows and beliefs, at the same time giving their work a thoughtful and melancholy character.

Richardson's famous novels - "Pamela" (), "Clarissa Garlo" (), "Sir Charles Grandison" () - are also a vivid 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 forward psychological analysis in the first place and forced the English, and then the entire European public, to be keenly interested in the fate of the heroes and especially the heroines of his novels.

Lawrence Stern, author of "Tristram Shandy" (-) and "Sentimental Journey" (; after the name of this work and the direction itself was called "sentimental") combined Richardson's sensitivity with a love of nature and peculiar humor. "Sentimental Journey" Stern himself called "the peaceful journey of the heart in search of nature and all the 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 crossed over to the Continent, English sentimentalism found in France already somewhat prepared ground. Completely regardless of English representatives In this direction, Abbé Prevost (Manon Lescaut, Cleveland) and Marivaux (The Life of Marianne) taught the French public to admire everything touching, sensitive, somewhat melancholic.

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

Sentimentalism in Russian literature

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin

The first Russian translations of the works of Western European sentimentalists appeared relatively late. "Pamela" was translated into , "Clarissa Garlo" into - , "Grandison" into - ; after that, an imitation of the first novel appeared - or, more precisely, one of its French adaptations: Lvov's "Russian Pamela". Stern's "Sentimental Journey" was translated in the city. Jung's "Nights" were translated by the Freemason Kutuzov and published in Moscow under the title "Jung's Lament, or Night Reflections on Life, Death and Immortality". Gray's "Rural Cemetery" was translated into Russian only in Zhukovsky. A Russian translation of The New Eloise appeared very early (); in the early 1990s, this novel was translated a second time.

An outstanding reflection of Sentimentalism in Russian literature is Karamzin's "Letters of a Russian Traveler" (-). The author of the "Letters" does not hide his enthusiastic attitude towards Stern, repeatedly mentions him, in one case he quotes an excerpt from Tristram Shandy. In sensitive appeals to the reader, subjective confessions, idyllic descriptions of nature, praises of the simple, unpretentious, moral life, abundantly shed tears, which the author each time informs the reader about, are simultaneously influenced by Stern and Rousseau, whom Karamzin also admired. Arriving in Switzerland, the traveler sees in the Swiss some children of nature, shepherds pure in soul, living away from the temptations of hectic city life. “Why were we not born in those times when all people were shepherds and brothers!” he exclaims about it.

"Poor Lisa" by Karamzin is also a direct product of the influence of Western European sentimentalism. The author imitates Richardson, Stern, Rousseau; completely in the spirit of the humane attitude of the best representatives of sentimentalism towards their unfortunate, persecuted or untimely dying heroines, Karamzin tries to touch the reader with the fate of a modest, pure peasant girl who ruined her life because of love for a man who mercilessly leaves her, breaking his word.

IN literary terms"Poor Liza", like other stories by Karamzin, is a rather weak work; Russian reality is almost not reflected in it or is depicted inaccurately, with a clear tendency to idealization and embellishment. Nevertheless, thanks to its humane, soft coloring, this story, which made a wide circle of readers shed tears over the fate of a completely inconspicuous, modest heroine, constituted an era in the history of Russian narrative literature and had a rather beneficial, albeit short-lived, effect on the reading public. Even in the story “Natalya, the Boyar’s Daughter” (), the plot of which is taken from old Russian life, the sentimental element occupies the first place: antiquity is idealized, love is languid and sensitive. Karamzin's writings soon became the subject of imitation.

The final blow to sentimentalism in Russian literature was dealt by the emergence real romance, presented first by Narezhny, then by Gogol and clearly showing all the conventionality of the previous sentimental stories. However, in the early works of Gogol himself, as in his Evenings on a Farm, echoes of a sentimental direction are still felt - a tendency to idealize rural life and cultivate an idyllic genre.

The features of Russian sentimentalism lie in strong didactic attitudes, a pronounced educational character, the improvement of the Russian language (it becomes more understandable, archaisms go away).

The main idea: a peaceful, idyllic life in the bosom of nature. The village (the focus of natural life, moral purity) is sharply opposed to the city (a symbol of evil, unnaturalness, vanity).

The main theme is love.

Main genres: story, travel, idyll.

The ideological basis is a protest against a corrupted aristocratic society.

The basis of aesthetics is "imitation of nature" (as in classicism); elegiac and pastoral moods; idealization of patriarchal life.

Particular attention is paid to landscapes. The landscape is idyllic, sentimental: a river, murmuring streams, a meadow, is in tune with personal experience.

The main features of the literature of sentimentalism

In painting

Literature

E. Schmidt, "Richardson, Rousseau und Goethe" (Jena, 1875).
Gasmeyer, "Richardson's Pamela, ihre Quellen und ihr Einfluss auf die englische Litteratur" (Lpts., 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, nos. 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. Scherer (Russian translation, edited by A. N. Pypin, vol. II).
A. Galakhov, "History of Russian Literature, Ancient and New" (vol. I, sec. II, and vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1880).
M. Sukhomlinov, “A. N. Radishchev ”(St. Petersburg, 1883).
V. V. Sipovsky, “On the literary history of the Letters of the Russian Traveler” (St. Petersburg, 1897-98).
"History of Russian literature" A. N. Pypin, (vol. IV, St. Petersburg, 1899).
Alexei Veselovsky, "Western Influence in New Russian Literature" (M., 1896).
S. T. Aksakov, “Various Works” (M., 1858; article on the merits of Prince Shakhovsky in dramatic literature).

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The genres of sentimentalism, in contrast to the classic ones, called the reader to the knowledge of simple human feelings, to naturalness and kindness. internal state to merge with wildlife. And if classicism worshiped only reason, building the whole existence on logic, system (according to the theory of Boileau's poetry), the sentimentalist artist was free in feeling, expressing it, in flight of imagination. Born in protest against the dryness of reason, inherent in all genres of sentimentalism, they carry not what they got from culture, but what the depths of the soul get from their bottom.

Prerequisites for the emergence of sentimentalism

The absolutist regime of feudalism fell into the deepest crisis. Social values were replaced by values embodied in the human personality, and all-class ones at that. Sentimentalism is the definition in literature of the moods of the widest sections of society with the most powerful anti-feudal pathos.

The third estate, economically wealthy, but socially and politically disenfranchised, became more active against the aristocracy and the clergy. It was there, in the third estate, that the famous was born: - which became the slogan of all revolutions. social culture society demanded democratization.

The rationalist worldview postulated the primacy of the idea, hence the ideological nature of the crisis. Absolute monarchy how one of the forms of state structure fell into decay. The idea of monarchism was discredited, the idea of an enlightened monarch was discredited, too, since practically neither of them corresponded to the real needs of society.

Conquest of culture

By the second half of the 18th century, the possibilities of the bourgeoisie had grown so much that it began to dictate terms to all other classes, especially through culture. Being a supporter of the ideas of progress, she extended them to literature and art.

Moreover, she occupied them with representatives of her environment: Rousseau - from the family of a watchmaker, Voltaire - a notary, Diderot - an artisan ... There is no point in remembering the artists, since they are completely the third estate, one and only.

Although in all sectors of society in the 18th century, democratic sentiments grew by leaps and bounds, not only in the third estate. It was these moods that demanded other heroes from the late Enlightenment, a special atmosphere and new feelings. However, the genres of sentimentalism in literature were not newcomers. Elegiac lyrics, memoirs - all long-known forms were filled with new content.

The main features of sentimentalism in literature

As an alternative to the rationalistic principle of the Enlightenment, philosophy clarifies another means of world perception: not with the mind, but with the heart, that is, referring to the category of sensations and feelings. Literature is precisely the field where all genres of sentimentalism flourished.

Sentimentalists were sure that a person by nature should be alien to prudence and rationality, he is close to the natural environment, which, through the education of feelings, bestows inner harmony. Virtue must be natural, they wrote, and only with a high degree of sensitivity can mankind obtain real happiness. Therefore, the main genres of sentimentalism in literature were chosen according to the principle of intimacy: pastoral, idyll, travel, personal diaries or letters.

Reliance on natural principles and staying in the natural environment - in nature - these are the two pillars on which all genres of sentimentalism are based.

Technical and state, society, history, education - these words in line with sentimentalism are mostly abusive. Progress as the foundation on which Encyclopedic scientists built the Age of Enlightenment was considered superfluous and very harmful, and any manifestations of civilization were destructive for humanity. At least a private rural life, and as a maximum - life is primitive and as wild as possible.

The genres of sentimentalism did not contain the heroic stories of the past. Everyday life, simplicity of impressions filled them. Instead of bright passions, the struggle of vices and virtues, sentimentalism presented purity of feelings and richness of the inner world. ordinary person. Most often a native of the third estate, the origin is sometimes very low. Sentimentalism, the definition of democratic pathos in the literature, completely denies the class differences imposed by civilization.

The inner world of man: a different view

Completing the Age of Enlightenment, the new direction, of course, did not go far from the principles of the Enlightenment. Nevertheless, sentimentalism is easy to distinguish: among the classic writers, the character is unambiguous, in character - the predominance of one trait, a mandatory moral assessment.

Sentimentalists, on the other hand, showed the hero as an inexhaustible and contradictory personality. He could combine both genius and villainy, since from birth both good and evil are embedded in him. Moreover, nature is a good beginning, civilization is evil. A monosyllabic assessment most often does not suit the actions of the hero of a sentimentalist work. He may well be a villain, but no one is absolute, because he always has the opportunity to listen to nature and return to the path of good.

It is this didacticism, and sometimes tendentiousness, that connects sentimentalism firmly, firmly with the era that gave birth to it.

The cult of feeling and subjectivism

The main genres of sentimentalism are highly subjective, and in this way they are most fully able to show the movements of the human heart. These are novels in letters, these are elegies, diaries, memoirs and everything that allows you to tell in the first person.

The author does not move away from the subject that he depicts, and his reflection is the most important element of the narrative. The structure is also freer, literary canons do not constrain the imagination, the composition is arbitrary, and there are as many lyrical digressions as you like.

Born in the 1910s on the shores of England, the main genres of sentimentalism had already flourished throughout Europe by the second half of the century. Most brightly - in England, France, Germany and Russia.

England

The lyrics were the first to let in the features of sentimentalism in literature into their lines. The most prominent representatives are: a follower of the classicist theorist Nicolas Boileau - James Thomson, who devoted his elegies full of pessimism to English nature; the founder of "graveyard" poetics Edward Jung; Scotsman Robert Blair supported the theme with the poem "The Grave" and Thomas Gray with an elegy composed in a rural cemetery. For all these authors, the main idea is the equality of people before Death.

Then - and most fully - the features of sentimentalism in literature manifested themselves in the genre of the novel. decisively broke with the traditions of the adventure, adventure and picaresque novel, writing a novel in letters. Lawrence Stern became the "father" of the direction after writing the novel "Mr. Yorick's Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy", which gave the name to the direction. The peak of critical English sentimentalism is rightfully considered the work of Oliver Goldsmith.

France

Most classical form sentimentalism is observed in the first third of the eighteenth century in France. De Marivaux was at the very origins of such prose, describing the life of Marianne and the peasant who came out into the world. Abbot Prevost enriched the palette of feelings described by literature - a passion leading to disaster.

The culmination of sentimentalism in France is Jean-Jacques Rousseau with his epistolary novels. Nature in his writings is valuable in itself, man is natural. The novel "Confession" is the most frank autobiography in world literature.

De Saint-Pierre, a student of Rousseau, continued to substantiate the truth that the main genres of sentimentalism preach: the happiness of man in harmony with virtue and nature. He also anticipated the flowering of the "exotic" in romanticism, depicting tropical lands beyond distant seas.

He also did not give up the position of the followers of Rousseau and J.-S. Mercier, pushing together in the novel "The Savage" the primitive (ideal) and civilizational forms of existence. Mercier identified the fruits of civilization as a publicist in the "Picture of Paris".

The self-taught writer de La Bretonne (two hundred volumes of writings!) is one of the most devoted followers of Rousseau. He wrote about how destructive the urban environment is, turning a moral and pure young man into a criminal, and also discussed the ideas of pedagogy in terms of women's education and upbringing.

With the beginning of the revolutions, the features of sentimentalism in literature naturally disappeared. The genres of sentimentalism in literature were enriched with new realities.

Germany

A new view of literature in Germany was formed under the influence of G.-E. Lessing. It all started with a polemic between the professors of the University of Zurich Bodmer and Breutinger with an ardent adherent of classicism - the German Gottsched. The Swiss stood up for poetic fantasy, but the German did not agree.

F.-G. Klopstock strengthened the position of sentimentalism with the help of folklore: medieval German traditions were easily intertwined with the feelings of the German heart. But the heyday of German sentimentalism came only in the seventies of the 18th century in connection with the work of creating a national original literature members of the Storm and Drang movement.

I.-V. also belonged to this direction in his young years. Goethe. "The suffering of young Werther" Goethe poured provincial German literature into the pan-European. The dramas of I.-F. Schiller.

Russia

Russian sentimentalism was discovered by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin - "Letters from a Russian Traveler", "Poor Lisa" - masterpieces of sentimental prose. Sensitivity, melancholy, suicidal tendencies - the main features of sentimentalism in literature - were combined by Karamzin with many other innovations. He became the founder of a group of Russian writers who fought against the grandiloquent archaism of the style and for a new poetic language. I. I. Dmitriev, V. A. Zhukovsky and others belonged to this group.

Sentimentalism (from fr. sent - feeling, sensitive , English sentimental – sensitive) - an artistic direction in art and literature, which replaced classicism.

Already by the name it is clear that the new direction, as opposed to the cult of reason, will proclaim the cult of feeling. Feelings come first, not great ideas. The author focuses on the perception of the reader and his feelings that arise during reading.

The origins of the direction are in Western Europe in the 20s of the 18th century, while sentimentalism reached Russia in the 70s, and in the first three decades of the 19th century it occupied a leading position.

Sentimentalism preceded Romanticism in time. This was the end of the Enlightenment, therefore, in the works of sentimentalists, educational tendencies are preserved, which is manifested in edification and moralizing. But there are also completely new features.

The main features of sentimentalism

The focus is not on reason, but on feeling. The ability to sympathize, empathize was considered by writers as the most important dignity of the human person.
The main characters are not nobles and kings, as in classicism, but ordinary people, not noble and not rich.
The cult of innate moral purity and integrity was glorified.
The main attention of writers is directed to the rich inner world of a person, his feelings and emotions. And also that spiritual qualities a person does not depend on his origin. Thus, new heroes appeared in the literature - simple people, which in their own way moral qualities often outnumbered noble heroes.
Glorification in the works of sentimentalist writers of eternal values - love, friendship, nature.
For sentimentalists, nature is not just a background, but a living essence with all its little things and features, as if re-discovered and felt by the author.
My main goal sentimentalists saw it in comforting a person in his life, full of sorrows and suffering, in turning his heart to goodness and beauty.

Sentimentalism in Europe

This trend received its most complete expression in England, in the novels of S. Richardson and L. Stern. In Germany, prominent representatives were F. Schiller, J. V. Goethe and pre-revolutionary France, sentimentalist motifs found their fullest expression in the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

The very name of the literary movement took root after the authors wrote numerous "Journeys", which revealed to the reader the beauty of nature, disinterested friendship, family idyll. Touched the most tender feelings of readers. The first novel "Sentimental Journey" was written by L. Stern in 1768.

Sentimentalism in Russia

In Russia, representatives of sentimentalism were M. N. Muravyov, I. I. Dmitriev, N. M. Karamzin with his most famous work "Poor Lisa", the young V. A. Zhukovsky. Enlightenment traditions of sentimentalism were most clearly manifested in the works of A. Radishchev.

There were two trends of sentimentalism in Russia:

noble

A direction that did not advocate the abolition of serfdom. Nikolai Karamzin, the author of the story "Poor Lisa" in the conflict between the estates, put forward not social factor but moral. He believed: "and peasant women know how to love ...".

Revolutionary

In literature, this trend advocated the abolition of serfdom. Radishchev believed that the basis of all culture, as well as the basis of social life, is a person who declares his right to life, freedom, happiness, and creativity.

Sentimentalists created many new genres in literature. This is an everyday novel, a story, a diary, a novel in letters, an essay, a journey, and others; in poetry, this is an elegy, a message. Since, in contrast to classicism, there were no clear rules and restrictions, very often genres were mixed.

Since ordinary people became the heroes of the works of sentimentalists, the language of the works also received a significant simplification, even vernacular appeared in it.

Distinctive features of Russian sentimentalism

Preaching conservative views: if all people, regardless of their position in society, are capable of high feelings, then the path to universal happiness lies not in changing the state system, but in moral self-improvement, moral education of people.
Enlightenment traditions, teaching, instruction, moralizing are clearly expressed.
Perfection literary language by introducing colloquial forms.

Sentimentalism played important role in literature with an appeal to the inner world of a person, in this respect he became a harbinger of psychological, confessional prose.