Realism in literature of the second half of the 19th century. Distinctive features of realism

Realism in literature is a direction, the main feature of which is a truthful depiction of reality and its typical features without any distortion or exaggeration. This originated in the 19th century, and its adherents sharply opposed the sophisticated forms of poetry and the use of various mystical concepts in the works.

signs directions

Realism in the literature of the 19th century can be distinguished by clear signs. The main one is artistic image reality in images familiar to the layman, which he regularly encounters in real life. Reality in the works is considered as a means of human cognition of the surrounding world and oneself, and the image of each literary character is worked out in such a way that the reader can recognize himself, a relative, a colleague or an acquaintance in it.

In the novels and short stories of realists, art remains life-affirming, even if the plot is characterized by a tragic conflict. Another sign of this genre is the desire of writers to consider the surrounding reality in its development, and each writer tries to detect the emergence of new psychological, social and social relations.

Features of this literary trend

Realism in literature, which replaced romanticism, has the characteristics of art that seeks and finds truth, seeking to transform reality.

In the works of realist writers, discoveries were made after much thought and dreams, after an analysis of subjective attitudes. This feature, which can be identified by the author's perception of time, determined the distinguishing features of the realistic literature of the early twentieth century from the traditional Russian classics.

Realism inXIX century

Such representatives of realism in literature as Balzac and Stendhal, Thackeray and Dickens, Jord Sand and Victor Hugo, in their works most clearly reveal the themes of good and evil, and avoid abstract concepts and show real life his contemporaries. These writers make it clear to readers that evil lies in the way of life of bourgeois society, capitalist reality, people's dependence on various material values. For example, in Dickens' novel Dombey and Son, the owner of the company was callous and callous, not by nature. It’s just that such character traits appeared in him due to the presence big money and the ambition of the owner, for whom profit becomes the main life achievement.

Realism in literature is devoid of humor and sarcasm, and the images of the characters are no longer the ideal of the writer himself and do not embody his cherished dreams. From the works of the 19th century, the hero practically disappears, in the image of which the author's ideas are visible. This situation is especially clearly seen in the works of Gogol and Chekhov.

However, this literary trend is most clearly manifested in the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, who describe the world as they see it. This was also expressed in the image of characters with their own strengths and weaknesses, a description of mental anguish, a reminder to readers of the harsh reality that cannot be changed by one person.

As a rule, realism in literature also affected the fate of representatives of the Russian nobility, as can be seen from the works of I. A. Goncharov. So, the characters of the characters in his works remain contradictory. Oblomov is a sincere and gentle person, but because of his passivity, he is not capable of better. Another character in Russian literature possesses similar qualities - the weak-willed but gifted Boris Raysky. Goncharov managed to create the image of an "anti-hero" typical of 19th century, which was noticed by critics. As a result, the concept of "Oblomovism" appeared, referring to all passive characters, the main features of which were laziness and lack of will.

Realism at the turn of the century remained a large-scale and influential literary movement. Suffice it to say that L. Tolstoy and A. Chekhov still lived and worked in the 1900s.

The most striking talents among the new realists belonged to the writers who united in the Moscow circle Sreda in the 1890s, and in the early 1900s formed the circle of permanent authors of the Znanie publishing house (M. Gorky was one of its owners and de facto leader). In addition to the leader of the association in him in different years included L. Andreev, I. Bunin, V. Veresaev, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, A. Kuprin, I. Shmelev and other writers. With the exception of I. Bunin, there were no major poets among the realists; they showed themselves primarily in prose and, less noticeably, in dramaturgy.

The influence of this group of writers was largely due to the fact that it was she who inherited the traditions of great Russian literature of the 19th century. However, the immediate predecessors of the new generation of realists already in the 1880s seriously updated the look of the trend. The creative searches of the late L. Tolstoy, V. Korolenko, A. Chekhov contributed to artistic practice a lot of unusual by the standards of classical realism. Particularly important for next generation realists turned out to be the experience of A. Chekhov.

Chekhov's world includes many diverse human characters, but for all their originality, his characters are similar in that they all lack something of the most important. They try to join the true life, but, as a rule, they never find the desired spiritual harmony. Neither love nor passionate service to science or public ideals, nor faith in God - none of the previously reliable means of gaining wholeness can help the hero. The world in his perception has lost a single center, this world is far from hierarchical completeness and cannot be embraced by any of the worldview systems.

That is why life according to some ideological template, a world outlook based on a fixed system of social and ethical values, is comprehended by Chekhov as vulgarity. A life that repeats the patterns set by tradition and is devoid of spiritual independence turns out to be vulgar. None of Chekhov's heroes has an unconditional rightness, so the Chekhov type of conflict looks unusual. Comparing the characters on one or another basis, Chekhov most often does not give preference to any of them. What is important for him is not a “moral investigation”, but the clarification of the causes of mutual misunderstanding between people. That is why the writer refuses to be the accuser or advocate of his characters.

Outwardly mild plot situations in his mature prose and dramaturgy are called upon to reveal the delusions of the characters, to determine the degree of development of their self-awareness and the measure of personal responsibility associated with it. In general, various moral, ideological and stylistic contrasts in Chekhov's world lose their absolute character and become relative.

In a word, Chekhov's world is a world of mobile relations, where various subjective truths interact. In such works, the role of subjective reflection (introspection, thoughts of the characters, their understanding of their actions) increases. The author controls the tone of his assessments well: it cannot be unconditionally glorifying or recklessly satirical. How typical Chekhov's tonality is perceived by the reader is subtle lyrical irony.

Thus, the generation of realist writers of the early 20th century inherited from Chekhov new principles of writing - with much greater freedom of the author than before; with a much broader arsenal artistic expressiveness; with a sense of proportion, obligatory for the artist, which was provided by increased internal self-criticism and self-reflection.

Generously using some of Chekhov's finds, the realists of the turn of the century did not always possess the last of the mentioned qualities of an artist. Where Chekhov saw a variety and relative equivalence of life behavior, his young followers were fond of one of them. If Chekhov, for example, shows how strong life inertia is, often nullifying the hero’s initial desire to change, then the realist of the Gorky generation sometimes absolutizes the very strong-willed impulse of a person, without testing it for strength and therefore replacing the real complexity of a person with a dream of “ strong people". Where Chekhov predicted a long-term perspective, calling drop by drop to “squeeze a slave out of oneself”, the “Knowledge” writer gave a much more optimistic forecast of the “birth of man”.

Nevertheless, it is extremely important that the generation of realists at the beginning of the 20th century inherited from Chekhov a constant attention to the personality of a person, his individuality. What are the main features of realism late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century?

Themes and heroes of realistic literature. The thematic spectrum of the works of realists of the turn of the century is wider than that of their predecessors; for most writers at this time, thematic constancy is uncharacteristic. The rapid changes in Russia forced them to vary the subject, to invade previously reserved thematic layers. In Gorky's writers' environment at that time, the spirit of the artel was strong: through the joint efforts of the "Znanevites" they created a broad panorama of the country undergoing renewal. A large-scale thematic capture was noticeable in the titles of the works that made up the collections "Knowledge" (it was this type of publications - collections and almanacs - that spread in the literature of the beginning of the century). So, for example, the table of contents of the 12th collection "Knowledge" resembled sections of a sociological study: the same type of titles "In the city", "In the family", "In prison", "In the countryside" denoted the areas of life surveyed.

The elements of sociological descriptiveness in realism are the legacy of the social essay prose of the 1960s and 1980s, which had a strong focus on the empirical study of reality. However, the prose of the "Znanevites" was more acute artistic issues. The crisis of all forms of life - the majority of their works brought readers to such a conclusion. Important was the changed attitude of realists to the possibility of transforming life. In the literature of the 60-80s, the living environment was depicted as inactive, possessing terrible force inertia. Now the circumstances of a person's existence are interpreted as devoid of stability and subject to his will. In the relationship between man and the environment, the realists of the turn of the century emphasized the ability of man not only to resist the adverse effects of the environment, but also to actively rebuild life.

Significantly updated in realism and the typology of characters. Outwardly, the writers followed the tradition: in their works one could find recognizable types of " little man or an intellectual who has experienced a spiritual drama. One of central figures the peasant remained in their prose. But even the traditional "peasant" characterology has changed: more and more often in stories and novels appeared new type"thinking" man. The characters got rid of sociological averageness, became more diverse in psychological features and attitude. The "diversity of the soul" of a Russian person is a constant motif of I. Bunin's prose. He was one of the first in realism to widely use foreign material in his works (The Brothers, Chang's Dreams, The Gentleman from San Francisco). The involvement of such material has become characteristic of other writers (M. Gorky, E. Zamyatin).

Genres and style features of realistic prose. Significantly updated at the beginning of the 20th century genre system and style of realistic prose.

At that time, the most mobile story and essay occupied the central place in the genre hierarchy. The novel has practically disappeared from the genre repertoire of realism: the largest epic genre became a story. Not a single novel in the exact meaning of this term was written by the most significant realists of the early 20th century - I. Bunin and M. Gorky.

Starting with the work of A. Chekhov, the importance of the formal organization of the text has noticeably grown in realistic prose. Separate techniques and elements of form received greater independence in the artistic structure of the work than before. For example, more varied use artistic detail At the same time, the plot increasingly lost its significance as the main compositional means and began to play a subordinate role. Deepened expressiveness in the transfer of details of the visible and audible world. In this regard, I. Bunin, B. Zaitsev, I. Shmelev were especially distinguished. A specific feature of the Bunin style, for example, was the amazing fusion of visual and auditory, olfactory and tactile characteristics in the transfer of the surrounding world. Greater value realist writers gave the use of rhythmic and phonetic effects of artistic speech, the transfer of individual characteristics oral speech characters (mastery of this element of form was characteristic of I. Shmelev).

Lost compared to classics of the XIX century, the epic scale and integrity of the vision of the world, the realists of the beginning of the century compensated for these losses with a sharper perception of life and greater expression in expression author's position. The general logic of the development of realism at the beginning of the century was to strengthen the role of heightened expressive forms. What mattered to the writer now was not so much the proportionality of the proportions of the reproducible fragment of life as the "strength of the cry", the intensity of the expression of the author's emotions. This was achieved by sharpening the plot situations, when extremely dramatic, “borderline” states in the lives of the characters were described in close-up. The figurative series of works was built on contrasts, sometimes extremely sharp, "flashy"; the leitmotif principles of narration were actively used: the frequency of figurative and lexical repetitions increased.

Stylistic expression was especially characteristic of L. Andreev, A. Serafimovich. It is noticeable in some works of M. Gorky. In the work of these writers there are many journalistic elements - "montage" docking of statements, aphorism, rhetorical repetitions; the author often comments on what is happening, intrudes into the plot with lengthy journalistic digressions (examples of such digressions can be found in M. Gorky's stories "Childhood" and "In People"). In the stories and dramas of L. Andreev, the plot and the arrangement of characters were often deliberately sketchy: the writer was attracted by universal, “eternal” types and life situations.

However, within the limits of the work of one writer, a single stylistic manner was rarely maintained: more often, word artists combined several stylistic options. For example, in the works of A. Kuprin, M. Gorky, L. Andreev, exact depiction side by side with generalized romantic imagery, elements of lifelikeness - with artistic conventions.

Stylistic duality, an element of artistic eclecticism - a characteristic sign of realism at the beginning

XX century. Of the major writers of that time, only I. Bunin avoided diversity in his work: both his poetic and prose works preserved the harmony of accurate descriptiveness and author's lyricism. The stylistic instability of realism was a consequence of the transitivity and well-known artistic compromise of the direction. On the one hand, realism remained faithful to the traditions bequeathed by the previous century, on the other hand, it began to interact with new trends in art.

Realist writers gradually adapted to new forms of artistic search, although this process was not always peaceful. L. Andreev, B. Zaitsev, S. Sergeev-Tsensky, and somewhat later E. Zamyatin went further along the path of rapprochement with modernist aesthetics. Most of them were often criticized by critics - adherents of the former traditions - for artistic apostasy, and even for ideological desertion. However, the process of updating realism as a whole was artistically fruitful, and its total achievements at the turn of the century turned out to be significant.

The second half of the 19th century is characterized by the emergence of such a trend as realism. He followed immediately after romanticism, which appeared in the first half of this century, but at the same time radically different from it. Realism in literature showed a typical person in a typical situation and tried to reflect reality as plausibly as possible.

The main features of realism

History of occurrence

They can be counted:
esoteric cult;
the image of bright atypical personalities;
the use of fantasy elements;
segregation of heroes into positive and negative.
That is why the realism of the writers of the first half of the century was often criticized by the writers of the end of the 19th century. However, it is at an early stage that the main features of this direction are formed. First of all, this is a conflict characteristic of realism. In the literature of the former romantics, the opposition of man and society is clearly traced.
In the second half of the 19th century, realism takes on new forms. And it is not for nothing that this period is called the "triumph of realism." Social and political situation contributed to the fact that the authors began to study the nature of man, as well as his behavior in certain situations. Started to play big role social connections between individuals.
The science of that time had a huge influence on the development of realism. In 1859, Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. The positivist philosophy of Kant also makes its contribution to artistic practice. Realism in literature XIX century acquires an analytical, studying character. At the same time, writers refuse to analyze the future, it was of little interest to them. The emphasis was on modernity, which became the key theme of reflection critical realism.

Main Representatives

As a term, realism was first used in France only in 1850, and the first use of the term had nothing to do with literature. In England, people started talking about realistic art from 1880. In Russia, this term was used in 1857 in Annenkov's article "Notes on Russian Literature". Until the year 57, the following were used: "real school", "natural school". In the 20th century, it was generally accepted that the Russian realist tradition began with critical realism (Gorky's term).

Modern literary theory accepts:

Realism(lat. real - real, real) - this artistic method or a way of depicting the world and man, following which the artist shows life in typical images in accordance with lifelike principle. Realists believe that art is a means of understanding a person in his interaction with the outside world, and the realist is sure that the environment, life circumstances have a decisive influence on human destinies. One of the main tasks of the realist artist is considered to be the exclusion from the field of view of random facts and phenomena. Of all previous artistic systems, realism is closest to romanticism, because realism inherits, discovered by romanticism, the inherent value of the individual.

The first realistic work is considered "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow."

But "Eugene Onegin" is the first realistic novel, "an encyclopedia of Russian life."

Image of reality in the fullness of intellectual reflection. Pushkin raised universal philosophical questions.

"From Pinde - Monte" 1838

Pushkin made several formal changes to convey his reasoning:

clarification of the concept of the language of fiction; "The diversity of the world is reflected in the use of all linguistic means." The material basis for the formation of Pushkin's language was the discussions of that time about the language, which were conducted by innovators.

The main concepts of Pushkin's language:

Clarity and brevity of expression may well be a property of literature. “Speak more simply, you are smart enough for this” Koshansky.

Pushkin is convinced that new language fiction- this is a language that arises on the convergence of the common folk and book dialects.

Literature allows for stylistic confusion.

The language of literature is a language that uses the inexhaustible wealth of folklore: idioms and Russianisms.

Pushkin considered the influence of oral speech on poetic syntax to be positive.

"Only a blind chicken has all the grains of wheat"

Creating a new literature, Pushkin was critical of the principles of depicting the world and man, invented by his literary predecessors.

First, the dispute with the classicists. The classicists believed that there are objects that can never become the charm of poetry. Secondly, Pushkin addressed serious reproaches to Karamzin, paraphrasing, verbal redundancy, which gives rise to sluggish metaphors that serve nothing. Pushkin opposed the substitution of common language for simple thinking: simple words can convey a deep meaning,

main principles: accuracy and brevity.

Pushkin's dispute with the romantics concerned romantic landscapes and romantic elements in the image of a hero.

Pushkin substantiates the exclusive place in realistic creativity to the principles of nationality and historicism. In its entirety, these principles were embodied in the tragedy "Boris Godunov".

"Boris Godunov"

The playwright, unlike the poet, prose writer, has the ability to depict only a part of the expressive means.

This tragedy was based on historical material. The plot of this work opens with the events of February 1808, Boris Godunov, a man who in reality already had power, is called to the kingdoms. The formal delay was associated with the blood of an innocent baby, but the patriarch and the boyars persuade him and he takes the throne.

Historicism and nationality are the basic principles of depicting the world and man in a realistic way.

Historicism is the ability to understand and portray the leading trends in social development, which are manifested in historical events and individual destinies.

In order to comply with this principle, the artist must have the deepest knowledge of history. The principle also presupposes a special relationship of historical material with modern material, to match events.

Pushkin is not limited to the official "History of the Russian State" Karamzin, but also to chronicles, folklore.

principle of nationality. In the pre-Pushkin era, the main manifestation of this principle was the image of folk life and heroes from the people. Pushkin insisted that nationality is manifested in the look at the depicted objects. The uniqueness of "Boris Godunov" lies in the fact that this view is expressed by a unique, collective character. The people in the image of Cannon ceases to be an extra, turns into an impartial judge, embodying the court of history.

The principle of nationality affects the language of the work.

Realism (from late Latin reālis - material) is an artistic method in art and literature. The history of realism in world literature is extraordinarily rich. The very idea of ​​it changed at different stages of artistic development, reflecting the persistent desire of artists to true image reality.

Illustration by V. Milashevsky for the novel by Ch. Dickens " Posthumous notes Pickwick Club.



Illustration by O. Vereisky for Leo Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina".



Illustration by D. Shmarinov for F. M. Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment.



Illustration by V. Serov for M. Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev".



B. Zaborov's illustration for M. Andersen-Neksø's novel Ditte is a Human Child.

However, the concept of truth, truth - one of the most difficult in aesthetics. For example, the theorist French classicism N. Boileau called to be guided by the truth, "to imitate nature." But the ardent opponent of classicism, the romantic V. Hugo, urged "to consult only with nature, truth and your inspiration, which is also truth and nature." Thus, both defended "truth" and "nature".

The selection of life phenomena, their assessment, the ability to present them as important, characteristic, typical - all this is connected with the artist's point of view on life, and this, in turn, depends on his worldview, on the ability to catch the advanced movements of the era. The desire for objectivity often forces the artist to depict the real balance of power in society, even contrary to his own political convictions.

The specific features of realism depend on the historical conditions in which art develops. National-historical circumstances also determine the uneven development of realism in different countries.

Realism is not something once and for all given and unchanging. In the history of world literature, several main types of its development can be outlined.

There is no consensus in science about the initial period of realism. Many art historians attribute it to very distant eras: they talk about realism rock paintings primitive people, about the realism of ancient sculpture. In the history of world literature, many features of realism are found in the works of the ancient world and early medieval(V folk epic, for example, in Russian epics, in chronicles). However, the formation of realism as art system V European literatures It is customary to associate with the Renaissance (Renaissance), the greatest progressive upheaval. A new understanding of life by a person who rejects the church preaching of slavish obedience was reflected in the lyrics of F. Petrarch, the novels of F. Rabelais and M. Cervantes, in the tragedies and comedies of W. Shakespeare. After medieval churchmen preached for centuries that man is a "vessel of sin" and called for humility, the literature and art of the Renaissance glorified man as the highest creation of nature, seeking to reveal the beauty of his physical appearance and the wealth of soul and mind. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the scale of images (Don Quixote, Hamlet, King Lear), poetization human personality, her ability to a great feeling (as in "Romeo and Juliet") and at the same time a high intensity tragic conflict when the clash of the personality with the inert forces opposing it is depicted.

The next stage in the development of realism is the Enlightenment (see Enlightenment), when literature becomes (in the West) an instrument for the direct preparation of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Among the enlighteners were supporters of classicism, their work was influenced by other methods and styles. But in the XVIII century. So-called Enlightenment realism is taking shape (in Europe), the theorists of which were D. Diderot in France and G. Lessing in Germany. English acquired world significance realistic novel, the founder of which was D. Defoe, the author of "Robinson Crusoe" (1719). A democratic hero appeared in the literature of the Enlightenment (Figaro in the trilogy by P. Beaumarchais, Louise Miller in the tragedy "Treachery and Love" by J. F. Schiller, and the images of peasants by A. N. Radishchev). Enlighteners assessed all the phenomena of social life and the actions of people as reasonable or unreasonable (and they saw the unreasonable, first of all, in all the old feudal orders and customs). From this they proceeded in the depiction of the human character; their goodies- this is primarily the embodiment of reason, negative - a deviation from the norm, the product of unreason, barbarism of former times.

Enlightenment realism often allowed for convention. Thus, the circumstances in the novel and drama were not necessarily typical. They could be conditional, as in the experiment: "Let's say that a person ended up on a desert island ...". At the same time, Defoe depicts Robinson's behavior not as it could be in reality (the prototype of his hero became wild, even lost articulate speech), but as he wants to present a person, fully armed with his physical and mental powers, as a hero, a conqueror of forces. nature. Just as conventional is Goethe's Faust, shown in the struggle for the affirmation of lofty ideals. The features of a well-known convention also distinguish the comedy of D. I. Fonvizin "Undergrowth".

A new type of realism takes shape in the 19th century. This is critical realism. It differs significantly from both the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. Its heyday in the West is associated with the names of Stendhal and O. Balzac in France, C. Dickens, W. Thackeray in England, in Russia - A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, I. S. Turgenev, F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy, A. P. Chekhov.

Critical realism portrays in a new way the relationship of man and environment. human character is revealed in organic connection with social circumstances. The subject of deep social analysis was inner world of man, critical realism therefore simultaneously becomes psychological. In preparing this quality of realism, romanticism played a large role, striving to penetrate the secrets of the human "I".

Deepening the knowledge of life and complicating the picture of the world in the critical realism of the 19th century. do not mean, however, some absolute superiority over the previous stages, for the development of art is marked not only by gains, but also by losses.

The scale of the images of the Renaissance was lost. The pathos of affirmation, characteristic of the enlighteners, their optimistic faith in the victory of good over evil, remained unique.

The rise of the labor movement in Western countries, the formation in the 40s. 19th century Marxism not only influenced the literature of critical realism, but also brought to life the first artistic experiments in depicting reality from the standpoint of the revolutionary proletariat. In the realism of such writers as G. Weert, W. Morris, the author of the "Internationale" E. Pottier, new features are outlined, anticipating the artistic discoveries of socialist realism.

In Russia, the 19th century is a period of exceptional strength and scope for the development of realism. In the second half of the century, the artistic conquests of realism, bringing Russian literature to international arena win her worldwide recognition.

The richness and diversity of Russian realism of the XIX century. allow us to talk about its different forms.

Its formation is associated with the name of A. S. Pushkin, who led Russian literature to a wide path of depicting “the fate of the people, the fate of man”. In the conditions of the accelerated development of Russian culture, Pushkin, as it were, makes up for its former lag, paving new paths in almost all genres and, with its universality and optimism, turns out to be akin to the titans of the Renaissance. The foundations of critical realism, developed in the work of N.V. Gogol and after him in the so-called natural school, are laid in Pushkin's work.

Performance in the 60s. revolutionary democrats led by N. G. Chernyshevsky gives new features to Russian critical realism (revolutionary character of criticism, images of new people).

A special place in the history of Russian realism belongs to L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky. It is thanks to them that the Russian realistic novel acquired world significance. Their psychological skill, penetration into the "dialectics of the soul" opened the way for the artistic searches of writers of the 20th century. Realism in the 20th century all over the world bears the imprint of the aesthetic discoveries of L. N. Tolstoy and F. M. Dostoevsky.

The growth of the Russian liberation movement, which by the end of the century transferred the center of the world revolutionary struggle from the West to Russia, leads to the fact that the work of the great Russian realists becomes, as V. I. Lenin said about L. N. Tolstoy, “the mirror of the Russian revolution” according to their objective historical content, despite all the differences in their ideological positions.

The creative scope of the Russian social realism manifests itself in genre richness, especially in the field of the novel: philosophical and historical (L. N. Tolstoy), revolutionary journalistic (N. G. Chernyshevsky), everyday (I. A. Goncharov), satirical (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin ), psychological (F. M. Dostoevsky, L. N. Tolstoy). By the end of the century, A.P. Chekhov became an innovator in the genre of realistic storytelling and a kind of “lyrical drama”.

It is important to emphasize that Russian realism XIX V. did not develop in isolation from the world historical and literary process. This was the beginning of an era when, according to K. Marx and F. Engels, "the fruits of the spiritual activity of individual nations become common property."

F. M. Dostoevsky noted as one of the features of Russian literature its “ability for universality, all-humanity, all-response”. Here we are talking not so much about Western influences as about organic development in line with European culture its centuries-old traditions.

At the beginning of the XX century. the appearance of M. Gorky's plays "The Philistines", "At the Bottom" and in particular the novel "Mother" (and in the West - the novel by M. Andersen-Neksö "Pelle the Conqueror") testifies to the formation socialist realism. In the 20s. announces itself with great success Soviet literature and in the early 1930s in many capitalist countries there is a literature of the revolutionary proletariat. The literature of socialist realism is becoming an important factor in the world literary development. At the same time, it should be noted that Soviet literature as a whole retains more connections with the artistic experience of the 19th century than literature in the West (including socialist literature).

The beginning of the general crisis of capitalism, two world wars, the acceleration of the revolutionary process throughout the world under the influence of October revolution and existence Soviet Union, and after 1945 the formation of the world system of socialism - all this affected the fate of realism.

Critical realism, which continued to develop in Russian literature until October (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin) and in the West, in the 20th century. received further development while undergoing significant changes. In the critical realism of the XX century. in the West, a wide variety of influences are more freely assimilated and crossed, including some features of the unrealistic trends of the 20th century. (symbolism, impressionism, expressionism), which, of course, does not exclude the struggle of realists against non-realistic aesthetics.

From about the 20s. in the literatures of the West, there is a tendency towards in-depth psychologism, the transmission of a “stream of consciousness”. There is a so-called intellectual novel by T. Mann; subtext acquires special significance, for example, in E. Hemingway. This focus on the individual and spiritual world in the critical realism of the West significantly weakens its epic breadth. Epic scale in the 20th century. is the merit of the writers of socialist realism (“The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, “ Quiet Don" M. A. Sholokhov, "Walking through the agony" by A. N. Tolstoy, "The dead remain young" by A. Zegers).

Unlike the realists of the XIX century. writers of the 20th century more often they resort to fantasy (A. France, K. Capek), to conventionality (for example, B. Brecht), creating parable novels and parable dramas (see Parable). At the same time, in the realism of the XX century. triumphs document, fact. Documentary works appear in different countries within the framework of both critical realism and socialist realism.

So, while remaining documentary, the autobiographical books of E. Hemingway, S. O "Casey, I. Becher are works of great generalizing meaning, such classic books socialist realism, such as Yu. Fuchik's "Report with a noose around his neck" and A. A. Fadeev's "Young Guard".