School Encyclopedia. Sentimentalism as a literary trend, originality of Russian sentimentalism

feeling - a current in European and American literature and art of the second half XVIII-early XIX centuries He declared that the dominant of human nature was not reason, but feeling, and he sought the path to an ideal personality in the release and improvement of “natural” feelings, hence S.’s great democracy and his discovery of a rich spiritual world commoner. Close to pre-romanticism. The main representatives: S. Richardson, L. Stern, O. Goldsmith, T. Smollett, J. J. Rousseau, the writers of Sturm und Drang. The top of S. in Russia - the story of N. Karamzin " Poor Lisa».

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SENTIMENTALISM

from the French sentiment - feeling), a current in European and American art and literature of the second half. 18 - beg. 19th centuries Starting from the rationalism of the Enlightenment, sentimentalism proclaimed top quality"human nature" is not reason, but feeling. Sentimentalists were looking for a way to educate an ideal personality in the release of "natural" feelings. If classicism proclaimed the cult of the public, then sentimentalism asserted the right of a private person to a deeply intimate experience. Most vividly, the ideals of sentimentalism were embodied in literature and theater, in painting - in the genres of landscape and portrait.

Sentimentalism in french painting acquired a deliberately instructive connotation in the work of J. B. Grez. sensitivity in it genre paintings ah ("The Paralytic, or the Fruits of good upbringing", 1763; The Punished Son, 1777, etc.) develops into sugariness, the characters into walking personifications of vices and virtues. The poses and gestures of people are exaggeratedly theatrical, painting turns into a lesson in morality. It is no coincidence that Grez liked to write literary comments on his works. In addition to genre paintings, Grez painted many "heads" - images of girls yearning for dead birds, broken mirrors or jugs. Similar works containing, as well as famous painting The Broken Jug (1785), an allusion to lost innocence, paradoxically combines edification with erotica.

In Russia, the ideals of sentimentalism found expression in the work of V. L. Borovikovsky. For the first time in Russian painting, the artist began to paint people in the bosom of nature. The heroes of his portraits walk along the alleys of landscape parks with their favorite dog or a book in their hand, indulge in poetic dreams or philosophical reflections(“Portrait of Catherine II on a walk in Tsarskoye Selo Park”, 1794; “Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina”, 1797; “Portrait of D. A. Derzhavina”, 1813), demonstrate the sublimely sweet consent of the hearts (“Portrait of the sisters A. G and V. G. Gagarin”, 1802). The paintings “Torzhkovskaya peasant woman Khristinya” (c. 1795), “Lizinka and Dashinka” (1794) embody the belief of sentimentalism that “peasant women can also feel” (N. M. Karamzin). The work of V. A. Tropinin (The Boy Yearning for a Dead Bird, 1802) is partly in contact with sentimentalism.

Sentimentalism prepared the ground for the birth of Romanticism.

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Sentimentalism as a literary movement

SENTIMENTALISM. Sentimentalism is understood as that direction of literature that developed in late 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, which was distinguished by the cult human heart, feelings, simplicity, naturalness, special attention to the inner world, a living love for nature. In contrast to classicism, which worshiped reason, and only reason, and which, as a result, in its aesthetics built everything on strictly logical principles, on a carefully considered system (Boileau's theory of poetry), sentimentalism gives the artist freedom of feeling, imagination and expression and does not require his irreproachable correctness in the architectonics of literary creations. Sentimentalism is a protest against the dry rationality that characterized the Enlightenment; he appreciates in a person not what culture has given him, but what he has brought with him in the depths of his nature. And if classicism (or, as we, in Russia, it is more often called - false classicism) was interested exclusively in representatives of the highest social circles, royal leaders, the sphere of the court and all kinds of aristocracy, then sentimentalism is much more democratic and, recognizing the fundamental equivalence of all people, falls into the valleys of everyday life - in that environment of the philistines, the bourgeoisie, the middle class, which at that time had just come to the fore in a purely economic sense, began - especially in England - to play an outstanding role in historical stage. For a sentimentalist, everyone is interesting, because in everyone it glimmers, shines and warms intimate life; and you don’t need special events, stormy and striking effectiveness, in order to be able to get into literature: no, it turns out to be hospitable to the most ordinary inhabitants, to the most ineffectual biography, it depicts the slow passage of ordinary days, the peaceful backwaters of nepotism, quiet trickle of everyday worries. Sentimental literature is in no hurry; her favorite form is the "long, moralizing, and orderly" novel (in the style of Richardson's famous works: "Pamela", "Clarissa Harlow", "Sir Charles Grandison"); heroes and heroines keep diaries, write endless letters to each other, indulge in heartfelt outpourings. It is in connection with this that the sentimentalists earned their merit in the field of psychological analysis: they transferred the center of gravity from the external to the internal; in fact, this is exactly what main point the very term "sentimental": the whole direction got its name from the work of Daniel Stern "Sentimental Journey", i.e. such a description of the journey, which focuses on impressions traveler, not so much on what he meets, but on what he experiences. Sentimentalism directs its quiet rays not at the objects of reality, but at the subject that perceives them. He puts the feeling person at the forefront and not only is not ashamed of sensitivity, but, on the contrary, exalts it as the highest value and dignity of the spirit. Of course it had its reverse side because the cherished sensibility crossed the proper limits, became cloying and sugary, broke away from the courageous will and mind; but it does not necessarily enter into the very essence, the very principle of sentimentalism, that the feeling be so exaggerated and take on an illegitimate self-sufficient character. True, in practice, many of the confessors of this school suffered from a similar enlargement of the heart. Be that as it may, sentimentalism knew how to be touching, gentle strings souls, caused tears, and among readers and, mainly readers, brought undoubted gentleness, tenderness, kindness. It is indisputable that sentimentalism is philanthropism, it is a school of philanthropy; it is indisputable that, for example, in Russian literature, the line of succession to Dostoevsky's "Poor People" goes from Karamzin's "Poor Lisa", who is the most remarkable representative of sentimentalism in our country (especially as the author of stories and "Letters of a Russian Traveler"). Naturally, sentimentalist writers, sensitively listening, so to speak, to the beating of the human heart, should, among other feelings that make up the content of his inner life, especially perceive the range of mournful moods - sadness, sadness, disappointment, longing. That is why the color of many sentimental works is melancholy. Sensitive souls fed on its sweet streams. A typical example in this sense is Zhukovsky's translation from in English Gray's elegy "Rural Cemetery"; and it must be said that in the cemetery, in a dull atmosphere of death, crosses and monuments, the sentimentalist writer generally liked to lead his reader - after the English poet Jung, author of "Nights". It is also clear that the primordial source of suffering, unhappy love, also gave sentimentalism the kind opportunity to draw abundantly from its water-tears. Goethe's famous novel The Sorrows of Young Werther is filled with this moisture of the heart. Moralism is also a typical feature of sentimentalism. It is precisely about sentimental novels that Pushkin says: "and at the end of the last part, a vice was always punished, a wreath worthy of goodness was." In their vague dreaminess, the writers of this trend were inclined to see in the world some kind of moral order. They taught, they planted "good feelings." In general, the idylization and idealization of things, even if they are covered by a mourning haze of sadness, is an essential sign of sentimentalism. And he extends these idyllic and idealizations to nature most of all. The influence of Jean Jacques Rousseau with his denial of culture and the exaltation of nature affected here. If Boileau demanded that the city and the court serve as the main scene of action in literary works, then sentimentalists often moved their heroes, and with them their readers, to the village, to the primitive bosom of nature, within the framework of patriarchal artlessness. In sentimental novels, nature takes a direct part in the dramas of the heart, in the vicissitudes of love; many enthusiastic colors are squandered on descriptions of nature, and with tears in their eyes they kiss the earth, admire the moonlight, and are touched by birds and flowers. In general, it is necessary in sentimentalism to carefully distinguish its distortions from its healthy core, which consists in worshiping naturalness and simplicity and in recognizing the highest rights of the human heart. For acquaintance with sentimentalism, the book by Alexander N. Veselovsky "V.A. Zhukovsky. Poetry of feeling and heartfelt imagination" is important.

Sentimentalism in English Literature

Thomas Grey.

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., later combined into one and published (1730) under the title "The Seasons", contributed to the development of a love of nature in the English reading public, painting 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 in rural life and nature, to arouse sympathy in them to simple, inconspicuous people with their needs, sorrows and beliefs, at the same time giving his work a thoughtful melancholic character.

They are of a different nature famous novels Richardson - "Pamela" (1740), "Clarissa Garlo" (1748), "Sir Charles Grandison" (1754) - 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 Sterne, author of Tristram Shandy (1759-1766) and Sentimental Journey (1768); by the name of this work and the direction itself was called "sentimental") connected Richardson's sensitivity with a love of nature and a kind of 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. Quite independently of the English representatives of this trend, Abbé Prevost ("Manon Lescaut", "Cleveland") and Marivaux ("The Life of Marianne") taught the French public to admire everything touching, sensitive, somewhat melancholy.

Under the same influence, Rousseau's "Julia" or "New Eloise" (1761) was created, who always spoke of Richardson with respect and sympathy. Julia reminds 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-Pied, in his famous work"Paul and Virginie" (1787) 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.

SENTIMENTALISM IN RUSSIA. - In Russian literature, the bourgeois essence of European S. has lost its social meaning. The Russian nobility accepted the new style of European literature as comfortable shape for the artistic expression of their new requests. The beginning of the disintegration of feudal relations pushed a certain part of the nobility towards personal interests, intimate experiences. The theorists of the new trend saw the purpose of art in the fact that it "should deal with one graceful, depict beauty, harmony and spread pleasant impressions in the sensitive area" (1793, "What does the author need?" Karamzin). "Poetry is a flower garden of sensitive hearts," said Karamzin. The poet is a "skillful liar", "finds a poetic side in the most ordinary things", "describes those objects that are close to him and by their own power attract his imagination", but this is an expansion of the range of phenomena subject to the poet's knowledge, in comparison with the poetics of classicism limited by the requirement: "It is better for a young pet of the Muses to depict in verse the first impressions of love, friendship, the gentle beauties of nature, rather than the destruction of the world, the general fire of Nature, etc. in this kind" (from the preface to the 2nd book "Aonid", 1796). In the genre of elegy, the themes of love, friendship, rural nature were developed with a deliberate taste for "sensitive" subjects. Melancholy - "the gentlest overflow from sorrow and longing to the pleasures of pleasure" - is considered the mood "sweeter than all artificial amusements and windy joys." Thoughts about the cemetery, reflections in the cemetery at night under the moon with memories of Jung, Ossian, Gray are typical of a melancholic who admires his tear and glorifies the creator of the universe. Idyllic reminiscences of the past, rosy dreams of the future, of the power of Providence are part of the spiritual baggage of the sentimentalist poet, who admitted that the mind, which the revolutionary bourgeoisie in France proclaimed as a mighty force for the renewal of the world, is insufficient and that it is necessary to educate the "heart" - "the culprit great deeds, noble deeds. The lyrics of Karamzin (see), Zhukovsky (see), I. Dmitriev (see), Kapnist, Neledinsky-Meletsky (see), Kaisarov, Karabanov, P. Lvov, A. Turchaninova, employees of the Moscow Journal, " Herald of Europe", "Ipokreny, or the joys of loving," "Reading for taste, reason and feelings", etc. filled with themes. The cult of nature, nature caused special genre travel. Karamzin's "Letters from the Russian traveler" with the recollection of the "sensitive, kind, amiable Stern" became a model, followed by numerous "sensitive travelers" - Nevzorov ("Journey to Kazan, Vyatka and Orenburg in 1800", M., 1803), Shalikov ("Journey to Little Russia", M., 1803), V. Izmailov ("Journey to Midday Russia", 1800-1802), M. Gladkova ("Fifteen-day journey of a fifteen-year-old, written to please parents and dedicated to a fifteen-year-old friend", P. , 1810), etc. The purpose of travel is "confession about oneself", "a conversation with oneself and with friends about the events of the world, about the fate of earthly peoples, about one's own feelings." Along with descriptions of sensitive emotions that travelers have every now and then, with the repetition of themes, sentimental lyrics (melancholy, dream, cemetery, etc.), the travel genre introduced into the reader's circulation information about various parts of the world, about cultural monuments, about prominent people (Karamzin in "Letters" about Herder, Wieland, Kant, etc.). Due to sensitive tirades about nature and dreams "under the flow of rivers", a bleak picture of real life rarely appeared, but the sober policy of a great-power landowner was clearly manifested in the writings of V. Izmailov, who defended colonial activity in the Crimea, or P. Sumarokov in "Leisure of the Crimean Judge, or the second journey to Taurida" (1803), who proposed to evict the Tatars from the Crimea. "The history of the misfortunes of the human race" was part of the program of sentimental fiction, where two streams - "terrible" and "sensitive" - merged into one stream of touching emotions caused by the unfortunate fate of one of the heroes, heroines or "terrible" episodes. Gnedich's novel "Don Corrado de Guerrera, or the spirit of vengeance and barbarity of the Gishpans" (1803) and Karamzin's story "Poor Lisa" (1792) are the most typical in this genre. The stories entitled "Poor Lilla" (1803), "Poor Masha" (1803), "Unfortunate Margarita" (1803), "Seduced Henrietta", "The Story of Poor Marya", "Unfortunate Lovers", etc., evoked "tender feelings" sympathy for the "poor", but the Peisan flavor in the depiction of peasant or philistine life, melodramatic effects obscured the truth of life and thereby revealed the "world of essentiality" in an extremely limited way with reality. Weak sprouts of plausibility are also noticeable in the so-called historical novel of the sentimental school. Attempts to draw the past on the basis of documents, family chronicles, legends were dressed in the form of a familiar idyll or fantasy: "Natalya the Boyar's Daughter" (1792), "Marfa Posadnitsa or the Conquest of Novgorod" (1803) by Karamzin, "Rurik" by A. M. -sky (1805), "Ksenia Princess Galitskaya" (1808), sometimes quite accurately following the small facts of a historical nature, gave a false idealization of the past. The same line of smoothing out the contradictions of social life, an idyllic attitude to reality in sentimental drama, saturated with "kotsebyatina": Ilyin, author of the drama "Lisa, or the triumph of gratitude" (1801), "Generosity or recruiting" (1803); Fedorov, author of the play "Liza, or a consequence of pride and seduction" (1804); Ivanov, author of the play "A Rewarded Virtue, or a Woman of Which Few" (1805), etc. All elements of the sentimental style were subordinated to one artistic principle: "Syllabus, figure, metaphor, images, expressions - all this touches and captivates when animated by feeling" (Karamzin, What does the author need?, 1793). The work on the language was supposed to contribute to the "cultivation of the heart." graceful speech, alien to vernacular, provincialism, Church Slavism, built on the model of French writers - "models of subtlety and pleasantness in style" (Karamzin), formed the basis for the reform of the literary language in the school of Karamzin. The choice of words, grammatical forms, syntactic structures broke the ecclesiastical element of the literary language, turning it into a tool in the struggle of the noble intelligentsia against archaic forms. Thanks to this, and also due to some expansion of the subject matter, S. in Russia had a certain progressive significance. Political events, since early XIX V. which, under the influence of European life, caused a complex reaction in the social reality of Russia, contributed to the acceleration of the end of the sentimental trend. Russian secularism began to decompose, falling as separate stylistic tendencies into the newly formed literary trends or completely ceasing to exist. "There was a time when everyone wanted the glory of the sentimental; another has come - and everyone tries to say and write by the way and inopportunely and write - smart or stupid, there is no need! An epigram against the sentimental," Aglaya stated the state of affairs on the casting front in 1808. Elements some sensitivity in further development Russian literature entered into a current so far removed in essence from S. that their presence in the works of the authors " stationmaster"or" Overcoats "or" Poor people "should be considered as phenomena of a completely different historical and aesthetic significance.

sentimentalism literary movement

Literature

2. Veselovsky A.N., V.A. Zhukovsky, St. Petersburg, 1904 (ed. 2, P., 1918), ch.I. The era of sensitivity;

3. Rezanov V.I., From research on the writings of V.A. Zhukovsky, no. I, ch. IX, St. Petersburg, 1906; issue II, ch. XXIII, P., 1916;

4. Ignatov I.N., Theater and audience, part 1, M., 1916, pp. 79-103;

5. Roboli T.A., Literature of travels, in Sat. "Russian prose", edited by B. Eikhenbaum and Yu. Tynyanov, L., 1926;

6. Skipina K.A., On a sensitive story, in Sat. "Russian prose", L., 1926; Sakkulin P.N., Russian literature, part 2, second period, ch. IX, M., 1929.

7. Yu. Podolsky. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L.D. Frenkel, 1925

8. "History German literature" V. Scherer (Russian translation edited by A.N. Pypin, vol. II).

9. A. Galakhov, "History of Russian literature, ancient and new" (vol. I, part II, and vol. II, St. Petersburg, 1880).

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

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

12. Alexey Veselovsky, "Western influence in new Russian literature" (M., 1896).

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 human existence it is possible under two conditions: the development of the natural beginnings of a person (“education of feelings”) and stay in the natural environment (nature); merging with it, he finds 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 with pessimism at the prospects for social 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 this comes from the third estate, sometimes a 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 a good beginning is inherent in a person 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 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. (A 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. The genre of the sentimental novel ceases to exist. 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 takes the subjectivist attitude of sentimentalism to the absolute ( piece 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 theme receives artistic expression in the novel. Paul and Virginie(1787). Depicting distant seas and tropical countries, B. de Saint-Pierre introduces a new category - "exotic", which will be in demand by romantics, primarily Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand.

Jacques-Sebastian Mercier (1740–1814), following the Rousseauist tradition, makes the central conflict of the 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 French Revolution, sentimentalism was losing its position, 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 development. 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 theorist of Sturm und Drang, the philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, criticized the “boastful and fruitless education” of the Enlightenment, attacked the mechanical use of classic rules, arguing that true poetry is the language of feelings, first strong impressions, fantasy and passion, 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 The suffering of 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) - a direction in European theatrical art of the 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 the characters (the heroes of 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 formed the basis of the French "tearful comedy". Its 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", the aesthetic trend of "Storm and Onslaught" arose (F.M. Klinger, J. Lenz, L. Wagner, I.V. Goethe, etc.), which reached its peak development 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 XVIII- the beginning of the 19th century. - 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, No. 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 of the 17th–20th 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

In the middle of the 18th century, the process of decomposition of classicism began in Europe (due to the destruction of the absolute monarchy in France and other countries), as a result of which a new literary trend appeared - sentimentalism. England is considered to be his homeland, since English writers were his typical representatives. The term "sentimentalism" itself appeared in literature after the publication of Lawrence Sterne's Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy.

Arch of Catherine the Great

In the 1960s and 1970s, the rapid development of capitalist relations began in Russia, which resulted in the growing phenomenon of the bourgeoisie. The growth of cities intensified, which led to the emergence of a third estate, whose interests are reflected in Russian sentimentalism in literature. At this time, that layer of society, which is now called the intelligentsia, begins to form. The growth of industry turns Russia into a strong power, and numerous military victories contribute to the rise of national self-consciousness. In 1762, during the reign of Catherine II, nobles and peasants received many privileges. The empress thereby tried to create a myth about her reign, showing herself in Europe as an enlightened monarch.

The policy of Catherine II in many respects hindered progressive phenomena in society. So, in 1767, a special commission was convened on the state of the new code. In her work, the empress argued that absolute monarchy is necessary not to take away freedom from people, but to achieve a good goal. However, sentimentalism in literature implied the depiction of the life of the common people, so not a single writer mentioned Catherine the Great in his works.

The most important event of this period was peasant war under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev, after which many nobles sided with the peasants. Already in the 70s, mass societies began to appear in Russia, whose ideas of freedom and equality influenced the formation of a new trend. Under such conditions, Russian sentimentalism in literature began to take shape.

Conditions for the emergence of a new direction

In the second half of the 18th century, there was a struggle with feudal orders in Europe. The enlighteners defended the interests of the so-called third estate, which often turned out to be oppressed. The classicists glorified the merits of the monarchs in their works, and sentimentalism (in Russian literature) became the opposite direction in this regard a few decades later. Representatives advocated the equality of people and put forward the concept of a natural society and a natural person. They were guided by the criterion of reasonableness: the feudal system, in their opinion, was unreasonable. This idea was reflected in Daniel Defoe's novel "Robinson Crusoe", and later in the work of Mikhail Karamzin. In France a prime example and the work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau "Julia, or the new Eloise" becomes the manifesto; in Germany - "Suffering young Werther" Johann Goethe. In these books, the tradesman is portrayed as an ideal person, but in Russia everything is different.

Sentimentalism in literature: features of the direction

Style is born in a fierce ideological struggle with classicism. These currents oppose each other in all positions. If the state was portrayed by classicism, then a person with all his feelings - sentimentalism.

Representatives in literature introduce new genre forms: love story, a psychological story, as well as confessional prose (diary, travel notes, trips). Sentimentalism, unlike classicism, was far from poetic forms.

Literary direction asserts extra-class value human personality. In Europe, the tradesman was portrayed as perfect person while in Russia the peasants have always been oppressed.

Sentimentalists introduce alliteration and description of nature into their works. The second technique is used to display the psychological state of a person.

Two strands of sentimentalism

In Europe, writers smoothed out social conflicts, while in the works Russian authors on the contrary, they escalated. As a result, two trends of sentimentalism were formed: noble and revolutionary. The representative of the first - Nikolai Karamzin, is known as the author of the story "Poor Lisa". Despite the fact that the conflict occurs due to the clash of interests of the high and low class, the author puts forward the moral conflict, and not the social one, in the first place. Noble sentimentalism did not advocate the abolition of serfdom. The author believed that "peasant women know how to love."

Revolutionary sentimentalism in literature advocated the abolition of serfdom. Alexander Radishchev chose just a few words as an epigraph to his book "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow": "The monster is oblo, mischievous, staring and barking." That's how he imagined collective image serfdom.

Genres in sentimentalism

In this literary direction, the leading role was given to works written in prose. There were no strict boundaries, so the genres were often mixed.

N. Karamzin, I. Dmitriev, A. Petrov used private correspondence in their work. It is worth noting that not only writers addressed him, but also personalities who became famous in other areas, such as M. Kutuzov. A novel-journey in its own literary heritage left A. Radishchev, and the novel-education - M. Karamzin. Sentimentalists also found application in the field of dramaturgy: M. Kheraskov wrote "tearful dramas", and N. Nikolev wrote "comic operas".

Sentimentalism in the literature of the 18th century was represented by geniuses who also worked in some other genres: satirical fairy tale and fable, idyll, elegy, romance, song.

"Fashionable wife" I. I. Dmitriev

Often, sentimentalist writers turned to classicism in their work. Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev preferred to work with satirical genres and odes, so his fairy tale called "Fashionable Wife" was written in poetic form. General Prolaz, in his old age, decides to marry a young girl who is looking for a chance to send him for new clothes. In the absence of her husband, Premila receives her lover Milovzor right in her room. He is young, handsome, a ladies' man, but a prankster and talker. The remarks of the heroes of "Fashionable Wife" are empty and cynical - by this Dmitriev is trying to portray the depraved atmosphere that prevails in the nobility.

"Poor Lisa" N. M. Karamzin

In the story, the author tells about the love story of a peasant woman and a gentleman. Liza is a poor girl who became a victim of betrayal by a rich young man, Erast. The poor thing lived and breathed only her beloved, but did not forget the simple truth - a wedding between representatives of different social classes cannot take place. A wealthy peasant is wooing Liza, but she refuses him, expecting exploits from her lover. However, Erast deceives the girl, saying that he is going to the service, and at that moment he himself is looking for a rich widowed bride. Emotional experiences, outbursts of passion, loyalty and betrayal are feelings that sentimentalism often portrayed in literature. During the last meeting, the young man offers Liza a hundred rubles as a token of gratitude for the love that she gave him during the dates. Unable to bear the gap, the girl lays hands on herself.

A. N. Radishchev and his "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow"

The writer was born into a wealthy noble family, but despite this, he was interested in the problem of inequality of social classes. His well-known work "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" in the genre direction can be attributed to travels popular at that time, but the division into chapters was not a mere formality: each of them considered a separate side of reality.

Initially, the book was perceived as travel notes and successfully passed through the censors, but Catherine II, having familiarized herself with its contents, called Radishchev "a rebel worse than Pugachev." In the chapter "Novgorod" the depraved morals of society are described, in "Lyuban" - the problem of the peasantry, in "Chudovo" it is about the indifference and cruelty of officials.

Sentimentalism in the work of V. A. Zhukovsky

The writer lived at the turn of two centuries. At the end of the 18th century, sentimentalism was the leading genre in Russian literature, and in the 19th century it was replaced by realism and romanticism. Early works Vasily Zhukovsky were written in accordance with the traditions of Karamzin. "Maryina Grove" is a beautiful story about love and suffering, and the poem "To Poetry" sounds like a heroic call to accomplish feats. In his best elegy "Rural Cemetery" Zhukovsky reflects on the meaning human life. An important role in the emotional coloring of the work is played by an animated landscape in which willow dozes, oak forests tremble, and the day turns pale. Thus, sentimentalism in the literature of the 19th century is represented by the work of a few writers, among whom was Zhukovsky, but in 1820 the direction ceased to exist.

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

In contrast to the pseudo-classical school, the authors of this trend choose plots from ordinary, everyday life, the heroes are ordinary, middle or lower class people. The interest of sentimental works lies not in the description of historical events or the deeds of heroes, but in psychological analysis experiences and feelings of an ordinary person in the environment of everyday life. The authors set out to pity the reader, showing the deep and touching experiences of simple, inconspicuous people, drawing attention to their sad, often dramatic fate.

Sentimentalism in literature

From the constant appeal to the experiences and feelings of the characters, the authors of this direction have developed cult of feeling , - from this came the name of the whole direction (feeling - sentiment), sentimentalism . Along with the cult of feeling develops cult of nature , descriptions of pictures of nature appear, disposing the soul to sensitive reflections.

Sentimentalism in Russian Poetry. Video lecture

In literature, sentimentalism expresses itself chiefly in the form of sensitive novels, sentimental journeys, and so-called philistine dramas; in poetry, in elegies. The first author of sentimental novels was English writer Richardson. Pushkin's Tatyana read his novels, "Charles Grandison", "Clarissa Harlow". In these novels, the types of simple, sensitive heroes and heroines are brought out, and next to them, bright types of villains, emphasizing their virtue. The disadvantage of these novels is their unusual length; in the novel "Clarissa Harlow" - 4,000 pages! (The full title of this work in Russian translation: "The noteworthy life of the maiden Clarissa Garlov, a true story"). In England, the first author of the so-called sentimental journeys was stern. He wrote. "A sentimental journey through France and Italy"; in this work, attention is drawn mainly to the experiences and feelings of the hero in connection with the places through which he passes. In Russia, Karamzin wrote his Letters from a Russian Traveler under the influence of Stern.

Sentimental philistine dramas, nicknamed "Tearful Comedies" (Comedies larmoyantes), also appeared first in England, spread in Germany and France and appeared in translations in Russia. Even at the beginning of the reign of Catherine the Great, Beaumarchais's play "Eugene", translated by Pushnikov, was staged in Moscow. Sumarokov, a staunch supporter of false classicism, resented the staging of this "tearful comedy" and sought the sympathy and support of Voltaire.

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

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

It should be noted that any artistic and literary "school" most clearly expresses its characteristic features in the works of "student-imitators", since major artists, the founders of the “school”, the initiators of the “direction”, are always more diverse and wider than their students. Karamzin was not exclusively a "sentimentalist" - even in his early works, he assigned a place of honor to "reason"; in addition, it has traces of future romanticism ("Bornholm Island") and neoclassicism ("Athenian life"). Meanwhile, numerous of his students did not notice this breadth of Karamzin's creativity and brought only his "sensitivity" to a ridiculous extreme. In doing so, they emphasized the shortcomings of sentimentalism and led this trend to a gradual disappearance.

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

You can also name other literary works of that time, written in imitation of "Poor Lisa": "The Seduced Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness and Delusion", "Beautiful Tatyana, Living at the Sole of Sparrow Hills”, “The Story of Poor Mary”, “Inna”, “Maryina Grove” by Zhukovsky, A. Popov “Lily” (1802), “Poor Lilla” (1803), A. Kropotova “The Spirit of a Russian Woman” (1809), A. E "Sweet and Tender Hearts" (1800), Svechinsky "Ukrainian Orphan" (1805), "The Novel of My Neighbors" (1804), Prince Dolgorukov's "Unfortunate Lisa" (1811).

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

The theorist of Russian sentimentalism was V. Podshivalov, a contemporary and literary ally of Karamzin, who at the same time published magazines (“Reading for taste and reason”, “Pleasant pastime”) with him. According to the same program as Karamzin, in 1796 he published an interesting argument: "Sensitivity and bizarreness", in which he tried to distinguish between real "sensitivity" and false "mannership", "bizarreness".

Sentimentalism made itself felt at that time in our country, too, in the flourishing of the "petty-bourgeois drama." In vain were the efforts of the pseudo-classics to fight this "illegal" child of dramaturgy - the public defended their favorite plays. Kotzebue's translated dramas ("Hatred of People and Repentance", "Son of Love", "The Hussites near Naumburg") were especially popular. For several decades, these touching works were eagerly viewed by the Russian public and caused numerous imitations in the Russian language. H. Ilyin wrote the drama: "Lisa, or the Triumph of Gratitude", "Generosity, or Recruitment"; Fedorov - drama: "Lisa, or the Consequence of Pride and Seduction"; Ivanov: “The Starichkov family, or Prayer for God, but the service does not disappear for the king”, etc.