Sentimentalism as a literary movement. Features of Russian sentimentalism and its significance

Classicism.

Sentimentalism

Romanticism

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

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

What Horace gave, he borrowed from the Frenchman.

Oh, how poor my muse is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<…>I know that death awaits

The one who rises first

On the oppressors of the people, -

Fate has already doomed me.

But where, tell me when was

Is freedom redeemed without sacrifice?

I will die for my native land, -

I feel it, I know...

And joyfully, holy father,

I bless my lot!<…> (44)

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

Classicism.

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

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

Sentimentalism- mindset in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary trend. The works written in this genre are based on the feelings of the reader. In Europe, it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.
Sentimentalism declared feeling, not reason, to be the dominant of "human nature", which distinguished it from classicism. Without breaking with the Enlightenment, sentimentalism remained true to the ideal of a normative personality, but the condition for its implementation was not a “reasonable” reorganization of the world, but the release and improvement of “natural” feelings. The hero of enlightenment literature in sentimentalism is more individualized, his inner world is enriched by the ability to empathize, sensitively respond to what is happening around. By origin (or by conviction), the sentimentalist hero is a democrat; the rich spiritual world of the common man is one of the main discoveries and conquests of sentimentalism.
Sentimentalism in Russian literature

Nikolai Karamzin "Poor Lisa"

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

His story "Poor Liza" (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther, he inherited the general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared "Poor Masha" by A.E. Izmailov (1801), "Journey to Midday Russia" (1802), "Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness or Delusion" by I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev ( "The Story of Poor Marya"; "Unfortunate Margarita"; "Beautiful Tatyana"), etc.

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

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

Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.

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

The main features of the literature of sentimentalism

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

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

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

Instruction

Literary critics consider the philosophical direction, which received sensationalism, to be the sources of sentimentalism. His followers put forward the idea that the world around us is a reflection of human feelings. Only with the help of emotions can life be realized. Natural human feelings became for sentimentalists the basis on which the narrative was built.

At the center of sentimentalism is the "natural" person, the bearer of the whole variety of emotions. Sentimentalist authors believed that man is a creation of nature, and therefore from birth he has sensuality and virtue. The virtues of their heroes and the nature of their actions were derived by sentimentalists from a high degree of sensitivity to the events of the surrounding world.

Sentimentalism originated on British shores at the beginning of the 18th century, and by the middle of the century it had spread throughout the European continent, supplanting traditional classicism. The brightest of this new literary trend created their own in England, France and Russia.

Sentimentalism began its journey as a literary movement in English lyrics. One of the first to abandon the characteristic heavy urban motifs was James Thomson, who made the nature of the British Isles the subject of consideration. The subtle sentimental lyrics of Thomson and his followers followed the path of strengthening pessimism, reflecting the illusory nature of earthly existence.

Under the influence of the ideas of sentimentalism, Samuel Richardson broke with adventure-adventure works. In the middle of the 18th century, this English writer introduced sentimental traditions into the genre of the novel. One of Richardson's finds is the depiction of the world of feelings of the characters in the form of a novel in letters. This form of storytelling subsequently became very popular among those who sought to convey the full depth of human experience.

The most prominent representative of classical French sentimentalism was Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The content of his literary creations was the combination of the concept of nature with the image of a "natural" hero. At the same time, Rousseau's nature was an independent object with its own value. To the absolute limit, the writer brought sentimentalism in his "Confession", which is considered one of the most frank autobiographies in literature.

Sentimentalism penetrated into Russia later, towards the end of the 18th century. The basis for its development in Russian literature was the translations of the works of English, French and German sentimentalists. The heyday of this direction is traditionally associated with the work of N.M. Karamzin. His novel "Poor Liza", which was sensational at the time, is considered a true masterpiece of Russian "sensitive" prose.

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 the psychological analysis of the experiences and feelings of an ordinary person in the context 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 an 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 "imitator students", since great artists, the founders of the "school", the initiators of the "trend", 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”: “Seduced Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over Weakness and Delusion”, “Beautiful Tatiana Living at the Foot of the Sparrow Hills”, “The Story of Poor Mary”, “Inna”, “Marina Grove” by Zhukovsky, A. Popov “Lily” (1802), “Poor Lilla” (1803), A. Kropotov “The Spirit of a Russian Woman” (1809), A. E. “Lovely 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 quirkiness", in which he tried to distinguish between real "sensitivity" in 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.

As early as the end of the 18th century, a new trend arose in Russian literature to replace the dominant trend of classicism, called sentimentalism, which came from the French word sens, meaning feeling. Sentimentalism as an artistic trend, generated by the process of struggle against absolutism, appeared in the second half of the 18th century in a number of Western European countries, primarily in England (the poetry of D. Thomson, the prose of L. Stern and Richardson), then in France (the work of J.-J. Rousseau) and Germany (early work of J. W. Goethe, F. Schiller). Sentimentalism, which arose on the basis of new socio-economic relations, was alien to the glorification of statehood and class limitations inherent in classicism.

In contrast to the latter, he highlighted the issues of personal life, the cult of sincere pure feelings and nature. The empty secular life, the depraved mores of high society, sentimentalists opposed the idyll of village life, disinterested friendship, touching love at the family hearth, in the bosom of nature. These sentiments were reflected in the numerous Journeys that came into vogue after Stern's The Sentimental Journey, which gave the literary movement its name.

In Russia, one of the first works of this kind was the famous Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow by A. N. Radishchev (1790). Karamzin also paid tribute to this fashion, publishing Letters of a Russian Traveler in 1798, followed by P. Sumarokov's Journey through the Crimea and Bessarabia (1800), Journey to Midday Russia. Izmailov and "Another Journey to Little Russia" by Shalikov (1804). The popularity of this genre was due to the fact that the author could freely express thoughts here that gave rise to new cities, meetings, landscapes. These reflections were distinguished for the most part by heightened sensitivity and moralism. But, in addition to such a "lyrical" orientation, sentimentalism also had a certain social order.

Having arisen in the Enlightenment, with its inherent interest in the personality and the spiritual world of a person, and an ordinary, “small” person, sentimentalism also took on some features of the ideology of the “third estate”, especially since during this period representatives of this estate also appeared in Russian literature - rogue writers.

So, sentimentalism brings to Russian literature a new idea of honor, it is no longer the antiquity of the family, but the high moral dignity of a person. In one of the stories, the “villager” remarks that only a person with a clear conscience can have a good name. “For a “little” person, both a hero and a raznochintsy writer who came to literature, the problem of honor takes on special significance; it is not easy for him to defend his dignity in a society where class prejudices are so strong.

Characteristic of sentimentalism is the assertion of the spiritual equality of people, regardless of their position in society. N. S. Smirnov, a former runaway serf, then a soldier, the author of the sentimental story "Zara", sent her an epigraph from the Bible: "And I have a heart, just like you."

Along with the description of the "life of the heart", sentimentalist writers paid great attention to the issues of education. At the same time, the “teaching” educational function of literature was recognized as the most important.

Russian sentimentalism found its fullest expression in the work of Karamzin. His "Poor Lisa", "Notes of a Traveler", "Julia" and a number of other stories are distinguished by all the features characteristic of this trend. Like the classic of French sentimentalism, J.-J. Rousseau, in whose works Karamzin, by his own admission, was attracted by "sparks of passionate philanthropy" and "sweet sensibility", his works are saturated with humane moods. Karamzin aroused the sympathy of readers for his heroes, excitedly conveying their experiences.

The heroes of Karamzin are moral people, gifted with great sensitivity, selfless, for whom affection is more important than worldly well-being. So, the heroine of Karamzin's story "Natalya, the Boyar's Daughter" accompanies her husband to the war, so as not to part with her beloved. Love for her is higher than danger or even death. Alois from the story "Sierra Morena" takes his own life, unable to bear the betrayal of the bride. In the traditions of sentimentalism, the spiritual life of the characters in Karamzin's literary works takes place against the backdrop of nature, the phenomena of which (thunderstorm, storm or gentle sun) accompany people's experiences as an accompaniment.

So, the story about the sad fate of the heroine of "Poor Lisa" begins with a description of a gloomy autumn landscape, the appearance of which, as it were, echoes the subsequent dramatic love story of a peasant girl. The author, on behalf of whom the story is being told, walks through the ruins of the monastery "in the gloomy days of autumn, grieve with nature." The winds howl terribly in the walls of the deserted monastery, between the coffins overgrown with tall grass and in the dark passages of the cells. “There, leaning on the ruins of tombstones, I listen to the muffled groan of time.” Nature, or "nature", as Karamzin often called it, not only participates in people's experiences, it nourishes their feelings. In the story Sierra Morena, the romantic landscape inspires Elvira, the owner of the castle: “Strong winds agitated and twisted the air, crimson lightning twisted in the black sky, or the pale moon rose over gray clouds - Elvira loved the horrors of nature: they exalted, admired, nourished her soul ".

However, not only the "history of feeling" attracted contemporaries in the works of Karamzin. The reader found in them a poetic image of Russian life, Russian people, Russian nature, Russian history. As Al. Bestuzhev, Karamzin "wanted us to the legends of our antiquity." Karamzin's historical stories were characterized by the same features of sentimental sensitivity that distinguished his other works, their historicism was instructive: the author used a historical plot to prove some moral maxim.

However, the bourgeois morality of sentimentalism, which glorifies the spiritual values of a person and is quite applicable to imaginary circumstances, was difficult to combine with the serf way of life in Russia.

An appeal to contemporary Russian life revealed the inconsistency of the writer's worldview. In one of his most popular stories, “Poor Lisa,” Karamzin, with great sympathy, revealing the “life of the heart” of the heroine, convinced readers that “peasant women can feel too.” This humane statement was a bold innovation for the time. Karamzin was the first Russian writer to introduce the image of a peasant girl into literature, endowing her with high virtues. The peasant woman Lisa, in whom her chosen one Erast saw only an ingenuous "shepherdess", commits an act that proved that, defending her love, she did not want to put up with the prejudices of society. Erast, on the other hand, obeys the laws of "light" and leaves Lisa in order to save himself from gambling debts by marrying a rich bride.

However, sincerely mourning the death of Lisa, the author refused to explain the cause of the misfortune. The problem of social inequality, which, in essence, caused the tragedy of the love of a young peasant woman for a master, was bypassed in the story. Moreover, even the image of the "insidious seducer" Erast is drawn by Karamzin without condemnation, even with sympathy - an enlightened, sensitive nobleman, he is both to blame and not to blame for what happened. Not malicious intent, but only the frivolity of the young man was guilty of his actions. In addition, as reported in the conclusion, the news of Lisa's death made him unhappy, "he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer."

So, contrary to his moralizing tendency, Karamzin passed over in silence here the social conflict, which was the true cause of the tragedy. The attitude of sentimentalist writers to the social problems of contemporary Russia was rather ambiguous. If the writings of Radishchev contained a fierce denunciation of serfdom and the political system under which these inhuman relations exist, then in the sentimental stories of writers of the early 19th century, in most cases, not only is there no condemnation of serfdom, but there is their idealization, depicting them as "fatherly" care landowner about his peasants: "The good landowner sincerely rejoiced at their happiness and shared it with them in his sensitive heart."

Karamzin did not share either one or the other position. Karamzin's attitude to serfdom, as well as his historical views, was a rather complex combination of a monarchical worldview with the influence of the idealistic philosophy of the 18th century, in particular the teachings of J.-J. Rousseau. Being convinced that the basis of world progress is the spiritual perfection of people, Karamzin, a historian and thinker, naturally opposed gross violence against a person, “tyranny” even on the royal throne. So, he praised Catherine II for the fact that she "cleansed the autocracy from impurities of tyranny." From the same position, he welcomed the policy of Alexander I. Of course, as a humanist and supporter of education, he could not approve of the cruelty of serf relations.

The author of one of the monographs on Karamzin, N. Ya. Eidelman, cites a characteristic episode that highlights the historian’s attitude to serfdom: “Pushkin recalled a conversation in which he, challenging Karamzin, said: “So, do you prefer slavery to freedom?” Karamzin flared up and called him a slanderer. However, the censure of "tyranny" did not exclude the apologetics of autocracy, the belief that Russia was held by it, and, consequently, the categorical denial of the violent breaking of the existing order. While asserting autocracy, Karamzin, as a historian, could not at the same time fail to see the connection between the institution of the feudal monarchy and serfdom. Hence the duality of his attitude to this issue, expressed in literary works.

"Poor Liza" Karamzin caused numerous imitations. Many authors varied the plot of "Poor Lisa", however, refusing too tragic ending. Following the story of Karamzin, “The Beautiful Tatiana, Living at the Foot of the Sparrow Hills” by V. V. Izmailov, “Dasha the Village Girl” by P. Yu. Lvov and others appeared. It is noteworthy that the love of the master and the peasant woman was not at all condemned in them, on the contrary: “the inequality of the state, strengthening passion in them, elevates their virtues,” the author of one of these stories notes.

The authors of sentimental stories sought to oppose other, disinterested feelings to relationships based on calculation. Lvov’s story emphasizes the love of the heroine, devoid of any selfish motives, who confesses: “Only what he didn’t give me - silver, and gold, and beads, and ribbons; but I didn’t take anything, I only needed his love.”

Thus, Russian sentimentalism introduced into literature - and through it into life - new moral and aesthetic concepts, which were warmly received by many readers, but, unfortunately, diverged from life. Readers brought up on the ideals of sentimentalism, which proclaimed human feelings as the highest value, found with bitterness that nobility, wealth, and position in society still remained the measure of attitude towards people.

However, the rudiments of this new ethics, expressed at the beginning of the century in such seemingly naive creations of sentimentalist writers, will eventually develop in the public consciousness and will contribute to its democratization. In addition, sentimentalism enriched Russian literature with linguistic transformations. Particularly significant in this respect was the role of Karamzin. However, the principles of the formation of the Russian literary language proposed by him provoked fierce criticism from conservative writers and served as a pretext for the emergence of the so-called "language disputes" that captured Russian writers at the beginning of the 19th century.

Plan:

History of sentimentalism.

Features and genres of sentimentalism.

Bibliography.

Introduction
The literary direction "sentimentalism" got its name from the French word sentiment, that is, feeling, sensitivity). This direction was very popular in the literature and art of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. A distinctive feature of sentimentalism was attention to the inner world of a person, to his emotional state. From the point of view of sentimentalism, it was human feelings that were the main value.
Sentimental novels and stories, so popular in the XVIII-XIX centuries, are now perceived by readers as naive fairy tales, where there is much more fiction than truth. However, works written in the spirit of sentimentalism had a huge impact on the development of Russian literature. They made it possible to capture on paper all the shades of the human soul.

Sentimental? zm (French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental, French sentiment - feeling) - the mood in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. In Europe, it existed from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia - from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

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

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

Representatives of sentimentalism in Russia:

Young V.A. Zhukovsky was a sentimentalist for a short time.

History of sentimentalism.

At the beginning of the XIX century. sentimentalism acquires the greatest influence (from French sentimentalisme, from English sentimental - sensitive). Its emergence is associated with the spiritual growth of the individual, with her awareness of her own dignity and the desire for spiritual emancipation. Sentimentalism was a response to the public need for the democratization of literature. While the leading heroes of classicism were kings, nobles, leaders, interpreted in their abstract, universal, generic essence, sentimentalists brought to the fore the image of a single, private, ordinary, predominantly “average” personality in its inner essence, in its everyday life. They contrasted the rationality of classicism with the cult of feeling, touchingness, "the religion of the heart" (Rousseau).
The ideology of sentimentalism was close to that of the Enlightenment. Most enlighteners believed that the world could be made perfect by teaching people some reasonable forms of behavior. The writers of sentimentalism set the same goal and adhered to the same logic. Only they argued that it was not reason, but sensitivity that should save the world. They reasoned something like this: by cultivating sensitivity in all people, it is possible to defeat evil. In the 18th century, the word sentimentalism was understood as susceptibility, the ability to respond with the soul to everything that surrounds a person. Sentimentalism is a literary movement that reflects the world from the position of feeling, not reason.
Sentimentalism arose in Western Europe at the end of the 20s of the 18th century and took shape in the form of two main trends: progressive-bourgeois and reactionary-gentry. The most famous Western European sentimentalists are E. Jung, L. Stern, T. Gray, J. Thomson, J.J. Rousseau, Jean Paul (I. Richter).
With some ideological and aesthetic features (focusing on the individual, the power of feelings, asserting the advantages of nature over civilization), sentimentalism anticipated the advent of romanticism, therefore sentimentalism is often called pre-romanticism (French preromantisme). In Western European literature, pre-romanticism includes works that are characterized by the following features:
- searching for an ideal way of life outside of a civilized society;
- the desire for naturalness in human behavior;
- interest in folklore as a form of the most direct manifestation of feelings;
- attraction to the mysterious and terrible;
- idealization of the Middle Ages.
But the attempts of researchers to find in Russian literature the phenomenon of pre-romanticism as a direction different from sentimentalism did not lead to positive results. It seems that we can talk about pre-romanticism, bearing in mind the emergence of romantic tendencies, which manifested themselves primarily in sentimentalism. In Russia, the tendencies of sentimentalism were clearly identified in the 60s of the XVIII century. in the works of F.A. Emmina, V.I. Lukin and other writers like them.
In Russian literature, sentimentalism manifested itself in two directions: reactionary (Shalikov) and liberal ( Karamzin, Zhukovsky ). Idealizing reality, reconciling, obscuring the contradictions between the nobility and the peasantry, the reactionary sentimentalists drew an idyllic utopia in their works: autocracy and social hierarchy are holy; serfdom was established by God himself for the sake of the happiness of the peasants; serfs live better than free ones; It is not serfdom itself that is vicious, but its abuse. Defending these ideas, Prince P.I. Shalikov in "Journey to Little Russia" depicted the life of the peasants full of contentment, fun, joy. In the play by the playwright N.I. Ilyin "Lisa, or the triumph of Gratitude" the main character, a peasant woman, praising her life, says: "We live as cheerfully as the sun is red." The peasant Arkhip, the hero of the play “Generosity, or Recruitment Set” by the same author, assures: “Yes, such good kings as they are in holy Russia, go out all over the world, you won’t find others.”
The idyllic nature of creativity was especially manifested in the cult of a beautifully sensitive personality with its desire for ideal friendship and love, admiration for the harmony of nature and a cutesy and mannered way to express their thoughts and feelings. So, the playwright V.M. Fedorov, "correcting" the plot of the story "Poor Lisa" Karamzin , forced Erast to repent, abandon the rich bride and return to Lisa, who remains alive. To top it all off, the tradesman Matvey, Lisa's father, turns out to be the son of a wealthy nobleman ("Lisa, or the Consequence of Pride and Seduction", 1803).
However, in the development of domestic sentimentalism, the leading role was played not by reactionary, but by progressive, liberal-minded writers: A.M. Kutuzov, M.N. Muravyov, N.M. Karamzin, V.A. Zhukovsky. Belinsky rightly called "a remarkable person", "an employee and assistant Karamzin in the Transformation of the Russian Language and Russian Literature” I.I. Dmitriev - poet, fabulist, translator.
I.I. Dmitriev had an undoubted influence on poetry with his poems V.A. Zhukovsky , K.N. Batyushkov and P.A. Vyazemsky. One of his best works, which was widely disseminated, is the song “The Dove Dove is Moaning” (1792). following an idea N.M. Karamzin and I.I. Dmitrieva , Yu.A. Nelidinsky-Melitsky, the creator of the song “I will take out the river”, and the poet I.M. Dolgoruky.
Liberally-minded sentimentalists saw their vocation in comforting people in their suffering, troubles, sorrows, to turn them to virtue, harmony and beauty. Perceiving human life as perverse and fleeting, they glorified eternal values - nature, friendship and love. They enriched literature with such genres as elegy, correspondence, diary, travel, essay, story, novel, drama. Overcoming the normative-dogmatic requirements of classical poetics, the sentimentalists in many ways contributed to the convergence of the literary language with the spoken language. According to K.N. Batyushkov, a model for them is the one who writes as he says, whom the ladies read! Individualizing the language of the actors, they used elements of folk vernacular for the peasants, official jargon for clerks, gallicisms for the secular nobility, etc. But this differentiation has not been carried out consistently. Positive characters, even serfs, spoke, as a rule, in a literary language.
Asserting their creative principles, sentimentalists did not limit themselves to the creation of works of art. They published literary-critical articles in which, proclaiming their own literary and aesthetic positions, they overthrew their predecessors. The constant target of their satirical arrows was the work of the classicists - S.A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov, S.S. Bobrova, D.I. Khvostova, A.S. Shishkov and A.A. Shakhovsky.

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, he 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 "graveyard poetry". The poetry of the followers of E. Jung - the Scottish pastor Robert Blair (1699-1746), the author of the gloomy didactic poem The Grave (1743), and Thomas Gray, the creator of the Elegy written in the rural cemetery (1749) - is imbued 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 depicting the world of human feelings, which required the creation of a new form - a novel in letters. In the 1750s, sentimentalism became the mainstream of English Enlightenment literature. The work of Lawrence Stern, whom many researchers consider the "father of sentimentalism", marks the final departure from classicism. (The satirical novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman (1760-1767) and the novel A 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. (Life of Marianne, 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, Julie's epistolary novel, or New Eloise, 1761).
J.-J. Rousseau made nature an independent (intrinsic) object of the image. His Confession (1766-1770) is considered one of the most outspoken autobiographies in world literature, where he brings to the absolute the subjectivist attitude of sentimentalism (a work of art as a way of expressing the author's "I").
Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814), like his teacher J.-J. Rousseau, considered the main task of the artist to affirm the truth - happiness consists in living in harmony with nature and virtuously. He expounds his concept of nature in the treatise Etudes on Nature (1784-1787). This theme is given 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 The Savage (1767) the collision of the ideal (primitive) form of existence (“golden age”) with the civilization that decomposes it. In the utopian novel 2440, What Few Dreams (1770), taking as a basis the Social Contract of 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 the essay Picture 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. The novel The Corrupt 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 youth into a criminal. The utopian novel The Southern Discovery (1781) treats the same theme as the year 2440 by S. Mercier. In the New Emile, or Practical Education (1776), Retief de La Bretonne develops the pedagogical ideas of J.-J. Rousseau, applying them to women's education, and argues with him. The confession of J.-J. Rousseau becomes the reason for the creation of his autobiographical work Monsieur 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 positions, giving way to revolutionary classicism.
Sentimentalism in Germany. In Germany, sentimentalism was born as a national-cultural reaction to French classicism; the work of English and French sentimentalists played a certain role in its formation. A significant merit in the formation of a new view of literature belongs to G.E. Lessing.
The origins of German sentimentalism lie in the polemics of the early 1740s by 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 German 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 the hierarchy of modern society and its morality (Tomb of the Kings by K.F. Schubart, Towards Freedom by F.L. Shtolberg, etc.); 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 movement. His novel The Sufferings of Young Werther (1774) became a landmark work of German sentimentalism, marking 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 Werther's novels by I.V. Goethe, Pamela, Clarissa and Grandison S. Richardson, New Eloise J.-J. Rousseau, Paul and Virginie J.-A. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. The era of Russian sentimentalism was opened by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin with Letters from a Russian Traveler (1791–1792).
His novel Poor Lisa (1792) is a masterpiece of Russian sentimental prose; from Goethe's Werther, he inherited the general atmosphere of sensitivity and melancholy and the theme of suicide.
The works of N.M. Karamzin brought to life a huge number of imitations; at the beginning of the 19th century appeared Poor Masha A.E. Izmailova (1801), Journey to Midday Russia (1802), Henrietta, or the Triumph of Deception over the weakness or delusion of I. Svechinsky (1802), numerous stories by G.P. Kamenev (The story of poor Marya; Unhappy Margarita ; Beautiful Tatyana), etc.
Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev belonged to the Karamzin group, which advocated the creation of a new poetic language and fought against the archaic grandiloquent style and obsolete genres.
Sentimentalism marked the early work of Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. The publication in 1802 of the translation of the Elegy written in the rural cemetery by E. Gray became a phenomenon in the artistic life of Russia, for he translated the poem “He translated the genre of elegy into the language of sentimentalism in general, and not the individual work of an English poet, which has its own special individual style” (E.G. Etkind). In 1809 Zhukovsky wrote the sentimental story Maryina Grove in the spirit of N.M. Karamzin.
Russian sentimentalism had exhausted itself by 1820.
It was one of the stages of the all-European literary development, which completed the Enlightenment and opened the way to romanticism.
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 connected 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 is reflected in 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 scenes 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 Husband, 1704, etc.), Joseph Addison (Godless, 1714; Drummer, 1715), Richard Steele (Funeral, or Fashionable Sorrow, 1701; Liar Lover, 1703; Conscientious Lovers, 1722, etc.). These were moralistic works, where the comic beginning 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 the shortcomings of 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 (Melanide, 1741; School of Mothers, 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 Carle Marivaux (The Game of Love and Chance, 1730; The 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; the basis of the plots are the tragic situations of everyday life of the 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 European countries: England (J. Lillo, The London Merchant, or The History of George Barnwell; E. Moore, Player); France (D. Diderot, Natural Son, or 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 (Robbers, 1780; Cunning and Love, 1784).
Theatrical sentimentalism was also widely spread in Russia. First manifested 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), Pyotr Plavilshchikov (Bobyl, Sidelets, etc.).
Sentimentalism gave a new impetus to acting, the development of which, in a certain sense, was hampered 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.

Features and genres of sentimentalism.

The main features of sentimentalism:

Didacticism. Representatives of sentimentalism are characterized by a focus on improving the world and solving the problems of educating a person, however, unlike the classicists, sentimentalists turned not so much to the mind of the reader as to his feelings, causing sympathy or hatred, delight or indignation in relation to the events described.
The cult of "natural" feelings. One of the main in symbolism is the category of "natural". This concept unites the outer world of nature with the inner world of the human soul, both worlds are thought of as consonant with each other. The cult of feeling (or heart) became the measure of good and evil in the works of sentimentalism. At the same time, the coincidence of the natural and moral principles was affirmed as a norm, for virtue was thought of as an innate property of a person.
At the same time, sentimentalists did not artificially breed the concepts of "philosopher" and "sensitive person", since sensitivity and rationality do not exist without each other (it is no coincidence that Karamzin characterizes Erast, the hero of the story "Poor Liza", as a person with a "fair mind, kind heart"). The ability for critical judgment and the ability to feel help comprehend life, but feeling deceives a person less often.
Recognition of virtue as a natural property of man. Sentimentalists proceeded from the fact that the world is arranged according to moral laws, therefore, they portrayed a person not so much as a bearer of a reasonable volitional principle, but as a focus of the best natural qualities, laid down in his heart from birth. Sentimentalist writers are characterized by special ideas about how a person can achieve happiness, the path to which can only be indicated by a feeling based on morality. Not awareness of duty, but the command of the heart induces a person to act morally. It is natural for human nature to need virtuous behavior, which will bestow happiness.
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