MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE

RUSSIAN FEDERATION

INSTITUTE OF AGROECOLOGY - BRANCH OF FSBEI HPE "ChSAA"

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANIZATION AND ELECTRIFICATION

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

TOPIC: “Russian poetry of the Silver Age”

Completed by: Sitdikova Alina

Checked: Art. Teacher

Shulakova E.L.

Introduction

Late 19th - early 20th century. The feeling of an approaching catastrophe: retribution for the past and hope for a great change was in the air. The time was felt as borderline, when not only the old way of life and relationships are gone, but also the system of spiritual values ​​itself requires radical changes.

Socio-political tensions arise in Russia: a general conflict in which protracted feudalism and the inability of the nobility to fulfill the role of organizing society and develop a national idea, and the age-old hatred of the peasant for the master, who did not want concessions, were intertwined - all this gave rise to a feeling among the intelligentsia of approaching upheavals.

And at the same time a sharp surge, a flourishing of cultural life. Russian poetry developed especially dynamically at this time. Later poetry This period was called the “poetic renaissance” or “silver age”. This phrase was initially used to characterize the peak phenomena of poetic culture at the beginning of the 20th century. However, gradually the term “Silver Age” began to refer to that part of the entire artistic culture of Russia late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, which was associated with symbolism, acmeism, “neo-peasant” and partly futuristic literature.

A new movement is developing in literature - modernism. In turn, it is divided into the following directions: symbolism, acmeism, futurism.

Symbolism

Symbolism (from the Greek Symbolon - conventional sign) is a literary and artistic movement that considered the goal of art to be an intuitive comprehension of world unity through symbols. The unifying principle is earthly semblance of divine creativity . The key concept of symbolism is a symbol - a polysemantic allegory (F. Sologub: a symbol is a window to infinity). The symbol reflects the comprehension of the unity of life, its true, hidden essence.

Aesthetics of symbolism:

) Behind the rough and boring everyday life hides a mysterious ideal world that can only be revealed with the help of hint symbols;

) The task of poetry is to express all life through these symbols in a special language, rich in poetic intonations;

) Only art can penetrate into the essence of existence, since it is capable of comprehending the world with omnipotent intuition.

Main features of symbolism:

Dual world: departure from the real earthly and the creation of an ideal world of dreams and mysticism, existing according to the laws of Eternal Beauty;

Images-symbols: the language of premonitions, hints, generalizations, mysterious visions, allegories;

Symbolism of color and light: azure, purple, gold, shadows, shimmer;

Poet - creator ideal worlds- mystical, cosmic, divine;

Language: orientation towards classical verse, exquisite imagery, musicality and lightness of syllable, attitude to the word as a code, symbolic content of everyday words.

The Symbolist movement arose as a protest against the impoverishment of Russian poetry, as a desire to say a fresh word in it, to restore vitality to it. Russian symbolism differed sharply from Western symbolism in its entire appearance - spirituality, diversity of creative units, the height and richness of its achievements.

Symbolist poets were Bryusov, Merezhkovsky, Blok, Balmont, Gippius, Ivanov, Andrei Bely, Baltrushaitis. Their ideologist was D. Merezhkovsky, and their teacher was V. Bryusov.

Merezhkovsky outlined his views first in a report (1892), and then in the book “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature” (1893). These thoughts were caused by a feeling of insoluble spiritual contradictions of the time. The way out of this situation was predicted through the rise to an “ideal human culture” as a result of the discovery of the divine essence of the world. This goal was to be achieved by art with the help of symbols pouring out from the depths of the artist’s consciousness. Merezhkovsky established three main elements of modern poetry: “mystical content, symbols and the expansion of artistic impressionability.” He developed his concept in journalistic articles and a trilogy of brilliant historical novels"Christ and Antichrist" (1896-1905).

K. Balmont defended a different idea of ​​​​new literature in the article “Elementary words about symbolic poetry” (1900). The main thing here was the desire for “more refined ways of expressing feelings and thoughts” in order to “pronounce” - “as if against the will” of the author - the mysterious “speak of the elements” of the Universe, world chaos. In artistic creativity, “a powerful force was seen, striving to guess new combinations of thoughts, colors, sounds,” to express through these means the inarticulate hidden principles of the cosmos. Such refined craftsmanship appeared in a rich, agile, poetic world Balmont himself.

V. Bryusov in the article “Keys of Secrets” (1904) wrote: “Art is the comprehension of the world in other, unreasonable ways. Art is what in other fields we call revelation.” Science was opposed to intuitive insight at the moment of creative inspiration. And symbolism was understood as a special literary school.

A. Bely put forward his view on new poetry. In the article “On Religious Experiences” (1903), the inspirer of the “Young Symbolists” argued for “the mutual contact of art and religion.” In his later memoirs, A. Bely clearly defined the awakening of the “Young Symbolists” of the early 900s: “to get closer to the world soul,” to convey Her voice in subjectively lyrical publications.” Dreams of the future soon became clearer.

A. Bely responded to politics (the events of 1905) with the article “Green Meadow,” where, based on Gogol’s “terrible revenge,” he drew a symbolic image: Russia is “a sleeping beauty that will never be awakened from sleep.” A. Bely called for a mystical comprehension of the soul of the homeland, “the consciousness of the modern soul,” and called his concept “the religion of life.”

All symbolic programs were perceived as a new word in aesthetics. However, they were closely connected with world culture: German idealistic philosophy (I. Kant, A. Schopenhauer), French poetry (Sh Bolder. P. Verpen), with the symbolic language of O. Wilde, M. Maeterlinck, and the late G. Ibsen.

Domestic literary classics gave the Symbolists the main thing - an understanding of man and his homeland, its culture. In the works of the 19th century. These sacred values ​​were acquired.

In Pushkin's legacy, the symbolists saw a merging with the kingdom of divine harmony, at the same time - bitter thoughts about Russian history, the fate of the individual in the city of the Bronze Horseman. Great poet attracted by insights into the ideal and real spheres of life. The “demonic” theme in Lermontov’s poetry had special power, attracting to heavenly and earthly secrets. Magnetism came from Gogol's concept of Russia in its unstoppable movement towards the future. Duality as a dark phenomenon of the human spirit, discovered by Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, determined almost the leading search of poets at the turn of the century. In the philosophical and religious revelations of these Russian geniuses, the Symbolists found a guiding star for themselves. Their thirst for touching the “secret of the secret” was answered differently by Tyutchev, Fet, Polonsky. Tyutchev’s comprehension of the connections between “those” and “these” worlds, the relationship between reason, faith, intuition, and creativity clarified much in the aesthetics of symbolism. Fet was dear to the image of an artist leaving his “native borders” in the pursuit of an ideal, transforming a boring reality with an uncontrollable dream.

The immediate forerunner of the Symbolists was Vl. Solovyov. In reality, he believed, chaos suppresses “our love and prevents its meaning from being realized.” Rebirth is possible through rapprochement with the Soul of the World, eternal femininity. It is She who connects natural life with Divine Being, earthly beauty with heavenly truth. A special role in the rise to such heights was given to art, since in it “the contradiction between the ideal and the sensual, between the soul and the thing is abolished.”

The name "Acmeism" comes from the Greek. acme - tip, top.

Theoretical basis- article by N. Gumilyov “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism.” Acmeists: N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, M. Kuzmin.

Acmeism is a modernist movement that declared a concrete sensory perception of the external world, returning the word to its original, non-symbolic meaning.

The acmeist association itself was small and existed for about two years (1913-1914).

At the beginning of his creative path young poets, future acmeists, were close to symbolism, visited Ivanovo environments - literary meetings at Vyach’s St. Petersburg apartment. Ivanov, called tower . IN tower Classes were held with young poets, where they learned versification. In October 1911, listeners of this poetic academy founded a new literary association Workshop of poets . Shop was a school professional excellence, and its leaders were the young poets N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky. They are in January 1913 in the magazine Apollo published declarations of the acmeist group.

The new literary movement, which united great Russian poets, did not last long. The creative searches of Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam went beyond the scope of Acmeism. But the humanistic meaning of this movement was significant - to revive a person’s thirst for life, to restore the feeling of its beauty. It also included A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut and others.

Acmeists are interested in the real, not the other world, the beauty of life in its concrete - sensual manifestations. The vagueness and hints of symbolism were contrasted with a major perception of reality, the reliability of the image, and the clarity of the composition. In some ways, the poetry of Acmeism is a revival golden age , the time of Pushkin and Baratynsky.

Highest point in the hierarchy of values ​​for them there was culture, identical to universal human memory. That is why Acmeists often turn to mythological subjects and images. If the Symbolists focused their work on music, then the Acmeists focused on the spatial arts: architecture, sculpture, painting. The attraction to the three-dimensional world was expressed in the Acmeists' passion for objectivity: colorful, sometimes exotic detail could be used for purely pictorial purposes.

Acmeism aesthetics:

the world must be perceived in its visible concreteness, appreciate its realities, and not tear yourself away from the ground;

we need to revive love for our body, the biological principle in man, to value man and nature;

the source of poetic values ​​is on earth, and not in the unreal world;

In poetry, 4 principles must be fused together:

) Shakespearean traditions in depiction inner world person;

) traditions of Rabelais in glorifying the body;

) Villon's tradition in chanting the joys of life;

) Gautier's tradition in celebrating the power of art.

Basic principles of Acmeism:

liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity;

rejection of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness;

the desire to give a word a certain, precise meaning;

objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details;

appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings;

poeticization of the world of primordial emotions, primitive biological natural principles;

roll call with the past literary eras, the broadest aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

Distinctive features of Acmeism:

hedonism (enjoyment of life), Adamism (animal essence), Clarism (simplicity and clarity of language);

lyrical plot and depiction of the psychology of experience;

colloquial elements of language, dialogues, narratives.

In January 1913 Declarations from the organizers of the acmeistic group N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky appeared in the Apollo magazine. It also included Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and others.

In the article “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism,” Gumilyov criticized the mysticism of symbolism, its fascination with the “region of the unknown.” Unlike his predecessors, the leader of the Acmeists proclaimed “the intrinsic value of each phenomenon,” in other words, the value of “all brother phenomena.” And he gave the new movement two names and interpretations: Acmeism and Adamism - “a courageously firm and clear view of life.”

Gumilyov, however, in the same article affirmed the need for Acmeists to “guess what the next hour will be for us, for our cause, for the whole world.” Consequently, he did not refuse insights into the unknown. Just as he did not deny art its “worldwide significance to ennoble human nature,” which he later wrote about in another work. The continuity between the programs of the Symbolists and Acmeists was clear

The immediate forerunner of the Acmeists was Innokenty Annensky. “The source of Gumilyov’s poetry,” wrote Akhmatova, “is not in the poems of the French Parnassians, as is commonly believed, but in Annensky. I trace my “beginning” to Annensky’s poems.” He had an amazing, acmeist-attracting gift for artistically transforming impressions of an imperfect life.

The Acmeists spun off from the Symbolists. They denied the mystical aspirations of the Symbolists. The Acmeists proclaimed the high intrinsic value of the earthly, local world, its colors and forms, called to “love the earth”, to talk as little as possible about eternity. They wanted to glorify the earthly world in all its plurality and power, in all its carnal, weighty certainty. Among the Acmeists are Gumilev, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Kuzmin, Gorodetsky.

Futurism

Futurism (from Latin Futurum - future) is the general name of the artistic avant-garde movements of the 1910s - early 1920s. XX century, primarily in Italy and Russia.

The Futurists entered the literary arena somewhat earlier than the Acmeists. They declared the classics and all old literature as something dead. “Only we are the face of our time,” they argued. Russian futurists are a distinctive phenomenon, like a vague premonition of great upheavals and expectations of grandiose changes in society. This needs to be reflected in new forms. “It’s impossible,” they argued, “rhythms modern city convey in Onegin's stanza."

Futurists generally denied the previous world in the name of creating the future; Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Severyanin, Guro, Kamensky belonged to this movement.

In December 1912, the first declaration of the Futurists was published in the collection “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” which shocked the reader. They wanted to “throw the classics of literature off the boat of modernity,” expressed “irresistible hatred of the existing language,” and called themselves “the face of the times,” the creators of a new “inherently valuable Word.” In 1913, this scandalous program was concretized: denial of grammar, syntax, spelling native language, glorifying the “mystery of imperious insignificance.”

The real aspirations of the futurists, i.e. “budetlyans,” revealed V. Mayakovsky: “to become the creator of one’s own life and a legislator for the lives of others.” The art of words was given the role of transformer of existence. In a certain area - " big city" - the "birthday of a new person" was approaching. For this purpose, it was proposed, in accordance with the "nervous" urban situation, to increase the "vocabulary with new words" and to convey the pace of street traffic with "disheveled syntax."

The futurist movement was quite broad and multidirectional. In 1911, a group of ego-futurists arose: I. Severyanin, I. Ignatiev, K. Olimpov, etc. Since the end of 1912, the association “Gileya” (cubo-futurists) was formed: V. Mayakovsky and N. Burlyuk, V. Khlebnikov, V. Kamensky. In 1913 - “Centrifuge”: B. Pasternak, N. Aseev, I. Aksenov.

All of them are characterized by an attraction to the nonsense of urban reality, to word creation. Nevertheless, the futurists in their poetic practice were not at all alien to the traditions of Russian poetry.

Khlebnikov relied heavily on the experience of ancient Russian literature. Kamensky - on the achievements of Nekrasov and Koltsov. I. Severyanin highly respected A.K. Tolstoy, A.M. Zhemchuzhnikov and K. Fofanov, Mirra Lokhvitskaya. The poems of Mayakovsky and Khlebnikov were literally “stitched” with historical and cultural reminiscences. And Mayakovsky called Chekhov the urbanist the forerunner of Cubo-Futurism.

E ?gofuturi ?zm is a Russian literary movement of the 1910s, which developed within the framework of futurism. In addition to general futuristic writing, egofuturism is characterized by the cultivation of refined sensations, the use of new foreign words, and ostentatious selfishness.

In 1909, a circle of St. Petersburg poets formed around Igor Severyanin, which in 1911 adopted the name “Ego,” and in the same year I. Severyanin independently published and sent to newspaper offices a small brochure entitled “Prologue (Egofuturism).” In addition to Severyanin, the group included poets Konstantin Olimpov, Georgy Ivanov, Stefan Petrov (Grail-Arelsky), Pavel Kokorin, Pavel Shirokov, Ivan Lukash and others. Together they found a society of egofuturists, published several leaflets and manifestos formulated in extremely abstract and esoteric expressions (for example, “The Prism of Style - Restoration of the Spectrum of Thought”); Such “old school” poets as Mirra Lokhvitskaya and Olympov’s father Konstantin Fofanov were declared the forerunners of the ego-futurists. The group members called their poems “poets.” The first group of egofuturists soon disintegrates. In the fall of 1912, Igor Severyanin separated from the group, quickly gaining popularity among Russian Symbolist writers and then the general public.

The organization and promotion of egofuturism was undertaken by the 20-year-old poet Ivan Ignatiev, who founded the “Intuitive Association”. Ignatiev got down to business actively: he wrote reviews, poems, and the theory of egofuturism. In addition, in 1912, he founded the first ego-futuristic publishing house, “Petersburg Herald,” which published the first books by Rurik Ivnev, Vadim Shershenevich, Vasilisk Gnedov, Graal-Arelsky and Ignatiev himself. Ego-futurists were also published in the newspapers “Dachnitsa” and “Nizhegorodets”. For the first time, ego-futurism was opposed to cubo-futurism (futureism) on regional (St. Petersburg and Moscow) and stylistic grounds. In 1914, the first general performance of the ego-futurists and the Budtians took place in Crimea; At the beginning of this year, Severyanin briefly spoke with the Cubo-Futurists, but then decisively dissociated himself from them. After Ignatiev's suicide, the Petersburg Herald ceases to exist. The main ego-futurist publishing houses are the Moscow Mezzanine of Poetry by Vadim Shershenevich and the Petrograd Enchanted Wanderer by Viktor Khovin.

Egofuturism was a short-term and uneven phenomenon. Bo ?Most of the attention of critics and the public was transferred to Igor Severyanin, who quite early distanced himself from the collective politics of the ego-futurists, and after the revolution he completely changed the style of his poetry. Most ego-futurists either quickly outlived the style and moved on to other genres, or quickly abandoned literature completely. Imagism of the 1920s was largely prepared by egofuturist poets.

According to Andrei Krusanov, a researcher of the Russian avant-garde, an attempt to continue the traditions of ego-futurism was made in the early 1920s. members of the Petrograd literary groups “Abbey of Gaers” and “Ring of Poets named after. K.M. Fofanova." If the “Abbey of Gaers” was simply a circle that united young poets Konstantin Vaginov, brothers Vladimir and Boris Smirensky, K. Mankovsky and K. Olimpov, and little is known about its activities, then the “Ring of Poets” created in 1921 (V. and B. Smirensky, K. Vaginov, K. Olimpov, Graal-Arelsky, D. Dorin, Alexander Izmailov) tried to organize high-profile performances, announced a wide publishing program, but was closed by order of the Petrograd Cheka on September 25, 1922.

Novo peasant poetry

The concept of “peasant poetry”, included in the historical and literary bypass, unites poets conventionally and reflects only some common features, inherent in their worldview and poetic manner. They did not form a single creative school with a single ideological and poetic program. Surikov shaped “peasant poetry” as a genre. They wrote about the work and life of the peasant, about the dramatic and tragic conflicts of his life. Their work reflected both the joy of the merging of workers with the natural world, and the feeling of hostility to the life of a stuffy, noisy city alien to living nature. The most famous peasant poets of the Silver Age were: Spiridon Drozhzhin, Nikolai Klyuev, Pyotr Oreshin, Sergei Klychkov. Sergei Yesenin also joined this trend.

Imagism

Imagini ?zm (from Latin imago - image) is a literary movement in Russian poetry of the 20th century, whose representatives stated that the goal of creativity is to create an image. The main expressive means of imagists is metaphor, often metaphorical chains that compare various elements of two images - direct and figurative. The creative practice of Imagists is characterized by shocking and anarchic motives.

Imagism as a poetic movement arose in 1918, when the “Order of Imagists” was founded in Moscow. The creators of the “Order” were Anatoly Mariengof, who came from Penza, former futurist Vadim Shershenevich, and Sergei Yesenin, who was previously part of the group of new peasant poets. Features of a characteristic metaphorical style were also contained in the earlier works of Shershenevich and Yesenin, and Mariengof organized literary group Imagists still in their hometown. The Imagist “Declaration”, published on January 30, 1919 in the Voronezh magazine “Sirena” (and on February 10 also in the newspaper “Soviet Country”, on the editorial board of which Yesenin was a member), was also signed by the poet Rurik Ivnev and the artists Boris Erdman and Georgy Yakulov. On January 29, 1919, the first literary evening Imagists. The poets Ivan Gruzinov, Matvey Roizman, Alexander Kusikov, Nikolai Erdman, and Lev Monoszon also joined imagism.

In 1919-1925. Imagism was the most organized poetic movement in Moscow; they organized popular creative evenings in artistic cafes, published many author’s and collective collections, the magazine “Hotel for Traveling in Beauty” (1922-1924, 4 issues were published), for which the publishing houses “Imaginists”, “Pleiada”, “Chikhi- Pihi" and "Sandro" (the last two were directed by A. Kusikov). In 1919, the Imagists entered the literary section of the Literary Train named after. A. Lunacharsky, which gave them the opportunity to travel and perform throughout the country and largely contributed to the growth of their popularity. In September 1919, Yesenin and Mariengof developed and registered with the Moscow Council the charter of the “Association of Freethinkers” - the official structure of the “Order of Imagists”. The charter was signed by other members of the group and approved by the People's Commissar of Education A. Lunacharsky. On February 20, 1920, Yesenin was elected chairman of the Association.

In addition to Moscow (“Order of Imagists” and “Association of Freethinkers”), centers of imagism existed in the provinces (for example, in Kazan, Saransk, in the Ukrainian city of Alexandria, where the poet Leonid Chernov created an imagist group), as well as in Petrograd-Leningrad. The emergence of the Petrograd “Order of Militant Imagists” was announced in 1922 in the “Manifesto of Innovators”, signed by Alexei Zolotnitsky, Semyon Polotsky, Grigory Shmerelson and Vlad. Korolevich. Then, instead of the departed Zolotnitsky and Korolevich, Ivan Afanasyev-Soloviev and Vladimir Richiotti joined the Petrograd Imagists, and in 1924 Wolf Ehrlich.

Some of the Imagist poets presented theoretical treatises (“The Keys of Mary” by Yesenin, “Buyan Island” by Mariengof, “2x2=5” by Shershenevich, “The Basics of Imagism” by Gruzinov). The Imagists also became notorious for their shocking antics, such as “renaming” Moscow streets, “trials” of literature, and painting the walls of the Strastnoy Monastery with anti-religious inscriptions.

Imagism actually collapsed in 1925: Alexander Kusikov emigrated in 1922, Sergei Yesenin and Ivan Gruzinov announced the dissolution of the Order in 1924, other imagists were forced to move away from poetry, turning to prose, drama, and cinema, largely for the sake of making money. Imagism was criticized in the Soviet press. Yesenin was found dead in the Angleterre Hotel, Nikolai Erdman was repressed.

The activities of the Order of Militant Imagists ceased in 1926, and in the summer of 1927 the liquidation of the Order of Imagists was announced. The relationships and actions of the Imagists were then described in detail in the memoirs of Mariengof, Shershenevich, and Roizman.

Russian poetry Silver Age

Conclusion

The names of such remarkable poets as Blok, Annensky, Georgiy Ivanov, Balmont, Mayakovsky, Esenin, Mandelstam, Akhmatova, Gumilyov, Boloshin, Pasternak, are associated with the Silver Age. , Severyanin, Bryusov, Tsvetaeva, Bely and other second-rate literary scholars claim that it’s all over after 1917, with the beginning of the civil war. There was no Silver Age after that. In the twenties, the inertia of the former liberality of poetry continued. There were some literary associations, for example, the House of Arts, the House of Writers, “World Literature” in Petrograd, but these echoes of the silver century were drowned out l, who ended the life of Gumilyov. The Red Age emigrated - to Berlin, to Kokstantinople, to Prague, Sofia, Belgrade, Rome , Harbin, Paris. But in the Russian diaspora, despite complete creative freedom and abundance of talent, the Silver Age could not be revived. Apparently, in human culture there is a law according to which Renaissance is impossible outside of national soil. And the artists of Russia have lost such soil. To its credit, the emigration took upon itself the care of preserving the spiritual values ​​of the recently revived Russia. In many ways, this mission was fulfilled by the memorial genre. In the literature of foreign countries, these are entire volumes of memoirs signed by big names of Russian writers.

The retribution was cruel: many poets died, many died in exile, and their ashes are now in a foreign land. But in this beautiful and dramatic epic of the Silver Age, the magical beauty and nobility of the thoughts of the Russian soul remained, to which we, modern Russians, will always look back in a nostalgic rush.

List of sources used

1.Allenov M.V. Mikhail Vrubel. - M., 1996.

.Asafiev B. Russian painting..-M.: Art, 1966.

.Boreev Yu.B. Aesthetics: Textbook/Yu.B. Boreev - M.: graduate School, 2002.

.Danilov A.A. History of Russia, 20th century: Textbook for 9th grade. - M.: Education, 2001.

.Martynov V.F. Culturology. Theory of culture: textbook./V.F. Martynov - Higher School, 2008.

.Mezhuev V.M. Culture as a problem of philosophy // Culture, man and the picture of the world. - M.: Education, 1987.

.Silver Age. Memoirs. (Collection) Comp. T. Dubinskaya-Jalilova. - M.: Izvestia, 1990.

.Silver age of Russian poetry. Comp., intro. Art., note. N.V. Bannikova; - M.: Education, 1993.

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At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. The development of Russian culture - literature, music, painting and architecture - distinguished by its extreme saturation of artistic, aesthetic, religious and philosophical searches and achievements, did not proceed in a straight line, but like a diverging “fan”, with many lines and trends, with the formation of quickly replacing each other's schools and directions. In the fine arts, the Silver Age is represented by the paintings and graphics of M. Vrubel, A. Benois, L. Bakst, K. Somov, M. Dobuzhinsky, B. Borisov-Musatov, active work“World of Arts”, theatrical art - stage innovations of M. Fokin, Vs. Meyerhold, N. Evreinov, in music - by the names of A. Scriabin, N. Prokofiev, N. Stravinsky, S. Rachmaninov. The innovations of Russian modernism and avant-garde appeared in architecture. In Russian literature, against the background of realism, symbolism and acmeism emerge, the left avant-garde is vigorously asserting itself, all of them modernize the traditions of Russian classics or completely deny them.

“Electrified” by various moods and intuitions, multidirectional searches and aspirations, the atmosphere of the turn of the century paradoxically combined an unusually bright creative upsurge with a feeling of crisis and spiritual decadence. The Silver Age gave examples of a special sense of the world, sometimes super-acute and stylistically exalted. It is typical for Russian culture of this period active interaction with Western European art and philosophy. The possibilities of artistic and intuitive knowledge of the world were re-opened, reinterpreted symbols and “eternal images” of world culture, ancient myths were involved in creativity, samples of both primitive art and liturgical chant were used.

One of the authors of the term “Silver Age,” N. Berdyaev, wrote: “This was the era of the awakening in Russia of independent philosophical thought, the flourishing of poetry and the intensification of aesthetic sensitivity, religious anxiety and quest, interest in mysticism and the occult. New souls appeared, new sources were discovered creative life, saw new dawns, combined the feelings of sunset and death with the feeling of sunrise and hope for the transformation of life.” Heyday and crisis, individualism and the feeling of an indissoluble connection with the cosmos and God, the intrinsic value of creativity and the desire to break the boundary between art and life itself, rebellion against established aesthetic norms and the desire for a synthesis of all forms of art, the search for the fullness of being and bold experiments with it - these are those heterogeneous impulses that gave birth to various aesthetic schools and directions, programs and manifestos.

The definition of “Silver Age” entered the cultural consciousness of many authors of this era. A. Akhmatova in “Poem without a Hero” focused on the phrase “silver age”: “And the silver month floated brightly / Above the silver age.” V. Rozanov wrote in “Mimoletny”: “Pushkin, Lermontov, Koltsov (and very few others) will move into the next “Silver Age” of Russian literature.” The worldview of the Silver Age as the end of the 19th century. and the beginning of a new era was expressed by A. Blok in 1910: “Behind our shoulders are the great shadows of Tolstoy and Nietzsche, Wagner and Dostoevsky. Everything changes; we stand in the face of the new and universal.<…>We have experienced what others manage to survive in a hundred years; No wonder we saw how in the thunder and lightning of the elements of the earth and underground new century threw his seeds into the ground; in this stormy light we dreamed and made us wise with later wisdom - all centuries. Those of us who were not washed away or crippled by the terrible wave of the past decade, with full right and with clear hope, await new light from the new century.” The choice of the epithet “silver” was not accidental: a line was drawn between Pushkin’s golden age, art of the highest standard, the age of Russian classics and “new art”, which modernized classical traditions and sought new ones. means of expression and art forms.

Through a creative dispute with realism and naturalism, symbolism declared itself; in polemics with symbolism, Acmeism emerged and aesthetically self-defined itself; Russian futurism asserted itself through the denial of symbolism and acmeism, sharply overthrowing all traditions and aesthetic norms of verbal creativity. The new movements and trends that were born had their heyday and decline, giving impetus to innovations and creative achievements of their rivals and successors. Modernism could not help but come to the avant-garde, leftist art, the extreme conclusion of which was the affirmation of the absurdity of existence, which is typical for the poets of OBERIU. Attention to formal searches, art as a technique and design was initiated by scientific achievements Russian formal school and the emergence in the 20s. constructivism. The Russian avant-garde - literary and artistic - is a unique phenomenon, inscribed in the general trends of world art of the 20th century. The search for new forms and means of artistic expression yielded vivid results in the 10-20s. The Silver Age is represented by major poets who were not part of any groups or movements - M. Voloshin and M. Tsvetaeva.

Not all literary and artistic realities of the early 20th century. correspond to the concept of the Silver Age. We must not forget that L. Tolstoy, the great representative of critical realism, still lived (he died in 1910). His departure from Yasnaya Polyana and death at the hitherto unknown Ostapovo station shocked all of Russia. Another artist was A. Chekhov, an artist with a piercingly clear mind, compassionate for man in his absolutely sad and philistine stuffy environment. Chekhov brought into Russian literature a kind laugh and a pure smile over the inescapable tragedy of human existence. In the same era, A. Gorky, A. Tolstoy, L. Andreev, V. Veresaev, I. Bunin, B. Zaitsev, I. Shmelev, M. Allanov, M. Osorgin began their journey.

This period is also called the Russian cultural renaissance. It was at the turn of the century that original, independent religious, moral and philosophical thought awakened in Russia, which did not strive to build complete philosophical “systems”, but penetrated into the depths of contradictions modern life, revealed the metaphysical foundations of existence, the essential connections of man with the universal, eternally created cosmic life. The legacy of the Russian cultural renaissance, represented by N. Berdyaev, P. Florensky, V. Rozanov, O. S. Bulgakov, N. Fedorov, G. Fedotov, L. Shestov, is original and significant. Russian emigrant philosophers became the discoverers and founders of the philosophy of personalism, the philosophy of freedom and the philosophy of creativity. “Metaphysics of All-Unity” Vl. Solovyov, the struggle of spirit and flesh and the “kingdom of the Third Testament” by D. Merezhkovsky, personalism and the creative struggle against the objectification of the spirit by N. Berdyaev, the creative freedom of the “inner” word of V. Rozanov, the “life of ideas” and the inextinguishability of “The Unevening Light” by S. Bulgakov , “Conditions of absolute good” by V. Vysheslavtsev, the ideas of L. Shestov, N. Shpet, S. Frank, B. Lossky, their deep understanding in the spiritual, religious and philosophical aspects of the heritage of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol - a contribution outlined in the most general form , which Russian religious and moral thinkers contributed to Russian and world philosophical, ethical and philological thought of the 20th century.

The Silver Age refers primarily to Russian poetry of the early 20th century. Russian cultural renaissance - towards moral and religious philosophy and ethics. Poets and philosophers, artists and composers had a premonition of the death of the old world. Some tried to quickly call on the “coming Huns,” others saw the meaning of life in preserving shrines and traditions, or, as Vyach said. Ivanov, is to “take the lamp away from them into the catacombs, into the caves,” or, according to A. Blok, “to curse chaos.” Symbolism, having modernized the traditions of Russian classical literature, became a brilliant conclusion to the era. Russian religious and moral philosophy turned to the Orthodox tradition, the patristic sources of spirituality, before leaving for a long time in the “Soviet night” to Solovki, to the catacombs of the camps or to a foreign land.

Literally after several decades of artistic discoveries and achievements, the “starburst” of the Silver Age, the October Revolution, the Civil War, the genocide of the 1930s. radically changed the life of Russia, which even began to be called in a new way - the USSR (for M. Tsvetaeva it was a “whistling sound”). There has been a radical change in the historical and cultural paradigm. In 1921, A. Blok died, and N. Gumilyov was shot at the same time. This year was perceived by many as the end of the Silver Age. However, this vibrant era lasted as long as the bearers of its cultural consciousness were alive. A striking example is the work of A. Akhmatova and O. Mandelstam, B. Pasternak and N. Zabolotsky.

Divided into two streams, Russian literature, despite all objective conditions, sought to preserve both the classical traditions and the traditions of the Silver Age, the richness of the Russian language, and to increase the cultural heritage.

This is evidenced by the work of I. Severyanin, M. Tsvetaeva, E. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, G. Adamovich, G. Ivanov, B. Poplavsky, I. Bunin, V. Nabokov and many other Russian emigrant writers who were forced to leave their homeland.

Most of the symbolist poets emigrated - D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, K. Balmont, Vyach. Ivanov. Symbolist V. Bryusov found an opportunity to cooperate with the new government. Among the Acmeists, N. Gumilyov was shot, O. Mandelstam died in the camps, the son of A. Akhmatova and N. Gumilyov, in the future the most prominent Russian scientist, “the last Eurasianist,” L. Gumilyov was a hostage of Akhmatova’s muse, while in the camps and penal battalions. Oberiut N. Zabolotsky went through the torment of the camps and the experience of exile. The absurdist D. Kharms went through difficult trials. Almost all the most prominent philosophers were sent abroad on the so-called “ philosophical ship", except about. P. Florensky, who died on Solovki, and A. Losev, who was serving exile. The Russian avant-garde, being a radical left-wing phenomenon, came closest to an alliance with the real political power in the country. However, V. Mayakovsky’s alliance with the authorities ended in creative and personal tragedy for him. Russian literature, together with the people, ascended to the tragic calvary of the 20th century in order to atone at the cost of incredible suffering for pride and fight against God, self-will and rebellion.

Culture of the 20th century creatively absorbed the ideas, innovations and discoveries of Russian poets and philosophers, artists and directors, musicians and actors of the Silver Age, preserving as an ideal their uplifting spirit and creative dedication, a wide ideological and philosophical range and the grandeur of artistic tasks.

Related information.

The Silver Age is not a chronological period. At least not just the period. And this is not the amount literary movements. Rather, the concept of “Silver Age” is appropriate to apply to a way of thinking.

Atmosphere of the Silver Age

At the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, Russia experienced an intense intellectual upsurge, especially clearly manifested in philosophy and poetry. The philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (read about him) called this time the Russian cultural renaissance. According to Berdyaev’s contemporary Sergei Makovsky, it was Berdyaev who also owned another, more well-known definition of this period - the “Silver Age”. According to other sources, the phrase “Silver Age” was first used in 1929 by the poet Nikolai Otsup. This concept is not so much scientific as it is emotional, immediately causing associations with another short period in the history of Russian culture - with the “golden age”, the Pushkin era of Russian poetry (the first third of the 19th century).

“Now it’s hard to imagine the atmosphere of that time,” Nikolai Berdyaev wrote about the Silver Age in his “philosophical autobiography” “Self-Knowledge.” - Much of the creative upsurge of that time entered into the further development of Russian culture and is now the property of all Russians cultured people. But then there was the intoxication of creativity, novelty, tension, struggle, challenge. During these years, many gifts were sent to Russia. This was the era of the awakening of independent philosophical thought in Russia, the flowering of poetry and the intensification of aesthetic sensuality, religious anxiety and quest, interest in mysticism and the occult. New souls appeared, new sources of creative life were discovered, new dawns were seen, the feeling of decline and death was combined with the hope for the transformation of life. But everything happened in a rather vicious circle...”

Silver Age as a period and way of thinking

The art and philosophy of the Silver Age were characterized by elitism and intellectualism. Therefore, it is impossible to identify all the poetry of the late 19th - early 20th centuries with the Silver Age. This is a narrower concept. Sometimes, however, when attempting to determine the essence ideological content Silver Age through formal features (literary movements and groups, socio-political subtexts and contexts), researchers mistakenly mix them up. In fact, within the chronological boundaries of this period, phenomena of the most different origins and aesthetic orientation coexisted: modernist movements, poetry of the classical realistic tradition, peasant, proletarian, satirical poetry... But the Silver Age is not a chronological period. At least not just the period. And this is not the sum of literary movements. Rather, the concept of “Silver Age” is appropriate to apply to a way of thinking that, being characteristic of artists who were at odds with each other during their lifetime, ultimately merged them in the minds of their descendants into a kind of inseparable galaxy that formed that specific atmosphere of the Silver Age that Berdyaev wrote about .

Poets of the Silver Age

The names of the poets who formed the spiritual core of the Silver Age are known to everyone: Valery Bryusov, Fyodor Sologub, Innokenty Annensky, Alexander Blok, Maximilian Voloshin, Andrei Bely, Konstantin Balmont, Nikolai Gumilyov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Igor Severyanin, Georgy Ivanov and many others.

In its most concentrated form, the atmosphere of the Silver Age was expressed in the first decade and a half of the twentieth century. This was the heyday of Russian modern literature in all the diversity of its artistic, philosophical, religious searches and discoveries. World War I, February bourgeois-democratic and October socialist revolution partly provoked, partly shaped by this cultural context, and partly provoked and shaped by it. Representatives of the Silver Age (and Russian modernity in general) sought to overcome positivism, reject the legacy of the “sixties,” and rejected materialism, as well as idealistic philosophy.

The poets of the Silver Age also sought to overcome the attempts of the second half of the 19th century centuries to explain human behavior by social conditions, environment and continued the traditions of Russian poetry, for which man was important in himself, his thoughts and feelings, his attitude to eternity, to God, to Love and Death in a philosophical, metaphysical sense were important. Poets of the Silver Age, both in their artistic work and in theoretical articles and statements, questioned the idea of ​​progress for literature. For example, one of the brightest creators of the Silver Age, Osip Mandelstam, wrote that the idea of ​​progress is “the most disgusting type of school ignorance.” And Alexander Blok in 1910 argued: “The sun of naive realism has set; it is impossible to comprehend anything outside of symbolism.” The poets of the Silver Age believed in art, in the power of words. Therefore, immersion in the element of words and the search for new means of expression are indicative of their creativity. They cared not only about meaning, but also about style - sound, the music of words and complete immersion in the elements were important to them. This immersion led to the cult of life-creativity (the inseparability of the personality of the creator and his art). And almost always, because of this, the poets of the Silver Age were unhappy in their personal lives, and many of them came to a bad end.

Russian literature of the 20th century ("Silver Age". Prose. Poetry).

Russian literature XX century- heir to the tradition of the golden age of Russian classical literature. Its artistic level is quite comparable to our classics.

Throughout the century, there has been a keen interest in society and literature in the artistic heritage and spiritual potential of Pushkin and Gogol, Goncharov and Ostrovsky, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, whose work is perceived and evaluated depending on the philosophical and ideological trends of the time, on creative searches in literature itself. . Interaction with tradition is complex: it is not only development, but also repulsion, overcoming, and rethinking of traditions. In the 20th century, new artistic systems were born in Russian literature - modernism, avant-garde, socialist realism. Realism and romanticism continue to live. Each of these systems has its own understanding of the tasks of art, its own attitude to tradition, the language of fiction, genre forms, and style. Your understanding of the individual, his place and role in history and national life.

The literary process in Russia in the 20th century was largely determined by the influence of various philosophical systems and policies on the artist and culture as a whole. On the one hand, there is undoubtedly an influence on literature of the ideas of Russian religious philosophy of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (the works of N. Fedorov, V. Solovyov, N. Berdyaev, V. Rozanov, etc.), on the other hand, of Marxist philosophy and Bolshevik practice. Marxist ideology, starting from the 1920s, has established a strict dictatorship in literature, expelling from it everything that does not coincide with its party guidelines and the strictly regulated ideological and aesthetic framework of socialist realism, which was directly approved as the main method of Russian literature of the 20th century at the First Congress Soviet writers in 1934.

Starting from the 1920s, our literature ceases to exist as a single national literature. It is forced to divide into three streams: Soviet; literature of Russian abroad (emigrant); and the so-called “detained” within the country, that is, not having access to the reader for censorship reasons. These streams were isolated from each other until the 1980s, and the reader did not have the opportunity to present a holistic picture of the development of national literature. This tragic circumstance constitutes one of the features of the literary process. It largely determined the tragedy of fate, the originality of the work of such writers as Bunin, Nabokov, Platonov, Bulgakov and others. Currently, the active publication of works by emigrant writers of all three waves, works that have lain in writers’ archives for many years, allows one to see the wealth and diversity of national literature. It became possible to study it truly scientifically in its entirety, comprehending the internal laws of its development as a special, strictly artistic area of ​​the general historical process.

In the study of Russian literature and its periodization, the principles of exclusive and direct dependence of literary development on socio-political reasons are overcome. Of course, literature responded to the most important political events of the time, but mainly in terms of themes and issues. According to its artistic principles, it preserved itself as an intrinsically valuable sphere of the spiritual life of society. Traditionally, the following are distinguished: periods:

1) the end of the 19th century - the first decades of the 20th century;

2) 1920-1930s;

3) 1940s - mid-1950s;

4) mid-1950s-1990s.

The end of the 19th century was a turning point in the development of social and artistic life Russia. This time is characterized by a sharp exacerbation social conflicts, the growth of mass protests, the politicization of life and the extraordinary growth of personal consciousness. The human personality is perceived as a unity of many principles - social and natural, moral and biological. And in literature, characters are not determined solely and primarily by environment and social experience. Different, sometimes polar, ways of reflecting reality appear.

Subsequently, the poet N. Otsup called this period the “Silver Age” of Russian literature. The modern researcher M. Pyanykh defines this stage of Russian culture as follows: “The Silver Age” - in comparison with the “golden”, Pushkin’s - is usually called in the history of Russian poetry, literature and art the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. If we keep in mind that the “Silver Age” had a prologue (80s of the 19th century) and an epilogue (the years of the February and October revolutions and civil war), then its beginning can be considered Dostoevsky’s famous speech about Pushkin (1880), and the end is Blok’s speech “On the appointment of a poet” (1921), also dedicated to the “son of harmony” - Pushkin. The names of Pushkin and Dostoevsky are associated with two main, actively interacting trends in Russian literature of both the “Silver Age” and the entire 20th century - harmonic and tragic.”

The theme of the fate of Russia, its spiritual and moral essence and historical prospects becomes central in the works of writers of different ideological and aesthetic movements. Interest in the problem of national character, the specifics of national life, and human nature is intensifying. In the works of writers of different artistic methods, they are solved in different ways: in social, specific historical terms by realists, followers and continuers of the traditions of critical realism of the 19th century. The realistic direction was represented by A. Serafimovich, V. Veresaev, A. Kuprin, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, I. Shmelev, I. Bunin and others. In the metaphysical plane, using elements of convention, fantasy, moving away from the principles of life-likeness - by modernist writers . Symbolists F. Sologub, A. Bely, expressionist L. Andreev and others. A new hero is also born, a “continuously growing” person, overcoming the shackles of his oppressive and overwhelming environment. This is the hero of M. Gorky, the hero of socialist realism.

Literature of the early 20th century - literature on philosophical issues primarily. Any social aspects of life acquire a global spiritual and philosophical meaning in it.

The defining features of the literature of this period:

interest in eternal questions: the meaning of life for an individual and humanity; mystery national character and history of Russia; worldly and spiritual; man and nature;

intensive search for new artistic means expressiveness;

the emergence of non-realistic methods - modernism (symbolism, acmeism), avant-garde (futurism);

tendencies towards the interpenetration of literary genres into each other, rethinking traditional genre forms and filling them with new content.

The struggle between the two main artistic systems - realism and modernism - determined the development and originality of the prose of these years. Despite discussions about the crisis and the “end” of realism, new possibilities for realistic art opened up in the work of the late L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhova, V.G. Korolenko, I.A. Bunina.

Young realist writers (A. Kuprin, V. Veresaev, N. Teleshov, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, L. Andreev) united in the Moscow circle “Sreda”. In the publishing house of the Znanie partnership, headed by M. Gorky, they published their works, in which the traditions of democratic literature of the 60-70s developed and were uniquely transformed, with its special attention to the personality of a person from the people, his spiritual quest. The Chekhov tradition continued.

The problems of the historical development of society and the active creative activity of the individual were raised by M. Gorky; socialist tendencies are obvious in his work (the novel “Mother”).

The need and regularity of the synthesis of the principles of realism and modernism were substantiated and implemented in their creative practice by young realist writers: E. Zamyatin, A. Remizov and others.

The prose of the Symbolists occupies a special place in the literary process. A philosophical understanding of history is characteristic of D. Merezhkovsky’s trilogy “Christ and Antichrist”. We will see the history and stylization of history in the prose of V. Bryusov (novel “Fire Angel”). In the novel “without hope” “The Little Demon” by F. Sologub, the poetics of the modernist novel is formed, with its new understanding of classical traditions. A. Bely in “Silver Dove” and “Petersburg” makes extensive use of stylization, rhythmic possibilities of language, literary and historical reminiscences to create a new type of novel.

Particularly intensive searches for new content and new forms occurred in poetry. The philosophical and ideological and aesthetic trends of the era were embodied in three main trends.

In the mid-90s, Russian symbolism was theoretically substantiated in articles by D. Merezhkovsky and V. Bryusov. The symbolists were greatly influenced by the idealist philosophers A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, as well as the work of the French symbolist poets P. Verlaine and A. Rimbaud. Symbolists proclaimed mystical content and symbol as the basis of their creativity as the main means of its embodiment. Beauty is the only value and the main criterion for evaluation in the poetry of the older symbolists. The work of K. Balmont, N. Minsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub is distinguished by extraordinary musicality; it is focused on conveying the poet’s fleeting insights.

In the early 1900s, symbolism was in crisis. A new movement stands out from symbolism, the so-called “young symbolism”, represented by Vyach. Ivanov, A. Bely, A. Blok, S. Solovyov, Y. Baltrushaitis. The Young Symbolists were greatly influenced by the Russian religious philosopher V. Solovyov. They developed the theory of “effective art.” They were characterized by an interpretation of the events of modernity and Russian history as a clash of metaphysical forces. At the same time, the creativity of the Young Symbolists is characterized by an appeal to social issues.

The crisis of symbolism led to the emergence of a new movement opposing it - Acmeism. Acmeism was formed in the “Workshop of Poets” circle. It included N. Gumilyov, S. Gorodetsky, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, G. Ivanov and others. They tried to reform the aesthetic system of the Symbolists, asserting the intrinsic value of reality, and focused on a “material” perception of the world, “material” clarity image. The poetry of the Acmeists is characterized by “wonderful clarity” of language, realism and accuracy of detail, and the picturesque brightness of figurative and expressive means.

In the 1910s, an avant-garde movement in poetry emerged - futurism. Futurism is heterogeneous: several groups are distinguished within it. The Cubo-Futurists (D. and N. Burliuk, V. Khlebnikov, V. Mayakovsky, V. Kamensky) left the greatest mark on our culture. Futurists denied the social content of art and cultural traditions. They are characterized by anarchic rebellion. In their collective program collections (“A Slap in the Face of Public Taste,” “Dead Moon,” etc.) they challenged “the so-called public taste and common sense.” Futurists destroyed the existing system of literary genres and styles, developed tonic verse close to folklore on the basis of spoken language, and conducted experiments with words.

Literary futurism was closely connected with avant-garde movements in painting. Almost all futurist poets were professional artists.

New peasant poetry, based on folk culture, occupied its special place in the literary process of the beginning of the century (N. Klyuev, S. Yesenin, S. Klychkov, P. Oreshin, etc.)