Romanticism and realism - more than trends in literature

The brightest literary trends that reached their peak in Russian literature in the 19th century, having an equally large number of followers, arguing with each other, are romanticism and realism. Opposite in nature, nevertheless, one can not say that one is indisputably better than another. They are both an integral part of literature.

Romanticism

Romanticism as a literary trend appeared in Germany in the 18-19 centuries. He quickly won love in the literary circles of Europe and America. The greatest flourishing of romanticism reached in the first half of the 19th century.

The main place in romantic works is devoted to the personality, which is revealed through the conflict of the hero and society. The Great French Revolution contributed to the spread of this trend. Thus, romanticism became the response of society to the emergence of ideas that glorify reason and science.

Such enlightenment ideas seemed to his adherents the manifestation of selfishness, callousness. Of course, similar discontent was in sentimentalism, but it was in Romanticism that it was most vividly expressed.

Romanticism was opposed to classicism. Now the authors were given complete freedom of creativity, unlike the frames inherent in classical works. Literary language, which wrote romantic works, was simple, understandable to every reader, in contrast to ornate, too noble classical works.

Features of Romanticism

1. The protagonist of romantic works was to be a complex, multifaceted personality, experiencing all the events taking place with him, sharply, deeply, very emotionally. It is a passionate, passionate nature with an endless, mysterious inner world.
2. In romantic works there was always a contrast of high and low passions, fans of this trend were interested in any manifestation of feelings, they sought to understand the nature of their occurrence. They were more interested in the inner worlds of heroes and their experiences.
3. Novelist writers could choose any era for the actions of their novel. It was romanticism that introduced the whole world to the culture of the Middle Ages. Interest in history helped writers create their own bright works, impregnated with the spirit of the time, about which they wrote.

Realism

Realism is a literary trend, in which writers aspired to reflect the truth in their works as truthfully as possible. But this is a very difficult task, because the very definition of "truth", each person has a vision of reality. It often happened that in the effort to write only the truth, the writer had to write things that could contradict his convictions.

No one can tell exactly when this direction appeared, but it is considered one of the earliest currents. Its features depend on the specific historical epoch in which it is considered. Therefore, the main distinguishing feature is an accurate reflection of reality.

Education

Romanticism and realism collided at a time when enlightening ideas began to prevail in a realistic direction. During this period literature became a kind of preparation of society for the social-bourgeois revolution. All the actions of heroes were evaluated only from the point of view of reasonableness, therefore positive characters are an embodiment of reason, and negative ones - violating the norms of personality, uncultured, acting unreasonably.

In this period of realism, his subspecies appear:

• English realistic novel;
• Critical realism.

What was for representatives of romanticism was a manifestation of heartlessness, realists understood as the rationality of actions. Conversely, that freedom of action, which was followed by the heroes of the novels, was blamed by representatives of realism.

Romanticism and Realism in Russian Literature of the 19th Century (briefly)

These areas have not bypassed and Russia. Romanticism and realism in the literature of the 19th century in Russia are entering a struggle that takes place in several stages:

• The transition from romanticism to realism, which served as an unprecedented blossoming of classical literature and its recognition throughout the world;
• "Literary dual power" is a period when the alliance and struggle of romanticism and realism presented the literature with great works and no less than great authors, which made it possible to consider the 19th century in Russian literature to be "golden."

The appearance of romanticism in Russia was due to the victory in the war of 1812, which caused a great social upsurge. Of course, romanticism could not help but imbue the ideas of the Decembrists about freedom, which created truly unique works that reflected the inner state of the entire Russian people. The most brilliant, famous representatives of romanticism are AS Pushkin (poems written in the Lyceum period and "southern" lyrics), M. Yu. Lermontov, VA Zhukovsky, FI Tyutchev, NA Nekrasov ( Early works).

In the 1930s, realism was gaining momentum, when writers reflected the reality in an elegant, understandable language, accurately and subtlely noticed human and social defects and ironized them. The founder of this direction is A. Pushkin ("Eugene Onegin", "The Tale of Belkin"), along with talented masters of the pen, such as NV Gogol (Dead Souls), I. C Turgenev (The Noble Nest, Fathers and Sons), Leo Tolstoy (the great work War and Peace, Anna Karenina), FM Dostoyevsky (Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov "). And it is impossible not to write about the genius of short, but surprisingly live stories and plays by Anton Chekhov.

Romanticism and realism are more than literary trends, it is a way of thinking, a way of life. Thanks to the great writers, one can travel to that era, plunge into the atmosphere that prevailed at that time. "The Golden Age" in Russian literature presented to the whole world brilliant works that you want to read again and again.