On the national significance of Ostrovsky's work. The value of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy

The playwright almost did not put in his work political and philosophical problems, facial expressions and gestures, through playing with the details of their costumes and everyday environment. To enhance the comic effects, the playwright usually introduced minor persons into the plot - relatives, servants, accustomers, random passers-by - and side circumstances of everyday life. Such, for example, are Khlynov’s retinue and the gentleman with a mustache in The Hot Heart, or Apollo Murzavetsky with his Tamerlane in the comedy Wolves and Sheep, or the actor Schastlivtsev under Neschastlivtsev and Paratov in The Forest and The Dowry, etc. The playwright, as before, sought to reveal the characters' characters not only in the very course of events, but to no lesser extent also through the peculiarities of their everyday dialogues - "characterological" dialogues, aesthetically mastered by him in "His People ...".
Thus, in the new period of creativity, Ostrovsky acts as an established master with a complete system of dramatic art. His fame, his social and theatrical connections continue to grow and become more complex. The very abundance of plays created in the new period was the result of an ever-increasing demand for Ostrovsky's plays from magazines and theaters. During these years, the playwright not only worked tirelessly himself, but found the strength to help less gifted and novice writers, and sometimes actively participate with them in their work. So, in creative collaboration with Ostrovsky, a number of plays by N. Solovyov were written (the best of them are “The Marriage of Belugin” and “Wild Woman”), as well as P. Nevezhin.
Constantly contributing to the staging of his plays on the stages of the Moscow Maly and St. Petersburg Alexandria theaters, Ostrovsky knew well the state of theatrical affairs, which were mainly under the jurisdiction of the bureaucratic state apparatus, and was bitterly aware of their glaring shortcomings. He saw that he did not depict the noble and bourgeois intelligentsia in its ideological quest, as did Herzen, Turgenev, and partly Goncharov. In his plays, he showed the everyday social life of ordinary representatives of the merchant class, bureaucracy, the nobility, a life where personal, in particular love, conflicts manifested clashes of family, monetary, property interests.
But Ostrovsky's ideological and artistic awareness of these aspects of Russian life had a deep national and historical meaning. Through the everyday relations of those people who were the masters and masters of life, their general social condition was revealed. Just as, according to Chernyshevsky's apt remark, the cowardly behavior of a young liberal, the hero of Turgenev's story "Asya", on a date with a girl was a "symptom of illness" of all noble liberalism, its political weakness, so the everyday tyranny and predatory behavior of merchants, officials, and nobles acted a symptom of a more terrible disease of their complete inability to at least to some extent give their activities a nationwide progressive significance.
This was quite natural and natural in the pre-reform period. Then the tyranny, arrogance, predation of the Voltovs, Vyshnevskys, Ulanbekovs was a manifestation of the “dark kingdom” of serfdom, already doomed to be demolished. And Dobrolyubov correctly pointed out that although Ostrovsky’s comedy “cannot provide a key to explaining many of the bitter phenomena depicted in it,” nevertheless, “it can easily lead to many analogous considerations related to that life, which it does not directly concern.” And the critic explained this by the fact that the “types” of petty tyrants, bred by Ostrovsky, “are not. rarely contain not only exclusively merchant or bureaucratic, but also general (i.e., nationwide) features. In other words, Ostrovsky's plays of 1840-1860. indirectly exposed all the "dark kingdoms" of the autocratic-feudal system.
In the post-reform decades, the situation changed. Then “everything turned upside down” and the new, bourgeois system of Russian life gradually began to “fit in”. And the question of how precisely this new system was "fitted" was of enormous national importance, to what extent the new ruling class, the Russian bourgeoisie, could take part in the struggle to abolish the survivals of the "dark kingdom" of serfdom and the entire autocratic-landowner system.
Nearly twenty of Ostrovsky's new plays on contemporary themes gave a clear negative answer to this fatal question. The playwright, as before, depicted the world of private social, household, family and property relations. Not everything was clear to him in the general tendencies of their development, and his "lyre" sometimes made not quite, "correct sounds" in this respect. But on the whole, Ostrovsky's plays contained a certain objective orientation. They exposed both the remnants of the old "dark kingdom" of despotism and the newly emerging "dark kingdom" of bourgeois predation, money hype, the destruction of all moral values ​​in an atmosphere of general buying and selling. They showed that Russian businessmen and industrialists are not capable of rising to the realization of the interests of national development, that some of them, such as Khlynov and Akhov, are only capable of indulging in gross pleasures, others, like Knurov and Berkutov, can only subordinate everything around them to their predatory, “wolf” interests, and for third parties, such as Vasilkov or Frol Pribytkov, the interests of profit are only covered by outward decency and very narrow cultural demands. Ostrovsky's plays, in addition to the plans and intentions of their author, objectively outlined a certain prospect of national development - the prospect of the inevitable destruction of all remnants of the old "dark kingdom" of autocratic serf despotism, not only without the participation of the bourgeoisie, not only over its head, but along with the destruction of its own predatory "dark realm"
The reality depicted in Ostrovsky's everyday plays was a form of life devoid of a nationwide progressive content, and therefore easily revealed internal comic inconsistency. Ostrovsky devoted his outstanding dramatic talent to its disclosure. Based on the tradition of Gogol's realistic comedies and stories, restructuring it in accordance with the new aesthetic demands put forward by the "natural school" of the 1840s and formulated by Belinsky and Herzen, Ostrovsky traced the comic inconsistency of the social and everyday life of the ruling strata of Russian society, delving into the "world details”, looking at the “web of daily relationships” thread by thread. This was the main achievement of the new dramatic style created by Ostrovsky.

Essay on literature on the topic: The significance of Ostrovsky's work for the ideological and aesthetic development of literature

Other writings:

1. A. S. Pushkin entered the history of Russia as an extraordinary phenomenon. This is not only the greatest poet, but also the founder of the Russian literary language, the founder of the new Russian literature. "Pushkin's muse", according to V. G. Belinsky, "was nurtured and brought up by the works of previous poets." On Read More ......
2. Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky... This is an unusual phenomenon. His role in the history of the development of Russian dramaturgy, performing arts and the entire national culture can hardly be overestimated. For the development of Russian drama, he did as much as Shakespeare in England, Lone de Vega in Spain, Molière Read More ......
3. Tolstoy was very strict about artisan writers who wrote their “works” without real passion and without the conviction that people needed them. Passionate, selfless enthusiasm for creativity Tolstoy retained until the last days of his life. At the time of work on the novel “Resurrection”, he confessed: “I Read More ......
4. A. N. Ostrovsky is rightfully considered the singer of the merchant environment, the father of Russian everyday drama, Russian theater. About sixty plays belong to his pen, of which the most famous are “Dowry”, “Late Love”, “Forest”, “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man”, “Own People - Let's Settle”, “Thunderstorm” and Read More ..... .
5. Speaking about the “stiffening of a person” force of “inertness, numbness”, A. Ostrovsky noted: “It is not without reason that I called this force Zamoskvoretskaya: there, beyond the Moscow River, her kingdom, there her throne. She drives a man into a stone house and locks the iron gate behind him, she dresses Read More ......
6. In European culture, the novel embodies ethics, as church architecture embodies the idea of ​​faith, and the sonnet embodies the idea of ​​love. An outstanding novel is not only a cultural event; it means much more than just a step forward in the literary craft. This is a monument of the era; monumental monument, Read More ......
7. The merciless truth told by Gogol about his contemporary society, ardent love for the people, the artistic perfection of his works - all this determined the role that the great writer played in the history of Russian and world literature, in establishing the principles of critical realism, in the development of democratic Read More .. ....
8. Krylov belonged to the Russian enlighteners of the 18th century, headed by Radishchev. But Krylov failed to rise to the idea of ​​an uprising against the autocracy and serfdom. He believed that it was possible to improve the social system through the moral re-education of people, that social issues should be resolved Read More ......

Composition

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky... This is an unusual phenomenon. His role in the history of the development of Russian dramaturgy, performing arts and the entire national culture can hardly be overestimated. For the development of Russian drama he did as much as Shakespeare in England, Lone de Vega in Spain, Molière in France, Goldoni in Italy and Schiller in Germany. Despite the harassment inflicted by the censorship, the theatrical and literary committee and the directorate of the imperial theaters, despite the criticism of reactionary circles, Ostrovsky's dramaturgy gained more and more sympathy every year both among democratic spectators and among artists.

Developing the best traditions of Russian dramatic art, using the experience of progressive foreign dramaturgy, tirelessly learning about the life of his native country, constantly communicating with the people, closely connecting with the most progressive contemporary public, Ostrovsky became an outstanding depiction of the life of his time, who embodied the dreams of Gogol, Belinsky and other progressive figures. literature about the appearance and triumph on the national stage of Russian characters.
The creative activity of Ostrovsky had a great influence on the entire further development of progressive Russian drama. It was from him that our best playwrights studied, he taught. It was to him that aspiring dramatic writers were drawn in their time.

The strength of Ostrovsky's influence on the writers of his day can be evidenced by a letter to the playwright poetess A. D. Mysovskaya. “Do you know how great was your influence on me? It was not love for art that made me understand and appreciate you: on the contrary, you taught me to love and respect art. I am indebted to you alone for the fact that I withstood the temptation to fall into the arena of miserable literary mediocrity, did not chase after cheap laurels thrown by the hands of sweet and sour half-educated. You and Nekrasov made me fall in love with thought and work, but Nekrasov gave me only the first impetus, you are the direction. Reading your works, I realized that rhyming is not poetry, and a set of phrases is not literature, and that only by processing the mind and technique, the artist will be a real artist.
Ostrovsky had a powerful impact not only on the development of domestic drama, but also on the development of the Russian theater. The colossal importance of Ostrovsky in the development of the Russian theater is well emphasized in a poem dedicated to Ostrovsky and read in 1903 by M. N. Yermolova from the stage of the Maly Theater:

On the stage, life itself, from the stage blows the truth,
And the bright sun caresses and warms us ...
The live speech of ordinary, living people sounds,
On stage, not a “hero”, not an angel, not a villain,
But just a man ... Happy actor
In a hurry to quickly break the heavy fetters
Conditions and lies. Words and feelings are new

But in the secrets of the soul, the answer sounds to them, -
And all the mouths whisper: blessed is the poet,
Tore off the shabby, tinsel covers
And shed a bright light into the kingdom of darkness

The famous actress wrote about the same in 1924 in her memoirs: “Together with Ostrovsky, truth itself and life itself appeared on the stage ... The growth of original drama began, full of responses to modernity ... They started talking about the poor, the humiliated and insulted.”

The realistic direction, muffled by the theatrical policy of the autocracy, continued and deepened by Ostrovsky, turned the theater onto the path of close connection with reality. Only it gave life to the theater as a national, Russian, folk theater.

“You brought a whole library of works of art as a gift to literature, you created your own special world for the stage. You alone completed the building, at the foundation of which the cornerstones of Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol were laid. This wonderful letter was received among other congratulations in the year of the thirty-fifth anniversary of literary and theatrical activity, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky from another great Russian writer - Goncharov.

But much earlier, about the very first work of the still young Ostrovsky, published in Moskvityanin, a subtle connoisseur of elegance and a sensitive observer V. F. Odoevsky wrote: this man is a great talent. I consider three tragedies in Rus': “Undergrowth”, “Woe from Wit”, “Inspector”. I put number four on Bankrupt.

From such a promising first assessment to Goncharov's anniversary letter, a full, busy life; labor, and led to such a logical relationship of assessments, because talent requires, first of all, great labor on itself, and the playwright did not sin before God - he did not bury his talent in the ground. Having published the first work in 1847, Ostrovsky has since written 47 plays and translated more than twenty plays from European languages. And all in all, in the folk theater he created, there are about a thousand actors.
Shortly before his death, in 1886, Alexander Nikolayevich received a letter from L. N. Tolstoy, in which the brilliant prose writer admitted: “I know from experience how people read, listen and remember your things, and therefore I would like to help you have now quickly become in reality what you undoubtedly are - a writer of the whole people in the broadest sense.

The whole creative life of A.N. Ostrovsky was inextricably linked with the Russian theater and his merit to the Russian stage is truly immeasurable. He had every reason to say at the end of his life: "... the Russian drama theater has only one I. I am everything: the academy, the philanthropist, and the defense. In addition, ... I became the head of stage art."

Ostrovsky took an active part in staging his plays, worked with actors, was friends with many of them, and corresponded with them. He put a lot of effort into defending the morals of the actors, seeking to create a theater school in Russia, his own repertoire.

In 1865, Ostrovsky organized an Artistic Circle in Moscow, the purpose of which was to protect the interests of artists, especially provincial ones, and to promote their education. In 1874 he founded the Society of Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers. He compiled memoranda to the government on the development of the performing arts (1881), directed at the Maly Theater in Moscow and the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, was in charge of the repertoire of Moscow theaters (1886), and was head of the theater school (1886). He "built" a whole "building of the Russian theater", consisting of 47 original plays. “You brought literature as a gift a whole library of works of art,” I. A. Goncharov wrote to Ostrovsky, “you created your own special world for the stage. we Russians can proudly say: we have our own Russian national theatre."

Ostrovsky's work constituted an entire epoch in the history of the Russian theater. Almost all of his plays during his lifetime were staged at the Maly Theatre, they brought up several generations of artists who grew into wonderful masters of the Russian stage. Ostrovsky's plays have played such a significant role in the history of the Maly Theater that it is proudly called the Ostrovsky House.

Ostrovsky usually staged his plays himself. He knew well the inner, hidden from the eyes of the audience, backstage life of the theater. The playwright's knowledge of the acting life was clearly manifested in the plays "The Forest" (1871), "The Comedian of the 17th Century" (1873), "Talents and Admirers" (1881), "Guilty Without Guilt" (1883).

In these works, living types of provincial actors of different roles appear before us. These are tragedians, comedians, "first lovers". But regardless of the role, the life of actors, as a rule, is not easy. Depicting their fate in his plays, Ostrovsky sought to show how difficult it is for a person with a subtle soul and talent to live in an unfair world of soullessness and ignorance. At the same time, the actors in the image of Ostrovsky could turn out to be almost beggars, like Neschastlivtsev and Schastlivtsev in Les; humiliated and losing their human appearance from drunkenness, like Robinson in "Dowry", like Shmaga in "Guilty Without Guilt", like Erast Gromilov in "Talents and Admirers".

In the comedy "The Forest" Ostrovsky revealed the talent of the actors of the Russian provincial theater and at the same time showed their humiliating position, doomed to vagrancy and wandering in search of their daily bread. When they meet, Schastlivtsev and Neschastlivtsev don't have a penny of money or a pinch of tobacco. True, Neschastvittsev has some clothes in his homemade knapsack. He even had a tailcoat, but in order to play the role, he had to exchange it in Chisinau "for the costume of Hamlet." The costume was very important for the actor, but in order to have the necessary wardrobe, a lot of money was needed ...

Ostrovsky shows that the provincial actor is on the low rung of the social ladder. In society, there is a prejudice against the profession of an actor. Gurmyzhskaya, having learned that her nephew Neschastlivtsev and his comrade Schastlivtsev are actors, arrogantly declares: "Tomorrow morning they will not be here. I do not have a hotel, not a tavern for such gentlemen." If the local authorities do not like the actor's behavior or if he does not have documents, he is persecuted and may even be expelled from the city. Arkady Schastlivtsev was "kicked out of the city three times... for four miles by Cossacks with whips." Because of the disorder, the eternal wanderings, the actors drink. Visiting taverns is their only way to get away from reality, at least for a while to forget about troubles. Schastlivtsev says: "... We are equal with him, both actors, he is Neschastlivtsev, I am Schastlivtsev, and we are both drunkards," and then declares with bravado: "We are a free, walking people - we value the tavern most of all." But this buffoonery of Arkashka Schastlivtsev is only a mask hiding the unbearable pain from social humiliation.

Despite the difficult life, adversity and resentment, many ministers of Melpomene retain kindness and nobility in their souls. In "The Forest" Ostrovsky created the most vivid image of a noble actor - the tragedian Neschastlivtsev. He portrayed a "living" person, with a difficult fate, with a sad life story. The actor drinks heavily, but throughout the play he changes, the best features of his nature are revealed. Forcing Vosmibratov to return the money to Gurmyzhskaya, Neschastlivtsev puts on a performance, puts on fake orders. At this moment, he plays with such force, with such faith that evil can be punished, that he achieves real, life success: Vosmibratov gives money. Then, giving his last money to Aksyusha, arranging her happiness, Neschastlivtsev no longer plays. His actions are not a theatrical gesture, but a truly noble act. And when, at the end of the play, he utters the famous monologue of Karl Mohr from F. Schiller's "Robbers", the words of Schiller's hero become, in essence, a continuation of his own angry speech. The meaning of the remark that Neschastlivtsev throws to Gurmyzhskaya and her entire company: "We are artists, noble artists, and comedians are you," lies in the fact that in his view, art and life are inextricably linked, and the actor is not a pretender, not a hypocrite, his art based on genuine feelings and experiences.

In the poetic comedy "Comedian of the 17th century" the playwright turned to the early pages of the history of the national scene. Talented comedian Yakov Kochetov is afraid of becoming an artist. Not only he, but also his father are sure that this is a reprehensible occupation, that buffoonery is a sin, worse than which nothing can be, because such were the preconstruction ideas of people in Moscow in the 17th century. But Ostrovsky contrasted the persecutors of buffoons and their "actions" with lovers and zealots of the theater in the pre-Petrine era. The playwright showed the special role of stage performances in the development of Russian literature and formulated the purpose of comedy to "... show vicious and evil funny, make it laughable. ... Teach people by portraying morals."

In the drama "Talents and Admirers" Ostrovsky showed how difficult the fate of the actress, endowed with a huge stage gift, who is passionately devoted to the theater. The position of the actor in the theatre, his success depends on whether he is liked by the wealthy spectators who hold the whole city in their hands. After all, provincial theaters existed mainly on donations from local patrons, who felt they were masters in the theater and dictated their terms to the actors. Alexandra Negina from "Talents and Admirers" refuses to participate in behind-the-scenes intrigues or respond to the whims of her wealthy admirers: Prince Dulebov, official Bakin and others. Negina cannot and does not want to be satisfied with the easy success of the undemanding Nina Smelskaya, who willingly accepts the patronage of rich admirers, turning, in fact, into a kept woman. Prince Dulebov, offended by Negina's refusal, decided to ruin her, tearing off a benefit performance and literally surviving from the theater. To part with the theater, without which she cannot imagine her existence, for Negina means to be content with a miserable life with a sweet but poor student Petya Meluzov. She has only one way out: to go to the maintenance of another admirer, the wealthy landowner Velikatov, who promises her roles and resounding success in his theater. He calls his claim to the talent and soul of Alexandra ardent love, but in essence it is a frank deal between a large predator and a helpless victim. What Knurov did not have to do in "Dowry" was done by Velikatov. Larisa Ogudalova managed to free herself from the golden chains at the cost of death, Negina put these chains on herself, because she cannot imagine life without art.

Ostrovsky reproaches this heroine, who turned out to have less spiritual dowry than Larisa. But at the same time, with heartache, he told us about the dramatic fate of the actress, which caused his participation and sympathy. No wonder, as E. Kholodov noted, her name is the same as Ostrovsky himself - Alexandra Nikolaevna.

In the drama Guilty Without Guilt, Ostrovsky again turns to the theme of the theater, although its problems are much broader: it speaks of the fate of people deprived of their lives. In the center of the drama is the outstanding actress Kruchinina, after whose performances the theater literally "falls apart from applause." Her image gives reason to think about what determines the significance and greatness in art. First of all, Ostrovsky believes, this is a huge life experience, a school of deprivation, torment and suffering, which his heroine happened to go through.

Kruchinina's whole life outside the stage is "grief and tears." This woman knew everything: the hard work of a teacher, the betrayal and departure of a loved one, the loss of a child, a serious illness, loneliness. Secondly, it is spiritual nobility, a sympathetic heart, faith in goodness and respect for a person, and, thirdly, an awareness of the lofty tasks of art: Kruchinina brings the viewer high truth, the ideas of justice and freedom. With her word from the stage, she seeks to "burn the hearts of people." And together with a rare natural talent and a common culture, all this makes it possible to become what the heroine of the play has become - a universal idol, whose "glory thunders". Kruchinina gives her viewers the happiness of contact with the beautiful. And that is why the playwright himself in the finale also gives her personal happiness: finding her lost son, the destitute actor Neznamov.

The merit of A. N. Ostrovsky before the Russian stage is truly immeasurable. His plays about the theater and actors, accurately reflecting the circumstances of Russian reality in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, contain thoughts about art that are still relevant today. These are thoughts about the difficult, sometimes tragic fate of talented people who, realizing themselves on stage, completely burn themselves; thoughts about the happiness of creativity, full dedication, about the lofty mission of art, affirming goodness and humanity.

The playwright himself expressed himself, revealed his soul in the plays he created, perhaps especially frankly in plays about the theater and actors, in which he very convincingly showed that even in the depths of Russia, in the provinces, you can meet talented, disinterested people, capable of living by the highest interests. . Much in these plays is consonant with what B. Pasternak wrote in his wonderful poem "Oh, if only I knew that it happens ...":

When a line dictates a feeling

It sends a slave to the stage,

And this is where the art ends.

And the soil and fate breathe.

Ostrovsky wrote for the theatre. This is the peculiarity of his gift. The images and pictures of life he created are intended for the stage. That is why the speech of Ostrovsky's characters is so important, that is why his works sound so bright. No wonder Innokenty Annensky called him a realist-hearing. Without staging on stage, his works were as if not completed, which is why Ostrovsky took the prohibition of his plays by theatrical censorship so hard. The comedy "Our People - Let's Settle" was allowed to be staged in the theater only ten years after Pogodin managed to publish it in a magazine.

With a feeling of undisguised satisfaction, A. N. Ostrovsky wrote on November 3, 1878 to his friend, artist of the Alexandria Theater A. F. Burdin: "The Dowry" was unanimously recognized as the best of all my works. Ostrovsky lived "Dowry", at times only on her, his fortieth thing, directed "his attention and strength", wanting to "finish" her in the most thorough way. In September 1878, he wrote to one of his acquaintances: “I am working on my play with all my might; it doesn't look bad." Already a day after the premiere, on November 12, Ostrovsky could find out, and undoubtedly learned from Russkiye Vedomosti, how he managed to "tire out the entire audience, right down to the most naive spectators." For she - the audience - has clearly "outgrown" those spectacles that he offers her. In the 1970s Ostrovsky's relationship with critics, theaters and audiences became more and more complicated. The period when he enjoyed universal recognition, won by him in the late fifties and early sixties, was replaced by another, which was growing more and more in different circles of cooling towards the playwright.

Theatrical censorship was more severe than literary censorship. This is no coincidence. In essence, theatrical art is democratic, it is more direct than literature, it is addressed to the general public. Ostrovsky in his “Note on the Situation of Dramatic Art in Russia at the Present Time” (1881) wrote that “dramatic poetry is closer to the people than other branches of literature. All other works are written for educated people, but dramas and comedies are written for the whole people; dramatic writers must always remember this, they must be clear and strong. This proximity to the people does not in the least degrade dramatic poetry, but, on the contrary, doubles its strength and does not allow it to become vulgar and petty. Ostrovsky speaks in his "Note" about how the theatrical audience in Russia expanded after 1861. Ostrovsky writes to a new spectator, not experienced in art, Ostrovsky writes: “Fine literature is still boring for him and incomprehensible, music too, only the theater gives him complete pleasure, there he experiences like a child everything that happens on the stage, sympathizes with good and recognizes evil, clearly presented." For a “fresh” audience, Ostrovsky wrote, “strong drama, large-scale comedy, defiant, frank, loud laughter, hot, sincere feelings are required.”

It is the theater, according to Ostrovsky, which has its roots in the folk show, has the ability to directly and strongly influence the souls of people. Two and a half decades later, Alexander Blok, speaking about poetry, will write that its essence is in the main, “walking” truths, in the ability to convey them to the heart of the reader, which the theater has:

Move on, mourning nags!
Actors, master the craft,
To from the walking truth
Everyone felt sick and light!

("Balagan", 1906)

The great importance that Ostrovsky attached to the theater, his thoughts about theatrical art, about the position of the theater in Russia, about the fate of the actors - all this was reflected in his plays. Contemporaries perceived Ostrovsky as a successor to the dramatic art of Gogol. But the novelty of his plays was immediately noted. Already in 1851, in the article “A Dream on the Occasion of a Comedy,” the young critic Boris Almazov pointed out the differences between Ostrovsky and Gogol. The originality of Ostrovsky consisted not only in the fact that he portrayed not only the oppressors, but also their victims, not only in the fact that, as I. Annensky wrote, Gogol was mainly a poet of “visual”, and Ostrovsky “hearing” impressions.

The originality, novelty of Ostrovsky were also manifested in the choice of life material, in the subject of the image - he mastered new layers of reality. He was the discoverer, Columbus, not only of Zamoskvorechye, - whom only we do not see, whose voices we do not hear in the works of Ostrovsky! Innokenty Annensky wrote: “... This is a virtuoso of sound images: merchants, wanderers, factory workers and teachers of the Latin language, Tatars, gypsies, actors and sex workers, bars, clerks and petty bureaucrats-Ostrovsky gave a huge gallery of typical speeches ...” Actors, theatrical environment - too the new life material that Ostrovsky mastered - everything connected with the theater seemed to him very important.

In the life of Ostrovsky himself, the theater played a huge role. He took part in the production of his plays, worked with actors, was friends with many of them, corresponded. He put a lot of effort into defending the rights of actors, seeking to create a theater school in Russia, his own repertoire. Artist of the Maly Theater N.V. Rykalova recalled: Ostrovsky, “having become better acquainted with the troupe, became our own man. The group loved him very much. Alexander Nikolaevich was unusually affectionate and courteous to everyone. Under the serf regime that prevailed at that time, when the bosses said “you” to the artist, when most of the troupe was from serfs, Ostrovsky's treatment seemed to everyone some kind of revelation. Usually Alexander Nikolayevich staged his plays himself ... Ostrovsky gathered a troupe and read a play to her. He was remarkably good at reading. All the characters came out of him as if they were alive ... Ostrovsky knew well the inner, hidden from the eyes of the audience, backstage life of the theater. Starting with the Forest "(1871), Ostrovsky develops the theme of the theater, creates images of actors, depicts their fate - this play is followed by "Comedian of the 17th century" (1873), "Talents and Admirers" (1881), "Guilty Without Guilt" (1883 ).

The position of the actors in the theatre, their success depended on whether they were liked or not by the wealthy spectators who set the tone in the city. After all, the provincial troupes lived mainly on donations from local patrons, who felt like masters in the theater and could dictate their terms. Many actresses lived off expensive gifts from wealthy fans. The actress, who cherished her honor, had a hard time. In "Talents and Admirers" Ostrovsky depicts such a life situation. Domna Panteleevna, mother of Sasha Negina complains: “My Sasha is not happy! He keeps himself very carefully, well, there is no such disposition between the public: no special gifts, nothing like the others, which ... if ... ".

Nina Smelskaya, who willingly accepts the patronage of wealthy fans, essentially turning into a kept woman, lives much better, feels much more confident in the theater than the talented Negina. But despite the difficult life, adversity and resentment, in the image of Ostrovsky, many people who have devoted their lives to the stage, the theater, retain kindness and nobility in their souls. First of all, these are tragedians who on stage have to live in a world of high passions. Of course, nobility and spiritual generosity are inherent not only among the tragedians. Ostrovsky shows that true talent, a disinterested love for art and the theater elevate people. These are Narokov, Negina, Kruchinina.

In the early romantic stories, Maxim Gorky expressed his attitude to life and people, his view of the era. The heroes of many of these stories are the so-called tramps. The writer portrays them as brave, strong-hearted people. The main thing for them is freedom, which the tramps, like all of us, understand in their own way. They passionately dream of some special life, far from the ordinary. But they can’t find her, so they go wandering, drink too much, commit suicide. One of these people is depicted in the story "Chelkash". Chelkash - “an old poisoned wolf, well known to the Havanese people, an inveterate drunkard and l

In Fet's poetry, the feeling of love is woven from contradictions: it is not only joy, but also torment and suffering. In Fetov's "songs of love" the poet gives himself so completely to the feeling of love, the intoxication with the beauty of the woman he loves, that in itself brings happiness, in which even sorrowful experiences are great bliss. From the depths of world existence, love grows, which has become the subject of Fet's inspiration. The innermost sphere of the poet's soul is love. In his poems, he put various shades of love feeling: not only bright love, admiring beauty, admiration, delight, happiness of reciprocity, but also

At the end of the 90s of the 19th century, the reader was amazed by the appearance of three volumes of Essays and Stories by a new writer, M. Gorky. "Great and original talent" - such was the general judgment about the new writer and his books. The growing discontent in society and the expectation of decisive changes caused an increase in romantic tendencies in literature. These tendencies were especially clearly reflected in the work of the young Gorky, in such stories as "Chelkash", "Old Woman Izergil", "Makar Chudra", in revolutionary songs. The heroes of these stories are people "with the sun in their blood", strong, proud, beautiful. These heroes are Gorky's dream

More than a hundred years ago, in a small provincial town in Denmark - Odense, on the island of Funen, extraordinary events took place. Quiet, slightly sleepy streets of Odense were suddenly filled with the sounds of music. A procession of artisans, carrying torches and banners, marched past the brightly lit old town hall, saluting a tall, blue-eyed man who stood by the window. In honor of whom did the inhabitants of Odense light their fires in September 1869? It was Hans Christian Andersen, elected shortly before that as an honorary citizen of his native city. Honoring Andersen, his countrymen sang the heroic deed of a man and a writer,

The literary life of Russia was stirred up when Ostrovsky's first plays entered it: first in reading, then in magazine publications, and, finally, from the stage. Perhaps the largest and most profoundly estimated critical legacy dedicated to his dramaturgy was left by Ap.A. Grigoriev, a friend and admirer of the writer's work, and N.A. Dobrolyubov. Dobrolyubov's article "A Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom" about the drama "Thunderstorm" has become well-known, a textbook.

Let us turn to the estimates of Ap.A. Grigoriev. An extended article entitled “After Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm. Letters to Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev ”(1860), in many respects contradicts the opinion of Dobrolyubov, argues with him. The disagreement was fundamental: two critics adhered to a different understanding of nationality in literature. Grigoriev considered nationality not so much a reflection in the artistic work of the life of the working masses, as Dobrolyubov, but an expression of the general spirit of the people, regardless of position and class. From the point of view of Grigoriev, Dobrolyubov reduces the complex issues of Ostrovsky's plays to the denunciation of tyranny and the "dark kingdom" in general, and assigns the playwright only the role of a satirist-denunciator. But not the "evil humor of the satirist", but the "naive truth of the people's poet" - this is the strength of Ostrovsky's talent, as Grigoriev sees it. Grigoriev calls Ostrovsky "a poet who plays in every way of folk life." “The name for this writer, for such a great writer, despite his shortcomings, is not a satirist, but a folk poet” - this is the main thesis of Ap.A. Grigorieva in a polemic with N.A. Dobrolyubov.

The third position, which does not coincide with the two mentioned, was held by D.I. Pisarev. In the article "Motives of Russian Drama" (1864), he completely denies everything positive and bright that Ap.A. Grigoriev and N.A. Dobrolyubov was seen in the image of Katerina in The Thunderstorm. The “realist” Pisarev has a different view: Russian life “does not contain any inclinations of independent renewal,” and only people like V.G. Belinsky, the type that appeared in the image of Bazarov in "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev. The darkness of Ostrovsky's artistic world is hopeless.

Finally, let us dwell on the position of the playwright and public figure A.N. Ostrovsky in the context of the struggle in Russian literature between the ideological currents of Russian social thought - Slavophilism and Westernism. The time of Ostrovsky's collaboration with MP Pogodin's Moskvityanin magazine is often associated with his Slavophile views. But the writer was much broader than these positions. A statement of this period caught by someone, when from his Zamoskvorechye he looked at the Kremlin on the opposite bank and said: “Why were these pagodas built here?” (seemingly, clearly “Westernizing”), also did not reflect his true aspirations. Ostrovsky was neither a Westernizer nor a Slavophile. The powerful, original, folk talent of the playwright flourished during the formation and rise of Russian realistic art. The genius of P.I. Tchaikovsky; arose at the turn of the 1850-1860s XIX century creative community of Russian composers "Mighty Handful"; Russian realistic painting flourished: I.E. Repin, V.G. Perov, I. N. Kramskoy and other major artists - this is how intense life was in full swing in the visual and musical art of the second half, rich in talents XIX centuries. The portrait of A. N. Ostrovsky belongs to the brush of V. G. Perov, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov creates an opera based on the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”. A.N. Ostrovsky entered the world of Russian art naturally and rightfully.

As for the theater itself, the playwright himself, assessing the artistic life of the 1840s - the time of his first literary searches, speaks of a great variety of ideological movements and artistic interests, a multitude of circles, but notes at the same time that everyone was united by a common, craze for theater . The writers of the 1840s, who belonged to the natural school, everyday writers-essayers (the first collection of the natural school was called "Physiology of St. Petersburg", 1844-1845) included an article by V.G. Belinsky "Alexandrinsky Theatre". The theater was perceived as a place where the classes of society collide, "to see enough of each other." And this theater was waiting for a playwright of such a scale, which manifested itself in A.N. Ostrovsky. The significance of Ostrovsky's work for Russian literature is extremely great: he truly was the successor of the Gogol tradition and the founder of a new, national Russian theater, without which the appearance of A.P. Chekhov. The second half of the 19th century in European literature did not give a single playwright comparable in scale to A. N. Ostrovsky. The development of European literature proceeded differently. The French romanticism of V. Hugo, George Sand, the critical realism of Stendhal, P. Mérimée, O. de Balzac, then the work of H. Flaubert, the English critical realism of C. Dickens, W. Thackeray, C. Bronte paved the way not for drama, but for epic , first of all - to the novel, and (not so noticeable) to the lyrics. The problems, characters, plots, depiction of the Russian character and Russian life in Ostrovsky's plays are so nationally unique, so understandable and consonant with the Russian reader and viewer that the playwright did not have such an impact on the world literary process as Chekhov later did. And in many respects the reason for this was the language of Ostrovsky's plays: it turned out to be impossible to translate them, preserving the essence of the original, to convey that special and special thing with which he fascinates the viewer.

Source (abridged): Mikhalskaya, A.K. Literature: Basic level: Grade 10. At 2 o'clock. Part 1: account. allowance / A.K. Mikhalskaya, O.N. Zaitsev. - M.: Bustard, 2018