Literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century played an important role in the public life of the country. Most modern critics and readers are sure of this. At that time, reading was not entertainment, but ways of knowing the surrounding reality. For the writer, creativity itself became an important act of civic service to society, since he had a sincere belief in the power of the creative word, in the likelihood that the book could affect the mind and soul of a person so that he changed for the better.
Confrontation in the literature
According to modern scholars, it is precisely because of this belief in literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century that the civil pathos of the struggle for some idea that could play an important role in transforming the country, sending the whole country along one path or another was born. The 19th century was the century of maximum development of domestic critical thought. Therefore, press appearances by critics of that time were included in the annals of Russian culture.
The well-known confrontation, which was outlined in the history of literature in the middle of the 19th century, was designated between Westerners and Slavophiles. These social movements arose in Russia as far back as the 1940s. The Westerners advocated that the reforms of Peter I began the true development of Russia, and in the future it is necessary to follow this historical path. At the same time, they treated all pre-Petrine Russia with neglect, noting the absence of a respectable culture and history. Slavophiles advocated the independent development of Russia, regardless of the West.
Just at that time, a very radical movement became popular among Westerners, which was based on the teachings of Utopians with a socialist bias, in particular, Fourier and Saint-Simon. The most radical wing of this movement considered the revolution as the only way to change something in the state.
The Slavophiles, in turn, insisted that the history of Russia is no less rich than the western one. According to them, Western civilization suffered from individualism and unbelief, disappointed in spiritual values.
The confrontation between Westerners and Slavophiles was also observed in Russian literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century, and especially in criticism of Gogol. Westerners considered this writer to be the founder of a socially critical trend in Russian literature, and the Slavophiles insisted on the epic fullness of the poem Dead Souls and its prophetic pathos. Remember that critical articles played a large role in Russian literature in the second half of the 19th century.
"Naturalists"
In the 1840s, a whole galaxy of writers appeared, rallying around the literary critic Belinsky. This group of writers began to be called representatives of the "natural school."
In the literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century, they were very popular. Their main character is a representative of an unprivileged estate. These are artisans, janitors, beggars, peasants. The writers sought to give them an opportunity to express themselves, to show their morals and way of life, reflecting through them all of Russia from a special angle.
The genre of "physiological essay" is very popular among them . It describes with scientific rigor different layers of society. Bright representatives of the "natural school" - Nekrasov, Grigorovich, Turgenev, Reshetnikov, Uspensky.
Democratic Revolutionaries
By the 1860s, the confrontation between the Westerners and the Slavophiles was coming to naught. But disputes between intellectuals continue. Around rapidly developing cities, industry, changing history. At this moment, fellow soldiers come into the literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century . They come from a wide variety of social backgrounds. If earlier writing was the inheritance of the nobility, now merchants, priests, petty bourgeois, officials and even peasants take up the pen.
Ideas laid down by Belinsky develop in literature and criticism; the authors pose acute social questions to readers.
Chernyshevsky lays the philosophical foundations in his master's thesis.
"Aesthetic criticism"
In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the direction of "aesthetic criticism" in literature was particularly developed. Botkin, Druzhinin, Annenkov do not accept didactism, proclaiming the intrinsic value of creativity, as well as its detachment from social problems.
"Pure art" should solve exclusively aesthetic problems, representatives of "organic criticism" came to such conclusions. In its principles developed by Strakhov and Grigoriev, genuine art became the fruit of not only the mind, but also the soul of the artist.
Tillers
Great popularity in this period was received by soil workers. They included themselves Dostoevsky, Grigoriev, Danilevsky, Strakhov. They developed ideas by a Slavophile, while warning them to get too carried away with social ideas, to break away from tradition, reality, history and people.
They tried to penetrate the life of ordinary people, deriving general principles for the maximum organic development of the state. In the magazines Epoch and Time, they criticized the rationalism of opponents who, in their opinion, were too revolutionary.
Nihilism
One of the features of literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century was nihilism. In it, the soil workers saw one of the main threats to the present reality. Nihilism was very popular among different layers of Russian society. It was expressed in the denial of accepted norms of behavior, cultural values and recognized leaders. At the same time, moral principles were replaced by the concepts of personal pleasure and benefit.
The most striking work of this direction is Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” written in 1861. Its main character, Bazarov, denies love, art, and compassion. Pisarev, who was one of the main ideologists of nihilism, admired him.
The genre of the novel
An important role in Russian literature of this period is the novel. It was in the second half of the 19th century that Leo Tolstoy's epic “War and Peace”, Chernyshevsky’s political novel “What to Do?”, Dostoevsky’s psychological novel “Crime and Punishment”, and the social novel “Lord Golovlev” by Saltykov-Shchedrin came out.
The most significant was the work of Dostoevsky, reflecting the era.
Poetry
In the 1850s, poetry experienced a heyday after a brief oblivion that came after the golden age of Pushkin and Lermontov. Polonsky, Fet, Mikov come onto the front of the stage.
In poems, poets pay increased attention to folk art, history, and everyday life. It becomes important to comprehend Russian history in the works of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Maykov, May. It is epics, folk traditions and ancient songs that determine the style of the authors.
In the 50-60s, the work of civilian poets became popular. The poems of Minaev, Mikhailov, Kurochkin are associated with revolutionary-democratic ideas. The main authority for poets in this direction becomes Nikolai Nekrasov.
By the end of the 19th century, peasant poets became popular. Among them, one can distinguish Trefolev, Surikov, Drozhzhin. She in her work continues the traditions of Nekrasov and Koltsov.
Dramaturgy
The second half of the XIX century is the time of the development of national and original drama. The authors of the plays actively use folklore, pay attention to the peasant and merchant life, national history, the language spoken by the people. Often you can find works on social and moral issues, in which romanticism is combined with realism. Such playwrights include Alexei Tolstoy, Ostrovsky, Sukhovo-Kobylin.
The variety of styles and artistic forms in drama led to the emergence at the very end of the century of vivid dramatic works by Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.
The influence of foreign literature
Foreign literature of the 2nd half of the 19th century has a noticeable effect on domestic writers and poets.
At this time, realistic literature reigned in foreign literature. First of all, these are the works of Balzac ("Shagreen Skin", "Parma Monastery", "Eugene Grande"), Charlotte Bronte ("Jane Air"), Thackeray ("Newcoms", "Vanity Fair", "The History of Henry Esmond"), Flaubert ("Madame Bovary", "Education of feelings", "Salambo", "Simple soul").
In England at that time, Charles Dickens is considered the main writer, his works Oliver Twist, Notes of the Pickwick Club, Life and Adventures of Niklas Nickleby, Christmas Carol, Dombey and Son are also read in Russia.
In European poetry, a collection of poems by Charles Baudelaire, Flowers of Evil, becomes a real revelation. These are the works of the famous European Symbolist, which caused a storm of discontent and indignation in Europe due to a large number of obscene lines, the poet was even fined for violating moral standards, making the collection of poems one of the most popular in a decade.