Aphorisms and quotes by Belinsky Vissarion Grigorievich

In this article we will get acquainted with the activities of the Russian literary and critical author Vissarion G. Belinsky. His appearance in the world of Russian literary journalism marked the beginning of a new era in this area. Belinsky's work had a huge impact on the further development of literary criticism and became a platform for its full development. Writers and philosophers of our time speak of him with admiration. We can also discover something new for ourselves, having a little glance into the creative world of this talented critic.

"Berserk Vissarion"

Belinsky Vissarion Grigorievich is, without exaggeration, the famous and well-known literary critic, philosopher and writer of the 19th century. He was the first to take the work of a critic to a new level, moving away from inveterate rules and frameworks. Belinsky began not only to evaluate the literary work, pointing to certain errors, but also began to express his thoughts in writing in the form of an article or note. In writing his critical works, he put his soul, passion. Reading Belinsky's articles, one can feel this, because they are saturated with his pulsating energy. It was precisely because of his purposefulness, integrity, independence, ideological ideology, and love for the work that he was engaged in that he was called "Frantic Vissarion."

short biography

Vissarion Belinsky was born on June 1, 1811 in the Finnish city of Sveaborg, in the family of a marine doctor. His childhood passed in the city of Chembara, Penza province, where his father transferred to work as a county doctor. Childhood was not easy, Vissarion had many unpleasant memories associated with both his father and mother. Belinsky probably loved his parents somewhere, but practically did not respect him, and was even ashamed. After all, they completely did not pay the necessary attention to their only child. Mother did little to raise her son, leaving this occupation to the nannies, and his father was a tyrant, humiliated him, insulted him, and often beat him. This left its heavy imprint on Vissarion.

My mother was a hunter to scour the gibbers; I, an infant, remained with a nanny employed by a girl; so that I would not bother her with my scream, she would choke me and beat me. However, I was not breastfeeding: I was born sick when I died, I didn’t take a breast and did not know her ... I sucked a horn, and if the milk was sour and rotten, I couldn’t take fresh ... My father hated me, scolded, humiliated, niggled, beat mercilessly and scolded arenas - his eternal memory. I was a stranger in the family.

But, despite the difficult situation in life, Belinsky began to study writing and writing at the district school of his city, from which he transferred to the provincial gymnasium. Since she did not fully satisfy him, he dropped out of school, not having finished six months before graduation. In 1829, Vissarion entered the philological faculty of Moscow University. There, his status as the creator of Russian literary critical thought begins to take shape. But three years later he was expelled for too harsh criticism of serfdom. Somewhere at the same time, he begins to write his first literary and critical articles.

In 1843, Vissarion Belinsky married Maria Orlova, whom he had known for many years. In marriage, their daughter Olga was born in 1845 (two more of their children died before they were one year old). In the same year, Belinsky suffered a serious illness, which made itself felt until the end of his life. Even treatment abroad did not bring positive results. As a result, surviving the last days of his life in St. Petersburg, June 7, 1848, Belinsky died from an aggravated illness.

Quotes from Belinsky's articles

We proceed directly to our main topic. Consider Belinsky's most famous quotes. Indeed, even if you do not belong to the category of people who are closely associated with philosophy or literary criticism, anyway, by reading his articles, you can at least a little, but catch and feel the essence of his deep thoughts.

To find one’s own path, to find one’s place - this is all for a person, it means for him to become himself.

In important matters of life one always has to rush as if everything had to perish from the loss of one minute.

Every love is true and beautiful in its own way, if only it was in the heart, and not in the head.

Patriotism, whatever it is, is proved not by word, but by deed.

Belinsky's literary and critical articles

Belinsky's literary and critical activity is divided into three stages. The first stage began in 1834, when he worked in the publication "Telescope" with the writing of the article "Literary Dreams. Elegy in Prose. " At that time, he was convinced that there was no literature, in the sense in which Belinsky understood it, in Russia. It is with this statement that his success begins in the literary and critical field.

Quotes from Belinsky's literary and critical articles:

We do not have literature, I repeat this with enthusiasm, with pleasure, because in this truth I see the key to our future successes ... Take a good look at the course of our society, and you will agree that I am right. See how the new generation, disappointed in the genius and immortality of our literary works, instead of publishing unripe creations, eagerly indulges in the study of sciences and draws the living water of enlightenment from the source itself. Apparently, the age of childishness is passing — and God forbid that it pass soon. But even more, God forbid, so that as soon as possible everyone would lose faith in our literary wealth. Noble poverty is better than dreamy wealth! The time will come, enlightenment will spread in Russia in a wide stream, the mental physiognomy of the people will be revealed, and then our artists and writers will stamp the Russian spirit on all their works. But now we need learning! learning! learning! ...

The grace of form justifies the fidelity of the idea, and the fidelity of the idea contributes to the grace of the form.

If so far mankind has achieved a lot, it means that it should achieve even more in the near future. It has already begun to realize that it is humanity: it will soon want to really become humanity.

The second stage was a spiritual crisis, which the critic was experiencing in the late 30s. Hegel’s philosophy, which the critic was thoroughly carried away and fully shared her idea, largely influenced this. It was through her perception that he embarked on the path of "reconciliation with reality," which he had rejected in every way before.

The third stage began with Belinsky moving to St. Petersburg. The older the critic became, the more his views on religion and the worldview as a whole changed. He practically became an atheist, for "in the words God and religion I see darkness, darkness, chains and a whip." His ideals are changing somewhat, now it becomes the main thing for him to show creatively in literature the real side of life.

Belinsky's quotes about "Hero of our time"

The appearance of Mikhail Lermontov in Russian literature could not but make a positive impression on Vissarion Belinsky.

A new bright star has risen on the horizon of our poetry and immediately turned out to be a star of the first magnitude. We are talking about Lermontov ...

In particular, Bellinsky is affected by his famous work “The Hero of Our Time”, in which the author reveals important topics for the critic - a description of the real life of society and the appearance of the “hero of the time” in the image that Belinsky imagined, with its advantages and disadvantages.

We must demand from art that it shows us reality as it is, for whatever it is, this reality will tell us more, teach us more than all the fictions and teachings of moralists ...

The originality and true craftsmanship of the writer helped him create one of the most famous works of Russian classical literature. The critic praised Lermontov’s novel very positively. He called it the "sad thought of our time."

Pechorin

In his judgments about the main character of the “Hero of our time”, Pechorin, Belinsky compares him to the equally famous Pushkin hero Eugene Onegin. He compares these two personalities with each other. And although these two novels are riddled with one idea - to show the true prose of life, their characters are radically different from each other. It is Pechorina that the critic considers to be the real "hero of our time." Belinsky, although he criticizes the protagonist for his unpleasant actions, he nevertheless sees in him a man who, in his image, personifies the problems of the current society at that time. Although these problems remain relevant to this day. Pechorin understands his problem, tries to find a solution to it, struggles with his demons. He does not want to accept life as it is, like everyone else. It had a lot of strength, energy and skills, which he wasted in vain, in every possible way trying to find them to use. For this, Belinsky praised Pechorin, unlike other critics.

Belinsky's quotes about Pechorin:

His restless spirit requires movement, activity seeks food, the heart longs for interest in life. In this man there is strength of mind and power of will.

So - “Hero of our time” - this is the main idea of ​​the novel. In fact, after this, the whole novel may be considered an evil irony, because most readers will probably exclaim: “A good hero!” “But why is he stupid?” - we dare to ask you.

All that he could, he did, there was nothing new. This led Pechorin to a split personality, which cannot be denied.

In fact, there are two people in it: the first acts, the second looks at the actions of the first and discusses them, or, rather, condemns them, because they are truly worthy of condemnation. The reasons for the split nature - the contradiction between the depth of nature and the pitiful actions of the same person.

Aphorisms of Vissarion Belinsky

Belinsky was not only a master of critical literary words, but a lot of aphorisms came out from under his pen that quickly went to the people. Capacious, sonorous, informative expressions fell in love with his readers. Belinsky is quoted, both future and current experts on criticism refer to his work. He was endowed with a sharp mind and the ability to clearly and clearly state his thoughts, therefore it is not surprising that many phrases from his works became aphorisms. We single out a few of their large numbers.

All dignity, all strength are calm - precisely because they are confident in themselves.

Fighting is a condition of life: life dies when the struggle ends.

Many people live not living, but only going to live.

A measure of the dignity of a woman can be the man she loves.

Reason is given to man so that he lives reasonably, and not just so that he sees that he lives unreasonably.

Who does not go forward, he goes back: there is no standing position.

Belinsky's follower

Many at that time, future critics and publicists influenced Belinsky. One of them was Nikolai Dobrolyubov, a literary critic and underground revolutionary. He continued the work started by Belinsky. Over his short life, Dobrolyubov wrote a large number of critical articles that touched on various social, spiritual, moral topics of society. Yaro opposed serfdom and everything connected with it. He was committed to the equality of all people. In his works, he also criticized the Russian education system, which suppressed its "I" in children. He criticized literature and textbooks for children, which published a large number of deliberately false materials. The critic believed that it was impossible to properly educate "the personal independence of the child and the spiritual forces of his nature." The quotations of Belinsky and Dobrolyubov are similar in their ideological and zeal to change Russian literature, in particular, its critical field, for the better.