Manifesto of Russian Symbolists Russian Symbolists summary. Manifestos of Russian Futurists. Literary manifestos of socialist realism

Symbolism in Russia was the most significant after French and was based on the same prerequisites as Western symbolism: a crisis of a positive worldview and morality, a heightened religious feeling.

Russian symbolism absorbed two streams. The first stream - "senior symbolists" (I. Annensky, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, N. Minsky, F. Sologub (F. Teternikov). The second stream - "young symbolists" (A. Bely (B. Bugaev), A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, S. Solovyov, Ellis (L. Kobylinskiy) M. Voloshin, M. Kuzmin, A. Dobrolyubov, I. Konevskoy were close to the Symbolists.

By the early 1900s, symbolism in Russia had reached its peak and had a powerful publishing base. The Symbolists were in charge of the following publishing houses and magazines: the scales magazine (published since 1903 with the support of entrepreneur S. Polyakov), the Scorpio publishing house, the Golden Fleece magazine (published from 1905 to 1910 with the support of patron N. Ryabushinsky), the publishing house " Ory (1907–1910), Musaget (1910–1920), Vulture (1903–1913), Sirin (1913–1914), Rosehip (1906–1917, founded by L. Andreev), magazine "Apollo" (1909-1917, editor and founder S. Makovsky).

1. forerunners of Russian symbolism. symbolism manifestos in russia

The generally recognized forerunners of Russian symbolism are F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, Vl. Soloviev. Vyach. Ivanov called F. Tyutchev the founder of the symbolist method in Russian poetry. V. Bryusov spoke about Tyutchev as the founder of the poetry of nuances. The famous line from Tyutchev's poem Silentium (Silence) "A thought uttered is a lie" became the slogan of the Russian Symbolists. The poet of the night knowledge of the soul, the abyss and chaos, Tyutchev turned out to be close to Russian symbolism in his striving for the irrational, inexpressible, unconscious. Tyutchev, who pointed out the path of music and nuance, symbol and dream, took Russian poetry away, according to researchers, "away from Pushkin." But it was precisely this path that was close to many Russian symbolists.

A. Fet, who was another predecessor of the Symbolists, died in the year of the formation of Russian Symbolism (in 1892, D. Merezhkovsky gave a lecture “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature”, V. Bryusov prepared the collection “Russian Symbolists”). A. Fet, like F. Tyutchev, spoke about the inexpressibility, “ineffability” of human thoughts and feelings, Fet’s dream was “poetry without words” (A. Blok rushes to the “ineffable” after Fet, Blok’s favorite word is “ineffably” ). I. Turgenev was waiting for Fet to write a poem, the last stanzas in which would be conveyed by the silent movement of his lips. Fet's poetry is unaccountable, it is built on an associative, "romantic" basis. Therefore, it is not surprising that Fet is one of the favorite poets of Russian modernists. A. Fet did not agree with the idea of ​​the utilitarian nature of art, limiting his poetry only to the sphere of beauty, which earned him the reputation of a "reactionary poet". This "emptiness" became the basis of the symbolist cult of "pure creativity". Symbolists have mastered the musicality, associativity of Fet's lyrics, its suggestive nature: the poet should not portray, but inspire mood, not "convey" the image, but "open the gap to eternity" (S. Mallarmé also wrote about this). K. Balmont studied with Fet to master the music of the word, and A. Blok found subconscious revelations, mystical ecstasy in Fet's lyrics.

The content of Russian symbolism (especially the younger generation of symbolists) was noticeably influenced by the philosophy of Vl. Solovyov. As Vyach. Ivanov put it in a letter to A. Blok: "We are mysteriously baptized by Solovyov." The source of inspiration for the symbolists was the image of Hagia Sophia, sung by Solovyov. Saint Sophia Solovieva is both Old Testament wisdom and the Platonic idea of ​​wisdom, Eternal Femininity and the World Soul, the "Virgin of the Rainbow Gates" and the Immaculate Wife - a subtle invisible spiritual principle that permeates the world. The cult of Sophia was received with great trepidation by A. Blok and A. Bely. A. Blok called Sophia the Beautiful Lady, M. Voloshin saw her incarnation in the legendary Queen Taiah. The pseudonym of A. Bely (B. Bugaev) assumed the initiation of the Eternal Femininity. The “Young Symbolists” were consonant with Solovyov's lack of accountability, the appeal to the invisible, “ineffable” as the true source of being. Solovyov's poem Dear Friend was perceived as the motto of the "Young Symbolists", as a set of their idealistic moods:

Dear friend, can't you see

That everything we see

Only reflections, only shadows

From invisible eyes?

Dear friend, don't you hear

That the noise of life is crackling -

Just a garbled response.

Triumphant harmonies?

Having no direct influence on the ideological and figurative world of the "senior symbolists", Solovyov's philosophy, in spite of everything, in many of its provisions coincided with their religious and philosophical ideas. After the founding of the Religious-Philosophical Assemblies in 1901, Z. Gippius was struck by the commonality of thoughts in an attempt to reconcile Christianity and culture. A premonition of the "end of the world", which is of an alarming nature, a premonition of an unprecedented upheaval in history, was contained in Solovyov's work "The Tale of the Antichrist", which immediately after publication was met with incredulous ridicule. Among the Symbolists, The Tale of the Antichrist evoked a sympathetic response and was understood as a revelation.

As a literary trend, Russian symbolism took shape in 1892, when D. Merezhkovsky published the collection "Symbols" and wrote a lecture "On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Literature." In 1893, V. Bryusov and A. Mitropolsky (Lang) prepared the collection "Russian Symbolists", in which V. Bryusov spoke on behalf of a direction that did not yet exist in Russia - symbolism. Such a hoax corresponded to Bryusov's creative ambitions to become not just an outstanding poet, but the founder of an entire literary school. Bryusov saw his task as a "leader" in "creating poetry that is alien to life, embodying constructions that life cannot give." Life is only "material", a slow and sluggish process of existence, which the symbolist poet must translate into "trembling without end." Everything in life is just a means for brightly melodious verses, - Bryusov formulated the principle of self-profound poetry, rising above the simple earthly existence. Bryusov became a master, a teacher who led a new movement. D. Merezhkovsky advanced to the role of the ideologist of the "senior symbolists".

D. Merezhkovsky described his theory in the report, and then in the book “On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature”. “Wherever we go, no matter how we hide behind the dam of scientific criticism, with all our being we feel the proximity of the mystery, the proximity of the Ocean,” wrote Merezhkovsky. Reflections on the collapse of rationalism and faith, the two pillars of European civilization, which are common to symbolist theorists, Merezhkovsky supplemented with judgments about the decline of modern literature, which abandoned the “ancient, eternal, never-dying idealism” and gave preference to Zola’s naturalism. Literature can only be revived by a rush to the unknown, the beyond, to "shrines that do not exist." Giving an assessment of the objective nature of the state of affairs in the field of literature in Russia and Europe, Merezhkovsky named the prerequisites for the victory of new literary trends: the thematic "wear and tear" of realistic literature, its deviation from the "ideal", inconsistency with the worldview. The symbol, as Merezhkovsky interpreted it, pours out from the depths of the artist's spirit. At the same time, Merezhkovsky identified three most important elements of the new art: mystical content, symbols, and the expansion of artistic impressionability.

The difference between realistic and symbolic art was emphasized in the article by K. Balmont "Elementary words about symbolic poetry". Realism is becoming obsolete, the consciousness of realists does not go beyond the framework of earthly life, "realists are caught, like a surf, by concrete life", while in art the need for more refined ways of expressing feelings and thoughts becomes more and more tangible. This need is met by the poetry of the Symbolists. Balmont's article outlined the main features of symbolic poetry: a special language rich in intonations, the ability to excite a complex mood in the soul. “Symbolism is a powerful force, striving to guess new combinations of thoughts, colors and sounds, and often guessing them with particular persuasiveness,” Balmont insisted. Unlike Merezhkovsky, Balmont saw in symbolic poetry not an introduction to the "depths of the spirit", but "announcement of the elements." The installation of involvement in the Eternal Chaos, "spontaneity" gave in Russian poetry the "Dionysian type" of lyrics, glorifying the "boundless" personality, self-lawful individuality, the need to live in the "theater of burning improvisations". A similar position was recorded in the titles of Balmont's collections In the vastness, We will be like the sun. “Dionysianism” was also paid tribute to by A. Blok, who sang a whirlwind of “free elements”, whirling passions (Snow Mask, Twelve).

Symbolism For V. Bryusov has become a way to comprehend reality - the "key of secrets." In his article “Keys of Secrets” (1903), V. Bryusov wrote: “Art is the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways. Art is what we in other fields call revelation.”

The content of the article

SYMBOLISM(from French symbolisme, from Greek symbolon - a sign, an identifying sign) - an aesthetic movement that was formed in France in 1880–1890 and became widespread in literature, painting, music, architecture and theater in many European countries at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries . Symbolism was of great importance in Russian art of the same period, which acquired the definition of "Silver Age" in art history.

Western European symbolism.

Symbol and artistic image.

As an artistic trend, symbolism publicly announced itself in France, when a group of young poets, who in 1886 rallied around S. Mallarme, realized the unity of artistic aspirations. The group included: J. Moreas, R. Gil, Henri de Regno, S. Merrill and others. In the 1990s, P. Valery, A. Gide, P. Claudel joined the poets of the Mallarme group. The design of symbolism in the literary direction was greatly facilitated by P. Verlaine, who published his symbolist poems and a series of essays in the newspapers Paris Modern and La Nouvelle Rive Gauche Damned poets, as well as J.K. Huysmans, who spoke with the novel Vice versa. In 1886, J. Moreas placed in "Figaro" Manifesto symbolism, in which he formulated the basic principles of the direction, based on the judgments of Ch. Baudelaire, S. Mallarmé, P. Verlaine, Ch. Henri. Two years after the publication of the manifesto by J. Moreas, A. Bergson published his first book On the Immediate Data of Consciousness, in which the philosophy of intuitionism was declared, which in its basic principles has something in common with the worldview of the symbolists and gives it additional justification.

IN Symbolist Manifesto J. Moreas determined the nature of the symbol, which replaced the traditional artistic image and became the main material of symbolist poetry. “Symbolist poetry is looking for a way to clothe the idea in a sensual form that would not be self-sufficient, but at the same time, serving the expression of the Idea, would retain its individuality,” Moréas wrote. A similar “sensual form” in which the Idea is clothed is a symbol.

The fundamental difference between a symbol and an artistic image is its ambiguity. The symbol cannot be deciphered by the efforts of the mind: at the last depth it is dark and not accessible to the final interpretation. On Russian soil, this feature of the symbol was successfully defined by F. Sologub: "The symbol is a window to infinity." The movement and play of semantic shades create indecipherability, the mystery of the symbol. If the image expresses a single phenomenon, then the symbol is fraught with a whole range of meanings - sometimes opposite, multidirectional (for example, "the miracle and the monster" in the image of Peter in Merezhkovsky's novel Peter and Alex). The poet and theorist of symbolism Vyach. Ivanov expressed the idea that the symbol signifies not one, but different entities, A. Bely defined the symbol as "combining the heterogeneous together." The duality of the symbol goes back to the romantic notion of two worlds, the interpenetration of two planes of being.

The multi-layered nature of the symbol, its open polysemy was based on mythological, religious, philosophical and aesthetic ideas about super-reality, incomprehensible in its essence. The theory and practice of symbolism were closely associated with the idealistic philosophy of I. Kant, A. Schopenhauer, F. Schelling, as well as F. Nietzsche's reflections on the superman, being "beyond good and evil." At its core, symbolism merged with the Platonic and Christian concepts of the world, having adopted romantic traditions and new trends. Not realizing the continuation of any particular direction in art, symbolism carried in itself genetic code Romanticism: Symbolism is rooted in a romantic commitment to a higher principle, an ideal world. “Pictures of nature, human actions, all the phenomena of our life are significant for the art of symbols not in themselves, but only as intangible reflections of the original ideas, indicating their secret affinity with them,” wrote J. Moreas. Hence the new tasks of art, previously assigned to science and philosophy - to approach the essence of the “most real” by creating a symbolic picture of the world, to forge the “keys of secrets”. It is the symbol, and not the exact sciences, that will allow a person to break through to the ideal essence of the world, to pass, according to Vyach. Ivanov's definition, "from the real to the real." A special role in the comprehension of superreality was assigned to poets as carriers of intuitive revelations and poetry as the fruit of superintelligent intuitions.

The formation of symbolism in France - the country in which the symbolist movement originated and flourished - is associated with the names of the largest French poets: C. Baudelaire, S. Mallarmé, P. Verlaine, A. Rimbaud. The forerunner of symbolism in France is Ch. Baudelaire, who published a book in 1857 The flowers of Evil. In search of ways to the "ineffable", many symbolists took up Baudelaire's idea of ​​"correspondences" between colors, smells and sounds. The proximity of various experiences should, according to the symbolists, be expressed in a symbol. Baudelaire's sonnet became the motto of symbolist quest Correspondence with the famous phrase: Sound, smell, shape, color echo. Baudelaire's theory was later illustrated by A. Rimbaud's sonnet Vowels:

« A» black White« E» , « AND» red,« At» green,

« ABOUT» blue - the colors of a bizarre mystery ...

The search for correspondences is at the heart of the symbolist principle of synthesis, the unification of arts. The motifs of the interpenetration of love and death, genius and illness, the tragic gap between appearance and essence, contained in Baudelaire's book, became dominant in the poetry of the Symbolists.

S. Mallarme, “the last romantic and the first decadent”, insisted on the need to “inspire images”, convey not things, but your impressions of them: “To name an object means to destroy three-quarters of the pleasure of a poem, which is created for gradual guessing, to inspire it - that's the dream." Mallarme's poem Luck will never abolish chance consisted of a single phrase typed in a different script without punctuation marks. This text, according to the author's intention, made it possible to reproduce the trajectory of thought and accurately recreate the "state of the soul."

P. Verlaine in a famous poem poetic art defined the adherence to musicality as the main sign of genuine poetic creativity: "Musicality is first of all." In Verlaine's view, poetry, like music, strives for a mediumistic, non-verbal reproduction of reality. So in the 1870s, Verlaine created a cycle of poems called Songs without words. Like a musician, the symbolist poet rushes towards the elemental flow of the beyond, the energy of sounds. If the poetry of C. Baudelaire inspired the symbolists with a deep longing for harmony in a tragically divided world, then the poetry of Verlaine amazed with its musicality, elusive experiences. Following Verlaine, the idea of ​​music was used by many symbolists to denote creative mystery.

In the poetry of the brilliant young man A. Rimbaud, who first used vers libre (free verse), the symbolists adopted the idea of ​​abandoning “eloquence”, finding a crossing point between poetry and prose. Invading any, the most non-poetic spheres of life, Rimbaud achieved the effect of "natural supernaturalness" in the depiction of reality.

Symbolism in France also manifested itself in painting (G. Moreau, O. Rodin, O. Redon, M. Denis, Puvis de Chavannes, L. Levy-Durmer), music (Debussy, Ravel), theater (Poet Theater, Mixed Theater, Petit theater du Marionette), but the main element of symbolist thinking has always been lyricism. It was the French poets who formulated and embodied the main precepts of the new movement: the mastery of the creative secret through music, the deep correspondence of various sensations, the ultimate price of the creative act, the orientation towards a new intuitive-creative way of knowing reality, the transmission of elusive experiences. Among the forerunners of French symbolism, all the major lyricists from Dante and F. Villon to E. Poe and T. Gauthier were recognized.

Belgian symbolism is represented by the figure of the largest playwright, poet, essayist M. Maeterlinck, famous for his plays Blue bird, Blind,Miracle of Saint Anthony, There inside. Already the first poetry collection of Maeterlinck Greenhouses was full of vague allusions, symbols, the characters existed in the semi-fantastic setting of a glass greenhouse. According to N. Berdyaev, Maeterlinck portrayed "the eternal tragic beginning of life, cleansed of all impurities." Maeterlinck's plays were perceived by most contemporaries as puzzles that needed to be solved. M. Maeterlinck defined the principles of his work in the articles collected in the treatise Treasure of the Humble(1896). The treatise is based on the idea that life is a mystery in which a person plays a role that is inaccessible to his mind, but understandable to his inner feeling. Maeterlinck considered the main task of the playwright to be the transfer of not an action, but a state. IN Treasure of the Humble Maeterlinck put forward the principle of “second plan” dialogues: behind an apparently random dialogue, the meaning of words that initially seem insignificant is revealed. The movement of such hidden meanings made it possible to play with numerous paradoxes (the miraculousness of everyday life, the sight of the blind and the blindness of the sighted, the madness of the normal, etc.), to plunge into the world of subtle moods.

One of the most influential figures of European symbolism was the Norwegian writer and playwright G. Ibsen. His plays Peer Gynt,Hedda Gabler,Dollhouse,Wild duck combined the concrete and the abstract. “Symbolism is a form of art that simultaneously satisfies our desire to see embodied reality and rise above it,” Ibsen defined. – Reality has a flip side, facts have a hidden meaning: they are the material embodiment of ideas, an idea is presented through a fact. Reality is a sensual image, a symbol of the invisible world. Ibsen distinguished between his art and french version symbolism: his dramas were built on "the idealization of matter, the transformation of the real", and not on the search for the beyond, otherworldly. Ibsen gave a specific image, a fact a symbolic sound, raised it to the level of a mystical sign.

In English literature, symbolism is represented by the figure of O. Wilde. The craving for outrageous bourgeois audiences, love for paradox and aphorism, the life-creating concept of art (“art does not reflect life, but creates it”), hedonism, the frequent use of fantastic, fairy-tale plots, and later “neo-Christianity” (perception of Christ as an artist) allow attribute O. Wilde to the writers of the symbolist orientation.

Symbolism gave a powerful branch in Ireland: one of the greatest poets In the 20th century, the Irishman W.B. Yeats considered himself a Symbolist. His poetry, full of rare complexity and richness, was fed by Irish legends and myths, theosophy and mysticism. A symbol, Yeats explains, is “the only possible expression of some invisible entity, the frosted glass of a spiritual lamp.”

Prerequisites for the emergence of symbolism.

The prerequisites for the emergence of symbolism are in the crisis that struck Europe in the second half of the 19th century. The reassessment of the values ​​of the recent past was expressed in a revolt against narrow materialism and naturalism, in a great freedom of religious and philosophical searches. Symbolism was one of the forms of overcoming positivism and a reaction to the "decline of faith." "Matter has disappeared", "God is dead" - two postulates inscribed on the tablets of symbolism. The system of Christian values ​​on which European civilization rested was shaken, but the new "God" - faith in reason, in science - turned out to be unreliable. The loss of landmarks gave rise to a feeling of the absence of supports, the soil that had gone from under their feet. The plays of G. Ibsen, M. Maeterlinck, A. Strinberg, the poetry of the French symbolists created an atmosphere of unsteadiness, changeability, and relativity. The Art Nouveau style in architecture and painting melted the usual forms (creations of the Spanish architect A. Gaudi), as if dissolving the outlines of objects in the air or fog (paintings by M. Denis, V. Borisov-Musatov), ​​gravitated towards a wriggling, curved line.

At the end of the 19th century Europe has achieved unprecedented technological progress, science has given man power over environment and continued to develop at a gigantic pace. However, it turned out that the scientific picture of the world does not compensate for the public consciousness emptiness, reveals its unreliability. The limited, superficial nature of positivist ideas about the world was confirmed by a number of discoveries in the natural sciences, mainly in the field of physics and mathematics. The discovery of X-rays, radiation, the invention of wireless communication, and a little later the creation of quantum theory and the theory of relativity shook the materialistic doctrine, shook faith in the absoluteness of the laws of mechanics. The previously identified “unambiguous regularities” were subjected to a significant revision: the world turned out to be not only unknowable, but also unknowable. The awareness of the fallacy and incompleteness of the previous knowledge led to the search for new ways of comprehending reality. One of these paths - the path of creative revelation - was proposed by the symbolists, according to whom the symbol is unity and, therefore, provides a holistic view of reality. The scientific worldview was built on the sum of errors - creative knowledge can stick to a pure source of superintelligent insights.

The appearance of symbolism was also a reaction to the crisis of religion. “God is dead,” proclaimed F. Nietzsche, thereby expressing the general feeling for the frontier era of the exhaustion of the traditional dogma. Symbolism is revealed as a new type of God-seeking: religious and philosophical questions, the question of the superman - i.e. about a man who challenged his limited opportunities, standing on a par with God, is at the center of the works of many symbolist writers (G. Ibsen, D. Merezhkovsky, etc.). The turn of the century became the time of the search for absolute values, the deepest religious impressionability. Based on these experiences, the Symbolist movement attached paramount importance to the restoration of ties with the other world, which was expressed in the frequent appeal of the symbolists to the "secrets of the coffin", in the increasing role of the imaginary, the fantastic, in the fascination with mysticism, pagan cults, theosophy, occultism, magic. Symbolist aesthetics was embodied in the most unexpected forms, delving into an imaginary, transcendental world, into areas previously unexplored - sleep and death, esoteric revelations, the world of eros and magic, altered states of consciousness and vice. Myths and plots, marked by the seal of unnatural passions, disastrous charm, extreme sensuality, madness, had a special attraction for the Symbolists ( Salome O. Wilde, Fire Angel V. Bryusova, the image of Ophelia in Blok's poetry), hybrid images (a centaur, a mermaid, a snake woman), indicating the possibility of existence in two worlds.

Symbolism was also closely connected with the eschatological forebodings that seized the man of the borderline era. The expectation of the "end of the world", "the decline of Europe", the death of civilization exacerbated metaphysical moods, made spirit triumph over matter.

Russian symbolism and its forerunners.

Russian symbolism, the most significant after French, was based on the same prerequisites as Western symbolism: a crisis of a positive worldview and morality, a heightened religious feeling.

Symbolism in Russia absorbed two streams - “senior symbolists” (I. Annensky, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, N. Minsky, F. Sologub (F. Teternikov) and “young symbolists » (A. Bely (B. Bugaev), A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, S. Solovyov, Ellis (L. Kobylinskiy). M. Voloshin, M. Kuzmin, A. Dobrolyubov, I. Konevskaya were close to the Symbolists.

By the early 1900s, Russian symbolism had flourished and had a powerful publishing base. In the introduction of the Symbolists were: the magazine "Balance" (out. Since 1903 with the support of the entrepreneur S. Polyakov), the publishing house "Scorpio" , magazine "Golden Fleece" (published from 1905 to 1910 with the support of patron N. Ryabushinsky), publishing house "Ory" (1907-1910), "Musaget" (1910-1920), « Vulture (1903–1913), Sirin (1913–1914), Rosehip (1906–1917, founded by L. Andreev), Apollon magazine (1909–1917, editor and founder S. Makovsky).

The generally recognized forerunners of Russian symbolism are F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, Vl. Soloviev. Vyach. Ivanov called F. Tyutchev the founder of the symbolist method in Russian poetry. V. Bryusov spoke about Tyutchev as the founder of the poetry of nuances. The famous line from Tyutchev's poem Silentium (Silence) Thought spoken is a lie became the slogan of the Russian symbolists. The poet of the night knowledge of the soul, the abyss and chaos, Tyutchev turned out to be close to Russian symbolism in his striving for the irrational, inexpressible, unconscious. Tyutchev, who pointed out the path of music and nuance, symbol and dream, took Russian poetry away, according to researchers, "away from Pushkin." But it was precisely this path that was close to many Russian symbolists.

Another predecessor of the symbolists is A. Fet, who died in the year of the formation of Russian symbolism (in 1892 D. Merezhkovsky gave a lecture About the reasons decline and new trends in modern Russian literature, V. Bryusov is preparing a collection Russian Symbolists). Like F. Tyutchev, A. Fet spoke about the inexpressibility, “ineffability” of human thoughts and feelings, Fet’s dream was “poetry without words” (A. Blok rushes to the “ineffable” after Fet, Blok’s favorite word is “inexpressibly”) . I. Turgenev expected a poem from Fet, in which the last stanzas would be conveyed by the silent movement of the lips. Fet's poetry is unaccountable, it is built on an associative, "romantic" basis. Not surprisingly, Fet is one of the favorite poets of Russian modernists. Fet rejected the idea of ​​the utilitarian nature of art, limiting his poetry only to the sphere of beauty, which earned him the reputation of a "reactionary poet." This "emptiness" formed the basis of the symbolist cult of "pure creativity". Symbolists have mastered the musicality, associativity of Fet's lyrics, its suggestive nature: the poet should not portray, but inspire mood, not "convey" the image, but "open the gap to eternity" (S. Mallarmé also wrote about this). K. Balmont studied with Fet to master the music of the word, and A. Blok found subconscious revelations, mystical ecstasy in Fet's lyrics.

The content of Russian symbolism (especially the younger generation of symbolists) was noticeably influenced by the philosophy of Vl. Solovyov. As Vyach. Ivanov put it in a letter to A. Blok: "We are mysteriously baptized by Solovyov." The source of inspiration for the symbolists was the image of Hagia Sophia, sung by Solovyov. Saint Sophia Solovieva is both Old Testament wisdom and the Platonic idea of ​​wisdom, Eternal Femininity and the World Soul, the "Virgin of the Rainbow Gates" and the Immaculate Wife - a subtle invisible spiritual principle that permeates the world. The cult of Sophia was received with great trepidation by A. Blok and A. Bely. A. Blok called Sophia the Beautiful Lady, M. Voloshin saw her incarnation in the legendary Queen Taiah. The pseudonym of A. Bely (B. Bugaev) assumed the initiation of the Eternal Femininity. The “Young Symbolists” were consonant with Solovyov's lack of accountability, the appeal to the invisible, “ineffable” as the true source of being. Solovyov's poem Dear friend was perceived as the motto of the "Young Symbolists", as a set of their idealistic moods:

Dear friend, can't you see

That everything we see

Only reflections, only shadows

From invisible eyes?

Dear friend, don't you hear

That the noise of life is crackling -

Just a garbled response.

Triumphant harmonies?

Without directly affecting the ideological and figurative world of the "senior symbolists", Solovyov's philosophy, nevertheless, in many of its provisions coincided with their religious and philosophical ideas. After the establishment of the Religious-Philosophical Assemblies in 1901, Z. Gippius was struck by the commonality of thoughts in her attempts to reconcile Christianity and culture. An alarming premonition of the “end of the world”, an unprecedented upheaval in history, was contained in the work of Solovyov The Story of the Antichrist, immediately after the publication was met with incredulous ridicule. Among the Symbolists The Story of the Antichrist evoked a sympathetic response and was understood as a revelation.

Manifestos of symbolism in Russia.

As a literary trend, Russian symbolism took shape in 1892, when D. Merezhkovsky released a collection Symbols and write a lecture About the reasons for the decline and new trends in modern literature. In 1893 V. Bryusov and A. Mitropolsky (Lang) prepared a collection Russian Symbolists, in which V. Bryusov speaks on behalf of a direction that does not yet exist in Russia - symbolism. Such a hoax corresponded to Bryusov's creative ambitions to become not just an outstanding poet, but the founder of an entire literary school. Bryusov saw his task as a "leader" in "creating poetry that is alien to life, embodying constructions that life cannot give." Life is only "material", a slow and sluggish process of existence, which the symbolist poet must translate into "trembling without end." Everything in life is just a means for brightly melodious verses, - Bryusov formulated the principle of self-profound, towering above the simple earthly existence of poetry. Bryusov became a master, a teacher who led a new movement. D. Merezhkovsky came forward to the role of the ideologist of the "senior symbolists".

D. Merezhkovsky outlined his theory in a report, and then in a book About the reasons decline and new trends of modern Russian literature. “Wherever we go, no matter how we hide behind the dam of scientific criticism, with all our being we feel the proximity of the mystery, the proximity of the Ocean,” wrote Merezhkovsky. Reflections on the collapse of rationalism and faith, the two pillars of European civilization, common to symbolist theorists, were supplemented by Merezhkovsky with judgments about the decline of modern literature, which abandoned the “ancient, eternal, never-dying idealism” and gave preference to Zola’s naturalism. Literature can only be revived by a rush to the unknown, the beyond, to "shrines that do not exist." Giving an objective assessment of the state of literary affairs in Russia and Europe, Merezhkovsky named the prerequisites for the victory of new literary movements: the thematic "wear and tear" of realistic literature, its deviation from the "ideal", inconsistency with the worldview of the world. The symbol, in the interpretation of Merezhkovsky, pours out from the depths of the artist's spirit. Here, Merezhkovsky identified three main elements of the new art: mystical content, symbols, and the expansion of artistic impressionability.

The difference between realistic and symbolic art was emphasized in an article by K. Balmont Elementary Words on Symbolic Poetry. Realism is becoming obsolete, the consciousness of realists does not go beyond the framework of earthly life, "realists are caught, like a surf, by concrete life", while in art the need for more refined ways of expressing feelings and thoughts becomes more and more tangible. This need is met by the poetry of the Symbolists. Balmont's article outlined the main features of symbolic poetry: a special language rich in intonations, the ability to excite a complex mood in the soul. “Symbolism is a powerful force, striving to guess new combinations of thoughts, colors and sounds, and often guessing them with particular persuasiveness,” Balmont insisted. Unlike Merezhkovsky, Balmont saw in symbolic poetry not an introduction to the "depths of the spirit", but "announcement of the elements." The installation of involvement in the Eternal Chaos, "spontaneity" gave in Russian poetry the "Dionysian type" of lyrics, glorifying the "boundless" personality, self-lawful individuality, the need to live in the "theater of burning improvisations". A similar position was recorded in the titles of Balmont's collections. In the vastness,We will be like the sun.“Dionysianism” was also paid tribute to by A. Blok, who sang a whirlwind of “free elements”, whirling passions ( snow mask,Twelve).

For V. Bryusov, symbolism has become a way to comprehend reality - the "key of secrets." In the article Keys of secrets(1903) he wrote: “Art is the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways. Art is what we in other fields call revelation.”

The main aspects of the new trend were formulated in the manifestos of the “senior symbolists”: the priority of spiritual idealistic values ​​(D. Merezhkovsky), the mediumistic, “spontaneous” nature of creativity (K. Balmont), art as the most reliable form of knowledge (V. Bryusov). In accordance with these provisions, the development of the work of representatives of the older generation of symbolists in Russia proceeded.

"Senior Symbolists".

The symbolism of D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius was emphatically religious in nature, developed in line with the neoclassical tradition. The best poems of Merezhkovsky, included in the collections Symbols,Eternal companions, were built on "ugliness" with other people's ideas, were dedicated to the culture of bygone eras, gave a subjective reassessment of world classics. In Merezhkovsky's prose, based on large-scale cultural and historical material (the history of antiquity, the Renaissance, Russian history, the religious thought of antiquity), there is a search for the spiritual foundations of being, ideas that drive history. In the camp of Russian symbolists, Merezhkovsky represented the idea of ​​neo-Christianity, he was looking for a new Christ (not so much for the people, but for the intelligentsia) - "Jesus the Unknown".

In the "electric", according to I. Bunin, Z. Gippius' verses, in her prose, there is an inclination towards philosophical and religious issues, God-seeking. The severity of form, accuracy, movement towards classic expression, combined with religious and metaphysical sharpness, distinguished Gippius and Merezhkovsky among the “senior symbolists”. In their work, there are also many formal achievements of symbolism: mood music, freedom of colloquial intonations, the use of new poetic sizes(For example, dolnik).

If D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius conceived of symbolism as the construction of an artistic and religious culture, then V. Bryusov, the founder of the symbolic movement in Russia, dreamed of creating a comprehensive artistic system, a “synthesis” of all directions. Hence the historicism and rationalism of Bryusov's poetry, the dream of the "Pantheon, the temple of all gods." The symbol, in the view of Bryusov, is a universal category that allows you to generalize all the truths that have ever existed, ideas about the world. V. Bryusov gave a compressed program of symbolism, "covenants" of the current in a poem To the young poet:

A pale young man with burning eyes,

Now I give you three covenants:

First accept: do not live in the present,

Only the future is the realm of the poet.

Remember the second: do not sympathize with anyone,

Love yourself endlessly.

Keep the third: worship art,

Only to him, undividedly, aimlessly.

The affirmation of creativity as the goal of life, the glorification of the creative personality, the aspiration from the gray everyday life of the present to the bright world of the imaginary future, dreams and fantasies - these are the postulates of symbolism in the interpretation of Bryusov. Another, scandalous poem by Bryusov Creation expressed the idea of ​​intuitiveness, unaccountability of creative impulses.

From the work of D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, V. Bryusov, the neo-romanticism of K. Balmont differed significantly. In the lyrics of K. Balmont , the singer of the vastness, - the romantic pathos of elevation above everyday life, a look at poetry as life-creation. The main thing for Balmont-symbolist was the glorification of the limitless possibilities of creative individuality, the frantic search for means of its self-expression. The admiration of the transformed, titanic personality was reflected in the attitude towards the intensity of life sensations, the expansion of emotional imagery, and the impressive geographical and temporal scope.

F. Sologub continued the line of research of the “mysterious connection” of the human soul with the disastrous beginning, begun in Russian literature by F. Dostoevsky, developed a general symbolist orientation towards understanding human nature as irrational nature. One of the main symbols in Sologub's poetry and prose was the "unsteady swing" of human states, the "heavy sleep" of consciousness, and unpredictable "transformations". Sologub's interest in the unconscious, his deepening into the secrets of mental life gave rise to the mythological imagery of his prose: so the heroine of the novel petty imp Varvara - a "centaur" with a nymph's body in flea bites and an ugly face, the three Rutilov sisters in the same novel - three moira, three graces, three charites, three Chekhov sisters. Comprehension of the dark beginnings of spiritual life, neo-mythologism are the main signs of the symbolist manner of Sologub.

A huge influence on Russian poetry of the twentieth century. rendered the psychological symbolism of I. Annensky, whose collections Quiet songs And Cypress Casket appeared at a time of crisis, the decline of the symbolist movement. In Annensky's poetry there is a colossal impulse to update not only the poetry of symbolism, but also the entire Russian lyrics - from A. Akhmatova to G. Adamovich. Annensky's symbolism was based on the "exposure effects", on complex and, at the same time, very substantive, material associations, which allows us to see in Annensky the forerunner of acmeism. “A symbolist poet,” wrote the editor of the Apollo magazine, poet and critic S. Makovsky, about I. Annensky , - takes as its starting point something physically and psychologically concrete and, without defining it, often without even naming it, depicts a series of associations. Such a poet loves to amaze with an unforeseen, sometimes mysterious combination of images and concepts, striving for the impressionistic effect of revelations. An object exposed in this way seems new to a person and, as it were, experienced for the first time. For Annensky, a symbol is not a springboard for jumping to metaphysical heights, but a means of displaying and explaining reality. In the mournful-erotic poetry of Annensky, the decadent idea of ​​“prisonness”, the melancholy of earthly existence, unsatisfied eros developed.

In the theory and artistic practice of the "senior symbolists", the latest trends were combined with the inheritance of the achievements and discoveries of Russian classics. It was within the framework of the symbolist tradition that the work of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Lermontov was comprehended with new sharpness (D. Merezhkovsky L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, M.Yu.Lermontov. Poet of superhumanity), Pushkin (article by Vl. Solovyov The fate of Pushkin; Bronze Horseman V. Bryusov), Turgenev and Goncharov ( Reflection Books I. Annensky), N. Nekrasov ( Nekrasov as a city poet V. Bryusova). Among the “Young Symbolists”, A. Bely became a brilliant researcher of Russian classics (book Gogol's poetics, numerous literary references in the novel Petersburg).

"Young Symbolists".

The inspirer of the Young Symbolist wing of the movement is Muscovite A. Bely, who organized the poetic community of the Argonauts. In 1903 A. Bely published an article On Religious Experiences, in which, following D. Merezhkovsky, he insisted on the need to combine art and religion, but put forward other, more subjective and abstract tasks - “to approach the World Soul”, “to convey Her voice in lyrical changes”. In Bely's article, the landmarks of the younger generation of symbolists were clearly visible - "the two crossbars of their cross" - the cult of the mad prophet Nietzsche and the ideas of Vl. Solovyov. The mystical and religious moods of A. Bely were combined with reflections on the fate of Russia: the position of the “Young Symbolists” was distinguished by a moral connection with the homeland (A. Bely’s novels Petersburg, Moscow, article green meadow, loop on Field Kulikovo A. Blok). A. Bely, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov turned out to be alien to the individualistic confessions of the older symbolists, their declared titanism, supra-worldliness, a break with the "earth". It is no coincidence that A. Blok will call one of his early cycles “ Earth bubbles", borrowing this image from Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth: contact with the earthly elements is dramatic, but inevitable, the creatures of the earth, its “bubbles” are disgusting, but the task of the poet, his sacrificial purpose is to come into contact with these creatures, to descend to the dark and destructive beginnings of life.

The largest Russian poet A. Blok emerged from the environment of the "Young Symbolists", becoming, by the definition of A. Akhmatova, "the tragic tenor of the era." A. Blok considered his work as a “trilogy of incarnation” - a movement from the music of the beyond (in Poems about the Beautiful Lady), through the underworld of the material world and the whirlwind of the elements (in Bubbles of the earth,city,snow mask, scary world) to the "elementary simplicity" of human experiences ( nightingale garden,Motherland,Retribution). In 1912 Blok, drawing a line under his symbolism, wrote: "No more symbolism." According to the researchers, “the strength and value of Blok’s separation from symbolism is directly proportional to the forces that connected him in his youth with the“ new art ”. The eternal symbols captured in Blok's lyrics (the Beautiful Lady, the Stranger, the nightingale garden, the Snow Mask, the union of the Rose and the Cross, etc.) received a special, poignant sound due to the poet's sacrificial humanity.

In his poetry, A. Blok created a comprehensive system of symbols. Colors, objects, sounds, actions - everything is symbolic in Blok's poetry. So “yellow windows”, “yellow lights”, “yellow dawn” symbolize the vulgarity of everyday life, blue, purple tones (“blue cloak”, “blue, blue, blue eyes”) - the collapse of the ideal, treason, Stranger - the unknown, unfamiliar to people an entity that appeared in the guise of a woman, a pharmacy is the last shelter for suicides (in the last century, first aid to drowned victims was provided in pharmacies - ambulances appeared later). The origins of Blok's symbolism are rooted in the mysticism of the Middle Ages. So yellow in the language of the culture of the Middle Ages meant the enemy, blue - betrayal. But, unlike medieval symbols, the symbols of Blok's poetry are polysemantic, paradoxical. Stranger can be interpreted both as the appearance of the Muse to the poet, and as the fall of the Beautiful Lady, turning her into “Beatrice at the tavern counter”, and as a hallucination, dream, “tavern frenzy” - all these meanings have something in common with each other, “flicker like the eyes of a beauty behind the veil.

However, ordinary readers perceived such "ambiguities" with great caution and rejection. The popular newspaper Birzhevye Vedomosti published a letter from prof. P.I. Dyakov, who offered one hundred rubles to anyone who would “translate” Blok’s poem into understandable Russian You are so bright….

The symbols depict the torment of the human soul in the poetry of A. Bely (collections Urn,Ash). The rupture of modern consciousness is depicted in symbolic forms in Bely's novel Petersburg- the first Russian novel "stream of consciousness". The bomb that's cooking main character novel Nick. Ableukhov, broken dialogues, disintegrated kinship within the “random family” of the Ableukhovs, fragments of well-known plots, the sudden birth among the swamps of an “impromptu city”, an “explosion city” in symbolic language expressed the key idea of ​​the novel - the idea of ​​disintegration, separation, undermining all ties. Bely's symbolism is a special ecstatic form of experiencing reality, "every second departures to infinity" from every word, image.

As for Blok, for Bely the most important note of creativity is love for Russia. “Our pride is that we are not Europe, or that only we are true Europe,” Bely wrote after a trip abroad.

Vyach. Ivanov most fully embodied in his work the symbolist dream of a synthesis of cultures, trying to combine Nightingaleism, renewed Christianity and the Hellenic worldview.

The artistic quests of the "Young Symbolists" were marked by enlightened mysticism, the desire to go to the "outcast villages", to follow the sacrificial path of the prophet, without turning away from the rough earthly reality.

Symbolism in the theatre.

The theoretical basis of symbolism was the philosophical works of F. Nietzsche, A. Bergson, A. Schopenhauer, E. Mach, neo-Kantians. The semantic center of symbolism becomes mysticism, the allegorical background of phenomena and objects; Irrational intuition is recognized as the fundamental principle of creativity. main theme becomes fate, a mysterious and inexorable fate, playing the destinies of people and controlling events. The formation of such views during this period is quite natural: psychologists say that the change of centuries is always accompanied by an increase in eschatological and mystical moods in society.

In symbolism, the rational principle is reduced; word, image, color - any specificity - in art lose their informational content; on the other hand, the background increases many times, transforming them into a mysterious allegory, accessible only to irrational perception. The “ideal” type of symbolic art can be called music, which by definition is devoid of any specifics and appeals to the subconscious of the listener. It is clear that in literature, symbolism should have originated in poetry - in a genre where the rhythm of speech and its phonetics are initially no less important than meaning, and even can prevail over meaning.

The founders of symbolism were the French poets Paul Verlaine and Stéphane Mallarmé. However, the theater, as the most socially sensitive art form, could not remain aloof from modern views. And the third founder of this trend was the Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck. In fact, Mallarme, in his theoretical works on symbolism, refers to the theater of the future, interpreting it as a substitute for worship, a ritual where elements of drama, poetry, music, and dance merge in an extraordinary unity.

Maeterlinck started literary activity as a poet, publishing a collection of poems in 1887 Greenhouses. However, already in 1889 his first play appeared, Princess Malene, enthusiastically received by modernist criticism. It was in this dramatic field that he achieved the highest success - in 1911 he was awarded the Nobel Prize. Maeterlinck's plays such as Blind (1890),Pelias and Melisande(1892),Death of Tentagil(1894),Sister Beatrice(1900),Miracle of Saint Anthony (1903), Blue bird(1908) and others became not only the "bible" of symbolism, but also entered the golden fund of world drama.

In the theatrical concept of symbolism, special attention was paid to the actor. The theme of disastrous fate, which controls people like puppets, was refracted in the performing arts into a denial of the personality of the actor, depersonalization of the performer and turning him into a puppet. It was this concept that was adhered to by both the theorists of symbolism (in particular, Mallarmé) and its practitioners-directors: A. Appia (Switzerland), G. Fuchs and M. Reinhardt (Germany), and in particular Gordon Craig (England), in in his productions, he consistently implemented the principle of an actor-superpuppet, a mask devoid of human emotions. (It is very symbolic that Craig published the magazine "Mask"). The symbolists categorically preferred unambiguous poetic images-signs to the multifaceted, psychologically voluminous stage character.

In Russia, the development of symbolism finds very fertile ground: general eschatological sentiments are exacerbated by the severe public reaction to the failed revolutions of 1905-1907. Pessimism, the themes of tragic loneliness and the fatality of life find a warm response in Russian literature and theater. Brilliant writers, poets and directors Silver Age gladly plunge into the theory and practice of symbolism. Vyach. Ivanov (1909) and Vs. Meyerhold (1913) write about symbolistic theatrical aesthetics. The dramatic ideas of Maeterlinck are developed and creatively developed by V. Bryusov ( Earth, 1904); A. Blok (trilogy booth,King in the square,Stranger, 1906; Song of Destiny, 1907); F. Sologub ( death victory, 1907 and others); L. Andreev ( Human Life, 1906; King Hunger, 1908; Anatema, 1909 and others).

The period 1905-1917 includes a number of brilliant symbolist drama and opera performances staged by Meyerhold on various stages: the famous booth Blok, Death of Tentagil And Peléas and Melisande M. Maeterlinck, Eternal fairy tale S. Pshibyshevsky, Tristan and Isolde R. Wagner, Orpheus and Eurydice H.V. Gluck, Don Juan J.B. Molière, Masquerade M. Lermontova and others.

The main stronghold of Russian stage realism, the Moscow Art Theater, also turns to symbolism. In the first decade of the 20th century. Maeterlinck's one-act plays were staged at the Moscow Art Theater Blind, Unbidden And There inside; drama of life K. Hamsun, Rosmersholm G. Ibsen, Human Life And Anatema L.Andreeva. And in 1911, for a joint production with K.S. Stanislavsky and L.A. Sulerzhitsky Hamlet G.Krag was invited (in the title role - V.I.Kachalov). However, the extremely conventional aesthetics of symbolism was alien to the theater, which initially relied on the realistic sound of performances; and Kachalov's powerful psychologism turned out to be unclaimed in Craig's attitude to the actor-superpuppet. All these and subsequent symbolist performances ( Miserere S. Yushkevich, There will be joy D. Merezhkovsky, Ekaterina Ivanovna L. Andreev) at best remained only within the framework of the experiment and did not enjoy the recognition of the audience of the Moscow Art Theater, who were delighted with the productions of Chekhov, Gorky, Turgenev, Molière. The play was a happy exception. Blue bird M. Maeterlinck (staged by Stanislavsky, directors Sulerzhitsky and I.M. Moskvin, 1908). Having received the right of the first production from the author, the Moscow Art Theater transformed the heavy, semantic oversaturated symbolist dramaturgy into a subtle and naive poetic fairy tale. It is very significant that the age orientation of the audience has changed in the performance: it was addressed to children. The performance remained in the repertoire of the Art Theater for more than fifty years (in 1958, the two thousandth performance took place), and became the first spectator experience for many generations of young Muscovites.

However, the time of symbolism as an aesthetic trend was coming to an end. This was undoubtedly facilitated by the social upheavals that befell Russia: the war with Germany, the October Revolution, which marked a sharp demolition of the entire way of life of the country, Civil War, devastation and famine. In addition, after the revolution of 1917, public optimism and the pathos of creation became the official ideology in Russia, which fundamentally contradicted the whole trend of symbolism.

Perhaps the last Russian apologist and theorist of symbolism was Vyach. Ivanov. In 1923 he wrote a "programmatic" theatrical article Dionysus and pradionysianism, which deepens and re-emphasizes the theatrical concept of Nietzsche. Vyach is in it. Ivanov is trying to reconcile conflicting aesthetic and ideological concepts, proclaiming a new, "authentic symbolism" as a means of "restoring unity" in "the decisive moment of enthusiastic pathos." However, Ivanov's call for theatrical performances of mysteries and myth-creating mass actions, similar in perception to the liturgy, remained unclaimed. In 1924 Vyach. Ivanov emigrated to Italy.

Tatyana Shabalina

The meaning of symbolism.

The heyday of Russian symbolism came in the 900s, after which the movement waned: significant works no longer appear within the framework of the school, new trends appear - acmeism and futurism, the symbolist worldview ceases to correspond to the dramatic realities of the "real, non-calendar twentieth century". Anna Akhmatova described the situation at the beginning of the 1910s in the following way: “In 1910, a crisis of symbolism was clearly indicated, and beginning poets no longer joined this trend. Some went to futurism, others to acmeism. Undoubtedly, symbolism was a phenomenon of the nineteenth century. Our rebellion against symbolism is completely justified, because we felt like people of the twentieth century and did not want to live in the previous one.

On Russian soil, such features of symbolism appeared as: the diversity of artistic thinking, the perception of art as a way of knowing, the sharpening of religious and philosophical problems, neo-romantic and neoclassical tendencies, the intensity of the worldview, neo-mythologism, the dream of art synthesis, rethinking the heritage of Russian and Western European culture, setting on the limiting price of a creative act and life-creation, deepening into the sphere of the unconscious, etc.

Numerous are the echoes of the literature of Russian symbolism with painting and music. The poetic dreams of the Symbolists find their correspondence in the “gallant” painting of K. Somov, the retrospective dreams of A. Benois, the “created legends” of M. Vrubel, in the “motives without words” of V. Borisov-Musatov, in the exquisite beauty and classical detachment of the canvases of Z. Serebryakova , "poems" by A. Scriabin.

Symbolism laid the foundation for modernist trends in the culture of the 20th century, became a renewing ferment that gave a new quality to literature, new forms of artistry. In the work of the largest writers of the 20th century, both Russian and foreign (A. Akhmatova, M. Tsvetaeva, A. Platonov, B. Pasternak, V. Nabokov, F. Kafka, D. Joyce, E. Pound, M. Proust , W. Faulkner, etc.), is the strongest influence of the modernist tradition inherited from symbolism.

Tatiana Scriabina

Literature:

Craig G.E. Memories, articles, letters. M, 1988
Ermilova E. Theory and figurative world of Russian symbolism. M., 1989
Dzhivilegov A., Boyadzhiev G. History of the Western European theatre. M., 1991
Khodasevich V. End of Renata/ V. Bryusov. Fire Angel. M., 1993
Encyclopedia of Symbolism: Painting, Graphics and Sculpture. Literature. Music/ Comp. J. Kassu. M, 1998
Poetic currents in Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Literary manifestos and artistic practice: Reader/ Comp. A. Sokolov. M., 1998
Payman A. History of Russian symbolism. M., 1998
Basinsky P. Fedyakin S. Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th century. M., 1998
Kolobaeva L. Russian symbolism. M., 2000
French Symbolism: Dramaturgy and Theater. St. Petersburg, 2000

38. Manifestos of the "senior symbolists".

A symbol is a multi-valued allegory, a word is a bundle of meanings. The word must realize the maximum number of semantic valences, evoke as many associations in the minds of readers.

Symbol and symbolism. Poetry develops against the backdrop of a passion for realism.

In the 10 years of the 20th century, symbolism will declare itself finished.

The history of Russian symbolism - the 90s of the 19th century.

Significant events that indicate that a new direction is taking shape:

1892 - a lecture by Merezhkovsky (published) "On the causes of the decline and on the new trends of Russian literature" was published. poems by Gippius and Sologub. (idols - Gorky, Kuprin).

Merezhkovsky "Symbols" is quite classic, but the publication of the lecture is a lot of noise (Mikhailovsky reviewed, debacle).

D. Merezhkovsky believes that the time has come for a choice from the most extreme materialism to passionate ideal impulses of the spirit. Litra, painting, art now serves the mass tastes of the crowd, and this is realism, materialism, they are associated with the fact that they describe only what can be felt, but do not see the very essence of phenomena. The new art must be fundamentally different - "we cannot be satisfied with the crude photographic accuracy of experimental images, we demand and anticipate new, yet undiscovered worlds of impressionability." Merezhkovsky defined the three most important elements of the new art: mystical content, symbols, and the expansion of artistic impressionability.

A protest against copying reality. (A photograph appeared - a scientific achievement. And it turned out that there is something else in art, not just copying). The main meaning that is born between the creator and the reality he writes about.

It turns out that there is another side of the mind.

For Merezhkovskaya, symbolism is an art that fights against materialism, the taste of the crowd.

Bryusov Valery. The collection "Russian Symbolists" (1894. Poems in Bryusov and Miropolsky, translations of poems by the French Symbolists) - that means there is already a group united by the same ideas. There are several such collections. Prints the collection "Masterpieces".

Bryusov. Outrageous collections. The sharpest mind, the predictive type of thinking, was delighted with Solovyov’s negative reviews, expressed in an interview - he reproaches me that the month and the moon rise at the same time, I know physics, but I am a poet - I want to hypnotize the reader by creating a complex of unexpected images.

He gave a program of symbolism, which he accepts - the poetry of unexpected associations, the poetry of vivid unpredictable images.

Collections:

"Juvenile". (Turgenev has a cycle called "sinilia" - senile) - youthful: he collected poems of 92-94 years. About the form of the verse - it takes a lot from the Parnassians, from the Gauthier, an ideal high sphere of art that is not in contact with life, in later collections it is more original.

"Masterpieces" at 21 (1895). A cycle about love matters - it opens the page of erotic lyrics, frank, outrageous. game with love passions, copulation, betrayal. all this for the mid-20s is unexpected. Section "kreptenelii" - exotic.verses. all the time extreme situations, extraordinary reality. And there are touches of modernity. Experiments with rhymes, lines. (Moscow slumbers like a female sleeping ostrich, Dirty wings are spread over the dark soil, Round-heavy eyelids are lifelessly shifted, The neck stretches - silent, black Yauza.)

Collection "Stefanos" - 1906.

Each of the collections ends with a section of lyrical poems, he brings them to tiny sizes.

Me eum esse - “this is me” - Bryusov has no complexes. Sections - vision, breath of death, wandering. going to sleep chanting dreams. earthly life is a ghost.

"don't live in the present, worship art aimlessly..." included in "this is me"

Then he creates a serious collection of 1900 - ‘tertia vigilia’ - the third guard in translation. In Latin he calls - he also shocks. The third watch - which replaces the night watch, and steps in the morning, an appeal to the new world. There are several important sections - favorites of the ages (what is characteristic of B. is an appeal to history, which he sees as the development of wealth embedded in a bang. Poems "Psyche", "Alexander the Great", "Dante", "Mary Stuart").

"Strange magical prose of Bryusov" - Blok said.

1900 - article "Truth". Many truths. The chanting of the earthly beginning. For him, the earth is cleaner. richer.

For him, the creators of culture are very important.

The task of the collections is to show that there is symbolism in Russia, albeit on the verge of irony and scandals.

Konstantin Balmont - not like Bryusov. Different in poetry, preferences. Bryusov is closed, purposeful, logical, poetry is a project. Balmont is an inspired, unfocused, enthusiastic madness, he heard music in verse, a polyglot, a passion for travel, exuded a myth - a poet is a man not of this world. Collections "Silence", "We will be like the sun." A poet who paid attention to sound, verse should be like magic, hypnosis. (Lilies of the valley, buttercups. Love caresses. Swallows babble. Kiss of rays. Green forest. Blooming meadow. Light free murmuring stream.)

In the collection "We will be like the sun" the poem:

I am Russian sophistication slow speech,
Before me are other poets - forerunners,
I first discovered in this speech deviations,
Perepevnye, angry, gentle ringing.

I am a sudden break
I am the playing thunder
I am a clear stream
I am for everyone and no one.

The lyrical hero of Balmont is a light, ever-moving wanderer. The whole world around is a source of poetry.

The Symbolists believed that art is, first of all, “comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways” (Bryusov). After all, only phenomena that are subject to the law of linear causality can be rationally comprehended, and such causality operates only in the lower forms of life (empirical reality, everyday life). The Symbolists were interested in the higher spheres of life (the area of ​​"absolute ideas" in Plato's terms or "world soul", according to V. Solovyov), not subject to rational knowledge. It is art that has the ability to penetrate into these spheres, and images-symbols with their infinite ambiguity are able to reflect the entire complexity of the world universe. The Symbolists believed that the ability to comprehend the true, higher reality was given only to the elect, who, in moments of inspired insights, were able to comprehend the “higher” truth, absolute truth.

Senior Symbolists - Sologub, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Bryusov.

Modernity is something deaf, terrible dark - the only way out is through poetry.

“Art begins at the moment when the artist tries to clarify to himself his dark, secret feelings”, “Let contemporary artists consciously forge their creations in the form of keys of secrets, in the form of mystical keys that dissolve the doors for humanity from its “blue prison” to eternal freedom." Bryusov "Keys of Secrets"

introduction

Russian symbolism absorbed two streams. The first stream - "senior symbolists" (I. Annensky, V. Bryusov, K. Balmont, Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, N. Minsky, F. Sologub (F. Teternikov). The second stream - "young symbolists" (A. Bely (B. Bugaev), A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov, S. Solovyov, Ellis (L. Kobylinskiy) M. Voloshin, M. Kuzmin, A. Dobrolyubov, I. Konevskoy were close to the Symbolists.

By the early 1900s, symbolism in Russia had reached its peak and had a powerful publishing base. The Symbolists were in charge of the following publishing houses and magazines: the scales magazine (published since 1903 with the support of entrepreneur S. Polyakov), the Scorpio publishing house, the Golden Fleece magazine (published from 1905 to 1910 with the support of patron N. Ryabushinsky), the publishing house " Ory (1907–1910), Musaget (1910–1920), Vulture (1903–1913), Sirin (1913–1914), Rosehip (1906–1917, founded by L. Andreev), magazine "Apollo" (1909-1917, editor and founder S. Makovsky).

1. forerunners of Russian symbolism. symbolism manifestos in russia

The generally recognized forerunners of Russian symbolism are F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, Vl. Soloviev. Vyach. Ivanov called F. Tyutchev the founder of the symbolist method in Russian poetry. V. Bryusov spoke about Tyutchev as the founder of the poetry of nuances. The famous line from Tyutchev's poem Silentium (Silence) "A thought uttered is a lie" became the slogan of the Russian Symbolists. The poet of the night knowledge of the soul, the abyss and chaos, Tyutchev turned out to be close to Russian symbolism in his striving for the irrational, inexpressible, unconscious. Tyutchev, who pointed out the path of music and nuance, symbol and dream, took Russian poetry away, according to researchers, "away from Pushkin." But it was precisely this path that was close to many Russian symbolists.

A. Fet, who was another predecessor of the Symbolists, died in the year of the formation of Russian Symbolism (in 1892, D. Merezhkovsky gave a lecture “On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature”, V. Bryusov prepared the collection “Russian Symbolists”). A. Fet, like F. Tyutchev, spoke about the inexpressibility, “ineffability” of human thoughts and feelings, Fet’s dream was “poetry without words” (A. Blok rushes to the “ineffable” after Fet, Blok’s favorite word is “ineffably” ). I. Turgenev was waiting for Fet to write a poem, the last stanzas in which would be conveyed by the silent movement of his lips. Fet's poetry is unaccountable, it is built on an associative, "romantic" basis. Therefore, it is not surprising that Fet is one of the favorite poets of Russian modernists. A. Fet did not agree with the idea of ​​the utilitarian nature of art, limiting his poetry only to the sphere of beauty, which earned him the reputation of a "reactionary poet". This "emptiness" became the basis of the symbolist cult of "pure creativity". Symbolists have mastered the musicality, associativity of Fet's lyrics, its suggestive nature: the poet should not portray, but inspire mood, not "convey" the image, but "open the gap to eternity" (S. Mallarmé also wrote about this). K. Balmont studied with Fet to master the music of the word, and A. Blok found subconscious revelations, mystical ecstasy in Fet's lyrics.

The content of Russian symbolism (especially the younger generation of symbolists) was noticeably influenced by the philosophy of Vl. Solovyov. As Vyach. Ivanov put it in a letter to A. Blok: "We are mysteriously baptized by Solovyov." The source of inspiration for the symbolists was the image of Hagia Sophia, sung by Solovyov. Saint Sophia Solovieva is both Old Testament wisdom and the Platonic idea of ​​wisdom, Eternal Femininity and the World Soul, the "Virgin of the Rainbow Gates" and the Immaculate Wife - a subtle invisible spiritual principle that permeates the world. The cult of Sophia was received with great trepidation by A. Blok and A. Bely. A. Blok called Sophia the Beautiful Lady, M. Voloshin saw her incarnation in the legendary Queen Taiah. The pseudonym of A. Bely (B. Bugaev) assumed the initiation of the Eternal Femininity. The “Young Symbolists” were consonant with Solovyov's lack of accountability, the appeal to the invisible, “ineffable” as the true source of being. Solovyov's poem Dear Friend was perceived as the motto of the "Young Symbolists", as a set of their idealistic moods:

Dear friend, can't you see

That everything we see

Only reflections, only shadows

From invisible eyes?

Dear friend, don't you hear

That the noise of life is crackling -

Just a garbled response.

Triumphant harmonies?

Having no direct influence on the ideological and figurative world of the "senior symbolists", Solovyov's philosophy, in spite of everything, in many of its provisions coincided with their religious and philosophical ideas. After the founding of the Religious-Philosophical Assemblies in 1901, Z. Gippius was struck by the commonality of thoughts in an attempt to reconcile Christianity and culture. A premonition of the "end of the world", which is of an alarming nature, a premonition of an unprecedented upheaval in history, was contained in Solovyov's work "The Tale of the Antichrist", which immediately after publication was met with incredulous ridicule. Among the Symbolists, The Tale of the Antichrist evoked a sympathetic response and was understood as a revelation.

As a literary trend, Russian symbolism took shape in 1892, when D. Merezhkovsky published the collection "Symbols" and wrote a lecture "On the Causes of Decline and New Trends in Modern Literature." In 1893, V. Bryusov and A. Mitropolsky (Lang) prepared the collection "Russian Symbolists", in which V. Bryusov spoke on behalf of a direction that did not yet exist in Russia - symbolism. Such a hoax corresponded to Bryusov's creative ambitions to become not just an outstanding poet, but the founder of an entire literary school. Bryusov saw his task as a "leader" in "creating poetry that is alien to life, embodying constructions that life cannot give." Life is only "material", a slow and sluggish process of existence, which the symbolist poet must translate into "trembling without end." Everything in life is just a means for brightly melodious verses, - Bryusov formulated the principle of self-profound poetry, rising above the simple earthly existence. Bryusov became a master, a teacher who led a new movement. D. Merezhkovsky advanced to the role of the ideologist of the "senior symbolists".

D. Merezhkovsky described his theory in the report, and then in the book “On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature”. “Wherever we go, no matter how we hide behind the dam of scientific criticism, with all our being we feel the proximity of the mystery, the proximity of the Ocean,” wrote Merezhkovsky. Reflections on the collapse of rationalism and faith, the two pillars of European civilization, which are common to symbolist theorists, Merezhkovsky supplemented with judgments about the decline of modern literature, which abandoned the “ancient, eternal, never-dying idealism” and gave preference to Zola’s naturalism. Literature can only be revived by a rush to the unknown, the beyond, to "shrines that do not exist." Giving an assessment of the objective nature of the state of affairs in the field of literature in Russia and Europe, Merezhkovsky named the prerequisites for the victory of new literary trends: the thematic "wear and tear" of realistic literature, its deviation from the "ideal", inconsistency with the worldview. The symbol, as Merezhkovsky interpreted it, pours out from the depths of the artist's spirit. At the same time, Merezhkovsky identified three most important elements of the new art: mystical content, symbols, and the expansion of artistic impressionability.

The difference between realistic and symbolic art was emphasized in the article by K. Balmont "Elementary words about symbolic poetry". Realism is becoming obsolete, the consciousness of realists does not go beyond the framework of earthly life, "realists are caught, like a surf, by concrete life", while in art the need for more refined ways of expressing feelings and thoughts becomes more and more tangible. This need is met by the poetry of the Symbolists. Balmont's article outlined the main features of symbolic poetry: a special language rich in intonations, the ability to excite a complex mood in the soul. “Symbolism is a powerful force, striving to guess new combinations of thoughts, colors and sounds, and often guessing them with particular persuasiveness,” Balmont insisted. Unlike Merezhkovsky, Balmont saw in symbolic poetry not an introduction to the "depths of the spirit", but "announcement of the elements." The installation of involvement in the Eternal Chaos, "spontaneity" gave in Russian poetry the "Dionysian type" of lyrics, glorifying the "boundless" personality, self-lawful individuality, the need to live in the "theater of burning improvisations". A similar position was recorded in the titles of Balmont's collections In the vastness, We will be like the sun. “Dionysianism” was also paid tribute to by A. Blok, who sang a whirlwind of “free elements”, whirling passions (Snow Mask, Twelve).

Symbolism For V. Bryusov has become a way to comprehend reality - the "key of secrets." In his article “Keys of Secrets” (1903), V. Bryusov wrote: “Art is the comprehension of the world in other, non-rational ways. Art is what we in other fields call revelation.”

The main concepts and features of the new trend were formulated in the manifestos of the "senior symbolists": the priority of spiritual idealistic values ​​(D. Merezhkovsky), the mediumistic, "spontaneous" nature of creativity (K. Balmont), art as the most reliable form of knowledge (V. Bryusov). The development of the work of representatives of the older generation of Russian symbolists took place in accordance with these provisions.

2. "senior symbolists". "young symbolists"

The symbolism of D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius was emphatically religious in nature, developed in line with the neoclassical tradition. The best poems by Merezhkovsky, included in the collections "Symbols", "Eternal Companions", were built on "ugliness" with other people's ideas, were devoted to the culture of bygone eras, gave a subjective reassessment of world classics. In Merezhkovsky's prose, based on large-scale cultural and historical material (the history of antiquity, the Renaissance, Russian history, the religious thought of antiquity), there is a search for the spiritual foundations of being, ideas that drive history. In the camp of Russian symbolists, Merezhkovsky represented the idea of ​​neo-Christianity, he was looking for a new Christ (not so much for the people, but for the intelligentsia) - "Jesus the Unknown".

In the "electric", as I. Bunin said, Z. Gippius's verses, in her prose there was an attraction to philosophical and religious problems, to God-seeking. The severity of form, accuracy, movement towards classic expression, combined with religious and metaphysical sharpness, distinguished Gippius and Merezhkovsky among the “senior symbolists”. In the work of these symbolist writers, there are also many formal achievements of symbolism: mood music, freedom of colloquial intonations, the use of new poetic meters (for example, dolnik).

Z. Gippius and D. Merezhkovsky conceived symbolism as the construction of artistic and religious culture. Unlike these writers, V. Bryusov, the founder of the symbolic movement in Russia, dreamed of creating a comprehensive artistic system, a "synthesis" of all directions. From this follows the historicism and rationalism of Bryusov's poetry, the dream of the "Pantheon, the temple of all gods." The symbol, as Bryusov imagined it, is a universal category that allows you to generalize all the truths that have ever existed, ideas about the world. V. Bryusov gave a compressed program of symbolism, the “precepts” of the current in a poem to the Young Poet:

A pale young man with burning eyes,

Now I give you three covenants:

First accept: do not live in the present,

Only the future is the realm of the poet.

Remember the second: do not sympathize with anyone,

Love yourself endlessly.

Keep the third: worship art,

Only to him, undividedly, aimlessly.

The postulates of symbolism, as Bryusov understood and represented them:

the affirmation of creativity as the goal of life;

glorification of the creative personality;

· Aspiration from the gray everyday life of the present to the bright world of the imaginary future, dreams and fantasies.

Another scandalous poem by Bryusov called "Creativity" expressed the idea of ​​intuitiveness, lack of accountability of creative impulses.

In addition to the work of Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, V. Bryusov, there was neo-romanticism of K. Balmont, which differed to a large extent from the work of the writers listed above. In the lyrics of K. Balmont, the singer of the vastness, there is a romantic pathos of elevation above everyday life, a look at poetry as life-creation. The most important thing for Balmont the symbolist was the glorification of the possibilities of creative individuality, which are limitless, the frantic search for the means of its self-expression. The admiration of the transformed, titanic personality was reflected in the attitude towards the intensity of life sensations, the expansion of emotional imagery, and the impressive geographical and temporal scope.

F. Sologub continued the line of research of the “mysterious connection” of the human soul with the disastrous beginning, begun in Russian literature by F. Dostoevsky, developed a general symbolist orientation towards understanding human nature as irrational nature. One of the main symbols in Sologub's poetry and prose was the "unsteady swing" of human states, the "heavy sleep" of consciousness, and unpredictable "transformations". Sologub's interest in the unconscious, his deepening into the secrets of mental life gave rise to the mythological imagery of his prose: thus the heroine of the novel The Little Demon Barbara is a "centaur" with the body of a nymph in flea bites and an ugly face, the three Rutilov sisters in the same novel - three moira, three graces , three charites, three Chekhov sisters. Comprehension of the dark beginnings of spiritual life, neo-mythologism are the main signs of the symbolist manner of Sologub.

A very great influence on the poetry of the twentieth century. in Russia had the symbolism of I. Annensky, which was of a psychological nature. I. Annensky's collections "Quiet Songs" and "Cypress Casket" appeared during a period of crisis, a decline in the symbolism movement. In Annensky's poetry there is a colossal impulse to update not only the poetry of symbolism, but also the entire Russian lyrics - from A. Akhmatova to G. Adamovich. The psychological symbolism of Annensky was based on the “effects of revelations”, on complex and, at the same time, very substantive, material associations, which allows us to see in Annensky the forerunner of acmeism. “The symbolist poet,” the poet and critic S. Makovsky, editor of the Apollo magazine wrote about I. Annensky, “takes something physically and psychologically concrete as a starting point and, without defining it, often without even naming it, depicts a number of associations. Such a poet loves to amaze with an unforeseen, sometimes mysterious combination of images and concepts, striving for the impressionistic effect of revelations. An object exposed in this way seems new to a person and, as it were, experienced for the first time. For Annensky, a symbol is not a springboard for jumping to the heights of metaphysics, but a means of displaying and explaining reality. In the poetry of Annensky, bearing a mournful-erotic connotation, the decadent idea of ​​“prisonness”, the melancholy of earthly existence, unsatisfied eros developed.

In the theory and artistic practice of the "senior symbolists", the latest trends were combined with the inheritance of the achievements and discoveries of Russian classics. It was within the framework of the Symbolist tradition that the works of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, Lermontov (D. Merezhkovsky L. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, M.Yu. Lermontov. Poet of superhumanity), Pushkin (Vl. Solovyov's article The Fate of Pushkin; The Bronze Horseman V. Bryusov) ), Turgenev and Goncharov (Books of reflections by I. Annensky), N. Nekrasov (Nekrasov as a poet of the city V. Bryusov). Among the "Young Symbolists", A. Bely became a brilliant researcher of Russian classics (the book "Gogol's Poetics", numerous literary reminiscences in the novel "Petersburg").

The Young Symbolist wing of the movement was inspired by Muscovite A. Bely, who organized the poetic community of the Argonauts. In 1903, A. Bely published an article "On Religious Experiences", in which, following D. Merezhkovsky, he insisted on the need to combine art and religion, but put forward other, more subjective and abstract tasks - "to get closer to the World Soul", "to transfer to lyrical changes in her voice. In Bely's article, the landmarks of the younger generation of symbolists were clearly visible - "the two crossbars of their cross" - the cult of the mad prophet Nietzsche and the ideas of Vl. Solovyov. A. Bely's moods, which were of a mystical and religious nature, were combined with reflections on the fate of Russia: the position of the "Young Symbolists" was distinguished by a moral connection with their homeland (A. Bely's novels "Petersburg", "Moscow", the article "Green Meadow", a cycle on Field Kulikov A. Blok). The individualistic confessions of the older symbolists turned out to be alien to A. Bely, A. Blok, Vyach. Ivanov. Also alien to them were the titanism declared by the older symbolists, transcendence, a break with the "earth". Therefore, it is no coincidence that A. Blok will call one of his early cycles “Bubbles of the Earth”, borrowing this image from Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”: contact with the earth element is dramatic, but inevitable, the creatures of the earth, its “bubbles” are disgusting, but the task of the poet, its sacrificial purpose is to come into contact with these creatures, to descend to the dark and destructive principles of life.

One of the greatest Russian poets, A. Blok, came from among the "Young Symbolists", and became, according to A. Akhmatova's definition, "the tragic tenor of the era." A. Blok considered his work as a “trilogy of humanization” - the movement from the music of the beyond (in “Poems about the Beautiful Lady”), through the underworld of the material world and the whirlwind of the elements (in “Bubbles of the Earth”, “City”, “Snow Mask”, “ Terrible world") to the "elementary simplicity" of human experiences ("The Nightingale Garden", "Motherland", "Retribution"). In 1912 Blok, drawing a line under his symbolism, wrote: "No more symbolism." According to many researchers, “the strength and value of Blok’s separation from symbolism is directly proportional to the forces that connected him in his youth with the“ new art ”. The eternal symbols that were captured in Blok’s lyrics (“The Beautiful Lady”, “The Stranger”, “The Nightingale Garden”, “The Snow Mask”, “The Union of the Rose and the Cross”, etc.) received a special, poignant sound due to the sacrificial humanity of the poet.

In his poetry, A. Blok created a comprehensive system of symbols. Colors, objects, sounds, actions - everything is symbolic in Blok's poetry. So “yellow windows”, “yellow lights”, “yellow dawn” symbolize the vulgarity of everyday life, blue, purple tones (“blue cloak”, “blue, blue, blue eyes”) - the collapse of the ideal, treason, Stranger - unknown, unfamiliar to people an entity that appeared in the guise of a woman, a pharmacy is the last shelter for suicides (in the last century, first aid to drowned victims was provided in pharmacies - ambulances appeared later). The origins of Blok's symbolism are rooted in the mysticism of the Middle Ages. So yellow in the language of the culture of the Middle Ages meant the enemy, blue - betrayal. But, unlike medieval symbols, the symbols of Blok's poetry are polysemantic, paradoxical. The stranger can be interpreted both as the appearance of the Muse to the poet, and as the fall of the Beautiful Lady, turning her into “Beatrice at the tavern counter”, and as a hallucination, dream, “tavern frenzy” - all these meanings have something in common with each other, “flicker like eyes beauties behind the veil".

But ordinary readers such "ambiguities" were perceived with great caution and rejection. For example, the popular newspaper Birzhevye Vedomosti published a letter from prof. P.I.Dyakova, who offered one hundred rubles to the one who would “translate” Blok’s poem “You are so bright ...” into commonly understood Russian.

The symbols reflect the torment of the human soul in the poetry of A. Bely (collections "Urn", "Ashes"). The rupture of modern consciousness is depicted in symbolic forms in Bely's novel "Petersburg" - the first Russian novel of the "stream of consciousness". The bomb prepared by the protagonist of the novel, Nikolai Ableukhov, the broken dialogues, the disintegrated relationship within the “random family” of the Ableukhovs, fragments of famous plots, the sudden birth among the swamps of the “impromptu city”, the “explosion city” in symbolic language expressed the key idea of ​​the novel - the idea disintegration, separation, undermining of all ties. Bely's symbolism is a special ecstatic form of experiencing reality, "every second departure to infinity" from every word, image.

As for Blok, for Bely the most important note of creativity is love for his fatherland - Russia. “Our pride is that we are not Europe, or that only we are true Europe,” Bely wrote after a trip abroad.

Vyacheslav Ivanov most fully embodied in his work the dream of the Symbolists about the synthesis of cultures, trying to combine the Nightingale, renewed Christianity and the Hellenic worldview.

The artistic quests of the "Young Symbolists" were marked by enlightened mysticism, the desire to go to the "outcast villages", to follow the sacrificial path of the prophet, without turning away from the rough earthly reality.

3. symbolism in the theater

The theoretical basis of symbolism in the theater was the philosophical works of F. Nietzsche, A. Bergson, A. Schopenhauer, E. Mach, neo-Kantians. The semantic center of symbolism becomes mysticism, the allegorical background of phenomena and objects; Irrational intuition is recognized as the fundamental principle of creativity. The most important theme is fate, a mysterious and inexorable fate that plays with the fate of people and controls events. The formation of such views during this period is quite natural and predictable: according to psychologists, the change of centuries is always accompanied by an increase in eschatological and mystical moods in society.

In symbolism, the rational principle is reduced; word, image, color - any specificity - in art lose their informational content; on the other hand, the background increases many times, transforming them into a mysterious allegory, accessible only to irrational perception. The “ideal” type of symbolic art can be called music, which by definition is devoid of any specifics and appeals to the subconscious of the listener. It is clear that in literature, symbolism should have originated in poetry - in a genre where the rhythm of speech and its phonetics are initially no less important than meaning, and even can prevail over meaning.

In Russia, the development of symbolism receives very fertile ground: general eschatological sentiments are exacerbated by the severe reaction of society to the failed revolutions of 1905-1907. Pessimism, the themes of tragic loneliness and the fatality of life find a warm response in Russian literature and theater. Talented writers, poets and directors of the Silver Age happily plunge into the theory and practice of symbolism. Vyach. Ivanov (1909) and Vs. Meyerhold (1913) write about the theatrical aesthetics of symbolism. Maeterlinck's dramatic ideas are developed and creatively developed by V. Bryusov (Earth, 1904); A. Blok (trilogy Balaganchik, King on the Square, Stranger, 1906; Song of Fate, 1907); F. Sologub (Victory of death, 1907, etc.); L. Andreev (Life of a Man, 1906; Tsar Hunger, 1908; Anatema, 1909, etc.).

By the period 1905–1917. includes a number of brilliant symbolist drama and opera performances staged by Meyerhold on a variety of stage venues: Blok's famous "Balaganchik"; R. Wagner, “Orpheus and Eurydice” by H.V. Gluck, “Don Giovanni” by J. B. Molière, “Masquerade” by M. Lermontov and others.

Refers to the ideas of symbolism and the main stronghold of scenic realism in Russia - the Moscow Art Theatre. In the first decade of the 20th century. Maeterlinck's one-act plays Blind, Unbidden, and There, Inside were staged at the Moscow Art Theater; "Drama of Life" by K. Hamsun, "Rosmersholm" by G. Ibsen, "Life of Man" and "Anatem" by L. Andreev. And in 1911, G. Krag was invited to a joint production of Hamlet with K.S. Stanislavsky and L.A. Sulerzhitsky (V.I. Kachalov in the title role). But the symbolic aesthetics, which was extremely conditional in nature, was alien to the theater, which initially relied on the sound of performances of a realistic nature; and Kachalov's powerful psychologism turned out to be unclaimed in Craig's attitude to the actor-superpuppet. All these symbolist performances and those performances that followed them (“Miserere” by S. Yushkevich, “There Will Be Joy” by D. Merezhkovsky, “Ekaterina Ivanovna” by L. Andreeva), at best, remained only within the framework of the experiment and did not enjoy the recognition of the audience Moscow Art Theater, who were delighted with the productions of Chekhov, Gorky, Turgenev, Moliere. A happy exception was the play "The Blue Bird" by M. Maeterlinck (staged by Stanislavsky, directors Sulerzhitsky and I.M. Moskvin, 1908). Having received the right of the first production from the author, the Moscow Art Theater transformed the heavy, semantic oversaturated dramaturgy of symbolism into a subtle and naive poetic fairy tale. It is very indicative that the age orientation of the audience has changed in the performance: it was addressed to children. The performance remained in the repertoire of the Moscow Art Theater for more than fifty years (the 2000th performance took place in 1958), and became the first spectator experience for many generations of young Muscovites.

However, the time of symbolism as an aesthetic trend was coming to an end. This was undoubtedly facilitated by the social upheavals that befell Russia: the war with Germany, the October Revolution, which marked a sharp demolition of the country's entire way of life, civil war, devastation and famine. In addition, after the revolution of 1917, public optimism and the pathos of creation became the official ideology in Russia, which fundamentally contradicted the whole trend of symbolism.

It can be noted that Vyach. Ivanov remained the last apologist and theorist of symbolism in Russia. In 1923, Vyacheslav Ivanov wrote a "programmatic" theatrical article "Dionysus and Pradonisianism", in which he deepened and re-emphasized Nietzsche's theatrical concept. In it, the author tries to reconcile aesthetic and ideological concepts that contradict each other, proclaiming a new, "authentic symbolism" as a means of "restoring unity" at the "resolving moment of enthusiastic pathos." But Vyacheslav Ivanov's call for theatrical productions of mysteries and myth-making mass actions, which were similar in perception to the liturgy, remained unclaimed. In 1924 Vyach. Ivanov emigrated to Italy.

conclusion

Symbolism is an aesthetic trend that was formed in France in 1880-1890 and became widespread in literature, painting, music, architecture and theater in many European countries at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. Symbolism was of great importance in Russian art of the same period, which acquired the definition of "Silver Age" in art history.

Symbolism in Russia was the most significant after French and was based on the same prerequisites as Western symbolism: a crisis of a positive worldview and morality, a heightened religious feeling.

The generally recognized forerunners of Russian symbolism are F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, Vl. Soloviev. Vyach. Ivanov called F. Tyutchev the founder of the symbolist method in Russian poetry.

The symbolism of D. Merezhkovsky and Z. Gippius was emphatically religious in nature, developed in line with the neoclassical tradition.

In addition to the work of Z. Gippius, D. Merezhkovsky, V. Bryusov, there was neo-romanticism of K. Balmont, which differed to a large extent from the work of the writers listed above. In the lyrics of K. Balmont, the singer of the vastness, there is a romantic pathos of elevation above everyday life, a look at poetry as life-creation.

A very great influence on the poetry of the twentieth century. in Russia had the symbolism of I. Annensky, which was of a psychological nature.

The Young Symbolist wing of the movement was inspired by Muscovite A. Bely, who organized the poetic community of the Argonauts.

One of the greatest Russian poets, A. Blok, came from among the "Young Symbolists", and became, according to A. Akhmatova's definition, "the tragic tenor of the era."

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The collection of aesthetic manifestos “From Symbolism to October”, compiled by N. L. Brodsky and N. P. Sidorov and designed to reflect the entire diversity of literary life in Russia in the 1890s-1920s, was first published in 1924. Five years later years, the book was republished, now with the participation of V. L. Lvov-Rogachevsky and no longer by New Moscow (which had been absorbed by Moskovsky Rabochiy by that time), but by the Federation, founded under the auspices of the Federation of Soviet Writers Associations.

The seemingly insignificant period of time that separated the publications of 1924 and 1929 became a whole epoch in the history of Soviet literature. The essence of the processes that took place then are characterized by publishing metamorphoses, and even changes made to the title of the book: instead of the former “From Symbolism before"October" "-" From symbolism To October ”(and now this title has taken second place, supplanted by the name of the originally intended, but not realized series -“ Literary Manifestos ”).

It is unlikely that while working on their anthology, the compilers themselves guessed that in the near future, the multifaceted publishing activity that unfolded during the years of the NEP, the rampant aesthetic passions, the “rapid change and diversity of literary schools” would end in their complete defeat and the approval of a single nationwide policy, including and in the arts. Undoubtedly, the end of the era of intense aesthetic searches is a natural and logical process, just as it is also undoubted that its naturalness in Russia in the mid-1920s. was disturbed by the intrusion of ideas alien to art about the social basis of literary schools. This misguided approach to analysis artistic creativity presupposed a division into “pure” and “impure” - into associations “decadent”, “obsolete” and those that are ready to enter “the arena of building the life of new social forces”.

The role of "builders of the new world" was claimed by the proletarian poets, with which, judging by the arrangement of the material, the compilers agreed, who placed the declarations of this school at the end of the book. But no matter how loud were the statements of the creators of proletarian literature that the future lies with them, the “schematic” plans for creating a new art proposed by them testified to doubts and self-doubt. Carefully, but unsuccessfully concealed by them forebodings of the coming "gigantic shift", which brings death with it, were fully justified.

In the 1920s "apocalyptic" moods were characteristic of poets who were part of a variety of groups. “We have a sense of the end, a sense of the last depths,” wrote I. Sokolov in his Baedeker on Expressionism. The “sense of the end”, but optimistically colored, was also familiar to the biocosmist poets, who included “the question of the realization of personal immortality” on the agenda. To the unified essence of the world - Lumen - a "naked, barefoot soul, inhaling the bitterness and fumes of world tornadoes" made its way, and fell on its way "into a black well and in vain clutched at the elusive distances" - in the theories of luminists. This "funeral" trend reached its apex in the manifesto of the nichevoks, who from afar observed the universal dying of poetry, "diagnosing paralysis and ascertaining a lethal outcome with mathematical accuracy."

Despite the absurdity and incomprehensibility of some of the statements of the Nichevoks, the diagnosis was formulated by them correctly: “Focus modern crisis phenomena of the world and attitudes Nichevokom clarified: the crisis - in us, in our spirit. In the works of the poet, this crisis is resolved by exuding the image, meter, rhythm, instrumentation, ending.<…>Exhaustion will bring art to naught, will destroy it: it will lead to nothing and to Nothing. This assessment, as it will seem at first, is more suitable for characterizing the art of the “end of the century” than for that which was to be born in Russia renewed by the revolution. However, the restoration in chronological order of the "evolution literary trends in their coexistence and successive change” (a task put forward and largely solved by the compilers of the collection) helps to see the connection between pre- and post-revolutionary art in Russia, unbroken by the social explosion, and the post-revolutionary era is perceived as the completion of the previous cycle.

The heyday of poetry at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. marked the beginning of a new era - the Silver Age, which did not end overnight with the coming to power of the Bolsheviks. A powerful wave of new ideas that turned the cultural life of Russia in the first decades of the outgoing century overtook those who mistakenly believed that “revolutionary upheavals” in art were due to changes in public life. In fact, it turned out that the time of the most grandiose transformations in the social and political spheres coincided with the gradual extinction of innovative trends in art. The forerunners of this return "to square one" were already the Futurist schools of the 1910s, which led poetry back to its sources, although the Futurist poets themselves had no doubt that the future belonged to them. Their desperate rebellion against established aesthetic norms is an insult to those who were not destined to become accomplices in the revolution in art, completed before they entered literature. And the poets of the next generation after the Futurists - the generation of the 1920s, whose youth coincided with a social catastrophe, were not born in "fatal moments" for the fate of culture. They, like the “decadents” of the 1890s, did not get the laurels of the discoverers, but a different, difficult fate: to complete the work they did not start. Having fulfilled their purpose, they went into oblivion, giving way to the true zealots of socialist aesthetics, no longer connected with the Silver Age.

In the "Literary Manifestoes" the activities of the "decadents" from Soviet literature - Imagists, expressionists, classics and neoclassics, emotionalists, fuists, and so on. - presented with all possible completeness: this is the main advantage of the undertaken in the 1920s. editions. No less successful is the idea of ​​combining in one book the manifestos of the poets and prose writers who stood at the origins of modernism with the aesthetic declarations of those who were supposed to sum up the next stage in the development of Russian art.

The proposed book has the task of acquainting those interested in the fate of the latest Russian literature with its theoretical statements and justifications, expressed in a number of declarations, manifestos, articles, poems. Everyone was struck by the rapid change and diversity of literary schools over the past three decades, in which it was so difficult for the average reader to navigate. Some of these trends were short-lived, died almost on the day of their birth, but they filled the literary life with noise and, being indicative of the collapse of social life and thought that defined the pre-revolutionary era, they have the right to the attention of a thoughtful lover of Russian verbal art. Not all trends manifested their views on the tasks of poetic creativity - therefore, it was necessary to illuminate some literary schools with theoretical articles that at one time had an exciting and guiding influence (such, for example, are the articles of V. Solovyov, G. Plekhanov, etc.). Far from trying to present the material with exhaustive completeness, we sometimes did not include in our collection of articles that, perhaps, were essential for understanding a major literary figure of one or another poetic school, but were too personal in nature (for example, the famous article by A. Blok “On present state of Russian symbolism). The material is arranged by schools and in chronological order, giving the reader the opportunity to establish the evolution of literary trends in their coexistence and successive change. In our days of heightened interest in the theory and sociology of art and the desire to sum up the complex search for a "big" literary style that would meet the demands of our modernity, which has such a great historical meaning, this look back at the stages of the literary path traveled in its theoretical formulas is necessary, first of all , to clarify the immediate tasks of the art of poetry as life-creation and life-understanding: this historical review will help to more clearly present the social foundations of literary schools, the decadence of some and the creative aspiration of others, as a result of the struggle of obsolete and new social forces entering the arena of building life. The compilers believe that this collection of hard-to-find materials can be useful for studios and circles seeking to shape their literary worldview in accordance with the social problems of our time.