What is the literary process

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The term "literary process" can lead a person unfamiliar with its definition into a stupor. Because it is not clear what kind of process this is, what caused it, what it is connected with, and according to what laws it exists. In this article, we will explore this concept in detail. We will pay special attention to the literary process of the 19th and 20th centuries.

What is the literary process?

This concept means:

• creative life in the totality of facts and phenomena of a particular country in a particular era;
• literary development in a global sense, including all ages, cultures and countries.

When using the term in the second sense, the phrase "historical and literary process" is often used.

In general, the concept describes the historical changes in world and national literature, which, developing, inevitably interact with each other.

In the course of studying this process, researchers solve many complex problems, among which the main one is the transition of some poetic forms, ideas, currents and directions to others.

Influence of writers

The literary process also includes writers who, with their new artistic techniques and experiments with language and form, change the approach to describing the world and man. However, the authors do not make their discoveries from scratch, as they necessarily rely on the experience of their predecessors, who lived both in his country and abroad. That is, the writer uses almost all the artistic experience of mankind. From this we can conclude that there is a struggle between new and old artistic ideas, and each new literary movement puts forward its own creative principles, which, relying on traditions, nevertheless challenge them.

Evolution of trends and genres

The literary process thus includes the evolution of genres and trends. So, in the 17th century, French writers proclaimed instead of baroque, which welcomed the willfulness of poets and playwrights, classicist principles that implied the observance of strict rules. However, already in the 19th century, romanticism appeared, rejecting all rules and proclaiming the freedom of the artist. Then realism arose, which expelled subjective romanticism and put forward its own requirements for works. And the change of these directions is also part of the literary process, as well as the reasons for which they occurred, and the writers who worked within them.

Don't forget about genres. Thus, the novel, the largest and most popular genre, has experienced more than one change in artistic trends and directions. And it has changed in every era. For example, brightan example of a Renaissance novel - "Don Quixote" - is completely different from "Robinson Crusoe", written during the Enlightenment, and both of them are dissimilar to the works of O. de Balzac, V. Hugo, C. Dickens.

Literature of Russia of the 19th century

The literary process of the 19th century. presents a rather complex picture. At this time, the evolution of critical realism takes place. And representatives of this trend are N. V. Gogol, A. S. Pushkin, I. S. Turgenev, I. A. Goncharov, F. M. Dostoevsky and A. P. Chekhov. As you can see, the work of these writers varies greatly, however, they all belong to the same trend. At the same time, literary criticism in this respect speaks not only about the artistic individuality of writers, but also about changes in realism itself and the method of knowing the world and man.

In the early 19th century, romanticism was replaced by the "natural school", which already in the middle of the century began to be perceived as something preventing further literary development. F. Dostoevsky and L. Tolstoy begin to attach more and more importance to psychologism in their works. This became a new stage in the development of realism in Russia, and the "natural school" became outdated. However, this does not mean that the techniques of the previous course are no longer used. On the contrary, the new literary trend absorbs the old one, partially leaving it in its former form, partially modifying it. However, one should not forget about the influence of foreign literature on Russian, as well as domestic literature on foreign literature.

Western literature of the 19th century

The literary process of the 19th century in Europe includes two main directions - romanticism and realism. Both of them became a reflection of the historical events of this era. Recall that at this time an industrial revolution takes place, factories open, railways are built, etc. At the same time, the Great French Revolution takes place, which led to uprisings throughout Europe. These events, of course, are also reflected in literature, and at the same time from completely different positions: romanticism seeks to escape from reality and create its own ideal world; realism - analyze what is happening and try to change reality.

Romanticism, which arose at the end of the 18th century, gradually becomes obsolete by about the middle of the 19th century. But realism, which only arises at the beginning of the 19th century, is gaining momentum by the end of the century. The realistic direction leaves realism and declares itself around the 30-40s.

The popularity of realism is explained by its social orientation, which was in demand by the society of that time.

Literature of Russia of the 20th century

The literary process of the 20th century. very complex, intense and ambiguous, especially for Russia. This is connected, first of all, with emigrant literature. Writers who were expelled from their homeland after the 1917 revolution continued to write abroad, continuing the literary traditions of the past. But what is happening in Russia? Here, a motley variety of directions and currents, called the Silver Age,forcibly narrowed down to so-called socialist realism. And all attempts by writers to move away from it are severely suppressed. However, works were created but not published. Among these writers are Akhmatova, Zoshchenko, from later antagonist authors - Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Venedikt Erofeev, etc. Each of these writers was the successor of the literary traditions of the early 20th century, before the advent of socialist realism. The most interesting in this regard is the work "Moscow - Petushki", written by V. Erofeev in 1970 and published in the west. This poem is one of the first examples of postmodern literature.

Until the end of the existence of the USSR, works that are not related to social realism are practically not printed. However, after the collapse of the state, the dawn of book publishing literally begins. Everything that was written in the 20th century, but was forbidden, is published. New writers appear, continuing the traditions of the Silver Age literature, banned and foreign.

Western literature of the 20th century

The Western literary process of the 20th century is characterized by a close connection with historical events, in particular, with the first and second world wars. These events greatly shocked Europe.

In the literature of the 20th century, two major trends stand out - modernism and postmodernism (there is a 70s). The first includes such currents as existentialism, expressionism, surrealism. At the same time, modernism most vividly and intensively develops in the first half of the 20th century, then gradually losing ground to postmodernism.

Conclusion

Thus, the literary process is a set of currents, directions, works of writers and historical events in their development. Such a view of literature makes it possible to understand what laws it exists under and what influences its evolution. The beginning of the literary process can be called the first work created by mankind, and its end will come only when we cease to exist.