The life and work of Ostrovsky. Stages and features of Ostrovsky's work

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

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky is a famous Russian writer and playwright who had a significant impact on the development of the national theater. He formed a new school of realistic play and wrote many remarkable works. This article will outline the main stages of Ostrovsky's work. As well as the most significant moments of his biography.

Childhood

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky, whose photo is presented in this article, was born in 1823, on March 31, in Moscow, in the Malaya Ordynka district. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, grew up in the family of a priest, graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy himself, but did not serve in the church. He became a court lawyer, engaged in commercial and legal cases. Nikolai Fedorovich managed to rise to the rank of titular adviser, and later (in 1839) to receive the nobility. The mother of the future playwright, Savvina Lyubov Ivanovna, was the daughter of a sexton. She died when Alexander was onlyseven years. Six children grew up in the Ostrovsky family. Nikolai Fedorovich did everything to ensure that the children grew up in prosperity and received a decent education. A few years after the death of Lyubov Ivanovna, he married a second time. His wife was Emilia Andreevna von Tessin, baroness, daughter of a Swedish nobleman. The children were very lucky with their stepmother: she managed to find an approach to them and continued to educate them.

Youth

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky spent his childhood in the very center of Zamoskvorechye. His father had a very good library, thanks to which the boy got acquainted early with the literature of Russian writers and felt a penchant for writing. However, the father saw only a lawyer in the boy. Therefore, in 1835, Alexander was sent to the First Moscow Gymnasium, after studying in which he became a student at Moscow University. However, Ostrovsky did not succeed in obtaining a law degree. He quarreled with the teacher and left the university. On the advice of his father, Alexander Nikolayevich went to work in the court as a scribe and worked in this position for several years.

Test pen

However, Alexander Nikolayevich did not leave attempts to prove himself in the literary field. In his first plays, he adhered to an accusatory, "moral-social" direction. The first works of Ostrovsky were published in a new edition, Moscow City List, in 1847. These were sketches for the comedy "Failed Debtor" and the essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident". Under the publication were the letters "A. O." and "D. G." The fact is that a certain Dmitry Gorev offered the youngplaywright cooperation. It did not progress beyond the writing of one of the scenes, but subsequently became a source of great trouble for Ostrovsky. Some ill-wishers later accused the playwright of plagiarism. In the future, many magnificent plays will come out from the pen of Alexander Nikolaevich, and no one will dare to doubt his talent. Further, the life and work of Ostrovsky will be described in detail. The table below will help organize the information received.

First success

When did this happen? The work of Ostrovsky gained great popularity after the publication in 1850 of the comedy “Our people - we will settle!”. This work evoked favorable reviews in literary circles. I. A. Goncharov and N. V. Gogol gave the play a positive assessment. However, an impressive fly in the ointment also fell into this barrel of honey. Influential representatives of the Moscow merchants, offended by the estate, complained to the highest authorities about the impudent playwright. The play was immediately banned for staging, the author was expelled from service and placed under the strictest police supervision. Moreover, this happened on the personal orders of Emperor Nicholas I himself. Supervision was abolished only after Emperor Alexander II ascended the throne. And the theatrical public saw the comedy only in 1861, after the ban on its production was lifted.

Early Pieces

The early work of A. N. Ostrovsky did not go unnoticed, his works were published mainly in the Moskvityanin magazine. The playwright actively collaborated with thispublication both as a critic and as an editor in 1850-1851. Under the influence of the "young editors" of the magazine and the main ideologist of this circle, A. A. Grigoriev, Alexander Nikolayevich composed the plays "Poverty is not a vice", "Do not sit in your sleigh", "Do not live as you want." The themes of Ostrovsky's work during this period are the idealization of patriarchy, Russian ancient customs and traditions. These moods slightly muffled the accusatory pathos of the writer's work. However, in the works of this cycle, the dramatic skill of Alexander Nikolayevich grew. His plays have become famous and in demand.

Cooperation with Sovremennik

Starting from 1853, for thirty years, the plays of Alexander Nikolaevich were shown every season on the stages of the Maly (in Moscow) and Alexandrinsky (in St. Petersburg) theaters. Since 1856, Ostrovsky's work has been regularly covered in the Sovremennik magazine (works are published). During the social upsurge in the country (before the abolition of serfdom in 1861), the writer's works again acquired accusatory sharpness. In the play “Hangover at a Strange Feast”, the writer created an impressive image of Bruskov Tit Titych, in which he embodied the brute and dark power of domestic autocracy. Here, for the first time, the word "tyrant" was heard, which later became fixed for a whole gallery of Ostrovsky's characters. In the comedy "Profitable Place" the corruption of officials that has become the norm was ridiculed. The drama "The Pupil" was a living protest against violence against the person. Other stages of Ostrovsky's work will be described below. But the pinnacle of reaching this period of hisliterary activity was the socio-psychological drama "Thunderstorm".

Thunderstorm

In this play, Ostrovsky's bytovik painted the dull atmosphere of a provincial town with its hypocrisy, rudeness, and the indisputable authority of the "senior" and rich. In opposition to the imperfect world of people, Alexander Nikolayevich depicts breathtaking pictures of the Volga nature. The image of Katerina is covered with tragic beauty and gloomy charm. The thunderstorm symbolizes the spiritual confusion of the heroine and at the same time personifies the burden of fear under which ordinary people constantly live. The kingdom of blind obedience is undermined, according to Ostrovsky, by two forces: common sense, which Kuligin preaches in the play, and Katerina's pure soul. In his "Ray of Light in the Dark Kingdom", the critic Dobrolyubov interpreted the image of the main character as a symbol of deep protest, gradually ripening in the country.

Thanks to this play, Ostrovsky's creativity took off to an unattainable height. The Thunderstorm made Alexander Nikolaevich the most famous and revered Russian playwright.

Historical motifs

In the second half of the 1860s, Alexander Nikolaevich began to study the history of the Time of Troubles. He began to correspond with the famous historian and public figure Nikolai Ivanovich Kostomarov. Based on the study of serious sources, the playwright created a whole series of historical works: "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky", "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk", "Tushino". The problems of national history were depicted by Ostrovskytalented and authentic.

Other pieces

Alexander Nikolaevich still remained true to his favorite topic. In the 1860s, he wrote many "everyday" dramas and plays. Among them: "Hard days", "Abyss", "Jokers". These works consolidated the motives already found by the writer. Since the late 1860s, Ostrovsky's work has been undergoing a period of active development. In his dramaturgy, images and themes of the “new” Russia that survived the reform appear: businessmen, acquirers, degenerate patriarchal moneybags and “Europeanized” merchants. Alexander Nikolayevich created a brilliant cycle of satirical comedies debunking the post-reform illusions of citizens: “Mad Money”, “Hot Heart”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”. The moral ideal of the playwright is pure-hearted, noble people: Parasha from the "Hot Heart", Aksyusha from the "Forest". Ostrovsky's ideas about the meaning of life, happiness and duty were embodied in the play "Labor Bread". Almost all of Alexander Nikolayevich's works written in the 1870s were published in Otechestvennye Zapiski.

Snow Maiden

The appearance of this piece of poetry was completely accidental. The Maly Theater was closed for repairs in 1873. Its artists moved to the building of the Bolshoi Theatre. In this regard, the commission for the management of the Moscow imperial theaters decided to create a performance in which three troupes will be involved: opera, ballet and drama. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky undertook to write a similar play. The Snow Maiden was written by the playwright in a very short time. PerThe author took the plot from a Russian folk tale as the basis. While working on the play, he carefully selected the sizes of the verses, consulted with archaeologists, historians, and connoisseurs of antiquity. The music for the play was composed by the young P. I. Tchaikovsky. The premiere of the play took place in 1873, on May 11, on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre. K. S. Stanislavsky spoke of The Snow Maiden as a fairy tale, a dream told in sonorous and magnificent verse. He said that the realist and bytovik Ostrovsky wrote this play as if before that he was not interested in anything except pure romance and poetry.

Work in recent years

During this period, Ostrovsky composed significant socio-psychological comedies and dramas. They tell about the tragic fate of sensitive, gifted women in a cynical and greedy world: "Talents and Admirers", "Dowry". Here the playwright developed new techniques of stage expression, anticipating the work of Anton Chekhov. Preserving the peculiarities of his dramaturgy, Alexander Nikolaevich sought to embody the "internal struggle" of the characters in an "intelligent subtle comedy".

Community activities

In 1866, Alexander Nikolaevich founded the famous Artistic Circle. He subsequently gave the Moscow stage many talented figures. Ostrovsky was visited by D. V. Grigorovich, I. A. Goncharov, I. S. Turgenev, P. M. Sadovsky, A. F. Pisemsky, G. N. Fedotova, M. E. Ermolova, P. I. Tchaikovsky, L. N. Tolstoy, M. E. S altykov-Shchedrin, I. E. Turchaninov.

In 1874, Russia hadThe Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers was founded. Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was chosen as the chairman of the association. Photos of the famous public figure were known to every lover of theatrics in Russia. The reformer made a lot of efforts to ensure that the theater management legislation was revised in favor of the artists, and thereby significantly improved their financial and social situation.

In 1885, Alexander Nikolaevich was appointed to the post of head of the repertoire of Moscow theaters and became the head of the theater school.

Ostrovsky Theater

The work of Alexander Ostrovsky is inextricably linked with the formation of a real Russian theater in its modern sense. The playwright and writer managed to create his own theater school and a special holistic concept for staging theater performances.

Features of Ostrovsky's work in the theater are the absence of opposition to the acting nature and extreme situations in the action of the play. In the works of Alexander Nikolaevich, ordinary events occur with ordinary people.

Main reform ideas:

• the theater should be built on conventions (there is an invisible "fourth wall" that separates the audience from the actors);
• when staging a performance, the bet must be made not on one well-known actor, but on a team of artists who understand each other well;
• the invariance of the attitude of actors to language: speech characteristics shouldexpress almost everything about the characters presented in the play;
• people come to the theater to watch the actors play, not to get acquainted with the play - they can read it at home.

The ideas that the writer Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich came up with were subsequently finalized by M. A. Bulgakov and K. S. Stanislavsky.

Private life

The playwright's personal life was no less interesting than his literary work. Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich lived in a civil marriage with a simple bourgeois for almost twenty years. Interesting facts and details of the marital relationship between the writer and his first wife still excite researchers.

In 1847, in Nikolo-Vorobinovsky Lane, next to the house where Ostrovsky lived, a young girl, Agafya Ivanovna, settled with her thirteen-year-old sister. She had no relatives or friends. Nobody knows when she met Alexander Nikolayevich. However, in 1848 the young people had a son, Alexei. There were no conditions for raising a child, so the boy was temporarily placed in an orphanage. Ostrovsky's father was terribly angry that his son not only dropped out of a prestigious university, but also got involved with a simple bourgeois woman living next door.

However, Alexander Nikolaevich showed firmness and, when his father, together with his stepmother, left for the recently purchased Shchelykovo estate in the Kostroma province, he settled with Agafya Ivanovna in his wooden house.

The writer and ethnographer S. V. Maksimov jokingly called Ostrovsky's first wife "Martha Posadnitsa", becausethat she was next to the writer in times of severe need and severe hardship. Ostrovsky's friends characterize Agafya Ivanovna as a very intelligent and cordial person by nature. She remarkably knew the manners and customs of merchant life and had an unconditional influence on Ostrovsky's work. Alexander Nikolaevich often consulted with her about the creation of his works. In addition, Agafya Ivanovna was a wonderful and hospitable hostess. But Ostrovsky did not register an official marriage with her even after the death of his father. All children born in this union died very young, only the eldest, Alexei, briefly outlived his mother.

Ostrovsky got other hobbies over time. He was passionately in love with Lyubov Pavlovna Kositskaya-Nikulina, who played Katerina at the premiere of The Thunderstorm in 1859. However, a personal break soon occurred: the actress left the playwright for a rich merchant.

Then, Alexander Nikolaevich had a connection with a young artist Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva. Agafya Ivanovna knew about this, but she steadfastly carried her cross and managed to maintain Ostrovsky's respect for herself. The woman died in 1867, March 6, after a serious illness. Alexander Nikolaevich did not leave her bed until the very end. The burial place of Ostrovsky's first wife is unknown.

Two years later, the playwright married Vasilyeva-Bakhmetyeva, who bore him two daughters and four sons. Alexander Nikolaevich lived with this woman until the end of his days.

Death of a writer

Intense social and creative activity could not but affect the statewriter's he alth. In addition, despite good fees from staging plays and an annual pension of 3 thousand rubles, Alexander Nikolayevich was always short of money. Exhausted by constant worries, the writer's body eventually failed. In 1886, on June 2, the writer died at his Shchelykovo estate near Kostroma. Emperor Alexander the Third granted 3,000 rubles for the burial of the playwright. In addition, he assigned a pension of 3,000 rubles to the writer's widow, and another 2,400 rubles a year for raising Ostrovsky's children.

Chronological table

Ostrovsky's life and work can be briefly displayed in the chronological table.

A. N. Ostrovsky. Life and work

1823 March 31st	A. N. Ostrovsky was born.
1835	The future writer entered the First Moscow Gymnasium.
1840	Ostrovsky became a student at Moscow University and began to study law.
1843	Alexander Nikolaevich left the university without receiving a diploma of education.
1843	Ostrovsky began to serve as a scribe in the Moscow courts. He did this work until 1851.
1846	The writer conceived a comedy called "The Picture of Family Happiness".
1847	The essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident" and outlines of the play "A Picture of Family Happiness" appeared in the Moscow City List.
1850	Ostrovsky published the play "Own people - let's settle!". For this, he was dismissed from service and is under police surveillance.
1852	Publication of the comedy "The Poor Bride" in the magazine "Moskvityanin".
1853	The first play by Ostrovsky was performed on the stage of the Maly Theatre. It's a comedy called Don't Get in Your Sleigh.
1854	The writer wrote an article "On sincerity in criticism." The premiere of the play "Poverty is not a vice" took place.
1856	Alexander Nikolaevich becomes an employee of the Sovremennik magazine. He also takes part in the Volga ethnographic expedition.
1857	Ostrovsky is finishing work on the comedy "They didn't get along." His other play, Profitable Place, has been banned.
1859	The premiere of Ostrovsky's drama "Thunderstorm" took place at the Maly Theater. The collected works of the writer are published in two volumes.
1860	"Thunderstorm" is published in print. The playwright receives the Uvarov Prize for it. Features of Ostrovsky's work are described by Dobrolyubovin the critical article "A Beam of Light in the Dark Realm".
1962	The historical drama Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk is published in Sovremennik. Work begins on the comedy Balzaminov's Marriage.
1863	Ostrovsky received the Uvarov Prize for the play "Sin and trouble does not live on anyone" and became a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
1866 (according to some sources - 1865)	Alexander Nikolaevich created the Artistic Circle and became its foreman.
1868	The writer published the comedy "Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man" and organized its premiere at the Maly Theatre.
1873	The spring fairy tale "The Snow Maiden" was presented to the audience.
1874	Ostrovsky became the head of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers.
1885	Alexander Nikolaevich was appointed to the post of head of the repertory part of theaters in Moscow. He also became head of the theater school.
1886 June 2	The writer dies on his estate near Kostroma.

The life and work of Ostrovsky were filled with such events. A table that shows the main events in the life of the writer will help to better study it.biography. The dramatic heritage of Alexander Nikolaevich is difficult to overestimate. Even during the life of the great artist, the Maly Theater was called “Ostrovsky's house”, and this says a lot. The work of Ostrovsky, a brief description of which is presented in this article, is worth studying in more detail.