Brief biography of D.I.Fonvizin: the most important and basic about life and work. The main ideas of fonvizin's creativity. Fonvizin's works: a list of Fonvizin's works themes of creativity

22.02.2019

Although the modern reader is separated from the Fonvizin era by two whole centuries, it is difficult to find a person who would not know that an "undergrowth" is an overage dropout, or would not hear the proverbial remarks "I do not want to study, but I want to get married", "Why geography when there are cabs ”and other Fonvizin expressions.

Images, winged words and jokes from Fonvizin's comedies "Brigadier" and "Minor" have become part of our vocabulary. In the same way, the ideas of Fonvizin, which played an important role in the history of the liberation movement, were passed on from generation to generation.

Fonvizin belonged to the generation of young noblemen who were educated at the Moscow University founded on the initiative of Lomonosov. In 1755 he was assigned to the university gymnasium, which prepared its pupils for transfer to students, and studied there until 1762.

The university was the center of literary life in Moscow. One of the first activities of the university was the publication of Lomonosov's works, where his students taught - the poet and translator NN Popovsky, the philologist AA Barsov, and MM Kheraskov was in charge of publishing.

There was a theater at the university, the repertoire of which also included translations of pupils from the gymnasium. Their literary exercises were eagerly published by the journals "Useful Entertainment" and "Collected Best Works" published at the university. It is not surprising that, in addition to Fonvizin, many later famous writers left the gymnasium - N.I. Novikov, F.A.Kozlovsky, the Karin brothers, A.A.Rzhevsky, and others.

The first literary works of Fonvizin were translations from German and French. He publishes translated articles in university journals and at the same time publishes a separate book "Moral Fables" by the Danish educator and satirist L. Golberg (1761), and also begins the translation of the multivolume novel by J. Terrason "Heroic Virtue, or the Life of Seth, King of Egypt" (1762- 1768), whose hero was an ideal enlightened sovereign.

The educational and political ideas of Terrason were positively assessed by the French enlighteners. Fonvizin also tries his hand at dramatic poetry, starting to translate Voltaire's anticlerical tragedy "Alzira".

This list of the works that interested the young writer testifies to his early interest in the ideas of the European Enlightenment. The liberal beginning of the reign of Catherine II aroused hopes among the advanced part of the nobility for the establishment of an "enlightened" monarchy in Russia.

At the end of 1762 Fonvizin left the university and was appointed as a translator for the Collegium of Foreign Affairs. Directly in the College, he spent only a year, and then was assigned to the office of the State Secretary of the Empress I.P. Elagin.

Fonvizin's serious political education began in the capital. He was aware of a variety of judgments about the proposed reforms, those disputes that preceded such important events in the history of Russian social thought, as the Free Economic Society's competition on the state of serfs (1766) and the convocation of the Commission to draw up a New Code (1767). In these disputes, the ideology of the Russian Enlightenment was formed. Fonvizin joined his voice to those who demanded political freedom and the elimination of serf slavery.

About his public views in these years, give an idea spread in the manuscript "Abbreviation on the freedom of the French nobility and the benefits of the third rank" and the translation of "The Trading Nobility" by G.-F. Quaye with a foreword by the German lawyer I.-G. Yusti, published in 1766.

Quaye set out to point out how a degrading nobility could once again become a prosperous estate. But Fonvizin's book, apparently, attracted primarily the sharp criticism it contained of the nobles, who, in the name of class prejudices, neglect the interests of the state and the nation, as well as the idea that maintaining rigid class barriers is not in the interests of society.

It was this idea that he developed in a handwritten discussion of the establishment of a "third rank" in Russia, which meant the merchants, artisans and the intelligentsia. The new "petty-bourgeois" class was to gradually be made up of serfs who had been redeemed and educated.

So, according to Fonvizin, gradually, peacefully, with the help of laws issued by the enlightened government, the elimination of serfdom, the enlightenment of society and the flourishing of civil life were achieved. Russia was becoming a country with a "completely free" nobility, a third rank, "completely liberated" and a people "practicing agriculture, although not entirely free, but at least hoping to be free."

Later, creating the image of the nobleman Starodum in "The Minor", the image to which the author's thoughts and sympathies are given in this play, he noted that his hero made his fortune and achieved independence as an honest industrialist, and not as a low-worshiped courtier. Fonvizin was one of the first Russian writers who began to consistently destroy the class walls of feudal society.

Fonvizin knew the Russian nobility too well to expect support from him in the implementation of his educational program. But he believed in the effectiveness of the propaganda of educational ideas, under the influence of which a new generation of honest sons of the fatherland was to be formed. As he believed, they would become the assistants and support of the enlightened sovereign, whose goal would be the good of the fatherland and the nation.

Therefore, Fonvizin, a satirist by the nature of his talent, starting from his early works, also promotes a positive ideal of social behavior. Already in the comedy "Korion" (1764), he attacked the nobles who evade the service, and in the words of one of the heroes declared:

Who has made every effort to the general benefit,

And served to the glory of his fatherland,

He tasted direct joy in his life.

"Corion", a free adaptation of the comedy by the French playwright J.-B. Gresse "Sydney", opens the St. Petersburg period of creativity Fonvizin. The translation of Voltaire's tragedy "Alzira" (which was circulated in copies) created him a reputation as a talented aspiring author. At the same time, he was accepted into a circle of young playwrights, who were grouped around his immediate superior, IP Elagin, a well-known translator and philanthropist.

In this circle the theory of "declension" of foreign works "to Russian customs" was formed. Elagin was the first to apply the principle of "declension" in the play "Jean de Molay, or the Russian Frenchman" borrowed from Golberg, and it was consistently formulated by VI Lukin in the prefaces to his comedies.

But his comedies were devoid of a sense of the comic and, most importantly, resisted the growing penetration of satire into all areas of literature, which a few years later led to the emergence of satirical journalism. Such particular topics as a touching depiction of suffering virtue or the correction of a vicious nobleman did not in any way correspond to the political goals of the Russian enlighteners, who raised the question of transforming society as a whole.

Close attention to human behavior in society allowed Fonvizin to understand more deeply than his contemporaries the foundations of Diderot's enlightenment aesthetics. The idea of a satirical comedy about the Russian nobility took shape in the atmosphere of controversy around the Commission for the compilation of the New Code, where the majority of the nobles came out in defense of serfdom. In 1769, the "Brigadier" was completed, and, turning to public satire, Fonvizin finally breaks with the Elagin circle.

History of Russian Literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983

The famous writer of the Catherine era D.I. Fonvizin was born on April 3 (14), 1745 in Moscow, into a wealthy noble family. Descended from a Livonian knightly family, completely Russified (until the middle of the 19th century, the surname was written Von-Wiesen). He received his primary education under the guidance of his father, Ivan Andreevich. In 1755-1760, Fonvizin studied at the newly opened gymnasium at Moscow University; in 1760 he was "promoted to students" of the Faculty of Philosophy, but stayed at the university for only 2 years.

A special place in the drama of this time is occupied by the work of Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1745-1792), which was the pinnacle of theatrical culture of the 18th century. Inheriting the tradition of classicist comedy, Fonvizin goes far ahead, in essence being the ancestor of critical realism in Russian drama. A.S. Pushkin called the great playwright "a bold master of satire," a "friend of freedom." M. Gorky asserted that Fonvizin had begun the most magnificent and, perhaps, the most socially fruitful line of Russian literature - the denunciatory-realistic line. Fonvizin's work had a tremendous influence on contemporary and subsequent writers and playwrights. DI Fonvizin early joined the theater. Theatrical impressions are the strongest in his youth: “... nothing in St. Petersburg fascinated me so much as the theater, which I saw for the first time from my life. The actions performed in me by the theater are almost impossible to describe. " While still a student, Fonvizin takes part in the life of the Moscow University Theater. In the future, Denis Ivanovich maintains contacts with the largest figures of the Russian theater - playwrights and actors: A.P. Sumarokov, I.A. Dmitrevsky and others, appears with theatrical articles in satirical magazines. These magazines had a great influence on the work of Fonvizin. In them, he sometimes drew motives for his comedies. Fonvizin's dramatic activities began in the 60s. At first, he translates foreign plays and "rearranges" them in the Russian way. But this was only a test of the pen. Fonvizin dreamed of creating a national comedy. The Brigadier is the first original play by Fonvizin. It was written in the late 60s. The simplicity of the plot did not prevent Fonvizin from creating a witty work, showing the mores and character of his narrow-minded heroes. The play "Brigadier" was called by contemporaries "a comedy about our morals." This comedy was written under the influence of leading satirical magazines and satirical comedies of Russian classicism and imbued with the author's concern for the education of young people. The Brigadier is the first dramatic work in Russia, endowed with all the features of national originality, not in any way reminiscent of comedies created according to foreign standards. In the language of comedy, there are many popular phrases, aphorisms, apt comparisons. This dignity of the "Brigadier" was immediately noticed by his contemporaries, and the best of Fonvizin's phrases passed into everyday life, became proverbs. The comedy "Brigadier" was staged in 1780 at the St. Petersburg Theater on Tsaritsyno Meadow. The second comedy "The Minor" was written by DI Fonvizin in 1782. She brought the author long fame, placed him in the front ranks of the fighters against serfdom. In the play, the most important problems for the era are developed. It talks about the upbringing of ignorant noble sons and about the customs of the court society. But the problem of serfdom, malice and unpunished cruelty of landowners is posed more acutely than others. The "Minor" was created by the hand of a mature master who managed to populate the play with living characters, to build the action on the basis of not only external, but also internal dynamics. The comedy "The Minor" resolutely did not meet the requirements of Catherine II, who ordered the writers "to touch on vices only occasionally" and to conduct criticism without fail "in a smiling spirit." On September 24, 1782, "The Minor" was staged by Fonvizin and Dmitrevsky at the theater on Tsaritsyno Meadow. The performance was a great success with the general public. On May 14, 1783, the premiere of "The Minor" took place on the stage of the Petrovsky Theater in Moscow. The premiere and subsequent performances were a huge success. "The Choice of the Governor" - a comedy written by Fonvizin in 1790, was devoted to the burning topic of educating young people in aristocratic noble houses. The pathos of the comedy is directed against foreign adventurers-pseudo-teachers in favor of the enlightened Russian nobles.

Reading books

Screen adaptation of the classics

Biography of the writer

- playwright, publicist, translator.

Born April 3 (14), 1745 in Moscow. Descended from an old noble family (the Livonian knight von Vizin was taken prisoner under John IV , then began to serve the Russian tsar). From 1755 Denis Fonvizin was enrolled in the gymnasium at Moscow University, where he successfully studied Latin, German and French and spoke at ceremonial acts with speeches in Russian and German. In 1760, one of the best students of Fonvizin was taken to St. Petersburgfor presentation to the curator of the university I.I.Shuvalov and "promoted to students." He made his literary debut as a translator: he translated from German a collection of Danish writer Ludwig Holberg, popular in EuropeMoral fables (1761). Several small translations of Fonvizin appeared in university publications in 1761-1762 (including in the journal M.M. Kheraskova "Useful amusement", where the poems of Fonvizin's older brother - Pavel were also printed); translation of the tragedy Voltaire Alzira (1762) was not published at the time, but became widespread in lists (publ. 1894). At the same time, he began to translate a lengthy, four-volume adventure-didactic novel by Abbot Jean TerraçonHeroic virtue, or the Life of Seth, king of Egypt, from the mysterious evidence of ancient Egypt taken (1762–1768).

In 1762 Fonvizin left the university and entered the college of foreign affairs as a translator. In 1763, after the coronation celebrations in Moscow, together with the court, he moved to St. Petersburg and until 1769 served under the command of State Counselor of the Palace Chancellery IP Elagin, who, being the manager of “court music and theater,” patronized novice writers. Fonvizin entered the so-called. "Elagin circle", the participants of which (Elagin himself, V.I. Lukin, B.E. Elchaninov and others. ) were busy developing a Russian original comedy. For this purpose, foreign plays were altered, "inclined" "to our customs" (ie, the names of the characters, everyday realities, etc.) were changed. Lukin argued that the latter is necessary, since “many viewers do not get any correction from comedies in other people's morals. They think that not them, but strangers are being ridiculed. " In addition, the circle mastered the traditions of the philistine "tearful drama" (otherwise "serious comedy"), the theorist of which was D. Diderot , i.e. allowed a mixture of "funny" and "touching" in comedies. In this spirit, Fonvizin composed his first, poetic comedyCorion (1764), based on the drama of the French author Jean-Baptiste-Louis GressetSydney ... The action takes place in a village near Moscow and consists of a sentimental story of lovers Korion and Xenovia, separated by a misunderstanding and happily uniting in the finale.Corion however, it was only a test of the playwright Fonvizin's pen.

His comedy became a completely original and innovative work. Foreman (1768-1769, post. 1772, publ. 1786). This is the first "comedy of manners" in Russian literature, in contrast to the previously dominant satirical "comedy of characters", when personified vices ("stinginess", "bragging", etc.) were brought to the stage. VForeman vices, peculiarities of speech and behavior of the characters are socially conditioned. This is achieved with the help of "verbal masks". With the deduction of the speech characteristic, there are no other, individual human traits ”(GA Gukovsky). "Speaking" in comedy prevails over "action": they drink tea on stage, play cards, discuss what books are needed for education, and so on. The heroes are constantly "talking" about themselves. Declarations of love (Advisor - Brigadier, Brigadier - Adviser) do not achieve their goal due to the fact that they speak, in essence, in different languages, i.e. a "dialogue of the deaf" arises. The negative characters of the comedy are united by their "stupidity", shaded by the "prudence" of the positive ones - Sophia and Dobrolyubov, whose participation, however, is minimized (they practically do not say anything and only scold everyone else as "brutes"). The figure of the "Gallomaniac" Ivanushka is highlighted (the influence on the idea of "Brigadier" by Golberg's comedyJean-French ), with which the most important topic for Fonvizin is the education of a nobleman.

In the 1760s, during the era of the Commission for the Compilation of the New Code (1767), Fonvizin also spoke out on the issue of the rights and privileges of the nobility that worried everyone. He translates the treatise by G.F. Trading nobility (1766), where the right of a nobleman to engage in industry and trade was based (it is no coincidence that inUndersized Starodum became rich as a Siberian industrialist, not a courtier). In the manuscript, a compilation of the works of the German lawyer J.G. Justi, compiled by him, was distributed.Abbreviation on the freedom of the French nobility and on the benefits of the third rank (late 1760s). As an appendix to the novel by F.-T.-M. Arno, translated by FonvizinSydney and Scilly, or Benevolence and Gratitude (1769) one of his few poems was publishedMessage to my servants - Shumilov, Vanka and Petrushka (there are elements of anticlerical satire, which are believed to have been inspired by Fonvizin's close communication with the writer F.A. Kozlovsky, a well-known Voltairean and free-thinker). Fonvizin's activity as a translator of fiction was crowned with the translation of Paul's story Jeremy Bitobe into a biblical plotJoseph (1769): This is a sentimental, lyric-imbued narrative, performed in rhythmic prose. Later, Fonvizin proudly wrote that this story “served me myself to extract tears from sensitive people. For I know many who, reading Joseph, translated by me, shed tears. "

In 1769 Fonvizin became one of the secretaries of the chancellor, Count N.I. Panin, who was making plans for the early transfer of the throne to Pavel Petrovich and the limitation of autocracy in favor of the Supreme Soviet of the nobility. Having soon become Panin's confidant, Fonvizin plunged into the atmosphere of political projects and intrigue. In the 1770s, he only twice appeared as a writer (more precisely, as a political publicist of the "Panin party" instructing the monarch on how to rule for the good of the nation) - in Pavel Petrovich's word on recovery (1771) and translation Words of praise to Marcus Aurelius A. Tom (1777). Fonvizin's letters, written during a trip to France in 1777–1778 and addressed to PI Panin (the chancellor's brother), are a remarkable description of the style and satirical acuteness of the customs of French society on the eve of the revolution.

After the disgrace and resignation of N.I. Panin, Fonvizin also resigned (in March 1782). In 1782-1783 "according to Panin's thoughts" he composed Discourse on indispensable state laws (so-called Panin's testament ), which was supposed to become a preface to the prepared, but unrealized N.I. and P.I. Panin to the draft "Fundamental rights that cannot be applied at all times by any power" (that is, in essence, the draft of a constitutional monarchy in Russia). Later thisPanin's testament , replete with attacks against the autocracy, was used for propaganda purposes by the Decembrists. Immediately after the death of the patron saint (March 1783) Fonvizin composed a brochureThe life of Count N.I. Panin , published in St. Petersburg, first in French (1784), and then in Russian (1786).

The comedy brought fame and universal recognition to Fonvizin Undergrowth (1779-1781, post. September 1782, publ. 1783). An unknown author of the Dramatic Dictionary (1787) testified to the extraordinary success of the play when it was first staged on the court stage on Tsaritsyno Meadow: “The theater was incomparably filled, and the audience applauded the play with throwing purses.” This is a "comedy of morals" depicting the domestic life of a wild and dark family of provincial landowners. In the center of the comedy is the image of Mrs. Prostakova, a tyrant and despot in her own family, and even more so among her peasants. Her cruelty in dealing with others is compensated for by an unreasonable and ardent tenderness for her son Mitrofanushka, who, thanks to such a mother's upbringing, grows up spoiled, rude, ignorant and completely unfit for any business. Prostakova is sure that she can do whatever she wants, for this has been ordered by the "noble freedom". Opposed to her and her relatives, Starodum, Pravdin, Sophia and Milon believe that the liberty of a nobleman lies in the right to study, and then serve society with his mind and knowledge, which justifies the nobility of the noble title. In the finale, retribution comes: Prostakova is abandoned from her estate and abandoned by her own son (the theme of a cruel tyrant who surrenders to his passions and destroys his subjects brings Fonvizin's comedy closer to tragedies A.P. Sumarokova ). Most of all contemporariesUndersized captivated by Starodum's prudent monologues; later, comedy was appreciated for the colorful, socially characteristic language of characters and colorful everyday scenes (often these two plans of comedy - ideological and everyday descriptive - were opposed, as, for example, in the epigram I.F.Bogdanovich: Venerable Starodum, / Hearing a sneaky noise, / Where a woman is not suitable / With nails climbs to her face, / He went home as soon as possible. / Dear writer, / Sorry, I did the same ).

In 1783, Princess E.R. Dashkova attracted Fonvizin to participate in the magazine "Interlocutor of the Russian Word", which she published. In the first issue he appeared The experience of the Russian estate class ... Compiled as if for the needs of the prepared "Dictionary of the Russian Academy of Sciences", FonvizinskyAn experience… was a veiled political satire, exposing the court order and the "idleness" of the nobles. In the same journal in 1783, without a title or signature, Fonvizin's politically sensitive and daring "questions" were published (in the manuscript they are titled asA Few Questions That Can Arouse Special Attention in Smart and Honest People ), addressed to Catherine II and supplied with "answers" by the empress herself, who at first believed II Shuvalov to be the author of the "questions". The truth soon became clear, and thus Fonvizin, with his "freedom of speech", incurred the displeasure of the authorities and later experienced difficulties with the publication of his works. Translation of the composition of I.G. ZimmermanAbout national curiosity (1785), the story of the persecution endured by a wise man who speaks the truth to the ruler (Callisthenes. Greek tale , 1786), and a poetic fableFox-Treasurer (17887) were printed anonymously. By 1788 he had prepared hisComplete Works and Translations in 5 volumes: a subscription was announced, but the publication did not take place, and even its manuscript is now lost. In the same 1788, he unsuccessfully sought permission to publish the author's magazine "Friend of Honest People, or Starodum" (some of the journal materials prepared by Fonvizin were published only in 1830).

In recent years, Fonvizin's health deteriorated greatly (in 1784-1785 he went with his wife to Italy for treatment), and at the same time his religious and penitential moods increased. They are reflected in the autobiographical composition, written "in the footsteps" Confessions J.-J. Rousseau, - Sincere confession in my deeds and thoughts (1791). His last comedy, incompletely preservedChoosing a tutor (between 1790 and 1792), devoted to, in many ways andUndergrowth , issues of education, however, is much inferior to the latter in an artistic sense.

Fonvizin died on December 1 (12), 1792 in St. Petersburg after an evening spent at G.R. Derzhavin's , where, according to those present, he was cheerful and playful. Buried at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Vladimir Korovin

Fonvizin was an enlightener, but the seal of noble narrow-mindedness marked both his belief in enlightened absolutism and in the primordial chosenness of his class. It should be noted, however, that Fonvizin's early interest in class, and essentially social issues, characteristic of his subsequent work, will allow him to assess the political situation that developed during the reign of Catherine II more soberly than many of his contemporaries. ... Later, creating the image of the nobleman Starodum in "The Minor", the image to which the author's thoughts and sympathies are given in this play, he noted that his hero made his fortune and achieved independence as an honest industrialist, and not as a low-worshiped courtier. Fonvizin was one of the first Russian writers who began to consistently destroy the class walls of feudal society.

Fonvizin knew too well the Russian nobility to expect support from him in the implementation of his educational program. But he believed in the effectiveness of the propaganda of educational ideas, under the influence of which a new generation of honest sons of the fatherland was to be formed. As he believed, they would become the assistants and support of the enlightened sovereign, whose goal would be the good of the fatherland and the nation. Therefore, Fonvizin, a satirist by the nature of his talent, starting from his early works, also promotes a positive ideal of social behavior.

"Corion", a free adaptation of the comedy of the French playwright J.-B. Gresse "Sydney", opens the St. Petersburg period of creativity Fonvizin. The translation of Voltaire's tragedy "Alzira" (which was circulated in copies) created him a reputation as a talented aspiring author. At the same time, he was accepted into a circle of young playwrights, who were grouped around his immediate superior, IP Elagin, a well-known translator and philanthropist. In this circle the theory of "declension" of foreign works "to Russian customs" was formed. Elagin was the first to apply the principle of "declension" in the play "Jean de Molay, or the Russian Frenchman" borrowed from Golberg, and it was consistently formulated by VI Lukin in the prefaces to his comedies.

Until that time, translated plays depicted a way of life that was difficult to understand for the Russian audience, and foreign names were used. All this, as Lukin wrote, not only destroyed the theatrical illusion, but also reduced the educational impact of the theater. Therefore, the "reworking" of these plays in the Russian way began. "Korion" Fonvizin declared himself as a supporter of national themes in drama and joined in the fight against the translators of entertaining plays.

Elagin's circle showed a keen interest in the new genre of "serious comedy", which was theoretically substantiated in Diderot's articles and conquered European scenes. An attempt, half-hearted and not entirely successful, to introduce the principles of moralizing drama into the Russian literary tradition was already made in the plays of Lukin. But his comedies were devoid of a sense of the comic and, most importantly, resisted the growing penetration of satire into all areas of literature, which a few years later led to the emergence of satirical journalism. Such particular topics as a touching depiction of suffering virtue or the correction of a vicious nobleman did not in any way correspond to the political goals of the Russian enlighteners, who raised the question of transforming society as a whole. Close attention to human behavior in society allowed Fonvizin to understand more deeply than his contemporaries the foundations of Diderot's enlightenment aesthetics. The idea of a satirical comedy about the Russian nobility took shape in the atmosphere of controversy around the Commission for the compilation of the New Code, where the majority of the nobles came out in defense of serfdom. In 1769, the "Brigadier" was completed, and, turning to public satire, Fonvizin finally breaks with the Elagin circle.

The comedy "Brigadier", in the final analysis, was a devastating satire on serf owners, although Fonvizin did not directly touch upon the topic of serfdom in it.

In 1872 Fonvizin finished work on the comedy "The Minor"

Outwardly remaining within the bounds of everyday comedy, offering the viewer's attention a number of everyday scenes, Fonvizin in "Nedoroslya" touched upon a new and deep problematic. The task of showing modern "manners" as a result of a certain system of relationships between people determined the artistic success of "The Minor", made it a "popular", according to Pushkin, a comedy. Touching upon the main and topical issues, "The Minor" really appeared to be a very vivid, historically accurate picture of Russian life in the 18th century. and as such went beyond the ideas of the narrow circle of the Panins. Fonvizin in "Nedorosl" assessed the main phenomena of Russian life from the point of view of their socio-political meaning. But his idea of the political structure of Russia was formed taking into account the main problems of class society, so that comedy can be considered the first picture of social types in Russian literature.

In terms of genre, "Minor" is a comedy. The play contains many truly comic and partly farcical scenes reminiscent of the Brigadier. However, Fonvizin's laughter in "The Minor" acquires a gloomy and tragic character, and farcical brawls, when Prostakova, Mitrofan and Skotinin participate in them, are no longer perceived as traditional funny sideshows.

Turning to not funny problems in comedy, Fonvizin did not so much strive to invent new stage techniques as he reinterpreted the old ones. The techniques of bourgeois drama were interpreted in The Nedoroslya in a completely original way in connection with the Russian dramatic tradition. For example, the function of the resonator of classical drama has changed radically. In The Nedoroslya, Starodum plays a similar role, expressing the author's point of view; this person is not so much an actor as a speaker. A similar figure of a wise old nobleman was encountered in translated Western drama. But his actions and reasoning were limited to the area of moral, most often family problems. Starodum Fonvizin acts as a political speaker, and his moralizations are a form of presenting a political program. In this sense, he rather resembles the heroes of the Russian tyrannical tragedy. It is possible that the latent influence of the high "drama of ideas" on Fonvizin, the translator of Voltaire's "Alzira", was stronger than it might seem at first glance.

Fonvizin was the creator of public comedy in Russia. His socio-political concept determined the most characteristic and general feature of his drama - a purely educational opposition of the world of evil to the world of reason, and, thus, the generally accepted content of everyday satirical comedy received a philosophical interpretation. Bearing in mind this feature of Fonvizin's plays, Gogol wrote about how the playwright deliberately neglects the content of an intrigue, "seeing through it another, higher content."

For the first time in Russian drama, the love affair of a comedy was completely relegated to the background and acquired an auxiliary meaning.

According to the plot and the title, "The Minor" is a play about how badly and incorrectly they taught a young nobleman, having raised him to be a direct "ignorant". In fact, we are not talking about learning, but about "education" in the wide sense of the word, which is usual for Fonvizin.

Although Mitrofan is a secondary figure on the stage, the fact that the play was named "The Minor" is not accidental. Mitrofan Prostakov is the last of the three generations of the Skotinins, who pass before the audience directly or in the memories of other characters and demonstrate that during this time nothing has changed in the Prostakovs' world. The history of Mitrofan's upbringing explains where the Skotinins come from and what should be changed so that they do not appear in the future: to abolish slavery and overcome the "bestial" vices of human nature by moral education.

In "Minor", not only are the positive characters outlined in the "Brigadier" outlined, but also a deeper image of social evil is given. As before, the focus of Fonvizin is on the nobility, but not in itself, but in close ties with the serf class, which it rules, and the supreme power representing the country as a whole. The events in the Prostakovs' house, quite colorful in themselves, are ideologically an illustration of more serious conflicts.

From the first scene of the comedy, trying on a caftan sewn by Trishka, Fonvizin depicts the very kingdom where “people are the property of people”, where “a person of one state can be both a plaintiff and a judge over a person of another state” (2, 265), as he wrote in "Reasoning". Prostakova is the sovereign mistress of her estate. Whether her slaves Trishka, Eremeevna, or the girl Palashka are right or guilty, it depends only on her arbitrariness, and she says about herself that “she doesn’t lay her hands on it: now she scolds, then she fights, so the house holds on” (1, 124). However, calling Prostakova a “pretentious fury,” Fonvizin does not at all want to emphasize that the tyrant landowner depicted by him is some kind of exception to the general rule. His idea was to, as M. Gorky precisely noted, "to show the nobility degenerated and corrupted precisely by the slavery of the peasantry." Skotinin, the brother of Prostakova, who is also an ordinary landowner, also has “any fault to blame” (1, 109), and pigs in his villages live much better than people. "Isn't a noble free to beat a servant whenever he wants?" (1, 172) - he supports his sister when she justifies her atrocities with reference to the Decree on the freedom of the nobility.

Accustomed to impunity, Prostakova extends her power from the serfs to her husband, Sophia, Skotinin - to everyone from whom she hopes will not meet with resistance. But, arbitrarily managing her own estate, she herself gradually turned into a slave, devoid of self-esteem, ready to grovel in front of the strongest, became a typical representative of the world of lawlessness and arbitrariness. The idea of the "animal" lowland of this world is carried out in "Nedorosl" as consistently as in "Brigadier": both the Skotinins and Prostakovs are "of the same litter" (1, 135). Prostakov is just one example of how despotism destroys a person in a person and destroys the social ties of people.

Talking about his life in the capital, Starodum paints the same world of selfishness and slavery, people “without a soul”. In essence, Starodum-Fonvizin argues, drawing a parallel between the small landowner Prostakova and the noble nobles of the state, “if an ignoramus without a soul is a beast, then the“ most enlightened clever girl ”without her is nothing more than a“ pitiful creature ”(1, 130). The courtiers, to the same extent as Prostakov, have no idea of duty and honor, they subservience to the nobles and push around the weak, thirst for wealth and rise at the expense of the rival.

Starodum's aphoristic invectives affected the entire nobility. There is a legend that some landowner filed a complaint against Fonvizin for Starodum's remark “an expert in interpreting decrees”, feeling personally offended. As for his monologues, no matter how close they were, the most topical of them were removed at the request of censorship from the stage text of the play. Fonvizin's satire in Nedorosl addressed the specific policies of Catherine.

Central in this regard is the first scene of the 5th action of the "Minor", where, in a conversation between Starodum and Pravdin, Fonvizin sets out the main thoughts of the "Discourse" about the example that the sovereign should set for his subjects and the need for strong laws in the state. Starodum formulates them as follows: “A sovereign worthy of the throne seeks to uplift the souls of his subjects ... Where he knows what his true glory is ... everyone there will soon feel that everyone must seek his own happiness and benefits in the one thing that is legal and that he must oppress with slavery. their own kind is lawless ”(1, 167-168). In the pictures by Fonvizin of the abuses of serf-owners, in the story of Mitrofan's upbringing as a slave Eremeevna depicted by him, so that “instead of one slave, two are coming out” (1, 169), the ruling empress. In a play composed for a public theater, the writer could not express himself as accurately and definitely as he did in the Discourse on Indispensable State Laws intended for a narrow circle of like-minded people. But the reader and viewer understood the inevitable reticence. According to Fonvizin himself, it was the role of Starodum that ensured the success of the comedy; the performance of this role by IA Dmitrevsky, the audience "applauded by throwing wallets" on the stage.

The role of Starodum was important for Fonvizin in another respect. In the scenes with Sophia, Pravdin, Milon, he consistently expounds the views of an "honest man" on family morality, on the duty of a nobleman engaged in civilian government affairs and military service. The emergence of such a detailed program testified that in the work of Fonvizin, Russian educational thought moved from criticizing the dark sides of reality to looking for practical ways to change the autocratic system.

Fonvizin's heroes are static. They leave the stage the same as they appeared. The collision between them does not change their characters. However, in the lively publicistic fabric of their works, their actions acquired a polysemy that is not characteristic of the drama of classicism. Already in the image of the Brigadier, there are features that could not only make the viewer laugh, but also arouse his sympathy. The foreman is stupid, greedy, evil. But suddenly she turns into an unhappy woman who, with tears, tells the story of Captain Gvozdilova, so similar to her own fate. Even stronger is a similar stage technique - an assessment of the character from different points of view - was carried out in the denouement of "The Minor".

The atrocities of the Prostakovs suffer a well-deserved punishment. An order comes from the authorities to take the estate under the tutelage of the government. However, Fonvizin fills the external rather traditional denouement - vice is punished, virtue triumphs - with a deep internal content. The appearance of Pravdin with a decree in his hands resolves the conflict only formally. The viewer knew well that the Peter's decree on guardianship over the tyrant landlords was not applied in practice. In addition, he saw that Skotinin, a worthy brother of Prostakova in oppressing the peasants, remained completely unpunished. He is just frightened by the thunderstorm that broke out over the house of the Prostakovs and safely goes to his village. Fonvizin left the viewer in the clear confidence that the Skotinins would only become more careful.

The "Minor" is concluded with the well-known words of Starodum: "Here are evil worthy fruits!" This remark refers not so much to Prostakova's abandonment of landlord power, but to the fact that everyone, even her beloved son, is leaving her, deprived of power. The drama of Prostakova is the final illustration of the fate of every person in the world of lawlessness: if you are not a tyrant, you will be a victim. On the other hand, with the last scene, Fonvizin also emphasized the moral collision of the play. A vicious person prepares himself an inevitable punishment by his actions.

The most important conquest of Fonvizin, as already noted, was a new understanding of character for Russian literature. True, his entire complexity of character is limited to one or two traits. But the playwright motivates these character traits, explains both biographical circumstances and class affiliation. Pushkin, having read "A Conversation with Princess Khaldina", scenes from an unfinished play by Fonvizin, admired how vividly the writer was able to portray a person, what nature and Russian "semi-education" made him in the 18th century. Later researchers, regardless of whether it is about the elements of realism in Fonvizin's work or about his belonging to "enlightenment realism", noted literally the historical accuracy of his works. Fonvizin was able to paint a reliable picture of the mores of his time, since he was guided not only by the educational idea of human nature, but also realized that a specific character bears the imprint of social and political life. Showing this connection between man and society, he made his images, conflicts, plots an expression of social laws. Demonstrated with brilliance of talent, this discovery of Fonvizin in practice became one of the basic principles of mature realism.

Part B assignments

Short Answer Tasks

Part C assignments

Description of the presentation for individual slides:

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Magic land! There in old years, Satyrs are a brave ruler, Fonvizin shone, a friend of freedom ... A.S. Pushkin

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Born into a wealthy noble family. From 1755 to 1760 he studied at the gymnasium at Moscow University, and in 1761-1762 - at the Faculty of Philosophy of the same university. During his student years he was engaged in translations. In 1762, Fonvizin decided to be a translator for the Collegium of Foreign Affairs and moved to St. Petersburg.

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A nobleman by birth, Fonvizin for ten years entered the gymnasium that had just opened at Moscow University. In 1760, among the ten best students, he was taken to St. Petersburg to meet with the founder of the university, M.V. Lomonosov. A student of the philosophy department, Fonvizin has established himself with translations from Latin, French and German. Excellent knowledge of foreign languages led him to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs. In Petersburg, he became close to the outstanding writers of his time - Derzhavin, Kheraskov, Knyazhnin ...

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Fonvizin's literary activity begins in the 60s of the 18th century. An inquisitive and witty person, he was created in order to become a satirist. And there were enough reasons for bitter laughter in the Russian reality of that time. Fonvizin saw that embezzlers, bribe-takers, careerists gathered around the throne of Catherine II, that the waves of peasant uprisings were menacing signs of an impending popular storm.

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As a result of communication with a circle of young freethinking officers, he created "A Message to My Servants ..." (1769) - a satirical work based on the traditions of Russian fables and satire. At the same time, the writer shows interest in drama, he has an idea for an original Russian satirical comedy. The first example of this kind was his "Brigadier" (1766-1769).

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Drama as one of the genres of fiction differs significantly from lyrics and epic primarily in that it is intended to be performed on stage. Its content consists of speeches, conversations of the characters in the form of a dialogue (a conversation between two or more characters) and a monologue (speech, story, expression of thoughts and feelings in the first person). The speech of the characters is accompanied by remarks - the author's instructions about the setting of the action, about the inner state of the characters, their facial expressions and gestures.

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The main types of dramatic works are tragedy, drama, comedy. In comedy, certain aspects of social life, negative traits and properties of people's characters are ridiculed. Satire (from Latin sature- mixture, mishmash) is a kind of comic, the most mercilessly ridiculing human imperfection, sharply condemning human vices or imperfection of human life through ridicule

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In his most significant work - the comedy "The Minor" (1781) - Fonvizin points to the root of all Russia's troubles - serfdom. The author evaluates and judges not human vices in themselves, but above all social relations. The goodies - the enlightened nobles - not only condemn serfdom, but fight it. The comedy is built on an acute social conflict. Life in the Prostakovs' house is presented not as a summary picture of ridiculous customs, but as a system of relations based on serfdom.

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The author creates multi-faceted characters, revealing the inner drama of such negative characters as Eremeevna and Prostakova. According to N.V. Gogol, "The Minor" is "... a truly public comedy." In 1782, Fonvizin resigned and was engaged only in literary activity. In 1783 he published a number of satirical works. The empress herself answered them with irritation.

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The last years of his life Fonvizin was seriously ill (paralysis), but he continued to write until his death. In 1789 he began work on his autobiographical novella "A sincere confession in my deeds and thoughts," but did not finish this work. The story is a wonderful work of Russian prose. Here, in the image of the author, the character of a person and a writer is recreated - Russian in mind, humor, irony, the spiritual wealth of a person is shown, who knows how to rise above his weaknesses and fearlessly tell his compatriots about them.

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1745 1792) - one of the most educated people of his era. He was a writer and playwright, publicist and translator. He is rightfully considered the creator of the national Russian everyday comedy, the most famous of which are "Minor" and "Brigadier". Born on April 14, 1745 in Moscow, in a noble family of descendants of a knight of the Livonian Order. Even under Ivan the Terrible, one of the knights of the Order of Von Wiesen was captured and remained in the service of the Russian Tsar. From him came the Fonvizins family (the prefix von was added in the Russian manner to the surname Wiesen). Thanks to his father, he received his primary education at home. He was brought up in the patriarchal way of reigning in the family. From 1755 he studied at the noble gymnasium at Moscow University, then at the philosophy faculty of the same university.

Since 1762 he has been in the civil service, at first he worked as a translator, then, since 1763, in the Foreign Affairs Collegium as secretary to the Cabinet Minister Elagin. After working here for about six years, in 1769 he became the personal secretary of Count Panin. From 1777 to 1778 travels abroad, having spent a lot of time in France. In 1779 he returned to Russia and entered the service as an advisor to the office of the Secret Expedition. In 1783, his patron, Count Panin, passed away and he immediately resigned with the rank of state councilor and 3000 rubles. annual pension. I devoted my free time to travel.

Since 1783, Denis Ivanovich visited Western Europe, Germany, Austria, spent a lot of time in Italy. In 1785, the writer suffered his first stroke, due to which in 1787 he had to return to Russia. Despite the paralysis that tormented him, he continued to engage in literary work.
Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin passed away on December 1 (12), 1792. The writer was buried in St. Petersburg at the Lazarevskoye cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Creative way

The creation of the first works dates back to the 1760s. Being himself by his nature a lively and witty person, who loved to laugh and joke, he creates his early works in the genre of satire. This was facilitated by his gift of irony, which did not leave him until the end of his life. During these years, there is an intensive work in the literary field. In 1760, in the Literary Heritage, he published his so-called "early" Minor ". At the same time, in the period from 1761 to 1762, he translated Holberg's fables, the works of Rousseau, Ovid, Gresset, Terrason and Voltaire.

In 1766 his first famous satirical comedy The Brigadier was completed. The play became an event in literary circles, the author himself masterfully read it and Fonvizin, then still little known, was invited to Peterhof to read his work to Empress Catherine II herself. The success was enormous. The play was staged on the theater stage in 1770, but was published only after the death of the author. The comedy has not left the stage to this day. A legend has come down to us that after the premiere, Prince Potemkin said to Fonvizin: “Die, Denis! But you can't write it better! " In the same year, a translation of the treatise "The Trading Nobility, Opposed to the Military Nobility," was published, which provided evidence of the need for the nobility to engage in trade.

Mature creativity

Among the publicistic works, one of the best is considered "Discourse on the indispensable state laws", created in 1783. In the autumn of the same 1783, the premiere of the main play in Fonvizin's work, the comedy "The Minor", took place. Despite the vast literary heritage left by Fonvizin, for most of us his name is associated with this particular comedy. The first production of the play was not easy. The censors were embarrassed by the satirical orientation of the play, the boldness of the lines of some of the heroes of the comedy. Finally, on September 24, 1782, the production took place on the stage of the Free Russian Theater. The success was colossal. As one of the authors of the "Dramatic Dictionary" testified: "The theater was incomparably filled and the audience applauded the play by throwing purses." The next performance took place in Moscow on May 14, 1783 at the Medox theater. Since that time, for more than 250 years, the play has been staged with invariable success in all theaters in Russia. With the birth of cinema, the first film adaptation of the comedy appeared. In 1926, Grigory Roshal made the film The Skotinin Lord, based on The Minor.

It is difficult to overestimate the influence of Fonvizin's "Minor" on subsequent generations of writers. His works have been read and studied by all subsequent generations of writers from Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Belinsky to the present day. However, in the life of the writer himself, she played a fatal role. Catherine II perfectly understood the freedom-loving orientation of the comedy as an attempt on the existing social and state foundations. After 1783, when a number of the writer's satirical works were published, she personally forbade further publications in print of his works. And this continued until the writer's death.

However, despite the bans on publication, Denis Ivanovich continues to write. During this period, the comedy "The Choice of the Governor", the feuilleton "Conversation with Princess Khaldina" was written. Just before his departure, Fonvizin wanted to publish a five-volume edition of his works, but was refused by the empress. Of course, it was published, but much later after the departure of the master.

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin - Russian writer and publicist, playwright and translator during the reign of Catherine the Great, the founder of everyday comedy, who worked in such a literary direction as classicism. The life and work of this man made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian literature.

Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin was born on April 3, 1745 and grew up in a noble family in Moscow. His family dates back to German roots, so his surname is the Russian variation of the German name Von Wizin.

Initially, the future genius was educated at home, and then he was enrolled in the lists of students of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University. After, for his services in the literary sphere, he was sent to St. Petersburg, where he met such iconic figures of the state as Lomonosov, Sumarokov.

The creative path: a success story

The first works began to appear as early as 1760. The writer began with translations that were periodically published. The first landmark publication was in the form of an early version of the famous play "The Minor". Later, by 1781, the completed play will be staged on the stage of St. Petersburg, and two years later it will take the stage of Moscow. Eight years later, a comedy with a satirical focus called "Brigadier" came out from the pen of the classicist, which elevated Fonvizin as a writer and was honored to be read before the empress herself in her summer house at Peterhof.

Like many writers, Fonvizin spent a lot of time abroad, in particular in France. His work as an adviser to the office is accompanied by the writing of a large number of journalistic texts, for example, "Discourse on the indispensable state laws", as well as work on translations that allowed the Russian reader to get acquainted with the works of Rousseau, Ovid and even Walter.

Personal life

Little is known about the writer's personal life. His wife's name was Katerina Ivanovna Rogovikova, she was from the family of a wealthy merchant. Children are not mentioned in his biography.

It is only known that he was an exemplary family man, therefore all his works are instructive in nature. In matters of family and marriage, he was categorical: a woman is adorned with loyalty, piety and education, and a man is virtue, strength and wisdom.

last years of life

In the last years of his life, spending time traveling abroad in Europe, the writer will encounter a disease that was too tough for the medicine of those years. The first apoplectic gift is enough for him, because of which he will be forced to return to Russia.

2. Comedy "Minor"

1. Characteristics of Fonvizin's creativity

The work of Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin bears features that are opposite to the Russian noble sentimentalism in the literature of the 18th century. Fonvizin opposed this literary trend, and all his work was imbued with the spirit of political struggle and the desire for freedom. Fonvizin's work can be characterized as follows:

✓ is a protest against the developing movement of Russian noble sentimentalism with its rejection of political and social activity in literature and a departure from reality into the world of dreams and fantasies;

✓ is an expression of Fonvizin's political ideas and views on the development of the Russian state and its proper management, and these ideas are as follows:

Critics of the noble society and its inactivity and ignorance, and this criticism is expressed through harsh satire;

Demanding the rise of political consciousness and activity from the nobility;

An indication of major shortcomings in the upbringing and culture of the nobility and seeing in the correct upbringing of future generations of nobles the salvation of Russia and its might as a civilized and strong world power;

Criticism of the adherence of society and the nobility to fashion for everything Western and their contempt for their native language and their homeland;

Promotion of the fight against serfdom and its most savage forms, which at that time were very common among landowners;

A protest against the policies and teachings of the Church and the defenders of religion, and this protest is expressed in the form of harsh social satire;

✓ partly influenced by the ideas of bourgeois enlightenment, actively developing in France, where Fonvizin lived for some time;

✓ based on the literary traditions of Sumarokov and Kheraskov, on the traditions of noble classicism and liberalism;

✓ deeply raises the problem of a realistic depiction of a person and the surrounding reality, and thus precedes the development that developed in the 19th century. the literary movement of realism, which was actively developing in the work of A.S. Pushkin;

✓ serves the purpose of not only educating the nobility as a narrow class, but also creating a layer of the best people of Russia, capable of leading to a great future and great achievements, that is, the nobility, hereditary and possessing a high level of culture, is seen by Fonvizin as the only and natural master of the state;

✓ contains many Western materials in both drama and satire, reworking them, but at the same time the comedies created by Fonvizin had no analogues in the West and the borrowed motives and elements organically merged into the original style and method of these comedies, contributing to the creation of original works;

✓ includes elements of both classicism and realism, which were closely intertwined in all of Fonvizin's work.

The most famous and important literary works of Fonvizin include the following works:

✓ translated works, which include:

The tragedy of Walter "Alzira" (1762);

Gresse's psychological drama Sydney, published under the title Corion (1764);

✓ the fables "The Fox Scarecrow" and "The Message to My Servants Shumilov, Vanka and Petrushka" (1763), written in excellent satirical form;

✓ comedy "The Minor" (1764 - the first version, which was unfinished, 1781 - the second, final version), which is a brilliant and tough satire on the customs of the nobility in raising their children and brought Fonvizin fame, popularity and recognition not only among his contemporaries, but also in descendants;

✓ comedy "Brigadier" (1766), reflecting the ideas of noble liberalism, to which Fonvizin was close.

2. Comedy "Minor"

Fonvizin's comedy "The Minor" is the most important work in his work and played an exceptional role in the development of Russian literature in the 19th century. The comedy has the following artistic features:

✓ contains a protest against serfdom;

✓ is primarily a comedy about education, which for Fonvizin acts not so much as a moralizing question, but more as a topical political topic;

✓ acts as a serious protest manifesto against the existing autocratic power, and it was this feature of comedy that influenced the development of Russian literature in the 19th century. and her protesting nature.

3. The connection between classicism and realism in the work of Fonvizin

The features of classicism and realism are closely intertwined and connected with each other in all of Fonvizin's work, and this connection has the following features:

✓ classicism has not been thoroughly destroyed, but realism has not fully developed either;

✓ there is and is already noticeable a struggle between these two trends, which had a significant impact not only on many writers of the second half of the 18th century, for example Radishchev, but also on writers of the first half of the 19th century;

✓ there is a close intertwining of these two directions, and it was thanks to this that the ground was prepared for the development in the literature of the 19th century. subsequent generations of Russian writers, in particular A.S. Pushkin, realism as the leading literary movement of this period;

✓ the interweaving of classicism and realism is expressed in the artistic method.

4. The artistic method of Fonvizin

Fonvizin's artistic method contains a close interweaving of elements of classicism and realism. In the work of Fonvizin, the following can be distinguished elements of realism:

✓ description of the negative phenomena of reality in satire, which made Fonvizin a participant in the "satirical trend", thanks to which in Russia, earlier than in the West, the ground was prepared for the formation of critical realism as the leading literary trend, but this trend itself grew in the depths of Russian realism ;

✓ the use in comedies of the technique of mixing comic and sad, funny and serious motives, prohibited by classicism;

✓ the neighborhood of elements of a serious drama, which is instructive in nature and designed to make the viewer think, with lyrical elements designed to move this viewer;

✓ the introduction of the role of a "resonant person" who preaches from the stage on behalf of the author, which was not in the classic comedies of the early 18th century;

✓ the convergence of comedies with the "sentimental drama" of French authors through the introduction of pictures of true touching virtue;

✓ the use of scenes of everyday life to demonstrate a true picture of people's life, which is not characteristic of classicism, in which everyday life serves to depict other purposes and should not be an empty stage;

✓ bitterness, anger of Fonvizin's satire, which in this sense differs from the traditions of classicism, indicating the inadmissibility in the matter of teaching, which is served by comedy, bitterness and poison. These qualities of the Fonvizin satire prepared the bitter satire of Gogol and Shchedrin;

✓ the appearance in the depiction of the characters of individual heroes of "living", non-schematic features, their individual characteristics, which is not characteristic of classical comedy;

✓ the discovery of a realistic method of depicting a hero, which contributes to the understanding of a person as a person and at the same time as a social phenomenon, and this is the crucial importance of Fonvizin's comedies, which led to the further development and strengthening of the realistic method in Russian literature;

✓ the use of real, everyday speech, close to real life, the desire to overcome archaic bookishness.

Techniques of classicism used by Fonvizin in his work are due to the influence of the classical school of Sumarokov and Kheraskov on him, the features of which were preserved in all his works, and among these elements the following can be distinguished:

✓ the unity of time, place and action, when the entire action of the play is united by one main motive (for example, in "The Little Growth" it is the struggle of three contenders for Sophia's hand, and the whole action of the play is based on this);

✓ the advantages of classicism, which are reduced in the work of Fonvizin to the following:

Rationalistic understanding of the world;

Personality is not as a specific individuality, but as a unit in social classification;

The public and the state in a person as the leading forces absorbing his individual into themselves;

The social principle of evaluating human actions and deeds;

✓ disadvantages of classicism, which are reduced in the work of Fonvizin to the following:

Schematism of abstract classifications of people and moral categories;

Mechanistic idea of a person as a set of mental abilities;

Antipsychology in the individual sense in the image and understanding of a person, that is, the psychological traits of the hero are shown in relation to the public, and not to the personal, individual;

Mechanism and abstraction of the idea of the state as a category of social life;

The limited colors and schematization in the depiction of characters' characters, the demonstration and denunciation of individual flaws or feelings without a general picture of the personality and the entire set of its features, as evidenced by the so-called speaking surnames and names (Pravdin is a truth-lover, Vzyatkin is a bribe-taker, etc.);

One-sidedness in depicting everyday life as a scheme of social relationships;

Dividing all people into two categories:

Nobles, whose characteristics include signs of their abilities, moral inclinations, feelings, etc.;

All the rest, the characteristics of which are reduced to an indication of their profession, class and place in the system of society;

Staticness in the depiction of human characters and the characters wearing them, that is, heroes do not develop in the process of acting as a person;

The use of certain speech techniques characteristic of classicism, for example, solemnity and syllable height in praiseworthy speeches, rich speech patterns, puns.

Creative way

Mature creativity

GOU VPO "Udmurt State University"

Abstract on the topic:

"Creativity of D. I. Fonvizin"

Is done by a student

2nd year

Faculty of Journalism

Mukminova Svetlana.

Checked:

Doctor of Philology,

Associate Professor of the Department

Literary theories

T.V. Zvereva

Izhevsk, 2008

Introduction ……………………………………………………………… .. 3
Comedies by D. I. Fonvizin …………………………………………… .. 7

2.1 Comprehension of the forms of national life in the comedy "Brigadier" ... 9

2.2 Understanding Russian culture and Russian history

In the comedy "Minor" ……………………………………………. 15

3. The linguistic element of D.I.Fonvizin's creativity ……………………… .. 25

4. The crisis of the world attitude and the change in the ideological position

D. I. Fonvizina ……………………………………………………… 30

5. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 32

6. Bibliography ………………………………………………………… 33

Introduction

“In the history of Russian literary satire of the 18th century, Fonvizin has a special place. If it was required to name a writer in whose works the depth of comprehension of the mores of the era would be commensurate with courage and skill in exposing the vices of the ruling class and the higher power, then Fonvizin should undoubtedly be called such a writer "- this is how the famous critic Yu. V. Stennik says about Fonvizin, author of the book "Russian satire of the 18th century" (9, 291).

The satirical stream penetrates in the 18th century almost all types and forms of literature - drama, novel, story, poem and even ode. The development of satire was directly related to the development of all Russian social life and progressive social thought. Accordingly, the writers' artistic and satirical coverage of reality was growing. The most acute problems of our time - the struggle against serfdom and autocracy - were brought to the fore.

In the mainstream of this satirical trend, the work of the young Fonvizin is also developing. As one of the most prominent figures of educational humanism in Russia in the 18th century, Fonvizin embodied in his work the rise of national consciousness that marked this era. In the vast country awakened by the reforms of Peter the Great, the best representatives of the Russian nobility acted as the exponents of this renewed self-awareness. Fonvizin perceived the ideas of enlightenment humanism especially sharply, with a pain of his heart he observed the moral devastation of a part of his class. Fonvizin himself lived in the grip of ideas about the high moral obligations of a nobleman. In oblivion by the nobles of their duty to society, he saw the cause of all social evils: "It happened to me to travel around my land. I saw what most of those who bear the name of a nobleman relate their love. I saw many of those who serve, or, even more, take their places in the service just to ride a couple. I saw many others who immediately resigned, as soon as they achieved the right to harness the quadruple. I saw contemptuous descendants from the most respectable ancestors. In a word, I saw servile nobles. I am a nobleman, and this is what tore my heart to pieces. " This is what Fonvizin wrote in 1783 in a letter to the composer of Bylei and Fables, that is, to the Empress Catherine II herself.

Fonvizin joined the literary life of Russia at a time when Catherine II encouraged interest in the ideas of the European Enlightenment: at first she flirted with the French enlighteners - Voltaire, Diderot, D "Alambert. But very soon there was no trace of Catherine's liberalism. Fonvizin found himself in the midst of the internal political struggle that flared up at court.In this struggle, gifted with brilliant creativity and keen observation, Fonvizin took the place of a satirist who denounced corruption and lawlessness in the courts, the low morality of nobles close to the throne and favoritism encouraged by the higher authorities.

Fonvizin was born in Moscow on April 3 (14), 1745 (according to other sources - 1744) in a middle-class noble family. Already in childhood, Denis Ivanovich received the first lessons of an irreconcilable attitude towards groveling and bribery, evil and violence from his father, Ivan Andreevich Fonvizin. Later, some of the character traits of the writer's father will find their embodiment in the goodies of his works. “Fonvizin's life was not rich in external events. Studying at the noble academy of Moscow University, where he was assigned as a ten-year-old boy, and which he successfully completed in the spring of 1762. Service in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, first under the command of State Counselor of the Palace Chancellery I.P. Elagin, then, since 1769, as one of the secretaries of the Chancellor, Count N.I. Panin. And the resignation that followed in the spring of 1782. The beginning of Fonvizin's literary activity was marked by translations. While still a student at the university gymnasium, he translated in 1761 by order of the bookseller of the university bookstore. "Moral Fables" by Louis Holbert. The fables had a prosaic form and were generally instructive in nature. Many of them were provided with didactic lectures. However, there were fables that resembled a folk joke, a witty satirical miniature, which testified to the democratic sympathies of an enlightened author. In addition, the critical pathos of the fables gave them acute social significance. It can be considered that the translation of L. Golberg's book was for the young Fonvizin the first school of enlightenment humanism, instilling in the soul of the future playwright an interest in social satire. The decisive factor for the further fate of Fonvizin the writer was his sudden assignment to serve in a foreign college and followed in 1763. moving with the yard to St. Petersburg. Yesterday's student was first used as a translator, and soon was appointed secretary "for some cases" under State Councilor IP Elagin. Fulfillment of small assignments, maintenance of official correspondence alternate with obligatory visits to official receptions at the court (kurtags), court masquerades. Fonvizin draws closer to the literary circles of St. Petersburg, very often attends performances of various troupes at the court. " (9,295) Court life, with all its external splendor, weighs on Fonvizin. And in the mid-1760s. the writer becomes close to F.A.Kozlovsky, thanks to whom he is included in the circle of St. Petersburg young free-thinkers, admirers of Voltaire. In their society, Fonvizin receives the first lessons in religious freethinking. At the time of his acquaintance with Kozlovsky, he wrote the famous satire "A message to my servants - Shumilov, Vanka and Petrushka." The anticlerical pathos of satire brought the author an accusation of godlessness. Indeed, in the literature of the 18th century, there are few works where the greed of spiritual shepherds, corrupting the people, would be so sharply exposed.

The eighteenth century left many remarkable names in the history of Russian literature. But if it were required to name a writer in whose works the depth of comprehension of the mores of his era would be commensurate with the courage and skill in exposing the vices of the ruling class, then, first of all, Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin should be mentioned.

Thus, the purpose of our work was to study and analyze the critical literature about D.I.Fonvizin and his work, reflecting the writer's enlightening credo.

Fonvizin went down in the history of national literature as the author of the famous comedy "The Minor". But he was also a talented prose writer. The gift of a satirist was combined in him with the temperament of a born publicist. Empress Catherine II feared the scourging sarcasm of the Fonvizin satire. Fonvizin's unsurpassed artistic skill was noted in his time by Pushkin. It amazes us to this day.

Comedy by D.I.Fonvizin

"Comedy is a kind of drama in which the moment of an effective conflict or struggle of antagonistic characters is specifically resolved" - such a definition of comedy is given by the Big School Encyclopedia, Moscow: OLMA-PRESS, 2000. Qualitatively, wrestling in comedy differs in that it: 1) does not entail serious, disastrous consequences for the warring parties; 2) is aimed at "base", that is, ordinary, goals; 3) is conducted by funny, amusing or ridiculous means. The task of comedy is to make a comic impression on the audience (readers), causing laughter with the help of a funny appearance (comic form), speeches (comic words) and actions (comic actions of characters) that violate the socio-psychological norms and customs of a given social environment. All these types of comedy are intertwined in comedy, and they outweigh one or the other. Fonvizin is dominated by the comic of the word and the comic of the actions of the characters, which are considered more developed forms.

"Russian comedy began long before Fonvizin, but started only from Fonvizin. His "Minor" and "Brigadier" made a terrible noise when they appeared and will forever remain in the history of Russian literature, if not art, as one of the most remarkable phenomena. Indeed, these two comedies are the works of a strong, sharp mind, a gifted person ... ”- highly appreciates Fonvizin's comedic work.

“The comedy of the gifted Fonvizin will always be popular reading and will always hold an honorable place in the history of Russian literature. She is not a work of art, but a satire on manners, and a satire workshop. Its characters are fools and smart: all fools are very nice, and smart are all very vulgar; the first are caricatures written with great talent; second resonators who bore you with their maxims. In a word, when Fonvizin's comedies, especially "The Minor", never cease to excite laughter and, gradually losing readers in the higher circles of society, the more they will win in the lower circles and become folk reading ... "- says the same V. G. Belinsky.

“Fonvizin's crushing, wrathfully destructive laughter, directed at the most disgusting aspects of the autocratic-serf system, played a great constructive role in the further destinies of Russian literature.

Indeed, straight threads stretch from Fonvizin's laughter to the sharp humor of Krylov's fables, to the subtle irony of Pushkin, to the “laughter through tears” of the author of “Dead Souls”, and finally to the bitter and angry sarcasm of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the author of The Golovlevs, mercilessly who completed the last act of the drama of the “spiritually ruined, degenerated and corrupted” serfdom of the nobility.

The "Minor" conceives a glorious series of the greatest creations of Russian comedyography, in which in the next century there will be Griboyedov's Woe from Wit, Gogol's "Inspector General", plays about Ostrovsky's "dark kingdom" "In the book:" Classics of Russian Literature ", Detgiz, M. - L., 1953).

Comprehension of the forms of national life

In the comedy "Brigadier"

All the characters in the "Brigadier" are Russian nobles. In the modest everyday atmosphere of an average local life, the personality of each character is revealed as if gradually in conversations. The viewer learns about the propensity to extravagance of the Counselor's coquette, and about the difficult fate of the Brigadier who spent his life in campaigns. The sanctimonious nature of the Counselor who profited from bribes and the downtroddenness of the uncomplaining Brigadier are clarified.

As soon as the curtain was raised, the viewer found himself immersed in an environment that was striking with life's reality. This can be judged by the introductory remark to the first act of the comedy: “ Theatre represents a rustic-style room. Foreman , walks in a frock coat and smokes tobacco. A son him, in desabille, kobenyasya, drinks tea. Advisor in Kazakin, looks at the calendar. On the other side there is a table with a tea-set, next to which sits Counselor in disability and cornet and, mincing, pours tea. Foreman an odal sits and knits a stocking. Sophia the odal also sits and sews in the vestibule. "

In this peaceful picture of home comfort, everything is significant and at the same time everything is natural: the rustic decoration of the room, and the clothes of the characters, and their occupations, and even individual touches in their demeanor. In the preceding remark, the author already outlines both the nature of the future relationships between the characters and the satirical task of the play. It is no coincidence that the son and the counselor appear on the stage both "in disability" at tea, one "kobenya" and the other "mincing".

“Ivan, who recently visited Paris, is full of contempt for everything that surrounds him at home. “Anyone who has been to Paris,” he says frankly, “already has the right, speaking of Russians, not to include himself among those, since the Op has already become more French than Russian”. In his contempt for his parents, whom he directly calls “animals,” Ivan finds the Counselor’s full support: “Oh, my joy! Your frankness is sweet to me. You do not spare your father! This is the direct virtue of our age. "

The absurd behavior of the newly-minted "Parisian" Ivan and the Counselor who is delighted with him suggests that the ideological concept of the comedy is based on the struggle against the vices of fashionable upbringing, which engenders blind worship of all French. At first glance, Ivan's mannerisms and the Counselor's cuteness seem to be opposed to the reasoning of parents, wise by life experience. This couple of all-French freaks are indeed moving to the forefront of laughter denunciation. But the satirical pathos of "Brigadier" is not limited only to the program of the fight against Frenchmania. " (9, 307)

Indicative is the next episode of the same first act, where those present on the stage have to express their opinions about grammar. Its benefits are unanimously denied. “How many good secretaries we have who compose extracts without grammar, it’s dear to watch! - exclaims the Advisor. - I have one in mind who when he writes, so another scientist and with grammar forever cannot understand that. The Brigadier echoes him: “What for, matchmaker, grammar? I lived without her to almost sixty years old, and I also cocked the children. " Keeps up with the spouse and the Brigadier; “Of course, grammar is not needed. Before you start learning it, you still need to buy it. You will pay eight hryvnias for it, and whether you learn it or not, God knows. " Neither do the Counselor and the Son see a special need for grammar. The first admits that only once she was useful to her "for papillotes." As for Ivan, then, according to his confession, "my light, my soul, adieu, ma reine, one can say without looking into grammar."

“This new chain of revelations, revealing the mental outlook of the main characters of the comedy, concretizes the previous sketch sketches of their portrait self-characteristics, leading us to an understanding of the author's intention. In a society where mental apathy and lack of spirituality reign, the introduction to the European way of life is an evil caricature of enlightenment. Parents are to blame for the empty-headedness of children raving abroad. The moral squalor of Ivan, who is proud of his contempt for his compatriots, matches the ignorance and spiritual deformity of the rest. This idea is proved by the whole further course of events taking place on the stage. So Fonvizin puts the problem of true education at the center of the ideological content of his play. Of course, in comedy this idea is not affirmed declaratively, but by means of psychological self-disclosure of the characters. " (9,308)

The play does not have a dedicated exposition - this traditional link in the compositional structure of the "comedy of intrigue", where the servants bring the audience up to date, acquainting them with the circumstances of the life of their masters. The personality of each is found out in the course of the exchange of replicas, and then it is realized in actions.

“Fonvizin found an interesting and innovative way to enhance the satirical and accusatory pathos of comedy. In his "Brigadier", in essence, the content structure of the bourgeois drama, from the traditions of which he objectively proceeded, was traversed in a peculiar way. Solid, burdened with families, fathers embarked on love affairs. The play was saturated with many comic, bordering on farce scenes and dialogues. The everyday reliability of the portrait characteristics grew into a comically pointed grotesque. " (9.308-309)

The originality of the action in The Brigadier was also in the absence of servants in the comedy as the engines of intrigue. There were no other traditional types with a comic role in it (pedants, hoes, etc.). Nevertheless, the comic of the action grows from scene to scene. It arises from a dynamic kaleidoscope of intertwining love episodes. The secular flirtation of the Counselor's coquette and the Gallomaniac Ivan is replaced by the confessions of the hypocritical Counselor, courting an incomprehensible Brigadier, and immediately explains the Brigadier in a straightforward manner to the Counselor.

“It is indicative that already in this comedy Fonvizin finds one constructive method of satirical denunciation, which later, in the comedy“ The Minor, ”will become almost the fundamental principle of typing negative characters. This refers to the motive of assimilating a person to an animal, due to which the qualities inherent in livestock become the measure of the moral merits of such a person. " (9.309-310)

So Ivan sees in his parents "animals", but for the Counselor. suffering from village life, all neighbors are also "ignorant" "brutes." “They, my soul, do not think of anything as table provisions; straight pigs. ”At the beginning of assimilation to animals,“ donkey, horse, bear ”, helping to explain the father and son, are relatively innocent. But an angry Ivan, in response to a reminder from the Brigadier, so that his son does not forget who his father is, resorts to a logical argument: “Very good; And when a puppy is not obliged to respect the dog who was his father, then do I owe you even the slightest respect? "

“The depth of the Fonwizin sarcasm and the accusatory effect achieved in this case is that the recognition of the qualities of the animal follows from the heroes themselves. This is the same technique of comic self-characterization, when the ironic subtext hidden in the character's speech becomes a sentence to the speaker himself. This technique, which can be varied in every way in the speeches of the characters, is intended not only to enhance the comic of the action, but also to serve as a kind of standard for the spiritual qualities of the heroes. " (9,310)

Fonvizin, possessing the gift of a skilled satirist, finds a new method of self-exposure of characters, which achieves a comic effect. This technique will be used frequently during the course of the action. For example, the Counselor and the Son, left alone, talk about fashionable headdresses. “In my opinion, - says Ivan, lace and blondes make up the best decoration for the head. Pedants think that this is nonsense and that it is necessary to decorate the head from the inside, not from the outside. What a void! The devil sees what is hidden, but everyone sees outside.

Associate. So, my soul: I myself am with you the same sentiments; I see that you have powder on your head, but if there is anything in your head, what the devil take me, I can't notice.

A son. Pardieu! Of course, no one can notice this either. " “The murderous nature of this exchange of pleasantries for the self-characterization of the moral character of both is obvious. But it is important that the comic subtext arising from the above dialogue, obvious to the viewer, but unconscious of the speaking character, is evoked by the words of the speakers themselves. Satire is dissolved in the action of comedy, and the accusatory verdict on the moral ugliness of the characters is pronounced by their own speeches, and not brought in from outside. This was the fundamental innovation of the Fonvizin-satirist method, ”notes Yu. V. Stennik. (9,349) Thus, a kind of antipsychologism is a distinctive feature of Fonvizin's comedy.

“Often in the“ Brigadier ”the statements of the characters are direct author’s statements, only conditionally attached to this person. So, Ivanushka talks about upbringing in completely different words:“ A young man is like wax. If, malheureusment, I fell for a Russian who would love his nation, perhaps I would not be like that. " (8,243)

"The author's" presence "in the" Brigadier "is manifested not only in each specific statement, but also in the appearance of topics common to all characters, in the discussion of which the essence of each of them is manifested. Such a common theme in the "Brigadier" is the theme of intelligence and stupidity. Each character in the comedy is convinced of his undoubted mental superiority over others, while these others tend to consider him a fool. ”(8, 244)

Thus, the characters' frequent judgments about each other, designed for a direct, direct reaction from the audience, develop into sentences-maxims, allowing them to look for applications outside their own comedy plot. Thus, the author's voice sounds from the very essence of the disputes that arise between the characters of his comedy, from its general problematics.

Laughter and the author in the comedy of Fonvizin have not yet been identified, as happened with Griboyedov and especially with Gogol in The Inspector General, where the author does not speak for his characters at all, where they speak and act according to their comedic character, and laughter, “i.e. That is, the author's attitude to characters "arises from the clash of actions and thoughts with the ethical norm that inspires the author's laughter, the norm of humanism and deep regret for a person whose true essence is covered with a" rough earthy crust. "

Interesting in such a situation and the position of the reader and viewer. The text of the comedy is designed to interest the reader in "co-authorship", in the need to turn on the imagination and see the reality behind the artistic images and even ourselves. And, in addition, comedy should enlighten the reader, infecting him with the spirit of justice and humanism. This was precisely the intention of the writer.

Understanding of Russian culture and Russian history in the comedy "Nedorosl"

The pinnacle of the achievements of Fonvizin and all Russian literary satire in the genre of comedy of the 18th century. became "Minor". "The Minor" - the central work of Fonvizin, the pinnacle of Russian drama of the 18th century - is organically linked with the ideological problems of "Reasoning". For Pushkin "The Minor" is a "folk comedy". Belinsky, who by the 1940s had developed a revolutionary-democratic understanding of the nationality, declared that "The Minor", "Woe from Wit" and "The Inspector General" "in a short time became popular dramatic plays."

To understand the ideological problematics and, accordingly, the satirical pathos of the comedy, it is important to remember that more than ten years have passed between the time of the creation of the "Brigadier" and the writing of the "Minor". During this time, Fonvizin's social and political convictions strengthened and expanded, and his satirist's creative method matured.

Comedy is based on the principle of intersecting triads. A triad of negative characters: Mrs. Prostakova, Taras Skotinin, Mitrofanushka. A triad of positive characters: Starodum (the main ideologist of the play), Pravdin, Milon. A triad of hero-adventurers, posing as not who they really are: Tsyfirkin, Kuteikin, Vralman. And, finally, the service heroes: Eremeevna, Prostakov, Trishka. Only Sophia remains outside these triads. Both positive and negative characters are fighting for her hand, and since "Sophia" in translation means "wisdom", the hero is actually fighting for wisdom, truth, a true idea.

Thus, the main conflict of the play unfolds between the positive characters, who represent the true aristocracy, and the triad of negative characters, ordinary people belonging to the "lower" society. Even A.S. Pushkin drew attention to the fact that the characters speak different languages. In the speech of negative heroes, rude common phraseology dominates with the presence of vulgarisms, slang expressions and even abuse. At the same time, the speech of episodic characters - the teachers of Mitrofan and his mother Eremeevna - was marked by the greatest individualization. Elements of soldier's jargon in Tsyfirkin's conversations, flaunting quotes from Scripture by the former seminarian Kuteikin, and finally, the monstrous German accent of the illiterate coachman Vralman - all these are signs of a certain social environment. This is a style designed for the comic effect typical of magazine satire. But the style of speech of the Prostakova family is especially rich. Either bordering on abuse, or filled with flattering ingratiation, the hostess's speech perfectly reflects her temper, in which despotic tyranny is side by side with servile servility. On the contrary, the language of the positive characters of the "ignoramus" appears to be purified from common speech. Before us is a literate book speech, overflowing with the most complex syntactic constructions and abstract vocabulary. Positive characters in everyday life are almost not characterized. The psychology and spiritual world of these heroes are revealed not through everyday life, but during conversations on political and moral topics. Their very form very often goes back to the manner of the dialogical philosophical treatises of the enlighteners, who continued at their core the traditions of moralizing dialogues of the era of humanism.

Thus, it can be noted that for all its "unprepossessing" the speech of negative characters is lively, ground-based, this colloquial speech, directly correlated with the plan of life and everyday life. Whereas any phrase of positive characters turns into a moralizing sermon, serving for exclusively spiritual education and absolutely not adapted for everyday life. We see that the tragedy of the situation lies in the linguistic gap between the characters. The conflict lies, oddly enough, in the absence of conflict. It's just that the heroes initially belong to different plans and between them there are not and cannot be points of contact. And this is not even a literary problem, but a socio-political one. Since there is a huge insurmountable gap between the true aristocracy and the "lower" society, which will never understand each other, and the middle class, as a connecting link, has not been formed.

Fonvizin, of course, wanted the goodies (and therefore the true aristocracy) to win this battle. But they lose, because their images are lifeless, their speech is boring. And besides this, both Starodum and Pravdin strive to change the world, not accepting it as it is. And in this sense, they are also "undersized", for an enlightened mature person is always ready to justify the world, and not blame it. The ideology that the goodies preach is utopian because it is inconsistent with reality. Thus, the main conflict in comedy is between ideology and everyday life.

The composition of the "Little Growth" is made up of a combination of several relatively independent and at the same time inextricably linked structural levels. This is especially well reflected by the remarkable critic Yu. V. Stennik in his book "Russian satire of the 18th century":

“Looking attentively at the plot of the play, we notice that it is woven from motifs typical of the structure of a“ tearful ”philistine drama: suffering virtue in the person of Sophia, becoming the object of claims from the ignorant and rude seekers of her hand; the sudden appearance of a rich uncle; an attempted abduction and the ultimate triumph of justice with the punishment of vice. And although such a scheme, in principle, was not contraindicated in the comedy genre, there was practically no room for a comic beginning here. This is the first, storyline, level of structure that organizes the compositional frame of dramatic action.

Going deeper into the study of the artistic system of the "Ignorant", we find that it is saturated with a comic element. There are many comic scenes in the play, in which a whole group of characters participate, seemingly not having a direct relationship to the development of the plot outlined above. These are the teachers of Mitrofan: a retired soldier Tsyfirkin, an undergraduate seminarian Kuteikin, and a former coachman Vralman, who became an educator of a noble mum. Such is the tailor Trishka, partly the mother of Eremeevna. The connecting links between these persons and the plot of the play are the figure of Mitrofan with his relatives, mother and uncle. And all the most comic episodes of the play include these characters in one way or another. It is important, however, to remember that the objects of comic in them are not so much the servants as their masters.

The most important episodes from this point of view can be considered the scene with Trishka, the scene of Skotinin's explanation with Mitrofan, the scene of Mitrofan's teachings, and, finally, the scene of Mitrofan's exam. In these scenes of morality, the everyday prose of the life of the local nobility, concrete in all its ugliness, unfolds. Swearing, fights, gluttony, dog loyalty of servants and rude rudeness of masters, deception and bestiality as the norm of relations with each other - this is the plot of this substantial aspect of the comedy. The scenes, revealing the triumph of ignorance and evil, create the everyday background of the plot, highlighting the characters of the members of the Prostakova family.

These scenes create the second, comedy-satirical, level of the artistic structure of "The Minor". Existing within the framework of the first, plot plan, this level has, however, its own logic of revealing life phenomena, the main principle of which will be grotesque-naturalistic satire.

Finally, in the course of the action of the comedy, a group of positive characters stands out. In their speeches and deeds, the author's ideas about an ideal person and a noble nobleman are embodied. This aspect of the artistic content of "The Little Growth" is most succinctly revealed in the figures of Pravdin and Starodum. The key scenes, in which the ideological program of ideal nobles is revealed, are also extra-fabulous in their own way (it is not surprising that the practice of staging "The Minor" knows the case of the removal of certain scenes considered "boring").

This is how the third - the ideal-utopian level of the structure of the "Minor" is established. It is characteristic that the circle of positive characters grouping around Pravdin is practically not realized in everyday life. At this level of the compositional structure of comedy, the comic element is completely absent. The scenes, where positive characters act, are devoid of dynamics and, by their static nature, approach philosophical and teaching dialogues. " (9, 319-320)

Thus, the ideological concept of the play is revealed through the combination and interaction of the satirical grotesque, shining with comicism, presented in moralistic scenes, and abstract utopia in scenes where ideal characters appear. The unity of these polar opposite worlds is the unique originality of comedy.

At each of these structural levels, two central ideas that feed the pathos of comedy are solved in parallel. This is, firstly, the idea of the true dignity of a nobleman, asserted both by publicistic declarations in the speeches of Starodum and Pravdin, and by showing the moral decay of the nobility. Pictures of the degradation of the country's ruling class were supposed to serve as a kind of illustration to the thesis about the need for a proper moral example on the part of the higher authorities and the court. The lack of such became the reason for arbitrariness.

The second problem is the idea of education in the broad sense of the word. In the minds of the thinkers of the 18th century, education was considered as the primary factor determining the moral character of a person. In Fonvizin's deaths, the problem of upbringing acquired state significance, for in the correct upbringing, in his opinion, was the only possible source of salvation from the evil that threatened society - the desecration of the Russian nobility.

"If the first idea was intended to awaken public thought, to draw the attention of compatriots to the impending danger, then the second, as it were, pointed to the reason for this situation and suggested the means of correcting it." (9,321)

The significance of Fonvizin's comedy, therefore, consisted primarily in the fact that in it the spearhead of political satire was directed against the main social evil of the era - the complete lack of control of the supreme power, which gave rise to the moral devastation of the ruling class and arbitrariness, as in the localities - in the relations of landowners with peasants. and at the highest levels of the social hierarchy. Considering that the play was created under the dominance of a monarchical system of government in Russia, one cannot help but be amazed at the boldness and sagacity of the author of "The Minor" .317, Stennik.

The main conflict in the socio-political life of Russia - the tyranny of the landowners, supported by the supreme power, and the powerless serfs - becomes the theme of a comedy. In a dramatic essay, the theme is revealed with special force of persuasiveness in the development of the plot, in action, in struggle. The only dramatic conflict of the "Minor" is the struggle of the progressive-minded progressive nobles Pravdin and Starodum with the serf-owners - the Prostakovs and Skotinins.

In the comedy, Fonvizin shows the pernicious consequences of slavery, which should confirm to the viewer the moral correctness of Pravdin, the need to fight the Skotinins and Prostakovs. The consequences of slavery are truly terrible.

The peasants of the Prostakovs are completely ruined. Even Prostakova herself does not know what to do next: “Since we took away everything that the peasants had, we can’t rip anything off. Such a disaster! "

Slavery turns the peasants into slaves, completely killing in them all human traits, all the dignity of the individual. This is especially evident in the courtyards. Fonvizin created an image of enormous power - Eremeevna's slaves. An old woman, Mitrofan's nanny, she lives the life of a dog: insults, kicks and beatings are what fell to her lot. She has long lost even her human name, her name is only abusive nicknames: "beast", "old hrychovka", "dog's daughter", "kanalya". Abuse, abuse and humiliation made Eremeevna a slave, the watchdog of his mistress, who humiliatedly licks the hand of the owner who beat her.

In the person of Pravdin and Starodum, for the first time, positive heroes appeared on the stage, who act, realizing their ideals in practice. Who are Pravdin and Starodum who are bravely fighting the feudalists Prostakov and Skotinin? Why were they able to intervene not only in the course of the comedy, but, in essence, in the political life of the autocratic state?

As a folk work, the comedy "The Minor" naturally reflected the most important and acute problems of Russian life. The powerlessness of the Russian serfs, reduced to the position of slaves, given into full possession of the landowners, with particular force manifested itself precisely in the 80s. The complete, boundless, monstrous arbitrariness of the landlords could not but evoke feelings of protest among the advanced nobility. Not sympathizing with the revolutionary methods of action, moreover, rejecting them, at the same time they could not but protest against the slaveholding and despotic policies of Catherine II. That is why the response to the police regime established by Ekaterina and Potemkin was an increase in public activity and the subordination of creativity to the tasks of political satire of such noble enlighteners as Fonvizin, Novikov, Krylov, Krechetov. At the end of the decade, the revolutionary Radishchev will come out with his books, expressing directly the aspirations and moods of the serfs.

The second theme of the "Minor" was the struggle of the noble enlighteners against the slave owners and the despotic government of Catherine II after the defeat of the Pugachev uprising.

Pravdin, not wishing to limit himself to indignation, takes real steps to limit the power of the landlords and, as we know from the finale of the play, he achieves this. Pravdin acts this way because he believes - his struggle against the slave owners, supported by the governor, is "the fulfillment of the human-loving types of higher power," that is, Pravdin is deeply convinced of the enlightened nature of Catherine's autocracy. He declares himself the executor of his will — that is how matters stand at the beginning of the comedy. That is why Pravdin, knowing Starodum, requires him to go to serve at the court. "With your rules, people should not be released from the court, but it is necessary to call upon the court." Starodum is perplexed: “Summon? What for?" And Pravdin, true to his convictions, declares: "Then why do they call a doctor to the sick." And then Starodum, a politician who has already understood that faith in Catherine is not only naive, but also destructive, explains Pravdin: “My friend, you are mistaken. It is in vain to call a doctor to see the sick is not cure: here the doctor will not help, unless he himself becomes infected. "

Fonvizin forces Starodum to explain not only Pravdina, but also to the audience that belief in Catherine is meaningless, that the legend of her enlightened reign is false, that Catherine has approved a despotic way of government, that it is thanks to her policy that slavery can flourish in Russia, that the cruel Skotinins and Prostakovs can rule. , which directly refer to the royal decrees on the liberties of the nobility.

Pravdin and Starodum, in their outlook, are pupils of the Russian noble Enlightenment. Two major political issues determined the program of the noble enlighteners at this time: a) the need to abolish serfdom by peaceful means (reform, education, etc.); b) Catherine is not an enlightened monarch, but a despot and inspirer of the policy of slavery, and therefore it is necessary to fight with her.

It was this political thought that was laid in the foundation of the "Minor" - Ekaterina is to blame for the crimes of the Skotinins and Prostakovs. That is why the struggle against the Prostakovs is carried out by private people, and not by the government (the fact that Pravdin serves does not change matters, since he acts according to his convictions, and not according to the orders of his superiors). Catherine's government blesses the feudal policy of the unbelted nobles.

The "undersized" was greeted with open hostility by the government and the ideologues of the nobility. The comedy was completed in 1781. It immediately became clear that it was almost impossible to put it. Fonvizin began a stubborn, dull struggle with the government for staging a comedy. Nikita Panin was involved in the struggle, who, using all his influence on the heir to Paul, finally achieved the production of a comedy through him. The court demonstrated its dislike for "The Minor", which was expressed, among other things, in an effort to prevent its staging at the court theater. The premiere was delayed in every possible way, and instead of May, as it was initially planned, it with difficulty finally took place on September 24, 1782 in a wooden theater on Tsaritsyno Meadow by the forces of invited actors from both the courtier and private theaters.

The language element of DI Fonvizin's creativity.

A.I. Gorshkov, the author of books about Fonvizin, examining the writer's speech and critical literature on this topic, notes that critics underestimate the artistic style of the satirist, considering it as "intermediate" between the "Lomonosov" style and the style of Karamzin. Some authors of literary works about Fonvizin tend to qualify his works entirely within the framework of the doctrine of three styles: high ("Word for Paul's recovery"), average (letters to Panin) and low (comedies and letters to his sister). This approach, according to Gorshkov, ignores the specific variety of linguistic differences and similarities in letters to his sister and letters to Panin, does not take into account the general development of the Russian literary language in the second half of the 18th century. and the evolution of the language of Fonvizin. In his book "The Language of Pre-Pushkin Prose", the critic especially emphasizes the prose works of the 80s, finding in them the already formed style of the writer and a new strategy of artistic speech. “Fonvizin developed linguistic techniques for reflecting reality in its most diverse manifestations; outlined the principles of constructing linguistic structures that characterize the "image of the storyteller." Many important properties and tendencies were outlined and developed initially, which found their further development and were fully completed in Pushkin's reform of the Russian literary language, ”says Gorshkov. In the second half of the 18th century. pompous verbosity, rhetorical solemnity, metaphorical abstraction and obligatory adornment gradually gave way to brevity, simplicity, and precision. In the language of his prose, folk-colloquial vocabulary and phraseology are widely used; various non-free and semi-free colloquial phrases and stable turnovers act as the building material for proposals; a combination of “simple Russian” and “Slavic” language resources, so important for the subsequent development of the Russian literary language, is taking place.

Fonvizin's narrative language is not confined to the spoken sphere; in terms of its expressive resources and techniques, it is much broader, richer. Undoubtedly focusing on the spoken language, on "living use" as the basis of the narrative, Fonvizin freely uses both "book" elements, and Western European borrowings, and philosophical and scientific vocabulary and phraseology. The richness of the linguistic means used and the variety of methods for organizing them allow Fonvizin to create, on a common colloquial basis, various narrative options. Fonvizin was the first Russian writer who understood by describing complex relationships and strong feelings of people simply, but it is definitely possible to achieve a greater effect than with the help of certain verbal tricks. This is how his comedies are structured. For example, in the comedy "Minor" inversions are used: "slave of his vile passions "; rhetorical questions and exclamations: “how can she teach them good behavior "; complicated syntax: an abundance of subordinate clauses, common definitions, participles and participles and other characteristic means of book speech. There are also words of emotional and evaluative meaning: sincere, heartfelt, depraved tyrant... But Fonvizin avoids the naturalistic extremes of a low style, which many of today's outstanding comedians could not overcome. He refuses to use crude, non-literary speech means. At the same time, it constantly preserves both in the vocabulary and in the syntax the features of colloquiality. The use of techniques of realistic typification is also evidenced by the colorful speech characteristics created by attracting words and expressions used in military life; and archaic vocabulary, quotations from spiritual books; and broken Russian vocabulary. Meanwhile, the language of Fonvizin's comedies, despite its perfection, nevertheless did not go beyond the traditions of classicism and did not represent a fundamentally new stage in the development of the Russian literary language. In the comedies of Fonvizin, a clear distinction between the language of negative and positive characters was preserved. And if in constructing the linguistic characteristics of negative characters on the traditional basis of using vernacular the writer achieved great liveliness and expressiveness, then the linguistic characteristics of positive characters remained pale, cold rhetorical, divorced from the living element of the spoken language.

Unlike the language of comedy, the language of Fonvizin's prose represents a significant step forward in the development of the Russian literary language, here the tendencies outlined in Novikov's prose are strengthened and further developed. The famous "Letters from France" was the work that marked the decisive transition from the traditions of classicism to the new principles of constructing the language of prose in Fonvizin's work. In "Letters from France" folk-colloquial vocabulary and phraseology is rather richly presented, especially those groups and categories that are devoid of sharp expressiveness and are more or less close to the "neutral" lexico-phraseological layer: "Since my arrival here I have not heard my feet ... "; « We are getting along pretty well "; « Wherever you go, it's full everywhere "... There are also words and expressions different from the above, they are endowed with that specific expressiveness that allows them to be qualified as vernacular: “I won't take both of these places for nothing "; « At the entrance to the city we were mistaken by a disgusting stench "... Observations on folk colloquial vocabulary and phraseology in Letters from France make it possible to draw three main conclusions. Firstly, this vocabulary and phraseology, especially in that part of it, which is closer to the "neutral" lexico-phraseological layer than to vernacular, is freely and rather widely used in letters. Secondly, the use of folk colloquial vocabulary and phraseology is distinguished by an amazing selection process for that time. Even more important and indicative is that the overwhelming majority of common words and expressions used by Fonvizin in Letters from France found a permanent place in the literary language, and with one or another special stylistic "task", and often just along with the "neutral" Lexico-phraseological material, these expressions were widely used in the literature of a later time. Thirdly, a careful selection of folk colloquial vocabulary and phraseology is closely connected with the change, transformation of the stylistic functions of this lexical and phraseological layer in the literary language. Stylistically opposite to the folk-colloquial lexico-phraseological layer is distinguished by the same main features of use. Firstly, they are also used in letters, secondly, they are subjected to a rather strict selection, and thirdly, their role in the language of "Letters from France" does not completely coincide with the role assigned to them by the theory of three styles. The selection manifested itself in the fact that in the Letters from France we will not find archaic, “dilapidated” “Slavisms”. Slavicisms, contrary to the theory of three styles, are rather freely combined with "neutral" and colloquial elements, lose to a large extent their "high" coloring, "neutralize" and act no longer as a specific sign of a "high style", but simply as elements of a book, literary language. Here are some examples: “how it was for me to hear her exclamations "; « his wife is so greedy for money ... "; « writhing, disturbing the human sense of smell in an intolerable way "... Popular colloquial words and expressions are freely combined not only with "Slavisms", but also with "Europeanisms" and "metaphysical" vocabulary and phraseology: "here they applaud for everything about everything "; « In a word, although the war has not been formally declared, this announcement is expected from hour to hour ".

The features of the literary language developed in Letters from France were further developed in Fonvizin's artistic, scientific, journalistic and memoir prose. But two points still deserve attention. First, the syntactic perfection of Fonvizin's prose should be emphasized. In Fonvizin we find not separate well-constructed phrases, but vast contexts, characterized by diversity, flexibility, harmony, logical consistency and clarity of syntactic constructions. Secondly, in Fonvizin's fictional prose, the technique of narration on behalf of the narrator is further developed, the technique of creating linguistic structures that serve as a means of revealing an image.

Thus, let us note the main points of the above. 1. Fonvizin became the successor of Novikov's traditions. He was engaged in the further development of the first-person storytelling technique. 2. He made a decisive transition from the traditions of classicism to new principles of constructing the language of prose. 3. He did a great job of introducing folk colloquial vocabulary and phraseology into the literary language. Almost all the words he used found their permanent place in the literary language. 4. He makes extensive use of verbal puns. 5. He made an attempt to standardize the use of "Slavisms" in the language. But, despite all the linguistic innovations of Fonvizin, some archaic elements still slip through in his prose and separate unbroken threads remain, connecting him with the previous era.

Attitude crisis and change

Ideological position

“This was, of course, one of the cleverest and noblest representatives of the true, sane line of thought in Russia, especially in the early days of his literary career, before his illness; but his ardent, disinterested aspirations were too impractical, too little promising of substantial benefit before the Empress's court for her to encourage them. And she thought it best not to pay attention to him, having shown him in advance that the path he was following would not lead to anything good ... ”- says N. A. Dobrolyubov.

Indeed, Fonvizin was a fierce educator, but his ideas were only theory, they did not imply any practical solutions. Two major political issues determined the program of the noble enlighteners at this time: a) the need to abolish serfdom by peaceful means (reform, education, etc.); b) Catherine is not an enlightened monarch, but a despot and inspirer of the policy of slavery, and therefore it is necessary to fight with her. And we have already said that the struggle and the desire to change the world is a matter, from the point of view of the Enlightenment, of "ignoramuses", that is, not adults who are not able to accept this world. Passion for Voltaire led the not yet ripe Fonvizin to the denial of God and religion.

"Having lost his God, the ordinary Russian Voltairean did not just leave his church as a person who had become superfluous in it, but, like a rebellious courtyard, strove to scuffle, interrupt, distort and dirty everything before leaving."

"Yard" is the expressive name of this son of bondage. And his mode of action is its manifestation: he, having rebelled, behaves like a slave ”- this is how V.O. Klyuchevsky says about the writer. And in this offensive expression there is a grain of truth: in many, if not in everything, an outstanding, talented writer, Fonvizin as a "Voltairian" is very ordinary.

But gradually, as he matures and the formation of his ideological position, Fonvizin moves away from Voltaire and later creativity has a pronounced journalistic character.

As for the horror of Denis Ivanovich before the youthful sin of Voltaire and doubts in faith, everything is clear here. His mind, the then Russian mind, brought up in religion and very far from the newfangled skepticism, easily overcame what was premature and unnecessary for him, but acutely and painfully remembered all this when the time came for the painful leisure brought by illness, when he had to dig in oneself, in order to find the reasons for divine anger, in whose existence one believed, and also because the blows of fate were very constant.

It is very characteristic that one of the letters to Panin dated December 24, 1777 (January 4, 1778) says: "In a word, liberty is an empty name, and the right of the strong remains a right above all laws." So, it is with the "Letters from France" that the collapse of the enlightenment faith begins.

It is interesting that the "General Court Grammar" is a sharp allegorical satire on the court and its vices. And in "A sincere confession of my deeds and thoughts" Fonvizin bitterly declares: "Young people! Do not think that your sharp words are your true glory; stop the insolence of your mind and know that the praise attributed to you is a sheer poison for you; and especially if you feel a penchant for satire, tame it with all your might: for you too, no doubt, will be subject to the same fate with me. They soon began to fear me, then hate me; and I, instead of attracting people to me, drove them away from me both with words and with a pen. My works were sharp curses: there was a lot of satirical salt in them, but not a drop of reason, so to speak. "

Thus, there is a contradiction in the views of Fonvizin. This is due to the fact that due to the illness, his last works, including "Sincere Confession", are permeated with the motives of religious repentance and the horror of the repressions that fell upon his fellow educators.

Conclusion

“The son of his time, Fonvizin, in all his appearance and direction of creative searches, belongs to that circle of progressive Russian people of the 18th century who made up the camp of the enlighteners. All of them were writers, and their work was permeated with the pathos of affirming the ideals of justice and humanism. Satire and journalism were their weapons. A courageous protest against the injustices of autocracy and angry accusations of serf abuses sounded in their works. This was the historical merit of Russian satire of the 18th century, one of the most prominent representatives of which was DI Fonvizin ”(12, 22).

Thus, having studied the work of Fonvizin in this work, we are convinced of his undoubted talent as a satirist and innovator of the word. It was Fonvizin who laid the foundations of the Russian literary language. It was Fonvizin who showed us the reality of the Catherine's era, displaying it in his comedies. Perhaps that is why M. Gorky calls Fonvizin the founder of critical realism: "The types of Skotinin, Prostakovs, Kuteikin and Tsyfirkin are true drawings of the characters of that time, a true reflection of the ignorance and rudeness of the commanding class."

From all of the above, we can conclude that Fonvizin was a truly brilliant educator and, at the same time, he was the finalizer of the Russian Enlightenment of the 18th century.

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