38. Manifestos of the "senior symbolists".

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Collections:

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

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

Collection "Stefanos" - 1906.

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

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

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

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

"Strange magical prose of Bryusov" - Blok said.

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

For him, the creators of culture are very important.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Senior Symbolists - Sologub, Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Bryusov.

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

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

introduction

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

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

1. forerunners of Russian symbolism. symbolism manifestos in russia

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

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

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

Dear friend, can't you see

That everything we see

Only reflections, only shadows

From invisible eyes?

Dear friend, don't you hear

That the noise of life is crackling -

Just a garbled response.

Triumphant harmonies?

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. "senior symbolists". "young symbolists"

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

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

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

A pale young man with burning eyes,

Now I give you three covenants:

First accept: do not live in the present,

Only the future is the realm of the poet.

Remember the second: do not sympathize with anyone,

Love yourself endlessly.

Keep the third: worship art,

Only to him, undividedly, aimlessly.

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

the affirmation of creativity as the goal of life;

glorification of the creative personality;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The artistic quest of the "Young Symbolists" was marked by enlightened mysticism, the desire to go to the "outcast villages", to follow the sacrificial path of the prophet, not turning away from the rough earthly reality.

3. symbolism in the theater

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

conclusion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

bibliography

1. Basinsky P. Fedyakin S. Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th century. - M., 1998.

2. Ermilova E. Theory and figurative world of Russian symbolism. - M., 1989.

3. Kolobaeva L. Russian symbolism. - M., 2000.

4. Krag G.E. Memoirs, articles, letters. - M., 1988.

5. Payman A. History of Russian symbolism. - M., 1998.

6. Poetic trends in Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Literary manifestos and artistic practice: Reader / Comp. A. Sokolov. - M., 1998.

7. Khodasevich V. The end of Renata / V. Bryusov. Fire Angel. - M., 1993.

8. Encyclopedia of symbolism: Painting, graphics and sculpture. Literature. Music / Comp. J. Kassu. - M., 1998.

Ermilova E. Theory and figurative world of Russian symbolism. - M., 1989. - S. 14.

Basinsky P. Fedyakin S. Russian Literature of the late 19th - early 20th century. - M., 1998. - S. 29.

Poetic currents in Russian literature of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Literary manifestos and artistic practice: Reader / Comp. A. Sokolov. - M., 1998. - S. 124.

Encyclopedia of Symbolism: Painting, Graphics and Sculpture. Literature. Music / Comp. J. Kassu. - M., 1998. - S. 121.

Encyclopedia of Symbolism: Painting, Graphics and Sculpture. Literature. Music / Comp. J. Kassu. - M., 1998. - S. 125.

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RUSSIAN FUTURIST MANIFESTOS

A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (1912)
A Slap in the Face of Public Taste [Leaflet] (1913)
First All-Russian Congress of Bayaches of the Future (1913)
Theater, cinema, futurism. V. Mayakovsky (1913)
Radiants and Futures (1913)
We Color (1913)
Go to hell! (1914)
A drop of tar. V. Mayakovsky (1915)
Trumpet Martian (1916)
Flying Futurist Federation Manifesto (1918)

Published according to the book: Russian Futurism: Theory. Practice. Criticism. Memories / Comp. V. N. Terekhina, A. P. Zimenkov. - M., Heritage, 2000. - 480 p.

A slap in the face of public taste

Reading our New First Unexpected.
Only we are the face of our Time. The horn of time blows us in verbal art.
The past is tight. The Academy and Pushkin are more incomprehensible than hieroglyphs.
Throw Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and so on. from the steamer of modern times.
Who will not forget his first love, does not recognize the latter.
Who, gullible, will turn the last Love to the perfumery fornication of Balmont? Does it reflect the courageous soul of today?
Who, cowardly, will be afraid to steal paper armor from the black tailcoat of Bryusov's warrior? Or are they the dawn of unknown beauties?
Wash your hands that have touched the filthy slime of the books written by those innumerable Leonid Andreevs.
To all these Maxim Gorky, Kuprin, Blok, Sollogub, Remizov, Averchenko, Cherny, Kuzmin, Bunin and so on. and so on. All you need is a cottage on the river. Such an award is given by fate to tailors.
From the height of skyscrapers we look at their insignificance! ..
We order honor rights poets:
1. To increase the dictionary in its scope arbitrary and derivative words (Word-innovation).
2. An irresistible hatred for the language that existed before them.
3. With horror, remove from your proud forehead from bath brooms the Wreath of penny glory you made.
4. To stand on a block of the word "we" in the midst of a sea of ​​whistling and indignation.
And if the dirty stigmas of your “common sense” and “good taste” still remain in our lines, then nevertheless they are already trembling first Lightnings of the New Coming Beauty of the Self-valuable (self-made) Word.

Almanac “Slapping the Face of Public Taste. In defense of free art. Poems, prose and articles. [M.], ed. G. Kuzmin and S. Dolinsky. In addition to the four listed authors, Livshits and Kandinsky participated in the almanac. Circulation 500 or 600 copies. This is the first Russian futuristic manifesto and the most successful, it was a stormy reaction in society and in the press. There was no other such success for the manifestos. A few months later, a leaflet was released with similar text and a group photograph. The group did not yet refer to themselves as "Futurists". In everyday life, the group was called "Burlyuks", and Khlebnikov - "Budetlyane". The word "futurists" has so far been used only as a curse at someone else's address.

Sollogub, Kuzmin - "misprints of disrespect." That's right - Sologub, Kuzmin.

A slap in the face of public taste
[Leaflet]

In 1908, The Garden of Judges was published. - In it eniy - a great poet modernity - Velimir Khlebnikov first appeared in print. Petersburg meters considered " Khlebnikov crazy." They did not print, of course, not a single thing of the one who carried Revival of Russian Literature. Shame and shame on their heads!..
Time passed... V. Khlebnikov, A. Kruchenykh, V. Mayakovsky, B. Livshits, V. Kandinsky, Nikolai Burliuk and David Burliuk in 1913 published the book "Slap in the Face of Public Taste".
Khlebnikov now he was not alone. A galaxy of writers grouped around him, who, if they followed different paths, were united under one slogan:“Down with the word-means, long live Self-sufficient, self-valuable Word! The Russian critics, these merchants, these drooling bastards, thick-skinned and unaware of beauty, blowing their daily bagpipes, burst into a sea of ​​indignation and rage. Not surprising! Whether they, brought up from the school bench on the models of Descriptive poetry, understand the Great revelations of Modernity.
All these countless lisping Izmailovs, Homunculus "s, eating scraps falling from the tables of realism - the revelry of Andreevs, Bloks, Sologubs, Voloshins and the like - assert (what a dirty accusation) that we are "decadent" - the last of them - and that we did not say anything new - neither in size, nor in rhyme, nor in relation to the word.
Were Russian literature justified in our orders to honor Poets' rights:
to increase the vocabulary in its volume with arbitrary and derivative words!
to an irresistible hatred for the existing language!
with horror to remove from your proud brow from bath brooms the wreath of penny glory you made!
to stand on a block of the word "we" in the midst of a sea of ​​whistling and indignation!

Leaflet. M., 1913. On the back of a four-page leaflet, as a comparison of old and new poetry, poems by Pushkin and Khlebnikov, Nadson and D. Burliuk, Lermontov and Mayakovsky, excerpts from Gogol and Kruchenykh were printed in pairs.

FIRST ALL-RUSSIAN CONGRESS OF BAYACHI OF THE FUTURE

We have gathered here to arm the world against us! The time for slaps has passed:
The crackling of blasters and the carving of scarecrows will stir up the coming year of art!
We want our adversaries to bravely defend their crumbling possessions. Let them not wag their tails, they will not be able to hide behind them.
We ordered crowds of thousands at meetings and in theaters and from the pages of our
clear books, and now they have declared the rights of bayachis and artists, tearing the ears of those who vegetate under the stump of cowardice and immobility:
1) Destroy the “pure, clear, honest, sonorous Russian language”, castrated and smoothed by the languages ​​of people from “criticism and literature”. He is unworthy of the great "Russian people"!
2) Destroy the outdated movement of thought according to the law of causality, toothless "common sense," symmetrical logic ", wandering in the blue shadows of symbolism and give a personal creative insight into the true world of new people.
3) To destroy the elegance, frivolity and beauty of cheap public artists and writers, constantly releasing more and more new works in words, in books, on canvas and paper.
4) For this purpose, by the first of August of this year, new books “Three” by Khlebnikov, Kruchenykh and E. Guro are being published. Rice. K. Malevich, "Celestial Camels" by E. Guro, "Dead Moon" - employees of "Gilei" - "Print and We", etc.
5) To rush to the stronghold of artistic stunting - to the Russian theater and resolutely transform it.
Artistic, Korshevsky, Alexandrinsky, Big and Small have no place in today! - for this purpose, the New Theater "Budetlyanin" is being established.
b) And several performances will be arranged in it (Moscow and Petrograd). Deim will be staged: Kruchenykh's "Victory over the Sun" (opera), Mayakovsky's "Railway", Khlebnikov's "Christmas Tale" and others.
The production is directed by the speech creators themselves, artists: K. Malevich, D. Burliuk and musician M. Matyushin.
Rather, sweep away the old ruins and raise a skyscraper tenacious like a bullet!

With genuine true.
Chairman: M. Matyushin
Secretaries: A. Kruchenykh, K. Malevich
Usikirko, July 20, 1913

For 7 days. SPb., 1913, August 15. The manifesto was adopted at the congress, which was attended only by its authors (Khlebnikov was unable to attend). In September 1913, M. Larionov came up with the projects of the Futu Theater, and on April 26, 1914, in gas. "Nov" appeared "Declaration on the Futuristic Theater", written by V. Shershenevich.

THEATER, CINEMA, FUTURISM

The great upheaval that we have begun in all areas of beauty in the name of the art of the future - the art of the futurists - will not stop, and cannot stop, at the door of the theatre.

Hatred for the art of yesterday, for neurasthenia cultivated by paint, verse, footlights, the unproven need to reveal the tiny experiences of people leaving life, makes me put forward, as proof of the inevitability of recognizing our ideas, not lyrical pathos, but exact science, the study of the relationship between art and life .

Contempt for the existing "magazines of art", such as "Apollo", "Masks", where tangled foreign terms float like greasy spots on a gray background of meaninglessness, makes me feel real pleasure from publishing my speech in a special technical cinematographic magazine.

Today I raise two questions:

1) Is modern theater an art?

And 2) Can modern theater compete with cinema?

The city, having filled the machines with thousands of horsepower, for the first time made it possible to satisfy the material needs of the world in some 6-7 hours of daily labor, and the intensity and intensity of modern life have caused an enormous need for the free play of cognitive abilities, which is art.

This explains the powerful interest of today's man in art.

But if the division of labor brought into being a separate group of beauty workers; if, for example, an artist, having given up writing "the charms of drunken metres", goes to broad democratic art, he must answer society under what conditions his work becomes socially useful from being individually necessary.

The artist, having declared the dictatorship of the eye, has the right to exist. Having approved color, line, form as self-sufficient quantities, painting has found an eternal path to development. Those who have found that the word, its outline, its phonic side determine the flourishing of poetry, have the right to exist. These are the poets who have found the way to the eternal prosperity of verse.

But does the theater, which until our arrival only served as an artificial cover for all kinds of art, have the right to exist independently under the crown of a special art?

The modern theater is furnished, but its furnishings are the product of the decorative work of an artist who has only forgotten his freedom and humiliated himself to a utilitarian view of art.

Consequently, from this side, the theater can only act as an uncultured subjugator of art.

The second half of the theater is "The Word". But here, too, the onset of the aesthetic moment is determined not by the internal development of the word itself, but by its use as a means of expressing moral or political ideas incidental to art.

And here the modern theater acts only as an enslaver of the word and the poet.

This means that before our arrival, theater as an independent art did not exist. But is it possible to find in history at least some traces of the possibility of its approval? Of course yes!

Shakespeare's theater had no scenery. Ignorant criticism explained this by unfamiliarity with decorative art. Was not this time the greatest development of pictorial realism. And the theater of Oberammergau does not shackle words with shackles of inscribed lines.

All these phenomena can only be explained as a premonition of the special art of the actor, where the intonation of even a word that does not have a definite meaning and the movements of the human body invented, but free in the rhythm, express the greatest inner experiences.

This will be the new free art of the actor.

At the present time, in transmitting a photographic representation of life, the theater falls into the following contradiction:

The art of the actor, essentially dynamic, is shackled by the dead backdrop of the scenery; this piercing contradiction destroys cinematography, which harmoniously fixes the movements of the present.

The theater has brought itself to ruin and must pass on its legacy to cinema. And the cinema, having made naive realism and artistry like Chekhov and Gorky a branch of industry, will open the way to the theater of the future, the unfettered art of the actor.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

* Thus, for example, the imaginary heyday of the theater over the past 10-15 years (Artistic) is explained only by a temporary social upsurge ("At the Bottom", "Peer Gynt"), since petty plays, having lived for several hours, die for the repertoire. (Author's note.)

Kine magazine. - M., 1913, No. 14

RADIANTS AND FUTURE
Manifesto

Timofey Bogomazov, Natalia Goncharova, Kirill Zdanevich, Ivan Larionov, Mikhail Larionov, Mikhail Le-Dantyu, Vyacheslav Levkievsky, Sergei Romanovich, Vladimir Obolensky, Moritz Fabry, Alexander Shevchenko.

Sat. "Donkey Tail and Target". M., 1913.

WHY WE COLOR
Futurist Manifesto

To the frantic city of arc lamps, to the streets spattered with bodies, to the huddled houses, we brought the painted face; the start is given and the track is waiting for runners.
Creators, we have come not to destroy construction, but to glorify and affirm. Our coloring is not an absurd invention, not a return - it is inextricably linked with the warehouse of our life and our craft.
Roaring a song about a man, like a bugler before a battle, she calls for victories over the earth, hypocritically hiding under the wheels until the hour of vengeance, and the sleeping guns woke up and spit on the enemy.
A renewed life requires a new community and a new preaching.
Our coloring book is the first speech that found unknown truths. And the fires caused by her say that the servants of the earth do not lose hope of saving the old nests, they gathered all their strength to protect the gates, they crowded, knowing that with the first goal scored we are the winners.
The course of art and the love of life guided us. Loyalty to the craft encourages us who fight. The steadfastness of the few gives strength that cannot be overcome.
We connected art with life. After a long solitude of the masters, we loudly learned life and life invaded art, it's time for art to invade life. Face painting - the beginning of the invasion. This is why our hearts are beating so fast.
We do not strive for one aesthetic. Art is not only a monarch, but also a newspaperman and a decorator. We value both font and news. The synthesis of decorativeness and illustration is the basis of our coloring. We decorate life and preach - that's why we paint.
Coloring - new folk jewels, like everything in our day. The old ones were incoherent and squeezed out by money. Gold was valued as an ornament and became expensive. We overthrow gold and stones from their pedestal and declare them priceless. Beware, those who collect them and keepers - you will soon be beggars.
Started in 05. Mikhail Larionov painted the model standing against the background of the carpet, extending the drawing on her. But there was no announcement yet. Now the Parisians do the same when painting the legs of dancers, and the ladies powder brown powder and lengthen their eyes in the Egyptian way. But this is age. We associate contemplation with action and rush into the crowd.
To the frantic city of arc lamps, to the streets spattered with bodies, to huddling houses - we brought what was not: unexpected flowers rose in the greenhouse and teased.
Citizens have long pinked their nails, lined their eyes, painted their lips, cheeks, hair - but they all imitate the earth.
We do not care about the earth, the creators, our lines and colors arose with us.
If we were given the plumage of parrots, we would pluck the feathers. for brush and pencil.
If immortal beauty were given to us - would it be smeared and killed - we, going to the end. The tattoo does not occupy us. Tattooed forever. We paint for an hour and the betrayal of experiences calls for the betrayal of coloring, as the picture devours the picture, as outside the window of the car, shop windows flicker invading each other - our face. The tattoo is beautiful but speaks of little - only about the tribe and deeds. Our coloring book is a newsboy.
Facial expressions do not interest us. What of the fact that they are accustomed to understand, too timid and not beautiful. Like the squeal of a tram warning the hurried hallways, like the drunken sounds of the great tango - our face. Facial expressions are expressive, but colorless. Our coloring is a decorator.
Rebellion against the earth and the transformation of faces in the searchlight of experiences.
The telescope has recognized the constellations lost in space, the coloring will tell about the lost thoughts.
We paint - because a clean face is disgusting, because we want to proclaim about the unknown, we rebuild life and carry the multiplied human soul to the upper reaches of being.

Ilya Zdanevich
Mikhail Larionov

J. "Argus". 1913. No. 12.

GO TO HELL!

Your year has passed since the release of our first books: Slap, Boiling Cup, Judges' Garden, etc.
The appearance of the New Poetry had an effect on the still crawling old men of Russian literature, like the white marble Pushkin dancing the tango.
Commercial old people stupidly guessed the value of the new before the public they were fooling and "out of habit" looked at us with their pocket.
K. Chukovsky (not a fool either!) delivered hot goods to all fair cities: the names of Kruchenykh, Burdyukov, Khlebnikov ...
F. Sologub grabbed I. Severyanin's hat to cover his bald talent.
Vasily Bryusov habitually chewed the poetry of Mayakovsky and Livshits with the pages of Russkaya Mysl.
Come on, Vasya, this is not a cork for you! ..
Was it not then that the old men patted us on the head in order to hastily sew an electric belt for themselves from the sparks of our defiant poetry to communicate with the muses?
These subjects gave rise to a herd of young people, previously without a specific occupation, to pounce on literature and show their grimacing face: the windswept "Mezzanine of Poetry", "Petersburg Herald", etc.
And nearby a pack of adams crawled out with a parting - Gumilyov, S. Makovsky, S. Gorodetsky, Piast, who tried to attach a sign of Acmeism and Apollonism to faded songs about Tula samovars and toy lions, and then began to spin in a motley round dance around the established Futurists. Today we spit out the past that stuck on our teeth, declaring:
1) All futurists are united only by our group.
2) We discarded our random nicknames of ego and kubo and united in a single literary company of futurists:

David Burliuk, Alexei Kruchenykh, Benedict Livshits, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Igor Severyanin, Viktor Khlebnikov.

Roaring Parnassus, St. Petersburg, Zhuravl Publishing House, 1914. Here the authors of the manifesto called themselves futurists and sent all other futurists, in fact, to hell. As early as 1911, Severyanin called himself a futurist, more precisely, an "ego-futurist." But they almost immediately quarreled with him and did not contact him again.

DROP OF TAR
"A speech to be delivered at the first opportunity"

Gracious sovereigns and gracious sovereigns!

This year is the year of deaths: almost every day the newspapers sob with loud grief for someone with mastitis, who has gone to a better world ahead of time. Every day, with a lingering weeping, it sings over the multitude of names carved by Mars. What noble and monastically strict newspapers are published today. In the black mourning gowns of funeral announcements, eyes shining with the crystal tear of an obituary. That is why it was somehow especially unpleasant to see that this most grief-ennobled press raised such obscene fun about one death very close to me.

When critics harnessed in a train drove along the dirty road, the road of the printed word, the coffin of futurism, the newspapers trumpeted for weeks: “Ho, ho, ho! so it! take it, take it! finally!" (terrible excitement of the audience: “How did it die? Futurism died? What are you doing?”)

Yes, he died.

For a year now, instead of him, fire-speak, barely maneuvering between truth, beauty and the plot, on the stages of the auditoriums, the most boring kogan-Eichenwald-like old men have been crouching. For a year now, the most boring logic has been in the classrooms, proving some sparrow truths instead of the cheerful ringing of decanters on empty heads.

Lord! don't you really feel sorry for this eccentric fellow, in red whirlwinds, a little stupid, a little uncultured, but always, oh! always bold and burning. However, how do you understand youth? The young, to whom we are dear, will not soon return from the battlefield; but you, who have remained here for a quiet occupation in newspapers and other offices; you are either rickets, unable to carry weapons, or old bags stuffed with wrinkles and gray hairs, whose business is to think about the most serene transition to another world, and not about the fate of Russian art.

And you know, I myself do not really feel sorry for the dead man, though from other considerations.

Relive in memory the first gala exit of Russian futurism, marked by such a resounding "slap in the face of public taste." From this dashing dump three blows under three shouts of our manifesto were especially remembered.

1. Crush the ice cream maker of all kinds of canons, making ice out of inspiration.
2. Break the old language, powerless to catch up with the leap of life.
3. Throw the old greats off the steamer of modernity.

As you can see, not a single building, not a single comfortable corner, destruction, anarchism. The townsfolk laughed at this as the eccentricity of the madmen, and it turned out to be a “devilish intuition” embodied in a stormy today. War, expanding the borders of states, and the brain makes you burst into the borders of yesterday unknown.

Painter! Do you need a thin mesh of contours to catch the rushing cavalry. Repin! Samokish! remove the buckets - the paint will spill.

Poet! do not put iambs and trochees into the rocking chair with a powerful fight - it will turn the whole rocking chair!
Breaking words, word innovation! How many of them, the new ones headed by Petrograd, and the conductor! die, northerner! Should the Futurists shout about the oblivion of the old literature. Who behind the Cossack boom will hear the trill of the mandolin player Bryusov. Today everyone is a futurist. Futurist people.

Futurism took Russia with a stranglehold.

Not seeing futurism in front of you and not being able to look into yourself, you screamed about death. Yes! Futurism has died as a special group, but in all of you it is flooded.

But since futurism has died as an idea of ​​the elite, we do not need it. We consider the first part of our program - destruction - completed. That is why do not be surprised if today in our hands you see, instead of a jester's rattle, a drawing of an architect, and the voice of futurism, yesterday still soft from sentimental daydreaming, today will pour out into copper sermons.

V. Mayakovsky

Published in the almanac “I took it. Drum of the Futurists": Mayakovsky, Pasternak, Khlebnikov, Aseev, O. Brik, V. Shklovsky. Petersburg, December 1915

PIPE MARTIAN

PEOPLE!
The brain of people still jumps on three legs (three axes of space)! We glue, cultivating the brain of mankind, like plowmen, to this puppy the fourth leg, namely the axis of time.
Lame puppy! You will no longer torture our hearing with your nasty barking.
People of the past are not smarter than themselves, believing that the sails of the state can only be built for the axes of space. We, dressed in a cloak of only victories, are starting to build a young alliance with a sail near the axis of time, warning in advance that our size is larger than Cheops, and the task is brave, majestic and severe.
We stern carpenters once again throw ourselves and our names into the seething cauldrons of beautiful tasks.
We believe in ourselves and indignantly push away the vicious whispers of the people of the past, who dream of pecking us on the heel. After all, we are bosses. But we are beautiful in the steady betrayal of our past, as soon as it entered the age of victory, and in the steady fury of the drift of the next hammer over the globe, already beginning to tremble from our trampling.
Black sails of time, make noise!

Viktor Khlebnikov, Maria Sinyakova, Bozhidar, Grigory Petnikov, Nikolai Aseev

Scroll. Kharkov, April 1916. All text belongs to Khlebnikov. After all, we are barefoot - concession to censorship. That's right - "After all, we are Gods."

MANIFESTO OF THE FLYING FUTURIST FEDERATION

The old system rested on three pillars.
Political slavery, social slavery, spiritual slavery.
The February Revolution abolished political slavery. The road to Tobolsk is paved with black feathers of a double-headed eagle. October threw the bomb of social revolution under capital. Far on the horizon are the fat backsides of fleeing breeders. And only the unshakable third whale stands - the work of the Spirit.
As before, he spews a fountain of stale water - called - old art.
Theaters still put on: "Jewish" and other "kings" (works by the Romanovs), as before, monuments to generals, princes - the royal mistresses and the queen's lovers with a heavy, dirty foot stand on the throats of young streets. In petty shops, arrogantly called exhibitions, they sell pure daubs of noblemen's daughters and dachas in the Rococo style and other Louis.
And finally, on our bright holidays we sing not our hymns, but the gray-haired Marseillaise borrowed from the French.
Enough.
We are the proletarians of art - we call the proletarians of factories and lands to the third bloodless, but cruel revolution, the revolution of the spirit.
We need to acknowledge:
I. Separation of art from the state.
The destruction of the patronage of privileges and control in the field of art. Down with diplomas, titles, official posts and ranks.
II. The transfer of all the material means of art: theaters, chapels, exhibition spaces and buildings of the academy and art schools - into the hands of the masters of art themselves for equal use by all the people of art.
III. Universal art education because we believe that the foundations of the future free art can only emerge from the depths of democratic Russia, which until now has only been hungry for the bread of art.
IV. Immediate, along with food, requisition of all hidden aesthetic reserves for fair and equitable use of all of Russia.
Long live the third Revolution, the Revolution of the Spirit!

D. Burliuk, V. Kamensky, V. Mayakovsky
Given to Moscow 1918, March.

Newspaper of the Futurists. M., March 15, 1918. In April of the same year, the residence of the futurists - the "Cafe of Poets" in Nastasinsky lane, 1 (next to the "House of Anarchy", the headquarters of the anarchists) - was closed. David Burliuk emigrated to the USA in 1919 through the Far East. Mayakovsky shot himself in 1930.

artistic practice symbolist poets explains, develops the ideas contained in their literary manifestos and declarations. And many of their poems can be considered as a kind of poetic manifesto, including the poem by Z. Gippius "The inscription on the book":

The abstract is dear to me: I create life with it... I love everything solitary, Implicit love. I am a slave of my mysterious, Unusual dreams... But for the only speeches I don't know the local words... 1896

This poem also contains the main conflict in the works of the Symbolists: the conflict of "here" and "out of this world", the real world and the fictional world - the ideal. In literary criticism, speaking of symbolism, they note its romantic nature. Both romantics and symbolists are characterized by the desire to get away from the rough and vulgar world into the world of dreams, exotics; characterized by internal tension, agitation; moods and feelings prevail over reason and will. That is why symbolist poets almost always give negative definitions to "local" life, as, for example, Z. Gippius in the poem "Everything is around":

Terrible, rude, sticky, dirty, Roughly stupid, always ugly, Slowly tearing, petty dishonest, Slippery, shameful, low, cramped, Obviously contented, secretly lascivious, Flat-funny and nauseatingly cowardly, Viscous, swampy and muddy stagnant, Life and death equally unworthy, Slave, boorish, purulent, black, Occasionally gray, stubborn in gray, Eternally recumbent, devilishly inert, Stupid, dry, sleepy, malicious, Corpse-cold, pitifully insignificant, Unbearable, false, false! But there is no need for complaints; that joy is in weeping, We know, we know: everything will be different. 1904

Since the appearance of symbolism was caused by dissatisfaction with reality, "rude and vulgar", the symbolists ceased to be satisfied with realistic art, oriented towards this reality - art "photographic", uncreative, wingless. K. Balmont argued: "Realists are always mere observers, symbolists are always thinkers." Unlike a realist, a symbolist creates a sweet dream, a legend, out of rough reality, unique in the work of each author.

Symbolists, in contrast to the predecessors of the realists, argued a different view of the goals of literature and art: they announced, in particular, that literature is not obliged to preach, to teach - it is self-sufficient. The most important, unconditional value for the symbolist is art itself, creativity, beauty. The program in this regard is the famous poem by V. Bryusov "To the Young Poet":

A pale young man with a burning gaze, Now I give you three testaments: First accept: do not live in the present, Only the future is the domain of the poet. Remember the second: do not sympathize with anyone, Love yourself infinitely. Keep the third: worship art, Only him, thoughtlessly, aimlessly. A pale young man with an embarrassed look! If you accept my three testaments, Silently I will fall as a defeated fighter, Knowing that I left a poet in the world. July 15, 1896

The poetic worldview also determined the choice of themes and motives by the Symbolists: these are, first of all, "pure lyrics", deeply personal experiences; the theme of love, often with mystical content; landscape lyrics, which are dominated by moods of sadness, melancholy, in which everything seems to be shrouded in fog; urban motifs are also colored with appropriate moods, as a rule, this is a place of hopeless longing, horror, a world alien to man, as, for example, in A. Blok's poem "Factory" (1903), where the image of a factory cannot be read literally, as an image of some specific factory labor (as it would be in a realistic work). Social differentiation, an indication of the perpetrators of the suffering of those who were "led" is absent here, we only learn that it is "someone motionless, someone black" "with a copper voice" "counts people in silence." The author gives an image of a terrible, mechanistic world, a city-civilization in outline, in general terms, emotionally and symbolically.

Read also other articles on the topic “Russian Symbolism”.

Lesson #4-5

SYMBOLISM IN THE RUSSIAN LITERATURE OF THE "SILVER AGE"

Plan:

1. Philosophical, ideological, aesthetic and poetic forerunners of Russian symbolism (Platonic "two-unity", medieval mysticism, French symbolism, the philosophy of A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, the work of Vl. Solovyov, etc.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dear friend, can't you see

That everything we see

Only reflections, only shadows

From invisible eyes?

Dear friend, don't you hear

That the noise of life is crackling -

Just a garbled response.

Triumphant harmonies?

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

The most common features of the doctrine of symbolism, program manifestos, theoretical disputes about the understanding of the symbol.

From the very beginning of its existence, symbolism turned out to be a heterogeneous trend. D. Merezhkovsky and V. Bryusov became the leaders of the “senior symbolists”, who understood symbolism as a literary school. The heterogeneity of the flow manifested itself even geographically. The Moscow wing was grouped around V. Bryusov. The main principle of their aesthetics is “art for art's sake”. Bryusov's aphorism is characteristic: "The creation of art is ajar doors to eternity." Much attention was paid to formal experimentation, to the improvement of the technical methods of addition.

Music for the symbolists is the highest form of creativity, giving maximum freedom of expression and perception. The symbolists were looking for a direct correspondence between sound and meaning, between color and meaning, between sound and color. Symbolist poetry is the language of prayers, revelations, prophecies, secrets. Symbolism played a huge role in the formation and development of the poetic culture of the 20th century, enriched not only art, but also the consciousness of the people of the new era, immeasurably expanded the scope of the human worldview.

Aesthetics of symbolism:

1) A mysterious ideal world is hidden behind the rough and boring everyday life, which can only be revealed with the help of hint symbols;

2) The task of poetry is to express all life through these symbols in a special language, rich in poetic intonations;

3) Only art is given to penetrate into the essence of being, since it is able to comprehend the world with omnipotent intuition.

The main features of symbolism:

→ Dual world: avoiding the real earthly and creating an ideal world of dreams and mysticism, existing according to the laws of Eternal Beauty;

→ Images-symbols: the language of premonitions, hints, generalizations, mysterious visions, allegories;

→ Symbolism of color and light: azure, purple, gold, shadows, shimmer;

→ The poet is the creator of ideal worlds - mystical, cosmic, divine;

→ Language: focus on classical verse, exquisite figurativeness, musicality and lightness of style, attitude to the word as to a cipher, symbolic content of ordinary words.

Senior Symbolists:

√ Departure into unreality

√ Poet magician, shaman, mystic, demiurge (creator of the universe)

√ Interest in exotic, medieval

√ History is a vicious, vicious circle

√ Fluctuation of specific meanings, transfer of sensations

√ F.Sologub, K.Balmont, V.Bryusov, D.Merezhkovsky, Z.Gippius, F.Soloviev.

Young Symbolists:

√ Bridging the gap between reality and unreality

√ Poet - prophet, medium, theurgist (transformer of the Universe)

√ Interest in exotic, romance

√ History is an evolutionary directed process

√ Imagery of symbols, intuitive comprehension

√ A. Bely, I. Annensky, Vyach. Ivanov, A. Blok, Y. Baltrushaitis

MANIFESTOS

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

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

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

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

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

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