The Silver Age begins in the 90s of the 19th century. Under such a charming name, this turning point has gone down in history. In the state, a restless atmosphere was raging, requiring decisive changes. Writers also sought to master new literary images, put forward bold experimental ideas. L. Andreev, I. Bunin, A. Serafimovich, V. Veresaev, A. Kuprin, K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, A. Bely and others created a completely new art.
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Thus, the paths of literary art and politics met. Various, sometimes polar, ways of reflecting what is happening are emerging in the literature. There is resistance to two main movements - realism and modernism. This struggle determined the further development and improvement of the prose of the Silver Age.
Realism of the Silver Age
Russian young writers display the realist movement: L. Andreev, I. Bunin, A. Serafimovich, V. Veresaev, A. Kuprin, N. Garin-Mikhailovsky, I. Shmelev, N. Teleshov and others. They continued the Chekhov legacy, became adherents of the realism of the century before last. In their published works, the foundations of the sixties and seventies folk art were changed, developed and transformed, paying particular attention to the person's personality. Realists were interested in history, the meaning of human life, nature.
The life and work of the writer of the "Silver Age" L.N. Andreev
Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev was born in the city of Oryol (Oryol province), in one thousand eight hundred and seventy-first years. He made sketches of short stories when he was educated in a city gymnasium. In one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, he composed the story "Bargamot and Garaska", which was highly praised by the writer Maxim Gorky.
Selected works of L.N. Andreev:
- "Bargamot and Garaska" (1898);
- The Little Angel (1901);
- The Grand Slam (1901);
- Lies (1901);
- Silence (1901);
- “Once upon a time” (1901);
- "Laughter" (1902);
- The Wall (1903);
- "The Abyss (1902);
- "Thought" (1904);
- "In the Fog" (1903);
- "The Life of Vasily of Thebes" (1904);
- The Red Laughter (1905);
- "To the Stars" (play), (1905);
- "Samson in fetters" (play), (1914);
- "The Story of the Seven Hanged" (short story), (1908);
- "Love for the neighbor" (satire), (1908);
- "Beautiful Sabine Women" (satire), (1912);
- "Sashka Zhegulev" (novel), (1912).
Andreev’s work, saturated with realistic ideas, becomes recognizable and encouraged in the Russian Empire and abroad, but he cannot accept the revolution of the 17th year, so in the same year the writer irrevocably leaves the country. In one thousand nine hundred and nineteen, Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev died and was buried in Finland.
The life and work of the writer of the "Silver Age" I.A. Bunin
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born in the city of Voronezh (Voronezh province), in one thousand eight hundred and seventy. Three years after his birth, an impoverished noble family moved to a place near Yelets (Voronezh province). In one thousand eight hundred and eighty-seventh, the future writer enters the Yelets classic male gymnasium, where he tries to write the first works. After the publication of the first story, the local editorial office invites him to work as an assistant in the print department. In his youth, he worked in various offices, newspapers, traveled a lot. With one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five years, Poltava, and then Moscow - the permanent residence of Ivan Alekseevich Bunin. In one thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine, Bunin marries Anna Nikolaevna Tsakni. From this marriage a child was born, who subsequently dies. Ivan and Anna break up. In 1922, Bunin married Vera Nikolaevna Muromtseva. In 1918, Bunin left for Odessa from Moscow, already ruling the Bolsheviks. In 1920, he emigrated to Paris, where he conducted dynamic socio-political work, interacting with the Bolshevik parties.
Selected works of I.A. Bunin:
- "Poems" (1891),
- "Open Air" (1898),
- "On The Seagull" (1898), (essay),
- "Antonov apples (1900),
- The Village (1910),
- Sukhodol (1911),
- "The Lord of San Francisco" (1915),
- The Cursed Days (1918),
- "Mitin's love" (1924),
- Sunstroke (1925),
- "The Life of Arseniev" (1933),
- "Song of Hiawatha" by the American poet G. Longfellow (1896) (translation).
The work of I.A. Bunin in the literature of the Silver Age was an innovation. He has two Pushkin Prizes from 1903 and 1909. The Nobel Prize was awarded to I.A. Bunin in 1933 after the publication of the novel Life of Arsenyev. In 1909 he was elected an honorary academician in the category of elegant literature of the Imperial St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. From 1920 to 1953, Bunin lived in France. Until one thousand nine hundred and fifty-four, the works of I.A. Bunin were not published in our country.
Silver Age Modernism
A new literary movement - modernism - is entering the arena. It proposed various methods of recognizing life and being. The literary work of these writers was distinguished by unusualness, which does not stand still, but rushes forward. The direction of modernism brought together such different writers as K. Balmont, V. Bryusov, A. Bely, D. Merezhkovsky, F. Sologub and others. They created new art using images-symbols. Modernist writers were carried away by dreams, asking themselves global questions about how to save humanity, how to restore faith in God. Artistic works of modernists, which touched upon previously forbidden topics: individualism, immoralism, eroticism, excited the audience, made it pay attention to art, to a person with his feelings, passions, light and dark sides of his soul. Under the influence of modernists, the attitude of society towards spiritual activity has changed.
The life and work of the writer of the "Silver Age" D.S. Merezhkovsky
Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky was born in 1866 in St. Petersburg. His father was a petty palace official. A boy from the age of thirteen composes poems, and in 1888, while studying at Moscow and St. Petersburg universities, he released his debut collection "Poems." In 1889, Dmitry Sergeyevich married the poetess Zinaida Gippius. Together they lived fifty-two years. Merezhkovsky thoroughly engaged in translations from Latin and Greek, but only in the twentieth century were his works appreciated. His first collection of poems "Symbols" is the name of a new poetic direction. For many years, the poet became the recognized leader of this literary movement.
Selected works of D.S. Merezhkovsky:
- collection of poems "Symbols" (1892);
- "Christ and the Antichrist" (1896);
- "Death of the gods. Julian the Apostate" (1900);
- "The Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci" (1903);
- "The Antichrist. Peter and Alex" (1905);
- The Kingdom of the Beast. In all parts of the trilogy - "Paul I", "Alexander I" and "December 14" (1907).
In 1917, the writer emigrated to France, where he criticized the autocracy. Merezhkovsky was popular in the West, they tried to translate his works into many languages. He lived to one thousand nine hundred and forty-first years.