What does 20th century literature teach? What does literature teach? Where to find Literature lessons

Tatyana Metechko, teacher

What is taught in literature class?

In my understanding, a lesson in literature is, first of all, not a subject, but a means of educating a personality. At the lessons of Russian or Belarusian literature, the teacher, relying on the life situations of literary heroes, can talk with children about what human relations should or should not be, thereby warning children - our students - from possible mistakes, directing them upward, to the spiritual. We are talking about the difficult life circumstances of the fate of the main character in the play "Thunderstorm" by A.N. Ostrovsky, which led to her suicide; about fidelity and forgiveness in the novel "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy, about the inviolability of human life in the novel-study "Crime and Punishment" by F.M. Dostoevsky, about unrequited love in the novel "Fathers and Sons" by I.S. Turgenev, we reflect on good and evil, studying the novel "The Master and Margarita" by M.A. Bulgakov...

No matter what classical work of Russian literature you touch, you will find universal eternal problems everywhere: good-evil, sincerity-deceit, loyalty-betrayal, courage-cowardice, nobility-cowardice ... After all, this is our life from the beginning to the end of the century. The Lord gave the writer an insight, a moment that he seized and reflected in his work. That is why these works are classic, eternal.

In what other lesson can a student reason without being afraid to express his point of view? At what lesson will he learn to speak beautifully, freely, be it Russian or Belarusian, and not express himself in computer thieves' gibberish, in which, in addition, there are another 20% of rude colloquial and obscene words? “He who thinks clearly, he clearly states,” said Schopenhauer. And in our senior classes, only a few can speak, the rest are “well, like,” etc. Not trained...

Of great importance is the personality of the teacher. Perhaps the most important. After all, I remember the times when in the spring at the teachers' council we decided which of the students to send them to the pedagogical universities, and now admission to these universities is on a residual basis. What is happening? Who teaches and will teach, what to teach is to educate! - children? The profession of a teacher was so organized and regulated that there was no room left for creativity. Tormented by endless checks and nit-picking. Therefore, the majority went along the simplest path: they exactly use the “Approximate calendar and thematic planning” with the already provided lesson plan, homework. Otherwise, a step left or right is execution. So lessons are given without creativity, without inspiration, without flight for the teacher, without sublime discovery for children. And the teacher must understand the voluminous work of the classic, re-read it more than once, comprehend it so that the depth laid down by the writer is revealed to him. And once again preparing for the lesson, you suddenly read something that passed you by before, re-opened, and you will be surprised: how did I not notice this before?

You can tell about V.V. Mayakovsky as a schizophrenic who wrote well, almost abracadabra, but you can reveal the tragedy of the personality of a person who turned out to be a hostage of his faith in the Bolshevik idea, found himself in a deep spiritual crisis. You can tell about F.M. Dostoevsky, who endured the ordeal of execution and rose to a feeling of pain for all of humanity, who wrote the warning novel "Crime and Punishment" with his main idea: “Thou shalt not kill!”, which warned of the upcoming events of the early 20th century - revolutions and civil war, or you can dryly analyze the critical material of the textbook without bothering to read something more, and you can also use summary talk about the egocentric Raskolnikov. But one can marvel at the depth of Rodion Raskolnikov's suffering, his pain for everyone who suffers nearby, and be horrified at the chosen path for solving his problems.

For this, a professional teacher, not a lesson teacher, needs not 5 program hours according to Dostoevsky, but at least twice as much. The number of literature lessons in high school was cut to 12 hours, and you need to manage to put at least three grades per quarter. Officials in the Ministry of Education, confused in their experiments, then select literary works to be studied by young people in high school. The selection is strange ... A few years ago, A.P. did not appear in the program. Chekhov: was not included in the program at the end of the 10th grade and forgot to be included in the program at the beginning of the 11th grade. Then they caught on. I.A. disappeared from the school curriculum. Goncharov with his "Oblomov", N.S. Leskov with "The Enchanted Wanderer" and other stories. The family novel "Anna Karenina" by L.N. Tolstoy is not in the school curriculum, but have we become more honest in our life, are there no more such life collisions? Yes, our life is a continuous novel "Anna Karenina", only we are ashamed to admit it. 2 hours were allotted for the Nobel laureate B. Pasternak - for the study of lyrics, and the prize was given primarily for his novel "Doctor Zhivago", which tells about the fate of a gentle, not at all heroic, talented person, about the tragedy of his such strong love, but which destroyed him as personality.

There is only one explanation: people from the Ministry studied these works by summary and did not understand anything in them.

Works of classical literature - uniquely! - are relevant even now. After all, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov from Dead Souls is our contemporary. Let's change the surroundings: instead of the thirties of the 19th century - the 20s of the 21st century, instead of the three horses - the six hundredth "Mercedes", instead of dead souls, let him buy up small enterprises, serve at customs - as in our time, built supposedly state-owned institutions, incl. h. bridge, but in fact he built himself a villa, his goal is to get rich by any means. So isn't it about our time? What about Gogol's Inspector General? Isn't it about us pleasing everyone we depend on? This is what the classic is. At what time do not place - everything is on point. After all, people also loved and betrayed in Ancient Greece, and in the Middle Ages, and in the 21st century ...

With shortening the clock on literature, like this, easily, crossing out the number, removing the classics from the program, we cut the branch on which we sit.

We say: children do not like to read. But they said so 20 years ago, because reading is the work of the soul. It's easier to watch a movie. In the context of reducing hours, this is a way out - to show episodes, to interest children. In Soviet times, anthologies on literature were published, not all works were placed in them, but some interesting chapters. This also interested the children. But films ... They should have a high bar: they should be staged strictly according to a classic work, and not be a surrogate: in such a film it is impossible even to determine the idea, the meaning. Watch the film "War and Peace" by S. Bondarchuk, who received an Oscar, and not the now popular version, in which everything is adjusted to a foreign director. Or some kind of stretched, blurry 12-series tapes, and there are only 120 pages in the work! They convey only the outer side of the work, but not the inner strength, the spring of the plot. Spectacular, but... empty.

What do parents want from their children? To be rich and successful, forgetting that "the rich also cry." As if they were lost in this chaos, defeated, beaten down by advertising. Everything is done for the body. But what is done for the soul?

There is an old sophism: "If God is omnipotent, can He create such a heavy stone that He himself cannot lift it?" This puzzle is about whether the creation can be beyond the control of the Creator? Is it possible for an almighty God to create something over which he does not have absolute power? St. Philaret of Moscow (1783-1867) said this about the riddle about the stone: “God not only can create such a stone, but has already created it. This stone is a man. Before the revolution, a lesson in literature was called a lesson in literature. Language researchers believe that “man” was formed from “word”: a word - a word - a clovek - a person. We must be, first of all, Humans, created in the likeness of God. This is what classical literature teaches. And it would be nice if every literature lesson began with the teacher's question: "What do you think, why ...".

"Of all the writers of the 20s-30s of the 20th century, Mikhail Bulgakov is probably the most preserved in the Russian public consciousness. He is preserved not so much by his biography, from which his letters to Stalin and the only telephone conversation with the tyrant are usually remembered, but with his brilliant works, the main of which is "The Master and Margarita". Each next generation of readers opens the novel with new facets. Let us recall at least the "sturgeon of the second freshness", and the sad thought will come to mind that forever in Russia everything is second freshness, everything except literature. Bulgakov brilliantly proved this," - this is how, in a few words, Boris Sokolov, a well-known researcher of Bulgakov's work, managed to show what contribution the writer made to Russian and world literature. Outstanding creative minds recognize the novel "The Master and Margarita" as one of the greatest creations of the twentieth century.

Not everyone is able to comprehend The Master and Margarita in the ideological and philosophical vein that the author suggests. Of course, in order to penetrate, to understand all the details of the novel, a person must have a high cultural preparedness and historical awareness on many issues, but the phenomenon of perception of the work is that the “Master and Margarita” is also reread by the young. The fact is, probably, that young people are attracted by the fantastic nature of a work with an element of a fairy tale, and even if a teenager is not able to understand the complex truths and deep meaning of a work, he perceives what can make imagination and fantasy work. Bulgakov, anticipating his death, realized "The Master and Margarita" as "the last sunset novel", as a testament, as his message to humanity (what is most surprising, he wrote this work "on the table", for himself, not at all confident in the prospect of publishing a masterpiece ). In this work, the author reflects on such global topics as good and evil, life and death, God and the Devil, love and friendship, what is the truth, who is a Man, how does power act on him and over many others. The main idea of ​​the novel is the struggle between good and evil, the concepts of inseparable and eternal. The composition of the novel is as original as the genre - a novel within a novel.

One - about the fate of the Master, the other about Pontius Pilate. On the one hand, they are opposed to each other, on the other hand, they seem to form a single whole. This novel in the novel collects global problems and contradictions. The masters are concerned with the same problems as Pontius Pilate.

At the end of the novel, you can see how Moscow connects with Yershalaim, that is, one novel is combined with another and goes into one storyline. Reading the work, we are in two dimensions at once: the 30s of the 20th century and the 30s of the 1st century AD. We see that the events took place in the same month and a few days before Easter, only with an interval of 1900 years, which proves a deep connection between the Moscow and Yershalaim chapters. The action of the novel, which are separated by almost two thousand years, harmonizes with each other, and their fight against evil, the search for truth and creativity connect them. And yet the main character of the novel is love. Love is what captivates the reader.

In general, the theme of love is the most beloved for the writer. According to the author, all the happiness that has fallen in a person's life comes from their love. Love elevates a person above the world, comprehends the spiritual. It seems to me that such concepts as "God" and "Love" are closely connected in life, since God begins with Love, and Love is a divine power. In Bulgakov's work, the theme of love is revealed from a new angle.

It is inseparable from suffering. The writer fully shows us that there are no barriers to selfless, faithful, holy love. Any intrigues will be overcome. Margarita, being in the grip of a strong feeling, sells her soul to the Devil in the name of saving her loved one.

Perhaps this will interest you:

1. Loading... It is believed that in this hero Bulgakov displayed a lot of autobiographical. Before all the events described in the novel, M. was a historian by education and worked in a museum....


2. Loading... In the early 1920s, Bulgakov conceived the novel The Engineer with a Hoof, but since 1937 it has been given a different title - The Master and Margarita...


3. Loading... Mikhail Bulgakov is a writer with an unusual fate: most of his works became known to the world only a quarter of a century after the artist's death. And the main work...


4. Loading... Truly loving, not thinking until the last breath about the personal, are fighting for the soul of a loved one - for its ascent. And they win this battle because they love. They...


5. Loading... During his short life, M. A. Bulgakov wrote many wonderful works, such as “Fatal Eggs”, “ dog's heart”, “The Adventures of Chichikov”. The greatest among them is...

Several periods can be distinguished in Russian literature of the 20th century. The first two decades were called the "Silver Age": this is the era of the rapid development of literary trends, the emergence of a whole galaxy of brilliant Masters of the Word. The literature of this period exposed the deep contradictions that arose in the society of that time. Writers were no longer satisfied with the classical canons, the search for new forms, new ideas began. Universal, philosophical themes about the meaning of being, about morality, about spirituality come to the fore. More and more religious themes began to appear.

Three main literary trends were clearly identified: realism, modernism and the Russian avant-garde. The principles of romanticism are also being revived, this is especially vividly represented in the works of V. Korolenko and A. Green.

In the 1930s, there was a "great turning point": thousands of intellectuals were subjected to repression, and the existence of the most severe censorship slowed down the development of literary processes.

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, a new direction appeared in Russian literature - military. Initially, genres close to journalism were popular - essays, essays, reports. Later, monumental canvases will appear, depicting all the horrors of the war and the fight against fascism. These are the works of L. Andreev, F. Abramov, V. Astafiev, Yu. Bondarev, V. Bykov.

The second half of the 20th century is characterized by diversity and inconsistency. This is largely due to the fact that the development of literature was largely determined by the ruling structures. That is why such unevenness: either ideological dominance, or complete emancipation, or the command cry of censorship, or indulgence.

Russian writers of the XX century

M. Gorky- one of the most significant writers and thinkers of the beginning of the century. He is recognized as the founder of such a literary movement as socialist realism. His works have become a "school of excellence" for the writers of the new era. And Gorky's work had a huge impact on the development of world culture. His novels and short stories have been translated into many languages ​​and have become a bridge between the Russian Revolution and world culture.

Selected works:

L.N. Andreev. The work of this writer is one of the first "swallows" of emigrant Russian literature. Andreev's work harmoniously fits into the concept of critical realism, which exposed the tragedy of social injustice. But, having joined the ranks of the white emigration, Andreev was forgotten for a long time. Although the significance of his work had a great influence on the development of the concept of realistic art.

Selected work:

A.I. Kuprin. The name of this greatest writer is undeservedly ranked lower than the names of L. Tolstoy or M. Gorky. At the same time, Kuprin's work is a vivid example of original art, truly Russian, intelligent art. The main themes in his works are love, the peculiarities of Russian capitalism, the problems of the Russian army. Following Pushkin and Dostoevsky, A. Kuprin pays great attention to the theme of the "little man". Also, the writer wrote a lot of stories especially for children.

Selected works:

K.G. Paustovsky- an amazing writer who managed to remain original, to remain true to himself. There is no revolutionary pathos, loud slogans or socialist ideas in his works. The main merit of Paustovsky is that all his stories and novels seem to be standards of landscape, lyrical prose.

Selected works:

M.A. Sholokhov- the great Russian writer, whose contribution to the development of world literature can hardly be overestimated. Sholokhov, following L. Tolstoy, creates amazing monumental canvases of the life of Russia at the most turning points in history. Sholokhov also entered the history of Russian literature as a singer native land- using the example of the life of the Don region, the writer was able to show the full depth of historical processes.

Biography:

Selected works:

A.T. Tvardovsky- the brightest representative of the literature of the Soviet era, the literature of socialist realism. In his work, the most pressing problems were raised: collectivization, repression, excesses of the idea of ​​​​socialism. Being the editor-in-chief of the Novy Mir magazine, A. Tvardovsky revealed to the world the names of many "forbidden" writers. It was in his light hand that A. Solzhenitsyn began to be printed.

A. Tvardovsky himself remained in the history of literature as the author of the most lyrical drama about the war - the poem "Vasily Terkin".

Selected work:

B.L. Pasternak- one of the few Russian writers who received the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel "Doctor Zhivago". Also known as a poet and translator.

Selected work:

M.A. Bulgakov... In world literature, perhaps, there is no more discussed writer than M. A. Bulgakov. The brilliant prose writer and playwright left many mysteries for future generations. In his work, the ideas of humanism and religion, ruthless satire and compassion for man, the tragedy of the Russian intelligentsia and unbridled patriotism harmoniously intertwined.

Selected works:

V.P. Astafiev- Russian writer in whose work two themes were the main ones: war and the Russian village. Moreover, all his stories and novels are realism in its brightest embodiment.

Selected work:

- one of the most massive figures in Russian Soviet literature, and perhaps the most famous Turkic-speaking writer. His works capture the most diverse periods of Soviet history. But the main merit of Aitmatov is that he, like no one else, managed to vividly and vividly embody the beauty of his native land on the pages.

Selected work:

With the collapse of the USSR, Russian literature entered a completely new stage in its development. Rigid censorship and ideological orientation have sunk into the past. The acquired freedom of speech became the starting point for the emergence of a whole galaxy of writers of a new generation and new trends: postmodernism, magical realism, avant-garde and others.

The writing

The writers of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century lived in an environment of all kinds of crises and wars. And it is quite natural that these events influenced (not to say that they were reflected) in their work. The writers and poets that we will talk about sought to understand the meaning of life and explain the upheavals that befell Russia. And it is not surprising that these quests acquired hitherto unprecedented intensity, because events swept by with fantastic speed and fatal consequences: millions of people died, empires collapsed, new states were formed ... Against the backdrop of these terrible and incredible events, the theme of an individual seems at least petty. Or abusive-idealistic, aimed at debunking the image of the role of the individual in history, created by Tolstoy. But no! There was no such thing. Writers-poets-philosophers simply tried to understand how a person perceives these shocks, how he reacts, etc. After all, a person is a person, but the “mirror of life” shows us collective images. In this way, they tried to understand - by the reaction of the images how events would develop.

We all know that as many people as there are so many opinions. Therefore, just as the three main rivers of Russia have many tributaries, so the three main creative currents: symbolism, acmeism, futurism have many followers with different aspirations and points of view. Here, for example, in symbolism; the current was observed in 1870-1910. Artistic expression took place through the symbol. A symbol is a polysemantic, allegorical, logically impenetrable image. Symbolism expressed the rejection of the bourgeois way of life, the longing for spiritual freedom, the tragic foreboding of world social changes. The goal of literary symbolism was, with the help of philosophy and sciences applied to it, to reach, and I quote, the “hidden reality”, “the ideal essence of the world”, “ideal beauty”. In general, and as a whole to the eternal ideal. Adherents of the current were A. Blok, A. Bely, V. Ivanov, F. Sologub.

Next, consider acmeism, in the sense of how it affected literature. The course of the 1910s. Its adherents did not set themselves any global goal, it was mainly aimed at purifying poetry from symbolist impulses, from the ambiguity, fluidity and complexity of the metaphorical syllable, that is, in contrast to all this, acmeism cultivated the exact meaning of the word, its naturalness. This trend was once followed by A. Akhmatova, A. Gumilyov, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, M. Kuzmin.

Futurism is the last trend that I will tell you about. Adherents of the current created in the 1910-1920s. They tried to create "the art of the future" with their art. To achieve this good goal, they denied traditional culture, cultivated urbanization (the aesthetics of the machine industry and the big city). It is characterized by the interweaving of documentary material with science fiction. Futurism allowed, in order to achieve a good goal, even the destruction of the essence of language. V. Mayakovsky, maybe V. Khlebnikov, less known to you, and many others worked in it, as you probably already guessed.

Literature is one of the most important school subjects. Reading fiction Generally very useful for both children and adults. When reading, imagination, memory develop, vocabulary is replenished, horizons expand and literacy improves. Reading books, a person develops his emotional sphere: learn to love and forgive, empathize and analyze. In literature lessons, children study the history of the development of literature. Students will learn a variety of literary forms and styles, learn to evaluate the actions of literary heroes.On our learning portal, you can watch literature lessons, complete assignments for lessons, or ask a teacher a question. Even if your child is homeschooled, he will be able to learn from the best teachers.

Development of literature

In literature lessons, children get acquainted with many works of art, various forms and styles of writing. The study of literature is gradual. First, children study myths and fairy tales, then they get acquainted with the concept of ancient Russian literature and gradually move from it to Russian literature of the 19th-20th centuries.

Old Russian literature arose along with the advent of Christianity and the church in Russia. The first books were brought to Russia from outside. These were mostly church texts translated into Russian. The main theme of literature at that time was the history of Russia and the meaning of human life. Old Russian literature describes the life of historical figures. There is almost no place for fiction in it. The authors are faceless and write about what is happening around. All this leads to the fact that ancient Russian literature is of great importance for history, because it carries a lot of historical data. For example, "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" is one of the well-known monuments of ancient Russian literature that has come down to us. This work tells about the unsuccessful campaign of the Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavovich against the Polovtsians. " A word about Igor's regiment”, although it belongs to ancient Russian literature, it contains folklore and pagan motifs that are intertwined in this work with Christian ones.

On the portal, you can also find out the point of view, according to which - "The Tale of Irogev's Campaign" is nothing more than a falsification of the end of the 18th century. And also why this work contains traces of different eras from the 12th to the 18th century. Another work of Russian literature that is quite difficult to study is the poem by the great Russian writer of the 19th century Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol " Dead Souls". This work was conceived in three volumes, but only the first volume was printed.

In the poem "Dead Souls" there are many digressions that create a special mood. In them, Gogol expressed his thoughts and deep feelings. In the course of literature, you will learn about the meaning of the title of the poem "Dead Souls", the history of writing the work, as well as the historical context that Nikolai Vasilyevich put into the poem. Separately, one of the lyrical digressions is analyzed - the short story "The Tale of Captain Kopeikin", which is part of " dead souls”, but for a long time it was banned by censorship. There are many more wonderful works of both Russian and foreign writers and poets in the course of literature, which allow us to appreciate the diversity and richness of literary genres and ideas. This is A.S. Pushkin, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, A.A. Block and many others. And each of them in the literature course is given enough time so that students can get acquainted with their work.

Where can I find literature lessons?

To study literature, one must first of all read a lot. But you can’t do without a teacher who will pay attention to important points, explain what is not clear or makes you doubt. And for this it is not at all necessary to look for a tutor. If your child is studying at home, you can always turn to the learning portal site, where school teachers have presented all the material in video lessons, and if something remains unclear, you can always ask a question directly on the site.If you are a teacher yourself, you can also refer to video tutorials to compare how you present information to students with other teachers.