Classics of world literature: we define the indefinable

"As a classic learns," "I'll go read the classics" - these turns can be heard in everyday speech. However, it is unlikely that we are fully aware of which writers have the right to enter the golden fund of elegant literature, and that in general this phenomenon is a classic of world literature. These questions will be answered by this article.

Problems of terminology

To outline the concept of classical is difficult enough, because this definition is used in a variety of meanings. For the ordinary bearer of the language, it is akin to the ideal, the standard, to what one should strive for. However, it will not be an exaggeration to say that, as applied to the literature, the framework of these parameters is mobile and varies depending on this or that epoch. So, for Corneille and Racine, the classics of world literature are first of all works of the times of Antiquity, whereas the Middle Ages did not welcome them very much. And at the beginning of the XIX century, even there were amateurs to say that all the best in Russia has already been written. Agree: fans of Pushkin, Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, such hypotheses seem extremely ridiculous.

A different point of view

Also, "classical literature" is sometimes understood as works created before modernism. Although now this view can be considered somewhat outdated, as the novels of Kafka, Joyce and Proust, the canvases of Dali and Malevich long ago became the gold fund of art, having eliminated less talented contemporaries.

At the same time, despite the historical modifications, the classic of world literature remains timeless, universal and talented. Even after hundreds of years, humanity turns to the works of Shakespeare, Goethe or Pushkin, interpreting them in various discourses. This is made possible by the depth of their content, the relevance for everyone.

So, let's sum up: what does classical literature include? Books of the classic, whose works are read to this day.

Classical and "high" literature are one and the same?

The division of literature into three "floors" - high, belles-lettres and mass - appeared relatively recently. More precisely, when the entertainment books were created specifically for the average reader. Classics of world literature in many respects corresponds to "high" creations. They are intelligent, they require considerable work on the part of the reader, his experience. However, the term "classical" is also applied to the samples of so-called mass literature, though in a slightly different meaning. An example of this can be the detectives of Agatha Christie and the fantasy of Tolkien. When their admirers claim that it is a classic of world literature, they mean that "The Ten Little Indians" or "The Lord of the Rings" served as a successful model for subsequent writers who created within these genres. As far as the named works remain in the memory of readers, it is difficult to judge, literary criticism does not give an exact answer to this question.

List of world classics

It has already become traditional to make ratings of books that are mandatory for reading by those who want to be considered a truly educated person. Open such lists of works of ancient Greek and Roman authors: Homer ("Illyada"), Aeschylus ("Prometheus Chained") and Virgil ("Aeneid"). These works have the unconditional right to wear the honorable title of "classic of world literature". The Middle Ages became the cradle of the works of J. Chaucer and F. Villon, as well as an endless number of literary monuments that do not have an author.

Renaissance gave us the creators of eternal images - Shakespeare and Cervantes. However, one must also remember Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Lope de Vega, Francois Rabelais and some others. The XVII century was marked by the Baroque (Pedro Calderon, Gongora) and the classic (Racine, Corneille, Moliere) art. Then came the era of the Enlightenment, enriching literature with the names of Voltaire, Rousseau, Goethe and Schiller.

The 19th century opens the romantic creation of Byron, Scott, Hoffmann, Hugo, and Po. Somewhere in the middle of the century, romanticism is replaced by critical realism and the novels of Stendhal, Balzac, Dickens.

The turn of the centuries is marked by the appearance of the first modernist trends - symbolism (Verlaine, Rimbaud, Wilde), naturalism (Zola) and impressionism (Knut Hamsun). At the same time, the so-called new drama (Ibsen, Shaw, Maeterlinck) is gaining popularity, seeking to completely rethink obsolete dramaturgic devices. The twentieth century enriched literature with the modernist novel (mentioned Kafka, Proust and Joyce), a large number of avant-garde trends - surrealism, dadaism, expressionism. The second half of the last century was marked by the works of Brecht, Camus, Hemingway and Marquez. You can also talk about modern postmodern works, which have become classical (Pavic, Ziyskind).

Russian classics writers

Russian classics is, of course, a separate conversation. The XIX and XX centuries opened the names of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Fet, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Blok, Gorky, Esenin, Bulgakov, Sholokhov ... From their works, a classic of Russian and world literature is formed.