Expressionism in literature: definition, main features, expressionist writers

An extraordinary avant-garde trend, expressionism, originates in the mid-90s of the 19th century. The founder of the term is the founder of the magazine "Sturm" - H. Walden.

Researchers of expressionism believe that it is most clearly expressed in the literature. Although no less colorful Expressionism manifested itself in sculpture, graphics and painting.

New style and new world order

With changes in the social and social order of the early 20th century, a new trend emerged in art, theatrical life and music. Expressionism in the literature did not keep itself waiting. The definition of this direction did not work out. But literary scholars explain Expressionism as a large array of multidirectional courses and trends developing within the framework of the modernist trend of the countries of Europe of the beginning of the last century.

Speaking of expressionism, almost always mean the German current. The highest point of this current is the fruit of the creativity of the "Prague school" (German-speaking). It included K. Chapek, P. Adler, L. Perutz, F. Kafka, and others. With a great difference in the creative attitudes of these authors, they were associated by an interest in the situation of idiocy-ridiculous claustrophobia, mystical, mysterious hallucinogenic dreams. In Russia, this direction was developed by Andreev L. and Zamyatin E.

Many writers were inspired by romanticism or baroque. But the particularly profound influence of German symbolism and the French (especially Sh. Baudelaire and A. Rimbaud) felt expressionism in literature. Examples from the works of any author-follower show that attention to life realities occurs through the beginnings of philosophical being. The well-known slogan of the adherents of expressionism is "Not a falling stone, but a law of gravity".

The prophetic pathos inherent in George Heim became a recognizable typical feature of the beginning of expressionism as a current. His readers in the verses "Coming a great dying ..." and "War" saw a prophetic prediction of the impending catastrophe in Europe.

The Austrian expressor of expressionism Georg Trakly with a very small poetic heritage had a huge impact on all German-language poetry. In the poems of Trakla were symbolically complicated images, tragedy in connection with the collapse of the world order and deep emotional juiciness.

The dawn of expressionism took place in 1914-1924. They were Franz Werfel, Albert Ehrenstein, Gottfried Benn and other authors who were convinced by colossal losses on the fronts in solid pacifist convictions. This trend is particularly evident in the work of Kurt Hiller. Poetic expressionism in literature, the main features of which quickly captured drama and prose, resulted in the famous anthology "Twilight of Mankind", published in the reader's court in 1919.

New philosophy

The main philosophical and aesthetic idea of the followers of expressionists was borrowed from "Ideal essences" - the theory of knowledge of E. Husserl, and on the recognition of intuition as "the navel of the earth" by A. Bergson in his system of "vital" breakthrough. It is believed that this system is able to overcome the immovability of philosophical matter in the unstoppable flow of evolution.

That is why expressionism in literature is manifested as a perception of unreasoned reality as "objective visibility."

The expression "Objective visibility" came from classical works of German philosophy and meant perception of reality with cartographic accuracy. Therefore, in order to find ourselves in the world of "ideal entities", we must again oppose the spiritual to the material.

This idea is very similar to the ideological thought of the Symbolists, while Expressionism in literature is oriented towards Bergson's intuitionism, and therefore seeks the meaning of being in life and irrational. Life breakthrough and deep intuition at the level of intuition are declared the most important weapon in the approach to spiritual cosmic reality. At the same time, expressionists claimed that the world of the material (that is, the external world) disappears in personal ecstasy and the mystery of the centuries-old "mystery" of being is insanely close.

Expressionism in the literature of the 20th century is clearly different from the currents of surrealism or cubism, which developed almost simultaneously. Pathetics, moreover, socially-critical, makes the distinction between the works of expressionists profitable. They are full of protests against the stratification of society into social strata and wars, against the harassment of the human person by social institutions and social institutions. Sometimes the Expressionist authors effectively depicted the image of the revolutionary hero, thus showing rebellious moods expressing a mystically horrible horror in front of the insurmountable confusion of being.

The crisis of the world order as being in the works of expressionists expressed itself as the main link of the apocalypse, which, moving with great speed, promises to absorb both mankind and nature.

Ideological origin

Expressionism in literature singles out a request for a universal prophecy. This is what requires the isolation of the style: it is necessary to teach, invoke and declare. Only in this way, after getting rid of pragmatic morals and stereotypes, the adherents of expressionism tried to release in each person a riot of fantasy, deepen sensitivity and strengthen the attraction to everything secret.

Perhaps, therefore, expressionism took its origin from the unification of a group of artists.

Historians of culture believe that the year of the birth of expressionism is 1905th. It was in this year in Germany's Dresden there was a union of like-minded people who called themselves the "Bridge" group. Under her leadership, the architects-students Otto Müller, Erich Hekel, Ernst Kirchner, Emil Nolde, and others came together. And by the beginning of 1911 the legendary band "The Blue Horseman" announced itself. It included influential artists of the early twentieth century: Franz Mark, August Make, Paul Klee, Vasily Kandinsky and others. The group published the eponymous almanac from March 1912, in which she talked about the newest creative tests of the new school, formulated goals and set tasks for her direction.

Representatives of expressionism in the literature have closed on the basis of the magazine "Aktsion" ("Action"). The first issue was published in Berlin in early 1911. It was attended by poets and still not well-known playwrights, but already bright rebels of this direction: Toller E., Frank L., Beher I., etc.

The features of expressionism were most colorful in German literature, Austrian and Russian. French expressionists are represented by the poet Pierre Garnier.

Poet-Expressionist

The poet of this direction got the function "Orpheus". That is, he must be a magician, who, struggling with disobeying bone tissue, comes to the inner true essence of what is happening. The main thing for the poet is the essence, which appeared from the very beginning, and not the real phenomenon itself.

The poet is the highest caste, the higher estate. He should not participate in the "affairs of the crowd". Yes, and pragmatism, and lack of principle should be completely absent from it. That is why, as the founders of expressionism believed, it is easy for a poet to achieve universal enveloping vibration of "ideal essences".

Only the cult of the deified act of creativity, the adepts of expressionism, is called the only sure way to modify the world of matter in order to subordinate it.

From this it follows that the truth stands above beauty. The secret, secret knowledge of the Expressionists is clothed in figures with explosive expansiveness, which is created by the mind as if in a state of alcoholic intoxication or hallucinations.

Creative ecstasy

To create for the adept of this direction is to create masterpieces in the state of intense subjectivity, which is based on a state of ecstasy, improvisation and changeable mood of the poet.

Expressionism in literature is not observation, this indefatigable and restless imagination, it is not the contemplation of the object, but the ecstatic state of vision of images.

German Expressionist, his theorist and one of the leaders Kazimir Edshmid believed that the real poet depicts, and does not reflect the reality. Therefore, as a consequence, literary works in the style of expressionism are the result of a heart attack and an object for the aesthetic pleasure of the soul. Expressionists do not burden themselves with the care of the refinement of the expressed form.

The ideological value of the language of artistic expression in expressionists is distortion, and often grotesque, which appears due to wild hyperbolism and a constant battle with resisting matter. Such distortion not only deforms the external features of the world. It gives shocking effect and amazes with grotesqueness of created images.

And here it becomes clear that the main goal of expressionism is the reconstruction of the human community and the achievement of unity with the universe.

"Expressionist decade" in the German-language literature

In Germany, as in the rest of Europe, expressionism manifested itself after violent shocks in the social and social sphere that disturbed the country in the first decade of the last century. In German culture and literature expressionism was the brightest phenomenon from 10 to 20 years of the twentieth century.

Expressionism in German literature was a response of the intelligentsia to the problems that the First World War, the November movement of revolutionaries in Germany and the overthrow of the tsarist regime in Russia in October exposed. The former world was collapsing, and a new one appeared on its wreckage. The writers, before whose eyes this transformation took place, sharply felt the inadequacy of the existing order and at the same time the poverty of the new and the impracticability of any progress in the new society.

German expressionism wore a bright, rebellious, anti-bourgeois character. But while revealing the imperfection of the capitalist system, the Expressionists revealed the proposed in place, absolutely fuzzy, abstract and absurd socio-political program capable of reviving the spirit of mankind.

Not fully understanding the ideology of the proletariat, expressionists believed in the upcoming end of the world order. The death of mankind and the impending catastrophe are central themes of the works of expressionists of the period of the outbreak of the First World War. In particular, this can be clearly seen in the lyrics of G. Traklya, H. Heim and F. Werfel. J. Van Godis responded to the events taking place in the country and the world, the verse "The End of the World". And even satirical works show the whole drama of the situation (K. Kraus "The Last Days of Humanity").

The aesthetic ideals of expressionism gathered under their wing very different artistic styles, tastes and political principles of the authors: from F. Wolf and I. Becher, who adopted the ideology of the revolutionary reorganization of society, to G. Jost, who later became a poet at the court of the Third Reich.

Franz Kafka is synonymous with expressionism

Franz Kafka is rightly called a synonym for expressionism. His conviction that a person lives in a world that is absolutely hostile to him, the essence of man can not overcome the opposing institutions, and therefore, to achieve happiness there is no possibility, is the main idea of expressionism in the literary environment.

The writer believes that there is no reason for the individual to be optimistic and, perhaps, therefore, there is no life prospect. However, in his works Kafka sought to find something unchanged: "light" or "indestructible."

The author of the famous "Process" was called the poet of chaos. The world around him was frighteningly scary. Franz Kafka was afraid of the forces of nature that humanity already possessed. His confusion and fright is easy to understand: people, subordinating nature, could not understand the relationship between themselves. In addition, they fought, killed each other, destroyed villages and countries and did not allow each other to be happy.

From the era of the myths of the origin of the world, the author of the myths of the twentieth century is separated by almost 35 centuries of civilization. Kafka's myths are filled with horror, despair and hopelessness. The fate of man already belongs not to the person himself, but to some otherworldly power, and it easily separates from the person himself.

Man, the writer believes, is a social creation (otherwise it can not be), but it is the public order that completely shapes the human essence.

Expressionism in the literature of the 20th century in the person of Kafka recognizes and recognizes the insecurity and frailty of a person from the social and social institutions that he created and are no longer controlled. The proof is obvious: a person suddenly falls under investigation (for protection without rights!), Or suddenly they begin to be interested in "strange" people, led by little understood, and from that dark ignorant forces. A person under the influence of social and social institutions easily feels their lack of rights, and then the rest of the existence makes unsuccessful attempts to be allowed to live and be in this unfair world.

Kafka was astonished by his gift of insight. This is especially pronounced in the work (published posthumously) "The Process". In it, the author foresees new crazies of the twentieth century, monstrous in their destructive power. One of them is the problem of bureaucracy, gaining strength, like a storm cloud, tightening the whole sky, while the person becomes defenseless by an imperceptible insect. Reality, set up aggressively-hostile, completely destroys a person in a person, and, consequently, the world is doomed.

The Spirit of Expressionism in Russia

The direction in the culture of Europe, developed in the first quarter of the twentieth century, could not but affect the literature of Russia. The authors, who worked from 1850 to the end of the 1920s, sharply responded to the bourgeois injustice and social crisis of this epoch, which arose as a result of the First World War and subsequent reactionary coups.

What is expressionism in literature? Briefly, this is a mutiny. Indignation rose against the dehumanization of society. It, along with a new statement about the existential value of the spirit of man, was close in spirit, traditions and customs to primordially Russian literature. Her role as a messiah in society was expressed through the immortal works of N.V. Gogol and F.M. Dostoevsky, through the fabulous canvases of MA. Vrubel and NN Ge, through enriched the whole world VF Komissarzhevskaya and A.N. Scriabin.

Very clearly traced in the not too distant future is the great possibility of the birth of Russian expressionism in the "Dream of a funny man" by F. Dostoevsky, "Poem of Ecstasy" by A. Scriabin, "The Red Flower" by V. Garshin.

The Russian Expressionists sought universal integrity, in their works they strove to embody the "new man" with a new consciousness, than they helped to unite the entire cultural and artistic society of Russia.

Literary critics emphasize that Expressionism did not take shape as an independent, separate trend. It only manifested itself through the isolation of poetics and stylization, emerging in the midst of various already established currents, than making their boundaries more transparent, and even conditional.

So, let's say, expressionism, born within the limits of realism, resulted in the works of Leonid Andreev, Andrei Bely's works broke out of the Symbolist trend, acmeists Mikhail Zenkevich and Vladimir Narbut released collections of poetic works with vivid expressionist themes, and Vladimir Mayakovsky, as a futurist, also wrote in Manner of expressionism.

Expressionism on the Russian land

In Russian, for the first time the word "expressionism" was "voiced" in the Chekhov story "Booty". The heroine made a mistake, using "expressionists" instead of "impressionists." Researchers of Russian expressionism believe that it is closely and variously combined with the expressionism of old Europe, which was formed on the basis of Austrian, but more German expressionism.

Chronologically, this current in Russia arose much earlier and came to naught much later than the "decades of expressionism" in the German-language literature. Expressionism in the literature of Russia began with the publication of the story of Leonid Andreev's "Wall" in 1901, and ended with a performance of "Moscow Parnassus" and a group of emotionalists in 1925.

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev - rebel of Russian expressionism

A new direction, very quickly seized Europe, did not leave aside the Russian literary environment. Father-founder of expressionists in Russia is Leonid Andreev.

In his first works the author deeply dramatically analyzes the reality surrounding him. This is very clearly seen in the early works: Garaska, Bargamot, Gorod. Already here you can trace the main motives of the writer's work.

"The Life of Basil of Thebes" and the story "The Wall" depict the author's skepticism in human reason and extreme skepticism. During his enthusiasm for faith and spiritualism, Andreev wrote the famous "Judas Iscariot".

At the beginning of the revolutionary movements, the author seriously sympathizes with the revolutionary movement, and as a result there are stories "Ivan Ivanovich", "Governor" and the play "To the Stars".

After a rather short period of time, Andreev Leonid Nikolaevich's creativity makes a sharp turn. This is due to the beginning of the revolutionary movement of 1907. The writer is reconsidering his views and understands that mass riots, except for great torments and mass casualties, lead nowhere. These events are described in The Story of the Seven Hanged.

The story "Red Laughter" continues to disclose the author's views on the events taking place in the state. The work describes the horrors of military operations based on the events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. Dissatisfied with the established world order heroes are ready to start an anarchic rebellion, but with the same ease can pass and show passivity.

Later works of the writer are imbued with the concept of victory for otherworldly forces and deep depression.

Post scriptum

Formally, German expressionism as a literary trend came to naught by the mid-1920s. However, he, like any other, had a significant impact on the literary traditions of the next generation.