Socio-historical background of the development of romanticism

The concept “Literature of the XIX century.” includes primarily two directions in art - romanticism and realism. At the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. in the European literature is a new direction - romanticism. It can be interpreted as a response to social and economic changes in the life of Europe at the end of the XVIII century. The main events, what gave impetus to the emergence of romanticism, were the French bourgeois revolution 1789-1794 gg. and Napoleonic wars, started after her, the industrial revolution in England the Further development of romanticism falls on the period of Restoration (1815-1830 .) and 30-40-Wirra. Subsequently, the dominant trend was realism, which in 1870-1900 gg. came naturalism.

Prerequisites for the rise of romanticism:

Worldview: ideas brothers Shlegel, F. Schelling, I. Kant, S.Fichte, etc.

Aesthetic: sentimentalism, grouping “Sturm und Drang”, creativity S.Goethe and F. Schiller, theory people of the herder.

Historical: historical events in Europe, in particular the French revolution 1789-1794 gg.

Romanticism emerged at a time, when Europe experienced a strong spiritual disappointment in SV’in connection with the events of the French revolution 1789-1794 gg. and the Napoleonic wars. Questioned belief, that man could rebuild to a better social order on the basis of reason, and it depressed. After all, the revolution led to social harmony, it ended in violence and bloody “the Jacobin terror”. Failed to adopt freedom and justice and Napoleonic soldiers. So a blow was struck by the faith in mind, his power, force. It explained the deep frustration, captured by many artists of the romantic. It has found expression in a pessimistic and tragic tone painting art. It is here that we must look for the origins of the image of disappointed in the life of a hero, praised by the romantics.

Rapid ascent of Napoleon to the pinnacle of fame was for many romantics an example of bold daring, spiritual emancipation of the personality. And soon may the outstanding people of Europe will condemn Napoleon for his lust for power, Imperial ambitions and cruel wars of conquest - to pam’people's memories will long remain a Hero. Here are the origins of active in the life of the hero of romanticism - hero-rebel, hero-Protestant.

Tragic and heroic in romantic art are closely intertwined. The combination of heroic, rebellious mood and tragic disappointments we find in the works of writers of the romantic period, in particular in the works of the great English poet J.. G. Byron.

The philosophical basis of romanticism came the philosophy of Fichte, with its doctrine of creative activity of the absolute sub’object “I”, which gave rise to its’object is the starting point of perception of the world. According to his philosophy, the world was regarded not as a set of immutable things and ready form, but as an infinite process of becoming, which was a creative and spiritual activity and a symbolic activity, an embodiment of the disclosure through the internal external, that is, the process of artistic creation.

Man was considered as the main center and the ultimate goal of a natural process and at the same time as the initial point of the supernatural opening. Driving forces of the human soul was considered not thinking and intelligence, but imagination and feeling.

Sub’objective understanding of the author of the role of phenomena of reality, the desire to ascribe to her the, what romantic writer would like to see in life, - all this frequently led to misunderstanding, and sometimes distortion’exceptions to the laws of development of reality. The realities of capitalist society was not satisfied with the romantics, so they were in constant search for answers to painful questions: how to eliminate the evil and vices of this society, where is the ideal, to aim for.

Speaking about romanticism, it should be emphasized, he was not only a literary trend, he was a movement, taking place in various spheres of spiritual culture of that time. He resembled that other great era, such as the middle Ages, Revival, Education.