Poetics and aesthetics of sentimentalism in the story “Poor Liza”
True literary fame came to Karamzin after the publication of the story “Poor Liza.” An indicator of Karamzin’s fundamental innovation and the literary shock that his story was for the Russian literary prose, became a wave of imitations that swept Russian literature at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. One after another, stories appear varying the Karamzin plot: “Poor Masha” by A. Izmailov, “Beautiful Tatyana” by V. Izmailov, etc.
Even more convincing evidence of the revolution accomplished by Karamzin’s story in literature and the reader’s consciousness was the fact that the literary plot of the story was perceived by the Russian reader as a life-like and real plot, and its heroes as real people. After the publication of the story, walks in the vicinity of the Simonov Monastery, where Karamzin settled his heroine, and to the pond into which she threw herself and which was called “Liza’s Pond” became fashionable.
The story “Poor Liza” is written on a classic sentimental plot about the love of representatives of different classes: its heroes - the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Liza - cannot be happy not only for moral reasons, but also for social conditions of life. Karamzin was the first of the Russian writers who addressed the theme of unequal love, and decided to resolve his story in the way that such a conflict would most likely be resolved in the real conditions of Russian life: with the death of the heroine.
However, the innovations of Karamzin’s literary style do not end there. The very figurative structure of the story, the manner of narration and the angle from which the author forces his readers to look at the plot he is narrating are marked by the stamp of vivid literary innovation. The story “Poor Liza” begins with a kind of musical introduction - a description of the surroundings of the Simonov Monastery, associated in the associative memory of the author-narrator with “the memory of the deplorable fate of Liza, poor Liza.”
Before the development of the plot begins, in the emotionally rich landscape the themes of the main characters of the story are clearly indicated - the theme of Erast, whose image is inextricably linked with the “terrible bulk of houses” of “greedy” Moscow, shining with the “golden domes”, the theme of Lisa, coupled with an inextricably associative connection with the life of beautiful natural nature, described using the epithets “blooming”, “light”, “light”, and the theme of the author, whose space is not physical or geographical, but spiritual and emotional in nature.
The image of Lisa is invariably accompanied by a motif of whiteness, purity and freshness: on the day of her first meeting with Erast, she appears in Moscow with lilies of the valley in her hands; When Erast first appears under the windows of Lisa’s hut, she gives him milk, pouring it from a “clean jar covered with a clean wooden mug” into a glass wiped with a white towel.
Every appearance of Erast on the pages of the story is in one way or another connected with money: at the first meeting with Lisa, he wants to pay her a ruble for lilies of the valley instead of five kopecks; when buying Liza’s work, he wants to “always pay ten times the price she sets”; before leaving for war, “he forced her to take some money from him.” Finally, at the last meeting with Liza, before kicking her out of his house, Erast puts one hundred rubles in her pocket.
The whole love story of Lisa and Erast is immersed in a picture of the life of nature, constantly changing according to the stages of development love feeling. Particularly obvious examples of such a correspondence between the emotional content of a landscape sketch and the semantic content of a particular plot turn are provided by the melancholy autumn landscape of the introduction, foreshadowing the overall tragic denouement of the story, the picture of a clear, dewy May morning, on which Lisa and Erast declare their love, and the picture of a terrible night thunderstorm, accompanying the beginning of a tragic turning point in the heroine’s fate.
All these narrative techniques, coloring the story in the tones of living human emotion and placing the moral accents of the plot in an impeccably artistic way, without the slightest sign of direct declarative evaluation, force us to take a closer look at the image of the narrator, the author-narrator, whose direct speech tells the story of poor Lisa, which he once heard from Erast. The image of the author-narrator, included in the figurative structure of the story as its full-fledged hero and acting (speaking) person, is a kind of aesthetic center of the entire narrative structure, to which all its semantic and formal levels are drawn, since the author-narrator is the only intermediary between the reader and the life of the heroes, embodied in his word.
In addition to the fact that the narration is told in the first person, the constant presence of the author reminds of himself by his periodic appeals to the reader. Karamzin, transferring these formulas into narrative prose, ensured that the prose acquired a soulful lyrical sound and began to be perceived as emotionally as poetry.
In their aesthetic unity, the three central images of the story - the author-narrator, poor Liza and Erast - with a completeness unprecedented in Russian literature, realized the sentimentalist concept of personality, valuable for its extra-class moral virtues, sensitive and complex. Each hero has the whole complex of these characteristics, but also has his own dominant. The main bearer of the category of sensitivity is the author-narrator. The image of poor Liza is associated with the idea of the extra-class value of the human personality - by the way, it is with this idea that the only case of a direct author’s declaration in the story is connected - “for even peasant women know how to love!” Finally, Erast is the embodiment of the complexity and inconsistency of human nature in the combination of his subjective qualities (“kind by nature, but weak and flighty”), objective guilt before Lisa and equally objective innocence since he, like Lisa, is a victim of circumstances , which do not provide any way out of the current situation other than tragedy. Such a consistent embodiment of sentimental ideology in impeccably artistic form and innovative poetics made Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” not only an aesthetic manifesto of Russian sentimentalism, but also the true birthplace of Russian artistic prose.
N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” was one of the first sentimental works of Russian literature XVIII century. Its plot is very simple - the weak-willed, although kind, nobleman Erast falls in love with the poor peasant girl Lisa. Their love ends tragically: the young man quickly forgets about his beloved, planning to marry a rich bride, and Lisa dies by throwing herself into the water. But the main thing in the story is not the plot, but the feelings that it was supposed to awaken in the reader. Therefore, the main character of the story is the Narrator, who talks with sadness and sympathy about the fate of the poor girl. The image of a sentimental narrator became a discovery in Russian literature, since previously the narrator remained “behind the scenes” and was neutral in relation to the events described. “Poor Lisa” is characterized by short or extended lyrical digressions, at every dramatic turn of the plot we hear the author’s voice: “my heart is bleeding...”, “a tear is rolling down my face.” It was extremely important for the sentimentalist writer to appeal to social issues. He does not accuse Erast of Lisa’s death: the young nobleman is as unhappy as a peasant girl. But, and this is especially important, Karamzin was perhaps the first in Russian literature to discover a “living soul” in a representative of the lower class. “And peasant women know how to love” - this phrase from the story became popular in Russian culture for a long time. This is where another tradition of Russian literature begins: sympathy to the common man, its joys and troubles, the protection of the weak, the oppressed and the voiceless - this is the main moral task of the artists of the word. The title of the work is symbolic, containing, on the one hand, an indication of the socio-economic aspect of solving the problem (Lisa is a poor peasant girl), on the other hand, a moral and philosophical one (the hero of the story is an unfortunate person, offended by fate and people). The polysemy of the title emphasized the specificity of the conflict in Karamzin’s work. The love conflict between a man and a girl (the story of their relationship and the tragic death of Lisa) is leading.
Karamzin's heroes are characterized by internal discord, a discrepancy between the ideal and reality: Liza dreams of being a wife and mother, but is forced to come to terms with the role of a mistress. Plot ambivalence, outwardly little noticeable, manifested itself in the “detective” basis of the story, the author of which is interested in the reasons for the heroine’s suicide, and in the unusual solution to the problem of the “love triangle”, when the peasant woman’s love for Erast threatens family ties, sanctified by sentimentalists, and “poor Liza” herself replenishes the number of images of “fallen women” in Russian literature. Karamzin, turning to traditional poetics “ speaking name”, managed to emphasize the discrepancy between the external and internal in the images of the heroes of the story. Lisa surpasses Erast (“loving”) in the talent of loving and living by love; “meek”, “quiet” (translated from Greek) Lisa commits actions that require determination and willpower, contrary to social laws morality, religious and moral norms of behavior. The pantheistic philosophy adopted by Karamzin made Nature one of the main characters of the story, empathizing with Lisa in happiness and sorrow. Not all the characters in the story have the right to intimate communication with the world of Nature, but only Lisa and the Narrator. In “Poor Liza” N. M. Karamzin gave one of the first examples of sentimental style in Russian literature, which was focused on colloquial speech educated part of the nobility. He assumed elegance and simplicity of style, a specific selection of “euphonious” and “not spoiling the taste” words and expressions, rhythmic organization prose, bringing it closer to poetic speech. In the story “Poor Liza” Karamzin showed himself to be a great psychologist. He managed to masterfully reveal the inner world of his characters, primarily their love experiences.
Literary direction"sentimentalism" gets its name from French word sentiment, that is, feeling, sensitivity). This trend was very popular in literature and art of the second half of the XVIII- early 19th centuries. Distinctive feature sentimentalism was attention to inner world person to his emotional state. From the point of view of sentimentalism, it is human feelings were main value.
N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” fully complies with the canons of sentimentalism. In this work
it tells about an unfortunate peasant girl who, by the will of fate, found herself a toy in the hands of a master.
The young nobleman Erast was a frivolous and spoiled man. From the very beginning, he could not understand the sincere and ardent nature of the peasant girl Lisa.
Was the young nobleman in love with a peasant woman? Obviously, this first arose in his soul wonderful feeling. But, alas, the jaded young man could not be attracted for long by the charms of the peasant woman. And it wasn’t that Lisa wasn’t interesting enough. No, of course, the girl was a real ideal - beautiful, faithful, sincerely loving. She could make you happy worthy person. This, of course, could not apply to Erast. His attitude to life is very different from Lisa's views. The young man was originally the exact opposite heroine. He knew neither need nor deprivation. Such feelings as affection and loyalty were alien to him. Love for him was just a game, easy and unburdensome.
When Erast seduced Lisa, she felt an impending tragedy. Nature seemed to respond to the girl’s premonitions. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Lisa was scared. She felt like a criminal who deserved the most severe punishment. Lisa's premonitions were justified. Soon the spoiled nobleman got tired of the ardent and beautiful girl. His feelings were fragile, because from the very beginning he did not consider the relationship with Lisa to be something serious.
A sensitive girl cannot be perceived by the reader as a simple peasant woman. After all, the peasant class is characterized by such qualities as pragmatism, rudeness, and down-to-earthness. Lisa is more like an educated girl who grew up in idleness; surrounded by the care and attention of family. However, such a discrepancy does not harm the story at all, but, on the contrary, makes it even more expressive and interesting.
Be that as it may, Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” was very popular in late XVIII - early XIX centuries. Readers found in it not only beautiful story love, but also saw similarities with real life. Paradoxical as it may seem, Karamzin very reliably conveyed the story of the emergence of love in an inexperienced naive girl. If Lisa had been a little more experienced, nothing like this could have happened to her. She would have been able to understand Erast better and would not have ended up in similar situation.
Can the young nobleman Erast be truly considered negative hero? Of course no. Indeed, at the end of the story we learn that he grieved for Lisa and was unhappy all his life, considering himself a murderer. The young nobleman is overly frivolous. This is exactly what the writer says about him: “Now the reader should know that this young man, this Erast, was quite a rich nobleman, with a fair amount of intelligence and kind hearted, kind by nature, but weak and flighty. He led an absent-minded life, thought only about his own pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, but often did not find it: he was bored and complained about his fate. Lisa’s beauty made an impression on his heart at the first meeting.”
We learn about Erdst that he was fond of reading novels, and was especially attracted to his idyllic stories. “He read novels, idylls, had a fairly vivid imagination and often moved mentally to those times (former or not), in which, according to the poets, all people carelessly walked through the meadows, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtledoves, rested They spent all their days under roses and myrtles and in happy idleness. It seemed to him that he had found in Lisa what his heart had been looking for for a long time.”
We understand that Erast seems to be denying real life, preferring a fictional life. This makes him related to Lisa. Despite the fact that the girl knows need and deprivation, she still has little knowledge of real, unimagined life. That's why she gives all the possible positive qualities Erast, despite the fact that he does not at all correspond to such characteristics.
Erast goes on a military campaign. And it was here that he managed to lose his entire fortune by losing it at cards. This also indicates that the young nobleman is extremely frivolous and cannot even be responsible for his own life. Moreover, he is not able to appreciate Lisa’s feelings; for him they are as easy a game as preference.
A ruined nobleman wants to improve his affairs with a profitable marriage. He honestly states this to Lisa. Deceived in her best feelings, Lisa throws herself into the pond. Life is over for her, she is exhausted by long suffering. And therefore he finds nothing better than to end his life.
Sentimental novels and stories, so popular in XVIII-XIX centuries today are perceived by readers as naive fairy tales, where there is much more fiction than truth. However, works written in the spirit of sentimentalism had a huge influence on the development of Russian literature. They made it possible to capture all the shades on paper. human soul. Even though the characters in the story “Poor Liza” look somewhat unnatural, the work still arouses the sincere interest of readers, despite the fact that so many years have passed since its creation.
1. Sentimentalism as a literary movement.
2. The love story of a peasant woman and a young nobleman.
3. Characteristics of the main characters.
The literary movement “sentimentalism” got its name from the French word sentiment, that is, feeling, sensitivity). This trend was very popular in literature and art of the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries. A distinctive feature of sentimentalism was attention to the inner world of a person, to his emotional state. From the point of view of sentimentalism, it was human feelings that were the main value.
N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” fully complies with the canons of sentimentalism. In this work
it tells about an unfortunate peasant girl who, by the will of fate, found herself a toy in the hands of a master.
The young nobleman Erast was a frivolous and spoiled man. From the very beginning, he could not understand the sincere and ardent nature of the peasant girl Lisa.
Was the young nobleman in love with a peasant woman? Obviously, this wonderful feeling arose in his soul at first. But, alas, the jaded young man could not be attracted for long by the charms of the peasant woman. And it wasn’t that Lisa wasn’t interesting enough. No, of course, the girl was a real ideal - beautiful, faithful, sincerely loving. She could make a worthy person happy. This, of course, could not apply to Erast. His attitude to life is very different from Lisa's views. The young man was initially the complete opposite of the heroine. He knew neither need nor deprivation. Such feelings as affection and loyalty were alien to him. Love for him was just a game, easy and unburdensome.
When Erast seduced Lisa, she felt an impending tragedy. Nature seemed to respond to the girl’s premonitions. Lightning flashed and thunder roared. Lisa was scared. She felt like a criminal deserving of the most severe punishment. Lisa's premonitions were justified. Soon the spoiled nobleman got tired of the ardent and beautiful girl. His feelings were fragile, because from the very beginning he did not consider the relationship with Lisa to be something serious.
A sensitive girl cannot be perceived by the reader as a simple peasant woman. After all, the peasant class is characterized by such qualities as pragmatism, rudeness, and down-to-earthness. Lisa is more like an educated girl who grew up in idleness; surrounded by the care and attention of family. However, such a discrepancy does not harm the story at all, but, on the contrary, makes it even more expressive and interesting.
Be that as it may, Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” was very popular at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Readers found in it not only a beautiful love story, but also saw similarities with real life. Paradoxical as it may seem, Karamzin very reliably conveyed the story of the emergence of love in an inexperienced naive girl. If Lisa had been a little more experienced, nothing like this could have happened to her. She would have been able to understand Erast better and would not have found herself in a similar situation.
Can the young nobleman Erast be considered a truly negative hero? Of course no. Indeed, at the end of the story we learn that he grieved for Lisa and was unhappy all his life, considering himself a murderer. The young nobleman is overly frivolous. This is exactly what the writer says about him: “Now the reader should know that this young man, this Erast, was a rather rich nobleman, with a fair mind and a kind heart, kind by nature, but weak and flighty. He led an absent-minded life, thought only about his own pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, but often did not find it: he was bored and complained about his fate. Lisa’s beauty made an impression on his heart at the first meeting.”
We learn about Erdst that he was fond of reading novels, and was especially attracted to his idyllic stories. “He read novels, idylls, had a fairly vivid imagination and often moved mentally to those times (former or not), in which, according to the poets, all people carelessly walked through the meadows, bathed in clean springs, kissed like turtledoves, rested They spent all their days under roses and myrtles and in happy idleness. It seemed to him that he had found in Lisa what his heart had been looking for for a long time.”
We understand that Erast seems to deny real life, preferring a fictional life. This makes him related to Lisa. Despite the fact that the girl knows need and deprivation, she still has little knowledge of real, unimagined life. Therefore, she endows Erast with all possible positive qualities, despite the fact that he does not at all correspond to such characteristics.
Erast goes on a military campaign. And it was here that he managed to lose his entire fortune by losing it at cards. This also indicates that the young nobleman is extremely frivolous and cannot even be responsible for his own life. Moreover, he is not able to appreciate Lisa’s feelings; for him they are as easy a game as preference.
A ruined nobleman wants to improve his affairs with a profitable marriage. He honestly states this to Lisa. Deceived in her best feelings, Lisa throws herself into the pond. Life is over for her, she is exhausted by long suffering. And therefore he finds nothing better than to end his life.
Sentimental novels and stories, so popular in the 18th-19th centuries, are today perceived by readers as naive fairy tales, where there is much more fiction than truth. However, works written in the spirit of sentimentalism had a huge influence on the development of Russian literature. They made it possible to capture on paper all the shades of the human soul. Even though the characters in the story “Poor Liza” look somewhat unnatural, the work still arouses the sincere interest of readers, despite the fact that so many years have passed since its creation.
