German literary expressionism features philosophical and aesthetic foundations. Expressionism in literature: definition, main features, expressionist writers. From "Jewish Ballads"

expressionism literature andreev

It is important to emphasize that expressionism was not institutionalized as an independent artistic movement and was manifested through the worldview of the creator, through a certain style and poetics that arose within different movements, making their boundaries permeable and conditional. Thus, within the framework of realism, the expressionism of Leonid Andreev was born, the works of Andrei Bely stood out in the symbolist direction, among the books of the Acmeists, the poetry collections of Mikhail Zenkevich and Vladimir Narbut stood out, and among the futurists, the “screaming-lipped Zarathustra” Vladimir Mayakovsky came close to expressionism. The thematic and style-forming features characteristic of expressionism were embodied in the activities of a number of groups (expressionists I. Sokolova, Moscow Parnassus, Fuists, emotionalists) and in the work of individual authors at different stages of their evolution, sometimes in single works.

The depth and complexity of the processes that took place simultaneously and in different directions in Russian literature of the 1900-1920s was expressed in an intensive search for ways and means of updating the artistic language for an ever closer connection with modernity. The need to be modern was felt more acutely than ever by realist writers, symbolists, and those who wanted to throw them off the “steamboat of modernity.” Russian literature showed not only interest in the everyday life of man and society (political, religious, family life), but also sought to intervene in it

3. Leonimd Nikolamevich Andremev (August 9 (21), 1871, Orel, Russian Empire - September 12, 1919, Neivola, Finland) - Russian writer. Representative of the Silver Age of Russian literature. Considered the founder of Russian expressionism.

The first works of Leonid Andreev, largely influenced by the disastrous conditions in which the writer then found himself, are imbued with a critical analysis of the modern world (“Bargamot and Garaska”, “City”). However, even in the early period of the writer’s work, his main motives appeared: extreme skepticism, disbelief in the human mind (“The Wall”, “The Life of Basil of Thebes”), and a passion for spiritualism and religion arises (“Judas Iscariot”). The stories “The Governor”, ​​“Ivan Ivanovich” and the play “To the Stars” reflect the writer’s sympathy for the revolution. However, after the start of the reaction in 1907, Leonid Andreev abandoned all revolutionary views, believing that a revolt of the masses could only lead to great casualties and great suffering (see “The Story of the Seven Hanged Men”). In his story “Red Laughter,” Andreev painted a picture of the horrors of modern war (a reaction to the Russo-Japanese War of 1905). The dissatisfaction of his heroes with the surrounding world and order invariably results in passivity or anarchic rebellion. The writer's dying writings are imbued with depression and the idea of ​​the triumph of irrational forces.

Despite the pathetic mood of his works, Andreev’s literary language, assertive and expressive, with emphasized symbolism, met with a wide response in the artistic and intellectual circles of pre-revolutionary Russia. Maxim Gorky, Roerich, Repin, Blok, Chekhov and many others left positive reviews about Andreev. Andreev's works are distinguished by sharp contrasts, unexpected plot twists, combined with the schematic simplicity of the style. Leonid Andreev is recognized as a bright writer of the Silver Age of Russian literature.

Expressionism is a modernist movement in European art of the early 20th century. It spread primarily in Germany and Austria. Artists within this movement expressed their own emotional state, mood or internal processes occurring in the soul or psyche. They do not copy reality, but project their inner world in painting, literature, theater, music and dance. By the way, expressionism was one of the first to manifest itself in cinema.

How and why did expressionism appear?

Its emergence was due to increased social tension in the society of that time. The First World War, local conflicts, revolutionary upheavals and the reactionary regimes that followed on their heels did their job: people of the old formation were replaced by a lost generation that perceived what was happening extremely subjectively. The new creators were disappointed, angry, broken by trials and psychological pressure. Their fear and despair, replacing each other, became the main motives in the art of that time. Descriptions of pain, screaming, groaning and death - “Gorgias figures” of the early 20th century.

Expressionism in painting: examples, signs, representatives

In Germany, expressionism took shape early and declared itself louder than anyone else. In 1905, the Bridge group appeared, in opposition to the Impressionists, who devoted their energies to depicting the superficial beauty of colors, shades and light. The new creators believed that art should regain its semantic palette, not its colorful one. The rebels deliberately gave preference to bright, flashy colors, which hurt the eyes and crack the strained nerves. In this way they gave an ordinary landscape emotional depth, mood traits and signs of time. Among the representatives, Max Pechstein and Otto Müller stood out.

Edmond Munch, "The Scream"

The petty-bourgeois kitsch gloss and aggressive attacks of modern life caused frustration, agony, irritation to the point of hatred and alienation to the point of complete opposition in the expressionists, which they depicted with the help of angular lines, crazy in zigzags, lines, careless and thick strokes, not bright, but furious coloring.

In 1910, an association of expressionist artists led by Pechstein acted independently, in the format of the ideological group “New Secession”. In 1912, the “Blue Rider”, founded by the Russian abstractionist Wassily Kandinsky, announced itself in Munich, although non-researchers believe that this heterogeneous composition of artists is precisely expressionist.

Marc Chagall, "Above the City"

Expressionism includes such famous and, of course, talented artists as Edmond Munch and Marc Chagall. Munch's painting The Scream, for example, is the most famous Norwegian work of art. It was the expressionist who introduced this Scandinavian country to the arena of world art.

Expressionism in literature: examples, signs, representatives

Expressionism became widespread in the literature of Eastern European countries. For example, in Poland in the work of Michinsky, in Czechoslovakia in the brilliant prose of Capek, in Ukraine in Stefanik’s repertoire this trend was realized with one or another admixture of national flavor. The expressionist writer Leonid Andreev is widely known in Russia. an incredibly emotional outburst of the writer’s tension, his inner abyss that gave him no rest. In a work full of anthropological pessimism, the author does not so much tell a story as give vent to his gloomy worldview, painting images of Bosch, where each hero is an unfulfilled funeral feast for the soul and therefore a complete monster.

States of obsessive claustrophobia, interest in fantastic dreams, descriptions of hallucinations - all these signs distinguish the Prague school of expressionists - Franz Kafka, Gustav Meyrink, Leo Perutz and other writers. In this regard, those related to Kafka’s work are also interesting.

Expressionist poets include, for example, Georg Traklä, Franz Werfel and Ernst Stadler, whose imagery incomparably expresses the mental and emotional disorders of a person.

Expressionism in theater and dance: examples, signs, representatives

Mainly, this is the dramaturgy of A. Strindberg and F. Wedekind. The subtleties of Rosin's psychologism and the humorous truth of Moliere's life give way to schematic and generalized symbolic figures (Son and Father, for example). The main character, in conditions of general blindness, manages to see the light and is unlucky to rebel against this, which determines the inevitable tragic outcome.

The new drama found its audience not only in Germany, but also in the USA (under the strict guidance of Eugene O'Neill) and Russia (the same Leonid Andreev), where Meyerhold taught artists to depict states of mind with sharp movements and impetuous gestures (this technique was called "biomechanics").

Ballet "The Rite of Spring"

Visualization of the soul through plasticity took the form of the expressionist dance of Mary Wigman and Pina Bausch. The explosive aesthetic of Expressionism seeped into the austere classical ballet performed by Vaslav Nijinsky in his 1913 production of The Rite of Spring. The innovation penetrated into conservative culture at the cost of a huge scandal.

Expressionism in cinema: examples, signs, representatives

From 1920 to 1925, the phenomenon of expressionist cinema appeared in Berlin film studios. Asymmetrical distortions of space, flashy symbolic decorations, an emphasis on non-verbal communication, psychologization of events, an emphasis on gestures and facial expressions - all these are signs of a new trend on the screen. Famous representatives of expressionist cinema, in whose work all these trends can be traced: F. W. Murnau, F. Lang, P. Leni. A certain continuity with this modernist cinema can be felt by analyzing the famous work of Lars von Trier “Dogville”.

Expressionism in music: examples, signs, representatives

Examples of expressionist music include the late symphonies of Gustav Mahler, the early works of Bartok, and the works of Richard Strauss.

Johann Richard Strauss, "Loneliness"

But most often, the expressionists mean the composers of the new Viennese school led by Arnold Schoenberg. By the way, it is known that Schoenberg actively corresponded with V. Kandinsky (founder of the expressionist group “Blue Rider”). In fact, the influence of expressionist aesthetics can also be found in the work of modern musical groups, for example, the Canadian group Three Days Grace, where the lead singer expresses the emotional intensity of the song through powerful vocal parts.

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Expressionism (architecture)- Expressionism architecture of the First World War and the 1920s in Germany (“brick expressionism”), the Netherlands (Amsterdam school) and neighboring countries, which is characterized by distortion of traditional architectural forms with the aim of ... ... Wikipedia

LITERATURE AND MYTHS- The constant interaction between literature and art takes place directly, in the form of “transfusion” of myth into literature, and indirectly: through the fine arts, rituals, folk festivals, religious mysteries, and in recent centuries through scientific... ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

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Expressionism- (from Latin expressio expression) a direction that developed in European art and literature from approximately 1905 to the 1920s. It arose as a response to the most acute social crisis of the 1st quarter of the 20th century. (including World War 1 and subsequent... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Expressionism (film)- Still from the film “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920) Expressionism is the dominant artistic movement in German cinema 1920-25. The main representatives are F.W. Murnau, F. Lang, P. Wegener, P. Leni. In modern... ... Wikipedia

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Expressionism- (from Latin expressio expression, revealing), artistic movement in Western art. Expressionism arose and received its greatest development in German cinema in 191525. The emergence of expressionism is associated with the aggravation of social... ... Cinema: Encyclopedic Dictionary

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Development of expressionism in literature

Table of contents

Introduction

1. Prerequisites for the emergence of expressionism. Connection with literary tradition

2. The main features of expressionism. Their manifestation in lyrics

3. Expressionism in post-war German literature

Conclusion

Introduction

Expressionism as a literary movement originated and reached the point of its highest development at the beginning of the 20th century, being “the artistic expression of the confused consciousness of the German intelligentsia during the period of World War I and revolutionary upheavals”1. The atmosphere of general aggression, preparations for war, fierce competition in the world market, rapid industrialization, unemployment, poverty - all this turned into embitterment, confusion, a vague longing for the forever gone classical ideals of goodness and beauty, heightened sensitivity, acute rejection, disgust for everyone. horrors, cruelties, and unworthy passions that seethed in the arena of world history. The historical crisis gave rise to a crisis worldview, which found its most complete expression. A German literary critic, a contemporary of the Expressionists, writes about the younger generation of poets of this movement: “Youth are not afraid of unconditional condemnation of Germany, the German spirit and German culture; they are not even afraid of being reproached for the lack of patriotic feeling, presenting states hostile to Germany as a model worthy of expression. They need only fundamental changes that would free us from tradition. She wants to call to action reverence for the soul, faith in the absolute, and above all the redemptive power of love for fellow man." That is, the expressionists’ protest and rejection of reality were not just a powerless gesture of despair. Expressionism courageously fights for “the value of ideas that once had meaning for the world, but seemed only to be an idle, amusing thought. He feels called to be a judge and fights for moral goals. He despises the moral negligence of a high, decadent culture, which until recently aroused admiration.” According to German critics, this era can be considered as the starting point of modern literature and its development in various directions. Among the avant-garde movements of the beginning of the century, it was expressionism that was distinguished by “the earnest seriousness of its intentions. It contains less of that buffoonery, formal trickery, and shockingness that are characteristic, for example, of Dadaism.”

1. The birth of expressionism. Expressionism and tradition

In the period 1910-1925. In Germany, a new generation of poets and writers decisively declared themselves, striving to implement the revolutionary transformations in the field of culture that were promised and unfulfilled, in their opinion to naturalists. Not all of them were explicit expressionists, although this is the name by which they became known since World War I. After 1945, this movement was rediscovered and had a strong impact on contemporary art. The political and cultural situation at the turn of the century was similar to those criticized by the naturalists. Where did the new movement come from?

It is believed that the reason for the emergence of expressionism was precisely the fact that nothing changed in Germany for a long time, and naturalists could no longer say anything new in literature. “Relative stability was perceived by the expressionists as a meaningless existence. They criticized not specific conditions or phenomena, but immobility, unproductivity of thought and action in general.” Many depicted their suffering and longing for a more perfect world. And alienation from one’s era became a “crisis of existence” and led to self-reflection. The conflict between “fathers and sons”, isolation, loneliness, the problem of finding one’s self, the conflict between enthusiasm and passivity became the most preferred themes of the expressionists. Expressionists perceived spiritual stagnation as a crisis of the intelligentsia - artists, poets. In their opinion, spirit and art must change reality.

The Expressionists set themselves ambitious goals. The term "expressionism", first used by Kurt Hiller in 1911 in relation to literature and initially serving to delimit avant-gardeism, was narrow enough to designate such a movement. It was not just about a new style, but about a new art: “Impressionism is a doctrine of style, expressionism as a way of experiencing, a norm of behavior that embraces the entire worldview”5.

The aesthetics of expressionism was built, on the one hand, on the denial of all previous literary traditions. “Expressionism deliberately deviates from the direction that not only German poetry, but also all the art of the cultural peoples of Europe and America of the 19th century adhered to.”6

Polemicizing with supporters of naturalism, E. Toller wrote: “Expressionism wanted more than photography... Reality must be permeated with the light of ideas.” In contrast to the impressionists, who directly recorded their subjective observations and impressions of reality, the expressionists tried to paint the appearance of the era, of humanity. Therefore, they rejected verisimilitude, everything imperial, striving for the cosmic universal. Their method of typification was abstract: the works revealed general patterns of life phenomena, everything private and individual was omitted. The genre of drama sometimes turned into a philosophical treatise.

Unlike naturalistic drama, man in the dramaturgy of expressionism was free from the deterministic influence of the environment. But while resolutely rejecting traditional artistic forms and motifs in their declarations, the Expressionists actually continued some of the traditions of previous literature. In this regard, the names of Buchner, Whitman, Strindberg are mentioned. Pavlova says that the first collections of expressionist lyrics are still largely connected with the poetry of impressionism, for example, the early books of Georg Trakl, one of the most important poets of early expressionism. Criticism has repeatedly pointed out the connection between the subjectivity of expressionism and the aesthetics of Sturm und Drang, with romanticism, the passionate inspiration of Höldering, Graabe, and the verbal manner of Klopstock. The transition from impressionism to expressionism is considered a return to idealism, as it was in 1800. “The era of “sturm and stress” also arose. Then, as now, a long-stalled metaphysical need broke through.”7.

In the book "Impressionism and Expressionism" O. Walzel makes an attempt to measure all development and change (in the literature of 1910-1920) using the example of Goethe. “The ancestor of realism,” Goethe stands at the same time on the basis of the idealistic philosophy of his time. And those sayings in which he pointed the way to art may seem to anticipate the mottos of the Expressionists, especially if they are taken out of the context of the time. In terms of its spiritual content, the time began in the 20th century. O. Walzel considers him much closer to Goethe than the middle and end of the 19th century. It was again assessed and given an absolute right to exist. It is true that knowledge was no longer the object of mankind’s longing. If the tragedy of Faust is rooted in the awareness of the impossibility of knowing the truth, then the “new Faustian tragic suffering” became the inability to truly make humanity happy. “Faust’s real problem today is: how can a person achieve such a spiritual order that would ensure the claims of a true champion of culture.”

The Faustian souls of the present (expressionists of the 20s) were looking for a new form of public morality, liberating from the painful evils of modernity, from the horror in which the world had fallen. Poets again turned from contemplatives into confessors. They invaded the realm of the metaphysical, they wanted to bring to the world a new worldview born in severe suffering.

The Expressionists themselves did not talk about their connection with Goethe, although they found themselves in the primitive religiosity of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Persians, Shakespeare's Gothic, and Old German artists. In German classicism there is also an exaggeration of feeling. This is M. Grunewald with his Gothic form, and the original German master A. Durer. A. Dürer created a type of so-called “angry portrait”, giving faces spiritual and emotional tension, capturing them at a moment of tension. He strove to bring them to the limits of expressiveness, to pathos.

In the literature of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the expressionists recognized only K. Sternheim and G. Mann as their predecessors. Literary criticism also considers G. Mann a harbinger of expressionism. “In Teacher Gnus (1905) he anticipated the plot scheme of many expressionist works that appeared over the next two decades”8. Just as the inconspicuous cashier in G. Kaiser’s play “From Morning to Midnight” (1916) changed his appearance in order to become different and start a new life with a huge amount of stolen money, so his teacher immediately turned from a tyrant teacher into an unlucky admirer of a pop singer. G. Mann wrote a satirical novel. It subjected to satirical analysis not only the morals of the Prussian gymnasium, but also the instability of the individual, capable of rushing from one extreme to another. Expressionists, on the other hand, perceived the mobility and “swinging” of a person as positive, promising symptoms of the coming era. Nowhere, with the exception of the play "Madame Legros" (1913), does G. Mann show the positive meaning of the actions of a person who broke with the generally accepted, overflowed its banks, following his uncontrollable impulse. But in all novels, starting with “The Kiselnye Shores” (1900), from the “Goddesses” trilogy up to “Henry IV” and beyond, there are main or minor characters who are characterized by instability, a readiness to move from one state to the exact opposite.

Despite the fact that Germany is rightfully considered the birthplace of expressionism, this movement has its origins and its predecessors not only in the traditions of German literature and art, but also in European ones. Group of French artists of the late 19th century" (Matisse, Derain, etc.), cubists Picasso, Delaunay with their deformed objects, with a predominance of geometric forms, collage influenced German expressionist artists (W. Kandinsky, K. Schmitt-Rottschuf, O Dix, E. Nolde, etc.). New forms and means of expression, which later turned out to be very widespread in the art of the 20th century, appeared in futurism, which in German literary criticism is considered a program of the avant-garde, including expressionism, which predetermined almost all artistic ideas. methods of the poetic avant-garde: montage, neologisms, wordplay, free associations, linguistic experiment, syntactic constructions, exclusion of the author’s “I” from the poem to achieve an objective vision of reality Even before the expressionists, they questioned all the achievements of literature and art.

2. The main features of expressionism. Their manifestation in lyrics

One of the features is that it did not represent a single movement either in terms of its repeatedly proclaimed goals or in content. First of all, there was no consensus regarding the role of the artist in society. Starting with expressionism, the relationship of poetry, art in general, to history, to the life of society becomes problematic. Within this direction one can find the ideas of internationalism and nationalism, cosmopolitanism and patriotism, etc. How different both political and aesthetic views were is shown by the contrast between G. Benn and B. Brecht, who began their creative careers as expressionists. Not only expressionists, but also famous artists who sympathized with the new movement in art or criticized it expressed their views on the role of the poet and his tasks at that time. Viennese novelist, short story writer St. Zweig in his essay “New Pathos” (1909) wrote that the task of the poet is to awaken the mental and spiritual powers of man. The poet must be a “holy fire,” the spiritual leader of the time. He believed that pathos in poetry is a sign of vital energy, in other words, he spoke about the role and tasks that the expressionists performed. Many expressionists took the position expressed in H. Mann's Essay (1910). The political task of a writer-poet is not to achieve power, but to oppose the existing government with fortitude, to show the people truth and justice. On the other hand, the expressionists were often reproached for their distance from real politics, even for the lifelessness of their works. Marxist Georg Lukács, for example, criticized the “abstract anti-bourgeoisism” of the Expressionists (1934). I.R. Becher, himself an expressionist, wrote already in the 30s about the Kaiser, Frank, Ehrenstein: “They are intoxicated with melancholy and despair, they create under pressure that squeezes out of their blood the remnants of the last flowering. Their creations, perhaps, are flowers, but with flowers on a withered branch"9. Expressionists of opposing political convictions united around the magazines "Aktion" and "Der Sturm", left-wing expressionists ("Aktion") tried to penetrate beyond the outer layer, to discover the meaning of today, trying to convey the terrible truth, they demanded a rejection of passivity: "Let it flood you, indifferent friends of the world, a sea of ​​blood of war victims" [Hazenclever "To Enemies"].

"Sturm" rejected any connection between art and modernity. The magazine's publisher was a man of radical political convictions. However, he persistently defended the independence of the “new art” from political problems.

Protest, as a natural human reaction to the madness and cruelty of the world, takes on a global scale among the Expressionists. The whole worldview comes down to protest, because in everything that surrounded the Expressionists they did not see a single positive moment: the world was for them a focus of evil, where there is no place for beauty and harmony. Everything beautiful seems fake, removed from reality. Therefore, expressionists reject all classical canons and do not accept beautiful-sounding rhymes or sophisticated comparisons. They break all semantic connections, distort individual impressions, turning them into something disgusting and repulsive. The title of A. Lichtenstein's poem "Dawn" prepares for the perception of a picture that definitely conveys a mood. The first stanza partially confirms this expectation. However, what follows is a series of unrelated pictures that become increasingly meaningless:

Ein dicker Junge mit einem Teicn.
Der Wind hat sich einem Baum gefangen.
Der Himeel sieht verbummelt aus und bleich,
Als ware ihm die Schminke ausgengagen.
Auf kange Krucken schief herabgebuckt
Und schwatzend kriechen auf dem Feld zwei Lahme.
Ein blonder Dichter wird vielleicht verruckt.
Ein Pferdchen stolpelrt uber eine Dame.
An einem Fanster klebt ein fetter Mann.
Ein Jungling will ein weiches Weib be suchen.
Ein grauger Clown zieht sich die Stiefel an.
Ein Kinderwagen schreit und Hunde Fluchen.

Unity in this momentary impression is given only by the feeling of the author’s complete alienation. Jacob van Goddis's poem "The End of the World" ("Weltende", 1887-1942) also represents distorted, torn impressions. Here, individual reformations are an omen of the general catastrophe of the end of the world. But in the inner world, in the soul, the desire for beauty and goodness remains. And the less perfection in the world around us, the greater the despair. “My God! I am suffocating at this banal time, with my enthusiasm finding no application,” wrote G. Geim in his diaries. Therefore, the expressionists, literally torn by these contradictions, express their protest with such emotional intensity. After all, their protest is not only denial, but also the pain of a desperate soul, a cry for help." Extreme indignation captures a person completely. Unable to analyze and understand anything, he simply throws out his confused feelings, his pain. The works of the Expressionists are imbued with a nervous dynamism - sharp colors, images deformed from internal tension, rapid pace, in the metaphor the image ceases to be felt; only screams, emotional repetitions, distorted proportions are thought of. However, on the other hand, precisely due to the intensity of feelings, as well as due to the enormous desire for perfection. , the expressionists hoped to defeat and subjugate reality. “The single will of the newest poets is to overcome reality thanks to the penetrating power of the spirit”10.

Since the world appeared to the expressionists as devoid of harmony, incomprehensible and meaningless, they refuse to depict it in this form. Behind all the meaninglessness of the world, they tried to see the true meaning of things, all-encompassing laws. That is, the next sign of expressionism is the desire for generalization. Reality is depicted in huge pictures, behind which natural and concrete features disappear. The expressionists did not try to show reality itself, but only an abstract idea of ​​what constitutes its essence. “Not reality, but spirit” - this is the main thesis of the aesthetics of expressionism. Naturally, everyone’s ideas about the essence of the world were subjective.

The author's self-disclosure most often occurs in his characters. This is how the so-called “Ich - Drama” appears in drama; in prose works, the passionate internal monologue of the characters is difficult to separate from the author’s reflections. Subjectivism is manifested both in the depiction of the overall picture and individual characters. The artist of that time lost direct contact with life, and when trying to overcome this, the author and the work merge into one. The restless, searching, doubting hero is also the author himself.

A typical expressionist hero is a person at the moment of greatest tension (which makes expressionism similar to a short story). Sadness becomes depression, despair turns into hysteria. The main mood is extreme pain. The hero of expressionism lives according to the laws of his reality, not finding himself in the real world. He does not transform reality, but asserts himself and therefore often does not take into account the laws, but breaks them in the name of justice or for self-affirmation. This is a small person, suppressed by the cruel social conditions of existence, suffering and dying in a world hostile to him. Heroes feel so helpless in front of a formidable and cruel force that they cannot understand or comprehend it.

Hence their passivity, a humiliating awareness of their own powerlessness, abandonment, loneliness, but on the other hand, the desire to help. This internal conflict leads to the fact that “everything goes into internal contradictions and does not affect reality in any way.” Other researchers believe that expressionist heroes, on the contrary, violate all norms and laws, asserting themselves. Here we can draw a parallel between the work of L. Frank "A Good Man", N. Mann "Madame Legros" (active resistance) and "Before the Closed Door" by Borchert, Kafka's dramas.

The intense attempt of the author, together with his hero, to philosophically comprehend reality allows us to talk about the intellectuality of expressionist works. In expressionism, for the first time in German literature, the theme of the “alienated man” was heard with extreme pain and force. A man painfully trying to comprehend the “law” that weighs on him. Through Kafka's work, this theme in expressionism is associated with many names in the further development of literature. How this theme sounded in German lyric poetry is illustrated by A. Wolfenstein’s poem “Citizens” (“Stadter”):

Nah wie Locher eines Siebes stehm
enster beieinander, drangend fassen
auser sich so dicht an, dab die Straben
Grau geschwollen wie Gewurtige stehm.
Ineinander dicht hineingehackt
Sitzen in den Trams die zwei Fassaden
Leute, wo die Blicke eng ausladen
Und Begierde ineinander ragt.
Unsre Wande sind so dunn wie Haut,
Dab ein jeder teilnimmt, wenn ich weine,
Fluster dringt hinuber wie Gegrole:
Und wie stumm in abgeschlobner Hohle
Unberuhrt und ungeschaut
Steht doch jeder fern und fuhlt: alleine.

From a formal point of view, this poem is quite conservative. But extraordinary images and comparisons change the usual metaphors. Objects are presented as living beings, and people, perceived only as a mass, are reified. Loneliness is perceived by a person as isolation from the world, and dissolution in the mass - as defenselessness and abandonment.

With the era of expressionism came new literary techniques, and already known ones were filled with new qualitative content. Pavlova notes that “the undoubted success of expressionism was satire, grotesque, poster - the form of the most concentrated generalization.” The method of combining into a single whole from moments standing apart from each other, creating a sense of correlation and simultaneity of various processes in the world, the connection of various plans from a sudden influx, snatching out a separate detail to a general view of the world, the alternation of small and great are also generated by the desire for generalization, the search for inner connections between seemingly incoherent events. The combination of hyperbole and grotesque, expressing with condensed brightness each of the two sides of the contradiction, was used for the purpose of expressive contrast, raising the light and sharpening the evil.

The principle of abstraction was expressed in the refusal to depict the real world, in the presence of abstract images: multicolor is replaced by a clash of black and white tones. The most frequently used stylistic means of expressionists include the so-called emotional repetitions, associative enumerations of metaphor. Expressionists often neglect the laws of grammar and come up with neologisms (Ehrenstein's "Warwaropa").

A necessary element of the play was a free and direct appeal to the public (“Theater-tribune!”). The technique of “Vorbeireden” (“speaking by”), often used in expressionist drama, emphasizes, on the one hand, the loneliness of the hero and his passionate obsession with his own thoughts, on the other hand, it helps to push the viewer to a whole network of generalizations and conclusions.

At first, poetry turned out to be the most expressive means for expressionism and its new ideas. A relatively common feature of expressionist lyrics is that the emotive layers of language, the affective fields of the meaning of a word, come to the fore. The main theme shifts towards the inner life of a person, and at the same time not to his consciousness, but to a half-conscious whirlwind of feelings that suppresses a person. The real, external world serves as material, a means for depicting the inner world. The excessive depiction of the inner world, the uncontrollable desire to convey, through the artistic means of poetry, spiritual movements and impulses that are essentially indescribable in words - all this first appeared in the lyrics. The impact of the poem is achieved in an irrational way - due to the monumentality of paintings, rhetoric, speech gestures, various signs of agitation (appeal, greeting, and so on). And although the style of the poem violates the usual laws, the end rhyme, meter, and stanza are traditional. Becher's poem "An die Zwanzigjahrigen" is an example of the fact that many expressionists, despite the modernization of the poetic language, retained some traditional ideas about versification.

Zwanzigjahrige! ... Die Falte eueres Mantels halt
Die Strabe auf in Abendrot vergangen.
Kasernen und das Warenhaus. Und streift zuend den Krieg.
Wird aus Asylen bald den Windstob fangen,
Der Reizenden um Feuer biegt!
Der Dichter grubt euch Zwanzigjahrige mit Bombenfausten,
Der Panzerbrust, drin Lava gleich die neue Marseillaise wiegt.

Expressionism did not remain a leading movement in literature for long. The impotence of the expressionist artist manifested itself during World War I, which many perceived as a political catastrophe or even as the collapse of all humanistic ideals. Some found a way out in radical pacifism, others in ardent support and participation in the revolution. Expressionist ideas and methods were supported and further developed by other artists, but were no longer always perceived as new and relevant. Already in 1921, the passionate expressionist Ivan Goll harshly stated: “Expressionism is dying.”

3. Expressionism in post-war German literature

Expressionism experienced a peculiar period of revival after the end of World War II, acquiring an anti-fascist, anti-war overtones. In the first post-war years, Swiss playwrights M. Frisch, Fr. experienced the influence of expressionism. Dürrenmatt. Some expressionist techniques are repeated in the works of P. Weiss. In German prose, such trends can be traced through the examples of the works of W. Borchert and W. Köppen.

W. Borchert (Wolfgang Borchert, 1921-1914) in his creative path went from a fascination with the harmonious, proportionate lyrics of Hölderlin and Rilke to his own style, the main provisions of which were outlined in his essay “This is our manifesto” (“Das ist unser Manifest”) . These provisions are so consistent with the spirit of expressionism that they could be called the aesthetic credo of the expressionists: “We are the sons of dissonance. We do not need poets with good grammar: we have no patience for good grammar. We need poets to write hotly and hoarsely, sobbing.” Borchert varies the same theme in the story “In May, in May the Cuckoo Cried”: “Which of us knows the rhyme for the death rattle of a shot lung, the rhyme for the cry of the executed? After all, for the grandiose howl of this world and for the infernal machine its silence does not exist.” we don't even have approximate vocabulary."

Borchert's most famous drama "On the Street in Front of the Door" ("Drauben vor der Tur") is dedicated to the tragedy of a lonely man who returned from the war and did not find shelter. This topic, painful and relevant, has absorbed the fate of millions of Germans. The hero of the play, the wounded soldier Beckman, having returned home from the war and not finding his home, tried - unsuccessfully, however - to call to account those of his former commanders who had betrayed him and were now trying to evade responsibility. But none of these self-satisfied practical people, busy creating a new life, cares about Beckman. Finding no way out, he commits suicide.

To express dissonance, the “discontinuity” of time, Borchert uses in his play primarily the grotesque, exaggerating, combining contradictory elements, refuting the usual ideas about the image. The main character himself is a grotesque figure - in a torn overcoat, holey boots and ridiculous gas mask goggles. It causes a feeling of bewilderment and irritation in those around him. Beckman himself is perceived as a “ghost”, and his complaints as stupid and inappropriate jokes. He personifies the past war, which no one wants to remember. Everyone is busy creating their own illusion of well-being. Beckman plays the role of a jester: “Long live the circus! Huge circus!” It is closer to the truth than the “reasonable”, deceptively peaceful life of the post-war period.

But the play does not show real actions and conflicts. It depicts not the truth of the surrounding world, but the truth of subjective consciousness. Only Beckman is the character of the play. His monologue speech predominates: he does not find an equal interlocutor for himself. An important place is occupied by Beckman's second “I” - the Other. He tries to present the world in a rosy light, to convince people to live like others. But Beckman cannot become like them, because they are “killers.” The alienation from the “others” is so great that it deprives both parties of the possibility of mutual understanding. The verbal expression of the hero's contacts with his antagonists, in essence, does not have the character of genuine dialogues. Their separate monologues intersect “outside the play - in the viewer’s head” (the expressionist technique of “Vorbeireden”). Throughout the play, Borchert consciously addresses the audience. The work ends with a direct appeal to the audience, a monologue with open questions.

The action takes place as if half-dream-half-awake, in an uneven chimerical light, in which the line between the ghostly and the real is sometimes indistinguishable: the personified Elbe River acts in the play, God appears in the form of a helpless and tearful old man, “in whom no one believes anymore; Death appears in the face of the funeral master, Beckman, who looked at the world without his glasses, appears the image of a one-legged giant, it symbolizes Beckman’s double sense of guilt: the hero feels responsible for the death of soldiers in the war and sees himself as a destroyer of family ties, trying to oust another, not yet. forgotten.

This vision allows us to understand the title of the play in two ways. Left behind the door on his own, Beckman can slam the door on another: “Every day we are killed, and every day we commit murder.” The persistent consciousness of personal responsibility and the heightened sense of guilt that haunts the hero also remind us of the traditions of expressionism.

The image of non-commissioned officer Beckmann, “one of those,” reflected the personal biography and spiritual drama of Borchert, as well as the entire generation of the post-war years. The traits of generality and universal significance inherent in Beckmann are also characteristic of many other heroes of Borchert’s prose. Beckman is “one of the gray multitude.” He speaks about himself in the plural, on behalf of his generation, he accuses another generation - the “fathers” - of betraying their sons, raising them for war and sending them to war. Beckman personifies a generation of people so traumatized by the war, so feeling their helplessness in the face of a formidable and cruel force that their consciousness is unable to comprehend it. Hence their passivity, their inactivity. Hence their painful internal conflict, which always torments them, the craving for human solidarity, the desire to help their brothers and at the same time a feeling of loneliness and abandonment, a humiliating awareness of their powerlessness.

The dryness and precision of the language is ambiguous, and in fact, betrays the extreme indignation of the author. Pathos does not at all serve to express admiration for something lofty; on the contrary, it “glorifies” everything that is lowest, unworthy, and gloomy.

Overall, this play reveals how much the consciousness of the younger generation of that time was focused on their inner self. The historical context is practically excluded from the play; the historical picture of time is not shown. The fact that Beckmann's father was a National Socialist and an anti-Semite is mentioned only in connection with the protagonist's experience of loneliness and isolation from the world. The general protest against the generation of “fathers” does not lead to any historical reflections and conclusions, but joins the tradition of a detailed depiction of the conflict between the new aspirations of the younger generation and the readiness to adapt of the old (as in expressionism). The consciousness of one’s own guilt, formed by the war, is gradually transformed into the consciousness of a victim, a feeling of incomprehensibility and rejection

The general dissonance, tension, discord in the hero’s soul is emphasized by the language of the play. On the one hand, it is precise and dry:

"Und dann liegt er irgendwo auf der Strabe, der Mann, der nach Deutschland kam, und stirbt, Fruher lagen Zigarettenstummel, Apfelsinenschalen, Papier auf der Strabe, heute sind es Menschen, das sagt weiter nichts."

On the other hand, it abounds in rhetorical means (repetition, figurative expressions, alliteration):

"Und dann kommen sie. Dann ziehen sie an, die Gladiatoren, die alten Kameraden. Dann stehen sie auf aus den Massengraben, und der blutiges Gestohn stinkt bis an der weiben Mond.Und davon sind die Nachte so. So bitter wie Katzengescheib."

A kind of manifesto against the past war and the future danger of which, according to many, existed in the 50s, is Koppen’s novel “Death in Rome” (Wolfgang Koppen “Der Tod in Rom”). Born at the beginning of the century, from his youth he was influenced by the contradictory spirit of that time and, accordingly, by the expressionist traditions in art. At the age of 16, Köppen sent his poems to Kurt Wolf, the publisher of the Expressionists. The poems were imbued with a mood of romantic rebellion and a call for a bright, but, alas, invisible ideal. In the early 30s, Koeppen worked in Berlin in the repertory departments of theaters, and for some time collaborated with Erwin Piscater. It can be assumed that his work as a screenwriter later left its mark on the style of the novels created subsequently. Not only the influence of the expressionists, but also the connection with cinema can explain the use of editing, changing the angle of view and distance to the image, and synchronous transmission of actions.

In the pre-war novels “Unhappy Love” (“Eine ungluckliche Liebe”, 1934), “The Wall is Shaking” (“Die Mauer schwankt”, 1935) the characteristic features of his work appear: emotional tension, excessive imagery, partiality for symbolism, vague despair and loneliness of the heroes , whose hopes and dreams come into strong conflict with reality, and of course the humanistic meaning of the works.

Many critics are unanimous in the fact that in all of Koeppen’s novels he emphasizes the fragility and unreliability with which human existence is associated: “Pigeons in the Grass” (“Tauben im Gras”, 1951), “The Greenhouse” (“Das Treibhaus”, 1953). Passionate protest against cruelty and the pursuit of humanistic ideals are decisive for the entire work of the writer. “Every line I write is directed against war, against oppression, inhumanity, murder. My books are my manifestos,” says Koeppen. These words fully apply to the novel “Death in Rome”.

The first thing that can be said about the novel: it is a pronounced protest. The author protests and denies. It is impossible to characterize the main idea without the prefix “anti-”: the orientation of the novel is anti-war and anti-clerical. The positive meaning of the heroes’ actions can be traced very weakly: they, too, are only against something. In this regard, we can immediately talk about the second feature of the novel, which brings it closer to expressionism: subjectivism, the self-disclosure of the author in the characters.

The author passionately, in a single impulse of thought and feeling, protests against the inhumanity and senselessness of war, against those who started this war, who participated in it, against those who are trying to forget it as quickly as possible, to relieve themselves of all responsibility for what happened, to get a better job and get lucrative positions in a post-war country. The author protests against Austerlitz, shown in grotesque form: a disgusting, feeble old man in a carriage, drinking boiled milk and selling weapons, he protests against Pfafrath, who contributed to fascist atrocities during the war, and is now the elected father of the city by the people, according to strictly democratic principles (“...obenauf, altes vom Volk wieder gewahltes Stadtoberhaupt, Streng demokratisch wieder eingesetzt"). The author cannot accept the complacency and desire for a measured life for the sake of his own pleasure, not only of those “honest citizens” who are in a hurry to forget about their crimes, but of those supposedly positive heroes who were victims of the war. With irony, sometimes even sarcasm, he describes the Kürenberg couple, comparing them to groomed animals, describing in detail how they “reverently ate food in the most expensive restaurants, enjoyed the beauty of ancient statues: “Sie genossen den Wein. Sie genossen das Essen. Sie aben andachtig. Sie tranken andachtig... Sie versonnen den schonen Leib der Venus von Cirene I das Haupt der Schlafenden Eumenide... Sie genossen ihre Gedanken, sie genossen die Erinnerung; danach genossen sie sich und fielen in tiefen Schlummer."

We feel evil sarcasm in these words. The impression is strengthened by short sentences of the same type, the repeated words “genossen”, with the help of which “der Wein”, “Das Essen”, “Die Erinnerung” are placed, as it were, on the same level and it is emphasized that for the Kührenbergs these are just consumer goods, a source of pleasure. The beauty of Venus or a wonderful dinner - there is no difference between them. The final phrase, sounding like a dry, businesslike remark, bursts in unexpectedly and disrupts this whole blissful picture and makes us think: how does a dream, which occupies a third of our life, differ from real active life. For Ilsa, probably nothing. During the day, having felt the beautiful body of Venus and enjoyed her thoughts, she continues to enjoy herself in a dream, seeing herself in the image of the Greek goddess of revenge, Eumenides. In the morning, she may continue the series of “pleasures” by eating an exotic dish for breakfast or watching an ancient tragedy in the theater.

It should be noted that the means that the author uses to express protest: sarcasm, short, as if chopped sentences, as well as bright “screaming” metaphors, images that stick in the memory can be called borrowings from expressionism. We could attribute these expressions like “ein boses Handwerk”, “stinkende blutige Labor der Geschichte” to the anti-war stories of Leonhard Frank. Sharp colors, nervous dynamism, a chaotic world and, as it were, completely saturated with the smells of war - we see all this in Köppen.

In Adolf’s memory there always remained a vat of the blood of the murdered, “with the warm, sickening blood of the murdered,” and Siegfried, at dinner at Kürenberg’s, having learned that his father was guilty of the death of Ilse’s father, did not feel the taste of the food. He felt the ashes on his teeth, the gray ashes of war.

The largest number of such metaphors is associated with the image of Yudeyan - a grotesque symbol of war, evil, and cruelty.

Thus, in Köppen's novel, another feature of expressionism is symbolism. The symbols are the heroes themselves: Judeian, Eve, the Nordic Erinyes "mit dem bleichen Gesicht Langenschadelgesicht, Harmgesicht."

As we see, by introducing symbolic images into his novel, Koeppen, like the expressionists, violates grammatical norms and, as a result, gives them tension and dynamism.

In addition to the symbolic images that run through the entire novel and express the main idea of ​​the work, we can also find symbols that are not so all-encompassing, but still define the writer’s style, as close to expressionist. This is the hand of the porter in a white glove - the hand of the executioner and sharp iron rods, which Yudeyan grabbed while falling, similar to spears and symbolizing power, wealth, cold aloofness and a cool tunnel into which Yudeyan was pulled as if through the gates of the underworld, and red a handkerchief in Kührenberg's hand, with which he wiped his forehead, like a peasant after hard work. The scene of the exchange of jackets between Adolf and the Jewish boy from the concentration camp and Adolf’s meeting with his father in the creepy, gloomy dungeon of the most beautiful temple in Rome are symbolic. Numerous bloodthirsty cats dying of hunger, which are visible and invisible in Rome, are a symbol of the degraded and unhappy human race. These are the Romans of the times of decline.

The author’s focus on the inner experiences of the characters can also be identified as a feature of expressionism. A detailed description of every shade of feeling, emotion, observation of any turn of thought and conveying them in the first person. This feature is inextricably linked with subjectivity, i.e. Expressionists showed their attitude in this way and their thoughts and feelings are inextricably linked with the thoughts and feelings of the characters. However, in this case, what distinguishes Köppen from the expressionists is that he reveals the inner world of not just one hero, with whom he identifies himself, but several at once, and directly opposite ones. Therefore, we can talk about a greater degree of abstraction from a specific situation, about greater objectivity and realism in the depiction of the world. In this case, such a technique does not serve as a demonstration of the author’s confused consciousness, as was the case with the expressionists, but as a means of artistic expression.

As for the “confused consciousness”, isolation in one’s inner self, the inability to find a way out, despite desperate attempts to break through to the light, all this completely applies to Siegfried and Adolf - purely expressionist heroes, with whom the author himself has a lot in common. In their minds there is not only horror of war and pronounced protest. Siegfried's music is rebellion. But a rebellion aimed at nowhere. His life, like music, is devoid of harmony. He contradicts himself, telling Adolf that he does not want to comprehend anything in life and does not believe in anything, but only strives to have pleasure, while his whole life is filled with quests.

Siegfried's pessimism is partly explained by the similar state of the author himself. No matter how we talk about the author’s objectivity, his identification with the hero is quite obvious.

The thought of the High Court, ruling the destinies of people and at the same time wandering senselessly in the labyrinths, like a “madwoman” playing blind man’s buff and the exclamation “Two thousand years of Christian enlightenment, and it all ended with Judean!” belong to none other than the author. Here we hear doubt and disbelief in the existence of the Supreme Law, God. And then it becomes clear that the author shares the words “all this is meaningless, and my music is also meaningless; it could not be meaningless if I had even a drop of faith in me.” But that's where their similarities end. Because further on the question “What should I believe in? In myself?” Koeppen answers positively because he is a writer whose work is readable, successful and thought-provoking. (“As a person I am powerless, but as a writer I am not,” W. Keppen once said).

Siegfried does not believe in himself and this is the case with most of his generation. Thus, if we compare Köppen and the Expressionists, we can say that Köppen followed in their footsteps, but moved a little further. And from the difference in distance traveled, he was able to objectively show their state of mind and way of thinking. And here it makes sense to talk not only about those writers and poets who represented the literary movement or composers who wrote expressionist music, but also about the whole generation of people who lived during the era of world wars. The “man of the era of expressionism” was overcome by Köppen within himself. He managed to go beyond universal denial, including denial of the role of man in history and the meaning of his life. And that was his victory. But this was also his tragedy.

Because, having come to faith in himself, in man as a performer of some social function, he did not come to faith in man in himself, his highest destiny, to faith in God: “As a man, I am powerless...”

So, subjectivity and the expression of one’s own protest, indignation through the depiction of the internal passionate monologues of the characters, their throwing, doubts as characteristic features of expressionism are only partially represented in Koppen’s novel.

Köppen's perception of the world in contrasts also brings him closer to the expressionists. Finding no peace for himself, always tormented by unanswerable questions, Siegfried and the calm Kührenbergs, who have found a simple easy path in life, a disheveled, unhappy woman with ulcers, selling cigarettes at the crossroads and handsome drivers with manicured nails, curled hair, earning money in a “fun way”, a boy greasy from head to toe, lurking in a gateway and standing nearby as a monument to himself, a carabinieri in a smart uniform - you can find many such contrasts in the novel.

Little Gottlieb and the ferocious Yudeyan, getting along together, are a reflection of the inconsistency and contrast of the world, but on a different, deeper level. The vision of the world as devoid of logic, consisting only of contradictions, is manifested in the fact that there is not a single holistic character in the novel.

Even Yudeyan, the embodiment of evil and cruelty, is an abstract image that is not absolutely unambiguous. Yudeyan never hesitated for a minute in making decisions. But this is by no means evidence of the strength of his character. After all, the slogan “I know no fear,” which guided him all his life, was just an attempt to hide from doubts, from that little Gottlieb; who was always only inside him and felt fear of the world. Protecting himself from doubts and fears and not trying to overcome them, Yudeyan invents a role for himself and strictly follows it, living according to the laws of his reality, since he has not found himself in the real world. Yudeyan always carried out only someone else's will; the impetus for any action was only an external force. He himself gave orders only because he obeyed orders from above. Without dependence on anyone, without serving something, Yudeyan does not exist, only little Gottlieb remains, pathetic, helpless, unable to comprehend what surrounds him.

Paradoxically, Yudeyan and his son Adolf have the same essence. Siegfried thinks about Adolf: "du warst frei, eine einzige Nacht lang bist du frei gewesen, eine Nacht im Wald, und dann ertrugst du die Freiheit nicht, du warst wie ein Hund, der seinen Herrn verloren hat, du mubtest dir einen neuen Herrn Suchen, da fand dich der Priester, du bildest dir ein, Gott habe dich gerufen." Adolf also needs someone to control his life. And therefore, the priest’s cassock is the same screen as the general’s uniform for Yudeyan, behind which it is convenient to hide his powerlessness and his confusion in front of the huge world.

Based on this, it can be assumed that Yudeyan contains the features of an expressionist hero. Similar heroes have already been encountered in expressionism. So for the main character G. Mann in “The Loyal Subject” “The important thing is not to actually rebuild a lot in the world, but to feel that you are doing it.” Such an exit is a reaction of a weak nature. “Weak, hasty, and therefore prone to violence” - this is about another hero of G. Mann - the English king Jacob in “Henry IV”.

The need to “feel like oneself in a role” can be realized in different ways, depending on what the individual is more predisposed to. An example of this is the paths chosen by Yudeyan and Adolf.

Thus, the novel presents three heroes who have one internal problem, which is revealed for the first time with deep psychologism and insight into the very essence in the works of the Expressionists: rejection of the real world.

In the images of Yudeyan, Adolf, Siegfried, Koeppen seems to generalize all aspects of this problem. In other words, we have before us a holistic picture of expressionist consciousness in all its manifestations.

This is the main difference between Köppen and the Expressionists. The writer does not limit himself to statements, but goes to the level of generalization. In other words, the author sees the problem more broadly. The problem itself does not change and the author does not propose any specific ways to solve it.

Expressionists strive for extreme expressiveness of emotions in their works. Translated from Latin, expressio means “expression”, “expressiveness”.

But this characteristic is not enough to understand the essence of expressionism, because... the expression of feelings is the prerogative of not only expressionism, but also other artistic movements: sentimentalism, romanticism, fauvism, post-impressionism, etc. The expressionists wanted not only to depict life, but also to express it, to creatively influence it. Expressionism is an expression of the soul-filling, completely captivating feelings of a person at the highest moment of his experience. But the most important thing that distinguishes expressionists from artists of other movements is the desire to express the inner essence of phenomena. Such a creative attitude is initially doomed to subjectivity and extreme hyperbolization. But, expressing feelings, expressionism strives for the cleansing fire of comprehensive and all-human love.
In this regard, I would like to cite the lines of the poet S. Nadson, which were written in 1882 and which express the essence of expressionism.

Believe in the great power of love!..
Believe sacredly in her conquering cross,
In her light, radiantly saving
A world mired in dirt and blood,
Believe in the great power of love!

The emergence and development of expressionism

Expressionism received its greatest development in the first decades of the 20th century. mainly in Germany and Austria. It arose as an acute and painful reaction to the First World War and revolutionary movements. Artists of this time perceived reality extremely subjectively, through the prism of disappointment, anxiety, and fear. Therefore, in their works, expression prevails over image.
If we start from the characteristics of expressionism as an artistic method, then the concept of “expressionism” can be interpreted much more broadly: it is the artistic expression of strong emotions, and this expression of emotions itself becomes the main purpose of creating a work. And in this understanding, expressionism is not limited to time - it has always existed. Take a look at El Greco's painting "View of Toledo", painted in the 17th century.

El Greco "View of Toledo" (1604-1614). Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
And this is an example of expressionism of the 21st century.

Painting by modern French expressionist Laurent Parselier

Expressionism in literature

Expressionism became the dominant literary movement in German-speaking countries: Germany and Austria (Franz Kafka, Gustav Meyrink, Leo Perutz, Alfred Kubin, Paul Adler). But some expressionist writers also worked in other European countries: in Russia - L. Andreev, E. Zamyatin, in Czechoslovakia - K. Chapek, in Poland - T. Michinsky, etc.
The works of early expressionism were influenced by French and German symbolism, especially Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire. Some were inspired by Baroque and Romanticism. What was common to all was an attention to real life in terms of philosophical foundations. The legendary expressionist slogan: “It’s not a falling stone, but the law of gravity.”
One of the characteristic features of early expressionism is its prophetic pathos, which was most embodied in the works of Georg Heim, who died in an accident two years before the outbreak of the First World War.

In the poems “War” and “A Great Dying is Coming...” many later saw predictions of a future European war.

In Austria the most important figure was Georg Trakl. Trakl's poetic heritage is small in volume, but it had a significant influence on the development of German-language poetry. The tragic attitude, the symbolic complexity of the images, and the emotional richness make it possible to classify Trakl as an expressionist, although he himself did not formally belong to any poetic group.
The heyday of literary expressionism is considered to be 1914-1924. (Gottfried Benn, Franz Werfel, Albert Ehrenstein, etc.). The mass loss of life during World War I led to pacifist tendencies in expressionism (Kurt Hiller, Albert Ehrenstein). In 1919, the famous anthology “Twilight of Humanity” was published, which collected the best works of this movement.
The new style in European lyric poetry very quickly spread to other types of literature: drama (B. Brecht and S. Beckett), prose (F. Kafka and G. Meyrink). At the beginning of the 20th century. Russian authors also created their works in this style: the story “Red Laughter”, the story “The Wall” by L. Andreev, the early poems and poems of V. V. Mayakovsky.
L. Andreev is considered the founder of Russian expressionism.

Leonid Nikolaevich Andreev (1871-1919)

Leonid Andreev’s first works are imbued with a critical analysis of the modern world (“Bargamot and Garaska”, “City”). But already in the early period of his work, the main motives appeared: extreme skepticism, disbelief in the human mind (“The Wall”, “The Life of Vasily of Thebes”). There was a time of fascination with spiritualism and religion (“Judas Iscariot”). The writer was at first sympathetic to the revolution, but after the reaction of 1907 he abandoned all revolutionary views, believing that a rebellion of the masses could only lead to great casualties and great suffering (“The Tale of the Seven Hanged Men”). In his story “Red Laughter,” Andreev painted a picture of the horrors of modern war. The dissatisfaction of his heroes with the surrounding world and order results in passivity or anarchic rebellion. The writer's dying writings are imbued with depression and the idea of ​​the triumph of irrational forces.
Andreev's literary language is also full of expression and symbolic.

B. Kustodiev “Portrait of E. Zamyatin” (1923)
Expressionist tendencies also manifested themselves in creativity Evgenia Zamyatina. Although his style was close to surreal. The most famous work of E. Zamyatin is the dystopian novel “We”, which describes a society of strict totalitarian control over the individual (first and last names are replaced by letters and numbers, the state controls even intimate life), ideologically based on Taylorism (control theory), scientism ( an ideological position representing scientific knowledge as the highest cultural value and a fundamental factor in human interaction with the world) and the denial of fantasy, controlled by a “Benefactor” who is “elected” on a non-alternative basis.

Expressionism in painting

The predecessors of expressionism were the art group “Most”. Its participants developed their own “group style”, in which the paintings were so similar in their subjects and method of painting that it was not always possible to immediately distinguish who the author was. The peculiarity of the “Bridge” artists is their deliberately simplified aesthetic vocabulary with short, abbreviated forms; deformed bodies; luminous paints applied with a wide brush in flat strokes and often outlined with a hard contour line. The contrast of different colors was widely used to increase their “glow”, enhancing the effect on the viewer. This was their similarity with the Fauves. Like the Fauves, the expressionists from “The Bridge” wanted to build their compositions on pure paint and form, denying stylization and any symbolism.

O. Muller “Lovers”
The main goal of their work was not to display the external world, which seemed only a lifeless shell of truth, but that “real Reality” that cannot be seen, but which the artist can feel. In 1911, Herwarth Walden, the Berlin owner of an art gallery and a promoter of avant-garde art, gave this movement in art the name “expressionism,” which at first united both cubism and futurism.
The German Expressionists considered the Post-Impressionists their predecessors. Dramatic paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch and James Ensor are filled with emotions of delight, indignation, and horror.

Edvard Munch(1863-1944) - Norwegian painter and graphic artist, theater artist, art theorist. One of the first representatives of expressionism. His work is captured by the motives of death, loneliness, but at the same time the thirst for life.
Munch's most famous work is The Scream. The horror-stricken man in this picture cannot leave anyone indifferent.

E. Munch “The Scream” (1893). Cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel. 91 x 73.5 cm. National Gallery (Oslo)
A possible reading of the painting: a man is agonizing over what is heard from everywhere, as the artist himself put it, “the cry of nature.”
The banality, ugliness and contradictions of modern life gave rise to feelings of irritation, disgust, and anxiety among the expressionists, which they conveyed with the help of distorted lines, quick and rough strokes, and flashy color. Preference was given to extremely contrasting colors in order to enhance the impact on the viewer and not leave him indifferent.

"Blue Rider"

In 1912, the Blue Rider group was formed in Munich, whose ideologists were Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc. This is a creative association of representatives of expressionism at the beginning of the 20th century. in Germany. The association published an almanac of the same name.
In addition to Kandinsky and Marc, the association included August Macke, Marianna Verevkina, Alexey Jawlensky and Paul Klee. Dancers and composers also participated in the work of this artistic group. They were united by an interest in medieval and primitive art and the movements of the time, Fauvism and Cubism.
August Macke and Franz Marc were of the opinion that every person has an internal and external perception of reality, which should be united through art. This idea was substantiated theoretically by Kandinsky. The group strived to achieve equality in all art forms.

M. Verevkina “Autumn. School"

Expressionism in architecture

Architects found new technical possibilities for self-expression using brick, steel and glass.

- Lutheran Church in Copenhagen. Named after the Danish theologian, church leader and writer N.-F.-S. Grundtviga. It is one of the most famous churches in the city and a rare example of a religious building built in the expressionist style. Its construction lasted from 1921 to 1940. The architecture of the temple intertwines features of traditional Danish village churches, Gothic, Baroque and various modernist movements. Construction material – yellow brick.

Chilihouse (Hamburg)– An 11-story warehouse building for goods imported from Chile. The building was built in 1922-1924. designed by the German architect Fritz Höger and is one of the most significant monuments of expressionism in world architecture. Also known as the bow of a ship.

Einstein Tower (Potsdam)- an astrophysical observatory on the territory of the Albert Einstein Science Park on Mount Telegrafenberg in Potsdam. Revolutionary for its time, the creation of the architect Erich Mendelsohn. Built in 1924. It was planned to conduct experiments in the tower to prove Einstein's theory of relativity. The tower telescope belongs to the Potsdam Astrophysical Institute.

Expressionism in other forms of art

Arnold Schoenberg "Blue Self-Portrait" (1910)
Here we should first of all talk about the music of Arnold Schoenberg. Expressionist music was difficult to perceive and caused controversial criticism. Here is how Russian music critic V. Karatygin spoke about Schoenberg’s music: “Dostoevsky created Notes from Underground.” Schoenberg composes music from the underground of his strange, wonderful soul. It's scary, this music. She irresistibly attracts you, self-willed, deep, mystical. But she's scary. No composer in the world has ever composed more terrible music.”

Jacques-Emile Blanche "Portrait of Igor Stravinsky" (1915)
The music of Ernst Kshenek, Paul Hindemith, Bela Bartok, and Igor Stravinsky was close to the expressionist style.
In 1920-1925 Expressionism also dominated German cinema and theater.
The beginning of film expressionism was the film “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” (1920), which became famous not only in Germany, but also abroad. He conveyed altered states of human consciousness on the screen.
Developing the basic idea of ​​"Caligari", expressionist directors reveal the duality of every person, the bottomless evil hidden in him, and in connection with this they foresee the inevitability of a social apocalypse. This film was actually the beginning of horror films.
The films “The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari” directed by Robert Wiene (1920), “Golem” directed by K. Böse and P. Wegener (1920), “Weary Death” directed by Fritz Lang (1921), “Nosferatu. Symphony of Horror” by German film director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1922), “Cabinet of Wax Figures” by director P. Leni (1924), “The Last Man” by director W. Murnau (1924).