Contents: introduction chapter I literature of the age of enlightenment

CHAPTER I ENLIGHTENMENT LITERATURE --ERA OF ENLIGHTENMENT
1.1 Characteristics of the literature of the Enlightenment
The ideological movement, called the Enlightenment, spread to European countries in the 18th century. It was imbued with the spirit of struggle against all generations and manifestations of feudalism. Enlighteners put forward and defended the ideas of social progress, equality, free development of the individual.
Enlighteners proceeded from the belief that a person is born kind, endowed with a sense of beauty, justice and equal to all other people. An imperfect society, its cruel laws are contrary to human, "natural" nature. Therefore, it is necessary for a person to remember about his high destiny on earth, to appeal to his mind - and then he himself will understand what is good and what is evil, he himself will be able to answer for his actions, for his life. It is only important to enlighten people, to influence their consciousness.
The Enlighteners believed in the omnipotence of the mind, but for them this category was filled with a deeper meaning. Reason was only to contribute to the reorganization of the whole society.
The future was presented to the Enlighteners as the "kingdom of the mind." That is why they attached great importance to science, establishing the "cult of knowledge", the "cult of the book". It is characteristic that it was in the 18th century that the famous French Encyclopedia was published in 28 volumes. It promoted new views on nature, man, society, art.
Writers, poets, playwrights of the 18th century sought to prove that not only science, but also art can contribute to the re-education of people worthy of living in a future harmonious society, which should again be built according to the laws of reason.
The enlightenment movement originated in England (Daniel Defoe "Robinson Crusoe", Jonathan Swift "Gulliver's Travels", the great Scottish poet Robert Burns). Then the ideas of the Enlightenment began to spread throughout Europe. In France, for example, Voltaire, Rousseau, Beaumarchais are among the enlighteners, in Germany - Lessing, Goethe, Schiller.
Enlightenment ideals also existed in Russian literature. They were reflected in the work of many authors of the 18th century, but most clearly in Fonvizin, Radishchev.
In the depths of the Enlightenment, new tendencies appeared, foreshadowing the emergence of sentimentalism. Attention to the feelings, experiences of a common person is increasing, moral values ​​are being affirmed. So, above we mentioned Rousseau as one of the representatives of the Age of Enlightenment. But he was also the author of the novel The New Eloise, which is rightfully considered the pinnacle of European sentimentalism.
The humanistic ideas of the Enlightenment found a peculiar expression in German literature, where a literary movement arose, known as the Storm and Onslaught. Supporters of this movement resolutely rejected the classicist norms that fettered the creative individuality of the writer.
They defended the ideas of national originality of literature, demanded the depiction of strong passions, heroic deeds, vivid characters, and at the same time developed new methods of psychological analysis. Such, in particular, was the work of Goethe and Schiller.
The literature of the Enlightenment took a step forward both in the theoretical understanding of the goals and objectives of art, and in artistic practice. New genres appear: the novel of education, philosophical stories, family drama. More attention began to be paid to moral values, the assertion of the self-consciousness of the human person. All this became an important stage in the history of literature and art.
Enlightenment classicism was quite widespread in the literature of this era. Its largest representatives in poetry and drama, and especially in the tragic genre, was Voltaire. had a great
the meaning of "Weimar classicism" - its theoretical principles were vividly embodied in Schiller's poems and in Goethe's Iorigenia and Tauris. Enlightenment realism was also prevalent. Its representatives were Diderot, Lessing, Goethe, Defoe, Swift.