Satire in Russian literature. Political satire: genre definition, examples

Satire

Satire

SATIRE - a kind of comic (see Aesthetics), which differs from other types (humor, irony) by the sharpness of the denunciation. S. at its inception was a certain lyrical genre. It was a poem, often significant in volume, the content of which contained a mockery of certain persons or events. S. as a genre originated in Roman literature. The very word "S." comes from the Latin name of mythical creatures, mocking demigods, half animals - satyrs. Philologically, it is also connected with the word satura, which in the common people meant a dish of hodgepodge, which indicated a mixture of different meters (saturnine verse, along with Greek meters) and the presence in S. of a wide variety of descriptions of all kinds of facts and phenomena, unlike other lyrical genres, to -rye had a strictly limited and defined area of ​​the image. Roman S. gave its highest examples in the works of Horace, Persius and especially Juvenal.
Over time, secularism has lost its significance as a particular genre, as happened with other classical genres (elegy, idyllic, etc.). Exposing mockery has become the main feature of S., which determines its main essence. S. fulfilled this purpose with the help of various literary forms and genres. True, whenever the forms of ancient literature were revived in literature, the old genre literature was also partially revived. So it was, for example. in Russian literature of the second half of the 18th century, when the classical form of S. was used by Kantemir, Sumarokov, and others. But at the same time, satirical comedy and satirical magazines with their feuilletons, cartoons, stories, and others also existed.
Comedy is at the heart of S., regardless of genre. Laughter is always a huge means of social influence. “... In all morality, there is no medicine more real, more powerful than exposing the ridiculous” (Lessing, Hamburg Dramaturgy, Sobr. sochin., vol. V, p. 76, ed. Wolf, 1904).
The social functions of the comic determine its form: humorous, satirical and ironic. The social function of laughter and S. lies in the effective struggle against the comically depicted object. This is the difference between S. from humor and irony. It differs from all forms of comic satire by its activity, strong-willed orientation and purposefulness. Laughter always contains negation. Along with laughter in S., therefore, indignation and indignation sound no less strong. Sometimes they are so strong that they almost drown out the funny, push it into the background. The weakness of the comic element in S. gave reason to some researchers to assert that S. could completely do without comic tricks, that she could expose the insignificant and hostile only by her indignation. But indignation itself, with the greatest strength and tension, does not create S. Thus, Lermontov’s “Duma” and “On the Death of Pushkin” by Lermontov, with all their pathos of protest and indignation, are not S. Elements of laughter and indignation can be combined in different ways in S. But it is impossible to build S. outside the comic. Denying the comic as a necessary method of constructing S., we will come to the identification of S. with criticism, with negation in general. The exposure of the Russian autocracy and bureaucracy can be expressed in terms of satire (Saltykov-Shchedrin) and in terms of direct criticism and denial (LN Tolstoy). Mayakovsky satirically denounced the philistinism and the bourgeoisie, Gorky also denounced the philistinism and the bourgeoisie, but in terms of direct denial.
The specificity of S. is not that she reveals negative, harmful or shameful phenomena, but that she always does this by means of a special comic law, where indignation is unity with comic exposure, the exposed is shown as normal, in order to then be discovered through the funny, that this is the norm - only an appearance that obscures evil. This is confirmed by the whole history of S. It is enough to name such names as Rabelais, Beaumarchais, Voltaire, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin. Therefore, the classical division of S. into “laughing” and “pathetic”, a cut carried out by Schiller in his article “On Naive and Sentimental Comedy”, has no sufficient basis.
Satire on the enemy is, firstly, a denial of the entire socio-political system. This type of S. was created by the world's greatest satirists, to-rye in different eras gave brilliant examples of criticism and denial of the social reality of their era. Rabelais, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin - each with their own individual characteristics created this particular type of C.
In the history of S., we repeatedly meet with the second type of S., when the satirist calls for the correction of individual vices, and not for the destruction of the system that gave rise to these vices. This satire is directed mostly at life, customs, cultural skills and customs. Molière criticized his rising class. The image of "The Tradesman in the Nobility", which covers a number of similar Molière images ("Georges Danden", "Funny Cossacks") is constructed in such a way that, for all its shortcomings, it is funny, but not negative. The shortcomings of these characters must be dealt with, but they can be corrected. In the same plan, Figaro is given by Beaumarchais. The comedy associated with this image does not lead to its denial. Such is Fonvizin, who sought to put forward the ignorant patriarchal nobility in place - a Europeanized, cultural nobility.
The main types of S. differ not only in their material and the nature of the writer's attitude to this material. It is possible to observe completely different forms of construction of secularism. Bourgeois aesthetics and the history of literature have repeatedly spoken of the tendentiousness of secularism, that secularism is a semi-artistic, semi-journalistic genre. S. is “a borderline type of work of art,” because in it “visual-contemplative liveliness” is combined with “non-aesthetic goals” (Jonas Cohn, General Aesthetics). Unfortunately, such views also penetrated into our Soviet criticism (see the preface to the Satira collection in the Academia publishing house, Piksanova's article in the Saltykov-Shchedrin state literary publishing house, where a misunderstanding of the specifics of the form turns a great satirist into a talented essayist) .
Meanwhile, the forms of satirical works are extremely peculiar. We should talk not only about the degree of artistry of S., but also about her artistic originality.
If we turn to that type of S., which is built on the denial of the social system, we will see that the work of the great satirists - Rabelais, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin - separated from each other by time and space, so different in their socio-political genesis, represents a great proximity of form. The main feature of S. of this type is that everything depicted in it is given in terms of complete negation. The positive ideological attitudes of the author, in the name of which this denial is being carried out, are not given in the work itself. Their essence is clear from the comic revelation of the insignificance of what is depicted. Hence the often encountered vulgar assertion that satirists of this type do not have a positive ideal.
Such satire is usually built on grotesque hyperbolism, which turns reality into fantasy. Rabelais tells about extraordinary giants, about the colossal accessories of their life, about their fantastic adventures, about sausages and sausages coming to life, about pilgrims traveling in the mouth of Gargantua. Swift fantastically shifts all human concepts, confronting his hero in turn with midgets and giants, talks about a flying island, and so on. Saltykov-Shchedrin portrays the mayor with a winding mechanism in his head, always saying the same two phrases, and so on.
Often they tried to find explanations for hyperbolism and fantasy in the need for the writer to speak Aesopian language. But of course this is not the main thing. Strengthening the comic to the degree of the grotesque, giving it the form of an incredible, fantastic, the satirist thereby reveals its absurdity, its uncertainty, its contradiction with reality.
The realistic-grotesque fantasy of satirists, as the basis of their style, determines a number of separate techniques. The most important of these are that the fantastic is given with an exact and very extensive enumeration of naturalistic details (Rabelais) or even an exact measurement of its dimensions (Swift).
The striving for a comprehensive realistic critique of the social system also determined the very genre of this type of secularism. The great satirical writers, who used their talent to expose the social and political system hostile to them, made the novel their main genre. The form of the novel made it possible to cover a wide range of reality. At the same time, the usual form of the novel, in connection with its satirical function, received its own characteristics as a form of a satirical novel. A satirical novel is not bound by a specific plot. The plot here is just a canvas on which everything that serves to depict and expose one or another side of life is strung. The satirist does not limit himself to the number of actors, just as he is not obliged to follow their fate to the end.
This determines the special construction of character images and their significance in the overall composition of this kind of satirical work. Not understanding this originality, Hornfeld, for example. believes that “a type in satire is not so much a living poetic image as a schematic image, devoid of individualizing details that give such vitality and charm to the creations of humor ... a mighty preponderance of social and ethical interests over aesthetic ones makes him (satirist - S.N. .) lyrics and suppresses in him the creator of objective types.
Here, there is a clear misunderstanding of the methods of S. The satirist, no less than any other artist, is capable of artistic embodiment of the reality he reflects. It is enough to recall the images of the Epicurean philosopher Panurge in Rabelais or Judas Golovlev in Saltykov-Shchedrin. But this individualization and typification is achieved by other means than in humor - not through the psychological deployment of the image, but through large generalizations, on which S. is built and which make it possible in each character, taken in a very small period of place and time , catch the social-typical. But that is precisely why the socially typical does not become a scheme, it is embodied in artistically convincing individualized life images.
The absence of a solid plot allows the satirist not to be constrained by the demands for the development of a single action, because the compositional movement of S. is determined by the requirements of the location of that system of criticism, which the author seeks to give in his S., and not by the requirements of the compositional development of a single plot intrigue. This is not taken into account by theorists, who, not understanding the originality of the satirical form, speak of the compositional precariousness, vagueness of S. as one of her main sins against artistry. The universalism of criticism in a satirical novel determines the need to use the most diverse material. The satirical novel uses comic characters, situations, dialogues and words in equal measure. This is the difference between S. of this type and other types of S.
Satire is built differently, based on the opposition of positive and negative, virtue and vice. The satirist opposes Starodum to Skotinin and Prostakov, Chatsky to Famusov and Molchalin, Cleante to Tartuffe, Anselm to Harpogon. But the nature of the distribution of the negative and positive elements in this satire differs sharply from similar non-satirical works, say, from the petty-bourgeois tearful drama. S. puts forward negative types and characters to the fore, giving the positive only as a background for them, or not giving it at all. This S. is par excellence S. types and characters. The satirist embodies the individual negative aspects of the social system in individual characters. Negative types are built for the most part on some one sharply prominent feature; on the stinginess of Harpagon, on the hypocrisy of Tartuffe, on the subservience and servility of Molchalin, on the stupid martinet Skalozub. This satirically pointed character trait sometimes creates a social mask instead of an individualized image.
So far, we have been talking about two main types of S. Within these types, we find diverse genres of S.: along with the satirical novel, satirical drama, comedy, S. also uses a number of small genres - epigram, anecdote, satirical feuilleton, caricature. And these small genres are subdivided, depending on the author's satirical attitude, into the same two types. So, if we compare S. "Iskra" of the 60s. and "Satyricon", then the distinctive features of these two types of S.
It should be emphasized that in addition to the main types of S., we often meet in literary practice with elements of S. in the works of writers of a non-satirical direction. These elements of secularism are especially strong in the work of writers who are representatives of critical realism (Stendhal, Balzac, Flaubert, Maupassant, and others).
In European literature, the history of S. is closely connected with the history of the struggle of the young bourgeoisie against the feudal order. So, already from the 14th century, as the forces that so clearly declared themselves as the Renaissance, Reformation took shape, S. was gaining more and more space. In a variety of ways, the church and its ministers, the medieval way of life, the dogmas of religion, and even more - the arbitrariness of the guardians of these dogmas, the depravity and stupidity of Catholic priests, the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of scholastic scientists are satirically ridiculed. The genres of S. are becoming extremely diverse. Here is a fable, in which a donkey in a lion's skin depicts the papacy, and individual small satirical short stories, schwanks, and an animal epic (“The Fight of Mice and Frogs”), and large satirical novels using popular satirical poetry.
The Renaissance, the Reformation, were the first great attack of the young bourgeoisie on the old feudal order. This epoch therefore produced S.'s masterpieces in France and Germany. The royal-aristocratic character of the English Reformation and the puritanical character of the bourgeois revolution led to what England did not know in the 16th-17th centuries. such a wide development of satirical genres as France and Germany. The vast German satirical literature of the Reformation begins with the famous Narrenschiff (1434) Seb. Brant. Fischart (1546-1590) was the most important German satirist of the Reformation. He wrote a free adaptation of Rabelais' novel "Gargantua" - a satirical work containing a comprehensive critique of the social system and its shortcomings. However, the pinnacle of satirical literature of the Reformation era is Erasmus of Rotterdam's Letters of Dark Men (1515-1517) and Praise of Folly (1509), which played a world-historical role. S. humanists and the Reformation - scourging, poisonous, contemptuous. It seeks not to improve and correct, but to reduce, offend, destroy.
This huge, for the most part nameless satirical literature or the literature of forgotten writers, extremely diverse in different countries, depending on the specific conditions of the struggle of the emerging young bourgeoisie, self-aware of the third estate, is crowned in France with the brilliant grotesque Rabelais (see) "Gargantua and Pantagruel" - a genuine satirical encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. But as the first round of the struggles of the young bourgeoisie against feudalism ended, as Catholic reaction triumphed and feudalism, after a series of retreats, consolidated itself in new positions, S., aimed at blowing up the very foundations of feudal society, gave way to S., the task of -Roy was only a criticism of the particular shortcomings of the system (Scarron's Comic Novel, 1651; Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus, 1668, etc.). This secularism opposes the imitation of the foreign, the oblivion of the German foundations of life (Lauremberg, 1590–1658; Mosheros, 1601–1669), and the savagery and coarsening of morals brought about by the Thirty Years' War (Grimmelshausen, Mosheros). By this time, the revival of the classical form of Roman S. as a lyric poem (Rachel) dates back, which in French literature flourished by the end of the 16th century. (Viret, "Satyres chrestiennes de la cuisine", du Verdier, "Les omonymes, satire contre les mOur corrompues de ce siecle").
The S. of negation again begins to loudly declare itself when the third estate in the 18th century. began to prepare for a decisive battle with feudalism.
Of course, even in the era of the triumph of Catholic reaction and absolutism, the third estate did not abandon the instrument of S. It is enough to recall Molière, the first classic of the French bourgeoisie, who created such masterpieces of S. as Tartuffe and The Philistine in the Nobility.
However, bourgeois S. flourished only in the 18th century. S. captured and related ideological areas, penetrating into journalism, into sociology. Thus, for Montesquieu, his "Persian Letters" were a form of political exposure of the arbitrariness and lawlessness of French absolutism and opposed to him by the English system of parliamentary power. Bourgeois Enlightenment of the 18th century. because the task of the Enlightenment was to fight the feudal system in the name of the triumph of the bourgeois. It is quite natural that the classic of the French S. XVIII century. became one of the greatest enlighteners of France - Voltaire (see). His "Orleans virgin", his "Candide", his pamphlets are masterpieces of satirical denial and explosion of all the shrines of feudal Catholic society, ridicule of the foundations on which this society has rested for centuries. Another central motif of Voltaire's satire, the struggle against the arbitrariness of the absolute monarchy, merged with the crushing denunciation of the church. Voltaire was the highest expression of the satirical denial of the feudal world among the French Enlightenment. But his arrival was prepared and continued by numerous satirists, forgotten or unknown. The masterpieces of the French S. are Diderot's Rameau's Nephew (see) and the Beaumarchais trilogy (see).
The influence of the extremely strong and politically sharpened French S. affected the S. of the Enlightenment in Germany. But these are only echoes of the strong political excitement of the neighboring country. German absolutism was strong, but the German bourgeoisie was only in its infancy and did not muster its forces to fight against it. Therefore, German secularism, devoid of political sharpness, acquires a moralizing, moralizing character. It is directed against a false lawyer, an insignificant scientist, against the striving of the middle class for titles. Its best representatives are Lichtenberg (1742-1799), Rabener (1714-1771) and Liskov (1701-1760).
In the same epoch S. flourishes in England. But in England, S. was associated with the struggle of the aristocracy against firmly established bourgeois relations. Already in the second half of the XVII century. Dryden acted as an ardent defender of the aristocracy and a denunciator of bourgeois narrow-mindedness and bourgeois virtue. Along with S. on the life and customs of the bourgeoisie, he gives sharply satirical sketches of the political opponents of the aristocracy. The most significant monuments of English S. and in the XVIII century. were created by aristocratic writers: Pop (see), Swift (see) "Gulliver's Travels", Sheridan (see) "School of Scandal". The masterpiece of English S. is Gulliver's Travels. Swift's satire has little to do with religion, which is the main target for S. of the French Enlightenment. The aristocratic character of S. is sharply manifested in the desire to humiliate and ridicule all legislators and social reformers, who thought "to teach monarchs the knowledge of their true interests, which are based on the interests of their peoples." Swift's skepticism about the possible transformations of social reality is associated with his deepest misanthropy. His criticism was supposed to reveal not only the relativity of all human institutions, but also the relativity of the human personality itself. But the positive value of Swift's satire is in the artistic sharpness of its anti-bourgeois character.
The anti-bourgeois satirical line was continued in English literature by Byron (see). Satiric motifs distinguished themselves in his work with exceptional sharpness, aimed both at exposing the deceit and holiness of the aristocracy, and the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of the bourgeoisie.
S. became smaller after the French bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century, when the problems of destroying the feudal system hostile to the bourgeois order were basically resolved. We now find strong elements of S. only in the work of oppositional democratic writers, primarily in Beranger (see). The cowardice and betrayal of the bourgeoisie after the July days was denounced by Barbier (see) in his "Yambs" and "Satires", V. Hugo (see) in his political lyrics (in "Chatiments"). The most striking manifestation of S. XIX century. is the political lyrics of Heine, (see), directed against feudalism that has not been eliminated in Germany, against the cowardly German bourgeoisie (“The Winter's Tale”) of S.'s defense in lyric poetry also Herweg and Freiligrat.
Bourgeois S. by the end of the 19th century. gradually turns into skepticism and irony. Here it sometimes reaches great acuteness (A. France, Jean Giraudoux and many others), but never again plays such a huge world-historical role as it played in the days when it was imbued with the pathos of the struggle against the feudal order. We find strong elements of S. by the end of the 19th century and at the beginning. 20th century in English literature by Bernard Shaw (see). His S. is directed against capitalism, the clergy, and the bourgeoisie. But the half-hearted nature of their rejection of the bourgeois system deprives them of that revolutionary audacity, without which their S. turns into only talented wit.
Russian S. is poorer than Western European. In the West, S. developed during the centuries-old struggle of the third estate with the old order. In Russia, S., indignant and scourging, reaches its heights when the ideologists of revolutionary democracy (Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov) appeared on the stage of Russian history.
In previous eras, S. also more than once became the dominant genre in Russian literature - let us recall the heyday of Russian S. in the second half of the 18th century. But this S., in the extremely apt expression of Dobrolyubov, "tried to reduce, not to exterminate evil." Not to mention the abundant satirical journalism in which the ruling elites were directly involved (“There were also fables”, “All sorts of things”, “This and that”, “Neither this nor that”, “Day work”, “Useful with pleasant ”, “Mixture”, “Drone”), even Novikov’s publications (“Parnassian Scribbler”, “Evenings”, “Painter”, “Purse”), satires by Kantemir, Sumarokov, Fonvizin’s comedies passed over in silence such egregious phenomena as, for example, serfdom right. A sharp contrast to S. of this type are the satirical revealing paintings of Radishev's Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
Griboedov (see) in his comedy branded the Molchalins and Skalozubs. Gogol satirically showed the "dead souls" of landlord Russia. And contrary to Gogol's subjective tendencies, his S. had a profoundly revolutionary significance. The nobility (Griboedov, Gogol), which objectively played a huge revolutionary role, was replaced by revolutionary democratic style, which contained a resolute rejection of the feudal-serf, tsarist-bureaucratic system, no less resolute criticism of predatory Russian capitalism and the cowardice of the liberal bourgeoisie. This S. is fundamentally different from the noble S., which came not from denial, but from self-criticism. Gogol, for example. strove all his life to create positive images and was dissatisfied with his comic characters. Saltykov (see) in them found the deepest expression of his ideological and artistic. ideas. Saltykov gives complete decomposition, comprehensively shows the worthlessness, and most importantly, the harmfulness of his Judas Golovlev. His best works - the brilliant grotesques "Lord Golovlev", "The History of a City" and "Pompadours and Pompadourses" - are extraordinary in their strength and accuracy of exposing autocracy, bureaucratic stupidity and stupidity, feudal barbarism and tyranny, liberal complacency. In the immortal image of Judas Golovlev, Shchedrin gave a great symbol of the degeneration of the entire system.
We also find strong satirical elements in the work of the great poet of revolutionary democracy Nekrasov (see) (“Reflections at the front door”, “Poor and elegant”, “Contemporaries”, etc.). Against the new enemy of the working people, predatory capital and the kulaks, the satire is directed Ch. Uspensky (see) (“Morals of Rasteryaeva Street”). After the years of reaction, S. associated a new flourishing with the revolution of 1905. During the years 1905-1908, a huge number of satirical magazines appeared, mostly liberal-democratic. But in the same years, the proletarian S., satirical workers' magazines, were already created, the direct successor of which was the initiator of proletarian satire Demyan Bedny, and S. of the Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. Proletarian S. reaches its heights in the work of M. Gorky.
Soviet proletarian S. differs from the S. of the capitalist classes not only in its subject matter. It represents significant qualitative modifications. In a proprietary society, S. was either a denial of the entire social system as a whole or a criticism of certain aspects of this system. Soviet socialism is directed primarily against class-hostile reality, against its direct class enemy, who opposes the Soviet socialist system. When Soviet socialism is directed at the shortcomings of its own class reality, it reveals these shortcomings as alien class stratifications, as the result of a different, hostile social system, for these shortcomings are not created by the socialist society that is being built, but by the inexhaustible consciousness of the owner. M. Koltsov sharply formulates the meaning of Soviet satire: “Is satire possible, the nature of which is dissatisfaction with the existing, angry or bilious attitude towards the existing reality in a country where there is no exploitation and where socialism is being built? Yes, it is possible. With the blade of satire, the Soviet writer fights against the baseness of sycophancy, ignorance and stupidity. The working class is the last in the history of classes, and it will be the last to laugh” (Speech at the International Congress of Writers). Proletarian socialism is not only aimed at criticizing its shortcomings. Above all, it denounces the hostile capitalist system. It is only from proletarian positions that true conversion to the capitalist system is now possible. The bourgeois satirist does not know the recipes for improving and correcting his system and cannot reconcile himself to its complete rejection. This makes his S. half-hearted, deprives her of sharpness and effectiveness. Only by going over to proletarian positions can he give a comprehensive satirical critique. Soviet S. is busy exposing shortcomings in its own ranks. On this path, she managed to conquer a number of very diverse genres: the fables-satires of D. Poor, the satires of Mayakovsky, the short stories by Zoshchenko and the great satirical novels of Ilf and Petrov, the essays and feuilletons of M. Koltsov, the comedies of Bezymensky ("The Shot"), Kirshon (" A wonderful alloy"), Konstantin Finn. This introduction of S. into almost all genres, this variety of satirical forms already in itself proves how necessary and relevant Soviet S. Bibliography:
Theory: Lehmann R., Satire und Humor, in his book. "Poetik", 2 Aufl., Munchen, 1919; Wiegand J., Satire; RehmW., Satirischer Roman, in Vol. Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Bd. III, Berlin, 1928-1929. General works: Hannay J., Lectures on satire and satirists, L., 1854; Soldini E., Breve storia della satira, Cremona, 1891; Schneegans H., Geschichte der grotesken Satire, Strassb., 1894. Antique satire: Fraenkel E., Das Reifen der horazischen Satire, in Sat. "Festschrift fur R. Reitzenstein", Lpz., 1931. Italian satire: CianV., La satira italiana, Milano, 1924. 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Afanasyev mentioned below; originally in Sovremennik, 1859, book 10, unsigned); Afanasiev A.N., Russian satirical magazines 1769-1774, M., 1859; The same, new edition, Kazan, 1921; Pokrovsky V., On Russian satirical magazines: Drone, Hellish Post ”, “Riddle”, “Painter”, “Hard-working ant and others, M., 1897 Him, the dandies in satirical literature of the 18th century, M., 1903; Lemke M.K., From the history of Russian satirical journalism (1857-1864 ), "The World of God", 1903, No. 6-8; The same, in his book: Essays on the history of Russian censorship and journalism of the XIX century, St. Petersburg, 1904; Gornfeld A., Satire, "Encyclopedic Dictionary", ed. F.A., I.A. Efron, semit. 56, St. Petersburg, 1900; Chebotarevskaya Anastasia From life and literature. (Russian satire of our days), "Education", 1906, No. 5; Masanov I.F., Russian satire and humorous journalism. Bibliographic description, issue I-III, Vladimir, 1910-1913 (“Proceedings of the Vlad. Academician of the Archival Commission”, book XI, XV-XVIII); Sakulin P.N., Sociological satire, Bulletin of Education, 1914, No. 4; satirical Sat. No. 1 - Berangerovtsy, M., 1914; Same, Sat. 2 - Heinevtsy, M., 1917; BegakB., KravtsovN., MorozovA., Russian literary parody, M. - L., 1930; Imaginary poetry, Materials on the history of poetic parody of the 18th and 19th centuries, edited by Y. Tynyanov, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1931; epigram and satire. From the history of the literary struggle of the 19th century, vol. I, 1800-1840, composition. V. Orlov, vol. II, 1840-1880, comp. A. Ostrovsky, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1931-1932; KravtsovN. and MorozovA., Satire of the 60s, ed. and before. N. Belchikova, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1932; Poets of Iskra, ed. and note. I. Yampolsky, (L. ), 1933 (Poet's Library, edited by M. Gorky); Vinogradov Nikolay, Satire and humor in 1905-1907. Bibliographic index, Bibliographic News, 1916, No. 3-4; BotsyanovskyV. and GolerbakhE., Russian satire of the first revolution of 1905-1906, L., 1925; DreidenS., 1905 in satire and humor, L., 1925; ChukovskyK. and DreidenS., Russian revolution in satire and humor: L., 1925; Album of revolutionary satire 1905-1906, ed. S.I. Mitskevich, M., 1926 (Museum of the Revolution of the USSR); IsakovS., 1905 in satire and caricature, L., 1928; Timonich A.A., Russian satirical and humorous magazines of 1905-1907. in connection with satirical magazines of the 18th and 19th centuries. Materials for bibliography, M., 1930 (glassographer, ed.). A-v Yu., Satirical literature and preparation for the coup. (From memories), "Time", 1917, No. 887; FricheV., Satire, Satirical magazines, Encyclopedic Dictionary, ed. "Br. A. and I. Granat and Co., ed. 7, b.g.; Maevich A., Humor and satire, "Journalist", 1925, No. 4; Shafir Ya., Comic and satirical techniques. (On the characteristics of satirical journalism in 1917), "Journalist", 1927, No. 9-10; L. L., Satire in 1917, "Reader and Writer", 1928, No. 10; Shafir A., ​​On the question of the satirical novel, "Print and Revolution", 1929, No. 12; Yakubovsky, G., On the satire of our days, Literaturnaya Gazeta, 1929, No. 12; Boychevsky V., Ways of Soviet satire, "Soviet Land", 1931, No. 1; Nusinov I., Questions of the genre in proletarian literature, "Literature and Art", 1931, No. 2-3; Mezier 4. V., Dictionary index on book science, P., 1924, pp. 277-279, 308-309. see also the literature on individual satires. magazines and satirical writers.

Literary encyclopedia. - In 11 tons; M .: publishing house of the Communist Academy, Soviet Encyclopedia, Fiction. Edited by V. M. Friche, A. V. Lunacharsky. 1929-1939 .

Satire

(lat. satira), one of the species comic, a specific way of depicting reality, the purpose of which is to reveal it as something inconsistent, untenable and cause laughter. Satire creates an image of reality, highlighting the most ridiculous or negative features in it. For this, he resorts to grotesque, irony etc. A characteristic feature of satire is a negative attitude towards the object of the image and, at the same time, the presence of a positive ideal, against which the negative features of the depicted are revealed.
Satire as a genre appeared in ancient Roman literature - one of the genres of lyrics with accusatory orientation. Then she began to define the specifics of many genres: fables, comedies, pamphlet, feuilleton, epigrams etc., it can permeate any other genre: a satirical story, a satirical novel, etc. A fantastic, allegorical satire stands out - ridicule using Aesopian language, the derivation of real people and events under the guise of animals or personified concepts. Such satire is characteristic of fables. In prose, this technique was used by J. swift("Gulliver's Travels"), M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin(fairy tales, "The history of one city"). Psychological satire studies the negative traits of the human personality, their origin and nature: “Dead Souls” by N.V. Gogol, "Lord Golovlyovs" by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
In ancient literature, satire is not only a genre formation; she infiltrates comedy Plautus And Terence, in an adventurous novel: "Satyricon" by Petronius, "The Golden Ass" Apuleia. In medieval literature, the satirical genres of fablio and farce; the Renaissance gives rise to social satire. Unlike farce, which makes fun of funny situations, and fablios (funny stories about the ridiculous situations that heroes find themselves in), Renaissance satire ridicules the vices of society as a whole: "Praise stupidity" Erasmus of Rotterdam, "The Decameron" by J. Boccaccio, "Gargantua and Pantagruel" F. Rabelais, "Don Quixote" M. Cervantes, comedy W. Shakespeare. Classicism gravitates toward satire of strictly defined types; e.g., masks of a hypocrite, a hypocrite, etc. have found vivid expression in comedies Molière. In the Age of Enlightenment, the philosophical satire of D. Diderot, Voltaire, C. Montesquieu, J. Swift. In the 19th and 20th centuries satire penetrates all genres, exposing the vices of modern civilization: M. Twain, BUT. France, G. wells, TO. Capek, I. Hasek, G.K. Chesterton, B. Show, G. Mann, B. Brecht etc. Satire modernism has a hint of hopelessness, mockery of the absurdity of the world (E. Ionesco).
In Russian literature satire appears in con. 17th century: democratic stories "The Tale of the Hawk Moth", "Shemyakin's Court", "Kalyazinskaya Petition" and poems Simeon of Polotsk. In the era of classicism and enlightenment, A.D. actively worked in the genre of satire. Cantemir, N. I. Novikov, I. A. Krylov; the satirical beginning penetrated the genres of comedy, travel and others in A.D. Sumarokova, D.I. Fonvizina, A. N. Radishcheva, I. A. Krylova. In the 19th and 20th centuries the genre of satire as such is rarely developed (“Satires in Prose” by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin), but the satirical beginning colors the genres of comedy, parody, and novel: “Woe from Wit” by A.S. Griboyedov, "The Government Inspector" and "Dead Souls" by N.V. Gogol, comedies by A.N. Ostrovsky, satirical poetry of the Iskra magazine. In the literature of the 20th century. satirical tendencies are manifested in the work of V.V. Mayakovsky, MM. Zoshchenko, M. A. Bulgakov, A.P. Platonov, E. L. Schwartz, I. Ilf and E. Petrov and others. A special place in the history of satire is occupied by the work of Russian absurdists - poets of the group OBERIU: A. I. Vvedensky, D. I. Kharms.

Literature and language. Modern illustrated encyclopedia. - M.: Rosman. Under the editorship of prof. Gorkina A.P. 2006 .

Satire

SATIRE. - In a somewhat indefinite and vague sense, satire is any literary work in which a certain definite attitude to the phenomena of life is expressed, namely, condemnation and ridicule of them, exposing them to general laughter, shame and indignation. In this sense, an epic can also be a satire - a fairy tale, a fable, a legend in the genus "Reinecke the Fox", or "Aeneid inside out", a story and a novel (many of Saltykov's satires, adjacent to artistic life writing, like his "Lord Golovlevs"), and comedy, like "The Inspector General" and "Woe from Wit" and lyrical works. The satirical attitude of literature to the phenomena of life must be distinguished from the humorous one (cf. Laugh and especially Humor ). In contrast to humor, a special mood in which the author's laughter is all the time softened by the author's explicit or hidden sympathy for the person or phenomenon being ridiculed, the laughter of satire is more rational. He is an instrument of struggle and indignation; he does not smile or laugh merrily, but brings the phenomenon of life to public disgrace, ridicule and condemnation. With this last feature, an appeal to the public, satire reveals its always journalistic essence. It is a poetic denunciation of reality in the name of a more or less definite social ideal. In its historical origin, namely in ancient Roman literature, satire is a poetic, lyrical poem of more or less significant volume, in which we find a more or less negative or sharply condemning and indignant depiction of the properties and qualities of individual typical individuals or a more or less extensive area. , or groups of persons and phenomena. From satire, according to the definitely personal content of attacks and denunciations in the work, pamphlet and libel should be distinguished; the latter is characterized most of all by the moral impurity of the author's motives in his attack and denunciations against one or another person, while a pamphlet is sometimes only a publicistic speech, but can also be an artistic satire against a certain person, standing at the full height of responsible free speech. In connection with this moral and social content of satire, its artistic value also depends on the correspondence between its lyrical uplift and the height of the satirist's ideal, on the one hand, and between the significance of the denounced phenomenon, on the other. Lyrical subjective coloring in relation to types and phenomena usually deprives satire of objective artistic significance and often gives it a fleeting meaning. Satire is rapidly aging, for example, Saltykov’s purely satirical essays are no longer directly understandable to our time, and only those phenomena of satire survive in which the author, in the private and transient phenomena of life, caught gradual and enduring universal human and general social weaknesses and vices, persistent features of individual psychology, perversions of social psychology that are constantly being repeated and put forward. As a special poetic form, satire appeared in the civil culture of ancient Rome. It arose from purely folk art, which, in general, in the development of new literatures, repeatedly and constantly turns to satire, as an instrument of self-defense and self-consolation from the strong and powerful. The name satire comes from the word satura - a dish of hodgepodge - but it is also associated with the name of the mocking Greco-Roman demigods - half animals - satyrs. Roman satire, beginning with Ennius and Lucilius, flourished in the hands of Horace, Persius, and especially Juvenal, who determined its form for later European classicism. In medieval and new Europe, satire went beyond the framework of the old form and, developing as an independent mood and creativity, had complex and diverse destinies, putting forward a number of well-known names: in France - Rabelais, Boileau, Voltaire, from new ones - Courier, Berenger, Barbier, V .hugo; in England - the brilliant satirist Swift, of absolutely exceptional importance; in Germany - from Brant's "Ship of Jesters" there are a large number of satirists who do not have a common European significance; above all, of course, the brilliant Heine with "Atta Troll"; the Italians - Ariosto, Gozzi, Alfieri; among the Spaniards - the world luminary (rather, however, a humorist) - Cervantes. Russian satire lived already in the 17th century and earlier in the semi-folk story, the work of buffoons, etc. (“the parable of the hawker”, satires on the court of Shemyaka and Yersh Yershovich, the son of Shchetinnikov, etc.). Since the 18th century satire develops in the Russian age of classicism, as a special lyrical classical form, starting from the satires of Cantemir; I have to name: Nikolaev, Kapnist, Dmitriev, Prince. Vyazemsky, etc. But especially important is the magnificent development of satire, as an element of denunciation and the comic. Satire, like an element, captured all journalism in satirical magazines (starting from the 18th century) and comedy, and especially a story, a story, a novel. The classical form of satire disappears by the 19th century, but the stronger its influence is, like a trend that a rare talented writer is not captured by: here are the lyrics - Pushkin: - “For the recovery of Lucullus” and others. “Chronicle of the village of Goryukhin”; Ryleev - "Temporary worker"; Lermontov - "Duma" and others; Nekrasov - “Thinking at the front door”, “Poor and elegant” and many others. his other works, and playwrights (Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol, Ostrovsky), and novelists (Gogol with a poem - "Dead Souls" and especially Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose scourging and biting satire sometimes reaches Swift's strength). The history of Russian satire has not been studied in detail either in relation to its classical, now clearly and long extinct, poetic form, or even more so in relation to the huge satirical content of the Russian story and novel and everyday comedy, which are closely connected with the shifts of class moods in society. We have to refer the reader to general works on the history of literature and to the study of individual satirical writers.

V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. Literary encyclopedia: Dictionary of literary terms: In 2 volumes / Edited by N. Brodsky, A. Lavretsky, E. Lunin, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, M. Rozanov, V. Cheshikhin-Vetrinsky. - M.; L.: Publishing house L. D. Frenkel, 1925

The word "Satire" denotes three phenomena:

1. A certain poetic lyrical epic small genre that developed and developed on Roman soil (Nevius, Ennius, Lucilius, Horace, Persius, Juvenal) and revived in modern times by neoclassicists (satires by M. Renier, N. Boileau, A.D. Cantemir, etc.) ;
2. Another less definite mixed (with a predominance of prose) purely dialogic genre that arose in the Hellenistic era in the form of a philosophical diatribe (Bion, Telet), transformed and formalized by the cynic Menippus (3rd century BC) and named after him "menippean satire" ; later samples of it in Greek are presented for us in the work of Lucian (2nd century), in Latin, fragments of Varro's satires ("Saturae Menippeae") "Menippe Saturas", Seneca's satire "Apocolocyntosis" ("Pumpkin"), and finally , a satirical novel by Petronius ("Satyricon"); this form of satire directly prepared the most important variety of the European novel, presented on ancient soil by Petronius's "Satyricon" and partly by Apuleius's "Golden Ass", and in the New time - novels by F. Rabelais ("Gargantua and Pantagruel") and M. de Cervantes ("Don Quixote"); in addition, the form of “menippe satire” is represented in modern times by the remarkable political satire “Satire Menippee” (1594) and the famous comic dialogue by Beroald de Verville (“Le Moyen de parvenir”) “The way to go out to people”, 1610;
3. A certain (mostly negative) attitude of the creator to the subject of his image (i.e. to the depicted reality), which determines the choice of means of artistic representation and the general nature of the images; In this sense, satire is not limited to the above two specific genres and can use any genre - epic, dramatic, lyrical; we find a satirical depiction of reality and its various phenomena in small folklore genres - in proverbs and sayings (there is a whole vast group of satirical proverbs and sayings), in folk ethological epithets, i.e. brief satirical descriptions of the inhabitants of various countries, provinces, cities (for example, the old French “blasons” “blasons”: “The best drunkards are in England” or “The most stupid are in Brittany”), in folk anecdotes, in folk comic dialogues (they are especially rich in was Greece), in small improvised clownish genres of court and folk (city) jesters and clowns, mimes, comedies, farces, interludes, in folk and literary tales (for example, satirical tales of L. Tick, E.T.A. Hoffmann, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, L.N. Tolstoy), in epic poems (the oldest Greek satirical epic - songs about the fool Margit, there is a significant satirical element in Hesiod's Works and Days), in song lyrics - folk (satirical street songs of France) and literary (satirical songs by P.J. Beranger, A.O. Barbier, N.A. Nekrasov), in general in lyrics (lyrics by G. Heine, Nekrasov, V.V. Mayakovsky), in short stories, stories, novels, in essay genres; in this ocean of satirical creativity - folk and literary - using diverse genres and forms, the specific genres of Roman and Menippean satire appear to be only small islands (although their historical role is very significant). These are the three meanings of the word satire.

History and theory of satire

The history and theory of satire is very poorly developed.. In essence, only the genre of Roman satire has been subjected to consistent and rigorous study. Even the Menippean satire, its folklore roots and its historical role in the creation of the European novel, are far from being studied enough. As for the inter-genre satire, i.e. to a satirical attitude to reality, realized in the most diverse genres (the third meaning of the word "satire"), then its systematic study is very bad . The history of satire is not the history of a particular genre; it concerns all genres, moreover, at the most critical moments of their development. A satirical attitude to reality, realized in any genre, has the ability to transform and update this genre. The satirical moment introduces into any genre an adjustment to modern reality, living relevance, political and ideological topicality. The satirical element, usually inextricably linked with parody and travesty, cleanses the genre of dead conventionality, of senseless and outlived elements of tradition; in this way he renews the genre and does not allow it to freeze in dogmatic canonicity, does not allow it to turn into pure conventionality. Satire played the same renewing role in the history of literary languages: it refreshed these languages ​​at the expense of everyday heteroglossia, it ridiculed outdated linguistic and stylistic forms. It is known what role satirical works played (short stories, hundredths, farces, political and religious pamphlets, such novels as Rabelais' Gargantua and Pantagruel) in the history of the creation of the literary languages ​​of the New Age and in the history of their renewal in the second half of the 18th century (satirical magazines , satirical and satirical-humorous novels, pamphlets). It is possible to correctly understand and evaluate this role of satire in the process of updating literary languages ​​and genres only if we constantly take into account the connection between satire and parody. Historically, they cannot be separated: any essential parody is always satirical, and any essential satire is always combined with parody and travesty of obsolete genres, styles and languages ​​(suffice it to name the Menippean satire, usually saturated with parodies and travesty, "Letters of dark people", novels by Rabelais and Cervantes) . Thus, the history of satire is made up of the most important (“critical”) pages in the history of all other genres, especially the novel (it was prepared by satire and subsequently updated with the help of a satirical and parodic element). Let us also note, for example, the renewing role of the commedia dell'arte. It was determined by folk satirical masks and small clownish genres - anecdotes, comic agons (disputes), folk ethological mimicking of dialects. This comedy had a tremendous renewing influence on all the dramatic work of the New Age (and not only on the dramatic, we note, for example, the influence of its forms on romantic satire, especially on Hoffmann, or its indirect influence on N.V. Gogol). It is especially necessary to emphasize the extremely important role of satire in the history of realism. All these questions of the history of satire are very poorly developed. Literary historians were more concerned with the abstract ideology of this or that satirist or with naive-realistic conclusions from a work to contemporary historical reality.

The situation is no better with the theory of satire. The special inter-genre position of satire made its theoretical studies extremely difficult. In theories of literature and poetics, satire usually appears in the section of lyrical genres, i.e. only the Roman satirical genre and its neoclassical imitations are meant. Such an assignment of S. to lyrics is a very common occurrence. A.G. Gornfeld defines it as follows: “Satire in its true form is the purest lyric poetry of indignation” (Gornfeld A.G. Satire. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary). Researchers who focus on the S. of the New Age and especially on the satirical novel tend to recognize it as a purely epic phenomenon. Some consider the satirical moment, as such, an extra-artistic, journalistic admixture to fiction. The relation of satire to humor is also contradictory. Some sharply separate them, consider them even something opposite, while others see in humor only a softened, so to speak, “good-natured” kind of satire. Neither the role nor the nature of laughter in S. are defined. The relationship between S. and parody is not defined. The theoretical study of S. should be of a historical and systematic nature, and it is especially important to reveal the folklore roots of S. and to determine the special nature of satirical images in oral folk art.

One of the best definitions of satire - not as a genre, but as a special relationship of the creator to the reality he depicts - was given by F. Schiller. Let's take it as a starting point. Here it is: “Reality as insufficiency is opposed in satire to the ideal as the highest reality. Reality, therefore, necessarily becomes an object of rejection in it ”(“ On Naive and Sentimental Poetry ”, 1795-96). In this definition, two points are correctly emphasized: the moment of the relation of satire to reality and the moment of the denial of this reality as insufficiency. This insufficiency is revealed, according to Schiller, in the light of the ideal "as the highest reality." This is where the idealistic limitations of Schiller's definition come into play: the "ideal" is conceived as something static, eternal and abstract, and not as the historical necessity of the advent of the new and better (the future, embedded in the denied present). It is necessary to emphasize (Schiller does not do this) the figurative nature of satirical negation, which distinguishes satire as an artistic phenomenon from various forms of journalism. So, satire is a figurative denial of modern reality in its various moments, necessarily including - in one form or another, with varying degrees of concreteness and clarity - and the positive moment of asserting a better reality. This preliminary and general definition of satire, like all definitions of this kind, is necessarily abstract and poor. Only a historical review of the rich variety of satirical forms will allow us to concretize and enrich this definition.

The oldest folklore forms of figurative negation, i.e. satire, the essence of the form of folk-holiday ridicule and disgrace. These forms were originally cult in nature. It was ritual laughter (“rire rituel” - in the terminology of S. Reinak). But this original ritual-magical meaning of ridicule and disgrace can only be reconstructed by science (with greater or lesser likelihood), yet the forms of folk-festive laughter known to us from the monuments have already been artistically reshaped and ideologically rethought: these are already established forms of figurative denial, including into itself the moment of affirmation. This is the folklore core of satire. Let's take a look at the most important facts. During the Thesmophoria, Galoa and other Greek festivals, women showered each other with ridicule with obscene abuse, accompanying the shouted out words with obscene gestures; such laughter squabbles were called aeshrologia (i.e. "shame"). Plutarch talks about the Boeotian festival "Daedala" (Plutarch's text has not survived, but was transmitted by Eusebius), during which a fictitious marriage ceremony was played out, accompanied by laughter, and ending with the burning of a wooden statue. Pausanias tells about a similar holiday. This is a typical celebration of the resurrection of the vegetation deity; laughter here is associated with images of death and the rebirth of the productive force of nature. Especially interesting and important is the story of Herodotus (V, 83) about the feast of Demeter, during which the women's choirs ridiculed each other; here, of course, this ridicule was also connected with the motives of death and the rebirth of the productive force. Testimonies have also come down to us of ridicule during Greek wedding ceremonies. There is an interesting explicative legend explaining the connection between laughter and obscenity, on the one hand, and between laughter and rebirth, on the other. This legend is reflected in the Homeric hymn to Demeter. After the abduction of Persephone to the underworld, the grieving Demeter refused to drink and eat until the Yambas made her laugh by making an obscene gesture in front of her.

We also find folk-holiday shame and ridicule on Roman soil. Horace depicts in one of his messages - the feast of the harvest, during which free ridicule and shame are committed in a dialogic form (fescennina licentia). Ovid also speaks of a similar holiday (Fast, III, 675-676). Roman triumphal ridicule (carmina triumphalia) is known, which also had a dialogic form. Finally, I will mention the Saturnalia with their legalized freedom of laughter and organized mockery and shame of the jester's king (the old king, the old year).

All these mockery festivals, both Greek and Roman, are essentially connected with time - with the change of seasons and agricultural cycles. Laughter, as it were, captures the very moment of this change, the moment of the death of the old and at the same time the birth of the new. Therefore, festive laughter is at the same time mocking, abusive, shaming (outgoing death, winter, old year) laughter and joyful, jubilant, welcoming laughter (revival, spring, fresh greenery, new year). This is not a naked mockery, the denial of the old is inextricably merged here with the affirmation of the new and better. This negation, embodied in laughter images, therefore, had a spontaneous-dialectical character.

According to the testimony of the ancients themselves, these folk-holiday forms of ridicule and disgrace were the roots from which literary satirical forms grew. Aristotle (Poetics) sees the roots of comedy in iambic song shames ("iambidzein"), and he notes the dialogical nature of these shames ("iambidzon allelus"). M. Terentius Varro in his work “On the Origin of the Performing Arts” finds its beginnings in various festivities - in the capitals, in the lupercalia, etc. Finally, Livy reports the existence of a folk dramatic “satura” that grew out of the fescennins. All these assertions of the ancients (especially Livy) must, of course, be treated critically. But there is no doubt about the deep inner connection of the ancient literary-satirical figurative negation with the people's festive laughter and shame. And in the further development of ancient satire, it does not break its connection with the living forms of folk-festive laughter (for example, the connection with the Saturnalia of the epigrammatic work of Martial and the romance of Petronius is essential).

We observe six main features of folk-holiday ridicule and shame, which are then repeated in all any significant phenomena of satirical creativity in antiquity (and in all subsequent eras in the development of European satire):

1. the dialogic nature of ridicule-shame (mutual ridicule of choruses);
2. the moment of parody, mimicry inherent in these ridicule;
3. the universal nature of ridicule (ridicule of deities, the old king, the entire ruling system (saturnalia);
4. the connection of laughter with the material and bodily productive principle (shamefulness);
5. the essential relation of ridicule to time and temporal change, to rebirth, to the death of the old and the birth of the new;
6. elemental dialectic of ridicule, a combination in it of mockery (old) with fun (new). In the images of the ridiculed old people, they ridiculed the ruling system with its forms of oppression - in the images of the new, they embodied their best aspirations and aspirations.

Classical Greece did not know a special special genre of satire. The satirical attitude to the subject of the image (figurative negation) is realized here in the most diverse genres. Very early, a folk comic-satirical epic arose here - songs about the fool Margit (the ancients attributed them to Homer, Aristotle derived a comedy from them); "Margaret" is the first European example of "foolish satire" ("Narrensatire") - one of the most common types of satire in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Fool in this look satire in most cases performs a triple function:

1. he is ridiculed
2. he makes fun of himself
3. it serves as a means of ridiculing the surrounding reality, the mirror in which the foolish features of this reality are reflected.

A fool often combines the traits of a rogue with those of a naive simpleton who does not understand the stupid or deceitful conventions of social reality - customs, laws, beliefs (which is especially important for performing the third function that exposes the surrounding reality). This, apparently, was Margit, as far as one can judge from the extremely scarce evidence and fragments that have come down to us. A wonderful parody of the heroic epic, "The War of Mice and Frogs", also arose very early. This work testifies that already in the 7th-6th centuries BC. The Greeks had a high culture of parody. The subject of ridicule in the "War of Mice and Frogs" is the epic word itself, i.e. genre and style of the archaizing heroic poem. This parody is, therefore, a satire (figurative negation) on the dominant, but already dying style of the era (and such is any genuine parody and travesty). This mockery was not pure mockery, which is why the Greeks could attribute this parody to Homer himself. Finally, there is a strong satirical element in Hesiod's poem "Works and Days" (a satirical depiction of courts, authorities, rural hardships, an inserted satirical fable, etc.). It is characteristic that it is here that the legend of the four centuries is told, reflecting a deeply satirical sense of time, the change of centuries and generations (as valuable worlds) and a deeply satirical condemnation of the present (the famous characteristic of the "Iron Age"); here, the transfer of the “ideal”, the utopian kingdom of goodness, justice and abundance, from the future to the past (“golden age”), characteristic of the mythological worldview in general and for all ancient satire, found its vivid expression.

In the realm of lyricism, the satirical element (figurative negation) defined Greek iambic poetry (Archilochus, Hipponakt). Iambic directly arises from folk-holiday ridicule and disgrace. It combines dialogical appeal, rude abuse, laughter, obscenities, wishes for death, images of old age and decay. Yamb responds to modern reality, to topicality; everyday details are given in it and images of ridiculed people and even an ironic image of the author himself (by Archilochus) appear. In this respect, iambic differs sharply from all other genres of Greek lyrics, with their conventionality and with their high style, which is distracted from modern reality.

Similar combinations of images of reality with parodies and travesty, with obscenities and abuse in the form of an impromptu dialogue or semi-dialogue, also took place in the performances that were given throughout Greece by deikelasts and phallophores (we will learn about them from Athenaeus).

The comedy of Aristophanes is a fully matured powerful socio-political satire. But it also grew out of the same roots of folk-holiday ridicule and slander. Its traditional structure includes a comic folk-holiday agon, a satirical-polemical invective (parabasis); the comedy itself as a whole is to a certain extent a parody of the tragic genre, in addition, its content is replete with travesty and parodies (mainly on Euripides), it is full of swearing and obscenities (associated with the material and bodily productive principle). The subject of ridicule and shame is the present, modernity, with all its topical and topical issues (social, political, general ideological, literary); the figurative denial of this present (modernity) has a pronounced grotesque character: they combine destructive mockery with cheerful motifs of productive power, material and bodily excess, renewal and rebirth; the dying and banishing old is fraught with the new, but this new is not shown in concrete images of reality - it is present only in a cheerful shade of laughter and in images of the material-bodily principle and productive force (obscenity).

Homeland of satire

Rome is usually considered the birthplace of satire.. Quintilian's statement is known: "Satira tota nostra est" "The satire is entirely ours." This is true only in relation to a specific and independent genre of literary satire; the satirical element in folklore and in various general literary genres was sufficiently developed in Greece and had a significant impact on the development of the Roman satirical genre.

The origin of the name is satire

The very name of satire comes from the Latin word "satura", which originally denoted a dish filled with all kinds of sacrificial offerings, then pate, minced meat, and finally, in general, a “mixture” (in this sense, it was also applied to headings relating to several objects). This word was transferred to the literary genre, apparently because it was of a mixed nature, and the influence of the Greek word "satyri" is not excluded (this is admitted by T.Mommsen, M.Schanz, A.Diterich and others). According to Livy, there was a dramatic satura associated with the thecennins (many scholars question its existence). The first to write satire was Nevius (Cn.Naevius, the beginning of his literary activity, apparently, dates back to 235 BC). His satires were, apparently, a dialogical form and reflected political modernity; they also contained personal invectives (against the Metellus). Wrote satire and Ennius (Q.Ennius, 239-169 BC). They also had a dialogic element; this is evidenced by some fragments and references among his satire of the dispute between death and life (i.e., a typical folk-holiday agon). But the true creator of the genre of Roman satire was Lucilius. Numerous fragments and testimonies that have come down to us (including Horace) allow us to create a fairly complete picture of the features of his satire. These are the features:

• the basis of satire is dialogical, the type of dialogue is not plot-dramatic and not philosophical-research, but conversational-colloquial; the author talks himself, makes his characters speak (for example, in book 14, Scipio the Younger acted as the speaker), depicts dialogic scenes (for example, two meetings of the gods in the first book, a lawsuit in the second book);
• satire includes elements of literary parody (for example, on stilted tragic heroization), literary controversy (on issues of style, grammar, spelling; 10 books were devoted to these issues);
• an autobiographical, memoir element is introduced into satire (for example, the third book depicted the author's journey from Rome to the Strait of Sicily);
• the main content of satires is the figurative denial of modernity in its various manifestations (political corruption and corruption, the power of gold, empty ambition, luxury and effeminacy, wealthy plebeians, Greek mania, religious prejudices, etc.), the satirist acutely feels his "age", present, modernity (he does not deal with a single idealized time, like other genres), in its limitations and transience (that which must depart, die, as decaying, spoiled);
• the positive beginning of satire, its “ideal”, is given in the form of an ideal past: this is the old Roman virtue (virtus).

This is how the genre of Roman satire was defined by Lucilius.

The genre of Roman satire was elevated to the highest level of formal artistic perfection by Horace. But the criticism of modernity in the conditions of the August era, in comparison with Lucilius, is weakened and softened.

Horace's satire is a clever system of interlocking conversations: from one conversation we move, get involved, into another, the conversation clings to the conversation, one interlocutor is replaced by another. For example, in the 6th satire of the 1st book, the author first spoke with the Maecenas, but then Tillius (Tillius) intervenes in the conversation, then the word again goes to the Maecenas, then again to Tillius, in the interval we find ourselves on the forum and hear the excited speeches of unnamed persons; in another satire, Chrysippus speaks, then unnamed persons, then the poet's father. From this uninterrupted free-conversational element, individual images of speaking people, characteristic or typical, more or less clearly characterized, constantly appear and disappear again. This conversational dialogue, freed from connection with action (as in drama) and from the constraints of strictly philosophical analysis (as in the classical philosophical dialogue of the Greeks), carries Horace characterological, reflective and depicting functions; sometimes it is given a slight parodic character. The word in this system of interlocking conversations has direct figurative and expressive functions, i.e. depicts, reflects, and at the same time is itself depicted, shown as a characteristic, typical, funny word. In general, the freely colloquial word of the Horatian satire (this also applies to the word in epodes and epistles) is as close as possible to the novel word in its character. Horace himself called his satires (as well as messages) "sermones", i.e. "conversations" (Epist).

The autobiographical, memoir element in Horace is even more developed than in Lucilius. The relations of the author with the Maecenas are depicted in detail. In the 5th satire of the first book, a diary of his journey with Maecenas to Brundisium is given. In the 6th satire of the same book, the image of the author's father appears and his instructions are transmitted.

The satire of Horace is characterized by a keen sense of modernity, and, consequently, a differentiated sense of time in general. It is time, my time, my contemporaries, customs, way of life, events, literature of my time that are the true hero of the Horatian satires; if this hero (my time, modernity, present) is not ridiculed in the full sense, then they talk about him with a smile; they don’t heroize him, they don’t glorify him, they don’t sing (as in odes), they talk about him, talk freely, cheerfully and mockingly. Modernity in Horace's satire is the subject of free-mocking conversations. Saturnalian free laughter in relation to the existing system and the prevailing truth is softened to a smile. But the folk-holiday basis of this satirical perception of modern reality is quite obvious.

The last significant stage in the development of the genre of Roman satire is Juvenal (the poor and abstract satire of the young man Persia did not contribute anything significant). From a formal artistic point of view, Juvenal's satire is a degradation. But at the same time, the folk-festive (folklore) basis of Roman satire is manifested in it much more sharply than in his predecessors.

Juvenal has a new tone in relation to the denied reality (modernity) - indignation (indignatio). He himself recognizes indignation as the main driving force of his satire, its organizer (“facit indignatio versum”). Indignation becomes, as it were, in place of satirical laughter. His satire is therefore called "scourging". In reality, however, indignation is no substitute for laughter. Indignation, rather, is a rhetorical appendage of juvenile satire: its formal structure and images are organized by laughter, although outwardly it does not sound, and outwardly, instead of it, the pathos of indignation sometimes appears. In general, in the satire of Juvenal, the rhetorical pathos of the reciter struggles with the folk-comic satirical tradition. O. Ribbek's attempt to separate the true Juvenalasatirist from the rhetor finds support in this duality (Ribbek recognized the authenticity of only the first nine and eleventh satires, but even in these genuine satires he found distortions introduced by the rhetor's alien hand). Juvenal's satire retains a conversational-dialogical character, although somewhat rhetoric. The feeling of modernity, of the century, exceptionally heightened. He does not understand how one can write long poems with conventional mythological motifs. The corruption of the century is such that "it's hard not to write satire" (the first satire). The figurative denial of modern reality extends from the palace of the emperor (Domitian: 4 satyrs) to small everyday details of Roman life (for example, the morning pastime of a Roman matron in 6 satires). Characteristic is the statement of Juvenal, with which he ends the first satire: "I will try what is permissible against those whom the ashes are covered in Flaminian or Latin." This means that he only attacks the dead, i.e. to the past, to the Domitian age (he wrote under Trajan). This statement has two meanings:

1. In the conditions of imperial Rome (even under the mild regime of Trajan), such a reservation was necessary;
2. Folk-holiday ridicule and shame of the dying, the departing, the old (winter, the old year, the old king) and their traditional freedom are used here by Juvenal.
   In connection with the folk-festive forms of laughter, it is also necessary to understand the obscenities of Juvenal (the traditional connection of laughter and abuse with death, on the one hand, and with the productive generative force and the material and bodily principle, on the other).

Roman satire

This is the genre of Roman satire. This satire absorbed everything that did not find a place in strict and connected high genres: colloquial dialogue, writing, memoirs and autobiographical moments, a direct impression of life itself, but above all and most importantly, living actual modernity. Satire was free from myth and conventions, from high tone and from the system of official assessments - from everything that was mandatory for all other genres. Satire was also free from the impersonal conditional time of high genres. This freedom of the satirical genre and its inherent sense of real time is determined by its connection with folklore laughter and shame. By the way, let us recall the connection with the Saturnalia of Martial's satirical epigrams.

Hellenistic and Roman-Hellenistic "menippean satire" was also determined by folk-festive laughter. It is based on a peculiar combination of ancient dialogic mutual ridicule and mutual shame and ancient comic “argument” (agon), such as “argument between life and death”, “winter and summer”, “old age and youth”, etc., with Cynic philosophy. In addition, comedy and mime had a significant impact on the development of Menippean satire (especially its later forms). Finally, an essential plot element penetrated into this satire, thanks to its combination with the genre of fantastic travels to utopian countries (utopia from time immemorial gravitated towards folk-holiday forms) and with parodies of descents into the underworld and ascents to heaven. Radical popular ridicule of the ruling system and the ruling truth as transient, aging, dying, utopia, images of the material and bodily principle and obscenity (productive power and rebirth), fantastic travels and adventures, philosophical ideas and learning, parodies and travesty (of myths, tragedies, epic, philosophical and rhetorical genres), a mixture of genres and styles, poetry (mainly parodic) and prose, a combination of various types of dialogue with narration and letters - all this determines the composition of the Menippean satire throughout its development - in Menippus, Varro, Seneca, Petronius, Lucian. Moreover, we find all this in the novel by Rabelais and partly in Don Quixote (1605-15). Of particular importance is the broad reflection of ideological reality in the Menippean satire. The formation and change of ideas, the prevailing truth, morality, beliefs in strict genres could not be reflected. These genres assumed a maximum of certainty and stability; there was no place in them for showing the historical relativity of “truth”. Therefore, the Menippean satire could prepare the most important variety of the European novel. But in the conditions of the ancient slave-owning system, devoid of prospects, all the possibilities inherent in this satire could not fully develop.

Medieval satire

The roots of medieval satire are in local folklore. But the influence of the Roman culture of laughter - mime and saturnalia (the tradition of which continued to live in various forms throughout the Middle Ages) was also quite significant. The Middle Ages, with greater or lesser reservations, respected the freedom of the foolish cap and granted quite wide privileges to the folk-festive laughter. "Feasts of Fools" and "Donkey Festivals" were organized by the lower clergy in the churches themselves. A very characteristic phenomenon, the so-called "risus paschalis", i.e. Easter laughter: during Easter, tradition allowed laughter in the church, which was thought of as a cheerful revival after a long fast and despondency; to provoke this laughter, the preacher from the pulpit allowed himself free jokes and anecdotes. "Risus paschalis" is a Christianized (adapted to Christian views) form of folklore laughter and, perhaps, the laughter of saturnalia. A lot of parodic and satirical works of the Middle Ages grew up under the guise of this legalized laughter. Christmas laughter also had a significant satirical productivity. Unlike Easter laughter, it was realized not in stories, but in songs. A huge production of Christmas songs was created, the religious Christmas theme was intertwined in them with folk motifs of the cheerful death of the old and the birth of the new; satirical mockery of the old often dominated these songs, especially in France, where the Christmas carol "Noel" "Noel" became one of the most popular genres of revolutionary street song. And on other holidays of the Middle Ages, laughter and ridicule were to a certain extent legalized and tolerant. The richest parodic literature of the Middle Ages (in Latin and in vernacular languages) was associated with holidays and recreation. Particularly important in their influence were (in the later periods of the Middle Ages) the carnival and the forms of laughter associated with it (the novels of Rabelais and Cervantes have a pronounced carnival character).

The satirical creativity of the Middle Ages was extremely diverse. In addition to the richest parodic literature (which had unconditional satirical significance), the satirical element manifested itself in the following main forms:

1. stupid satire
2. picaresque satire
3. satire of gluttony and drunkenness
4. class satire in the narrow sense
5. satirical sirventa

In addition, the satirical element finds expression in other genres of medieval literature: in church drama, in the epics of spilmans and cantastorii, in the diableries of mysteries, in the second part of the "Romance of the Rose" (Jean de Meun, circa 1275), in morality, soti and farces.

The image of the fool in medieval satire (and Renaissance satire) is of folklore origin. It combines denial with affirmation: its stupidity (simplicity, naivety, disinterestedness, lack of understanding of bad social conventions) turns out to be unofficial wisdom that exposes the prevailing truth (the dominant mind). But next to this, a fool is also a purely negative embodiment of stupidity. But even in this last case, not only he is ridiculed, but the whole reality surrounding him. For example, in one poem of the 12th century “The Mirror of Fools” (“Speculum stultorum”) by Nigellus, her hero, the donkey Brunellus (the usual animal image of a fool), who escaped from the owner, is treated in Salerno, studies theology in Paris (at the Sorbonne), establishes his own monastic order. Everywhere the donkey is in its place. As a result, the medical pedantry of Salerno, the ignorance of the Sorbonne, and the absurdities of monasticism are ridiculed. A large satirical role was played by the dual image of a fool in the soti of the late Middle Ages.

The picaresque satire of the Middle Ages cannot always be sharply separated from the foolish. The image of a rogue and a fool often merge. The rogue is also not so much ridiculed and exposed himself, as serving as a touchstone for the surrounding reality, for those organizations and estates of the medieval world to which he attaches himself or with whom he comes into contact. Such is his role in Striker's Priest Amis (d. 1250), in the animal epic about the Fox (Reinecke the Fox, 13th century), in picaresque fablios and schwanks. A rogue, like a fool, is not an everyday mocker, but a folklore image, a kind of realistic symbol of dual meaning, a satirical mirror for denying the rogue world. The rogue will become a household image only in the later forms of the rogue novel.

Gluttony and drunkenness have the same peculiar character of a realistic symbol in medieval satire. In the folklore, folk-holiday system of images, food and drink were associated with fertility, rebirth, national abundance (the image of a fat belly was also associated with this positive motive). In the conditions of class reality, these images acquire a new meaning: with their help, the greed and parasitism of the clergy are ridiculed, the abundance of food and drink is turned into gluttony and drunkenness. The ancient positive hyperbolism takes on a negative meaning. But this process cannot be completed to the end: the images of food and drink retain a dual meaning, ridicule of gluttony and parasitism is combined with a positive (joyful) accentuation of the material and bodily principle itself. Such is the satire "The Day of a Certain Abbot", which depicts the pastime of the abbot, consisting solely of immeasurable food, drink and cleansing of the stomach in all sorts of ways (with this he begins his day). In another satire "Tractatus Garsiae Tholetani" (11th century), the continuous and immeasurable drunkenness of the entire Roman curia, led by the pope, is depicted. The images of this type of satire are grotesque: they are exaggerated to the extreme, and this exaggeration is both negative (greed and gluttony of parasites) and positive (pathos of material abundance and excess).

Mutual ridicule of estates plays a huge role in medieval satirical creativity. The satirical images of a priest, a monk, a knight, a peasant are somewhat schematized: there is no individual characteristic face behind the estate features (these images really come to life only in the satire of the Renaissance).

All four listed types of satire are associated with folklore. Therefore, the images of negation here are organized by laughter, concrete, ambiguous (negation is combined in them with affirmation, mockery with fun), universalistic, not alien to obscenities, satire is intertwined with parody here. These types of satire found their completion in the late Middle Ages in such folk books as "Eulenspiegel" (14th century), in "The Ship of Fools" (1494) by S. Brant, in the later versions of Reinecke-Fox, in hundreds, farces and short stories. In contrast, the satirical sirvent is not associated with folk laughter, it is based on an abstract political or moral tendency (such, for example, are the sirvents of V. von der Vogelweide, which are distinguished by great artistic merit; this is a genuine lyric of indignation).

The Renaissance is an era of unprecedented flourishing of satire, which created unsurpassed examples of it. A sharp and conscious sense of time, the change of eras in world history, characteristic of the Renaissance, made satire the most important genre of the era. The ridicule and shaming of the old and the joyful meeting of the new - the ancient folk-festive basis of satire - in the Renaissance are filled with concrete and conscious historical content and meaning. The Renaissance era used all forms of medieval satire and parody, forms of ancient satire (especially Menippean - Lucian, Petronius, Seneca) and directly drew from an inexhaustible source of folk-festive laughter forms - carnival, grassroots folk comedy, small speech genres.

The Roman Rabelais is a wonderful synthesis of all the satirical forms of antiquity and the Middle Ages on the basis of the carnival forms of his time. With the help of these forms, with exceptional clarity and depth, he managed to show the death of the old world (“Gothic age”) and the birth of a new one in contemporary reality. All his images are spontaneously dialectical: they reveal the unity of the historical process of formation, in which the new is directly born from the death of the old. His laughter is both mercilessly mocking and jubilant, in his style - an indissoluble combination of praise and scolding (swearing turns into praise and praise into scolding).

Renaissance and satire

The Renaissance is characterized by an organic combination of satire and parody. "Letters of Dark People" (1515-17) is the purest parody, and at the same time it is a wonderful satirical image of the dying Middle Ages. The same organic element is parody in Cervantes' novel. The satire of the Renaissance, like any great and genuine satire, gives the floor to the most ridiculed world. The dying world - the old power, the old system, the old truth - in the person of its representatives continues to subjectively and seriously play its role, but objectively it already finds itself in the position of a jester, its claims cause only laughter. This carnival situation is used by the satire of the Renaissance. It was used by Rabelais in a number of episodes of his novel, used by Cervantes, used by the authors of the Letters of Dark People. It was used by political and Protestant pamphleteers. For example, one of the most remarkable Protestant pamphlets, "On the Differences in Religions" by Marnix de Sainte-Aldegonde (1538-98), was written in the form of a theological treatise (of enormous size) on behalf of an orthodox Catholic enemy of the Protestants. The conventional author, with all his naivety, exposes his religion, defending consistently and to the end all its absurdities and superstitions, he exposes it to ridicule. Thanks to this method of construction, the theological pamphlet of Marnix had an artistic and satirical significance (in particular, it had a decisive influence on Till Ulenspiegel (1867) by S. de Coster). The remarkable political satire of the time of the League "Satire Menippee" is built on the same principle. It is directed against the League. At the beginning, the fairground charlatan advertises the miraculous remedy "vertu catholicon", and then depicts a meeting of the members of the League, who, in their direct and frank speeches, expose themselves and their policies.

Foolish satire found its completion at the highest level of humanistic culture in the "Praise of Stupidity" (1509) by Erasmus, in some Shrovetide games of G. Sachs. Rogue satire - in the early Spanish rogue novel and in the rogue short stories of Cervantes and Grimmelshausen (in all these phenomena, the rogue does not yet become a purely everyday character). The satire of gluttony and drunkenness ends with the German "Grobians" (K. Scheidt, I. Fishart). In all these phenomena of the Renaissance, folk-festive laughter and the images of a fool, a rogue, food and drink, and the productive force associated with it rise to the highest level of ideological consciousness, are filled with historical content, and are used to embody the new historical consciousness of the era.

In the 17th century, satirical creativity sharply impoverishes. The stabilization of the new state system and the new social groups that dominate and determine literary requirements and tastes, the addition of the neoclassical canon - all this pushed satire into the background of literature and changed its character. Laughter lost its radicalism and its universality, it was limited to private phenomena, individual vices and social ranks; laughter and history (historical figures and events), laughter and philosophical thought (worldview) have become incompatible. The main object of imitation was the genre of Roman satire (Horace and Juvenal). Such are the satires of M. Renier and N. Boileau. Elements of renaissance satire (influenced by Rabelais and Cervantes) are found only in the novels of this period: in Sorel and Scarron. Only comedy, fertilized by the powerful and beneficial influence of the commedia dell'arte, which grew out of folk-holiday roots, reached the heights of its satirical development in Molière's work.

The Age of Enlightenment again created fertile ground for the development of satire. Satire becomes radical and universal again; the influence of Horace and Juvenal is replaced by the new influence of Petronius and Lucian. Some forms of the great Renaissance satire come to life. Such are the satirical novels of Voltaire (especially Candide, 1759); misunderstanding of a simpleton or a person of a different culture is used to expose and ridicule the meaningless and dying forms - social, political, ideological - of modern reality. In Voltaire's Micromegas (1752), and especially in Swift's work, forms of grotesque satire (excessive exaggeration, fantasy) come to life, but they undergo significant changes: their positive pole disappears (a cheerful, reviving shade of laughter, the pathos of the material-bodily productive principle). The rationalism and mechanism of the Enlighteners, the non-historical nature of their worldview and the absence of any significant connection with folk laughter did not allow the satire of the Enlightenment to rise to the height of Renaissance satire. Enlightenment pamphlets (especially English - for example, J. Swift, D. Defoe, etc.) were of significant importance, lying on the border of figurative denial and journalism.

English satirical magazines of the 18th century played a rather significant role in the history of the satirical creativity of the New Age. ("Spectator" and "Chatterbox"). They created and consolidated the genres of small magazine satire: dialogic, essay, parodic. This magazine-satirical form of depicting and ridiculing modernity largely repeats, under new conditions, the forms of Horatian satire (conversational dialogue, a mass of emerging and disappearing images of speaking people, mimicking social speech manners, semi-dialogues, letters, a mixture of playful and serious reflections). Created in the 18th century, small forms of magazine satire - with minor changes - continued to live throughout the 19th century (yes, in fact, to this day).

Romantics did not create great satire. Nevertheless, they introduced a number of significant and new features into satirical creativity. Their satire is directed primarily against the cultural and literary phenomena of our time. Such are the literary satirical (and parodic) plays of L. Tick, satirical tales and stories by C. Brentano, A. Chamisso, F. Fouquet, and partly by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Denied reality - predominantly of a cultural and literary order - thickens for romantics in the form of a "philistine"; romantic satire is full of various variations of this image; in the ridicule of the philistine, forms and images of popular festive laughter often appear. The most original and profound form of satire among romantics is a satirical fairy tale. The ridicule of reality here goes beyond the limits of cultural and literary phenomena and rises to a very deep and principled satire on capitalism. Such is Hoffmann's marvelous tale Little Tsakhes (1819) (and in Hoffmann's other fantastic and grotesque works we find elements of deep anti-capitalist satire). French romanticism developed a lyrical satire of the Juvenal type (the best example is “des Chatiments” of “Retribution”, 1853, V. Hugo).

G. Heine was also the heir of romantic satire, but in the field of satirical lyrics he almost manages to make the transition from romanticism to realism (he overcame the superficial tendentiousness of Young Germany), thanks to his focus on the radicalism of the democratic movement of the era and on folk art. Romantic irony, gothic degrading parody, the tradition of the French Revolution and the fighting street song, forms of small journal-satirical (colloquial) genres, Shrovetide laughter are uniquely combined in Heine's wonderful poetic satire.

In France, the folk-song satirical tradition fertilized the satirical lyrics of P.J. Beranger. The same tradition of street satirical song, but combined with the legacy of Roman satire, determined the satirical lyrics of A.O. Barbier (see his Yambs, 1831 and Satires, 1865). The further fate of satire in the 19th century is as follows. Pure satire lived mainly in the forms of small magazine satirical genres. He did not create new large forms of satire of the 19th century. Satire played its creative role in the process of preparing and creating a European novel, which became the main genre depicting modern reality. Elements of figurative denial of this reality play a greater or lesser role in the novel of the 19th century. Sometimes they take the form of humor (for example, in W. Thackeray, in Ch. Dickens); this humor is nothing more than a softened and subjectivized folk-festive laughter (simultaneously derisively destroying and joyfully reviving), which at the same time has lost its elemental dialectic and its radicalism.

Satire in Russia

Ancient Russian literature did not know satirical laughter in the proper sense of the word. The depiction of reality as "insufficiency" in comparison with the religious-philosophical, moral and state ideal in it, unlike Western European literature, was not associated with laughter. The negative attitude of the author to the described subject took the form not of ridicule, but of denunciation, emphatically serious, more often mournful - in the genre of accusatory word, in the annals, historical narrative, hagiography. The mournful tone of the denunciation was based on the traditional Orthodox idea of ​​the sinfulness of laughter. Laughter forms were preserved outside the boundaries of official culture: in oral folklore genres, in wedding and agrarian rites, in the art of buffoons, in the forms of Yuletide (the games of mummers, the rite of "stove action", the game of the dead) and Shrovetide laughter (the earliest mention in the decrees of Vladimirsky Cathedral of 1274, set out in the charter of Metropolitan Cyril II). The essence of the attitude to denunciation and laughter in the Russian medieval world was most fully expressed in the image of the holy fool, and in ancient Russian literature - in the lives of the holy fools. Heroes of life do not laugh; an exception is made for the holy fools. The behavior of the holy fool in outward appearances resembled the behavior of a jester (in Russia foolishness was symbolized by a dog, which in Europe was a sign of a jester), but laughing at him was considered a sin (an episode from the Life of St. Basil the Blessed is typical: those who laughed at his nakedness went blind and were healed by him after repentance in ignorant laughter) weeping over the ridiculous - this is the effect that the holy fool strives for, revealing wisdom under the guise of stupidity, and holiness behind external blasphemy. Russian medieval culture, thanks to the hypocrisy of Ivan the Terrible, knew the clownish rite of crowning and dethroning, however, even he did not assume a universal, freeing from fear, laughter. Feigned self-abasement was characteristic of both the life and literary behavior of the Terrible (for example, the use of the clownish pseudonym "Parthenius the Ugly" in the "Message against the Luthors", 1572). His writings are characterized by an alternation of high style with vernacular, turning into abuse; curses constitute a stable lexical group in his language (“Messages to Kurbsky”, 1564, 1577; “Messages to Polubensky”, 1577). Grozny's "mortifying" laughter accompanied the executions: in a joking manner, he asks the clownish Tsar Simeon to "sort out the little people."

Actually comic satire begins to take shape in Russia in the 17th century . Under Peter I, the traditional ban on laughter and fun is gradually being lifted. Laughter holidays, masquerades, foolish processions, jester's weddings appear (the collegium of drunkenness and Peter the Great's "crazy, all-joking and all-drunk cathedral", which ordered to do everything the other way around; the wedding of the jester Turgenev, 1695, a five-day masquerade in 1722, for which Peter himself composed programs and regulations) , Maslenitsa and Paschal laughter are legitimized, while the holy fools are declared "idly raging." Of the satirical genres, the satirical story, parodic tales, alphabet books and petitions stand out (“The Tale of Ersh Ershovich”, “The Tale of Shemyakin Court”, “The Tale of the Hawk Moth”, “The ABC of the Naked and Poor Man”, “Service to the Tavern”, “ Kalyazinskaya Petition”, “The Legend of Priest Sava”). Satirical stories of the 17th century were influenced by medieval Latin parodies and facets, as well as oral comic genres (the art of buffoons, farcical grandfathers). Plots of laughter holidays and satirical literature of the 17th-18th centuries were imprinted in popular popular prints (“Moscow Maslenitsa”, “How mice bury a cat”, “The Tale of Ersh Yershovich”), which retained their influence until Pushkin’s time. In addition to the prevailing current of the so-called "democratic satire", in the 17th century there were known examples of serious moralizing satire created by Latin humanists ("Multicolored Vertograd", 1678, by Simeon of Polotsk). Satirical laughter acquired special forms in the religious struggle. An unsurpassed example of religious "gentle laughter" is "The Life of Archpriest Avvakum" (1672-75). His most tragic scenes take the form of buffoonery buffoonery (martyrdom is depicted as an everyday scene, and martyrs as insignificant insects). In the 18th century, Russian satire experienced its heyday. In terms of genre, satirical creativity was extremely diverse: a satirical poetic message, an epigram, a fable, a comedy, a satirical epitaph, parodic stanza-song forms, and satirical journalism. The 18th century created Russian poetic satire, oriented towards classical European models, and developed the theory of satire. Views on the nature of satirical denunciation and the purpose of satire were formed under the influence of the "Poetic Art" (1674) by N. Boileau, transferred to Russian soil by A.P. Sumarokov, fed by the writings of L. Holberg, G.V. Rabener, the tradition of popular English moralizing magazines R .Style and J.Addison. The satirical opposition of reality to the ideal was interpreted in the poetics of the 18th century in accordance with the canon of the Enlightenment as the opposition of the enlightened to the barbaric, the ordered to the chaotic, the trained to the wild, the rational to the senseless. The dominant intonation of 18th century satire was "scourging satire". Following Boileau, who proclaimed in his Discourse on Satire (1668) the right to denounce mediocre authors, Russian satire becomes a means of literary struggle.

The creator of satire as a small poetic genre focused on ancient (Horace, Juvenal) and neoclassical (Boileau) examples in Russia was A.D. Kantemir (1707-44). He wrote eight satires, in a handwritten collection (1743) provided with extensive notes and a general epigraph from Boileau's Poetic Art. Russian poetic satire, following Cantemir, mastered the basic techniques of Boileau's satires, which by that time were considered an absolute achievement: the form of a message with a characteristic appeal to the interlocutor, imitation of oral speech, and the dialogic form of constructing a text. Cantemir created not only a genre, but also a style of poetic satire, which became a reaction to the "unpleasant monotony" of the old syllabotonics. Imitating Latin verse, he developed a new poetic syntax, making extensive use of inversions and transfers; trying to bring the verse closer to a "simple conversation", he introduced colloquial speeches, proverbs and sayings. The new Russian literature adopted the genre created by Kantemir, but not his style. The genre of poetic satire acquired its canonical form in the work of Sumarokov. Theoretical views on the purpose of satire and its place in the hierarchy of genres of classicism are set forth by him in "two epistles": "On the Russian language" and "On poetry" (both 1747). His book "Satires" (1774) includes 10 invectives, each of which touches on one, indicated in the title, moral, philosophical or literary problem ("IV. About bad rhymers", "V. About bad judges", "VII. About honesty"). Sumarokov significantly enhances the comic beginning of satire, using parodies of high genres. The style of his satire approaches the epigram and pamphlet. Of the poetic sizes, he prefers iambic 6-foot, by analogy with the “Alexandrian verse” of French classic satire. After Kantemir and Sumarokov, a purposeful appeal to the genre of poetic satire is carried out in the work of I.I. Khemnitser (1745-84), who entered the history of literature as the author of fables, but also wrote satire (“Satire I. On bad judges”, “Satire II On the poor state of service ... "," Satire on bows "," Satire to himself "; during his lifetime they were not published). Since the late 1760s, poetic satire has been losing its former role, giving way to magazine, mostly prose, satire.

The tradition of satirical journalism in Russia was established by Sumarokov's The Hardworking Bee (1759), continued by publications of M.M. hers fell on 1769-74. In 1769, eight magazines appeared at once: “Vssakaaya sluchachina” by G.V. Kozitsky, “And this and that” by M.D. Chulkov, “Useful with pleasant” by I.F. Rumyantsev and I.A. L.I. Sichkareva, “Drone” by N.I. Novikov, “Infernal Mail” by F.A. Emin, “Neither this nor that” by V.G. In 1770-74, new satirical publications appeared, among which Novikov's magazines "Pustomel" (1770), "Painter" (mid-1772 - mid-73), "Purse" (1774) stood out. The satirical journals of 1769-74 had an impact on the later work of D.I. By the end of the 18th century, satire as a small poetic genre and a short magazine invective moved to the periphery of the genre system. The boundaries of the concept of "satire" are gradually blurring; now it means not only the genre, but also a certain, accusatory, attitude of the author to the subject of the image, regardless of the genre orientation of the work (“satirical novel”, “satirical fable”, “satirical comedy”). With the penetration of the satirical tone into the dramatic and narrative genres (comedy, story, novel, travel), there is a transition to new boundaries of satire and satire, which finally ended in the 19th century. An example of satire in the broadest sense, which entered not only the history of literature, but also its living treasury, was Fonvizin's comedy "Undergrowth" (1782). All of Fonvizin's work was associated with satire: the satirical fable "Fox-Kaznodey" (1761), translation (1761) of L. Holberg's "Fable of the Preachers", "Message to my servants Shumilov, Vanka and Petrushka" (mid-1760s), comedy "Brigadier" (1769), the satirical cycle "Letters to Falaley" (1772). In The Undergrowth, he created a classic form of parenting comedy. Fonvizin's predecessor was Sumarokov, who created the first samples of satirical comedy, which were small farcical scenes united by a simple plot, usually dating back to the Italian comedy of masks. In the 18th century, the process of fictionalization of satire began (the work of the early Krylov). Krylov entered the history of literature as a fabulist, but began as the author of a comic opera (The Coffee House, 1783), and then satirical works in the journals he published Spirit Mail (1789), The Spectator (1792, together with A. I. Klushin, P.A. Plavilytsikov and I.A. Dmitrevsky) and "St. Petersburg Mercury" (1793, together with Klushin). Around 1798-1800, he created the "joke tragedy" "Podchipa, or Triumph", a grotesque parody of high tragedy with a characteristic mixture of book style with vernacular and elements of macaronic style (see Macaronic poetry). At the end of the 18th century, political satire began to take shape (“Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” by A.N. Radishchev, 1790, anonymously).

In the 19th century, the history of satire splits into two independent lines: the history of satire as a genre and the history of satire as a certain, mainly negative attitude towards the depicted. The line of poetic satire gradually fades; its most notable examples are born in the context of literary controversy and have a distinctly parodic character (M.A. Dmitriev’s satires, in which, according to Gogol, “Juvenal’s bile was combined with some special Slavic good nature.” - “What, finally, , the essence of Russian poetry and what is its peculiarity”, 1846). Journal satire is gradually moving closer to the feuilleton, and by the end of the century it is being replaced by it. Elements of satire penetrate the works of various genres, especially intensively in the novel and drama; satirical attitude to the depicted reality becomes one of the main tools of the so-called literature of critical realism. However, the actual satirical laughter in the 19th century is reduced and is difficult to separate from other forms of comic, irony and humor (the work of A.P. Chekhov).

19th century satire in Russia

The most striking examples of satire in the 19th century are presented in the works of A.S. Griboyedov, N.V. Gogol, A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, N.A. Nekrasov. The writer, in whose work the satirical vision of the world absolutely prevailed, was M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The satirical beginning in Gogol's works "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka" (1831-32), "Mirgorod" (1835), "The Nose" (1836), "The Government Inspector" (1836), "Dead Souls" (1842) is connected both with the European satirical tradition (the influence of L. Stern and M. de Cervantes; the use of comic dialogues, elements of stupid and picaresque satire), and with folklore roots (ritual laughter, forms of folk satirical comedy: plots of farce actions, alogisms and absurdities of farce barkers). In the poems and poems of Nekrasov, the tradition of European song S. (P.J. Beranger, A.O. Barbier) is crossed with the national folk satirical tradition. In his poems, the method of satirical self-exposure of the depicted reality is most often used (“The Usurer”, 1844; “The Moral Man”, 1847). From the point of view of satirical technique, the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” (1863-77) is noteworthy: it uses the traditional satirical “dispute” as a plot, framing plots are introduced into the main part, and in the finale a utopian image of future national happiness is created. A satirical attitude to reality permeates all the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin: "fairy tales", novels, short stories, essays, literary criticism. Grotesque, fantasy, self-disclosure of reality, satirical dialogues reach the pinnacle of their development with him. His first essay satire "Provincial Essays" (1856-57) ends with a funeral procession seeing off "past times". The very essence of the satirical attitude to time was expressed in the image of the funeral of the past: for the satirist, the present is completely decomposed into the past, which is “buried”, ridiculed, and the future, which is hoped for. Along with comic satire (“Tales”, 1882-86; “History of a City”, 1869-70), Saltykov-Shchedrin also has a serious satire (“Lord Golovlev”, 1875-80). The tradition of satirical journalism in the 19th century was continued by the newspaper of A.I. Herzen and N.P. 1864 together with N.A. Stepanov), "Whistle" (1859-63), a satirical supplement by N.A. Dobrolyubov and Nekrasov to Sovremennik.

Russian satire of the 20th century

The most notable phenomena of satire of the 20th century: satirical lyrics and plays by V.V. Mayakovsky, prose by M.A. Bulgakov, M.M. Zoshchenko, I. Ilf and E. Petrov, dramatic tales by E.L. The satire of the Soviet period is recognized by the sphere of ideology; according to the direction and nature of the denial, it breaks up into “external”, denouncing capitalist reality (“Black and White”, 1926, Mayakovsky), and “internal”, in which the denial of particular flaws is combined with a general affirmative principle. In parallel with official satire, there are humorous folklore genres (jokes, ditties) and satirical literature not allowed for publication. The unofficial satire is dominated by the grotesque, fantasy, the utopian and / or dystopian element is highly developed (Bulgakov’s satirical utopias Heart of a Dog, 1925; Fatal Eggs, 1925, continuing Gogol’s and Shchedrin’s traditions; E.I. Zamyatin’s anti-utopia We, 1920).

In the satirical work of the writers of the first Russian emigration (A.T. Averchenko, Sasha Cherny, V.I. Goryansky), the genres of satirical story and feuilleton prevail. Relaunched in 1931 in the Parisian magazine Satyricon, a satire is presented on Soviet reality (Observations of an Foreign Tourist by Sasha Cherny) and on the mores of emigration (a series of cartoons “To Understand the Meaning of Russian Emigration”). The satirical beginning is present in the work of N.N. Evreinov (parody plays "The Evolution of Russian Drama", 1934; "Kozma Prutkov", 1935) and is an integral part of his theater theory.

The word satire comes from the Latin satira satura, which means mixture.

Satire(from the Greek. satura - different, mixture) - works of art of various kinds and types (novel, story, story, play, poem), in which vicious phenomena of public and personal life are angrily condemned and sharply ridiculed.

“Satire should be understood not as the innocent sneer of merry wits, but as a thunder of indignation, a thunderstorm of the spirit offended by the shame of society ...” (V. G. Belinsky).

In a satirical depiction, the writer truthfully shows the negative aspects of life phenomena, often in a deliberately emphasized, exaggeratedly comical, sometimes grotesque form, due to which their inconsistency with the high goal of human life, their inadmissibility in life, becomes clearer.

Thus, satirical images evoke indignation and disgust towards the depicted negative, from the point of view of the artist, phenomena of life, calling for a fight against them.

The satirical works of the French writer François Rabelais (16th century) and the English writer Jonathan Swift (18th century) are known, exposing the feudal system, the clergy, and the hypocrisy of the ruling classes.

The works of N. V. Gogol (“Dead Souls”, “Inspector General”), M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (“History of a City”, “Tales”, etc.) were satires on the royal system, feudal and bourgeois society.

Satire in the narrow sense of the word is called accusatory poems. Such satires were written by the ancient Roman poets Horace, Juvenal.

In Russian poetry, satire poems by A. S. Pushkin (“On the recovery of Lucullus”, etc.), M. Yu. Lermontov (“First of January”, “Duma”, etc.), N. A. Nekrasov (“Knight for an hour”, “Reflections at the front door”, etc.).

In Soviet literature, V. V. Mayakovsky’s “terrible laughter” reached great accusatory power, as the poet called his satirical poems directed against the enemies of the Soviet system, the American imperialists and the bourgeois West, as well as the remnants of capitalism in the minds of Soviet people.

Satire is of great importance in Soviet literature and in our days - in a socialist society where the exploiting classes have been eliminated, but the struggle of the new against the obsolete old, with the influence of bourgeois ideology, with the remnants of capitalism in the minds of people and everyday life, with a dishonest attitude to their social duties, continues. to state property, to labor.

"FROM": Saga, Sarcasm, Satire, Free verse, Sextine, Sentimentalism, Syllabic versification, Syllabo-tonic versification, Symbol, Symbolism, Simploc, Synecdoche, Synonym, Situation,

SATIRE- kind of comic ( see "Aesthetics"), which differs from other types (humor, irony) by the sharpness of the denunciation. Satire at its inception was a certain lyrical genre. It was a poem, often significant in volume, the content of which contained a mockery of certain persons or events. Satire as a genre originated in Roman literature. The very word "satire" comes from the Latin name of mythical creatures, mocking demigods, half animals - satyrs. Philologically, it is also connected with the word satura, which in the common people meant a dish of hodgepodge, which indicated a mixture of different sizes (Saturn verse, along with Greek sizes) and the presence in satire of a wide variety of descriptions of various facts and phenomena, unlike other lyrical genres that had strictly limited and defined area of ​​the image. Roman satire gave its highest examples in the works of Horace, Persius, and especially Juvenal.

Over time, satire has lost its significance as a certain genre, as happened with other classical genres (elegy, idyllic, etc.). Incriminating mockery has become the main feature of satire, defining its main essence. Satire fulfilled this purpose with the help of various literary forms and genres. True, whenever the forms of ancient literature were revived in literature, the old genre satire was also partially revived. So it was, for example. in Russian literature of the second half of the 18th century, when the classical form of S. was used by Kantemir, Sumarokov, and others. But at the same time, satirical comedy and satirical magazines with their feuilletons, cartoons, stories, and others also existed.

Comic is at the heart of satire, regardless of genre. Laughter is always a huge means of social influence. “... In all morality there is no medicine more real, more powerful than exposing the seemingly ridiculous” ( Lessing, Hamburg Dramaturgy, Sobr. sochin., vol. V, p. 76, ed. Wolf, 1904).

"Wild Landowner", M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin

The social functions of the comic determine its form: humorous, satirical and ironic. The social function of laughter and satire lies in the effective struggle against the comically depicted object. This is the difference between satire and humor and irony. It differs from all forms of comic satire by its activity, strong-willed orientation and purposefulness. Laughter always contains negation. Along with laughter in satire, therefore, indignation and indignation are no less strong. Sometimes they are so strong that they almost drown out the funny, push it into the background. The weakness of the comic element in satire gave rise to some researchers to argue that satire can completely do without comic tricks, that it can expose the insignificant and hostile only by its indignation. But indignation in itself, with the greatest strength and tension, does not create satire. So, Lermontov's "Duma" and "On the Death of Pushkin" with all their pathos of protest and indignation are not satra. Elements of laughter and indignation can be combined in different ways in satire. But satire cannot be built outside the comic. Denying the comic as a necessary method of constructing satire, we will come to identify satire with criticism, with negation in general. The exposure of the Russian autocracy and bureaucracy can be expressed in terms of satire (Saltykov-Shchedrin) and in terms of direct criticism and denial (L. N. Tolstoy). Mayakovsky satirically denounced the philistinism and the bourgeoisie, Gorky also denounced the philistinism and the bourgeoisie, but in terms of direct denial.

The specificity of satire is not that it reveals negative, harmful or shameful phenomena, but that it always does this by means of a special comic law, where indignation is unity with comic exposure, the exposed is shown as normal, in order to then discover through the ridiculous that this is the norm - only an appearance that obscures evil. This is confirmed by the whole history of satire. It is enough to name such names as Rabelais, Beaumarchais, Voltaire, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin. Therefore, the classical division of satire into "laughing" and "pathetic", which Schiller makes in his article "On Naive and Sentimental Comedy", has no sufficient basis.

Satire on the enemy is, firstly, a denial of the entire socio-political system. This type of satire was created by the world's greatest satirists, who in different eras gave brilliant examples of criticism and denial of the social reality of their era. Rabelais, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin - each with their own individual characteristics created this particular type of satire.

In the history of satire, we repeatedly meet with the second type of satire, when the satirist calls for the correction of individual vices, and not for the destruction of the system that gave rise to these vices. This satire is directed mostly at life, customs, cultural skills and customs. Molière criticized his rising class. The image of "The Tradesman in the Nobility", which covers a number of similar Molière images ("Georges Danden", "Funny Cossacks") is constructed in such a way that, for all its shortcomings, it is funny, but not negative. The shortcomings of these characters must be dealt with, but they can be corrected. In the same plan, Figaro is given by Beaumarchais. The comedy associated with this image does not lead to its denial. Such is Fonvizin, who sought to put forward the ignorant patriarchal nobility in place - a Europeanized, cultural nobility.

The main types of satire differ not only in their material and the nature of the writer's attitude to this material. One can observe completely different forms of constructing satire. Bourgeois aesthetics and the history of literature have repeatedly spoken about the tendentiousness of satire, about the fact that satire is a semi-artistic, semi-journalistic genre. Satire is “a borderline type of work of art”, because in it “visual-contemplative liveliness” is combined with “non-aesthetic goals” ( Jonas Cohn, General Aesthetics). Unfortunately, such views also penetrated into our Soviet criticism (see the preface to the Satira collection in the Academia publishing house, Piksanova's article in the Saltykov-Shchedrin state literary publishing house, where a misunderstanding of the specifics of the form turns a great satirist into a talented essayist) .

Meanwhile, the forms of satirical works are extremely peculiar. We should talk not only about the degree of artistry of satire, but also about its artistic originality.

If we turn to the type of satire that is built on the denial of the social system, we will see that the work of the great satirists - Rabelais, Swift, Saltykov-Shchedrin - separated from each other by time and space, so different in their socio-political genesis, represents a great closeness of form. The main feature of this type of satire is that everything depicted in it is given in terms of complete negation. The positive ideological attitudes of the author, in the name of which this denial takes place, are not given in the work itself. Their essence is clear from the comic revelation of the insignificance of what is depicted. Hence the often encountered vulgar assertion that satirists of this type do not have a positive ideal.

Such satire is usually built on grotesque hyperbolism, which turns reality into fantasy. Rabelais tells about extraordinary giants, about the colossal accessories of their life, about their fantastic adventures, about sausages and sausages coming to life, about pilgrims traveling in the mouth of Gargantua. Swift fantastically shifts all human concepts, confronting his hero in turn with midgets and giants, talks about a flying island, etc. Saltykov-Shchedrin portrays the mayor with a clockwork mechanism in his head, always uttering the same two phrases, etc.

Often they tried to find explanations for hyperbolism and fantasy in the need for the writer to speak Aesopian language. But of course this is not the main thing. Strengthening the comic to the degree of the grotesque, giving it the form of an incredible, fantastic, the satirist thereby reveals its absurdity, its uncertainty, its contradiction with reality.

The realistic-grotesque fantasy of satirists, as the basis of their style, determines a number of separate techniques. The most important of these are that the fantastic is given with an exact and very extensive enumeration of naturalistic details (Rabelais) or even an exact measurement of its dimensions (Swift).

The desire for a comprehensive realistic critique of the social system determined the very genre of this type of satire. The great satirical writers, who used their talent to expose a hostile socio-political system, made the novel their main genre. The form of the novel made it possible to cover a wide range of reality. At the same time, the usual form of the novel, in connection with its satirical function, received its own characteristics as a form of a satirical novel. A satirical novel is not bound by a specific plot. The plot here is just a canvas on which everything that serves to depict and expose one or another side of life is strung. The satirist does not limit himself to the number of actors, just as he is not obliged to follow their fate to the end.

This determines the special construction of character images and their significance in the overall composition of this kind of satirical work. Not understanding this originality, Hornfeld, for example. believes that “a type in satire is not so much a living poetic image as a schematic image, devoid of individualizing details that give such vitality and charm to the creations of humor ... a mighty preponderance of social and ethical interests over aesthetic ones makes him (satirist - S. N.) lyrics and suppresses in him the creator of objective types.

There is a clear misunderstanding of the methods of satire here. The satirist, no less than any other artist, is capable of artistic embodiment of the reality he reflects. It is enough to recall the images of the Epicurean philosopher Panurge in Rabelais or Judas Golovlev in Saltykov-Shchedrin. But this individualization and typification is achieved by other means than in humor - not through the psychological development of the image, but through large generalizations on which satire is built and which make it possible in each character, taken in a very small period of place and time, to catch the socially typical . But that is precisely why the socially typical does not become a scheme, it is embodied in artistically convincing individualized life images.

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The absence of a solid plot allows the satirist not to be constrained by the requirements for the development of a single action, because the compositional movement of satire is determined by the requirements of the location of the system of criticism that the author seeks to give in his satire, and not by the requirements of the compositional development of a single plot intrigue. This is not taken into account by theorists who, not understanding the originality of the satirical form, speak of the compositional precariousness and vagueness of satire as one of its main sins against artistry. The universalism of criticism in a satirical novel determines the need to use the most diverse material. The satirical novel uses comic characters, situations, dialogues and words in equal measure. This is the difference between this type of satire and other types.

This huge, mostly nameless satirical literature or the literature of forgotten writers, extremely diverse in different countries, depending on the specific conditions of the struggle of the emerging young bourgeoisie, the self-conscious third estate, is crowned in France with a brilliant grotesque Rabelais (cm.) "Gargantua and Pantagruel" - a genuine satirical encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. But as the first round of the struggles of the young bourgeoisie against feudalism ended, as Catholic reaction triumphed and feudalism, after a series of there was only criticism of the particular shortcomings of the system (Scarron's Comic Novel, 1651; Grimmelshausen's Simplicissimus, 1668, etc.). This satire opposes imitation of the foreign, against the oblivion of the German foundations of life (Lauremberg, 1590-1658; Mosheros, 1601-1669), against the savagery and coarsening of morals brought by the Thirty Years' War (Grimmelshausen, Mosheros). The revival of the classical form of Roman satire as a lyric poem (Rachel) dates back to this time, which in French literature flourished by the end of the 16th century. ( Vire, "Satyres chrestiennes de la cuisine", du Verdier, "Les omonymes, satire contre les mœur corrompues de ce siècle").

The satire of negation again begins to loudly declare itself when the third estate in the 18th century. began to prepare for a decisive battle with feudalism.

Of course, even in the era of the triumph of Catholic reaction and absolutism, the third estate did not abandon the weapon of satire. Suffice it to recall Molière, the first classic of the French bourgeoisie, who created such masterpieces of satire as "Tartuffe" and "The Philistine in the Nobility."

However, the flourishing of bourgeois satire occurs only in the 18th century. Satire also captured adjacent ideological areas, penetrating into journalism and sociology. So, for Montesquieu, his "Persian Letters" were a form of political exposure of the arbitrariness and lawlessness of French absolutism and opposing it to the English system of parliamentary power. Bourgeois Enlightenment of the 18th century. because it used satire so widely that the task of the Enlightenment was to fight the feudal system in the name of the triumph of the bourgeois. It is quite natural that the classic of the French S. XVIII century. became one of the greatest enlighteners of France - Voltaire (cm.). His "Virgin of Orleans", his "Candide", his pamphlets are masterpieces of satirical denial and explosion of all the shrines of feudal Catholic society, ridicule of the foundations on which this society has rested for centuries. Satire crushing exposure of the church merged another central motif of Voltaire's satire - the struggle against the arbitrariness of the absolute monarchy. Voltaire was the highest expression of the satirical denial of the feudal world among the French Enlightenment. But his arrival was prepared and continued by numerous satirists, forgotten or unknown. The masterpieces of French satire are Rameau's Nephew Diderot (cm.) and trilogy Beaumarchais (cm.).

The influence of the extremely strong and politically pointed French satire was reflected in the satire of the Enlightenment in Germany. But these are only echoes of the strong political excitement of the neighboring country. German absolutism was strong, but the German bourgeoisie was only in its infancy and did not muster its forces to fight against it. Therefore, German satire, devoid of political sharpness, acquires a moralizing, moralizing character. It is directed against a false lawyer, an insignificant scientist, against the striving of the middle class for titles. Its best representatives are Lichtenberg, Rabener and Liskov.

In the same era, satire flourished in England. But in England, satire was associated with the struggle of the aristocracy against firmly established bourgeois relations. Already in the second half of the XVII century. Dryden acted as an ardent defender of the aristocracy and a denunciator of bourgeois narrow-mindedness and bourgeois virtue. Along with a satire on the life and customs of the bourgeoisie, he gives sharply satirical sketches of the political opponents of the aristocracy. The most significant monuments of English satire in the XVIII century. created by aristocratic writers: Pop (cm.),swift (cm.sheridan (cm.) "School of slander". Gulliver's Travels is a masterpiece of English satire. Swift's satire has little to do with religion, which is the main target for the satire of the French Enlightenment. The aristocratic nature of satire is sharply manifested in the desire to humiliate and ridicule all legislators and social reformers who thought "to teach monarchs the knowledge of their true interests, which are based on the interests of their peoples." Swift's skepticism about the possible transformations of social reality is associated with his deepest misanthropy. His criticism was supposed to reveal not only the relativity of all human institutions, but also the relativity of the human personality itself. But the positive value of Swift's satire is in the artistic sharpness of its anti-bourgeois character.

The anti-bourgeois satirical line continued in English literature Byron (cm.). Satiric motifs distinguished themselves in his work with exceptional sharpness, aimed both at exposing the deceit and holiness of the aristocracy, and the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of the bourgeoisie.

Satire faded after the French bourgeois revolution of the late 18th century, when the problems of destroying the feudal system hostile to the bourgeois order were basically resolved. We now find strong elements of satire only in the work of opposition democratic writers, primarily in beranger (cm.). Cowardice and betrayal of the bourgeoisie after the July days exposed Barbier (cm.) in his "Yambas" and "Satires", V. Hugo (cm.) in his political lyrics (in "Châtiments"). The most striking manifestation of the satire of the XIX century. is political lyrics Heine, (cm.), directed against feudalism that has not been eliminated in Germany, against the cowardly German bourgeoisie (“The Winter's Tale”), the defense of satire in lyric poetry also by Herweg and Freiligrath.

Bourgeois satire by the end of the 19th century. gradually turns into skepticism and irony. Here it sometimes reaches great acuteness (A. France, Jean Giraudoux, and many others), but never again plays such a huge world-historical role as it played in the days when it was imbued with the pathos of the struggle against the feudal order. We find strong elements of satire towards the end of the 19th century and at the beginning. XX centuries in English literature Bernard Shaw (cm.). His satire. directed against capitalism, the clergy, the bourgeoisie. But the half-hearted nature of their rejection of the bourgeois system deprives them of that revolutionary boldness, without which their satire turns into only talented wit.

Russian satire is poorer than Western European. In the West, satire developed during the centuries-long struggle of the third estate with the old order. In Russia, satire, indignant and scourging, reaches its heights when the ideologists of revolutionary democracy (Saltykov-Shchedrin, Nekrasov) appeared on the stage of Russian history.

In previous eras, satire also more than once became the dominant genre in Russian literature - let us recall the heyday of Russian satire in the second half of the 18th century. But this satire, in the extremely apt expression of Dobrolyubov, "tried to reduce, not to exterminate evil." Not to mention the abundant satirical journalism in which the ruling elites were directly involved (“There were also fables”, “All sorts of things”, “This and that”, “Neither this nor that”, “Day work”, “Useful with pleasant ”, “Mixture”, “Drone”), even Novikov’s publications (“Parnassian Scribbler”, “Evenings”, “Painter”, “Purse”), satires by Kantemir, Sumarokov, Fonvizin’s comedies passed over in silence such egregious phenomena as, for example, serfdom right. A sharp contrast to satire of this type are the satirical exposés of Radishchev's Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow.

Griboyedov (cm.) in his comedy branded the Molchalins and the Skalozubs. Gogol satirically showed the "dead souls" of landlord Russia. And contrary to Gogol's subjective tendencies, his satire had a profoundly revolutionary significance. The gentry (Griboyedov, Gogol), which objectively played a huge revolutionary role, was replaced by revolutionary democratic satire, containing a resolute denial of the feudal-serf, tsarist-bureaucratic system, no less resolute criticism of predatory Russian capitalism and the cowardice of the liberal bourgeoisie. This satire is fundamentally different from the noble satire, which came not from denial, but from self-criticism. Gogol, for example. strove all his life to create positive images and was dissatisfied with his comic characters. Saltykov (cm.) in them he found the deepest expression of his ideological and artistic ideas. Saltykov gives complete decomposition, comprehensively shows the worthlessness, and most importantly, the harmfulness of his Judas Golovlev. His best works - the brilliant grotesques "Lord Golovlev", "The History of a City" and "Pompadours and Pompadours" - are extraordinary in their strength and accuracy of exposing autocracy, bureaucratic stupidity and stupidity, feudal barbarism and tyranny, liberal complacency. In the immortal image of Judas Golovlev, Shchedrin gave a great symbol of the degeneration of the entire system.

We also find strong satirical elements in the work of the great poet of revolutionary democracy Nekrasov (cm.) (“Reflections at the front door”, “Poor and elegant”, “Contemporaries”, etc.). Against the new enemy of the working people, predatory capital and the kulaks, the satire is directed Ch. Uspensky (cm.) (“Morals of Rasteryaeva Street”). A new flowering of satire after the years of reaction is associated with the revolution of 1905. During the years 1905-1908, a huge number of satirical magazines appeared, mostly liberal-democratic. But in the same years, proletarian satire was already being created, satirical workers' magazines, the direct successor of which was the initiator of proletarian satire Demyan Bedny, and S. Bolshevik newspapers Zvezda and Pravda. Proletarian satire reaches its heights in the work of M. Gorky.

Soviet proletarian satire differs from the satire of the capitalist classes not only in its subject matter. It represents significant qualitative modifications. In a proprietary society, satire was either a denial of the entire social system as a whole or a criticism of certain aspects of this system. Soviet satire is directed primarily against class-hostile reality, against its direct class enemy, who opposes the Soviet socialist system. When Soviet satire is directed at the shortcomings of its class reality, it reveals these shortcomings as alien class stratifications, as the result of a different, hostile social system, for these shortcomings are not created by the socialist society that is being built, but by the inexhaustible consciousness of the owner. M. Koltsov sharply formulates the meaning of Soviet satire: “Is satire possible, the nature of which is dissatisfaction with the existing, an angry or bilious attitude towards the existing reality in a country where there is no exploitation and where socialism is being built? Yes, it is possible. With the blade of satire, the Soviet writer fights against the baseness of sycophancy, ignorance and stupidity.

"Twelve Chairs", Ilf and Petrov

The working class is the last in the history of classes, and it will be the last to laugh” (Speech at the International Congress of Writers). Proletarian satire is aimed not only at criticizing its shortcomings. It exposes, above all, the hostile capitalist system. It is only from proletarian positions that a true satire on the capitalist system is now possible. The bourgeois satirist does not know the recipes for improving and correcting his system and cannot reconcile himself to its complete rejection. This makes his satire half-hearted, deprives it of sharpness and effectiveness. Only by going over to proletarian positions can he give a comprehensive satirical critique. Soviet satire is busy exposing shortcomings in its own ranks. On this path, she managed to conquer a number of very diverse genres: satire fables by D. Poor, Mayakovsky’s satires, short stories by Zoshchenko and great satirical novels by Ilf and Petrov, essays and feuilletons by M. Koltsov, comedies by Bezymensky (“The Shot”), Kirshon (“ A wonderful alloy"), Konstantin Finn. This introduction of satire into almost all genres, this variety of satirical forms, in itself proves how necessary and relevant Soviet satire is.

Bibliography:Theory:Lehmann R., Satire und Humor, in his book. "Poetik", 2 Aufl., München, 1919; Wiegand J., Satire; Rehm W., Satirischer Roman, in Vol. Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturgeschichte, Bd. III, Berlin, 1928-1929. General works:Hannay J.,

Lectures on satire and satirists, L., 1854; Soldini E., Breve storia della satira, Cremona, 1891; Schneegans H., Geschichte der grotesken Satire, Strassb., 1894. antique satire:Fraenkel E., Das Reifen der horazischen Satire, on Sat. "Festschrift für R. Reitzenstein", Lpz., 1931. Italian satire:Cian V., La satira italiana, Milano, 1924. English satire:Cranstone G., ed., Satirical poems of the time of Reformation, 2 vv., Edinb., 1891-1833 (texts); Alden R. M., The rise of formal satire in England under classical influence, Philadelphia, 1899; hazlitt W., Lectures on the English comic writers, L., 1900; Tucker S. M., Verse satire in England before the Renaissance, N. Y., 1909; Previté-Orton C. W., Political satire in English poetry, N. Y., 1910; Russell F. T., Satire in the Victorian novel, N. Y., 1920; walker H., English satire and satirists, L., 1925; Cazamian L., The development of English humor, N. Y., 1930. German satire:Flogel K. F., Geschichte des Grotesk-Komischen, neubearb. v. F. W. Ebeling, Lpz., 1862; Same, neubearb. v. M. Bauer, 2 Bde, Munich, 1914; ebeling F. W., Geschichte der komischen Literatur in Deutschland seit der Mitte des XVIII Jahrhunderts, 3 Bde, Lpz., 1862-1869; Schade O., Satiren und Pasquine aus der Reformationszeit, 2 Bde, 2 Aufl., Hannover, 1863; Geiger L., Deutsche Satiriker der XVI Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1878; glass M., Klassische und romantische Satire, Stuttg., 1905; Klamroth H., Beiträge zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der Traumsatire im XVII u. XVIII Jh., Diss., Bonn, 1912; Satirische Bibliothek, Quellen u. Urkunden zur Geschichte der deutschen satire, hrsgb. v. O. Mausser, Bd. I-II, Munich, 1913; Wiegand J., Geschichte der deutschen Dichtung in Strenger Systematik… dargestellt, Köln, 1922. French satire:Lenient C., La satire en France au Moyen-Âge, P., 1859; his own, La Satire en France ou la littérature militante au XVI-e siècle, P., 1866; Gottschalk W., Die humoristische Gestalt in der französischen Literatur, Hdlb., 1928; Max H., Die Satire in der Französischen Publizistik unt. bes. Berucks. d. French Witzblattes, Die Entwicklung v. d. Anfängen bis zum Jahre 1880, Diss., München, 1934; Lipps T., Komik und Humor, 2 Aufl., Lpz., 1922; Naguevsky D.I., Roman satire and Juvenal. Literary-critical research, Mitava, 1879; Ostolopov N. F., Dictionary of ancient and new poetry, part 3, St. Petersburg, 1821; Belinsky V. G., Russian literature in 1843, “Notes of the Fatherland”, vol. 32, 1844 (statements about satire when evaluating Gogol’s work); Dobrolyubov N. A., Interlocutors of lovers of the Russian word, “Complete coll. sochin. ”, under the general editorship. P. I. Lebedev-Polyansky, vol. I, [M.], 1934 (originally in Sovremennik, 1856, books VIII and IX, signed by N. Laibov); his own, Reply to the remarks of A. D. Galakhov regarding the previous article, ibid., vol. I [M.], 1934 (originally in Sovremennik, 1856, book IX; article Galakhova- Criticism of "There were also fables" (in "Notes of the Fatherland", 1856, Oct.); his own, On the degree of participation of the people in the development of Russian literature, ibid., vol. I, [M.], 1934 (originally in Sovremennik, 1858, book 2 signed: “-bov”); his own, Russian satire in the age of Catherine, ibid., vol. II, [M.], 1935 (regarding the work of A. Afanasyev mentioned below; originally in Sovremennik, 1859, book 10, unsigned); Afanasiev A. N., Russian satirical magazines 1769-1774, M., 1859; The same, new edition, Kazan, 1921; Pokrovsky V., About Russian satirical magazines: “Drone”, “Hellish Post”, “Riddle”, “Painter”, “Hardworking Ant and others”, M., 1897 his own, The dandies in the satirical literature of the 18th century, M., 1903; Lemke M. K., From the history of Russian satirical journalism (1857-1864), "The World of God", 1903, No. 6-8; The same, in his book: Essays on the history of Russian censorship and journalism of the XIX century, St. Petersburg, 1904; Gornfeld A., Satire, "Encyclopedic Dictionary", ed. F. A., I. A. Efron, semit. 56, St. Petersburg, 1900; Chebotarevskaya Anastasia From life and literature. (Russian satire of our days), Education, 1906, No. 5; Masanov I. F., Russian satire and humorous journalism. Bibliographic description, no. I-III, Vladimir, 1910-1913 (“Proceedings of the Vlad. Academician of the Archival Commission”, book XI, XV-XVIII); Sakulin P. N., Sociological satire, "Bulletin of Education", 1914, No. 4; satirical Sat. No. 1 - Berangerovtsy, M., 1914; Same, Sat. 2 - Heinevtsy, M., 1917; Begak B., Kravtsov N., Morozov A., Russian literary parody, M. - L., 1930; Imaginary poetry, Materials on the history of poetic parody of the 18th and 19th centuries, ed. Yu. Tynyanov, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1931; epigram and satire. From the history of the literary struggle of the 19th century,

vol. I, 1800-1840, composition. V. Orlov, vol. II, 1840-1880, comp. A. Ostrovsky, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1931-1932; Kravtsov N. and Morozov A., Satire of the 60s, ed. and before. N. Belchikova, ed. "Academia", M. - L., 1932; Poets of Iskra, ed. and note. I. Yampolsky, [L.], 1933 (Bib-ka of the poet, edited by M. Gorky); Vinogradov Nikolay, Satire and humor in 1905-1907. Bibliographic index, Bibliographic News, 1916, No. 3-4; Botsyanovsky In and Golerbach E., Russian satire of the first revolution of 1905-1906, L., 1925; Dreiden S., 1905 in satire and humor, L., 1925; Chukovsky K. and Dreiden S., Russian revolution in satire and humor: L., 1925; Album of revolutionary satire 1905-1906, ed. S. I. Mitskevich, M., 1926 (Museum of the Revolution of the USSR); Isakov S., 1905 in satire and caricature, L., 1928; Timonich A. A., Russian satirical and humorous magazines of 1905-1907. in connection with satirical magazines of the 18th and 19th centuries. Materials for bibliography, M., 1930 (glassographer, ed.). A-v Yu., Satirical literature and preparation for the coup. (From memories), "Time", 1917, No. 887; Fritsche V., Satire, Satirical magazines, Encyclopedic Dictionary, ed. "Br. A. and I. Granat and Co., ed. 7b. G.; Maevich A., Humor and satire, "Journalist", 1925, No. 4; Shafir I., Comic and satirical techniques. (On the characteristics of satirical journalism in 1917), "Journalist", 1927, No. 9-10; L. L., Satire in 1917, Reader and Writer, 1928, No. 10; Shafir A., On the question of the satirical novel, "Print and Revolution", 1929, No. 12; Yakubovsky, G., About the satire of our days, Literaturnaya Gazeta, 1929, No. 12; Boychevsky V., Ways of Soviet satire, "Soviet Land", 1931, No. 1; Nusinov I., Questions of genre in proletarian literature, "Literature and Art", 1931, No. 2-3; Mezier 4. V., Dictionary index on book science, P., 1924, pp. 277-279, 308-309. cm. also literature on individual satires. magazines and satirical writers.

Satires in the era of classicism

Satyrs in Russia

In Russia, satires became widespread along with classicism. The first satires in the history of Russian literature were written by Antioch Cantemir at the beginning of the 18th century. These nine satyrs have become classics. In the 19th century, satires were still not widespread, but today they are completely forgotten.

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A kind of comic (see Aesthetics), which differs from other types (humor, irony) by the sharpness of the denunciation. S. at its inception was a certain lyrical genre. It was a poem, often significant in volume, content to ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

- (lat. satira) a manifestation of the comic in art, which is a poetic humiliating denunciation of phenomena using various comic means: sarcasm, irony, hyperbole, grotesque, allegory, parody, etc. Success was achieved in it ... Wikipedia

GENRE- literary (from French genre - genus, type), historically emerging type of literary work (novel, poem, ballad, etc.); in the theoretical concept of Zh., features characteristic of a more or less extensive group of works are generalized ... ... Literary Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (lat.). A kind of poetry that aims to ridicule the weaknesses and vices of modern society. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. SATIRE lat. satira, ancient lat. satura, from lat. satur, well-fed, full; at first… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

- (Latin satira), 1) a way of displaying the comic in art: annihilating ridicule of phenomena that seem to the author to be vicious. The power of satire depends on the social and moral significance of the position of the satirist, on the tonality of comic means... Modern Encyclopedia

- (lat. satira) 1) a way of displaying the comic in art, consisting in a devastating ridicule of phenomena that the author considers vicious. The power of satire depends on the social significance of the position taken by the satirist, on the effectiveness of comic ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

SATIRE, s, female. 1. A work of art that sharply and mercilessly denounces the negative phenomena of reality. 2. Convicting, scourging ridicule. | adj. satirical, oh, oh. C. genre. C. style. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu.… … Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov

- (lat. satira) - annihilating ridicule of reality, revealed in art. image as something perverted and internally untenable. According to the classic definition of F. Schiller, who first considered S. not as specific. lit. genre, but how ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

- (lat. satira, from the earlier satura Satura, literally a mixture, all sorts of things) a kind of comic (See Comic); ruthless, destructive rethinking of the object of the image (and criticism), resolved by laughter, frank or latent, ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

s; well. [lat. satira] 1. A method of manifestation of the comic in art, consisting in annihilating ridicule of phenomena that seem to the author to be vicious. 2. A work of art sharply and mercilessly exposing the negative phenomena of reality. ... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Latvian Folk Jokes, . Almost all genres of Latvian folklore contain elements of humor and satire; they are especially characteristic of opal songs, parts of household tales and proverbs. However, the most widely...