Sentimentalism is one of the literary movements of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The founders of this trend were several authors who brought their own features to the theory of sentimentalism.
What is Sentimentalism
Unlike traditional works of realist writers, which impartially describe events, sentimentalism paid special attention to the feelings - both of the heroes and the author himself. This current originated in England at the beginning of the 18th century. Its founder can be considered the poet James Thomson, who wrote the poem "The Seasons". It showed the idyllic life of villagers in the bosom of nature, their simple feelings and experiences. Other authors - Samuel Richardson, Lawrence Stern and Thomas Gray - soon picked up the baton, creating sensual novels, permeated with melancholic moods and lyrical digressions. This is how the main features of sentimentalism took shape - subjectivity in describing events, extensive author's digressions, idealizing the main characters, focusing on feelings rather than events, the cult of morality, the predominance of feelings over reason. In Russia, sentimentalism developed in the 1890s.
Unlike Russian, European sentimentalism was characterized by edification and moralizing.
The first Russian sentimentalists
N. M. Karamzin became a pioneer of sentimentalism in Russian literature. His work "Letters of a Russian Traveler" was written under the influence of the sentimental novels of J.-J. Russo. Unlike ordinary travel notes, Letters focuses on the hero's impressions and sensory development. The more famous work of Karamzin was "Poor Liza", which gained immense popularity. The story idealizes the village life and simple villagers, and the description of a short period of time stretches over dozens of pages due to the many lyrical digressions. Despite many inconsistencies, Karamzin's works became innovative for their time and received a lot of imitations.
"Poor Liza" became one of the first Russian works that ends with the death of the heroine.
V. A. Zhukovsky. The poet was familiar with Karamzin, and from him he learned about the new literary movement. Descriptions of feelings captivated young Zhukovsky, and he created his first sentimental work - "Rural cemetery". The poem became a free translation of the elegy of the English poet Thomas Gray, but already here Zhukovsky showed the characteristic features of his work. The work was published in the almanac "Vestnik Evropy". Later Zhukovsky continued to publish in the publication, and in 1808 became its editor.
Other Russian sentimentalist authors were not so famous, and by 1820 the direction had completely exhausted itself.
