Sunday in Flaubert: Zola, Ivan, Flaubert, Daudet. information

Zola was an important critical realist writer in France in the second half of the 19th century and the main advocate of naturalistic literary theory. He wrote dozens of novels in his life, the representative of which is "Grudge".

Zola's creations and worldview are full of contradictions: on the one hand, he carries out destructive criticism of the existing system, and on the other hand, he has unrealistic illusions about capitalist society. His creations have their own characteristics from theory to practice. His early works include the short story collection "The Story of Ninon" (1864) and the novel "Claude's Confessions" (1865), which are inseparable from the imitation of romantic writers. Later, he gradually became interested in realism and naturalism. Under the influence of Taine's environmental determinism and Claude Bernard's genetic theory, he formed his naturalistic theory: he advocated writing with scientific experimental methods and analyzing characters' physiology and anatomy; writers should be indifferent when writing Record the facts in real life without mixing subjective emotions. But in Zola, both naturalism and realism tendencies are present.

Inspired by Balzac's "Human Comedy", he created a set of 6 million words and a masterpiece "Rougon - The Macquard Family", which is composed of 20 novels and reflects the second generation of France. All aspects of society in the imperial era. The most important ones are "Greed", which describes the strike struggle, and "Collapse", which reflects the Franco-Prussian War, the collapse of the Second Empire, and the uprising of the Paris Commune. He also wrote the trilogy Three Cities, Lourdes (1894), Rome (1896), Paris (1898), and the first three of the Four Gospels: The Procreation (1899) , "Labor" (1901), "Truth" (published in 1903 after the author's death), and the fourth volume "Justice" has not yet been completed. Zola died of gas poisoning on September 29, 1902. His "Little Hotel", "Nana", "Money" and "Women's Paradise" are also very famous.

In 1908, the French Republic government gave Zola a state funeral for his outstanding contribution to French literature during his lifetime and entered him into the Great Hall.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749-1832) was the most important writer in Germany and Europe from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century. His life spanned two centuries, at a time when European society was undergoing great social turmoil and great changes. era. The gradual collapse of the feudal system and the continuous rise of revolutionary forces prompted Goethe to continue to accept the influence of advanced ideological trends, thereby deepening his understanding of society and creating the best contemporary works.

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818～1883)

Russian critical realist writer in the 19th century, born in a hereditary noble family in 1833 He entered the Department of Literature of Moscow State University, and one year later transferred to the Department of Philosophy of Petersburg University, majoring in Chinese. After graduation, he went to the University of Berlin in Germany to study philosophy, history, and Greek and Latin.

In the spring of 1843, Turgenev published a long narrative poem "Balasha" which was well received by Belinsky, and the two established a deep friendship.

From 1847 to 1851, he published his famous work "Hunter's Notes" in the progressive magazine "Modern Man". It appears in the form of an essay written by a hunter while hunting, and includes 25 short stories. While describing the rural landscape, living customs, and portraying the image of farmers, the book profoundly exposes the seemingly civilized and benevolent landlords, but is actually ugly and cruel. It is full of sympathy for the bullied working people, and writes about their intelligence and good moral character. The work's anti-serfdom tendencies offended the authorities, who arrested and exiled Turgenev on the grounds that he violated censorship regulations by publishing an article commemorating Gogol. While in detention, he wrote the famous anti-serfdom short story "Mumu".

The period from the 1850s to the 1870s was the peak period of Turgenev's creation. He successively published novels: "Roting" (1856), "A Noble House" (1859), and "The Night Before" (1860), "Fathers and Sons" (1862), "Smoke" (1867), "Virgin Land" (1859).

Among them, "Luo Ting" is his first novel, which created another "superfluous person" image after Onegin and Piccolin. The difference is that Luo Ting died in a Paris street fight in June 1848. middle. "Fathers and Sons" is Turgenev's masterpiece. It reflects the relationship between "father and son" who represent the power of different social classes, describes the "aging" of Kirsanov, the representative of the pro-British liberal aristocracy, and shapes the representative of a new generation - the civilian intellectual Bazarov. But Bazarov is also full of contradictions. He is a rebel of the old system, a "nihilist" who denies all old traditions and ideas. He claims to fight, but takes no action. After the novel came out, it caused fierce controversy in the literary world.

Since the 1960s, Turgenev spent most of his time in Western Europe and made friends with many famous writers and artists, such as Zola, Maupassant, Daudet, Goncourt, etc. Participated in the "International Literary Congress" held in Paris and was elected vice president (the chairman was Victor Hugo). Turgenev played a bridge role in the communication between Russian literature and European literature.

Turgenev is a writer with a unique artistic style. He is good at both delicate psychological description and lyricism. The novel has a strict structure, compact plot, and vivid characters. He is especially good at carefully carving the artistic image of women, and his description of the beautiful nature is also full of poetic and picturesque flavor.

Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), a French critical realist writer in the 19th century, was born in a family of doctors for generations and studied law. He has been living in his hometown of Rouen and engaged in creation.

Flaubert lived during the July Monarchy and the Second Empire, when French capitalist society gradually turned from a rising stage to a decadent stage. He was disgusted and disappointed with the ugly reality of capitalism, so he exposed the reality mercilessly, but he also showed pessimism. The masterpiece "Madame Bovary" (1856) reflects the cruel exploitation of peasants under the cover of "economic prosperity" during the July Dynasty and the Second Empire, as well as the mediocre, despicable, corrupt and degenerate social atmosphere. Another important work, "Emotional Education" (1869), reflected the darkness of reality through the cowardice and decadence of the petty bourgeois youth during the 1848 revolution. What Flaubert criticized most was the decline of bourgeois spiritual morality.

Flaubert inherited the tradition of realism and was famous for his meticulous and ruthless portrayal of the characters' mental states. When he dissected characters and reality, he tried not to reveal his emotions. Flaubert is also a master of language in French literature, and his writing has always been regarded as a model of French language. He advocated "using a few words to express the distinct characteristics of a person or thing." In order to refine his sentences, he always worked hard to ensure they were refined and appropriate.

Daudet (1840-1897) was a French realist writer in the second half of the 19th century. Born into a dilapidated silk merchant family in the south of France, he was forced to make a living by himself at the age of fifteen due to poverty. First, I served as a student self-study counselor in a primary school. Later, he went to Paris, engaged in literary and artistic creation, and lived a poor life as a young scholar. In 1866, he published a collection of short stories "Moulin Notes", which attracted people's attention. In 1868, the novel "Little Things" was published, which was a huge success, and Daudet won the reputation of a famous novelist. "Moulin Notes" takes the daily life in Provence, Daudet's hometown, as its theme, describes the troubles and misfortunes of small people in capitalist society, and expresses the author's nostalgia for the natural scenery and customs of his hometown. "Little Things" is a semi-autobiographical account of the author's experience as a teenager when his family was in trouble and he had to run for a living. It depicts the cold relationships between people in capitalist society in a playful and humorous way.

In 1870, the Franco-Prussian War broke out, and Daudet enlisted in the army. In 1873, he published another famous short story collection "Yue Yao Stories", which was based on this war. Among them, "The Last Lesson" and "The Siege of Berlin" enjoy a high reputation due to their profound patriotic content and superb artistic skills, and have become masterpieces of short stories in the world.

"The Last Lesson" describes a rural primary school in Alsace that was ceded to Prussia after the Franco-Prussian War. The last French lesson that bids farewell to the language of the motherland. Through the self-narration of a naive and ignorant primary school student, it vividly expresses the suffering of the French people. The pain of foreign rule and the love of one's own country. Although the subject matter of the work is small, it is carefully cut, the narrative is appropriately detailed, and the theme is explored deeply. Little Franz's psychological activities are described in a delicate and moving way. As a typical example of a patriotic intellectual, the teacher Mr. Hamel has a lifelike image.

Dude wrote nearly a hundred short stories in his life. Each article is generally two to three thousand words, with concise and vivid writing style, rich and colorful themes, novel and ingenious ideas, and elegant and light style.

After the Franco-Prussian War, there was a prolific period for Tudor novels. *** wrote twelve novels, among which the more famous one is "Dardalon de Darascon" (1872), which satirizes the bourgeois mediocrity. ), "Brother Romond and Eldest Brother Lesley" (1874), which exposed the decadence of bourgeois family life, and "Numa Loomesdown 1881", which portrayed the image of a bourgeois politician who was skillful in maneuvering.

Daudet agreed with many of Zola’s naturalistic creative views in literary theory. However, in his creative practice, he is not like a scientist who purely objectively records human activities in the laboratory and describes social reality indifferently. Just as he said in "Little Things", "My story is just borrowing La Fontaine's fables and adding my own experience to it." Daudet's works all "add" "himself" "experience", from which we can see his joy, melancholy, anger and tears. He made humorous ridicule and gentle criticism of the decadent and declining French capitalism at that time, and the basic tendency of his works was progressive.

"The Mill Letters" is a beautiful little book. Far away from the hustle and bustle of Paris, in the beautiful countryside of Provence, the author feels everything in this land with a humble and silent heart: simplicity, beauty, poverty, sadness... The following is a partial excerpt from "The Mill Tablets":

"Around us, the stars are still moving quietly, tame like a huge flock;

At this moment I I can't help but imagine a star among the stars. It is the most beautiful and the brightest. But because I lost my way, I came here and fell asleep on my shoulder...

Whenever the northwest When the wind or northerly wind is not blowing too hard, I sit between two piles of rocks that are almost level with the sea water, and I stay with seagulls, river birds, and petrels. Do you understand this mysterious intoxication of the soul that is immersed in a state of numbness and wonderful silence caused by gazing at the sea? One has no need to think and no fantasy. It's flying, it's spreading. It's like a diving seagull, a foam rippling between two huge waves in the sun, a wisp of white smoke on a giant ship that is gradually going away, and a collection of people hanging on a red sail. The coral boat is a drop of water, a wisp of smoke, everything exists except itself..."