What is satire? Satirical denunciation of the negative aspects of the life of serf Russia in the comedy of DI Fonvizin "The Minor" What is satirical denunciation

One of the most remarkable phenomena in the literature of the second half of the 17th century. is the design and development of satire as an independent literary genre, which is due to the specifics of the life of that time.

The formation of a "single all-Russian market"In the second half of the 17th century. led to the strengthening of the role of the trade and craft population of cities in the economic and cultural life of the country. However, politically, this part of the population remained powerless and was subjected to shameless exploitation and oppression. The posad responded to the intensification of oppression with numerous urban uprisings, which contributed to the growth of class consciousness. The emergence of democratic satire was the result of the active participation of the townspeople in the class struggle.

Thus, Russian reality "Rebellious" The 17th century was the soil on which satire arose. Social acuteness, antifeudal orientation of literary satire brought together with folk oral-poetic satire, which served as that inexhaustible source from which she drew her artistic and pictorial means.

The essential aspects of the life of feudal society were subjected to satirical exposure: an unjust and corrupt court; social inequality; the immoral life of monasticism and clergy, their hypocrisy, hypocrisy and greed; "State system" of soldering the people through "Tsar's tavern".

The story of the Shemyakin court and Ersha Ershovich is devoted to the exposure of the judicial system, based on the Cathedral Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich in 1649.

"The Tale of the Shemyakin Court". In "The Tale of the Shemyakin Court" the object of satirical denunciation is Judge Shemyaka, a bribe-taker and a chican. Lured by the possibility of a rich "promise", he casuistically interprets the laws. Formally accusing the defendant, "Poor"(poor) peasant, Shemyaka applies to him the compensatory form of punishment provided for by the Code of 1649. The judge did not allow any deviations from legal norms, but by his decision put the "plaintiffs" - a rich peasant, priest and city dweller - in such a position that they forced to pay off "Poor" so that he does not require the execution of a court order.

The court's decision puts in a ridiculous position both the rich peasant, punished for his greed, and the priest, who finds himself in the position of a deceived husband.

The poor man triumphs over the world of greed, self-interest, and judicial arbitrariness. Thanks to intelligence and resourcefulness "Poor" achieves acquittal in court: putting a stone wrapped in a scarf in his bosom, "Poor" showed it to the judge in each case. If the judge's decision was not in his favor, then, undoubtedly, a stone would have thrown at Shemyaka's head. Therefore, when the judge finds out that instead of a rich promise, the poor man held a stone in his bosom, he began "Praise God that you have judged by him."

So the poor man triumphs over the mighty of this world, the "truth" triumphs over the "falsehood" thanks to the greed of a dashing judge.

The artistic structure of the story is determined by the Russian satirical folk tale about an unjust judge and a fairy tale about “wise guessers” - the speed of development of action, the improbable escalation of crimes committed by the “poor”, comic situation in which the judge and the plaintiffs find themselves. The outwardly impartial tone of the narrative in the form of a "legal formal reply" sharpens the satirical sound of the story.

"The Story of Ruff Ershovich, son of Shchetinnikov." A vivid satirical depiction of the practice of the provincial court, introduced in the 60-80s of the 17th century, is the story of Ershe Ershovich, which has come down to us in four editions. The first, senior, edition more fully reflected the social contradictions of the era.

The story depicts one of the characteristic phenomena of its time - land litigation waged by peasants - "Godly orphans" Bream and Chub and "Dashing man", "sneaky man", "robber", "boyar's son Ruff".

Bream and Chub lay claim to their primordial rights to Lake Rostov, forcibly taken from them by Ruff, about which they beat their foreheads to the great judges "Boyar" Sturgeon, Beluga and Voivode Soma.

Rejecting the lawsuit, Ruff not only tries to prove the legality of his rights to own the seized lands, but also submits a counterclaim, stating that Bream and Chub were with his father "In a servant." Thus, Ruff not only removes the claim (the slaves had no legal rights), but also tries to turn the free peasants into their slaves.

Interrogation of witnesses establishes the guilt of Ruff, who turns out to be a simple peasant, and not "Boyar's son". The court sentenced Ruff "To execute a commercial punishment", "to hang against the sun on hot days for his theft and for sneaking."

The story denounces the cunning, sneaky and impudent "sneak" Ruff, who strives to take over other people's possessions by violence and deceit, to crush the neighboring peasants.

At the same time, the author shows the superiority of Ruff over the clumsiness, stupidity and greed of his judges, in particular Sturgeon, who almost paid with his life for his greed and gullibility. A mockery of the court's decision is also heard in one of the endings of the second edition. Ruff, after hearing the verdict, declares that the judges were judged not by the truth, but by a bribe, and, spitting in their eyes, he "I jumped into the brushwood: only that Ruff was seen." Thus, the object of satirical denunciation in the story is not only "Dashing man" Ruff, but also his eminent judges.

The system of bribery prevailing in the court is exposed in the story. So, Men (burbot), not wanting to go understood, “Perch promises great promises to the bailiff and the speech:“ Mister Okun! I am not good at being understood: my belly is big - I can’t walk, but my eyes are small, I don’t see far, and my lips are thick - I don’t know how to speak to kind people. ”

The story is the first example of literary allegorical satire, where fish act in strict accordance with their properties, but their relationship is a mirror of the relationship of human society. The author uses images of a folk tale about animals, satirically sharpening their social sound. The satirical denunciation is reinforced by the successfully found form of the business document - the "court list", the minutes of the court session. Compliance with the formulas of the clerical language and their inconsistency with the content give the story a bright satirical expressiveness.

VG Belinsky, who saw in them a vivid reflection of the peculiarities of the Russian national mind with its subtle irony and mockery, called this story and the “Tale of the Shemyakin Court” “the most precious historical documents”.

"The ABC of a Naked and Poor Man." The “ABC of the Naked and Poor Man” is devoted to the exposure of social injustice and social inequality. Using the form of didactic alphabet books, the author turns it into a sharp weapon of social satire. The hero of the story - "Naked and poor" person, narrating with caustic irony about his sad fate. He sees the cause of his troubles in "Dashing people" - rich people. The main sting of satire is directed against them. These are the ones who "Everything is a lot, money and dresses", those, "Those who live richly, but they don't give us anything naked." The aphoristic, laconic and expressive style of the story, social acuteness contributed to its popularity.

"Kalyazinskaya petition". A large place in the satirical literature of the 17th century. occupies an anti-clerical theme. The greed and greed of the priests are exposed in the satirical story "The Legend of Priest Savva", written in rhymed verses.

A striking incriminating document depicting the way of life and customs of monasticism is "Kalyazinskaya petition". The monks retired from the bustle of the world not at all in order to mortify their flesh, indulge in prayer and repentance. Behind the walls of the monastery lies a well-fed and drunken revelry life. One of the largest monasteries in Russia, the Kalyazinsky Monastery, has chosen the story as the object of satirical denunciation, which allows the author to reveal the typical features of the life of Russian monasticism in the 17th century.

In the form of a tearful petition, the monks complain to the Archbishop of Tver and Kashin Simeon about their new archimandrite - the abbot of the monastery Gabriel. Using the form of a business document, the story shows the inconsistency of the life practice of monasticism with the requirements of the monastery charter. Drunkenness, gluttony and debauchery, and not fasting and prayer, became the norm of the monks' life. Therefore, the monks are outraged by the new archimandrite, who abruptly changes the previously established "order" and requires strict observance of the charter. They complain that the new archimandrite does not give them rest, “orders us to go to church soon and torment us, your pilgrims; and we, your pilgrims, have a circle of buckets without leggings, in some scrolls, in cells, we are sitting, we cannot keep up at night in nine buckets of the cell rule and spoil the brew with beer in buckets in order to blow off the foam from top to bottom ... " The monks are outraged by the fact that Gabriel began to strictly observe their morality. "By his own archimandrite order

at the monastery gates a crooked Falale was set up with a whisper, he won't let us, your pilgrims, outside the gates, he won't let us go to the settlements - to see the cattle of the yard, to drive the calves into the camp, and to plant the chickens in the underground, give blessings to the cowsheds ”.

Chelobitnaya emphasizes that the main article of the monastery's income is distilling and brewing, and Gabriel's ban only fixes the burden of the monastery treasury.

The formal piety of the monks, who are unhappy with the fact that they are forced to go to church and say prayers, is also exposed. They complain that the archimandrite "He does not save the treasury, he burns a lot of incense and candles, and so he, archimandrite, dusted the church, smoked the censers, and we, your pilgrims, got sick of our eyes, stuffed our throats." The monks themselves are ready not to go to church at all: "... we will take out the vestments and books in a dryer, we will close the church, and we will bend the seal into a splint."

The satirist also did not pass by the social discord that was characteristic of the monastic brethren: on the one hand, the kliroshan, the lower brethren, and on the other, the ruling elite, headed by the archimandrite.

The cruel, greedy and greedy archimandrite is also the object of satirical denunciation. It is he who is hated by the Kliroshan for the oppression that he inflicts on them. He introduces a system of corporal punishment in the monastery, savagely forcing the monks under "To yell with whispering canons." "He, archimandrite, lives spaciously, on holidays and on weekdays he puts a big cap on our brother's necks, but he has broken his batogi about us and snatched up the rustle." The greedy archimandrite starves the monastic brethren by putting on the table "Steamed turnips, and dried radish, jelly with mash, stewed porridge, March shti and kvass is poured into brothers."

In the petition, there is a demand for the immediate replacement of the archimandrite by a man, much "Lying down wine and drinking beer, but not going to church", as well as a direct threat to rebel against their oppressors.

Behind the external jokes of drunken monks in the story is hidden the people's hatred for monasteries, for church feudal lords. The main means of satirical denunciation is the caustic irony hidden in the tearful complaint of the petitioners.

A characteristic feature of the petition style is its aphorism: mockery is often expressed in the form of folk rhymed jokes. For example: "And we ... and so are not satisfying: turnip and horseradish, but the black cup-pot Ephraim"; "The mice are swollen from the bread, but we are starving to death" and so on. These jokes reveal in the author of "Kalyazinskaya petition" "a crafty Russian mind, so inclined to irony, so simple-minded in his craftiness."

"The Tale of the Chicken and the Fox". In the allegorical images of the Russian folk tale about animals, The Tale of the Chicken and the Fox exposes the hypocrisy and hypocrisy of priests and monks, the inner falsity of their formal piety. In the cunning, hypocritical prude Fox, it is easy to recognize a typical clergyman who is unctuous "Divine in words " covers spoi vile selfish goals. As soon as Lisa lured Kura and grabbed her in her claws, the unctuous mask of the confessor, grieving about Kura's sins, fell off her. Now Lisa calculates the personal grievances that Chur inflicted on her, preventing her from emptying the chicken coop.

The story denounces not only the clergy, but also criticizes the text of the "holy scripture", aptly noticing its contradictions. In verbiage, both Kur and Lisa operate with the text of the "scripture" to prove their innocence. So, Fox, accusing Kur of the mortal sin of polygamy, lack of love for one's neighbor, relies on the Gospel text, and Kur parries the blow with a reference to the text of the book "Genesis" (Old Testament). The story shows that with the help of the text of the "sacred books" any morality can be justified.

All this testified to the development of social consciousness, the spirit of criticism, which begins to take possession of the mind of a person who seeks to test Christian dogmas.

"The Tale of the Hawk Moth". On the bold antithesis of the "hawk maker" and the "saints" who are in paradise, the "Tale of the hawk maker" is built. This story shows the moral superiority of the drunkard over "The righteous." The apostle Peter, who denied Christ three times, the apostle Paul, the murderer of the first martyr Stephen, the adulterer Tsar David, the sinner brought out of hell by God, Tsar Solomon, the murderer of Arius, Saint Nicholas, were awarded paradise blessedness. The hawk maker opposed to them accuses the saints of crimes, but he himself did not commit any crimes: he did not kill anyone, did not commit adultery, did not deny God, but, on the contrary, glorified Christ with every glass.

Even the desire of the “saints” not to let the “hawk maker” into his paradise, he regards as an act of violation of the Gospel commandment of love: “And you and Luke wrote in the Gospel: love each other; and God loves everyone, and you hate the newcomer! " he speaks boldly to John. “John the Theologian! either sign off your hands, or rest your words! " And John, back to the wall, is forced to admit: "Youecuour man, hawk maker; enter our paradise! " And in paradise, the hawk maker occupies the best place, to which the "saints" did not dare to approach.

In a funny joke, a fairy-tale situation, an angry satire on the church and the church dogma of the veneration of saints sounds.

"Holiday of tavern yaryzhki". On the parallel of a drunkard - a Christian martyr, the satirical story "The Feast of Tavern Yaryzhek", or "The Service of the Tavern" is built. The story denounces the "state system" of organizing drunkenness through the "tsar's tavern". In order to replenish the state treasury in the middle of the 17th century. a monopoly was introduced on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages. The whole country was covered with a network of "tsar's taverns", headed by "Kissing people" so called because they took an oath - they kissed the cross - "De-

it is terrible for the profit to expect his sovereign favor, and in that device do not hold any fears for yourself, do not drive away roosters. "

"Tsarev's tavern" became the source of a real national disaster. Using their rights, the "kissers" shamelessly drunk and robbed the working people. Therefore, the denunciation of the tavern in the story acquired special acuteness and relevance.

The story does not give a religious and moralistic assessment of drunkenness, but attacking "Tsarev tavern", denounces him as "Obscene teacher" and "Christian souls of the robber." The used form of the church service (small and large vespers) in honor of "Three blinders of wine and beer and honey, Christian and human, the minds of empty-makers" allows the author of the story to freely develop his theme. He curses the "tsar's tavern" - "The house of the destroyer" the reason "Inexhaustible poverty", evil "Teachers" leading person to "Nakedness and barefoot."

Denouncing the "tsarev tavern", the story pours out its anger on those who contribute to the development of drunkenness, that is. to the ruling circles. The author warns against drunkenness, which brings only troubles and misfortunes, deprives people of their human appearance, moral dignity.

The caustic irony is created by the discrepancy between the solemn form of church hymns, chants, and the objects sung in them - to the "tsar's taverns." The author speaks with irony of the "new martyrs" who suffered from the tavern, and ends the story with the life of a drunkard. Using the form of church life, the author shows a terrible picture of the moral fall of man and says with irony: "If only they had suffered such troubles for God's sake, there would truly be new martyrs, their memory would be worthy of praising them."

As a result of the growth of class consciousness of the democratic urban strata of the population, satire testified to the loss of the church's former authority in all spheres of human life.

Democratic satire touched upon the essential aspects of feudal-serf society, and its development went hand in hand with the development of folk satire. The general ideological orientation, clear class meaning, the absence of abstract moralizing brought literary satire closer to folk satire, which contributed to the transition of satirical stories into folklore.

Relying on the experience of folk satire, literary satire often used the forms of business writing ("court case", court letter, petition), church literature (church service, life). The main means of satirical exposure were parody, exaggeration, allegory. In the nameless heroes of satirical stories, a broad artistic generalization was given. True, the heroes are still devoid of individual traits, they are only collective images of the social environment they represent. But they were shown in a mundane everyday setting, their inner world was revealed for the first time in satirical characters.

A huge achievement of democratic satire was the image, for the first time in our literature, of the life of disadvantaged people, "Naked and barefoot" in all its unadorned squalor.

Exposing the disturbances of the feudal-serf system, democratic satire could not, however, indicate the ways to eliminate them.

Democratic satire of the 17th century. took a huge step towards bringing literature closer to life and laid the foundations for the satirical trend that developed in Russian literature of the 18th century. and reached unprecedented heights in the 19th century.

Satyra (Latin satira, from an earlier satura - Satura , literally - a mixture, all sorts of things)

A.Z. Vulis.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia. - M .: Soviet encyclopedia. 1969-1978 .

Synonyms:

See what "Satire" is in other dictionaries:

- (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 in it has been achieved ... Wikipedia

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

Satire- SATIRE. In a somewhat vague and vague sense, any literary work is called satire, in which a certain attitude towards the phenomena of life is expressed, namely, condemnation and ridicule of them, exposing them to general laughter ... Dictionary of literary terms

- (lat.). A genus of poetry designed 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, full, full; at first… … Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SATIRE, satyrs, wives. (Latin satira). 1. An accusatory literary work depicting the negative phenomena of reality in a funny, ugly form (lit.). Satyrs of Cantemir. Playful satire. Horace. Juvenal's angry satire. The scourge of satire. ... ... Dictionary Ushakova

- (an essay contemplating human weaknesses and vices). Wed Poisonous satire ... forgotten ... at this moment he is ready to compose a panegyric in favor of Aristarkh Yedorovich and stigmatize his closest acquaintances with satire. Goncharov. Break. 5, 15. Wed ... ... Michelson's Big Explanatory and Phraseological Dictionary (original spelling)

Many bright satirical works have been created by writers, poets, playwrights, in which social and moral vices that hinder the normal development of life are ridiculed by the power of the artistic word. Exposing evil and injustice by means of art is an ancient tradition; mankind has accumulated vast experience on this path.
To make bad and bad funny means to devalue it, to reduce it, to induce in people a desire to get rid of negative traits. Satirical literature, like no other, has a strong educational effect, although, of course, not everyone likes to recognize themselves in the heroes of a satirical comedy or fable. Any satirical work: a fable, a comedy, a fairy tale, a novel, has a number of specific features that are inherent only in them. Firstly, this is a very large degree of conventionality of the depicted, proportion the real world in a satirical work, they are displaced and distorted, the satirist is consciously focused only on the negative aspects of reality, which appear in the work in an exaggerated, often fantastic, form. Remember Gogol's admission that in The Inspector General, the writer "wanted to collect everything bad in Russia and laugh at everything at once." But this, according to the writer, "laughter visible to the world" through "invisible, unknown to him tears", the satirist mourns the lost ideal of man in his caricatured, often repulsive heroes. The satirical writer must have a special talent for creating the comic, i.e. funny, in a literary work. These are various comic plot collisions, illogical, absurd situations, the use of speaking names and surnames, etc. The most important artistic techniques that allow you to create satirical images are the following (see diagram 6).


Irony(Greek eironeia, mockery, pretense) - a method of ridicule, when the direct and hidden meaning of what was said contradict each other, when a caustic, caustic mockery is hidden under the mask of imaginary seriousness.
The mayor, Borodavkin, "led the campaign against the arrears, and burned down thirty-three villages and, with the help of these measures, collected arrears of two rubles and a half."
M. Saltykov-Shchedrin. "The history of one city"
Hero dialogues that use irony are also a common technique in satirical works, the comic effect arises because one of the heroes does not feel the ironic connotation.
Sarcasm(Greek sakasmos literally tearing meat) - a stinging, cruel ridicule, expressed directly, without
half hints.
Gloom-Burcheev - one of the mayors in the "History of a City" by M. Saltykov-Shchedrin - is described exclusively in sarcastic tones:
"The purest type of idiot rises before the eyes of the viewer, who has made some gloomy decision and has vowed to carry it out."
"I came two weeks later and was received by some girl with eyes slanted to her nose from constant lies."
M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita"
Hyperbola- exaggeration, bright and, perhaps, one of the most important satirical techniques, since exaggeration, exaggeration of negative features, is a law satirical image Actually, it is no coincidence that V. Mayakovsky called satire "a look at the world through a magnifying glass."
Hyperbole can be verbal ("unpleasant news"), but more often there is an expanded hyperbole, when the injection of many similar details exaggerates some feature to the point of absurdity.
According to the laws of exaggeration, whole episodes are often built, for example, the famous "scene of lies" from "The Inspector General", when in ten minutes Khlestakov made himself from a petty official to the director of a department, which subordinates "couriers, couriers, couriers ... can you imagine thirty-five thousand couriers alone! "
Hyperbole is often combined with grotesque and fantasy.
Fantastic(phantastike Greek. ability to imagine) - the image of absolutely impossible, illogical, incredible situations and heroes.
In satirical works, science fiction is very often used together with grotesque and hyperbole, it is often impossible to separate them, as, for example, in V. Mayakovsky's poem “The Sitting Ones”: “I see: half of the people are sitting. O devilry! Where is the other half ?! "
Grotesque(grotesque fr. bizarre, intricate) - the most complex satirical device, which consists in an unexpected, at first glance impossible combination of high and low, funny and terrible, beautiful and ugly.
The grotesque contains elements of fiction and exaggeration, therefore it contains a very strong impulse of emotional and psychological impact on the reader, the grotesque strikes, excites the imagination, calling to look at reality from a new, often paradoxical point of view. The grotesque was especially often resorted to in their work by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and M.A. Bulgakov.
Sometimes the plot of the whole work can be built on a grotesque situation (M. Bulgakov's story "Heart of a Dog").

The word "satire" is familiar to every educated person. But what satire is, it is not always easy to fully understand. After all, satire is a term not only from the field of art and literature, but even philosophy, politics and sociology.

So what is satire in literature and art? Let's try to figure it out.

Definition

Satire is, rather, a moral category, since it serves to expose (ridicule) social and human vices through words, music and visual means. So that satire does not look like a sermon, it is diluted with humor and irony. From artistic means, hyperbole, sarcasm, allegory, parody, grotesque are also used in satirical works of art and literature. These are means of artistic comparison, exaggeration and ridicule.

Application examples

The works of J. Swift, M. Twain, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, M. Zoshchenko and A. Averchenko serve as a striking example of satire in literature. Satire on the stage (in show business) - these are parodist artists and performers of satirical couplets. A textbook example of satire in print is the Soviet satirical magazine Krokodil and such a genre of journalism as feuilleton. Charlie Chaplin and Stanley Kubrick can be called representatives of the satirical direction in cinema. Modern punk rock bands such as the Sex Pistols also use satire in their work.

So what is satire? The definition of this term can be formulated as follows: it is a sharp and vivid denunciation of various phenomena with the help of comic (artistic) means.

one). A certain poetic lyric-epic small genre that developed on ancient Roman soil (in the works of the satirical poets Nevi, Ennius, Lucilia, Horace, Perseus, Juvenal, etc.) and revived in the 17th and 18th centuries. literature of classicism (satire M. Rainier, N. Bouileau, A. D. Cantemir, etc.). The history and poetics of this genre have been studied quite fully in literary criticism.

2). Another, less definite, mixed genre of literature that arose at the end of the 3rd century. BC. in the works of the Greek philosopher-cynic Menippus of Gadara. The name of the satirical collection, compiled by the Roman scholar Varro (116-27 BC), stuck as a definition of this kind of genre - Menippian satire... In menippean satire ( Apokolokintosis (Pumping) Seneca, 1st century, novel by Petronius Satyricon, 1st century, etc.) combines poetry and prose, serious and comic, the role of plot fiction is great here: characters descend into the underworld, fly to heaven, etc. Artistic elements of menippean satire are also inherent in works of quite serious content ( Consolation by philosophy Latin poet-philosopher Boethius, 6th century), as well as the European novel and drama of the Renaissance and modern times ( Gargantua and Pantagruel F. Rable, Don Quixote Cervantes, the drama of Shakespeare, etc.). In terms of the degree of study by the science of literature, Menippian satire is significantly inferior to satire as a lyric-epic genre. Close attention to the study of the folklore sources of menippean satire and its influence on the European novel in literary criticism of the 20th century. paid by M.M. Bakhtin, who introduced this previously little-known term into a wide scientific circulation.

3). A special, characteristic of all literary genres, form of artistic reflection of reality is the exposure and ridicule of negative, internally perverse phenomena of life. In this case, satire can be spoken of as a type of artistic pathos, a special kind of comic: destructive ridicule of the subject of the image, the disclosure of its internal inconsistency, inconsistency with its nature or purpose. In the European literatures of the last centuries, it is this type of satire that has become most widespread. Its history and theory are still poorly developed, which, however, does not interfere with the designation of the main character traits satire of this type.

An obligatory consequence of satirical creativity is laughter. Laughter as a reaction to satire can sound openly or muffled, but it always remains - along with denunciation - the basis of satire, its way of revealing inconsistencies between appearance and essence, form and content. In this, artistic satire differs from direct types of criticism of personal and social shortcomings. Satire is fundamentally different from humor in the nature and meaning of laughter. For humor, laughter is an end in itself, the task of a humorist writer is to amuse the reader. For satire, laughter is a means of debunking shortcomings, a tool for scourging human vices and manifestations of social evil. Unlike humor, satire is characterized by severity and tendentious passion. Humor usually presupposes an ambivalent attitude towards its subject - the ridiculed may well contain positively beautiful (for example, the noble idealism of Don Quixote, the patriarchal kindness and spiritual purity of the old-world landowners from the story of the same name by N.V. Gogol, etc.). Therefore, humor is condescending, peaceful. Satire is distinguished by its unconditional rejection of its subject. At the same time, her aesthetic super task is to expose, to evoke memories of the beautiful (good, truth, beauty), offended by vulgarity, vice, stupidity. The dual essence of satirical creativity was precisely defined in the treatise of 1796 About naive and sentimental poetry F. Schiller: “Reality as insufficiency is contrasted in satire with the ideal as the highest reality. Reality, thus, necessarily becomes an object of rejection in it ”.

Making fun of the negative aspects of life, satire frees the creator and the reader from the pressure of perverse authorities, escorting, in the words of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, “everything that dies out into the kingdom of shadows,” and thereby expresses the positive, glorifies the truly living. The satirist's ideal is expressed negatively, reveals itself through the "anti-ideal", through its outrageous and ridiculous absence in a specific subject of accusation.

In both humorous and satirical works, the author's individuality is openly present, but the forms of its manifestation are also different. In humor, laughter tends to a universal "grin", it often extends to the laughing one (for example, to the hero-"enthusiast" of novels by E.T.A. Hoffmann, to the lyric hero of the cycle G. Heine Romancero and poems by Sasha Cherny, etc.). In satirical works, the author's subjectivity manifests itself in a different way - first of all, in their frank tendentiousness and journalism, which indicate an insurmountable border between the moral world of the artist and the denounced object.

These features make some authors talk about the artistic limitations of satire. So, Hegel argued in the treatise Aesthetics that in satire “it is not the feeling of the soul that finds its expression, but the general idea of ​​good, ... which ... gloomily clings to the disagreement between its own objectivity and its abstract principles and empirical reality, and it does not create either genuine poetry or real works art ". Quite often, criticism tries to show that the masterpieces of satirical art are not limited to solving only satirical problems themselves. So, V.G. Belinsky, reflecting on one of the summit achievements of Russian satirical literature, polemically remarks: “It is impossible to look at Dead Souls and it is coarser to understand them as seeing satire in them. " Belinsky broadly interprets the character of Gogol's laughter, certifying it not as "satire" but as "humor", finds in it, in addition to "subjectivity" and "socially accusatory pathos," sad love". Most consistently in modern literary criticism, MM Bakhtin expressed the view of pure satire as an art “naked and straightforward”, as a purely “negative, rhetorical, unlaughing, one-sided serious” laugh. Bakhtin opposes this kind of satire with his own concept of "ambivalent", dual "carnival" laughter - at the same time denying and affirming, mocking and cheerful. This laughter, according to Bakhtin, has a cult, folklore and mythological origin: ridicule and shame had a magical meaning from time immemorial, were associated with the category of renewal, parting with the old (year, way of life, etc.) and the birth of a new one. Laughter, as it were, captures this moment of death of the old and the birth of the new. There is far from naked mockery here, the denial of the old is inseparably merged in this type of laughter with the affirmation of the new and the better. Bakhtin considers such laughter to belong to the so-called. "Grotesque realism", speaks of its "spontaneous dialectical", negative and affirming character. Examples of carnival laughter in abundance are given by the European Middle Ages (fascenias, fablio, Schwanki, and other grassroots folk genres) and the Renaissance ( Praise for stupidity Erasmus of Rotterdam, the most striking example - Gargantua and Pantagruel F. Rable).

With a broad interpretation of satire ("anti-ideal", implying an "ideal"), Bakhtin's characteristics of ambivalent, ambivalent carnival laughter are applicable to it as well. In the 19th century, during the heyday of the art of critical realism and the dominance of the novel genre in literature, satire ceases to be reduced to one-dimensional negation, it acquires new artistic meanings that complicate the ideological composition of the work. In the works of N.V. Gogol, M.E.Saltykov-Shchedrin, F.M.Dostoevsky, satire is no less ambiguous: while laughing, she at the same time hides "tears invisible to the world." Laughing, the reader, as it were, moves from concrete impressions to a final reflection: the particular appears before him as a grain of the universal, and then the tragic feeling of a breakdown in the laws of existence itself is revealed in satire. Governor from Gogol The auditor, Judas from Golovlevs M.E. Saltykova-Shchedrin, heroes Sentimental stories M. Zoshchenko cause a comic effect, as long as the reader perceives them as individual characters, but it is worth understanding them as types, they appear as a "hole in humanity", the tragic aspect of being itself is revealed.

Since satirical pathos can permeate any genre, attempts to present satire as an independent genre periodically arose in Soviet and Russian literary criticism. fiction(L. Timofeev, Yu. Borev). The researchers see the grounds for this in the special principles of satirical typification and in the specifics of the satirical image.

The satirical image is the result of a conscious "distortion", thanks to which the hitherto hidden comic side and its inner ugliness are revealed in the subject. Satire, as it were, parodies the object of life. She now comes close to him, then in her exaggerations and generalizations she departs so far from the material of life that real signs are embodied in the image of a fantastic, emphatically conventional. This deviation of the satirical image from the "usual" is achieved through sharpening, exaggeration, exaggeration, grotesque. A fantastic plot can be embodied in grotesque forms ( Gulliver's Travels J. Swift, Lame devil A.R. Lesazha, History of one city M.E. Saltykova-Shchedrin, Bug V.V. Mayakovsky), allegory (fables of Aesop, J. Lafontaine, I.A. Krylov), parody exaggeration ( The worldly views of Moore the cat THIS. Hoffmann).

In the field of language, grotesque relies on sharpness - a minimal element of the simplest satirical genres: pun, aphorism, anecdote.

The grotesque, caricature in satire usually reveals the comic in the side of the personality to which it resembles an inanimate thing, a mechanical detail, an inert, lifeless automaton (the story of A.P. Chekhov Unter Prishibeev, government officials in the novel by J. Hasek Adventures of the gallant soldier Švejk and etc.). Philosopher-writer A. Bergson comments on this side of the grotesque: “It's comical to put yourself in a ready-made framework. And the most comical thing is to move oneself into the state of a frame into which others will fluently insert themselves, i.e. petrified in a known character. "

The ways of satirical typification are different.

Rationalistic satire focuses on depicting the phenomena of public life. The delineation of individual traits is limited here, a fantastic assumption is widely used. Satire of this type often acquires a pamphlet sound, the study of life is in the form of "proof by contradiction." The image-character in works of this kind tends to turn into a symbol and is unthinkable outside the artistic grotesque ( Organchik from Stories of one city M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin). Compositionally, works of this type are often built as dialogues through which conflicting ideas or qualities collide. This is how human properties are opposed under the masks of animals in fables. But in the genres of a satirical novel, utopia or pamphlet, philosophical systems and social ideologies can also oppose each other. In such works, most often there is a hero-observer, whose attention moves from object to object and forms the plot - as a rule, illusory, almost fabulous, utopian. The hero can visit non-existent lands in order to look at the usual earthly conditions and suddenly catch their absurdity (Micromegas in the novel of the same name by Voltaire, the hero of the novel Another light S. de Bergerac), he can travel to completely earthly countries for the sake of meeting the whims of his contemporaries ( Gilles Blaz at Lesage). In the rogue epic, wanderings are associated with the search for everyday comic scenes on the real roads of England, France, Spain ( The Adventures of Tom Jones, Foundling Fielding, etc.). The more universal questions the author poses in the work, the more fantastic the routes of the hero-observer turn out to be. In grotesque works of this kind with a broad philosophical problematics, he sometimes freely deals with space and - especially - with time. There are frequent anachronisms, the modernization of antiquity or the archaization of modernity ( Penguin island A. Frans), the transfer of the hero from the present to the past or the future ( Connecticut Yankees at the court of King Arthur M. Twen, play by M. A. Bulgakov Ivan Vasilievich, Moscow 2042 Voinovich, etc.). Satire of this type flourishes in periods of great historical breakdowns, powerful social upheavals, fraught with a revision of the entire previous system of values. It is no coincidence that rationalistic satire experienced rapid development primarily in the 18 (Voltaire, Diderot, Swift, N. Radishchev, etc.) and 20 (F. Sologub, M. Bulgakov, F. Kafka, etc.) centuries.

Another type of satire is represented by works that ridicule a flawed personality and explore the psychological nature of evil. Satire of this kind is closely related to the genre of the realistic novel. Realistic details and precise observations are widely introduced into the works. The grotesque is represented only by light strokes - unobtrusive underlining by the author of some aspects of the hero's life, subtle permutations of accents in the depiction of familiar reality. This type of satire can be called psychological. The image-character here is interpreted in the light of the dominance of one quality (the immoral ambition of Rebecca Sharp in Vanity fair W. Teckeray, etc.). The plot in this kind of satire is a consistent life story, colored by the author's emotions of sadness, bitterness, anger, pity.

An important type of satire is represented by art parodies. Historically, satire cannot be separated from parody at all. Every parody is satirical, and every satire carries an element of parody. Parody is the most natural way of overcoming outdated genres and stylistic devices, a powerful means of updating the artistic language, saving it from inertia and mechanicalness, from senseless and outlived elements of tradition. Parody is one of the key means of literary evolution. Already at the dawn of the history of European literature, parody claims its rights: in the 5th century. BC. there is a parody of the Greek heroic epic - Batrachomyomachia, where Homer described in Iliad The war between the Trojans and the Achaeans is represented by the struggle between mice and frogs. The subject of ridicule here is the epic word itself. This parody is a satire on the already dying genre and style of the era. In fact, any parody will play such a role in the history of literature. Sometimes ridicule of the genre and style fades into the background, but the mischievous intonation of parodying remains, causing laughter directly over the heroes of the parody (novel Kings and cabbage and short stories of the cycle Cute crook O.Henry , Amazing Crafts Club G. Chesterton, partly Moscow - Petushki Ven. Erofeev as a parody of the genre of the traveler's notes). In parody satire, the principle of compositional symmetry is widespread - double heroes ( Medieval romance, Prince and the Pauper M. Twain), opposite heroes (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza); the world surrounding the hero is dominated by the laws of play, performance, play (illusions of Don Quixote, the Duchy of Sancho Panza). The everyday equivalent of literary parody is a hoax, which in general easily becomes a motivation for a satirical plot.

The different types of satirical typing can enter into complex interactions. So, in Don Quixote the general idea is parodic and ironic, but the character of the protagonist is revealed psychologically, and the picture of the world opposing him is a philosophically generalized image. The plot of the novel is quite rationalistic: the reader is offered the traditional "hunt" of the observer for observations.

Already from the 5th century. BC. the satirical element plays an important role in the ancient Attic comedy (Greek satire reached its heights in the comedies of Aristophanes) and in the fables of Aesop.

As a small lyric-epic genre, satire formed in the literature of Ancient Rome. Quintilian's dictum is known: "Satira tota nostra est" ("Satire is entirely ours"). Initially, the genre was probably mixed here (hence its name). The genre of satire was finally formed in the work of Lucilius. Here we can already see its main form-making features: a dialogical, colloquial basis, a literary-parody element, an autobiographical beginning, a figurative denial of modernity and the opposition to it of the ideal past - the old Roman virtues (virtus).

Roman satire reaches the heights in the work of Horace. His satires are a series of conversations flowing into one another against the backdrop of the thrill of modernity. It is “my time”, “my contemporaries”, their way of life and customs that are the true heroes of the Horatian satyrs. They are not ridiculed in the full sense of the word, but they are spoken of with a smile, freely, cheerfully and derisively. Free laughter in relation to the existing world order and the prevailing truth is softened to a smile.

Another version of the genre is presented in the work of Juvenal. Here a new tone appears in assessing reality - indignation, indignation (indignatio). The poet recognizes indignation as the main driving force of his satire: "Facit indignatio versum" ("Indignation creates verse"), which, as it were, replaces laughter. The "scourging" character of the juvenile satyrs had a special influence on the social satire of the 18th and 19th centuries. (J. Swift, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and others).

In the Middle Ages, examples of satire are provided by folklore and folk "laughter culture". The rise of cities is associated with the spread of anecdote and a satirical poetic novella (fablio in France, Schwank in Germany), a satirical epic about animals ( Novel about Fox), marketplace farce. The carnival tradition gives rise to an extensive oral and written laughter culture, including parody versions of religious rituals designed to rid the world around it from freezing and "mortification." The Italian folk comedia del arte ("comedy of masks") played a huge role in the history of satire.

Renaissance satire seeks to revise the dominant ideology and established forms of medieval life ( Decameron G. Boccaccio, a poetic satire by S. Brant Ship of fools, Praise for stupidity Erasmus of Rotterdam, Dark People's Letters and etc.). In Rabelais' novel Gargantua and Pantagruel the author's humanistic program is carried out in grotesque, hyperbolic laughter images that undermine the monolithic seriousness of the official medieval ideology. Conceived as a literary parody Don Quixote Cervantes outgrows the framework of the concept and becomes a universal comic panorama of the world on the border of two eras, at the “transition point” from the high heroism of the Middle Ages to the mercenary and selfish relations of the new, pre-bourgeois era. The original object of ridicule - the "knight of the sad image" - turns out to be the judge of the "dislocated" world.

In the literature of the 17th century. the satirical beginning is dwindling. Laughter fades into the background, loses its radicalism and universality, is content with the phenomena of a private order. And only in the genre of comedy, in the works of J. B. Moliere, satire flourishes, depicting clearly defined types (The Miser, Tartuffe, Jourdain). The poetic satires of this era only revive the genres of antiquity (N. Bouileau, J. La Fontaine's fables).

In the literature of the 18th century, in the era of the Enlightenment, the satirical principle manifests itself in a variety of genres. A cheating romance develops ( Moll Flanders D. Defoe, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle T.J. Smoletta and others). Dodgy novel and comedy of this time ( The Marriage of Figaro Beaumarchais and others) reflect the awakened self-awareness of the representative of the "third estate", the birth of a "private person", freed from the power of the social mechanism. Here, the jovial mockery of the accuser opposes the poetics of the baroque novel, one of the important genres of the era, where the mockery was often accompanied by tragic bitterness. The development of parody satire in the 18th century. connected with the work of L. Stern ( Tristram Shandy, Sentimental journey). The genre of a satirical novel (or story) begins to perform the functions of a philosophical treatise ( Rameau's nephew Diderot, the philosophical stories of Voltaire). Artistic works of French enlighteners, as well as Gulliver's Travels J. Swift, create a picture of an imperfect, eager for radical changes in the world. Moreover, Swift's denial is of a universal, "super-social" character - the writer is outraged not so much by society as by humanity, which has not invented for itself better shape organizations than society. So, reflected in the mirror of satire, the main illusion of the era collapses - the cult of reason, rational life order, "enlightened", and therefore "reasonable man": according to Swift, the rational principle is completely alien to the illogical and "destructive" nature of man.

English satirical magazines of the 18th century played a significant role in the history of satirical creativity in the modern era. ("Spectator" and "Chatterbox"). They created and consolidated the genres of small magazine satire: dialogical, essay, parody. The feuilleton genre flourishes. This type of mockery of modernity in the new conditions largely repeats the forms of Horatian satire (conversational dialogue, a gallery of heroes who soon disappear without a trace, semi-dialogues, letters, a mixture of joking and serious reflections). The journal type of satirical creativity in its basic features has survived to this day.

At the beginning of the 19th century. romantic writers have introduced a number of new features into satire. Their satire is directed primarily against the cultural and literary patterns of our time. Such are the literary-satirical and parody plays of L. Tieck, the tales and stories of C. Brentano, A. Chamisso, F. Fouquet, and partly E.T.A. Hoffmann. The denied reality is condensed for romantics in the image of a "philistine" - a philistine who is fundamentally alien to creativity, a philistine, an embodied spirit of vulgarity and triviality. Later, throughout the 19th century, satire continued to exist in the form of magazine feuilletons, as well as a special element of figurative negation in the dominant genre of the era - the novel (Charles Dickens, Thackeray, O. de Balzac, W. Hugo, etc.)

Later, throughout the 19th century, satire continued to exist in the form of magazine feuilletons, as well as a special element of figurative negation in the dominant genre of the era - the novel (Charles Dickens, Thackeray, O. de Balzac, W. Hugo, etc.).

Foreign modernist satire of the 20th century inclined to an abstract philosophical interpretation of the plot and cosmic symbolism (A. Camus, F. Dürrenmatt, V.V. Nabokov). Satire increasingly invades science fiction (A. Azimov, K. Vonnegut, R. Bradbury, S. Lem, R. Sheckley), defining the genres of dystopias and warning novels.

In Western literature of the 1960s – 1990s, the satirical line itself is largely influenced by the American school of "black humor" (J. Bartelmee, D. Donleavy, J. Hawkes, etc.). A tragic storytelling with extensive use of travesty and grotesque techniques is brought to the fore. The main postulates of the traditional humanistic system of values ​​and the ideology of existentialism are parodically rethought, which turn out to be untenable when in contact with the predatory averaging standards of "mass society" and "civilization of consumption" ( Trick J. Heller, 1972). The world order is presented as an absurd cycle and the kingdom of entropy, capable of provoking only misanthropic laughter - the only truly human reaction to the universal absurdity of being ( Gravity rainbow T. Pynchon, 1973). Literature of this kind is characterized by a parable character combined with the element of evil mockery of the stilted ideals, stereotyped vital interests, predictability of social behavior ( Dead father D.Barthelmi, 1975). In the end, "black satire" comes from the surrealist philosophical category of angry laughter in anticipation of the end of the world, since there is no other "hope of deliverance". Foreign satirical literature of the 1980s - early. The 1990s as a whole disintegrates into many national variants of ridicule of local social vices. The parody of cultural clichés that are in the center of attention of Western postmodern writers typologically goes back to the rebellious skepticism of "black humor", but lacks its philosophical depth and remains in the sphere of playing with the "totalitarian" signs of mass civilization. In the second half of the 1990s, a new supranational trend emerged in Western, primarily European and Latin American, literature - antiglobalist satire, reflecting the ideological revolt of the “new left” intellectuals against the dictatorship and social institutions of the “new world order” ( This world is without me F. Clevy, 1998, Endless tunnel P. Carrera, 2000, Snail H. Blumen, 2001, etc.). However, this line of literature has not yet developed an original artistic language and continues to play on the traditional techniques of satirical debunking on the new thematic material.

Old Russian literature

did not know satirical creativity in the proper sense of the word. In Russia, the depiction of the bad sides of reality, contrary to the religious and moral ideal, in contrast to the Western European tradition, was not associated with laughter. Laughter was interpreted by ancient Russian scribes as a spiritually ambiguous, sinful, passionate beginning. The negative attitude of the author took the form not of ridicule, but of accusations, emphasized serious, often mournful - in the genre of accusatory words, in the annals, in hagiography. Laughing forms turned out to be completely outside the boundaries of official culture - in folklore genres, in wedding and agricultural rituals, in the art of buffoons ... The essence of the attitude towards laughter in the Russian Middle Ages was most fully expressed in the lives of the holy fools, whose behavior, by outward signs, resembled that of a jester. However, laughing at the holy fools was considered a sin (an episode from Lives of Basil the Blessed: those who laughed at his nakedness were blinded and were healed only after repenting for their ignorant laugh). Weeping over the ridiculous is the effect the holy fool strives for, revealing deep wisdom under the guise of stupidity, and holiness behind external blasphemy.

The culture of laughter itself began to take shape in Russia under Western influences only in the 17th century. Under Peter I, the traditional ban on laughter and fun is gradually being lifted. The paradox of the situation is that at the beginning of the 18th century. casts of forms of "folk carnival culture" are implanted in Russia from above and often provoke protest from the "popular lower classes" (masquerades, stupid processions, buffoonery weddings, the "most extravagant, all-joking and all-drunk cathedral" of Peter the Great). Since the end of the 17th century. there are examples of serious moralizing satire created by Latin authors ( Multicolor vertograd Simeon of Polotsk, etc.).

Satire in Russia.

In the 18th century. satire is flourishing in Russia. She is clothed in a wide variety of genres: epigram, message, fable, comedy, epitaph, parody song, journalism. A.D. Kantemir (eight satyrs in the manuscript collection of 1743) became the creator of Russian satire as a small poetic genre focused on antique and classicistic samples. Satyrs Cantemir's poetics and themes were guided by the theory set forth in the poetic treatise by N. Boualo Poetic art... In accordance with European classicistic canons, reality was opposed here to the ideal as barbaric - enlightened, meaningless - reasonable. Kantemir, imitating Latin verse, developed a new syntax, made intensive use of inversions (reverse word order) and hyphenation, sought to bring the verse closer to "simple conversation", introduced vernaculars, proverbs and sayings.

However, Cantemir's stylistic innovations did not find continuation in Russian literature. The next step in the development of domestic satire was made by A.P. Sumarokov, the author of the book 1774 Satyrs, who outlined his theoretical views on the purpose of satire and its place in the hierarchy of classicist genres in two epistles of 1747 - About Russian and About the poem... Satire on mediocre authors is becoming an important means of literary struggle.

In the second half of the 18th century. poetic satire in Russia is losing its former role and is giving way to magazine satire. In the 1760s and 1790s, new satirical magazines were opened in Russia one after another: "Useful Hobby", "Free Hours", "Mix", "Drunk", published by IS Krylov "Mail of Spirits", "Spectator" and many other. In the literary consciousness, a broad understanding of the satirical as an inter-genre variety of ideological and emotional approach to the subject of the image is being formed. One of the first examples of satire in the broad sense of the word is the comedy of D.I. Fonvizin Undergrowth (1782).

In the 19th century. the line of poetic satire in Russian literature is gradually dying out. Its most significant examples are born in the context of literary polemics (satire by M.A. Dmitriev and others). Magazine satire tends more and more to the feuilleton genre. The elements of satire penetrate intensely into the novel and the drama and contribute to the final formulation of the poetics of critical realism. The most striking images of satire in Russian literature of the 19th century. represented by the works of A.S. Griboyedov, N.V. Gogol, A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin, N.A. Nekrasov. A satirical vision of the world prevailed in the works of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, who embodied on Russian soil the tradition of "high indignation", scourging Juvenile laughter. The genre nature of the writer's works was influenced by his satirical approach: novel forms tended to essay, feuilleton, to the ancient diatribe - polemic preaching-debunking.

Still, actually satirical laughter in the 19th century. reduced and difficult to separate from other forms of comic, irony and humor (the work of A.P. Chekhov).

A bright page in the history of Russian satire at the beginning of the 20th century. connected with the activities of the magazines "Satyricon" (1908-1914) and "New Satyricon" (1913-1918), which actively published the largest satirical writers of the era: A. Averchenko, Sasha Cherny (A. Glikberg), Teffi (N. Buchinskaya ) and others. The magazines did not shy away from bold political satire, turned to a wide range of poetic and prose genres, and attracted prominent artists as illustrators (B. Kustodiev, K. Korovin, A. Benois, M. Dobuzhinsky, etc.)

Among the most notable phenomena of Russian satire of the 20th century. - lyrics and plays by V. Mayakovsky, prose by M. Bulgakov, M. Zoshchenko, I. Ilf and E. Petrov, dramatic tales by E. Schwartz. Satire Soviet period is realized almost exclusively by the sphere of ideology, by the nature of its denial, it breaks down into "external", denouncing capitalist reality ( Black & White, 1926, V. Mayakovsky), and "internal", in which the denial of particular flaws is combined with a general affirming principle. In parallel with the official satire, there are laughing folklore genres (anecdote, ditties) and satirical literature not permitted for publication. In unofficial satire, grotesque and fantasy prevail, utopian and dystopian elements are highly developed ( dog's heart and Fatal eggs M. Bulgakov, both - 1925, continuing the Gogol and Shchedrin traditions, E. Zamyatin's dystopia We, 1920).

Satire occupies an important place in the works of representatives of the first wave of Russian literary emigration (A. Averchenko, Sasha Cherny, Teffi, V. Goryansky, Don-Aminado (A. Shpolyansky), etc.). Their legacy is dominated by the genres of satirical story and feuilleton. In 1931 in Paris M.Kornfeld resumed the publication of the "Satyricon". In addition to the previous authors, the published issues include I. Bunin, A. Remizov, A. Kuprin. A special place in the magazine is occupied by satire on Soviet reality and the customs of the emigration.

Since the late 1950s and 1960s, in the wake of the "thaw", satire in the USSR is on the rise and takes on the role of a latent polemical confrontation with the dominant ideology. The official version of the Soviet epic heroics about the "leading and guiding force of the party" during the Great Patriotic War satirically subverted in the novel by V. Voinovich The life and extraordinary adventures of soldier Ivan Chonkin (1969).

Inheriting the traditions of J. Gashek, the author draws the events of national history through the eyes of “ little man”, Whose deliberate immediacy gives him the right to take a detached and free perception of what is happening, revealing his inner absurdity.

In the 1970s and 1980s, domestic satire picks up the traditions of M. Zoshchenko and makes the figure of a “simple Soviet man,” a sober conformist, who snatches out the slightest manifestations of the absurdity of Soviet life, forming a common mosaic of social ill-being, from the environment. The ideological ambiguity of this kind of verbal production and its latent opposition led to the gradual shift of satire from large literary forms to miniature oral genres of anecdotal stories and pop reprise (M. Zhvanetsky, A. Arkanov, etc.) - here the very form of a laughing tale provides a guarantee of the writer's inner freedom ... In drama, the satirical beginning was most clearly manifested in the work of G. Gorin in the 1970s and 1990s ( Kill Herostratus, Thiel, The most truthful, Keane IV, The house that Swift built, Jester Balakirev and others), in whose tragicomic plays transparent allusions to modernity are invariably placed in the generalized plan of a philosophical parable that cannot be reduced to flat sociality. The satirical work of representatives of the "third wave" of the Russian emigration ( Moscow 2042 V. Voinovich, 1986, French Soviet Socialist Republic Gladilin, 1987, etc.) for the most part fit into the genre framework of dystopia and do not go beyond the one-dimensional ridicule of Soviet reality.

In the literature of Russian socialist art and postmodernism as a whole (the "Lianozov group", D. Prigov, L. Rubinstein, T. Kibirov), the satirical beginning is manifested primarily in the parodic playing of the clichés of Soviet and post-Soviet cultural mythology in order to discredit the "totalitarian" language and style. mass thinking.

Vadim Polonsky

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