Village prose is one of the trends in Russian literature of the last century. It originated in the 50s. The works of representatives of this direction have been studied by students in the lessons of Russian literature for decades. Many stories and tales of "countrymen" writers have been made into films by both Soviet and Russian filmmakers. Creativity of the brightest representatives of village prose is the topic of the article.
Features of rustic prose
Valentin Ovechkin is one of the first prose writers who praised the life of the Russian hinterland on the pages of his works. The very definition of village prose did not enter literary criticism immediately. The affiliation of the authors, whom it is customary to call writers "countrymen" today, to a certain direction in prose has long been called into question. Nevertheless, over time, the term acquired a right to exist. And this happened after the publication of Solzhenitsynâs story âMatrenin Dvorâ. Village prose began to be understood not only as works dedicated to the inhabitants of the village, but also as a complex of artistic and stylistic features. What are they?
Writers, "countrymen" in their works raised issues of ecology, the preservation of national Russian traditions. These prose writers spoke of history, culture, and moral aspects in the life of the inhabitants of the outback. One of the brightest representatives of rural prose is F. Abramov.
In his small, capacious works, he was able to show the life of a whole generation, whose representatives, as you know, especially experienced the consequences of the historical events of the 20s of the last century, the hardships of the post-war period. But the work of this prose writer will be briefly described below. First of all, a list of "countrymen" writers should be given.
Representatives of village prose
At the origins of the literary trend stood F. Abramov. V. Belova and V. Rasputin are also on a par with this writer. It would be impossible to disclose the theme of Russian village prose without mentioning such works as âTsar Fishâ by Astafyev, âLiving Waterâ by Krupin and, of course, âMatrenin Dvorâ by Solzhenitsyn. An important contribution to the development of rural prose was made by Vasily Shukshin. Bright rustic colors are present on the pages of Vasily Belovâs books. The list of writers who devoted their works to the customs and traditions of the Russian village also includes N. Kochin, I. Akulov, B. Mozhaev, S. Zalygin.
Interest in writers "countrymen" was observed in the 80s. However, with the collapse of the USSR, other genres became popular. Today, the books of Vasily Belov, Fedor Abramov, Valentin Rasputin, the stories of Alexander Solzhenitsyn have found a new life. They are regularly reprinted, feature films are shot on them (films Live and Remember in 2008, Matrenin Dvor in 2013).
Fedorov Abramov
One of the most famous representatives of village prose was born in the Arkhangelsk region, but spent most of his life in Leningrad. Abramov volunteered for the front in 1941, went through the whole war. And only after graduation he was able to graduate at the faculty of Russian philology.
Abramov is called the patriarch of village prose for the scrupulousness with which he tried to comprehend the causes of the tragedy of the peasantry and the social characteristics of the village. Addressing this topic put Abramov on a par with the most significant figures in Soviet literature of the sixties and seventies.
Why were so many villagers forced to leave their home in the 50s and go to the city? Abramov, along with Shukshin and Rasputin, tries to answer this question in his works, which have long become classics of Russian prose. At the same time, the fate of the hero who left the village is always tragic. The style of Abramov, like the style of other writers, countrymen, is not characteristic of grotesque, imaginative. The most significant work in the work of this prose writer is the novel Brothers and Sisters.
Vasily Belov
This writer is a native of the village of Timonikha, Vologda Oblast. Belov knew firsthand the hardships of rural life. His father died during the Second World War, his mother, like millions of Soviet women, was forced to raise her children on her own. And she had five of them. In one of his works, âIrrevocable Years,â the writer told about the life of his relatives - residents of the village.
For many years Belov lived in Vologda, not far from his small homeland, in which he drew material for literary work. Widely known to the writer brought the story "Common Business". And it was this work that secured the title of one of the representatives of rural prose. There are no sharp plot twists in Belovâs stories and short stories, they have few events and almost no intrigue. Belovâs advantage is the ability to skillfully use the national language, to create vivid images of the villagers.
Valentin Rasputin
A famous prose writer once said that it was his duty to tell about the village, to sing it in his works. He, like the other writers discussed in this article, grew up in a village. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology. The debut in literature was the publication of the story "Edge near the sky." Fame brought "Money for Mary."
In the seventies, the books of Rasputin, Valentin Grigorievich, enjoyed considerable popularity among the Soviet intelligentsia. The most famous works are âFarewell to Materâ, âLive and Rememberâ. It was they who put the prose writer among the best modern Russian writers.
Other books by Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin include collections that included the novels âThe Deadlineâ, âIvan's Daughter, Ivan's Motherâ, âFireâ and the stories âBonfire of New Citiesâ, âSiberia, Siberiaâ. More than once filmmakers turned to the work of this writer. In addition to âLive and Remember,â it is worth mentioning other films created based on the works of Rasputin. Namely: âVasily and Vasilisaâ, âMeetingâ, âMoney for Maryâ, âRudolfioâ.
Sergey Zalygin
Representatives of rural prose are often ranked as the author. Zalygin Sergey Pavlovich for several years served as editor of the New World. Thanks to him and some other writers, the publication of Solzhenitsyn's works resumed in the late 80s . As for the work of Zalygin himself, he created such stories as âOskin Argyshâ, âOn the Great Landâ, âMorning Flightâ, âOrdinary Peopleâ.
Ivan Akulov
âKasyan Ostudnyâ and âTsar Fishâ are the stories included in the list of the most significant works of village prose. Their author - Akulov Ivan Ivanovich - was born in a peasant family. The future writer lived in the village until he was nine years old. And after the family moved to the city of Sverdlovsk. Ivan Akulov went through the war, was discharged in 1946 with the rank of captain. His creative path began in the 50s. But, oddly enough, he began to write not about the war. In his literary works, he recreated the images that he remembered in his childhood - the images of ordinary villagers who suffered a lot of adversity, but did not lose strength and faith.
Vasily Shukshin
It is worth telling about this writer, who is known in the role of not only a representative of rural prose, but also a director, screenwriter, who has a rare original talent. Vasily Shukshin was from Altai Krai. The theme of a small homeland lay a red thread in his work. The heroes of his books are contradictory, they can not be attributed to either negative or positive characters. The images of Shukshin are real, real. After the war, the future writer and director, like many young people, leaned into a big city. But the image of the village remained in his memory, and later such prose works as âCutâ, âMaternal Heartâ, âRed Viburnumâ were born.
Matrenin Dvor
Solzhenitsyn cannot be attributed to representatives of rural prose. Nevertheless, the story âMatrenin Dvorâ is one of the best works reflecting the life of rural residents. The heroine of the story is a woman devoid of self-interest, envy, anger. The components of her life are love, compassion, work. And this heroine is by no means the authorâs fiction. With the prototype Matryona Solzhenitsyn met in the village of Miltsevo. The heroine of the story of Solzhenitsyn is an illiterate resident of the village, but she attracts the attention of readers, as Tvardovsky said, no less than Anna Karenina.