Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky (1823–1886)- a talented Russian playwright and theater figure. During his creative life he wrote more than 50 plays.

Ostrovsky was born in 1823 and spent his childhood in one of the districts of Moscow - Zamoskvorechye, where merchants and artisans lived. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, had a private legal practice. Mother - Lyubov Ivanovna Savvina, the daughter of a Moscow priest, was distinguished by her beauty and high spiritual qualities.

In 1831, when Ostrovsky was not yet nine years old, his mother died; after her early death, her stepmother took care of the upbringing and education of the children.

In September 1835, Nikolai Fedorovich submitted a request to the Moscow provincial gymnasium to admit his eldest son there. Ostrovsky studied at the gymnasium with moderate success and did not shine with special abilities.

Ostrovsky successfully studied with music teachers, learned to read music, and knew how to pick out a melody on the piano and write it down. His passion is Pushkin, Griboyedov, Gogol.

In 1840, Ostrovsky successfully graduated from the prestigious First Moscow Gymnasium with a humanitarian focus and continued his studies at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University. But the future playwright was interested in art. He attended performances at the Moscow Maly Theater, read and wrote a lot, and became interested in music. Having lost interest in his studies, Ostrovsky left the university and decided to take up literature.

Since 1843, at the insistence of his father, Ostrovsky began working as a clerk in the Moscow Conscientious Court, where criminal and civil cases were heard.

Since 1845, Ostrovsky served in the Moscow Commercial Court. Work in the courts enriched the life experience of the future playwright and gave him knowledge of the language, life and psychology of various segments of the population.

1847–1851 – the beginning of literary activity, the formation of Ostrovsky’s literary and aesthetic views under the influence of articles by Belinsky and Herzen. Writing an essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky resident.” The purpose of the essay is to describe the life and types of Zamoskvorechye. Ostrovsky begins to try his hand at drama. Two plays are being produced at the same time - “The Petition” and “The Insolvent Debtor”.

On January 9, 1847, “Scenes from the comedy “The Insolvent Debtor” were successfully published in the Moscow City List.

In his autobiographical notes, A. N. Ostrovsky wrote: “The most memorable day of my life for me: February 14, 1847... From that day on, I began to consider myself a Russian writer...” It was on this day that Ostrovsky read the first drafts of the comedy “Bankrupt,” which was later called “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!” The play was completed in 1849. The characteristic merchant types, life, and environment were depicted exclusively through the dialogues of the characters. The play was a success.

At the end of 1847, he met a woman who lived next door. Agafya Ivanovna was a year or two older than Ostrovsky, but he could not decide to marry her - this would mean completely quarreling with his father and remaining in the darkest need. But Agafya Ivanovna did not demand anything from him. She waited patiently for him, loved him, warmed him, and the further he went, the more difficult it was for him to part with her. So, as Ostrovsky’s unmarried wife, she lived modestly and with dignity side by side with the great playwright for eighteen years.

1852–1854 – the Muscovite period in Ostrovsky’s work. This is the time of active participation of the playwright in the magazine “Moskvityanin”. Creation of plays “Don’t get into your own sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice”, “Don’t live the way you want”. The playwright takes a different approach to depicting the types of Russian merchants: he admires the patriarchal relationships that developed in merchant families between the owners and their servants and workers.

1855–1860 - the pre-reform period, when Ostrovsky became close to the editors of Sovremennik and published his works in the magazines Sovremennik and Otechestvennye zapiski: “The characters didn’t get along!”, “Profitable place” and others. The best work of this period is “The Thunderstorm” (1859).

1861–1886 - the post-reform period, which lasted until the death of the playwright. Ostrovsky writes satirical plays reflecting the life of post-reform Russia: “Mad Money”, “Dowry”, “Talents and Admirers”, “Guilty Without Guilt”, “Forest”, “Wolves and Sheep”, the fairy tale “The Snow Maiden”.

Alexander Nikolaevich was not a democratic revolutionary; in his plays he did not directly address political issues. But his path and views were quite contradictory.

The playwright's life in his later years was not happy and prosperous.

The hopelessness of the situation forced the playwright to give plays to the theater almost free of charge.

The difficult situation of the Russian theater, playwrights and actors led Ostrovsky to engage in social activities.

1865 – initiator of the creation of the “Artistic Circle”.

1874 – organizer of the “Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Composers”.

1881 – compiler of a note to the government on the creation of the Russian national theater.

1886 – head of the repertory department of Moscow theaters and director of the theater school.

But Ostrovsky’s health was undermined. In the spring of 1886, the writer left for the village of Shchelykovo, Kostroma province. Ostrovsky died at his desk in Shchelykovo, working on a translation of Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra.

Ostrovsky Alexander Nikolaevich (1823-1886). Born in Moscow, he grew up in a merchant environment. Father is a judge. O. himself graduated from high school, did not graduate from the law department of Moscow State University, and after (1843-1851) he served in the army, holding low positions. There are four periods in Ostrovsky’s creative development:

1) First period (1847-1851)- the time of the first literary experiments. Ostrovsky began quite in the spirit of the times - with narrative prose. In his essays on the life and customs of Zamoskvorechye, the debutant relied on Gogol’s traditions and the creative experience of the “natural school” of the 1840s. During these years, the first dramatic works were created, including the comedy “Bankrupt” ("Our people - we'll be numbered!»), which became the main work of the early period. (Published in the magazine “Moskvityanin” in 1850. The story of the merchant Samson Silych Bolshov, who decided to deceive his creditors and declare himself bankrupt, and as a result found himself deceived and sent to debtor’s prison by his unscrupulous daughter Lipochka and her husband, clerk Podkhalyuzin. The play was banned from production , the playwright was placed under police supervision. The work was seen in the world 12 years later (68 years).

2) Second period (1852-1855) are called “Moskvityanin”, since during these years Ostrovsky became close to the young employees of the Moskvityanin magazine: A.A. Grigoriev, T.I. Filippov, B.N. Almazov and E.N. Edelson. The playwright supported the ideological program of the “young editorial staff”, which sought to make the magazine an organ of a new trend of social thought - "soilism". During this period, only three plays were written: “Don’t get on your own sleigh,” "Poverty is not a vice" and “Don’t live the way you want.”

3) Third period (1856-1860) marked by Ostrovsky's refusal to search for positive principles in the life of the patriarchal merchants (this was typical for plays written in the first half of the 1850s). The playwright, who was sensitive to changes in the social and ideological life of Russia, became close to the figures of the common democracy - the employees of the Sovremennik magazine. The creative outcome of this period was the plays “At Someone Else’s Feast, a Hangover”, “Profitable Place” and “Thunderstorm”,“the most decisive”, as defined by N.A. Dobrolyubov, is Ostrovsky’s work.

4) Fourth period (1861-1886)- the longest period of creative activity. The genre range has expanded, the poetics of his works have become more diverse. Over the course of twenty years, plays have been created that can be divided into several genre and thematic groups: 1) comedies from merchant life (“Maslenitsa is not for everyone”, “The truth is good, but happiness is better”, “The heart is not a stone”), 2) satirical comedy (“Simplicity is enough for every wise man”,“Warm Heart”, “Mad Money”, “Wolves and Sheep”, “Forest”), 3) plays that Ostrovsky himself called “pictures of Moscow life” and “scenes from the life of the outback”: they are united by the theme of “little people” ( “An old friend is better than two new ones”, “Hard Days”, “Jokers” and the trilogy about Balzaminov), 4) historical plays-chronicles (“Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Tushino”, etc.), and finally 5 ) psychological dramas (“Dowry”, “The Last Victim”, etc.). The fairy-tale play “The Snow Maiden” stands apart.

10. "Thunderstorm". Drama or tragedy (TRAGEDY!).

The unity of “Thunderstorm” is not complete (i.e. classicism is violated = this means it’s not a drama):

1. Time is not 24 hours, but 10 days. 2. Places – change constantly. 3. Action – Ekaterina + Feklusha, and not 1 character. In addition, the main character is from a low class, and for classicism, heroes are gods, demigods, kings, etc.

Construction scheme tragedy complied with: 1. The presence of a tragic hero; 2. Hero of the highest class; 3. The presence of a tragic conflict (a conflict that cannot be resolved peacefully = Euripides “God from the Machine”); 4. catharsis (purification of both the hero and the viewer) - occurs in Tikhon, Varvara (runs away with Kudryash), Kulibin (changes).

In "The Thunderstorm" - 2 conflicts - this is INNOVATION IN EUROPEAN LITERATURE.

- External. Katya is a ray of light in the good kingdom; kingdom - personified by Feklusha.

- Internal. Catherine is a believer and she sinned = doomed. BUT! She cannot help but sin, because... 1. she doesn’t love her husband, she doesn’t need him. 2. cannot help but love (stay alone); all this leads her to SUICIDE.

RESULT: TRAGEDY: 1. hero. 2. conflict. 3. catharsis.

11. Life and work of Goncharov.

One novel to choose from: “Oblomov”, “Cliff”, “An Ordinary Story”. Know the essence of his travels.

Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov (1812–1891), was born into a merchant family with 4 children. Education in a private boarding school - introduction to the books of Western European and Russian authors, study of French. language. 1823 – Moscow State University, Faculty of Philology.

After university, service in the office of the Simbirsk governor, then moving to St. Petersburg - translator at the Ministry of Finance. Goncharov’s first creative experiments - poetry, anti-romantic story "Dashing pain" and story "Lucky Mistake"– were published in a handwritten journal. In 1842 he wrote essay “Ivan Savich Podzhabrin”, published only six years after its creation. In 1847, the novel “Ordinary History” was published in the Sovremennik magazine. The novel is based on the collision of two central characters - Aduev the uncle and Aduev the nephew, personifying sober practicality and enthusiastic idealism. Each of the characters is psychologically close to the writer and represents different projections of his spiritual world. "Ordinary History" received the approval of V. G. Belinsky(in the article “A Look at Russian Literature of 1847”), whose assessment was the subject of special pride for Goncharov throughout his life. The leaders of the democratic trend in literature of that time welcomed the novel for the deep artistic research it contained and a sharp denial of romance in its diverse forms. Aduev writes poetry, but his romanticism is lifeless, which his uncle, Pyotr Ivanovich Aduev, mockingly states. In explaining the reasons why the life of Aduev Jr. turns out to be meaningless and useless, Goncharov anticipates the main idea of ​​the novel "Oblomov". The empty, enthusiastic rantings of the hero appear as a consequence of his lordly upbringing. Goncharov began work on this novel back in the 40s. In 1849 in the almanac "Literary Collection with Illustrations" at the Sovremennik magazine, "Oblomov's Dream" was published. An episode of an unfinished novel." But before G. finishes the novel, many more events will happen. In October 1852 year G Oncharov became a participant in a trip around the world on a sailing warship - the frigate "Pallada" - as a secretary to the head of the expedition, Vice Admiral Putyatin. It was equipped to inspect Russian possessions in North America - Alaska, which at that time belonged to Russia, as well as to establish political and trade relations with Japan. Cycle of travel essays “Frigate “Pallada””(1855-1857) - a kind of “writer’s diary” ». During the trip, he kept careful notes, describing in them everything he saw in Europe, Africa and Asia. Records = true portrayal of life. The sailor-traveler is simultaneously in “his” world of the ship and in the “alien” world of geographical space. He returned and entered the service of the St. Petersburg Censorship Committee (provided assistance to Turgenev’s Notes of a Hunter, Pisemsky’s A Thousand Souls, etc.). In 1859, the novel “Oblomov” was published (10 years passed after the chapter was published in the magazine). Immediately Art. Dobrolyubova “What is Oblomovism?”

Goncharov's last novel "Cliff" published in 1869, presents a new version of Oblomovism in the image of the main character - Boris Raisky. Conceived in 1849 as a novel about the complex relationship between the artist and society, but the writer changed his plan: the center of the novel was the fate of revolutionary youth, represented in the image of the “nihilist” Mark Volokhov. The novel "The Precipice" received mixed reviews from critics. Many questioned the author's talent and denied him the right to judge modern youth. Further, Goncharov rarely published.

1871 - literary critical article "A million torments" dedicated to the stage production of Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”. After “Notes on Belinsky’s personality,” article "Hamlet", essay "Literary evening" and newspaper feuilletons. The result of Goncharov’s creative activity in the 70s. is considered a critical work about his own work entitled " Better late than never". In recent years he lived alone, worked quite a lot, but before his death he burned everything.

Ostrovsky's dramaturgy is found on theater posters and by modern spectators, because his plays are eternal, and their content reflects the inescapable features of the Russian mentality. Therefore, the Many-Wise Litrecon pays special attention to the biography of the author so that the reader can better understand his work.

Playwright Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on March 31 (April 12), 1823 in Moscow. His father, Nikolai Fedorovich, worked in court for many years, and in 1839 he earned the title of nobleman. The boy was left without a mother early, but his stepmother also paid him enough attention. She realized the need for education, so she tried to give her children the best (Mikhail and Alexander).

Their house had a huge library: Alexander often spent a lot of time in it. From childhood he realized his passion for literature. In addition, the father's income allowed him to provide his sons with a quality education. Alexander was taught several languages ​​at once. Ostrovsky knew not only German and French, but also Greek. Later he began to master other languages.

Youth and education

The father always wanted his son to choose a lawyer in the future. After graduating from high school, the young man entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law (1840). However, Ostrovsky failed to complete it: after failing the exam, he was expelled from the university (in 1843). The writer lost his passion for legal sciences.

Immediately after this, the father gets his son a job at the Moscow Conscientious Court, where Alexander served for seven years. The old man still did not lose hope of raising a successor and comrade-in-arms in his heir, but the young man was drawn to bohemia and creativity.

Creative path

Ostrovsky had a variety of nicknames: “Columbus of Zamoskvorechye”, “new dramatic luminary”. All of them are connected with the author’s creative path: it was he who showed the hidden areas of Moscow, merchant life, depicting the life of ordinary people.

The very first publication took place in 1847. Two works by the author were published: the play “Picture of Family Life” and the essay “Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident”. However, the playwright experienced real success only after releasing the comedy work “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!” She brought him wide fame and recognition from authorities. But Ostrovsky’s plan could not be fully realized: the play was staged only once. Due to a complaint from merchants, it was banned from the theater (the playwright received approval only in 1861), and the author himself lost his position in court.

Another creation of Alexander Ostrovsky, “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh” (1852), turned out to be more successful. From this year on, he regularly created dramatic works, which could often be seen in many major theaters. And since 1856, he was on the list of permanent employees of Sovremennik. Many plays were written in this decade: “The Morning of a Young Man”, “An Unexpected Case”, “The Poor Bride” and others. Such works as “Don’t get into your own sleigh”, “Poverty is not a vice” do not expose the vices of the Russian person, but reflect the best traits of his character. Chernyshevsky saw in this the artificiality of the writer’s position.

After a long expedition from the sources of the Volga to Nizhny Novgorod, the author again returns to his previous style of writing. He again denounces officials and shows the life of the poor population. The following plays were released: “A Profitable Place”, “The Pupil”, “The Thunderstorm”.

In the second half of the 1860s, discussions about the historical past of our country appeared on the pages of Ostrovsky’s works. He created plays touching on important events for Russia: “Kuzma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk”, “Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky”, “Vasilisa Melentyeva”.

Alexander Ostrovsky played an important role in the development of Russian theater. In 1866 he organized an Artistic Circle. Thanks to him, many Russian actors developed and improved their skills.

Personal life

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was in a civil marriage with a poor girl Agafya Ivanovna. Unfortunately, the playwright did not have a single child left from this relationship - all four babies died. Despite the fact that the woman had no education, she was always the first to read and evaluate Ostrovsky’s works. Agafya had a subtle and sensitive soul.

In 1867, Agafya dies, and two years later he marries actress Maria Vasilyevna Bakhmetyeva. The new lover gave birth to six children to the playwright.

1. Rimsky-Korsakov and P.I. Tchaikovsky wrote the opera “The Snow Maiden” based on Ostrovsky’s play.
2. It was Ostrovsky who created the theater as we can see it now. The author carried out a reformation of the usual theatrical production and acting. His activities were subsequently continued by K.S. Stanislavsky, M.A. Bulgakov.
3. In 1874, the playwright was one of the organizers of the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers. He managed to improve the situation of the actors and make improvements to theatrical life.
4. Since 1885, the author held a high position: he was the head of the theater school, and was also responsible for the repertoire of Moscow theaters.
5. He knew the leading people of his era. He was often visited by such personalities as L.N. Tolstoy, I.A. Goncharov, F.M. Dostoevsky, M.N. Ermolova.
6. While in a civil marriage with Agafya, Ostrovsky confessed his love to actress Lyubov Kositskaya. However, the girl never reciprocated the playwright’s feelings. In 1859, she was assigned the role of Katerina (“The Thunderstorm”).
7. The playwright lived in debt all the time. Despite the pension, which amounted to three thousand, the author’s high earnings were constantly short of money. Over time, exhausting work led to deterioration of health, and significant funds were required for treatment.

Death

The playwright died in his sixty-third year of life (June 12, 1886), presumably due to angina pectoris. The literary and public figure was buried next to his father in a cemetery in the village of Nikolo-Berezhki, Kostroma province.

A. N. Ostrovsky made an invaluable contribution to the development of theatrical art; he formed the Russian national theater, which was distinguished by its originality and unique flavor of the era. He managed to give a comprehensive description of his era and subtly notice the social and political changes taking place in Russia. He also created a gallery of living and natural images reflecting the Russian mentality. Global social conflicts, which he saw in everyday trifles and fleeting conversations, still become interesting subjects for modern viewers: they have been filmed and appeared on stage more than once. All this proves the significance of this literary figure for Russian culture.

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky was born on April 12 (March 31, old style) 1823 in Moscow.

As a child, Alexander received a good education at home - he studied ancient Greek, Latin, French, German, and later English, Italian, and Spanish.

In 1835-1840, Alexander Ostrovsky studied at the First Moscow Gymnasium.

In 1840 he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law, but in 1843, due to a collision with one of the professors, he left his studies.

In 1943-1945 he served in the Moscow Conscientious Court (a provincial court that considered civil cases through the conciliation procedure and some criminal cases).

1845-1851 - worked in the office of the Moscow Commercial Court, resigning with the rank of provincial secretary.

In 1847, Ostrovsky published in the newspaper "Moscow City Listok" the first draft of the future comedy "Our People - Let's Count Together" entitled "The Insolvent Debtor", then the comedy "Picture of Family Happiness" (later "Family Picture") and the prose essay "Notes of Zamoskvoretsky" resident."

Ostrovsky received recognition from the comedy "Our People - Let's Be Numbered" (original title "Bankrupt"), which was completed at the end of 1849. Before publication, the play received favorable reviews from writers Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Goncharov, and historian Timofey Granovsky. The comedy was published in 1950 in the magazine "Moskvityanin". Censorship, which saw the work as an insult to the merchant class, did not allow its production on stage - the play was first staged in 1861.

Since 1847, Ostrovsky collaborated as an editor and critic with the magazine "Moskvityanin", publishing his plays in it: "The Morning of a Young Man", "An Unexpected Case" (1850), the comedy "Poor Bride" (1851), "Not on Your Sleigh" sit down" (1852), "Poverty is not a vice" (1853), "Don't live the way you want" (1854).

After the publication of "Moskvityanin" ceased, Ostrovsky in 1856 moved to "Russian Messenger", where his comedy "At Someone Else's Feast a Hangover" was published in the second book of that year. But he did not work for this magazine for long.

Since 1856, Ostrovsky has been a permanent contributor to the Sovremennik magazine. In 1857 he wrote the plays “A Profitable Place” and “A Festive Sleep Before Dinner”, in 1858 - “The Characters Didn’t Get Along”, in 1859 - “The Kindergarten” and “The Thunderstorm”.

In the 1860s, Alexander Ostrovsky turned to historical drama, considering such plays necessary in the theater repertoire. He created a cycle of historical plays: "Kozma Zakharyich Minin-Sukhoruk" (1861), "Voevoda" (1864), "Dmitry the Pretender and Vasily Shuisky" (1866), "Tushino" (1866), the psychological drama "Vasilisa Melentyeva" (1868 ).

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Theater as a serious and popular matter
It also started recently for us,
began in earnest with Ostrovsky.

A.A. Grigoriev

Childhood and youth

Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky (1823–1886) was born in the old merchant and bureaucratic district of Zamoskvorechye. In Moscow, on Malaya Ordynka, there is still a two-story house in which the future great playwright was born on April 12 (March 31), 1823. Here, in Zamoskvorechye - on Malaya Ordynka, Pyatnitskaya, Zhitnaya streets - he spent his childhood and youth.

The writer's father, Nikolai Fedorovich Ostrovsky, was the son of a priest, but after graduating from the theological academy he chose a secular profession - he became a judicial official. The mother of the future writer, Lyubov Ivanovna, also came from among the clergy. She died when the boy was 8 years old. After 5 years, the father married again, this time to a noblewoman. Successfully advancing in his career, Nikolai Fedorovich received the title of nobility in 1839, and in 1842 he retired and began to engage in private legal practice. With income from clients - mostly wealthy merchants - he acquired several estates and in 1848, having retired from business, he moved to the village of Shchelykovo, Kostroma province, and became a landowner.

In 1835, Alexander Nikolaevich entered the 1st Moscow Gymnasium and graduated in 1840. Even during his gymnasium years, Ostrovsky was attracted to literature and theater. By the will of his father, the young man entered the law faculty of Moscow University, but the Maly Theater, in which the great Russian actors Shchepkin and Mochalov played, attracts him to itself like a magnet. This was not the empty desire of a rich scoundrel who saw pleasant entertainment in the theater: for Ostrovsky the stage became life. These interests forced him to leave the university in the spring of 1843. “From a young age, I gave up everything and devoted myself entirely to art,” he later recalled.

His father still hoped that his son would become an official, and appointed him as a scribe to the Moscow Conscientious Court, which dealt mainly with family property disputes. In 1845, Alexander Nikolaevich was transferred to the office of the Moscow Commercial Court as an official at the “verbal table”, i.e. upon receipt of oral requests from applicants.

His father's law practice, life in Zamoskvorechye and service in court, which lasted almost eight years, gave Ostrovsky many subjects for his works.

1847–1851 – early period

Ostrovsky began writing while still a student. His literary views were formed under the influence of Belinsky and Gogol: from the very beginning of his literary career, the young man declared himself an adherent of the realistic school. Ostrovsky's first essays and dramatic sketches were written in Gogol's style.

In 1847, the newspaper "Moscow City Listok" published two scenes from the comedy "The Insolvent Debtor" - the first version of the comedy "Our People - Let's Be Numbered!" - the comedy "Picture of Family Happiness" and the essay "Notes of a Zamoskvoretsky Resident."

In 1849, Ostrovsky completed work on his first big comedy, “Our People – Let’s Be Numbered!”

The comedy ridicules the rude and greedy tyrant merchant Samson Silych Bolshov. His tyranny knows no bounds as long as he feels solid ground beneath him - wealth. But greed destroys him. Wanting to get even richer, Bolshov, on the advice of the clever and cunning clerk Podkhalyuzin, transfers all his property into his name and declares himself an insolvent debtor. Podkhalyuzin, having married Bolshov’s daughter, appropriates his father-in-law’s property and, refusing to pay even a small part of his debts, leaves Bolshov in debtor’s prison. Lipochka, Bolshov’s daughter, who became Podkhalyuzin’s wife, does not feel any pity for her father.

In the play "Our People - Let's Be Numbered" the main features of Ostrovsky's dramaturgy have already appeared: the ability to show important all-Russian problems through family and everyday conflict, to create bright and recognizable characters not only of the main, but also of secondary characters. His plays contain rich, lively, folk speech. And each of them has a complicated, thought-provoking ending. Then nothing found in the first experiments will disappear, but only new features will “grow in.”

The position of an “unreliable” writer complicated Ostrovsky’s already difficult living conditions. In the summer of 1849, against the will of his father and without a church wedding, he married a simple bourgeois Agafya Ivanovna. The angry father refused his son further financial support. The young family was in dire need. Despite his precarious situation, Ostrovsky refused to serve in January 1851 and devoted himself entirely to literary activity.

1852–1855 – “Moscow period”

The first plays allowed to be staged were “Don’t Get in Your Own Sleigh” and “Poverty is Not a Vice.” Their appearance was the beginning of a revolution in all theatrical art. For the first time on stage, the viewer saw simple everyday life. This also required a new style of acting: the truth of life began to displace pompous declamation and “theatrical” gestures.

In 1850, Ostrovsky became a member of the so-called “young editorial staff” of the Slavophile magazine “Moskvityanin”. But relations with editor-in-chief Pogodin are not easy. Despite the enormous work he was doing, Ostrovsky remained indebted to the magazine all the time. Pogodin paid sparingly.

1855–1860 – pre-reform period

At this time, the playwright's rapprochement with the revolutionary-democratic camp took place. Ostrovsky's worldview is finally determined. In 1856, he became close to the Sovremennik magazine and became its permanent contributor. He established friendly relations with I.S. Turgenev and L.N. Tolstoy, who collaborated in Sovremennik.

In 1856, together with other Russian writers, Ostrovsky took part in the famous literary and ethnographic expedition organized by the Maritime Ministry to “describe the life, everyday life and trades of the population living along the shores of the seas, lakes and rivers of European Russia.” Ostrovsky was entrusted with surveying the upper reaches of the Volga. He visited Tver, Gorodnya, Torzhok, Ostashkovo, Rzhev, etc. All observations were used by Ostrovsky in his works.

1860–1886 – post-reform period

In 1862, Ostrovsky visited Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, France and England.

In 1865 he founded an artistic circle in Moscow. Ostrovsky was one of its leaders. The artistic circle became a school for talented amateurs - future wonderful Russian artists: O.O. Sadovskoy, M.P. Sadovsky, P.A. Strepetova, M.I. Pisarev and many others. In 1870, on the initiative of the playwright, the Society of Russian Dramatic Writers was created in Moscow; from 1874 until the end of his life, Ostrovsky was its permanent chairman.

Having worked for the Russian stage for almost forty years, Ostrovsky created a whole repertoire - fifty-four plays. “I covered all of Russian life” - from prehistoric, fairy-tale times (“The Snow Maiden”), and events of the past (the chronicle “Kozma Zakharyich Minin, Sukhoruk”) to topical reality. Ostrovsky's works remain on stage at the end of the 20th century. His dramas often sound so modern that they make those who recognize themselves on stage angry.

In addition, Ostrovsky penned numerous translations from Cervantes, Shakespeare, Goldoni, etc. His work covers a huge period: from the 40s. - the times of serfdom and until the mid-80s, marked by the rapid development of capitalism and the growth of the labor movement.

In the last decades of his life, Ostrovsky created a kind of artistic monument to the national theater. In 1872, he wrote a poetic comedy “The Comedian of the 17th Century” about the birth of the first Russian theater at the court of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, father of Peter I. But Ostrovsky’s plays about his contemporary theater are much better known - “Talents and Admirers” (1881) and “ Guilty without guilt" (18983). Here he showed how tempting and difficult the life of an actress is.

In a sense, we can say that Ostrovsky loved the theater the same way he loved Russia: he did not turn a blind eye to the bad and did not lose sight of what was most precious and important.

On June 14, 1886, Alexander Nikolaevich Ostrovsky died in his beloved Trans-Volga estate Shchelykovo, in the Kostroma dense forests, on the hilly banks of small winding rivers.

In connection with the thirty-fifth anniversary of A.N.’s dramatic activity. Ostrovsky Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov wrote:

“To literature you brought a whole library of works of art as a gift, for the stage you created your own special world. You alone completed the building, at the foundation of which Fonvizin, Griboyedov, Gogol laid the cornerstones. But only after you, we Russians can proudly say: “U We have our own Russian, national theater,” It, in fairness, should be called: “Ostrovsky Theater.”

Literature

Based on materials from the Encyclopedia for Children. Literature Part I, Avanta+, M., 1999