Journalistic tendencies in A.A. Fet's essays “From abroad”

The article examines the journalistic tendencies in the work of A. Fet- one of the greatest poets of the 19th century. Interest in Fet’s journalism has manifested itself only in the last twenty years. But from the middle of 1850s to the middle of 1880s, if we exclude translations, journalism was become almost the main type of his work. There are few works devoted to Fet’s journalism, and they are mainly related to “village” essays (1862-1864). A complete picture of his journalistic work does not yet exist. For the first time, journalistic tendencies in the work of A. Fet appeared in “Essays from abroad” (1856-1857). The author of the article is interested in why journalistic trends arise, how they develop, in what genre forms they exist and what influences their formation and development. Despite the fact that the essays “From Abroad” are narrative (and this is typical of all Fet’s prose texts, including his memoiristics), they raise one of the most important problems of the 19th century - the problem of art: its content, the source of inspiration, the role of the artist and art in the life of society, the attitude of Fet himself to art. Fet’s essays are polemical. Disagreeing with his contemporaries, first of all with Belinsky, Fet is not afraid to declare his position as a representative and supporter of "pure art”, reinforcing it with an excursion into various historical epochs. He is also interested in the domestic, everyday world in a variety of manifestations. Most often, this is the "truth of fact”, which he will adhere to in the future in journalism throughout his work and which was initially realized in the Russian literature of the 19th century in the genre of a physiological essay. The essays “From Abroad” are characterized by the subjectivism of the narrative, their text is expressive, often ironic. The article also touches on Fet’s relationship with the magazine “Sovremennik”, where Fet’s essays “From Abroad” were published.