1833, after graduating from herzen university, he was arrested together with his group members in 1834 for publishing a publication propagating revolutionary ideas, and was exiled twice on charges of "a free thinker who is extremely dangerous to society". During his six-year exile, he was exposed to the dark social reality in many ways, which deepened his hatred of autocratic serfdom and sympathy for the lower classes. Since 1836, articles have been published under the pseudonym Iskandel el. 1842 returned to Moscow and took an active part in revolutionary activities and literary creation from the standpoint of the left wing in western Europe.
In the 1940s, herzen formed a materialistic world outlook and gradually turned to the position of revolutionary democracy in political thought. Together with belinsky, he advocated that Russia should take the revolutionary road. At first, he opposed the conservative Slavs. In the second half of the 1940s, he parted ways with the liberal Western Europeans. The main philosophical works "A Little Knowledge of Science" (1842 ~ 1843) and "Communication on Natural Research" (1844 ~ 1845) inherit Hegel's dialectics and Feuerbach's materialism, and require philosophy to be closely linked with natural science and social reality, and affirm nature and man. Lenin thought that herzen "reached the level of the greatest contemporary Russian thinker in the 19 era", and he "approached dialectical materialism, but stopped in front of historical materialism".
Unable to carry out social activities under the autocratic rule of the czar, he came to France with his family in 1847 and became a political exile. The following year, he witnessed the French revolution in February and the bloody suppression of workers and the "shameful victory" of reactionary forces after the failure of the revolution. He has an ideological crisis and is disappointed with the socialist movement in western Europe. Instead, I pinned my hopes on the growing peasant movement in Russia, thinking that socialism can be realized through peasant villages after Russia abolished serfdom, which laid the foundation for later populism.
1In August, 852, herzen moved to London. 1855 set up a "free Russian printing house" in London and published many revolutionary leaflets and pamphlets. 1855 founded the literary series Polaris, and 1857 co-organized the Zhong newspaper with Ogarev to carry forward The Decemberists's revolutionary tradition and call on the people to overthrow the czar's autocratic system. A large number of these newspapers and periodicals were secretly transported back to Russia, which promoted the development of the liberation movement. On the eve of serfdom reform, he wavered and showed a liberal tendency, calling on Alexander II to liberate serfs from top to bottom in Bell. At the same time, there are differences with Chernyshevski and others in evaluating the historical role of aristocratic intellectuals in the liberation movement. However, in him, democracy prevailed after all. In 1960s, he stood firmly on the side of revolutionary democrats, opposed liberalism, promoted the establishment of a secret revolutionary organization Land and Freedom Society, and supported the Polish Uprising from 1863 to 1864. Living in Geneva in his later years, he looked forward to the new climax of the revolutionary movement in Western Europe, turned his eyes to the "international led by Marx" and pinned his hopes on the "labor world". 1870 65438+1February 2 1 died in Paris.
Herzen created and developed materialistic aesthetics and realistic literature and art in the struggle against Russian autocratic serfdom. He believes that "socialism and realism are touchstones on the road of revolution and science", and realism here refers to the materialistic world outlook, including the aesthetic view of respecting reality and loving life based on it. He affirmed the connection between people's aesthetic activities and social practice, and emphasized that beauty "cannot be divorced from the laws of nature", and beauty comes from real life. It is confirmed that art is the reflection of social life, the characteristics of art are "art is imagination, science is understanding", and the artist's thoughts are "expressed in words and reflected in images". He emphasized the social function of literature and art, insisted on the ideological and humanistic nature of literature and art, and thought that literature "as the language of the people is the expression of his life".
In his works such as "A Little Knowledge of Science" and "On the Development of Russian Revolutionary Thought" (1850), he put forward systematic views on the history of Russian literature and the history of world art, demonstrated the historical inevitability of realism replacing classicism and romanticism, and exposed the decay of modern bourgeois culture and art. In articles and letters such as The End and the Beginning (1862), he repeatedly pointed out that "the spirit of philistinism ... is incompatible with art", and its two main artistic manifestations are "art for money" and "art for art's sake". He believes that in Russia at that time, "literature was the only forum for people to express their angry cries and conscience to the public". This idea runs through such papers as Novels Describing Russian People's Life (1857) and New Stage of Russian Literature (1864).
Herzen affirmed the close relationship between Russian literature and the liberation movement, emphasizing that "the main feature of the new literature represented by Nikolai Nikolai Gogol is pathological anatomy" and "a new denial of the existing order"; At the same time, it attaches great importance to the shaping of outstanding positive figures, and believes that this model can fully and vividly reflect the ideals and beauty of the times.
Herzen's literary creation runs through the theme of anti-serfdom, with various forms and unique features, which occupies an important position in the development of Russian realistic literature. In the 1930s, he started his romantic creative activities. Some early works focus on the hazy ideal of the future and praise romantic heroes who confront reality with personal spiritual strength.
1840~ 184 1 published an autobiographical novella, Notes of a Young Man, which marked herzen's turning to realism. This work truly describes the intellectual's spiritual growth, which was well received by belinsky. Whose Crime (184 1 ~ 1846) reveals the cruelty and arbitrariness of serf owners, the misery of the lower class and the weakness of intellectuals who are far away from the people through the love tragedies of three young people with different backgrounds and the descriptions of people around them. The creation of the image of noble youth Beritov enriches the gallery of "superfluous people" in Russian literature. The novella Stealing Magpie (1848) tells the story of an actress who was born a serf, exposing the autocratic serf system that destroyed human dignity and creativity. Dr. Krupov (1847) satirized the phenomenon of "general madness" in serfdom society. The works of this period have a strong political color, and the combination of true description of life, profound psychological analysis of characters and passionate philosophical discussion is unique in Russian social psychological novels. Belinsky thinks that the "main strength" of his talent lies in the "power of thought" and calls him a "humane poet".
During his exile, herzen wrote mainly in the form of political essays, memoirs and letters. Essays such as Letters from France and Italy and From the Other Side (1847 ~ 1850) attack the capitalist society in western Europe with sharp brushstrokes, express the spiritual tragedy and passion caused by witnessing the failure of the French revolution in February, and the pen and ink are full of blood and tears, blending with reason, forming a unique lyric political theory. The representative work Random Thoughts on the Past (1852 ~ 1868) is a memoir containing diaries, letters, essays, political comments and miscellaneous feelings. The author claims that this is "the reflection of history on a person who happened to appear in its path". The book ***7 volumes, rich in content, reflects the social life and revolutionary events in Russia and western Europe in the half century from the inner-party uprising in1February to the eve of the Paris Commune, portrays all kinds of characters on a vast historical picture, and organically links major events with the author's personal life path and ideological development. The central clue throughout the book is thinkers' tireless exploration of revolutionary truth and strong confidence in a better future.
Herzen's works are vivid and full of emotion, and the characters are vivid and concise. He is good at summarizing the profound contents of the times through detailed description, which occupies an important position in autobiographical literature in Russia and even the whole world. He is famous for his unique style. Turgenev believes that "only he among Russians can write like this" and "this language is a flesh and blood thing".
Many of herzen's works were banned in Russia for a long time, and were not allowed to be published until after 1905. In foreign countries, 19 was published in the late 1970s, and was later translated into many languages and widely circulated. His major philosophical works and literary works were introduced to China one after another, and Whose Crime and The Magpie Who Stole were translated into Chinese.