Белград

Question: How should we understand the concept of realism? Is it possible, and to what extent, to truthfully reflect reality in works of art belonging to other art movements? Answer: By realism, I understand the creative method and movement that formed under certain historical conditions and changed significantly during different historical periods. It seems to me, as well as to a number of scholars, that realism in Western Europe first emerged during the Renaissance, finding its most powerful expression in the works of Shakespeare. One of the fundamental distinguishing features of realism lies in its unique approach to the creation of a typical character. By freeing itself from mythological ideas about human personality and will, realism came to depict character in its deepest individualization, in its self-development. Whereas in previous eras, literature, in creating characters, proceeded from previously "given" aesthetic norms that determined for themselves the ideal, the sublime, or the ugly.