Culture of the new time: problems of periodization, characteristics, distinctive features

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Human culture is perhaps comparable to a boundless gray ocean. In its depths there are innumerable treasures of thought, unique masterpieces of music and painting, architecture and cinematography, achievements of science and technology, great geographical discoveries and much more that has determined our spiritual appearance today. Mankind in its lifetime has known many civilizations that have left a significant imprint on the fate of their descendants or have sunk into oblivion without a trace. Each time put forward its heroes, its spiritual leaders and had its own unique characteristics.

The gloomy Middle Ages are being replaced by an interesting era, which is commonly called the New Time. And the culture of the new time became a defining moment in the history of our ancestors and largely predetermined the modern alignment of events.

Problems of periodization

The very concept of "new time" is rather conditional and vague. After all, it includes not only certain time frames, but also a fundamentally new level of thinking, a new view of the world, expansioncultural, intellectual space. The culture of the new time is based on the ideals of the humanists of the Renaissance. It was they who came up with the idea of dividing human history into ancient, middle and new periods. As a starting point, they took the principle of innovation in the cultural sphere, and not only in the socio-economic one, as the basis for periodization. This approach was explained quite simply: after the revelry of the Inquisition, the persecution of science, the dominance of the Church in all spheres of public and private life, the Renaissance with its progressive views and the first sprouts of democracy, the ideal of a harmonious person, a surge of scientific and technical thought, the discovery and development of new lands were perceived by educated like a breath of fresh, life-giving air. And the culture of the new time fully corresponds to such an ideology. But not all countries that existed at that time were at the same level of cultural and economic development, not all peoples were equally civilized. Yes, and in Western Europe itself, along with the establishment of humanism and enlightenment, the Reformation, was sometimes thrown decades into the past by the fires of the Inquisition, the show trials of witches, etc. Serfdom flourished in Russia. Notre Dame Cathedral in France, as well as Hugo's immortal novel, became one of the most significant symbols of this time, reflecting, on the one hand, high achievements, the flight of creative thought and the spirit of man, and on the other hand, his fear of the incomprehensible, unknown and slave traits of the soul. Nevertheless, the era of modern times has proved that it is with its onset that Europe becomesonly the political, but also the spiritual center of the world and spreads its intellectual, political and technical influence to other countries and peoples. European civilization becomes the most developed and strong at that time.

In scientific circles there is no consensus on the issue of periodization.

• Some historians suggest taking the English revolution of 1640 as the beginning of an era, when the people and the bourgeoisie, under the leadership of Cromwell, encroached not only on power, but also on the life of the monarch, executing King Charles Stewart.
• According to others, the era and culture of the new time is more in line with such a starting point as the Reformation of 1517 and the activities of Luther.
• Third groups of scientists call the date of the discovery of America, the capture of the Byzantine capital of Constantinople by the Ottomans, the French Revolution in 1789 as dominant.
• Western historiographers call the end of the New Age and the onset of Modern History the end of the First World War, and in Soviet science the Seventeenth year and the Bolshevik uprising were considered.

New time - new culture

The grandiosity of the era of the New Age is fully reflected in its artistic culture. In addition to the political redistribution of the world, wars and revolutions, the artistic culture of the new time contained new trends that came into the European consciousness with a close acquaintance with the life of the African continent and India with its peculiar philosophy, the discovery of America and the life, culture, mythology, art of its indigenous peoples.peoples, close contact with the East and the Muslim religion.

Art in modern times is perceived not as entertainment, rest from righteous labors (mental and physical), but as the most important form of creative activity. An intense search in this area led to the creation in world art of such styles and trends as magnificent baroque with its external showiness and stylization of antiquity, strict classicism with its inherent glorification of reason and prudence, sentimentalism, glorifying the superiority of the heart, feelings over rationalism, realism with close attention to the human soul, its searches and throwing, falls and rises, and, finally, the so-called decadent currents.

The very nature of the era, dynamic and dramatic, gave rise to this variety of styles and trends, which not only succeeded each other, but coexisted and even fought both within the work of one Master and within entire art schools. The main thing is that at the center of everything was a Man, a Personality. Through it, as through a prism, Time was studied and reflected in architecture, sculpture, painting, etc. And all the cultural and artistic trends of the era reflected the struggle of people for social justice and spirituality, their worthy existence in a free society.