Russian merchants in plays by A.N. Ostrovsky and in the articles of his critics

The article is devoted to the history of the Russian merchants' entrepreneurship, reflected in the works of A.N. Ostrovsky, and is about contemporaries' attitude to his plays, especially professional critics'. Here are highlighted the key periods in creativity of the great playwright. The period when he followed the canons of a natural school, then became a Slavophile was the first one. Then A.N. Ostrov-sky paid tribute to the revolutionary-democratic trend in Russian literature and it was only after the reform of 1861 that he embarked on the path of mature realism. This evolution did not remain without the close attention of contemporaries and was reflected in literary criticism, which is also examined and analyzed in the article. Ostrovsky's works of art, materials of his expedition to the Upper Volga and correspondence, memories of his contemporaries, critical articles about him in the periodical press were used as the main sources here. In addition, the author of the article got acquainted with many works of literary critics that show the features of the great playwright's creativity and the evolution of his views throughout almost four decades of the XIX century. The most close to the author's convictions is the concept proposed by the well-known critic Apollon Grigoriev who believed that the merchant class was an inseparable part of the people and had many positive qualities that in his contemporary society had been undervalued. This applies to both the whole class and its individual representatives of the merchants. The concept of "the dark kingdom" was imposed on revolutionary criticism for propaganda purposes and was not the truth of life, which was present in the plays of Ostrovsky. The very notion of a "dark kingdom" was imposed by revolutionary criticism for propaganda purposes and was not the truth of life that was presented in Ostrovsky's plays. His work was based on a deep knowledge, understanding of the way of life and activity of the merchant class, it has become known through many historical studies only recently. Nevertheless, Dobrolyubov's interpretation of Ostrovsky was dominant for almost a century and a half and finds his supporters to this day. The Great Russian playwright A.N. Ostrovsky showed the sprouts of new relations in the Russian reality of the second half of the nineteenth century, which also gave positive results. Although the article notes that Russian entrepreneurship and commerce in the pre-reform time were covered by Ostrovsky as a rudimentary and primitive, in 30 years certain changes in this characteristic had already been noted. Here are some of the results of this development: most merchants received a good education, were interested in politics and culture, and often went abroad, had being become the leading force in the economy and a notable figure in the social and cultural life of the country.

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