1852 - Inn

1855 - Yakov Pasynkov

1855 - Faust

1856 - Calm

1857 - Trip to Polesie

In the story “Mumu,” written after “Notes of a Hunter,” the writer creates an epic image of the serf peasant Gerasim. In addition to his spiritual integrity, physical strength, and other moral virtues that the writer endows him with, this hero can be considered an example of a folk hero. his actions are always unexpected for outside observers. He does everything as if “suddenly.” The internal logic of his spiritual life is incomprehensible to others, although it can be approximately restored or unraveled. Suddenly he becomes imbued with love for a seemingly unremarkable, intimidated and meek courtyard girl, then for a dog, and just as unexpectedly and abruptly, at the request of the lady, he sacrifices both affections. His next unexpected and decisive action is a “rebellion”, a break with the lady, refusal to obey and leaving.

"Mumu", "Inn". In both stories, two worlds are opposed to each other - the peasant world and the “society” of landowners. The peasant hero is distinguished by his moral qualities from among the servants, corrupted by his proximity to the landowner (in both stories, the fate of the peasant hero is controlled by the tyrant landowner). In both “Mumu” ​​and “The Inn,” the hero is deprived of all his property, separated from the creature he loves, experiencing the deepest shock, and responds to violence by leaving. However, the difference, and the difference is significant, between these two works is that Akim - the hero of "The Inn" - moves from rebellion (he attempts arson) to humility. Gerasim, refusing to obey the landowner and returning to the village, remains outwardly calm and impenetrable.

The story “Mumu” ​​reveals the tragic discrepancy between Gerasim’s heroic power and touching defenselessness; his muteness takes on a symbolic meaning. In the story “The Inn”, a smart, sensible man Akim suddenly loses his entire fortune at the capricious whim of his lady. Like Gerasim, he leaves the courtyard and picks up the staff of the wanderer, the “man of God.” And he is replaced by the tenacious village predator Naum.

Tale "Asya" Laconically conveys episodes of more or less random meetings between a young man and a young girl. Initiating us into the modest events of this almost failed novel, cut short by the young man’s fear of risk, his distrust of his own feelings, the writer makes us feel the poetry of summer evenings (Turgenev worked more on the description of nature in this story than on some plot-significant episodes novels), and the freshness of the first young feeling, timid, selfless and uncompromising, like a revolutionary impulse - Asya's feelings, and the disappointment of the old narrator, remembering a mistake he made.

about noble amateurism, makes one feel the value of a moment, which can sometimes cost a whole life, teaches responsibility for one’s own and others’ fate, and indisputably proves that a word spoken in youth, in a fit of random moods, can cause irreparable harm and cast a shadow on many years human existence. Chernyshevsky compared the fear of love and the fear of the revolutionary cause. A comparison of selflessness in love and in revolutionary feat was made by Turgenev in his other lyrical story, “Spring Waters.”

During the period of Spasskaya exile (1853), Turgenev continued to work on a cycle of stories, in which he explored from different sides the psychology of his contemporary, a cultured man, an idealist of the 1840s. He is no longer satisfied with the old style of artistic writing with its sketchiness, fragmentation, and sketchiness. He now strives for “simplicity, calmness, clarity of lines.”

IN "Fausta", "Ace" and "First Love" Turgenev develops the theme of the tragic meaning of love. This feeling reveals to a person the highest secrets and mysteries of life, surpassing any attempts at their natural explanations. Love is stronger than death because it takes a person in love beyond the blind laws of “indifferent nature” and promises more than nature can give him. But because love can break a person’s fragile natural composition. This feeling triumphs over the weak and mortal side of the human being. This is how the heroine of Faust, Vera Nikolaevna Eltsova, burns in love. In “Ace”, love is a wayward element, against whose power any person is defenseless. Love reminds one of the forces above him and warns against excessive self-confidence: it teaches a person readiness for self-denial.

Talking about an isolated incident from daily life, about an event, sometimes completely insignificant, sometimes affecting only a narrow circle of people, the writer raised social and moral problems of great importance in them. He affirmed the importance of an individual personality, an individual destiny, the enduring value of every moment of life: a person in society. (diary of an extra person 1849)

12. “Hero of Time” in the novels of I.S. Turgenev "Rudin", "Noble Nest" and "On the Eve".

In the first novel fully realized by Turgenev - “Rudine” - the original form of his novel manifested itself in the same complete, characteristic outlines as his short story and story - in “Notes of a Hunter”.

The hero appears from outside into a conservative society, into an estate - and brings with him the historical wind, the breath of world life, the distant rumbles of thunder of fate. With his appearance, the action of the novel begins, not only due to his personal properties as a new and bright person in this environment, but also because he expresses the historical task of his generation, called upon to destroy the established routine of life and call for activity. Thus, the central character of the narrative in Turgenev’s novel becomes an active person who brings new ideals.

The bearers of historical progress in Turgenev's novels are often illuminated by the glow of doom, and this is not because their activities are fruitless, but because they are depicted under the sign of the idea of ​​​​infinity of progress. Next to the charm of their novelty, freshness, and courage stands the awareness of their historical limitations and insufficiency. This insufficiency is revealed as soon as they fulfill their mission, it is seen for the most part by the generation following them, awakened by them, wrested by them from the moral indifference inherent in the older, reactionary generation (plotwise - fathers, ideologically - often grandfathers).

Dobrolyubov rightly argued that Turgenev’s heroes are theorists and propagandists and that the plot of “propaganda” forms the basis of many of his works. The situation of propaganda was the focus of the novel “Rudin”; the ideological dispute became the main structural element of the novel “Fathers and Sons”.

Rudin’s “conversations”, his fiery speeches, the “propaganda” of ideas that he conducts are a necessary, historically progressive matter. However, by instilling new thoughts in the younger generation, Rudin and others like him contribute to changing the situation in society, the birth of needs that cannot be satisfied by the activities of people of their type. Having done their job, awakening the “novelty,” they are criticized for their failure to meet new requirements and become archaic. Courage and a sense of responsibility for the historical fate of their ideas do not allow them to evade the experience of practical implementation of these ideas, and Turgenev attributes to his novel an ending depicting Rudin dying for the cause of the French blues-peaks, who do not yet know that there are revolutionaries in Russia, then how he, one of the first, tries to “test” Russian liberation ideas in the revolutionary battles of Europe. Death on the barricade again elevates the debunked hero, but also gives his feat a “dreamy,” abstract character. Rudin failed to respond with practical action to the “challenge” of the younger generation.

love in Turgenev's works serves as a criterion, a test of the hero. Themes of love and revolution are woven into Turgenev's novels. The hero of the novel “Rudin” turns out to be weak and untenable in love, and the lack of direct feeling reveals the contradiction, the internal fragmentation of his nature.

A completely different type was placed at the center of Turgenev’s next novel, “The Noble Nest” (1859). Turgenev endowed this hero with a semi-democratic origin (his mother was a peasant), physical strength, heroism, which arouses respect for him among the people, spiritual integrity and the ability for practical activity. He is a humane and modest person. His appearance contrasts with its democratic coloring not only to the protesting and yearning aristocrats - Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov, but also to the hero of Turgenev's first novel - Rudin.

The basic relationships of forces in Turgenev’s novel remained the same throughout the writer’s work: the bearer of new ideas in his novels invariably encountered a staunch supporter of the recent, but firmly established antiquity, argued with him, activated fresh forces, etc. However, a sharp change in the content of the central images - not only of the hero-ideologist, but also of his students, and the woman who loves him and whom he loves - a change in the very “style” of thought, practical activity and relationships in love, the evolution of the character of the “reactionary”, the antagonist of the novel's protagonist - all this led to the fact that each subsequent novel by Turgenev was not like the previous one.

“The Noble Nest” - a lyrical novel in the center of which is the problem of the relationship between the ideological concepts of the modern noble intelligentsia, their spiritual quests with the traditional folk worldview - struck contemporaries after “Rudin”, where this problem was not raised. In “The Nest of Nobles,” the ideological dispute between the heroes takes center stage for the first time, and for the first time, lovers become “parties” to this dispute. Love itself turns into an arena for the struggle of ideals.

Interest in the people, the desire to be useful to them, to find one’s place in the historical life of the country, the main purpose of the development of which should be the improvement of the people’s life, based on knowledge of the needs and aspirations of the people, are characteristic of Lavretsky.

Lavretsky is a thinker. Conscious of the need for action, he considers his main concern to be developing the meaning and direction of this action. The novel “The Noble Nest” contains many moments that should emphasize the Hamletism of the main character. However, he does not act, and the realization of his uselessness plunges him into despair.

To Panshin’s impatient question “...what do you intend to do?” Lavretsky gives the answer, clothed in the form of deliberate simplicity and prosaicity: “Plow the land and try to plow it as best as possible.”

Lavretsky’s love, interest and respect for the people makes him similar to Lisa Kalitina, a girl whose actions directly and directly follow from her beliefs. People like Don Quixote are always true to their ideal. Lisa Kalitina belongs to this type of person.

Having parted with Lisa and ascetically devoted himself to work for the benefit of his peasants, Lavretsky, forgotten by everyone and lonely, “stopped thinking about his own happiness, about selfish goals,” and that is why “he had nothing to regret, nothing to be ashamed of” (VII, 293 ).

The novel “The Noble Nest” is imbued with the consciousness of the flow of historical time, which takes away the lives of people, the hopes and thoughts of generations and entire layers of national culture.

In no other work of Turgenev, to such an extent as in “The Noble Nest,” is negation connected with affirmation; in no other work are the opposites woven into such a tight knot. Drawing the historical decline of the landowners' nests, Turgenev showed that the enduring values ​​of noble culture were created in the process of its interaction with the spiritual life of the people, the peasantry.

In the novel “On the Eve” (1860), the vague bright forebodings and hopes that permeated the melancholic narrative of “The Noble Nest” turn into definite decisions. The main question for Turgenev about the relationship between thought and activity, a man of action and a theorist in this novel is resolved in favor of the hero who practically implements the idea.

The very title of the novel “On the Eve” - the name is “temporary” - the immobility of patriarchal Russian life comes to an end.

The title of the novel “On the Eve” not only reflects its direct, plot content (Insarov dies on the eve of the war for the independence of his homeland, in which he passionately wants to take part), but also contains an assessment of the state of Russian society on the eve of the reform. thought about the significance of the people's liberation struggle as the eve of pan-European political change

Dobrolyubov considered the image of Elena the embodiment of young Russia. Elena is characterized by spontaneity of protest, she is looking for a “teacher” - a trait inherent in Turgenev’s active heroines.

At the center of the novel is the Bulgarian patriot-democrat and revolutionary in spirit - Insarov. He seeks to overthrow the despotic rule in his native country, slavery, established for centuries, and the system of trampling on national feeling, protected by a bloody, terrorist regime. The spiritual uplift that he experiences and communicates to Elena is associated with faith in the cause he serves, with a sense of his unity with all the suffering people of Bulgaria. Love in the novel “On the Eve” is love as a revolution (“Spring Waters”). Inspired heroes joyfully fly into the light of struggle, ready for sacrifice, death and victory.

In “On the Eve,” for the first time, love appeared as unity in beliefs and participation in a common cause. Elena's love and her noble determination destroy Insarov's ascetic isolation and make him happy. Dobrolyubov especially appreciated the pages of the novel, which depicted the bright and happy love of young people.

13. Controversies surrounding the novel “Fathers and Sons” by I.S. Turgenev in Russian criticism.

The breath of the era, its typical features are palpable in the central images of the novel and in the historical background against which the action unfolds. The period of preparation for the peasant reform, the deep social contradictions of that time, the struggle of social forces in the era of the 60s - this is what was reflected in the images of the novel, constituted its historical background and the essence of its main conflict.

The amazing laconicism of Turgenev's style is striking: The writer selects only the most characteristic, the most essential.

The image of Bazarov occupies a central place in the novel. All the main characters of the novel are grouped around him, revealed in their relationships with him, and shade him. Only one period of this history is taken, only its turning points are shown.

Artistic detail - precise, impressive - helps the writer to briefly and convincingly tell about the people, about the life of the country in one of the turning points in its history.

Using significant details, Turgenev depicts the crisis of the serfdom economy. the writer sketches a picture of the life of the people: “villages with low huts under dark, often half-swept roofs”

“transformations are necessary... but how to carry them out, how to start?..” This question worries the heroes of the novel. Nikolai Petrovich Kirsanov talks “about upcoming government measures, about committees, about deputies, about the need to start cars...”. Pavel Petrovich Kirsanov places his hopes on the wisdom of the government and on patriarchal morals, on the people's community, but the people themselves do not trust the landowners, are hostile to them, rebellious forces are accumulating within them, and the gap between serfs and serf-owners is deepening.

And against the background of this poverty, slave, unsettled life, the mighty figure of Bazarov emerges. This is a man of the new generation, which has replaced the “fathers” who were unable to solve the main problems of the era.

Controversies in criticism:

the lively discussion acquired a sharp polemical character. Almost all Russian newspapers and magazines responded to the appearance of the novel. The work gave rise to disagreements both between ideological opponents and among like-minded people, for example, in the democratic magazines Sovremennik and Russian Word. The dispute was essentially about type of new revolutionary figure Russian history.

"Contemporary" responded to the novel with an article by M. A. Antonovich “Asmodeus of our time.” The circumstances surrounding Turgenev's departure from Sovremennik predisposed the novel to be assessed negatively by the critic. Antonovich saw in it a panegyric to the “fathers” and slander against the younger generation. It was argued that the novel is very weak artistically, that Turgenev, who aimed to discredit Bazarov, resorted to caricature, depicting the main character as a monster “with a tiny head and a giant mouth, with a small face and a huge nose.” Antonovich is trying to defend women’s emancipation and the aesthetic principles of the younger generation from Turgenev’s attacks, trying to prove that “Kukshina is not as empty and limited as Pavel Petrovich.” Regarding Bazarov’s denial of art, Antonovich stated that this is a complete lie, that the younger generation denies only “pure art,” among whose representatives, however, he included Pushkin and Turgenev himself.

In the journal "Russian word" in 1862, D.I. Pisarev’s article “Bazarov” appeared. The critic notes some bias of the author towards Bazarov, says that in a number of cases Turgenev “does not favor his hero”, that he experiences “an involuntary antipathy towards this line of thought.” Pisarev finds in the image of Bazarov an artistic synthesis of the most significant aspects of the worldview of heterogeneous democracy, depicted truthfully, despite Turgenev’s original plan. The author’s critical attitude towards Bazarov is perceived by the critic as a virtue, since “from the outside the advantages and disadvantages are more visible,” and “a strictly critical look... at the moment turns out to be more fruitful than unfounded admiration or servile adoration.” The tragedy of Bazarov, according to Pisarev, is that there are actually no favorable conditions for the present case, and therefore, “not being able to show us how Bazarov lives and acts, Turgenev showed us how he dies. In his article, Pisarev confirms the artist’s social sensitivity and the aesthetic significance of the novel: “Turgenev’s new novel gives us everything that we are accustomed to enjoying in his works. The artistic decoration is impeccably good... And these phenomena are very close to us, so close that our entire young generation, with their aspirations and ideas, can recognize themselves in the characters in this novel.”

Even before the actual polemic begins, Pisarev actually predicts Antonovich’s position. Regarding the scenes with Sitnikov and Kukshina, he notes: “Many of the literary opponents of the Russian Messenger will fiercely attack Turgenev for these scenes.”

However, Pisarev is convinced that a real nihilist, a commoner democrat, just like Bazarov, must deny art, not understand Pushkin, and be sure that Raphael “is not worth a penny.” But it is important for us that Bazarov, who dies in the novel, is “resurrected” on the last page of Pisarev’s article: “What to do? To live while you live, to eat dry bread when there is no roast beef, to be with women when you cannot love a woman, and not to dream of orange trees and palm trees at all, when there are snowdrifts and cold tundra under your feet.”

In 1862, in the fourth book magazine “Time”, published by the Dostoevskys, an interesting article by N. N. Strakhov is published, which is called “Turgenev. "Fathers and Sons". Strakhov is convinced that the novel is a remarkable achievement of Turgenev the artist. The critic considers the image of Bazarov extremely typical. “Bazarov is a type, an ideal, a phenomenon elevated to the pearl of creation.” Some features of Bazarov's character are explained more precisely by Strakhov than by Pisarev, for example, the denial of art. What Pisarev considered an accidental misunderstanding explained by the individual development of the hero (“He bluntly denies things that he does not know or does not understand...”), Strakhov perceived as an essential feature of the nihilist’s character: “... Art always has in itself the character of reconciliation, whereas Bazarov does not at all want to come to terms with life. Art is idealism, contemplation, detachment from life and worship of ideals; Bazarov is a realist, not a contemplator, but a doer...” However, if in Pisarev Bazarov is a hero in whom word and deed merge into one whole, then in Strakhov the nihilist is still a hero of “words,” albeit with a thirst for activity brought to the extreme degrees.

A liberal critic also responded to Turgenev’s novel P. V. Annenkov. In his article “Bazarov and Oblomov” he tries to prove that, despite the external difference between Bazarov and Oblomov, “the grain is the same in both natures.”

In 1862 in the magazine "Century" An article by an unknown author “Nihilist Bazarov” is published. It is devoted primarily to the analysis of the personality of the protagonist: “Bazarov is a nihilist. He has an absolutely negative attitude towards the environment in which he is placed. Friendship does not exist for him: he tolerates his friend as the strong tolerate the weak. Family relationships for him are the habit of his parents towards him. He understands love as a materialist. The people look at the little kids with the disdain of an adult. There is no field of activity left for Bazarov.” As for nihilism, an unknown critic states that Bazarov’s denial has no basis, “there is no reason for it.”

In the work of A. I. Herzen “Once again Bazarov” The main object of controversy becomes not Turgenev’s hero, but Bazarov, created in Pisarev’s articles. “Whether Pisarev understood Turgenev’s Bazarov correctly, I don’t care about that. The important thing is that he recognized himself and his people in Bazarov and added what was missing in the book,” the critic wrote. In addition, Herzen compares Bazarov with the Decembrists and comes to the conclusion that “the Decembrists are our great fathers, the Bazarovs are our prodigal children.” The article calls nihilism “logic without structures, science without dogmas, submission to experience.”

At the end of the decade, Turgenev himself became involved in the controversy surrounding the novel. In the article “About “Fathers and Sons,” he tells the story of his plan, the stages of publishing the novel, and makes his judgments about the objectivity of the reproduction of reality: “...To accurately and powerfully reproduce the truth, the reality of life is the highest happiness for a writer, even if this truth does not coincide with his own sympathies.”

14. “Late” novels by I.S. Turgenev ("Smoke" and "Nov"): hero, conflict, genre.

In the latest novel, “New,” T. shows a keen interest in the events of modern history. The subject of the image is the populist movement of the 1870s. The action of the novel takes place in 1868, when populist circles appeared and began to actively function, in which tactics were developed for the peaceful movement of the intelligentsia among the people, and a number of actions were prepared to incite popular anger and disobedience to the authorities. Disappointed in the ideal of the Hero, Tur is quite skeptical about the plans and activities of the populists, whose political program was largely built on the concept of the Hero-leader, called upon to lead the unenlightened crowd, breathing into it the energy of hatred for the existing state of affairs. Such a rebel-fanatic, recklessly committed to the idea of ​​the speedy liberation of the people and ready to destroy everything in his path for the sake of its identity, is depicted in the novel by the populist Markelov, a type of degenerate Don Quixote. Nezhdanov's suicide at the end of the novel symbolically expresses the global failure of the entire populist movement, which, according to the writer, was doomed from the very beginning. Nevertheless. Humanly speaking, representatives of the opposition intelligentsia in Novi enjoy greater sympathy from Tur. Here they are portrayed not as a mirror image of the “conservative” party, but as people who, of course, have a number of moral advantages compared to their ideological enemies - the noble aristocrats. The ultra-conservative, convinced monarchist Kalomeytsev and the rich man and aristocrat Sipyagin, who is close to his views, although masquerading as a sensible and humane liberal, are subjected to sharply satirical coverage in Novi. These are people who value their well-being and position in society and are ready to defend their privileges by force from those who try to draw their attention to the existence of the poor and disadvantaged. The theme of Eternity sounds in “Novi”, standing behind history and revealing behind the motley fan of facts and events always the same universal pattern of the struggle of life and death, growth and decay, excitement and decline. Dark Eternity operates in the novel through the irrational power of love: Nezhdanov kills himself not only after realizing the collapse of the business he served, but also because he loses Marianna, who left him for Solomin. The dark element of a painful passion for Nezhdanov runs through the entire life of the revolutionary populist Mashurina, who continues after his death to preserve his memory and, like an idol, to worship his photograph.

The title “Novi” included the central problem, and the title “Smoke” included a word-symbol, which is the central problem. In Turgen studies it has long been noted that the title of “Smoke” is symbolic: some researchers believe that by introducing an “allegorical title” the author “unequivocally” rejects the nihilistic movement and the image of “smoke” is a symbol of the fragility, ephemerality of revolutionary endeavors (A.G. Tseitlin) 2, others believe that the title of the novel is a symbol of the “gaseous”, “non-planetary” state of all of Russia, which has entered a period of new social and socio-economic development. There is no doubt that the title of the novel reflects the author’s vision of the situation depicted, the writer’s negative attitude towards the transformations taking place in society and the smoke acts as a metaphorical designation of disorder, the “blind darkness of the moldy life” of Russia, the ambiguity and uncertainty of the path of development of Russian political thought. Against the background of “smoke”, the illusory nature of deep human feelings, the writer depicts the impetuous, passionate relationship between Irina and Litvinov. Having given up on a proper, well-ordered, respectable future, it seems to the hero that “out of all these beginnings and hopes that have turned to smoke and dust, there remains one living, indestructible one” - love for Irina. Later, Litvinov’s own feelings, desires, aspirations and dreams also seem like smoke. Depicting stormy passion, with torment, lies, torment, chaos, the writer reveals both its unique beauty and destructive power. The love of the heroes of "Smoke" is less spiritual than that of other characters in Turgenev's novels; there is more restless sensuality and suffering in it. For Litvinov, it becomes a kind of torture, painful, painful, right up to the breaking of the soul. The feelings of both heroes of the novel are given as spontaneously irrational, and their love is presented as a manifestation of “secret forces.” In “Smoke,” the writer comes closer to depicting demonic beauty than in his first novels. In the context of the love story of the heroes, the title “Smoke” symbolizes both the spontaneity, irrationality, incomprehensibility of human nature, the nature of his relationships, and the ambiguity, fragility, changeability of the love-passion that takes possession of him. Beauty and passion appear in Turgenev to be inextricably linked, and, showing their invincible power and triumph, the writer admits that they bring to a person “unprecedented sensations” - strong, sweet and at the same time unkind. Beauty and passion lead Litvinov to the loss of not only spiritual integrity, but also the belief that life has meaning, to the perception of it as smoke. .

Strange as it may seem at first glance, the main subject of consideration of the story "The Noble Nest" is " ", which, as we know, is completely unspiritual and which is completely indifferent to the fate of the world. studies the objective properties of the world that cannot depend or not depend on the desires of people. If it is so in Nature, then it is so. No scientist is able to change the laws of the functioning of Nature. He can only learn these laws and, if possible, use this knowledge for the benefit or harm of humanity.

If a person begins to treat Nature as something from which one can “ask” or for which one can “ ", then, obviously, such an approach can only lead to conflict and tragedy. A reflection of such “unspiritual” Nature, when a person is not able to cross certain boundaries that Nature has established for him, is the unrequited love of a man and a woman. As is known, this topic is - the main theme of Turgenev's work, which was inspired by problems in his own personal life - the tragic love for Pauline Viardot.

The wife of the main character of the story “The Noble Nest” is, in general, quite indifferent to him. Although he loved her at first, he later realized that she was a rather frivolous person and was not worth loving. Varvara Pavlovna’s indifference and sufficient indifference to Lavretsky’s problems is analogous to how applies to her admirers. They may love her, they may not love her, but she exists and that’s a fact. She is quite indifferent to a person’s problems, but if a person is very concerned about this, then these are his personal problems.

While Lavretsky believes that his wife has died, he meets a girl with whom he falls in love. This girl also loves Lavretsky and they, apparently, can create a happy family. The matter is complicated by the fact that Lavretsky’s wife is not dead at all and appears at the most critical moment, when it seems that the fate of him and Lisa is already being decided quite optimistically.

Varvara Pavlovna spent a lot of time abroad, and even her manner of speaking irritates Lavretsky very much. Obviously, there can be no talk of any high relations between them. Since it turns out that he is actually married, his relationship with Lisa turns out to be impossible. Lisa, realizing this, finds herself destroyed. In the story, Lavretsky cannot divorce his unloved wife, although this condition looks quite artificial. Thus, an indifferent person who is connected with the main character solely by formal ties destroys the lives of two people at once.

Her husband turns out to be completely killed, since for him Varvara Pavlovna is much more profitable than dead. Her existence prevents his ability to arrange his life normally, that is, according to his desire. Lisa, realizing that his wife is standing in the way of Lavretsky, deliberately goes to the monastery, which means she also interrupts the normal course of her life and crosses out her future.

This work can probably have some interpretation if we assume that, for example, Jews and God in the Old Testament are considered as a married couple, and the Messiah is “God’s vicegerent on earth.” The appearance of a Messiah that is not what they would really like can lead to serious problems both for the people and for the one who is their new hobby. But these are all rather artificial speculations. Another option is that instead of the “good” God” that Nature appears to Christians, she actually turns out to be completely indifferent and formal in relation to people’s lives, which has nothing to do with the Christian vision and understanding of the world.

The main psychological problem of the story “The Noble Nest” is the presence of some factors in Nature that can be associated with spiritual problems, but at the same time be completely cold-blooded and dispassionate. The bartender can't drink on the job because it's his job. When curing a patient, the doctor must think first of all about how to save the person’s life, and not about the fact that during the operation this person may be in pain.

At the beginning of 1860, Turgenev published the novel “On the Eve”. "G. “Turgenev is the favorite of Russian reading people,” wrote a critic of the magazine “Russian Word,” “and they have long been accustomed to enthusiastically greet each new work of his, believing that they will find in it the answer to their cherished thoughts.” Turgenev had already strengthened his reputation not only as a major writer-artist, but also as a writer who,” according to Dobrolyubov, “quickly guessed new needs, new ideas introduced into the consciousness of society, and in his works usually paid attention (as far as the circumstances allowed) to a question that was on the agenda and was already vaguely beginning to worry society.”

With his novel "On the Eve" Turgenev justified this assessment in the best possible way. His new work was a “new word” in Russian literature and caused noisy talk and controversy (both in criticism and among readers). The novel was read greedily. “Its very title,” according to the critic of “Russian Word,” “with its symbolic hint, which can be given a very broad meaning, indicated the idea of ​​the story, made one guess that the author wanted to say something more than what is contained in his artistic images.” . What was the idea, features, and novelty of Turgenev’s third novel?

If in “Rudin” and “The Noble Nest” Turgenev depicted the past, painted images of people of the 40s, then in “On the Eve” he gave an artistic reproduction of modernity, responded to those cherished thoughts that, during the period of social upsurge of the second half of the 50s, worried all thinkers and advanced people.

Not idealistic dreamers, but new Lyuli, positive heroes, devotees of the cause were introduced in the novel “On the Eve”. According to Turgenev himself, the novel was “based on the idea of ​​the need for consciously heroic natures... in order for things to move forward.”

In the center, in the foreground, stood a female image. The whole meaning of the novel concealed a call for “active goodness” - for social struggle, for renunciation of the personal and egoistic in the name of the general.

The heroine of the novel, the “amazing girl” Elena Stakhova, was a “new man” of Russian life. Elena is surrounded by talented young people. But neither Bersenev, who had just graduated from university and was preparing to become a professor; nor the talented sculptor Shubin, in whom everything breathes sparkling, clever lightness and happy gaiety of health, in love with antiquity and thinking that “there is no salvation outside Italy”; nor, especially the “fiancé” K. Urnatovsky, this “official honesty and efficiency without content,” did not awaken Elena’s feelings.

She gave her love to Insarov, a Bulgarian foreigner, a poor man, who had one great goal in life - the liberation of his homeland from Turkish oppression and in whom lived “the concentrated deliberation of a single and long-standing passion.” Insarov conquered Elena by responding to her vague but strong desire for freedom, captivating her with the beauty of her feat in the struggle for a “common cause.”

Both Shubin and Bersenev retreated before Insarov, paying tribute to his direct and bold “iron” strength. Shubin admits: “We don’t have anyone yet, there are no people, no matter where you look. Everything is either rodents, Samoyeds, or darkness and underground wilderness, or calfs, pourers from empty to empty, and drumsticks!” He asks: “When is it time to spin the porridge? When will we have people? - and hears the interlocutor’s answer: “Give time... they will.”

The choice made by Elena seemed to indicate what kind of people Russian life was waiting for and calling. There were no such people among “our own people” - and Elena went to the “stranger”. She, a Russian girl from a rich noble family, became the wife of a poor Bulgarian Insarov, abandoned her home, family, homeland, and after her husband’s death she remained in Bulgaria, faithful to the memory and “life’s work” of Insarov. She decided not to return to Russia, asking: “Why? What to do in Russia? Time answered her question with Chernyshevsky’s novel, “the Russian Insarovs, who raised the fight against the domestic “Turkish oppression.”

In a remarkable article devoted to the analysis of the novel “On the Eve,” Dobrolyubov wrote: “Concepts and demands such as we see in Elena are already appearing, these demands are accepted by society with sympathy; Moreover, they strive for active implementation. This means that the old social routine is already becoming obsolete: a few more hesitations, a few more strong words and favorable facts, and leaders will appear... Then a complete, sharply and vividly outlined image of the Russian Insarov will appear in literature.

3. The plot of novels by I.S. Turgenev “Rudin”, “The Noble Nest”, “On the Eve”.

"Rudin"

The plot of the novel "Rudin" and its development over time. Features of the construction of Turgenev's novels in comparison with Goncharov . The plot development of the novel "Rudin" is distinguished by laconicism, accuracy and simplicity. The action takes place in a short period of time. For the first time, the main character, Dmitry Nikolaevich Rudin, appears on the estate of the rich lady Daria Mikhailovna Lasunskaya. A meeting with him becomes an event that attracts the most interested attention of the inhabitants and guests of the estate. New relationships are formed that are dramatically interrupted. Two months later, the development of the plot continues and again fits into less than two days. Dmitry Rudin declares his love to Natalya Lasunskaya, the daughter of the owner of the estate. This meeting is tracked down by the resident Pandalevsky and reports it to his mother. The erupted scandal makes it necessary to have a second date at Avdyukhin's pond. The meeting ends with the lovers breaking up. That same evening the hero leaves.

In the background, in parallel, another love story unfolds in the novel. The neighboring landowner Lezhnev, Rudin's university friend, declares his love and receives the consent of the young widow Lipina. Thus, all events take place within four days!

The composition includes elements designed to reveal the character and historical significance of the image of Rudin. This is a kind of prologue, the first day of the story. During this day, the appearance of the main character is carefully prepared. The novel does not end with Rudin’s separation from Natalya Lasunskaya. It is followed by two epilogues. They answer the question of what happened to the hero next, how his fate turned out. We will meet with Rudin twice more - in the Russian outback and in Paris. The hero still wanders around Russia, from one postal station to another. His noble impulses are fruitless; he is superfluous in the modern order of things. In the second epilogue, Rudin heroically dies on a barricade during the Parisian uprising of 1848.

Such plot conciseness and temporary “stinginess” are generally characteristic of Turgenev’s novel genre. Goncharov unfolded the chain of events in his novels with epic slowness. In contrast, Turgenev chooses the most important, culminating moments in the characters’ lives for his depiction.

The choice of the main character between the two novelists is also fundamentally different. We can call Goncharov's characters sons of our century. Most of them are ordinary people, influenced by the era, like Peter and Alexander Aduev. The best of them dare to resist the dictates of time (Oblomov, Raisky). This happens, as a rule, within the confines of personal existence. On the contrary, Turgenev, following Lermontov, is looking for a hero of his time. One can say about the central character of Turgenev’s novels that he influences the era, leads with him, captivating his contemporaries with his ideas and passionate sermons. His fate is extraordinary, and his death is symbolic. The writer looked for such people, personifying the spiritual quest of an entire generation, every decade. One might say that this was the pathos of Turgenev’s novelistic work. Dobrolyubov admitted that “if Mr. Turgenev touched upon any issue,” then soon it “will appear sharply and clearly before the eyes of everyone.”

Exposition of the novel . The first, expositional chapter, at first glance, has little to do with the further development of the action. And Rudin does not appear in it yet. One fine summer morning, landowner Lipina hurries to the village. She is driven by a noble desire - to visit a sick old peasant woman. Alexandra Pavlovna did not forget to take tea and sugar, and in case of danger she intends to take them to the hospital. She visits a peasant woman from a village that is not even her own. Worried about the future fate of her little granddaughter, the patient bitterly says: “Our gentlemen are far away...” The old woman is sincerely grateful to Lipina for her kindness, for her promise to take care of the girl. Another thing is that it’s too late to take the old lady to the hospital. “It’s all the same to die... Where can she go to the hospital! They will lift her up, and she will die! - notes a neighboring peasant.

Nowhere else in the novel does Turgenev touch on the fate of the peasants. But the picture of the fortress village is imprinted in the reader’s mind. Meanwhile, Turgenev's noble heroes have nothing in common with Fonvizin's characters. They do not have the rough features of the Prostakovs and Skotinins, or even the narrow-mindedness of the inhabitants of the lordly Oblomovka. These are educated carriers of a refined culture. They have a strong moral sense. They are aware of the need to help the peasants and take care of the welfare of their serfs. They take practical steps and philanthropic attempts on their estate. But the reader has already seen that this is not enough. What should you do? In response to this question, the main character appears in the novel.

"Noble Nest"

In the center of the novel is the story of Lavretsky, taking place in 1842 in the provincial town of O., the epilogue tells what happened to the heroes eight years later. But in general, the scope of time in the novel is much wider - the backstories of the characters lead to the last century and to different cities: the action takes place on the estates of Lavriki and Vasilyevskoye, in St. Petersburg and Paris. Time also “jumps”.

At the beginning, the narrator indicates the year when “the thing happened,” then, telling the story of Marya Dmitrievna, he notes that her husband “died about ten years ago,” and fifteen years ago, “he managed to win her heart in a few days.” A few days and a decade turn out to be equivalent in retrospect to the character's fate. Thus, “the space where the hero lives and acts is almost never closed - behind him one sees, hears, lives Rus'...”, the novel shows “only a part of his native land, and this feeling permeates both the author and his heroes ".

The destinies of the main characters of the novel are included in the historical and cultural situation of Russian life at the end of the 18th - first half of the 19th century. The backstories of the characters reflect the connection of times with the characteristics of life, national structure, and morals characteristic of different periods. A relationship between the whole and the part is created.

The novel shows the flow of life events, where everyday life is naturally combined with tirades and secular debates on social and philosophical topics (for example, in Chapter 33). The personalities represent different groups of society and different currents of social life, the characters appear not in one, but in several detailed situations and are included by the author in a period longer than one human life. This is required by the scale of the author’s conclusions, generalizing ideas about the history of Russia. The novel presents Russian life more broadly than the story and touches on a wider range of social issues.

In the dialogues in “The Noble Nest,” the characters’ remarks have a double meaning: the word in its literal meaning sounds like a metaphor, and the metaphor unexpectedly turns out to be a prophecy. This applies not only to the lengthy dialogues between Lavretsky and Lisa, discussing serious worldview issues: life and death, forgiveness and sin, etc. before and after the appearance of Varvara Pavlovna, but also to the conversations of other characters. Seemingly simple, insignificant remarks have deep subtext. For example, Liza’s explanation with Marfa Timofeevna: “And you, I see, were tidying up your cell again.” “What word did you say!” Lisa whispered...” These words precede the heroine’s main announcement: “I want to go to a monastery.”

The nature of the dialogue in the novel changes only once, during the meeting between Lisa and Lavretsky. It becomes “impressionistic”, conveying the emotional atmosphere of the date and hinting at the feelings of the characters. The dialogue consists of fragmentary phrases and incomplete sentences in which individual words are repeated. Lavretsky’s confusion is conveyed by ellipses and repetitions: “Liza!... Lisa... “I... I... I... love you”) . The psychological state of the characters is given in the author’s “descriptive” remarks: “his heart sank,” “he said with involuntary horror,” etc. As noted, the main characters “experience all truly harmonious moments of love... outside the situation of communication.”

Dialogue occupies a large place in the story, but its meaning is specific: “You were angry today.” - Me? - You. - Why, for mercy... - I don’t know, but you were angry and left angry. I was very annoyed that You’re so gone, and I’m glad you’re back.” The emotions of the characters are conveyed in speech intonations; conversations “about nothing” reflect the uncertainty of their feelings, dialogues create an emotional atmosphere in which the relationship between Asya and Mr. N.N. is formed, and capture the heroine’s bizarre changes in mood.

The dialogue becomes dramatic (when remarks are equated to action) in the story once - during a date, revealing the rudeness and inconsistency of N.N.'s behavior (unexpected for himself). At the most decisive the hero remembers Gagina and exclaims: “Your brother... because he knows everything... He knows that I see you.” This phrase determines the subsequent development of events. In this dialogue, every word is equal to an action. And these actions do not correspond to the nature of the relationships that young people had previously. Therefore, the heroine does not immediately understand the meaning of the words and asks again: “I had to tell him everything.” “Should we?” she said indistinctly.” Further accusations made by N.N. Asya (“Yes, yes,” I repeated with some bitterness, “and you alone are to blame for this...”; “look at what you’ve done...”), are, in fact, his most decisive action, in response to which answers not with words, but with a sharp and unexpected movement: “... she suddenly jumped up - with the speed of lightning she rushed to the door and disappeared...”.

Thus, dialogue in a story and a novel performs different functions.

Summarizing the above, we can say that Turgenev’s story and novel of the late 50s, which are similar in theme, with the collision of “happiness and duty” characteristic of his work, upon closer examination reveal differences in the nature of the conflict, in the depiction of the chronotope, in the role of secondary characters , in the scale of the artistic world, the breadth of reflection of reality, the form of narration.

"The day before"

The novel begins with a dispute about nature and the place of man in it between two young people - the scientist Andrei Bersenev and the sculptor Pavel Shubin. In the future, the reader gets acquainted with the family in which Shubin lives. The husband of his second cousin Anna Vasilyevna Stakhova, Nikolai Artemyevich, once married her for money, does not love her and makes acquaintance with the German widow Augustina Christianovna, who robs him. Shubin has been living in this family for five years, since the death of his mother, and is engaged in his art, but is subject to bouts of laziness, works in fits and starts and does not intend to learn the skill. He is in love with the Stakhovs' daughter Elena, although he does not lose sight of her seventeen-year-old companion Zoya.

Elena Nikolaevna, a twenty-year-old beauty, was distinguished by a kind and dreamy soul from an early age. She is attracted by the opportunity to help the sick and hungry - both people and animals. At the same time, she has long shown independence and lives by her own mind, but has not yet found a companion. She is not attracted to Shubin due to his variability and inconstancy, but she is interested in Bersenev for his intelligence and modesty. But then Bersenev introduces her to his friend, Bulgarian Dmitry Nikanorovich Insarov. Insarov lives with the idea of ​​liberating his homeland from Turkish rule and attracts Elena’s keen interest.

After the first meeting, Insarov failed to please Elena, but everything turns upside down after an incident in Tsaritsyn, when Insarov protects Elena from the advances of a huge drunkard, throwing him into a pond. After this, Elena admits to herself in her diary that she fell in love with the Bulgarian, but it soon turns out that he intends to leave. At one time, Insarov told Bersenev that he would leave if he fell in love, since he did not intend to give up his duty for the sake of personal feelings, which Elena Nikolaevna later learned about from Andrey. Elena goes to Dmitry and confesses her love to him. When asked if she will follow him everywhere, the answer is yes.

After this, Elena and Dmitry communicate for some time through Bersenev, but in the meantime, more and more alarming letters are coming from Insarov’s homeland, and he is already seriously preparing to leave. One day Elena goes to see him herself. After a long and heated conversation, they decide to get married. This news comes as a blow to Elena’s parents and friends, but she still leaves with her husband.

Having reached Venice, Dmitry and Elena wait for the arrival of the old sailor Rendić, who must transport them to Serbia, from where their path lies to Bulgaria. However, Insarov is sick and develops a fever. Exhausted Elena has a nightmare, and when she wakes up, she realizes that Dmitry is dying. Rendich no longer finds him alive, but at Elena’s request he helps her deliver her husband’s body to his homeland.

Three weeks later, Anna Stakhova receives a letter from her daughter: she is heading to Bulgaria, which will become her new homeland, and will never return home. Further traces of Elena are lost; According to rumors, she was seen among the troops as a sister of mercy.

Conclusion.

All three novels express an entire historical era in the life of society. This is achieved by the author due to the peculiarities of the depiction of not only the heroes, but also the history of their lives, the history of their genealogies.

The plot, as I see it, is similar everywhere - the sudden appearance of the main character into the monotonous provincial life of noble society and, as an inevitable consequence of this appearance, a change in the life of this society; love story; interchange; epilogue.

The narration of the novels takes place against the backdrop of the heroes’ philosophical discussions about the necessity of “do the job", about the meaning of life, about goodness and love. Mandatory in all three novels are the author’s excursions into the heroes’ past and landscape sketches that accompany the characters’ moods. However, the heroes of the novels solve the eternal question of “what to do” in different ways. Rudin, not finding a use for his gift, gives up his life defending other people's ideals; Lavretsky calms down - he even manages, as he wanted, to “plow the land”; Insarov remains true to his ideals until his death. Female images of heroines differ in the same way. If Natalya in “Rudin” acts as an exposer of the weakness of her beloved Rudin, Elena continues the work and faith of her husband, then the image of Liza Kalitina looks dull.

Along with historical significance, novels also have enormous educational significance - all the author’s attention is focused on moral problems, on issues of educating a selfless, integral, purposeful personality.

Bibliography

1. Turgene I. S. Goslitizdat // Turgenev I. S. Collection. Op. in 2 vols. M. 1961. P. 104 – 120.

2. Turgenev I. S. On the Eve. M: Enlightenment. 1987. pp. 1 – 150.

3. Novikov V.I.All the masterpieces of world literature in a brief summary. Plots and characters. Russian literatureXIXcentury.- M.: Olympus "ACT", 1996.

4. Turgenev I. S. Noble nest. M: True. 1983. pp. 5 - 166.

5. Turgenev I. S. Rudin. M: True. 1983. pp. 167 – 300.

6. Turgenev. The life of wonderful people.- M.: Young Guard. 1990.

7. History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L. 1980-1983.

8. Turgenev I.S. in Russian criticism. M: Goslitizdat, 1953.

9. Belinsky, V. G. Poli. collection op. T 7. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences. 1955.

10. Turgenev. I.S. Full. collection op. and letters. In 28 volumes. Letters. T. 3. M.; L., 1961.

The plot of the novel "Rudin" and its development over time. Features of the construction of Turgenev's novels in comparison with Goncharov. The plot development of the novel "Rudin" is distinguished by laconicism, accuracy and simplicity. The action takes place in a short period of time. For the first time, the main character, Dmitry Nikolaevich Rudin, appears on the estate of the rich lady Daria Mikhailovna Lasunskaya. A meeting with him becomes an event that attracts the most interested attention of the inhabitants and guests of the estate. New relationships are formed that are dramatically interrupted. Two months later, the development of the plot continues and again fits into less than two days. Dmitry Rudin declares his love to Natalya Lasunskaya, the daughter of the owner of the estate. This meeting is tracked down by the resident Pandalevsky and reports it to his mother. The erupted scandal makes it necessary to have a second date at Avdyukhin's pond. The meeting ends with the lovers breaking up. That same evening the hero leaves.

In the background, in parallel, another love story unfolds in the novel. The neighboring landowner Lezhnev, Rudin's university friend, declares his love and receives the consent of the young widow Lipina. Thus, all events take place within four days!

The composition includes elements designed to reveal the character and historical significance of the image of Rudin. This is a kind of prologue, the first day of the story. During this day, the appearance of the main character is carefully prepared. The novel does not end with Rudin’s separation from Natalya Lasunskaya. It is followed by two epilogues. They answer the question of what happened to the hero next, how his fate turned out. We will meet with Rudin twice more - in the Russian outback and in Paris. The hero still wanders around Russia, from one postal station to another. His noble impulses are fruitless; he is superfluous in the modern order of things. In the second epilogue, Rudin heroically dies on a barricade during the Parisian uprising of 1848.

Such plot conciseness and temporary “stinginess” are generally characteristic of Turgenev’s novel genre. Goncharov unfolded the chain of events in his novels with epic slowness. In contrast, Turgenev chooses the most important, culminating moments in the characters’ lives for his depiction.

The choice of the main character between the two novelists is also fundamentally different. We can call Goncharov's characters sons of our century. Most of them are ordinary people, influenced by the era, like Peter and Alexander Aduev. The best of them dare to resist the dictates of time (Oblomov, Raisky). This happens, as a rule, within the confines of personal existence. On the contrary, Turgenev, following Lermontov, is looking for a hero of his time. One can say about the central character of Turgenev’s novels that he influences the era, leads with him, captivating his contemporaries with his ideas and passionate sermons. His fate is extraordinary, and his death is symbolic. The writer looked for such people, personifying the spiritual quest of an entire generation, every decade. One might say that this was the pathos of Turgenev’s novelistic work. Dobrolyubov admitted that “if Mr. Turgenev touched upon any issue,” then soon it “will appear sharply and clearly before the eyes of everyone.”

Exposition of the novel. The first, expositional chapter, at first glance, has little to do with the further development of the action. And Rudin does not appear in it yet. One fine summer morning, landowner Lipina hurries to the village. She is driven by a noble desire - to visit a sick old peasant woman. Alexandra Pavlovna did not forget to take tea and sugar, and in case of danger she intends to take them to the hospital. She visits a peasant woman from a village that is not even her own. Worried about the future fate of her little granddaughter, the patient bitterly says: “Our gentlemen are far away...” The old woman is sincerely grateful to Lipina for her kindness, for her promise to take care of the girl. Another thing is that it’s too late to take the old lady to the hospital. “It’s all the same to die... Where can she go to the hospital! They will lift her up, and she will die! - notes a neighboring peasant.

Nowhere else in the novel does Turgenev touch on the fate of the peasants. But the picture of the fortress village is imprinted in the reader’s mind. Meanwhile, Turgenev's noble heroes have nothing in common with Fonvizin's characters. They do not have the rough features of the Prostakovs and Skotinins, or even the narrow-mindedness of the inhabitants of the lordly Oblomovka. These are educated carriers of a refined culture. They have a strong moral sense. They are aware of the need to help the peasants and take care of the welfare of their serfs. They take practical steps and philanthropic attempts on their estate. But the reader has already seen that this is not enough. What should you do? In response to this question, the main character appears in the novel.

Read also other articles on the topic “Analysis of the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Rudin".

Roman "Rudin"

Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev began work on “Rudin” in 1855.

The appearance of the novel in print caused a lot of speculation and controversy in literary circles and among readers.

The critic of "Notes of the Fatherland" viewed Rudin only as a pale copy of previous heroes of Russian literature - Onegin, Pechorin, Beltov. But Chernyshevsky objected to him in Sovremennik, noting that Turgenev was able to show in the image of Rudin a man of a new era of social development. Comparing Rudin with Beltov and Pechorin, Chernyshevsky emphasized that “these are people of different eras, different natures - people who form a perfect contrast to one another.”

After the novel was published, Nekrasov expressed confidence that for Turgenev “a new era of activity is beginning, for his talent has acquired new strength, that he will give us works even more significant than those with which he earned in the eyes of the public first place in our newest literature after Gogol "

In a letter to Turgenev, Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov spoke about the vitality of the image of the Rudin type and noted that the novel “raises many small questions and reveals the deep secrets of the spiritual nature of man.”

Speaking about the recognition of the novel among the populist intelligentsia, one cannot ignore the words of V.N. Figner: “It seems to me that the whole novel is taken directly from life, and Rudin is the purest product of our Russian reality, not a parody, not a mockery, but a real tragedy that has not died at all, that is still alive, still going on...” “In every educated person of our time there is a piece of Dmitry Rudin,” wrote Stepnyak-Kravchinsky.

Rudin is one of the best representatives of the cultural nobility. He was educated in Germany, like Mikhail Bakunin, who served as his prototype, and like Turgenev himself. Rudin's character is revealed in words. This is a brilliant speaker. Appearing at the estate of the landowner Lasunskaya, he immediately charms those present. “Rudin possessed perhaps the highest secret - the secret of eloquence. He knew how, by striking one string of hearts, he could make all the others vaguely ring and tremble.” In his philosophical speeches about the meaning of life, about the high purpose of man, Rudin is simply irresistible. A person cannot and should not subordinate his life only to practical goals, concerns about existence, he argues. Without the desire to find “general principles in the particular phenomena” of life, without faith in the power of reason, there is no science, no enlightenment, no progress, and “if a person does not have a strong principle in which he believes, there is no ground on which he stands firmly, how can he give himself an account of the needs, the meaning, the future of his people?

Enlightenment, science, the meaning of life - this is what Rudin talks about so passionately, inspiredly and poetically. He tells a legend about a bird that flew into a fire and disappeared again into the darkness. It would seem that a person, like this bird, appears from oblivion and, after living a short life, disappears into obscurity. Yes, “our life is fast and insignificant; but everything great is accomplished through people.”

His statements inspire and call for a renewal of life, for extraordinary, heroic achievements. The power of Rudin’s influence on listeners, his persuasion in words, is felt by everyone. And everyone admires Rudin for his “extraordinary mind.” Only Pigasov does not recognize Rudin’s merits - out of resentment for his defeat in the dispute.

But in Rudin’s very first conversation with Natalya, one of the main contradictions of his character is revealed. After all, only the day before he spoke so enthusiastically about the future, about the meaning of life, about the purpose of man, and suddenly he appears as a tired man who does not believe in his own strength or in the sympathy of people. True, one objection from the surprised Natalya is enough - and Rudin reproaches himself for cowardice and again preaches the need to get things done. But the author has already cast doubt in the reader’s soul that Rudin’s words are consistent with deeds, and intentions with actions.

The writer subjects the contradictory character of his hero to a serious test - love. Turgenev’s feeling is sometimes bright, sometimes tragic and destructive, but it is always a force that reveals the soul, the true nature of a person. This is where Rudin's true character is revealed. Although Rudin's speeches are full of enthusiasm, years of abstract philosophical work have dried up the living springs of his heart and soul. The preponderance of the head over the heart is already noticeable in the scene of the first love confession.

The first obstacle that arose on his way - Daria Mikhailovna Lasunskaya's refusal to marry her daughter to a poor man - leads Rudin into complete confusion. In response to the question: “What do you think we should do now?” - Natalya hears: “Of course, submit.” And then Natalya throws a lot of bitter words at Rudin: she reproaches him for cowardice, cowardice, for the fact that his lofty words are far from reality. And Rudin feels pathetic and insignificant in front of her. He fails the test of love, revealing his human inferiority.

In the novel, Lezhnev is opposed to the main character - openly, straightforwardly. Rudin is eloquent - Lezhnev is usually a man of few words. Rudin cannot understand himself - Lezhnev understands people perfectly and without further ado helps his loved ones, thanks to his emotional tact and sensitivity. Rudin does nothing - Lezhnev is always busy with something.

But Lezhnev is not only Rudin’s antagonist, he is the hero’s interpreter. Lezhnev's assessments are not the same at different moments, even contradictory, but on the whole they inspire the reader with an understanding of the complex character of the hero and his place in life.

Thus, the highest assessment of Rudin is given by his antagonist, a man of a practical nature. Maybe he is the true hero of the novel? Lezhnev was awarded both intelligence and understanding of people, but his activities are limited by the existing order of things. The author constantly emphasizes its everyday life. He is businesslike, but for Turgenev it is impossible to reduce the whole meaning of life to businesslike activity that is not inspired by a higher idea.

Rudin reflects the tragic fate of a man of Turgenev’s generation. A retreat into abstract thinking could not but entail negative consequences: speculativeness, poor familiarity with the practical side. People like Rudin, bearers of high ideals, guardians of culture, serve the progress of society, but are clearly devoid of practical potential. An ardent opponent of serfdom, Rudin turned out to be absolutely helpless in realizing his ideal.

In Russian life he is destined to remain a wanderer. His fate is echoed by another image of a wanderer, the image of the immortal Don Quixote.

The ending of the novel is heroic and tragic at the same time. Rudin dies on the barricades of Paris. I remember the words from Rudin’s letter to Natalya: “I will end up sacrificing myself for some nonsense that I won’t even believe in...”.

Features of Turgenev's novels:

It is small in volume.

The action unfolds without long delays or retreats, without complications with side plots, and ends in a short time. It is usually timed at a specific time.

The biography of the characters, standing outside the chronological framework of the plot, is woven into the course of the narrative, sometimes in detail and in detail (Lavretsky), sometimes briefly, fluently and incidentally, and the reader learns little about Rudin’s past, even less about the past of Insarov, Bazarov. In its general constructive form, Turgenev’s novel is like a “series of sketches” that organically merge into a single theme, which is revealed in the image of the central character. The hero of Turgenev's novel, who appears before the reader as a fully formed person, is a typical and best ideological representative of a certain social group (advanced nobility or commoners). He strives to find and implement the depot of his life, to fulfill his social duty. But he always fails. The conditions of Russian socio-political life doom him to failure. Rudin ends his life as a homeless wanderer, dying as an accidental victim of a revolution in a foreign land.

Many heroes of Turgenev's novels were united by a fiery, genuine love for their homeland. But inevitable failure in life awaited them all. Turgenev's hero is a loser not only in public affairs. He is a loser in love too.

The ideological face of Turgenev's hero most often appears in disputes. Turgenev's novels are filled with controversy. Hence the especially important compositional meaning in the novel of dialogue-argument. And this feature is by no means accidental. The Rudins and Lavretskys, people of the forties, grew up among Moscow circles, where the ideological debater was a typical, historically characteristic figure (the nightly dispute between Lavretsky and Mikhalevich, for example, is very typical). With no less acuteness, ideological disputes were conducted, turning into journal polemics, between “fathers” and “sons,” that is, between nobles and commoners. In “Fathers and Sons” they are reflected in the disputes between Kirsanov and Bazarov.

One of the characteristic elements in Turgenev's novel is the landscape. Its compositional role is varied. Sometimes it seems to frame the action, giving an idea only of where and when this action takes place. Sometimes the background of the landscape matches the mood and experience of the hero, “corresponds” to him. Sometimes the landscape is drawn by Turgenev not in consonance, but in contrast with the mood and experience of the hero.

The flowers on Bazarov’s grave “speak” not only of the great, “eternal” peace of “indifferent” nature - “they also speak of eternal reconciliation and endless life.”

The lyrical element plays a significant role in Turgenev's novels. Especially the epilogues of his novels - Rudin, The Noble Nest, Fathers and Sons - are imbued with deep lyricism.

In Rudin we recognize a familiar type of “extra person.” He talks a lot and passionately, but is unable to find something to do, a point of application of his strength. Everyone notices his penchant for beautiful phrases and beautiful poses. But he turns out to be incapable of action: he was afraid to even answer the call of love. Natasha, a charming example of an integral and thinking Turgenev girl, reveals herself to be a much more decisive person. The hero's weakness is disappointing. However, Rudin has much more remarkable traits of a romantic, an ardent truth-seeker, a person who is capable of sacrificing his life for his ideals. Death on the barricades completely exonerates Rudin in the eyes of the reader.

The plot development of the novel "Rudin" is distinguished by laconicism, accuracy and simplicity. The action takes place in a short period of time. For the first time, the main character, Dmitry Nikolaevich Rudin, appears on the estate of the rich lady Daria Mikhailovna Lasunskaya. A meeting with him becomes an event that attracts the most interested attention of the inhabitants and guests of the estate. New relationships are formed that are dramatically interrupted. Two months later, the development of the plot continues and again fits into less than two days. Dmitry Rudin declares his love to Natalya Lasunskaya, the daughter of the owner of the estate. This meeting is tracked down by the resident Pandalevsky and reports it to his mother. The erupted scandal makes it necessary to have a second date at Avdyukhin's pond. The meeting ends with the lovers breaking up. That same evening the hero leaves.

In the background, in parallel, another love story unfolds in the novel. The neighboring landowner Lezhnev, Rudin's university friend, declares his love and receives the consent of the young widow Lipina. Thus, all events take place within four days!

The composition includes elements designed to reveal the character and historical significance of the image of Rudin. This is a kind of prologue, the first day of the story. During this day, the appearance of the main character is carefully prepared. The novel does not end with Rudin’s separation from Natalya Lasunskaya. It is followed by two epilogues. They answer the question of what happened to the hero next, how his fate turned out. We will meet with Rudin twice more - in the Russian outback and in Paris. The hero still wanders around Russia, from one postal station to another. His noble impulses are fruitless; he is superfluous in the modern order of things. In the second epilogue, Rudin heroically dies on a barricade during the Parisian uprising of 1848. The choice of the main character between the two novelists is also fundamentally different. We can call Goncharov's characters sons of our century. Most of them are ordinary people, influenced by the era, like Peter and Alexander Aduev. The best of them dare to resist the dictates of time (Oblomov, Raisky). This happens, as a rule, within the confines of personal existence. On the contrary, Turgenev, following Lermontov, is looking for a hero of his time. One can say about the central character of Turgenev’s novels that he influences the era, leads with him, captivating his contemporaries with his ideas and passionate sermons. His fate is extraordinary, and his death is symbolic. The writer looked for such people, personifying the spiritual quest of an entire generation, every decade. One might say that this was the pathos of Turgenev’s novelistic work. Dobrolyubov admitted that “if Mr. Turgenev touched upon any issue,” then soon it “will appear sharply and clearly before the eyes of everyone.”

Exposition of the novel. The first, expositional chapter, at first glance, has little to do with the further development of the action. And Rudin does not appear in it yet. One fine summer morning, landowner Lipina hurries to the village. She is driven by a noble desire - to visit a sick old peasant woman. Alexandra Pavlovna did not forget to take tea and sugar, and in case of danger she intends to take them to the hospital. She visits a peasant woman from a village that is not even her own. Worried about the future fate of her little granddaughter, the patient bitterly says: “Our gentlemen are far away...” The old woman is sincerely grateful to Lipina for her kindness, for her promise to take care of the girl. Another thing is that it’s too late to take the old lady to the hospital. “It’s all the same to die... Where can she go to the hospital! They will lift her up, and she will die! - notes a neighboring peasant.

Nowhere else in the novel does Turgenev touch on the fate of the peasants. But the picture of the fortress village is imprinted in the reader’s mind. Meanwhile, Turgenev's noble heroes have nothing in common with Fonvizin's characters. They do not have the rough features of the Prostakovs and Skotinins, or even the narrow-mindedness of the inhabitants of the lordly Oblomovka. These are educated carriers of a refined culture. They have a strong moral sense. They are aware of the need to help the peasants and take care of the welfare of their serfs. They take practical steps and philanthropic attempts on their estate. But the reader has already seen that this is not enough. What should you do? In response to this question, the main character appears in the novel.

"Noble Nest"

I. S. Turgenev’s reflections on the fate of the best among the Russian nobility lie at the heart of the novel “The Noble Nest” (1858).

In this novel, the noble environment is presented in almost all its states - from a provincial small estate to the ruling elite. Turgenev condemns everything in noble morality at its very core. How unanimously in the house of Marya Dmitrievna Kalitina and throughout “society” they condemn Varvara Pavlovna Lavretskaya for her adventures abroad, how they pity Lavretsky and, it seems, are about to help him. But as soon as Varvara Pavlovna appeared and cast the spell of her stereotyped-cocotte charm, everyone - both Maria Dmitrievna and the entire provincial elite - were delighted with her. This is a depraved creature, pernicious and distorted by the same noble morality, quite to the taste of the highest noble circles.

Panshin, who embodies “exemplary” noble morality, is presented by the author without sarcastic pressure. One can understand Lisa, who for a long time could not properly determine her attitude towards Panshin and essentially did not resist Marya Dmitrievna’s intention to marry her to Panshin. He is courteous, tactful, moderately educated, knows how to hold a conversation, he is even interested in art: he paints - but always paints the same landscape - he composes music and poetry. True, his talent is superficial; strong and deep experiences are simply inaccessible to him. The true artist Lemm saw this, but Lisa, perhaps, only vaguely guessed about it. And who knows what Lisa’s fate would have been like if not for the dispute. In the composition of Turgenev's novels, ideological disputes always play a huge role. Usually, in a dispute, either the beginning of a romance is formed, or the struggle of the parties reaches a climactic intensity. In “The Noble Nest” the dispute between Panshin and Lavretsky about the people is important. Turgenev later noted that this was a dispute between a Westerner and a Slavophile. This author's description cannot be taken literally. The fact is that Panshin is a Westerner of a special, official kind, and Lavretsky is not an orthodox Slavophile. In his attitude towards the people, Lavretsky is most similar to Turgenev: he does not try to give the character of the Russian people some simple, easily memorized definition. Like Turgenev, he believes that before inventing and imposing recipes for organizing the people’s life, it is necessary to understand the character of the people, their morality, their true ideals. And at that moment when Lavretsky develops these thoughts, Lisa’s love for Lavretsky is born.

Turgenev never tired of developing the idea that love, by its very deepest nature, is a spontaneous feeling and any attempts to rationally interpret it are most often simply tactless. But the love of most of his heroines almost always merges with altruistic aspirations. They give their hearts to people who are selfless, generous and kind. Selfishness for them, as well as for Turgenev, is the most unacceptable human quality.

Perhaps, in no other novel did Turgenev so persistently pursue the idea that in the best people from the nobility all their good qualities are in one way or another, directly or indirectly connected with folk morality. Lavretsky went through the school of his father’s pedagogical quirks, endured the burden of love from a wayward, selfish and vain woman and yet did not lose his humanity. Turgenev directly informs the reader that Lavretsky owes his mental fortitude to the fact that peasant blood flows in his veins, that in childhood he was influenced by his peasant mother.

In Lisa’s character, in her entire worldview, the beginning of folk morality is expressed even more clearly. With all her behavior, her calm grace, she, perhaps, most of all Turgenev’s heroines resembles Tatyana Larina. But there is one quality in her personality that is only outlined in Tatiana, but which will become the main distinguishing feature of that type of Russian woman, which is usually called “Turgenevsky”. This property is dedication, readiness for self-sacrifice. Liza’s fate contains Turgenev’s verdict on a society that kills everything pure that is born in it.

“Nest” is a house, a symbol of a family where the connection between generations is not interrupted. In Turgenev's novel, this connection is broken, which symbolizes the destruction and death of family estates under the influence of serfdom. We can see the result of this, for example, in N. A. Nekrasov’s poem “The Forgotten Village.”

Criticism: the novel was a resounding success, like Turgenev had never had before.

1. Mikhalevich and Lavretsky comparative images