The influence of passionaries on creativity N. S. Gumileva, on his worldview and views.
The name of Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov is now known not only by poetry lovers and connoisseurs. Entire monographs can be written about him as a person and poet, covering his work and life from different angles.
Our task is to present his work in a new aspect - through passionarity and show what significance this trait has in the poet’s character.
A little about passionarity. This term was introduced into use by the famous historian L.N. Gumilyov “... to define behavioral human quality“when an individual, in the name of realizing his dream or idea, is ready to take risks that are not balanced by the instinct of personal or species self-preservation, and can sacrifice himself for the sake of a set goal, including an illusory one.”
Passionarity is a fairly new concept in literature.
1. N. Gumilyov spoke a little about passionarity in his book “Nikolai Gumilyov. Poet and warrior" A. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky. The author, exploring the life and work of the poet, points out that “Nikolai Gumilyov himself was extremely passionate. They wrote about him that he loved everything beautiful, creepy, dangerous, loved the contrasts of tender and rough, refined and simple. He was drawn to terrible beauty, to captivating danger. Heroism seemed to him the pinnacle of spirituality.” Although the author of the monograph believes that “heroism seemed to him (the poet - E.S.) the pinnacle of spirituality,” this is only the subjective opinion of A. Dolivo-Dobrovolsky. The poet himself hardly admitted that the pinnacle of spirituality can only be heroism. After all, Gumilyov was refined and refined, aristocratic to the core. Indeed, he was brave to the point of recklessness, but still believed that the pinnacle of spirituality was beauty and poetry.
The author of the monograph said that the poet “was born a frail and sickly child, but became physically strong, tireless, with iron muscles.” Yes, Gumilyov improved himself physically. And since he made himself hardy and brave, he was interested in the same people. He was attracted to adventure novels. The boy longed for romance, adventure, he was attracted to heroes Boussenard, Jules Verne, Mayne Reid, Gustave Aimard and Fenimore Cooper. He read the adventures of "The Children of Captain Grant" and "The Travels of Captain Hatteras." One of the poet's younger contemporaries - Victor Shklovsky once remarked: “You are now reading another Jules Verne,” referring to the worldview of readers of a different era.
The world of the future poet was magical and inaccessible to the understanding of the uninitiated. He lived in several dimensions and soared on wings. His hobby adventure novels was not in vain, because it was later reflected in creativity. But childhood, as the most interesting, long and fairy tale, ends very quickly. A moment - and a completely different world opens up before a teenager: an ordinary, cruel world, when a person, in order to realize his idea or dream, is ready to sacrifice himself in the name of his goal.
The young poet loved to read about strong and courageous personalities, which contributed to the development of his worldview and formation as a person. Thanks to the books I read, under the influence of fate literary heroes Gumilyov publishes the first semi-children's poetry collection, “The Path of the Conquistadors,” where the image of the conquistador appears for the first time, running through the entire work of the future poet. But this is not the conquistador who covered himself in human blood, unprincipled and greedy, a seeker of wealth and gold. Gumilyov's hero appears more like a knight errant, a proud and invulnerable, fearless conqueror of unknown countries:
I am a conquistador in an iron shell,
I'm happily chasing a star
I walk across abysses and abysses,
And I rest in a joyful garden.
Nikolai Stepanovich foresaw the emergence of passionarity, which was later developed as a theory in the works of the famous historian - L. N. Gumileva, since in his work the poet glorified those who fearlessly looked death in the face. These are “conquistadors in an iron shell”, and travelers “dying of thirst in the desert”, and “discoverers of new lands”. Among Gumilyov's heroes, the sense of risk and passion in the name of an idea constantly prevailed over the instinct of self-preservation.
But the most beautiful thing is the thirst for glory;
Kings will be born for her,
Ships sail on the ocean.
In his subsequent work, the poet showed his heroes as real passionaries2, and therefore they reject the calm, quiet life. For them, the most important thing is the thirst for life:
How easy it is to breathe in this world!
Tell me who is dissatisfied with life
Tell me who sighs heavily
I am free to console everyone.
In the last classes of the gymnasium, heroes are close to him Nietzsche, especially Zarathustra. This image prompts the aspiring poet to create the “Song of Zarathustra”, which is included in the collection “The Path of the Conquistadors”. Thanks to this image, some life positions future author, since Zarathustra, to some extent, was also a passionary, because he was subject to natural elements.
It was under the influence of passionaries that the life credo of Nikolai Gumilyov himself was formed, who wanted to actively build his life. For him, in the first place is feat, the desire for feat, and not a measured way of life:
Always unnecessary and unsolicited
Peace came into my home.
I swore to be thrown like an arrow,
By the hand of Nimrod or Achilles.
Risk in the name of an idea, even a thoughtless one, his passion constantly surpasses the instinct of self-preservation:
And if there are no half-day words to the stars,
Then I will create my own dream
And I will lovingly enchant you with the song of battles.
The passion for travel overcame even love, the desire to be with the woman I loved. The poet’s passion for passion manifested itself most clearly during his travels, since the poet had the opportunity to see not only unknown countries, but also to realize his spiritual powers and accomplish a feat for the benefit of his beloved Motherland, which he did. Because the journeys he took to Africa can already be considered a feat.
And later, during the years of the 1st World War, Gumilyov’s passionarity manifests itself quite clearly. There were legends in the regiment about the poet's fearlessness and his courage. He, like Don Quixote, followed his goal and brilliantly overcame the difficulties that stood in his way:
More than once I am in the hope of a great struggle,
Defeating was an enemy force
And more than once under the pressure of cruel fate
He was at the edge of the grave.
But there was no despair in my heart
And hope gave me strength,
And I cheerfully strove to fight the enemy,
To fight against the evil principle.
In poems about war he raises life principles, inherent in himself and preached by himself:
Victory, glory, feat - pale
Words now lost
They sound in my soul like copper thunder,
Like the voice of the Lord in the wilderness.
IN wartime He, who volunteered in a cavalry regiment and rose to the rank of officer, was an inspiring example for his comrades in arms. Since he was one of the few military men and was distinguished by particular fearlessness, he was soon awarded the St. George Cross twice for personal bravery: one for dangerous reconnaissance behind enemy lines, the second for removing an abandoned machine gun from under fire. The poet’s courage and optimism, his high passionarity suggest that death will pass him by in the war:
The poet’s war lyrics gave the reader an idea of the war, seen through the eyes of a direct participant. He is one of the few military men who still has patriotic feelings, a sense of duty to the Motherland, and a positive attitude in his soul. Gumilyov is rather restrained in his patriotism, although a feeling of ardent love for the Motherland and fellow citizens is constantly present in his work. His patriotism and humanity manifested themselves especially clearly when he was next to soldiers in the trenches during military operations, having understood quite deeply the high spirit of the Russian warrior.
And I dream that they will say
About Russia, the country of plains:
- This is the country of the most beautiful women
And the bravest men.
The period of war for Gumilyov is a period of formation of new stages in his work, i.e. he began to look at life and the reality around him with different eyes. The poet’s poems about the war formed the core of the collection “Quiver” and were the most beautiful example of military lyrics in Russian literature, since the author described military operations in an amazingly realistic manner and showed the patriotic rise of the lyrical hero. The mentioned collection also characterizes the spiritual maturity of the poet. The hero’s experiences are shown not only in poetry, but also in prose, especially in the military notes “Notes of a Cavalryman.”
Like a dog on a heavy chain,
A machine gun barks behind the forest,
And the shrapnel buzzes like bees,
Collecting bright red honey.
The collection “Quiver” can be called to some extent a lyrical diary, since it reflects the poet’s vision of his own concept of personality in history. After reading the war poems from the collection “Quiver,” researchers of Gumilyov’s work formed both positive and negative opinions. We wanted to end the description of this topic with an assessment from a famous literary critic Yu. V. Zobnina: “...Gumilyov’s military cycle is a whole constellation beautiful works art that has reached us in its pristine brilliance, not at all dimmed by seventy years of semi-underground existence.” Gumilyov was convinced that the war in which the Russian people are taking part is a struggle for a just cause:
But truly light and holy
The great business of war.
Seraphim, winged with fire,
The warriors are visible behind their shoulders.
“There are few poems dedicated to war in the poet’s books, but he approaches everything in this world like a warrior who was temporarily released from the camp so that he could rest and revel,” said the poet’s contemporary G. I. Chulkov. (15)
Some researchers of Gumilyov’s work believe that he idealized the war and depicted it both in “Notes...” and in “Quiver” almost festively: “Everyone is in the most idyllic mood.” Since one phrase cannot characterize either a person’s mood or his views, therefore the opinion of these researchers is very, very subjective. (4) But, in addition to this opinion, there was another one. We quote verbatim: “...as a true conquistador, it did not matter to him under what banner to fight. He was fascinated by the very process of struggle, the romance of war, - moreover: the romance of shed blood attracted Gumilyov.” (7) That is, again the researcher wants to prove to the reader that the poet wanted to play war and only, in some way, have fun, feel the adrenaline in the blood. But, fortunately, this is a wrong opinion. Gumilyov, as a true passionary, did not strive for thoughtless actions, but committed actions depending on the circumstances, because over time he came to the conclusion that war is a general human massacre. And thanks to the change in the poet’s views, such beautiful lines about the war were born under his pen.
He retained passionarity as a character trait until the end of his days. He was arrested in the summer of 1921 for allegedly participating in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy. In the dungeons of the Cheka, he behaved courageously, and when asked by the guard whether the poet Gumilyov was in the cell, he answered:
- There is no poet Gumilyov here, there is officer Gumilyov.
Of course, he did not seek his death in the dungeons of the Cheka, but to some extent he foresaw his end.
And I won't die on a bed,
With a notary and a doctor,
And in some wild crevice,
Drowned in wild ivy.
Proud and brave people have always been dangerous for any government, and especially during times of revolutionary change. This is exactly what happened with Gumilyov. The words of one of the poems can be attributed to himself:
But when bullets whiz around,
And the waves break the sides,
I teach them how not to be afraid
Don't be afraid and do what you need to do.
Gumilyov once said: “The poet is always the master of life, creating from it, as from precious material, his own image and likeness. If she turns out to be scary, painful and sad, then that’s how he wanted her.”
We will not prove the axioms that man is mortal, but real poetry is immortal. This is already known. I would only like to note that Nikolai Gumilyov’s poetry is brilliant, and as a poet he took a worthy place in Russian literature.
His name is for descendants a symbol of a noble and courageous man who embodied an example of a positive attitude towards people, religion and nature.
/Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev (1840-1868). Oblomov. Roman I. A. Goncharova /
In every literature that has reached a certain degree of maturity, works appear that reconcile universal human interest with popular and modern interest and elevate it to a degree artistic creatures types taken from the environment of the society to which the writer belongs. The author of such a work is not interested in contemporary, often petty, issues of life that have nothing to do with art; he does not set himself the task of compiling an instructive book and ridiculing this or that shortcoming of society or extolling this or that virtue that this society needs. No! Creativity with a pre-conceived practical goal is an illegal phenomenon; it must be left to the lot of those writers who are denied a powerful talent, who are given in return a moral sense capable of making them good citizens, but not artists. A true poet stands above everyday issues, but does not shy away from resolving them, meeting them on the path of his creativity. Such a poet looks deeply at life and in every phenomenon he sees a universal human side that will touch every heart and will be understandable to every time.
Should the poet happen to pay attention to some social evil - let's say, bribery - he will not, like representatives of the accusatory movement, go into the subtleties of casuistry and set out various intricate tricks: his goal will not be to ridicule the evil, but to resolve it before the eyes of the reader psychological task; he will pay attention not to what bribery is manifested in, but to where it comes from; in his eyes, a bribe-taker is not an official who unscrupulously fulfills his duty, but a person in a state of complete moral humiliation. To trace the state of his soul, reveal it to the reader, explain the participation of society in the formation of such characters - this is the job of a true poet, whom a work about bribery can arouse not only disgust, but deep sadness for the moral fall of a person. This is how the poet looks at the phenomena of his time, this is how he relates to various aspects of his nationality, he looks at everything from a universal human point of view; without wasting effort on reproducing small external features national character, without dividing his thoughts into the petty phenomena of everyday life, the poet at once comprehends the spirit, the meaning of these phenomena, acquires a complete understanding of the national character and then, having fully disposed of his material, creates, not writing off from the reality around him, but deriving this reality from the depths of his own spirit and putting into the living images he created the thought that animates him.
“Nationality,” says Belinsky, “is not a virtue, but a necessary condition for truly work of art"1. The poet's thought seeks a definite, rounded expression and, according to natural law, results in the form that is most familiar to the poet; every trait of a universal human character has its own characteristics in a certain nationality; every universal movement of the soul is expressed in accordance with the conditions of time and place. A true artist can embody his idea only in the most definite images, and that is why nationality and historical fidelity constitute a necessary condition for an elegant work.
The words Belinsky said about Gogol’s stories can be applied in full force to the assessment of Mr. Goncharov’s new novel. This novel resolves a vast, universal psychological problem; this task is resolved in purely Russian, national phenomena, possible only with our way of life, with those historical circumstances that shaped folk character, under the conditions under the influence of which our younger generation developed and is still partly developing. This novel also touches on vital, modern issues to the extent that these issues are of universal human interest; it also exposes the shortcomings of society, but they are exposed not with a polemical purpose, but for the sake of fidelity and completeness of the picture, for artistic image life as it is, and a person with his feelings, thoughts and passions.
Complete objectivity, calm, dispassionate creativity, the absence of narrow temporary goals that profane art, the absence of lyrical impulses that violate the clarity and distinctness of the epic narrative - this is distinctive features the author's talent, as expressed in his last work. The thought of Mr. Goncharov, carried out in his novel, belongs to all centuries and peoples, but has special meaning in our time, for our Russian society. The author decided to trace the deadening, destructive influence that mental apathy and sleep have on a person, which little by little takes possession of all the forces of the soul, embracing and fettering all the best, human, rational movements and feelings. This apathy is a universal human phenomenon, it is expressed in the most diverse forms and is generated by the most diverse causes; but plays in it everywhere main role terrible question: “Why live? Why work?” - a question to which a person often cannot find a satisfactory answer. This unresolved question, this unsatisfied doubt depletes strength, ruins activity; a person gives up and gives up work, not seeing a goal for it. One will throw away the work with indignation and bile, the other will put it aside quietly and lazily; one will break out of his inaction, be indignant at himself and at people, look for something with which to fill the inner emptiness; his apathy will take on a shade of gloomy despair, it will alternate with feverish impulses to disorderly activity and will still remain apathy, because it will take away his strength to act, feel and live.
For another, indifference to life will be expressed in a softer, colorless form; animal instincts will quietly, without struggle, float to the surface of the soul; the highest aspirations will freeze without pain; a person will sink into a soft chair and fall asleep, enjoying his meaningless peace; Vegetation will begin instead of life, and stagnant water will form in the human soul, which will not be touched by any disturbance of the external world, which will not be disturbed by any internal revolution. In the first case, we see some kind of forced apathy - apathy and at the same time a struggle against it, an excess of strength asking for action and slowly fading away in fruitless attempts; This is Byronism, a disease of strong people. In the second case, there is submissive, peaceful, smiling apathy, without the desire to emerge from inaction; This is Oblomovism, as Mr. Goncharov called it, this is a disease, the development of which is promoted by both Slavic nature and the life of our society. This development of the disease was traced by Mr. Goncharov in his novel.
The author’s enormous idea, in all the grandeur of its simplicity, fits into the appropriate frame. The entire plan of the novel is built on this idea, constructed so deliberately that there is not a single accident, not a single introductory person, not a single superfluous detail; The main idea runs through all the individual scenes, and yet, in the name of this idea, the author does not make a single deviation from reality, does not sacrifice a single detail in the external decoration of persons, characters and positions. Everything is strictly natural and yet completely meaningful, imbued with an idea. There are almost no events, no action; the content of the novel can be told in two or three lines, just as the life of any person who has not experienced strong shocks can be told in a few words; The interest of such a novel, the interest of such a life, lies not in the intricate concatenation of events, even plausible, even if they really happened, but in observing the inner world of a person. This world is always interesting, always attracts our attention; but it is especially accessible to study in quiet moments, when the person who is the subject of our observation is left to himself, does not depend on external events, and is not placed in an artificial position resulting from a random combination of circumstances. In such calm moments of life, when a person, not disturbed by external impressions, concentrates, collects his thoughts and looks into his inner world, in such moments, sometimes an invisible, silent internal struggle occurs, in such moments a sincere thought matures and develops, or a turn to the past occurs, a discussion and assessment of one’s own actions, one’s own personality. These mysterious moments are especially dear to the artist and especially interesting to the enlightened observer.
In Mr. Goncharov's novel, inner life characters open before the reader's eyes; there is no confusion of external events, no invented and calculated effects, and therefore the author’s analysis does not lose its clarity and calm insight for a minute. The idea is not fragmented in the interweaving of various incidents: it harmoniously and simply develops from itself, is carried through to the end and supports all the interest to the end, without the help of extraneous, incidental, introductory circumstances. This idea is so broad, it covers so many aspects of our life that, embodying this one idea, without deviating one step from it, the author could, without the slightest stretch, touch on almost all the issues that currently occupy society. He touched them involuntarily, not wanting to sacrifice the eternal interests of art for temporary purposes; but this word of the artist, involuntarily expressed in a public matter, cannot but have a strong and beneficial influence on minds: it will act in the same way as everything true and beautiful acts.<...>
The author’s main idea, as far as one can judge from the title and the course of action, was to depict the state of calm and submissive apathy, which we have already discussed above; Meanwhile, after reading the novel, the reader may have a question: what did the author want to do? What was the main goal that guided him? Didn't he want to trace the development of the feeling of love, to analyze to the smallest detail the changes that the soul of a woman, excited by a strong and deep feeling, experiences? This question arises not because the main goal has not been achieved, not because the author’s attention has deviated from it: on the contrary! the fact is that both goals, the main and the secondary, that arose during creativity, are achieved to such an extent that the reader does not know which of them to give preference to. In “Oblomov” we see two paintings, equally finished, placed side by side, penetrating and complementing one another. The author's main idea is maintained to the end; but during the process of creativity, a new psychological task presented itself, which, without interfering with the development of the first thought, itself is resolved to such a complete extent as it has never been resolved, perhaps. Rarely has a novel revealed in its author such a power of analysis, such a complete and subtle knowledge of human nature in general and female nature in particular; Rarely has a novel ever combined two such enormous psychological tasks; rarely has it elevated the combination of two such tasks to such a harmonious and apparently uncomplicated whole. We would never finish if we started talking about all the virtues general plan, composed by such a brave hand; Let's move on to considering individual characters.
In the novel “Oblomov” Goncharov first identified such a destructive phenomenon Russian society 19th century as “Oblomovism”. The depiction of this trend as a cause of degradation not only of individuals, but also of an entire social layer, is closely related to the main idea of the novel “Oblomov” by Goncharov.
The work was created in a transitional period for Russian society - an era of rapid change and rapid destruction of the ideals and values of the past for the sake of creating a new one, oriented towards European goals and authorities. And if the progressive part of the nobility, sharing the ideas of rapid development and enlightenment, easily joined the new trend, the provincial philistinism resisted the changes entering their lives to the last, firmly holding on to outdated, archaic ideals of life. This is exactly how the residents of Oblomovka appear, continuing to live according to the same principles by which their grandfathers and great-grandfathers lived, denying the importance of education and work, replacing them with sleepy calm and idleness.
The oppressive, destructive atmosphere of Oblomovka changes the personality of the curious and active little Ilya, instilling in him outdated, outdated values. Having tasted independent life, finding himself in an active world striving for the future, Oblomov does not find his place in it, replacing real life to illusions and pipe dreams, gradually degrading and dying as a person. Even Olga, compared in the novel to the bright angel, could not cure Oblomov’s all-encompassing indifference to the world. Condemnation of the passivity, escapism and laziness of a person who does not want to fight for his future is one of the aspects of the central idea of the work.
Using the method of antithesis, Goncharov introduces Oblomov’s friend, Stolz, into the narrative - a focused, active, constantly developing personality. However, Andrei Ivanovich is not perfect - just as Ilya Ilyich lacks the will to act, so Stolz lacks the warmth that attracts Oblomov. It is precisely in the need for harmonization, acceptance and development of both principles - dreamy, reflective and active, volitional that main idea“Oblomov”, which the author tried to convey.
