The captain's daughter as a historical novel

« Captain's daughter" - last major work A. S. Pushkin on a historical theme. The theme of the novel - the peasant uprising of 1773-1775 - is as natural and important in the ideological and creative evolution of the poet as the theme of Peter I and the theme of 1812. But, unlike “Arap Peter the Great” and “Roslavlev,” “The Captain’s Daughter” was completed: Pushkin’s interest in the problem of the peasantry turned out to be more stable.

The content of the novel was not immediately determined, and the initial plan, which was based historical fact Participation in the Pugachev uprising of the guards officer Shvanvich underwent an almost complete change. The plot of "The Captain's Daughter", which combined a historical event - the Pugachev uprising - with the chronicle of one noble family, took shape only in 1834, after Pushkin's trip to the Volga and the Urals and the end of "The History of Pugachev". In November 1836, the novel appeared on the pages of Sovremennik.

Despite its small volume, “The Captain's Daughter” is a work of wide thematic scope. It vividly reflected the life of the people, images of peasants and Cossacks, landowner life, provincial society and the life of a fortress lost in the steppes, the personality of Pugachev and the court of Catherine II. The novel depicts people representing different strata of Russian society, revealing the morals and way of life of that time. "The Captain's Daughter" gives a broad historical picture, covering the Russian reality of the era of the Pugachev uprising.

The problems of “The Captain's Daughter” are unusually acute and diverse. The situation and demands of the people, the relationship between landowners and the peasantry and the problems of state internal policy, serfdom and the moral and everyday aspects of the life of the nobility, the duties of the nobility to the people, the state and their class - these are the main issues raised by Pushkin in the novel. The most important of them is the question of the historical and political meaning and significance of the peasant uprising.

A historical novel about the 18th century, at the same time it is a political novel of the 1830s. The image of the people's struggle against the nobility - the peasant uprising - is given in "The Captain's Daughter" in the most detailed form. The contradictions within the nobility themselves attract much less attention. Pushkin strives to reveal and show the whole range of phenomena associated with the uprising of the peasantry. The wide spread of the movement, its causes, the origins and beginning of the uprising, its course, the social and national composition of the participants in the movement, the ordinary mass of the rebels and its leaders, reprisals against the landowners and the attitude of the rebels towards civilians, the psychology of the peasant masses, the politics of the noble monarchy and the noble reprisals against peasantry - all this is reflected in the novel.

Despite the censorship, Pushkin shows the social orientation of the movement and the people’s hatred of the nobility quite clearly. At the same time, he reveals another side of the Pugachev movement - the inherent humanity of the participants in the uprising in relation to the “common people”. When the Belo-Gorsk fortress was captured, the Cossacks took away only the “officers’ quarters.” The anger of Pugachev himself against Shvabrin, who oppresses an orphan from the people (Masha Mironova), is terrible. And at the same time, the author says in the “Missed Chapter”: “The heads of individual detachments sent in pursuit of Pugachev... autocratically punished both the guilty and the innocent.” Pushkin was impartial, painting a historically accurate picture of a peasant uprising, showing purely feudal methods of dealing with serfs. The fact that the peasants, at the first approach of Pugachev’s troops, instantly became “drunk” with hatred of the landowners, is shown by Pushkin to be strikingly true.

The people depicted in The Captain's Daughter are not a faceless mass. With his characteristic artistic laconicism, Pushkin showed the serf peasantry in an individualized manner. He didn't draw pictures everyday life peasantry, their way of life. In the foreground were the themes of uprising and reprisals against the landowners, so Pushkin individualized the images of the peasants in the aspect of their political consciousness, their relationship to the landowners and to Pugachev as the leader of the movement.

Pushkin characterizes the political consciousness of the rebellious peasantry as spontaneous. The typical side, the basis of this consciousness, however, is a clear understanding by each participant of the movement of its social orientation. Pushkin shows this very clearly in the scene of Grinev’s arrival in Berdskaya Sloboda. The peasants on guard capture Grinev and, without thinking about the reasons for the strange phenomenon that the officer’s voluntary arrival to Pugachev must have seemed to them, they have no doubt that “now” or in the “light of God,” but “father” will order the noble landowner to be hanged. But this typical thing with varying strengths of logic and action appears in the Berd guard, in the peasant at the outpost in “The Missing Chapter,” in Andryushka the zemsky, in the Belogorsk Cossacks, in Pugachev’s closest assistants. Pushkin shows the various stages of this consciousness and, thus, achieves the individualization of images. At the same time, a single image of the rebel people is created.

In Pushkin's depiction, the people are a spontaneous, but not a blind, non-reasoning force. Although its consciousness is immature, the people are not wax from which leaders mold what they want. The image of the people as a passive mass, submissive to their noble leaders, was given, for example, in the historical novel of Pushkin’s contemporary, the writer Zagoskin. Pushkin, on the contrary, shows that the attitude of the people towards Pugachev is the result of the understanding by the masses of the social, anti-serfdom orientation of the uprising. The image of the people and the image of their leader merge together in the novel, reflecting historical truth.

Pushkin emphasized the lack of idealization, realism in the depiction of Pugachev, and the artistic and historical fidelity of the image. The image of Pugachev is revealed in all the complexity and inconsistency of his personality, combining the qualities of an outstanding person, the leader of a mass popular movement with the features of a dashing, experienced Cossack who has wandered a lot around the world. First and main feature Pushkin's Pugachev - his deep connection with the people. Genuine realism is manifested in all its strength in the typical contrast between the attitude of the nobility and the people towards Pugachev.

Some critics saw the “hare sheepskin coat” motif as a purely formal device for the successful development of the plot. There is no doubt that this motive is deeply meaningful, revealing in the image of Pugachev the features of natural nobility and generosity.

The nobility and humanity of Pugachev are contrasted with the cruelty and selfishness of the “enlightened” nobleman Shvabrin. The image of Pugachev is revealed in his relationship with Grinev. The author very fully puts into Grinev’s ideas about Pugachev the official interpretation of the leader of the peasant uprising: a monster, a villain, a murderer. Throughout the novel, Pushkin shows the opposite - Pugachev’s humanism, his ability to show mercy and justice towards the good and honest people. This was by no means an idealization of the peasant leader. Pushkin was interested in the activities of Pugachev as the leader of the uprising. Pushkin's Pugachev is gifted, talented as a military leader, and in this regard is contrasted with the mediocre and cowardly Orenburg governor.

Many times in the novel, Pushkin emphasizes Pugachev’s inquisitiveness, intelligence, sharpness, and the absence in him of traits of slavish humiliation. All these features reveal the appearance of the true Pugachev. For Pushkin they expressed at the same time national character Russian people.

But for all that, the image of Pugachev and his closest associates also shows the weakness of the movement, its political immaturity. The monarchical form of Pugachev’s political program, his entire image of a tsar-father, was rooted in the mood of the people themselves, in their aspirations for a “people's tsar.” Pugachev is characterized by distrust and hostility towards every “master”. Pugachev's good nature and simple-heartedness are also traits of the people's character. The leading image in this image is greatness and heroism, which so impressed Pushkin. This is expressed by the symbolic image of the eagle that the fairy tale speaks of, an image in which Pushkin also shows the tragedy of Pugachev’s fate.

“The Captain's Daughter” is a coming-of-age novel. This is the story of the coming of age of Pyotr Grinev, who transforms from a “green” youth into a responsible man, having gone through severe life trials. He had a chance to take a direct part in the Pugachev uprising, and all his principles were thoroughly tested. He passed it, maintaining his dignity and remaining faithful to the oath. The narration is conducted in the form of memoirs, and the hero himself sums up his life from the height of his own experience.

Many readers think that “The Captain's Daughter” is just a story, but they are mistaken: a work of such length cannot belong to short prose. But whether it’s a story or a novel is an open question.

The writer himself lived in a time when full-fledged large epic genres classified only those multi-volume works that were comparable in volume to “Anna Karenina,” for example, or “ Noble nest“, so he without a doubt called his creation a story. In Soviet literary criticism this was also considered.

However, the work has all the features of a novel: the action covers a long period of time in the lives of the characters, the book contains many minor characters described in detail and not directly related to the main storyline, throughout the story the characters experience spiritual evolution. In addition, the author shows all the stages of Grinev’s growing up, which also clearly indicates the genre. That is, we have before us a typical historical novel, since the writer, while working on it, took as a basis facts from the past and the scientific research that he undertook to understand the phenomenon of the peasant war and convey it to descendants in the form of objective knowledge.

But the mysteries don’t end there; we have to decide what kind of direction lies at the origins of the work “The Captain’s Daughter”: realism or romanticism? Pushkin's colleagues, in particular Gogol and Odoevsky, argued that his book more than any other influenced the development of realism in Russia. However, what speaks in favor of romanticism is the fact that it is based on historical material, and the reader’s focus is on the contradictory and tragic figure rebel Pugachev - exactly romantic hero. Therefore, both answers will be correct, because after the successful literary discovery of the sun of Russian poetry, Russia was swept by the fashion for prose, and realistic one at that.

History of creation

Pushkin was partly inspired to create The Captain's Daughter by Walter Scott, the master of the historical novel. His works began to be translated, and the Russian public was delighted with the adventurous plots and mysterious immersion in another era. At that time, the writer was just working on a chronicle of the uprising, a scientific work dedicated to the peasant revolt of Pugachev. He has accumulated a lot of useful material for implementation artistic design reveal to the reader a treasure trove of eventful Russian history.

At first, he planned to describe precisely the betrayal of a Russian nobleman, and not a moral feat. The author wanted to focus on the personality of Emelyan Pugachev, and at the same time show the motives of the officer who violated the oath and joined the riot. The prototype would be Mikhail Shvanvich, a real person who, out of fear for his fate, was attached to the rebel’s office, and then also testified against him. However, for censorship reasons, the book could hardly be published, so the writer had to step on the throat of his own song and depict a more patriotic plot, especially since he had enough historical examples of valor. But a negative example was suitable for creating the image of Shvabrin.

The book was published a month before the author’s death in his own magazine Sovremennik, published on behalf of Grinev. Many noted that the style of narration of that time was conveyed by the writer, so many readers were confused and did not understand who the true creator of the memoirs was. By the way, censorship still took its toll, removing from public access the chapter about the peasant revolt in the Simbirsk province, where Peter himself was from.

Meaning of the name

The work, oddly enough, is not titled in honor of Grinev or Pugachev, so you can’t immediately tell what it’s about. The novel is called "The Captain's Daughter" in honor of Maria Mirova, the main character of the book. Pushkin, thus, pays tribute to the girl’s courage, which no one expected from her. She dared to ask the Empress herself for the traitor! And she begged forgiveness for her savior.

In addition, this story is also called so because Marya was driving force narratives. Out of love for her, the young man always chose a feat. Until she occupied all his thoughts, he was pathetic: he didn’t want to serve, he was losing large amounts playing cards, behaved arrogantly with the servant. As soon as a sincere feeling awakened in him courage, nobility and boldness, the reader did not recognize Petrusha: he turned from an undergrowth into a responsible and brave man, to which patriotism and self-awareness came through strong emotions addressed to a woman.

Historical background

The events in the work took place during the reign of Catherine II. The historical phenomenon in the novel “The Captain's Daughter” is called “Pugachevism” (this phenomenon was studied by Pushkin). This is Emelyan Pugachev’s rebellion against tsarist power. It occurred in the 18th century. The described actions take place in the Belgorod fortress, where the rebel went, gathering strength to storm the capital.

The Peasant War of 1773 - 1775 unfolded in the southeast Russian Empire. It was attended by serfs and factory peasants, representatives of national minorities (Kyrgyz, Bashkirs) and Ural Cossacks. All of them were outraged by the predatory policies of the ruling elite and the increasing enslavement common people. People who did not agree with the fate of slaves fled to the outskirts of the country and formed armed gangs for the purpose of robbery. The fugitive “souls” were already outlaws, so there was nothing else left for them. Above them tragic fate and the author reflects, portraying the leader of the uprising, not devoid of virtue and commendable character traits.

But Catherine the Second demonstrates a tough temper and remarkable cruelty. The Empress, according to historians, was indeed a strong-willed person, but she did not shy away from tyranny and other delights of absolute power. Her policy strengthened the nobility, giving it all sorts of privileges, but the common people were forced to bear the burden of these benefits. The royal court lived in grand style, and not noble people starved, endured violence and humiliation of the slave position, lost, and were sold under the hammer. Naturally, social tension only grew, and Catherine did not take advantage people's love. A foreign woman was involved in a conspiracy and, with the help of the military, overthrew her husband, the legitimate ruler of Russia. Downtrodden and squeezed in the grip of injustice, the serfs believed that the murdered Peter the Third was preparing a decree for their release, and his wife killed him for this. Emelyan Pugachev, a Don Cossack, took advantage of superstition and rumors and declared himself a saved tsar. He fueled the discontent of the armed Cossacks, whose petitions were not listened to, and inspired the peasants, tortured by tyranny and corvée, to revolt.

What is the work about?

We meet Petrusha the underage, who can only “sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog.” All his aspirations lie in “dust-free service” in St. Petersburg. However, we see that a huge impact on young man renders the father. He teaches his son to serve the fatherland, cherish family traditions, and not attach much importance to awards. Having received such a strict upbringing, the young man goes to serve. What is told in his “tale of bitter torment” is the plot outline of the work. The fact is that we learn all this from the lips of the venerable old nobleman that Peter became.

There, far from his father's house, the hero goes through a harsh school of life: first he loses at cards and offends a faithful servant, experiencing pangs of conscience. Later, he falls in love with Maria Mironova and risks his life in a duel with Shvabrin, defending the honor of his beloved. The father, having learned about the reason for the fight, refuses to bless the marriage with the dowry. After the capture of the Belogorsk fortress, Peter remains faithful to the oath, and his nobility grants him Pugachev’s leniency: he respects the young man’s choice and does not touch him. The rebel’s decision was influenced by the kindness of the captive: once on the road he gave the Cossack a sheepskin coat and treated him very kindly. The common man appreciated the master's mercy and returned the favor. Pushkin confronts them more than once, and the nobleman is always saved by his straightforwardness and generosity.

His trials did not end there: life presented him with a choice between saving his beloved and serving, and the good name of an officer. Then the hero chooses love and disobeys the boss’s order, freeing his beloved on his own from Shvabrin’s hands. Alexey forced the girl to marry him. Pugachev again shows respect for the daredevil and releases the captive. However, the autocratic government does not forgive free will, and Grinev is arrested. Fortunately, Masha managed to beg clemency from Catherine II. This is what is said in the novel “The Captain's Daughter,” which ended with a happy ending: young people get married with the blessing they received. But now the leader of the uprising is sentenced to quartering.

The main characters and their characteristics

The main characters of the novel are Pyotr Grinev, Maria Mironova, Emelyan Pugachev, Arkhip Savelyev, Alesey Shvabrin and Catherine the Second. The characters are so numerous that their description would take more than one article, so we neglect them.

1. - nobleman, officer, main character. He received a strict upbringing in the house of his father, a retired military man. He is only 16 years old, but his parents felt that he was ready for service. He is poorly educated, does not particularly strive for anything and does not in any way resemble an ideal man. Setting out on a journey, the young man bears little resemblance to a soldier: good-natured, gullible, unstable to temptations and not knowledgeable of life. He is spoiled, because at first he loses a significant amount at cards and does not understand why Savelich (his servant) reacts emotionally to this. He does not know the value of money, but he shows arrogance and rudeness towards his devoted servant. However, his innate conscientiousness does not allow him to continue to be carried away by garrison pity. Soon he seriously falls in love with the daughter of the captain of the fortress, and from that moment his growing up begins: he becomes brave, courageous and courageous. For example, in a duel with Shvabrin, the young man fought honestly and bravely, unlike his opponent. Next we see an ardent and passionate lover in his face, and after some time he is ready to risk his life for the sake of honor, refusing to swear allegiance to Pugachev. This act reveals him as a highly moral person who is firm in his convictions. Later, he will show valor more than once while fighting the enemy, but when the fate of his beloved is at stake, he will disregard caution and set out to save her. This reveals the depth of feeling in him. Even in captivity, Peter does not blame the woman and is ready to accept unfair punishment, as long as everything is fine with her. In addition, one cannot help but note the self-criticism and maturity of judgment inherent in Grinev in old age.
2. Marya Mironova- daughter of the captain of the fortress, main character. She is 18 years old. Masha’s appearance is described in detail: “...Then a girl of about eighteen came in, chubby, ruddy, with light brown hair, smoothly combed behind her ears, which were on fire...”. In addition, it is mentioned that she has an “angelic” voice and kind heart. Her family is poor, owns only one serf, so she cannot possibly qualify for marriage with Peter (who has 300 souls). But the young charmer is distinguished by prudence, sensitivity and generosity, because she sincerely worries about the fate of her lover. Naturalness and gullibility make the heroine an easy prey for the wicked Shvabrin, who is trying to gain her favor through meanness. But Marya is careful and not stupid, so she easily recognizes the falseness and depravity in Alexei and avoids him. She is also characterized by loyalty and courage: the girl does not betray her beloved and bravely travels to an unfamiliar city to achieve an audience with the empress herself.
3. Pugachev in the novel "The Captain's Daughter" appears before readers in two guises: brave and noble man, capable of appreciating loyalty and honor, and a cruel tyrant who carries out executions and massacres without restraint. We understand that the rebel’s message is noble, he wants to defend rights ordinary people. However, the way he fights lawlessness does not justify it in any way. Although we sympathize with Pugachev - decisive, brave, intelligent - his cruelty makes us doubt the correctness of his path. In the episode of the first meeting, we see a smart and cunning governor, in a dialogue with Grinev - an unhappy man who knows that he is doomed. Kalmyk fairy tale, told by Pugachev, reveals his attitude towards life: he wants to live it freely, albeit fleetingly. It is impossible not to mention him personal qualities: He is a leader, first among equals. They obey him unconditionally, and this corrupts his nature. For example, the scenes of the capture of the fortress demonstrate the cruelty of Pugachev’s power; such despotism is unlikely to lead to freedom (the death of the Mironovs, the kidnapping of Masha, destruction). Idea of ​​the image: Pugachev is naturally endowed with a heightened sense of justice, intelligence and talent, but he does not pass the test of war and unlimited power: the people's choice has become as much a tyrant as the empress against whom he rebelled.
4. Catherine II. A sweet woman in a house dress turns into an unyielding ruler when she listens to a request for a state traitor. Masha Mironova, at Catherine’s reception, tries to talk about Peter’s mitigating circumstances, but the Empress does not want to hear reasonable arguments and evidence, she is only interested in her own opinion. She condemned the “traitor” without trial, which is very indicative of an autocratic government. That is, its monarchy is hardly better than Pugachevism.
5. Alexey Shvabrin- officer. Peter and Alexey seem to be similar in their own way social status and age, but circumstances put them on opposite sides of the barricades. After the first test, Shvabrin, unlike Grinev, commits a moral decline, and the more rapidly the plot develops, the more obvious it is that Alexey is a vile and cowardly person who achieves everything in life by cunning and meanness. The peculiarities of his character are revealed during love conflict: He wins Masha's favor through hypocrisy, secretly slandering her and her family. The capture of the fortress finally puts everything in its place: he was ready for betrayal (he found a peasant dress, cut his hair), and Grinev would rather prefer death to breaking the oath. The final disappointment in him comes when the hero tries to force the girl to marry him by force and blackmail.
6. Savelich (Arkhip Savelyev)- an elderly servant. He is kind, caring and devoted to the young master. It is his resourcefulness that helps Peter avoid reprisals. Risking his life, the peasant stands up for the master and speaks with Pugachev himself. He is distinguished by thriftiness, a sober lifestyle, stubbornness and a tendency to read notations. He is distrustful, loves to grumble, argue and bargain. Knows the value of money and saves it for the owner.

Pushkin in the novel “The Captain's Daughter” gives detailed description heroes, giving the reader the opportunity to figure out their likes and dislikes for themselves. There is no author's assessment of what is happening in the book, because one of the characters is the memoirist.

Theme of the story

• Themes come to the fore in the work moral choice, decency, dignity. Grinev demonstrates high moral values, and Shvabrin is their absence, and we see the influence of these circumstances on their destinies. Thus, Pushkin shows that moral superiority always gives a person an advantage, even though he disdains cunning that would lead him to his goal faster. Despite the fact that Alesey used all his resourcefulness, the victory still remained with Peter: Maria remained with him as a good name.
• Honor and dishonor. Each hero faced a choice between honor and dishonor, and everyone made it differently: Maria chose devotion over a profitable marriage (Peter’s father initially did not consent to the marriage, so she risked remaining an old maid, driving Alexei away), Grinev more than once decided in favor of moral duty, even when it came to life and death, but Shvabrin always chose benefit, shame was not scary for him. We examined this question in detail in the essay “”.
• Theme of education. The example of the main character will help you understand what a good family upbringing means, that is, what dishonest people lack, and how this affects their lives. Shvabrin's childhood passed us by, but we can say with confidence that he did not receive the most important spiritual foundations on which nobility is built.
• The main themes include love: the union of Peter and Mary is an ideal for loving hearts. Throughout the novel, the hero and heroine defended their right to live together, even against their parents’ will. They were able to prove that they were worthy of each other: Grinev repeatedly stood up for the girl, and she saved him from execution. The theme of love is revealed with the sensitivity characteristic of Pushkin: young people vow to each other eternal devotion, even if fate never brings them together again. And they fulfill their obligations.
• Examples from “The Captain’s Daughter” will be useful for the topics “man and state”, “power and man”. They illustrate the violent nature of power, which cannot but be cruel by definition.

Main problems

• The problem of power. Pushkin discusses which government is better and why: anarchic, spontaneous Pugachevism or Catherine’s monarchy? It is obvious that the peasants preferred the first to the second, risking own life. The nobles, on the contrary, defended the order that was convenient for them. Social contradictions have divided the united people into two opposing camps, and each, it turns out, has its own truth and its own charter. Historical issues also include questions about the justice of the rebellion, the moral assessment of its leader, the legality of the empress’s actions, etc.
• The problem of man and history. What role do they play? historical events in a person's destiny? Obviously, the rebellion put Peter in a difficult position: he was forced to test his character to the limit. Surrounded by enemies, he did not change his convictions and risked openly not taking their side. He was threatened with certain death, but he chose honor over life, and retained both. Pugachevism is dark side stories with the help of which Pushkin shaded the fate of the characters. Even the title of the novel “The Captain's Daughter” speaks about this: the author named it after a fictional heroine, and not Pugachev or Catherine.
• The problem of growing up and raising a person. What must a person go through to become an adult? Thanks to Pugachev's rebellion, the young man matured early and became a real warrior, but the price of such an evolution can be called too expensive.
• The problem of moral choice. The work has antagonistic heroes Shvabrin and Grinev, who behave differently. One chooses betrayal for his own good, the other puts honor above personal interests. Why is their behavior so different? What influenced them moral formation? The author comes to the conclusion that the problem of immorality can only be solved individually: if morality is respected in a family, then all its representatives will follow duty, and if not, then the person will not stand the test and will only grovel and cheat, and not take care of honor.
• The problem of honor and duty. The hero sees his destiny in serving the empress, but in reality it turns out that she is not worth much in the eyes of Catherine. And the duty, if you look at it, is very doubtful: while the people were rebelling against tyranny, the army helped to suppress it, and the question of the honor of participating in this violent act is very doubtful.
• One of the main problems of the work “The Captain's Daughter” is social inequality. It was this that stood between the citizens of one country and directed them at each other. Pugachev rebelled against him and, seeing Grinev’s friendly gesture, spared him: he didn’t hate the nobles, but their arrogance towards the people who fed the entire state.

The meaning of the work

Any power is hostile towards to the common man, be it the imperial crown or military leaders. It always involves the suppression of personality and a harsh regime that is contrary to human nature. “God forbid we see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless,” sums up Pushkin. This is the main idea of ​​the work. Therefore, serving the fatherland and the tsar are not the same thing. Grinev honestly fulfilled his duty, but he could not leave his beloved in the hands of a scoundrel, and his essentially heroic actions were regarded by the empress as betrayal. If Peter had not done this, he would have already served, become a weak-willed slave of a system to which human life is alien. Therefore, mere mortals, who are not given the opportunity to change the course of history, must maneuver between orders and their moral principles, otherwise a mistake will be too costly.

Beliefs determine a person’s actions: Grinev was raised as a decent nobleman and behaved accordingly, but Shvabrin did not pass the test, his life values ​​were limited to the desire to remain a winner at any cost. This is also Pushkin’s idea - to show how to preserve honor if temptations are frolicking on all sides. According to the author, it is necessary to instill in boys and girls from childhood an understanding of morality and true nobility, expressed not in the panache of a dress, but in worthy behavior.

A person’s growing up is inevitably associated with trials that determine his moral maturity. There is no need to be afraid of them; they must be overcome with courage and dignity. This too main idea novel "The Captain's Daughter". If Peter had remained an “expert in greyhound cables” and an official in St. Petersburg, then his life would have turned out ordinary and, most likely, he would never have understood anything about it. But the adventures that his stern father pushed him into quickly turned the young man into a man who understood military affairs, love, and the people around him.

What does it teach?

The novel has a pronounced edifying tone. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin calls on people to take care of their honor from a young age and not to succumb to temptations to turn from an honest path onto a crooked path. A minute advantage is not worth the loss of a good name, this statement is illustrated love triangle, where the main character chooses the worthy and virtuous Peter, rather than the cunning and inventive Alexei. One sin inevitably leads to another, and a series of falls ends in complete collapse.

Also in “The Captain's Daughter” there is a message to love faithfully and not give up on your dreams, no matter what happens. Marya is without a dowry, and any marriage proposal should have been a great success in her case. However, she rejects Alexei over and over again, although she risks being left with nothing. Peter was denied an engagement, and he would hardly have gone against his parents' blessing. But the girl rejected all rational arguments and remained faithful to Grinev, even when there was no reason for hope. Her lover was the same. For their constancy, both heroes were rewarded by fate.

Criticism

V. F. Odoevsky in a letter to Pushkin expressed his admiration for the story, he especially liked Savelich and Pugachev - they were “masterfully drawn.” However, he considered the image of Shvabrin unviable: he was not ardent and stupid enough to take the side of the rebels and believe in their success. In addition, he demanded marriage from the girl, although he could have used her at any moment, since she was only a captive: “Masha has been in his power for so long, but he does not take advantage of these minutes.”

P. A. Katerinin calls the historical novel “natural, alluring and intelligent,” noting its similarities with “Eugene Onegin.”

V. A. Sollogub highly valued the restraint and logic of the narrative, rejoicing that Pushkin “overcame himself” and did not indulge in lengthy descriptions and “impulses.” He spoke about the style of the work as follows: “calmly distributed all parts of his story in due proportion, established his style with the dignity, calm and laconicism of history and conveyed the historical episode in a simple but harmonious language.” The critic believes that the writer has never been so elevated in the value of his books.

N.V. Gogol said that “The Captain’s Daughter” is much better than anything that was previously published in the world of prose. He said that reality itself seems like a caricature compared to what the writer depicted.

V. G. Belinsky was more restrained in his praise and singled out only minor characters, whose description is “a miracle of perfection.” The main characters did not make any impression on him: “The insignificant, colorless character of the hero of the story and his beloved Marya Ivanovna and the melodramatic character of Shvabrin, although they belong to the sharp shortcomings of the story, do not prevent it from being one of the remarkable works of Russian literature.” P.I. Tchaikovsky also spoke out about the spinelessness of Masha Mironova, who refused to write an opera based on this novel.

A. M. Skabichevsky also analyzed the work, speaking about the book with unwavering respect: “... you see historical impartiality, the complete absence of any patriotic praise and sober realism ... in Pushkin’s “The Captain's Daughter.” He, unlike Bellinsky, praised the image of the main character and noted his exceptional truthfulness and typical features for the era depicted.

Conflicting characteristics were given by critic N.N. Strakhov and historian V.O. Klyuchevsky. The first criticized Pushkin for the fact that he historical story has nothing to do with history, but is a chronicle of the fictional Grinev family. The second, on the contrary, spoke about the exceptional historicism of the book and that even in the author’s research less is said about Pugachevism than in a historical work.

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8. Historical novel “The Captain's Daughter”

To put Walter Scott in his belt

Pushkin called a “novel” a certain historical action developed on the destinies individuals. He worked on writing the novel “The Captain's Daughter” for many years. Somewhere in the mid-twenties, he was thinking about how to write a novel, and even predicted to one of his friends that he would outshine Walter Scott himself.

But, nevertheless, this was postponed from year to year, and Pushkin began writing the work that would later be called “The Captain’s Daughter” in 1832. So this work went in parallel with “The History of Peter” with “The History of Pugachev” and with other works.

The first edition of The Captain's Daughter was completed in the summer of 1936. And, having completed his manuscript, Pushkin immediately began to redo it. Why? In order to understand this, perhaps it would be worth starting from the beginning - with the epigraph. The epigraph to “The Captain's Daughter” is known to everyone: “Take care of your honor from a young age.” This, so to speak, is the main meaning, the main consideration contained in this novel.

Another thing is also known - that, in fact, the proverb itself, Russian, it is contained in the collection of Russian proverbs in the Pushkin library, is known to everyone, but, as always, the situation is not so simple. It turns out that Pushkin could know this proverb as a Latin one. Now, everyone knows Onegin’s lines: “In those days when in the gardens of the Lyceum // I blossomed serenely, I read Apuleius willingly, // But I did not read Cicero...” Apuleius is a Roman writer of the 2nd century AD. His work “The Golden Ass” is known, but in addition, he also wrote something called “Apology” - a speech in defense of himself against accusations of magic. In this work, he quotes this proverb approximately as follows: “Honor is like a dress: the more it is worn, the less you care about it.” And therefore honor must be protected from a young age. By the way, this “Apology” was published in Russian in 1835, and Pushkin could have remembered it or read it again while working on “The Captain’s Daughter.”

But one way or another, the novel was dedicated to the most pressing, most important problems of morality of that era, and not only that. The moral potential of “The Captain’s Daughter” has survived to this day and even deepened, becoming understood much more subtly and better. It is only important to understand that, together with the Latin proverb, “The Captain’s Daughter” includes what Pushkin’s Dostoevsky called “worldwide responsiveness.” That is, we are talking about the fact that the thing was written in line with not only Russian culture, but also world culture.

The author's path to the novel

The author's path to a novel begins very early. It turns out that a lot in the novel is based on the author’s own experience, personal experience. For example, he finds the name Grinev in 1830 in a bulletin about cholera in Moscow. There was a periodical that he read back in Boldino with concern for his loved ones - how were they doing there in the cholera city. So Pyotr Grinev is listed as one of the donors of money to help the victims. That is, he begins to have some positive associations with this name very early.

Or another example. When leaving Boldino, Pushkin was stopped by cholera quarantines. And, describing this detention, this forced stop, he paints a situation that we find in the missing chapter of “The Captain’s Daughter,” which will be discussed later, when the main character Petrusha arrives in his native village. He is also not allowed in at the Pugachev outposts, just as Pushkin himself was not allowed in during the cholera quarantines. That is, personal experience is always present in the text of the novel.

The same thing happens with heroes. For example, when Petrusha Grinev arrives at the Belogorsk fortress, he meets there with an officer exiled there, Shvabrin. And it is interesting to note that the portrait of this very Shvabrin: a man of short stature, somewhat dark, ugly, completely coincides with the description of Pushkin himself by memoirists, very many. Why did Pushkin suddenly give his appearance to the main negative character?

Probably, there was a moment here, as it were, of parting with youth, with the sinful inclinations of the young Pushkin. And, apparently, this is such a “scapegoat”, that is, he puts his sins into the biography and character of the hero and, thereby, parting with the violent beginning of his life.

One way or another, this is a novel from Russian life. AND life experience Pushkin is presented all the time. Well, for example, Father Gerasim is the priest and rector of the church in the Belogorsk fortress. And, in fact, why is this person called that? Because this is Pushkin’s memory of his lyceum teacher - Gerasim Petrovich Pavsky, who taught him the law of God and instructed him in moral life. Then he will be mentioned in Pushkin’s diary as one of our smartest and kindest priests. That is, we see how Pushkin’s own life experience is reflected on the pages of The Captain’s Daughter.

Pushkin's personal experience comes to the surface in the most unexpected places. We remember well how Masha, having arrived in St. Petersburg, did not actually reach the capital, but stopped in Tsarskoe Selo, in Sofia, and lived there in the house of the postal station superintendent. And it is from there that she goes out to the park in the morning, meets with Catherine... But all this is historically impossible, because the postal station in Sofia, near Tsarskoye Selo, was created many years later than the possible meeting of Catherine II with Masha. Pushkin describes the Tsarskoe Selo Lyceum, Tsarskoe Selo of the 19th century. That’s where Sofia is, and that’s where all this is happening, which is historically completely impossible. But when Pushkin needs to express character through historical circumstances, he distorts them quite easily.

Another episode is connected with the same episode. Why is Masha dating Ekaterina? Was this meeting a coincidence? After all, the day before, the owner of the apartment where Masha was staying takes her around Tsarskoe Selo, shows her the sights, talks about the daily routine of the empress, who gets up at such and such an hour, drinks coffee, walks in the park at such and such an hour, and has lunch at such and such an hour. and so on. An attentive reader should have realized that Masha went to the park for a reason early morning. Walking is bad for the young girl's health, the old woman tells her. She goes to meet the empress and knows very well who she met. They both pretend that an unknown provincial woman is dating an unknown court lady. In fact, both of them understand what is happening. Well, Ekaterina understands because Masha tells herself: who she is and what she is. But Masha knows who she is talking to. And thus her audacity increases in meaning. She contradicts not any lady at all, but the empress herself.

“The Captain's Daughter” is perhaps not only the great beginning of Russian literature, Russian prose, but also a thing that has survived eras. For example, Tvardovsky, the first poet of other times, of another era, said that, perhaps, there is nothing higher in Russian literature than “The Captain’s Daughter”, that here is the source of all that literature for which our fatherland is famous.

One approach to The Captain's Daughter may be a sketch of Pushkin's plan, known as The Son of an Executed Archer. This is also a kind of prototype of a future novel, unfortunately not written. The action there takes place during the time of Peter the Great. And here's what's interesting. The carrier of the main moral meaning This thing is not the daughter of the executed captain, but the daughter of the executed archer - executed by Peter. That is, the main characteristic of one of the main characters is still observed in this sketch. But there is a complicated history of family relationships, the substitution of one person for another. A reconstruction of this novel is possible, but for us the main thing is that the main, so to speak, spiritual motives of the thing that we know from “The Captain’s Daughter” have already been stated there.

Anachronisms of manor life

Something in the novel is explained by the fact that it was published in Pushkin’s magazine Sovremennik. The magazine was intended for non-service patrimonial nobles and their families. And, it would seem, the life of the estate will not come to the surface in this magazine, which gives readers some kind of global perspective of life. There will be foreign publications and some scientific articles. And suddenly “The Captain’s Daughter”! The reader is very familiar with estate life, and therefore it seems like why?

Meanwhile, it turns out that the life of the estate is very deeply and correctly reflected in “The Captain's Daughter”. This is an estate from the pre-Pushkin era and, in a sense, is an image of earthly paradise. The hero’s happy childhood takes place in this earthly paradise. He plays with the children in the yard and goes hunting with his father. They don't drink there, don't spend their nights playing cards, and only play nuts. This is the paradise that remains in the hero’s consciousness for the rest of his life, the paradise that he wants to reproduce later, becoming a free, non-service landowner himself.

Those. the landowner here acts not as a gentleman, but rather as the head of the old peasant community, for whom the serf men and women are the same family that he must take care of, and this is the meaning of his life, his existence. This is a world where receiving and sending a letter is an event. This is a world where chronology is counted not from a general calendar, but from local incidents, for example, “the very year when Aunt Nastasya Gerasimovna fell ill.”

It's narrow, wonderful beautiful world. The time and space of the manor's house are cyclical, closed, everything here is predictable, if not for the subsequent sharp turns of the novel's plot. True, the attentive reader realizes that in describing the noble estate of the Grinevs, Pushkin uses his personal experience, which is not always applicable and correct in Catherine’s time. Many details in Grinev rather betray Pushkin, i.e. a person after all from a different historical era.

This is especially evident when the Frenchman Monsieur Beaupre appears at the Grinevsk estate, who, in general, in the 60s of the 18th century still had no place in the remote provincial Volga estate of the Simbirsk province. Those. theoretically this is conceivable, but the influx of French tutors will come later, when the Great french revolution, when Napoleon is defeated and a mass of unfortunate French people go to Russia for a piece of bread, just to survive. This is the Beaupre whom Pushkin knows, but whom, of course, Grinev did not know.

Here the difference between eras is very clearly visible. It was in Griboyedov-Pushkin times that there was an influx of these so-called teachers “in more numbers, at a cheaper price.” And such details are very often found in The Captain's Daughter. For example, Grinev knows a lot of things that his real peer from a provincial estate could not know, including French, details of Russian history, which were not yet known until the publication of Karamzin’s main work. This is all Pushkin’s personal experience in estate life, which Petrusha Grinev does not yet have at her disposal.

Conflict of justice and mercy

But let’s return to the question: why did Pushkin suddenly begin to remake his novel, having just put the last point, having just completed it? Apparently, because he was not satisfied with the moral potential that turned out to be inherent there. After all, in the end, the potential of "The Captain's Daughter" can be described as a confrontation between two main principles - justice and mercy.

Here, the bearer of the idea of ​​justice, legality, and state necessity is old man Grinev. For him, the concept of state necessity, of noble honor is the meaning of life. And when he is convinced that his son Petrusha betrayed his oath and took Pugachev’s side, he does not take any steps to save him. Because he understands the correctness of the punishment that follows.

Apparently, in the first version this was not the case at all. After all, Petrusha, the old man’s son, fought with the Pugachevites in front of his father’s eyes - he shot at them. Well, the famous episode of leaving the barn. And thus, the old man was convinced that he had not betrayed any oath. And, therefore, he needs to be saved. Therefore, he is slandered. And, perhaps, in the first version he was the main character saving his son.

And, apparently, this situation did not suit Pushkin. Because, as always, women became the bearers of his mercy. The hero's bride Masha and Catherine II. This is who the bearers of mercy were. And at the same time, Masha Mironova came to the fore - a direct continuation of Onegin’s Tatiana, a bearer not of justice, not of state rules, but of mercy and philanthropy. This is what probably forced Pushkin to immediately begin remaking the novel.

It was clear to him that in the conditions of state-legal relations, neither the plot nor even the plot of the novel could survive. In the missing chapter, which was not included in the main text of the novel and remained from the first version, we find an extremely interesting difference between the first and second editions and the version, between the first and second editions.

For example, old man Grinev lets Masha go to St. Petersburg not at all because he hopes that she will bother for the groom. He took it out of his heart. He's gone. He simply lets her go with the parting words: “God give you a good groom, not a branded criminal.” And for some reason he lets Savelich go with her. This is Savelich’s departure from the estate, this gift from old man Grinev to Masha - he gives his eager serf ex-fiancée ex-son - completely changes the situation. It turns out that Masha is in conspiracy with Petrusha’s mother, with the old man’s wife; they both know that she is going to ask for a groom, but he does not know. He remains in his irreconcilability towards his son, in his distance from the corrupted Catherine’s court, which he does not consider a moral authority. That is, this is the character who was the main character in the first edition. But this is not the main thing in “The Captain's Daughter”.

And that’s why the two editions talk about two stages of Pushkin’s consciousness. He moved toward a completely different prose, toward prose where the main characters were “heroes of the heart.” This is his term, this is a line from his poem “Hero”, written back in the 20s. And the fact that people who are extremely authoritarian and state-minded, such as Catherine II or the peasant Tsar Pugachev, show heroism of heart, mercy, this becomes the basis. Here, perhaps, we somewhere find the features of Pushkin, what he would have been like in the 40s and 50s if he had lived to that time. Here you can see the edge of a completely different Pushkin, opposing statehood in many of its manifestations. That is, he does not cease to be a lyric poet, and here we must take this into account.

“Naked prose” and the female gaze

When, already in his very mature years, Tolstoy re-read Pushkin’s prose, he noticed that it was, of course, beautiful prose, but it seemed to him somehow a little “naked,” devoid of a lot of life details. And apparently this is true. Because Pushkin, and this is clearly visible in “The Captain’s Daughter,” relieves the reader of landscapes, descriptions of clothing, appearance, and some weather conditions. It only gives a sense of what is happening and what reflects the character of the characters. This freedom of the reader, who is free to come up with the picture that is proposed, is, perhaps, the main strength of Pushkin’s prose.

The second feature of The Captain's Daughter is familiar to us from Eugene Onegin. The bearer of the author's view of life and circumstances is a woman. In the first case, Tatyana, in the second case, Masha, Maria Ivanovna. And it is she who, at the end of the novel, ceases to be a plaything of circumstances. She herself begins to fight for her happiness and for the happiness of her betrothed. Even to the point that she rejects the verdict of Catherine II, who says: “No, the empress cannot forgive Grinev, because he is a traitor.” “No,” Masha answers, and thus acts with such strength of independence, which not only in the 18th century, but even much later - in Tatyana’s and Onegin’s times was not characteristic of Russian women. She insists on her own against the royal will. Which, in general, also expresses a certain understanding by Pushkin of the role of adviser to the sovereign, which he invented for himself and which did not come true. Even no matter what we're talking about, this is a continuation of Karamzin’s idea of ​​​​an adviser to the king - “the king is a confidant, not a slave.” This is what Masha gives out.

Despite the fact that Pushkin himself understands that this is not historical truth, this is pure fiction. And, in parallel with “The Captain’s Daughter,” he writes an article about Radishchev, where he gives the most important considerations about the 18th century. The fate of Radishchev, he writes, is a sign of “what harsh people surrounded Catherine’s throne.” They carried nothing with them except state concepts.

And so Masha, who is ahead not only of her century, but also of the future century, becomes Pushkin’s ideal, becomes, as it were, a prototype of those heroes and heroines who, perhaps, would have populated Pushkin’s poetry and prose - in the 40s, but God willing , and in the 50s.

A cloud, a storm and the challenge of fate

The description of the snowstorm in the second chapter of “The Captain's Daughter” is textbook; at school you had to learn this episode by heart, it is so textbook and very famous. The coachman, driving Grinev across the steppe, says: “Master, would you order me to return?” We have already noticed that a cloud on the horizon foreshadows a storm, but not only a storm. In line with the biblical tradition, a cloud that fell to the ground has a completely different meaning - the meaning of a sign that God bestows on the chosen people, letting them know where to go.

This is a very strong tradition in Russian literature. For example, the same Akhmatova said that “Onegin is an airy mass,” and this also goes back to this biblical image of a cloud showing the way.

In The Captain's Daughter, a cloud on the horizon is like a challenge from fate. There is Savelich, who says: “Master, let’s go back, drink some tea, go to bed and wait out the storm.” And on the other hand, Grinev, who says: “I don’t see anything wrong, let’s go!” And they find themselves in this terrible storm, in which they almost die.

AND symbolic meaning this storm turning the whole action is obvious. Well, let's say they came back. What would happen then? Then Grinev would not have met Pugachev and would normally have been executed after the capture of the Belogorsk fortress. This is the first thing a blizzard does. Meeting Pugachev and avoiding execution is again a challenge from fate, which rewards a person who goes towards danger. There is a lot of Pushkin in this. This idea of ​​challenging fate runs through all of his work, but this is a separate large topic that can only be touched on a little here. And so the cloud predetermines everything that will happen next: love, unhappy love, the capture of the fortress, execution, further difficulties and horrors of the hero’s biography - it all begins with a cloud.

The motive for challenging fate can be heard further - in the duel with Shvabrin, in his behavior before the execution, which, fortunately, did not take place, in the noble silence in the Investigative Commission, where he does not mention the name of his beloved... This is all defined as a response to the challenge of fate. The same thing happens to Masha, the bride, who avoids mortal danger, but is ready to sacrifice her life for the groom, for his parents in the denouement of the novel.

The biblical cloud leads to the fact that in the end evil is defeated, retreats, and good triumphs. And, in fact, traditionally this goodness crowns the narrative. However, human happiness, according to Pushkin, still remains within the limits of the general exile of the earthly, and here individual destinies clearly begin to border on the fate of the people, with their history.

“In the rank of a historical story”

At the end of the story, Pushkin puts into the mouth of his hero an aphorism that perhaps applies to all national life, as they say, from Gostomysl to our days. “God forbid we see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless.” This maxim, perhaps, finally confirms Pushkin’s novel in the rank of a historical story. Historical not in the sense of material, but in the sense of the idea of ​​history, and especially Russian history, in its original and very typical form.

The historical on the pages of “The Captain's Daughter” sounds, I would say, loudly. This is especially audible where the author, willingly or unwillingly, deviates from real, so to speak, documented history. For example, in one of the versions of the story, Pugachev completely anecdotally offers Grinev to serve in his army, and for this he undertakes to reward him with the title of Prince Potemkin.

Clearly, the humor lies in the fact that Pugachev does not understand the difference between family title and public office. Pushkin refuses this option, apparently because someone points out to him a historical mistake: by the time of Pugachev’s execution, Catherine, perhaps, does not even know about the existence of Potemkin, these are two different eras– the era of uprising and the era of Potemkin favoritism. So he refuses.

But in principle, Pushkin is still right, because in both states, Catherine’s and Pugachev’s, favoritism equally flourishes, which is especially obvious in Peter’s and post-Petrine Russia. Pushkin may be historically wrong, but he is absolutely right in line with the philosophy of history. The logic of history triumphs over chronology, and this in no way detracts from the merits of the literary text.

The same applies to the details of the biography of Pyotr Grinev. Petrusha, in a conversation with the impostor, with Pugachev, reveals knowledge of the details of the fall of False Dmitry I in early XVII centuries, i.e. details of the Time of Troubles. In general, catching a poet with factual inaccuracies is, as a rule, a pointless exercise. It usually testifies to our misunderstanding of fiction or, to put it another way, a misunderstanding of figurative fabric.

Sometimes you hear that you can study the history of Russia using The Captain's Daughter. Well, you can, of course, but you just need to understand the nature of the features of this study. We must be aware that the novel depicts this story as a whole, in a highly artistic sense. The author often neglects the authenticity of detail in the name of the authenticity of the artistic whole. Therefore, using The Captain's Daughter, you can study the entire Russian history as a whole, but not the history of the Pugachev rebellion, because here the author neglects the historical truth of the episode in the name of the historical truth of the whole, all of Russian history, taken as a great centuries-old unity.

It is on the pages of the novel, as well as in the scenes of “Boris Godunov,” by the way, that Pushkin often abandons facts in favor of the generalized historical truth of the entire past as a whole. He thinks that with this amendment we should accept the artistic fabric of “The Captain’s Daughter” as the work of a great historian.

Neither in “The Captain's Daughter” nor in his other works did Pushkin create a complete history of Russia. Yes, in fact, he probably did not strive for this. But his great talent in the field of history is beyond doubt. Pushkin's thought illuminates such dark corners of history that are perhaps inaccessible to a professional historian, limited known facts. And therefore, our best, main historians have always recognized this ability in Pushkin, which, perhaps, they themselves did not fully possess. This was understood by such scientists as Sergei Mikhailovich Solovyov, Vasily Iosifovich Klyuchevsky, Sergei Fedorovich Platonov and many, many others.

Their colleague, Evgeniy Viktorovich Tarle, our famous academician. He used to tell his students that Dantes’ shot deprived Russia of not only brilliant writer, Pushkin already managed to become this during his lifetime, but also the greatest historian, who only barely felt the taste of science.

From Apuleius: “Shame and honor are like a dress: the more shabby they are, the more careless you treat them.” Quote according to ed. Apuleius. Apology. Metamorphoses. Florida. M., 1956, S. 9.

Pushkin A.S. Alexander Radishchev.

Literature

1. Belkind V.S. Time and space in the novel by A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter". // Pushkin collection. L., 1977.
2. Dolinin A.A. Once again about the chronology of “The Captain’s Daughter”. // Pushkin and others. Collection of articles for the 60th anniversary of Professor S.A. Fomichev. Novgorod, 1997.
3. Dolinin A.A. Walter – Scott’s historicism and “The Captain’s Daughter”. // Pushkin and England. Series of articles. M., 2007.
4. Zaslavsky O.B. The problem of mercy in The Captain's Daughter. // “Russian Literature”, 1995, No. 4.
5. Karpov A.A. The plot of the noble lion in “The Captain’s Daughter” // “Russian Literature”, 2016, No. 3.
6. Krasukhin G.G. Grinev is a narrator. // Historical and literary collection. To the 60th anniversary of Leonid Genrikhovich Frizman. Kharkov, 1995.
7. Listov V.S. About the missing chapter of The Captain's Daughter. // Listov V.S. New about Pushkin. M., 2000.
8. Listov V.S. The worlds of “The Captain’s Daughter”. // Listov V.S. “The Voice of the Dark Muse” M., 2005.
9. Lotman Yu.M. The ideological structure of "The Captain's Daughter". //Pushkin collection. Pskov, 1962.
10. Makogonenko. G.P. About the dialogues in “The Captain’s Daughter” by A.S. Pushkin. // Classic heritage and modernity. L. 1981.
11. Oksman Yu.G. Pushkin at work on “The History of Pugachev” and the story “The Captain’s Daughter”. // Oksman Yu.G. From "The Captain's Daughter" to "Notes of a Hunter". Saratov, 1958.
12. Orlov A.S. Folk songs in "The Captain's Daughter". // Artistic folklore. M., 1927. Issue. 2-3.
13. Ospovat A.L. From materials for commentary on “The Captain’s Daughter.” //Europe and Russia. Collection of articles. M., 2010.
14. Rogachevsky A.B. “Cavalry Maiden” N.A. Durova and “The Captain's Daughter” by A.S. Pushkin: the right of the storyteller. //"Philological Sciences", M., 1993, No. 4.
15. Skobelev V.P. Pugachev and Savelich (to the problem of national character in A.S. Pushkin’s story “The Captain’s Daughter”). // Pushkin collection. Pskov, 1972.
16. Khalizev V.E. On the typology of characters in “The Captain’s Daughter” by A.S. Pushkin.. //Concept and meaning: collection in honor of the 60th anniversary of Professor V.M. Markovich. St. Petersburg, 1996.

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Text content of presentation slides: MIKHAIL VASILIEVICHLOMONOSOV (1711 - 1765) (Literature lesson 6th grade) Historian, rhetorician, mechanic, mineralogist, artist and poet, he experienced everything and went through everything. A.S. Pushkin CHILDHOOD Born on November 21, 1711 in the Arkhangelsk province in the village of Denisovka near Kholmogory in the family of a Pomor peasant. The deacon of the local church taught Mikhail to read and write. A passion for knowledge and a difficult family situation forced Lomonosov to make a decision - to leave his home and go to Moscow. TO MOSCOW Kholmogory Moscow YEARS OF STUDY In 1730 he entered the Slavic-Greek-Latin Academy in Moscow, where he not only acquired a taste for scientific studies, but studied Latin, got acquainted with the sciences of that time and academic disciplines. At the beginning of 1736, as one of the best students, Lomonosov was sent to the university at St. Petersburg Academy Sciences Despite the difficult living conditions, the inquisitive young man showed great interest in science from the first days of his arrival at the Academy. And in the fall of 1736, the three best students, including Lomonosov, were sent by the Academy of Sciences to Germany to study mathematics, physics, chemistry, philosophy and metallurgy. MARBURG Student at a German university In 1741, Lomonosov returned to Russia. Lomonosov's scientific interests were truly all-encompassing. He owns works in the fields of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, and philology. SCIENCE Diploma of professor of chemistry In 1748, he created a chemical laboratory in which he conducted scientific research, including developing the composition of glass, porcelain and smalt, which he used for his mosaics created in 1751. Lomonosov in his chemical laboratory. MOSAIC PICTURES M.V.Lomonosov shows his works to Empress M.V.Lomonosov. Poltava battle. Mosaic. In 1755, on the initiative of Lomonosov and according to his project, Moscow University was founded, “open to all persons capable of science,” and not just to nobles. MOSCOW UNIVERSITY Lomonosov died in St. Petersburg on April 4, 1765. Lomonosov’s grave in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra “Two astronomers happened together at a feast” Happened together - met together. They argued in the heat - they argued hotly, heatedly. The circle of the Sun walks - it walks around the Sun. How do you reason about this doubt? – How do you reason, what do you think about this controversial issue? Zharkov (noun) - roast (roast - fried food, usually meat. Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 -1543) - Polish astronomer, mathematician and economist. Best known as the author of the medieval heliocentric system of the world. Heliocentric system of the world Claudius Ptolemy (c. 87- 165) - ancient Greek astronomer, mathematician, music theorist and geographer. He lived in Alexandria, where he conducted astronomical observations. Geocentric system of the world. What is the theme of the poem? Who are Copernicus and Ptolemy? When did they really meet? with a friend? Why do you think Copernicus and Ptolemy meet in Lomonosov’s poem? Where do they meet? What is the difference between the views of scientists? Who does the owner of the house turn to to resolve this dispute? What is the idea of ​​the poem?

">Topic 6. “The Captain's Daughter” - a realistic historical novel by A.S. Pushkin

">

">Task ">:

">Explore scientific literature on the topic of the lesson, based on your own analysis of the literary text. Prepare answers to the questions provided.

">Questions ">:

;color:#000000">1. What factors, in your opinion, determined the noticeable activation of historical genres in world and Russian literature in the 1830s?

;color:#000000">2. Cover the main aspects of the debate about the genre nature of A.S. Pushkin’s work “The Captain’s Daughter”.

;color:#000000">2.What are the achievements of modern historical prose relied on A.S. Pushkin? Comment on the following statement by a Russian writer about the historical novels of Walter Scott: “">"The main charm of Walter Scott's novels is that we are introduced to the past tense not with">enflure ;vertical-align:super"> ">(the pomposity) of French tragedies, not with the stiffness of sensitive novels not with the dignité (dignity) of history, but in a modern, but homely way."

">3.Based on benchmarking novels by Walter Scott "Rob Roy" and A.S. Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”, draw conclusions about the specifics of the artistic solution to the problem of historicism in romantic and realistic prose. Rough plan analysis:

">a) how is the problem of the evolution of the protagonist’s character solved in the compared works?

">b) what significance do historical circumstances play in the lives of the heroes of Scott and Pushkin?

">c) what are the principles of depicting a popular movement and its leader in English and Russian novels?

">4. What, in your opinion, is the artistic meaning of a two-hero plot basis Pushkin's novel?

">5. What artistic media does Pushkin use to express his position as a writer in the novel?

">Literature

">Main

1. ;color:#000000">Gay N.K. ;color:#000000"> Pushkin the prose writer. Life-creativity-Work. =- M.: IMLI RAS, 2008. 488 p.
2. ;color:#000000">Gukovsky G. A.;color:#000000">Pushkin and the problems of realistic style. M.: Goslitizdat, 1957. 416 pp.; or electronic resource. access mode;color:#000000">http://feb-web.ru/feb/pushkin/default.asp;color:#000000">.
3. ;color:#000000">Makogonenko, G. P.;color:#000000">The work of A.S. Pushkin in the 1830s: in 2 books [Text] / G. P. Makogonenko. L.: Khudozh. lit., 1982. - Book 2 (1833 -1836). 464 p.

">Additional

;color:#000000">1. "> Bocharov, S. G. "> Pushkin's Poetics: Essays. - M.: Nauka, 1974. 207 p.