The captain's daughter is a novel or story. The history of the creation of "The Captain's Daughter". The main characters of "The Captain's Daughter", genre of work

When determining the genre " The captain's daughter"(1836) researchers face some difficulties. The fact is that "The Captain's Daughter" is characterized by genre features both a story and a novel, and Pushkin himself called his work either a story or a novel. Therefore, it would not be a fundamental mistake to call The Captain's Daughter a novel. Genre originality Pushkin's novel is that, on the one hand, it is a chronicle of the noble family of the Grinevs, and on the other - historical work. In other words, "The Captain's Daughter" is a socio-historical novel.

The novel describes the love story of Pyotr Grinev and Masha Mironova; at first it was closely intertwined with the events of the Pugachev uprising (1773 - 1775). Pushkin gave the work the form of memoirs, or “family notes” (X), composed by Pyotr Andreevich Grinev in adulthood for his grandchildren. In Pushkin’s family chronicle, they are not interested in everyday details, but in the problem moral choice young people at critical moments in their lives. The novel gives portraits of two families: the Grinevs (including Savelich) and the Mironovs (including Palashka). The life of both families is depicted clearly with an eye on Fonvizin’s “Undergrowth”, which is emphasized by the epigraph to the third chapter - Mrs. Prostakova’s remark: “Old people, my father.” However, the sharp satire characteristic of D.I. Fonvizin when depicting “bad landowners” Pushkin’s work is softened: the life of two provincial families is depicted in connection with the best traditions advanced noble XVIII culture century - by preserving one's human dignity, strictly following the laws of duty and honor.

In these heroes Pushkin showed “simple greatness ordinary people"(N.V. Gogol “What, finally, is the essence of Russian poetry and what is its peculiarity” 1846): they, despite all the shortcomings that the author does not hide, live according to their conscience, in family harmony, are faithful to traditions, and therefore can stoically and even heroically overcome the most serious trials of life. A striking example to this is the rescue of Masha, in which the following take part: the priest Akulina Pamfilovna (hides the girl during the storming of the Belogorsk fortress), the lively servant Palashka (does not leave her young lady when she lives in a home prison under the rule of Shvabrin), Grinev (sets off at the risk of her life to the rebel camp to ask for help from Pugachev). Simple-minded, sincere, moral heroes are contrasted with Shvabrin, who in his selfish self-affirmation does not stop at either meanness (deliberately slandering Masha; in a duel he wounds Grinev at the moment when he turns away) or betrayal (goes over to the side of the rebels for selfish reasons).

Historical events - episodes of the peasant war led by E.I. Pugachev - attract the writer’s attention not in themselves (three years ago Pushkin had already written “The History of Pugachev”), but in connection with thoughts about the situation in modern Russian society, more precisely in connection with the question of the relationship between the nobility, to which Pushkin himself belonged, and the people. The social idea of “The Captain's Daughter” can be formulated as follows: within the same nation, the nobility and the common people have diverged so far that their representatives have ceased to understand each other. This idea occupied Pushkin for a long time. In particular, it was reflected in the unfinished story “Dubrovsky” (1833).

The main character of this story, Vladimir Dubrovsky, in order to avenge the death of his father and his ruin, gathers a gang of bandits from serfs. Dubrovsky punishes his offenders (judges, false witnesses), but in Pushkin’s story about a noble robber (works of this kind were very popular in European literature early XIX century) the problem of the relationship between a nobleman and his peasants occupies an important place. It becomes clearer in final scene story: Dubrovsky, realizing that his gang will be crushed by government troops, gathers all the robbers for the last time and announces to them that he is disbanding the gang. He advises them to change their lifestyle: “You have become rich under my leadership, each of you has the appearance with which you can safely get into some remote province and spend the rest of your life there in honest labor and abundance. But you are all scammers and probably won’t want to leave your craft” (XIX). This phrase shows that Dubrovsky did not understand his peasants at all: in his opinion, they joined the gang only in order to free themselves from hard peasant work and have easy money from robbery. Pushkin, depicting the peasants, shows that their actions were driven by completely different motives. They joined the young master because they wanted to express their protest against the injustice committed by Kirila Petrovich Troekurov against the Dubrovsky landowners. Consequently, Pushkin emphasizes the misunderstanding that divides the nobleman and his peasants.

The author reveals the same idea in “The Captain's Daughter”. It is confirmed not only by the fact of the peasant war against the noble state, but also by the history of the personal relationships between the two main characters of the novel. Noble honor, the most important moral basis for Grinev, does not allow him to serve in Pugachev’s army, although Pugachev as a person evokes sincere sympathy in the young nobleman.

In the novel, Pushkin describes the most successful period of the peasant war, when Pugachev’s army tried to capture Orenburg. The work contains both historical characters (Pugachev, Catherine II, mediocre Orenburg generals, Pugachev's comrades-in-arms) and fictional characters (the Grinev family, Shvabrin, the Mironov family). For Pushkin, it was interesting to depict a critical moment in the history of Russia, in which the characters of the Russian people were most fully revealed.

Show Pugachev how historical figure- this is one of the author’s important tasks in the novel. Creating the image of a people's leader, Pushkin uses different ways images: portrait, speech, actions of the hero, comparison with Empress Catherine, complex perception by another character - Pyotr Grinev. Grinev, as befits a decent “natural nobleman” of the 18th century, contemptuously calls Pugachev a “villain” (VIII, X, XII), a “swindler” (VIII, IX), an “impostor” (VII, X), a “drunkard” (VIII ), “monster” (XII), but throughout the novel Pugachev behaves towards to the young hero very generous. The impostor and rebel in his relationship with Grinev appears as a person who remembers goodness. Several times, when deciding what to do with Grinev, the impostor utters his favorite saying: execute like this, execute like that, favor like that, favor like that (VIII, XII) - and each time he helps the young officer. In fact, Grinev and Masha owe their happiness to Pugachev’s generous actions. Pushkin's image“peasant king” violated literary tradition when the impostor was portrayed as a “dark villain”, “ mad dog"," "monster of nature" (A. P. Sumarokov).

From “The Captain's Daughter” one can judge the views of Pushkin the historian on people's war under the leadership of Pugachev. The writer recognizes the seriousness of the reasons for the uprising (first of all serfdom, which drove the peasants to despair, and the unreasonable management of the Cossack regions), but calls the uprising “a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless” (XIII).

To summarize, it should be noted that the novel “The Captain's Daughter,” as always with Pushkin, is distinguished by its deep content. It is closely intertwined and equally important family and historical issues, therefore it would be wrong to reduce its content only to family chronicle or only to historical narrative. In the novel, the historical content is the “extensive frame” (A.S. Pushkin “The Work of M.N. Zagoskin “Yuri Miloslavsky””) for a fictional family history.

The author in his socio-historical work brings to the fore the images of fictional heroes (private people), who, by the will of fate, were drawn into the whirlpool of historical events. It is in them that Pushkin sees true greatness: the simplicity of their lives, the sincerity of their relationships, the inviolability moral principles make them, from the author’s point of view, positive heroes. This is how the novel raises and resolves philosophical moral questions about the goals and meaning of human life.

The positive heroes of the novel, being whole people, do not share the social ( public service) and private (family duty, honor and relationships with people). The order of service in the Belogorsk fortress, according to Grinev’s witty observations, has signs family life: the order for the arrest of Grinev and Shvabrin for a failed duel is given by Vasilisa Egorovna, Palashka takes the swords to the closet; Before the assault, Captain Mironov, addressing the soldiers, says: “Well, kids, today we’ll stand up for Mother Empress” (VII). Even the image of Pugachev is presented in the work, so to speak, “at home.” If in “The History of Pugachev” Pushkin portrays the leader of the popular uprising as a historical figure, then in “The Captain’s Daughter” - as a private person who shows mercy towards the young Grinev in response to his kindness (at the beginning of the novel, the noble ignorant gave the future impostor a hare sheepskin coat and called him "brother"). The desire, perhaps even unconscious, of the “family” heroes for order, harmony in own life and around himself, Pushkin contrasts the boundless egoism of individual characters (Shvabrin) and the cruelty of the surrounding world in general.

Historical figures (leader of the peasant war Pugachev, Empress Catherine) are included in the historical background - events in which the main characters show their characters. The depiction of historical events in the novel allows Pushkin to express his understanding of the key problems of the philosophy of history: the role of the individual in a historical event, the appropriateness of violent (revolutionary) actions in the historical process, the just structure of the state, etc.

Outwardly, “The Captain's Daughter” is similar to the “family legends” highly valued by Pushkin. All events are conveyed through the gaze of Grinev, the record-keeper, and are instructive for his grandson, that is, Pushkin’s contemporary, and therefore for the nobility of his day. Pushkin and many researchers of his work called The Captain's Daughter a novel; the poet himself defined the novel as “a historical era developed in a fictional narrative.”

However, there is another point of view, according to which “The Captain's Daughter” is a lyrical story with a bright and strong historical basis.

Novel- an epic prose genre in which a comprehensive picture of an entire way of life is recreated, unfolded into a complex and complete action, striving for drama and isolation.

Tale- an epic prose genre, smaller in volume than a novel, but larger than a short story or short story. The plot of the story covers a certain chain of episodes (events) that tend to be chronicle.

While working on “The History of Pugachev” and “The Captain’s Daughter,” Pushkin clearly understood: there could be no union of the noble class with the peasantry. At the same time, the only force capable of public administration in Russia, he saw the nobility. This social contradiction manifested itself with enormous artistic force in the novel. One of the researchers of creativity A.S. Pushkina Yu.M. Lotman noted: “The entire artistic fabric of The Captain’s Daughter clearly falls into two ideological and stylistic layers, subordinate to the depiction of the worlds - noble and peasant. It would be an unacceptable simplification, preventing penetration into Pushkin’s true plan, to consider that noble world is portrayed in the story only satirically, and the peasant - only sympathetically, as well as to assert that everything poetic in the noble camp belongs, but to Pushkin’s opinion, not to a specifically noble, but to a national principle.”

The imaginative world of the “captain’s daughter”

The artistic idea of the novel is concentrated in its epigraph, folk proverb“Take care of your honor from a young age.” It is expressed through the disclosure of the images of almost all the main characters of the work - Grinev and Shvabrin, Pugachev and Captain Mironov.

“The central figure of the work is Pugachev. All the plot lines of the story converge to him. The love affair of “The Captain’s Daughter”, the relationship between Masha Mironova and Grinev is significant only because it motivates the plot climax“strange” relationship between Grinev and Pugachev: in fact, an unauthorized (gender cover of chance) appearance of a nobleman faithful to his military duty, an officer of government troops, to Pugachev’s camp for help,” writes researcher of Pushkin’s novel E.N. Kupreyanova.

Illustration for the novel by A.S. Pushkin “The Captain’s Daughter” - woodcuts by N.V. Favorsky

Pugachev Pushkin - a talented leader of a spontaneous movement, the first full-blooded folk character in the works of Pushkin and in Russian literature in general. Without idealizing his hero, showing him tough, and in some moments - scary, Pushkin simultaneously emphasizes his most important qualities: determination and willpower, the ability to remember and appreciate goodness, readiness to come to the rescue in difficult times and, which may seem strange at first glance , - justice. Characteristic in this regard are his actions towards Shvabrin, Grinev, and Masha Mironova. There are no figures close to this character in “The Captain’s Daughter” either among Pugachev’s closest associates or among his opponents. To some extent, Pugachev, in Pushkin’s perception, is a lonely and tragic person: he realizes the futility of his enterprise, understands the inevitability of his death. But he cannot give up rebellion. Understanding the motives of his behavior, his attitude to what is happening helps morality Kalmyk fairy tale, which he tells Grinev: “...than eating carrion for three hundred years, it’s better to get drunk with living blood, and then what God will give!”

Pyotr Andreevich Grinev looks quite ordinary, in comparison with Pugachev, but it is precisely this perception that fully corresponds to Pushkin’s plan. Pugachev is a historical figure, significant and exceptional. The figure of Grinev is fictional and ordinary.

The name Grinev (in the draft version he was called Bulanin) was not chosen by chance. On January 10, 1755, the end of the trial of Pugachev and the Pugachevites was announced. The name of Second Lieutenant Grinev is listed among those who “were on guard, being at first suspected of communicating with the villains, but as a result they turned out to be innocent.”

Grinev is a representative of the impoverished noble nobility of Catherine’s times, to which Pushkin was proud to belong and about his “humiliation” social status which he regretted.

At first glance, a kind of “mama’s boy” who cannot be allowed to go anywhere without the constant supervision of Uncle Savelich, a kind of fool and immature, Grinev subsequently appears to the reader as a person capable of extraordinary actions (the episode with the sheepskin coat given to the “counselor”). It is this independence, and not just the fact of donating a hare sheepskin coat, that, as it turns out, sets Grinev apart from many. He is able not only to love sincerely, but also to go to the end in the fight for his feelings, for the honor and dignity of both himself and his beloved girl. In this fight, he will again demonstrate his ability, without betraying anyone, to make independent decisions and bear responsibility for them. His coming to Pugachev does not look like a betrayal in comparison with the actions of Shvabria and in relation to the oath and duty to the Fatherland.

There is also a character trait of Grinev hidden from first glance. The novel was written on his behalf, by his hand. These are his notes for his grandson, and in them Pyotr Andreevich Grinev does not present himself as better than he really was. He is truthful and sometimes merciless to himself: in assessments, in conveying actions, in characterizing thoughts.

By the will of fate, old people dear to Pushkin’s heart find themselves drawn into the whirlpool of events: servant Savelich, captain Mironov and his endlessly devoted wife.

Of course, Savelich, whom Grinev treats with tender love and warmth, could not be otherwise. Too warm memories were left in Pushkin’s heart by his “mother and nanny”: both Arina Rodionovna and uncle Nikita Kozlov, who remained sincerely devoted to him all his life. The guy knew how to do things that Pushkin valued. Once in St. Petersburg, immediately after the Lyceum, when the master turned the sovereign against himself with his “outrageous” poems, Nikita Kozlov, in the absence of Alexander, did not allow gendarmes into the apartment with a search: “The master is not at home, and there is no way to live without him.”

Sometimes taking offense at the strict Savelich, grumbling about his grumbling and “extra” troubles, Grinev, however, repays his uncle with sincere, almost filial love. Love for love.

Grinev also has a warm attitude towards the Mironov family. Pushkin could also have drawn materials for the plot of the novel, in particular about the family of the commandant of the fortress, from the stories of I.A. Krylov, whose childhood was spent in Yaitsky town and Orenburg. The image of Captain Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, a modest and inconspicuous officer of a provincial garrison, but a firm and prudent commander, rising to true heroism during the siege of the fortress, was probably suggested by the fabulist’s memories of his father, Captain Andrei Krylov, an officer of the Yaitsky town besieged by the Pugachevites.

The character of captain Vasilisa Egorovna Mironova was also written out with the greatest respect. At the first meeting with Grinev, she appears as an old woman “in a padded jacket and with a scarf on her head. She unwinds the threads” - a sort of classic patriarchal image. In fact, Vasilisa Egorovna Mironova is the de facto commander of the fortress; out of the kindness of her heart, Captain Mironov and all the servants in the garrison report to her in everyday life. And at the decisive moment this does not make you feel ashamed and bitter.

Here is a heroic and tragic scene in which her true character is revealed: “Several robbers dragged Vasilisa Yegorovna onto the porch, disheveled and stripped naked. One of them had already dressed up in her warmer. Others carried feather beds, chests, tea utensils, linen and all the junk. “My fathers!” - screamed the poor old woman. - Release your soul to repentance. Dear fathers, take me to Ivan Kuzmich." Suddenly she looked at the gallows and recognized her husband. “Villains!” she screamed in a frenzy. “What did you do to him? You are my light, Ivan Kuzmich, you daring soldier’s head!” They didn’t touch him. You didn’t get Prussian bayonets or Turkish bullets; you didn’t give up your life in a fair fight, but you died from an escaped convict!” “Quiet the old witch!” said Pugachev. Then the young Cossack hit her on the head with a saber, and she fell dead on the steps of the porch.”

“The name of the girl Mironova,” noted Pushkin in a letter to censor P.A. Korsakov, - fictitiously. My novel is based on a legend I once heard, as if one of the officers who betrayed his duty and joined the Pugachev gangs was pardoned by the empress at the request of his elderly father, who threw himself at her feet. The novel, as you please see, has gone far from the truth.”

Masha Mironova is a modest, shy, silent girl. Brought up in a Christian spirit, she respects her mother and father, behaves without affectation and coquetry in front of guest officers, and experiences all the events that happen with dignity and humility. Having a heartfelt inclination towards Grinev, Masha does not give her consent to the marriage without the blessing of his parents. Sensitive and meek Masha, who faints at the sound of gunfire, at a difficult moment in her life, commits a decisive and courageous act to save her loved one. Masha is the spiritual and moral reference point in the novel named after her. She asks the empress for mercy, not justice. This is a very important topic for Pushkin. The basis of the writer’s position is the affirmation of humanity as the highest moral law. That is why his main characters do not die: Masha is saved by Pugachev, who acts as he is told not by political considerations, but human feeling. The pardon of Grinev is in the hands of the empress, who follows not a sketchy law, but mercy.

Pushkin was not an ideologist of the peasant revolution; he was far from “calling Rus' to the axe.” With his novel, he warns his contemporaries and descendants about the bloody lawlessness that always comes with rebellion, about its despoticism and uselessness. Pushkin himself will derive this exact warning formula: “God forbid that we see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless.”

Previously, schoolchildren had no questions about what prose genre “The Captain's Daughter” belonged to. Is this a novel or a story? "Of course, the second one!" - this is how any teenager would have answered ten years ago. Indeed, in the old textbooks on literature, the genre of “The Captain's Daughter” (story or novel) was not questioned.

In modern literary criticism

Today, most researchers believe that the story of Captain Grinev is a novel. But what is the difference between these two genres? "The Captain's Daughter" - a story or a novel? Why did Pushkin himself call his work a story, and modern researchers refuted his statement? In order to answer these questions, you should first of all understand the features of both the story and the novel. Let's start with the largest form that a prose work can take.

Novel

Today this genre is the most common type epic literature. The novel describes a significant period in the lives of the heroes. There are a lot of characters in it. Moreover, completely unexpected images often appear in the plot and, it would seem, do not have any influence on the overall course of events. In reality, there can be nothing superfluous in real literature. And a rather serious mistake is made by those who read "War and Peace" and " Quiet Don", skipping the chapters devoted to the war. But let's return to the work "The Captain's Daughter."

Is this a novel or a story? This question arises often, and not only when we're talking about about "The Captain's Daughter". The fact is that there are no clear genre boundaries. But there are features, the presence of which indicates belonging to one or another type of prose. Let us recall the plot of Pushkin’s work. "The Captain's Daughter" covers a considerable period of time. "Is this a novel or a story?" - when answering such a question, you should remember how main character appeared before the readers at the beginning of the work.

A story from the life of an officer

Landowner Pyotr Grinev recalls his early years. In his youth he was naive and even somewhat frivolous. But the events that he had to endure - a meeting with the robber Pugachev, acquaintance with Masha Mironova and her parents, Shvabrin's betrayal - changed him. He knew that honor must be protected from a young age. But I realized the true value of these words only at the end of my misadventures. The personality of the main character has undergone significant changes. Before us - characteristic feature novel. But why then did “The Captain’s Daughter” belong to a different genre for so long?

Story or novel?

There are not many differences between these genres. A story is a kind of intermediate link between a novel and a short story. In a work of short prose there are several characters, the events cover a short period of time. There are more characters in the story; there are also minor ones who do not play an important role in the main one. storyline. In such a work, the author does not show the hero in different periods of his life (in childhood, adolescence, youth). So, “The Captain’s Daughter” is a novel or a story? Perhaps it’s the latter.

The narration is told on behalf of the main character, who is already in old age. But almost nothing is said about the life of the landowner Pyotr Andreevich (only that he was a widower). The main character is a young officer, but not the middle-aged nobleman who acts as the narrator.

The events in the work cover only a few years. So this is a story? Not at all. As stated above, characteristic feature The novel is the development of the protagonist's personality. And this is not just present in The Captain's Daughter. This is main theme. It is no coincidence that Pushkin used the wise Russian proverb as an epigraph.

“Is The Captain’s Daughter a novel or a story? To give the most accurate answer to this question, you should know the basic facts from the history of this work.

Book about Pugachev

In the thirties of the 19th century, the novels of Walter Scott were very popular in Russia. Inspired by creativity English writer, Pushkin decided to write a work that would reflect events from the history of Russia. The theme of rebellion has long attracted Alexander Sergeevich, as evidenced by the story “Dubrovsky”. However, the story of Pugachev is a completely different matter.

Pushkin created controversial image. In his book, Pugachev is not only an impostor and a criminal, but also a man not devoid of nobility. One day he meets a young officer, and he presents him with a sheepskin coat. The point, of course, is not the gift, but the attitude of the scion of a noble family towards Emelyan. Pyotr Grinev did not show the arrogance characteristic of representatives of his class. And then, when capturing the fortress, he acted like a true nobleman.

As is often the case with writers, in the process of working on the work, Pushkin deviated somewhat from the original plan. Initially, he planned to make Pugachev the main character. Then - an officer who went over to the side of the impostor. The writer scrupulously collected information about the Pugachev era. He traveled to the Southern Urals, where the main events of this period took place, and talked with eyewitnesses. But later the writer decided to give his work a memoir form, and as the main character he introduced the image of a noble young nobleman. This is how the work “The Captain's Daughter” was born.

Historical story or historical novel?

So, after all, what genre does Pushkin’s work belong to? In the nineteenth century, a story was called what today is called a story. The concept of "novel" by that time, of course, was known to Russian writers. But Pushkin still called his work a story. If you do not analyze the work "The Captain's Daughter", it is indeed difficult to call it a novel. After all, this genre is associated for many with the famous books of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. And everything that is in volume fewer novels“War and Peace”, “The Idiot”, “Anna Karenina”, according to generally accepted opinion, are a story or a short story.

But it is worth mentioning one more feature of the novel. In a work of this genre, the narrative cannot be focused on one character. In "The Captain's Daughter" the author paid much attention to Pugachev. In addition, he introduced another historical figure into the plot - Empress Catherine II. This means that "The Captain's Daughter" is a historical novel.

The question seems strange - the author answered it both definitely and categorically: a historical novel. Back in 1830, reflecting on this genre, he wrote: “In our time, by the word novel we mean a historical era developed in a fictional narrative.” Seems clear? In fact, doesn’t “The Captain’s Daughter” correspond to this Pushkin understanding of the novel? Isn't it revealed in it? historical era popular uprising, developed on the basis of a fictional narrative?

When “The Captain’s Daughter” was written and the manuscript was handed over to the censor, Pushkin wrote to him on October 25, 1836: “The name of the girl Mironova is fictitious. My novel is based on legend...” An equally widespread view is that Pushkin wrote a “family chronicle,” the story of two patriarchal families—the Grinevs and the Mironovs. The origin of such an interpretation of “The Captain's Daughter” (accepted by many Soviet Pushkin scholars) is extremely interesting and instructive, and therefore it deserves the closest attention.

And, finally, the last” point of view: the form of “The Captain’s Daughter” is memoirs, and therefore the narration is conducted on behalf of Grinev, and Pushkin acts only as the publisher of his “notes”. Consideration of the memoir form of “The Captain's Daughter” not only did not help the understanding of the genre, but further complicated its study. Even more so because with these classes a new and, perhaps, most difficult problem arises. What is its essence? If the author is the narrator Grinev, then what is the position of the other author, Pushkin, in this case?

Pushkin studies solve this problem in a contradictory way. Some believe that the announcement of Grinev as the “author” is a simple hoax of Pushkin and refer to “Belkin’s Tale”. Grinev, they say, is the same author as I Belkin. Others argue that narrow-minded, close in his mental level to Mitrofan Prostakov, Grinev simply could not write like that, could not raise significant social and moral issues, which are raised in “The Captain's Daughter”. All this, they say, only Pushkin can do. Still others prefer evasive answers. Of course, they write, it is necessary to trust Pushkin and recognize Grinev’s authorship, but in some cases, at times, Pushkin undoubtedly uses Grinev to express his beliefs, and Pushkin’s views are manifested in Grinev’s words.

Determining the genre of “The Captain's Daughter” should give the researcher the key to understanding the novel as a whole. That is why, despite the difficulties, when starting to analyze Pushkin’s work, it is necessary first of all to clarify its genre.

The history of the concept of “The Captain's Daughter” as a “family chronicle” is very instructive. It is possible to accurately determine the time and reasons that caused its appearance. It was put forward by Apollo Grigoriev in 1859. The critic did not analyze or examine “The Captain’s Daughter,” but, based on his pochvennik convictions, he interpreted Pushkin as an exponent of truly Russian ideals, who embodied “the highest aspirations and the whole spirit of meekness and love...”

Pushkin's ideal, according to Grigoriev, was most fully expressed in Belkin. “The type of Ivan Petrovich Belkin Fervor was almost the favorite type of the poet in the last era of his activity. What a state of mind the poet expressed to us in this type and what his own emotional attitude towards this type is, getting under the skin, accepting whose gaze he tells us so many good-natured stories, among other things, “The Chronicle of the Village of Gorokhin” (At that time the title of the work was read erroneously) and a family chronicle Grinev, this ancestor of all current “family chronicles”?”

Thus, “the word was found.” The “family chronicle” genre imposed on “The Captain’s Daughter” made it possible to imagine Pushkin as the creator of a “positive Russian man”, in love with the patriarchal landowner life with the “humble, Savelich.” Moreover, such a definition polemically rejected the previously dominant idea of the novel as a chronicle of the events of a great popular uprising. This view of Pushkin’s novel was expressed most consistently before Grigoriev II. A. Vyazemsky. In an article in 1847, he wrote: “In “The Captain's Daughter” the history of the Pugachev rebellion or the details about it are somehow more vivid than in the story itself. In this story you briefly get acquainted with the situation in Russia in this strange and terrible time. Pugachev himself is depicted aptly and impressionably. You see him, you hear him.”

Apollo Grigoriev wrote his article twelve years after Vyazemsky and called it “A Look at Russian Literature since the Death of Pushkin.” It is hardly by chance that the critic almost repeated the title of Vyazemsky’s article - “A Look at Our Literature in the Decade After the Death of Pushkin.” He contrasted the “View” of the Westerner Vyazemsky with his own “View”. According to Vyazemsky, Pushkin created historical chronicle, a story about the terrible time of the Pugachev rebellion, masterfully capturing in a “compressed picture” Russia “from the Belogorsk fortress all the way to Tsarskoe Selo.” The heroes of Pushkin’s novel “belong to the Russian epic about Pugachev.” Apollo Grigoriev claims: no, Pushkin wrote a “family chronicle” and told a “good-natured story” about privacy Grineva. The critic suppresses the image of Pugachev and declaratively declares Pushkin a singer of humility, which most fully reveals the “Russian type.” In this he sees the greatness of Pushkin and the secret of his enormous influence on literature.

“All our veins beat in the nature of Pushkin, and at the present moment our literature develops only his tasks - in particular the type and view of Belkin. Belkin, who wrote the chronicle of the Grinev family in “The Captain’s Daughter,” also wrote the “chronicle of the Bagrov family”…”

The tendentiousness of such an interpretation of Pushkin's novel is obvious. I would just like to emphasize this frankness of interpretation of “The Captain’s Daughter” for the sake of his favorite idea: the critic not only suppresses the most important pictures of the peasant uprising in the novel, but declares Pugachev an episodic person, claiming that Pushkin portrayed Pugachev “in passing.” The novel has fourteen chapters; Of these, Pugachev is present in eight chapters - as a rule, as central character, on which the fate of Grinev and Masha Mironova depends. ABOUT last meeting Grinev with Pugachev (from Moscow, at the time of the latter’s execution) is reported by the “publisher” - Pushkin.

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What is the genre of “The Captain's Daughter”?

Why is it necessary to determine the genre of this work?

The most popular judgments about the genre of this book contradict each other. This applies equally to both the definition of the main genre (story or novel) and its characteristics. It’s easier to say, if you still characterize this work as a novel, then you need to understand what it is: historical, family, love.

So, let's try to analyze how this book combines the features of different genres. We will also try to come to a certain conclusion that will allow you to feel more knowledgeable if someone suddenly asks you: “Indicate the genre of the work “The Captain's Daughter.”

Understanding “The Captain's Daughter” as a story

So, we need to understand what genre the work “The Captain's Daughter” is. Let's try to figure out whether it's a novel or a story. Researchers who adhere to the first opinion proceed from the fact that this work is small in volume and covers a short period. The first adherent of this point of view is considered to be V.G. Belinsky, who finds Grinev and his entourage mediocre and colorless.

Definition of "The Captain's Daughter" as a novel of education

"The Captain's Daughter" can be considered a kind of novel of education. The main character changes a lot in a relatively short period of time. Constantly facing dangers, Grinev learns to overcome them. According to literary traditions, the presence of an adventure at the beginning of the work and the road motif (the symbol are characteristic of an educational novel. If you review the work again, make sure that most of time the main character is on the road.

So, the genre of the work “The Captain's Daughter” by A.S. Pushkin can rightfully be defined as a novel of education.

Features of a love story in "The Captain's Daughter"

It should be noted that there is a love affair in the novel. In addition, at of this work There is an invariable feature of this genre - a love triangle.

However, the theme of love in the work is not the leading one, although, undoubtedly, it shows the emergence of feelings between Peter and Masha, the duel for the beloved, separation, and the union of Grinev and Maria at the end of the book. Nevertheless love theme in the book, rather, it comes second. She is not the main one.

So, the genre of the work “The Captain's Daughter” cannot be defined as romance novel, although the theme of love is present in the work.

Historical novel "The Captain's Daughter"

A significant part of literary scholars define this work as a “historical novel.” Indeed, it is dedicated to a specific historical event, namely the uprising of Emelyan Pugachev. The work contains historical characters: Catherine the Great and When writing the novel, Pushkin turned to documents and talked with eyewitnesses of that time. The author certainly managed to convey the atmosphere of this historical period.

For this reason, if there is a task “Indicate the genre of the work “The Captain's Daughter”,” it is quite possible to answer that this is a historical novel. However, Pushkin’s creation differs in a number of features from other works of this type.

As B. Tomashevsky, a researcher of the writer’s work, notes, Pushkin created his novel under the impression of the events of the present time, trying to see and convey what united the two eras.

It is worth noting one more feature of this work. Pushkin wrote “The Captain's Daughter” in memoir form. Most researchers believe that the main reason why he decided to narrate the story on behalf of Grinev was the desire to bypass censorship.

V.I. Lavretskaya notes that this form of presentation helped the author hide his attitude towards There is also an opinion that Pushkin, using the memoir method of presentation, sought to show Grinev’s controversial position. This allowed the writer to reveal the complexity of the image of Emelyan Pugachev and emphasize not only his mercilessness, but also the nobility of his soul.

The third reason why the author chooses the memoir form, as Lotman points out, is the writer’s desire to show historical characters V ordinary life. For example, he depicts the Empress as a lady “in a nightcap.” Pugachev is also shown by the author in a relaxed atmosphere.

The genre of the work “The Captain's Daughter” cannot be a story. This is a novel, because it depicts the background of which are historical events that are important for Russia.

Thus, the work combines the characteristics of an educational novel, a novel about love, historical novel. The memoir form gives this work an everyday flavor.