The role of lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls” by Gogol - Essay. The role of lyrical digressions in the poem "Dead Souls"

Odi et amo. G.V. Catullus
(I hate and love. G.V. Catullus)

"Dead Souls", on the one hand, epic work, and on the other hand, lyrical, thanks to the many author’s digressions. Calling “Dead Souls” a poem, Gogol emphasized the substantive significance of these digressions: firstly, they create the image of the author, a thoughtful, observant, humane, witty person, not very happy, but firm in his moral and social convictions; secondly, it was the author’s digressions that helped Gogol express his optimistic faith in the future of Russia in the first volume.

The first includes biographical memories and reflections of the author. At the beginning of the sixth chapter there is a memory of a happy childhood perception of life: a child, riding in a stroller, did not notice the dirt and squalor around him, everything was interesting to him, everything was new. Seeing a landowner's house, he began to fantasize about the owner and his family; the dome of the church, the unusual frock coat on a passerby, and the goods in a roadside shop attracted the child's attention. But now the author, an adult, indifferently drives up to an unfamiliar place, looks indifferently at the vulgar picture and sadly exclaims: “Oh my youth! Oh my freshness!

The author’s digression from the eleventh chapter sounds sublimely lyrical: “Rus! Rus! I see you, from my wonderful, beautiful distance I see you.” The author sees the homeland as a poor, inhospitable, flat plain, without majestic mountains, waterfalls, thickets of wild roses and a warm sea. But, living far from his homeland, in Italy, the author continues to remain Russian, the Russian song worries him and grabs his heart, he constantly thinks about the fate of his country: “But what incomprehensibly secret force is attracting you? Why is your sad (...) song heard and heard incessantly in my ears? What's in it, in this song? What calls, and cries, and grabs your heart? Rus! What do you want from me? What incomprehensible connection is hidden between us? Another digression contains a confession that the author loves the road: it distracts from bitter thoughts, calms and invigorates at the same time: “God, how beautiful you are sometimes, long, distant road! How many times, like someone dying and drowning, have I grabbed onto you, and each time you generously carried me through and saved me! And how many wonderful ideas, poetic dreams were born in you, how many wondrous impressions were felt in you!” In the chapter about Plyushkin we encounter the author’s indignation at the spiritual fall of man: “And a man could condescend to such insignificance, pettiness, and disgustingness! Could have changed so much! (...) Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittered courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road. You won’t get up later!” (chapter 6).

It is known that Gogol taught history at St. Petersburg University for several years, so his discussion about the misconceptions of mankind can be considered biographical, with which the author compares the inconsistent behavior of provincial officials: “What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable roads that lead far to the side have been chosen by mankind, striving to to achieve eternal truth, while the straight path was open to him” (chapter 10). Descendants laugh at the past mistakes of their ancestors, but they themselves act as unreasonably as their forefathers.

These lyrical digressions alternate with the author’s humorous confessions, for example, of envy of the amazing appetite of a “middle-class gentleman”: “The author must admit that he is very envious of the appetite and stomach of this kind of people. For him, all the gentlemen of great wealth who live in St. Petersburg and Moscow, who spend their time thinking about what to eat tomorrow, mean absolutely nothing. (...) No, these gentlemen never aroused envy in him” (chapter 4).

The second group includes the author’s digressions about literary work. This is, first of all, a comparison of romantic and satirical writers at the beginning of the seventh chapter: “Happy is the writer who, past boring, disgusting characters (...) approaches characters that demonstrate the high dignity of a person who, from the great pool of daily rotating images, has chosen only a few exceptions. (...) He smoked people's eyes with intoxicating smoke, he wonderfully flattered them, hiding the sad things in life, showing them wonderful person" Everyone applauds such a writer, he is declared a genius, and the public sincerely loves him. “But this is not the fate of the writer who dared to call out everything that is every minute in front of the eyes and what indifferent eyes do not see - all the terrible, stunning mud of little things that entangle our lives, all the depth of cold, fragmented, everyday characters.” This writer will not be recognized; they will deny him a kind heart, a sensitive soul, and even talent; his work will be called “the antics of a buffoon.” His field is harsh, and he will bitterly feel his loneliness. Despite all the moral gravity of such a life, the lack of money, the author chooses the difficult path of a satirist: “And for a long time yet I have been determined by the wonderful power to walk hand in hand with my strange heroes, to look at life through the laughter visible to the world and the invisible, unknown to it tears.” In the eleventh chapter, as if continuing the discussion about satirical writer, the author explains that he deliberately did not take a “virtuous man” as the hero of the poem: “Because it’s time to finally give rest to the poor virtuous man (...), because they turned a virtuous man into a horse, and there is no writer who would not ride him , urging him with a whip and anything else he could find. (...) No, it’s time to finally hide the scoundrel.” The author explains his attitude towards the image of Chichikov: “That he is not a hero, full of perfections and virtues, is clear. How is he? So, a scoundrel? Why a scoundrel, why be so strict with others? (...) It’s fairer to call him: owner, acquirer.”

The author’s reasoning from the eighth chapter about the guardians of the purity of the Russian language, who resolutely demand literature written in the most strict, purified (without street rudeness), noble language, is remarkable. But these guards themselves use French, German, and English, and you won’t be the first to hear a single decent Russian word from them. The author reserves the freedom to use the Russian language as he sees fit, although this may not please strict readers from high society.

The third group includes the author's digressions about Russia and the Russian character. Despite the sad pictures of landowner life and bureaucratic bustle in the provincial city, despite the scoundrel of the main character, “Dead Souls” expresses not hopeless despair, but ardent faith in the future of Russia. This semantic effect in the first volume is achieved thanks to the author's digressions.

In Russia, the author notes both ironically and seriously, if they haven’t kept up with Europe in anything else, they are far ahead of it in the ability to communicate: “It is impossible to count all the shades and subtleties of our appeal. We will speak differently to a landowner who has two hundred souls than to the owner of three hundred souls, and certainly differently to someone who has five hundred souls. (...) In a word, go up to a million, and all shades will be found” (chapter 3). It is obvious to the author that the Russian nation has a language, which is part of the Russian character and testifies to the deep intelligence and observation of the people. German, English, French languages good in their own way, “but there is no word that would be so sweeping, smart, so bursting from under the very heart, so seething and vibrant, as aptly said Russian word"(chapter 5). The Russian people express themselves strongly, “and if they reward someone with a word, then it will go to his family and posterity, he will drag him with him into service, and into retirement, and to St. Petersburg, and to the ends of the world” (chapter 5).

For scary world of landowner Russia, the author feels the living soul of the people. The poem speaks with enthusiasm about folk prowess, courage, skill, about the love of a free life. Chichikov thinks about this as he reads the list of purchased peasants (chapter 11): the carpenter Stepan Probka traveled the whole province with an ax, the miracle shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov was the pride of a German teacher, the cab driver Grigory You Can’t Get There visited all the fairs with the merchants, Abakum Fyrov preferred the hard labor of a barge hauler to the slave life of Plyushkin.

The author’s most significant reflection on Russia was, of course, the picture of a bird-troika, which concludes the first volume of the poem: in it the author captured the rapid movement of Rus', which he compares with a troika: “The road is smoking (...) the road, the bridges are rattling, everything lags behind and remains behind” (chapter 11). The writer expressed his hope that Russia will still rise to greatness and glory: “The bell rings with a wonderful ringing; The air, torn into pieces, thunders and becomes the wind; everything that is on earth flies past, and, looking askance, other peoples and states step aside and give way to it” (ibid.).

So, author's digressions are extremely important for ideological content poems. They create a semantic subtext, without which the poem does not exist as a complete work. Strictly speaking, the entire poem is imbued with lyricism (the author’s attitude), which V.G. Belinsky considered its great advantage. Gogol wrote his work not as a calm contemplator, but as a patriot of Russia, firmly believing in its great future and therefore passionately hating everything that interfered with its development (movement towards truth). Already in the most merciless satire on the noble-serf society, the author’s critical attitude towards heroes and events was manifested, but Gogol had such, one might say, indirect manifestation author's position it seemed not enough, and he introduces the author’s digressions into the poem, directly revealing his thoughts and feelings. Same artistic device- lyrical digressions - take place in A.S. Pushkin’s novel “Eugene Onegin”.

Gogol showed the deep spiritual crisis of the Russian state, but at the same time he felt that life was “through” behind the dead souls of the masters living soul people. “Dead souls,” noted A.I. Herzen, “ amazing book, bitter reproach modern Russia, but not hopeless." Faith in the future is born precisely from the author’s lyrical thoughts. From reflections on the Russian word, on the love of freedom and talent of the Russian people, on the fate of Russia, a second image of the motherland is created, the image of a living country that has preserved its soul even under the rule of the dead-souled Manilovs, Sobakeviches, etc. Thinking about own life and about his writing purpose, the author in lyrical digressions himself demonstrates the character of a Russian person, not bending under any circumstances.

Poem " Dead Souls» - complex work, in which merciless satire and the author’s philosophical reflections on the fate of Russia and its people are intertwined.

Let's follow the main character of the poem, Chichikov, to get acquainted with other characters in the work and read the author's lyrical thoughts that accompany the development of the plot and give the key to understanding the features of " Dead souls».

The modest and inconspicuous Mr. Chichikov arrives in a small town and makes his first public appearance at the governor’s party. Pavel Ivanovich meets the local nobility and immediately divides them into “fat” and “thin”. Here follows Gogol's ironic reasoning about all representatives of the Russian nobility.

The author does not even raise the question of their education and intelligence. He seems to be hinting that they are all, as if by choice, equally ignorant and stupid, and they can be distinguished only by one sign - whether they are “fat” or “thin”. “Fat people” are honorary officials in the city; they know how to manage their affairs better than thin people.

The thin ones wiggle here and there, their existence is completely unreliable. Fat people never “take indirect places, but all are straight, and if they sit somewhere, they will sit securely and firmly, so that the place will sooner crack and bend under them, and they will not fly off...” With these words, the author ridicules the nobility of Russia and the bureaucracy, when positions are occupied not by smart people, but by strong fat men who cannot be removed.

And how Gogol accurately describes the ability of Russian people to communicate, depending on what position in society the interlocutor occupies: “It is impossible to count all the shades and subtleties of our address!” And then the author continues: “A Frenchman or a German will speak with almost the same voice or the same language both to a millionaire and to a small tobacco merchant. This is not the case with us: we have such wise men who will speak completely differently to a landowner who has two hundred souls than to one who has three hundred...”

How the author admires the ability of Russian people to give precise and accurate characteristics, “like a passport for eternal wear,” when a person is “outlined with one line from head to toe!” Gogol calls on readers to preserve the richness of the national word, which is so “sweeping, lively and burst out from under the very heart...”.

At the beginning of the sixth chapter of the poem, the author gives his lyrical reflections about youth. And it seems that there is a turning point in his mood. After ironic discussions about “fat” and “thin” people, after enthusiastic words about the Russian language, despondency and sadness reappear. How many new and pleasant impressions were prepared every day, lived at a young age, “everything stopped and amazed...”. Now, after years, everything “is unpleasant, not funny, and nothing awakens, as in previous years, a living movement in the face, laughter and silent speeches, and motionless lips keep indifferent silence.” “Oh my youth! Oh my freshness! - all this is irretrievably gone, the author sadly notes.

Why does everything living, open and kind in a person die with age? In order not to turn into callous and indifferent people, the author calls on us: “Take with you on the journey, emerging from the soft youthful years into stern, embittering courage, take with you all human movements, do not leave them on the road, do not pick them up later!”

Particularly significant, in my opinion, are Gogol’s reflections on writers' destinies, about the themes that the authors raise in their work: “Happy is the writer who never changed the sublime structure of his lyre, did not descend from his peak to his poor, insignificant brothers... He hid the sad things in life, showing a wonderful person...” “But the fate of the writer is completely different, who dared to bring out everything that is every minute before his eyes - all the terrible, amazing mud of little things that entangle our lives, with which our earthly, sometimes bitter and boring path is full...” continues the author. “His field is harsh and he will feel his loneliness bitterly,” states the writer.

Thus, the author tries not only to show writers a convenient path to fame, but also to direct them to thorny path an artist who is not indifferent to the fate of Russia. The future, according to Gogol, still belongs to patriotic writers who care about the fate of the people. And the author hopes that they will also receive well-deserved recognition.

The words of the lyrical digression dedicated to Rus' are beautiful, which the author compares to a bird or three, representing it as “a land that does not like to joke, but is spread out evenly across half the world, and go ahead and count the miles until it strikes you in the eyes...”. So Rus' rushes like a “brisk, unstoppable troika”, no one knows where, and only “other peoples and states sidestep and make way for it.”

These lines have become favorites for many generations of Russian people. No one else, except Gogol, was able to so accurately describe all the courage, daring and all the recklessness that is unique to our people.

Answering the question “Why does Gogol introduce so many beautiful lyrical digressions?”, we can say: the author used this technique to show all the emptiness, pettiness, baseness of the life of various representatives Russian society. Their images against the contrasting background of lyrical digressions look especially small, absurd and insignificant. These thoughts of the author help expose the bureaucracy and contrast the landowners with a completely different image - the image of Russia, which is “flying towards its revival.”

Lyrical digressions are one of the stylistic devices, expressed by the author’s deviation from the plot of the work. This is the author's reflection related to what is written, direct or indirect. Digressions can be memories, the writer’s appeals to readers. Most often found in lyrical works.

What are they for?

The role of lyrical digressions is important, because they allow you to look at the work from a different angle, to see the ideological plan. With their help, the author seems to “slow down” the development of events in the narrative, which gives the reader the opportunity to think about important life values.

Lyrical digressions are also an opportunity for the author to directly communicate with readers, as if revealing his thoughts. This gives people the feeling that they were able to truly understand the work; the feeling that the writer shared something important with them.

Lyrical digressions are thoughts filled with philosophical meaning that help prepare readers for a more serious perception of the work. Or they can reflect the author’s civic position and sound like a call to action. These reflections can be organically woven into the fabric of the work, because are directly related to the plot of the work itself.

Types of lyrical digressions

They are divided into several groups:

author's - they can be written in the form of memories or discussions about values;
critical-journalistic - the writer “comments” on the work with them, discussing how his creation could be written better;
conversations on everyday topics - the writer can act in various roles, which may differ depending on his point of view;
landscape - beautiful abstract descriptions of nature help the reader to better imagine the picture of what is being described;
on civil issue- author's statements about important historical events.

Digressions in "Eugene Onegin"

A lyrical digression in a novel is not just a reflection on life; using this technique, the writer creates the impression that he is a direct participant in the events. Such reflections became a distinctive feature of the novel "Eugene Onegin". Topics of lyrical digressions in this work extensive:

The love theme is one of the important foundations of the novel itself, and for the author it is vital. For the poet, life and love are inseparable.
Discussions about freedom - the author's attitude towards it changed throughout the novel: at the beginning it is only the external side of life, and towards the end - freedom as a state of mind, independence from public opinion.
About creativity - thanks to the poet’s thoughts about the creative component of the novel, the reader gets the feeling that he is a friend to Pushkin, who can appreciate his jokes, who can support any small talk.
Reflections on life are discussions about the meaning, purpose of it, how it changes.
Nature - the simplicity of the syllable reflects the simplicity of the nature of Russia. Most of these descriptions are given in the perception of Tatiana and the poet himself.
Spiritual life of Russian society - theatrical performances, literature, art - these are all an integral part of secular people, to whom Eugene Onegin belonged. Therefore, the poet’s discussions on this topic are organically woven into the novel.

Lyrical digressions in "Dead Souls"

One more famous work, which uses this stylistic device, is the poem "Dead Souls". In these digressions, the writer reflects on Russia, what awaits it in the future, about distinctive features Russian people. In “Dead Souls” they can be divided into two groups:

lyrical digressions of a detailed plan, in which the author talks about Russia and its future;
characterization of individual characteristics of the Russian people or character traits.

Deployed retreats

About the power of the Russian word and how talented the Russian people are.
A lyrical digression about youth and what the author’s perception was in his youth, which opens the sixth chapter.
Reasoning about the creative fate of the writer. In these digressions, the author expresses his views on creativity.
About the author’s love for Rus' and its future - this digression in chapter 11 is perhaps the most famous of the entire poem. With the help of the description of the road and the flying troika, pictures of Russian nature are drawn. But the most important question for Gogol, what will happen to Russia in the future, remains unanswered. And so open ending forces the reader to think for himself about the future of the Russian people.

Other digressions in the poem

Shorter reflections allow the reader to better imagine the image of the heroes of the poem, in which one can see the weaknesses of human character. In "Dead Souls" short lyrical digressions are the author's reflections on human nature, on the reasons for any actions of people. They are organically woven into the poem, making it even more expressive, and immerse the reader in the world of Chichikov and the landowners. These small digressions are not philosophical nature, but more discussions on life topics and creativity.

Analysis of the lyrical digression will make it possible to understand why the author introduced it in one place or another of the work. The reader can speculate on how natural and appropriate it is. Also, during a detailed analysis of the digression, you need to determine what topic it relates to. A lyrical digression is an opportunity for the author to become a real participant in the narrative and communicate with the reader. This technique allows you to understand the full depth of the creation, expand the boundaries of the narrative, so that the reader can see how multifaceted a literary creation can be.

According to N.V. Gogol’s plan, the theme of the poem was to be the whole of contemporary Russia. First of all, the construction of the poem is distinguished by its clarity and clarity: all parts are interconnected by the plot-forming hero Chichikov, who travels with the goal of getting “a million. In the first chapter, expositional, introductory, the author gives general characteristics provincial provincial town and introduces readers to the main actors poems. The next five chapters are devoted to the depiction of landowners in their own family and everyday life on their estates. Gogol masterfully reflected in the composition the isolation of the landowners, their isolation from public life(Korobochka had never even heard of Sobakevich and Manilov). The content of all these five chapters follows one general principle: appearance estates, the state of the economy, the manor's house and interior decoration, characteristics of the landowner and his relationship with Chichikov. In this way, Gogol paints a whole gallery of landowners who, in their totality, recreate big picture serf society. Behind the portraits of landowners, painted close up, the poem follows satirical image the life of provincial officials, representing the socio-political power of the nobility. Gogol chooses the entire provincial city as the subject of his image, creates collective image provincial bureaucrat. In the process of depicting landowners and bureaucrats, the image of the protagonist of the story, Chichikov, gradually unfolds before the readers. Only in the final, eleventh chapter does Gogol reveal his life in all details and finally expose his hero as a swindler, a civilized scoundrel. His character is shown in development, in collisions with many different obstacles that arise on his way. It is remarkable that all the other characters in “Dead Souls” appear before the reader psychologically already formed, that is, without development and internal contradictions (the exception to some extent is Plyushkin, who is given a descriptive background. With the composition of the poem, the writer constantly reminds us of the presence of an abyss of alienation between common people and the ruling classes. As you can see, from chapter to chapter the themes of lyrical digressions acquire increasing social significance, and the working people appear before the reader in a steadily increasing progression of their merits (mentions of the dead and runaway men Sobakevich and Plyushkin). The composition of the poem not only perfectly develops the plot, which is based on Chichikov’s fantastic adventure, but also allows Gogol, with the help of extra-plot episodes, to recreate the entire reality of Nicholas Rus'. In the composition of the poem, one should especially emphasize the image of the road running through the entire work, with the help of which the writer expresses hatred of stagnation and striving forward, ardent love for native nature. This image helps to enhance the emotionality and dynamism of the entire poem. Gogol's amazing art in plot composition is reflected in the fact that many different introductory episodes and author's digressions, caused by the desire to recreate the reality of that time more broadly and deeply, are strictly subordinated to the embodiment of certain ideas of the writer. The author's digressions, both about thick and thin, about “the passion of a Russian person to know someone who was at least one rank higher than him,” about “gentlemen of great hands and gentlemen of medium hands,” about the broad typicality of the images of Nozdryov, Korobochka, Sobakevich, Plyushkin , constitute the necessary social background for revealing the main ideas of the poem. In many of the author’s digressions, Gogol in one way or another touched on the metropolitan theme, but in extreme satirical nakedness this “dangerous” theme was heard in the poem “The Tale of Captain Kopeikin” included in the composition, told by the provincial postmaster. In its internal meaning, in its idea, this inserted short story is an important element in the ideological and artistic sense of Gogol’s poem. It gave the author the opportunity to include in the poem the theme of the heroic year of 1812 and thereby highlight even more sharply the heartlessness and arbitrariness of the supreme power, the cowardice and insignificance of the provincial nobility. In the author's digressions, the lyrical principle in the poem “Dead Souls” is realized. the author of “Dead Souls” appears in it as lyrical hero. The author shares his creative ideas with the reader. The author talks with the reader about his positive ideal, talks about his attitude towards Chichikov. The author constantly communicates with the reader, and irony, hidden under the desire to please, is often evident in his attitude towards the reader. This is how Gogol addresses female readers. The author of the poem tries to predict the reader’s attitude towards the main character, to imagine the reader’s possible reaction. The author also acts as a narrator in his lyric-epic work. Some of his statements connect individual episodes of the poem and play an important compositional role. Other statements by the author connect individual episodes or lyrical digressions with the main narrative. In addition, for a comprehensive understanding of the image of the author in the poem “Dead Souls,” we can also say that in the epic part of N.V. Gogol acts as an innovator-realist, and in lyrical poetry - as a romantic poet.

38. Lyrical and satirical in Gogol’s “Dead Souls”. The baroque quality of the poem, the image of Russia in the poem, Gogol in criticism.

The plot and composition of "Dead Souls" are determined by the subject of the image - Gogol's desire to comprehend Russian life, the character of Russian people, the fate of Russia. It's about about a fundamental change in the subject of the image compared to the literature of the 20-30s: the artist’s attention is transferred from the image of an individual to a portrait of society. In other words, the romantic aspect of genre content (depiction privacy personality) is replaced by a moral descriptive one (a portrait of society at the non-heroic moment of its development). Therefore, Gogol is looking for a plot that would provide the widest possible coverage of reality. The plot of the trip opened up such an opportunity: “Pushkin found that the plot of Dead Souls was good for me because,” Gogol said, “it gives complete freedom to travel all over Russia with the hero and bring out many different characters.” Therefore, the motive of movement, road, path turns out to be the leitmotif of the poem. This motif receives a completely different meaning in the famous lyrical digression of the eleventh chapter: the road with a rushing chaise turns into the path along which Rus' flies, “and, looking askance, other peoples and states turn aside and give way to it.” This leitmotif also contains the unknown paths of Russian national development: “Rus, where are you rushing, give me an answer? It doesn’t give an answer,” offering an antithesis to the paths of other peoples: “What crooked, deaf, narrow, impassable roads, leading far to the side, has humanity chosen ..." The image of the road embodies the hero's life path ("but for all that his road was difficult..."), and creative path author: “And for a long time it was determined for me by the wonderful power to go hand in hand with my strange heroes...” Not only does Chichikov travel in it, that is, thanks to it, the plot of the journey becomes possible; The britzka also motivates the appearance of the characters of Selifan and the horses; thanks to her, she manages to escape from Nozdryov; the chaise collides with the carriage of the governor's daughter and thus a lyrical motif is introduced, and at the end of the poem Chichikov even appears as the kidnapper of the governor's daughter. The britzka seems to be endowed with its own will and sometimes does not obey Chichikov and Selifan, goes its own way and in the end dumps the rider into impassable mud - so the hero, against his own will, ends up with Korobochka, who greets him with affectionate words: “Oh, my father, yes, You’re like a hog, your whole back and side are covered in mud! Where did you get so greasy?” In addition, the chaise, as it were, determines the ring composition of the first volume: the poem opens with a conversation between two men about how strong the chaise’s wheel is, and ends with the breakdown of that very wheel, which is why Chichikov has to stay in the city. The plot of the journey gives Gogol the opportunity to create a gallery of images of landowners. At the same time, the composition looks very rational: the exposition of the plot of the journey is given in the first chapter (Chichikova meets officials and some landowners, receives invitations from them), followed by five chapters in which the landowners “sit”, and Chichikov travels from chapter to chapter, buying up dead souls. Gogol in “Dead Souls,” as in “The Inspector General,” creates an absurd artistic world in which people lose their human essence and turn into a parody of the possibilities inherent in them by nature. In an effort to detect signs of death and loss of spirituality (soul) in the characters, Gogol resorts to the use of everyday detail. Each landowner is surrounded by many objects that can characterize him. Details associated with certain characters not only live autonomously, but also “add up” into a kind of motive. For example, the motif of desolation, necrosis, degradation is associated with Plyushkin, as a result of which a grotesque feeling arises. metaphorical image"holes in humanity." With Manilov there is a motif of oversweetness, creating a kind of parody of the hero of sentimental novels. The position in the gallery of images of landowners also characterizes each of them. There is a widespread opinion that each subsequent landowner is “deader” than the previous one, that is, in the words of Gogol, “my heroes follow, one more vulgar than the other.” But is this exactly what Gogol meant? Is Plyushkin the worst of them all? After all, this is the only hero who has a backstory, only a semblance of life flashed on his face, “suddenly some kind of warm ray slipped, not a feeling was expressed, but some kind of pale reflection of a feeling.” Therefore, one cannot judge Plyushkin as the worst - it’s just that the very measure of vulgarity by the sixth chapter becomes unbearable. Yu. Mann considers the sixth chapter to be a turning point. Plyushkin's evolution introduces the theme of change for the worse into the poem. After all, Plyushkin, the only one who was once “alive,” appears in the most disgusting guise dead soul. It is with this image that the lyrical digression in the sixth chapter is connected about the fiery young man who “would recoil in horror if they showed him his own portrait in old age.” Therefore, we can call the sixth chapter the culmination of the poem: presenting the tragic theme of change for the worse for Gogol, it completes the plot of the journey, because Plyushkin is the last of the landowners whom Chichikov visited. So, the plot of the journey has been exhausted, but the poem still has five chapters: therefore, the work is based on some other plot. Such a plot, from the point of view of Yu. Mann, turns out to be a mirage intrigue. In fact, the purpose of Chichikov’s journey is a mirage in the most literal sense of the word: he buys “one sound intangible to the senses.” The beginning of the mirage intrigue occurs during a conversation with Manilov, when a strange guest offers the owner a “negotiation”. At this moment, the purpose of Chichikov’s journey becomes clear. The purchase of “dead people”, which, however, would be listed as living according to the audit, is undertaken by the hero to commit fraud on a legal basis: he wants not only to gain weight in society, but also to pledge his strange purchase to the board of guardians, that is, to receive money. In essence, Chichikov's journey is an endless pursuit of a mirage, of emptiness, of people who have passed away - for what cannot be in the will of man and according to Gogol's laws. art world The mirage begins to materialize and take on real features. The more dead Chichikov buys, the more significant his purchase turns out to be: dead souls come to life and become reality. In fact, why does Sobakevich begin to praise his dead peasants and say complete nonsense: “Another swindler will deceive you, sell you rubbish, not souls; but I have a strong nut, everything is for selection.” Does he want, by describing the merits of the coachman Mikheev, the carpenter Stepan Probka, the shoemaker Maxim Telyatnikov, the brickmaker Milushkin, to simply deceive Chichikov? But this is impossible, both understand perfectly well that they simply do not exist and all their qualities are in the past. The point is rather not in deception, but in the unintentionality of Sobakevich: in the same way he will describe the merits of his peasants in the city, after the deed of sale has been completed, when no deception is no longer needed: bought Chichikov dead souls become alive before our eyes, and landowners speak of them as if they were alive. The purchased peasants also “come to life” at the beginning of the seventh chapter, when Chichikov draws up documents for completing the deed of sale, and “a strange feeling, incomprehensible to him, took possession of him.” “It seemed as if the men were alive just yesterday.” The author seems to be intercepting internal monologue of his hero, talks about the fate of the peasants, in whom all aspects of the Russian folk character were embodied. By the beginning of the seventh chapter, the plot of the journey is exhausted - Chichikov arrives in the city to draw up a deed of purchase. This moment, the happy denouement of the plot of the journey, turns out to be the culmination of the mirage intrigue: the mirage, which Chichikov was chasing, materializes legally, the hero becomes a Kherson landowner and himself forgets that “souls are not entirely real.” Emptiness, fiction, bought up by Chichikov, receives full legal status! He begins to live his own life, gives rise to many rumors in the city, and acquires more and more plausible details. Peasants bought without land, it turns out, are bought to be brought to the Kherson province; there is a river and a pond; celebrating the purchase, they drank to the prosperity of the peasants and their happy resettlement; upon Chichikov’s return, Selifan receives some economic orders: “gather all the newly resettled men to make a personal roll call of everyone.” And at that moment, when the hero himself forgets about the nature of his “negotiation,” Nozdryov and Korobochka appear in the city, breaking Chichikov’s crystal mirage. But having broken, the mirage, like a crumbling mirror, forms many fragments in which its creator, Chichikov, is reflected in a distorted light. In the judgments of the city residents, he turns out to be a millionaire, a maker of counterfeit notes, a kidnapper of the governor's daughter, Napoleon who fled from the island, Captain Kopeikin. It is in the last four chapters of the poem that the image of the provincial city of NN is concretized. In the drafts from the time he was working on the first volume, the writer formulated the meaning of this image: “The idea of a city, Emptiness that has arisen to the highest degree. Idle talk, Gossip that has crossed the limits, how all this arose from idleness and took on the expression of the ridiculous to the highest degree.” "The mirage intrigue ends at the moment when all the gossip about Chichikov stops. The death of the prosecutor puts an end to them. All the attention of the townspeople switches to this event. Only after this does Chichikov, forgotten, leave the city. The ideological and compositional role of the image of Chichikov is predetermined in the first place because he came up with the idea of the scam, to carry it out he was given the right to freely move around art space poem, the author almost never parts with it. It is especially worth noting that if it were not for Chichikov, there would be neither the plot of the journey nor the poem itself. But it is not they, not his fate, that are the main subject of Gogol’s depiction. It is the specificity of the subject of the image that forces us to turn to genre originality works The genre nature of Gogol's work is complex and not easy to define. The writer himself tried to point out the originality of “Dead Souls” by calling his book a poem, but he did not give a decoding of this concept, which forces readers and researchers of Gogol - from the moment the book was published to this day - to look for the key to interpreting its genre appearance. Can Dead Souls be considered a novel? When talking about a novel, we usually mean an epic work artistic form, in which the narrative is focused on the fate of an individual in its relationship to the world around it, on the formation, development of its character and self-awareness. If the story about the origin, upbringing and attempts of the hero to ensure himself “a life in all comforts, with all the prosperity” appeared at the beginning of the story, people and events would unite around the hero, would become connected with his fate, turning " Dead Souls" into a novel, a picaresque type novel, where the anti-hero goes through a series of successes and defeats. But Chichikov’s adventures for Gogol are only a path to solving another, main task for him. What did it consist of? Let us return to the definition that Gogol himself gave to “Dead Souls”. He called his work a poem, just as Pushkin considered “Eugene Onegin” a “novel in verse.” Gogol's work can rightfully be called a poem. This right is given to him by the poetry, musicality, expressiveness of the language, saturated with such figurative comparisons and metaphors that can only be found in poetic speech. And most importantly, the constant presence of the author, which makes “Dead Souls” a lyrical-epic work. All reality depicted in it passes through the prism of the author's consciousness. In lyrical digressions, Gogol poses and resolves literary questions. The peculiar genre structure of “Dead Souls” allows Gogol to depict a picture of the morals of all of Russia, while showing the general, not the particular, not the life story of one person, but a “diverse bunch” of Russian characters. The lyrical beginning brings these observations to the level of philosophical reflections on the fate of Russia in the family of humanity

39.Evolution of lit. criticism of Belinsky's activities. Belinsky reaches highest point the synthetic nature of genres, which apparently corresponds, firstly, to the general path of art and literature of the 19th century towards erasing genre boundaries and synthesizing genres of realism and, secondly, to the flourishing of historicism in criticism, which led to a close combination of literary criticism (that is, historical-literary) and critical aspects, which also blurred the genres. Synthesis became all-encompassing, all-genre, super-genre precisely with Belinsky. He writes his first problematic article - and it turns into a review and a series. A year later, Belinsky creates his first major monographic review (“Poems of Vladimir Benediktov”) and immediately admits that it involuntarily develops into a problematic article: “... almost every new book arouses in me such thoughts and leads to such reflections as this does not excite everyone, and that is why for me the introduction or thoughts a propos almost always constitute the main and most most of my reviews" (I, 359). The main creator of cycles in Russian criticism was Belinsky, who created about ten works of this kind. All of his cycles were written cumulatively, almost all (except for "Hamlet") - in terrible magazine rush and urgency, so almost all were rebuilt on the fly, maintaining some contradictions and disproportions. This can already be seen from “Literary Dreams. The different scales of the parts of the cycles are very noticeable in their different sizes. As a rule, the ratios are not at all proportional. Such impromptuness, shifting proportions and scales, naturally, lies the deep charm of Belinsky’s articles, which calculated, calculated articles-drawings are deprived of. Parts of Belinsky’s early cycles are very closely related to each other. Let's show this using the example of "Literary Dreams". most saturated with “romantic” repetitions early work Belinsky (but it is weaker in historicism). Then, quite quickly, by the “conciliatory” period of 1838–1839, repetitions and leitmotifs will almost disappear, but vector historicism will begin to gain strength and fill the entire text. In the first half of the 40s, in the light of the increased rise in “subjectivity” (both of the critic and the writer), relapses of leitmotivism will sometimes flare up. For example, in a series of articles about Pushkin the concept of “artistic pathos” will vary repeatedly. And in itself the creation of four cycles in the first half of the decade, one of them gigantic, Pushkin’s (a thick book of 34 printed pages!) is an indirect tribute to Belinsky’s new sentiments after the “conciliatory” period, socialist and revolutionary-democratic sentiments, when thanks to a significant share of utopianism, some romantic tendencies were partially revived: personal pathos, lyricism, poetic tension and elation (trends that by no means returned the critic to the fold of anti-historicism; on the contrary, Belinsky’s historicism matured every year and by 1845-1846 almost completely replaced utopia , and with it - alas! - romance).

42 Lermontov’s mastery in creating the image of Pechorin. The novel in criticism. GNV. is a cycle consisting of five stories. Lermontov's only completed novel was not originally conceived as a complete work. In "Domestic Notes" for 1839, "Bela. From an officer's notes about the Caucasus" and later "Fatalist" were published with a note "that M.Yu. Lermontov will soon publish a collection of his stories, both printed and unpublished"; in 1840, “Taman” was published there and then “Hero of Our Time” was published in two volumes. The cyclical nature of the novel is by no means the result of creative individuality Lermontov, his creative manner. Let's start with the fact that “A Hero of Our Time” is told by at least three narrators: an unnamed author, who later acts only as the publisher of Pechorin’s diary; Maxim Maksimych and, finally, Pechorin himself. Each event in the novel is like a ray of light, refracted twice or even three times through lenses that intensify it. The image of one person seems to be visible through the image of another. The problem of personality is central to the novel. “A Hero of Our Time” is “the story of the human soul,” one person who embodied in his unique individuality the contradictions of the whole historical period. Pechorin is the only one main character. His loneliness in the novel is fundamentally significant. Only individual episodes of Pechorin’s biography are covered; in the preface to his journal, the travel officer talks about a thick notebook, “where he tells his whole life,” but, in essence, the reader already gets an idea of life path hero from childhood to death. This is the story of the futile attempts of an extraordinary person to realize himself, to find at least some kind of satisfaction, which invariably turns into suffering and losses for him and those around him. Most readers and critics of the newly published novel perceived Pechorin as a completely negative hero. Emperor Nicholas I also showed this level of understanding. Getting acquainted with the first part of the work, he decided that the “hero of our days” would be the unassuming, honest (and narrow-minded) servant Maxim Maksimych. The content of the second part and the attribution of the title formula to Pechorin caused the emperor (in a letter to his wife) to irritate the maxim: “Such novels spoil morals and harden character.” Lermontov himself, in the preface to the second edition of “A Hero of Our Time,” stated that Pechorin “is a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” G.V.N. both similar and unlike a traditional novel.. It does not tell about an incident or event with a beginning and ending that exhausts the action. Each story has its own plot. The fourth story is closest to the traditional novel - “Princess Mary”, but its ending contradicts Western European tradition and on the scale of the entire work is in no way a denouement, but implicitly motivates the situation of “Bela,” placed in first place in the overall narrative. "Bela", "Taman", "Fatalist" are full of adventures, "Princess Mary" - with intrigues: short work, "Hero of Our Time", is oversaturated with action. Of course, changing narrators plays an important role. Maxim Maksimych is too simple to understand Pechorin; he mainly sets out external events. The big monologue Pechorin conveyed to him about his past is conditional (realistic poetics has not yet been developed) motivated: “So he spoke for a long time, and his words were etched in my memory, because for the first time I heard such things from a 25-year-old man, and, God willing, at the last..." The writer who observes Pechorin with his own eyes is a man of his circle, he sees and understands much more than the old Caucasian. But he is devoid of direct sympathy for Pechorin. Finally, Pechorin himself fearlessly, without trying to justify himself in anything, talks about himself, analyzes his thoughts and actions. Lermontov came very close to the discovery of the phenomenon that Tolstoy later called the “fluidity” of human character. In the Excerpt, this idea about the elusiveness of personality for others is illustrated by the words: he who thinks to guess someone else’s heart is bitterly mistaken.” Herzen: The image of Pechorin is one of L’s artistic discoveries .A concentrated expression of the features of the post-Decembrist era, when only losses are visible on the surface, but great work is going on inside. Starting from the 19th century, Pechorin’s definition became stronger ish person. Pechorin captures the tragedy of an already established, developed personality, doomed to live in a country of slaves. One of his merits is an in-depth understanding of the real complexity of human nature. Pechorin’s reflection is connected with the goals of life and activity, value orientations. The movement began with the manifestation of will, which turns into direct individualism. In an effort to get to the bottom of the human essence, he was the cause of the misfortune of others, but he himself was no less unhappy for this. The Fatalist poses the question: is the destiny of man and the moral laws of his life predetermined by the highest divine will, or is man himself by his free mind, defines them with free will and follows them. Pechorin himself does not recognize the intervention of a higher will in human affairs. Pechorin creates in himself the only creator of his destiny and for this reason he values his freedom as the highest value.

Lyrical digressions in the poem "Dead Souls" play a huge role. They entered the structure of this work so organically that we can no longer imagine the poem without the author’s magnificent monologues. What is the role of lyrical digressions in the poem? Agree, thanks to their presence, we constantly feel the presence of Gogol, who shares with us his experiences and thoughts about this or that event. In this article we will talk about lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls” and talk about their role in the work.

The role of lyrical digressions

Nikolai Vasilyevich becomes not just a guide leading the reader through the pages of the work. He is more of a close friend. The lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls” encourage us to share with the author the emotions that overwhelm him. Often the reader expects that Gogol, with his inimitable humor, will help him overcome the sadness or indignation caused by the events in the poem. And sometimes we want to know Nikolai Vasilyevich’s opinion on what is happening. The lyrical digressions in the poem "Dead Souls", in addition, have great artistic power. We enjoy every image, every word, admiring their beauty and accuracy.

Opinions on lyrical digressions expressed by Gogol's famous contemporaries

Many of the author's contemporaries appreciated the work "Dead Souls". The lyrical digressions in the poem also did not go unnoticed. Some have spoken about them famous people. For example, I. Herzen noted that the lyrical passage illuminates and enlivens the narrative in order to be replaced again by a picture that reminds us even more clearly of the hell we are in. The lyrical beginning of this work was also highly appreciated by V. G. Belinsky. He pointed to the humane, comprehensive and deep subjectivity that reveals in the artist a person with a “nice soul and a warm heart.”

Thoughts shared by Gogol

With the help of lyrical digressions, the writer expresses his own attitude not only to the events and people he describes. They contain, in addition, an affirmation of the high purpose of man, the significance of great social interests and ideas. The source of the author's lyricism is thoughts about serving his country, about its sorrows, destinies and hidden gigantic forces. This manifests itself regardless of whether Gogol expresses his anger or bitterness over the insignificance of the characters he depicts, whether he talks about his role in modern society writer or about the lively Russian mind.

First retreats

With great artistic tact, Gogol included extra-plot elements in the work “Dead Souls”. The lyrical digressions in the poem are at first only Nikolai Vasilyevich’s statements about the heroes of the work. However, as the story progresses, the themes become more varied.

Gogol, having talked about Korobochka and Manilov, interrupts his narrative for a while, as if he wants to step aside for a while so that the reader can better understand the picture of life he has drawn. For example, the digression that interrupts the story about Korobochka Nastasya Petrovna in the work contains a comparison of her with a “sister” belonging to an aristocratic society. Despite her slightly different appearance, she is no different from the local mistress.

Beautiful blonde

Chichikov, on the road after visiting Nozdryov, meets a beautiful blonde on his way. The description of this meeting ends with a wonderful lyrical digression. Gogol writes that everywhere on the way a person will encounter at least once a phenomenon that is unlike anything he has seen before, and will awaken in him a new feeling, not similar to the usual ones. However, this is completely alien to Chichikov: the cold caution of this hero is compared with the manifestation of feelings inherent in man.

Digressions in chapters 5 and 6

The lyrical digression at the end of the fifth chapter is of a completely different nature. The author here is not talking about his hero, not about his attitude towards this or that character, but about the talent of the Russian people, about a powerful man living in Rus'. as if not connected with the previous development of the action. However, it is very important for revealing the main idea of the poem: true Russia is not boxes, nozdryovs and dogevichs, but the element of the people.

Closely related to lyrical statements dedicated to national character and the Russian word, and an inspired confession about youth, about Gogol’s perception of life, which opens the sixth chapter.

The angry words of Nikolai Vasilyevich, which have a generalizing deep meaning, the story about Plyushkin, who embodied with the greatest strength base feelings and aspirations, is interrupted. Gogol is indignant about the “nastiness, pettiness and insignificance” a person could reach.

The author's reasoning in Chapter 7

Nikolai Vasilyevich begins the seventh chapter with discussions about the life and creative fate of the writer in the society contemporary to him. He talks about two different destinies that await him. A writer can become a creator of “exalted images” or a satirist or realist. This lyrical digression reflects Gogol’s views on art, as well as the author’s attitude towards the people and the ruling elite in society.

"Happy traveler..."

Another digression, beginning with the words “Happy is the traveler...”, is important stage plot development. It separates one part of the story from another. Nikolai Vasilyevich’s statements illuminate the meaning and essence of both the preceding and subsequent paintings of the poem. This lyrical digression is directly related to the folk scenes depicted in the seventh chapter. It plays a very important role in the composition of the poem.

Statements about classes and ranks

In the chapters devoted to the depiction of the city, we come across Gogol’s statements about classes and ranks. He says they are so "annoyed" that everything in a printed book seems "personal" to them. Apparently, this is the “disposition in the air”.

Reflections on human fallacies

We see lyrical digressions of the poem “Dead Souls” throughout the narrative. Gogol ends his description of the general confusion with reflections on the false paths of man, his delusions. Humanity has made many mistakes in its history. The current generation laughs at this arrogantly, although it itself is beginning a whole series of new misconceptions. His descendants in the future will laugh at the present generation.

Last retreats

Gogol's civic pathos reaches particular strength in the retreat "Rus! Rus!...". It shows, like the lyrical monologue placed at the beginning of the 7th chapter, a clear line between the links of the narrative - the story about the origin of the main character (Chichikov) and the city scenes. Here the theme of Russia has already been widely developed. It is “unwelcoming, scattered, poor.” However, this is where heroes are born. The author then shares with us the thoughts that were inspired by the rushing troika and the distant road. Nikolai Vasilyevich paints pictures of his native Russian nature one after another. They appear before the eyes of a traveler racing along an autumn road on fast horses. Despite the fact that the image of the three-bird has been left behind, in this lyrical digression we feel it again.

The story about Chichikov ends with a statement from the author, which is a sharp objection to whom the main character and the entire work as a whole, depicting the “despicable and bad,” can shock.

What do lyrical digressions reflect and what remains unanswered?

The author’s sense of patriotism is reflected in the lyrical digressions in N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls.” The image of Russia that completes the work is covered deep love. He embodied the ideal that illuminated the artist’s path when depicting vulgar petty life.

Speaking about the role and place of lyrical digressions in the poem “Dead Souls,” I would like to note one interesting point. Despite the author's numerous arguments, the most important question for Gogol remains unanswered. And the question is, where is Rus' heading? You will not find the answer to it by reading the lyrical digressions in Gogol's poem "Dead Souls." Only the Almighty could know what awaited this country, “inspired by God,” at the end of the road.