IN early prose Kuprin’s story “Olesya” occupies a special place, which the first critics called a “forest symphony”. The work was written based on personal impressions from the writer’s stay in Polesie. Two years before “Olesya,” “Moloch” was created, and although the story and story were based on completely heterogeneous material, they turned out to be connected by a single creative task - the study of the contradictory internal state of a contemporary. Initially, the story was conceived as a “story within a story”: the first chapter was a fairly extensive introduction, which told how a group of hunters spends time hunting, and in the evening they are amused by all sorts of hunting stories. On one of these evenings, the story about Oles was told, or rather read, by the owner of the house. IN final version this chapter has practically disappeared. The appearance of the narrator himself also changed: instead of an old man, the story was transferred to a novice writer.
“Polesie... wilderness... bosom of nature... simple morals... primitive natures, a people completely unfamiliar to me, with strange customs, a peculiar language...” All this was so attractive to the aspiring writer, but it turned out that In the village, besides hunting, there is simply nothing to do. The local “intelligentsia” in the person of the priest, the police officer and the clerk do not attract Ivan Timofeevich in any way, this is the name of the main character of the story. The “city gentleman” doesn’t find it common language and with the peasants. The boredom of life, constant drunkenness and dense ignorance reigning around are depressing young man. It seems that he is the only one who compares favorably with those around him: kind, cordial, gentle, sympathetic, sincere. However, all these human qualities will have to stand the test of love, love for Olesya.
For the first time this name appears on the pages of the story when, having decided to dispel the boredom that has already become habitual, the hero decides to visit the house of the mysterious Manuilikha, “a real, living, Polesie witch.” And on the pages of the story, Baba Yaga seems to come to life, just as she is depicted folk tales. However, the meeting with evil spirits turned into an acquaintance with a surprising beautiful girl. Olesya attracted Ivan Timofeevich not only with her “original beauty,” but also with her character, which combined tenderness and authority, childish naivety and age-old wisdom.
The love of two young people began seemingly completely unexpectedly and developed quite happily. Gradually, the character of his chosen one begins to reveal itself to Ivan Timofeevich, he learns about Olesya’s extraordinary abilities: the girl could determine the fate of a person, speak to a wound, instill fear, treat illnesses with ordinary water, even knock a person down just by looking at him. She never used her gift to harm people, just as old Manuilikha, her grandmother, did not use it. Only a tragic coincidence of circumstances forced these two extraordinary women, old and young, to live away from people, to avoid them. But even here they have no peace: the greedy police officer cannot satisfy their pitiful gifts, and he is ready to evict them.
Ivan Timofeevich strives in every possible way to protect and warn his beloved and her grandmother from all kinds of troubles. But one day he will hear from Olesya: “...Although you are kind, you are only weak. Your kindness is not good, not heartfelt.” Indeed, Ivan Timofeevich’s character lacks integrity and depth of feelings; he can cause pain to others. Olesya turns out to be incapable of ever offending anyone: not the finches that fell out of the nest, not her grandmother by leaving home with her beloved, not Ivan Timofeevich when he asks her to go to church. And although this request will be accompanied by a “sudden horror of foreboding” and the hero will want to run after Olesya and “beg, beg, even demand... that she not go to church,” he will restrain his impulse.
This episode will reveal the secret of the “lazy” heart: after all, the hero was not born with this vice? Life taught him to control his emotional impulses, forced him to discard what is inherent in man by nature. In contrast to the hero, Olesya is depicted, only she alone “preserves in its pure form the abilities originally inherent in a person” (L. Smirnova). This is how an image is created on the pages of the story positive hero Kuprin - a “natural person”, whose soul, way of life, character are not spoiled by civilization. Internally harmonious, such a person brings harmony to the world around him. It was under the influence of Olesya’s love that the hero’s “tired” soul awoke for a moment, but not for long. “Why didn’t I listen to the vague desire of my heart then...?” The hero and the author answer this question differently. The first, defending himself from the voice of conscience with general reasoning that “in every Russian intellectual there is a little bit of a developer,” brushed aside the emerging specter of guilt in front of Olesya and her grandmother, the second persistently conveyed to the reader his innermost thought that “a person can be beautiful if he develops, and not destroys, the physical, spiritual and intellectual abilities given to him by nature" (L. Smirnova).
Composition
Young prose writers immediately mastered a special type of narratives, small, with an extremely simplified plot basis, revealing not events or relationships, but some state of the human soul. Even where we were talking about a socially specific situation, the main thing was the person’s perception of it, and not the person herself.
Famous critic V. Borovsky wrote about the work of one of the most widely read in the 90s. writers - A. Kuprin, that he “interprets everything from the internal, spiritual, aesthetic side, and not from the external, material, political.” Something similar could be said about many other authors. As for Kuprin, in the “populous” story “Moloch” from the life of the factory, he conveyed, first of all, the unsteady, uncertain worldview of the engineer Bobrov, subject to spontaneous impulses, and the process of his lonely, painfully contradictory, ineffective thoughts. The creator of “Moloch” adopted the sacred color from L. Tolstoy: “Look how radiantly beautiful and how great man is!” But in his modernity, Kuprin saw a sad waste of beauty and strength, a crushing of feelings, and delusion of thought. There were many reasons for this. Among them, Kuprin singled out “naked” technical progress and an imaginary bourgeois civilization. Nevertheless, Chekhov’s followers believed: “the coming true culture will ennoble humanity.” The writer’s ideal went back to the victory of “strength of spirit” over “strength of body” and “love faithful to death.” This feeling is identified as a stimulus for the flourishing of personality. Moreover, equally cleansing energy is seen in the “tender, chaste fragrance” of love and the “trembling, intoxication” of pure passion. The worship of these moral values permeates all of Kuprin’s work.
He wrote a lot about the death of talent, beauty, and loneliness of people. But also in gloomy pictures there were glares of light. The circus actresses in the stories “Lolly”, “ Garnet bracelet" They are characterized by a combination of “childish purity of heart with cold-blooded courage,” which always attracted Kuprin in the works of R. Kipling, A. Dumas, D. London. However, the spiritual rise of Kuprin’s heroines does not exclude their strange attraction to insignificant people. This gift of self-sacrifice, given by nature, is undermined from within by a certain blindness of the soul. Kuprin, however, also found special, exceptional conditions that allowed him to create a romanticized image of a woman and her ideal love. This is how the poetic and tragic story of a young girl sounded in the story “Olesya”.
In external and internal appearance, the daughter of the forests, Olesya, vividly resembles Maryana from L. Tolstoy’s “Cossacks.” The bright and original beauty of the Polesie “witch” is also combined with innate nobility. The city intellectual Ivan Timofeevich experiences an admiring attraction for her similar to Olenin. At the same time, Kuprin also cherishes the pathos of Tolstoy’s “The Power of Darkness.” The village in his story is “shrouded in darkness,” disunited, insensitive. “Integral, original, free nature” exists because it is separated from the gloomy peasants (Tolstoy’s communal ideals are not accepted), and is nurtured only by free nature.
The natural state of man, according to Kuprin, is devoid of contradictions and organically combines strong emotions and pure thoughts, strong will and reverent experiences. Unprecedented possibilities are expressed in Olesya’s self-denying feelings for the weak, not without egoism, Ivan Timofeevich. But a miraculously emerging sublime soul is forced to hide from cruel people and suffer from the indifference of its loved ones. Kuprin's work was constantly suspected of lacking generalizations and concepts of the world. K. Paustovsky also saw only the “stream of life.”
There are works that are not only possible, but also necessary to read and comprehend, analyze, and pass through oneself. One of them is the story “Olesya”, written back in 1898. For your attention - an analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya”. It should be noted right away that abstruse terms like “life-creating pathos characteristic of art” and “artistic vigilance” should probably be left to professional literary critics.
Analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya” from the perspective of an interested reader
The action of the story takes place in Polesie, and the background of this tragic story luxurious nature becomes love. The main characters of the work are a simple girl Olesya, who lives in the forest with her grandmother, and an educated gentleman Ivan Timofeevich, who ended up in this area to gain new impressions that he needs for creativity.
These people, so different, seem to be attracted to each other like a magnet. At the same time, Ivan Timofeevich, in fact, finds entertainment for himself, which helps brighten up the melancholy in a remote village. Of course, one can, after analyzing Kuprin’s “Olesya,” decide that the master had certain feelings for Olesya. But it was hardly Passion, love, fascination with the beauty and unusualness of the girl - yes, but nothing more. This can be understood from the fact that it occurred to Ivan Timofeevich to tell Olesya that a woman simply must believe in God. It turns out that he did not understand the girl herself at all and did not realize the power of her love. It was not given to this man to understand that Olesya, who believed that she belonged to the devil, in fact, most likely, was much closer to God than those enthusiastic fools who devoted time to gossip, envy and intrigue, and then feignedly sincerely exalted prayers in church.
Even the most in-depth analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya” allows us to notice that the writer showed in the image of the forest witch his ideal of a woman, which was extremely rare to find in his time. And in our era, things are no better!
Therefore, the main thing you need to pay attention to is Olesya’s feelings, her desire to live up to the ideals of her loved one, her foresight, and the ability to be selfless. Indeed, the girl rejoices at the fleeting happiness, realizing that she and Ivan are not a couple. And, having become his wife, she will become an object of ridicule. In this case, again, her lover will also be ostracized. Olesya does not want to allow this, so she prefers to leave, keeping her love in her heart and leaving Ivan with memories that will bring much more good than her consent to marry him.
The story “Olesya” (Kuprin): analysis from the point of view of usefulness
Everyone who has read this book will form their own opinion about it. But it’s not for nothing that Kuprin called the story “Olesya” one of the works dearest to his heart! And quite justifiably this masterpiece is included in school curriculum. Perhaps by reading a book that grows in a world of cynicism and material assets, will think. After all, the opinions of others are not the most important thing in the world. But honor, dignity and the ability to love in spite of everything are the most valuable things that can be!
Themes and problems of Kuprin's creativity. Analysis of the stories “Moloch” and “Olesya”.
Each writer is shaped by his life circumstances (father dies in childhood, no means of subsistence, Moscow widow's house, from the age of 7 he was sent to the Razumovsky boarding school, state support, at the age of 10 - a military student! Gymnasium, strict rules, which was later transformed entered the cadet corps - a military career. Afterwards he entered the Alexander Junkers School in 1890, served as a second lieutenant, served 4 years. military career. The Dnieper regiment was quartered in provincial towns and observed this life. Podolsk province, province.
1894 – Kuprin retires, choosing the path of a professional writer. Childhood – humiliation before “benefactors”, childhood years “joyless at government grub”, severity, order. Youth is an ordinary regiment, a colorless existence in vulgarity and everyday life.
Writer - no money. Did you leave, travel around the middle zone, the south, what did you work for? Loader, estate manager, land surveyor, fisherman, blacksmith, sang in the choir (provincial stage), newspaper business: reporter (essays and more). All the trials strengthened his character and gave him many life observations. This material is very important. Kuprin became his own in various fields.
The writer was always attracted (at an early stage) by the depths of the human soul and its hidden possibilities; his first stories were written in military theme: “Inquiry” about universal human orders, “Overnight”, army ensign. Paid a lot of attention inner world human, unusual conditions, psychology, subconscious. Special angles on the topic: toy, sparrow, horror. Borderline states.
The theme of love excited him: it also provided rich material. There are many stories about the death of love, beauty, he talks about the waste of innate abilities “Dead power”. Potentially embedded, bright impulses of life are important to him. ʼʼHoly loveʼʼ, ʼʼPassionate minuteʼʼ. He describes his heroines with great sympathy; they often come into conflict with the cruelty and self-centeredness of life. Bright characters on a circus theme, “Alles”, “Lolly”, are often selfless heroines who make sacrifices for the sake of their love. Cuprn created 10s romantic stories. Guided love gives intense experiences. A reason for depicting bright characters. Love experiences are a natural, uninhibited manifestation of the spiritual world.
The small genre form did not allow Kuprin to express all his thoughts and feelings. Moves on to the story “Moloch” and “Olesya”. These stories are interconnected by contradiction. Both of them were written based on impressions from Kuprin’s trips to the Donetsk coal basin and Polesie. Conventionally: the moloch about the dangers of scientific and technological progress and its disastrous side are connected. And Olesya is the ideal of a natural person. In Moloch, first of all, they noted the social motive and exploitation of the working bourgeoisie. Tragic situation. Uses essays about Donetsk enterprises. The non-fictional, very convincingly recreates the conditions, depicts the iron law for the struggle of existence. Main character- engineer Bobrov. Reflective hero. The beaver engineer belongs to this type of hero. The plant is likened to God – Moloch. For the sake of the development of scientific and technical programs.
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ʼʼYour civilization is good if its fruits have been counted…ʼʼ. An acute social conflict is acquiring philosophical understanding. Contents of the story: an engineer's observations of the work of the plant and the immoral factory elite. Entrepreneur Kvashnin and his entourage.
The theme of Moloch is deities.
The drama of an unfulfilled soul. The drama of a person who is honest by nature, who failed to find himself and realize himself. For Kuprin, the most terrible consequence of iron civilization is the death of spiritual purity in people.
Kuprin is looking for his ideal in an area beyond the control of Moloch - a natural man, Olesya's story appears. The representative is an intellectual, reflective, Olesya is whole, passionate, wild. The intellectual loses. At the beginning of the story, Olesya says about Her beloved: although you are kind, you are only weak. The hero lacks integrity of nature, depth of feelings, and this is his weakness. Olesya grew up far from false social foundations. Kuprin idealizes the image of the “daughter of the forests”. How often does this happen with Kuprin, this love story ends in failure. There is no happy ending, no way out for the hero. This story is poetic. Kuprin describes pictures of nature. Nature also helps them and embellishes their history. The first reviewers called this story a “forest symphony”. Merging with nature gives completeness and purity of the spiritual world. This story is one of the links in Kuprin’s Polesie cycle. These are stories like “Wilderness of the Forest”, etc.
A roll call with Turgenev’s “notes of a hunter”, poeticization of nature. Although the heroes are different. Kuprin is fascinated by the picturesque region. Central Russian strip. Its inhabitants and their interesting characters.
Creative principles were expressed: a writer must observe life. Kuprin was a master of precise detail and fast-paced, information-rich storytelling. There is always a plot. Sometimes concentration was combined in one paragraph. Clarity of position: what you love and what you hate, what you actually want to say. He expressed his gaze definitely and emotionally.
Forms: story within a story. In this case, a person’s subjective perception arises and this makes it possible to reliably present information. Through the eyes of a directly active participant - someone else’s speech (technique), see the situation more deeply.
Themes and problems of Kuprin's creativity. Analysis of the stories “Moloch” and “Olesya”. - concept and types. Classification and features of the category “Themes and problems of Kuprin’s work. Analysis of the stories “Moloch” and “Olesya.” 2017, 2018.
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Introduction
1. A.I. Kuprin the narrator
2. The humanistic aspect of problem solving in the stories of A.I. Kuprin "The Wonderful Doctor" and "Elephant"
Conclusion
Introduction
RelevanceAndnoveltyresearch. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin can confidently be called one of the best Russian writers of the early 20th century, whose work is distinguished by the most subtle and at the same time strikingly realistic depiction of the most different areas life.
As noted by V.N. Afanasyev: “Among the outstanding Russian writers of the early 20th century, one of the most prominent and original places belongs to Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. Having begun his literary career at the very end of the 80s of the last century, Kuprin, during his almost fifty years of creative life created many significant works that have stood the test of time. Enthusiastic passion for life, love for to the common man, inexhaustible faith in his spiritual powers, protest against arbitrariness and violence. All this does best works Kuprin, consonant, understandable and close to the reader of our days” Afanasyev V.N. Alexander Kuprin. - URL: http://www.kuprin.org.ru/lib/ar/author/330. .
He is the author of such wonderful stories as: “On a Moonlit Night”, “Inquiry”, “Slavic Soul”, “On the Road”, “Sparrow”, “Toy”, “White Poodle”, “At the Circus”, “Wonderful Doctor”, “Elephant”, etc. Each of these stories shows reality, life situations, problems that are relevant in our time.
Unfortunately, the stories “The Wonderful Doctor” and “Elephant” have not been analyzed in detail in Kuprin studies. Therefore, we undertook an ideological and artistic analysis (with the exception of speech characteristics characters, stylistic features of the works) of these stories, accompanied by a detailed commentary on the plots of the works.
From here, tsspruceresearch: analysis of the problems of stories by A.I. Kuprin “The Wonderful Doctor” and “Elephant” in aspects of ideological and artistic originality.
Tasks:
1. Reveal the creative image of A.I. Kuprin the narrator, note the key themes and problems of the writer’s stories.
2. Give a commented retelling of the plots of the stories “The Wonderful Doctor” and “Elephant”.
3. Analyze these stories in aspects of social, psychological, moral issues.
4. Draw a conclusion about the moral significance of these works by A.I. Kuprin, their spiritual and educational potential.
Methodologicalwarpresearch. We relied on the works of such researchers as Afanasyev V., Berkov P.N., Volkov A., Kuleshov F. and others.
The work involves research methods such as biographical, historical-functional, psychological, axiological, etc.
Object research - short prose by A.I. Kuprina. Item- problems of stories by A.I. Kuprin "The Wonderful Doctor" and "Elephant".
Practicalimportanceresearch.
The practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the research results can be used:
Structurework. The work consists of an introduction, two chapters, a conclusion and a list of references.
Kuprin writer story elephant
1. A.I. Kuprin the narrator
“Bright natural talent, a huge stock of life observations and a sharply critical image of reality - this is what determined the great public resonance of his works during the preparation and conduct of the first Russian revolution,” writes A.A. Volkov Indeed, in his works the writer depicts life as it can be seen every day.
A. I. Kuprin’s literary activity began during his stay in the cadet corps. In 1889, he published his first short story, “The Last Debut,” in the magazine “Russian Satirical Leaflet,” for which he was put in a guardhouse, since students of military schools did not have the right to appear in print. The first stories of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, in many ways still artistically imperfect, attract with their thematic diversity, attention to the common man, and glorification of his moral virtues - self-respect, resourcefulness, pride.
A.I. Kuprin belongs to those writers who know how to interest the reader in the plot of a story and amaze with an unexpected ending. This is all reflected in early stories writer: “On a Moonlit Night”, “Inquiry”, “Slavic Soul”, “On the Road”, “Sparrow”, “Toy”, “Terrible Minute”, “Lilac Bush”, “Unspoken Audit”, “To Glory”, “ Madness" and others.
Special sign early creativity A.I. Kuprin - a large thematic range, while the writer’s attention was focused on the life of the democratic strata of society. Main value The multi-page book of “Russian types” he created was composed of rich everyday life and a sympathetic and humanistic tone in relation to his heroes.
Afanasyev V. believed that in the early stories, despite their unequal value, “the main, leading line appears, connected with the desire of their author to reveal the spiritual beauty of a working man, a person from the people, to show the unsightly appearance of the “masters of life” Afanasyev V.N. Alexander Kuprin. - URL: http://www.kuprin.org.ru/lib/ar/author/330. . The best works of young A.I. Kuprin is considered to be his “military” stories - “Inquiry”, “Army Ensign”. For seven to eight years of his youth as a writer, A.I. Kuprin published approximately forty short stories, two novellas, fourteen everyday essays, half a dozen “industrial” essays, a number of poems, countless reporters’ notes, newspaper articles, feuilletons, correspondence and chronicles.
In 1897, A.I. Kuprin served as estate manager in Rivne district. Here he becomes close friends with the peasants, which is reflected in his stories “Wilderness”, “Horse Thieves”, “Silver Wolf”. The wonderful story “Olesya” was also written here. In these stories the writer also describes nature as real and at the same time mysterious and mysterious world. The writer sought to show that centuries-old oppression could not break the living soul of the people, crush their mighty talent, sense of goodness and justice. As Volkov wrote, ?? “Let the peasantry still live inert and dark life, but in his midst the desire for the good and the beautiful passes from generation to generation.”
A number of stories by A.I. also relate to the theme of nature. Kuprin about animals such as “Emerald”, “White Poodle”, “Barbos and Zhulka”, “Yu-Yu”, “Pirate”, “Dog’s Happiness”, “Zaviraika”, “Barry”, “Balt”, “Ralph” "and others. The world of animals in the works of Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin is amazing, unusual and original. Rarely has any artist so perfectly recreated their original morals and characters, habits and loyalty to man. For example, in the story “The White Poodle” there is a celebration of honest poverty, the solidarity of the “gutta-percha boy” Seryozha, the four-legged artist Argo and the cheerful, disinterested tramp Grandfather Lodyzhkin in a clash with rich, overfed summer residents and their servants. Here the author raises the topic of social inequality, as well as selfless friendship and care for “our little brothers.”
In 1903, the first volume of Kuprin's stories appeared, published in the magazine Gorky's "Knowledge". It included several stories, including “Swamp,” which, as critics note, is one of the writer’s best stories. The dramatic tension of the story is created by the depiction of a certain situation and numerous emotional and psychological details.
As Volkov notes in his work: ?? “In terms of content and mood, this “plotless” story is quite sharply divided into two parts. The first introductory one, somewhat philosophical in nature, is devoted to the student Serdyukov’s reasoning about the mysterious soul of the Russian peasantry. The connection between the first and second parts can be traced only in the internal, emotional and psychological aspect, the connection with the main part, where the theme of the “swamp” arises, destroying a person.
The scary thing in the story is not in the intensification of some kind of horror, not in the nightmarish visions. The terrible thing is in the indifferent and complete submission of the forester Stepan to his fate. In things that, it would seem, cannot be talked about without agony and protest, Stepan reports as something familiar, inevitable, inescapable: “Both my wife and children are all exhausted, it’s just trouble. Breast nothing yet... And the little boy, your godson, was taken to Nikolskoye last week. This is the third one we buried..... Let me, Yegor Ivanovich, I’ll light the candle myself. Be careful here.” The story “Swamp” is a story about a journey into one of the circles of Dante’s hell. But the journey ends, as it were, with a return to the light, and the student Serdyukov is again possessed by the joy so inherent in him.”
A little later in 1905 A.I. Kuprin addresses the topic of criticizing the bourgeois intelligentsia and exposing the reactionary regime. This theme occupies a significant place in his work. Along with the story “River of Life”, in which the depiction of the dead bourgeois life reaches Chekhov’s sharpness and mercilessness, the stories “Murderer”, “Resentment”, “Delusion”, “Mechanical Justice” are of great interest. These stories are very different in their poetics, connected general idea humanistic protest against violence against humans.
In the story “Mechanical Justice,” the writer criticizes bourgeois-landowner “legality.” This is an anecdote, but an anecdote imbued with merciless irony. A certain teacher of Latin and Greek invented a “cutting machine.” He gives a lecture at the provincial noble assembly about his invention. By an unfortunate accident, the lecturer was caught by the levers of the machine on display and thoroughly flogged.
The story “Mechanical Justice” grows into a broad and evil satire not only on royal justice, which appears in the form of a stupid cutting machine, but also on the entire “philosophy” of the defenders of “order.”
In the same year, Kuprin’s great story “Staff Captain Rybnikov” was published, which depicts a Japanese intelligence officer in St. Petersburg, masquerading as a stupidly rude staff captain and under this guise penetrating various institutions to collect the information he needs.
The creation of this image revealed the deep possibilities of A.I.’s psychological talent. Kuprina. He was not interested in the risky activity of the “staff captain” itself, but was interested in the secret movements of a soul that was mysterious to him. “What terrible sensations he must experience, balancing all day, every minute over almost inevitable death,” the second hero of the story, the famous St. Petersburg feuilletonist Schavinsky, thinks about him. To recreate these “sensations” without resorting to revealing them by the “staff captain” himself is the main psychological task of the story.
The plot of the story is built on the psychological vicissitudes of a secret, intense struggle “with someone else’s soul,” which the feuilletonist is starting with Rybnikov. The goal of this struggle is not to expose the intelligence officer as such; the mask of the imaginary captain could only deceive people who were narrow-minded and careless in their complacency. Shchavisnsky’s goal is to understand the soul of the “daredevil,” to reveal the secret of “this constant tension of mind and will, this devilish waste of mental strength.” He only partially succeeds in achieving this goal - Rybnikov continues his desperate game - and full of respect and horror of the unusual willpower and “lonely heroism”, the feuilletonist puts a boutonniere with a rose in the buttonhole of the captain’s coat as a sign of peace: “let’s not harass each other anymore "
The psychological appearance of Captain Rybnikov is created by accumulating individual observations of his behavior, speech, and hidden contempt. The reconstruction of human psychology through self-disclosure is given in the story “River of Life” (1906). During the course of ordinary, vulgar life, something tragic breaks in. The student, carried away by the recent revolutionary events, does not stand the test and, during the interrogation of the gendarmerie colonel, betrays his comrades. Before shooting himself, he writes a letter of confession in which he traces how vile and slavish cowardice gradually penetrated into his soul. The student saw how eaglets were born during the days of the revolution; he still does not renounce it, but his soul is flabby, and he decides to die.
One of the best works by A.I. Kuprin's story "Gambrinus" (1907) is considered. It was created in the historical period of time between two Russian revolutions, and became a vivid reflection of the inextricable connection between the fate of the common people and their culture. In the story, the drama of the life of visitors to the Gambrinus beer pub on Deribasovskaya in Odessa unfolds before the reader. Vivid and original images of heroes, central figure which is the talented musical nugget Sashka the violinist, fill the atmosphere of that time with inimitable charm. The musician’s sparkling and inspired playing looks like a contrast against the backdrop of the terrible and tragic events that have upended Russia and distorted the lives of many of its citizens.
The idea of the plot of the work touches on the eternal theme of immortality and the triumph of art over the manifestation of cruelty, meanness and immorality. In the philosophical thought of the brilliant French scientist B. Pascal, a definition of man is given: man is a reed, but a thinking reed. This was picked up by Kuprin and transferred to the field of literature. The words of the hero Sashka that a person can be mutilated, but true art will withstand everything and win, are here a kind of transcription and sound like the apotheosis of perseverance and courage: “It seemed that from the hands of the mutilated, crouched Sashka, a pathetic, naive whistle sang in the tongue, unfortunately , which is not yet clear either to the friends of “Gambrinus” or to Sashka himself:
Nothing! A person can be crippled, but art will endure everything and conquer everything.”
The story "Gambrinus" is just over twenty pages long. But every word of the work, permeated with the special magic and energy of the author’s literary skill, excites the reader, keeps him in suspense, not leaving him indifferent to the dramatic events that unfolded in Russian Empire that period. A wave of Jewish pogroms in a matter of days disrupted the cheerful atmosphere of friendly relations between people, plunging the cheerful streets of the southern coastal city into the toxic darkness of xenophobia. As Volkov notes: “The story “Gambrinus” is also one of those works of the writer in which he addressed folk life and wanted to show the soul of the people, thirsting for beauty and goodness in spite of the still triumphant social evil. The story “Gambrinus” is one of Kuprin’s most complete, holistic and elegant works. In terms of ideological sharpness, the story can compete with the best works of the writer. »
The writer strives to give the story the character of a story that happened in reality. The hero of the story is a musician, a Jew, Sashka, who entertains the audience in the Gambrinus tavern. most talented artist, but the grave injustice of life drove him into a “beer dungeon” and deprived him of the opportunity to fully demonstrate his talent. The rioters mutilated his hand when they beat him. But one cannot break the spirit of a man who finds support among the people and knows that his art is needed by working people.
Giving an assessment of the artistic skill of A.I. Kuprin, critics usually noted the simplicity and at the same time great expressiveness of his language. About the first volume of the writer’s Stories, published by Znanie in 1903, Leo Tolstoy wrote: “There is a lot of unnecessary stuff in it, but the tone and language are very bright and good.” He called the language of "Gambrinus" "beautiful." In 1909 A.I. Kuprin, together with I. Bunin, received the Pushkin Prize, awarded by the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Academy of Sciences.
In the fall of 1919, the writer emigrated - first to Finland, then to France. Since 1920, Kuprin has lived in Paris. Kuprin's works of the emigrant time differ sharply in content and style from the works of the pre-revolutionary period. Their main meaning is longing for the abstract ideal of human existence, a sad look into the past.
Thus, A.I. Kuprin in his stories refers to different life situations, where he raises such topics as social inequality, love for one’s neighbor, suffering and torment ordinary peoples, also calls on his readers to morality, to kindness, to humanity. His stories, although small in content, are capacious in meaning.
2. The humanistic aspect of problem solving in the stories of A.I. Kuprina "wonderful doctor" and "elephant"
A.I. Kuprin, according to the fair remark of A.A. Volkova, is a worthy successor " humanistic ideas great Russian literature of the 19th century." The purpose of this chapter is to analyze Kuprin’s stories “The Wonderful Doctor” and “Elephant” in the light of the author’s humanism.
Story by A.I. Kuprin's "The Wonderful Doctor" (1897) is based on real events, as the author himself says: “The following story is not the fruit of idle fiction. Everything I described actually happened in Kyiv about thirty years ago and is still sacred, down to the smallest detail, preserved in the traditions of the family in question. For my part, I just changed the names of some characters this touching story yes I did oral history written form" (Hereinafter, in order to save space, quotes from the stories of A.I. Kuprin will be presented in the form of textual links. - A.K.).
After this introduction, the actual events of the story begin. Before us are two hungry boys, brothers, Grisha and Volodya, who are tasked with delivering a letter to an influential person: perhaps this person will help their father find a job. Hungry children stand in front of a grocery store window, dreamily contemplating mountains of food and products that are inaccessible to them.
From the very beginning, we are faced with the social problem of low-income families, hungry children, and the problem of adults finding employment and finding their social niche.
The brothers suppressed a heavy sigh and cast one last greedy glance at the festive tables, the lights returned from the elegant streets home to the basement: “Finally they reached a rickety, dilapidated house that stood apart; its bottom - the basement itself - was stone, and the top was wooden. Having walked around the cramped, icy and dirty courtyard, which served as a natural cesspool for all residents, they went downstairs to the basement, walked in the darkness along a common corridor, groped for their door and opened it.
The Mertsalovs had been living in this dungeon for more than a year. Both boys had long since gotten used to these smoky walls, crying from dampness, and to the wet scraps drying on a rope stretched across the room, and to this terrible smell of kerosene fumes, children’s dirty linen and rats - the real smell of poverty.”
Here an exhausted mother, a sick sister and a hungry baby were waiting for them:
“In the corner, on a dirty wide bed, lay a girl of about seven years old; her face was burning, her breathing was short and labored, her wide, shining eyes looked intently and aimlessly. Next to the bed, in a cradle suspended from the ceiling, a baby was screaming, wincing, straining and choking. A tall, thin woman, with a gaunt, tired face, as if blackened by grief, was kneeling next to the sick girl, straightening her pillow and at the same time not forgetting to push the rocking cradle with her elbow.”
Later in the story Mertsalov himself appears: “He was wearing a summer coat, a summer felt hat and no galoshes. His hands were swollen and blue from the frost, his eyes were sunken, his cheeks were stuck around his gums, like a dead man’s.”
Seeing his family in such a state, Mertsalov leaves home out of despair. He is tormented by the thought that on a festive evening he is unable to help his family, he is ready to run away from troubles, even deciding to commit suicide: “If only I could lie down and go to sleep,” he thought, “and forget about his wife, about the hungry children, about the sick Mashutka. Putting his hand under his vest, Mertsalov felt for a rather thick rope that served as his belt. The thought of suicide became quite clear in his head. But he was not horrified by this thought, did not shudder for a moment before the darkness of the unknown. Rather than dying slowly, isn’t it better to choose more shortcut?» .
He is also influenced by nature itself: “It was quiet and solemn here. The trees, wrapped in their white robes, slumbered in motionless majesty. Sometimes a piece of snow fell from the top branch, and you could hear it rustling, falling and clinging to other branches. The deep silence and great calm that guarded the garden suddenly awakened in Mertsalov’s tormented soul an unbearable thirst for the same tranquility, the same silence.”
But at the most unexpected moment, the main character of the story appears - a wonderful doctor: “at that time, at the end of the alley, the creak of steps was heard, clearly heard in the frosty air. Mertsalov turned in this direction with anger. Someone was walking along the alley. At first, the light of a cigar flaring up and then going out was visible. Then, little by little, Mertsalov could see a small old man, wearing a warm hat, a fur coat and high galoshes.” The stranger said that the evening was good, that he had bought gifts for the children he knew for Christmas, Mertsalov, driven to despair, shouted: “- Gifts!.. Gifts!.. Gifts for the children I know!.. And I... and I have, dear sir, at the moment my children are dying of hunger at home... Gifts!.. And my wife’s milk has disappeared, and the baby hasn’t eaten all day... Gifts! »
Mertsalov thought that he would leave, but the old man, putting on a serious face, asked to tell him his story: “There was something so calm and trust-inspiring in the stranger’s extraordinary face that Mertsalov immediately, without the slightest concealment, but terribly worried and in a hurry, told his story ." He cried about his bad life and his daughter’s illness, to which the man, saying that he was a doctor, asked Mertsalov to take him to the sick woman. After the examination, the doctor prescribed medications and made an agreement with the pharmacy, and also said to invite Dr. Afanasyev, with whom he also promised to have an agreement.
This is akin to a miracle, which is emphasized in the title of the story. The harsh words of the desperate Mertsalov meet with a lively human response, and the doctor immediately offers his help, instead of being offended or ignoring someone else’s misfortune. This also looks like a miracle, because people from a wealthy, festive, “other” life did not respond to Mertsalov’s requests for help and did not even give alms. And the wonderful doctor, with his very appearance, instills cheerfulness in exhausted people, then prescribes treatment for a sick child, gives money for the necessary food and quietly leaves large credit notes on the table. And for all this, this one doesn’t even say his name, not only not wanting to listen to gratitude, but not even considering that he should listen to them: “What nonsense they came up with!”
Later, the family learned the name of this virtue from the label on the medicine; it was Professor Pirogov.
And after the appearance of this extraordinary man, the poor, unsuccessful life of the Mertsalov family enters into a prosperous direction. The children recover, the father finds a place, the boys are accepted into the gymnasium. They all find themselves in that other, “holiday” reality - through the good deed of a wonderful doctor.
The author heard this story from one of the Mertsalov brothers, who became a major employee of the bank. And every time, remembering the wonderful doctor, he said with tears in his eyes: “From now on, it was as if a beneficent angel descended into our family. Everything has changed. At the beginning of January, my father found a place, Mashutka got back on her feet, and my brother and I managed to get a place in the gymnasium at public expense. This holy man performed a miracle. And we have only seen our wonderful doctor once since then - this was when he was transported dead to his own estate Vishnyu. And even then they didn’t see him, because that great, powerful and holy thing that lived and burned in the wonderful doctor during his lifetime faded away irrevocably.”
Only true, sincere love for humanity can change our lives. But it is so rare that it is considered a miracle. And the most important thing in life is to never lose heart, never give up, look for a way out of any life situation, also have a kind, sensitive heart, respond to help and believe in yourself and your neighbor.
The next story by A.I. Kuprin's "Elephant", despite the fact that it was written for a children's magazine, contains serious problems of a universal human nature. First of all, this is the problem of love for one’s neighbor, which is solved in a positive, humane way, almost the same as in the story “The Wonderful Doctor,” where the problem of mercy is solved by the writer through the image of Doctor Pirogov; he can be considered as a kind of author’s ideal. In the story “Elephant” the main ideological and artistic load is borne by the image of an animal, an elephant. This is a kind of discovery by A.I. Kuprin, since the kind, humanizing power of animalistic images is not often spoken of in Russian literature. It seems important to consider this work in detail. The story consists of 6 parts.
In the first part we learn that a little girl named Nadya is very sick. Although she is not in pain, “she is losing weight and getting weaker every day. No matter what they do to her, she doesn’t care, and she doesn’t need anything. Even in her dreams she sees something gray and boring, like autumn rain.” The doctors decide that the girl is “sick with indifference to life.” Caring parents are ready to do everything to cheer up their daughter. She sees how worried her parents are about her: “Dad walks quickly from corner to corner and smokes and smokes. Sometimes he comes to the nursery, sits on the edge of the bed and quietly strokes Nadya’s legs. Then he suddenly gets up and goes to the window. He whistles something, looking down at the street, but his shoulders are shaking. Then he hastily applies a handkerchief to one eye, then to the other, and, as if angry, goes to his office. Then he again runs from corner to corner and everything... smokes, smokes, smokes... And the office becomes all blue from tobacco smoke.” But she herself doesn’t understand what’s happening to her, she’s bored.
In the 3rd part, suddenly the girl woke up in the morning and wanted the elephant that she dreamed about in her dream. The joyful father quickly fulfills his daughter’s wish, but this elephant was a toy: “a large gray elephant that shakes its head and waves its tail; there is a red saddle on the elephant, and on the saddle there is a golden tent and three little men are sitting in it.” Nadya looked at the toy elephant with indifference and did not want to upset her father: “I thank you very, very much, dear dad. I think no one has such an interesting toy... Only... remember... you promised long ago to take me to the menagerie to look at a real elephant... and you never got lucky.” Not knowing what to do, Nadya’s father leaves home in order to somehow fulfill his daughter’s wish.
Next in the 4th part there is a conversation between dad and a German trainer, on whose decision the fate of Nadya and her entire family depends. This is a very exciting moment, because if the German refused, everything could have turned out differently. But this circus man becomes in this story an image of an attentive, responsive and kind person. He sympathized with the misfortune of Nadya’s father and, as is clear between the lines, involuntarily imagined himself in his place. After all, the trainer also had a daughter, Lisa, the same age as Nadya.
In the 5th part, the author describes the elephant in detail and colorfully. “The skin on him is rough, in heavy folds. The legs are thick, like pillars. A long tail with something like a broom at the end. The eyes are very tiny, but smart and kind.” Nadya's father is doing everything possible to make his beloved daughter's dream come true.
And finally, the climax occurs in the happy moment of a childhood dream coming true - the moment of Nadya’s meeting with a real elephant named Tommy. He made a great impression on her and even turned out to be a little larger than Nadya had imagined. But the girl was not the least bit afraid of such a guest, but happily began to talk to him respectfully, look at books, drink tea and play, to which the animal reciprocates her feelings: “She extends her hand to him too. The elephant carefully takes and shakes her thin fingers with his mobile strong finger and does it much more tenderly than Doctor Mikhail Petrovich. At the same time, the elephant shakes its head, and its small eyes are completely narrowed, as if laughing.”
So Nadya plays with the elephant all day and falls asleep next to him. Waking up in the morning “cheerful, fresh and, as in the old days,” she looks for Tommy the elephant. “They explain to her that the elephant went home on business, that he has children who cannot be left alone, that he asked to bow to Nadya and that he is waiting for her to visit him when she is healthy.
The girl smiles slyly and says:
Tell Tommy that I’m completely healthy!” .
Thanks to her dad, trainer and Tommy the elephant, the girl recovered, and it’s very nice to think that Nadya and Tommy will continue to visit each other.
The images of the characters in the work “Elephant” are all characterized as positive. And this makes me happy, I really want to find myself surrounded by such people, where everyone is ready to listen, understand and help. This state of affairs today is becoming more and more a utopia.
Nadya's image is that of an obedient, exemplary and well-mannered girl who does not want to upset her parents. But, unfortunately, she herself cannot figure out what is wrong with her until she has a good dream about an elephant. Nadya's father is loving, persistent, reliable person, who believed in his child and decided to make the dream from a dream come true in every possible way. After all, the happiness of young children depends entirely on their parents. Mother - perfect image a woman who is ready to fulfill all the requests of her child, if only Nadya gets better. And she, like no one else, knows that there is nothing worse than a sick child. The German trainer showed a sense of compassion and tried to help, no matter how absurd this request initially seemed to him. And Tommy the elephant from the first lines about him evokes only a boundless feeling of sympathy.
Even the neighbors, on whom plaster was crumbling from above from Tommy’s squats, did not say a word. It doesn’t matter what they thought, but the most important thing is that they didn’t ruin the holiday. And the policeman does not appear as a stumbling block, but only calmly asks the onlookers to disperse. And let’s not forget about the owner of the bakery, who had pistachio cake and buns ready for such an occasion, even though it was already deep night outside.
So, the stories “The Wonderful Doctor” and “Elephant” by A.I. Kuprin turned out to be kind, bright, filled with boundless love for children.
Conclusion
Thus, we come to the conclusion that A.I. Kuprin is one of the best and most talented writers in Russian literature. What is attractive in his works is his consistent and at the same time unobtrusive humanism, sympathetic, trusting attitude towards people; he is also a full-blooded realist who tirelessly praised beauty human feelings, the splendor of nature, the happiness of being; a most observant artist, noticing all the little things, the cobwebs of everyday life; singer of pure sublime love.
Today the works of A.I. Kuprin are of great interest. They attract the reader with their simplicity, humanity and uniqueness. World of Heroes A.I. Kuprin is colorful and varied. As noted by Afanasyev V.N. “Enthusiastic passion for life, love for the common man, inexhaustible faith in his spiritual powers, protest against arbitrariness and violence - all this makes Kuprin’s best works consonant, understandable and close to the reader of our days.” Afanasyev V.N. Alexander Kuprin. - URL: http://www.kuprin.org.ru/lib/ar/author/330
In the story “The Wonderful Doctor,” Kuprin addresses problems of a social, psychological, and moral nature. In his story, he forms the aesthetic ideal of a person (using the example of Dr. Pirogov), who in difficult times helps a distressed family, helps free of charge, altruistically, selflessly. And his kind attitude towards the Mertsalov family, in turn, awakens an incentive for life, work and, most importantly, for the moral self-development of the members of this family.
Thus, Grigory, the son of Mertsalov Sr., holding “a fairly large, responsible post in one of the banks,” is reputed to be “an example of honesty and responsiveness to the needs of poverty.”
In the story “Elephant” we are confronted with the psychological problem of childhood alienation and indifference to life. It is closely connected with a social problem - the unhappy marriage of Nadya's parents, who each love their daughter in their own way and are trying to bring her back to life. The situation of moral testing for adults is also resolved in a humane manner. The father turns to the trainer. He understands his father’s grief and allows Nadya to communicate with his elephant Tommy. A girl’s communication with an animal that has “intelligent and kind eyes” and who happily engages in communication with the child produces a healing effect. The girl is getting better. And even relationships between adults become warm and friendly.
Kuprin's artistic works generously enrich a person with spiritual and moral experience, while giving the reader great aesthetic joy and pleasure.
List of used literature
1. Afanasyev V. A.I. Kuprin. Critical-biographical essay M.: GIHL, 1960.
2. Afanasyev V.N. Alexander Kuprin URL: http://www.kuprin.org.ru/lib/ar/author/330.
3. Batyushkov D., A. I. Kuprin Vologda: Vologda State Pedagogical Institute, 1968.
4. Berkov P.N. Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin. M.-L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1956.
5. Volkov A. Creativity A.I. Kuprina. M.: Sov. writer, 1962.
6. Volkov A. Creativity A.I. Kuprina M., 1981.
7. Vorovsky V.V. A.I. Kuprin. // V.V. Vorovsky. Literary critical articles M.: GIHL, 1956.
8. Vorovsky V. Literary-critical articles. M.: Goslitizdat, 1956.
9. Zhegalov N. Outstanding Russian realist // What to read? 1958 No. 12.
10. Kiselev B. Stories about Kuprin M.: Sov. writer, 1964.
11. Krutikova L.V. A.I. Kuprin. Critical-biographical essay L.: Enlightenment, 1971.
12. Kuleshov F.I. Creative path A.I. Kuprina Minsk: Publishing House of the Ministry of Education of the BSSR, 1963.
13. Kuleshov F.I. The creative path of A.I. Kuprina Minsk, 1983.
14. Kuprin A.I. Selected Works M.: Artist. lit., 1985.
15. Kuprin A.I. Novels and short stories: In 2 volumes M.: Khudozh. lit., 1963.
16. Kuprin A.I. Works: In 2 volumes of Frunze: Kyrgyzstan, 1981.
17. Kuprin A.I. Collection Op.: In 9 volumes M.: Khudozh. lit., 1970.
18. Kuprin A.I. Collection Op.: In 9 volumes M.: Khudozh. lit., 1964.
19. Kuprina-Iordanskaya M.K. Years of youth M.: Khudozh. lit., 1966.
20. Mikhailov O.N. Kuprin A.I.: Artist. lit., 1981.
21. A.I. Kuprin. Selected works." M., "Fiction", 1985.
22. Paustovsky K. Stream of Life: Notes on Kuprin’s prose. // K. Paustovsky. Alone with autumn: Portraits, memories, essays by M.: Soviet writer, 1967.
23. Paustovsky K. Stream of Life: Notes on Kuprin’s prose. // K. Paustovsky. Collection cit.: In 8 volumes. T. 8: Literary portraits. Essays. Notes M.: Artist. lit., 1970.
25. Smirnova L.V. In search of spiritual harmony: Kuprin A.I.: Khudozh. lit., 1956.
26. Chukovsky K. Kuprin // Korney Chukovsky. Contemporaries: Portraits and sketches Minsk: Narodnaya Asveta, 1985 P. 157 - 187.
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