Creative history of poor people. The history of the creation of the novel “Poor People”

Analysis of the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky "Poor People"

In 1845, F.M. Dostoevsky completed work on the novel “Poor People.” Recognition and fame came to the author even before publication. Grigorovich, Nekrasov, Belinsky familiarized themselves with the text. “Half of St. Petersburg is already talking about “Poor People”,” Dostoevsky reported to his brother Mikhail in October 1845. “In November and December 1845, all literary amateurs caught and passed on the good news about the emergence of a new enormous talent,” testified critic Valerian Maikov. In January 1846, Nekrasov’s “Petersburg Collection” was published. This book opened with the novel “Poor People.”

The title of the novel already indicated the material on which it was based, the predominant type of its heroes. These are poor people eking out a miserable existence, urban “fractions and trifles,” as Gogol used to say in such cases.

They have invisible positions, minor ranks, usually no higher than the rank of ninth grade, that is, titular councilor (the titular councilor is Makar Alekseevich Devushkin). They huddle somewhere in remote areas, in cheap apartments; they are always malnourished, freezing in their shabby clothes (Devushkin’s boots were also worn out, and the buttons from almost half the side were all falling off), they suffer from illnesses, cannot get out of debt, take their salary in advance in order to somehow get out, and often end up in prison. networks of greedy moneylenders. A special term was subsequently found for such a character - little man. This expression, however without a clear terminological limitation, was used in the 40s of the 19th century; it is also found in “Poor People”. “I’m used to it, because I get used to everything, because I’m a humble person, because I’m a small person,” says Devushkin. The little person here is synonymous with unpretentiousness, the ability to reconcile and endure any adversity.

Dostoevsky's originality is already noticeable in the very type of novel, in some of its poetic features. Usually, “downtrodden existences” were told in the third person - they were narrated by the author, the narrator, that is, an outsider. In "Poor People" the characters talk about themselves - Varenka and especially Makar Alekseevich Devushkin. There is no outside narrator at all; we learn everything from the heroes themselves. This means that the word has been entrusted to the little man. He himself confides to us his experiences and thoughts, moods and intentions.

But that's not all. The novel consists almost entirely of letters from the characters; only a small fragment of it, telling about Varenka’s past, is written in the form of her memories, but they are also attached to her next letter. "Poor People" is a novel in letters. This genre was not Dostoevsky's invention. But the merit of the author was that he decisively put this genre at the service of his theme - the theme of the little man.

After all, a letter - if this letter is private and addressed to a close and dear person, as Varenka is for Makar Alekseevich - is a personal and intimate document. It says something that is not intended for other people’s ears, which constitutes the innermost secret of the soul and heart. The external circumstances of our heroes’ lives contribute to the development of correspondence (at the same time, this is also its motivation, that is, the justification for the genre of the novel in letters) - living very close, across the road, they cannot see each other often. Makar Alekseevich is afraid that his meetings with the girl will give rise to gossip and gossip. Only in letters can he give vent to his tenderness, care, and worries. A feeling that is not spoken out loud and in time acquires extraordinary strength and expressiveness. “For the first time in Dostoevsky, a petty official speaks so much and with such tonal vibrations,” noted the famous literary critic V.V. Vinogradov.

“With tonal vibrations” means with an extraordinary range of subtle mental movements. Russian literature has never known anything like this.

In the sense of external life, Devushkin is relatively free, that is, he can not notice or overcome hunger, need, etc. But in relationships with Varenka, everything is much more complicated.

In this sense, already Varvara Alekseevna’s first letter has a sobering effect on Devushkin. Poor Makar Alekseevich imagined that Varenka had raised the window curtain for him - giving him a conventional sign. But it turned out: “I didn’t even think about the curtain; she probably got caught herself...” Upon learning of this, Makar Alekseevich was upset, and he put a stop to his feelings so that he wouldn’t think, God forbid, something unnecessary. “Fatherly affection animated me, the only pure fatherly affection, Varvara Alekseevna, for I take the place of my own father in you...” (Devushkin’s fluctuations of feelings - or rather, positions - reflect his appeals in letters, from the trusting “My darling, Varenka!” to the coldly official “Dear Madam, Varvara Alekseevna!”).

The episode with the curtain is characteristic in that here the hero’s beautiful dreams and illusions were overturned and dispelled by life itself. And in this sense, the episode turned out to be a harbinger final scenes, when a real threat in the person of Mr. Bykov appeared on the horizon, and Makar Alekseevich realized that he could lose Varenka forever.

In the genre of a novel in letters, the author has no other opportunity to express his opinion except with the help of real development actions. And Dostoevsky takes advantage of this opportunity, pitting Makar Alekseevich’s ideas against reality and noting their inconsistency.

And yet there is one place where the author, going beyond the judgment of his characters, gives a different, third-party point of view on everything that happens. We are talking about an epigraph taken from a story by the famous writer and philosopher V.F. Odoevsky. Moreover, here too the author’s point of view is expressed in a “by contradiction” way, because it is opposed to the position indicated in the epigraph.

A certain unfamiliar person, apparently a grumbler and a grouch, complains about writers: “There is no way to write something useful, pleasant, delightful, otherwise they will tear out all the ins and outs of the earth!.. I would forbid them to write!”

Familiar intonations - after all, Makar Devushkin was against getting to the bottom of the “underground”, he advocated soothing, enjoyable reading (once he even advised Varenka: “When you hold candy in your mouth, then read it”). In the light of the epigraph, some of Makar Alekseevich’s arguments acquire an ironic highlight.

But this same illumination enhances the sound of the tragic theme of the novel, which, in the author’s desire to reveal the entire course of life without embellishment, opposes both the epigraph and Devushkin’s naive beliefs.

The phrase “poor people” in the title of the novel plays important role in understanding the meaning of this work. At first it seems that only insufficiency of means of subsistence, material and physical poverty is implied. But Devushkin says about the Gorshkov family: “They are poor, poor - my God, my God! It’s always quiet and peaceful in their room, as if no one lives.” Poverty here is on a par with humility, silence, humility. But this is a deceptive humility. “Poor people are capricious - this is how nature works... He, a poor man, is demanding; he looks at the light of God differently, and looks askance at every passerby, and moves his confused gaze around him, and listens to every word - they say, is it not him they are talking about? .. And everyone knows that the poor man is worse rags and can’t get any respect from anyone, no matter what you write..."

The reader is confronted with a whole range of feelings and experiences in the spirit of that complex psychology that distinguishes the character of Devushkin himself. It becomes clear why Dostoevsky called his novel not “The Poor,” not “The Poor,” but rather “Poor People,” where both concepts are significant.

So, already in his first work, the writer began to solve the problem, which he later defined in the following words: “With complete realism, to discover the man in man.”

The novel became the first great success in the work of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. People started talking about the young author as a talented writer. Grigorovich, Nekrasov and Belinsky first saw the work and immediately recognized the talent of the newcomer. In 1846, the Petersburg Collection published the book Poor People.

The author was inspired to create a work about the life of the urban poor by his own life experience. Dostoevsky's father worked as a doctor in a city hospital, and his family lived in an outbuilding next to the wards. There, little Fedor saw many life dramas occurring due to lack of money.

In his youth, the writer continued his study of the lower strata of St. Petersburg society. He often walked in the slums, seeing drunken and depressed residents of the capital. He also rented an apartment with a doctor, who also often told his neighbor about insolvent patients and their problems.

The writer's relatives became the prototypes of the main characters. Varvara became the literary embodiment of his sister. Varvara Mikhailovna’s diaries, which contain her childhood impressions, are very similar to Dobroselova’s memoirs. In particular, the description of the heroine’s native village is reminiscent of the Dostoevsky estate in the village of Darovoye. The image of the girl’s father and his fate, the image of the nanny and her appearance were also taken from the life of Fyodor Mikhailovich’s family.

The writer begins work on the novel “Poor People” in 1844, when he leaves his position as a draftsman and decides to seriously engage in creativity. However, the new business is difficult and he, in need of money, is forced to start translating Balzac’s book “Eugenie Grande”. She inspired him, and the young author again takes up his brainchild. Therefore, the work, which was supposed to appear in October, was ready only in May 1845. During this time, Dostoevsky rewrote the drafts more than once, but in the end, something came out that shocked the critics. After the first reading, Grigorovich even woke up Nekrasov in order to inform him of the birth of a new talent. Both publicists highly praised the writer's debut. The novel was published in the Petersburg Collection in 1846 and instantly attracted the attention of the public at the suggestion of the most authoritative critics of the time.

Along with original ideas, the author used literary clichés of his time. Formally, this is a European social novel; the writer borrowed its structure and themes from his foreign colleagues. For example, Rousseau’s work “Julia, or the New Heloise” had the same composition. The work was also influenced by the global trend - the transition from romanticism to realism, so the book took an intermediate position between the two directions, incorporating the features of both.

Genre

The genre of the work is a novel in letters, the so-called “epistolary”. Little people talk about themselves, about their little joys and big troubles, in detail about what their life actually consists of. They openly share their experiences, thoughts and discoveries with each other. The direction that is reflected in the book is called “sentimentalism.” It occupies an intermediate position between romanticism and realism. It is characterized by the increased sensitivity of the characters, an emphasis on the emotions and inner world of the heroes, the idealization of the rural way of life, the cult of naturalness, sincerity and simplicity. The reader finds all this in the literary debut of F. M. Dostoevsky.

The epistolary genre allows you to reveal a character not only detailed description, but also through his own style of writing. Through vocabulary, literacy, the special structure of sentences and the peculiarities of expressing thoughts, it is possible to ensure that the hero somehow characterizes himself, and unobtrusively and naturally. That is why “Poor People” is distinguished by its deep psychologism and unique immersion into the inner worlds of the characters. Fyodor Mikhailovich himself wrote about this in the “Diary of a Writer”:

Without showing the “writer’s face” anywhere, give the floor to the characters themselves

What is this work about?

Main actors The novel "Poor People" are the titular adviser Makar Devushkin and the poor orphan Varenka Dobroselova. They communicate through letters; a total of 54 were sent. The girl became a victim of violence and is now hiding from her offenders under the protection of a distant relative, who himself is barely making ends meet. They are both unhappy and very poor, but they try to help each other by sacrificing the latter. Their troubles throughout the entire narrative are increasing more and more, both in quantitative and qualitative terms, they are on the edge of an abyss, one step separates them from death, because there is nowhere to wait for support. But the hero finds the strength to pull the burden of poverty and continue to develop according to the parameters set by his ideal. The girl gives him books and valuable recommendations, and he responds to her with worship and adoration. For the first time, he has a goal in life, and even a taste for it, because Varya is engaged in his upbringing and enlightenment.

The heroine tries to earn money by honest labor (sewing at home), but she is found by Anna Feodorovna, a woman who sold an orphan to a lustful nobleman. She again invites the girl to show favor to Bykov (the rich landowner who dishonored Varya), wants to arrange for her. Of course, Makar is against this, but he himself cannot offer anything, because the money he spends on his pupil is the last, and even that is not enough. He himself lives from hand to mouth, his unkempt appearance creates problems for him at work, and there are no prospects at his age and position. Out of self-pity and jealousy (Vara was pestered by an officer), he begins to drink, for which he is condemned by his Varenka. But a miracle happens: the author saves the heroes from starvation with the help of the boss Devushkin, who gives him 100 rubles for free.

But this does not save them from the moral decline that Dostoevsky describes. The girl accepts the courtship of her offender and agrees to marry him. Her patron cannot do anything and resigns himself to fate. In fact, Makar Alekseevich and Varenka remain alive, they have money, but they lose each other and, for sure, this will be the end for both. The poor official lives only for the orphan, she is the meaning of his life. Without her he will be lost. And Varenka, too, will die after marrying Bykov.

The main characters and their characteristics

The characteristics of the characters in the novel “Poor People” are similar in many ways. Both Varenka and Makar Alekseevich are kind, sincere, and have a great open soul. But they are both very weak in front of this world; the self-confident and vicious Bulls will calmly crush them. They have neither cunning nor dexterity to survive. Although at the same time the two characters are very different.

  1. Devushkin Makar Alekseevich- a meek, meek, weak-willed, mediocre and even pitiful person. He is 47 years old, most of his life he has been rewriting other people’s texts, he often reads superficial, empty literature that makes no sense, but he is still able to appreciate Pushkin, but he does not like Gogol with “The Overcoat”, since he is too Akaki Akakievich looks like himself. He is weak and very dependent on the opinions of others. This is the image of Makar Devushkin, akin to both Chervyakov from the story “The Death of an Official” and Samson Vyrin from the story “The Station Warden.”
  2. Varenka Dobroselova although she was still very young, she experienced a lot of grief, which did not break her at all (a rich nobleman dishonored her, having been sold by a relative to pay for her maintenance). However beautiful girl She did not take the wrong path and lived by honest work, without succumbing to provocations and persuasion. The heroine is well-read and has a literary taste, which was instilled in her by a student (Bykov’s pupil). She is virtuous and hardworking, because she steadfastly repels the attacks of her relative, who wants to arrange for her to be supported by the masters. She is much stronger than Makar Alekseevich. Varya evokes only admiration and respect.
  3. Petersburg- another main character of the novel “Poor People”. A place that is always depicted quite voluminously in Dostoevsky’s works. Petersburg is described here as a big city that brings misfortune. In Varenka’s memoirs, the village where she spent her childhood appears as a bright, beautiful paradise on earth, and the city to which her parents brought her brought only suffering, deprivation, humiliation, and the loss of her closest people. This is a dark, cruel world that breaks many.

Subject

  1. Little man theme. The title “Poor People” shows that the main theme of the work was the little man. Dostoevsky finds in each of them a great personality, because only the ability to love and kindness characterize living soul. The author describes good and decent people who were crushed by poverty. Arbitrariness reigns around them and injustice is at work, but in these pitiful and insignificant inhabitants of St. Petersburg there was still hope for the best and faith in each other. They are the owners of true virtue, although no one notices their moral greatness. They do not live for show; their modest work is devoted only to the selfless desire to help another person. Both Devushkin’s numerous deprivations and Varya’s self-sacrifice in the finale indicate that these individuals are small only because they do not value themselves. The writer idealizes them and praises them, following the tradition of sentimentalists like Karamzin.
  2. Theme of love. For this reason bright feeling heroes make self-sacrifice. Makar renounces caring for himself; he spends all his money on his pupil. All his thoughts are devoted to her alone, nothing else bothers him. In the finale, Varya decides to repay her guardian and marries Bykov out of convenience, so as not to burden Devushkin with her existence any longer. She understands that he will never leave her himself. This guardianship is beyond his means, it destroys him and drives him into poverty, so the heroine tramples on her pride and gets married. This is it true love when people are ready to do anything for the sake of the chosen one.
  3. Contrast between city and countryside. In the novel “Poor People,” the author deliberately contrasts the indifference and dullness of St. Petersburg with bright colors a good-natured village where residents always help each other. The capital grinds and passes souls through itself, making greedy, vicious and indifferent to everything holders of ranks and titles from its citizens. They are angry because of the cramped conditions and fuss around them; human life is nothing to them. The village, on the contrary, has a healing effect on the individual, because village residents are calmer and more friendly towards each other. They have nothing to share; they will happily accept someone else’s misfortune as their own and help solve the problem. This conflict is also characteristic of sentimentalism.
  4. Art theme. Dostoevsky, through the mouth of his heroine, speaks of the distinction between literature of high quality and low quality. To the first he classifies the works of Pushkin and Gogol, to the second are boulevard novels, where the authors focus only on the plot side of the work.
  5. The theme of parental love. The writer depicts a vivid episode where a father trails behind his son’s coffin and drops his books. This touching scene is striking in its tragedy. Varenka also touchingly describes her family, who did a lot for her.
  6. Mercy. Devushkin’s boss sees the depressing state of his affairs and helps him financially. This gift, which means nothing to him, saves a person from starvation.

Issues

  1. Poverty. Even a working person in St. Petersburg at that time could not afford to eat enough and buy clothes. There is nothing to say about a girl who cannot provide for herself with honest and hard work. That is, even hard workers and conscientious workers cannot feed themselves and earn decent living conditions. Because of their financial insolvency, they are in slavish subordination to circumstances: they are overcome by debts, harassment, insults and humiliation. The writer mercilessly criticizes the current system, portraying rich people as indifferent, greedy and evil. Not only do they not help others, but they also drag them further into the dirt. This is not worth the effort, because a beggar in Tsarist Russia is deprived of the right to justice and respectful treatment. He is either used, like Varvara, or ignored, like Makar. In such realities, the poor themselves lose their value, selling dignity, pride and honor for a piece of bread.
  2. Arbitrariness and injustice. The landowner Bykov dishonored Varya, but there was nothing for him for this, and there could not be. He is a rich man, and justice works for him, not for mere mortals. The problem of injustice is especially acute in the work “Poor People,” because the main characters are poor because they themselves are not worth a penny. Makar is paid so little that it can’t even be called a living wage; Varin’s work is also terribly cheap. But the nobles live in luxury, idleness and contentment, while those who make this possible languish in poverty and ignorance.
  3. Indifference. In the city, everyone remains indifferent to each other; no one will be surprised by someone else’s misfortune when they are everywhere. For example, only Makar was concerned about Varya’s fate, although the orphan lived with a relative, Anna Fedorovna. The woman was so spoiled by greed and greed that she sold the defenseless girl for Bykov’s amusement. Then she didn’t calm down and gave the victim’s address to her other friends so that they could also try their luck. When such morals reign within the family, there is nothing to say about the relationships of strangers.
  4. Drunkenness. Devushkin washes away his grief; he has no other solution to the problem. Even feelings of love and guilt cannot save him from his addiction. However, Dostoevsky in “Poor People” is in no hurry to place all responsibility on his unfortunate hero. He shows the hopelessness and despair of Makar, as well as his lack of will. When a person is trampled into the mud, he, not being strong and persistent, merges with it, becomes low and disgusted with himself. The character could not withstand the pressure of circumstances and found solace in alcohol, because there was nowhere else. The author described the last lot of the Russian poor in vivid colors to show the scale of the problem. As you can see, the official is paid just enough to forget in a glass cup. By the way, the same illness struck the father of student Pokrovsky, who also once worked, but became an alcoholic and sank to the very bottom of the social hierarchy.
  5. Loneliness. The heroes of the novel “Poor People” are terribly lonely and, perhaps, because of this they are vicious and embittered. Even Bykov, who understands that he has no one to leave even an inheritance, is tragically broken: there are only hunters around for other people’s property, who are just waiting for his death. Realizing his situation, he marries Varya, without hiding the fact that he simply wants to have offspring, a family. He, oddly enough, lacks sincere participation and warmth. In a simple village girl, he saw naturalness and honesty, which means she will not leave him in difficult times.
  6. Unsanitary conditions and lack of medical care for the poor. The author touches upon not only philosophical and sociological problems, but also the most ordinary, everyday ones relating to the life and life of people of that time. In particular, student Pokrovsky, a very young man, who, due to lack of money, no one helped, dies of consumption. This disease of the poor (it develops from malnutrition and poor living conditions) spread very widely in St. Petersburg at that time.

The meaning of the work

The book is filled with acute social meaning, which sheds light on the author’s critical attitude to reality. He is outraged by the poverty and lack of rights of the inhabitants of the “corners” and the permissiveness of senior officials and nobles. The oppositional mood of the work is given not by slogans or appeals, but by the plot, which, despite all its ordinariness, shocked the reader with descriptions and details of the life of the unfortunate characters. By the end, it became clear that they were unhappy not because of a personal drama, but because of the injustice of the political system. But main idea the novel "Poor People" is above politics. It lies in the fact that even in such inhuman and cruel realities you need to find the strength to love sincerely and selflessly. This feeling elevates even a small person above the hostile reality.

In addition, although this story ends, at first glance, not very well, it has an ambiguous ending. Bykov still repents of what he did. He understands that he will die alone, surrounded by hypocritical enemies, if he does not start a family. He is driven by the desire to acquire a direct heir. However, why did his choice fall on Varenka, a homeless woman and an orphan? He could have counted on a more lucrative bride. But still, he decides to atone for the old sin and legitimize the position of his victim, because he sees in her all the virtues that are necessary to create a family. She definitely won’t betray or deceive. This insight is the main idea of ​​the novel “Poor People” - small people sometimes turn out to be big treasures that need to be seen and protected. They should be appreciated, and not broken and ground in the millstones of trials.

Ending

"Poor People" ends with an ambiguous event. After the unexpected rescue, Makar became soaring and drove away “liberal thoughts.” Now he hopes for a bright future and believes in himself. However, at the same time, Varya finds Bykov. He proposes marriage to her. He wants to have his own children so that they will inherit his property, which is encroached upon by his worthless nephew. The groom demands an immediate answer, otherwise the proposal will go to the Moscow merchant's wife. The girl hesitates, but eventually agrees, because only the landowner can restore her good name and lost dignity by legitimizing the relationship. Devushkin is in despair, but cannot change anything. The hero even falls ill from grief, but still courageously and humbly helps his pupil to take care of the wedding.

The end of Dostoevsky’s novel “Poor People” is the wedding day. Varya writes to a friend farewell letter, where he laments his helplessness and loneliness. He replies that all this time he lived only for her sake, and now he has no need to “work, write papers, walk, walk.” Makar wonders “by what right” are they destroying “human life”?

What does it teach?

Dostoevsky gives moral lessons to the reader in each of his works. For example, in “Poor People,” the author reveals the essence of homely and pitiful heroes in the most favorable light and seems to invite us to evaluate how wrong we would be in this person, drawing conclusions about him based on appearance. The narrow-minded and weak-willed Makar is capable of a feat of self-denial for the sake of a selfless feeling for Varya, and surrounding colleagues and neighbors see in him only an unkempt and ridiculous clown. For everyone, he is just a laughing stock: they take out their anger on him and sharpen their tongues. However, he has not become hardened by the blows of fate and is still able to help anyone in need by giving his last. For example, he gives all his money to Gorshkov only because he has nothing to feed his family. Thus, the writer teaches us not to judge by the wrapper, but to get to know more deeply the one about whom we're talking about, because he may be worthy of respect and support, and not ridicule. The only one who does this positive image from high society - Devushkin’s boss, who gives him money, saving him from poverty.

Virtue and a sincere desire to help serve the heroes faithfully, allowing them to overcome all the difficulties of life together and remain honest people. Love guides and nourishes them, giving them strength to fight problems. The author teaches us the same nobility of soul. We must maintain purity of thoughts, warmth of heart and moral principles, no matter what, and generously give them to those who need support. This is wealth, which elevates and ennobles even the poor.

Criticism

Liberal reviewers were enthusiastic about the new talent on the literary horizon. Belinsky himself (the most authoritative critic of that time) read the manuscript of “Poor People” even before publication and was delighted. He, together with Nekrasov and Grigorovich, stirred up public interest in the release of the novel and dubbed it famous Dostoevsky"New Gogol". The writer mentions this in a letter to his brother Mikhail (November 16, 1845):

Never, I think, will my fame reach such a climax as it does now. Everywhere there is incredible respect, terrible curiosity about me...

In his detailed review, Belinsky writes about the phenomenal gift of the writer, whose debut is so good. However, not everyone shared his admiration. For example, the editor of the Northern Bee and conservative Thaddeus Bulgarin spoke negatively about the work Poor People, affecting the entire liberal press. It is his authorship that belongs to the term “ natural school" He used it as a curse word in relation to all novels of this kind. His attack was continued by Leopold Brant, who stated that Dostoevsky himself writes well, and the unsuccessful start of his career was due to the excessive influence of employees of a competing publication. Thus, the book became the occasion for a battle between two ideologies: progressive and reactionary.

Out of nothing, he decided to build a poem, a drama, and nothing came of it, despite all the claims to create something deep, writes the critic Brant.

Reviewer Pyotr Pletnev positively singled out only Varya's diary, and he called the rest a sluggish imitation of Gogol. Stepan Shevyrev (publicist from the Moskvityanin magazine) believed that the author was too carried away by philanthropic ideas and forgot about giving the work the necessary artistry and beauty of style. However, he noted several successful episodes, for example, meeting the student Pokrovsky and his father. Censor Alexander Nikitenko also agreed with his assessment, and highly valued the deep psychological analysis characters, but complained about the length of the text.

The religious morality of the work was criticized by Apollon Grigoriev in the Finnish Messenger, noting the “false sentimentality” of the narrative. He believed that the author glorified petty personality, not ideals Christian love. An unknown reviewer argued with him in the magazine “Russian Invalid”. He spoke of the exceptional authenticity of the events described, and that the writer’s indignation was noble and fully consistent with the interests of the people.

Finally, Gogol himself read the book, with whom Dostoevsky was very often compared. He highly appreciated the work, but, nevertheless, gently scolded his novice colleague:

The author of “Poor People” shows talent, the choice of subjects speaks in favor of his spiritual qualities, but it is also clear that he is still young. There is still a lot of talkativeness and little concentration in oneself: everything would turn out to be much livelier and stronger if it were more compressed.

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In July 1843, Dostoevsky's idol Honore de Balzac arrived in St. Petersburg. Inspired by his arrival, Dostoevsky translates it. From social novel French writer, with its compassion for the humiliated and insulted, is a direct path to Dostoevsky’s first work, “Poor People.” “The most delightful moment in [his] entire life was approaching...”

Petersburg. May 1845 White Night, “a wonderful night, the kind of night that can only happen when we are young, dear reader.” On the second floor of a small house on the corner of Vladimirsky Prospekt and Grafsky Lane, a young man is sitting by the window. He has large facial features, a large wide forehead, and above his thin lips a short, sparse light brown mustache. There is concern in the gray, frowning eyes.

Just recently he completed the manuscript of the first literary work- the novel “Poor People”, and yesterday I gave it to a young writer, a friend from the Main Engineering School, with whom he rents this apartment. Will D.V. like it? Grigorovich? Will he understand how much sincere feeling and intense spiritual work there is?

There is a noise near the entrance doors, and Dmitry Grigorovich appears on the threshold of the room along with an unfamiliar young man. This is a poet and publisher. D.V. Grigorovich and N.A. Nekrasov, without stopping, read the entire manuscript aloud, at four o'clock in the morning they ran to the author and, in complete delight, almost crying, rushed to hug him.

Many years later, Dostoevsky recalled this: “They returned home early the night before, took my manuscript and began to read it as a test: “It will be clear from ten pages.” But, having read ten pages, they decided to read ten more, and then, without stopping, they sat all night until the morning, reading aloud and taking turns when one of them got tired.<...>When they finished (seven printed sheets!), they unanimously decided to come to me immediately: “What is it that is sleeping, we will wake him up, This above sleep."

After Grigorovich and Nekrasov left, Dostoevsky could not sleep. “What a delight, what a success, and most importantly, the feeling was dear, I remember clearly.”

N.A. Nekrasov handed over the manuscript, who wished to meet the aspiring writer. The meeting took place. V.G. Belinsky “speaked fieryly, with burning eyes: “Do you really understand,” he repeated to me [Dostoevsky] several times, screaming as usual, “what you wrote!”<...>“You could only write this with your direct instinct, as an artist, but have you yourself comprehended all this terrible truth that you pointed out to us? It cannot be that at your twenty years old you already understood this. But this unfortunate official of yours - after all, he has deserved it so much and has brought himself to such a point that he does not even dare to consider himself unhappy out of humiliation and almost considers the slightest complaint as free-thinking, he does not even dare to admit the right to unhappiness, and when a good person, his general gives him these hundred rubles - he is shattered, destroyed from amazement that “their excellency”, not his excellency, but “their excellency”, as he puts it, could spare someone like him! and this moment of kissing the general’s hand - but there is no longer regret for this unfortunate man, but horror, horror! In this gratitude, his horror! This is a tragedy!<...>The truth was revealed and proclaimed to you as an artist, it was given to you as a gift, so appreciate your gift and remain faithful, and you will be a great writer!..”

Dostoevsky leaves Belinsky “in rapture”: “It was the most delightful moment in my entire life. In hard labor, remembering it, I strengthened my spirit. Now I still remember it every time with delight.”

Dostoevsky’s first work, “Poor People,” which was published on January 15, 1846 in the Petersburg Collection, became an event in the history of Russian literature. The appearance of the masterpiece was preceded by the writer’s unusually painstaking and thorough work. Work on the translation of “Eugenia Grande” helps Dostoevsky abandon his dramatic plans: under the impression of Balzac’s story about an unfortunate girl, he conceives his first work, “Poor People.”

September 30, 1844 Dostoevsky to his brother: “I have hope. I am finishing a novel in the volume of "Eugenie Grandet". The novel is quite original. I’m already rewriting it, by the 14th I’ll probably already get an answer for it. I'll give it to "O"<течественные>h<аписки>". (I'm happy with my work.) I'll get maybe 400 rubles, that's all my hopes..."

D.V. Grigorovich, testifying that he and Dostoevsky only had enough money for the first half of the month, and for the remaining two weeks they lived on rolls and barley coffee, recalls: “When I began to live with Dostoevsky, he had just finished a translation of Balzac’s novel Eugene Grande.” Balzac was our favorite writer... Dostoevsky, meanwhile, spent whole days and part of the night at his desk. He didn’t say a word about what he was writing: he responded to my messages reluctantly and laconically; Knowing his isolation, I stopped asking. I could only see many sheets of paper covered in the handwriting that distinguished Dostoevsky; letters fell from his pen like beads, as if drawn... As soon as Dostoevsky stopped writing, a book immediately appeared in his hands... Hard work and persistent sitting at home had an extremely harmful effect on his health; they intensified his illness, which manifested itself several times in his youth, while he was at school. Several times during our rare walks he had seizures... After such seizures, a depressed state of mind usually set in, lasting two or three days.”

Dostoevsky finished the manuscript of “Poor People” in 1844, but in December it underwent a complete revision, and in February 1845 it underwent a secondary revision. “I finished it [the novel] completely,” the aspiring fiction writer told his brother on March 24, 1845, “almost in November, but in December I decided to redo it all; I redid it and rewrote it, but in February I started cleaning, smoothing, inserting and releasing again. About halfway through March I was ready and happy.”

Dostoevsky cannot be satisfied with form; he wants perfection. This desire for excellence remained throughout my life. The endless need that forced him to work with monstrous speed in order to quickly receive a fee was truly the tragedy of his creative work: only twice in his life, when Dostoevsky wrote his first work, “Poor People,” and when, thirty-five years later, he created last piece, he had the opportunity to work calmly, without haste, having carefully thought out the plan and strictly following the language and style.

This is clearly confirmed by the creative work on “Poor People”. Dostoevsky’s second rework seemed to satisfy him when he wrote to his brother: “I am seriously pleased with my novel. This is a strict and harmonious thing,” but the writer immediately adds: “There are, however, terrible shortcomings.”

The exacting reworking of the first novel is not only a search for its perfect form, but also the beginning of a creative biography of the future great writer, who already anticipates the way of the cross in Russian literature and tragic fate. Dostoevsky looked at each of his works, including “Poor People,” as a work on which his entire life, his entire destiny, his entire creativity depended. If we talk about “Poor People,” then added to this were complicated financial matters that threatened complete ruin, poor health and complete uncertainty of literary plans.

That is why Dostoevsky connects the question of life and death with his first work: “The fact is that I want to redeem all this with a novel. If my case fails, I may hang myself” (from a letter to his brother dated March 24, 1845). Life or death, all or nothing, to be or not to be—these were the final, ultimate questions that accompanied the birth of the great writer. And when Dostoevsky informs his brother that he is in “The Invalid”, in a feuilleton he has just read about German poets who died of hunger, cold and in insane asylums, and he is “still somehow scared,” then he binds the fate of these German poets with their own literary and life destinies in the event of failure of the first work “Poor People”.

Therefore, Dostoevsky persistently searches for a suitable artistic form. A month and a half after the second alteration, in April 1845, “Poor People” underwent a new radical and this time the last (before printing) alteration. May 4, 1845 Dostoevsky to his brother: “Until now I’ve been damn busy. This novel of mine, which I can’t get rid of, has given me such work that if I had known, I would not have started it at all. I decided to transport him again, and by God it was for the better; he almost doubled his winnings. But now it is over, and this crossing was the last. I gave my word not to touch him...”

However, the three adaptations of “Poor People” are not only a search for an adequate artistic form, but also evidence of the author’s intense spiritual work, a serious change in his worldview, which Dostoevsky confidentially lets his brother know: “I read terribly, and reading has a strange effect on me. I’ll read something I’ve re-read a long time ago and it’s as if I’m exerting myself with new strength, I delve into everything, I clearly understand and I myself gain the ability to create.<...>Brother, when it comes to literature, I am not the same person I was two years ago. It was childish and nonsense then. Two years of study brought a lot and took a lot away...”

So, Dostoevsky himself reports that during 1843-1845. it was as if he was spiritually born again. But was this spiritual turning point directly connected with the history of the creation of “Poor People”, with creative work above the first work or was it based on some fact from the biography of the writer himself? Sixteen years later, Dostoevsky, in a feuilleton, combined his work on “Poor People” with the missing fact from his biography:
“I remember once, on a winter January evening, I was hurrying from the Vyborg side to my home. I was still very young then. Approaching the Neva, I stopped for a moment and cast a piercing glance along the river into the smoky, frosty, muddy distance, which suddenly turned red with the last purple of dawn, which was burning out in the hazy sky.<...>It seemed, finally, that this whole world, with all its inhabitants, strong and weak, with all their dwellings, beggars’ shelters or gilded chambers, in this twilight hour was like a fantastic, magical dream, like a dream, which in turn would immediately disappear and steam up to the dark blue sky. Some strange thought suddenly stirred in me. I shuddered, and at that moment my heart seemed to be bathed in a hot spring of blood, suddenly boiling from a rush of a powerful, but hitherto unfamiliar sensation. It was as if I understood something at that moment, something that had only been stirring in me until now, but had not yet been comprehended; as if I had seen into something new, into a completely new world, a world unfamiliar to me and known only by some dark rumors, by some mysterious signs. I believe that from that very moment my existence began...”

This “vision on the Neva” puts an end to the romantic youth of Dostoevsky, the knightly castles in the novels of Walter Scott, the tears of delight over the poems of F. Schiller, the mysterious and fantastic tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann, dreamy friendship with the poet I.N. Shidlovsky.

Dostoevsky lived in dreams, “in fevered dreams,” alien to reality. And suddenly an insight: “I began to look and suddenly saw some strange faces. All of these were strange, wonderful, completely prosaic, not Don Carlos and Poses at all, but completely titular advisers and at the same time, as if some kind of fantastic titular advisers.<...>And then I imagined another story, in some dark corners, some titular heart, honest and pure, moral and devoted to the authorities, and with it some girl, offended and sad, and their whole story deeply tore my heart ...".

The romantic veil fell: Dostoevsky realized that there was nothing more fantastic than Russian reality. He considers this “vision on the Neva” his birth as a writer. And it is no coincidence that the birth took place in the most fantastic city in the world - St. Petersburg, just as it is no coincidence that N.V. stood at the origins of this birth. Gogol with his "Overcoat". The search for his “vision on the Neva” was, in all likelihood, connected with the three-fold remake of “Poor People”.

“Vision on the Neva” brings us close to the concept of Dostoevsky’s first work. In “Poor People” he develops a favorite theme of Russian literature of the 40s. XIX century - the theme of a small, powerless, downtrodden person, started by A.S. Pushkin in his “Station Warden” and reached its peak in the famous “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol. In the story “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol portrays the poor official Akaki Akakievich, stupid, downtrodden and dumb. At the cost of inhuman hardships, he collects money to buy new overcoat. But she is stolen from him, and he dies of despair and grief. The hero of "Poor People" Makar Devushkin is also a poor and pitiful official, he also spends his whole life rewriting papers, his colleagues mock him, and his superiors scold him. Dostoevsky turned out to be an attentive reader of Gogol's story, but at the same time the student rebels against his teacher.

L.N. Tolstoy loved to repeat the words of the artist K.P. Bryullova: “Art only begins where “a little” begins.” It would seem that young Dostoevsky only “slightly” changed “The Overcoat” by N.V. Gogol: instead of a thing (an overcoat), Dostoevsky has a living face (Varenka); a stupid creature whose highest ideal is a warm overcoat, Akaki Akakievich was replaced in “Poor People” by his touching affection, selfish love for Varenka by Makar Alekseevich, but this was a simple and ingenious change. The process of awakening personality in a little person, deep penetration into the inner world of this person, which so amazed V.G. Belinsky - this is what Dostoevsky introduced into his first novel. He watched how the humiliated and insulted creature began to recognize the human being in itself and even made a timid attempt to rebel against the division of people into rich and poor. The meeting with Varenka was the decisive impetus for Makar Devushkin to demonstrate social protest. This is exactly what I drew attention to in the article about Dostoevsky’s work “Downtrodden People.”

Dostoevsky, unlike N.V. Gogol is interested not only in the “poverty” of a poor person, but also in the consciousness of a “downtrodden” person, distorted under the influence of poverty. Dostoevsky analyzes poverty as a special state of mind person. On February 1, 1846 he: “Imagine that everyone and even Belinsky found that I had even gone far from Gogol.<...>They find in me a new, original stream (Belinsky and others), consisting in the fact that I act by Analysis, and not by Synthesis, that is, I go into the depths and, disassembling them atom by atom, find the whole. Gogol takes the whole directly and therefore is not as deep as I am...”

Makar Devushkin reads “The Overcoat” and takes everything personally. He is deeply offended by this “pashvil” and complains about it to Varenka: “And why write such a thing? And what is it for?.. But this is a malicious book, Varenka; this is simply implausible, because it cannot happen that there is such an official.”

Makar Devushkin indignantly returns the “Overcoat” to Varenka and speaks with delight about “The Station Agent”: “You read it - as if you wrote it yourself, as if, roughly speaking, my own heart, such as it is, took it, turned it inside out for people, and he described everything in detail - that’s how! No, it’s natural!”

For Dostoevsky, this is the highest sentence over The Overcoat. The aspiring writer enters into polemics with N.V. Gogol on the issue of humanism. Humanism, Dostoevsky believes, consists not only, and perhaps not so much, in pitying a poor person, but in giving him a voice, making him a judge. Dostoevsky does not recognize Akaki Akakievich as a hero devoid of self-awareness and spiritual peace. He approaches a person not from the outside - this is offensive, but from the inside. It is not the dullness of the hero under the influence of poverty that interests Dostoevsky, but his sophisticated consciousness. Makar Devushkin suffers not from poverty, like Akaki Akakievich, but from the consciousness that others see his poverty. The hero of "Poor People" drinks tea because others do; he is embarrassed by his torn boots not because he is uncomfortable walking in them - he is more worried about what others will think when they see such boots.

But physical suffering is nothing compared to the mental torment that poverty condemns. Devushkin will survive her not only as social phenomenon, but also analyzes as a special disposition of the soul, a special psychological state of a person. Poverty means defenselessness, intimidation, humiliation, it deprives a person of dignity, turns him into a “rag,” the poor man withdraws into his shame and pride, hardens his heart, becomes suspicious and “demanding.”

Makar Devushkin is the same Akaki Akakievich, endowed with self-awareness. The hero’s word about himself is where the future creator began, and “Poor People” is already the embryo of polyphony. That's why this is a novel in letters - the hero got the opportunity to talk about himself. And here too there is a polemic with N.V. Gogol, who saw the tragedy of Akaki Akakievich in the lack of self-awareness of the hero, and Makar Devushkin, on the contrary, has a hypertrophied consciousness.

Both in the hero of “The Overcoat” and in the hero “ Stationmaster“Devushkin recognizes himself. But if he completely accepts the second, then he completely rejects the first: the poor man does not need regret and sympathy at all; on the contrary, he is afraid of regret and sympathy. In “The Overcoat,” Akaki Akakievich meets with complete indifference and dies. Dostoevsky changes the situation: “their excellency,” seeing the torn button, gives the hero 100 rubles and shakes his hand.
This scene, which delighted V.G. Belinsky, has double meaning. Dostoevsky tries to soften the severity of social contradictions and, in the spirit of utopian socialism, dreams of peace and harmony between “their excellency” and Makar Devushkin. But there is a second, more deep subtext in this scene. “Their Excellency” took pity on his subordinate and gave him 100 rubles. This means that Devushkin ceased to be a poor man, but the situation did not change: the class hierarchy was preserved and the hero remained just as unhappy. Here Dostoevsky again polemicizes with N.V. Gogol: it’s not a matter of benevolent and unkind people - the social system will not change from this.

Makar Devushkin, unlike Akaki Akakievich, is not only a humiliated, downtrodden, but also a protesting person. And although Dostoevsky shows that people like Makar Devushkin have become so accustomed to their position that they themselves no longer believe in the existence of justice, the hero of “Poor People” is Dostoevsky’s first “rebel.” Combining Gogol’s theme of a poor official with the plot of “The Station Agent,” Dostoevsky created a realistic picture of social evil and social injustice from the modest psychological story of Devushkin’s love for Varenka.

It was the social pathos of “Poor People” that primarily attracted the attention of V.G. Belinsky and made Dostoevsky's first work a resounding success. Dostoevsky spoke about his sudden fame after the appearance of Poor People, about the “most delightful minute” of his entire life, when V.G. read the manuscript. Belinsky. And in 1861, the aspiring writer Ivan Petrovich recalled the same thing in Dostoevsky’s novel: “And then, finally, my novel came out. Long before his appearance, there was noise and uproar in literary world. B. was as happy as a child after reading my manuscript. No! If I was ever happy, it was not even during the first rapturous minutes of my success, but then, when I had not yet read or shown my manuscript to anyone, on those long winter nights, among enthusiastic hopes and dreams and passionate love for labor; when I got used to my fantasy, to the faces I myself created, as if they were relatives, as if they really existed; loved them, rejoiced and grieved with them, and sometimes even cried the most sincere tears over my simple hero.”

The most “solemn moment” in Dostoevsky’s life—the birth of the writer—occurred during the St. Petersburg White Nights and received the blessing of N.A. Nekrasov and V.G. Belinsky. The beginning of Dostoevsky's literary career was brilliant. But only in 1880 did he for the second time in his creative life experienced, after Pushkin’s famous speech, “the most delightful moment” of his entire life. Between these two events there are many years of misunderstanding, and the sunny days of the biography of youth were followed five years later by gloomy dungeons Peter and Paul Fortress and the horror of The House of the Dead.

Belov S.V. F.M. Dostoevsky. Encyclopedia. M.: Education, 2010. pp. 80-84.

"Poor People" is Dostoevsky's first original printed work. The author's genre subtitle is “novel.”

No manuscripts of the novel have survived, neither final nor draft. There are different opinions about the time of the writer’s idea and work on “Poor People” (the intensive period of work indicated by Dostoevsky himself - from the autumn of 1844 to May 1845). Researchers who studied the history of the creation of the novel (K.K. Istomin, A.L. Bem, I.D. Yakubovich) established many facts that contributed to intense spiritual growth young Dostoevsky and ensured the resounding readership success of his literary debut. Among these factors special meaning had the creativity of A.S. Pushkin and N.V. Gogol, under whose influence the crystallization of the concept of “Poor People” took place<...>.

V.G. Belinsky, according to P.V. Annenkov, called “Poor People” “the first attempt<...>social novel" in Russia.
The work was perceived as a masterpiece of the “Gogolian direction”, the so-called. , which turned to the life and types of the urban lower classes - “little people”. Gogol's influence was noticeable in the writing style itself, in the speech etiquette of the characters, which caused confusion and even irritation among some critics. But the most insightful of them immediately noticed that Dostoevsky went further than Gogol and even entered into polemics with him. With a “carefully written background everyday life capital" the writer is occupied not so much by everyday life as by the inner world of the characters. It is no coincidence that his style was called “psychological” or “sentimental” naturalism (the term by A. A. Grigoriev). However, this definition is not enough to understand artistic discovery, made by Dostoevsky already in his first work and which then became a distinctive feature of his entire work. This discovery was that the subject artistic analysis The writer became a person’s self-awareness, his self-determination in the world and in society. In a poor man, Dostoevsky discovered “ambition”, i.e. offended pride, wounded dignity and a thirst for self-justification, self-defense. The word “ambition”, declared by the poor people themselves, is the word “vetoshka” (old rag) - something insignificant and unclean, as the “little man” often appears to respectable gentlemen. Dostoevsky gave the poor man the right to own word about myself.

The novel is written in epistolary form - in the form of correspondence between an elderly official Makar Alekseevich Devushkin and a young “scold girl” - orphan Varenka Dobroselova. The form of the epistolary novel was developed by famous educational prose: “ New Eloise» J.J. Rousseau, “The Sorrow of Young Werther” by I.V. Goethe, “Therese and Faldoni, or Letters from Two Lovers Living in Lyon” N.J. Leonard (names of heroes last novel assigned servants in the “slum” house where Makar Alekseevich lives). In these European works, correspondence is carried out by intelligent, sophisticated characters. Genre form“Poor people” is obviously not caused by imitation of Western models or polemics with them. This form emerged from personal experience writer first of all: it was prepared by intense correspondence between Dostoevsky and his brother Mikhail and father, M.A. Dostoevsky. In letters to his father, complaints about poverty are constantly heard, and signs of “indecent” poverty are the refusal to drink tea and new boots (like Devushkin). Letters to his brother Mikhail testify to the torment of Dostoevsky’s self-determination as a person and a writer. But epistolary genre The very mental makeup of Dostoevsky’s chosen protagonist, Makar Devushkin, a dreamer with a desire to write, also demanded.

The love plot is inextricably linked with the literary one. Already in his first letter to Varenka, Makar Alekseevich tries to master the literary style, using for now the cliches of sentimental-romantic literature: “I compared you to a bird of heaven, for the joy of people and for the decoration of created nature. I immediately thought, Varenka, that we, people who live in care and worry, should also envy the carefree and innocent happiness of the birds of the sky - well, and the rest is the same, the same; that is, I made all these distant comparisons. I have one book there, Varenka, it’s the same thing, everything is described in great detail.” In the next letter, he experiments with a different style: he tries to give, in the spirit of fashionable “physiologies,” a description of his home - a corner fenced off in a common kitchen. Here, however, he violates the objectivity of the naturalistic picture, every now and then resorting to words with “look back” and “loophole”, trying to get ahead of someone else’s opinion, which is unflattering for him. Devushkin is passionate about literature. He still doesn’t know how to separate true masterpieces from literary fakes, but he knows the value of literature: “And literature is a good thing, Varenka, very good.”<...>. Deep stuff! It strengthens people’s hearts, teaches them, and - all sorts of things are written about everything in their book. Very well written! Literature is a picture, that is, in a way, a picture and a mirror; an expression of passion, such subtle criticism, a teaching for edification and a document.”

Devushkin’s love for Varenka is a high and painful feeling. The “romantic” version of lovers is immediately rejected here - Devushkin is content with fatherly care for his dear “mother.” But he needs this relationship, dreamy love transforms him: “Having recognized you, I began, firstly, to know myself better and began to love you; and before you, my little angel, I was lonely and as if I was sleeping and not living in the world. They, my villains, said that even my figure was indecent, and they abhorred me, well, and I began to abhor myself; They said that I was stupid, I really thought that I was stupid, but when you appeared to me, you illuminated my whole dark life, so that both my heart and soul were illuminated, and I found peace of mind and learned that I am no worse than others; It’s just that I don’t shine with anything, there’s no gloss, I’m not drowning, but still I’m a man, that in my heart and thoughts I’m a man.” For Devushkin, recording the very process of his love suffering becomes the primary necessity. His beloved, who lives in the same yard, invites him to visit her without embarrassment, but he prefers relationships through letters, because this gives full opportunity to the dreamy “expression of passion.” As a true dreamer, he lives by imagination; for him, his own fantasy is more valuable than reality. Writing in his life plays the same role as love - it is a means of “strengthening the heart.”

But the spiritual breakdown experienced by Devushkin also occurs from his encounter with literature - great literature, the works of Pushkin and Gogol, sent to him by Varenka. Makar Alekseevich, reading “The Station Agent” and “The Overcoat” in succession, enthusiastically perceives Pushkin’s story, seeing in the fate of Samson Vyrin a reflection of the universal fate of mankind, and reacts to “The Overcoat” as a personal hostile attack against him, Devushkin (identifying himself with Akaki Akakievich) , as a mockery and mockery of a poor person. In Gogol's story, according to S.G. Bocharov, saw himself stripped naked (as the biblical Adam saw his nakedness and shame) - in all the ugly “truth” - and rejected such a depiction of man as a “libel”. Of course, notes S.G. Bocharov, the assessment of the primitive and the “brilliant reader” (as A.L. Bem called Dostoevsky) varies. “But the primitive and the brilliant reader are here doing together their great task of reading the metatext of literature and constructing its dramatic plot.” Dostoevsky's reaction to Devushkin's "The Overcoat" reveals the insufficiency of Gogol's humanism, expressed in the very method of depicting a person. In Gogol, a person is reduced to a type - a function of the social environment, turned into a thing, and Akaki Akakievich’s dream is “an overcoat replaces another living creature.” The characters in "Poor People" are not types, but real, living people. Gogol admits that in his works he “posed” a person “against his will.” In “Poor People” a person feels, thinks, speaks of his own free will and in his own word. In a letter to his brother Mikhail, Dostoevsky lamented: “In our public there is instinct, like in any crowd, but there is no education. They don’t understand how you can write in such a style. They are accustomed to seeing the writer’s face in everything; I didn't show mine. And they have no idea that Devushkin is speaking, not me, and that Devushkin cannot say otherwise.”

Makar Devushkin’s meeting with Gogol’s “The Overcoat” is the climax of his love-literary novel and the most important moment in revealing the author's intention. The literary “libel” had such an effect on the poor man that he had a spiritual breakdown: he took to drinking, descended into scandals, even to the point of denying all literature, including Shakespeare. Ultimately, the crisis he experienced sharpened his eyes and expanded his horizons of thought. Previously, he was content with the knowledge of his usefulness as a copyist of papers - a “stationery rat” (“... and this rat brings benefits, but they hold on to this rat”). Now, wandering around Gorokhovaya, he painfully reacts to the social contrasts of the capital and comes to a significant philosophical conclusion about the harmfulness for a person of disunity, the irresponsibility of people, that everyone, rich and poor, is busy only with himself, cares only about “his boots” ( in a figurative, generalizing sense: “... that is, boots in a different manner, of a different style, but still boots”). Devushkin formulates another principle of the community of people: “...completely<...>think about yourself alone, live for yourself alone<...>Look around, don’t you see something more noble for your worries than your boots!” These words, by the way, explain why Dostoevsky took the words from the story by V.F. as the epigraph to the novel. Odoevsky’s “The Living Dead”: the author of “Poor People” referred the reader to an essay that posed the problem “ mutual responsibility» people - a question about indissoluble bond the whole life and individual actions of a person with the destinies of other people.

Devushkin’s romance with Varenka, in the language of the characters, “has no future”: he is entirely satisfied by correspondence with her (“It’s as if the Lord has blessed me with a house and a family!”); she, having survived the first severe shocks, still hopes for the possibility of “another life.”

Varenka reveals herself differently in the novel than Makar Alekseevich: not so much in letters, but in diary “notes” - memories of the past, of a bitter childhood and several happy days in her youth. She received some education (at a boarding school), and her literary abilities may seem more obvious, more noticeable than the “literaryness” of Makar Alekseevich, but its smooth writing is secondary, stylized as a sentimental example (especially in the description of nature) - Devushkin’s language, for all its clumsiness and talkativeness, is original, plastic, expressive, and by the end of the novel he finally has "syllable<...>is being formed."

The difference in attitudes determines the complex nature of their relationship: their sublime, selfless love, love “not for oneself,” is at times complicated by egoistic “deafness”: he does not perceive her requests for help when she is about to move to another apartment, especially when Bykov appears; She, preparing for the wedding, does not want to hear his complaints and lamentations, loading him with all sorts of instructions regarding her outfits, “falbala” and so on. Devushkin would like to “rewrite” the ending of the story “The Overcoat”, make everything prosperous, and take away the tragedy. But the story of the poorest Makar ends very sadly: abandoned by Varenka, who is leaving with her husband, Bykov, on his estate, in the remote, “naked” steppe, he recognizes his loneliness as a tragedy: everything that consoled him and brightened up his life is lost: “Yes ! Now, just think about it, little mother, to whom will he write letters? Who am I going to call little mother; Who am I going to call by such a kind name?<...>but it can’t possibly be that this is the last letter.”

The happiness of love and the happiness of writing ended at once - and, apparently, forever. V.G. Belinsky wrote about “Poor People”: “In general, the tragic element permeates the entire novel.”

In the novel, in addition to Devushkin and Varenka, a whole series of poor dreamers are presented: Varenka’s first beloved student Pokrovsky (it is noteworthy that the romance with him develops “under the sign of Pushkin”), his pitiful father, the unfortunate Gorshkov and his wife. These are all dreamers of the altruistic type. Their fates - both the fate of Pokrovsky and the fate of Gorshkov (just acquitted in court) - end with sudden death, destroying the hopes of those who love them.

The poor people of the novel perceive all the misfortunes that befall them as persecutions of fate. Even when Devushkin is outraged by the contrasts of luxury and poverty, his “freethinking” does not go further than resentment of the “crow-fate.” They do not murmur against God. Moreover, in all the good things that they received, they see “God’s providence.”

Criticism of the 1840s There was a wide response to Poor People; reviewers from many authoritative press organs wrote about the novel. V.G.’s assessments are fundamentally important. Belinsky and V.N. Maykov, who captured the most important and promising features of Dostoevsky’s creative method.

“Many may think,” Belinsky wrote in an article about the “Petersburg Collection,” “that in the person of Devushkin the author wanted to portray a person whose mind and abilities are crushed, flattened by life. It would be a big mistake to think so. The author's thought is much deeper and more humane; he, in the person of Makar Alekseevich, showed us how much that is beautiful, noble and holy lies in the most limited human nature.” The critic noted the original combination in Dostoevsky’s work: “To make the reader laugh and deeply shake the soul at the same time, to make him smile through his tears—what a skill, what a talent!”

V.N. Maikov raised the question of the fundamental difference between the artistic visions of Dostoevsky and Gogol: “...Gogol is primarily a social poet, and Mr. Dostoevsky is primarily psychological. For one, the individual is important as a representative of a certain society or a certain circle; for another, society itself is interesting in terms of its influence on the personality of the individual.”

Place of "Poor People" in creative heritage Dostoevsky was very accurately identified by the modern researcher V.N. Zakharov: “Makar Devushkin was the first revelation of Dostoevsky’s great idea - the idea of ​​​​the “restoration” of man, the spiritual resurrection of downtrodden and poor people, humiliated and insulted.”

Shchennikov G.K. White nights // Dostoevsky: Works, letters, documents: Dictionary-reference book. St. Petersburg, 2008, pp. 13—16.

Lifetime publications (editions):

1846 — St. Petersburg collection, published by N. Nekrasov. SPb.: Type. E. Praca, 1846. P. 1-166.

1847 - SPb.: Type. E. Praca, 1847. 181 p.

1860 — Ed. N.A. Osnovsky. M.: Type. Lazarevsky Institute of Oriental Languages, 1860. T. I. P. 3-152.

1865 — Newly reviewed and expanded edition by the author himself. Publication and property of F. Stellovsky. SPb.: Type. F. Stellovsky, 1865. T. I. S. 195-245.

1865 — Edition reviewed again by the author himself. Publication and property of F. Stellovsky. SPb.: Type. F. Stellovsky, 1865. 171 p.

The inner world of the “little man”, his experiences, problems, disappointments, but, at the same time, spiritual development, moral purity- this is what worries Fyodor Mikhailovich, who raised the topic of personality transformation in difficult life circumstances. Returning self-respect through helping another disadvantaged creature, maintaining personal integrity in spite of adversity - the correspondence of two not very happy people makes you think about this.

History of creation

In the spring of 1845, editing of the text continues, and final amendments are made. The manuscript is ready in early May. Grigorovich, Nekrasov and Belinsky were the first readers, and already in January 1846, the “Petersburg Collection” introduced the novel to the general public. A separate edition was published in 1847.

Stylistic changes were added by Dostoevsky later, when preparing collected works of his works.

Researchers of the writer’s work believe that many of the characters in “Poor People” had prototypes.

Analysis of the work

Description of the work

A poor official decides to help a distant relative who is in a difficult situation. He doesn't regret anything for her own funds, no time, no kind advice, no kind words. Varya gratefully accepts the help, responding with warmth and cordiality. In the relationship between two disadvantaged people, who have become a support for each other, best sides both.

In the finale, Varvara decides to marry the unloved landowner Bykov in order to gain social status and financial well-being.

Main characters

There are two central characters in the novel: the lonely Makar Devushkin and the young orphan Varenka Dobroselova. The revelation of their characters, characteristics and shortcomings, outlook on life, motives for actions occurs gradually, from letter to letter.

Makar is 47 years old, 30 of which he has been doing unimportant work for a meager salary. His service gives him neither moral satisfaction nor the respect of his colleagues. Devushkin has high ambitions, he is not confident in himself and is dependent on public opinion. Unsuccessful attempts to create a prestigious image in the eyes of others further lower the self-esteem of the titular adviser. But under the shyness and uncertainty of the main character, there is a big heart: having met a girl in need, he rents a place for her, tries to help financially, and shares his warmth. Taking a sincere part in Varya’s fate, feeling his importance, Devushkin grows in his own eyes.

Varvara Dobroselova, who lost her relatives, faced with meanness and betrayal, also reaches out with all her soul to good man sent to her by fate. Confiding the details of her life to her interlocutor, Varya, in turn, treats the official’s complaints with sympathy and cordiality and supports him morally. But, unlike Makar, the girl is more pragmatic, has determination and inner strength.

(Scene from the play "Poor People" Theater of Young Spectators named after A.A. Bryantseva, St. Petersburg)

The format of the novel in letters, presented by Dostoevsky, has a distinctive feature: we hear the direct speech of the characters, their attitude to the surrounding reality, their own assessment of the events taking place, while the author’s subjective opinion is absent. The reader is invited to understand the situation for himself and draw conclusions regarding the characters’ characters and actions. We are seeing the development of two storylines. The identity of the characters' patronymics hints at the similarity of their destinies. At the same time, if Dobroselova remains at the same level throughout the narrative, then Devushkin grows spiritually and is transformed.

Lack of money and adversity did not destroy the most important thing in the soul of the “little man” - the ability to compassion and mercy. Increased self-esteem, awakening self-awareness leads to a rethinking of one’s life and the life around us.

Makar Alekseevich Devushkin is a titular councilor forty-seven years old, copying papers for a small salary in one of the St. Petersburg departments. He had just moved to a new apartment in a “main” building near Fontanka. Along the long corridor are the doors of rooms for residents; the hero himself huddles behind a partition in the common kitchen. His previous housing was “incomparably better,” but now the main thing for Devushkin is cheapness, because in the same courtyard he rents a more comfortable and expensive apartment for his distant relative Varvara Alekseevna Dobroselova.

A poor official takes under his protection a seventeen-year-old orphan, for whom there is no one but him to intercede. Living nearby, they rarely see each other, as Makar Alekseevich is afraid of gossip. However, both need warmth and sympathy, which they draw from almost daily correspondence with each other. The history of the relationship between Makar and Varenka is revealed in thirty-one - his and twenty-four - her letters, written from April 8 to September 30, 184... Makar’s first letter is permeated with the happiness of finding heartfelt affection: “... spring, so are thoughts everything is so pleasant, sharp, intricate, and tender dreams come..." Denying himself food and clothes, he saves money for flowers and sweets for his "angel."

Varenka is angry with the patron for excessive expenses, and cools his ardor with irony: “only poems are missing.” “Fatherly affection animated me, the only pure fatherly affection...” - Makar is embarrassed.

Varya persuades her friend to come to her more often: “Who cares?” She takes home work - sewing.

In subsequent letters, Devushkin describes in detail his home - “Noah’s Ark” due to the abundance of a motley audience - with a “rotten, pungently sweet smell” in which “the little siskins are dying.” He draws portraits of his neighbors: the card player midshipman, the petty writer Ratazyaev, the poor official without a job, Gorshkov and his family. The hostess is a “real witch.” He is ashamed that he is bad, he writes stupidly - “there is no syllable”: after all, he studied “not even with copper money.”

Varenka shares her anxiety: Anna Fedorovna “finds out” about her, distant relative. Previously, Varya and her mother lived in her house, and then, supposedly to cover their expenses, the “benefactor” offered the girl, who was orphaned by that time, to the rich landowner Bykov, who dishonored her. Only Makar’s help saves the defenseless from final “death.” If only the pimp and Bykov didn’t find out her address! The poor thing falls ill from fear and lies unconscious for almost a month. Makar is nearby all this time. To get his little one back on his feet, he sells a new uniform. By June, Varenka recovers and sends notes to her caring friend with the story of her life.

Her happy childhood passed in family of origin in the lap of rural nature. When my father lost his position as manager of the estate of Prince P-go, they came to St. Petersburg - “rotten,” “angry,” “sad.” Constant failures drove my father to his grave. The house was sold for debts. Fourteen-year-old Varya and her mother were left homeless and homeless. It was then that Anna Fedorovna took them in, and soon began to reproach the widow. She worked beyond her strength, ruining her poor health for the sake of a piece of bread. Whole year Varya studied with a former student, Pyotr Pokrovsky, who lived in the same house. She was surprised in “the kindest, most worthy man, the best of all,” by the strange disrespect for the old father, who often visited his adored son. He was a bitter drunkard, once a petty official. Peter's mother, a young beauty, was married to him with a rich dowry by the landowner Bykov. Soon she died. The widower remarried. Peter grew up separately, under the patronage of Bykov, who placed the young man, who left the university for health reasons, “to live” with his “short acquaintance” Anna Fedorovna.

Joint vigils at the bedside of Varya’s sick mother brought the young people closer together. An educated friend taught the girl to read and developed her taste. However, Pokrovsky soon fell ill and died of consumption. The hostess took all the deceased's belongings to pay for the funeral. The old father took as many books from her as he could and stuffed them into her pockets, hat, etc. It started to rain. The old man ran, crying, behind the cart with the coffin, and books fell from his pockets into the mud. He picked them up and ran after them again... Varya, in anguish, returned home to her mother, who was also soon taken away by death...

Devushkin responds with a story about own life. He has been serving for thirty years. “Smirnenky”, “quiet” and “kind”, he became the subject of constant ridicule: “Makar Alekseevich was introduced into the proverb in our whole department”, “...they got to the boots, to the uniform, to the hair, to my figure: they didn’t According to them, everything needs to be redone! The hero is indignant: “Well, what’s wrong with rewriting it! Is it a sin to rewrite, or what?” The only joy is Varenka: “It’s as if the Lord blessed me with a house and a family!”

On June 10, Devushkin takes his ward for a walk to the islands. She's happy. Naive Makar is delighted with Ratazyaev’s writings. Varenka notes the bad taste and pomposity of “Italian Passions”, “Ermak and Zuleika”, etc.

Realizing how unbearable it is for Devushkin to take care of himself materially (he behaved so much that he arouses contempt even among the servants and watchmen), the sick Varenka wants to get a job as a governess. Makar is against: its “usefulness” lies in its “beneficial” influence on his life. He stands up for Ratazyaev, but after reading Pushkin’s “Station Warden,” sent by Varya, he is shocked: “I feel the same thing, just like in the book.” Vyrina tries on fate for herself and asks her “native” not to leave, not to “ruin” him. July 6 Varenka sends Gogol’s “The Overcoat” to Makar; that same evening they visit the theater.

If Pushkin's story elevated Devushkin in his own eyes, then Gogol's story offended him. Identifying himself with Bashmachkin, he believes that the author spied on all the little details of his life and unceremoniously made them public. The hero’s dignity is hurt: “after this you have to complain...”

By the beginning of July, Makar had spent everything. The only thing worse than lack of money is the ridicule of the tenants at him and Varenka. But the worst thing is that a “seeker” officer, one of her former neighbors, comes to her with an “undignified offer.” In despair, the poor man started drinking and disappeared for four days, missing service. I went to shame the offender, but was thrown down the stairs.

Varya consoles her protector and asks, despite the gossip, to come to her for dinner.

Since the beginning of August, Devushkin has been trying in vain to borrow money at interest, especially necessary in view of a new misfortune: the other day another “seeker” came to Varenka, directed by Anna Fedorovna, who herself will soon visit the girl. We need to move urgently. Makar starts drinking again out of helplessness. “For my sake, my darling, don’t ruin yourself and don’t ruin me,” the unfortunate woman begs him, sending her last “thirty kopecks in silver.” The encouraged poor man explains his “fall”: “how he lost respect for himself, how he indulged in denying his good qualities and his dignity, so here you are all lost!” Varya gives Makar self-respect: people “disgusted” him, “and I began to disdain myself, and you illuminated my whole dark life, and I learned that I was no worse than others; that I just don’t shine with anything, there’s no gloss, I’m not drowning, but still I’m a man, that in my heart and thoughts I’m a man.”

Varenka’s health is deteriorating, she is no longer able to sew. Anxious, Makar goes out on a September evening to the Fontanka embankment. Dirt, disorder, drunks - “boring”! And on neighboring Gorokhovaya there are rich shops, luxurious carriages, elegant ladies. The walker falls into “freethinking”: if work is the basis of human dignity, then why are so many idlers well-fed? Happiness is not given according to merit - therefore the rich should not be deaf to the complaints of the poor. Makar is a little proud of his reasoning and notes that “his syllable has been forming recently.” On September 9, luck smiled on Devushkin: summoned for a “scolding” to the general for a mistake in a paper, the humble and pitiful official received the sympathy of “His Excellency” and received one hundred rubles from him personally. This is a real salvation: we paid for the apartment, the table, the clothes. Devushkin is depressed by his boss’s generosity and reproaches himself for his recent “liberal” thoughts. Reading "Northern Bee". Full of hope for the future.

Meanwhile, Bykov finds out about Varenka and on September 20 comes to woo her. His goal is to have legitimate children in order to disinherit his “worthless nephew.” If Varya is against it, he will marry a Moscow merchant's wife. Despite the unceremoniousness and rudeness of the offer, the girl agrees: “If anyone can restore my good name, turn poverty away from me, it’s only him.” Makar dissuades: “Your heart will be cold!” Having fallen ill from grief, he still last day shares her efforts in getting ready for the trip.

September 30 - wedding. On the same day, on the eve of leaving for Bykov’s estate, Varenka writes a farewell letter to an old friend: “Who will you stay with here, kind, priceless, the only one!”

The answer is full of despair: “I worked, and wrote papers, and walked, and walked, all because you, on the contrary, lived nearby.” Who now needs his formed “syllable”, his letters, himself? “By what right” do they destroy “human life”?