Two months before the start of work, I wrote the novel “What is to be done?” Chernyshevsky, sharing his literary plans with his wife, wrote that he had finally thought through the plans for the works that he had long dreamed of: the multi-volume “History of the Material and Mental Life of Mankind,” then the “Critical Dictionary of Ideas and Facts,” where “all thoughts will be sorted out and sorted out.” about all important things, and in every case the true point of view will be indicated.” Further, on the basis of these two works, he will compile the “Encyclopedia of Knowledge and Life” - “this will be a small extract, two or three volumes, written in such a way that it will be understandable not only to scientists, but to the entire public.
Then I will rework the same book in the lightest, most popular spirit, in the form of almost a novel with anecdotes, scenes, witticisms, so that everyone who reads nothing but novels can read it.”
The manuscript was sent from the fortress in parts. This decision of Chernyshevsky was subtle and cunning. Looking at excerpts is one thing, looking at the novel as a whole is another.
Work on the novel began in the fifth month of his stay in the fortress - December 14, 1862, in memorable date associated with the Decembrist uprising against the autocracy. He wrote the novel in the intervals between interrogations, hunger strikes, writing protest letters to the commandant of the fortress Sorokin, Governor General Suvorov, etc.
- On January 26, 1863, the beginning of the manuscript of the novel was sent from the fortress to the chief police officer for transfer to Chernyshevsky’s cousin A.N. Pypin with the right to print it “in compliance with the rules established for censorship.” The manuscript came from Pypin to Nekrasov; without waiting for the novel to be finished, he decided to start publishing it in Sovremennik. He himself took the manuscript to Wulf's printing house, which was located not far from his apartment - on Liteinaya, near Nevsky, but unexpectedly quickly returned home from the road.
- “A great misfortune happened to me,” Nekrasov said to his wife in an excited voice: “I dropped the manuscript!.. And the devil carried me away today by leaps and bounds, and not in a carriage!” And how many times before have I carried a lot of manuscripts in vans to different printing houses and never lost a piece of paper, but here it’s too close and I couldn’t deliver a thick manuscript!.. Four days passed... An announcement about the loss of a manuscript appeared three times in the “Police Gazette,” but no didn't respond.
- “That means she died!” Nekrasov said in despair and reproached himself for why he didn’t publish an advertisement in all the newspapers and set an even greater reward. And only on the fifth day Nekrasov, who was having lunch at the English Club, received from home a short note: “The manuscript was brought...”
The novel was being written from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863 . The writer realizes in the lines of the novel a dream that had previously been embodied in serious theoretical articles, accessible only to people well prepared for such reading. He strives to introduce the general reader to his ideas and even encourage them to active action. A hastily written work, with almost no hope of publication, suffers from many artistic miscalculations and elementary shortcomings and yet serves as a convincing document of the era.
home story line novel (“First love and legal marriage”, “Marriage and second love”, that is, the story of Lopukhov - Kirsanov - Vera) partially reflected true story, which is usually associated with Chernyshevsky’s work. Its essence boils down to the following:
Doctor P.I. Bokov, one of Chernyshevsky’s close friends, prepared Marya Aleksandrovna Obrucheva for the exam during his student years. Under the influence of socialist ideas, gleaned from Chernyshevsky’s articles in Sovremennik, Marya Alexandrovna strove for independence, knowledge, and liberation from the heavy tutelage of her family. A native of peasants, Bokov, like Lopukhov, proposed a fictitious marriage to his student. In 1861, Marya Alexandrovna listened to lectures by the famous physiologist I.M. Sechenov, who was beginning his scientific career. The latter met the Bokovs and became close to them. Between Bokova and Sechenov, friendship turned into love, and P.I. Bokov withdrew, maintaining friendly relations with both.
In the black version of Part XVII, Chapter V, Chernyshevsky himself indicates that everything “essential in his story is the facts experienced by his good friends.”
Nikolai Chernyshevsky
What to do?
Dedicated to my friend O.S.Ch.
I
Fool
On the morning of July 11, 1856, the servants of one of the large St. Petersburg hotels near the Moskovskaya station railway I was perplexed, and partly even alarmed. The day before, at nine o'clock in the evening, a gentleman arrived with a suitcase, took a room, gave his passport for registration, asked for tea and a cutlet, said that he should not be disturbed in the evening, because he was tired and wanted to sleep, but that tomorrow they would certainly wake him up at eight o'clock, because he had urgent business, he locked the door of the room and, making noise with a knife and fork, making noise with the tea set, soon became quiet - apparently, he fell asleep. The morning has come; at eight o'clock the servant knocked on the door of yesterday's visitor - the visitor did not speak; the servant knocked harder, very hard - the newcomer still did not answer. Apparently, he was very tired. The servant waited a quarter of an hour, tried to wake him up again, but again he didn’t wake him up. He began to consult with other servants, with the barman. “Did something happen to him?” - “We need to break down the doors.” - “No, that’s not good: you have to break down the door with the police.” We decided to try to wake him up again, harder; If he doesn’t wake up here, send for the police. We made the last test; didn’t get it; They sent for the police and are now waiting to see what they see with them.
Around ten o'clock in the morning a police official came, knocked himself, ordered the servants to knock - the success was the same as before. “There’s nothing to do, break down the door, guys.”
The door was broken down. The room is empty. “Look under the bed” - and there is no passer-by under the bed. The police official approached the table; there was a sheet of paper on the table, and on it was written in large letters:
“I leave at 11 o’clock in the evening and won’t come back. They will hear me on the Liteiny Bridge, between 2 and 3 am. Don’t have any suspicions about anyone.”
“So this is it, the thing is clear now, otherwise they couldn’t figure it out,” said the police official.
- What is it, Ivan Afanasyevich? - asked the barman.
- Let's have some tea, I'll tell you.
The story of the police official was for a long time the subject of animated retellings and discussions in the hotel. This is what the story was like.
At half past three in the morning - and the night was cloudy and dark - a fire flashed in the middle of the Liteiny Bridge, and a pistol shot was heard. The guards rushed to the shot, a few passers-by came running - there was no one and nothing at the place where the shot was heard. This means he didn’t shoot, but shot himself. There were hunters to dive, after a while they brought in hooks, they even brought some kind of fishing net, they dived, groped, caught, caught fifty large chips, but the bodies were not found or caught. And how to find it? - the night is dark. In these two hours it’s already at the seaside—go and look there. Therefore, progressives arose who rejected the previous assumption: “Perhaps there was no body? maybe he was drunk or just a mischievous person, fooling around, shot and ran away, or else, perhaps, he stood right there in the bustling crowd and laughed at the alarm he had caused.”
But the majority, as always when reasoning prudently, turned out to be conservative and defended the old: “What a fool - he put a bullet in his forehead, and that’s all.” The progressives were defeated. But the winning party, as always, split up immediately after the victory. Shot himself, yes; but why? “Drunk,” was the opinion of some conservatives; “squandered,” other conservatives argued. “Just a fool,” someone said. Everyone agreed on this “just a fool,” even those who denied that he shot himself. Indeed, whether he was drunk, or wasted, shot himself, or was a mischievous person, he didn’t shoot himself at all, but just threw something away - it doesn’t matter, it’s a stupid, stupid thing.
This was the end of the matter on the bridge at night. In the morning, in a hotel near the Moscow railway, it was discovered that the fool was not fooling around, but had shot himself. But as a result of history, there remained an element with which the vanquished agreed, namely, that even if he did not fool around and shot himself, he was still a fool. This result, satisfactory for everyone, was especially lasting precisely because the conservatives triumphed: in fact, if he had only fooled around with a shot on the bridge, then, in essence, it would still be doubtful whether he was a fool or just a mischief-maker. But he shot himself on the bridge - who shoots on the bridge? how is it on the bridge? why on the bridge? stupid on the bridge! - and therefore, undoubtedly, a fool.
Again some doubts arose: he shot himself on the bridge; They don’t shoot on the bridge, therefore, but he shot himself. But in the evening, the hotel servants were called to the unit to look at the bullet-ridden cap that had been pulled out of the water - everyone recognized that the cap was the same one that was on the road. So, he undoubtedly shot himself, and the spirit of denial and progress was completely defeated.
Everyone agreed that he was a “fool,” and suddenly everyone started talking: there’s a clever thing on the bridge! This means that you don’t have to suffer for a long time if you don’t manage to shoot well - he thought wisely! from any wound he will fall into the water and choke before he comes to his senses - yes, on the bridge... smart!
Now it was absolutely impossible to make out anything - both the fool and the smart one.
His novel “What to do?” The famous Russian writer Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky created it during the period when he was imprisoned in one of the cells of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The novel was written from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863, that is, the work, which became a masterpiece of Russian literature, was created in just three and a half months. Already starting in January 1863 and until the author’s final stay in custody, he transferred the manuscript in parts to the commission that dealt with the writer’s case. Here the work was censored, which was approved. Soon the novel was published in the 3rd, 4th and 5th issues of the Sovremennik magazine for 1863. For such an oversight, censor Beketov lost his position. This was followed by bans on all three issues of the magazine. However, it was already too late. Chernyshevsky’s work was distributed throughout the country with the help of “samizdat”.
And only in 1905, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, the ban was lifted. Already in 1906, the book “What is to be done?” published in a separate edition.
Who are the new heroes?
The reaction to Chernyshevsky's work was ambiguous. Readers, based on their opinions, were divided into two opposing camps. Some of them believed that the novel lacked artistry. The latter fully supported the author.
However, it is worth remembering that before Chernyshevsky, writers created images of “ extra people" A striking example of such heroes are Pechorin, Oblomov and Onegin, who, despite their differences, are similar in their “smart uselessness.” These people, “pygmies of deeds and titans of words,” were divided natures, suffering from a constant discord between will and consciousness, deed and thought. Besides this, their characteristic feature served as moral exhaustion.
This is not how Chernyshevsky imagines his heroes. He created images of “new people” who know what they need to desire and are also capable of realizing their own plans. Their thoughts go hand in hand with their deeds. Their consciousness and will are not at odds with each other. The heroes of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What to do?” are presented as bearers of new morality and creators of new interpersonal relationships. They deserve the author's main attention. It’s not for nothing that even a summary of the chapters “What to do?” allows us to see that by the end of the second of them the author “releases from the stage” such representatives of the old world - Marya Alekseevna, Storeshnikov, Serge, Julie and some others.
The main issue of the essay
Even a very brief summary of “What to do?” gives an idea of the issues that the author raises in his book. And they are as follows:
- The need for socio-political renewal of society, which is possible through a revolution. Due to censorship, Chernyshevsky did not expand on this topic in more detail. He gave it in the form of half-hints when describing the life of one of the main characters, Rakhmetov, as well as in the 6th chapter.
- Psychological and moral problems. Chernyshevsky claims that a person, using the power of his mind, is able to create in himself new, given by him moral qualities. At the same time, the author develops this process, describing it from the small, in the form of the fight against despotism in the family, to the most large-scale, which found expression in the revolution.
- Problems of family morality and women's emancipation. This topic the author reveals in Vera's first three dreams, in the history of her family, as well as in the relationships of young people and Lopukhov's imaginary suicide.
- Dreams of bright and have a wonderful life, which will occur with the creation of a socialist society in the future. Chernyshevsky illuminates this topic thanks to Vera Pavlovna’s fourth dream. The reader also sees here easier work, which became possible thanks to the development of technical means.
The main pathos of the novel is the propaganda of the idea of transforming the world through revolution, as well as its anticipation and preparation of the best minds for this event. At the same time, the idea of active participation in upcoming events is expressed.
Which main goal Chernyshevsky set himself? He dreamed of developing and implementing the latest techniques, allowing for the revolutionary education of the masses. His work was supposed to be a kind of textbook, with the help of which every thinking person would begin to form a new worldview.
The entire content of the novel “What to do?” Chernyshevsky is divided into six chapters. Moreover, each of them, except the last one, is further divided into small chapters. In order to emphasize the special importance of the final events, the author speaks about them separately. For this purpose, the content of the novel “What to do?” Chernyshevsky included a one-page chapter entitled “Change of scenery.”
The beginning of the story
Let's look at the summary of Chernyshevsky's novel “What is to be done?” Its plot begins with a note found, which was left in one of the hotel rooms in St. Petersburg by a strange guest. This happened in 1823, on July 11. The note reports that soon its author will be heard on one of the bridges in St. Petersburg - Liteiny. At the same time, the man asked not to look for the guilty. The incident happened that same night. A man shot himself on Liteiny Bridge. A holey cap that belonged to him was fished out of the water.
Below is a summary of the novel “What to do?” introduces us to a young lady. On the morning when the event described above happened, she was at the dacha located on Kamenny Island. The lady sews while humming a bold and lively French song, which talks about working people, whose liberation will require a change of consciousness. This woman's name is Vera Pavlovna. At this moment, the maid brings the lady a letter, after reading which she begins to sob, covering her face with her hands. A young man entering the room makes attempts to calm her down. However, the woman is inconsolable. She pushes away young man. At the same time, she says: “His blood is on you! You're covered in blood! I am the only one to blame...”
What did the letter that Vera Pavlovna received say? We can learn about this from the presented summary of “What to do?”. In his message, the writer indicated that he was leaving the stage.
The appearance of Lopukhov
What next do we learn from the summary of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” After the events described, there follows a story telling about Vera Pavlovna, her life, as well as the reasons that led to such a sad outcome.
The author says that his heroine was born in St. Petersburg. This is where she grew up. The lady's father, Pavel Konstantinovich Vozalsky, was the manager of the house. The mother was busy giving money as bail. The main goal of Marya Alekseevna (Vera Pavlovna’s mother) was to have a profitable marriage for her daughter. And she made every effort to resolve this issue. The evil and narrow-minded Marya Alekseevna invites a music teacher to her daughter. Buys Vera beautiful clothes, goes to the theater with her. Soon to dark skin beautiful girl the owner's son, officer Storeshnikov, draws attention. The young man decides to seduce Vera.
Marya Alekseevna hopes to force Storeshnikov to marry her daughter. To do this, she demands that Vera show favor to the young man. However, the girl understands perfectly well the true intentions of her boyfriend and in every possible way refuses signs of attention. Somehow she even manages to mislead her mother. She pretends to be favorable to the ladies' man. But sooner or later the deception will be revealed. This makes Vera Pavlovna's position in the house simply unbearable. However, everything was suddenly resolved, and in the most unexpected way.
Dmitry Sergeevich Lopukhov appeared in the house. This final year medical student was invited by Verochka’s parents to her brother Fedya as a teacher. At first, the young people treated each other very warily. However, then their communication began to flow in conversations about music and books, as well as about the fair direction of thoughts.
Time has passed. Vera and Dmitry felt sympathy for each other. Lopukhov learns about the girl’s plight and makes attempts to help her. He is looking for a position as a governess for Verochka. Such work would allow the girl to live separately from her parents.
However, all Lopukhov's efforts were unsuccessful. He could not find owners who would agree to take in a girl who had run away from home. Then the young man in love takes another step. He leaves his studies and begins translating textbooks and giving private lessons. This allows him to start receiving sufficient funds. At the same time, Dmitry proposes to Vera.
First dream
Vera has her first dream. In him she sees herself emerging from the dark and damp basement and met an amazing beauty who calls herself a love for people. Verochka talks to her and promises to release girls from such basements who are locked in them, just as she was locked.
Family well-being
Young people live in a rented apartment, and everything is going well for them. However, the landlady notices oddities in their relationship. Verochka and Dmitry call each other only “darling” and “darling”, they sleep in separate rooms, entering them only after knocking, etc. All this surprises an outsider. Verochka tries to explain to the woman that this is a completely normal relationship between spouses. After all, this is the only way to avoid getting bored of each other.
The young wife runs the household, gives private lessons, and reads books. Soon she opens her own sewing workshop, in which the girls are self-employed and receive part of the income as co-owners.
Second dream
What else will we learn from the summary of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” As the plot progresses, the author introduces us to Vera Pavlovna’s second dream. In it she sees a field with ears of corn growing on it. There is also dirt here. Moreover, one of them is fantastic, and the second is real.
Real dirt means taking care of what is most necessary in life. This is exactly what Marya Alekseevna was constantly burdened with. This is how you can grow ears of corn. Fantastic dirt represents concern for the unnecessary and superfluous. Ears of corn will never grow on such soil.
The emergence of a new hero
The author shows Kirsanov as a strong-willed and courageous person, capable not only of decisive action, but also of subtle feelings. Alexander spends time with Vera when Dmitry is busy. He goes to the opera with his friend's wife. However, soon, without explaining any reasons, Kirsanov stops coming to the Lopukhovs, which greatly offends them. What appeared the real reason this? Kirsanov's falling in love with a friend's wife.
The young man reappeared in the house when Dmitry fell ill in order to cure him and help Vera with her care. And here the woman realizes that she is in love with Alexander, which is why she becomes completely confused.
Third dream
From the summary of the work “What to do?” we learn that Vera Pavlovna is having a third dream. In it, she reads the pages of her diary with the help of some unfamiliar woman. From it she learns that she feels only gratitude towards her husband. However, at the same time, Vera needs a tender and quiet feeling, which she does not have for Dmitry.
Solution
The situation in which three decent and smart people, at first glance seems insoluble. But Lopukhov finds a way out. He shoots himself on the Liteiny Bridge. On the day that Vera Pavlovna received this news, Rakhmetov came to her. This old acquaintance of Lopukhov and Kirsanov, who is called “ special person».
Meeting Rakhmetov
In the summary of the novel “What to Do,” the “special person” Rakhmetov is presented by the author as a “higher nature,” which Kirsanov helped awaken in his time by introducing him to the right books. The young man comes from a wealthy family. He sold his estate and distributed the proceeds to scholarship holders. Now Rakhmetov adheres to a harsh lifestyle. Part of what prompted him to do this was his reluctance to possess what he did not have. common man. In addition, Rakhmetov set as his goal the education of his own character. For example, to test his physical capabilities, he decides to sleep on nails. In addition, he does not drink wine and does not date women. In order to get closer to the people, Rakhmetov even walked with barge haulers along the Volga.
What else is said about this hero in Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” Summary makes it clear that Rakhmetov’s whole life consists of sacraments that have a clearly revolutionary meaning. The young man has many things to do, but none of them are personal. He travels around Europe, but in three years he is going to Russia, where he will definitely need to be.
It was Rakhmetov who came to Vera Pavlovna after receiving a note from Lopukhov. After his persuasion, she calmed down and even became cheerful. Rakhmetov explains that Vera Pavlovna and Lopukhov had very different tempers. That is why the woman reached out to Kirsanov. Soon Vera Pavlovna left for Novgorod. There she married Kirsanov.
The dissimilarity between the characters of Verochka and Lopukhov was also mentioned in a letter that soon arrived from Berlin. In this message, some medical student, who supposedly knew Lopukhov well, conveyed Dmitry’s words that he began to feel much better after the separation of the spouses, since he had always strived for privacy. And this is precisely what the sociable Vera Pavlovna did not allow him to do.
Life of the Kirsanovs
What next does the novel “What to do?” tell its reader? Nikolai Chernyshevsky? A brief summary of the work allows us to understand that the love affairs of the young couple worked out well to everyone’s satisfaction. The Kirsanovs’ lifestyle is not much different from that of the Lopukhov family.
Alexander works a lot. As for Vera Pavlovna, she takes baths, eats cream and is already engaged in two sewing workshops. The house, as before, has neutral and common rooms. However, the woman notices that she new spouse not just allows her to lead the lifestyle she likes. He is interested in her affairs and is ready to help in difficult times. In addition, her husband perfectly understands her desire to master some urgent activity and begins to help her in studying medicine.
Fourth dream
Having briefly become acquainted with Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?”, we move on to the continuation of the plot. It tells us about Vera Pavlovna's fourth dream, in which she sees amazing nature and pictures from the lives of women from different millennia.
First, the image of a slave appears before her. This woman obeys her master. After this, Vera sees the Athenians in a dream. They begin to worship the woman, but at the same time they do not recognize her as their equal. Then the following image appears. This beautiful lady, for which the knight is ready to fight in the tournament. However, his love immediately passes after the lady becomes his wife. Then, instead of the goddess’s face, Vera Pavlovna sees her own. It is not distinguished by perfect features, but at the same time it is illuminated by the radiance of love. And here the woman who was in the first dream appears. She explains to Vera the meaning of equality and shows pictures of citizens future Russia. They all live in a house built of crystal, cast iron and aluminum. These people work in the morning and start having fun in the evening. The woman explains that this future must be loved and strived for.
Completion of the story
How does N. G. Chernyshevsky’s novel “What to do?” end? The author tells his reader that guests often come to the Kirsanovs’ house. The Beaumont family soon appears among them. When meeting Charles Beaumont, Kirsanov recognizes him as Lopukhov. The two families become so close to each other that they decide to continue living in the same house.
gg., during imprisonment in the Peter and Paul Fortress of St. Petersburg. It was written partly in response to Ivan Turgenev’s work “Fathers and Sons”.
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Chernyshevsky wrote the novel while in solitary confinement in the Alekseevsky Ravelin of the Peter and Paul Fortress, from December 14, 1862 to April 4, 1863. Since January 1863, the manuscript has been transferred in parts to the investigative commission in the Chernyshevsky case (the last part was transferred on April 6). The commission, and after it the censors, saw in the novel only love line and gave permission to publish. The censorship oversight was soon noticed, and the responsible censor, Beketov, was removed from office. However, the novel had already been published in the magazine Sovremennik (1863, No. 3-5). Despite the fact that the issues of Sovremennik, in which the novel “What is to be done?” were published, were banned, the text of the novel in handwritten copies was distributed throughout the country and caused a lot of imitations.
“They talked about Chernyshevsky’s novel not in a whisper, not in a low voice, but at the top of their lungs in the halls, on the porches, at Madame Milbret’s table and in the basement pub of the Stenbokov Passage. They shouted: “disgusting,” “charming,” “abomination,” etc. - all in different tones.”
“For Russian youth of that time, it [the book “What is to be done?”] was a kind of revelation and turned into a program, became a kind of banner.”
The emphatically entertaining, adventurous, melodramatic beginning of the novel was supposed to not only confuse the censors, but also attract a wide mass of readers. The external plot of the novel is love story, however, it reflects new economic, philosophical and social ideas of the time. The novel is permeated with hints of the coming revolution.
L. Yu. Brik recalled
The novel “What to do? "was written in record time, less than 4 months, and published in the spring issues of the Sovremennik magazine for 1863. It appeared at the height of the controversy surrounding I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons.” Chernyshevsky conceived his work, which has a very significant subtitle “From Stories about New People,” as a direct response to Turgenev on behalf of “ younger generation" At the same time, in the novel “What to do? “Chernyshevsky’s aesthetic theory found its real embodiment. Therefore, we can assume that a work of art was created, which was supposed to serve as a kind of tool for “remaking” reality.
“I am a scientist... I am one of those thinkers who adhere to a scientific point of view,” Chernyshevsky once remarked. From this point of view, that of a “scientist” and not an artist, he proposed in his novel a model of an ideal way of life. It’s as if he doesn’t bother searching for an original plot, but almost directly borrows it from George Sand. Although, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the events in the novel acquired sufficient complexity.
A certain young lady from the capital does not want to marry a rich man and is ready to go against the will of her mother. The girl is saved from a hated marriage by medical student Lopukhov, the teacher of her younger brother. But he saves her in a rather original way: first he “develops her” by giving her relevant books to read, and then he marries her in a fictitious marriage. At the heart of them life together- freedom, equality and independence of spouses, manifested in everything: in the way of home, in housekeeping, in the activities of spouses. So, Lopukhov serves as a manager at the factory, and Vera Pavlovna creates a sewing workshop “in partnership” with female workers and arranges a housing commune for them. Here the plot does sharp turn: main character falls in love with best friend her husband, physician Kirsanov. Kirsanov, in turn, “saves” the prostitute Nastya Kryukova, who soon dies of consumption. Realizing that he was standing in the way of two loving people, Lopukhov “leaves the stage.” All “obstacles” are removed, Kirsanov and Vera Pavlovna are legally married. As the action progresses, it becomes clear that Lopukhov's suicide was imaginary, the hero left for America, and in the end he appears again, but under the name of Beaumont. Returning to Russia, he marries a wealthy noblewoman, Katya Polozova, whom Kirsanov saved from death. Two happy couples they start a common household and continue to live in complete harmony with each other.
However, what attracted readers to the novel was not the original twists and turns of the plot or any other artistic merits: they saw something else in it - specific program of its activities. If democratically minded youth accepted the novel as a guide to action, then official circles saw in him a threat to the existing social order. The censor, who assessed the novel after its publication (one could write a separate novel about how it was published) wrote: “... what a perversion of the idea of marriage... destroys both the idea of family and the foundations of citizenship, both directly contrary to the fundamental principles of religion, morality and public order" However, the censor did not notice the main thing: the author did not so much destroy as create new model behavior, a new economic model, a new life model.
Talking about the structure of Vera Pavlovna's workshops, he embodied a completely different relationship between the owner and workers, who are equal in their rights. In Chernyshevsky’s description, life in the workshop and the commune with her looks so attractive that similar communities immediately arose in St. Petersburg. They did not last long: their members were not ready to organize their lives on new moral principles, which, by the way, are also discussed a lot in the work. These “new beginnings” can be interpreted as a new morality of new people, as a new faith. Their life, thoughts and feelings, their relationships with each other absolutely do not coincide with those forms that developed in the “old world” and were generated by inequality, the lack of “reasonable” principles in social and family relations. And new people - Lopukhov, Kirsanov, Vera Pavlovna, Mertsalovs - strive to overcome these old forms and build their lives differently. It is based on work, respect for each other’s freedom and feelings, true equality between man and woman, that is, what, according to the author, is natural for human nature, because it is reasonable.
In the book, under the pen of Chernyshevsky, the famous theory of “reasonable egoism” is born, the theory of the benefits that a person derives for himself by committing good deeds. But this theory is accessible only to “developed natures,” which is why so much space is devoted in the novel to “development,” i.e., education, formation new personality, in Chernyshevsky’s terminology - “coming out of the basement.” And the attentive reader will see the ways of this “exit”. Follow them - and you will become a different person, and a different world will open up to you. And if you engage in self-education, then new horizons will open up for you and you will repeat Rakhmetov’s path, you will become a special person. Here is a secret, albeit utopian program, embodied in a literary text.
Chernyshevsky believed that the path to a bright and wonderful future lies through revolution. Thus, to the question posed in the title of the novel: “What to do?”, the reader received an extremely direct and clear answer: “Move to a new faith, become a new person, transform the world around you, “make a revolution.” This idea was embodied in the novel, as one of Dostoevsky’s heroes would later say, “seductively clearly.”
A bright, wonderful future is achievable and close, so close that the main character Vera Pavlovna even dreams of it. “How will people live? “- thinks Vera Pavlovna, and the “bright bride” opens up tempting prospects for her. So, the reader is in a society of the future, where work “at pleasure” reigns, where work is pleasure, where a person is in harmony with the world, with himself, with other people, with nature. But this is only the second part of the dream, and the first is a kind of journey “through” the history of mankind. But everywhere Vera Pavlovna sees pictures of love. It turns out that this is a dream not only about the future, but also about love. Once again, social and moral issues are connected in the novel.
