I.
At the end of November, during the thaw, at about nine in the morning, the Petersburg-Warsaw train railway was approaching St. Petersburg at full speed. It was so damp and foggy that it was difficult for it to dawn; ten steps away, to the right and left of the road, it was difficult to see anything from the windows of the carriage. Some of the passengers were returning from abroad; but the sections for the third class were more filled, and all with small and business people, not from very far away. Everyone, as usual, was tired, everyone’s eyes were heavy during the night, everyone was cold, everyone’s faces were pale yellow, the color of the fog.
In one of the third-class carriages, at dawn, two passengers found themselves facing each other, right next to the window - both young people, both carrying almost nothing, both not smartly dressed, both with rather remarkable physiognomies, and both finally wishing to enter each other. with a friend in conversation. If they both knew about each other, why they were especially remarkable at that moment, then, of course, they would have been surprised that chance had so strangely placed them opposite each other in the third-class carriage of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw train. One of them was short, about twenty-seven, curly and almost black-haired, with gray, small but fiery eyes. His nose was broadly flattened, his face was cheekbones; thin lips constantly folded into some kind of insolent, mocking and even evil smile; but his forehead was high and well formed and brightened up the ignoblely developed lower part of his face. Particularly noticeable in this face was his deathly pallor, which gave his whole physiognomy young man an emaciated appearance, despite a rather strong build, and at the same time something passionate, to the point of suffering, which did not harmonize with his impudent and rude smile and his sharp, self-satisfied gaze. He was warmly dressed in a wide, fleece, black, covered sheepskin coat, and did not feel cold during the night, while his neighbor was forced to endure on his shivering back all the sweetness of the damp November Russian night, for which, obviously, he was not prepared. He was wearing a rather wide and thick cloak without sleeves and with a huge hood, just like what travelers often wear in winter, somewhere far abroad, in Switzerland, or, for example, in Northern Italy, without counting, of course. , at the same time at such ends along the road as from Eidkunen to St. Petersburg. But what was suitable and completely satisfactory in Italy turned out to be not entirely suitable in Russia. The owner of the cloak with a hood was a young man, also about twenty-six or twenty-seven years old, slightly taller than average, very fair, thick hair, with sunken cheeks and a light, pointed, almost completely white beard. His eyes were large, blue and intent; in their gaze there was something quiet, but heavy, something full of it a strange expression by which some guess at first glance that a subject is suffering from epilepsy. The young man’s face, however, was pleasant, thin and dry, but colorless, and now even blue-cold. In his hands dangled a skinny bundle made of an old, faded foulard, which seemed to contain all his travel property. On his feet were thick-soled shoes with boots - everything was not in Russian. The black-haired neighbor in the covered sheepskin coat saw all this, partly because he had nothing to do, and finally asked with that indelicate smile in which people’s pleasure at the failures of their neighbor is sometimes so unceremoniously and carelessly expressed:
And he shrugged his shoulders.
“Very,” the neighbor answered with extreme readiness, “and mind you, it’s still a thaw.” What if it was frosty? I didn't even think it was so cold here. Out of habit.
From abroad or what?
Yes, from Switzerland.
Phew! Eck, you!..
The black-haired man whistled and laughed.
A conversation ensued. The readiness of the blond young man in a Swiss cloak to answer all the questions of his dark-skinned neighbor was amazing and without any suspicion of complete negligence, inappropriateness and idleness of other questions. Answering, he announced, among other things, that he had indeed not been in Russia for a long time, too much for four years, that he had been sent abroad due to illness, some strange nervous illness, something like epilepsy or Witt’s dance, some tremors and convulsions. Listening to him, the black man grinned several times; He laughed especially when, in response to the question: “Well, were they cured?” - the blond answered that “no, they weren’t cured.”
Heh! They must have overpaid the money for nothing, but we trust them here,” the black man remarked sarcastically.
The real truth! - a poorly dressed gentleman sitting nearby, something like a clerical official, about forty years old, strongly built, with a red nose and acne-stained face, got involved in the conversation: - the real truth, sir, only all Russian forces are transferred to themselves for nothing!
“Oh, how wrong you are in my case,” the Swiss patient picked up in a quiet and conciliatory voice; - Of course, I can’t argue, because I don’t know everything, but my doctor, one of his last ones, gave me money for the journey here, and supported me there for almost two years at his own expense.
Well, there was no one to pay or what? - asked the black man.
Yes, Mr. Pavlishchev, who kept me there, died two years ago; I later wrote here to Generalsha Epanchina, my distant relative, but received no answer. So that’s what I came with.
Where have you arrived?
That is, where will I stay?.. I don’t know yet, really... so...
Haven't decided yet?
And both listeners laughed again.
And perhaps your whole essence lies in this bundle? - asked the black man.
I’m willing to bet that it is so,” the red-nosed official picked up with an extremely pleased look, “and that there is no further luggage in the baggage cars, although poverty is not a vice, which again cannot be ignored.
The action of the novel takes place in St. Petersburg and Pavlovsk at the end of 1867 - beginning of 1868. Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin arrives in St. Petersburg from Switzerland. He is twenty-six years old, he is the last of a noble noble family, he was orphaned early, and fell ill with a serious illness in childhood. nervous disease and was placed by his guardian and benefactor Pavlishchev in a Swiss sanatorium. He lived there for four years and is now returning to Russia with vague but big plans to serve her. On the train, the prince meets Parfen Rogozhin, the son of a wealthy merchant, who inherited a huge fortune after his death. From him the prince first hears the name of Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the mistress of a certain rich aristocrat Totsky, with whom Rogozhin is passionately infatuated.
Upon arrival, the prince with his modest bundle goes to the house of General Epanchin, whose wife, Elizaveta Prokofievna, is a distant relative. The Epanchin family has three daughters - Sr. Alexandra, middle Adelaide and youngest, common favorite and beauty Aglaya. The prince amazes everyone with his spontaneity, trustfulness, frankness and naivety, so extraordinary that at first he is received very warily, but with increasing curiosity and sympathy. It turns out that the prince, who seemed like a simpleton, and to some even a cunning one, is very intelligent, and in some things he is truly profound, for example, when he talks about what he saw abroad. death penalty. Here the prince also meets the extremely proud secretary of the general, Ganya Ivolgin, from whom he sees a portrait of Nastasya Filippovna. Her face of dazzling beauty, proud, full of contempt and hidden suffering, strikes him to the core.
The prince also learns some details: Nastasya Filippovna’s seducer Totsky, trying to free himself from her and hatching plans to marry one of the Epanchins’ daughters, wooed her to Ganya Ivolgin, giving her seventy-five thousand as a dowry. Ganya is attracted by money. With their help, he dreams of getting out into the world and significantly increasing his capital in the future, but at the same time he is haunted by the humiliation of the situation. He would prefer a marriage with Aglaya Epanchina, with whom he may even be a little in love (although here, too, the possibility of enrichment awaits him). He expects the decisive word from her, making his further actions dependent on this. The prince becomes an involuntary mediator between Aglaya, who unexpectedly makes him her confidant, and Ganya, causing irritation and anger in him.
Meanwhile, the prince is offered to settle not just anywhere, but precisely in the apartment of the Volgins. Before the prince has time to occupy the room provided to him and become acquainted with all the inhabitants of the apartment, starting with Ganya’s relatives and ending with his sister’s fiancé, the young moneylender Ptitsyn and the master of incomprehensible occupations Ferdyshchenko, two unexpected events occur. None other than Nastasya Filippovna suddenly appears in the house, having come to invite Ganya and his loved ones to her place for the evening. She amuses herself by listening to the fantasies of General Ivolgin, which only heat up the atmosphere. Soon a noisy company appears with Rogozhin at the head, who lays out eighteen thousand in front of Nastasya Filippovna. Something like a bargaining takes place, as if with her mockingly contemptuous participation: is it her, Nastasya Filippovna, for eighteen thousand? Rogozhin is not going to retreat: no, not eighteen - forty. No, not forty - one hundred thousand!..
For Ganya’s sister and mother, what is happening is unbearably offensive: Nastasya Filippovna is a corrupt woman who should not be allowed into a decent home. For Ganya, she is a hope for enrichment. A scandal breaks out: Ganya’s indignant sister Varvara Ardalionovna spits in his face, he is about to hit her, but the prince unexpectedly stands up for her and receives a slap in the face from the enraged Ganya, “Oh, how ashamed you will be of your action!” - this phrase contains all of Prince Myshkin, all of his incomparable meekness. Even at this moment he has compassion for another, even for the offender. His next word, addressed to Nastasya Filippovna: “Are you really what you now seemed to be,” will become the key to the soul of a proud woman, deeply suffering from her shame and who fell in love with the prince for recognizing her purity.
Captivated by Nastasya Filippovna's beauty, the prince comes to her in the evening. A motley crowd gathered here, starting with General Epanchin, also infatuated with the heroine, to the jester Ferdyshenko. To Nastasya Filippovna’s sudden question whether she should marry Ganya, he answers negatively and thereby destroys the plans of Tonky, who is present here. At half past eleven the bell rings and the old company appears, led by Rogozhin, who lays out one hundred thousand wrapped in newspaper in front of his chosen one.
And again the prince finds himself in the center, who is painfully wounded by what is happening; he confesses his love for Nastasya Filippovna and expresses his readiness to take her, “honest” and not “Rogozhin’s,” as his wife. It suddenly turns out that the prince received a rather substantial inheritance from his deceased aunt. However, the decision has been made - Nastasya Filippovna goes with Rogozhin, and throws the fatal bundle with a hundred thousand into the burning fireplace and invites Gana to get it from there. Ganya from last bit of strength he tries not to rush after the flashing money; he wants to leave, but falls unconscious. Nastasya Filippovna herself snatches the packet with fireplace tongs and leaves the money to Gana as a reward for his torment (later it will be proudly returned to them). Six months pass. The prince, having traveled around Russia, in particular on inheritance matters, and simply out of interest in the country, comes from Moscow to St. Petersburg. During this time, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna ran away several times, almost from under the aisle, from Rogozhin to the prince, remained with him for some time, but then fled from the prince.
At the station, the prince feels someone’s fiery gaze on him, which torments him with a vague premonition. The prince pays a visit to Rogozhin in his dirty green, gloomy, prison-like house on Gorokhovaya Street. During their conversation, the prince is haunted by a garden knife lying on the table; he picks it up every now and then until Rogozhin finally takes it away in irritation. he has it (later Nastasya Filippovna will be killed with this knife). In Rogozhin's house, the prince sees on the wall a copy of a painting by Hans Holbein, which depicts the Savior, just taken down from the cross. Rogozhin says that he loves to look at her, the prince screams in amazement that “... from this picture someone else may lose faith,” and Rogozhin unexpectedly confirms this. They exchange crosses, Parfen leads the prince to his mother for a blessing, since they are now like siblings. Returning to his hotel, the prince suddenly notices a familiar figure at the gate and rushes after her to the dark narrow staircase. Here he sees the same sparkling eyes of Rogozhin as at the station, and a raised knife. At the same moment, the prince suffers an epileptic fit. Rogozhin runs away.
Three days after the seizure, the prince moves to Lebedev’s dacha in Pavlovsk, where the Epanchin family and, according to rumors, Nastasya Filippovna are also located. That same evening, a large company of acquaintances gathers with him, including the Epanchins, who decided to visit the sick prince. Kolya Ivolgin, Ganya’s brother, teases Aglaya as a “poor knight,” clearly hinting at her sympathy for the prince and arousing the painful interest of Aglaya’s mother Elizaveta Prokofievna, so that the daughter is forced to explain that the poems depict a person who is capable of having an ideal and, having believed in it, to give his life for this ideal, and then with inspiration he reads Pushkin’s poem itself. A little later, a company of young people appears, led by a certain young man Burdovsky, allegedly “the son of Pavlishchev.” They seem to be nihilists, but only, according to Lebedev, “they moved on, sir, because they are business people first of all.” A libel from a newspaper about the prince is read, and then they demand from him that he, as a noble and fair man rewarded the son of his benefactor. However, Ganya Ivolgin, whom the prince instructed to take care of this matter, proves that Burdovsky is not Pavlishchev’s son at all. The company retreats in embarrassment, only one of them remains in the spotlight - the consumptive Ippolit Terentyev, who, asserting himself, begins to “orate.” He wants to be pitied and praised, but he is also ashamed of his openness; his enthusiasm gives way to rage, especially against the prince. Myshkin listens to everyone attentively, feels sorry for everyone and feels guilty before everyone.
A few more days later, the prince visits the Epanchins, then the entire Epanchin family, together with Prince Evgeny Pavlovich Radomsky, who is caring for Aglaya, and Prince Shch., Adelaide’s fiancé, go for a walk. At the station not far from them another company appears, among which is Nastasya Filippovna. She familiarly addresses Radomsky, informing him of the suicide of his uncle, who squandered a large government sum. Everyone is outraged by the provocation. The officer, a friend of Radomsky, indignantly remarks that “here you just need a whip, otherwise you won’t get anything with this creature!” In response to his insult, Nastasya Filippovna cuts his face with a cane snatched from someone’s hands until it bleeds. The officer is about to hit Nastasya Filippovna, but Prince Myshkin holds him back.
The entire novel is filled with deep symbolic content. In every plot, in the image of every hero, Dostoevsky strives to put one or another hidden meaning. Nastasya Filippovna symbolizes beauty, and Myshkin symbolizes Christian grace and the ability to forgive and humility. The main idea is the opposition ideal image the righteous Myshkin and the cruel surrounding world of Russian reality, human baseness and meanness. It is precisely because of the deep disbelief of people, their lack of moral and spiritual values, that we see tragic ending with which Dostoevsky ends his novel.
Analysis of the work
History of creation
The novel was first published in 1868 in the pages of the Russian Messenger magazine. The idea for the work was born to Dostoevsky after the publication of “Crime and Punishment” during a trip to Germany and Switzerland. There, on September 14, 1867, he made the first entry regarding the future novel. Next, he went to Italy, and in Florence the novel was completed completely. Dostoevsky said that after working on the image of Raskolnikov, he wanted to bring to life another, completely ideal image.
Features of the plot and composition
The main feature of the novel's composition is the overly drawn-out climax, which receives a denouement only in the penultimate chapter. The novel itself is divided into four parts, each of which smoothly flows into the other according to the chronology of events.
The principles of plot and composition are based on the centralization of the image of Prince Myshkin, all events unfold around him and parallel lines novel.
Images of the main characters
The main character, Prince Myshkin, is an example of the embodiment of universal goodness and mercy, this blessed man, completely devoid of any kind of shortcomings, such as envy or malice. He has an unattractive appearance, is awkward and constantly causes ridicule from others. In his image, Dostoevsky puts the great idea that it is absolutely unimportant what a person’s appearance is, only the purity of his thoughts and the righteousness of his actions are important. Myshkin loves all the people around him infinitely, is extremely unselfish and open-hearted. This is precisely why they call him an “Idiot”, because people who are accustomed to being in a world of constant lies, the power of money and debauchery absolutely do not understand his behavior, consider him sick and insane. The prince, meanwhile, is trying to help everyone, trying to heal other people’s spiritual wounds with his kindness and sincerity. Dostoevsky idealizes his image, even equating him to Jesus. By “killing” the hero at the end, he makes it clear to the reader that, like Christ, Myshkin has forgiven all his offenders.
Nastasya Filippovna - another one symbolic image. Exclusively beautiful woman, which is capable of striking any man to the very heart, with insane tragic fate. Being an innocent girl, she was molested by her guardian and this darkened her whole life. later life. Since then, she has despised everything, both people and life itself. Her entire existence is aimed at deep self-destruction and self-destruction. Men trade her like a thing, she only watches this with contempt, supporting this game. Dostoevsky himself does not give a clear understanding inner world this woman, we learn about her from the lips of other people. Her soul remains closed to everyone, including the reader. She is a symbol of the ever-elusive beauty, which in the end no one got.
Conclusion
Dostoevsky admitted more than once that “The Idiot” is one of his favorite and most successful works. Indeed, there are few other books in his work that were able to so accurately and completely express his moral position and philosophical point of view. The novel has gone through many film adaptations, has been staged several times in the form of plays and operas, and has received well-deserved recognition from domestic and foreign literary scholars.
In his novel, the author makes us think about the fact that his “idiot” is the most happy man in the world, because he is able to sincerely love, rejoices in every day and perceives everything that happens to him as an exceptional blessing. This is his great superiority over the other heroes of the novel.
Dostoevsky is convinced that the bearer of goodness and love, a high and undeniable ethical and aesthetic ideal can become the salvation of an individual and all of humanity. Entering into polemics with the enlighteners of the 18th century, who emphasized a reasonable beginning in the process of people finding happiness, as well as with Russian radical democrats who relied on decisive actions and deeds on the path of transformation public life, Dostoevsky painted a hero who would influence people with his compassion, his boundless love, faith and readiness to consciously “sacrifice all of himself for the benefit of everyone.” Ideality central character The novel is felt by almost all of its characters. General Ivolgin exclaims: “Prince, you are noble as an ideal! What are the others before you? “The pathos characteristic of this character is combined in this statement with sincere admiration.
"Idiot" (Dostoevsky) : meaning of the name
Why did Dostoevsky’s work end up being called such a strange and so shocking word to the reader - “Idiot”? The latter has several meanings taken into account by the writer. One of them is used in everyday life and has an abusive character. In this regard, it is used by “other” characters, often in irritation, in their hearts, by people who are unable to understand him, to whom he seems alien. However, these characters feel the conventionality of such word usage, its offensive sound for a person who, in terms of his intelligence, is much higher than people like General Epanchin or Ganya Ivolgin. Another meaning of this word is folk. In this case, it is close to such designations as “poor”, “holy fool”, “man of God”. The third meaning is associated with Myshkin’s disease, severe epilepsy, nervous disorder, insanity or, on the contrary, excitability. These diseases struck the young man back in Russia, as a result of which he was forced to undergo long-term treatment in a Swiss clinic. In the fourth sense, this word “idiot” was used in the Renaissance and in the 17th century in relation to physical freaks who performed the function of jesters and firecrackers and often suffered from dementia or, on the contrary, were distinguished by a sharp mind. Such are El Primo, Sebastian de Morra, Don Antonio the Englishman, especially Francisco Lezcano and Bobo de Corca at the Spanish court, depicted by D. Velazquez, Triboulet at the court of Francis I, Rigoletto in Verdi's opera. “This is horror: to be a buffoon! What a horror: to be a freak!” - says Triboulet in V. Hugo’s drama “The King Amuses himself”, knowing that the courtiers consider him an idiot alien to them. In the fifth meaning, this word was used in the Middle Ages, when an idiot, as shown by R.-I. Khlodkovsky, was called a person deprived of “book wisdom”, but rich in the wisdom of the heart. Most of these meanings are present in the capacious title of Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot,” and the author “plays” with them in the text, showing the relative inappropriateness of such a nickname for the hero at the beginning of the novel (which is not taken into account by the people surrounding Myshkin) and the tragic justification of this designation in the finale . Readers of the book are ultimately convinced of the capacity and aptness of the title of the work chosen by the author.
Place and time of action
The author brings his hero, the young Prince Myshkin, from distant mountainous Switzerland to Russia, confronting him with the “chaos” of the new reality. Sometimes the writer deliberately expands the scene of action, introducing scenes from the life of France (Lyon), Switzerland, the Russian province and Moscow, using the stories of characters and his own descriptions, but mostly the events take place in St. Petersburg and its suburb - Pavlovsk. But this narrowing of the scene of action does not prevent the author from introducing into the reader’s orbit the entire Russian reality of the post-reform era.
The duration of action in Dostoevsky’s novel “The Idiot” covers about seven months, beginning at the end of November 1867 and ending in the summer of 1868. These years correspond to the time Dostoevsky wrote a work that literally “breathes” modernity. The era of the 60s is reflected in references to judicial reform (“they talk a lot about courts here”), the construction of railways, developed usury, glasnost, the growth of criminal crime, in revealing the convulsive tossing of the characters in the novel, in the fractured characters, in people’s expectations of “ renewal”, in the screaming contradictions of the behavior of the characters, in the intense struggle of ideas and opinions. “Here you have a lot of different ailments and aggravations,” notes the insightful Myshkin, having barely encountered metropolitan life. A number of statements by the characters confirm this summary characteristic. “There is more wealth, but less strength; there was no connecting thought.” Indeed, at one pole there are the Rogozhins throwing away thousands of millionaires, at the other - the fatigue of the Totsky aristocrats, the Ivolgins falling out of the usual rut of life. Lebedev’s very phrase evokes an association with long-standing evidence captured in Hamlet: “The connection of times has fallen apart.” The crisis of the times was repeated in new historical conditions. General Epanchin is gripped by fear: “It’s as if something is flying in the air, as if bat, trouble flies, and I’m afraid, I’m afraid!” It is clear that this is not a perception of the landscape, but a feeling of the era. Lizaveta Prokofyevna perceives the changes just as acutely: “Everything is topsy-turvy, everything has gone upside down.” Even fifteen-year-old Kolya is perplexed: “And I don’t understand how it all worked out like this. It seems like it was standing so strong, but what now?” Money gained special power in society, scams, commercial transactions, tax payoffs, and receipt of rich inheritances became widespread. “In our age, everyone is an adventurer,” notes one of the novel’s heroes. Society has become noticeably criminalized. Dostoevsky's book reflects such sensational crimes as the murder of six people by eighteen-year-old high school student V. Gorsky in the house of the merchant Zhemarin; like the robbery of the moneylender Popov and his maid Nordman by university student A.M. Danilov. Nastasya Filippovna remarks: “After all, now they are all overcome with such a thirst, they are so distracted by money that they seem to have gone crazy.” Therefore, one cannot help but feel the internal connection between “The Idiot” and the novel “Crime and Punishment,” although in the first of these works the murder occurs not only because of money, but in “The Idiot” it is not because of it at all. All these signs of the times of the second half of the 60s are captured in Dostoevsky’s new novel thanks to the close attention that the writer paid to newspaper information, thanks to the generous penetration into the novel of the facts of current social life. All this made the picture of life painted in it historically specific. That is why Dostoevsky once said about his work: “This is a good thing... Everything is there!” To a large extent, this related to the real Russian reality of a certain era reflected in the novel.
Two fellow travelers are traveling on the train, Prince Myshkin and the merchant’s son Rogozhin; they are almost the same age and during the trip they met and started talking. Lev said that he was in Switzerland, his guardian sent him there for four years.
Rogozhin said that he was going to collect the inheritance that his father had suddenly died. And before that, he and his father quarreled and left home.
Lev Myshkin has no money since his guardian died. And he did not bequeath any funds or property to his account.
Arriving in St. Petersburg, Prince Myshkin goes to visit his relatives. Previously, they did not even answer his letters, knowing that he was a beggar. But when he came to visit them, he charmed them with his manners and communication. As a result, the father of the family got him a job and helped him find housing.
This Epanchin has three daughters, one of them is given in marriage to a rich man. But this rich man Totsky still has a mistress; he wooes her to his friend for 19 thousand rubles.
And this lady is Rogozhin’s secret lover. He gives 101 thousand rubles for it. and she leaves with him. Although Myshkin wanted to intervene in this base bargaining over a living person and offered to marry Nadezhda Barashkova.
6 months have passed. Myshkin was left an inheritance by his aunt, he is now rich. The prince is already rich and self-sufficient, but still as sweet and kind as before. He had an affair with Nadezhda Barashkova. She never married either one.
Leo was never able to explain to his friend how it happened that he had an affair with her. And in the background nervous tension, the main character is again being treated for epilepsy and mental illness.
After treatment, Lev comes to the Epanchins’ house, Aglaya is in love with him, and during dinner with relatives, Myshkin decides to marry her.
There should be a wedding soon, preparations are underway for it, but then Nadezhda appears and the prince begins to doubt the correctness of his marriage. During the struggle, the rivals use all means, but the prince chooses his former mistress.
Myshkin offers his hand and heart to Barashkova, she agrees, preparations for the Wedding are underway, but the bride is not sure of her choice. And she asks Rogozhin for help, he comes and takes her with him.
Myshkin rented a room and lives in St. Petersburg and is still looking for his runaway bride and Rogozhin. But one day Rogozhin himself finds him in the crowd, grabs him and drags him with him.
They come to the house where the lovers live and Myshkin sees Nadezhda killed with a knife. This lady turned out to be a femme fatale.
Myshkin does not condemn his friend, does not call the police, they sit near the murdered woman and talk. Myshkin’s attack worsened; he’s not in a normal state, he’s an idiot.
And did this hero, who brings goodness and light to our world, manage to change it for the better?
You can use this text for reader's diary
Dostoevsky. All works
- Poor people
- Idiot
- Mistress
Idiot. Picture for the story
Currently reading
- Summary of Karamzin Marfa-Posadnitsa, or the conquest of Novagorod
This historical story tells about the events of those times when Ivan 3 intended to free Rus' from the rule of the Golden Horde over it. It became a hindrance to him that great city Novgorod, which declared its independence.
- Summary of Gogol Portrait
The artist Chartkov was looking at the paintings in the Shchukinsky yard, and then his gaze fell on a portrait of an old man in oriental attire. Having given his last money for the painting, Chartkov goes home.
- Summary of Garshin Signal
Semyon Ivanov was appointed the new watchman of the railway. He previously served as an orderly for an officer, and when the war ended, he still could not find work. They were pleased with his service, because when Semyon once ran into his former boss
- Summary of the fairy tale Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka
The old man and the old woman had two children. After their death eldest daughter Alyonushka began to take care of her younger brother, whose name was Ivanushka. One day my sister gathered in the field. She was afraid to leave her younger brother alone at home, so she took her with her.
- Summary of Hemingway Islands in the Ocean
The main character is Thomas Hudson, wonderful American artist. The protagonist's lonely residence on the island is not creative solitude, but an escape from family problems. Thomas Hudson spent his youth in Paris
