/ / / The history of the creation of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wise Piskar”
The form of a fairy tale before M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was used by many different writers. And, despite the fact that the writer’s work is diverse in terms of genre, it is fairy tales that are most widespread. There were 32 of them in total. Fairy tales were a kind of summary of M.E.’s life. Saltykov-Shchedrin. In them he reflected all the current problems of that time, describing them satirically.
When writing “The Wise Minnow,” the writer chooses the form of a fairy tale, because it was the one that was most suitable for the author’s purposes: to show a satire on the liberal intelligentsia in a simple and understandable way.
The writer sets himself a certain task: to reveal the problem of his contemporary society, and also to teach people to do the right thing. Main function, according to Saltykov-Shchedrin, is educational.
The satirically oriented tale was created in December 1882 - January 1883. The period of writing a work is a rather difficult time in the country. This is the time of various reactions and terror that reigned after the attack on Tsar Alexander II. Spiritual terror, oppression of the intelligentsia - this is what caused the writing of many fairy tales by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.
Having written his work, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin wants to make you think about honor and dignity, about true and false wisdom. The writer gave us time to think about the meaning of life and value.
Shchedrin's work was first published in 1883 in the foreign newspaper "Common Deal" anonymously and without any signature in the section "Fairy Tales for Children" of considerable age».
Soon after its publication in the newspaper, “The Wise Piskar” and some other works were published as collections and separate brochures.
Here, in 1883, the first brochure “Three Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age” was published. N. Shchedrin”, which included “The Wise Minnow”, “The Selfless Hare” and “The Poor Wolf”. This brochure was reprinted in 1890 and 1895, and in 1903 it was printed in Berlin by G. Steinitz as the 69th issue of the “Collection of the Best Russian Works.”
However, in 1883, the hectograph “Public Benefit” published the brochures “Fairy tales for children of a fair age. M.E. Saltykov", which included the following works: “The Wise Minnow”, “Selfless Hare”, “Poor Wolf”. This edition was published 8 times in 1883. Due to the censorship ban, the underground distribution of fairy tales was frequent.
After publication in Otechestvennye zapiski, it was withdrawn due to censorship rules. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin tries three times to officially publish his creation, but he fails.
Only in 1906 did he publish the fairy tale, but in a softened form. This publication had the title: “A small fish is better than a big cockroach.”
Thus, the difficult living conditions in the country served as the reason for writing the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow.” They were the reason for the complex publication of this work. Despite the fact that censors did not want to allow the satirical tale to be published, it was published underground and was widely distributed.
Analysis of the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” In satire, reality as a kind of imperfection is opposed to the ideal as the highest reality(F. Schiller) Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the most original writers of Russian literature. His talent perfectly coped with the tasks that the era set before him. Fairy tales chronologically complete the satirical work of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Their problems were due to social conditions after reform Russia. The writer’s task can be defined as educational and propaganda, therefore the style of fairy tales is simple and accessible to the broad masses. My favorite fairy tale is "The Wild Landowner". The plot of the fairy tale is based on a grotesque situation, behind which real social-serf relations are easily guessed. As a result, reality is shown under the guise of a fairy tale. Grotesque - hyperbolic images are metaphors of actual social - psychological types then Russia. The stupid landowner complains to God: “... there are too many peasants in our kingdom!”, not realizing that he is completely dependent on him. And without receiving help from God, the landowner himself began to snatch them from the world. “He reduced them so much that there was nowhere to stick his nose...” Then the peasants prayed to the Lord God and disappeared from the landowner’s possessions. A peculiar combination of fiction and reality is one of the features of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tales. In the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” there are real names newspapers (“Vest”), people (actor Sadovsky), references to topical social issues political topics. In depicting animals, the author follows the folklore tradition: animals speak and act on a par with humans. For example, the bear enters into a conversation with the landowner and even gives him advice. At the same time, the animals also perform in their original role: the bear eats the man, the man catches fish. The fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” refers to a satire on government steeps and the ruling class, as well as social and everyday fairy tales. The main characters of such fairy tales are stupid generals, landowners who know nothing and cannot do anything. In the folk tale, the man is always smarter, stronger, braver, fools the powerful, leaves the oppressors in the cold. Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes the paradoxical nature of mixing the valuable, vital qualities of a peasant with humility and longevity, sometimes bordering on dementia. This is a typical antithesis for the author, and the qualities on both sides are exaggerated. Using traditional folklore elements in the language of the fairy tale (“In a certain kingdom, in a certain state there lived…”), the author does not borrow the plot. The writer paid great attention to such means artistic expression, as an epithet (“crumbly body”, “bad life”), metaphor (“a ball of fire” - the sun), comparison (“like a black cloud, ... men’s trousers flew by”). Saltykov-Shchedrin is a true master of words who uses wealth and figurative language to achieve the goal: to awaken the thoughts and feelings of a submissive Russian person. The satirist's tales are evidence of his great love for Russia and its people. Messrs. Golovlevs Roman FAMILY COURT Arina Petrovna, a wealthy landowner, is informed that a house in Moscow has been sold at auction for the debts of her son Stepan, nicknamed Styopka the Stupid in the family, for only eight thousand rubles, although she herself bought it two years ago for twelve thousand. “Arina Petrovna is a woman of about sixty, but still vigorous and accustomed to living at her own discretion. She behaves menacingly; single-handedly and uncontrollably manages the vast Golovlevsky estate, lives alone, prudently, almost stingily, does not make friends with neighbors, is kind to local authorities, and demands from her children that they be in such obedience to her that with every action they ask themselves: something Will mommy tell you about this? In general, she has an independent, unyielding and somewhat obstinate character... Her husband is a frivolous and drunken person (Arina Petrovna readily says about herself that she is neither a widow nor a married wife); the children partly serve in St. Petersburg, partly take after their father and, as “hateful” ones, are not allowed to take part in any family affairs.” “The head of the family, Vladimir Mikhailych Golovlev, was known from a young age for his careless and mischievous character, and for Arina Petrovna, who was always distinguished by her seriousness and efficiency, he never imagined anything attractive... The husband called his wife “witch” and “devil,” the wife called her husband - " windmill" and "stringless balalaika". Being in such a relationship, they used life together for over forty years, and it never occurred to either of them that such a life contained something unnatural... Arina Petrovna was a little happier in her children. She had too independent, so to speak, a single nature, for her to see anything other than an unnecessary burden in children... There were four children: three sons and a daughter. She didn’t even like to talk about her eldest son and daughter; she was more or less indifferent to her youngest son and only the middle one, Por-fish, not that she loved, but seemed to be afraid of.” “Stepan Vladimirych, the eldest son... very early became one of the “hateful” and from childhood played in the house the role of either a pariah or a jester. Unfortunately, he was a gifted fellow who too readily and quickly accepted the impressions generated by the environment... Constant belittlement... was not in vain. The result was not bitterness, not protest, but formed a slavish character, habitual to the point of buffoonery, not aware of feelings measures and devoid of any foresight.” Stepan Golovlev graduated from high school and entered the university, where “thanks to his amenity for anything, he soon became a favorite of rich students.” After graduating from university, “I began wandering around departments and offices; He had no patronage, no desire to make his way through personal labor.” Four years pass like this. The mother orders her son to appear in Moscow, where he is assigned to the court court. Three years later he is fired. “Then Arina Petrovna decided on an extreme measure: she “threw out a piece to her son,” which, however, at the same time was supposed to represent a “parental blessing.” This piece consisted of a house in Moscow... which promised to give a thousand rubles in silver income...” However, after five years he “completely burns out” and joins the militia. By the time he returns to Moscow, his house has already been sold, he has a hundred rubles in his pocket, which he loses at cards. Stepan goes to the houses of his mother’s wealthy peasants who lived in Moscow: from whom he will have lunch, from whom he will borrow money. But finally the moment came when he, so to speak, found himself face to face with a blank wall. He was already approaching forty, and he was forced to admit that a further wandering existence was beyond his strength. There was only one way left - to Golovlevo. The mother “also didn’t like to talk about her daughter, Anna Vladimirovna.” The fact is that she “had designs on Annushka,” but she not only did not live up to expectations, but instead created a scandal for the entire district by running away from Golovlev and getting married to the cornet. Arina Petrovna also “threw away a piece” of her daughter - she gave her a capital of five thousand and a ruined village. A year later, the cornet fled, leaving his wife with two twin daughters: Anninka and Lyubinka, and three months later Anna Vladimirovna herself died, so Arina Petrovna was forced to shelter her granddaughters with her. Brothers Porfiry and Pavel Golovlev served in St. Petersburg: the first - in the civilian part, the second - in the military. Porfiry was married, Pavel was single. “Porfiry Vladimirych was known in the family under three names: Judas, the blood drinker and the outspoken boy... From his infancy, he loved to cuddle up to his dear friend, his mother... and sometimes even make a little noise.” His ingratiation aroused suspicion even among Arina Petrovna. “He looks - well, as if he’s throwing a noose,” she sometimes reasoned with herself. “So he’s pouring poison and luring him in!” But even seeing Porfisha’s insincerity, she still favored him. The youngest son of the Golovlevs, Pavel, is “the complete personification of a person devoid of any actions. .. an apathetic, mysteriously gloomy personality... He often snapped at his mother and at the same time feared her like fire.” Arina Petrovna finds out that the “hateful one,” that is, Styopka the dunce, “will sit on her neck again.” At this time he is already on his way to Golovlevo. “One thought fills his entire being to the brim: another three or four hours - and there is nowhere to go further. He remembers his old Golovlev life, and it seems to him that the doors of the damp basement are dissolving before him... From now on he will be alone with the evil old woman... This old woman will eat him... His predictions came true. He was placed in a special room in the wing that housed the office. There they brought him underwear... and his father's old robe... The doors of the crypt opened, let him through and slammed... They fed him extremely poorly. From morning to evening he was hungry and all he could think about was how to eat.” Arina Petrovna, meanwhile, decided to convene a family council “to resolve the dunce’s fate” in order to shift responsibility for her own decisions to her sons. Porfiry and Pavel must immediately arrive in Golovlevo. Arina Petrovna plays her favorite role of “venerable and dejected mother” in front of Judushka and Pavel. The brothers visit their sick father, whose situation gives Judas a reason to flatter his mother: “Really, you’re even surprised how you have the strength to endure these trials!” Arina Petrovna is happy. She is angry with Pavel, as usual. Family council begins. Arina Petrovna describes the sacrifices she made for the sake of the unlucky Stepan, complains how hard it was for her while she was accumulating her fortune - and now, she has collected four thousand souls. Let the brothers decide what to do with the “boob.” Porfiry, of course, refuses to judge his brother - how can he, because this is his mother’s right! Arina Petrovna intends to allocate a village to Stepan - “and let him live... fed by the peasants!” Judas, flirting and toadying, persuades his mother not to give Stepan anything, but to let him live in Golovlevo, and even force him to sign a paper renouncing his share in the inheritance. This is exactly what Arina Petrovna expected from him. “As long as daddy and I are alive, well, he will live in Golovlev, he won’t die of hunger,” she says, “And then what?” Judas assures her that she will not leave her brother, and even asks her permission to immediately give him two pounds of tobacco. Arina Petrovna silently looks at Judushka: “Is he really such a bloodsucker that he would drive his own brother out into the street?” However, he agrees to do as Judas wants. Both brothers return to St. Petersburg. Stepan got used to his situation. Summer is coming to an end, and in Golovlevo there is “pickling, jam, cooking for future use”, “women’s natural service” is being brought from the villages by carts: dried mushrooms, berries, eggs, vegetables, etc.” Stepan fusses, takes part in this “process of provisioning.” Stepan signs the papers sent by his mother without any objections. He starts drinking again and one night runs away from Golovlev. Arina Petrovna, who had completely forgotten about her son’s existence, begins to find out where he got the vodka from and enters Stepan’s room for the first time. “The room was dirty, black, muddy, so that even she, who did not know or recognize any requirements for comfort, felt awkward.” Stepan is found and brought to Golovlevo. Arina Petrovna shows some concern for him, but Stepan does not react to anything. “It seemed that he was completely plunged into a dawnless darkness, in which there was no place not only for reality, but also for fantasy. His brain was producing something, but this something had nothing to do with the present or the future. It was as if a black cloud had enveloped him from head to toe...” Soon Stepan dies. Arina Petrovna reports this in a letter to Judushka, describes the “sorrow of her mother’s heart” and the rich funeral. RELATIVELY Ten years have passed. Pavel Vladimirovich is dying, but he does not believe it and does not want to sign a document so that his estate will pass to his nieces - Anninka and Lyubinka. This means that it will go to Judas. Meanwhile, Arina Petrovna “from a scolding owner of the Golovlev estates became a modest hanger-on in the house youngest son... not having any say in business decisions.” “The first blow to Arina Petrovna’s power was dealt” by the approaching abolition of serfdom. She became confused, and at that time her husband died. “Porfiry Vladimirych... with amazing sensitivity guessed the turmoil that took possession of her thoughts.” As a result, Arina Petrovna divides the estate, leaving only the capital with her. At the same time, Porfiry Vladimirych was allocated best part , and worse for Pavel Vladimirych. Arina Petrovna, as if forgetting that Golovlevo is no longer hers, spends her money on this estate. And so, when “Arina Petrovna’s capital has diminished so much that it has become almost impossible to live independently on interest on it,” Judushka sends her “a whole bundle of accounting forms” - a manual for drawing up annual reports. Everything is taken into account here, down to the last raspberry bush and the gift to “boy N for his kindness.” Arina Petrovna is amazed by Judushka’s stinginess. “After a long polemical correspondence,” she moved to the Dubrovino estate to her son Pavel, and soon Judushka retired and settled in Golovlevo. Pavel Vladimirych received Arina Petrovna “quite tolerably,” and undertook to feed her and her orphan nieces, but on the condition that she would not interfere in the management of the estate. In Pavel’s house, everything is run by the housekeeper Ulita, “a malicious woman caught in secret correspondence with the bloodsucker Porfishka, and daddy’s former valet Kiryushka.” Both steal mercilessly. But Pavel does not tolerate any comments from his mother. On top of everything else, he drinks. He is consumed by hatred of all people, and especially of Judas. Finally he becomes deathly ill. Arina Petrovna tries to persuade Pavel to give her and her nieces the estate or at least money, but he does not believe in imminent death and refuses. Judas, sensing close prey, comes to Dubrovino with his sons Petenka and Volodenka. Knowing that Paul hates and fears him, Judas still goes to him. The sick man drives him away, scolds him, accuses him of letting his mother wander around the world, but nothing can convince Judushka. After all, the main thing for him is that Paul did not make any orders regarding the inheritance. So he can only wait for his death - and Dubrovino will be his. Meanwhile, Arina Petrovna started a conversation with the sons of Judushka “not without the goal of finding out something.” Petya and Volodya complain to her about their father: he listens at doors, is stingy and petty, and is incredibly boring to be with. And they came to Dubrovino because Julitta reported Pavel’s imminent death. The only thing Judas is afraid of is his mother’s curse. His sons are convinced that if the Dubrovino estate goes to their father, he will not give anything to anyone, and he will deprive them, his own sons, of the inheritance. Pavel died. Arina Petrovna decides to go to Pogorelka, “the estate of orphans.” “She felt neither hatred nor favor towards Judas: she simply felt disgusted to have anything to do with him.” Judushka shows that he is offended by his mother’s decision, but he himself assigned Julitta to ensure that Arina Petrovna did not take anything extra with her. And so Arina Petrovna and her granddaughters get into the tarantass (this is Arina Petrovna’s own tarantass, she has proof of this), and Judas cannot take her eyes off it. Finally he says to his mother: “So tarantasis, mummy, how is it? Will you deliver it yourself or will you order someone to send for it?” The mother shouts that this is her tarantass. “Have mercy, mamma! I’m not complaining... even if the tarantass were Dubrovin’s... So you, my dear, don’t forget us... simply... without any pretense... in a family way!” FAMILY RESULTS Arina Petrovna is trying to somehow improve things in the impoverished Pogorelka, but she is not well, she cannot fix anything. Anninka and Lyubinka announce to their grandmother that they cannot and do not want to stay in Pogorelka any longer. Arina Petrovna is worried about the future of her granddaughters, but lets them go. With the departure of the girls, the Pogorelkovsky house plunges “into a kind of hopeless silence.” Arina Petrovna, for the sake of economy, dismisses almost all the servants. “The previous feverish activity suddenly gave way to drowsy idleness, and idleness little by little corrupted the will... From a strong and restrained woman... she became a ruin, for whom neither the past nor the future existed...” She is afraid of everything: thieves, ghosts, devils... She eats poorly and meagerly, the house is damp and dirty... More and more often, Arina Petrovna comes to memories of Golovlev, of the abundance there. Her hatred for Judas gradually disappears, “old grievances were somehow forgotten by themselves.” She begins to send “messengers” to Judushka with a request to give her cucumbers, a turkey, or something else edible. “Judas frowned, but did not dare to openly express displeasure... He was most afraid that his mother would curse him.” “Bored with long-term widowhood,” Judushka takes as housekeeper “a girl from the clergy” Evprak-seya, “who was hard-working, unrequited and made almost no demands.” Meanwhile, Arina Petrovna became a frequent visitor to Golovlevo, and then moved here altogether. Five years have passed. Judas “has grown considerably older, faded and faded, but he cheats, lies and rants even more than before, because now he has almost always at hand good friend mamma, who, for the sake of the old lady’s sweet piece, became an obligatory listener to his idle talk... If he was a hypocrite, then a hypocrite of a purely Russian type, that is, simply a person devoid of any moral standard and not knowing any other truth than that which is listed in the alphabet copybooks . He was ignorant without limits, a litigator, a liar, an empty talker, and to top it all he was afraid of the devil,” Having settled in Golovlev, “he immediately felt free, because nowhere, in any other sphere, could his inclinations find such scope, like here... No one’s judgment bothered him, no one’s immodest glance disturbed him - therefore, there was no reason to control himself... A long time ago, this complete freedom from any moral restrictions attracted him to him...” Judas spends her days in calculations and recounts, taking into account every penny, every thing in twenty books, writing complaints to the magistrate... Any connection with outside world is torn, he does not receive any books, newspapers, or even letters. One of his sons, Volodenka, committed suicide; he corresponds with his other son, Petenka, only when he sends him money. Arina Petrovna receives a letter from her granddaughters. They became actresses and will never return to Pogorelovka. Judas spits at this news and thinks, “some sinister plan is flashing in his head.” Son Peter arrives from the regiment. “...The mysterious arrival of Petenka does not particularly worry” Judushka, “for, no matter what happens, Judushka is already prepared for everything in advance. He knows that nothing will take him by surprise and nothing will force him to make any retreat from that network of empty and thoroughly rotten aphorisms in which he is wrapped from head to toe.” Peter lost government money and asks for a loan from his grandmother, but she doesn’t have her own money, and she can’t spend her granddaughters’ capital. Judas flatly refuses her son, as usual, hiding behind sanctimonious excuses and teachings. Peter accuses his father of murdering his brother Volodya - it was he who killed him, leaving him without a penny when he allegedly married against his wishes. Arina Petrovna silently listens to this conversation. “She by no means remained an indifferent spectator of this family scene. On the contrary, at first glance one could suspect that something not quite ordinary was happening to her and that perhaps the moment had come when the results of her life appeared in all their fullness and nakedness before her mental eye. own life" She curses Judas. NIECE “Judas still didn’t give Petenka the money, although, like a good father, he ordered chickens, veal, and a pie to be put in the cart at the moment of departure... he personally went out to the porch to see his son off and inquired whether he could sit comfortably , did he wrap up his legs well... Contrary to Petenka’s expectations, Porfiry Vladimirych carried out mother's curse quite calmly and did not deviate even a hair from those decisions that, so to speak, always sat ready in his head... Arina Petrovna’s outburst was so sudden that Judushka did not even think of pretending to be scared.” The day after her grandson’s departure, Arina Petrovna leaves for Pogorelka and never returns to Golovlevo, despite Judushka’s hypocritical entreaties. One day she finds that she cannot get out of bed. Judas arrived immediately and began to give orders, finding out where the papers were. Arina Petrovna dies, Judushka happily attends to the funeral and immediately starts studying the papers. As a result, he declares himself the sole heir to the property left behind by his mother. With this, he leaves for his home in Golovlevo, taking his mother’s tarantass and two cows. A letter arrives from Peter: he says that he is going into exile and asks if his father will send him his allowance. Judas, of course, refuses him. But it is not known whether Judushka’s letter reached his son - a notification arrives that Peter, before reaching the place of exile, fell ill and died. “Judas was left alone, but in the heat of the moment he still did not understand that with this new loss he had already been finally launched into space, face to face with his own idle talk.” Anninka arrives - “a tall and stately woman with a beautiful ruddy face , with a high, well-developed chest, with bulging gray eyes and an excellent ash-colored braid... with sharp, even cheeky manners...” Judas cannot take her lustful gaze away from her niece and tries to kiss her supposedly like a relative. Anninka knows everything about Peter’s fate - it turns out that he and his sister sent a letter after the trial, they collected six hundred rubles and sent it to him. Judas jumps up: how come he didn’t receive this money after Petenka’s death?! Anninka goes to her grandmother’s grave, then to Pogorelka, where she learns that Judushka even took icons from there. She says goodbye to the village and her grandmother’s grave forever. Judas wants Anninka to stay in Golovlevo, but when talking to her, he looks at her with such “oily eyes” that she becomes “embarrassed.” She decides to leave under the pretext that she is “bored” in Golovlev. Anninka is dissatisfied with her life. “As a smart girl, she understood perfectly well that between those vague dreams of working bread, which served as her starting point for leaving Pogorelka forever, and the position of a provincial actress in which she found herself, there was a whole abyss. Instead of a quiet life of work, she found a stormy existence, filled with endless revelry, arrogant cynicism and chaotic vanity leading nowhere.” Arriving in Golovlevo, she remembered her former, pure life, and she felt “unbearably disgusting.” But her dreams of her home “should have immediately been shattered when confronted with the reality encountered in Golovlev.” We have to leave. She will try to get a job on the Moscow stage. Judas does everything to ensure that she remains in Golovlevo; with delays and endless persuasion, she brings Anninka to the point of exhaustion. Already sitting in the wagon, when Judushka asked if she would come again, Anninka answered him: “No, uncle, I won’t come! It’s scary with you!” ILLEGAL FAMILY JOYS One day, shortly before the disaster with Petenka, Arina Petrovna, a guest in Golovlev, notices that Evprakseyushka is pregnant. It turned out that Porfiry Vladimirych had already been informed, but he did not say anything to this, “but only folded his hands with his palms inward, whispered with his lips and looked at the image...”. The mother makes fun of her prayer-book son, recalls a lot of cases of pregnancies and births, quickly prepares for the upcoming birth, consults with her old maid Julitta, who in her youth also, according to rumors, gave birth to a child from Porfiry Vladimirych. But then “a catastrophe happened to Petenka, and it was shortly followed by the death of Arina Petrovna.” Judushka’s hopes are that thanks to Arina Petrovna’s experience and Julitta’s dexterity. .. “the “trouble” will pass without publicity,” collapsed. He is afraid that he will be accused of adultery - but he did not take any measures, “he did not even have time to lie.” Childbirth begins, Julitta informs Judas about this. “...I don’t know any of your affairs,” he declares. “I know that there is a sick woman in the house, but why she is sick and why she is sick - I must admit, I was not curious about finding out about this!” He refuses to look at his son, and tells the arriving priest about Eupraxeus: “She is a diligent, faithful servant, but don’t blame her for her intelligence! That’s why they fall... into pre-love!” Julitta, on Judushka’s instructions, takes the baby to Moscow, to an orphanage, while the young mother rushes about in the heat and delirium. ESCAPE “The agony of Judas began with the fact that the resource of idle talk, which he had so readily abused until now, began to apparently decrease. Everything around was empty: some died, others left.” On top of everything else, “some kind of damage” happened to Evprakseyushka - “she suddenly understood something, and the immediate result of the awakened ability of understanding was a sudden, still unconscious, but evil and invincible disgust.” She “revolted”: she boldly objects to Judushka, does not let him near her, does not spend the night at home, stops courting the master, harasses him with nagging and abuse for any reason, threatens to go to Moscow to look for his son or to his parents. "IN a short time Porfiry Vladimirych has gone completely wild.” He sits in his office all day. “As much as he was previously picky and annoying, he has now become just as fearful and gloomily submissive.” Only in the office, “alone with himself, did he feel like a complete master, having the opportunity to think idly to his heart’s content. Just as both his brothers died, obsessed with drinking, so he also suffered from the same disease. Only it was a binge of a different kind - a binge of idle thinking... From morning to evening he languished over fantastic work: he made all sorts of unrealistic assumptions, took into account himself, talked with imaginary interlocutors and created entire scenes in which the first person who randomly came to mind was the active one. face... He was always petty and prone to slander... annoying, tormenting, tyrannizing... now these properties were transferred to abstract, fantastic soil... where he could freely entangle the whole world a network of slander, harassment and insults. He loved to mentally torture, ruin, dispossess, and suck blood.” Judas recalls his clashes and quarrels that happened in his youth, and imagines them in such a way that he would certainly emerge victorious. He mentally takes revenge on everyone he has ever met, takes revenge on the living, and takes revenge on the dead. “Fantasizing in this way, he imperceptibly reached the point of intoxication... His existence became so complete... that he had nothing left to desire. The whole world was at his feet... Porfiry Vladimirych was happy.” In this half-delirium, Judas continues to count the losses caused to him by his mother, lends rye as if to a peasant at unimaginable interest rates, and then, armed with accounts, he counts, counts, counts... CALCULATION It’s December. Everything is covered with snow. Judas wanders senselessly around the office, goes to the window and suddenly sees: a carriage is driving up to the estate, and a young woman hastily jumps out. This is Anninka returning. Only she has changed so much that it is almost impossible to recognize - “this is some kind of weak, frail creature with a sunken chest, sunken cheeks, with an unhealthy blush, with sluggish body movements, a stooped, almost hunched creature.” Her sister Lyubinka poisoned herself a month ago, and she is seriously ill. Anninka asks her uncle for permission to live in Golovlev. He doesn't mind. Having left Golovlev last time, Anninka went “straight to Moscow and began to work hard so that she and her sister would be accepted onto the state stage... But everywhere she was received somehow strangely.” As soon as someone found out that they were both provincial actresses, they were immediately refused. Moreover, the sisters did not have real makings for success on the metropolitan stage. I had to return to the province. Anninka goes to the city, where she lives in the support of the dishonest zemstvo leader Lyubinka, the sisters quarrel. The merchant Kukishev, an admirer of Anninka, having not achieved his goal, decides to “curb the obstinate upstart.” As a result, Anninka is deprived of roles, her last money is running out, and then her sister appears and persuades her to give in to a rich admirer. Anninka gives up. The whole winter passes as if in a drunken stupor. The sisters' patrons steal, one of them shoots himself, Anninka and Lyubinka are arrested, and all their property is taken away from them. After the trial, the impoverished, desperate sisters go from hand to hand. Lyubinka invites her sister to commit suicide and drinks poison. Anninka, who was afraid of death, remained alive. In Golovlev, Anninka tries not to remember the past, but it haunts her relentlessly. Scary life brought her to Golovlevo, but “it is death itself, evil, empty; it is death, always awaiting a new victim.” Accustomed to drinking by the merchant Kukishev, Anninka gets drunk every evening. Judas also joins her. Next, the author writes about successful and unlucky families. “... Along with successful families, there are a great many of those whose representatives from the very cradle, from the very cradle, seem to be given nothing but hopeless misfortune... It was precisely this kind of ill-fated fate that weighed on the Golovlev family. For several generations, three characteristic traits ran through the history of this family: idleness, unfitness for any business and hard drinking. The first two brought with them idle talk, idle thinking and emptiness, the last was, as it were, an obligatory conclusion of the general turmoil in life... so the Golovlev family would probably have completely died if, in the midst of this drunken turmoil, Arina Petrovna had not flashed like a random meteor. This woman, thanks to her personal energy, brought the level of well-being of the family to the highest point, but for all that, her work was in vain, because she not only did not pass on her qualities to any of the children, but, on the contrary, she herself died, entangled with “on all sides with idleness, idle talk and emptiness.” During joint drinking sessions, Anninika’s conversation with Judushka always turned into a quarrel. The niece “with merciless importunity dug up the Golovlev archive and especially loved to tease Judushka, proving that the main role in all its mutilations, along with the late grandmother, belonged to him.” This is repeated day after day. Judas feels that a misfortune is coming towards him that will completely crush him. From everywhere, from all the corners of this hateful house, it seemed that “wights” were crawling out... Here's dad... here's brother Styopka the dunce and next to him brother Pashka the quiet one; here is Lyubinka. And here it is... Volodka and Petka... And that’s it: drunk, prodigal, exhausted, bleeding...”. Judas’s conscience suddenly awakened. But it’s too late... “Now he has grown old, gone wild, with one leg) standing in the grave, but there is no creature in the world that would come close to him, would “pity” him.” Only one niece is alive, and she “appeared” to abuse him and finish him off.” Yes, “Judas’s conscience has awakened, but it is fruitless that he wants to die, he longs for death, but the end still does not come. dead mother... in "I tortured her... I!" He suddenly feels sorry for Anninka, and for the first time in his life he sincerely says to her: “Poor you! My poor you!” “Judushka” asks to forgive him. At night he secretly goes to his mother’s grave to “say goodbye”... The next day they found the frozen corpse of the Golovlevsky master by the road. They rushed to Anninka, but she lay in a fever, in an unconscious state. Then they sent the horseman to “ sister” Nadezhda Ivanovna Galkina (daughter of Varvara Mikhailovna’s aunt), “who, since last autumn, had been vigilantly following everything that was happening in Golovlevo.” Analysis of the novel The landowner’s estate, “noble nests” and their inhabitants are the focus of attention of many writers of the 60-70s. s. This topic was repeatedly developed in literature in the novels and stories of I. S. Turgenev and A. Goncharov, L. N. Tolstoy, S. T. Aksakov, in the poems of A. A. Fet, etc. Shchedrin also did not could have passed by the “estate” theme. Life itself placed the peasant and the master in the center of the writer’s attention. But Chernyshevsky’s student, Nekrasov’s friend and comrade-in-arms, approaches this topic in a completely different way than Turgenev, Goncharov, Aksakov and Tolstoy. , he looks at the estate through the eyes of “a man who eats quinoa” - through the eyes of a hungry man ruined by his master. Raised in a “nest of nobility,” he retained his hatred of his father’s house throughout his life. Idleness, unsuitability for any business, idle talk and idle thinking - these are the typical features that, according to Shchedrin, characterize the life of the nobility. Image of decay " noble nest"given by Shchedrin from the position of a peasant democrat. The novel shows that nothing can prevent or stop this decay. This idea runs through the entire novel.The theme of the collapse of the noble family, its moral and physical decay determined the plot and composition of the novel, showing the history of the worthless existence and absurd death of members of the Golovlev family.
In the first chapter Stepan dies, in the second - Pavel, in the third - Vladimir Golovlev, in the fourth - Arina Petrovna and Peter; the latter tells about the death of Lyubinka, Porfiry Golovlev dies and the last of the Golovlev family, Anninka, dies.
Their fate reveals the idea of the novel: the parasitic classes, and first of all the nobility, “this is death itself, evil, empty womb... All... poisons, all ulcers - everything comes from here.” On rotten soil, poisoned by predation and idleness, a healthy, full-fledged personality, a socially useful person cannot be formed. The people will make a harsh, fair and merciless “reckoning” with the ruling classes. Fairy tales “for children of a fair age” as a work of a new genre in Russian literature. The history of the creation of "Fairy Tales" M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was the successor of the satirical traditions of D.I. Fonvizin, A.S. Griboyedov and N.V. Gogol. Shchedrin's gubernatorial activities allowed him to better discern the “evils of Russian reality” and made him think about the fate of Russia. He created a kind of satirical encyclopedia of Russian life. Shchedrin's "Fairy Tales" in miniature contain the problems and images of the entire work of the great satirist. If Shchedrin had not written anything other than “Fairy Tales,” then they alone would have given him the right to immortality. Of Shchedrin's thirty-two fairy tales, twenty-nine were written by him in the last decade of his life (most from 1882 to 1886) and only three fairy tales were created in 1869. Fairy tales seem to sum up the writer’s forty years of creative activity.
V. G. Belinsky, discussing the writer’s work, called his humor “formidable and open, bilious, poisonous, merciless.” This characteristic deeply reveals the essence of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s satire. To illustrate the impact of his works on listeners, I. S. Turgenev’s note is interesting: “I saw listeners writhing with laughter when reading some of Saltykov’s essays. There was something scary in that laughter. The audience, laughing, at the same time felt like a scourge was lashing itself.”
A number of reasons prompted Saltykov-Shchedrin to turn to fairy tales. The difficult political situation in Russia: moral terror, the defeat of populism, police persecution of the intelligentsia - did not allow us to reveal everything social contradictions society and directly criticize the existing order. On the other hand, the fairy tale genre was close to the character of the satirical writer. There are elements of fairy-tale fiction in “The Story of a City,” and in satirical novel“Modern Idyll” and the chronicle “Abroad” include completed fairy tales. Fantasy, hyperbole, irony, common in fairy tales, are very characteristic of Shchedrin’s poetics. In addition, the fairy tale genre is very democratic, accessible and understandable wide circles readers, people and corresponds to the journalistic pathos and civic aspirations of the satirist. Evil, angry ridicule of slave psychology is one of the main objectives of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tales. He not only states such features of the Russian people as their long-suffering, irresponsibility, not only anxiously searches for their origins and limits, but also mercilessly denounces, caustically ridicules, castigates, for it is here that he sees the main misfortune of the time.
The writer essentially created a new genre - political fairy tale. Shchedrin organically combines the fantasy of folk tales with a realistic depiction of reality. The life of Russian society second half of the 19th century century has been imprinted in a rich gallery of characters. Shchedrin showed the entire social anatomy, touched on all the main classes and strata of society: the nobility, the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy, the intelligentsia.
In this gallery of Saltykov-Shchedrin characters there is an intellectual dreamer (“Crucian carp the idealist”), and an autocrat playing the role of a philanthropist (“Eagle the Patron”), and worthless generals (“Bear in the Voivodeship”), and a submissive “selfless hare” , hoping for the mercy of the “predators”, and many others who reflected historical era, with its social evil and democratic ideas.
The heroes of Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tales are satirical allegories, where the wolf, hare, bear, eagle, crow and other animals, birds and fish do not belong to the animal world. Following the traditions of Krylov, Saltykov-Shchedrin involuntarily puts certain masks on his characters and strives to “give everyone what they deserve.” In his fairy tales, each face contains concentrated characteristic features that precisely define a social or human type. The people appear under the masks of kind and defenseless animals and birds, the exploiters - in the images of predators.
However, tales about animals are only one type of Saltykov-Shchedrin's tales. In fairy tales of another type, people act (“The Wild Landowner”, “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”, etc.). Their characters are not covered with masks of animals, fish and birds, and the author uses other satirical devices: hyperbole and grotesque. The heroes of these fairy tales, however, are also revealed as mask-symbols: the author creates collective images of social types.
The language of Shchedrin's tales is deeply folk, close to Russian folklore. The satirist uses not only traditional fairy-tale techniques and images, but also proverbs, sayings, and sayings. Dialogue characters is colorful, the speech depicts a specific social type: an imperious, rude eagle, a beautiful-hearted idealist crucian carp, an evil reactionary robber, a prude priest, a dissolute canary, a cowardly hare, etc.
In fairy tales, Shchedrin showed himself to be a brilliant artist, a master of Aesopian language, with the help of which he was able to convey to the reader a sharp political thought and convey social generalizations in allegorical form. The works of Shchedrin's fairy tale cycle are united not only by genre characteristics, but also by some common ideas and themes. These general ideas and themes connect the tales with each other, give the entire cycle a certain unity and allow it to be considered as an integral work, covered by a common ideological and artistic concept.
In the complex ideological content of Shchedrin’s fairy tales, four main themes can be distinguished: 1) satire on the government leaders of the autocracy and on the exploiting classes, 2) exposure of the behavior and psychology of the philistine-minded intelligentsia, 3) depiction of the life of the masses in tsarist Russia, 4) exposure of the morality of property owners - predators and propaganda of a new social ideal and new morality. But, of course, it is impossible to draw a strict thematic distinction between Shchedrin’s tales, and there is no need for this. Usually the same tale along with its own main theme affects others too. Thus, in almost every fairy tale, the writer touches on the life of the people, contrasting it with the life of the privileged strata of society.
All of Shchedrin's fairy tales were subject to censorship persecution and alterations. Many of them were published in illegal publications abroad. “Documentary and memoir sources indicate that Shchedrin’s tales were constantly in the arsenal of Russian populist revolutionaries and served as an effective weapon for them in the fight against autocracy. Those fairy tales that were banned by tsarist censorship (“The Bear in the Voivodeship,” “The Eagle Patron,” “Dried Roach,” etc.) were distributed in illegal publications - Russian and foreign. F. Engels showed interest in Shchedrin’s “Fairy Tales”. See: K. Marx and F. Engels. Works, ed. 2nd. M., Goslitizdat, 1964, vol. 36, p. 522. They were repeatedly used by Russian Marxists in their journalistic activities. For example, V.I. Lenin brilliantly interpreted many of the ideas and images of Shchedrin's fairy tales, applying them to the conditions of the political struggle of his time.
The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin had a great influence on the further development of Russian literature and especially the genre of satire.
A brief analysis of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wild Landowner”: idea, problems, themes, image of the people
The fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” was published by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in 1869. This work is a satire on the Russian landowner and the ordinary Russian people. In order to bypass censorship, the writer chose a specific genre, “fairy tale,” within which a deliberate fable is described. In the work, the author does not give his characters names, as if hinting that the landowner is a collective image of all landowners in Rus' in the 19th century. And Senka and the rest of the men are typical representatives of the peasant class. The theme of the work is simple: the superiority of the hardworking and patient people over the mediocre and stupid nobles, expressed in an allegorical manner.
Problems, features and meaning of the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner”
Saltykov-Shchedrin's tales are always distinguished by simplicity, irony and artistic details, using which the author can absolutely accurately convey the character of the character “And that stupid landowner was reading the newspaper “Vest” and his body was soft, white and crumbly,” “he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced.”
The main problem in the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” is the problem difficult fate people. The landowner in the work appears as a cruel and ruthless tyrant who intends to take away the last thing from his peasants. But after hearing the prayers of the peasants for better life and the landowner's desire to get rid of them forever, God grants their prayers. They stop bothering the landowner, and the “men” get rid of oppression. The author shows that in the world of the landowner, the peasants were the creators of all goods. When they disappeared, he himself turned into an animal, grew overgrown, and stopped eating normal food, since all the food disappeared from the market. With the disappearance of the men, the bright one left, rich life, the world has become uninteresting, dull, tasteless. Even the entertainment that previously brought pleasure to the landowner - playing pulque or watching a play in the theater - no longer seemed so tempting. The world is empty without the peasantry. Thus, in the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” the meaning is quite real: the upper strata of society oppress and trample the lower ones, but at the same time cannot remain at their illusory heights without them, since it is the “slaves” who provide for the country, but their master is nothing but problems, we are unable to provide.
The image of the people in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin
The people in the work of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin are hardworking people in whose hands any business “argues.” It was thanks to them that the landowner always lived in abundance. The people appear before us not just as a weak-willed and reckless mass, but as smart and insightful people: “The men see: although their landowner is stupid, he has been given a great mind.” Peasants are also endowed with such an important quality as a sense of justice. They refused to live under the yoke of a landowner who imposed unfair and sometimes insane restrictions on them, and asked God for help.
The author himself treats the people with respect. This can be seen in the contrast between how the landowner lived after the disappearance of the peasantry and during his return: “And suddenly again there was a smell of chaff and sheepskins in that district; but at the same time, flour, meat, and all kinds of livestock appeared at the market, and so many taxes arrived in one day that the treasurer, seeing such a pile of money, just clasped his hands in surprise...”, it can be argued that the people are the driving force of society, the foundation on which the existence of such “landowners” is based, and they certainly owe their well-being to the simple Russian peasant. This is the meaning of the ending of the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner”.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!Outstanding Achievement last decade Saltykov-Shchedrin’s creative activity is the book “Fairy Tales,” which includes thirty-two works. This is one of the brightest and most popular creations of the great satirist. With a few exceptions, fairy tales were created over four years (1883-1886), at the final stage creative path writer. The fairy tale is only one of the genres of Shchedrin’s creativity, but it is organically close artistic method satirical
For satire in general, and in particular for Shchedrin’s satire, the usual techniques are artistic exaggeration, fantasy, allegory, bringing together those accused social phenomena with phenomena of the animal world.
These techniques, associated with folk fairy tales, in their development led to the appearance in Shchedrin’s work of individual fairy tale episodes and “inserted” fairy tales within works, then to the first separate fairy tales and, finally, to the creation of a cycle of fairy tales. Writing a whole book of fairy tales in the first half of the 80s. This is explained, of course, not only by the fact that by this time the satirist had creatively mastered the fairy tale genre.
In an environment of government reaction, fairy-tale fiction to some extent served as a means of artistic camouflage for the most acute ideological and political intentions of the satirist.
Approaching the form of satirical works to a folk tale also opened the way for the writer to a wider readership. Therefore, for several years Shchedrin has been working enthusiastically on fairy tales. In this form, the most accessible to the masses and loved by them, he pours all the ideological and thematic richness of his satire and creates a kind of small satirical encyclopedia for the people.
In the complex ideological content of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s tales, three main themes can be distinguished: satire on the government leaders of the autocracy and on the exploiting classes, a depiction of the life of the masses in Tsarist Russia, and an exposure of the behavior and psychology of the philistine-minded intelligentsia.
But, of course, it is impossible to draw a strict thematic distinction between Shchedrin’s tales and there is no need for this. Usually the same fairy tale, along with its main theme, also affects others. Thus, in almost every fairy tale, the writer touches on the life of the people, contrasting it with the life of the privileged strata of society.
“The Bear in the Voivodeship” stands out for its sharp satirical attack directly on the government leaders of the autocracy. The tale, mockingly ridiculing the king, ministers, and governors, is reminiscent of the theme of “The Story of a City,” but this time the royal dignitaries are transformed into fairy-tale bears rampaging through the forest slums.
There are three Toptygins in the fairy tale. The first two marked their activities to pacify “internal enemies” various kinds atrocities. Toptygin 3rd differed from his predecessors, who longed for the “brilliance of bloodshed,” by his good-natured disposition. He limited his activities only to observing the “old established order” and was content with “natural” atrocities.
However, even under the leadership of Toptygin the 3rd, the forest never changed its former physiognomy. “Both day and night it thundered with millions of voices, some of which represented an agonizing cry, others a victorious cry.”
The cause of the people's misfortunes lies, therefore, not in the abuse of the principles of power, but in the very principle of the autocratic system. Salvation does not lie in replacing the evil Toptygins with good ones, but in eliminating them altogether, that is, in overthrowing the autocracy as anti-people and despotic state form. This is the main idea of the fairy tale.
In terms of the sharpness and boldness of its satire on the monarchy, next to “The Bear in the Voivodeship” can be placed the fairy tale “The Eagle Patron,” which exposes the activities of tsarism in the field of education. Unlike Toptygin, who dumped “the works of the human mind into a waste pit,” the eagle decided not to eradicate, but to establish the sciences and arts, to establish a “golden age” of enlightenment.
When creating an enlightened servant, the eagle defined its purpose as follows: “...she will comfort me, but I will keep her in fear. That's all". However, there was no complete obedience. Some of the servants dared to teach the eagle itself to read and write. He responded to this with massacre and pogrom. Soon there was no trace left of the recent “golden age”. The main idea of the fairy tale is expressed in the words: “eagles are harmful to enlightenment.”
The fairy tales “The Bear in the Voivodeship” and “The Eagle Patron,” aimed at higher administrative spheres, were not allowed for publication by censorship during the writer’s lifetime, but they were distributed in Russian and foreign illegal publications and played their revolutionary role.
With caustic sarcasm, Shchedrin attacked the representatives of mass predation - the nobility and bourgeoisie, who acted under the patronage of the ruling political elite and in alliance with it. They appear in fairy tales either in the usual social image of a landowner (“Wild Landowner”), a general (“The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”), a merchant (“Faithful Trezor”), a kulak (“Neighbors”), or this is more often in the images of wolves, foxes, pikes, hawks, etc.
Saltykov, as V.I. Lenin noted, taught Russian society“to distinguish under the smoothed and pomaded appearance of the education of the feudal landowner his predatory interests...” This satirist’s ability to expose the “predatory interests” of the serf owners and arouse popular hatred towards them was clearly manifested already in Shchedrin’s first fairy tales - “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals” and “The Wild Landowner.”
Using the techniques of witty fairy-tale fiction, Shchedrin shows that the source of not only material well-being, but also the so-called noble culture is the work of the peasant.
What would have happened if the man had not been found? This is proven in the story of a wild landowner who expelled all the peasants from his estate. He became wild, overgrown with hair from head to toe, “walked more and more on all fours,” “he even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds.”
Along with the satirical denunciation of the privileged classes and estates, Saltykov-Shchedrin touches on the second main theme of the works of the fairy-tale cycle in the tale of two generals - the position of the people in an exploitative society. With bitter irony, the satirist depicted the slavish behavior of a man.
Among the abundance of fruits, game and fish, the worthless generals died on the island from hunger, since they could only get hold of partridge in a fried form. Wandering helplessly, they finally came across the sleeping “lounger” and forced him to work.
He was a huge man, a jack of all trades. He took apples from the tree, and got potatoes from the ground, and made a snare for catching hazel grouse from his own hair, and made a fire, and baked various provisions to feed the voracious parasites, and collected swan fluff so that they could sleep softly. Yes, this is a strong man! The generals could not resist his strength.
Meanwhile, he resignedly submitted to his enslavers. He gave them ten apples each, and took “one sour one” for himself. He himself made a rope so that the generals would keep him on a leash at night. Moreover, he was grateful to “the generals for the fact that they did not disdain his peasant labor.” It is difficult to imagine a more vivid depiction of the strength and weakness of the Russian peasantry in the era of autocracy.
The glaring contradiction between the enormous potential power and class passivity of the peasantry is presented on the pages of many other Shchedrin fairy tales. With bitterness and deep compassion, the writer reproduced pictures of poverty, downtroddenness, long-suffering, mass ruin of the peasantry, languishing under the triple yoke of officials, landowners and capitalists.
The democratic writer’s never-ending pain for the Russian peasant, all the bitterness of his thoughts about the fate of his people, his native country, were concentrated within the narrow confines of the fairy tale “The Horse” and expressed themselves in moving images and paintings filled with high poetry.
The tale depicts, on the one hand, the tragedy of the life of the Russian peasantry - this enormous but enslaved force, and on the other, the author’s sorrowful experiences associated with the unsuccessful search for an answer to the most important question: “Who will free this force from captivity? Who will bring her into the world?
The tale of Konyaga expresses the writer’s desire to raise the consciousness of the masses to their level. historical vocation, arm them with courage, awaken their enormous dormant forces for collective self-defense and active liberation struggle.
Saltykov-Shchedrin believed in the victory of the people, although the specific paths to this victory were not entirely clear to him as a peasant democrat-socialist. Until understanding historical role he did not reach the proletariat, he completed his literary activity on the eve of the proletarian stage of the liberation struggle.
A significant part of Shchedrin’s tales is devoted to exposing the behavior and psychology of the intelligentsia, intimidated by government persecution and succumbing to shameful panic during the years of political reaction. Representatives of this category of people found a satirical reflection in the mirror of Shchedrin’s fairy tales in the images of the wise gudgeon, dried roach, selfless hare, sensible hare, Russian liberal.
By depicting the pitiful fate of the hero of the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, distraught with fear, who walled himself up in a dark hole for life, the satirist exposed the common intellectual to public shame, expressed contempt for those who, submitting to the instinct of self-preservation, retreated from active social struggle into the narrow world of personal interests .
Similar in theme to “The Wise Piskar” is one of the most caustic satires on liberalism—the fairy tale “The Liberal.” The noble-minded liberal at first timidly asked the government for reforms “if possible,” then “at least something,” and ended up acting “in relation to meanness.” V.I. Lenin repeatedly used this famous Shchedrin fairy tale to characterize the evolution of bourgeois liberalism, which easily retreated from the “ideal” to “meanness,” that is, to reconciliation with reactionary politics.
Shchedrin always hated cowardly, corrupt liberals, all those people who hypocritically masked their pathetic public complaints in loud words. He felt no other feeling towards them other than open contempt. More complex was the satirist’s attitude towards those honest but misguided naive dreamers, of whom the title character is a representative. famous fairy tale"Crucian idealist."
As a sincere and selfless champion of social equality, the idealist crucian acts as an exponent of the socialist ideals of Shchedrin himself and, in general, the advanced part of the Russian intelligentsia. But the naive faith of the crucian carp in the possibility of achieving social harmony through the mere moral re-education of predators dooms all his lofty dreams to inevitable failure. The ardent preacher of the desired future paid cruelly for his illusions: he was swallowed by a pike.
By mercilessly exposing the irreconcilability of class interests, exposing the harmfulness of liberal compromise with reaction, ridiculing the naive faith of simpletons in the awakening of the generosity of predators - all of this Shchedrin's tales objectively brought the reader to the realization of the necessity and inevitability of a social revolution.
The rich ideological content of Shchedrin's tales is expressed in a publicly accessible and vivid artistic form. “A fairy tale,” said N.V. Gogol, “can be a lofty creation when it serves as an allegorical garment, clothing a lofty spiritual truth, when it tangibly and visibly reveals even to a commoner a matter that is accessible only to a sage.” These are precisely Shchedrin’s tales. They are written in real vernacular- simple, concise and expressive.
The satirist overheard the words and images for his wonderful tales in folk tales and legends, in proverbs and sayings, in the picturesque talk of the crowd, in all the poetic elements of the living folk language.
And yet, despite the abundance folklore elements, Shchedrin's tale, taken as a whole, is unlike folk tales; it does not repeat traditional folklore schemes either in composition or in plot. The satirist did not imitate folklore models, but freely created on the basis of them and in their spirit, creatively revealed and developed their deep meaning, took them from the people in order to return them to the people ideologically and artistically enriched.
Therefore, even in cases where themes or individual images of Shchedrin’s fairy tales find a correspondence in previously known folklore stories, they are always distinguished by the originality of interpretation of traditional motifs, novelty ideological content and high artistic perfection. Here, as in the fairy tales of Pushkin and Andersen, the artist’s enriching influence on the genres of folk poetic literature is clearly manifested.
Based on the folklore, fairy tale and literary fable tradition, Shchedrin gave unsurpassed examples of laconicism in the artistic interpretation of complex social phenomena. In this regard, especially noteworthy are those fairy tales in which representatives of the zoological world act.
Images of the animal kingdom have long been inherent in fables and satirical tale about animals, which was, as a rule, the work of the lower social classes.
Under the guise of a story about animals, the people gained some freedom to attack their oppressors and the opportunity to speak in an intelligible, funny, witty manner about serious things. This popular form artistic storytelling found wide application in Shchedrin's tales.
By masterfully embodying denounced social types in the images of animals, Shchedrin achieved a vivid satirical effect. The very fact of likening representatives of the ruling classes and the ruling caste of the autocracy to predatory animals, the satirist declared his deepest contempt for them.
The meaning of Shchedrin's allegories is easily understood both from the figurative pictures themselves, corresponding to the poetic structure of folk tales, and due to the fact that the satirist often accompanies his allegories with direct hints at their hidden meaning, switches the narrative from the fantastic to the realistic, from the zoological to the human sphere.
“The crow is a fertile bird and agrees to everything. Mainly, she is good because the class of “men” is represented by a craftswoman” (“Eagle the Patron”).
Toptygin ate the little siskin. “It’s the same as if someone drove a poor tiny high school student to suicide through pedagogical measures...” (“Bear in Voivodeship”). From this one hint it became clear to the thinking reader that we were talking about administrative police persecution of advanced student youth.
The satirist was inventive and witty in choosing the images of animals and in distributing among them the roles that they were supposed to play in small social comedies and tragedies.
In the “menagerie” presented in Shchedrin’s fairy tales, hares study “statistical tables published by the Ministry of Internal Affairs” and write correspondence to newspapers; bears go on business trips, receive money for travel and strive to get into the “tablets of history”; the birds are talking about the capitalist railway worker Guboshlepov; Pisces talk about the constitution and even debate about socialism.
But this is precisely the poetic charm and irresistible artistic persuasiveness of Shchedrin’s tales, that no matter how the satirist “humanizes” his zoological pictures, no matter how complex social roles no matter what he entrusted to his “tailed” heroes, the latter always retain their basic natural properties.
History of Russian literature: in 4 volumes / Edited by N.I. Prutskov and others - L., 1980-1983.
