So much has been written this year that it is unclear how Nikolai Vasilyevich managed to do it all. “The Inspector General” was written in literally a month and a half, the collection “Arabesques” was published (Fig. 2),
Rice. 2. Title page collection "Arabesques" (1833)
where at the same time as critical articles, with an essay, Gogol begins to publish his St. Petersburg stories, namely: “Nevsky Prospekt”, “Portrait”, “Notes of a Madman”.
Rice. 3. Title page of the collection “Mirgorod” (1835) ()
In the same year, the collection “Mirgorod” appears (Fig. 3), which consists of four stories: “Old World Landowners”, “Taras Bulba”, “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”. And immediately a lot of questions arise that also arose among the critics of that time. Criticism through the mouth of Belinsky (Fig. 4) praised this new stage in the works of Gogol.
Rice. 4. V.G. Belinsky
Belinsky said that Gogol became more serious, began to penetrate deeper into the secrets of life. At the same time, Belinsky expressed a number of bewilderments, especially regarding the first story: “Take his “Old World Landowners”: what’s in them? Two parodies of humanity drink and eat, eat and drink for several decades, and then, as has been the custom since ancient times, they die. But why this charm? You […] take part in the characters of the story, laugh at them, but without anger, and then weep with Palemon about his Baucis, sympathize with his deep, unearthly grief...” It seems that the problems of Gogol’s stories have eluded criticism.
We can also talk about the name. On the one hand, it is clear that we're talking about about one of the completely ordinary provincial Little Russian towns. Gogol writes that the main attraction of this town was a huge puddle in the middle of the city square. But on the other hand, this name also contains other words: “Mirgorod”, “world”, “city”. Perhaps the very name hints at some more universal and large-scale problems. But most of the questions arise about another matter: before us are four stories, completely different not only in plot, but also in genre.
The first story is dedicated to two old men, passionately and sincerely loving friend friend: Pulcheria Ivanovna and Afanasy Ivanovich, who eat and drink and then die.
The second story is of a completely different plan: powerful heroic figures of Taras Bulba and his sons, Ostap and Andriy, terrible feats historical events distant eras.
The third story is written in the genre of romantic fiction: witches, devils, otherworldly creatures, the brave Cossack Khoma Brut, who could not defeat Viy himself and found himself a victim of the demonic lady.
And finally, the fourth story, written in the spirit of harsh realism. Quite disgusting inhabitants of a small miserable town with their little passions, with their dirty everyday and dull life.
What can these stories have in common? And are they really united for a reason? Do they simply constitute a certain collection of stories, or can we talk about some kind of unity, ideological, artistic? To do this, we will consider each of these works sequentially.
So, “Old World Landowners” (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. “Afanasy Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna” (P.P. Sokolov. Illustration to N.V. Gogol’s story “Old World Landowners”, 1853) ()
This story contains a certain hint, a key that should open the door behind which the general idea of the story is contained. Belinsky was apparently wrong when he considered the heroes of this story pitiful, insignificant, leading a half-vegetative, half-animal existence. This wrongness is heard even in the above words of Belinsky, because he compares Afanasy Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna with certain Philemon and Baucis, characters from a high ancient myth (Fig. 6).
Rice. 6. « Mercury and Jupiter in the house of Philemon and Baucis" (Jacob van Ost the Elder, 17th century) ()
And if the heroes can be compared with the characters of such high myth, which means that these characters are not so base. Let us remember who Baucis and Palemon are, or, as he is now often called, Philemon. They were an old man and an old woman, they had no children, they lived in a tiny village, and their whole life was devoted to each other. This is eternal love, and also virtue. They never harmed anyone. Moreover, the gods sent them a test. This is wonderfully described, for example, in the “Metamorphoses” of the great Roman poet Ovid. One day, certain wanderers came to the village where Philemon and Baucis lived. They knocked on literally every house, but none of the residents let them in. And only Philemon and Baucis warmly opened the doors, without asking what kind of people they were. They immediately laid out all their food on the table, which had been prepared for many days in advance. That is, they themselves risked being left without food. But they served the guests to wash, sat them down at the table, and, as usually happens in such cases, when everyone was seated, a divine light shone over the heads of the guests. It was the gods who visited the humble home of Philemon and Baucis. For their hospitality, cordiality, kindness, the gods rewarded them: they gave them a long, carefree life. Philemon and Baucis become priests in the temple of Zeus the Hospitable. And the gods grant them simultaneous death, or rather, not death, but transformation. Philemon sees how his Baucis turns into a beautiful tree, and Baucis sees how Philemon becomes the same exact tree. They manage to say goodbye to each other. Then these trees stand side by side for several centuries, delighting each other and the people around them.
These are the characters with which not only Belinsky, but also Gogol himself compares his heroes in the story “Old World Landowners.” But Gogol connects his heroes not only with the characters of highly ancient myth. Let's turn to the first pages of the story. The situation is a little strange. It talks about a flowering and fruit-bearing garden in which old-world landowners live. Bird cherry and at the same time lilac are blooming in this garden, the trees are strewn with apples, pears, and the crimson color of red cherries. In the house of old-world landowners, birds that look like flowers and flowers that look like birds are depicted on the sofas. This is the setting of paradise, although paradise is reserved for people after earthly life. But there is another legend that speaks of a certain wonderful time that existed on earth. Of course, this legend is about the golden age. It came to us from antiquity. The ancient Greek poet Hesiod was the first to record this legend (Fig. 7),
then it was repeated by the Roman poet Ovid (Fig. 8).
Rice. 8. Publius Ovid Naso (ancient Roman poet) ()
What kind of legend is this? There was once a time when people lived in bliss and serenity, the earth provided everything for food, rivers flowed with milk and honey, spring bloomed forever, and with it summer. Thus, we can clearly see that the golden age is a distant past, but in the space of the estate of the old-world landowners, some fragment of the golden age has been preserved. There, time passes slowly, blissfully, and old-world landowners never do harm to anyone. Yes, of course, their life may be called base, but with an important adjustment: Gogol himself says: “their base, bucolic life.” Bucolics, or idyll, is also a kind of literary genre, which came from antiquity. It is useless to make any demands on the idyllic hero. government activities, the demand for some kind of feats, deeds. After all, an idyllic hero is a person who lives in peace with the surrounding reality, with his own destiny, with his soul. Gogol portrays such heroes to us. In addition, like their ancient predecessors, they are sincerely hospitable. But Gogol understands perfectly well that in space modern life The hero will not receive an idyllic, magical realization, therefore, if the ancient characters Philemon and Baucis earned the mercy of the gods and died at the same moment, then this will not happen to Gogol’s heroes. After all, this story is not about how they eat and drink, although if you count how many times the heroes eat, it will be about ten times a day. This story is about great love, which connects these two. And the fact that they are not young does not matter, we remember eternal love, connecting Tristan and Isolde (Fig. 9),
Rice. 9. “Tristan and Isolde” (D.W. Waterhouse, 1916) ()
Francescu Rimini and Paolo (Fig. 10).
Rice. 10. “Paolo and Francesca” (E.C. Halle) ()
But the love of Afanasy Ivanovich (Fig. 11)
Rice. 11. “Afanasy Ivanovich” (P. Boklevsky, Ill. to the story “Old World Landowners”, 1887) ()
and Pulcheria Ivanovna (Fig. 12)
Rice. 12. “Pulcheria Ivanovna” (P. Boklevsky, Ill. to the story “Old World Landowners”, 1887) ()
no less strong. Pulcheria Ivanovna, as we may remember, sees a gray cat suddenly returning, lured by cats, but for some reason she returned, wild, strange, ate the food offered, and then, meowing wildly, jumped out the window. It would seem like a trifle, a funny incident, but Pulcheria Ivanovna understands: it was death that came for her. Some researchers find in this episode a connection with hagiographic literature. Indeed, in the lives of saints people pure life And bright soul a certain divine mercy appears: they are warned of their impending death. Gogol is not going to maintain a high, pathetic, tense tone here, and therefore he lowers this situation a little: it is not an angel who comes to the old people, but this strange gray cat. However, like hagiographic characters, Pulcheria Ivanovna is able to foresee her death. And the old people part. Afanasy Ivanovich has been living alone for five years. Next, Gogol introduces a certain short story, which seemed to have no direct relationship to action. He talks about a certain young man who was madly, passionately, tenderly, boldly, romantically in love with his bride. The bride dies, and the young man finds no joy in anything, he tries to commit suicide twice, his grief is immeasurable, there is not a shadow of hope in him for any peace of mind. But less than a year later the narrator sees this young man in the company of his young wife at a social event, where he cheerfully plays cards. This is the kind of love that reigns in the modern world, which is by no means golden. The heroes of the golden age remain faithful to each other until the very end of life. Gogol then talks about what at some point the lonely, abandoned Afanasy Ivanovich hears in the clear summer day some voice that quietly calls him. Gogol says that we sometimes hear voices of this kind, and a chill runs through our skin, because these voices are not the voices of our world, but of some other one mystical world. But Afanasy Ivanovich feels only joy and endless happiness: “It was she who called me,” he says and dies reassured. He hopes for a posthumous meeting with Pulcheria Ivanovna. And in this way, the golden age is clearly involved here by Gogol. But if we remember the legend in its entirety, we will see that the matter is not limited to the golden age. According to ancient legend, after the golden age came an age of worse quality - the silver one. There was still a lot of food, there were still no wars and diseases, but winter came, old age began to come to people, and death appeared. And it is precisely the emergence of the Silver Age with old age and death that we can observe in “Old World Landowners.”
But then our picture becomes clearer, because after silver age, from the point of view of Hesiod and Ovid, should have appeared copper age, a truly terrible age. Proud, courageous, fierce people inhabited this century. They constantly fought with each other, they had copper weapons, and even their homes were made of copper. And all of them, having destroyed each other, died, and no trace of them remained.
Now we will not be surprised that the story “Taras Bulba” is in second place. It is there that we see terrible historical events of proud, courageous and often merciless heroes. This is a kind of ideal, but an ideal of a different kind. In the first story we are dealing with an idyllic ideal, where meek and pure-hearted heroes live in peace with themselves and with the quiet and peaceful nature that surrounds them. In the second story we are given an ideal of a different type - a heroic ideal. And just as it is pointless to demand great deeds from an idyllic hero, it is also pointless to reproach Taras Bulba (Fig. 13)
Rice. 13. Taras (E. Kibrik, Ill. to the story “Taras Bulba”, 1945) ()
or Ostap (Fig. 14)
Rice. 14. Ostap (E. Kibrik, Ill. to the story “Taras Bulba”, 1945) ()
in excessive cruelty.
Rice. 15. Andriy (E. Kibrik, Ill. to the story “Taras Bulba”, 1945) ()
After all, Gogol says that Taras Bulba and his comrades did not just kill on the battlefield, sometimes they destroyed civilians. But here we must clearly understand that Gogol had serious, great examples in world literature, which he tried to transplant to Russian soil. "Taras Bulba" reminds us of the ancient epic, namely the Iliad. Gogol was aware of this similarity, moreover, he specifically tried to emphasize it, here are small examples of this. In the Iliad there is a fairly long list of Greek ships that sailed to Troy to fight for the beautiful Helen. Gogol in the story “Taras Bulba” gives us an almost equally long list of Cossack kurens who come to the battlefield. In the Iliad, first one Ajax appears, then a second hero, a third, to emphasize that there are many heroes. Kukubenko appears in Gogol, then a second one, who has the same heroic qualities. In the second edition of the story, Gogol deliberately introduced hidden quotes from the great Homer (Fig. 16).
Thus, before us is an epic, majestic, epic heroes. It is also interesting that in Taras Bulba they are connected different eras: in the work there are events of the 14th, 15th, and even 16th centuries in such a peculiar mixture. And this is not the author's fault. Gogol knew the history of Little Russia very well, but he wanted to create a kind of universal image of the heroic past.
Now let’s turn to the table of contents of the collection “Mirgorod”, which consists of two parts. The first part is represented by two stories: “Old World Landowners” and “Taras Bulba”. Thus, we are given two completely different, but ideal constructions. Not every person can live an idyllic or heroic life, but together they create a certain image of the ideal.
Then comes part two, which consists of the stories “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich.” What does the ancient legend tell us? After the Copper Age, after these scary people who performed feats and disappeared from the face of the earth, a certain last century begins; ancient authors call it the Iron Age. And the first sign of the Iron Age is a certain impoverishment of human souls. People become weak, small, petty. And it seems that we are seeing such a situation in the story “Viy”. There are three characters there, released on vacation to the students: the theologian Khalyava, the philosopher Khoma Brut and the rhetorician, the youngest of them, Tiberius Gorobets (Fig. 17).
Rice. 17. “Freebie, Brutus and Gorobets, caught at dusk in the steppe” (M. Mikeshin, 1877)
Outwardly, they are very similar to the Zaporozhye Cossacks: they have the same mustache, the same wide trousers, they smoke cradle pipes with the same enthusiasm, they love to eat heroically and sleep in burdocks. But something in them has irreparably changed. Even their names are strange: Freebie - freebie, laziness; Homa Brut - Homa is a common version of the name Thomas, and Brutus is a character in Roman history, a tyrant fighter; Tiberius Gorobets - Tiberius is the name of the formidable Roman emperor, and Gorobets is the Little Russian sparrow. These heroes travel across the steppe, but everything suddenly changes and they find themselves in a different space - a space filled with evil. A lady reigns there, who turns out to be a terrible witch, and her power is incredibly great.
Rice. 18. “The Second Night of Khoma Brut” (E. Novikov, Ill. to the story “Viy”) ()
At first, Homa Brutus managed to deal with her: he beat her to death, and the terrible demonic old woman turns into a girl. It would seem that victory is assured, but it turns out that not everything is so simple. Even the posthumous power of the lady is so great that her long arm extends into the city of Kyiv itself, and it was from there that Khoma Brut was taken and brought to her bedside to read prayers over her for three days. That is, it is absolutely clear that Home Brutus will have to fight with evil spirits. Life is filled with evil, life requires a heroic beginning, but this beginning is practically gone in Homa Brut. This is how he talks to the lady’s father, a stern and formidable centurion:
The centurion asks:
- Who was your father?
- I don’t know, noble sir,- Khoma Brut answers.
- And your mother?
- And I don’t know my mother...
- ...and I myself - God knows what. I have no idea.
This is the self-awareness of the hero. Life requires a heroic beginning, but there is no hero, so evil triumphs in the space of the story. Khoma Brut showed some mental weakness. He looked at Viy (Fig. 19),
Rice. 19. “Viy” (E. Novikov, Ill. to the story “Viy”) ()
In the last story, Gogol shows that not only the heroic principle disappears from the world, but also people cease to be heroes, cease to be people.
Rice. 20. “The story of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” (A. Bubnov, 1952) ()
Moreover, something strange is happening to humanity in general. What is the city like where Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich live? Either it’s a stack of pancakes, or it’s some kind of sponge, a strange mushroom, an ugly growth on the body of the earth. Irrationality even penetrates into the story of the narrator himself, who constantly admires Ivan Ivanovich: « A wonderful person, Ivan Ivanovich!” But with what? Him "Glorious Bekesha", “The Poltava commissar knows him too”, “He loves melons very much.”. And these are the qualities of a wonderful person? That is, the strangeness is in the story itself. Moreover, some strangeness penetrates even deeper: a comparison begins between Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich, which suddenly spreads. It is said that “Ivan Nikiforovich’s eyes are small, yellowish, completely disappearing between thick eyebrows and plump cheeks, and a nose in the shape ripe plum» , (Fig. 21)
Rice. 21. “Ivan Nikiforovich” (P. Boklevsky, Ill. to “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, 1882)
A “Ivan Ivanovich has large, expressive tobacco-colored eyes and a mouth somewhat similar to the letter Izhitsa.”(Fig. 22)
Rice. 22. “Ivan Ivanovich” (P. Boklevsky, Ill. to “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, 1882) ()
There is a comparison even stranger. The narrator says that “Ivan Ivanovich is of a somewhat timid nature”, A “Ivan Nikiforovich, on the contrary, has trousers with such wide folds that if they were inflated, the entire yard with barns and buildings could be placed in them.”. And this ominous irrationality in the lives of the heroes, and in their internal appearance, and even in the narrator’s story itself, tells us that life is irreparably spoiled. The same Iron Age is coming. The first sign of the Iron Age, as we have already said, is the crushing of human souls, some kind of weakness and pitifulness of characters. People really stop being people. For example, Ivan Ivanovich loves to talk with beggars, ask about their needs, but in the end he doesn’t even give, which is an extremely anti-human quality (Fig. 23):
...Ivan Ivanovich can’t bear to avoid passing over all the beggars. He might not have wanted to do such a boring task if his natural kindness had not prompted him to do so.
- Great, heaven! - he usually said, having found the most crippled woman, in a tattered dress sewn from patches. -Where are you from, poor thing?
- I, lady, came from the farm: for the third day I didn’t drink or eat, my own children kicked me out.
- Poor little head, why did you come here?
- And so, sir, ask for alms, will someone give you at least some bread?
- Hm! Well, do you really want bread? - Ivan Ivanovich usually asked.
- How can you not want to! hungry as a dog.
- Hm! - Ivan Ivanovich usually answered. - So maybe you want meat too?
- Yes, whatever your mercy gives, I will be happy with everything.
- Hm! Is meat better than bread?
- Where can a hungry person sort it out? Anything you wish is fine.
At the same time, the old woman usually extended her hand.
“Well, go with God,” said Ivan Ivanovich. - Why are you standing there? I'm not hitting you! - and, having addressed such questions to another, to a third, he finally returns home...
Rice. 23. “Ivan Ivanovich on the way to church” (P. Sokolov, Ill. to “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, 1891) ()
But the main thing characteristic The Iron Age is discord. It is believed that in the Iron Age there will be a war of all against all, law will be replaced by the fist, son will go against father, brother against brother. And so we see that the fourth story is precisely dedicated to a quarrel (Fig. 24).
Rice. 24. “Quarrel” (Illustration for the first publication of the story in the almanac “Housewarming”, 1834)
Another thing is that both in Gogol’s and in our modern world, even quarrels between these people are illusory. We don’t know why they are friends and why they quarreled. They good-naturedly shower each other with curses, and this does not cause them any rejection. But then Ivan Nikiforovich utters the fatal word “gander” - and that’s it: a terrible quarrel, with a complete breakdown in relations.
So, having looked at these four stories, we see that there is a certain super-idea that very closely connects these works, which have different plots and genres: the idyll and the golden age smoothly and sadly flows into the silver, the formidable times of the copper age, the gradual onset of the ominous age, when A feat is needed from a person, but a person has crushed and is unable to accomplish a feat. And finally, complete corruption of souls: loss of ideals, honor and conscience - that’s what it is modern world, from Gogol's point of view.
In antiquity, the legend of the four centuries ended apocalyptically. And this eschatologism, or the mood of waiting for the end of the world, seems to be characteristic of Gogol’s collection “Mirgorod”. Thus, all these four stories ended up under one cover and placed in that order, of course, not by chance. They are associated with deep Gogolian historiosophical concepts. He, indeed, believed that life in the world was getting worse, that evil was triumphing, moreover, with impunity, and humanity must make a colossal effort to resist this world of evil overwhelming everything. Will he succeed? Gogol thought about this throughout his entire work, but he began to think about this, of course, in 1835, when he wrote the collection “Mirgorod”.
Bibliography
- Sakharov V.I., Zinin S.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: Russian Word.
- Arkhangelsky A.N. and others. Russian language and literature. Literature (advanced level) 10. - M.: Bustard.
- Lanin B.A., Ustinova L.Yu., Shamchikova V.M. / ed. Lanina B.A. Russian language and literature. Literature (basic and advanced levels) 10. - M.: VENTANA-GRAF.
- Internet portal Feb-web.ru ().
- Excellent student at school ().
Homework
- Find all the romantic and realistic images in the stories in the collection “Mirgorod”.
- Identify all possible motives (philosophical, fantastic, heroic, etc.) in the stories in the collection “Mirgorod”.
- * Write an essay-reflection on the topic: “Gogol’s heroes in our time.”
EXAMINATION CARD No. 14
1. Collection “Mirgorod”: general characteristics, analysis of two stories.
"Mirgorod" (February, 1835) - a collection of stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, which is positioned as a continuation of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” The stories in this collection are based on Ukrainian folklore and have much in common with each other. It is believed that the prototypes of some of the characters were Gogol’s relatives and people he knew while he lived in Ukraine. In this collection, unlike Dikanka, where Rudy Panko was, there is no single “publisher” who closes the cycle of stories. Despite the fact that the stories are grouped, they can be read separately without losing the meaning of each story. Mirgorod consists of two parts, which contain four stories by Gogol: “Old World Landowners”, “Taras Bulba”, “Viy”, “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”. The first included the stories “Old World Landowners” and “Taras Bulba”, the second - “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”. Both parts were published simultaneously at the very beginning of 1835. Gogol gave Mirgorod the subtitle “Tales that serve as a continuation of Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” But this book was not a simple continuation of “Evenings...”. Both in the content and in the characteristic features of the writer’s artistic style, it was a new stage in his creative development. It is no coincidence that the stories “Mirgorod” are combined in one cycle. They must be considered in unity, despite their apparent heterogeneity. So, for example, in the stories “Taras Bulba” and “The Quarrel of Two Ivans,” the author seems to be talking about completely different things. The first one is drawn epic picture the heroic past of the people with its remarkably beautiful, full-fledged people-heroes, in the second - a picture of the writer’s contemporary landowner-serf life, terrifying in its vulgarity, in which a person lost his truly human qualities and turned into a “sky-smoker”. At the same time, the stories are completely different in style: in “Taras Bulba” the romantic rise of the writer is visible everywhere, escaping from reality into the world of dreams; in and “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” there is nowhere even an attempt to break away from real life - the stories are realistic from beginning to end. Such a combination of disparate works into one cycle seems contradictory only at first glance. In essence, here there is a unity of the negating and affirming principles in the Gogol style of critical realism. This unity lies in the main idea of all the works of the cycle, which consists in the writer’s protest against the all-consuming vulgarity of his contemporary reality, in the call to fight for a reasonable, healthy social existence of man. In the quarrel between the two Ivans, this idea is carried out through the pathos of denial, the merciless exposure of the ugly, meaningless life of existence, in “Taras Bupba” - through the pathos of affirmation of the rational existence of people. By using the method of opposition, or rather, comparison, the writer achieves great persuasiveness of his thoughts, which runs through all the stories of “Mirgorod”.
2. Slavophiles: ideology, representatives of the movement. Creativity A.S. Khomyakova.
German philosophy, transferred to Russian soil, in the work of domestic thinkers becomes a standard in the movement towards original and original philosophical concepts.
In the 40s of the 19th century, a “splitting” of the Russian spirit took place. Two lines have emerged in Russian philosophical thought: Slavophilism and Westernism. Already in the 30s, the fascination with Schelling (a thinker, a classic of idealist philosophy) waned: philosophical thought began to be increasingly attracted to Hegel’s idealistic system. Russian philosophy itself is becoming stronger. Vague ideas are replaced by a meaningful formulation of questions of a specific cognitive and practical nature. Public opinion gravitates towards reliable knowledge about the fate of the fatherland, the driving forces of its history, about the mission that befell Russia.
Opinions were divided. Some believed that Russia had simply lagged behind the advanced countries of Europe, and that it was doomed to continue the path taken by the West, which it would inevitably have to repeat. Others, on the contrary, believed that as a result of Peter’s reforms, Russia had lost its own image, lost its national roots, and that it was destined to revive the ancient Russian, Orthodox principles of life and culture in order to tell the world its own, new word. Supporters of the first opinion formed, as it were, a camp of Westerners, adherents of the second - Slavophiles.
The Slavophil line in Russian philosophy is represented by the work of A.S. Khomyakova (1804–1860), I.V. Kireevsky (1806-1856), K.S. Aksakov (1817-1860). The so-called “late Slavophiles” include N.Ya. Danilevsky (1822–1885) and K.N. Leontyev (1831-1891), F.I. Tyutchev (1803-1873).
Particular influence on the work of A.S. Khomyakov was influenced by Schelling's ideas. Khomyakov did not create a special work outlining his philosophical views. Almost all of his works are written on (or in connection with) opinions expressed by scientists, writers and philosophers. Nevertheless, they also make it possible to reveal the uniqueness and originality in the philosophizing of this thinker.
On the pages of the magazine “Moskvityanin” he published his thoughts on the peasant question. Khomyakov discussed the principles that should form the basis of free contracts between peasants and landowners
The main feature of his work is that he proceeded from church consciousness. In the Church he saw the fullness of truth, a source of light that illuminates all commercial existence. And in this sense he is a genuine Christian philosopher
For Khomyakov, the Church is the basis of all his philosophical constructions. From the doctrine of the Church, he derives the doctrine of personality, which fundamentally rejects individualism. For Khomyakov, the personality, revealed in its entirety, is one with the Church. Reason, conscience, creativity - all these are functions of the Church. From these premises he derives his doctrine of two fundamental types of personality. In personality there is always a struggle between two opposing principles: freedom and necessity. The predominance of one or another principle forms one or another type. Where the search for freedom dominates, there is the Iranian type. Where subordination to necessity predominates, there is the Cushitic type. But the gift of freedom triumphs only in unity with the Church.
For him, the truths of Orthodoxy, faith in the exceptional destiny of Russia and its national foundations always remained beyond any doubt. In his poems, Khomyakov always devoted a lot of space to the Slavs and their future: his poetry is even called “the poetry of the Slavs.” Back in 1831, Khomyakov in ode about the Polish rebellion, painted a picture of the future:
Thick darkness is falling in the far West, the land of holy wonders...
The century has passed and the cover of death
the whole West will be shut down.
There will be deep darkness...
Hear the voice of fate, rise in a new radiance,
wake up, slumbering East...
And to another humble country,
full of faith and miracles (i.e. Russia)
God will give the fate of the universe,
the thunder of the earth and the voice of heaven.
When the Slavophiles in 1856 received the opportunity to publish Russian Conversation, Khomyakov was an active collaborator and spiritual director of the magazine. Many of the editorials are his. He also wrote a preface to the magazine, outlining his position. Among Khomyakov’s articles published in “Russian Conversation”, the following stand out: “Conversation in the Moscow Region” (defining the element of the folk and universal), “Letter to T. Filippov”, “Comments on Solovyov’s article “Schletser and the ahistorical direction””, “Ivanov’s Painting” .
After the publication of Mirgorod on March 22, 1835, Gogol wrote to his friend M. Maksimovich: “I am sending you Mirgorod.”<…>I would like him to drive away your melancholy mood... We will never get used to looking at life as a piece of grass, as the Cossack always looked... The more the old sadness comes to the heart, the noisier the new gaiety should be.”
In the article “A few words about Pushkin,” included in “Arabesques,” he formulated the idea somewhat differently: “The more ordinary the subject, the higher the poet needs to be in order to extract the extraordinary from it and so that this extraordinary, by the way, is the perfect truth.”
It seems that both of these trends manifested themselves in the “Mirgorod” cycle, initially conceived by Gogol as a continuation of “Evenings”. Actually, one of the stories of “Mirgorod” - “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” was already previously published in the second book of the almanac “Housewarming” with the subtitle “One of the unpublished stories of Pasichnik Rudago Panka” (sic) and with the date “1831” (let us also remember the mention in the story of the characters-narrators of “Evenings” - Foma Grigorievich and Makar Nazarovich). Also on the cover of “Mirgorod” there was originally a subtitle: “Stories that serve as a continuation of “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka.”
“Mirgorod”, indeed, in many respects could be considered a continuation of “Evenings”. The action in it was still confined to Ukraine. Only Dikanka, which in the first cycle was a kind of emblem of the Universe, has now moved to the more prosaic city of Mirgorod. Like “Evenings”, Gogol’s second prose cycle was clearly divided into two parts: “Old World Landowners”, “Taras Bulba” - and “Viy”, “How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, which in turn created a parallel rhyme of the two stories from modern life: “Old World Landowners” and “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich”, and two stories from the Ukrainian past, one of which (“Taras Bulba”) clearly gravitated towards the genre of historical narrative, and the other (“ Viy") - fantastic. Moreover, each of them, in a certain sense, continued the trend already outlined in “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka.” Thus, stories from modern life were correlated with “Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and his aunt”; "Viy" rather continued the tradition of terrible stories of the first cycle and, first of all, "The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala", and "Taras Bulba" in its historical themes was correlated with "Terrible Revenge".
At the same time, there is a fairly widespread idea that the general tendency of Gogol in Mirgorod is a decisive change in the subject of the image. Instead of strong and harsh characters, there is vulgarity and facelessness of ordinary people; instead of poetic and deep feelings - sluggish, almost reflexive movements. Finally, instead of the Cossack, rural environment - a small-scale and landowner environment, and instead of the cunning tricks of lovers - petty worries, troubles and litigation. Not to mention that this is unfair in relation to “Viy” and even more so “Taras Bulba”, upon closer reading it is obvious that this statement is not entirely fair even in relation to Mirgorod stories from modern life. At the very least, a number of clarifications should be made to it.
"Mirgorod" by N.V. Gogol
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol - outstanding master words, a brilliant prose writer and an unsurpassed satirist. At the time when Gogol began his literary activity, the main question social development in Russia there was a question about the abolition of serfdom. I continue the humanistic, anti-serfdom traditions of Radishchev, Fonvizin, Pushkin and Griboedov, Gogol destroys this system with his destructive laughter and promotes the development of democratic progressive ideas in Russia.
“Stories that serve as a continuation of “evenings on Khutor near Dikanka” - this is the subtitle of “Mirgorod”. Both content and characteristic features In its style, this book opened a new stage in Gogol’s creative development. There is no longer room for romance and beauty in the depiction of the life and customs of Mirgorod landowners. A person's life here is entangled in a web of petty interests. There is no lofty romantic dream, no song, no inspiration in this life. Here is the kingdom of self-interest and vulgarity.
In “Mirgorod” Gogol parted with the image of a simple-minded storyteller and appeared before readers as an artist who boldly reveals social contradictions modernity.
From cheerful and romantic boys and girls, inspired and poetic descriptions of Ukrainian nature, Gogol moved on to depicting the prose of life. This book sharply expresses the writer’s critical attitude towards the musty way of life of old-world landowners and the vulgarity of Mirgorod “beings”.
Realistic and satirical motives of Gogol’s work are deepened in “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich.” The story of a stupid lawsuit between two Mirgorod inhabitants is interpreted by Gogol in a sharply accusatory way. The life of these ordinary people is devoid of an atmosphere of patriarchal simplicity and naivety. The behavior of both heroes arouses in the writer not a gentle smile, but a feeling of bitterness and anger: “It’s boring in this world, gentlemen!” This sharp replacement of a humorous tone with a nakedly satirical one reveals the meaning of the story with utmost clarity. A seemingly funny, cheerful anecdote turns in the reader’s mind into a deeply dramatic picture of reality.
Gogol, with his characteristic thoroughness, peers into the characters of his heroes: two bosom friends. They are “the only two friends” in Mirgorod - Pererepenko and Dovgochkhun. But each of them is on his own mind. It seemed that there was no such force that could upset their friendship. However, a stupid incident caused an explosion, arousing hatred of one for the other. And one unfortunate day, friends became enemies.
Ivan Ivanovich really misses the gun that he saw on Ivan Nikiforovich. The gun is not just a “good thing,” it should strengthen Ivan Ivanovich in the consciousness of his noble birthright. His nobility, however, is not a family one, but an acquired one: his father was in the clergy. It is all the more important for him to have his own gun! But Ivan Nikiforovich is also a nobleman, and even a real one, hereditary! He also needs a gun, although since he bought it from Turchin and had in mind to enroll in the police, he has not yet fired a single shot from it. He considers it blasphemous to exchange such a “noble thing” for a brown pig and two sacks of oats. That’s why Ivan Nikiforovich became inflamed and this unfortunate “gander” flew off his tongue.
In this story, the ironic manner of Gogol’s writing makes itself felt even more strongly than in the previous one. Gogol's satire is never revealed nakedly. His attitude towards the world seems good-natured, kind, and friendly. Well, really, what bad thing can you say about such a wonderful person as Ivan Ivanovich Pererepenko! Natural kindness just flows out of Ivan Ivanovich. Every Sunday he puts on his famous bekesha and goes to church. And after the service, prompted by natural kindness, he will definitely go around the beggars. He will see a beggar woman and have a cordial conversation with her. She expects alms, he will talk and talk and go away.
This is what Ivan Ivanovich’s “natural kindness” and compassion look like, turning into hypocrisy and complete cruelty. “Ivan Nikiforovich is also a very good person.” “Also” - obviously, he is the same person kind soul. Gogol does not make any direct accusations in this story, but the accusatory thrust of his letter reaches extraordinary strength. His irony seems good-natured and gentle, but how much true indignation and satirical fire there is in it! For the first time in this story, bureaucrats also become the target of Gogol’s satire. Here are the judge Demyan Demyanovich, and the defendant Dorofey Trofimovich, and the court secretary Taras Tikhonovich, and the nameless office employee, with “eyes that looked askance and drunk,” with his assistant, from whose breath “the presence room turned for a while into a drinking house.” , and mayor Pyotr Fedorovich. All these characters seem to us to be prototypes of the heroes of “The Inspector General” and officials provincial town from “Dead Souls”.
The composition of “Mirgorod” reflects the breadth of Gogol’s perception of modern reality and at the same time testifies to the scope and breadth of his artistic quest.
All four stories of the “Mirgorod” cycle are connected by the internal unity of ideological and artistic concept.
At the same time, each of them has its own distinctive style features. The originality of “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” lies in the fact that here the technique of satirical irony characteristic of Gogol is most clearly and vividly expressed. The narration in this work, as in “Old World Landowners,” is told in the first person - not from the author, but from a certain fictional narrator, naive and simple-minded. It is he who admires the valor and nobility of Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich. It is the “beautiful puddle” of Mirgorod, the “glorious bekesha” of one of the heroes of the story and the wide trousers of another that move him. And the more his delight is expressed, the more obvious the emptiness and insignificance of these characters is revealed to the reader.
It is easy to see that the narrator acts as an exponent of the self-awareness of the people. In the way Rudy Panko perceives and evaluates the phenomena of reality, one can see the humor and grin of Gogol himself. The beekeeper is the exponent of the author's moral position. In “Mirgorod” artistic task the narrator is different. Already in “Old World Landowners” he cannot be identified with the author. And in the story about the quarrel he is even more distant from him. Gogol's irony is completely naked here. And we guess that the subject of Gogol’s satire is, in essence, the image of the narrator. It helps to more fully solve the satirical task posed by the writer.
Only once in a story about a quarrel does the image of a narrator appear before us, who was not touched by the author’s irony, in the final phrase of the story: “It’s boring in this world, gentlemen!” It was Gogol himself who seemed to push the boundaries of the story and enter it in order to pronounce his verdict openly and angrily, without a hint of irony. This phrase crowns not only the story of the quarrel, but also the entire “Mirgorod” cycle. Here is the grain of the entire book. Belinsky subtly and accurately remarked: “Gogol’s stories are funny when you read them, and sad when you read them.” Throughout the book, the writer creates a judgment on human vulgarity, which becomes, as it were, a symbol of modern life. But it is here, at the end of the story about the quarrel, that Gogol openly, from his own name pronounces the final verdict on this life.
In “Old World Landowners” and “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich,” Gogol first appeared before readers as a “poet of real life,” as an artist boldly exposing ugliness public relations feudal Russia. Gogol's laughter did a great job. He had enormous destructive power. He destroyed the legend about the inviolability of the feudal-landowner foundations, debunked the aura of imaginary power created around them, and exposed all the abomination and inconsistency to the “public eyes” contemporary writer political regime, carried out judgment on it, awakened faith in the possibility of a different, more perfect reality.
The collection of stories “Mirgorod” by N.V. Gogol has the subtitle “Stories that serve as a continuation of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”.” It's really easy to notice common features of these two collections: in both the events develop in Ukraine, and in both collections there are stories with both fantastic and realistic plots. The fantastic line of “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” is continued by the story “Viy”, which reflects many ancient beliefs that are characteristic not only of Ukrainians, but also of many other peoples. As the author himself, Viy, explained, folk beliefs- This is the chief of the gnomes, whose eyelids are unusually long, reaching down to the ground. Therefore, he orders his army to lift his eyelids.
The fairy-tale plot of “Viya”, which Gogol borrowed from Ukrainian folklore, like all fantastic legends ancient origin of course, like all similar stories, it has deep meaning, which is not always noticeable behind external effects.
Khoma and his companion lost their way - a very common beginning of many legends. Indeed, how often does a person wander through life without finding the right path! A meeting with a witch is a person’s collision with reality, the authenticity of which is periodically disputed. The victory that Khoma managed to win over the witch still needs to be confirmed. The creepy companions of the deceased lady appear again and again for spiritual battle with the ill-fated philosopher. The circle that Khoma drew on the floor is an ancient attribute of magicians, a kind of border that the forces of another world cannot cross. The monsters that surround Khoma are images of human fears. “...He disappeared... because he was afraid. And if he weren’t afraid, then the witch couldn’t do anything to him,” the hero’s comrades come to this conclusion.
Along with the ominous images of the witch, monsters, and Viy, the story also contains funny motifs - for example, references to the habit of one of Khoma’s comrades of dragging everything that is in bad shape, even an old boot sole.
In the story “Taras Bulba” the author refers to the historical past of Ukraine, especially the Zaporozhye Sich. In this work, Gogol shows the life and customs of the Cossacks. Fearless in military raids, main character stories in family life reveals himself to be a rude tyrant, treating his wife like a slave, not taking her feelings into account at all. This man has no pity for his son, who has gone over to the side of his enemies. The same Bulba is ready to risk everything in the world just to save his other son, who was captured. Unbridled temper, not knowing how to restrain anything, be it debauchery, war, revenge - that’s what Taras Bulba is like, worthy son of his time and people. Desperate courage in battle with enemies and merciless extermination of women and children, commitment Christian faith and oblivion of its main commandment, the commandment of forgiveness... In the story “Taras Bulba” the author is faithful to the cruel historical truth, he does not embellish or justify his hero. The painful death of Bulba, burned at the stake by his enemies, is the same revenge for those killed by him as he took for his executed son. "An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth." Bulba and his enemies, who equally fanatically consider themselves adherents of the true faith of Christ, are completely faithful to this particular pagan law. But in the eyes of his fellow countrymen, Bulba remains a hero. The way he acts is what the era is. Personal merits, often turning into their opposite, are perceived by the hero’s supporters in the spirit of the ideals that dominate their minds.
The other two stories included in the collection “Mirgorod” have a completely different sound. The story "Old World Landowners" is a story married couple, carried the feeling throughout my life mutual love and caring for each other. However, the touching rural idyll of the hospitable old people is accompanied by their mismanagement (the servants are idle, overeat and steal) and the narrowness of their interests - all their attention is aimed mainly at eating delicious food. A comical impression is made by the conversations of Afanasy Ivanovich and Pulcheria Ivanovna about what to eat, or the senseless reasoning of Afanasy Ivanovich regarding the fact that he intends to go to war, where he and Pulcheria Ivanovna will live if the house suddenly burns down.
The author depicts with emotion the kindness, cordiality and friendliness of these people. At the same time, the artless narration of their life makes it possible to feel the monotony and aimlessness of their existence, absorbed in petty worries. Gogol also shows the high moral virtues of his heroes: Pulcheria Ivanovna, before her death, is full of concern about her husband. Afanasy Ivanovich, who lived another five years after her, constantly missed his wife. “Place me next to Pulcheria Ivanovna,” were his last words.
In “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich,” Gogol continues the theme of musty and gray provincial life, aimless and idle existence. Two neighbors long years were bosom friends, but an accidentally uttered swear word during an argument made them enemies for life and death. From that moment on, both respectable people were obsessed with one thought: how to harm their neighbor. Eventually the matter comes to trial. The main joy for former friends is the news that the matter will soon be resolved - everyone is sure that it will be in his favor. “It’s boring in this world, gentlemen!” - with this phrase Gogol ends both “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” and the collection “Mirgorod”. It is necessary to say a few words about the composition of the collection. Like “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka,” it consists of two parts: the first included the stories “Old World Landowners” and “Taras Bulba,” and the second included “Viy” and “The Story of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich "
However, it is easy to notice that “Old World Landowners” and “The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich” are much closer both thematically and in time to the events described. However, the author placed them in different parts of the collection. Gogol begins Mirgorod with a story about the life of provincial landowners, his contemporaries, and then shows bright and vast pictures of the historical past, as if for contrast. A similar contrast can be seen in the plots of the stories from the second part of the collection: the story of human confrontation evil spirits and a story about a stupid quarrel between two friends. This composition of the collection allows the author to convey the idea of shredding human soul: travel and battles are replaced by a boring existence in one place, devoid of serious activities. This idea of the author is emphasized by the phrase with which “Mirgorod” ends.
