1. Folklore as a source of mystical images in Gogol’s works.
2. Evil spirits in collections of stories.
3. Mysticism in the story “Portrait”.
In dictionaries you can find several definitions of the concept “mysticism”, but they all agree that this word means beliefs in another reality inhabited by supernatural beings, as well as the opportunity for people to communicate with them. Folklore tradition different nations preserved stories about various creatures of another world, both good and bright, well-disposed towards people, and evil, hostile to God and people.
In the works of N.V. Gogol, it is mainly malicious entities that penetrate into the world of people, and their accomplices also act - evil sorcerers and witches. Only occasionally do people encounter benevolent creatures from another world. And yet, in the works of writers there are much more evil people from another world than good ones. Perhaps this “distribution of forces” reflected people’s wary attitude towards mysterious world, contact with which can lead to unpredictable consequences.
In the collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka,” mystical motifs are heard in almost all the stories, with the exception of one, “Ivan Fedorovich Shponka and his Aunt.” In other stories, the degree of contact between people and the other world is different. In the story “Sorochinskaya Fair” the story about the mysterious red scroll can still be considered a joke, successfully picked up by a young man in love. But the superstitious Cossack Solopiy Cherevik has no doubt that the ill-fated red sleeve that he keeps coming across is nothing more than a sleeve from the devil’s chopped up scroll! However, in this story it is not the evil spirits themselves that act, but human faith in their existence, and this “shadow” of evil spirits brings where more benefit than harm. Solopiy suffered and was shaken up, but everything turned out well, his daughter and the Cossack Gritsko received Cherevik’s consent to the marriage, and he himself successfully sold the goods brought to the fair.
A meeting with a mermaid - a lady who drowned herself due to the oppression of her stepmother-witch - unexpectedly changes the life of the boy Levko and his beloved Ganna. The mermaid rewards generously young man for helping her find her stepmother. Thanks to the power of the drowned woman, Levko and Ganna finally become husband and wife despite the objections of the young man’s father.
In the stories “The Missing Letter”, “The Night Before Christmas”, “The Enchanted Place” the evil spirits are very active and unfriendly towards people. However, she is not so powerful that she cannot be defeated. We can say that the heroes of the stories “The Missing Letter” and “The Enchanted Place” got off easy. The evil spirits played a joke on them, but also let them go in peace, each one left to his own. And in the story “The Night Before Christmas,” the meeting with the devil turned out to be even useful for the blacksmith Vakula - having scared the devil, the blacksmith used him as a vehicle and fulfilled the order of his capricious lover, bringing her the Tsarina’s slippers.
But in the stories “The Evening on the Eve of Ivan Kupala” and “ Terrible revenge", as well as in the story "Viy", included in another collection, "Mirgorod", the evil spirits and their assistants - evil sorcerers - are truly terrible. No, it’s not even the evil spirits that are the most terrible, with the possible exception of the creepy Viy. Much people are scarier: the sorcerer Basavryuk and the sorcerer from the story “Terrible Revenge”, who killed all his loved ones. And the sinister Viy appears for a reason.
He comes to the witch's body to destroy the man who killed her.
“The devil is not as terrible as he is painted,” says a common expression. Indeed, we can agree that in Gogol’s works, evil spirits often do not turn out to be so terrible if the person himself is not afraid of them. Sometimes she even looks quite comical (remember the devil put in a bag by the witch Solokha and beaten by her son Vakula). Much scarier and more dangerous person, which contributes to the penetration of evil into our world...
Mystical motives are also heard in the story “Portrait”, included in the collection “ Petersburg stories" However, in it they acquire an even deeper philosophical meaning. Talented artist unwittingly becomes the culprit of the fact that evil penetrates the souls of people. The eyes of the moneylender, whose portrait he painted, have an ominous effect on people. However, the artist did not have bad intentions, like those sorcerers who, of their own free will, helped the evil spirits rampage. Having realized what he had done, this man experiences deep remorse. And the work itself was not a joy to him - he felt something mysterious and terrible in a man who at all costs wanted to be captured on the canvas: “He threw himself at his feet and begged him to finish the portrait, saying that from this his fate and existence in the world depend on the fact that he has already touched its living features with his brush, that if he conveys them correctly, his life will be retained in the portrait by supernatural force, that through this he will not die completely, that he needs to be present in the world. My father felt horror from such words...”
How can one not remember Viy’s creepy, deathly gaze! Who exactly was this moneylender? Gogol does not give a direct answer to this question. The artist, who painted the portrait and became a monk in repentance, speaks about it to his son: “To this day I cannot understand what that strange image was from which I painted the image. It was definitely some kind of devilish phenomenon... I wrote it with disgust...” Yes, the eyes of the moneylender depicted in the portrait became a kind of doors through which evil entered the world of people: and the artist, who imprudently allowed these doors to remain open, asks his son, if the opportunity arises, to destroy the ominous image, to block the path to the evil obsession that cripples human souls and fate. However, evil, having penetrated the human world, does not want to leave it: a strange portrait suddenly disappears from the hall where the auction is being held, and the son is deprived of the opportunity to fulfill the will of his father. What other troubles will an ominous look cause?..
So, we can summarize all of the above. Gogol's interest in mysticism is undeniable: the writer repeatedly developed plots in which a significant place was devoted to evil spirits and their assistants. Gogol also showed various results from a person’s collision with supernatural powers- from a completely harmless joke to a terrible tragedy, while emphasizing the role human factor in the activities of people from another world.
Research work
« Mystical images in the works of Russians and foreign writers and their influence on the consciousness of adolescents"
I. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………3
II. Main part……………………………………………………………………………………….4
1. What is fear?………………………………………………………………………………………4
2. Mystical images in the works of Russian writers……………………………..6
3. Mystical works of modern Russian and foreign literature
writers…………………………………………………………………………………9
III. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….12
IV. Literature………………………………………………………………………………..13
V. Appendix……………………………………………………………………………….14
I. Introduction
Humans are characterized by different emotional feelings: fear, apprehension, joy, sadness, fear and others, the manifestation of which often depends on the influence external factors. These feelings are an inevitable part of our life. Constantly changing, they accompany us throughout our lives. One of the most common and most interesting is fear. A person tries to overcome, reduce, overpower or curb fear different ways. Some people try not to think about their fears, replacing them with manifestations of positive emotions. Others, on the contrary, strive to learn more about fear by reading literature and watching films.
Fear is an emotional manifestation of human feelings, which is studied in psychology at a fairly deep level. Mystical fears are one of the common but little-studied types of fear. Mystical fears include fear of the dark, fear of being alone, fear of non-existent monsters, aliens, the evil eye, etc.
In the history of psychology, studies of “mystical” fears have typically been conducted with children or adolescents. In our study, we turned to searching for the relationship between the level of expression of mystical fears and general creative potential modern teenagers, as well as the level of development of their imagination.
Purpose our research - to determine the influence of mystical images of works of Russian and foreign literature for teenagers.
Tasks:
· provide a description of the emotion of fear according to Russian language dictionaries;
· identify literary devices creating mystical images in works and determining how they influence the consciousness of adolescents.
To solve the problems, general scientific methods were used - observations, analysis, comparison, and survey methods.
Research hypothesis: in our opinion, mystical images have different effects on adolescents depending on their characteristics literary work and their interests.
Object of study: mystical images from works of Russian and foreign literature of different periods.
II. Main part
1. What is fear?
Every living being experiences fear. As Edmund Burke said, “No feeling can deprive the brain of reason and the power of action to such an extent as fear can do.” But what is fear?
Fear is a purely negative emotion, but it also has some positive aspects: fear - psychological basis survival, fear is an incentive to live and die at the same time, sometimes people die from fear, and sometimes they are saved only thanks to it, fear mobilizes all physical and mental strength to survive. Therefore, it is extremely important to “look fear in the face,” understand its impact on a person and free yourself from outdated stereotypes. Referring to various kinds of dictionaries allows us to identify the semantic components of the concept of fear.
Etymological dictionary The Russian language gives the following explanation of the origin of the word fear:
Fear- common Slavic, which has a correspondence in the Germanic and Baltic languages (Middle Lithuanian stregti to stiffen, turn to stone and German strecken to stretch out) Initially, fear meant numbness, stupor.
In this case, it can be assumed that the word fear has undergone changes in its lexical meaning over time: in modern Russian, fear denotes a lesser degree of fear than it meant before, and very strong fear is denoted by the word horror, whereas initially it denoted very strong horror, nightmare , from which the blood runs cold and the hair on your head stands on end.
Now let's turn to the definition of the word fear in the explanatory dictionary :
Fear- passion, fear, timidity, strong apprehension, an anxious state of mind from fright, from a threatening or imaginary disaster.
In this definition, the word “fear” is interpreted through the synonyms passion, fear, timidity, and strong apprehension. The adjective “strong” indicates the intensity of the expression of emotion.
Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language gives the following interpretation lexical meaning fear:
Fear- very strong fear, strong fear.
IN encyclopedic dictionary“General Psychology”, edited by us, we find the following definition: “Fear is an emotion that arises in situations of threat to the biological or social existence of an individual and is aimed at the source of real or imaginary danger.”
To summarize, we can say that fear is an anxious state of a person, the strength of its manifestation is associated with the level of development of the imagination.
In the course of our research, we concluded that 70% of respondents are ready to experience fear when turning to literary works in order to awaken new sensations, increase adrenaline levels and create unusual paintings own imagination.
Let's remember our parents sitting in the evening by the fire in a pioneer camp or in a dark room and telling each other the so-called “ horror stories» about the Coffin on Wheels, the Black Hand or the Black Piano. How much emotion and tension they caused! But they are still alive in the memory of the older generation.
So, based on the results of our study, we have proven that mystical images have different effects on adolescents depending on the characteristics of the literary work and their interests. Thus, the hypothesis is proven.
In conclusion, I would like to note that the popularity mystical literature It only increases over the years. From mysticism came modern horror literature, a movement in cinema, and cultural aesthetics. A huge number of people around the world follow fairy world mystical literature, looking for beauty in darkness and mystery.
IV.Literature
1. Golovin of a practical psychologist. - Minsk: Harvest, 1998-800p.
2. Dal Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language. – Ed. “ROOSSA”, Tver, 2010 – 1000 p.
3., Shvedova Dictionary of the Living Russian Language/Russian Academy of Sciences. Institute of Russian Language named after. .- 4th ed., supplemented.-M.: Azbukovnik, 1999 – 944 p.
4. Paltsev, N. Scary tales Stephen King. Fantasies and reality [Text] / N. Paltsev. - http://kingclub. people ru/wdove/WIN1251/terror. htm1. Bowlby, 1973. – In the book: The Izard of Man. – MSU, M., 1980.
5. Petrovsky lexicon. – M.: PER SE, 2005 – 250 p.
6. King Stephen Dance Maccabre. – Warner Books, London, 1993.
7. Shansky etymological dictionary Russian language. Origin of words/ , . - 7th ed., M.: Education, 2000, 995 p.
8. Neelova modern literature for children. Access mode: www. imago. spb. ru/soulbody/articles/article8.htm.
9. Psychological courses, psychological trainings, consultations. Access mode: www. imago. spb. ru/soulbody/articles/article8.htm
Application
Research results
We conducted a study, the objects of which were students in grades 9-11 of our educational institution, and they were given various questionnaires. Here are his results.
Questionnaire No. 1
1) Are you attracted to books (films) that contain mystical paintings or pictures of fear?
Yes - 73%, no - 15%, have not read yet 12%
2) Do you experience any unpleasant feelings or sensations after reading this?
Yes – 52%, no – 48%
Questionnaire No. 2
1. Did reading the works arouse your interest?
Yes – 74%, no – 26%
2. Did you experience a feeling of fear when reading these works?
Yes – 4%, no – 96%.
Questionnaire No. 3
Are you reading mystical works?
4. Did you experience a feeling of fear when reading these works?
Yes – 68%, no – 32%.
What feelings and sensations do you experience after reading these works? (See page 11.) Would you like to re-read these works again?
Yes - 54%, no - 46%.
7. What influence do you think works of the mystical genre have?
for teenagers?
Positive – 66%, negative – 25%, difficult to answer – 9%.
World fiction V general educational process has one of the central places and is the basis for the development of a person as an individual. And mysticism, as one of the realities of the surrounding world, was actively used by the classics of world literature for their creativity.
Mysticism in the works of Zhukovsky
V. A. Zhukovsky, with his inherent talent, brought epic start into her ballads “Svetlana” and “Forest Tsar” with the help of mysticism. In the ballad “Svetlana”, describing the heroine’s experiences through the prism of mysticism, using a dream as artistic technique, the poet very figuratively leads the reader to the understanding that only faith in God can protect a person from mystical manifestations.
The hero of the ballad “The Forest King,” under the influence of the mystical power of nature, dies from his own fears, which encourages the reader to fight his inner enemy - his fear, and by overcoming himself in this struggle, a person finds himself.
Mysticism in Pushkin
Perfectly used mystical images to display his inner world A. S. Pushkin in the poem “Demons”. The poet intricately fused his thoughts about his upcoming marriage, about cholera threatening his bride, and about the passion tormenting him on this occasion in “Demons.”
Genre diversity of mystical literature
N.V. Gogol spoke with a peculiar sense of humor in his story “The Night Before Christmas” about the fact that mysticism and reality are closely intertwined in our world. The very fact of the agreement between the devil and the blacksmith Vakula speaks of the fearlessness of the people, and that the existence of the otherworldly does not greatly frighten a person in the pursuit of happiness.
It is often difficult for a person to determine what is true and what is false in his life. The heroes of M. Maeterlinck's philosophical play-fairy tale “The Blue Bird” are image-symbols that embody the forces dominating the earth. Tyltil and Mytil, with the help of a magical mystical stone, were able to see objects and phenomena of life in their true light.
In search of the Blue Bird, which represents happiness, in order to bring it to earth, they needed to know this world. While completing this task, they understand that this world and the souls that inhabit it are located inside the people themselves.
Spiritualizing the world around man in the play, Maeterlinck shows that people need to wake up, look around and discover the incomparable beauty of the world, learn the value of human love and kindness, understand the need to live in peace with their neighbors on earth, be imbued with the desire to know the world, not exposing it to destruction.
The origins of the mystical in literature can also be traced to P. Merimee in the short story “Venus of Illes,” which critics attribute to mystical romanticism.
P. Merimee used as an epigraph: “May the statue be merciful and supportive,” I exclaimed, “being so courageous!” lines from the work of the ancient Greek satirist Lucian of Samosata (125 - ca. 180), from chapter 17 of his dialogue "The Lover of Lies, or Nevers." Undoubtedly, it served as a primary source for P. Merimee and the semantic load of his work.
About the hero’s attempts to overcome the influence of the mystical Guy de Maupassant in his story “Orlya” he said: “A person feels next to him some kind of secret, inaccessible to his rough and imperfect feelings, and tries to compensate for their powerlessness by straining his mind.”
Man with difficult fate, who had difficult relationship with authority, he wrote rather caustic satire on social order, and his play is about “whites” with great success was on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater. But thanks to myself famous novel- “The Master and Margarita” - Mikhail Afanasyevich is considered a mystical writer. Today we decided to remember Russian writers who were fond of mysticism, which was reflected in their works.
Nikolai Gogol (1821-1852)
Nikolai Vasilyevich did a lot for the development of the Russian language, in addition, he managed to influence contemporary writers and descendants. Gogol's work is permeated with mysticism, religiosity, fantasy and mythology and folklore.
The mystical appeared in Nikolai Vasilyevich’s very first books. "Evenings on a farm near Dikanka" are simply filled with otherworldly forces. But still, most of all evil and darkness are on the pages of the story “Viy”, in which Khoma Brut tries to resist the witch, ghouls and werewolves. However, the struggle of the student, who spends three nights singing the funeral service for the lady, goes to dust when he looks into the eyes of Viy - a monster from the underworld with heavy eyelids hiding a deadly gaze.
Gogol uses motifs in his story Slavic mythology, beliefs and folklore about a terrible demon. The writer managed to create from fairy tale plot a work considered the standard of mystical literature. Bulgakov will use this experience a hundred years later.
Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
Fyodor Mikhailovich, along with Gogol, is considered one of the greatest mystical writers of the 19th century. However, the basis of his mysticism is of a completely different nature and has a different character - in Dostoevsky’s work there is a confrontation between good and evil, Christ and Antichrist, divine and demonic principles, the search and revelation of the mystical nature of the Russian people and Orthodoxy. A number of researchers connect the presence of the “otherworldly” in the writer’s work with epilepsy, which was considered a “sacred disease” by the ancients. Probably, it was seizures that could serve as a “window” into another reality, where Dostoevsky drew his revelations.
Some of Dostoevsky’s heroes are also “possessed” - they suffer from similar illnesses; Prince Myshkin and Alyosha Karamazov can be called such. But the characters in other works are also tormented by internal contradictions and the search for the divine principle in themselves. Ivan Karamazov’s conversation with the devil, Svidrigailov’s nightmares about eternal life in a room with spiders. Dostoevsky reaches the pinnacle of religious and philosophical anthropological revelation in “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor”, told by Ivan Karamazov. This story, according to Berdyaev, is a kind of quintessence of the paths traversed by man in “Crime and Punishment”, “The Idiot”, “Demons” and “A teenager.” Dostoevsky connects the mystery of man with the mystery of Christ.
Leonid Andreev (1871-1919)
Andreev created on turn of XIX-XX centuries, during Silver Age. His works are close in spirit to the Symbolists, and he himself is often called the founder of Russian expressionism, but the writer himself did not belong to any circle of writers and poets.
Andreev’s formation as a writer undoubtedly took place under the influence of fashionable modernist trends (and social trends - revolutionary sentiments and thirst for change), but he developed his own own style. Andreev’s work combines the features of skepticism, religiosity and mysticism (the writer was seriously interested in spiritualism), all of this is reflected in his novels, novellas and short stories - “The Life of Vasily of Fiveysky”, “Judas Iscariot”, “The Resurrection of All the Dead”, “The Diary of Satan” "
So in “The Life of Vasily of Fiveysky” rural pop tries to resurrect the dead - Andreev puts into the hero’s madness the desire to become a superman, to receive the energy of Christ. The act of resurrection is necessary for the transition from death to creativity, to endless immortality. The other side of Andreev’s mysticism is noticeable in “The Tale of the Seven Hanged” - starting from the symbolic number of those executed and ending with the terrible finale, where life continues despite death.
By the way, the children also followed in their father’s footsteps - three of his sons and daughter became writers. Moreover, Daniil Leonidovich Andreev became a mystical writer already during the years of the USSR, his most significant work was the novel “Rose of the World,” which he himself called a religious and philosophical teaching. Andreev managed to combine art and religion in one book, explain the existence of several earthly dimensions, metahistory Russia and its significance for creativity, as well as give forecasts for the historical perspective.
Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940)
In the work of Mikhail Afansevich there is no less occult than fantastic and mythological. Researcher V.I. Losev called Bulgakov the most mysterious writer XX century, who was able to “penetrate the essence of current events and foresee the future. His characters are forced to exist at the junction of two worlds, sometimes crossing the line separating them. Like Gogol, Mikhail Afansievich combined invisible life with real life in his books.
Bulgakov’s religious and philosophical subtext can be traced back to the 1920s, when the heroes of his stories open a conventional Pandora’s box, releasing unknown forces into reality. Characters of "Diaboliad" Fatal eggs”, "Heart of a Dog” try on the roles of gods, opening doors to the world for the otherworldly - inventing a magic ray that affects evolution, or creating a man from a dog.
But most of all it is permeated with religious philosophy and mysticism. central novel Bulagokva - “The Master and Margarita”. Is it worth retelling the story about the coming of Satan with his amazing retinue to Moscow and what happened next? It’s as if the worlds are shifting, realities are changing places and a cat with a primus is walking through the streets, witches are flying in the sky, demons rule the capital... In addition, the book has biblical and historical overtones (the Master’s novel about Yeshua and Pontius Pilate) and a serious satire on Soviet society, exposing its vices (for which representatives of this society are punished, although not by God).
Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)
Pasternak is usually not classified as a member of any movement of the Silver Age, although he was friends with the Symbolists and at one time communicated with the Futurists. Still, Pasternak, like Andreev, stands apart. Boris Leonidovich's first poetic experiments date back to 1913, when the first book of his poems was published. Only after the publication of the collection “Twin in the Clouds” did Pasternak call himself a “professional writer.”
The apotheosis of Pasternak’s work was the novel “Doctor Zhivago” - grandiose in its concept. The book covers the period of Russian-Soviet history for almost 50 years, told through the life of Yuri Zhivago, a doctor and poet. Dmitry Bykov in the writer’s biography notes that in a multi-layered In the narration of the novel, which is quite realistic, one can also find a symbolic beginning - the basis of the work is own life Pasternak, but only the one he would like to live.
Despite all the realism, Doctor Zhivago is permeated with religious mysticism and Christian philosophy - and this is most clearly revealed in the notebook of poems by Yuri Zhivago. Pasternak’s mysticism is not similar to Gogol’s or Bulgakov’s, since in the novel there is no evil spirit as such (there are only analogies or metaphors), rather it echoes what can be seen in Andreev’s work - man and his destiny, a superman or a grain of sand in the stream of history. But the poems are completely different, their lyrics contain a lot of Christian and biblical mythology, the lives of Mary Magdalene and Christ are reflected in reality, filled with symbols and signs.
Vladimir Orlov (b. 1936)
Orlov came to literature from journalism. It is believed that in most cases such transitions are more successful than the reverse ones. Vladimir Viktorovich confirms this hypothesis with all his creativity.
If we talk about mysticism in his works, then it is most clearly expressed in the novel that marked the beginning of the cycle “Ostankino Stories”, “Violist Danilov”. The book was published in the early 80s of the last century and talks about a demon on a treaty. Vladimir Danilov manages to during breaks between work in the orchestra, visit other worlds, travel in time and space, communicate with various evil spirits. Mysticism is intertwined with the fantastic and musical, and a lot of attention is paid to music in the novel - and sometimes you get the feeling that it sounds on the pages of a book.
Victor Pelevin (b. 1962)
The life and work of Viktor Pelevin are shrouded in mysticism, or hoax, if you like. He leads the life of a recluse and rarely appears in public, and even less often gives interviews. But in any case, even these rare and meager words recorded by journalists are not inferior in strength and depth to the writer’s novels.
Viktor Olegovich became interested in Eastern mysticism and Zen Buddhism while working for the magazine “Science and Religion.” Pelevin became imbued with esoteric literature while translating texts by Carlos Castaneda. Search for Mystery, otherworldly symbols in real world, theoretical and practical magic were part of everyday life at the turn of the 80-90s of the last century.
The writer's hobbies are reflected in his works - bright ones examples are “Omon Ra”, “The Sorcerer Ignat and the People”, “Chapaev and the Void”, “The Sacred Book of the Werewolf”, “The Lower Tundra” and others. Reality in Pelevin's books eludes the reader, worlds change places, and it is not clear in which dimension the character, the narrator, the reader are now located. At the same time, Pelevin was often credited with creating his own religion, but back in 1997 he stopped gossip on this topic.
