“Garnet Bracelet”, a petty official who is unrequitedly in love with the princess. He pursues the object of his passion with letters, and at the end of the story he commits suicide.
History of creation
Alexander Kuprin worked on the “Garnet Bracelet” in Odessa in the fall of 1910. The work was originally conceived as a story, but grew into a story. The work dragged on, and at the beginning of December, judging by Kuprin’s letters, the story was not yet finished.
The plot is based on a real story that happened to the wife of State Council member D.N. Lyubimova. The prototype of Zheltkov was a certain petty telegraph official Zheltikov, who was unrequitedly in love with this lady.
"Garnet bracelet"
Zheltkov is a minor official of the control chamber, 30-35 years old. A tall and thin man with soft, long hair. Zheltkov’s appearance reveals a delicate mental organization - pale skin, a gentle “girlish” face, a childish chin with a dimple, blue eyes and nervous thin fingers. The hero’s hands constantly betray his nervous state - they tremble, fiddle with buttons, “run” over his face and clothes.
Zheltkov - the main character of the story "Garnet Bracelet" The hero earns little and considers himself a person devoid of subtle taste, therefore he has neither the opportunity nor the right to present expensive gifts to the object of his unrequited passion - the princess. The hero saw a lady in a circus box and immediately fell in love with her. Eight years have passed since then, and all this time the lover Zheltkov has been writing letters to Vera. At first, the hero was still waiting for reciprocity and thought that the young lady from the box would answer his letters, but Vera never paid attention to the unlucky admirer.
Over time, Zheltkov ceases to hope for reciprocity, but continues to write to Vera from time to time and secretly monitor her life. In his letters, Zheltkov describes exactly where and with whom he saw Vera, even what dress she was wearing. Apart from the object of his passion, the hero is not interested in anything - neither science, nor politics, nor the lives of his own and other people.
The hero keeps Vera's things. A handkerchief that the lady forgot at the ball, and the hero appropriated. The exhibition program that Vera left on the chair, and so on. Even a note written by Vera, in which she forbade the hero to write to her, became a relic for Zheltkov. Zheltkov sees in Vera the only meaning of his own life, but despite all this, he does not consider himself a maniac, but only a lover.
Vera Sheina from the story "Garnet Bracelet" One day Zheltkov sends the princess a gift for her name day - a family garnet bracelet that belonged to the hero’s great-grandmother, and then to his late mother. The princess's brother, Nikolai, loses his temper over this gift and decides to intervene in order to stop Zheltkov's "harassment" once and for all.
Nikolai finds where the hero lives and demands that he stop pursuing his sister, and otherwise threatens to take action. Vera herself also treats Zheltkov unfriendly and asks him to leave her alone. That same evening, the hero dies by committing suicide, but in his suicide note he does not blame Vera for his own death, but still writes about his love for her. Only at parting did Vera realize that the strong love that every woman dreams of was so close, but she abandoned it.
Zheltkov had a soft and tactful character. The landlady called the hero a “wonderful man” and treated him like her own son. Zheltkov is sincere and incapable of lying, he is decent. The hero has a weak voice and calligraphic handwriting. The man loves music, especially. The hero has one brother among his relatives.
Illustration for the story "Garnet Bracelet" The hero rented a room in a multi-story building on Lutheran Street. This is a poor house, where the stairwells are dark and smell of kerosene, mice and laundry. Zheltkov’s room is poorly lit, has a low ceiling, and is poorly furnished. The hero has only a narrow bed, a shabby sofa and a table.
Zheltkov is a contradictory character who showed cowardice in love, but considerable courage when deciding to shoot himself.
Film adaptations
In 1964, a film adaptation of “The Pomegranate Bracelet” was released, directed by Abram Room. The image of Zheltkov in this film was embodied by actor Igor Ozerov. Mr. Zheltkov, whose exact name is not indicated in the story, is called Georgiy Stepanovich in the film. In the story, the hero signs with the initials G.S.Zh., and the landlady from whom Zheltkov rented a house called the hero “Pan Ezhiy,” which corresponds to the Polish version of the name “George.” However, it is impossible to say for sure what the hero’s name was.
The film also starred actors Yuri Averin (in the role of Gustav Ivanovich von Friesse) and in the role of Prince Shein, the husband of the main character Vera Sheina, whose role was played by the actress.
Quotes
“It so happened that I am not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life lies only in you.”
“Think about what I should have done? Run away to another city? All the same, my heart was always near you, at your feet, every moment of the day was filled with you, with thoughts about you, dreams about you...”
“I checked myself - this is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love.”
I want to tell you about a wonderful feeling that cannot be bought or sold, for which the concepts of “rich” and “poor” do not exist, but only “lover” and “lover”, in the name of whose sincerity and strength one is not afraid to even die.
Nowadays, it is quite difficult to find a person “possessed” by a high feeling of love. For some reason, more and more people are marrying for convenience. A.I. Kuprin, through the mouth of General Anosov, in the story “Garnet Bracelet” says: “Love must be a tragedy! The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” And really, what kind of life is it when you know that you live with a person just because it’s convenient for you? Princess Vera Nikolaevna says that “the former passionate love for her husband has long passed into a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship...” She does not want to exchange the feeling of calm, confidence in the future for ardent passion, which, in her opinion, has no continuation.
And yet, love is a passion that completely captures a person, it is a feeling, experiencing which it is impossible to think about anything or anyone other than the loved one. But there is another point of view: is it good that, when loving, a person loses his head and does not think at all about the consequences that this love can lead to? Sometimes lovers, immersed in feelings and deciding to live together, are left without a roof over their heads, without the possibility of a normal existence. But, unfortunately, love does not protect you from everyday problems. They say that where love and passion appear, reason is lost. What a person immersed in feelings can do is unknown even to himself. Having fallen in love, a person becomes very vulnerable, he needs support, and this, first of all, is reciprocity of his feelings. After all, love can both revive a person and destroy him. This is exactly what happened to Zheltkov, the hero of the “Garnet Bracelet”. He lived with unrequited love, incinerating him, he lived with thoughts of his beloved. He is grateful to her for those wonderful feelings that elevated him above the world around him, his little man!
“,” says Zheltkov, turning to Vera Nikolaevna. He places Her above everything and everyone. For him, She is a saint, the most precious thing he has in his life. Such selfless love, having become mutual, can rule the world, overcome any difficulties, but, remaining unrequited, it can destroy everything... And even human life...
You can talk about love tirelessly, citing as examples various stories of happy and unhappy love. But it is so multifaceted that you will never be able to fully understand lovers... But only until you fall in love yourself; but even in this case, it will be your love, individual and unlike anything else...
Love... What is it? Where is she? Does she exist? Is the image of Zheltkov real?.. Such questions arose in me after reading the story “The Garnet Bracelet” by A. I. Kuprin. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to answer these questions, because any possible answers to them are correct and incorrect at the same time. It is impossible to prove the opposite to a person who is sure that there is no love. And it is useless to talk about the uniqueness of this feeling to a frivolous person. But I still want to express my opinion about Zheltkov’s love, to show my vision of this feeling.
“It’s not my fault, Vera Nikolaevna, that God was pleased to send me enormous love for you,” this is how Zheltkov began his letter. Love is happiness... Yes, great happiness, but in certain circumstances. And the most important of them is reciprocity; without reciprocity, great happiness turns into great sorrow. Is a person happy who “is not interested in anything in life: neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people - for me, my whole life lies only in you”? I think not. I think you can’t live like this, you can’t just suffer and dream about your beloved, but unattainable. Life is a game, and each of us must play our role, manage to do it in such a short period of time, manage to become a positive or negative hero, but in no case remain indifferent to everything except her, the only one, the beautiful one.
Zheltkov thinks that this is him - to love madly, but unrequitedly, that it is impossible to escape from fate. If it weren’t for this last thing, he would undoubtedly have tried to do something, to escape from the feeling doomed to death. Here are the words that show that Zheltkov was aware of his doom to suffer and suffer from unhappy love: “Think, what did I need to do? Run away to another city? Anyway, my heart was always near you, at your feet, every moment of the day is filled with you, thoughts about you, dreams about you... sweet delirium."
Yes, I think I should have run. Run without looking back. Set a long-term goal and plunge headlong into working to overcome obstacles on the way to this goal. I had to force myself to forget my crazy love. It was necessary to at least try to avoid its tragic outcome.
However, despite the sad ending, Kuprin’s hero is happy. He believes that the love that illuminated his life is a truly wonderful feeling. And I no longer know whether this love is so naive and reckless. And maybe she really is worth giving up your life and desire for life for her. After all, she is beautiful like the moon, clear like the sky, bright like the sun, constant like nature. Such is Zheltkov’s chivalrous, romantic love for Princess Vera Nikolaevna, which consumed his entire being. Zheltkov departs this life without complaints, without reproaches, saying like a prayer: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
It is impossible to read these lines without tears. And it’s unclear why tears are rolling from my eyes. Either it’s just pity for the unfortunate Zheltkov (after all, life could have been wonderful for him too), or admiration for the splendor of the little man’s enormous feelings.
The theme of love is one of the central themes in Kuprin's work. In his stories there is unselfish, selfless love, not waiting for reward, the kind for which one can do anything, go to torment and even die. No living conveniences, calculations and compromises should concern. “Be silent and perish” - this is the motto of Kuprin’s heroes. I don’t know whether he is right or wrong, but I know that more than once I will have to return to the pages of Kuprin’s works and meet his wonderful heroes. Indeed, in our difficult times, it is so pleasant to plunge into the world of loving and selfless people.
() Kuprin’s work is unique and interesting; it is striking in the Author’s observation skills and the amazing verisimilitude with which he describes people’s lives. As a realist writer, Kuprin carefully looks at life and highlights the main, essential aspects of it. A recognized master of the short story, the author of wonderful stories, he managed to show in his works a broad, diverse picture of Russian life at the end of the last and beginning of the present century. “Man came into the world for immense freedom of creativity and happiness” - these words from Kuprin’s essay could be taken as an epigraph to his entire work. A great lover of life, he believed that life would get better and dreamed that the time would come when, when all people would be happy. The dream of happiness, the dream of beautiful love are eternal themes in the works of writers, poets, artists, and composers. A.I. did not ignore these topics either. Kuprin. With his characteristic highly artistic taste, excellent language, and subtle understanding of the psychology of his heroes, he writes about love.
"Garnet bracelet"
Story
A story about a great unrequited love, a love that “repeats only once every thousand years.”
Zheltkov G.S. - appears in the story towards the end: “very pale, with a gentle girlish face, with blue eyes and a stubborn childish chin with a dimple in the middle: he must have been about thirty, thirty-five years old.” Along with Princess Vera, she can be recognized as the main character in the story. The beginning of the conflict is when Princess Vera received on September 17, her name day, a letter signed with the initials “G.S.Z.” and a garnet bracelet in a red case. Seven years ago, a stranger to the princess, J., fell in love with her, wrote letters, then, at her request, stopped bothering her, but now he confessed his love to her again.
Theme "little man"
In “The Garnet Bracelet,” the poor official Zheltkov is endowed with the gift of love. Great love becomes the meaning and content of his life. The heroine - Princess Vera Sheina - not only does not respond to his feelings, but also perceives his letters and gift - a garnet bracelet - as something unnecessary, violating the usual way of life. Only after Zheltkov’s death does she realize that “the love that every woman dreams of” has passed by. Mutual perfect love did not take place, but this lofty and poetic feeling, albeit concentrated in one soul, opens the way to the beautiful rebirth of another. Here the author shows love as a phenomenon of life, as an unexpected gift - poetic, illuminating life among everyday life, sober reality and sustainable life.
Love illuminates the “little man,” the simple official Zheltkov. But judging by the richness of his inner world, the greatness of his soul and the strength of feeling, it is impossible to call him a “little man”. He finds Nikolai Nikolayevich’s threats to “turn to power” funny. No one can deprive him of the main feeling of life - love for Vera Nikolaevna: both in prison and in another city, he will continue to love her. Only death can stop this feeling, which cannot be controlled by a person living in this world. And even Prince Shein felt that he was present “at some enormous tragedy of the soul.” The feeling he experiences becomes both great happiness and great tragedy for him. He loves the beautiful Princess Vera, no longer counting on any reciprocity. As General Anosov accurately notes, “love must be a tragedy. The greatest secret in the world! No life conveniences, calculations or compromises should concern her.” For Zheltkov, nothing exists except love, which “contains the whole meaning of life - the entire Universe!” But the tragedy of the story is not only that Zheltkov and Princess Vera belong to different classes, and not even that he is in love with a married woman, but that those around him get along well in life without true love and see everything in this feeling anything but holy and pure affection.
There is an opinion, repeatedly expressed by critics, that there is some defect in Zheltkov’s image, because for him the whole world has narrowed down to love for a woman. Kuprin, with his story, confirms that for his hero it is not the world that narrows to love, but love that expands to the size of the whole world. It is so great that it obscures everything and no longer becomes a part of life, even the largest one, but life itself. Therefore, Zheltkov has no need to live anymore without the woman he loves. He sacrifices himself in the name of his beloved, her happiness, and does not die from hopelessness, having lost the only meaning of life.
Kuprin's little man evokes neither pity nor a condescending smile - Zheltkov is beautiful in his pure and great love. This love became his need, the meaning of life. In his suicide letter to Vera, he admits: “This is not a disease, not a manic idea - this is love with which God was pleased to reward me for something... Leaving, I say in delight: “Hallowed be thy name.”
Kuprin's story "The Garnet Bracelet" was published in 1907. It is based on real events from the family chronicles of the Tugan-Baranovsky princes. This story has become one of the most famous and profound works about love in Russian literature.
At its center is a story about the feelings of a minor official Zheltkov for the cold beauty Princess Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. The Sheins are typical representatives of the Russian aristocracy of the early 20th century. The author notes that all members of this family bore, to one degree or another, the imprint of degeneration.
So, Vera Nikolaevna’s sister, Anna Nikolaevna, was unhappy in her marriage. The elderly and ugly husband did not attract her, and this still young woman sought solace in numerous novels, from which, however, she also did not get what she wanted. From her unloved husband, Anna Nikolaevna gave birth to weak and ugly children, who also bore the mark of degeneration.
Vera Nikolaevna's brother, Nikolai, was not married at all. He mockingly and contemptuously treated marriage and love, considering it all fiction and romantic fairy tales. And Vera Nikolaevna herself experienced any noble and sublime feelings for her husband, but not love.
Kuprin shows us that people have forgotten how to love. “..love among people has taken such vulgar forms and has descended simply to some kind of everyday convenience, to a little entertainment,” - with these words of General Anosov, Kuprin conveys the contemporary state of affairs.
And in this wretched and essentially gray reality, a bright ray of light appears - the love of the petty official Zheltkov for Princess Vera. At first, this feeling is perceived by the heroine’s family completely negatively - frivolously, contemptuously and mockingly. Nikolai Nikolaevich is seething with indignation - how did this plebeian dare to bother his sister! Vasily Lvovich, the princess’s husband, sees in this story just a funny incident, an incident.
So what is the love story of the petty official Zheltkov? Kuprin explains it to us in sufficient detail in the story. First, we hear this story in a distorted, mocking and mocking form from Prince Shein, and Vera Nikolaevna’s husband speaks prophetically about the death of the little official. Then, gradually, as the action progresses, we learn about the real course of things.
G.S. Zheltkov served as an official of the control chamber. Once in his life (for sorrow or joy?) a fatal meeting took place - Zheltkov saw Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. He didn’t even talk to this young lady, who was still unmarried. And how dare he - their social status was too unequal. But a person is not subject to feelings of such strength, he is not able to control the life of his heart. Love captured Zheltkov so much that it became the meaning of his entire existence. From this man's farewell letter we learn that his feeling is “reverence, eternal admiration and slavish devotion.”
In addition, we learn that the official followed Vera Nikolaevna, tried to go where she was, in order to once again see the object of his adoration, breathe the same air with her, touch her things: “I mentally bow to the land of furniture, on the floor you sit on, the parquet floor you walk on, the trees you touch in passing, the servants you talk to.”
Vera Nikolaevna, and we too are following her, beginning to wonder - is this Zheltkov crazy? Perhaps his passionate and deep passion was a consequence of mental illness: “And what was it: love or madness?” But the hero himself answers this question in his last letter to the princess. He tested himself and concluded that his feeling was a gift from heaven, and not a disease. After all, Zheltkov does not claim the attention of his beloved; he felt good only from the realization that Vera Nikolaevna exists.
As a sign of his love, the official gives the princess the most valuable thing he has - a family jewel in the form of a garnet bracelet. Perhaps, financially, this bracelet was not of great value - unsightly, inflated, roughly processed. Its main decoration was five blood-red garnets, “diluted” by one green one located in the middle. “According to an old legend that has been preserved in our family, it has the ability to impart the gift of foresight to women who wear it and drives away heavy thoughts from them, while it protects men from violent death,” Zheltkov wrote in the accompanying letter to this gift.
The official gave Vera Nikolaevna the most expensive thing he had. I think that the princess, even forgiving herself, appreciated this gesture.
But Zheltkov’s sacrificial and sublime love ended tragically - he died of his own free will, so as not to interfere with Princess Sheina. This man even sacrificed his physical existence on the altar of high feelings. It is important that the hero did not talk to anyone about love, did not seek Vera Nikolaevna’s favor or attention. He simply lived, enjoying what fate gave him. And he passed away with a feeling of great gratitude for what he had experienced.
Kuprin shows that love of such strength and sacrifice could not but leave a mark on the souls of the people involved in this story. In Vera Nikolaevna, Zheltkov awakened longing and bright sadness for love, and helped her to reveal her true needs. It is not for nothing that at the end of the story, while listening to a Beethoven sonata, the heroine cries: “Princess Vera hugged the trunk of the acacia tree, pressed herself against it and cried.” It seems to me that these tears are the heroine’s longing for true love, which people so often forget about.
Even Vera Nikolaevna’s husband, Prince Shein, experienced involuntary respect for Zheltkov’s feelings: “I feel sorry for this man. And not only do I feel sorry, but I also feel that I am present at some enormous tragedy of the soul, and I cannot clown around here.”
Thus, the love given to the little official Zheltkov from above filled his life with meaning and became a source of light not only for this person, but also for those around him. The story of Zheltkov’s feelings for Princess Vera once again confirmed that love is the most important thing in a person’s life. Without this feeling, life turns into a meaningless and empty existence, inevitably leading to death. The death of the soul and the divine spirit in us.
Composition
And the heart will no longer respond
It's all over... And my song rushes
On an empty night where you are no longer there.
A. Akhmatova
A. I. Kuprin is an original writer of the 20th century, in whose work the precepts of Russian classical literature with its democracy, passionate desire to solve the problems of social existence, humanism, and deep interest in the life of the people were uniquely refracted. Fidelity to traditions, the influence of L.N. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov, the influence of the creative ideas of M. Gorky determined the originality of Kuprin’s artistic prose and his place in the literary process of the beginning of the century.
Writers whose work was formed during the years of revolutionary upsurge were especially close to the theme of the “epiphany” of the ordinary Russian person, greedily seeking the truth in social life. Therefore, the center of the works invariably turns out to be a small person, an average truth-seeker intellectual, and the main theme is bourgeois civilization, devouring thousands of human lives and entailing the vulgarization of people's relationships." In such a situation, it is natural to turn to one of the eternal themes - the theme of love. Turns to the theme love, as one of the mysteries of existence, and A. Kuprin.
Following “Olesya” (1898) and “The Duel” (1905), in the 1910s, from his pen came a kind of “trilogy” about love, which is formed by the works “Shulamith”, “Garnet Bracelet” and “The Pit” ( the latter depicts anti-love). Love for Kuprin is a saving force that protects the human soul from the destructive influence of civilization; a phenomenon of life, an unexpected gift that illuminates life in the midst of everyday reality and established life. But love in his works is associated with the idea of death.
Kuprin's heroes most often die when faced with a world of cruelty, lack of spirituality and generally accepted philistine morality of the modern world.
The meaning and content of the life of the protagonist of the story “Garnet Bracelet” became a great, but, unfortunately, unrequited love. G. S. Zheltkov is a young man of pleasant appearance, an employee of the control chamber. He is musical, endowed with a sense of beauty, has a subtle feeling and knows how to understand people. Despite his poverty, Zheltkov has a “pedigree”; his sofa is covered with a “worn, beautiful Tekin carpet.”
But its main value is “seven years of hopeless and polite love.” The object of his admiration is the eldest daughter of the late Prince Mirza-Bulat-Tuganovsky, the wife of the leader of the nobility in the city of K., Vera Nikolaevna Sheina. She married a childhood friend for love, and now feels for her husband “a feeling of lasting, faithful, true friendship.” Both Vera Nikolaevna herself and those around her consider her marriage happy. Vera Nikolaevna is endowed with “aristocratic” beauty. She attracts “with her tall flexible figure, gentle but cold and proud face, beautiful, although rather large hands and that charming sloping shoulders that can be seen in ancient miniatures.”
The heroine is a sensitive, subtle person with many talents. But Vera does not respond to Zheltkov’s feelings. She perceives his attention, his letters and the gift of a garnet bracelet as something unnecessary, which also disrupts the usual measured flow of life. The princess is used to taking life seriously. She soberly assesses the family’s financial situation and tries to “help the prince avoid complete ruin,” denying herself a lot and saving in the household. The Sheins have a wide circle of acquaintances, and Princess Vera’s reputation is very important; she is afraid of looking funny or ridiculous. She considers the very admirer “with the funny surname Zheltkov” to be a “madman” who “pursues her with his love,” and even once asks him in writing “not to bother her anymore with his love outpourings.” The love of our hero is incomprehensible to the princess and seems burdensome.
For Zheltkov, his whole life lies in Vera Nikolaevna. He is no longer interested in anything: “neither politics, nor science, nor philosophy, nor concern for the future happiness of people.” Zheltkov’s heart is always near his beloved, at her feet, “every moment of the day is filled” with Vera Nikolaevna, thoughts and dreams about her. But Zheltkov’s love is “not a disease, not a manic idea.” He fell in love with Vera “because there is nothing in the world like her, there is nothing better, there is no beast, no plant, no star, no person more beautiful... and more tender.” This great love is a gift from heaven, “tremendous happiness.” This is love, “with which God was pleased to reward me for something,” he writes, experiencing “reverence, eternal admiration” and boundless gratitude for the woman he loves just for the fact that she exists. The princess, without knowing it, painfully wounds Zheltkov, pushes him to commit suicide with the words: “Oh, if you only knew how tired I am of this whole story. Please stop it as soon as possible.” But he asked for such a small thing: “to stay in the city so that he can see her at least occasionally, of course, without showing his face to her.”
For the hero, saying goodbye to Vera Nikolaevna is tantamount to saying goodbye to life. But, knowing full well about the inseparability of his feelings, Zheltkov hopes and is “even sure” that Vera Nikolaevna will someday remember him. And indeed, after Zheltkov’s death, saying goodbye to him, she understands that she has lost something important and very valuable, that “the great love that is repeated only once in a thousand years,” “the love that every woman dreams of, has passed past her." Shocked by this realization, Vera asks the pianist to play something, without doubting that Jenny will play the very passage from the Second Sonata that Zheltkov asked for. And when she listened to “this exceptional, unique work of depth,” “her soul seemed to split in two.” It was filled with music and poetry, which ended with words from a farewell letter from a loving person: “Hallowed be Thy name”...
The musical theme "Appassionata" affirms the high power of love. Music in the story generally plays a very important role; it is no coincidence that the title of Beethoven’s second sonata is included in the epigraph. It serves as the key to understanding the entire work. “Prayer for Love” runs as a leitmotif throughout the entire work and sounds powerfully in its finale. What the lovelorn official of the control chamber could not express in words was “told” by the music of the great composer. As we see, mutual, perfect love did not take place, but this lofty and poetic feeling, albeit concentrated in one soul, opened the way to the beautiful rebirth of another. After all, every woman in the depths of her heart dreams of such love - “united, all-forgiving, ready for anything, modest and selfless.”
Just a few pages, a few lines from a letter, and a person’s life passed before us. Is life real? Is the image of the main character real?
According to the memoirs of L. Arsenyeva, a younger contemporary of the writer, in the late 1920s in Paris, the aging A. Kuprin challenged his interlocutor to a duel, who allowed himself to doubt the plausibility of the plot of the “Garnet Bracelet”. Kuprin rarely resorted to pure fiction in his work. All his works are realistic, based on real events, personal impressions from meetings with people, from conversations. The writer heard the love story that formed the basis of the story in the summer of 1906 while visiting State Council member Dmitry Nikolaevich Lyubimov. The Lyubimovs showed Kuprin a family album. There were illustrations for letters that Lyubimov’s wife received from a person signing with the initials P.P.Zh. (he turned out to be a minor postal official Pyotr Petrovich Zheltikov). Kuprin creatively rethought what he heard and, with the power of his talent, turned an ordinary episode into a love story, which “the best minds and souls of humanity - poets, novelists, musicians, artists” have been dreaming and yearning for for centuries. Unlike the hero of Kuprin’s story, Zheltikov did not shoot himself, but was transferred to the provinces, where he then got married. But he served as a real prototype for the creation of a hero who won our hearts with the strength and purity of his feelings.
The image of Zheltkov is real. It is real because in the world, contrary to the opinion of General Anosov, there is still love, which is not touched by “any of life’s conveniences, calculations and compromises,” and there are men capable of “strong desires, heroic deeds, tenderness and adoration.” I would like to believe that in the modern world a bright, humane feeling, reckless, “hopeless and polite,” knightly, heroic love is possible; love is strong and pure, the love that God sends to the chosen ones, “like enormous happiness.” The kind of love “for which to accomplish any feat, to give one’s life, to suffer torment is not work at all, but one joy.” But such love cannot and should not end in a fatal outcome. Why die? You need to live knowing that you are just nearby, in the same city, in the same country, on the same planet with the person you love, and this makes life filled with meaning and becomes beautiful.
Despite the tragic ending, Kuprin’s story is optimistic, life-affirming, because in “The Garnet Bracelet” the author, probably stronger and brighter than in other works, sings of the eternal values of life, spiritual strength and purity, nobility and the ability to sacrifice in the name of love. And, of course, love itself is the most sublime and beautiful of all human feelings.
