Historical and folklore basis of the story Taras Bulba. The history of the creation of the historical basis of the story "Taras Bulba"

The image of a lonely, disappointed person at odds with society runs through all of Lermontov’s work. In the lyrics and early poems, this image is presented in a romantic manner, outside the social environment and real life. In "A Hero of Our Time" the problem of a strong personality who knows no peace and cannot find use for his powers is solved by realistic means of writing.

In romantic works, the reasons for the hero's disappointment are usually not revealed. The hero carried “fatal secrets” in his soul. Often a person's disappointment was explained by the clash of his dreams with reality. So, Mtsyri dreamed of a free life in his homeland, but was forced to languish in a gloomy monastery that resembled a prison.

Following Pushkin, who gave examples of realistic works of art, Lermontov showed that a person’s character is influenced by social conditions, the environment in which he lives. It is no coincidence that Lermontov depicted the “water society” of Pyatigorsk, forcing Pechorin to remember the life of the St. Petersburg high society salons. Pechorin was not born a moral cripple. Nature gave him a deep, sharp mind, a responsive heart, and a strong will. He is capable of noble impulses and humane actions.

After the tragic death of Bela, “Pechorin was unwell for a long time and lost weight.” In the story of the quarrel with Grushnitsky, the positive qualities of his character stand out especially clearly. So he accidentally learns about the vile plan of the dragoon captain. “If Grushnitsky had not agreed, I would have thrown myself on his neck,” admits Pechorin. Before the duel, he is again the first to express his readiness to reconcile with the enemy. Moreover, he provides “all the benefits” to Grushnitsky, in whose soul “a spark of generosity could awaken, and then everything would work out for the better.”

Pechorin was keenly touched by the moral torment of Princess Mary. His feeling for Vera, who alone understood him “perfectly with all... petty weaknesses, bad passions,” is genuine. His hardened heart warmly and passionately responds to the emotional movements of this woman. At the mere thought that he could lose her forever, Vera became for him “more expensive than anything in the world, more expensive than life, honor, happiness.” Like a madman he rushes on a lathered horse after the departed Vera. When the driven horse “clattered to the ground,” Pechorin, who did not flinch at gunpoint, “fell on the wet grass and cried like a child.”

Yes, Lermontov’s hero is no stranger to deep human affections. However, in all life's encounters, good, noble impulses ultimately give way to cruelty. “Ever since I’ve been living and acting,” Pechorin argues, “fate has somehow always led me to the denouement of other people’s dramas, as if without me no one could die or despair. I was the necessary face of the fifth act : involuntarily I played the pathetic role of an executioner or a traitor."

Pechorin is guided only by personal desires and aspirations, regardless of the interests of the people around him. “My first pleasure is to subject everything that surrounds me to my will,” he says. Pechorin's word does not diverge from deed. He really plays "the role of an ax in the hands of fate." Bela is killed, kind Maxim Maksimych is offended, the peace of the “peaceful” smugglers is disturbed, Grushnitsky is killed, Mary’s life is shattered!

Who is to blame for the fact that Pechorin’s wonderful talents perished? Why did he become a moral cripple? Lermontov answers this question with the entire course of the narrative. Society is to blame, the social conditions in which the hero was brought up and lived are to blame.

“My colorless youth passed in a struggle with myself and the light,” he says, “my best feelings, fearing ridicule, I buried in the depths of my heart; they died there.”

“In my first youth...” Pechorin tells Maxim Maksimych, “I began to madly enjoy all the pleasures that can be obtained for money, and, of course, these pleasures disgusted me.” Entering the big world, he fell in love with beauties, but his heart “remained empty”; took up science, but soon realized that “neither fame nor happiness depend on them at all, because the happiest people are ignorant, and fame is luck, and to achieve it, you just need to be clever.” “Then I became bored,” admits Pechorin and comes to the conclusion: “... my soul is spoiled by the light.” It’s hard for a gifted person, like Onegin,

Look at life as a ritual And follow the orderly crowd, without sharing with it Neither common opinions nor passions.

Pechorin more than once says that in the society in which he lives there is no selfless love, no true friendship, no fair, humane relations between people, no meaningful social activity.

Disappointed, doubting everything, morally suffering, Lermontov's hero is drawn to nature, which calms him down and gives him true aesthetic pleasure. Landscape sketches in Pechorin's Journal help to understand the complex, rebellious character of the novel's protagonist. They strengthen the motive of Pechorin’s loneliness, deep emptiness and at the same time indicate that in the depths of his consciousness lives a dream of a wonderful life worthy of a person. Taking a close look at the mountains, Pechorin exclaims: “It’s fun to live in such a land! Some kind of joyful feeling is poured in all my veins. The air is clean and fresh, like a child’s kiss; the sun is bright, the sky is blue - what could be more, it seems? - Why are there passions, desires, regrets? The description of the morning in which Pechorin’s duel with Grushnitsky took place is colored with deep lyricism. “I remember,” notes Pechorin, “this time, more than ever before, I loved nature.”

Lermontov created a truthful, typical image, which reflected the essential features of an entire generation. In the preface to the novel, the author writes that Pechorin is “a portrait made up of the vices of our entire generation, in their full development.” In the image of Pechorin, Lermontov pronounces a verdict on the younger generation of the 30s. "Admire what the heroes of our time are like!" - he says with the entire content of the book. They are “no longer capable of making great sacrifices, either for the Good of humanity, or even for their own ... happiness.” This is both a reproach to the best people of the era and a call to civic deeds.

Lermontov deeply and comprehensively revealed the inner world of his hero, his psychology, conditioned by time and environment, and told “the history of the human soul.” "A Hero of Our Time" is a socio-psychological novel.

The novel consists of several parts, the chronological order of which is disrupted. This arrangement serves special artistic purposes: in particular, Pechorin is first shown through the eyes of Maxim Maksimych, and only then we see him from the inside, according to entries from his diary

• Preface
• PART ONE
  • I. Bela
  • II. Maxim Maksimych
• Pechorin's Journal
  • Preface
  • I. Taman
• PART TWO ( End of Pechorin's journal)
  • II. Princess Mary
  • III. Fatalist

Chronological order of parts

1. Taman
2. Princess Mary
3. Fatalist
4. Maxim Maksimych
5. Preface to "Pechorin's Journal"

Five years pass between the events of “Bela” and Pechorin’s meeting with Maxim Maksimych in front of the narrator’s eyes in “Maksim Maksimych”.

Also, in some scientific publications, “Bela” and “Fatalist” change places.

Plot

"Bela"

It is a nested story: the narration is led by Maxim Maksimych, who tells his story to an unnamed officer who met him in the Caucasus. Bored in the mountain wilderness, Pechorin begins his service by stealing someone else's horse (thanks to the help of Azamat) and kidnapping Bela, the beloved daughter of the local prince (also with the help of Azamat in exchange for the horse Kazbich), which causes a corresponding reaction from the mountaineers. But Pechorin doesn’t care about this. The careless act of the young officer is followed by a collapse of dramatic events: Azamat leaves the family forever, Bela and her father die at the hands of Kazbich.

"Maksim Maksimych"

This part is adjacent to “Bela” and has no independent novelistic significance, but is entirely important for the composition of the novel. Here the reader meets Pechorin face to face for the only time. The meeting of old friends did not take place: it was more of a fleeting conversation with the desire of one of the interlocutors to end it as soon as possible.

The narrative is built on the contrast of two opposing characters - Pechorin and Maxim Maksimych. The portrait is given through the eyes of the officer-narrator. This chapter makes an attempt to unravel the “inner” Pechorin through external “speaking” features.

"Taman"

The story does not tell about Pechorin’s reflection, but shows him from the active, active side. Here Pechorin unexpectedly becomes a witness to bandit activity. At first he thinks that the person who sailed from the other side is risking his life for something truly valuable, but in fact he is just a smuggler. Pechorin is very disappointed by this. But still, when he leaves, he does not regret having visited this place.

The main meaning is in the hero’s final words: “And why did fate throw me into a peaceful circle? honest smugglers? Like a stone thrown into a smooth spring, I disturbed their calm and, like a stone, I almost sank to the bottom!”

"Princess Mary"

The story is written in the form of a diary. In terms of life material, “Princess Mary” is closest to the so-called “secular story” of the 1830s, but Lermontov filled it with a different meaning.

The story begins with Pechorin's arrival in Pyatigorsk to the medicinal waters, where he meets Princess Ligovskaya and her daughter, called Mary in English. In addition, here he meets his former love Vera and his friend Grushnitsky. Junker Grushnitsky, a poser and secret careerist, acts as a contrasting character to Pechorin.

During his stay in Kislovodsk and Pyatigorsk, Pechorin falls in love with Princess Mary and quarrels with Grushnitsky. He kills Grushnitsky in a duel and refuses Princess Mary. On suspicion of a duel, he is again exiled, this time to the fortress. There he meets Maxim Maksimych.

"Fatalist"

It happens in a Cossack village, where Pechorin arrives. He is visiting and the company is playing cards. Soon they get tired of this and start a conversation about predestination and fatalism, which some believe in, some don’t. A dispute ensues between Vulich and Pechorin: Pechorin says that he sees obvious death on Vulich’s face. As a result of the argument, Vulich takes a pistol and shoots himself, but it misfires. Everyone goes home. Soon Pechorin learns of Vulich’s death: he was hacked to death by a drunken Cossack with a saber. Then Pechorin decides to try his luck and catch the Cossack. He breaks into his house, the Cossack shoots, but misses. Pechorin grabs the Cossack, comes to Maxim Maksimych and tells him everything.

Main characters

Pechorin

Pechorin is a Petersburger. A military man, both in his rank and in his soul. He comes to Pyatigorsk from the capital. His departure to the Caucasus is connected with “some kind of adventures.” He ends up in the fortress where the action of “Bela” takes place after a duel with Grushnitsky, at the age of twenty-three. There he holds the rank of ensign. He was probably transferred from the Guards to the Army Infantry or Army Dragoons.

The meeting with Maxim Maksimych takes place five years after the story with Bela, when Pechorin is already 28.

The surname Pechorin, derived from the name of the Pechora River, has semantic similarities with the surname of Onegin. Pechorin is the natural successor of Onegin, but Lermontov goes further: like R. Pechora north of the river. Onega, and the character of Pechorin is more individualistic than the character of Onegin.

Image of Pechorin

The image of Pechorin is one of Lermontov's artistic discoveries. The Pechorinsky type is truly epoch-making, and primarily because in it the peculiarities of the post-Decembrist era received concentrated expression, when on the surface “only losses, a cruel reaction were visible,” but inside “great work was being accomplished ... deaf and silent, but active and continuous ...” (Herzen, VII, 209-211). Pechorin is an extraordinary and controversial personality. He can complain about the draft, and after a while he jumps with his saber drawn at the enemy. Image of Pechorin from the chapter “Maksim Maksimych”: “He was of average height; His slender, slender figure and broad shoulders proved a strong build, capable of enduring all the difficulties of nomadic life and climate changes, not defeated by either the debauchery of metropolitan life or spiritual storms...”

Publication

• “Bela” was written in the city. The first publication was in “Notes of the Fatherland”, March, vol. 2, no. 3.
• “The Fatalist” was first published in Otechestvennye zapiski in 1839, vol. 6, no. 11.
• “Taman” was first published in Otechestvennye zapiski in 1840, vol. 8, no. 2.
• “Maksim Maksimych” first appeared in print in the 1st separate edition of the novel in the city.
• “Princess Mary” first appeared in the 1st edition of the novel.
• The “Preface” was written in St. Petersburg in the spring and first appeared in the second edition of the novel.

Illustrations

The book was repeatedly illustrated by famous artists, including Mikhail Vrubel (1890-1891), Ilya Repin, Evgeny Lanceray, Valentin Serov (1891), Leonid Feinberg, Mikhail Zichy (), Pyotr Boklevsky, Dementy Shmarinov (1941), Nikolai Dubovsky (1890) ) and Vladimir Bekhteev (1939).

Origins and predecessors

• Lermontov deliberately overcame the adventurous romantic tradition of novels on a Caucasian theme, set by Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky.
• Alfred de Musset's novel “Confession of a Son of the Century” was published in 1836 and also talks about “illness,” meaning “the vices of a generation.”
• The Rousseauist tradition and the development of the motive of the European’s love for the “savage”. For example, Byron, as well as Pushkin’s “Gypsies” and “Prisoner of the Caucasus”.
• Pushkin’s “Eugene Onegin”, “Prisoner of the Caucasus”, “The Captain’s Daughter” and so on.

Related works by Lermontov

Geography of the novel

The action of the novel takes place in the Caucasus. The main place is Pyatigorsk.

Caucasian peoples in the novel

Lermontov, being an officer in the Russian army that fought in the Caucasus, was very familiar with both army life and the life and customs of the local population. When writing the novel, this knowledge was widely used by the writer; the picture of life in the Caucasus in the 1830s was reproduced in great detail, both by describing the traditions of the local population and the relations between Russians and Caucasians. Already at the beginning of “Bela,” Maxim Maksimych shows the characteristic view of a Russian officer on the local population as “Asian rogues who extract money for vodka from passers-by.” Kabardians and Chechens are defined by Maxim Maksimych as “robbers and naked people, but desperate heads,” while they are contrasted with Ossetians, whom the captain characterizes as “stupid people, incapable of any education, in whom you won’t even see a decent dagger on anyone.” .

In “Bel” Lermontov dwells on the life of the Circassians in more detail; in fact, almost the entire chapter is devoted to this.

Film adaptations

Year	Production	Name	Director	Pechorin	Note
	State Committee for Industry of Georgia	Princess Mary	Vladimir Barsky	Nikolay Prozorovsky
	State Committee for Industry of Georgia	Bela	Vladimir Barsky	Nikolay Prozorovsky	Black and white, silent costume drama based on the chapter of the same name from the novel
	State Committee for Industry of Georgia	Maxim Maksimych	Vladimir Barsky	Nikolay Prozorovsky	Black and white, silent costume drama based on the chapters "Maksim Maksimych", "Taman" and "Fatalist" from the novel
	Film studio named after M. Gorky	Princess Mary	Isidor Annensky	Anatoly Verbitsky	Feature Film
	Film studio named after M. Gorky	Hero of our time	Stanislav Rostotsky	Vladimir Ivashov (voice - Vyacheslav Tikhonov)	A duology of two films - “Bela” and “Maksim Maksimych. Taman"
	CT USSR	Pechorin's magazine pages	Anatoly Efros	Oleg Dal	Film-performance
	Central Partnership	Hero of our time	Alexander Kott	Igor Petrenko	Series
	Film studio "Globus"	Pechorin	Roman Khrushch	Stanislav Ryadinsky	Feature Film

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An excerpt characterizing a Hero of Our Time

Finally, the sovereign stopped next to his last lady (he was dancing with three), the music stopped; the preoccupied adjutant ran towards the Rostovs, asking them to step aside somewhere else, although they were standing against the wall, and the distinct, cautious and fascinatingly measured sounds of a waltz were heard from the choir. The Emperor looked at the audience with a smile. A minute passed and no one had started yet. The adjutant manager approached Countess Bezukhova and invited her. She raised her hand, smiling, and placed it, without looking at him, on the adjutant’s shoulder. The adjutant manager, a master of his craft, confidently, slowly and measuredly, hugging his lady tightly, set off with her first on a glide path, along the edge of the circle, at the corner of the hall, he picked up her left hand, turned it, and because of the ever-accelerating sounds of the music, only measured ones were heard the clicks of the spurs of the adjutant’s quick and dexterous legs, and every three beats at the turn, his lady’s fluttering velvet dress seemed to flare up. Natasha looked at them and was ready to cry that it was not she who was dancing this first round of the waltz.
Prince Andrei, in his colonel's white (cavalry) uniform, in stockings and shoes, lively and cheerful, stood in the front rows of the circle, not far from the Rostovs. Baron Firgoff spoke with him about tomorrow's supposed first meeting of the State Council. Prince Andrei, as a person close to Speransky and participating in the work of the legislative commission, could give correct information about the meeting tomorrow, about which there were various rumors. But he did not listen to what Firgof told him, and looked first at the sovereign, then at the gentlemen who were getting ready to dance, who did not dare to join the circle.
Prince Andrei observed these gentlemen and ladies timid in the presence of the sovereign, dying with desire to be invited.
Pierre walked up to Prince Andrei and grabbed his hand.
– You always dance. There is my protegee [favorite], young Rostova, invite her,” he said.
- Where? – asked Bolkonsky. “Sorry,” he said, turning to the baron, “we’ll finish this conversation somewhere else, but we have to dance at the ball.” “He stepped forward in the direction that Pierre pointed out to him. Natasha’s desperate, frozen face caught the eye of Prince Andrei. He recognized her, guessed her feeling, realized that she was a beginner, remembered her conversation at the window and with a cheerful expression on his face approached Countess Rostova.
“Let me introduce you to my daughter,” said the countess, blushing.
“I have the pleasure of being an acquaintance, if the countess remembers me,” said Prince Andrei with a polite and low bow, completely contradicting Peronskaya’s remarks about his rudeness, approaching Natasha and raising his hand to hug her waist even before he finished the invitation to dance. He suggested a waltz tour. That frozen expression on Natasha’s face, ready for despair and delight, suddenly lit up with a happy, grateful, childish smile.
“I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” as if this frightened and happy girl said, with her smile that appeared behind the ready tears, raising her hand on Prince Andrei’s shoulder. They were the second couple to enter the circle. Prince Andrey was one of the best dancers of his time. Natasha danced superbly. Her feet in ballroom satin shoes quickly, easily and independently of her did their job, and her face shone with the delight of happiness. Her bare neck and arms were thin and ugly. Compared to Helen's shoulders, her shoulders were thin, her breasts were vague, her arms were thin; but Helen already seemed to have a varnish on from all the thousands of glances sliding over her body, and Natasha seemed like a girl who had been exposed for the first time, and who would have been very ashamed of it if she had not been assured that it was so necessary.
Prince Andrei loved to dance, and wanting to quickly get rid of the political and intelligent conversations with which everyone turned to him, and wanting to quickly break this annoying circle of embarrassment formed by the presence of the sovereign, he went to dance and chose Natasha, because Pierre pointed him out to her and because she was the first of the pretty women to come into his sight; but as soon as he embraced this thin, mobile figure, and she moved so close to him and smiled so close to him, the wine of her charm went to his head: he felt revived and rejuvenated when, catching his breath and leaving her, he stopped and began to look on the dancers.

After Prince Andrei, Boris approached Natasha, inviting her to dance, and the adjutant dancer who started the ball, and more young people, and Natasha, handing over her excess gentlemen to Sonya, happy and flushed, did not stop dancing the whole evening. She did not notice anything and did not see anything that occupied everyone at this ball. She not only did not notice how the sovereign spoke for a long time with the French envoy, how he spoke especially graciously to such and such a lady, how prince such and such did and said this, how Helen was a great success and received special attention from such and such; she did not even see the sovereign and noticed that he left only because after his departure the ball became more lively. One of the merry cotillions, before dinner, Prince Andrei danced with Natasha again. He reminded her of their first date in the Otradnensky alley and how she could not sleep on a moonlit night, and how he involuntarily heard her. Natasha blushed at this reminder and tried to justify herself, as if there was something shameful in the feeling in which Prince Andrei involuntarily overheard her.
Prince Andrei, like all people who grew up in the world, loved to meet in the world that which did not have a common secular imprint on it. And such was Natasha, with her surprise, joy and timidity and even mistakes in the French language. He treated and spoke to her especially tenderly and carefully. Sitting next to her, talking with her about the simplest and most insignificant subjects, Prince Andrei admired the joyful sparkle of her eyes and smile, which related not to the speeches spoken, but to her inner happiness. While Natasha was being chosen and she stood up with a smile and danced around the hall, Prince Andrei especially admired her timid grace. In the middle of the cotillion, Natasha, having completed her figure, still breathing heavily, approached her place. The new gentleman invited her again. She was tired and out of breath, and apparently thought of refusing, but immediately again cheerfully raised her hand on the gentleman’s shoulder and smiled at Prince Andrey.
“I would be glad to rest and sit with you, I’m tired; but you see how they choose me, and I’m glad about it, and I’m happy, and I love everyone, and you and I understand all this,” and that smile said a lot more. When the gentleman left her, Natasha ran across the hall to take two ladies for the figures.
“If she approaches her cousin first, and then another lady, then she will be my wife,” Prince Andrei said to himself quite unexpectedly, looking at her. She approached her cousin first.
“What nonsense sometimes comes to mind! thought Prince Andrey; but the only thing that is true is that this girl is so sweet, so special, that she won’t dance here for a month and get married... This is a rarity here,” he thought when Natasha, straightening the rose that had fallen back from her bodice, sat down next to him.
At the end of the cotillion, the old count approached the dancers in his blue tailcoat. He invited Prince Andrei to his place and asked his daughter if she was having fun? Natasha did not answer and only smiled with a smile that reproachfully said: “How could you ask about this?”
- More fun than ever in my life! - she said, and Prince Andrei noticed how quickly her thin arms rose to hug her father and immediately fell. Natasha was as happy as she had never been in her life. She was at that highest level of happiness when a person becomes completely trusting and does not believe in the possibility of evil, misfortune and grief.

At this ball, Pierre for the first time felt insulted by the position that his wife occupied in the highest spheres. He was gloomy and absent-minded. There was a wide crease across his forehead, and he, standing at the window, looked through his glasses, not seeing anyone.
Natasha, heading to dinner, passed him.
Pierre's gloomy, unhappy face struck her. She stopped in front of him. She wanted to help him, to convey to him the excess of her happiness.
“How fun, Count,” she said, “isn’t it?”
Pierre smiled absently, obviously not understanding what was being said to him.
“Yes, I’m very glad,” he said.
“How can they be unhappy with something,” Natasha thought. Especially someone as good as this Bezukhov?” In Natasha’s eyes, everyone at the ball were equally kind, sweet, wonderful people who loved each other: no one could offend each other, and therefore everyone should be happy.

The next day, Prince Andrei remembered yesterday's ball, but did not dwell on it for long. “Yes, it was a very brilliant ball. And also... yes, Rostova is very nice. There is something fresh, special, not St. Petersburg, that distinguishes her.” That's all he thought about yesterday's ball, and after drinking tea, he sat down to work.
But from fatigue or insomnia (the day was not a good one for studying, and Prince Andrei could not do anything), he kept criticizing his own work, as often happened to him, and was glad when he heard that someone had arrived.
The visitor was Bitsky, who served on various commissions, visited all the societies of St. Petersburg, a passionate admirer of new ideas and Speransky and a concerned messenger of St. Petersburg, one of those people who choose a direction like a dress - according to fashion, but who for this reason seem to be the most ardent partisans of directions . He worriedly, barely having time to take off his hat, ran to Prince Andrei and immediately began to speak. He had just learned the details of the meeting of the State Council this morning, opened by the sovereign, and was talking about it with delight. The sovereign's speech was extraordinary. It was one of those speeches that are given only by constitutional monarchs. “The Emperor directly said that the council and the senate are state estates; he said that government should not be based on arbitrariness, but on solid principles. The Emperor said that finances should be transformed and reports should be made public,” said Bitsky, emphasizing well-known words and significantly opening his eyes.
“Yes, the current event is an era, the greatest era in our history,” he concluded.
Prince Andrei listened to the story about the opening of the State Council, which he expected with such impatience and to which he attributed such importance, and was surprised that this event, now that it had happened, not only did not touch him, but seemed to him more than insignificant. He listened to Bitsky's enthusiastic story with quiet mockery. The simplest thought came to his mind: “What does it matter to me and Bitsky, what do we care about what the sovereign was pleased to say in council! Can all this make me happier and better?”
And this simple reasoning suddenly destroyed for Prince Andrei all the previous interest in the transformations being carried out. On the same day, Prince Andrei was supposed to dine at Speransky’s “en petit comite,” [in a small meeting], as the owner told him, inviting him. This dinner in the family and friendly circle of a man whom he admired so much had previously greatly interested Prince Andrei, especially since until now he had not seen Speransky in his home life; but now he didn’t want to go.
At the appointed hour of lunch, however, Prince Andrei was already entering Speransky’s own small house near the Tauride Garden. In the parquet dining room of a small house, distinguished by its extraordinary cleanliness (reminiscent of monastic purity), Prince Andrei, who was somewhat late, already found at five o’clock the entire company of this petit comite, Speransky’s intimate acquaintances, gathered. There were no ladies except Speransky's little daughter (with a long face similar to her father) and her governess. The guests were Gervais, Magnitsky and Stolypin. From the hallway, Prince Andrei heard loud voices and clear, clear laughter - laughter similar to the one they laugh on stage. Someone in a voice similar to Speransky’s voice distinctly chimed: ha... ha... ha... Prince Andrei had never heard Speransky’s laughter, and this ringing, subtle laughter of a statesman strangely struck him.
Prince Andrei entered the dining room. The whole company stood between two windows at a small table with snacks. Speransky, in a gray tailcoat with a star, obviously still wearing the white vest and high white tie he wore at the famous meeting of the State Council, stood at the table with a cheerful face. Guests surrounded him. Magnitsky, addressing Mikhail Mikhailovich, told an anecdote. Speransky listened, laughing ahead at what Magnitsky would say. As Prince Andrei entered the room, Magnitsky’s words were again drowned out by laughter. Stolypin boomed loudly, chewing a piece of bread with cheese; Gervais hissed with a quiet laugh, and Speransky laughed subtly, distinctly.
Speransky, still laughing, gave Prince Andrei his white, tender hand.
“I’m very glad to see you, prince,” he said. - Just a minute... he turned to Magnitsky, interrupting his story. “We have an agreement today: dinner of pleasure, and not a word about business.” - And he turned to the narrator again, and laughed again.
Prince Andrei listened to his laughter with surprise and sadness of disappointment and looked at the laughing Speransky. It was not Speransky, but another person, it seemed to Prince Andrei. Everything that had previously seemed mysterious and attractive to Prince Andrei in Speransky suddenly became clear and unattractive to him.
At the table the conversation did not stop for a moment and seemed to consist of a collection of funny anecdotes. Magnitsky had not yet finished his story when someone else declared his readiness to tell something that was even funnier. The anecdotes mostly concerned, if not the official world itself, then the official persons. It seemed that in this society the insignificance of these persons was so finally decided that the only attitude towards them could only be good-naturedly comic. Speransky told how at the council this morning, when asked by a deaf dignitary about his opinion, this dignitary answered that he was of the same opinion. Gervais told a whole story about the audit, remarkable for the nonsense of all the characters. Stolypin, stuttering, intervened in the conversation and began to speak passionately about the abuses of the previous order of things, threatening to turn the conversation into a serious one. Magnitsky began to mock Stolypin’s ardor, Gervais inserted a joke and the conversation again took its previous, cheerful direction.

Gogol's work on "Taras Bulba" was preceded by a careful, in-depth study of historical sources. Among them should be named “Description of Ukraine” by Boplan, “History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks” by Myshetsky, handwritten lists of Ukrainian chronicles - Samovidets, Velichko, Grabyanka, etc.

But these sources did not completely satisfy Gogol. He lacked a lot in them: first of all, characteristic everyday details, living signs of the times, a true understanding of the past era. Special historical studies and chronicles seemed to the writer too dry, sluggish and, in essence, of little help to the artist to comprehend the spirit of people's life, characters, and psychology of people. In 1834, in a letter to I. Sreznevsky, he wittily noted that these chronicles, created not in hot pursuit of events, but “when memory gave way to oblivion,” remind him of “the owner who nailed the castle to his stable when the horses were already stolen" (X, 299).

Among the sources that helped Gogol in his work on Taras Bulba, there was another, most important one: Ukrainian folk songs, especially historical songs and thoughts.

Gogol considered Ukrainian folk song a precious treasure for historians and poets who want to “examine the spirit of the past century” and comprehend the “history of the people.” From chronicles and scientific sources, Gogol drew historical information, the factual details he needed concerning specific events in the Duma, and the songs gave him something much more significant. They helped the writer understand the soul of the people, their national character, and the living signs of their life. He extracts plot motifs, sometimes even entire episodes, from folklore songs. For example, the dramatic story about Mosia Shila, who was captured by the Turks and then deceived them and rescued all his comrades from enemy captivity, was inspired by Gogol’s famous Ukrainian thought about Samoil Kishka. And the image of Andriy was created under the undoubted influence of Ukrainian thoughts about the apostate Teterenok and the traitor Savva Chal.

Gogol takes a lot from folk poetry, but takes it as a writer, sensitive and receptive to its artistic structure, with his own attitude to reality, to the material. The poetics of folk song had a huge influence on the entire artistic and visual system of “Taras Bulba”, on the language of the story.

A bright pictorial epithet, a colorful comparison, a characteristic rhythmic repetition - all these techniques enhanced the grazing sound of the story's style. “Am I not worthy of eternal complaints? Isn’t the mother who brought me into the world unhappy? Didn’t I have a bitter fate? Aren’t you my cruel executioner, my cruel fate?” (II, 105). Or: “Curls, curls, he saw long, long curls, and a chest like a river swan, and a snowy neck, and shoulders, and everything that was created for crazy kisses” (II, 143). The unusually emotional, lyrical coloring of the phrase, as well as all its other artistic features, creates a feeling of organic proximity of Gogol’s style of narration to the style of folk song.

"Taras Bulba" has. a large and complex creative history. It was first published in 1835 in the collection "Mirgorod". In 1842, in the second volume of his Works, Gogol placed “Taras Bulba” in a new, radically revised edition. Work on this work continued intermittently for nine years: from 1833 to 1842. Between the first and second editions of Taras Bulba, a number of intermediate editions of some chapters were written.

Introductory lesson on the story by N.V. Gogol "Taras Bulba"

Epoch and heroes: historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba”

Class: 7

Goals:

Deepen knowledge about the life and work of N.V. Gogol;

Introduce the historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba”;

Determine the ideological component of the work.

Equipment: interactive whiteboard, computer.

During the classes

1. Organizing time
2. Repeating the previous topic

Reception "Islands"

Fill in the “islands” by inserting suitable words and phrases. “Song about (...) merchant Kalashnikov” is a historical __________, written in the folklore tradition. Lermontov chooses the _____________ form for the work in order to add authenticity to the plot. The writer shows the harsh era of the king ______________________________. During his reign, the country was divided into two parts - ________________________ and _____________________________. On the territory of ___________________________ there were ancient government institutions, which, in the opinion of ______________________________, prevented him from ruling. In the territory of ________________________________ these institutions had no power. Representatives of the royal retinue, loyal to the king and located in this territory, were called ____________________. They had full power in both destinies and special differences: clothes _____________________ colors and heads attached to saddles ___________________, which were a symbol of ____________, and brooms, which meant that all traitors __________________ from the Moscow state. _________________________ were the king’s favorites and could commit robberies and murders with impunity.

1. Conversation

Guys, why do you think, while studying “The Song about (...) Merchant Kalashnikov,” we first talked about the historical basis of the work?

That’s right, therefore, we will also begin our study of the story “Taras Bulba” with an acquaintance with the era about which Gogol wrote.

4. Brief report by students about the biography and work of N.V. Gogol (two speakers, implementation of individual homework)

1. Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol was born in the town of Velikie Sorochintsy, Mirgorod district, Poltava province, into the family of a landowner. They named him Nicholas in honor of the miraculous icon of St. Nicholas, kept in the church of the village of Dikanka.

Gogol, together with his brother Ivan, studied at the Poltava district school, and then entered the gymnasium of higher sciences in Nizhyn. Here he is engaged in painting, participates in performances - as a set designer and as an actor, and with particular success he plays comic roles. He also tries himself in various literary genres (writes elegiac poems, tragedies, historical poems, stories).

2. However, the thought of writing has not yet “come to mind” for Gogol; all his aspirations are connected with “public service”; he dreams of a legal career.

In St. Petersburg, Gogol writes his first stories. “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka” evokes universal admiration. Gogol becomes a famous writer.

The pinnacle of Gogol’s fiction is the “St. Petersburg story” “The Nose”. In contrast to both the provincial and metropolitan world was the story “Taras Bulba”, which captured that moment in the national past when the Cossacks, defending their sovereignty, acted integrally, together and, moreover, as a force that determined the nature of pan-European history.

1. Work on the topic of the lesson. Teacher's lecture, historical commentary on the story

Today we have to find out what the historical basis is for the story “Taras Bulba” and who the Zaporozhye Cossacks are. You will have to present the lecture in your notebook in the form of a diagram.

Let's start from afar. In the 13th century, the Mongol invasion led to the final collapse of Kievan Rus.

Collapse of Kievan Rus

The teacher shows on the map (slide)

The eastern lands found themselves under the yoke of the Horde khans, and the western lands under the rule of the Lithuanian princes.

Mid-13th century – Mongol invasion

Collapse of Kievan Rus

The population of Poland and Lithuania were Catholics, and most of Ukraine and Belarus were Orthodox.

1596 - a union was concluded in Brest-Litovsk

(i.e. unification) of Orthodox and

Catholic Church

The Ukrainian population refuses

Convert to Catholicism

The Poles began persecuting those who

Refused to accept the union

Because of these events, the Ukrainian population began to perceive the Polish gentry as their main enemies. To protect national independence and religion, uprisings were organized, the main force of which were the Cossacks.

Some Cossacks lived along the southern borders of the Moscow state, on the Don and Yaik rivers, and some settled on the southern borders of Poland, on the Dnieper River. The center of the latter was the Zaporozhye Sich. In the Sich there was a church, outbuildings, living quarters - kurens, and its territory also had its own rules and laws. Thus, the Zaporozhye Sich was a kind of “Cossack state”.

Life of the “Cossack republic”

• the Cossacks themselves chose and removed their atamans;
• did not recognize the orders of the Polish king;
• independently carried out campaigns against the Crimean Tatars and Turkey;
• women were not allowed into the Sich.

The story is set in the 15th century.However, the events described in the story must have taken place either at the end of the 16th or in the first half of the 17th century. Gogol deliberately chooses a different time period, since he did not have the goal of depicting genuine historical facts or real historical figures.

The idea of ​​the work is different - to show the true defenders of the Christian faith and the Orthodox Church, true patriots, brave fighters for national independence. In the second edition of the story, the writer also emphasized the idea of ​​​​the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian people.

1. Fixing the material

Telegram reception

Write a message on the telegram forms, briefly telling about what you learned in today's lesson.

Mid-13th century - Mongol invasion, collapse of Kievan Rus 1569 - Lithuania and Poland united into the state of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth 1596 - a union (i.e. unification) of the Orthodox and Catholic churches was concluded in Brest-Litovsk, the Ukrainian population refused to accept Catholicism, the Poles began persecution of those who refused to accept union

By the end of the 16th century, the mass of the Ukrainian population began to perceive the Polish Catholic gentry * as their main enemy. * Nobility, gentry - Polish nobles.

end of the 16th century - uprisings break out in Ukraine. The main force in them is the Ukrainian Cossacks*. * Cossacks are free people who lived in the steppe and did not obey the state and its law.

Cossacks lived along the southern borders of the Moscow state, settled on the Don and Yaik rivers on the southern borders of Poland, on the Dnieper River

The center of the Dnieper Cossacks was the Zaporozhye Sich* * It was called that because it was located behind the impassable Dnieper rapids and was surrounded by abatis (fortifications made of fallen trees). with a imaginary “Cossack republic”

The Cossacks themselves chose the life of the “Cossack republic” and removed their atamans themselves; did not recognize the orders of the Polish king; independently carried out campaigns against the Crimean Tatars and Turkey; Women were not allowed into the Sich.

The story is set in the 15th century. The events described in the story must have taken place either at the end of the 16th or in the first half of the 17th century. Gogol deliberately chooses a different time period, since he did not have the goal of depicting genuine historical facts or real historical figures.

The idea of ​​the work is to show the true defenders of the Christian faith and the Orthodox Church, brave fighters for national independence. In the second edition of the story, the writer emphasized the idea of ​​​​the unity of the Russian and Ukrainian people.

Development of a literature lesson for 7th grade.

Subject : Historical and folklore basis of N.V. Gogol’s story “Taras Bulba”.

Goals:

Educational : introduce students to the historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba”; give an idea of ​​the difference between historical truth and the artistic goals of the writer, show the relevance and modernity of this topic, using technical means in the lesson;

Developmental : the ability to rely on the laws of the genre in the process of comprehending the author's intention; substantiate judgments in detail, select arguments to confirm one’s own position; development of analytical communication abilities of students;

Educational: nurturing a culture of speech, a culture of feelings; respect for Russian literature and the cultures of other peoples.

Corrective: development of monologue and dialogic speech, stability of attention, observation, ability to switch, engage in activities, expanding the range of ideas about the surrounding life, development of the emotional sphere (music, listening to text performed by actors, etc.)

During the classes.

So here it is - Sich! This is the nest from which those proud and strong ones fly out, like lions! This is where the will and Cossacks spread throughout Ukraine!

I. Organizing students for the lesson. Performing complex exercises (relaxation, music playing quietly).

Relax, don't tense up.

Gently, slowly, straighten your back without effort.

Close your eyes, gently closing your eyelids without squeezing them.

With your eyes closed, look only straight ahead. Hold your head easily, without tension or effort.

Do not strain your neck, perform slight tilts of the head: forward to the chest - 3 times, throw back - 3 times, to the right shoulder - 3 times, to the left shoulder - 3 times.

Shoulders are lowered, arms and legs are relaxed.

Now we need to relieve fatigue and tension. And the most important thing is to try not to think about anything, so that our lesson will be new for each of us, calmly, interestingly, without boredom and fatigue.

II. Preparation for the perception of the topic.

Today we are conducting an unusual lesson, integrated, in which two academic subjects will interact: literature and history. We will conduct it on the material of N.V. Gogol’s story “Taras Bulba”. You were given an advanced task: to collect material about the historical and folklore sources of the story.

We divided the class into groups (there are signs on the desks:historians, ethnographers, literary scholars ). Vocabulary work:ethnographer - a specialist in ethnography. Ethnography is a science that studies the characteristics of the life, customs, and culture of a people.

Have each group formulate goals.

III. Work on new material and implementation of individual tasks.

Communicate the goals of each group.

Historians: our goal is to characterize the era of the mid-17th century, to talk about the historical basis of the story “Taras Bulba”.

Ethnographers: we will talk about the life, rituals and customs of people who lived in that distant time.

Literary scholars: our goal is to show how this era is reflected in a work of art.

We will help answer your questions.

(Questions are displayed on the screen)

Why did the writer turn to such ancient times? How and why did Gogol use historical events in his story?(historians)

To what time do the events depicted by Gogol in the story “Taras Bulba” belong? Did they really happen?(historians)

Who are the Cossacks? Why are they called Cossacks?(ethnographers)

What are the customs and laws of the Zaporozhye Sich?(ethnographers)

What artistic means does N.V. Gogol use when depicting the Zaporozhye Cossacks?(literary scholars)

Are there any similarities between Taras Bulba, the Cossacks and the heroes of epics? ?(literary scholars)

Student messages.

Historians:

Gogol's interest in Ukrainian history arose in 1833-1834. He was going to write a scientific work on the history of Ukraine. This work was not created, but materials related to the life of the Cossacks were used by the writer in his work on “Taras Bulba” and themes were outlined that were developed in the story: the theme of the struggle of the Ukrainian people with enemies, the dream of a just social order, the image of people’s life , the theme of liberty, freedom. For the story “Taras Bulba” Gogol used works on the history, life and customs of the Ukrainian Cossacks, and relied on folklore... But Gogol used Ukrainian songs even more for this story. The whole story is imbued with the spirit of these songs, its style is completely songlike, and the text directly asks to be transcribed into epic verse. I think turning to the past helped us understand what was happening in the present and predict the future.

The events depicted by Gogol date back to the liberation movement in UkraineXV- XVIIcenturies. The Polish gentry, the Turks, who captured and sold people into captivity, the Tatar hordes - the Ukrainian Cossacks fought with all of them. The defense of national dependence and state independence was often inseparable from the struggle for faith, for the establishment of the Orthodox Church.

Mid Mongol invasionXIIIcentury led to the final collapse of old Kievan Rus. The lands in the east were under the yoke of the Horde khans, and the lands in the west were under the rule of the Lithuanian princes, and partially became part of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1569, Lithuania and Poland united to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1596, a union (unification) of the Orthodox and Catholic churches was concluded in the city of Brest-Litovsk, according to which the Orthodox population of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had to recognize the supreme power of the Pope. However, a significant part of the Ukrainian population did not want to do this. The persecution of those who refused to accept the union began. So by the endXVIcentury, the mass of the Ukrainian population began to perceive the Polish Catholic gentry as their main enemy. In Ukraine, uprisings began to break out one after another. The main force in them were UkrainiansCossacks Find the features of historical time in the text of Chapter 1 of the story. Name a lexical series that conveys the atmosphere of time and situation that determines the destinies of people? (p.70). (verbs: was devastated, scorched, engulfed in flames, etc., epithets: primitive Russia (indomitable, wide)). Page 176.

Conclusion: it was a time of historical catastrophe, changing the past way of life, forming new qualities of human character.

Taras was one of the indigenous, old colonels: he was all about scolding anxiety and was distinguished by the brutal directness of his character. Then the influence of Poland was already beginning to exert itself on the Russian nobility. Many had already adopted Polish customs, acquired luxury and magnificent servants. Taras did not like this. He loved the simple life of the Cossacks and quarreled with those of his comrades who were inclined to the Warsaw side, calling them slaves of the Polish lords. Restless forever, he considered himself the legitimate defender of Orthodoxy. He arbitrarily entered villages where they only complained about the harassment of tenants and the increase in new duties on smoke (from each hut).

Visual gymnastics.

Ethnographers:

Cossacks Then they called free people who lived in the steppe and did not obey the state and its laws. Some Cossacks lived along the southern borders of the Moscow state (on the Don and Yaik rivers), others settled on the southern borders of what was then Poland (on the Dnieper River). The center of the Dnieper Cossacks was the Zaporozhye Sich. It was called that because it was located behind the impassable Dnieper rapids and was surrounded by abatis (fortifications made from fallen trees). Here a “Cossack republic” emerged.Features of the life and character of the Cossacks are shown in the first chapter . How Bulba himself chose the best decorations for his children (P. 178-179), interior and household items: description of Bulba’s room (P. 173: “weapons are in the most prominent place, and expensive glass and metal products are located in the third - the fourth row of shelves. Everything in the room is connected with the anxious, nomadic life of the owner. Conclusion: He considers the need to always be on guard, the readiness to go on a campaign at any moment, in peacetime he fell in love with revelry, “sleeping in the yard.” (open space acts as a means of depicting the hero-hero in epic traditions; the motive of will accompanies the narrative throughout the entire development of the action: steppe (landscape) (nature acts as a means of depicting the broad Russian character: “green-golden ocean”, “virgin emptiness”, “ immeasurable waves of plants”, etc.; cutting, not protected by anything, the main events take place in open space, hostility to closed space, settled life), the physical appearance of the Cossacks (“hefty”, “lion”, “knights”), revelry, dancing).

The Cossacks themselves chose and removed their atamans, did not recognize the orders of the Polish king and independently carried out campaigns against the Crimean Tatars and Turkey, returning prisoners captured by the Crimeans to their homeland and bringing rich booty. Military service in the Sich is not coercion, but voluntary service to one’s fatherland. The most important thing for them is a sense of camaraderie. The Sich severely punishes violations of its laws, the laws of a free people (for theft, for non-payment of debt, for murder). The usual state of Zaporozhye is continuous battles. The Cossacks instantly move from frantic revelry and gaiety to a readiness to fight for life or death.(Chapter 3).

The anthem of the Russian Cossacks sounds.

Literary scholars:

Gogol set himself not so much historical as epic goals, which is why “Taras Bulba” is not a historical story, but a heroic epic.

Masterfully depicting the life of the Zaporozhye Cossacks and the Cossacks themselves, Gogol uses such an artistic medium asartistic detail - detail interior, landscape, appearance of the hero, his speech, which helps to better understand the image or idea of ​​the work. I also paid attention to the accuracy and specificity of the depiction of natural phenomena, the variety of colors, and the music of the steppe.

Fine and expressive means: epithets, comparisons, metaphors, personification, hyperbole (examples). Hyperbole is a trope typical of the epic genre. The author widely uses hyperbole to enhance the impression, to sharpen the image. The powerful, strong characters depicted by Gogol correspond to the characters of epic folk heroes.

The artist I. Repin also agreed with Gogol. Repin worked on this painting for more than 13 years and did not love any of his paintings as much as “Cossacks.” Compare: N.V. Gogol worked on the story for 9 years. What does this mean? What is the consonance between long-term work on the works of an artist and a writer? This suggests that both artists attached great importance to their works. Both the writer Gogol and the artist Repin depicted in them their people, whom they were proud of and captivated by, and saw in the Cossacks courageous and cheerful people, their ancestors and like-minded people.What similarities do you see between Repin’s painting and Gogol’s story in the depiction of the Zaporozhye Cossacks?

The canvas “Cossacks writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan” - one of Repin’s most significant historical works - was written in 1878-1891. The picture describes a historical fact when, in response to the offer of the Turkish Sultan Mahmud IV to go into his service, the Cossacks composed a message full of mocking ridicule and daring challenge.

Despite its dynamism, the composition of the canvas is very balanced. In the foreground of the canvas we see Zaporozhye Cossacks gathered at a hastily put together table to compose their message. The painter “cuts off” some of the figures, allowing the viewer to mentally “push” the frames of the canvas. In the background there is a tent city, bonfires against the backdrop of the wide steppe...

There is no main character in the film; a huge number of Cossacks are represented here. Each image is colorful in its own way, each has exceptional expressiveness and individuality, and each is like a real hero and seems to have stepped out of the pages of Gogol’s Taras Bulba. The accessories are superbly painted - weapons, costumes, pipes, wine flasks, Ukrainian bandura... And there is so much ingenuity, folk humor, and taste in the plot and composition of the picture!

The Cossacks huddled together around the table, composing their message. The smiling clerk, squinting slyly, scribbles bold words on a piece of paper that his comrades suggest to him. Passions run high, emotions literally spill out onto the viewer. And the canvas sparkles with unbridled joy, laughter can be heard far across the steppe - from subtle giggles to thunderous laughter. In this relaxed communication of the Cossacks on the eve of the battle, there is the prowess and heroic spirit of the Cossacks, their independence, cohesion and the great strength of camaraderie.

In “Cossacks” the artist depicts the people in all their greatness, strength, invincibility and affirms the democratic ideals of freedom, universal brotherhood, and equality.

IV. Reflection. What new did you learn?

What makes people so different? Why do bright, strong and beautiful people live in one time, and small, insignificant people in another? The harsh era described by Gogol in the story put forward corresponding heroes - strong, courageous, selfless, warlike people who despised warmth and comfort, accustomed to the free Cossack life, to cruel battles and battles. These people consider camaraderie and brotherhood, based on faith and patriotism, to be the main value in human relations. It is in the past that Gogol sees spiritually free and powerful people. But can they be in the present? The writer asks this question both to himself and to the reader. By showing what people were like, Gogol inspires us with the idea: the heroes of the Zaporozhye Sich are a high ideal, but every person who lives later has enough worthy qualities to get closer to this ideal. This means that this work is about the past, present and future. That is why many works about this era are now forgotten, and the story “Taras Bulba” has become one of the classic works of Russian literature.