Why does Bunin describe Lushka’s son in such detail? II
Ivan Aleksandrovich Bunin made a huge contribution to Russian literature, although after the revolution he was forced to live abroad. Bunin's favorite theme was the theme of love. The first story dedicated to this topic was “The Grammar of Love.”
Title (with Greek language) means "the ability to read and write." This phrase hides an oxymoron - incompatible things are combined. But also hidden is the question that Bunin himself asks: is it possible to learn love?
The story describes everything in simple language. Ivleev somehow finds the estate, which was destroyed. Khvoshchinsky, the owner of this estate, died. People consider him an eccentric. He had a good place, reputation, but fell in love with Lushka, but could not marry her because social status. Khovaschinsky’s wife is born to them and dies, as their neighbors and residents say. Khvoshchinsky rarely leaves the house, reads books in former room wives. Ivleev visits his son to find out the secret. He looks around the room and books, and he finds a book with the title “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved.”
Ivleev, when he found the book, he realized that “The Grammar of Love” is a prayer book. He buys the book at a high price. The story of Khvoshchinsky became an example, a part of Ivleev’s life.
Bunin in his work shows that love is the most valuable thing in life. Such love is high and significant. As in other works of Bunin, love does not last, it is eternal, it is fleeting, but is kept in the heart.
For Khvoshchinsky, love has become the meaning of life, he lets this bright feeling into his life. That is why his life became happier, more sacred, more joyful. In the book that Ivleev found, there were notes from the owner, his story and a grammar of love. Thus, the author shows that Khvoschinsky acquires spiritual meaning life
Option 2
Ivan Alekseevich Bunin is an outstanding writer, who was concerned about the topic of love. He devoted many of his works to questions about: what does this sublime feeling mean? What is its duration? And the creator’s thoughts poured out into a short story called “The Grammar of Love.”
This book tells the story of the hero Ivlev, who inadvertently finds himself in the ruined estate of one owner who has left this world. The son of the owner of the house is selling all the things that once belonged to Khvoshchinsky’s father and his beloved Lushka. The owner “was obsessed with love for her all his life,” but since he was a nobleman, he was not supposed to take a serf as his wife. And the son turned out to be illegitimate.
After the birth of a wonderful baby, his mother drowned herself, and Khvoshchinsky, closing himself off from the whole world, sat down in a room where he instilled a passion for literature. In order to forget from the painful grief, to drown out the feeling of guilt in front of his beloved, the character bought wedding candles and did not part with him until the end of his life. wedding ring. Love sank so deeply into his heart that he realized how painful it was to lose someone close to you. Bunin shows that there is a place for love in life, it must be, otherwise people will live their lives in vain, simply useless.
The main character when visiting unusual place notices a small book on the shelf called “The Grammar of Love”, which the landowner’s son is ready to sell for a large amount Money, despite the fact that this creation was very expensive and valuable to lovers. They put a book under their pillow and constantly turned to it.
Thus, the writer says that “love is not a simple episode in our life,” for this wonderful feeling is fleeting, fleeting. Love has a sad way of ending. It ultimately has a tragic end, but this is not a reason not to fall in love, not to discover a warm feeling. Love is amazing because the minutes spent with the person you love are priceless. Wonderful world which you, even for a moment, create around yourself, gives light, hope, Nice memories. This is all worth waking up to every day for. “You have to live, you have to love, you have to believe,” as Leo Tolstoy said. Let the feeling not last forever, even if it ultimately brings pain and suffering, but the important thing is that you have to face it, experience it for yourself, try to taste life! Therefore, Bunin, despite the tragic end, believes that love is the meaning of life, thanks to which the world becomes more interesting and beautiful!
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Undoubtedly, it is one of the best pages Russian literature. And although, without accepting Soviet power, he emigrated to the West and wrote almost all of his works there, for which he received Nobel Prize, his works were and remain completely Russian in spirit.
The favorite theme of his work is rightfully considered love theme. Bunin began to create works about her at the beginning of his writing career, but later collected his best short stories into the famous cycle “ Dark alleys" The constant reference to this topic was sometimes impulsive - it was based on an unusual case. But all together these stories showed the versatility and diversity of love. But, perhaps, the very first work about love can be considered the story "Grammar of Love"(1915), to which the analysis will be devoted.
The very title of the story is paradoxical: the word “grammar” is translated from Greek as “the art of reading and writing letters.” Thus, the grammar of love is perceived as a certain oxymoron, that is, “combining incompatible things.” On the other hand, such a title seems to contain the author’s irony: is it really possible to learn to love from some textbooks?
Plot of the story quite simple: "a certain Ivlev", as the author briefly calls him, accidentally ends up in a bankrupt estate. Its owner, the landowner Khvoshchinsky, had died shortly before, leaving unusual rumors about himself as a district eccentric who had a brilliant future, a career, but “Suddenly this love fell on him, this Lushka”, which ultimately made up the meaning of his entire later life. Khvoshchinsky fell in love with his maid Lushka, “all my life I was obsessed with love for her”, but, being a nobleman, could not marry a serf.
After the birth of her son, Lushka, according to legend, drowned herself, and Khvoshchinsky locked himself in the room where Lushka once lived, and spent the rest of his life as a recluse, reading books. Apparently, in order to drown out the oppressive feeling of guilt before himself, he purchased wedding candles and even wore a wedding ring all his life.
Having learned about the death of Khvoshchinsky, Ivlev decides to stop by his estate to look at "deserted sanctuary of Luška". Not knowing how to explain the purpose of his visit, he asks Khvoshchinsky’s son, a very handsome young man, "black, with beautiful eyes» , look at the library left by my father. It is important for the hero to decide for himself: “What kind of person was this Khvoshchinsky? A madman or some kind of single-minded soul?”
The books turn out to have very specific content: « morning Star and night demons", "Reflections on the mysteries of the universe", "The sworn tract". It becomes clear to the hero “What did that lonely soul eat that forever shut itself off from the world in that closet?”. But only one "tiny" The book attracts Ivlev's attention. It was “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved”, published almost a hundred years ago. It consisted of small discussions about love, some were underlined by Khvoshchinsky's hand, and he, according to his son, kept it under his pillow at night.
Ivlev understands that for this man Lushka has become a shrine. He explained everything that happens in this world "Lushkin's influence". And it seems that Lushka died almost immemorial. "The Grammar of Love", which has almost become a prayer book, Ivlev buys for an expensive price, and remembering Lushkin’s simple necklace - "from the bottom of cheap blue balls", experiences the same thing that I once experienced in the old Italian city, looking at the relics of one saint.
It is then that it becomes clear to the reader that Ivlev is main character story. The story of the landowner Khvoshchinsky and his beloved Lushka shocked him as a child. In his mind, she became a legend. But seeing this with my own eyes sacred place, he understands that someone else’s seemingly alien love story has become a part of his life.
Thus, the story emphasizes that love is a great value. She is sublime, pure and chaste. But the reader will not see a picture of family well-being, as often happens with Bunin, because a person can experience happiness only for a moment, but this moment will remain in the soul forever.
Analysis of stories
I. A. Bunina
"The Grammar of Love", " Sunstroke».
Lesson Objectives : develop the ability to analyze the text of a work; reveal the meaning of the theme of love in Bunin’s work, the features of the writer’s poetics.
How wild, how scary everything is everyday, ordinary, when the heart is struck... by this terrible “sunstroke”, too great love, too much happiness!
"Grammar of Love" - one of best stories I. A. Bunina on eternal theme - written in 1915. The writer constantly addressed the theme of love, showing the versatility and diversity of its manifestations. Often the impulse for writing stories was some incident.
About the origin of the story "Grammar of Love" Bunin recalled: “My nephew Kolya Pusheshnikov, a great lover of books, especially rare ones, and a friend of many Moscow second-hand book dealers, found somewhere and gave me a small old book entitled “The Grammar of Love.” After reading it, I remembered something vague that I heard back in early youth from my father about some poor landowner from among our neighbors, who was obsessed with love for one of his serfs, and soon invented and wrote a story with the title of this little book (on behalf of some Ivlev, whose last name I derived from the initial letters of my name in my usual literary signature)".
N. A. Pusheshnikov (1882-1939), the translator, a passionate bibliophile, gave Bunin a book "The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved." The author of this book was French writer Hippolyte Jules Demoliere (1802-1877).
"Grammar of Love"
- How do you understand the title of the story?
The word “grammar” is from the scientific lexicon. The words in the title of the story are paradoxically connected. This expression can be considered an oxymoron. Grammar translated from Greek means “the art of reading and writing letters.” Bunin's story talks about the art of love, although some of the author's irony is also felt: is it possible to learn to love from a textbook?
- What do we know about Khvoshchinsky’s life from the words of his landowner neighbors?
He was poor, considered an eccentric, “all his life he was obsessed with love for his maid Lushka,” “he idolized her.”
- What role did Lushka play in Ivlev’s fate?
Ivlev recalls the impression Khvoshchinsky’s story made on him as a child. He was “almost in love” with the “legendary Lushka.”
- What does Ivlev think when he learns about Khvoshchinsky’s death?
- What motivates Ivlev’s visit to Khvoshchinskoye?
It was indecent to stop by Khvoshchinsky’s house out of idle curiosity. Ivlev said that he would like to see, and maybe buy, the library left by the deceased.
- Why doesn’t Bunin give a portrait of Ivlev, but describes Lushka’s son in detail?
Ivlev - narrator , face almost neutral in this story. It is said about him at the very beginning: “Someone Ivlev.” The writer is interested not so much in appearance as in the thoughts and experiences of the narrator. The portrait of young Khvoshchinsky is an indirect portrait of his mother, Lushka, who, as they said, “was not at all good herself.” Most likely, the author highlights common features appearance of mother and son. The son was “black, with beautiful eyes and very pretty, although his face was pale and mottled with freckles, like a bird’s egg.”
- What role does this portrait play in the story?
Freckles on the face indicate the hero’s common origin. The main thing is not only beautiful eyes, but also cuteness. Further in the story there is a maxim from the book “The Grammar of Love”: “A beautiful woman should occupy the second stage; The first one belongs to a nice woman. This becomes the mistress of our heart: before we give an account of her to ourselves, our heart becomes a slave of love forever...” Apparently, this cuteness is Lushka’s secret; she is a “nice woman.”
- Do you agree with the expression: “A beautiful woman should occupy the second level; the first one belongs to a nice woman”?
- What details play in the story? important role?
Firstly, the hero sees wedding candles, a symbol of eternal, unquenchable love. Khvoshchinsky could not marry a serf, but with all his soul he wanted this marriage. Wedding candles are a symbol of the union of a man and a woman, enshrined and sanctified by the church.
Secondly, the writer draws our attention to books from Khvoshchinsky’s library: “The Sworn Tract”, “The Morning Star and the Night Demons”, “Reflections on the Mysteries of the Universe”, “A Wonderful Journey to magical land», Newest dream book" The titles of the books reveal Ivlev, “What did that lonely soul feed on that forever shut itself off from the world in this closet and only so recently left it...”
- What is the content of “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved”?
The book consists of short, elegant, “sometimes very precise maxims” about love; in addition, it talks about “explaining the language of flowers.” Much in this book is underlined by Khvoshchinsky’s hand, and on a free page is written a quatrain composed by himself.
- What is the value of the “tiny book” “The Grammar of Love”?
“The tiny book that gives the title to the story itself is the most important detail. The son of Khvoshchinsky and Lushka refuses to sell it because it is “very expensive.” It’s not a matter of price, the son says: “They (that is, his father) even put it under their pillow...”. The value of the book lies in the fact that it became dear to Ivlev himself; he bought it at an expensive price as a shrine.
- What allows us to conclude that the image of Lushka truly becomes a shrine?
The story persistently repeats words from religious vocabulary, expressions that speak of the legendary character of Lushka: Khvoshchinsky “attributed literally everything that happened in the world to Lushka’s influence: a thunderstorm sets in - it’s Lushka who sends a thunderstorm, war is declared - that means Lushka decided so, a crop failure happened - The men didn’t please Lushka...”; Ivlev sees “God’s tree” in the place where, according to legend, Lushka drowned herself; it seems to him that “Lushka lived and died not twenty years ago, but almost in time immemorial”; the little book “Grammar of Love” is like a prayer book; Leaving Khvoshchinsky’s estate, Ivlev remembers Lushka, her necklace and experiences a feeling “similar to what he once experienced in an Italian town when looking at the relics of a saint.”
Thanks to this technique, Lushka’s life becomes like a hagiography, and her image is almost deified.
- What kind of person is this Khvoshchinsky - really crazy or someone who has the talent to love?
- What can love do to the ordinary? human life?
In the story, love turns life into “some kind of ecstatic life.” Life with a loved one becomes a “sweet devotion,” life without her becomes a service to that holy image that remains in memory.
- Who do you think is the main character of the story?
The main character is Khvoshchinsky. His soul was illuminated by fantastic love for many years. Let us note that the author spoke about a landowner “obsessed with love for one of his serfs.”
May be, main character- Lushka? After all, it was she who took the “first step” in Khvoshchinsky’s life and determined his fate.
- What understanding of love is embodied in this story?
For Bunin, love is a great value. She is always pure and chaste. But the writer does not depict a picture of family well-being: a person can only count on a moment of happiness. However, this moment remains in the soul forever.
The hero of the story, Ivlev, only came into contact with an extraordinary and tragic love story. He never saw Lushka, never saw Khvoshchinsky, but their love, their fate acquired a meaning much greater than a special case, they became a legend.
In the twenties, Bunin increasingly wrote about love “as about the highest gift of fate - and the more beautiful this gift is, the more fleeting it is.” “If in works written before Sunstroke, love is tragic because it is not divided, it is lonely, but here its tragedy lies precisely in the fact that it is mutual - and too beautiful to last.” "Sunstroke" was written in 1925. Our task is to identify how the writer’s view of love changed in the twenties.
"Sunstroke"
- What is special about the plot of the story?
The story begins without introduction , as if being a continuation of some story. The writer seems to snatch out a piece of life - the brightest piece, like a “sunstroke”. The characters don't have names, she's just a woman and a man. . The writer does not name the names of the characters - it is important for him show the feeling itself and what it does to a person.
- Why doesn’t Bunin mention the reasons for the heroes’ sudden love?
The story is very short, long descriptions are omitted, the reasons that pushed the heroes towards each other are omitted. This remains a mystery that cannot be solved.
- What is special about the heroine’s portrait?
Bunin does not describe the heroine’s appearance, but highlights the main thing about her - a simple, charming laugh speaks of how “everything was charming about this little woman.”
- How does Bunin describe a stranger after a night in a room?
“She was fresh, as at seventeen years old, very little embarrassed, she was still simple, cheerful and - already reasonable.”
- How does she explain what happened to them?
“The eclipse definitely hit me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke.” The woman was the first to understand the severity of what had happened and the impossibility of continuing this too strong feeling.
- What has changed in the room since she left that reminds you of her?
“The room without her seemed somehow completely different than it was with her. He was still full of it - so be it. All that remained was the smell of good English cologne and an unfinished cup, but it was no longer there...”
- What impression did this make on the lieutenant?
The lieutenant's heart suddenly sank with such tenderness that he hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times. The lieutenant laughs at his “strange adventure,” and at the same time “tears come to his eyes.”
- What is the role of detail in this story?
At the beginning of the story, details of the heroine’s portrait: "Small strong hand smelled of tan; light canvas dress" - emphasize the naturalness, simplicity and charm of a woman. The word appears several times "small" - evidence of defenselessness, weakness (but also strength - “a small strong hand”), tenderness.
Other details (the smell of cologne, a cup, a pulled back screen, an unmade bed, a hairpin that she had forgotten) enhance the impression of the reality of what happened and deepen the drama: “He felt such pain and such uselessness of his entire future life without her that he was overcome by horror and despair.” The steamer is a symbol of separation.
- What does such a seemingly small detail mean - a hairpin forgotten by the heroine?
This is the last trace of the “little woman,” visible, real. It is important for Bunin to show that the feeling that flared up after fleeting meeting, will not leave the hero.
- What new feelings did the lieutenant have?
All the lieutenant’s feelings seem to be heightened. He “I remembered her all, with all her slightest features, I remembered the smell of her tan and canvas dress, her strong body, the lively, simple and cheerful sound of her voice.” And another new feeling, previously unexperienced, torments the lieutenant: this is a strange, incomprehensible feeling. He does not know, “how to live the whole next day without her” , feels unhappy.
This feeling gradually transforms: “Everything was fine, there was immense happiness, great joy in everything... and at the same time, my heart was simply torn to pieces.”
- Why is the hero trying to free himself from the feeling of love?
The “sunstroke” that struck the lieutenant was too strong and unbearable. Both happiness and the pain that accompanied it turned out to be unbearable.
Sunstroke is accompanied by natural heat, which aggravates the feeling of loss. The hot streets cannot dispel the pain of separation and melancholy. Nature in the story emphasizes the power of a suddenly flared up feeling and the inevitability of parting.
- Too much love - why is it dramatic and even tragic?
It is impossible to return your beloved, but it is also impossible to live without her. The hero fails to get rid of sudden, unexpected love; the “sunstroke” leaves an indelible mark on the soul.
- How did the experiences of the past day affect the hero?
The hero feels ten years older. The instantaneousness of the experience made it so acute that it seemed to contain almost a whole life.
Summary questions about the story:
1. How should we understand the title of the story? What meaning does the writer give to the epithet “sunny”? How does this meaning vary throughout the story?
2. Explain how Bunin draws inner world person. Which Russian writer of the 19th century can you compare the methods of psychological analysis he used?
3. Give examples ring composition works. Is it possible to talk about the absolute identity of “beginnings” and “endings”?
Conclusion:
Love in Bunin's works is dramatic, even tragic; it is something elusive and natural, blinding a person, affecting him like a sunstroke. Love is a great abyss, mysterious and inexplicable, strong and painful.
Tasks:
1. How is the interpretation of love different in the stories “Easy Breathing”, “The Grammar of Love” and “Sunstroke”?
2. What cross-cutting images and motifs are present in Bunin’s stories about love?
Homework:
2. Individual task : prepare a presentation on the biography of Kuprin.
II. Analytical conversation on the story “The Grammar of Love”
How do you understand the title of the story?
(The word “grammar” is from the scientific lexicon. The words in the title of the story are paradoxically connected. This expression can be considered an oxymoron. Translated from Greek, grammar is “the art of reading and writing letters.” Bunin’s story talks about the art of love, although some of the author’s irony: is it possible to learn to love from a textbook?)
What do we know about Khvoshchinsky’s life from the words of his landowner neighbors?
(He was poor, considered an eccentric, “all his life he was obsessed with love for his maid Lushka,” “he idolized her.”)
What role did Lushka play in Ivlev’s fate?
(Ivlev recalls the impression Khvoshchinsky’s story made on him as a child. He was “almost in love” with the “legendary Lushka.”)
What does Ivlev think when he learns about Khvoshchinsky’s death?
(Having learned that Khvoschinsky had died, Ivlev definitely wanted to look at the “empty sanctuary of the mysterious Lushka.” He was worried about the question: “What kind of person was this Khvoschinsky? Crazy or just some kind of stunned, all-focused soul?”.)
What motivates Ivlev’s visit to Khvoshchinskoye?
(It was indecent to stop by Khvoshchinsky’s house out of idle curiosity. Ivlev said that he would like to look at, and maybe buy, the library left by the deceased.)
Why doesn’t Bunin give a portrait of Ivlev, but describes Lushka’s son in detail?
(Ivlev is the narrator, an almost neutral person in this story. It is said about him at the very beginning: “Someone Ivlev.” The writer is interested not so much in appearance as in the thoughts and experiences of the narrator. The portrait of young Khvoshchinsky is an indirect portrait of his mother, Lushka, who, as they said, “she was not at all good-looking." Most likely, the author identifies common features of the appearance of mother and son. The son was “black, with beautiful eyes and very pretty, although his face was pale and mottled with freckles, like a bird’s egg.”)
What role does this portrait play in the story?
(Freckles on the face speak of the hero’s common origin. The main thing is not only beautiful eyes, but also good looks. Further in the story, a maxim from the book “Grammar of Love” is given: A beautiful woman should occupy the second level; the first belongs to a lovely woman. This is done the mistress of our heart: before we give an account of her to ourselves, our heart becomes a slave of love forever...” Apparently, this prettiness is the secret of Lushka, it is she who is a “dear woman.”)
Do you agree with the expression: “A beautiful woman should occupy the second level; the first one belongs to a nice woman”?
(Discussion in class.)
What details play an important role in the story?
(Firstly, the hero sees wedding candles, a symbol of eternal, unquenchable love. Khvoshchinsky could not marry a serf, but with all his soul he wanted this marriage. Wedding candles are a symbol of the union of a man and a woman, enshrined and sanctified by the church.
Secondly, the writer draws our attention to books from Khvoshchinsky’s library: “The Sworn Tract”, “Morning Star and Night Demons”, “Reflections on the Mysteries of the Universe”, “A Wonderful Journey to a Magical Land”, The Newest Dream Book.” The titles of the books reveal to Ivleva “what that lonely soul fed on, which forever shut itself away from the world in this closet and only recently left it...”.
Thirdly, Lushka’s necklace plays an important role - “a bunch of cheap blue balls that look like stone ones.” When looking at this necklace, Ivlev was overcome with such excitement that his eyes began to ripple with his heartbeat.”)
What is the content of “The Grammar of Love, or the Art of Loving and Being Mutually Loved”?
(The book consists of short, elegant, sometimes very precise maxims “about love; in addition, it is about “explaining the language of flowers.” Much in this book is underlined by Khvoshchinsky’s hand, and on a free page is written a quatrain he himself composed.)
What is the value of the “tiny book” “The Grammar of Love”?
(“The tiny book that gives the title to the story itself is the most important detail. The son of Khvoschinsky and Lushka refuses to sell it because it is “very expensive.” It’s not about the price, the son says: “They (that is, his father) even under the pillow they kept it for themselves...” The value of the booklet lies in the fact that it became dear to Ivlev himself, he bought it at an expensive price as a shrine.)
What allows us to conclude that the image of Lushka truly becomes a shrine?
(The story persistently repeats words from religious vocabulary, expressions that speak of the legendary character of Lushka: Khvoshchinsky “attributed literally everything that happened in the world to Lushka’s influence: a thunderstorm sets in - it’s Lushka who sends a thunderstorm, war is declared - that means Lushka decided so, a crop failure happened - the men did not please Lushka...”; Ivlev sees “God’s tree” in the place where, according to legend, Lushka drowned; it seems to him that “Lushka lived and died not twenty years ago, but almost in time immemorial” ; the book “Grammar of Love” looks like a prayer book; leaving Khvoshchinsky’s estate, Ivlev remembers Lushka, her necklace and experiences a feeling “similar to what he once experienced in an Italian town when looking at the relics of a saint.”
Thanks to this technique, Lushka’s life becomes like a hagiography, and her image is almost deified.)
What kind of person is this Khvoshchinsky - really crazy or someone who has the talent to love?
(We discuss the question in class.)
What can love do to everyday human life?
(This problematic question is designed for the moral experience of high school students. In the story, love turns life into “some kind of ecstatic life.” Life with a beloved becomes “sweet devotion,” life without her becomes a service to that holy image that remains in memory.)
Who do you think is the main character of the story? (Discussion in class.)
(The main character is Khvoschinsky. His soul was illuminated by fantastic love for many years. Let us note that the author spoke about a landowner “obsessed with love for one of his serfs.”
Maybe the main character is Lushka? After all, it was she who took the “first step” in Khvoshchinsky’s life and determined his fate.
It is likely that the main character is Ivlev himself. The love story of the landowner Khvoshchinsky and his serf Lushka influenced Ivlev from childhood. In his mind, Lushka became “legendary.” At the end of the story, he thinks: “She entered my life forever!” Alien love story became part of Ivlev’s life.)
What understanding of love is embodied in this story?
(For Bunin, love is a great value. It is always pure and chaste. But the writer does not paint a picture of family well-being: a person can only count on a moment of happiness. However, this moment remains in the soul forever.
The hero of the story, Ivlev, only came into contact with an extraordinary and tragic love story. He never saw Lushka, never saw Khvoshchinsky, but their love, their fate acquired a significance much greater than a special case, they became a legend.)
III. Teacher's word
In the twenties, Bunin increasingly writes about love “as the highest gift of fate, and the more beautiful this gift, the more fleeting it is.” “If in works written before Sunstroke, love is tragic because it is not divided, it is lonely, but here its tragedy lies precisely in the fact that it is mutual - and too beautiful to last.” "Sunstroke" was written in 1925. Our task is to identify how the writer’s view of love changed in the twenties.
IV. Analytical conversation based on the story "Sunstroke"
What is special about the plot of the story?
(The story begins without an introduction, as if being a continuation of some story. The writer seems to snatch out a piece of life - the brightest piece, like a “sunstroke”. The heroes do not have names, just she is a woman and a man. The writer does not name the names of the heroes - to him it is important to show the feeling itself and what it does to a person.)
Why doesn’t Bunin mention the reasons for the heroes’ sudden love?
(The story is very short, long descriptions are omitted, the reasons that pushed the heroes towards each other are omitted. This remains a mystery that cannot be solved.)
What is special about the heroine’s portrait?
(Bunin does not describe the heroine’s appearance, but highlights the main thing about her - a simple, charming laugh speaks of how “everything was charming about this little woman.”)
How does Bunin describe a stranger after a night in a room?
(“She was fresh, as at seventeen, she was very slightly embarrassed; she was still simple, cheerful and - already reasonable.”)
How does she explain what happened to them?
(“It was as if an eclipse had come over me... Or, rather, we both got something like sunstroke.” The woman was the first to understand the severity of what had happened and the impossibility of continuing this too strong feeling.)
What has changed in the room since she left that reminds you of her?
(“The room without her seemed somehow completely different than it was with her. It was still full of her - and so be it. All that remained was the smell of good English cologne and an unfinished cup, but she was no longer there...”)
What impression did this make on the lieutenant?
(The lieutenant’s heart suddenly squeezed with such tenderness that he hurried to light a cigarette and walked back and forth around the room several times. The lieutenant laughs at his “strange adventure”, and at the same time “tears well up in his eyes.”)
What is the role of detail in this story?
(At the beginning of the story, the details of the heroine’s portrait: “The light canvas dress smelled of a small strong hand” - emphasize the naturalness, simplicity and charm of the woman. The word “small” appears several times - evidence of defenselessness, weakness (but also strength - “small strong hand "), tenderness.
Other details (the smell of cologne, a cup, a pulled back screen, an unmade bed, a hairpin forgotten by her) enhance the impression of the reality of what happened, deepening the drama: “He felt such pain and such uselessness of his entire future life without her that he was overcome by horror and despair.” The steamboat is a symbol of separation.)
What does such a seemingly small detail mean - a hairpin forgotten by the heroine?
(This is the last trace of the “little woman”, visible, real. It is important for Bunin to show that the feeling that flared up after a fleeting meeting will not leave the hero.)
What new feelings did the lieutenant have?
(All the lieutenant’s senses seemed to be heightened. He “remembered her all, with all her slightest features, remembered the smell of her tan and canvas dress, her strong body, the lively, simple and cheerful sound of her voice.” And another new feeling, previously unexperienced, torments the lieutenant: this is a strange, incomprehensible feeling. He doesn’t know “how to live the whole next day without her,” he feels unhappy.
This feeling gradually transforms: “Everything was good, there was immeasurable happiness, great joy in everything... and at the same time, my heart was simply torn to pieces.”)
Why is the hero trying to free himself from the feeling of love?
(“The sunstroke” that struck the lieutenant was too strong and unbearable. Both the happiness and the pain that accompanied it were unbearable.)
(“Sunstroke” is accompanied by natural heat, which aggravates the feeling of loss. The hot streets cannot dispel the pain of separation and melancholy. Nature in the story emphasizes the strength of the sudden flare-up of feelings and the inevitability of parting.)
Too much love - why is it dramatic and even tragic?
(It is impossible to return your beloved, but it is also impossible to live without her. The hero does not succeed in getting rid of sudden, unexpected love; “sunstroke” leaves an indelible mark on the soul.)
How did the experiences of the past day affect the hero?
(The hero feels ten years older. The instantaneousness of the experience made him so acute that it seems that almost his whole life was contained in him.)
Summary questions about the story:
1. How should we understand the title of the story? What meaning does the writer give to the epithet “sunny”? How does this meaning vary throughout the story?
2. Explain how Bunin paints the inner world of a person. Which Russian writer of the 19th century can you compare the methods of psychological analysis he used?
3. Give examples of the ring composition of a work. Is it possible to talk about the absolute identity of “beginnings” and “endings”?
Conclusion:
Love in Bunin's works is dramatic, even tragic; it is something elusive and natural, blinding a person, affecting him like a sunstroke. Love is a great abyss, mysterious and inexplicable, strong and painful.
Tasks:
1. How is the interpretation of love different in the stories “Easy Breathing”, “The Grammar of Love” and “Sunstroke”?
2. What cross-cutting images and motifs are present in Bunin’s stories about love?
V. Assignments on the works of I. A. Bunin
1. Comment on the statement of the critic and literary critic V. Ya. Lakshin: “Chekhov’s heroes live under the yoke of duty, Bunin’s hero lives under the star of fate.”
2. What examples of the works of A. P. Chekhov and I. A. Bunin can illustrate the point of view of the critic and literary critic V. Ya. Lakshin: “Chekhov has the pulse of modern, searching thought, and in “pure art” itself one can see someone restlessly thinking about the meaning of human existence. Bunin has more contemplation of life and delight in it. This is also comprehension of the world, but different. Thought and comprehension require action in the plot. Contemplation bestows with descriptions that are unattainably artistic, as if imprinted from the retina of the eye and almost complete in themselves: of nature and weather, customs and incidents, men and women.”
3. What works of I. A. Bunin allowed the critic and literary critic V. Ya. Lakshin to draw a conclusion about the secret of the attractive power of his art? Justify your answer.
“Bunin’s artistic hedonism, the desire to capture and retain for a “second life,” albeit as an end in itself, the impressions of being with a special acuteness of all five senses, is the most important part of the appeal of his art.”
Lesson Explanatory note
... Lesson development. - M.: Enlightenment. 3. Zolotareva I.V., Mikhailova T.I. Lesson development By Russian literature XIX century. 10 Class. 1st half of the year. - M.: Vako, 2003. 4. Zolotareva I.V., Mikhailova T.I. Lesson development By Russian literature ...
Love is one of the favorite themes of the great writer. Bunin constantly returned to it, creating new delightful works. By the way, the very first works devoted to the theme of love include the deep in content and talented story “The Grammar of Love.”
Title of the story
Already the title of Bunin’s work, “The Grammar of Love,” sounds somehow strange in such unusual combination. It is known that this story was conceived by the writer as a short story and created in 1915. Later this story was included in Bunin's lyrical collection with poetic name"Dark alleys".
Ivan Alekseevich describes in his story a love that can flare up instantly, like a flash. Having appeared from a small spark, it can flare up brightly, but not always hold on.
But it is worth examining in more detail the meaning of the title of the work. So what is this – the grammar of love? Bunin used incompatible things in his name, an oxymoron. It is known that grammar in literal translation from Greek means “the ability to write and read letters.” This is where the somewhat ironic title of the work arises: teaching love. But is it possible to teach a person to love? Doesn't love manifest itself differently for each person? There are no textbooks that teach love, which is why the title of the work sounds a little strange.
In the story, the main character acquires a book that bears a name that is consonant with the story itself. It turns out that such a book actually existed in foreign literature. Its author was a certain Hippolyte Jules Demoliere. This is what Bunin refers to in his work.
The plot of the work
A certain Mr. Ivlev is traveling around his county in the midst of a hot summer. He talks with the driver, but the conversation turns out to be boring. Then the main character simply, without any purpose, began to look out the window. And fields and meadows floated past, which did not allow him to concentrate on any detail. Soon Ivnev is already approaching the countess’s house, appearance which did not evoke in him such a pleasant picture as the nature flashing past him during the trip. Her appearance simply openly irritates the main character, and she immediately began to flirt with him. But still, she reminds Ivnev of a story that he had heard before. Now she was more interested than usual. This story involved the local landowner Khvoshchinsky, who fell madly in love with his maid Lushka.
Soon Ivnev approaches Khvoshchinsky's estate. He quickly remembered a love story, where the landowner, even after the death of his maid, spent twenty years of his life near her mattress, on which she lay dying. He also died there. And then the old landowner's estate appeared, where it happened tragic story love. It somehow became easy for Ivnev to breathe in this place. But unfortunately, the main character sees only destruction and desolation around him. And on the threshold he was met by a young man - the son of Lushka and the landowner. Ivnev is interested in the young man. The main character carefully examined the fruit of love of different statuses.
But Special attention Khvoshchinsky's house attracts attention, which Ivnev carefully examines. The strange furniture and gloomy atmosphere of the house transports the main character to another world. He sees old books, reads their strange titles and tries to unravel the mystery of love. His hands are shaking, but he experiences special excitement in the room where Lushka lived. He immediately pays attention to details, and there are not so many of them here:
Prayer book.
A box with silver blackened by time.
Lushka's necklace.
Looking at the necklace of a deceased woman who experienced love, the main character feels a kind of excitement that he has never felt before. But the narrator’s attention was attracted not only by the decoration of the deceased, but also by the book with the title that Bunin gave to his story. Ivlev could not restrain himself and began leafing through this brochure. The main character buys this book from the young owner and leaves the estate, where a tragic love story once happened. But Ivnev re-read the poems that were written down by two lovers on the last page of the book he purchased.
Characteristics of the characters
In the short story “The Grammar of Love” there are few heroes, but their characteristics are profound. psychological picture each character, which is given by Bunin for an accurate presentation of the plot and understanding of the main theme - the theme of love.
TO acting persons the story can be attributed to:
♦ Ivlev.
♦ Countess.
♦ Landowner Khvoshchinsky.
♦ Maid Lushka.
♦ Lushka’s son, a young and handsome young man.
Khvoshchinsky was once respected by everyone landed nobility, and this landowner was known as a “great smart guy.” But when love happened in his life, he could only hear condemnations and see reproachful glances. When he fell in love with the maid, everything just went to pieces for him. And after Lushka’s death, he sat by her bed for another twenty years, not caring about anything. This is where he died.
The Countess, whom the main character visited, was a large, elderly woman. But this did not stop her from constantly talking about love. Trying to gain charm, she smoked, and this pushed the narrator away from her even more. She caused a feeling of irritation in the main character.
The son of Lushka and the landowner Khvoshchinsky was interesting. Bunin describes it this way:
“Black, with beautiful eyes and very pretty, although his face was pale and mottled with freckles, like a bird’s egg.”
He is greedy, easily agrees, and is even happy to sell his parents’ books, but at the same time he is always embarrassed.
Artistic features of the text
If you re-read the first line of the work several times, you will notice how the month of June, when the action takes place, echoes the surname of the main character, on whose behalf the story is told - Ivlev. Here the writer uses one of the artistic and expressive means - alliteration of sonorous sounds. By the way, these techniques, which are often used in poetry, are not accidental here, since the entire plot of the short story “The Grammar of Love” is based on the right techniques and obeys the laws of poetry.
The writer also uses such a technique as irony in his text. In contrast, the text looks like beautiful fields and a certain young man whom the writer himself calls “small.” His appearance is clumsy and ridiculous: a cap that was still completely new and a jacket that fit him baggy and awkwardly. And this funny “guy,” pretending to be serious, was performing an important task: he was entrusted with changing the master’s horses.
In the text great amount epithets. For example, on Khvoshchinsky’s estate he sees a tree, and immediately selects the following expressions for it: God’s little tree, dear creature. The description of the house of the landowner Khvoshchinsky is also given in contrast. Clumsy furniture, beautiful and elegant dishes. The dead bees that litter the entire floor in one of the landowner’s rooms bring Ivlev back to reality. But the main thing remains the line of love, which attracts the main character like a magnet.
Analysis of the novella
Bunin's story "The Grammar of Love" begins simply and usually. It seems that nothing is worth expecting, but researchers of Ivan Alekseevich’s work have always paid attention to the fact that great writer gave his own special meaning precisely at the beginning of the work, its first sentences. Bunin used this technique in order to target his reader, to prepare him for what will be discussed throughout the short story. In the text, next to the poetic beginning, there are real things that have an everyday description. For example, the carriage on which the main character travels has a top that is not only crooked, but also dusty. Or the coachman, about whom the writer himself says that he is a thrifty man, but does not understand jokes at all.
It is worth noting that Ivan Alekseevich, in order to more colorfully convey the state of his hero, includes in the description the nature that the nobleman sees around him. At first it is the vast expanses, the majestic beauty. But after visiting the Countess, Ivnev’s mood changes and this can already be determined by how dramatically the weather changes. It becomes boring, dirty, dark.
Unnoticed, Bunin leads the reader to the beginning of his story, recalling the love of the landowner and servants. After all, this thought will settle in the main character’s head for a long time. But the description of the house leaves the reader perplexed. Everything in it has been preserved as before. It was as if there was a secret left in him that only two knew. And when Ivlev leaves Khvoshchinsky’s estate, the author again uses the landscape to convey his mood. He writes that it was not cloudy outside, but a dull golden dawn. After all, this love story left a complex feeling in him.
The writer in his work argued that love cannot have any barriers or distances, no prejudices can stop the beautiful attraction of souls. But this feeling is elusive and fleeting. Most often, love is associated with tragedy, broken and crippled destinies, and bitterness. Ivan Alekseevich regrets that real love, flaring up quickly, becomes a thing of the past. He believes that the modern people are no longer capable of loving madly and sincerely. And the Countess is bright representative those women who put in first place not a sublime feeling, but the attraction of the flesh. That’s why it only causes irritation for both the writer and his hero.
